#basically a tldr of the book XD

[bbreis777]

Angelic Relief as an aesthetic ᜊ( ᴗ͈ˬᴗ͈)ᜊ

[whumpbby]

Idk if there's a right way to say this but Jiang Cheng's biggest crime in and out canon is being not that pleasant to be around and i rlly wish people would acknowledge that instead of trying to paint him as The Worst in order to justify their weirdly intense hatred towards him

I'm going to ramble,sorry, that how I put thoughts in order:)

I think that's the perfect way to say it actually. And 100% fact imho. His biggest flaw is that he has no patience with other people's shit and no filter on how little patience he has. He lets people know he's unhappy with them. All his care and dedication is in his actions.

The way he cares about Wei Wuxian and then Jin Ling - even his scolding is an expression of care, always concerned about the way their behaviour can bring harm to them or to their sects. The way he sacrificed his life for Wei Wuxian without a moment's doubt and neve mentioned it. The way he was fighting a war and rebuilding the sect at the same time. The way his sect became absolutely notfuckwithable. The way he kept throwing himself in the way of danger for his loved ones in the Temple.

This is not some villain who only cares about himself - the way he's being painted by the antis.

There was this post somewhere saying that the biggest flaw in a fictional character is being boring - they can be a war criminal, as long as they're not boring.

I think for some people who are looking for pure escapism and feel-good simplicity (and nothing wrong with that, everyone does that) the "boring" gets replaced with "ugly". The depiction of trauma survivors that didn't "go through all that and ended up kinder". That didn't get over the tragedy in their lives to an appropriate standard. That are functional, but not happy. That bring back the bad stuff that happened because it still influences their lives and behaviours and reactions.

They want all the tragic trauma of the past, but without long-lasting consequences that aren't leading directly to cock-healing or fawning.

Like, if you think about it, no one went through the war in that book and came out "better". Absolutely no one. Lan Zhan drowned himself in guilt and directed all his anger towards Jiang Cheng. Wei Wuxian didn't stop running for even a moment and he became an intensely careless, emotionally dishonest person. Lan Xichen settled into not really doing much, coasting on his sects' position and JGY's help. Nie Mingjue became a bona-fide warlord who basically said "fuck these people, hunt them for sport for all I care". Meng Yao learned that you can stab your problems away. Everyone around them became incredibly trigger-happy for a long while.

And yet JC is the only one singled out as the Evil Walking The Land, because his trauma response isn't pretty and stoic and is specifically, understandably, targeting the Innocent Cinnamon Roll Protagonist and isn't fixed by the end of the book. He could have saved the world, but as long as he's not polite while he's at it then fuck him.

This is, like, primary school level morality were facing here xD

I cannot tell you how surprised I was when entering the world of The Untamed - prepared by Tumblr to see jC as this demon of a man and instead found this guy who, by all accounts, is in the right 99% of the time. Then I read the book and was staggered by the final reveal. And the absolute bullshit I was fed by people that wanted to sour me on the character before I could make my own mind.

Not even gonna get into how these people treat Wen Ning - whose whole existence is a horrific chain of horrific events ending in his absolutely awful existence of an actual slave... But he's such a cute puppy, eh?

Tldr: people who keep making excuses for hating JC do it to somehow justify the fact they can only accept Trauma Light in their fiction.

[greennoobartist]

So, Lily isn't your real name? Or isn't any flower your real name? Intrestinggg. So I have a few questions regarding this if you don't mind. I personally am named Lily, and I think it's a really cool name. (Not biased whatsoeverrrrr)

Do you not use your real name for online safety?

How did your nickname end up being Lily/something flower-related? (If you don't mind me asking)

Do you refer to yourself as Lily in your head bc I've seen on posts you will refer to yourself as "Lily", is that just online, or do you find yourself calling yourself Lily when you're by yourself?

Oooh you're asking deep questions, buddy :DDD I DEFINITELY don't mind!! Just a late reply bcuz life is getting busy my bad

But yeah, Lily isn't my real name and my real name actually doesn't trace back to any kind of flower :) Now to answer your questions:

Yep! Mainly for online safety ^^ It's also bcus my real name isn't that common and known worldwide and im a bit insecure and think that ppl would mispronounce it often so I went with smth simple and more known :)

The origin of my nickname, how it ended up being Lily, is thanks to my one and only OC, named Lily lmao. Basically I use her as my avatar or i think ppl also call that a sona. I first created her before deciding on using her as a sona and taking her name as well XD Why is it flower related is bcuz i love flowers and bcuz of her little long plot i definitely should explain one day cuz its LONG:) :)) :

Hooo boy, referring to myself. Ok, so uhhh... This is kinda smth a definitely crazy person would be doing, it's a bit complicated and a long story if you don't mind. And again, warning, i don't mind if you call me insane or crazy or whatever after this XD Why I refer to myself as Lily on posts is for several reasons, mostly just for online privacy purposes. Now, how do I refer to myself when im talking to myself IS actually Lily, and the reason is definitely nuts but it also explains why i refer to myself as Lily online as well XD Uhh, okay, so like.... Mmghhh... English isn't my native, yk? It's my first fluent language, BUT, here's the thing: i got so attached to it that i actually use it MORE than my native, like WAAY MORE, and i use it so often that ppl often don't believe me when I say it's not my native and I also have better grades than all of my classmates who were born in America lmao XD So like, i got attached to English like a whole lot that: I think on English, speak to myself on English, often use English phrases and sayings in regular days (both out loud and to myself), when making notes they're on English, cartoons always watched on English, books are more oftenly read on English, better at English grammar and punctuation on English, wider vocabulary on English than my native, and alst but not the least, even hecking writing on English a very long fanfiction that, maybe a bit strange, i never wrote a story in my native and yet im writing one on English. So, to wrap or up, English is like my second native to describe it as accurately as I can XD Since I got attached to it this much, the English name "Lily" was way easier to use when talking to myself. But, im sorry, there's another reason. The third reason is bcuz of the demon that possessed me lately and is making me look like a DID idiot (TSoTT Shadow) Basically now thanks to that guy, when im talking to myself i literally imagine him talk to me, like an Imaginary friend or a hallucination or smth. So when I refer to myself as Lily, in my mind he's saying it and ofc sometimes when he's talking to me he'll call me out by my name :)

This turned out way longer than I initially thought XD Im not sure if this makes any sense but that's it actually :)

TLDR: Ye, for online safety. It's flower related cuz I love flowers. Lily is bcuz of my OC. I do refer to myself as Lily in my head but that was originally just for online. After this demon possessed me, now it's outside of online as well :)

Thank you for asking this was fun to answer since it's a reeeeaallly long story XD ❣️

[vadergf]

i just had a revelation if you don't mind me sharing with you- i've always been adjacent to fandom spaces, like never really actually participating in them and only really reading fanfic. i wasn't ever super interested in the community aspect, until finding dream. i've never really stuck to a particular thing either, like i always got fixated for like a month, and then quickly got bored and moved on easily, except in the case with dream!

