#-i am explaining it in an easy to understand way to other ppl

[dykexenomorph]

GET LORE ASK BOZO! IM GONNA TRY AND SEND YOU THESE (probably more than) WEEKLY ACTUALLY FACTUALLY SO. TAKE THAT!

HOW DID CAPNCAPN AND HER GIRLFRIEND MEET, BECAUSE I KNOW EVERYONES FROM DIFFERENT PLACES? DOES THE FLYING SHIP TIE INTO HIRAETH AT ALL OR HAVE THEY NEVER INTERACTED? AND WHAT IS THE MAIN PREMISE OF BOTH?

OKAY IM ANSWERING THESE OUT OF ORDER BC I FEEL IT'LL MAKE MORE SENSE THAT WAY?

SO hiraeth valley (the part of my ocs/lore ig that came first) centers around (captain) flinch and (co-captain) flintlock who are brothers (they started out in my head as twins but i feel thats a little silly now, so i've been labeling flinch as the older one lately). when they were younger (12 or so), flinch and flintlock found a rift between universes (that they later end up naming Hiraeth Valley) that lead them to a sort of in-between space between different realities. magic is INCREDIBLY hightened in this space and you can do pretty much whatever you want to as long as you know how to harness said magic. FROM this rift, the brothers are able to jump into whatever universe they want. they do this and travel around different realities fighting man-made robot creatures coming from an unidentified source. theres (obviously) a lot more that happens, but thats kind of the overarching premise of it.

HOMESTEAD is about an inter-dimensional crew of "pirates" (who really are more like an inter-dimensional crew of helpful mercs?) aboard a flying ship called, you guessed it, homestead. Homestead (the ship) is powered by a small piece of hiraeth. The crew on homestead track the magic levels and SOS signals from different universes, and travel between them all using their hireath ship engine to help anyone in need.

the captain on homestead (Kate) met her girlfriend (Emily) through Flinch and Flintlock during the events of hiraeth valley (the story? series? pretend show? idk man). After a certain cataclysmic event kills/separates (hard to explain without telling literally the entirety of hiraeth's story and making this post long as hell) Flintlock from Flinch, Flinch ends up teaming up w Emily for a short while as he continues to fight the makeshift robots plaguing different realities. Kate ends up living in one of said realities, and teams up w Flinch and Emily to help take down the robot in her world. Emily and Flinch leave Kate behind, but her and Emily formed a strong connection before this happened. They don't end up staying in contact until later, when they meet again after Kate inherits Homestead and (unintentionally) travels to Emily's world. They end up staying in contact this time, and Emily pops onto homestead from time to time to hang out w Kate and co and help them w any particularly difficult battles. Way after the events of homestead i imagine them getting a nice little cottage together (possibly in hiraeth) and living out the rest of their lives together :]

[sevenpoyo]

some brooklyn slang ik for all the ppl who wanna write for miles and kilometers‼️

feel free to add more idk everything but i i am originally from there and visit a lot this stuff i hear a lot and if you wanna add slang to ur writing this is a good place to start, not all of these brooklyn or ny exclusive but that’s where a lot of american slang starts and u prolly heard some of it b4. imma list it ne ways

don’t use like 8 of these in one sentence bc it will sound weird and i can’t really cover ny puerto rican slang or any puerto rican slang really bc my grandad is a bum so if you know some add it

the city is manhattan, not the other 4 burroughs, just manhattan, cus that’s where everything’s at

to cut ass is to roast tf out of someone , to get your ass cut is get tf roasted out of you

wyling/wilding is being outta pocket, something being absurd or crazy

yeah nah means no and nah yeah means yeah idk why they gotta make it complicated just look at the second word

good looks is like good looking out

it’s bout to be winter and i’m bout to see mad christmas fics and shit but do y’all know the proper way to describe cold ny winters?

if it’s cold as hell, it’s brick outside, not regular cold, ny winter is like nipples so hard i see em thru the bra cold

ex; “how it’s so brick outside i walk to the store wit my hair wet and it deadass got icicles in it” “yeah it’s fr brick outside today” “i’m not walkin wit u in this brick ass weather for a bacon egg and cheese?” (actual convo between my sister and me last winter break)

fronting seem kinda easy to me but is like acting or pretending i can’t explain it with out an example

“why you fronting like you wouldn’t die if they text you asking u to go out with them” “you can stop fronting like you like cars it cool if you don’t” “don’t sit there fronting like u don’t wanna dance wit me”

being tight over something is just being upset or annoyed

rj is so smart they said “We say tight bc you kinda huddle close to yourself when you tense/stressed or angry” i had no idea i just be saying it i aint know it had a reason💀 it make sm sense now.

“who got you tight like that this early in the morning?” “my momma came home tight yesterday for no reason, she threw a boot at me!” “i’m so tight this damn shift change has me working all closers this week”

jack is like claiming someone or something

i talk old as hell idk what the youths be jacking nowadays

cop is basically to get, used to be mostly 4 drugs back in the day my dad said (he don’t know why im asking him this)

“just copped me some retro 3’s” “bout to cop me a few percs in a minute”

speaking of a minute, mostly for my non americans bc that’s who get confused the most when i say this one. depending on the context this can mean a actual minute, a short time or a real long

“i’ll be back in a minute” is short “i ain’t seen y’all in a minute” is long. idk how to explain the difference besides context

bop is a good song, pretty easy but i see ppl on tiktok use it wrong

bangs/banger goes hard is kinda like bob for music but i be using it for anything fr

“this push pop is banging yo”

mad can be used normal like angry but it also means a lot or really kinda like hella ig? i usually uses hella when i would say mad so ppl can understand me easier up here

dumb also mean very in the same way

ex; “my english teacher give out mad homework for no reason.” “she be giving me mad shit over the smallest stuff” “i just had some mad good wings so i’m cooling rn” “this shit is mad spicy u sure you want some?” ''This shit got me dumb tight'' “you don’t need no jacket it’s dumb hot out here”

smacked is like high as fuck idk how to elaborate ur just high

lit is drunk

“Yuuuur!'' A signal, a greeting usually used to catch the attention of someone or something very fun greeting and very hated by schools, it’s weird anywhere outside of ny kinda at least to me.

being hollywood means u get a little fame and think ur all that or just that u got a little fame and they’re jokingly hating

ex; “i saw u on the news the other day, “the prowlers return” u must be real proud of yourself huh hollywood?” “and here comes hollywood wit his trending tiktoks”

real talk is when ur about confess something or say something serious in a not real serious setting or convo

“real talk we play a lot but i love you, my life would be boring with out you around” “real talk i’d never do that to you foreal”

go together is like go out kinda, y’all kinda match behavior cus y’all a couple, this one need a sentence 2 i think. (THIS ONE IS OLD AS HELL ONLY USE IT IF UR TRYING TO RIZZ MOMMA RIO)

“he want ur number? he don’t know we we go together or sum?” “why she wanna act like we go together, ion even know her?” “don’t we go together?”

