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littlespacecadets · 1 year

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🌟 Pacifiers 101 🌟

✨ Whether you call it a pacifier, soother, dummy, paci, or any other name, many cadets aboard the little space station enjoy them! Here's the rundown of things you should know about them before you buy one! ✨

🌠 An adult sized pacifier is the safe and best choice. 🌠

While baby pacifiers are more easily accessible, they aren't meant for people with bigger mouths/teeth. Baby pacis are too short and are only able to reach just past your teeth. Pacifiers are supposed to end up at the roof of your mouth, which is why different sizes exist in the first place. If a paci is too short/small, then there are two outcomes:

Instead of your tongue keeping your paci from slipping out, you would bite down on it to keep it in place. Clenching your jaw shut for too long can cause aches and pain in both your jawline and your teeth.

If you attempt to suck your baby paci, your tongue will push itself against your front teeth repeatedly. This repeated force from your tongue is strong enough to push your teeth forward, which, if done excessively and over a long enough time frame, can lead to either an overbite or underbite. Long before that happens however, your front teeth will ache.

Adult pacifiers should not cause these problems. There are only a very few exceptions where they would not help, and I'll list them:

You have barely lost your front teeth. Teeth and genetics are weird, and while the majority of people will have lost their front teeth when they were 6 or 7, some people lose their baby teeth later than that. Some individuals even get an entire second set of adult teeth! If any of these situations apply to you, then using any pacifier (but especially a too small one) after your new teeth have grown in is an unwise idea. There are gaps in the bone underneath your gumline, which means your teeth are especially sensitive to any type of pressure and are highly susceptible to shifting out of alignment. It typically takes a year for the bone underneath to solidify, in which case you should wait to use a paci until then.

You have braces/have barely gotten your braces removed. Similar to the circumstances above, if your teeth have recently been purposefully shifted into alignment, using a pacifier can cause aches and movement in your teeth. This can be prevented with the very important tool your dentist gave you: a retainer! Adult pacifiers fit perfectly behind your retainers, which will prevent any movement and/or pressure on your teeth. I would recommend not using your pacifier without a retainer until: you are instructed to stop using a retainer altogether or a year after you are instructed to use your retainer only while you're sleeping. These times are greater than if you had new teeth because the older you are, the longer your body takes to grow - this includes bone. The older you have dental work done, the longer it'll take for this bone to fully fill the space your teeth have vacated; if your dentist has instructed you to use your retainer for the rest of your life, I do not recommend using a pacifier for long periods of time without a retainer in place, as you have an increased risk of developing an overbite.

Your mouth is too small. The question is in which way your mouth too small? For example, if your teeth are too big for your mouth (and you may have even had some of them removed to make space/have straight teeth) then chances are that you would have to use an adult paci. However, if your teeth are short and otherwise child-sized, then you may instead find that the largest baby paci (36 months) will suit you fine and cause no pain. In this very specific circumstance, a baby pacifier may suit your needs better, as, to reiterate, as long as the paci ends at the roof of your mouth then you shouldn't have any problems.

🌠 The Care and Cleaning of Your Pacifier 🌠

All pacifiers should be properly cleaned and sanitized when you first get one. Afterwards, they should be routinely cleaned to prevent bacteria and germs from growing and entering your mouth, even if they don't seem dirty.

Wash it with warm water and dish soap. Take a clean cloth or towel, damp it with warm water, add a squirt of dish soap, and carefully clean the nipple and the back of the shield. Other soaps may not be food safe - as in, suitable for something you're going to be putting in your mouth - so it's best to be careful.

Use pacifier wipes. In stores, there exist specific wipes to clean pacifiers with! Some are vaguely flavored, so even if you might pop your paci in right after cleaning, it won't leave a chemical taste in your mouth.

In the event that your pacifier needs to be completely sanitized (such as dropped on the ground or other unsanitary place or if used during an illness) your options are:

If you have an undecorated pacifier, as in one without any added embellishments, then you can bring some water to a boil, disassemble and toss the paci in there, stir it around for 2-5 minutes, remove it, and allow it to cool completely before putting it back together and placing it in your mouth.

If you have a decorated pacifer, check with the seller to see if there are any specific cleaning instructions.

After using your pacifier, make sure it is dry before putting it in storage to prevent the development of germs and bacteria - if possible, cleaning it after usage is recommended for long term storage.

Storage can be any container or location that is clean and dry: an old lunch box, a new pencil case/box/bag, a new make-up bag, a tin container, a tupperware container, a mason jar, a Halloween pail, an Easter basket, a Valentine's Day box/tin/mailbox, and even a drawer are all examples of what you can use. If your pacifier storage can be easily cleaned, then feel free to use it!

🌠 Pacifier Usage 🌠

While using your pacifier, it's best to avoid the practices that can lead to aches and pain, as previously mentioned.

Your tongue should not be touching or pushing against your front teeth at any point in the process, as this is what commonly leads to teeth aches and teeth shifting out of alignment. On top of this, you run the risk of becoming comfortable resting your tongue against your teeth even when you aren't using your pacifier, which can also lead to your teeth shifting out of alignment.

