#How to Build a Life

[donotdestroy]

"Deceiving yourself shouldn’t make logical sense. After all, lying involves telling someone something you know to be untrue. When you are both the liar and one lied to, this means you have to both know the truth and not know the truth. In practice, that means willfully disregarding key knowledge to arrive at a conclusion that is more convenient than what the facts appear to suggest."

[raticalshoez]

Was thinking of my post about dream teams and got really invested in whatever Unrequited Hate has going on

[dinomintz]

With Big Shoes to Fill Chapter 3 is UP!!!

Here are doodles of non-spoiler scenes*

I also have comms open ooooohh aaaahhh

[houseofwolves-v1]

updated post! western north carolina is very much still recovering from the effects of hurricane helene, we’re almost five months past when the hurricane hit at this point and there’s still roads in my area that only reopened for the first time last week, there’s still roads with mud caked along the sides that somehow still hasn’t washed away yet, there’s still debris stuck in the trees and along the riverbanks, still abandoned cars trapped in mud. and while a lot of areas that weren’t hit quite as hard have been able to mostly return to “normal” the landscape is forever changed, and so many people lost their homes and jobs and livelihoods. we’ve come a long way these past few months, but there’s still a long way to go.

so here are some mutual aid collectives to check out if you want to continue to help aid in our recovery!

•Pansy Collective

•Asheville Survival Program

•Rural Organizing and Resilience (also known as ROAR WNC)

•Holler Harm Reduction

•BeLoved Asheville

and if you want to stay up to date on recovery efforts, government assistance, etc, check out Blue Ridge Public Radio! they have given continued detailed reports on the hurricane and all the effects since then and continue to do so now, and they can offer a much more comprehensive view of the situation than i can

[thedevious-rileyc]

I was lazily messing around and ended up sketching the rooftop chase scene from Prince’s Gambit. I am absolutely horrible with architecture and perspective sooooooo yeah!

[babymorte]

worst part about finding out somebody lied to you is having to sit there and wonder what else they lied about

[boxofoxberry]

🌀 WORLDHOPPER ‼️

plus some notes about all the references

[tenebrous-academic]

Imagine getting dicked down so good that you get the best night’s sleep you’ve had so far in a house that should feel like a home but instead has felt like a cage.

Imagine you spent the night stumbling through halls and doorways with a man you’ve been pining over, creating new memories and slowly replacing the pain and loss with joy and love.

Imagine that you couldn’t stop baking the entire time he was gone and the first thing he does for you the morning after is make sure you’re fed.

Imagine being soft and sleepy with mussed curls and rumpled clothes and he looks at you like you’re the best thing he’s ever seen.

Imagine holding such hope in your heart for a future together and he lets you know he’s trusting you with his heart too. He’s not so scared anymore that you’ll break it.

Imagine being in love and being loved in return.

[murkying]

redstone supervisor

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

How It Started For Loretta & Oliver vs. How It's Going

[csuitebitches]

Crafting a Personality and Capitalising on it

How do we craft a personality that is socially charming yet true to our roots?

How do we mingle and meet new people without feeling awkward or shy about it?

How do we not lose ourselves while following all these blah blah etiquette rules?

Welcome to part 2 of my Chic Girl Mentality series. 🤍

Today, we will focus on crafting a personality that is still you but better.

First, let’s talk about people in social settings. You’ll meet people who are confident, secure and socially charming. You’ll meet quiet people who may be equally socially charming or just very shy and conscious. You’ll meet the braggers and the doe-eyed followers. There’s a lot of different types of people in the world and knowing how to gracefully navigate most of them is nothing but a learned art.

People, regardless of their bank balance, are insecure of what they do not have yet. This can be looks, money, experience, lifestyle, and so on. How do we capitalise on this without exploiting or manipulating anyone?

By knowing how to tell a story.

That doesn’t mean that you need to become a public speaker or politician, it just means that you need to be able to craft intriguing stories about yourself, using your own life and experiences, to “sell” an interesting version of you socially. We’re all interesting people but only a few of us know how to say that we’re interesting without saying that we’re interesting.

Experience 

People, even those with money, will always be more attracted to those who have experiences, especially, unique ones. Whether it’s travelling to exotic locations or trying new culinary destinations, or wearing unknown designers, knowing obscure artists or writers, or being at the top of your industry… experience is the most important thing to cultivate first.  You already have experience. If you went to school, high school, college, joined clubs, your first job, any travelling, etc - these are all experiences.

Make a list of 5 of the most interesting experiences you think you have.

Hobbies and interests 

Have a couple of lowkey hobbies that you feel enthusiastic about. Whether it’s doing some charity work on Sundays, or cooking, or pottery, whatever it is, keeping a hobby is healthy. 

There should be something to you that an acquaintance can remark about: “CSB? Oh yes, I’ve heard that she’s a great dancer.” 

Vulnerabilities 

Certain vulnerabilities must never, ever be shared. It will 100% be used either as gossip or blackmail. 

However, coming across as someone with no weaknesses is rather untrustworthy- it makes the other person feel that you’re clearly hiding something. 