i can’t even explain it with a sentence y’all just gotta figure this one out 💀

A bodega/deli is a convenience store ik most know this from the movie but some ppl think it’s all stores or all spanish stores when it’s just a corner store

the owners of the deli closest to my granddad house is muslim. and so we keep track of all muslim holidays when he’s closed

an ock is the bodega man, miles knows the man’s name at the deli we see him visit, but at any other store he’d call the guy ock

dipping on someone is changing ur mind last minute, usually canceling plans

ex “we was supposed to go get outfits together but they dipped on me last minute”

staticky is like wanting to fight or still being pissed after a fight

static is beef or on sight energy

you good can really be anything but imma list ones i can think of

it can mean like are you ok? or don’t worry about it, or how are you, or stop, or do you got a issue? or do you want an issue? it’s all in the tone of how it’s said fr

'Word of my moms/dads I saw/ did/did not *insert topic*'' Honest term, no lying present in statement i feel like (my cousins be putting anything on they momma fr risking shit on her for no reason)

'hold it down'' handle buisness / take care of someone or something. can also be in refrence to criminal who handles ''buisness''

NOW EVERYONE SAY THANK YOU TO @rashadisback BC HE CARRIED ME ON THIS‼️

i hope this helps any writers that don’t live here!

[onigiriforears]

After approx. 2-3 months of studying Japanese I started to read free graded readers online and then graduated to a collection of short stories that I purchased off of Amazon. I thought that the reason I was starting to have trouble understanding sentences was because I didn't know enough vocabulary but it was because I neglected grammar completely. It was sorta drilled into my head off of Youtube creators to just study kanji, vocab and simple sentences as much as possible before even touching grammar. I feel absolutely lost, dude. I am at the 5 month mark now. I can "breeze through" kanji for the most part. (as in, I can actually retain it in a decent amount of time) I decided to study grammar about a week ago. It is SO FREAKING HARD. I don't know if there's something wrong with me or what. I don't know if it's supposed to feel like what I thought I knew is being ripped apart at the seams, stapled together, and then torn apart again....but it does.

Do you have any tips for learning grammar? Is this feeling normal? Can you tell me when the pressure in my skull will subside? I am using Bunpro's free trial but I'm unsure if this tool will actually help me. I write tons of notes to flip through but I still fail to give them the nuanced answer they're looking for. I really enjoy the setup of Bunpro and I want to like it since it's similar to WK but I'm not sure if I'm going too fast or there's a better way to learn. I stopped learning 5 new grammar points a day and started doing only 2. (I also have Genki I and watch GameGengo. He explains things in a way that's easy for my brain to understand.) Sorry for the long post but any insight would be appreciated. I'm a bit nervous asking people in the language learning community for help or insight because a lot of them treat it as a way to show how fast they learned/1-up others. Tumblr's langlearn community is a lot different with what I've seen (or maybe I'm just following the right ppl lol)

Hi! Thank you so much for waiting for this response--I'm sorry it took so long. Your message was one of the ones that popped up when they locked my ask box (they actually still haven't answered me on why it was locked so 🤷‍♀️). To make up for that, I'm gonna be longwinded because I think that this is a super valid and important question that others may also want to know the answer to!!

Pls pls PLEASE DM me if none of this is helpful or if you'd like to talk more about what you think you need help with!!

I think that sometimes when we're learning a new language that we know is so overwhelmingly different from our own language, we focus on the things that we think will be the main hinderance and sometimes we forget the key points. You might be thinking "how did I forget grammar?" but I would say don't beat yourself up about it! Many of us focus on the things that we think are our problems(--the last time I studied for the JLPT, I focused on my weak point too much and then was frustrated with myself during the exam bc I neglected the other areas.)

I don't want to lie to you and say that learning grammar will is going to get easier because that's not the case for everyone. Think of learning grammar vs everything else as learning different types of math or science--have you ever had a friend that was absolutely phenomenal at algebra or calculus but couldn't do geometry? Or a friend that was wonderful lab partner in chemistry but struggled in biology? They're struggling in biology because it requires a ton of rote memorization in comparison to practical application and math that's present in chemistry and rote memorization may not necessarily be their strong point. Personally, I think that's also why a lot of us struggle with certain grammar points. There are some that just click with us immediately and then there are others that we have to see over and over and over and over and over--you get the point--just for us to find a single sentence with it that we understand. If you're math oriented, we need to figure out a way to no longer make grammar points rote memorization for you, but to turn it into a formula of some sort. I actually write my notes out in ways that are like that--I use plus signs (+) in my notes not because the textbooks use them but because my brain genuinely reads it as "noun + particle + grammar point = a sentence that makes sense" because, for me, formulas don't fail. Your weak point doesn't have to be your weakness--you can turn the weakness into a strength that works just for you.

I've been going at this for years and every single professor or Japanese friend (or even people from the discord server) I have can tell you that I've struggled with pretty much any grammar point that included ~ように--and it wasn't because I wasn't trying, but because I couldn't find myself using any sentences that with those grammar points because I found the alternatives/similar ones to make more sense. Surprisingly, it wasn't until I was reading 夜カフェ for our book club that I was actually able to start grasping the meaning (ngl, I still haven't used it myself--I'm notorious for using alternatives); I was finally witnessing it being used in a way that made sense in my brain.

The frustration you're feeling when you encounter a new grammar point or overload yourself with too many things in one go is completely normal and I promise that a ton of us in the Japanese langblr community have definitely experienced it too! It probably feels like everything you know is being ripped apart because your native language may have a SVO (subject-verb-object) format while Japanese has a SOV (subject-object-verb) format--your 1-to-1 translations for your notes may not be helpful in the beginning because you're still trying to wrap your brain around the fact that your words still need to go in another order than you're used to. And then you add the new grammar points and concepts on top of that (like particles and other things) and it can become overwhelming and frustrating. Sometimes, you're going to find some grammar points just downright annoying--especially when you find that there's no equivalency to it in your own language. But don't give up!

I know this is a super cliché thing to say, but practicing them will help. If you can, I would make note of the grammar points that you're struggling with, try to make sentences with them, and ask somebody to check them and explain exactly why (or why not) they're working and then ask them for examples because they may have an even better way of explaining it to you than what you've come up with for yourself!

I can look back at old notes and see when I wrote a sentence as an example just because a textbook/professor used it but I didn't actually understand why it worked at the time and then I can also find notes where the sentences written as examples were added once I finally found something that clicked for me.

You've already done yourself a favor by learning a lot of vocab, kana, and kanji because now you'll be able to try out an array of ways to pick up grammar instead of just a textbook. (I will make a note that if you're looking to take the JLPT, I would recommend having a list of grammar points that you would need to know for the level that you're planning on sitting for because there's no guarantee of what will or won't pop up on the test.)

Another important thing while you're practicing: be comfortable with making mistakes. We all make them, but when you're learning a new language it's important to be ready to make mistakes and to welcome them with open arms because it gives you a chance to experience and learn in real time.