i was pretty confused about this like 2 months into my obsession because usually by that point i would have gotten bored, but i think i just figured out with the series of the anon talking about loveposting about dream is that it's not just because he's a wonderful person to like and follow, but also because the community is just so absolutely sweet.

originally i was just trying to find a space to gush about him, but now i can see that it's become something lovely, because of how everyone supports each other. maybe this happens in every fandom, i wouldn't really know, but i know for sure something that's endeared me to this community is how when things get tough, people can talk to each other and commiserate and bond. like when everyone was upset about tommy's video, some of the tumblr folks reached out to do a little book project, or posted sweet things about the munchy crew to cheer everyone up. on twitter, people also shared cute clips amidst the upset and still checked each other to still make sure that no one was crossing any lines, and this was stuff everyone has done throughout all the controversies that i've seen of this year.

i don't mean to circlejerk about it, like with all fandoms there are hiccups and whatnot but the general, baseline mutual understanding and unity serve to make this community really fun and wonderful. everyone expresses their love so easily and beautifully and i think it's definitely because of a sort of feedback loop between dream and everybody where he expresses his love, and makes it a comfortable space for everyone to talk about their feelings, which makes it comfortable for him, etc etc.

sorry for the rant xD basically, tldr, thanks for helping to make this space so lovely :D

Anon this is so sweet I don't even have anything to add to this thank u for also being a great part of the community <3

[creativemessbyvd]

FIC IDEA VAULT #13: NANDERMO SOULMATES/REINCARNATED/ROLE SWAP AU (I GUESS?)

GASP, could it be??? Not an SW fanfic idea? xD

Seriously, I am just as shocked. Anyway, I got this little plot bunny while rewatching or rather, listening to WWDITS today as I made food. Enjoy!

TLDR; Vampire Hunters kill Nandor, Lazlo and Nadja, leading Guillermo to abandon his plan to have Derek turn him in favor of going after them. Six months later, Colin finds that it is possible to bring forth memories of a vampire and locate their reincarnated soul if it exists in the present time, teaming up with old allies and friends to locate the trio. Colin discovers that his past live is more intertwined to Lazlo's than he knew (apart from the whole thing with him being a baby and child raised by Lazlo). Guillermo returns to his mom's as Colin is explaining everything and gets knocked out bc Surprised! His family is responsible for his friends' second death. He is also linked to Nandor via a past life, and then our three vampires newly reunited with their memories must decide what to do, keep on living as humans or return to vampirism? What about the Hunters' plan to eradicate vampires once and for all? Will they be able to stop them given newly unearthed history amongst the group? Will Guillermo finally get his wish? And now that he has humanity, will Nandor want to give it up?Will Lazlo and Colin finally air out their history, both recent and past? Will Nadja be persuaded by Gregor into staying with him (as Lazlo deals with his own problems) and her fulfilling life or go back to having nothing to fill her heart after she had to close down the club?

More info, extra detailed idea below:

Season 4 ending deviation, as Guillermo goes to have Derek turn him into a vampire, Vampire hunters get into the house and kill Nandor, Nadja and Lazlo. A freaked out Colin Robinson calls him as he hears the fighting but Guillermo is too late. Despite the Djinn, Colin, The Guide, Derek, and many others trying to help out Guillermo, he leaves to pursue the Vampire Hunters responsible.

A few months after, as Colin is looking around the Council's library, he uncovers a book on ghosts and finds some very interesting information. Apparently, souls will come back and just continually be reborn, as is the case of Nadja's lover Gregor whom she would meet every few centuries. He, Doll Nadja and the Guide go to the Baron and the Sire to ask after what the book has told them and found that:

- The theory of 'killing a vampire will kill off any vampires they turned' is not true (it was created to avoid newly turned vampires to attack and killed their sires)

- it is true that souls will reincarnate even when someone is turned into a vampire (hence why ghosts are capable of being summoned) and there might even be more than one at a time, each with a little bit of a past life (the theory that you had at least 7 doubles in the world comes from this)

- Energy vampires were a product of a failed attempt of Hunters to harm vampires by making their own vampires

- It is possible to locate and bring forth memories if someone has a ghost and a descendant of the vampire

Seeing a chance to find their friends and bring their memories, Colin, the Guide and Doll Nadja locate Jenna and enlist her help alongside the witches to help find Nadja. They find her but another Gregor will not let them take her or have her memories returned.

They decide to wait and look for Lazlo next. According to the Baron, they need two things:

- a direct connection to the specific past life they wish to locate that will resonate the most with the present state (basically, not always will everyone live out the same life or be the same from one to the next, but their essence will always ring true the closer they are in the present to this specific past live) which is why a ghost, being a manifestation of their life before vampirism works best, but really anything that can draw forth a connection to the soul can work, like a relative or lover

- a present connection to them made of flesh, most of the time a vampired they turned will work

For Lazlo, they have the baby he turned into a vampire, but are stumped for the first 'soul connection' until Colin recalls a long kept journal of his he never reads anymore that gives him the answers he seeks, which is that he used to be human Lazlo's younger brother who was turned into an energy vampire by the same organization that killed them

As Colin tries to remain calm with all the revelations, they find Lazlo as a teacher and are interrupted by Guillermo finally answering the million texts Colin send. Guillermo is on the phone with Colin when he is attacked and he blacks out.

Guillermo had been for 6 months running around finding the trail of the Hunters and is just missing the leader and the truth of how the vampire home was located, when he gets home to his mom and is knocked out by his own family, the ones responsible for everything. They had to 'save him from himself' and explain their organization and what their plans are to eradicate Vampirism once and for all. Guillermo is told that he had been too obsessed by vampires for the family to feel like he deserved to be in on the secret. As he tries to persuade them that he has changed, they reveal they know he hasn't bc of his actions of hunting down the hunters (even if he did make it seem like they were killed by vampires) and his past life as Van Helsing himself, who fell in love with a vampire too (three guesses who). They also reveal they have plans to kill all vampires once and for all but Guillermo can't find out the whole plan as he is rescued.

As Colin, Doll Nadja, the Guide and Jenna race to find Guillermo, the Djinn is tasked with locating Nandor. Having Gail for the second requirement is easy but they are stumped for the first. They have no ghost nor any family, that is until the Djinn remembers Marwa and brings her and Freddie back to Manhattan to help out. To make the spell work, the Djinn must reverse the wishes until Marwa is back enough that her connection to Nandor will work. She is happy to be back to being her and they locate Nandor, who is in university and is apparently the younger of the three found.

With Guillermo back, they try and succeed in bringing back the memories, but the ex-vampires now face the question of if they even want to come back to their old lives amongst questions about not only themselves but their own interrelationships, and trying to race to find out how to stop the Hunters.

And that's all I had, thanks for reading my little idea dump :3

[cjbolan]

CHARACTER ASK MEME: Emily Windsnap

(thanks to @princesssarisa​ for tagging me in this!)

Give me a fictional character and i will say: Emily Windsnap

Favorite thing about them: This is a long one. She’s curious, brave, a loyal friend, a good listener, she’ll push herself to do the right thing even when she’s terrified, she tries to forgive people even when it’s clearly difficult for her, and she’ll go all the way to make it up to someone if she’s hurt their feelings. Also love how she’s still friends with all her ex’s even after leaving them.