Make a list of vulnerabilities that are small and you don’t mind sharing. These should be vulnerabilities that will never ruin your reputation in any form but can be used as a form of bonding with empathy. 

And make a list of hard core vulnerabilities you know you should never share with anyone. Keep it memorised rather than written down. 

Experience + Hobbies or Interests + Safe Vulnerabilities = Personality

Storytelling 

Now that you have some experience, hobbies, interests, and your “safe” vulnerabilities sorted even if it’s limited - what will make it stand out is the art of storytelling. Some storytellers can make even the most mundane experiences sound magical - it’s all in the words and delivery. There’s a reason why every Holy Book is a story, packed with lessons and morals - it’s impactful, easy to remember and recall and relatable. Craft your experiences into stories. Use those 5 experiences that you noted down and start writing them down as stories.

Take up an online storytelling class or watch videos. Start honing this skill by writing and reading good literature. 

Refine your 5 experiences further. Run it through chatGPT, say them out loud and most importantly- start testing them out on people. See what makes them chuckle and what doesn’t; what makes them empathise and what doesn’t.

A famous comedian whose name I can’t remember does the same thing. He creates his set. He goes to a small pub and tries it out on the audience there. And the first set is always the first. The audience may not laugh at his jokes, they might boo him or sometimes, he might get a laugh out of them. But every time, he goes home and refines his set further. Once his set is fully refined, and he accomplishes his goal of the audience peeling with laughter at every joke, that’s when he goes on national TV / on tour etc etc.

The most important thing is to craft your stories of your experiences in a way that it delivers the value you want the person to remember about you.

For instance, if I want to be seen as creative and innovative, I won’t tell the person in front of me, “oh, I’m soo innovative and creative!”

Rather I will weave that into a story. “When I was 24, at my first job in the advertising space, we were losing clients left and right. And one weekend, I was on a trek on the mountains - it’s one of my hobbies - this idea hit me, and I suddenly knew exactly how to get our clients back. My team was hesitant about my idea, and we got a lot of pushback, but we went ahead. The night before my launch I was so nervous, I got hardly sleep. And you won’t believe it, but the idea worked! The response was fantastic.”

Let the other person come to the conclusion of you being innovative and creative. Human beings love to deduce things and jump to conclusions and provided you set the context the right way, you should be able to project the version of you that is the best part of you.

Vocabulary 

A sign of a good education- even if you don’t have it - is a diverse vocabulary. I’ve always had a little more respect and awe for those who are articulate, can speak smoothly and speak confidently. I’ve noticed that my American friends, for instance, tend to talk fast with lots of filler words, and sentences tend to end with a pitch up instead of down, which to me indicates hesitation or indecision. Speaking slower, ending your sentences with pitch going down to indicate a full stop rather than up makes you seem like a refined speaker even if your subject is utterly stupid. 

Body language and mannerisms, social interaction 

Watch old classic Hollywood movies to really understand this - especially romantic ones. Choose ones with a femme fatale or siren-like female lead, and watch how she enraptures the male lead or the audience around her. 

A combination of fantastic storytelling and body language will take you places beyond your dreams. Some of the biggest frauds, scammers, politicians, criminals are also some of the best storytellers. Humans are attracted to stories, we pick up body language intuitively, we can sense when someone is nervous or isn’t. Unfortunately the world isn’t a kind place and will not necessarily help you out of your shyness- in fact, that might just make you the best target for exploitation. 

Storytelling + Vocabulary + Body Language = Your Best Personality

[randomness-is-my-order]

something about how wei wuxian was the kind of person to always join someone on the “crowded broad road” if only so he could be the “crowd” for that one person, but in the end, there was no one to deter him from the path of the single plank. it’s the way wei wuxian wanted to carry lan wangji when his leg was injured, when no one else would step in to help but wei wuxian did because someone had to. it’s the way he goaded wen chao and executed a strategy so everyone could get out alive because the “every man for himself” mentality wouldn’t help them out of that situation. it’s the way he immediately assured jiang cheng when he felt isolated in his family, the way wwx always stood up for yanli. it’s the way wei wuxian helped wen qing and the remnants with everything he had and the way he fought xue yang to justice because xiao xingchen deserved that defence, even in death. wei wuxian was always a reliable figure for people in need of his help, even in the future with the juniors coming to always look to him when faced with an issue–not because he would spoonfeed them solutions, but because he would never abandon them and leave them to fend for themselves. it’s the way, after his first life, wei wuxian finally gets this unhindered reciprocated support in the form of lan wangji and how he will never have to leave the broad road again because they will never leave each other’s side even in the afterlife.

[pandadrake]

Shots fired by the Spider-man sequels.

Was ruminating on how Miles and Miguel are technically both 'Spider-man 2' in their respective universes. Got me thinking about the other Spider-successors in the cast, and also what if they all got matching T-shirts or something.

[crippled-peeper]

“trans people deserve medical autonomy and human rights and basic human decency even if they are bad people” and “bullying is not allowed within social support groups even if you are all the same type of minority” are both true statements that can and should coexist

[alienssstufff]

I love the way you draw Etho he's so squishy

thank you! Whwh honestly I don’t think I ever have or could draw him threatening I never saw him that way

Even in the Apocalypse au he isn’t