ALSO: for you specifically--because you're interested in reading, you might enjoy learning grammar through tracking the different grammar points through what you're reading and using the sentences as your examples because they're all going to be cohesive. And if reading books or other things totally turn you off right now, maybe games? Animal Crossing and Pokemon are very nice games to play in Japanese for people that are just starting out! You may also enjoy using Lingo Legend--it's an JRPG language learning app that I beta tested and I think that it's a nice way to review (it has some fun incentives). I'm not a big gamer, so I struggle with learning through games, but I've been picking up a lot of grammar through reading because I focus on finding things that I'm interested in, rather than things that are "at my level." When I start a manga, I will scour a ton of websites and forums and bug a ton of people when I come across a grammar point that I can't wrap my brain around because I want to be able to understand what's going on.

We have book clubs and gamers in my discord server, as well as places for people to post what they're practicing or to ask for help. We have people of all varying levels and different skillsets that love to share their wisdom with others.

I haven't used Bunpro, but I know that @sammilearns has, so she may be able to weigh in on that! And @tokidokitokyo @nihongoseito @chouhatsumimi @kanpeki-bekki @burgeoning-ambition probably also have even more tips that me--I'm trying to tag people that I know we all learn in different ways, so their tips and tricks might be just what you need!

Please weigh in, fellow langblr members! How have you been learning grammar? Are you game-ifying it? Have you turned it into math equations? Have you managed to tie it in with your special interest? I can't wait to see what people add to this post!

[beesmygod]

i know an anon suggested ocd to you the other day, and i didn't see the original message but i know it was a bit fraught. but i am a longtime follower who has ocd who also thinks you may have ocd. and with the reblog you just did i'm like well, maybe i can say a little bit.

i've been sitting on sending a message for a long time because (1) trying to diagnose someone on anon is so fucking weird, i am very aware and ashamed of this weirdness in sending this to you, don't worry, (2) it seemed so obvious to me and you've already talked about other mental health issues and such that i was like "no, surely she must already know she has ocd and is just choosing not to talk about it (completely understandable, i don't do it on main), and then i would also be weird for forcing her to out herself".

the thing with morality-adjacent ocd is that a lot of the base thoughts, in a vacuum, are fine. if you hurt somebody some level of shame is good so you can reflect and correct your behaviour. caring about doing the right thing and refusing to do things that violate your principles is good. it's the intensity and all-consumingness of the thoughts that is the problem.

i mean i say morality but it applies to other ocd too. you should wash your hands and keep your place clean as much as you can, but obsessively avoiding contamination by washing your hands for half an hour straight... etc. it's ultimately egodystonic - it takes the thing you hate the idea of the most and convinces you that is what you really are.

like you are genuinely an admirably principled person, more than many, and it's good that you do the right thing instead of the easy thing. but your anguish about like, not contributing enough good to the world as a comics artist and things like that screams morality ocd self-punishment to me... and repeatedly talking about it feels like a confession compulsion. which i also have, kind of! i feel the compulsion *to* confess, but i don't, because if anyone forgave me or told me it wasn't a big deal they obviously haven't formed a sound judgment because (1) they are morally depraved themselves, (2) i didn't explain myself properly and they didn't understand why it's bad, (3) they're my friend and being more permissive with me because they like me, so they're too biased.

this was long, sorry. but you're a good artist and i like your work and i hate seeing you suffer like this. and if you really don't have ocd, well, i'm just another weirdo armchair psychologist anon vanishing into the void.

i appreciate this and thank you for being kind+brave enough to send this while medication juggling is really making me insane new ways. i have not been diagnosed w/ocd and only started kicking the idea around not too long ago when cornered by the inescapable nature of my thoughts/feeling, the fact that no one understands what the hell i'm ever talking about, and seeing signs of it in someone else very close to me. and i guess incidentally learning more about how it develops/is treated.

lol your bit abt internally responding to how ppl try to comfort your "confessions" rings very true. i never thought of my posts as confessions but like im desperately trying to get a hold on a reality that makes sense to me because when reality doesnt make sense, it feels perilous and fleeting. like, doesnt anyone else feel like this? why am i the only one who sees this? how am i supposed to understand what i'm supposed to be doing to live a life that isnt equivalent to a sewage drain that empties out into people's houses if i cant even understand whats happening?

[desinyschildrenjkjm]

I think Are You Sure? is reminding me how much I love them, and trying to enjoy it with social media is really driving home how much I hate over-analyzing things to death.

I do miss the days when I just watched bts content alone, with no connection to fandom on social media except for maybe some youtube comments. It sucks to have so much fun, love the content and want to get excited with other people but come up against a wall of ppl nitpicking each detail down to tone of voice or phrasing (in translation) that proves or disproves this or that or that...almost like they aren't watching it but are studying it for ideas for posts or are waiting with baited breath for something to be upset about and thus seeing it everywhere and blowing up every small thing. It just isn't enjoyable.

If I nitpick I want it to be for things to be happy about...and hey, lucky me to have it so so so easy to find the happy things when I'm into a group of people who give me so much joy every day. I really want to uncomplicatedly enjoy this show as much as I truthfully do, without running everything through a lens picking apart what I'm afraid haters will say or defending things or letting my feelings be clouded and influenced by everyone else.

I may post still, but if i don't really seem so conversational part of it is me just distancing a bit from other opinions and basking in the show until I won't be swayed...even still i don't really see a point of entertaining negativity. It just bores me to argue in circles, explain to people who don't care, or be angry all the time. I don't want to see everything with negative spin to get angry or upset about or be anxious to defend, especially vague things we don't have all of the context to or rumors or things random internet people who might be 12 are saying. It's just so much easier to let go of the things you can't control or don't know, ignore nonsense, and let myself enjoy what I enjoy and think what i think.

people who are upset can talk to each other about their upset but I won't pretend to be upset if I'm not and I won't entertain it either when I don't agree or don't care. it's really that simple in the end. being a jikook missionary isn't my thing either so idk i guess i just don't care too much about debates about phrasing or details or vibes or timelines...when it is no longer fun speculation and slips into anger it really just isn't worth it.

I don't see the point of overly identifying with particular details or theories to the point of emotional upset and anger or arguing all of the time just like I don't see the point in going in circles trying to explain what I think to people who won't ever understand or agree...other opinions aren't worth more to me than my own...people may make good points or sway me but ultimately I have all the power over my perception and I won't give it away or waste energy defending it.

some people are just stressed about everything and obsessed with being right or obsessed with being afraid to be wrong and look at every single thing like a piece of a puzzle and I don't want to get that deep into it. Whatever the truth is, it isn't something we are likely to know details of...that's fine, that's boundaries, that's their choice, also it's fine if I'm wrong, even if i'm wrong about everything my opinions don't sway reality...it matters very little if I'm right or wrong as long as I am not being hateful or too attached emotionally to my interpretations.

Fandom is meant to be fun, it's really that simple. The second fandom/social media/discourse starts making me loose the joy BTS bring me....I'm out. I'm protecting BTS for myself, BTS are way more important to me than fandom and I won't let strangers on the internet sour them for me.

[dadsdaugther]

sooooooo I went out to a queer club with A yesterday. And we got drunk and had a lovely night and I met her friend and she was super nice and friendly. And then when A started to get drunk and she had those weird puppy eye face and then she started to have these emotional talks with me about how I am as a person and how we’ve come to know each other pretty well in a short time. Then she also started to mention that she felt protective of me and that she wanted to make sure I dated a good person bc I deserved that.