Instead, your tongue should be resting along the bulb of the nipple, which should be right below your hard or soft pallet. Suckling may push the bulb towards the back of the mouth (or, your tongue moves along the stem of the nipple), but as long as your tongue doesn't brace the nipple against any teeth, you shouldn't experience any discomfort.

You may be tempted to bite down on your pacifier to keep it in your mouth, but as long as it's properly sized, that's not necessary. In fact, biting down on it can strain your jaw, similar to how teeth grinding can do the same. If you find yourself doing this often, with the jaw pain to go along with it, you may find it better to buy a mouth guard - some models even have a pacifier-like exterior, and you can view them as a more teether-like alternative.

When using your pacifier for long periods of time, you may begin to notice discoloration alongside the corners/edges of your mouth. This is common for people who use pacifiers, people who have retainers, or people who produce more saliva/drool more than average.

Don't fret! Lip balms that promise "lip repair", "intense therapy", and "skin protecting" can be used at the corners of your mouth to soothe any irritation and prevent future discoloration from occurring again. If these are unavailable, petroleum jelly may help.

✨ Class dismissed - now go ahead and get the pacifier of your dreams, cadet!✨

#greetings and salutations cadets! just popping in again to drop this and nothing else #let's all ignore that this post has been in my drafts for 2 years 😅#saw a post and it made me realize i probably should've posted this a while ago whoops #agere #age regression #age regressor #babyre #totre #lsc post #tips

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d20-lesbian · 4 months

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AFTER AN OVERWHELMING WAVE OF SUPPORT AND ENCOURAGEMENT, I'VE DECIDED TO POST THE WILL WOOD ESSAY!!!! it's below the break !!!!

I would like to really quickly state though that this essay is my property, I put a lot of time and effort into this, so please don't claim it as your own !!!! thank you <33

I will be analysing Will Wood’s song ‘Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Marybell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally’. which, for simplicity, most fans refer to as simply ‘Suburbia Overture’. This song is the first on his first solo album entitled ‘The Normal Album’, which came out in July 2020.

This song, in the most general possible terms, is a criticism of modern suburban life, how it is advertised as “the perfect life”, and how this advertising is incredibly false unless you fit the picture perfect standard that these facets of society seem to require.

The song itself is split up into 3 distinct sections, "Greetings from The Marybell Township!", “(Vampire) Culture” and “Love Me, Normally”. I'll be tackling each section one at a time in order to properly break down what each means, what different analogies they use, how they all relate to each other and the intended end result of the song and the message it intends to convey.

Let's begin with 'Greetings from The Marybell Township!'.

This section of the song uses a lot of analogies that compare suburban life to a warzone, the first line of this section being “white picket fences, barbed wire and trenches”. This section also focuses heavily on the concept of the nuclear family, and it often literalises the term and uses analogies based around radiation and nuclear warfare. Such analogies can be found in lines such as “the snap crackle pop of the Geiger, camouflage billboards for lead lined Brookes Brothers”. Now there's a couple of terms that require definitions in this line. The first of course being “the Geiger”. A Geiger counter, which is what this lyric is referring to, is a tool used to measure levels of harmful radiation. This, paired with the concept of billboards advertising “lead-lined Brookes Brothers” when lead is a material used to deflect radiation, and the knowledge that ‘Brookes Brothers’ is an American vintage style clothing brand, this line really paints a picture of a seemingly post apocalyptic/post nuclear war but still consumerist and capitalistic suburban society. The last line in that verse is “buy now or die”, which ties back to the concept of safety equipment being advertised on billboards, while residents of this town have no choice but to buy the products. This all relates back to the hyperconsumerism that plagues our society, and runs particularly rampant in middle to upper middle class neighbourhoods. The very same neighbourhoods that are often referred to as “suburban”

In the second verse of this section there are a lot of hard hitting lyrics that to me really show that this perfect idealised life is far from perfect or even good, so we will work through them one by one because I feel that they all deserve proper analysis.

The first line that i want to point out from that verse is the line “takes a village to fake a whole culture” which is clearly a rip off of the phrase “it takes a village [to raise a child]” but it also references the fact that usually suburban towns are incredibly monotonous in both residents and architecture, and so it takes the collective effort of the entire population of the town to pretend that there is an actual culture to it.

The next few lines I'll speak on all come in quick succession of one another, essentially blending them into one line.

“Your ear to the playground, your eye on the ball, your head in the gutter, your brains on the wall.”

So let's break these down. This line is easily split into 4 distinct phrases, and all of these phrases have a few things in common, which I will point out later.

“Your ear to the playground” is a play on the phrase “ear to the ground” which essentially means that the person with their ‘ear to the ground’ is attempting to carefully gather intel about something. Someone having their ear to the playground simply reinforces the idea of this suburban “paradise” being. Not as paradise-y as one would hope, seeing as the people who use playgrounds most of all are children, so this line is demonstrating that the picture perfect life that this suburban town offers is actually corrupting children so young that they are still on the playground.

