#Define Your Goals and Objectives

[quickmetrix]

10 simple step to social media analytics success

Understanding the Importance of Social Media Analytics Define Your Goals and Objectives Identify Key Metrics to Measure Choose the Right Social Media Analytics Tools Set Up Tracking and Monitoring Systems Collect and Analyze Data Gain Insights and Make Data-Driven Decisions Monitor Competitors and Industry Trends Optimize Your Social Media Strategy Measure and Track Progress

[luna-azzurra]

The Villain Checklist!

Creating a villain is a delicate art, much like crafting a masterpiece. To ensure your antagonist leaps off the page with depth, consider these essential elements for your villain checklist:

Motivation: Every great villain is driven by a potent motivation, one that fuels their actions and sets them on their dark path. Explore their backstory and unearth the core reason behind their villainy. Are they seeking power, revenge, redemption, or something more sinister?

Complexity: Gone are the days of one-dimensional villains twirling mustaches and cackling maniacally. Infuse your antagonist with layers of complexity and nuance. Perhaps they possess redeeming qualities or wrestle with inner conflicts that humanize their actions.

Flaws and Vulnerabilities: Despite their nefarious intentions, villains should be flawed beings with vulnerabilities. These weaknesses not only add depth to their character but also create opportunities for conflict and growth throughout your story.

Backstory: Delve into your villain's past to uncover formative experiences that shaped their present disposition. Trauma, betrayal, or societal pressures can all contribute to their descent into villainy, providing rich narrative fodder for exploration.

Goals and Ambitions: Just as heroes strive for noble objectives, villains pursue their own twisted goals with fervor and determination. Define what your antagonist hopes to achieve and the lengths they're willing to go to attain it, even if it means sacrificing everything in their path.

Antagonistic Traits: From cunning intellect to ruthless brutality, equip your villain with traits that make them a formidable adversary for your protagonist. Consider how their strengths and weaknesses complement each other, creating dynamic conflicts that propel your story forward.

Relationships and Alliances: Villains don't operate in isolation; they forge alliances, manipulate allies, and cultivate relationships to further their agendas. Develop the connections your antagonist shares with other characters, be they loyal minions or reluctant collaborators, to add depth to their character dynamics.

Moral Justification (from their perspective): While their actions may be abhorrent to society, villains often believe they're justified in their pursuits. Explore your antagonist's moral code and the twisted logic that rationalizes their behavior, offering readers insight into their twisted worldview.

Arc of Transformation: Just as protagonists undergo arcs of growth and change, villains should experience their own journey of transformation. Whether it's redemption, downfall, or something altogether unexpected, chart the evolution of your antagonist throughout the narrative.

Memorable Traits: Give your villain distinctive traits or quirks that leave a lasting impression on readers. Whether it's a chilling catchphrase, a distinctive appearance, or a haunting backstory, give your antagonist elements that linger in the minds of your audience long after they've closed the book.

[cyberclouddream]

Inheritances from Mother

This can also be hidden or suppressed aspects of your mother or key maternal figure.

Aries/Mars in the 12th House

sharp intense gaze with bright eyes; high energy levels or quick metabolism; strong or angular facial features, like prominent cheekbones

impulsiveness or eagerness to take action; competitive streak, or a natural drive to "win" or come first; very direct communication style, often blunt or straightforward

prone to headaches or stress-related tension; strong cardiovascular system; quick recovery from minor injuries or illness

Talents: strong athletic ability; natural leadership skills; starting projects enthusiastically; rallying people together

Mars: hidden injuries or tendencies to ignore signs or stress or fatigue; tend to have sudden bursts of energy followed by exhaustion, benefiting from alone time, repressed anger or competitive spirit

Taurus/Venus in the 12th House

sturdy or well-defined build with natural strength; smooth, often attractive skin; love for physical comforts, like blankets, plush toys, or scented candles

stubbornness and persistence in achieving goals; appreciation for luxury, beauty or sensory pleasure; tendency to take your time, like preferring a steady, relaxed pace

struggles with weight management; sensitive throat or neck, making you prone to colds or allergies; good stamina

Talents: eye for beauty and aesthetics, whether in art or design; culinary skills, particularly at making delicious meals; strong gardening or nurturing abilities

Venus: tendencies towards indulgence or escapism, particularly through food and comfort, which can lead to weight fluctuations or emotional eating

Gemini/Mercury in the 12th House

quick movements and expressive hands; youthful appearance, often look younger than their age; clear, communicative voice, often melodic/musical or chatty

curiosity or thirst for knowledge; "gift of gab", with a tendency to talk a lot, like carrying a conversation for ages without breaking a sweat; restless mind, always jumping from what idea to the next

energetic but may experience anxiety or insomnia; respiratory issues, like allergies or asthma; fast metabolism, tend to keep their weight in check without much effort