And she started to talk about why she couldn’t date me and she was very serious throughout that conversation. She’s usually only silly so that was new. And she talked about she had a hard time explaining her feelings to the person she cared for. And then she told me that she cared for me and that I’m so easy to talk to and open up to. And I think throughout this conversation I was so confused about her intentions.

She told me that she felt a lot more about me than she thought she did. And I realised that I’ve had it the same way. And I tbh knew that she felt more than she admitted. Bc well she stayed at my place for 48 hours the first time we met. Of course she felt something more than that. And then it started to get late and then early in the morning. And she told me how she wanted to make me feel better when I text her I have anxiety. And that she wants to make sure I sleep well.

And in the beginning I very much took all what she said lightly tbh. But bc ppl talk you know?? Then they don’t act. And I explained to her that I don’t believe words, I believe actions.

I know that she cares for me. I know that she thinks I’m wonderful and I also now know that she’s felt like that for some time. So the reason why she didn’t want to date me had literally nothing to do with me. So I was right.

now it’s 6am in the morning and I’m so tired and drunk that I can’t help but fall into all this stuff. She holds me. She dances with me. She said she wanted to follow me home bc I live a dangerous place lol not true. But I let her do that and we try and fall asleep together. But my heart is pounding and she comforts me and does breathing exercises with me. And all this is very cute n love. Here’s the issue

A hasn’t fully accepted that she’s into girls and that A is bi which is affecting her a lot.

so she likes me. I like her. And we can’t date basically bc A has some challenges which I understand completely. But this is one of the hardest things ever to like each other and not be able to do the stuff you really want to. And we were both very annoyed and affected by that. I’ve never tried this stuff before and it’s really absolutely horrible.. bc love and stuff is just not enough to make a relationship. That sucks so bad.

yea .. and then I cried. And she cried and then I comforted her and my heart was pounding and then she comforted me and then I could feel I needed to make a very clear boundary. So I told her: “it’s okay that we cuddled together today without having sex. But from this day forward I have to sweep all this stuff under rug and pretend like you don’t have all these feelings for me. Bc if I will fall into it and I will be greatly disappointed if you aren’t able to be secure about a relationship with me.” and then I also said “if anything changes with this way you feel about communication in a relationship and being in a wlw relationship, you will come and tell me but till then I will pretend like this never happened so we can be friends”

then we snuggled for 12 hours straight and made out constantly the last hour and my cunni was SOAKED. We still didn’t fuck bc I would be wayyy sadder if we did than I already am.

and yea idk then she texted me a few hours later after how it was going at my friend’s place and I had to tell to not text me for a while so I can find myself in all this

so I think I managed pretty well putting down boundaries but damn the pain in my heart feels very heavy :// and I know it’ll be better soon.

If it happens, it happens. I’ll take one day at a time. But no matter what I feel I won’t use my time on someone who doesn’t feel secure to be in a relationship. Even when I know for a fact that the reason has absolutely nothing to do with me. I know that A’s challenges should and will be solved by A and A knows that too.

she’s ridiculously caring and attentive and I hate the fact that she’s actually such a good girl bc then I can’t hate her guts.

[zo1nkss]

ok so you made a post abt the canyon and ive been trying to figure it out so i figured id ask you- what does that actually mean. like ik its a term for izzy fans but do you know where it came from?

I don't mean to sound put off by you specifically at all, but this is actually the 3rd ask I've got abt what "the canyon" is and it's getting hard to keep answering. I totally get the confusion and I'll still answer, but I'm just putting this out there for other ppl mostly. Might make a faq or something with some of the questions I get asked a lot lol

Okay so "The canyon" is shorthand for "The Izzy Canyon". They call themselves that, afaik it started on Twitter bc when I joined tumblr no one had heard of them before - and most people here generally don't know the term.

It was largely born out of a group of (mostly) yt OFMD fans who were accusing myself and some friends and others I wasn't in circles with of harassment etc bc we talked privately about our feelings regarding how they talked about Izzy in relation to characters of color.

When I talk about "The Canyon" I am mostly refering to that group. Since that time, they have grown and expanded to include people who do not act that way and more ppl who aren't yt and more nuance has been aded to the topic, but ultimately that is where it started and what I mean when I criticize them.

A big part of why its hard for me to talk about is bc I was in multiple call-out posts made public and targeted multiple times by the ppl who started this whole concept. It hurt a lot, I lost a lot of followers and sometimes friends who I thought valued and respected me. And when they shared proof, none of it actually held up.

I'm not trying to say I was always and only ever a victim, there was a lot of toxicity back and forth at times. Twitter is a hard place to discuss complex topics because things get twisted, on both ends, and then its easy to feel defensive. All of us at times made mistakes. But this largely started with yt people targeting BIPOC for our opinions that we were not even asking them to agree with or validate. Only sharing privately, or on our own pages.

It sucked. My friends and I dealt with a lot of actual real time bullying because of it. So I generally don't like talking about or explaining where the term came from, which is why I won't be answering asks about it anymore. I apprecoate that everyone wants to understand what I mean and will see abt a general faq including it, but this will hopefully serve as an easy response I can link to later.

[hugheses]

blorbology resources:

follow up to this, under the cut

my tutorial how to get images from the nhl website in 4k (you can do the same thing w lots of other websites esp news sites, you can kinda reverse engineer it if you have a basic understanding of how it works but i can try do a full explainer if ppl want? it varies site to site on how to do it so its kind of hard to explain you just kind of have to play around with it)

paywall bypass for chrome, firefox

ios shortcuts for downloading hq content from instagram, twitter, youtube ... pls do this instead of screenshotting/screen recording which will badly degrade the quality.. also my fav thing about these is you can set it so it saves the date to be when it was posted, not when you downloaded, and the account is in the file name for easy reference purposes. you will need the (free) apps scriptable and a-shell mini

download livestreams (and more, including nhl website videos) with hls loader

(feb 2024 edit: i no longer can recommend this bc it doesn’t work anymore 🥲) 🏴‍☠️ dl stock images (g*tty etc.) choose the 3k option, this works the best of all the sites ive found

t*rrent games 🏴‍☠️🏒 site 1, site 2 (disclaimer use a vpn dont be an idiot if youve never done this before pls follow a tutorial or something. also just use google translate for the russian LMAO)

a pro tip also is to search your blorbo/team/etc places other than google/youtube, like vimeo (this is where the cream of the crop content is hiding, i search nhl on vimeo every few days), photo websites like flickr, vsco, etc. really try to think outside the box with this! for example u can search inside books with the internet archive/google books. i found jack was randomly featured in a book about sidney crosby this way.

learn to use google and twitter etc search tools so you can filter through searches easily. this is more useful the more common of a name your blorbo has, and unfortunately for hockey there is many a tyler.

these are all varying degrees of copyright infringement so do at your own risk etc etc mr. bettman if u see this i have never done anything illegal in my life i dont know what piracy is and am making this post for nonprofit media archival purposes!!!