The next phrase is “your eye on the ball” isn't a play on anything and is in fact in itself a common phrase. To have your eye on the ball means to be entirely focused in and paying attention to something, and not allowing anything to divert your attention. Given the last line this line very well could be another reference to the corruption of the youth and the idea that their every day play has already been tainted with the hostilities of modern life usually reserved for adults.

Following this is another well known saying “your head in the gutter” which, as most know, someone whos head is ‘in the gutter’ is someone who will see some sort of innuendo or otherwise vulgar/inappropriate meaning in something that was intended to be entirely innocent, leading to others in the interaction telling the perpetrator to ‘get [their] mind out of the gutter’

And finally, in my opinion the most hard hitting phrase in this set, “your brains on the wall” which is clearly in reference to the notion of ending your own life with a shot to the head, which would lead to, well, brains being on the wall. These last 2 phrases come in stark contrast to the seemingly picture perfect life that suburban towns offer and advertise, the concepts of suicide and perversion are not concepts one expects to see or hear when imagining this idealised form of life.

There is one main similarity in each of the 4 phrases, that being that each phrase has some body part being on something else, your ear to the playground, your eye on the ball, your head in the gutter, your brains on the wall. This similarity almost offers a body horror aspect to the song, which when paired with the concept that this is written about a seemingly post nuclear apocalyptic town presents an interesting idea of possible mutation, but i'll be the first to admit that may be a little far fetched. However that's not the only similarity that these 4 phrases share, another is the fact that they are all directly, or only slightly modified versions of already well known phrases, a similarity that is found in many lines over this entire song, through all 3 sections.

I want to analyse a few more lines before we move on to the second section of the song.

This next line comes directly after the previously analysed line, and it goes “home is where the heart is, you ain't homeless, but you’re heartless”

Sticking with the theme of using already existing and commonly used phrases, “home is where the heart is'' is once again a phrase that you could likely find as a cross stitch hung up on the wall of any of the homogenous houses you could likely find in this idealised suburbia. But what Wood is saying in this line is that home is where the heart is, and that while people in this town may not be homeless, they are certainly heartless, meaning that they in fact don't have homes. They have houses. Rows upon rows of houses that all look the exact same in the horrifying monotony that is suburban living.

Following this line is the lyric “it's the safest on the market, but you still gotta watch where you park it”. These lines seem to be in reference to buying a car. The car being the "safest on the market" is likely in reference to the fact that it may have a lot of safety features. But this is immediately negated by the fact that you “still gotta watch where you park it” meaning that the safety features could be a reason that the car gets stolen, rendering all the safety that those features offered useless because in the end it made the car and the owner less safe.

In the third verse of this section, you immediately hear the line “so give me your half-life crisis” which partially is a play on the term ‘mid life crisis’ wherein which one realises that they may have wasted their life up till that point and they're already halfway through, but the use of the term “half-life” instead of ‘mid-life’ is very intentional, as the term “half-life” can also be used to refer to the half-life of an isotope, which is the amount of time that isotope takes to lose half of its radiation, which ties back into the theme of radiation that we see mentioned a lot in this section.

Later in the same verse is the line “if it's true that a snowflake only matters in a blizzard”, which is interesting in a few ways, first, it brings up the idea of a singular individual means nothing on their own and that they only matter when they’re part of something larger or a larger group, but i also think that the use of the terms “snowflake” and “blizzard” instead of something like ‘raindrop’ and ‘storm’ is very intentional in the fact that snowflakes are known for being individual, none are alike, every single one is different. So saying that a snowflake doesn't matter unless it's in a blizzard is yet another hit at individuality, essentially implying that in this town individuality means nothing and is essentially rendered useless.

The final line in this verse is “everybody's all up in my-” repeated thrice, and on the third time the sentence is finished to say “everybody’s all up in my business” and before the word “business” can be finished its overlapped with the beginning of the chorus, the first word of which is a very loud “SUBURBIAAAA!”. I believe this is reminiscent of the fact that in towns like this, everyone cares so much about what everyone else is doing, they’re all so interested in everyone else's business, and i think that sentiment being stated and cut off by the word “Suburbia” is essentially saying that ‘this is the norm, this is just Suburbia, this is how it works around here.’

After the final chorus of this section, in the final verse, you'll find the line “chameleon peacocks are talk of the town” which particularly interests me because if you know anything about chameleons or peacocks you’d find that they seem incredibly different as animals. Chameleons blend into their environment in order to stay safe, whereas peacocks are known for parading around bright colours to make themselves look better, but if you think about it the term “chameleon peacock” actually makes a lot of sense, a person who blends into their surroundings in order to make themselves look good. This sentiment seems to perfectly describe the homogeneity of the people that live in these perfect towns, they're all the same, they blend in with one another in order to make themselves look good, or perfect.

Another line heard shortly afterwards is the phrase “he cums radiation”, rather vulgar, I grant you, but it's important because it is yet another literalisation of the phrase ‘nuclear family’. It could also be a reference to the general toxicity of this societal norm.