TLDR; she works through her many flaws rather than have few/no flaws.

Least favorite thing about them: She’s overly stubborn, and sometimes toxic towards her friends. There’s that scene in Book 1 where she forces Shona to swim with her to the mermaid jail (”If you were really my best friend, you would.”). Which backfires completely.  Thankfully Emily does apologize for it.

Three things i have in common with them:

My birthday is on September 4.

A person who bullied me during middle school, later reached out and apologized to me for it.

I’m mixed race (Asian/Latina), as a teen and shared many of Emily’s identity struggles.  I ESPECIALLY wondered a lot whether I was more Asian or Hispanic, and tried a lot to insert myself into those 2 cultures seeing where I would fit more. n. The result is I overworked myself with so many extracurriculars (foreign language lessons, club activities, music performances, etc.), desperate to show everyone that I was Asian/Latina enough in their eyes. Much like how Emily was desperate at Allpoints Island to prove to everyone she’s a real mermaid. Now as an adult, I don’t try anymore to seem like one or the other. My family and friends accept me just as I am. I have my own ways now of showing off my heritage.   If others don’t think I act or look Asian/Latina enough for them, that is 100% their fault.  It shouldn’t be my responsibility  people have rigid narrow ideas about my communities (BONUS: at age 12 I began learning about and embracing my dad’s heritage more.) Honestly there’s A LOT I have in common with Emily Windsnap. Happy to share more if anyone asks!

Three things i don’t have in common with them:

Despite my internal struggles, my peers all accepted/tolerated my mixed heritage. Most racism I faced was from older people. And I’m lucky that it was never overt, just a bunch of microaggressions that gradually took their toll (”Where are you from?” “What are you?” “Why don’t you [insert racial stereotype]?” “You don’t look [insert race]”). Thanks to living in a pretty diverse town, my friends and classmates really didn’t give a f***k about my mixed racial background. Some even thought it was cool! Funny to this day, most people who ask about my race are adults XD.

I actually LIKE dressing up and wearing jewelry!  Not so much now because I work from home. In that regard I’m more like Shona.

I’ve never been a cruise. Hopefully someday I’ll get a chance.

Favorite line:  “You can't make people stop loving each other just because a law says it's wrong...” 

brOTP: Emily/Aaron. Though they’re a romantic couple in canon, I like how they stayed friends after breaking up. And even before dating they had a pretty good chemistry as friends. They basically have friends-to-lovers-to-friends dynamic!

OTP: Emily/Shona. I used to ship Emily/Aaron (see my brOTP answer). But Emily/Shona are my new OTP for several reasons...

Their close female friendship despite having other female friends.

They each have several friends and both break up with their respective boyfriends, but only their bond stays constant throughout the entire series.

They have secret meetings at the Rainbow Rocks--the same place where Emily’s parents had their secret love affair. A place associated with rainbows as a designated spot for forbidden meetings? The LGBT metaphors just write themselves ;) .

nOTP: Emily/Mandy. Honestly never liked the bullies-to-lovers trope. It’s a like bad version of enemies-to-lovers, a much broader trope that for me is hit or miss.

Random Headcanon: Emily has Caribbean ancestry, through her dad Jake. Jake somehow knew things about that Bermuda Triangle island, he has black hair and brown eyes, plus he has a purple tail like tropical fish.  So I imagine Emily being either Black/Latina/Taino/all of the above.

Unpopular Opinion: Not really about Emily but...I think the way Emily’s parents met is creepy. Jake was secretly stalking Mary Penelope for several nights, Mary went out alone each night to find him. What’s even worse is that this series is targeted towards young girls, who might emulate Mary’s behavior and not realize Jake’s behavior can be a huge red flag. It’s like Twilight where all my female classmates thought Edward secretly watching Bella sleep was romantic. And furthermore, why is Mary P. totally OK with Jake stalking her, but not when learning Mr. Beeston was stalking her too? That all aside, I still think Mary P. and Jake are great characters. And I may be venting from personal experience having been stalked myself (both in person and online). Guess stalking is only OK as long as the stalker looks sexy. And judging from Mary P.’s description, we have to assume she found him sexy XD.

Song i associate with them: “No Ordinary Girl” by Indiana Evans

Favorite picture of them: This fanart by @bakastandotsukai​ (from their IG)

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[janiedean]

First off, I'm a HUGE fan of I'll be the frosting to your cupcake, one of the first fics I reread and a comfort fic staple of mine from the on.

Having said that, I recently learned English isnt your first language, and I'm shook. How do you write in such a flowy ample vocabulary precise english? Are you half British or sth? Have you live outside of Italy? What's your secret? What are your tips, please help a sister in need!

first of all thank you so much you're too kind ;v; and I'm really happy that it's been... ALMOST TEN YEARS and it still holds up ;v;

that said hahaha well I'M VERY HAPPY I HAVE SUCCESSFULLY MASTERED THE POWER OF NOT MAKING IT KNOWN ENGLISH IS NOT MY MOTHER TONGUE MUAHAHAH but in all seriousness:

no I'm not half british, my aunt was a high school english teacher but that was it and she definitely didn't speak english to me growing up beyond giving me the basics

no I haven't lived outside Italy just been on vacation in english speaking places so those two guesses aren't correct but

take into account that I'm 33 and I started learning english srsly when I was like twelve and I started writing in english when I was.... nineteen going on twenty so the way I write now is because I pretty much wrote in english nonstop since then, obviously whatever I wrote in 2007 had a worse vocabular/wasn't as good as it is now so count that a lot of that is practice

now basically i know it'll sound like ARE YOU SERIOUS but: I learned first translating songs by hand which meant I spent two years with a vocabulary translating bruce springsteen's and bon jovi's opera omnia that I had booklets for (YES THE INTERNET WAS ON 56K I HAD THE DAMNED LYRIC BOOKLETS RIP) and that.. I mean it didn't give me the widest vocab ever but it got me started, and then I jumped the bridge and started reading in english at.... eh I was 15 but like I got into stephen king, read a few of his books in italian, then got one I already had in italian in english for kicks and realized it... was better not translated so I swallowed the whole OH GOD I WON'T UNDERSTAND 1/5TH OF THE WORDS thing and went for it and like I can 100% assure you that if you get through the dark tower's second book and the indecent level of nyc slang in it you won't ever go back