[psychologeek]

Uncovered Blade

"Who am I? (to disapear)" - Chapter 1, Part 4  fic | Part 1 | index

@thepromptfoundry

Getting back to the explaining, hopefully. I'll try this for Pride 2 Disability Boogaloo. Bc Nonverbal Cass is something we don't see a lot - especially not characters with no concept of langauge. more in A/N. If you haven't read the fic, I highly recommend to at least familiar yourself with the first chapter before continueing reading.

[TW: post-dehumanization (Weapon thinks of itself as "it"), mention of blood and child taught to violence. lmk if need more. my words are little hard now.]

Weapon is changing. 

Uncovered blades are seen - it had to find new covers. There were people looking and noising. It took time, but Weapon found the pattern. They pointed and stared at the blood-on-fabric, at the arms, at the uncovered stomach. They were looking and noising at the soft prey with all the soft parts all show up.

Bb!Cass: why ppl stare?

A random person: am I seeing ghosts or hallucinations???

*panicking over this kid, who's wearing bloody lingerie.

Bb!Cass: they surely see me as weak. I must show them i'm not a prey. And find better camouflage.

Even when Weapon and dagger point at them they don't stop. Just noising even more, their  body bends and goes in ways it can't understand.

Random person 2 *nearly shitting himself as he come across this little girl in a dark alley*: wtf!?? Omg, girl, u need help??

Cass *hiss*: if I threat enough, they would go hurt someone else.

It finds new covers. It takes them. Big cover, like a shirt but open, from a chair. It's bigger than all the covers, up and down, together. It's thick and warm and feel – It feels – ( Good? )

It's very important for me that you know what Cass finds is a leather jacket. It's too big for them, and they keep it for years, until it's all turn up.

Years later, Jason buys a similar jacket in a second hand shop. And it's the first time in years he remembers his past with anything but anger.

(Red Hood wears a red helmet to remember why he needs to do this, yes. But he also wears a leather jacket to remind himself who's he doing it FOR. Because it isn't about hurting people. It's about protecting those who needs it the most. )

There are green, metallic monsters all over. It eats things and doesn't let go. People come to feed it when there's light. Sometimes when it's dark as well, but not as much. Weapon watched it before. The monsters are common, fed in different times but constantly. The monsters have a big weakness - they don't move. Maybe they let people in the big building in exchange for being fed.

Hi, how do you describe urban view when you didn't grow up in a community, and also never allowed to talk?

(Asking for a friend)

Weapon see shoes one day. in a big plastic bag hanging by one of the monsters. ( See and WANTS. Weapons aren't allowed to want, but –  It doesn't have a master anymore.)

This is where I cry.

Weapon watch. No one's looking.  Weapon prepare. Weapon strike and run run run until no one of the monster's people can find it.

The monsters:

(Weapon has shoes now. Keep the feet from getting hurt, from getting cold.) Pants..? Fabric long and cover all the legs, so no one see the soft skin and prey. There was a big box, just reach and take. It's too big but rope is easy to get and tie up the edges. Dagger is covered and tied to pants rope. It cut through wood and not flesh. It slices open plastic bag to find food (not veins); 

It's no longer a weapon – Just a blade.

Yes I am very normal about the transformation, and the way Cass project all the changes on the dagger 😭😭😭

And the growth, in general.

And just.

A/N:

abt nonverbal:

I'm not there. I do speak, mostly. But I try to portray what it's like when the concept of langauge is a struggle - bc it isn't always about "why don't you use your words"

Sometimes it's about understanding that there are words. That there is a way to make others understand. And by "words" I also mean signs (like in sign langauge).

(And yes, it can be scary. But it can also be funny. And strange. And everything, just like everything in life.)

What I loved about writing this fic, is how Cass is very clearly disabled in many ways - but it doesn't mean helpless or incapable.

Cass's disabilities are both biological, aka born with (autistic), psychological (raised as a weapon), and social (homeless, no parental support).

But they go on. They do the best with what they have.

And I love them for that

(Deep inside, I'm getting closer to comfort my inner child. Reminding her that she's doing her best. That it's not her fault. That things would get better.)

[fairycosmos]

I have a crush on u and it's actually making me kinda sad. its embarrassing, I don't know u, u don't know me. and there's not really a 'chill' way to begin conversation (not that u'd like me anyway, so no point, lol). I get internet crushes are embarrassing n stupid. but seeing how u respond to people alone, is enough for me to feel something u kno? it never fails to amaze me how attentive & present & thoughtful and deeply compassionate u are to each & every person. it's never dismissive in the slightest, and doesn't feel like ur attending to an 'audience' but actually just so attentive and in tune in the most resonant way with each person. u care. u have such a great capacity to empathise w others, to make people feel seen n heard. and it somehow seems effortless, and just undeniably genuine. you're special. please preserve this precious part of u.

awwww angel you are so so sincerely sweet <3 dw i get this for ppl online sometimes it's sort of a parasocial thing but then it's also about like. finding companionship and security and a sense of true appreciation for ppl online in the absence of having it IRL and i can totally understand how that can morph into some semblance of a crush if you get crushes on people quickly. i really really appreciate it and am so deeply flattered for real <3 esp with how fucking unloveable i feel all the fucking time lmfao!! the thing is i know it's soooo cliche but i think it's just easy to read me that way on here when in reality i am just straight up not that emotionally or physically desirable - and u would get over it quickly if you knew me, i absolutely promise lmfao. anyway it's prob cringe and unhealthy but yeah i Absolutely do care ab the ppl who make an effort to interact with me and open up to me on here and i find a lot of solace in knowing im not the only one who is severely mentally ill and struggling lmfao. i very much want people to feel seen and heard like i rmr when i was 16 and people first started telling me ab their lives on here and i was like Well i know how shit it is to feel unacknowledged and if i can give that to this person through my silly little blog why fucking not - whether it resonates with them or not, whether able to solve anything for them or not. i don't think it's anything particularly special, in fact i think a lot of people feel the same on here which is why we're often so open and vulnerable with each other, but yeah i am just another person trying my best. and this blog has been a massive comfort to my during a time where i have been genuinely entirely emotionally isolated and honestly not reading reality correctly or healthily - i know i still don't. i'm like not right in the head in a way that isn't easy to explain away and i know a lot of people on here are too (lmfao sounds like shade but i mean it earnestly.) so i think it's a two way street and i appreciate the ppl who keep up with me and who i keep up with a lot, prob more than i can articulate. i do make the effort to not be dismissive and i really adore you for seeing that and being truly kind about it. ab the feeling of having a crush - again, i am seriously so flattered and blushing and screaming inside at the absolute compliment lmfao. if ur ever in a place where you want to get to know someone (and obviously ur around my age and you think we'd get along well) - hey my dms are open!! i'd love to know ya and keep up with you too. MWAH <3

[urlocalnonbinarybastardwrites]

hiii so i put in a request for the matching thing but you didn’t respond to it so im guessing i didn’t put enough info which i completey understand!!! very sorry about that, i hope ur still doing these requests if not i deeply apologize. anyway pls take ur time so so sorry!!

i’d also like to be matched with someone in pjo pls!