The final line in this section of the song is “the dog bites the postman, as basement eyes dream of a night at the drive-in, with an AR-15”. Which is another use of juxtaposition, intended to cause a kind of whiplash in the listener and reinforce the idea that while in this place there is scenarios that would happen in a hollywood movie esque picture perfect neighbourhood, like the dog biting the postman, there's also horrors that lurk below the surface. (although clearly not TOO far below.)

Now let’s move on to the second part, ‘(Vampire) Culture’.

If you listen to the song, you’ll immediately be able to recognise where 'Greetings from The Marybell Township!' ends and ‘(Vampire) Culture’ begins, due to the insane juxtaposition between the two. Where 'Greetings from The Marybell Township!' is soft and sort of reminiscent of the 1950’s, ‘(Vampire) Culture’ is loud, jarring and grotesque, complemented with much raspier and strained sounding vocals compared to 'Greetings from The Marybell Township!' ’s soft and melodic ones. The tone for this section of the song is immediately set with much more graphic lyrics, the very first line of this section (after the opening scream) is “i dropped my eyeballs in the bonfire, we fucked on a bed of nails” which absolutely sets the scene for how different this section will be to the previous.

This song immediately jumps into using cannibalism as a metaphor, with the first line after the jump start opener being “I caught kuru from your sister, and I'm laughing in jail”. While this line is written to sound like the concept of catching an STD from an act of adultery, Kuru is actually a disease only found in human brain tissue, meaning that you can only contract this disease by eating a human brain, and what's one of the symptoms for this disease? Uncontrollable laughter.

This use of cannibalism as a metaphor is used again immediately after in the line “smell those screaming teenage sweetbreads on that 4th of July grill”, ‘sweetbread’ is the term used to refer to the pancreas and thymus gland of an animal, usually a lamb, but in this particular case it is in reference to the human teenagers that supposedly lived in The Marybell Township, or a least they did before they were dissected, cooked and served at a neighbourhood 4th of July barbeque hosted by the same people that were once referred to as their neighbours.

This line adds an interesting level of patriotism to the song and criticism of how America utilises patriotism and their love for their country as means to justify harming the youth, however a 4th of July neighbourhood barbeque is also commonly associated with white picket fence gated community America, which ties us back to the base criticism of that style of life and how it is seen as the “proper” and “perfect” way to live.

These cannibalistic sentiments are followed up with the line “smile and wave boys, kiss the cook, live laugh and love, please pass the pills.” which brings us back to the repeated use of commonly known sayings being taken directly or modified only slightly to remind the listener of the setting were in, that being a seemingly 1950’s era tight knit neighbourhood.

Phrases like “live laugh [and] love” or “kiss the cook” are both phrases that could easily be seen in a setting like this, especially “kiss the cook”, as this is a phrase commonly associated with aprons worn by grillmasters at neighbourhood barbeques, not unlike the cannibalistic 4th of July barbeque that this particular neighbourhood seems to be hosting.

These phrases being immediately followed up with a sentiment such as “please pass the pills” serves to entirely undermine the pleasantries that, until a moment ago, seemed to be plastered all over the faces of the people living in this fictional town that Wood has created. I think that final phrase brings the listener back to the realisation that not all is right here, quite the opposite in fact, and drags them from their momentary paradise.

Circling back very quickly to the phrase “smile and wave”. I felt the need to point out that this phrase has been used for centuries as a way to say “stop talking and act normal” which once again reinforces that these people are pretending to be something they’re not in order to fit in.

We enter the next verse with the repeated phrase “it's only culture”, after that line is repeated three times we hear “sulfur, smoke and soot”, which could either be a reference to how dirty and disgusting the ‘culture’ is, or it could be a different way of saying that this culture and the people participating are going to hell, as per the common phrase ‘fire and brimstone’ and the fact that sulfur is another way of saying brimstone, and smoke and soot are both byproducts of fire.

The last line of this verse and the first line of the chorus blend into each other, so I’ll speak on them both.

First, the last line of the verse. It goes “you cocked and sucked your lack of empathy, pulled the trigger with your foot to prove you've got-”

Putting aside the clear innuendo, this line refers to the idea of ending one's own life with a long shotgun. According to the media, by the time the gun is cocked and the barrel is in your mouth, you're not able to pull the trigger with your hands due to the length of the barrel. This line instead presents the solution of pulling the trigger with your foot to end your life.

So this person “cocked and sucked” the gun (cocked the gun and put the barrel in their mouth) before pulling the trigger with their foot to prove they’ve got-

And here's where the verse blends into the chorus.

Because the first line only consists of one word.

“Blood”.

The person who was shooting themselves with a shotgun only to prove that they bleed. Which is where the title of this section comes in. “(Vampire) Culture”. This section seeks to portray either the people in this culture or, the more likely option, the culture itself, as metaphorical vampires, who aim to destroy those around them. This knowledge makes the next line “didn't they want your blood, so why apologise for being blue and cold” make a lot more sense. After all, if these culture vampires have drained you of your blood, is it not their fault that you’re now “blue and cold”, as bodies tend to be if they lack blood flow. However, if you look at synonyms for the words “blue” and “cold”, you could also interpret this phrase as meaning “sad and apathetic”.