(then being a masochist I went straight for steinbeck and if you manage the grapes of wrath at the level I was you're good X°D)

now like... that shows because every single time I take english tests like HOW DO YOU PRONOUNCE WORDS/WHAT IS YOUR WORDING CHOICE/WHAT DOES YOUR WRITING SOUND LIKE I without fail get as results that I pronounce like someone from new jersey/pennsylvania and I use words like someone from maine and that I read like king which... LIKE I LEARNED 95% OF MY ENGLISH on all of that so that makes sense

now the thing is after king I basically went like okay if that writer's english or writes in english I'm not checking the translations so basically I've read in english for twenty years and like... if you want to write you have to read and like I swear that when I was in high school I didn't need to open grammar books beyond the basics or actually study english at all bc having actually read stuff I like... having seen the word/expressions used on paper meant I knew how to use them so there was that but like the point is that if you read a lot your vocabulary automatically gets wider and if you see how published people you like write that helps you too because it gives you the background, makes you see how people break the rules etc

with this I mean... like you know everyone is like YOU HAVE TO WRITE SHORT SENTENCES IN ENGLISH UNLESS YOU'RE A CLASSICAL AUTHOR OR YOU'RE WRONG? okay like I always struggled with it bc I tend to be long-winded, then one day I ran into michael chabon who not only has the kind of refined vocab I can only dream of, but he also has no issue dropping six-lines long sentences (or a 12 pages stream of consciousness of a parrot without a dot bless him) and he won a pulitzer prize and while I am certainly not michael chabon and I can only dream of being 10% as good when it comes to that mix of craft, if he can do that then who stops me from six-lines sentences? yeah, no one XD

and I mean like... just to say one re how you re-elaborate things, the whole thing I do with using parentheses on another new line to say how characters are feeling or switch pov for a moment etc etc is a thing I absolutely lifted from king bc when I read him doing it I decided it was genius, but like at some point I started doubling or tripling the parentheses if I wanted to show what someone was thinking superficially and subconsciously which is a thing king doesn't do but at some point it happened and I liked it so I did it, and that's like the only conscious example I can give you but like you develop your style also based on what you like reading and what comes easy to you but that's things you find out through practice and again... if you like specific writers most likely it'll show up in your writing but that's fine everyone has their role models

also like... I personally don't gaf if supposed english tradition says I can't do something I'd do writing in italian ie abusing semicolons and long-winded sentences, like... if you're good at specific thing that your language allows and english doesn't don't gaf and write it in english anyway who cares

tldr the tips are: read a lot in english, consume a lot of media in english, practice a lot because you get better/get the hand of it with time (again if you read my lost fanfic on lj written in 2008-2011 it's nowhere near the same level as what I write now but not even the stuff I wrote in my spn days is at the level I am now etc), read a lot also in your own language or in any other you know, write as much as you can, if you feel like you're copying your favorite writer don't gaf and go ahead anyway at some point you'll sound like you and not like whoever your fave writer is and be constant because again 50% is reading a lot and 50% is practice, I know it sounds like the discovery of hot water but I swear I managed that without living anywhere else and only reading/writing/talking to people on the internet so... it does work X°D

<3

[nyerus]

i have reread tgcf for 2 times alr but there has been this one thought in my mind for quite some time and i was wondering if you can share your thoughts on this : why did dianxia fall in love with his hua cheng? (thank you in advance for answering

Sorry for taking so long to answer Anon! I wanted to do right by this question (and also I've been studying--or, attempting to.... And of course Fafa's birthday and all)! Giant answer ahead.

So I think first we need to break down the very philosophical question of what "love" is. I don't want to get too deep into that, but fundamentally: love is emotional intimacy which is built upon the pillars of affection, respect, loyalty, and trust.

Speaking strictly from Xie Lian's side, he feels all of this towards Hua Cheng. To him, Hua Cheng is someone trustworthy and reliable. Hua Cheng is also someone who makes him laugh, and is an equal (in terms of both skill and intellect) with whom he can hold a deep conversation on just about any topic of their choosing. Hua Cheng in return respects him, trusts him, never belittles him. They communicate well, and have similar viewpoints and temperaments. Personality wise, they are good compliments rather than being direct opposites.

Basically, Hua Cheng is someone with whom Xie Lian feels safe--physically and emotionally.

This is sort of what... most people looking for love are after, simply put.

Xie Lian also tells us what he really wants in book 3: for someone to know his everything (his past and all the things he's gone through), and for that person to not judge him. For that person to see him for who he is, and still be able to love him regardless.

But Xie Lian is not the type of person who would actually reveal the horrors of his past to anyone, so he is sort of working against himself here. There is a part of Xie Lian who feels that he is unloveable, and more over, unworthy of love because of what he has done. Even so, he yearns for it anyway. A beautiful dream that he thinks he could never have.

How serendipitous for him that there happens to be someone (Hua Cheng) who actually DOES know his Everything, and loves every part of him. Including all the ugly bits Xie Lian wishes he could erase! Hua Cheng loves Xie Lian in exactly the way Xie Lian has always hoped for: completely, and without judgement.

"What matters is you and not the state of you." That's the crux of their relationship, after all.

This, combined with how Hua Cheng teats Xie Lian kindly, and makes him laugh--well. How do you NOT fall in love with someone like that?

I haven't even talked about the fact that Xie Lian is also very much sexually attracted to Hua Cheng right from the start. We can't discount that. His appearance, his demeanor, etc. It's a direct hit to all of Xie Lian's weak points, and it definitely lowers his guard. Hua Cheng and the (very specific) vibe he gives off is exactly Xie Lian's type. The courteous bad boy with a heart of gold. ;)

While they do have many differences, Xie Lian still feels like he and Hua Cheng are kindred spirits. He even identifies that Hua Cheng has his own insecurities and sense of loneliness, to which Xie Lian relates.

Xie Lian also respects and cherishes Hua Cheng in return. He knows that while Hua Cheng may have some extreme methods, the ghost king is ultimately fair. Xie Lian knows of Hua Cheng's many accomplishments and he's quite in awe of this. In short, he also finds Hua Cheng to be an amazing person--someone he genuinely wants to spend time with.

Xie Lian and Hua Cheng are also both the type to love with their whole heart, with no room for anyone else. They just work really well together.

So to reiterate the earlier question: how do you NOT fall in love with someone who understands you, makes you feel happy and safe, and who cherishes you tenderly? Who also happens to match your skill and intellect level, shares your viewpoints, is absolutely gorgeous, and to top it all off--very clearly has a thing for you too?

TLDR; Mutual affection, respect, loyalty, and trust. Mix it all up to get stellar chemistry, and you have a recipe for love. By this, it’s easy to see why Xie Lian would fall so deeply and irreversibly for his Hua Cheng!

Thank you so much for sending this ask, I know I kinda got carried away because Hualian just makes me like that! xD

If anyone else has asks about TGCF, please do send them in!

ﾟ+｡:.ﾟヽ(*´∀`)ﾉﾟ.:｡+ﾟ

[raevenlywrites]

Happy WBW from @norahammen! So if Mortalside is our world but slant, what are some of the slants? Did certain events not happen? Are any laws of physics that differ? How much of this is caused by Otherside, and how much is just how you decided it to be?

Welcome to my biggest dilemma, @norahammen XD When you start playing with timelines, it has the potential to go seriously sideways. On the one hand, you can more or less ignore it aside from the parts you acknowledge (the Rachel Morgan books do a good job of that, making a minor note of the space race having been a genetics race instead, but otherwise nothing about our present day seems changed (which seems SO UNLIKELY to me but whatever) aside from supernaturals being out of the closet), but like, man, i just don’t know. Speculative fiction is great fun to read, but probably a huge pain to write, at least it seems that way to me. So many factors to consider.