Talents: excellent communication skills, both written and verbal; quick adaptability to new situations or environments; talent for storytelling or entertaining others through humor

Mercury: mental restlessness and difficulty expressing feelings; anxiety and overthinking, benefiting from outlets for their thoughts like journaling or talking to friends

Cancer/Moon in the 12th House

round, gentle features or a soft face; sensitive stomach or digestive system; drawn to nostalgic objects, like family heirlooms or photos

deep emotional intuition and empathy; protective instincts, especially toward family or loved ones; moodiness, emotions shift easily

sensitive digestive system, affected by stress or emotions; tendency to hold onto water weight, making hydration important; strong immune system but may feel physically off when emotionally drained

Talents: great at understanding emotions; good intuitive abilities; nurturing skills, whether in caregiving or teaching; strong artistic talents, especially in visual arts or music

Moon: strong connection to your subconscious; strong emotional sensitivity; fluctuating moods or struggles with boundaries

Leo/Sun in the 12th House

thick, voluminous hair that draws attention; strong, upright posture with natural confidence; eye-catching personal style, with a tendency towards bold colors or statement pieces

need for recognition or acknowledgement; big-hearted and generous nature, often giving freely to those they care about; natural leadership qualities, with a tendency to step into authority or inspire others

tend to recover quickly from ailments; prone to heart-related issues, if they don’t manage stress well; high energy levels, benefiting from activities like dancing or sports

Talents: charismatic or performance skills, whether in acting or music; creative talents, particularly in theater or visual arts; strong leadership abilities that motivate and uplift others

Sun: struggles with self-identity and recognition, leading to feelings of insecurity; may experience burnout from needing constant validation, which impacts their mental health and energy levels

Virgo/Mercury in the 12th House

clear, glowing skin due to focus on health and cleanliness; precise, meticulous hand movements or gestures (type to fold a fitted sheet perfectly); good physical health, with a focus on taking care of themselves

always noticing small things or obsessed with details in some way (may ask questions often); analytical thinkers, love to solve problems and make sense of things; super organized, their space tends to be tidy and efficient

health conscious, often focusing on nutrition and wellness; prone to digestive issues due to stress levels or perfectionism; good overall health but may struggle with anxiety or overthinking

Talents: exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail; analytical abilities, particularly in problem-solving or research; talents in health and wellness, whether through fitness or nutrition

Mercury: perfectionism or overcritical thoughts, potentially resulting in anxiety or health issues; difficulty in recognizing own needs

Libra/Venus in the 12th House

symmetrical facial features or well-balanced appearance; graceful movements, often with a sense of poise; knack for fashion, good at stylish or coordinated outfits

diplomatic nature, tends to see all sides; people-pleasing tendencies; love for aesthetics, beauty, and creating balance

prone to stress-related issues, especially when dealing with conflict; strong skin and overall health but may need to watch their weight; social activities often promote your overall wellbeing

Talents: diplomatic skills and ability to meditate conflicts; aesthetic talents, particularly in design or fashion; creative writing skills, especially in poetry or romantic themes

Venus: people-pleasing behaviors that mask your own needs; tendencies to be stressed or anxious in relationships (romantic, platonic, domestic)

Scorpio/Mars/Pluto in the 12th House

intense, piercing eyes that seem to “see through” people; strong physical endurance or resilience; drawn to dark or mysterious objects, like amulets or crystals

super passionate, going all in on what they love; inquisitive nature, having a knack for uncovering hidden truths; natural air of mystery, keeping people guessing

strong stamina and resilience; prone to emotional stress, which can manifest as physical symptoms; strong immune system, tends to recover well from illness

Talents: ability to understand complex emotional dynamics; talents in investigation, whether in research or detective work; creative expression through deep, impactful storytelling or art

Pluto: struggles with deep-seated fears or hidden emotions, which can manifest as intense psychological experiences

Sagittarius/Jupiter in the 12th House

long legs or a tendency towards an athletic build; strong, healthy liver and digestive system; fondness for travel gear or souvenirs from different places

adventurous spirit, always seeking new experiences; optimistic outlook, with a natural sense of humor; restlessness, always seeking freedom or something new

often need regular physical activity to feel their best; prone to accidents or injuries from their adventurous spirit; good digestion but needs to monitor caffeine intake

Talents: natural teaching abilities, especially in philosophical or cultural subjects; gifted storytelling or public speaking skills that inspire others; athletic talents, particularly in outdoor sports or activities