A sad and apathetic person doesn't seem to be the kind of person this ‘culture’ seeks to enlist however, and so one who is “blue and cold” is shunned as an outsider.

What Wood is getting at is that if this culture is the one who made you sad and apathetic, then you should not apologise to it for being so.

The next verse is short, and like the previous one, also blends into the chorus in the same way, by having the last line of the verse cut off right where the chorus would finish the sentence with the word “blood”. However in this verse, there's an interesting line. “It's only culture and it's more afraid of you than you are of it”, which is a sentiment usually used by adults to attempt to subdue a child's fear of something, usually insects. However it's interesting in the fact that it brings up the idea that this culture that has caused so much damage and harm is actually incredibly fragile, and would, in theory be very afraid of the concept of the individual, because if this ‘culture’ is only being held together by the silent agreeance that everyone will simply pretend, then the idea that there is people who refuse throws the whole idea into jeopardy.

This line is followed up however, by the line that blends it into the chorus. “Go on drink that-”, clearly intended to be finished by the first line of the chorus, making the full line, “go on drink that blood”.

This line is in reference to the phrase “drink the kool-aid” which essentially means to pledge your undying loyalty to something, a concept, a person, a god, etc. and it derives from an infamous mass cult suicide where over 900 people drank poisoned Kool-Aid and subsequently died for the cult. It is not a far cry to believe that this event and this phrase is what the line is referring to, as it's something that Wood has referenced in other songs, so it only makes sense to believe that this is what he means here.

After that chorus we move on to the bridge, which begins by listing 3 pairs of names, all famous or semi famous, and each pair being similar in one right but opposite in another, the line goes as follows; “were you Nabokov to a Sallinger, were you Jung to Freud or Dass to a Leary”, so let's break down these pairs one by one.

First “Nabokov to a Sallinger”, these names belong to Vladimir Nabokov and J.D. Sallinger, both authors who wrote famous books that both surround the theme of innocence, but in very different ways. Nabokov’s book “Lolita” is a story told from the perspective of a grown man about his sexual obsession and attraction to a little girl, and his desire to ruin her innocence, exploring the theme of innocence in a grotesque and frankly horrifying way, which is in stark contrast to Sallinger’s book “The Catcher in the Rye”, which explores the topic of innocence through the main characters desire to preserve their little sisters innocence, and in that desire displays hesitancy at the idea of sex themself. Both books explore the topic of innocence, however while one seeks to preserve it, the other seeks to destroy it, two sides of the same coin.

The next pairing is “Jung to Freud”, meaning Carl Gustav Jung and his mentor Sigmund Freud, who once again are similar in one right, but opposite in another. Jung and Freud both had theories on the nature of the human mind, but where Jungs was all about the concept of spirituality and how that ties into the collective unconscious, Freud's approach was much more focused on the individual unconscious and the concept of sexuality.

The final pairing is “Dass to a Leary”. both psychologists, both at the forefront of the ‘Harvard Psilocybin Project’ (before they both got dismissed from harvard entirely following controversies around the project) Richard Alpert and Timothy Leary were both psychologists and eventually authors who studied the effects of psychedelic drugs on the human mind, and while they were co workers they ended up with pretty conflicting views. Dr. Richard Alpert, who apparently ‘died’ and was ‘reborn’ as spiritual guide Ram Dass, centred his teachings heavily around the concept of living in the moment, (in fact his best selling book, written in 1971 was titled ‘Be Here Now’) and he believed that psychedelic drugs were not needed and that a permanent version of the same effects could be achieved through meditation. Whereas Dr. Timothy Leary advocated heavily for the use of psychedelics, believing that LSD specifically had great potential for therapeutic psychiatric use.

All of these pairings and examples utilise the concept of duality and speak on how every coin has two sides, which can easily be tied back to the idea that the picture perfect suburban life is just one side of the coin. This idea is then reinforced by the next line, “were you mother, daughter, subject and author?”, The use of the word ‘and’ here shows that it's possible to be two sides of the same coin at once, just like how this town, which is perfect on one side of the coin, is still terrible on the other side of the coin. The line is stating that it's possible to be both at once.

The very last line in this section is; “you don't make the rules, you just write them down and do it by the book you throw around”. This line combines a few relatively well known phrases. The first being of course ‘i don’t make the rules’, which can have two distinct meanings. The first is to express a kind of sympathy for someone being punished, and the second is to absolve yourself of the blame for that person being punished, a sort of ‘don't shoot the messenger’ situation.

The ‘rules’ that are likely being referred to here are the societal norms and expectations forced upon people who reside in these towns, the standard for ‘perfection’.

However, following this sentiment up with the phrase “you just write them down” is essentially saying that while it's not the fault of the people in these towns, they didn't create the norms, they still enforce them. They expect everything to be in line and perfect at all times, they follow these ‘rules’ to a T, and they shun and punish anyone who doesn't fit the standard and/or refuses to follow these ‘rules’, which is where the line “do it by the book you throw around” comes in, doing something ‘by the book’ means to follow rules strictly and to the letter, nothing out of line, and to throw the book at someone means to punish them as severely as possible, usually used in the legal sense to mean punishing someone for their crime as severely as the law will allow. So in all, the lyric “you don't make the rules, you just write them down and do it by the book you throw around” ends up meaning ‘you didn't create these norms but you still enforce them by following them to an absolute T and punishing anyone who doesn't.’