So, for the most part, the things changed are most nebulous. Everyone has a UBI for example (universal basic income) because I write my stories to escape so FUCK worrying about money (amirite?), and like, I made vague noises to the Ahnki Dai being behind the French Revolution, but like, in the VAGUEST WAY POSSIBLE XD

tldr: I just wanted there to be shapeshifters the end :P

[oivatank]

Oiva Reviews: The Rising of The Shield Hero

Season 1, Episode 1: The Shield Hero

(SPOILER WARNING: If you wish to avoid spoilers, please blacklist the tag, “shield hero spoilers”)

(As a heads up, I have watched all of Shield Hero before, I just really want to review it anyways XD)

So. . . wow, how do I even begin? There’s definitely a lot to unpack in the first episode, not only because the first episode of every anime escalates really quickly, but because this bad boy is 47 MINUTES LONG!

Meet Naofumi Iwatani: 20 years old, he’s your “run of the mill otaku,” yada yada, he finds a book that turns shiny and he gets transported to a fantasy world. BOOM, welcome to Isekai anime.

Basically, he gets a magic shield while three other dudes get a magic spear, sword, and bow, and everyone in the kingdom is a little bitch that’s shield-racist or something. Everyone SUCKS!!! The other heroes suck, the King sucks, and don’t even get me STARTED on Satan Myne!

This show does an excellent job of making you hate a lot of people and feel bad for Naofumi, but fortunately Naofumi is the little Shield Hero who could! Even though he had to start over from scratch, he takes matters into his own hands and, with the help of the shield everyone hates so much, begins to grow pretty quickly.

I’ve always loved these kinds of anime. I find it so cool and motivating when a protagonist starts with nothing and is hated by almost everyone, but against all odds and through tons of hard work, they manage to pull out the biggest middle fingers possible. Naofumi is incredibly smart and excels at adapting to any situation (I suppose that’s appropriate for the Shield Hero), which is one of the biggest reasons I love him. The moment where he “bargained” with a crappy merchant using those orange balloon monsters cracked me up XD

Despite the number of shitty events that took place in this episode, I still find it very compelling. It definitely pulls you in with all the characters that are absolute douchebags to Naofumi, because you REALLY want to see these pricks put in their place.

TLDR: Very serious episode full of assholes, but still very interesting and hooks you by making you wonder “how will Naofumi solve this?”

[spikeymarshmallows]

10 for 10 for 10                                            

tagged by @rappaccini (:O!!!)

Answer 10 questions, ask 10 questions, tag 10 people.

Questions:

1. What was your first fandom? Are you still a part of it?

Tamora Pierce, specifically Daine and Numair. Am a slut for age gaps that I would defs find problematic now... Buttttt. God, at the time.... Hnnnnng.

And no, no I am not. Probs for the best aha.

2. Current self care method(s)?

S-....self.... care????

Um. I guess. Making sure I’m writing fanfiction every day because like, it’s the only thing keeping me going : )

3. What are three (3) shows you keep meaning to binge watch but haven’t yet?

Hmmm, I tend to hyperfocus on one thing at a time... But I guess The Witcher, The Untamed, and Sex Education?

4. Do you stay active in fandoms after a new one catches your eye, or are you more a one at a time person?

I’m very mono-fandom. Like, I’m still interested in my past fandoms, and I always think to myself “I must go back and reread my favourites” and I’ll reblog things that I like when I see them. But I basically stop posting new content. I tend to disengage from the various discords (except the Stucky Discord because they are stuck with me). So tldr: one-at-a-time.

5. What was the last movie you saw with someone else? What would you rate it?

Oh fuck. Um. I think it was Birds of Prey. I’d rate it pretty good! Not life-changing but Margot Robbie is a goddamn gift, and oh my god, all the adult women were so hot, and so badass, and like, I lowkey admire Harley Quinn... Yes, including her fucking batshit insanity.

6. Favorite guilty pleasure?

Fandom-wise, I don’t really feel “guilty” for most of my favourite things. I guess I sometimes feel guilty for the type of hurt/comfort I like, but... EH. But if we’re talking external to fandom? Sour Patch Kids. I feel guilty about them because I get so excited when I eat them that I burn my mouth and get a stomach ache XD And then I do it all again the next time I buy a bag XD

7. What’s a highly underrated show/movie/book series that you would recommend?

Oooh. Hmmm. I mean, most of the things I love tend to come with large-ish followings and probs aren’t “underrated”. But!

Show: Avatar: The Last Airbender. No, I don’t care that it’s loved by all: THERE IS STILL NOT ENOUGH PRAISE FOR IT.

Movie: Suckerpunch. Tangled. Yes, I know people love it, but I will forever be kinda salty it didn’t get as much love as Frozen.

Book: Alyzon Whitestar (Isobelle Carmody)r; Obernewtyn Chronicles (Isobelle Carmody). salt (nayyirah waheed). salt might be one of my favourite books ever. I can’t read more than a few pages at a time without my soul fucking hurting.

8. Any new hobbies you’ve started during quarantine? Any you want to start?

Well. I’ve been procrastinating on a thesis.... I do plan to practice makeup... Maybe get some more yoga in... Might even pick up my cross stitch again... Maybe I’ll learn to knit, just because everyone is doing it. Baking bread, specifically. I can bake most things, of average skill level. But bread, because I need gluten-free, has continued to defeat me. I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED BY BREAD.

9. What meme do you wish would just die already?

Hmmm. I.... don’t know that I have any memes I’m particularly against. Anything that’s pro-capitalism, anti-women, etc. Like, lord, I love 9gag in some ways, but in so many it’s so fucking anti-women...

10. Spread the love to your followers and post at least one link to a fic you’re reading/have read/wish to read/you’ve written yourself/etc.

Oooh. *cracks knuckles*

Actually, you know what? Here. Read my “Underrated Gems” rec list. Because if I start looking at things to rec, I’m going to be here for five hours....

Tagging:

So I made a post saying “if you wanna be tagged by me in things, like this post” but I don’t think anyone did. Thus. I am not comfortable tagging most people. Sooo if you wanna be tagged in things, like, lemme know.

But also.

I tag: @emptydistractions12 @unrememberedskies @god-shuffled-his-feet and anyone else who wants to be taggggged <3

[lizzybeth1986]

Are there any books that you just dropped or refused to play? If so, why did you choose to stop? I love reading your posts btw; they really help me see unexplored potential in pb's stories :)

Aww thanks so much! I'm so glad you enjoy my meta posts.

The thing is now I play maybe two books at a time, sometimes three. Which means I've pretty much dropped most of the books?

I think the first book I might have dropped like that must be AtV? I just felt very confused and not invested and not even the thought of the diamonds I could mine from the book could get me back into it. Then there was RCD, which I played for two books, but Book 2 was a complete travesty and it killed any love I ever had for that series. Similarly for ACOR, which I liked in the beginning but if you're trying to romance women in that book you can so tell which fans exactly it's catering to.