Jupiter: tendency to seek escapism through travel or adventure; struggles with excessive optimism, leading to disappointment when reality doesn’t match their expectations

Capricorn/Saturn in the 12th House

strong bone structure, often with prominent features; natural resilient, especially to illness; inclination towards classic or timeless objects, like leather wallets or old watches

strong sense of responsibility and duty; practicality and grounded approach to life; discipline and perseverance, often willing to work hard

strong bones; prone to stress-related issues, especially from work; tend to have good long-term health habits, benefiting from routine and discipline

Talents: strong work ethic and determination to achieve goals; natural leadership skills, especially in structured environments; talents in business or finance; particularly in strategic planning

Saturn: feelings of isolation or self-doubt, often related to stress-related health issues; challenges with letting go of control

Aquarius/Saturn/Uranus in the 12th House

unique facial features or unconventional beauty; slim or wiry build, with a tendency towards quick movements; love for tech or quirky objects that showcase their individuality

independent spirit, needing their freedom and space to be themselves; unconventional thinking, often challenging norms; friendly yet somewhat detached in social situations, hard to read sometimes

generally good health, but may experience sudden illnesses due to their busy lifestyle; prone to circulatory issues or cold extremities due to their “unique” physiology

Talents: innovative think and problem-solving abilities; talents in technology, science, or humanitarian efforts; creative expression through unique art forms or performances

Uranus: unconventional thought patterns and a sense of detachment; struggles with feeling misunderstood, which can affect emotional health and relationships

Pisces/Jupiter/Neptune in the 12th House

dreamy, often soft or gentle eyes; sensitive feet or appreciation for comfortable shoes (like therapeutic socks or shoes); drawn to water-related objects or environments, like the beach, rivers, or fountains

highly intuitive and in tune with emotions; imaginative, with a natural artistic or creative flair; empathetic and compassionate, often feeling others’ emotions deeply

sensitive immune system, often catch colds or infections more easily; prone to stress-related issues, especially if they don’t take care of their mental health; tend to escape through food or habits that aren’t always the healthiest

Talents: creative abilities in music, art, or writing that resonates with others; strong intuition and empathetic skills; tend to be good listeners; talents in healing or counseling, particularly in spiritual or holistic practices

Neptune: deep connection to collective unconscious, leading to heightened sensitivity and empathy; struggles with escapism; need to be mindful of their emotional boundaries

[missdollcouture]

NEW YEAR, NEW ME

this is a collab w the it girl @prettieinpink !!

HABITS TO IMPLEMENT 

Movement (yoga, running, Pilates, walking, gym, etc. Anything that allows you to move your body 

Reflection- make a note of things you would like to improve on. This could be self-love, relationships, 

STAY CONSISTENT

Consistency is key. Make sure to stick to your plan and keep working towards your goals every day. Even small steps are progress. Try to make your goal part of your daily routine. 

HOW TO STAY CONSISTENT 

SCHEDULE- Setting schedules helps really well with consistency. Make a schedule for the tasks you need to do daily or weekly to achieve your goals. This can help you make your goals a part of your routine, making it easier to stay consistent.

STAY ORGANIZED- Keep track of your tasks and goals. Use tools like calendars, to-do lists, or apps to help you stay organized and remember what you need to do.

DISCIPLINE YOURSELF- Sometimes, you won't feel like working towards your goals, and that's okay. The key is to maintain discipline and do the task anyway. Remember, consistency is about doing the task regularly, not just when you feel like it.

START SMALL- Don't overwhelm yourself with huge tasks. Start small and gradually increase your workload as you build consistency.

DON’T BE TOO HARD ON YOURSELF- If you miss a day, don't beat yourself up. Instead, acknowledge that it happened, understand why, and move on. Consistency is about long-term progress, not perfection.

CREATE A PLAN

Once you know what your goals are, create a step-by-step plan on how to achieve them. Break down each goal into smaller, manageable tasks. This might involve creating a timeline, setting deadlines, or identifying resources or tools you might need.

LEAVE THINGS IN THE PAST 

In 2023, I’m sure everyone has had ups and downs, but not letting them define you as a person is something that has to be done in order for you to become a new person.

HOW TO LEAVE THINGS IN THE PAST

ACCEPTANCE-  Acknowledge the past and accept it as part of your life story. Understand that it's something that has shaped you but doesn't define you.

FORGIVENESS- Forgive yourself and others. Holding onto resentment only harms you. Letting go of grudges can bring a sense of peace and open up space for healthier relationships.

LEARN FROM IT- Every experience, good or bad, is an opportunity to learn. Reflect on these experiences and use them as stepping stones to better decisions in the future.