With that we enter the third and final section of the song, entitled ‘Love Me, Normally’, a title it shares with another song on the album, but of course this song is partially meant to serve as an overture for the whole album, meaning it shares some similar lyrics with lyrics from other songs on the album, so sharing a title isn't all that surprising.

The first lyric in this section is “do you know the difference between blazing trails and slash and burn?” which is another instance of duality in this song. Trailblazing or being a trailblazer means doing something no one has done before, paving the way for other people to follow in your footsteps, it comes from the literal act of creating a trail in the woods for people to follow, usually by creating notches in trees or setting small fires, hence ‘blazer’, as blaze is another word for a fire. However “slash and burn” is a method of deforestation that involves cutting down and burning a section of forest to create a field. Both examples include using fire to change something, but where one is seen as progress and positive, the other is negative, and seen as a means of destruction. Once again, two sides of the same coin, innovation and destruction.

This is followed up with the line “going against the grain and catching splinters”, which is a line i particularly like because while it is something that literally can happen, if you run your hand along wood in the opposite direction to the grain, you're more likely to get a splinter because you're essentially pushing your hand against the chips of wood, but it also is another metaphor for the dangers of not being the same. Going against the grain in this instance means daring to be different, not going the same way everyone else is going but instead the opposite of that, and in this example splinters are the consequences one would face for being different, especially in a setting like this perfect town, where everyone is the exact same as everyone else.

A little bit later you hear the line “well Lot he had his lot in life, Job his job and i guess you’ll too, and die”.

Lot and Job are both figures found in the Bible, whose names both share spelling with common English words, but are pronounced slightly differently.

Job, from the Book of Job, was a man that was tested by God, made to suffer to test his loyalty, his ‘job’ was to believe unendingly in God and see Him as always correct no matter what.

Lot, from the Book of Genesis, was a man who went through a lot, and the phrase ‘my lot in life’ is a phrase commonly used by people to write off/explain why they don't have it as good as others, they say it's simply their ‘lot in life’.

The end of this line “i guess you’ll too, and die” i believe refers to the fact that everyone will have their own job and their own lot in life, and then everyone in the end will die.

This theory is solidified by the fact that the next line is “The Lord looked down and said ‘hey, you're only mortal’” which is a play off of the phrase ‘you're only human’. Wood himself said that the phrase ‘you're only human’ has always felt weird to him, he says, “cause like, of course I am, aren’t we all? How is that fact supposed to help? I still feel bad. What does being human mean to you?”. He follows this up by saying that the idea of God saying "hey, you're only mortal" offers the same kind of sentiment, but in a “cosmically condescending” sort of way.

The following line reads “giveth and taketh away, till things come out a certain way, leave you wondering when they might go back to normal… leave you wondering why they can't have just been normal”.

This line presents a sort of hopelessness in the realisation that things are constantly changing, nothing is any more ‘normal’ than anything else, there's no such thing as ‘normal’, which is an overarching theme found throughout the album. Once again bringing back the fact that for all intents and purposes this song is an overture for the rest of the album.

To conclude, ‘Suburbia Overture’ is, in my opinion, one of the greatest criticisms of suburban, middle class, gated community, nuclear family life i've ever seen, it highlights the problems in that life and showcases how this kind of lifestyle in its incredibly rigid and restrictive standards is incredibly harmful to the very concept of individuality, because the expectations and unspoken rules set in communities like this and the widespread idea of forced normality seeks to crush any individuality before it even has a chance to blossom.

The use of metaphors and phrases that are well known and are likely to be seen in settings such as this gated community suburban town that Wood has created really paint a subconscious picture of what this community looks like, the use of duality, how every story has another side, and how nothing that is seemingly perfect from the outside is actually perfect on the inside.

Will Wood is an incredible lyricist and the fact that he was able to cram so much symbolism and such a powerful message into a song just over 6 minutes long is genuinely incredible.

Thank you for listening to my/reading my autistic hyper fixated rambling, i hope i didn't melt your brain too badly <3

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elitegreet · 4 months

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#elite #greetings #halo #scheduling this one cause ive been waking up past the usual posting time lol

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crimescrimson · 4 months

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Albert Wesker in Resident Evil Remastered (2002)