Sometime late last year, though, I decided to take a brief hiatus from the books coz I wanted to try doing The Hayden Young Project (yes I'm shamelessly plugging it because I'm proud of that baby xD) over Christmas. It was fun but extensive, and involved a lot of looking through other playthroughs, and more screenshots than I could count. I also had to do several playthroughs of both books just to make sure I had all my screenshots. I unearthed around 186 variations at the end of it. Following that I took another month to put them all up on my blog, in order, and create a masterlist.

I had some personal family stuff + health issues (physical and mental) to deal with shortly after that, so I think I didn't play for most of this year? But I did see posts on my dash and got a general idea of what was happening. Basically the tldr of it was that by the time THYP was over, I was burned out and generally not very happy with a lot of what I was hearing about the books.

Nowadays what I usually do is wait until a book has crossed midpoint and see what the response is like, unless it's part of a pre-existing series whose characters I'm really attached to *cough cough*. Sometimes the response is good enough that I decide to go for it before that (this happened with Platinum). That isn't the wisest way for me to play because in some cases I play and eventually find out it's changed track and I don't find it all that fun anymore (Nightbound. This may or may not happen with TRH). And while I LOVE Bachelorette Party for Aisha, I'd prefer to wait and watch. Might as well view what I can before I give a book my diamonds, right?

[awinger24]

My Issue With Disney Channel’s “Animation Cram Session”, Even the Promo

@mysteriesofmewni​ @cid331​ @jess-the-vampire​ @tangledbea​ @disneyschedules​ @dreamschedules​ @disneychannelforever99​

Disney Channel’s schedule is very inconsistent with little to no variety except for their live action sitcoms spamming the schedule. This post will be explaining how the channel treats their animated content, even summarized by just one promo.

Just look at one of the schedules courtesy of @disneyschedules​

I think this schedule is boring as what Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon are doing with their TV schedules.

Cartoon Network = Spamming Teen Titans Go! and Gumball while shows like Steven Universe, We Bare Bears, and OK KO! don’t get a lot of air time.

Nickelodeon = Spamming SpongeBob and Loud House, even Paw Patrol on it’s preschool block while it’s other shows get aired less and bumped to bad time slots (even some are on NickToons).

Disney Channel = Spamming Raven’s Home and Coop and Cami, also Sydney to the Max (even Bunk’d and Stuck in the Middle before they were removed). The issue is that they are focusing heavily on their sitcoms in terms of scheduling and advertising. 

DuckTales and Big City Greens are being promoted regularly but they air at time slots where much of the channel’s demographic is at school. Right now, Big City Greens is seen at 2:30, 3, and 4:30, so it seems to be the only cartoon they care about (a lot like how they treat Phineas and Ferb).

All this but shows like Milo Murphy’s Law, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Tangled: The Series, and Big Hero 6: The Series, are promoted less, even using a same generic promo without any special new ones to hype up audiences, and placed at an inconvenient time slots between 7-9 AM. Even worse is that viewers have to wake up very early even in the Central and Mountain Time Zones. 

For example, trying to get up at 5 AM in Colorado to watch Milo Murphy’s Law and Tangled might be difficult unless you set an alarm or go to sleep early. For Arizona, the issue is worse since there is no daylight savings time so, waking up at 4 AM just to watch it is a challenge.

With the four shows I mention, they only air a new episode once and they never rerun while they spam their schedule with the same sitcom repeats.

I have heard the senior vice president in charge of programming at Disney Channel, Paul DeBenedittis, was recently hired by Nickelodeon. Paul seems to be in charge of what we see on the channel. If he is gone, it’s unclear how things will change because Disney ABC Television has a team of executives still in control of the schedule, and we wonder who the new one is. But if Paul left before the spamming of Raven and Coop and Cami reruns, we have no idea if the new Senior VP is behind this.

TLDR: Disney Channel doesn’t schedule their animated content well and overshadows it while they only put so much focus on their Disney Channel sitcoms and stars (I mean Ruby Rose Turner, immediately had a song just after Coop and Cami aired).

Now, on to my next topic. I have some problems with this “Cram Session” promo.

Disney Channel has released a promo in September 2018 promoting audiences about it’s “Animation Cram Session” line up (which even includes Phineas and Ferb, before it was removed in January 2019 because they air it at 6 AM, not at 7.)

The promo still uses the same graphics that Disney Channel uses for it’s bumpers and commercials from 2017 up until February 2019.

https://miguelmonteagudo.com/disney-channel-2017-graphic-package

This was before the channel got a massive overhaul probably to reflect their new sitcom, Sydney to the Max. Appealing to the channel’s demographic of teenagers (mostly girls). Which if you were Walt Disney, this seems out of place from a company that had major successes in its movie divisions, theme parks, and merchandising.

The “Cram Session” promo was voiced over by none other than a man named Jim Pratt.

He has been doing Disney Channel promos/advertising since the 2010s alongside doing voice over for dozens a promos for other networks like TLC and Fox. In 2016, he has replaced the main Disney Channel voice over, Cam “Buzz” Brainard, and he ended up doing nearly every promo for the channel.

The way I describe his voice is “high energy” and “in your face” as a way to hype up people about a certain show or lineup.

http://www.jimprattvo.com/highenergy

Sure when I was very young, I have grown up with the voice overs of Mark Elliot, Brain Cummings, and even Beau Weaver but if I imagined them voicing over for the Disney Channel, they would’ve brought a new meaning of excitement while still keeping that trademark Disney magic.

It’s been updated a few times removing and adding clips from various shows.

- Version 1 (September 2018-October 2018), DuckTales, Big City Greens, Milo Murphy’s Law, Big Hero 6: The Series, Gravity Falls, Phineas and Ferb.

- Version 2 (October 2018-December 2018), DuckTales, Big City Greens, Milo Murphy’s Law, Gravity Falls, Phineas and Ferb.

- Version 3 (January 2019-February 24, 2019), DuckTales, Big City Greens, Milo Murphy’s Law, Star vs. the Forces of Evil

- Version 4 (February 25, 2019 - present), DuckTales, Big City Greens, Milo Murphy’s Law, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure

Because I have seen this a bunch of times, I can even almost identify some of the clips they use from some respective episodes.

DuckTales: The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck!, The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!

Big City Greens: Parade Day, Welcome Home!, Gridlocked (even audio from it), Blue Tater, Family Legacy

Star vs. the Forces of Evil: The Season 3 intro, Marco and the King, Puddle Defender, King Ludo, and Toffee

Gravity Falls: Roadside Attraction

Now onto the promo along with the voice overs used.

(We show a sad face of Cricket from Parade Day, then we cut to Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby from Last Crash of Sunchaser as they all groan (clip is out of context).

VO #1: Sad not having school on weekends. 

Cricket: Aw, man. (Clip is from Blue Tater).

First off, this wouldn’t make sense if you were the channel’s main demographic of 6-14 (or even teenagers if you like some of these shows), because usually cartoons were a bit of a after-school (3-5 PM)/early morning before school (5-7 AM) thing because it was a way of entertaining children, sometimes even teens where their high schools start as early as 7 AM. Usually, children are happy there’s no school on weekends.