personal info ? 15 yrs old, i’m a girl, she/her(truly idc), bisexual, half mexican (white dad…)

physical: i have medium length wavy brown hair with grown out bangs, im 5’4 average weight, pretty tan, brown eyes, silver circle glasses, i wear smudgy eyeliner w/mascara, i either wear tank tops with big pants or big t shirt with shorts

personality: i’m honestly very weird with the people im close with, like very. i have brainrot humor so im always saying weird ass shit acting like it’s normal. i’m also very sarcastic and if im not very close with someone i give them like 0 reaction i guess? idk ppl tell me im nonchalant but that sounds rlly corny 😬 anyway im very embarrassing in public when im with my friends and they hate it but i think its funny idc!! im also pretty moody but im just a teenage girl!!!!!!! i dont get mad that easily tho like i can take a joke i just get ANNOYED easily but then ill be fine in a few minutes. also ppl tell me im very funny so 😇 meat riding myself YES IM A NO SABO KID I AM TRYING TO LEARN SOANISH.

hobbies/intrests: love love love listening to music, love tv girl, tyler, mitski, arctic monkeys, the smiths, depeche mode, the cure, lana, tame impala, beabadoobee and so many other generes and artists but i only know like 2 songs 😬

i also had a severe fnaf phase, avatar the last airbender, spiderverse, saiki, and obvi percy jackson

currently OBSESSED with slushy noobz they are my whole personality they are how i act. along with avascreams on tiktok ive literally had 6 different ppl tell me “you know that one girl on tiktok?? you act just like her” IM TRILY NOT EVEN TRYING TO ACT LIKE HER I SWEAR. also love sam and colby i full heartedly believe in ghosts just watch ima become a ghost hunter 😊😊

as of right now my hobbies are playing stardew valley and never getting my homework done, i also love to draw but im not very good at it. i also love painting but i haven’t done it in a while bc of school :(( i take piano lessons as well but again, not very good even after 5 years. i rlly like reading too but again bc of school i haven’t read as much lately, love playing with my pets (dog and cat) they’re so cute i love animals so so much i want more but yknow im busy, ive also gotten into working out bc im tryna lose this face fat🫥

likes: love carnival rides!!!! they’re so fun i love the fair SO MUCH. beautiful atmosphere truly. the zipper is so fun don’t let anyone lie to you. nature, i love going on walks in the woods but i can’t bc i don’t live near any😔 food i love food, korean, mexican, american, japanese, i love it all. english class! teacher is so sweet i love her and its also easy and boring so

dislikes: six flags. i hate roller coasters. annoying ppl like bruh stfu up OH MY GOD. when my mom asks me about college, leave me alone pls!

okay i truly don’t know what else to put i hope this was enough 😓😓

-faith 👐

Hey Faith, I am so so sorry that this took incredibly long to complete. I’ve been insanely busy these few months and lots of personal stuff going on so I really hope that this does it justice! And also also don’t be sorry I’m really sorry that this took so long

Your PJO ship: Leo Valdez 🔥🔥🔥 (man I’m jealous)

Explanation: honestly the best way I can explain this is that you’re crazy totally matches his crazy. Your freak matches his freak. is somebody gonna match my freak? Yes, someone will match your freak and that person is Leo. Starting off with your physical appearance, I think that he would be very attracted to you and I think you give a vague match of his mom like I feel like you look like his mom a little little bit, which is what kind of drew him to you in the first place I feel like he probably saw you in a crowd and his jaw dropped. He just thought that you were your clothing style. He also liked your eyeliner which he had you do on him whenever you guys got comfortable enough in the relationship he was like hey can I please have your make up routine done on me? He looked rlly hot but anyway- you guys are just so chaotic together with your personality like you match him so well I feel like Leo in order to make a relationship work with him. He needs to have someone that’s either vastly different than him or the same because I mean, I just see you guys as Deadpool and Vanessa, you guys so chaotic in public you guys would do so much embarrassing shit together and social anxiety would be afraid of both of you combined, a deadly duo. Whenever you were first getting to know each other, and you were more relaxed and chill around him less if you’re crazy with showing, that’s what kind of Drew him like he thought that your dynamic could be that you would kind of be more opposites, but then he slowly realize that you were just as fucking goofy and silly as him, and he would have a blast with you as you guys got further on into your even like just friendship that eventually turn into romance. You guys always have the funniest times together like I’m not joking. You guys would be the couple to go out with if you wanted a good time because you guys just yeah you’re chaotic and glorious and also really freaking funny and I mean yeah. (I would also like to let you know to do a deeper dive into your personality. I did research some of the people you mentioned that you were compared to and watched some of their videos and subjected myself to the painful amount of puns and batshit crazy, honestly I’m pretty impressed if people are comparing you) as for your hobbies, he would love playing Stardew Valley and I feel like he would romance. Sebastian don’t ask me why, but I just feel like he would. He would totally want Sebastian as I don’t know why OK I really don’t. I really don’t but anyway that’s just my personal theory. But he would love playing Stardew with you. He’s also a procrastinator when it comes to homework and work and taking things seriously in general so you guys would be quite the interesting duo and I feel like U2 would just end up making out during study date so if you want someone to study with? He’s probably not the best person. Also, I think that he would love your art and would be absolutely obsessed. If you ever did any artwork of him or just inspired by him like he would love that he would frame that shit he would brag to everyone about how good you are and same goes with piano he’s obsessed even if you think you weren’t very good after five years of playing he thinks you’re magnificent. It took everything in him to not compare you to Apollo because he knew that that would probably get you like blasted into the sky or something, but he just thinks anything that comes from you is good basically. That’s Leo Math.

You + Anything= Good.

He can never read very much because of his ADHD. I just feel like he would lose interest in books really easily unless they’re really exciting or exactly what he’s being into at this point, so I feel like he would get the being too busy to read. He also loves animals. He would absolutely snuggle all the pets in the world. I feel like he just loves animals. I feel like he especially loves dogs because they match his energy and he’s definitely like a golden retriever guy or maybe a Chihuahua guy one of them anyway dogs are very Leo core. Also, he thinks your chubby face is cute, and while he promotes working out for the healthiness of it, he thinks you have the wrong motivation if you want to get rid of that cute squeezable cheeks. (Multiple cheeks if ykwim) he also loves carnival rides and he’s a huge foodie so if you ever went out to him, you guys would end up eating more than your stomachs and belts can handle I mean yeah you guys would just be done if you ever went out to eat because he would order so much food and then I feel like because of his ADHD he’d be midway eating through another thing and then see other stand and be like babe. We gotta go there next. basically you guys would be extremely full. He also likes nature walks. I think that he kind of just likes the dirt of it because he’s definitely not afraid to get dirty and he loves just poking around nature I mean, I honestly that’s how I see him going on hikes like he’d pick up slugs, he do all kinds of like gross stuff. People normally wouldn’t do like I don’t know, letting a worm crawl on his arm or something.  anyway you guys totally match each other crazy and match each other’s freak yes just like the song, and I really ship it 💕💓💗💞💗💞

[obislittleone]

Hey, I just wanted to be informed about what “from the river to the sea” means? I’ve been looking it up but all I’ve found is free Palestine bullshit. In one of your posts you implied it has a separate meaning so can you please explain if you’d like? Sorry if I’m being rude or anything I just want to be informed.