#crimson's gifs: resident evil #resident evil #re #Resident Evil 1 #RE1 #Resident Evil 1 Remastered #RE1R #Resident Evil Remastered #Albert Wesker #Albert Wesker (RE1)#Wesker #One of the most interesting things I noticed studying the game and the appearences of Wesker throughout is that when it comes to him #He only seems to be fixated on Chris #Hes a lot more confrontational and engaged when Chris confronts him #Notice the little smirk he makes before he turns around to greet Chris at the private residence #With Jill hes more focused on the tyrant and practically bored but hes a lot more gleefully insane (and emotional) when its Chris #Really set up the whole Chris Fixation wesker has quite well imo #I dont like wesker that much personally and yall already gathered i HATE Chris' character but I have to give credit when its due #Its a shame they kinda wasted it #If they are remaking 5 I hope they expand on that more #The post credits in 4r of Wesker watching Chris in Revelations on the screen was another good setup #CVX hooks onto RE1R perfectly and that 4r cutscene also hooks onto that great its just that re5 kinda drops the ball a lil #Because Wesker is blindsided by Chris when thats supremely out of character for the man absolutely obsessed with him #To not know where he is at all times #I kinda believe he only took Jill to make sure Chris would find him eventually #Anyways this is the last character focused set. Last ones are just alternative outfits now which is just Jills 3 alts and cowboy rebecca

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milkbreadtoast · 1 year

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"The perfect orv dub/Kim Dokja voice doesnt exis-"

EXPLAIN THIS!!!!! (@voiceactorken on youtube!!!)

#orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #omniscient reader #전지적 독자 시점 #kim dokja #yu junghyeok #yoo joonghyuk #desperately trying to share this fandub w everyone i can so posting abt it here too #i even did a quick edit w the english panels so its easy to follow along #im only doing it for this vid only tho PLS CHECK THE REST OUT ON HIS CHANNEL #BUT ANYWAY THIS DOKJA VOICE IS TOOOO GOOD??? IM LITCHERALLY OBSESSED #like i feel like dokja is a chara thats hard to get just right #BUT THIS GUY.... HE IS DOKJA #LIKE... JUST WATCH IT IM SPEECHLESS #AND ALSO WATCH THE NEW YRS GREETING ONE ITS SOO CUTE #his voice and acting are both SOOOO perfect???#literally dropped to my knees in despair when i found out this was a fandub I WANT HIM TO BE OFFICIALLY CAST AS DOKJA SO BAD #THIS IS WAY TOO GOOD TO BE A FANDUB..... SOBS #yjh is amazing too but dokja is the real star of this fandub imo (and im yjh bias KDJSK)#like i could imagine other deep voiced pro VAs for yjh (eg jang minhyeok)#but this guy... i didnt picture dokja sounding like this but after hearing him i now i dont want anyone else😭😭#IM LIKE THIS IS IT. THIS IS THE ONE...#watch them cast some other pro VA as dokja and ill just be mourning bc it just doesnt hit the same as mr ken from youtube

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glysaturn · 6 months

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the only post of mine that got permanently flagged in the tumblr purge of 2018, and you know what, i still like it, so i'm reposting it as cropped version, after all this time, yes

#any time i happen to stumble into the flagged posts section #it's always sitting in there right at the top #it greets me like an old friend #and i'm like aw it's actually such a sweet drawing #there wasn't even anything particularly ns/fw :/#but i never appealed it bc i thought. well..#i GUESS two people's crotches touching is a bit too much!#spuriken #overwatch #genji x cassidy #genji shimada #cole cassidy #colton cassidy #glysarts

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winterofherdiscontent · 5 days

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tfw you've had the same insta art account for about 9 years or so and Meta Services decides you need to be deleted asap because of a complaint over copyright (which is totally fair because = fanart) but also won't let you appeal to find out the details so, yeah...

#came back to my social media and emails to find this official meta email to greet me ( nice )#txt. post #tw gif warning

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quillpokebiology · 3 months

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Millcery and Alcreamie Body Language, Behaviours, and Culture

I love Alcreamie a lot, and I find them very interesting. I genuinely have nothing else to say lol

Body Language & Behaviour

Swaying

I'm sure many Alcreamie trainers have noticed this cute little behavior they do. Alcreamie sway back and fourth for a couple of main reasons: the first one is to better ground themselves if their cream starts slipping, the second is because they are uneasy and checking their surroundingd, the third can actually be a sign that they are content, and the fourth can be a sign that they dont like somethin. It can be difficult to tell the reason why your Alcreamie is swaying, so it's best to look at their expression to check. For example: the yellow Alcreamie is swaying while turning to her side and putting a hand over her mouth, showing that she feels curious about this place and is checking her surroundings.

This Alcreamie is grossed and displeased about something (I showed her broccoli and she no likey 😔)

Spinning

The behaviour that Milcery is most known for. Milcery spin to show that they are very happy and excited. They will often grab something to spin with them, be that a strawberry sweet or a piece of lint they found on the floor. Alcreamie spin too, but Milcery do it a lot more often.

Shaking

A behaviour seen in Milcery, and basically their version of swaying. The shaking is more similar to jiggling, and Milcery do this when their happy or trying to get your attention.

Goop

When Alcreamie feel scared, they will melt into goop. It's not as goopy as you may think, like with ditto, it's more clumping and doesn't go all the way. Think of it like how Dewgong l shrink into themselves. That's the best way I can describe it.

Sweating

Believe it or not, milcer and alcreamie sweat, just like us! Though, it looks a little different. Instead of water, the sweat is the color of their cream and is thicker, which can leave piles of wet cream under them. No, there is a 95% chance your milcery/alcreamie is fine. This is a completely normal behaviour, thought I suggest taking them out of the hot whether or seeing what their stressor is.

