INFORMATION

Hello everyone! Oh man, it's been far too long since I last updated this contest. The deadline is in less than two months and I'm just now writing the first update post. OTL I'd like to sincerely apologize for my absence and reassure everyone that this contest has not been abandoned! I think the last time I went without an update for several months was sometime in Round Four when I had to deal with lots of terrible things that happened IRL and I just didn't have the energy/strength to really care about anything other than school. >___< Luckily, that isn't the case here, at least not to the same severity. I've invested too much into this contest to just abandon it without a proper farewell and it also basically runs itself at this point, so please don't worry if I'm not actively posting updates! I've still been adding submissions as they come in and making sure the entry list is up-to-date.

 

Anyway, so I'd like to be super transparent about why I was gone for so long, because I believe transparency is very important on my end as the contest's host. If you don't care, please feel free to skip the next three paragraphs to read the contest-relevant news. But if you do care, thanks for reading, haha. Basically, the pandemic lasting as long as it has completely destroyed all of my life plans for this year. That's probably the case for most people, especially if you're out of school like I am, so I've had to make a lot of adjustments once it became clear that this virus isn't disappearing anytime soon. I haven't left my property in almost seven months (literally, if you can believe it) and at this point, I'm not expecting to leave my little bubble until 2021. The silver lining is that there's an almost non-existent chance I'll get sick, because I literally have not physically met another human being outside of my immediate family since the end of February. :') So it's just a matter of riding this out at this point.

 

August ended up being very busy for my family, especially since my sister only returned home for a month and the next time I see her might be next summer, depending on how things are by this winter. So all of my free time was spent gaming, watching movies, playing cards, and drawing with her, LOL. I technically had time to update this contest, and do other miscellaneous tasks related to AFF and other online communities that I'm part of. But since she was only going to be home for such a limited period of time, I prioritized having fun with her and August was definitely the highlight of my summer.

 

But of course, 2020 and Mother Nature decided that they wanted to throw another curve ball. And as soon as my sister left, my neighborhood went into evacuation warning because of a massive wildfire burning nearby. It's one of the biggest wildfires in my county's history and it's still burning as of today. I didn't get a wink of sleep for several weeks due to a combination of stress and hearing helicopters flying overhead day and night. The helicopters' presence was both comforting yet stressful, because that meant they're working around the clock to contain the wildfire, but I was also hyper-aware of how close the wildfire is to me. The last time I had to evacuate from a wildfire was seventeen years ago because of the third-deadliest wildfire in my state's history (prior to 2020, because holy cow, the number of destructive wildfires that sparked up in the past two months is INSANE) which razed five of my classmates' homes to the ground. Luckily, we were released from the evacuation warning a few days ago, and I'd like to wholeheartedly thank all of the fire-fighting personnel who have been tirelessly working non-stop to protect civilians and their homes over the past few weeks.

 

Ever since the evacuation warning was lifted, I've been gradually catching up on everything that I threw to the wayside these past few months. ^^; Hopefully I'll be back on track soon, but who knows what 2020 will bring next. OTL Because I've left this contest hanging for so long, I'm debating whether or not I should extend the deadline. If you think you'll need more time, please let me know in the comments section down below so I can gauge interest. The entry list is also completely up-to-date now. If I've made any mistakes, please let me know ASAP so they can be fixed. I've also removed the hold on songs that were claimed without an accompanying entry form. If you'd like to reclaim them, please do so with an entry form. It's harder for me to keep track of things without the entry forms to refer to and my brain is already split into a billion pieces. OTL There are also lots of new songs on the song list, a mixture of new releases from this summer that I'm in love with (Baekhyun, Doojoon, IU, Soyou, Ryu Sujeong, Heo Chanmi) and old releases from groups I just started stanning (Infinite, Lovelyz, Girl's Day). I'm probably going to hold off on adding any more songs to the list, but who knows what'll be released in the next two months, haha. And if you haven't submitted a story yet or you'd like to submit more, definitely don't hesitate to fill out an entry form now! Doing so will help me figure out the contest logistics and it might also serve as good motivation to finish the entry if it's already been submitted. It's not mandatory for the entry to be complete upon submission; it only needs to be complete by the deadline.

 

Anyway, thank you for reading this extremely long update and I'll try not to disappear for months on end again, especially with this round's deadline coming up soon. ^^; As always, please continue to write stories, submit entries, and promote the contest! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please contact me via the comment box, my wall, or private messages. I respond to all messages within 24 hours. Stay safe, stay healthy, and I'll see you in the next update!

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