"From the river to the sea" (Arabic: من النهر إلى البحر, romanized: min an-nahr ’ilā l-baḥr; Palestinian Arabic: من المياه للمياه, romanized: min al-mayeh lil-mayeh, lit. 'from the water to the water') is a political slogan that refers geographically to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, which currently includes the State of Israel and the Palestinian territories: the West Bank, which includes East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

At first glance, it has no other connotation to it other than the meaning people are shouting, which is 'Palestine will be free.'

It sounds very progressive and helpful to Palestinians when that's all that's said... but with the additional words that belong to the phrase: فلسطين ستكون عربية

It translates to: from water to water, Palestine will be Arab.

Not 'Palestine will be free', Palestine will be Arab.

Little white liberal ppl are writing these inscriptions on signs and protesting against the killing of Palestinians, but when they do, they don't even understand that they are encouraging Hamas to make Palestine an Arab only state. They claim they want to save lives while literally chanting for the extermination of jews using Hamas Nazi rhetoric.

This, of course, does not mean that all Palestinians are Arab or that there are not Arab jews. However, the notion of Hamas wanting to irradicate only the Israeli government is completely false when their mission was to mainly kill jews and try and take the land by force of killing innocents on October 7th. My friend Hasharon had sent me video attachments of hamas recruits shouting their kill count to one another and saying in their language 'praise allah, for all these dead jews.' They also screamed things on the phone like 'father, i killed ten jews, be proud of me, father, i killed ten of them.' They quite literally committed the exact same attrocities but on a deeply personal level. (Y'know, the same thing that people are condemning Israel of doing... except commiting numerous war crimes in the process.) Obviously, it is too complicated of a situation to take one look at and choose sides. For the most part, I side with Jews as I am one, but we must not forget about our muslim brotherhood in this time. Jews and Muslims are cousins, and they have the ability to live in peace. They have for thousands of years, and the discourse is only now coming from the ways this notion of 'there has to be only one bad guy' is being portrayed in the media.

There is no one bad guy. That would be the easy thing, to say 'oh Israel should be wiped off the planet because they are settlers and have no right to be there and by existing in that land, they are causing Palestinian suffering,' or to say 'Well Hamas is the literal government that Gaza chose for themselves and not only did they use secret tunnels to invade Israel and kill over a thousand innocents, but when Israel responded, their people hid them in hospitals and schools and made Israel look like the bad guy for irradicating terror.'

Do you see how both notions seem to fall on the radical of either side? It's why the conflict not only gets out of hand through the media, but starts to paint a picture that 'if you don't choose the right side you are an evil nasty person and you also deserve to die.' Or at least that's what my anons have been saying, but I digress.

The point is, by going to one extreme or the other, we make even more chaos in an already complex and sad situation.

Very few people in Israel actually believe Gaza should be destroyed, and likewise, I've not seen any of posts from actual Gazans saying they condone the death of others in their name. There are always going to be extremists, because unfortunately, there are some adults who behave like children and think they are of the highest possible knowledge in this world. Being well educated means nothing if you're only educating yourself based on the things you already believe. There's some Jewish wisdom that my grandmother taught me saying: to achieve knowledge is to experience the discomfort of realizing you may have been wrong.

Many liberals are very confident that they have all the answers in this time. I'm not condemning anyone, and I'm not excusing other's behavior either, but I want to make it known that you can't just say something without backing it logically and with context. 'From the river to the sea,' is a perfect example of that.

Sorry for this long rant I've just been wanting to get it off my chest as I've seen even more non arabic people posting the arabic signs around my city and non even realizing what they actually mean.

[our-butch-experience]

this is probably somewhat of a vent but, i really want to identify as butch. the label feels like its my gender. i used to identify as a trans male, but i just. that doesnt feel right. but i,, always never thought i could ever be butch bc that had to do with lesbian and i used to had a kind of,, bad opinion on lesbian as a label? (like the discourse about the gay flag copying the lesbian one and the bi lesbian 'drama', it just put me off from ever experimenting with that label till now) but ive grown out of that. ..somewhat. im still scared to outwardly express that or tell anyone because of that. its scary bc im scared the people i tell wont understand (like i .. dont want them to see me as just. a tomboy/girl. thats not what i mean, but thats how i feel like most ppl would think i mean) or will make fun of it. part of me would rather just keep them seeing me as a transmale even when thats not 100% true just because its somewhat easier to explain. im not a girl but if i say im butch people might think i am a girl and i hate it. im not a girl, im a butch. thats the gender. but i dont know how to explain that to people who arent really like!! lgbtqia+ themselves or close allies !!! :( or even to lgbtqia+ ppl, because theres some who think labels should be restrictive or whatev (which. aint true, ive realised that but yknow ! those ppl were part of the reason i didnt experiment till now so) or that just dont understand it. i dont know what to do, sorry thid was so long btw, i needed a place to vent about this, so thank you

the way ive found is just staying with easy labels for others to understand, but you dont have to, do what you want and i hope they understand

[positivelypositive]

Hihihi ! First of all wanna say I love ur page sm ty for posting ur personal motivational messages!! They are always so comforting. <333

I just wanted to rant about my major, since I’m in college and that’s like my whole life right now haha.. I keep struggling with getting bad grades (not failing, but not amazing enough to go to a good graduate school in the future). Even though it’s very common since I’m a STEM major in a fairly tough school/major, it doesn’t stop me from feeling like a failure and that I’ll never get better.. I know that I need to just keep taking steps to improve myself and my grades, but it’s so especially hard when my friends in the class are really complacent, settling for the bad grades and not trying to be creative with ways to improve themselves. They choose to be lazy instead and deal with the consequences by dropping a class or a minor that isn’t easy (relatively). I have one other friend in my major who is as motivated as me to do really well, but she isn’t doing the same minor that I’m aiming to do — so we don’t have those classes in common to relate with and help/motivate each other on. So if I’m struggling in the classes for my minor, I know my friends won’t be much help because they’re probably struggling more than me ! Or if they aren’t, they just aren’t as helpful in explaining things because they don’t have an intuitive grasp on it if that makes sense, and would rather just give me their answers.