VO #2: You can still learn a thing or two with the Animation... Cram Session!

I sorta think think this is tedious and gives a mixed message. Usually real life cramming is a negative effect.

https://www.gavilan.edu/tutor/documents/DONTCRAM.pdf

This PDF page from Galivan College says,

“Cramming deposits information in your short term memory. Material reviewed in cramming sessions is not learned. Some students think they have learned the material and will be able to recall it for the midterm or final. Wrong! It’s gone! The information is generally unavailable to recall after one or two days. So, when students rely on cramming they cheat themselves out of a true education.

Cramming is also more work. It takes longer to learn material when it is done under pressure. Cramming does not save time. Cramming also has its limits. If you haven’t cracked a book in any of your courses, have daydreamed through the classes, or haven’t attended, cramming will not help. Cramming for several courses also doesn’t work.”

To apply this with how Disney Channel schedules their cartoons, they of course only air their animated shows once within the early morning hours of 6-9 AM on Saturday and Sunday. With the fact they only air one new episode of a show once (Milo Murphy’s Law, Tangled, Big Hero 6, Star vs, the Forces of Evil), this makes it even worse for people who don’t have access to DVR, Direct TV/Dish/Premium Cable (Spectrum) with Disney XD, On Demand, and even DisneyNOW, but only get Disney Channel through basic cable. 

Once they see the episode once, they might try and remember it, but with different mindsets, it’s highly possible they will forget it and move on with their repetitive sitcom reruns or the next cartoon to cram in. They wouldn’t be able to recall anything from the show, unless it’s amazingly entertaining and appealing thanks to either bright and fast-paced animation, emotional moments, or even the funniest moments.

Also, it seems odd they attached two random clips from two shows and edited them together.

Webby (in The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck): Diamond dagger cuts through anything.

Cricket (in Blue Tater): Wait. Come again?

Well, it does segue into the next voice over but it gets kinda boring once you’ve seen it again and again.

VO #3: Every Saturday and Sunday morning, Cram in... all the adventure!

VO #4: Cram in... all the action!

These two does seems like a generic way to promote a lineup but it is all “in your face”

Now it features clips from the DuckTales episode, Last Crash of Sunchaser.

Dewey: Nothing can’t stop us.

(The plane jerks as Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby jerk in a halt too.)

Cut to a later scene

Louie: WE GOTTA GO NOW!!

Launchpad: Now?

Dewey/Scrooge: No!

(Launchpad starts the Jeep)

The scene then cuts to a clip from Big City Greens’ “Blue Tater as the show’s main characters fly out of a shopping cart.

Note: These clips being edited together like that and seeing it over and over again when it comes on during commercials is just flat in some way. 

(Shows clips of characters laughing/having fun. One of them is from Gridlocked.)

VO #5: And cram in all the laughs in the Animation Cram Session!

VO #6: Weekend mornings starting at 7 on Disney Channel

Again, the issue with airing these shows once at 7-9 AM seems to be inaccessible for people who want to sleep in. Or don’t know it’s on because they live in the Central and Mountain Zone and it airs 1 and 2 hours early respectively.

Gramma Alice talks to Tilly

Gramma Alice: You kids are smarter than you look.

All set to generic high-energy music (pop/rock/electronic), this “Cram Session” promo just doesn’t make sense and with some of the shows just getting generic promos alongside it, and seeing it a bunch of times with the same clips reused, especially focusing more on DuckTales and Big City Greens, not giving as much spotlight on the other cartoons, makes this a questionable promo.

It all comes together the main issue with how Disney Channel is treating their cartoons. 

Bad time slots, little to no promotion, not even individual promotion with the exception of DuckTales and Big City Greens (which the channel favors more than their other cartoons). 

Plus this promo is basically saying to the channel’s demographic of 6-14 year olds that you should “Cram In All”. 

Sure this seems to be a Saturday Morning cartoon lineup thing but the fact that this is Disney Channel, they choose to put all their animated shows at an inconvenient air time while they spam their sitcoms. It’s more of a lose-lose situation. Milo Murphy’s Law, for example, suffers in low ratings.

Sadly but true, cable is decreasing (even prices are increasing) as Disney is launching its new streaming service, Disney+ very soon. Even DisneyNOW seems to be the current way of watching/streaming shows (with TV provider or Apple TV).

Still, I just don’t see why Disney Channel would spam their sitcoms (alongside Big City Greens which is a good exception), while their animated shows don’t meet up to the potential if the channel airs them at prime time.

To conclude, Disney Channel’s schedule isn’t full of variety, the “Cram Session” promo has some issues, and the future of our favorite shows and how we watch Disney’s TV animated cartoons is uncertain. Also, Disney Channel after Paul DeBenedittis’ departure leaves us in a mystery who is his replacement and how the schedule will change in the future.  Plus, I provided you some brief Disney Channel history.

P.S. I hope Amphibia, 101 Dalmatian Street and The Owl House have potential for great ratings if Disney Channel cares for their cartoons more.

[rytyeonhee-blog]

Hi y’all! So excited to be here (so much so that I spelt excited wrong three times XD)! Anyways, this is Rufus, mun of Moon Yeonhee~ I’ve been wanting to bring my baby into an rpg but couldn’t find one that fits her until now! Here are her bio, profile, and plots! But underneath the cut are some quick tldr facts about her: Hmu for plots!

-From a family of five; father, mother, and two older sisters (Yeonmi and Yeonji) -Mother was a professional ballerina for The Royal Ballet -Grandmother was a prima ballerina (Now owns a ballet school) -Both sisters are ballerinas too -Been doing ballet since she was three -Playing the piano since six -Violin since eight -Mostly plays classical songs but knows a few pop songs -Speaks fluent English -Knows basic Spanish and French from school -Grew up in England -Was known as Alice back then -Loves the book 'Alice in Wonderland' -It's why she chose the English name Alice -Knows almost every dance to Kpop songs -Has a bear coat Shar Pei -He is named YeonGom -Not known by a lot but she can sleep anywhere -Was found by her sister once sleeping in the bathtub (No water. Just Yeonhee sleeping)

[janiedean]

Why do you think Jaime puts Rhaegar on a pedestal and thinks so highly of him when we can see he's not that great? To be fair, if Jaime loves someone, he always puts them on a pedestal.