Deflating

When sad, bored, or embarrassed, Milcery deflate.

"Jumping"

A hopping motion that Alcreamie do when they want something.

Shaking

Milcery shake when they're happy or trying to tell you something.

Raised Body

Alcreamie raise the cream on their body when they feel surprised or threatened. Think of it like how a meowth arches its back when it's scared.

Courting

Alcreamie prefer to breed asexually, so they don't have many courting behaviours. But when they do find a mate, they'll do things like make them cream, hold their hand (if their partner has a hand), hug them, kiss them, etc. Milcery court similarity, but just don't make their partners cream because they are unable to.

Cream Making

I mentioned that Alcreamie will make cream for their mates, but they also make cream for their groups to reestablish bonds. This extends to their trainers as well. With their trainers, Alcreamie will give them cream they make to get closer to them or to reestablish already made bonds.

Tapping and Slapping

When Milcery/Alcreamie want to be left alone, like when they're being petted when they don't want to, they'll gently tap your hand. If you don't stop petting them, they'll end up giving quick soft slaps to your hand. Pokemon like Meowth and Purloin do this as well.

Zoomies

Milcery get the Zoomies. Alcreamie don't bcuz they're too slow, lol. They get the zoomies when they can't contain the excitement.

Kissing

Milcery/Alcreamie kiss anyone they like to show affection, be that their friends, family, mates, or trainers, most often on the cheek. It feels weird at first (you get frosting in your face), but you get used to it.

Decorating

Alcreamie decorate everything. Decorating id when Alcreamie (specifically Alcreamie, not usually done by Milcery), is when Alcreamie find an object they like, so they make different designs on it using their cream or other items they find. In the wild, they decorate their homes with flowers or their cream (which can bring unwanted bugs), but on the house, this can translate to them decorating their pokeball or their toys. I recommend getting them stickers.

Kneading

You know, like makin biscuits? Alcreamie do s kneading motion on the spot they are trying to get comfortable.

Culture

Groups

In the wild, milcery and alcreamie live in groups with other members of their kind, and this behavoiur extends to captivity as well. If you have a milcery or alcreamie, ir suggest trying to find other trainers with milcery/alcreamie and setting up play dates with them, because they can get lonely without it. Moving on, these groups can range from 10 to 30, with the largest Alcreamie group in recorded history being a group of Alcreamie with 250 members in 1951, Wyndon, Galar. While they prefer Alcreamie, they have been know to except other pokemon into their groups (one time at the center there was a group of 6 Alcreamie who were all in a polygamous relationship, and one male Roselia that decided to join them in their poly. I think about them a lot). A group of Alcreamie can be called a Creamery.

Raising

In milcery/alcreamie groups, they take the "it takes a village to raise a kid" to heart, with the entire group raising them. The mother Alcreamie will provide the young milcery with milk (fun fact: Alcreamie are one of the few non mammalian pokemon that can produce milk), while the other milcery/alcreamie will do the rest; like providing shelter and babysitting.

Naming

Naming is common in pokemon that live in groups. Alcreamie do name themselves and their young, which is just a variable of sounds. It's pretty difficult to know if it means anything since they don't have a written language like Pawniard or Weavile.

Celebrating

Believe it or not, Alcreamie do have gatherings where they celebrate. What they celebrate varies widely. They celebrate for things like food, rain, fertility, or even because it might just be a sunny day. Some researchers believe that Alcreamie could have religious festivals, but there isn't much proof to confirm any of this, let alone if they even know what religion is. They celebrate by singing (it's cute as Hell), dancing, eating, and playing. Usually hold these celebrations in wide open spaces.

Cliques

Yes, Alcreamie groups have cliques, and they work just how you'd expect. Younger Milcery tend to gravitate towards each other, elderly Alcreamie like to have close friends their age, and Alcreamie like to form close friendships with Milcery/Alcreamie with similar interests. It might not seem like much, but this shows that Alcreamie have social learning skills and social cognitive skills as well, which is something to note.

Evolution Parties

This falls into the celebration category, but I'm putting it here because this is going in the order I remember. Unlike a lot of other pokemon who evolve with items (like Raichu or Scizor), Milcery and Alcreamie make finding sweets a big event. When Milcery come of age, a bunch if Alcreamie will gather as many sweets (as in things like strawberry sweets, blueberry streets, clover sweets, etc), take them back to their camp, and lay them out in big organized piles for the Milcery to choose which one they want to evolve with. For Alcreamie, this is seen as a coming of age for growing Milcery who are about to become Alcreamie, a d they celebrate by playing games, eating a lot of food, and friendly battles to test out their newly found strength.

Weddings

You read that right. Alcreamie have weddings. If Alcreamie do matr, many of them are polygamous, so the wedding can be between 2-6 pokemon (sometimes more). Alcreamie's weddings are celebrated when an Alcreamie and its partner (since their partner isn't always an Alcreamie) will celebrate with their friends and decorate different foods they have gathered. It's not as big of a celebration as human weddings, but it's something.

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