Anyways, it’s just an overall frustrating experience, but I saw that u were accepting rants hahaha and I kinda needed to get this off my chest. What would u do in my situation? Try to maybe make some new friends? It’s hard because I try to avoid people with big egos (bc they’re annoying 😭 but sometimes they end up being the smartest/most motivated…) but I could also try going out of my comfort zone to meet new ppl, but I also have social anxiety so it’s scary hahahha

Much love 💕

hey anon,

thank you for your kind words! i'm so glad you took up my offer to rant and shared freely. lastly, i'm sorry if i'm getting back to you late. i have been away from my account for a little while and only saw this today.

now, on to what you shared- i want to begin by telling you how proud i am of you. you want to do better even when those surrounding you are complacent. that takes serious motivation. you're awesome!

as for not having someone to motivate you to do even better- i'm in a field where none of my friends or family had any experience so i was a loner for most of my career. eventually, i found people to share with but i understand where you're coming from.

i think youtube used to and still helps me the most. try to look up efficient study methods for your specific subjects or course type. now, it can get overwhelming because youtubers have their on-camera, pretty lives in extreme order.

what you want to do is start small. maybe pick one idea that you see common amongst a few videos and try implementing that. see if it works and then keep adding slowly.

remember to not overdo it. perfection is overrated and for a sincere person as yourself, it can quickly turn demotivating.

take care of yourself anon. you sound like a very pleasant person. feel free to drop by for another rant, anytime. sending you warmth and positive vibes ✨

[paperstorm]

I think most people think all gaslighting is malicious but it doesn't need to be. Gaslighting (especially when it's cultural) can be done unconsciously or unintentionally, or perhaps even intentionally with an awareness of impacting the other person but not realising that the impact is harmful.

For example - when you try to express an unpopular opinion but it's just dismissed or people behave like they can't understand how or why you could possibly think that, even when you try to explain. Imo ppl often react like that because they don't WANT to put in the effort to understand or deal with the discomfort of a new/unusual idea. They probably don't mean to criticise your intellectual capabilities but if it happens for long enough or often enough, it's easy to begin thinking "I must be dumb/stupid, I must have bad taste, etc."

Another example is when you're trying to get your point across but the other person disagrees with you by addressing everything else except the key point you're making. For example, with the Carlos situation, if someone says "I dislike his s4 plotline cz it doesn't fit properly with the earlier seasons", the general response (not including you in this) is "oh but it's totally possible for someone of his background to do what he did". Um yeah, but that wasn't the point? The point was that the show messed up the execution of a perfectly plausible storyline. But the execution is never addressed generally, instead the discussion is repeatedly directed to the motivations of the character. Which leads to the feeling of "am I shouting into the void? can ppl not hear me? am I stupid for thinking this when most others don't even think the problem exists? etc etc"

Sorry to go off on a rant about this in your inbox. But if always drives me up the wall when people get offended about words like "consent" and "gaslighting" being used, just because they don't realise that there's levels to those concepts.

I think that you're right, there certainly are levels. And some of the things you described could fall under the larger umbrella of the term depending on the specific circumstances. I think people get their hackles up pretty quick tho because gaslighting is a very specific term. It describes a method of emotional abuse where someone's sense of reality is repeatedly called into question in order to gain psychological power over them. It is manipulation with the intent of making them completely vulnerable to their abuser because they can't trust their own mind anymore. And The Internet™ (sweeping generalization, I know) seems to have somewhat decided it is actually a catch-all term that applies to things like any time someone said something that doesn't reflect your perspective or whenever someone disagreed with you and didn't immediately acquiesce when you demanded they change their mind. So people are, understandably, going to be pretty instantly offended if you accuse them of intentional emotional abuse when what you really mean is "you're kind of being a dick."

There is all kinds of dickish behaviour that doesn't qualify as gaslighting, like being dismissive or being unnecessarily rude or arguing with a point someone wasn't making (people do this to me all the time on here so I feel you on that one. The whole "I like mozzarella cheese" "oh so you HATE CHEDDAR???" phenomenon. It is endlessly frustrating when someone is putting words into your mouth and getting mad at you for something you didn't say. It is an unkind and lazy and bad faith way to interact with someone. But that doesn't necessarily make it gaslighting.) Things go both ways, too. People are allowed to just straight up disagree with you and not be interested in taking the time to understand your position. Like it would be nice if they were willing to hear you out and be open to a different perspective, but you aren't entitled to demand that they do so and they aren't being abusive if they don't want to, especially over something as ultimately inconsequential as a difference in fictional character interpretation. People can just say 'I don't agree' or 'I don't see it that way' and move on. Idk. I see what you're saying, I honestly do. And I can see how that would be super frustrating and lead to not a very nice fandom experience. But it's just really complicated.

[funnywormz]

Drama, Empathy, and Composure hehe

drama: who would you be in elysium?

hmm, idk if im interpreting this question right but if i was in elysium i think i would probably be some kind of nerdy bio-entroponeticist probably lol. entroponetics fascinates me so much despite being an entirely fictional field of study and the little mentions of the pale's effects on biology and the species that live around the pale make me so rabid........... the effects of the pale are referred to as "radiation" but idk if they mean ionising radiation or something else, and it only seems to have mental effects rather than physical ones from what we see in canon, although admittedly we only get to hear small snippets abt it in the game. i would love to study it and the effect it has on living things

empathy: who is the character of all time? explain.

i mean. i gotta be generic and say harry and kim here. harry is so easy to empathise with and care abt despite the fact that he's ultimately a pretty shitty awful dude, and i appreciate that a lot. he's such a fun character to play as at times but also heartbreaking and frustrating (in a good way) at others. kim, conversely, keeps himself on a tight leash and is overall pretty reserved and "cool", but beneath it all he's deeply flawed in his own way and is also just kind of a nerd lol. i love them both so much.

excluding kim and harry though, ruby and klaasje are my favourites. their relationship is very complex and more than a little tragic, and they're both very interesting characters in their own right. ruby is independent and self sufficient but seems to have a kind heart deep down, while klaasje seems to rely on others and human company and yet can be quite callous and will throw others under the bus to save herself. klaasje especially is such a complex character, you can never fully trust her and yet there's truth woven into everything she says. ruby is more openly blunt and honest, which i appreciate too. she's tough but she clearly would rather not hurt anyone, and is loyal to ppl she cares abt. klaasje is a victim in the situation but she put ruby in the line of fire to save her own skin and in the end there's no excusing that, but also it's understandable why she did it. idk they're just both very interesting

composure: would you rather sit on an anthill for an hour or stand in a river of leeches?

lmao i genuinely thought abt this one when it came up in the game and i gotta say im with kim on this one, i pick the leeches, although it depends on how many and how long for. leeches are very cool and fascinating animals, so i would enjoy being around them for a while and wouldn't mind getting a bit bitten. ants are lovely too, but when they are mad at you then they very much WANT to hurt you to make you go away. an hour is a long time when you're getting bitten and/or stung by a lot of pissed off ants, and depending on the species it could be rlly excruciating.

leeches on the other hand, have evolved to have a painless bite, because they don't want their host to even notice that they're being bitten, so they can suck their blood in peace. they actually use a form of anaesthetic to numb the bite area! so it wouldn't hurt at all. it's also easy to remove them, as they don't latch on/bury themselves in skin/leave teeth behind like other parasites do, so it would be easy to just gently pluck them off. of course, in large numbers they can theoretically cause anemia and even death from blood loss, but im assuming in this scenario there aren't enough of them to kill someone. and like i said, they are easy to remove and the bites are painless. so even if there were lots of them, you could just keep on picking them off before they took too much blood.........

im also just a big fan of all invertebrates and that includes leeches! they're worms in the annelida phylum, which also contains earthworms and polychaete worms, and based on my username it's probably pretty easy to infer that i am a worm enjoyer lol. i would totally let a leech bite me and take plenty of pics. so leeches it is, for sure :-)