I mean with the premise that most ppl in those books do it with r. and I'd say that it's a combination of the guy being like... generally nice/known for being gentle and gallant and stuff and because the entire thing with lyanna had the whole LOVE STORY angle going on plus compare him to his father people go like OH BUT WHAT IF HE HAD SUCCEEDED HIM HE LOOKED SO PROMISING, like it's... the whole mixture of myth + dying young and beautiful + the whole mysterious prince aura thing + the fact that outwardly probably everyone thought he was a swell dude except for robert and honestly i think he was well-intentioned but didn't use his brain, but anyway when it comes specifically to jaime and idolizing people:

I mean... he grew up doing that with c. and I already went through all the reasons why that's unhealthy but basically if you grow up with your sense of self being completely off/not existing/idolizing someone you think is your other half you will... tend to do that for anyone you like because you have no idea of your own worth

I mean he has literally no idea of his own worth at the age he's at esp since he still hasn't realized he's a better knight than most around anyway

jaime is also.... I mean, middle ages courtly-literature coded and putting people on a pedestal is the main point of courtly love and like he's deconstructing that trope bc he has to realize that idealizing ppl is not good but he's getting there

but like the thing is that jaime is also written as someone who basically likes... I mean the things I do for love? he keeps on doing them for people he loves all his life without getting much of it back if at all and not realizing he's own person and internalizing other ppl's hatred of him to the point that he pretends he embraced it when in truth he loathes it, but that means that the moment someone he thinks is a good/better person than him shows up then he immediately goes like PEDESTAL!!!!!!! CAN DO NO WRONG!!!!, which... then doesn't really serve him well when he realizes that it's not the case and I mean the entire disconnect between the fact that when he dreams about rhaegar + the rest of the kg they're asses to him and accuse him of shit that doesn't even exist and he dreams that brienne takes them out putting herself in between the two of them while when he's awake he's like OH THEY WERE SUCH GREAT DUDES but then he thinks back abt them treating him like shit and resents them.... I mean at some point he's gonna get there but again it doesn't really serve him well and that's also why his char evolution is going in the way where he stops doing that

(I would also argue that the difference in between brienne and everyone else is that he didn't exactly pedestal her in the beginning which means she got under his skin all of her own and proved she's worth the time investment and the contrary is valid except that instead of pedestal-ing ppl she has trust issues but that's why that rship is different)

tldr: because he has trauma and if you don't know your own worth everyone else will always seem better to you than they actually are the moment they do something you consider good/they appear to be better people/everyone treats them as such, or that's my two cents XD

[thousandmaths]

Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computing 2017

So I took a long spring break this year to go to a conference. 

TLDR: It was pretty damn good.

------

The Basics

When I first heard about this combinatorics conference in Florida from a friend at the Joint Meetings, I figured that it would be kind of like ACSB or GSTGC. You know: a fairly casual weekend-long affair with a lot of break time for networking and eating.

What I was not expecting was the Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computing (SEICCGTC): a five-day event with four parallel sessions, nine hour-long invited talks, a $100-top-prize student poster session (!)*, a banquet, a large-group excursion, and an official meeting of the Institute of Combinatorics and its Applications.

To be fair, there was still a lot of time for networking and eating: we had 20 minute breaks after each invited address and each lunch break was 2 hours long (yikes). I don’t know if it was just the sheer amount of downtime given, or if I’m actually getting better at this networking thing, but I actually met a lot of new people :)  One thing I was surprised by is how many of them were “regulars”, returning to this conference for the 10th time or more. But in hindsight, it makes a lot of sense: the topics covered were quite diverse, the invited addresses were top quality, it’s a manageable size in terms of number of people (maybe 150 on any given day, I’d guess), the administrivia didn’t get in the way much, and there was plenty of time to chat with old friends while still catching up in the field.

If I sound like a little bit of a shill right now, it’s only because I’m still trying to sort out what distinguished this conference in particular for me. I had a great time, but a week— especially the week before spring break— is a really heavy investment that I’m not sure I am willing to make regularly. 

(The issue with break is about teaching, mostly. Being gone for that week cuts dramatically into the “free” time between the first two midterms, and we lose a little bit of ‘momentum’ with the classroom culture-building when I don’t see them for two entire weeks. On the other hand, I will say that having the break to recover was a godsend.)

------

My Two Talks

Unlike most of the conferences I go to, I actually gave a talk this time. It was a 20 minute timeslot (including setup/Q&A) on the first day, so I had to come prepared.... But in return I got to ignore it for the rest of the week, which was a pretty good deal. I thought it went pretty well, but there was someone who came up afterward and said I was talking too fast “for us old folks”. I don’t think I said much of anything at the time, but in hindsight I really appreciate the comment. It’s not often you get honest criticism about presentation style (last page #1 sums up my thoughts on the matter).

I also gave a more impromptu presentation at a “Problem Solving Session”. I figured was going to be competition-style problem sets just for brain exercise, but actually it was more of a fast-paced way for people to shotgun research problems out to a crowd. Presumably people find collaborators in this way, but it could also be used to generate some interest in a particutlar area, or to talk about undergraduate research opportunities.

The problem I presented was considerably smaller than things most people were proposing; it was the question I picked up at the Joint Meetings. I made a mess of the presentation, but apparently got some people interested: an anonymous person came up afterwards and took a picture of my slide, Bernd Schröder came up and asked me to email him a copy, and Richard Low (who also presented a problem) had a longer conversation with me about math and grad school.

------

Bernd Schröder

Bernd actually ended up solving the problem; the idea he got to was something I was coming close to myself but (I can see now that) I fixated on a certain technical issue which he was able to circumvent entirely. As I suspected, it’s nothing groundbreaking, but the construction is fairly cute; it could very well be worth a Note in the Monthly**. He sent me a follow-up in an email, which I haven’t had time to read amidst my recovery process, but suggests a more substantial continuation on the problem.

Afterwards we sat down for a longer conversation, which turned out to be rather insightful. We talked about quite a few things, but the big conversation was about career trajectory.

His thesis was in harmonic analysis and probability (a topic that he initially hated when he took it in his first year of grad school). But by the time he graduated, “harmonic analysis felt like work” and so he switched over to thinking about posets. In case you’re not aware of the academic job market, Bernd describes this as a "tremendously stupid move”. I probably wouldn’t say so if he hadn’t said it himself, but yeah, I’m inclined to agree: changing research fields without even having a stable job is probably one of those things that an advice column would warn against. 

If you’ve been reading the blog a while, it probably comes as no surprise that my mathematical interests are very broad. Problematically so, I think. So I asked him how he was able to make these transitions. After some heartfelt but probably-ignorable follow-your-dreams advice***, he said this: 

I was very lucky to get interested in things, and then quickly get good results. There really is nothing as good [for establishing yourself] as getting good results.

which is equally impossible to put into action... but at least feels true. On the more actionable side, he advised to put a lot of energy into learning to teach well: maybe nobody needs an order theorist in their department, but everyone needs good teachers, so in that way you open up many more doors for yourself.

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The footnotes :P

[ * which actually had criminally low participation; if I had realized there were going to be so few posters I might have given a poster instead XD ]

[ ** On the other hand, maybe I should not publish it. I also heard at this conference that your first couple of papers should be really high-quality. I don’t know if this is useful advice (and in particular, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard it), but it seems sensible: it’s by no means expected to have a publication by the time you leave grad school (but this varies by field), so you can really take the time to showcase your full strengths and break into “the scene” on a strong foot forward. ]

[ *** In particular: he wrote a book when he was rather young. This is widely considered a bad move, because book-writing takes an incredible amount of time, and often no distinction is made by a tenure committee between different types of “publications”, so this doesn’t count for any more than a paper. And indeed, because some mathematical work is valued higher than others, and a lot of the latter type goes into book-writing, it may count even less. His advisor wisely told him this was a bad idea, but in the end he went with his gut and wrote the book. ]