FOCUS ON THE PRESENT- The past is unchangeable, but the present is in your control. Concentrate on what you can do now to create a positive future.

SET NEW GOALS- Create new objectives for yourself. This gives you something to work towards and helps shift your focus from the past to the future.

PRACTISE MINDFULNESS- Mindfulness is about staying focused on the present moment. Practices like meditation can help you stay grounded and prevent you from dwelling on the past.

ADJUST YOUR PLAN AS NEEDED

It's okay if your initial plan doesn't work out exactly as you thought. Life happens, and it's important to be flexible and adapt your plan as needed. If you find that a certain approach isn't working, don't be afraid to try something different.

PRACTICE SELF CARE

Remember to take care of yourself physically, emotionally, and mentally. This can include things like getting enough sleep, eating healthy, exercising regularly, and taking time to relax and do things you enjoy. Don't forget that self-care is an important part of reaching your goals.

WAYS TO PRACTICE SELF CARE-

BALANCED DIET-  There is no need to restrict yourself from foods but eating a healthy, balanced diet is crucial for maintaining physical health. Try to include plenty of fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains in your diet.

EXERCISE REGULARLY- Regular physical activity can help reduce stress, improve mood, and boost overall health. This doesn't necessarily mean going to the gym - it could be anything from a brisk walk to a yoga class

GET ENOUGH SLEEP-  Aim for 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Establish a regular sleep schedule and create a relaxing bedtime routine to improve sleep quality.

STAY HYDRATED-  Drinking enough water each day is important for overall health. Try to aim for at least 8 glasses per day.

TAKE BREAKS- Make sure to take regular breaks throughout the day, especially if you're working or studying. This can help prevent burnout and improve productivity.

DO THINGS YOU ENJOY- Make time for hobbies or activities you enjoy. This could be anything from reading a book to playing a sport to painting. 

  CELEBRATE SMALL THINGS

Don't wait until you've reached your big goal to celebrate. Celebrate small wins along the way to keep your motivation high. This could be treating yourself to something you enjoy, or simply taking a moment to acknowledge your achievement.

REFLECTING ON THE PAST YEAR

Think about how the past year went. Did you learn anything? Did you reach new goals? If you don't the answers to these questions, I recommend further examining your year!!

[invinciblerodent]

Ngl, some people's "I wasn't allowed to be an irredeemably evil shitbird, ergo Veilguard is not an RPG" argument is extra funny to me, because I don't actually think there is a conceivable narrative in which, if your Rook did something as objectively amoral as selling people into slavery, they wouldn't wake up the next morning floating untethered in the raw Fade with Neve's bootprint on their ass, and the Lighthouse no more than a distant blip on the edge of their vision.

Like there is a lot to get into here that I just don't have the time or the spoons to go through, but I'd argue that one of the biggest strengths of Veilguard's writing is that the main cast are all very well-defined characters with their own sets of morals, ethics, and goals, and they collectively have more than enough of a backbone that if Rook did something that proved them incapable of leading the team to the story's climax and/or proved them to be of no benefit to them, they wouldn't fail their quest: they would just swiftly and efficiently get rid of Rook.

[bloomzone]

self care is . . .

Reading a book: Engaging with literature to relax, learn, and escape from daily stress.

Meditation: Practicing mindfulness to calm the mind and reduce stress.

Eating a balanced diet: Consuming a variety of nutrients to maintain overall health.

Exercising regularly: Keeping the body active to improve physical and mental health.

Getting enough sleep: Ensuring sufficient rest to allow the body to recover and function optimally.

Listening to music: Enjoying music to boost mood and reduce anxiety.

Stress management: Implementing techniques to control and reduce stress levels.

Setting boundaries: Establishing limits to protect personal time and energy.

Being creative: Engaging in creative activities to express oneself and relax.

Time management: Organizing time effectively to balance responsibilities and leisure.

Taking regular breaks: Resting periodically to maintain productivity and prevent burnout.

Stretching: Keeping the body flexible and reducing muscle tension.

Practicing gratitude: Focusing on positive aspects of life to boost happiness.

Looking after your skin: Maintaining skincare routines to promote skin health.

Effective communication: Clearly expressing thoughts and feelings to foster healthy relationships.

Saying no: Declining unnecessary obligations to prioritize personal well-being.

Challenging your mind: Engaging in activities that stimulate cognitive growth and learning.

Learning new things: Continuously seeking knowledge to enhance personal development.

Regular medical checkups: Attending routine health screenings to prevent and detect illnesses early.

Hanging out with friends: Socializing to build strong support networks and enjoy companionship.

Spending time with family: Connecting with loved ones to strengthen family bonds.

Me time: Dedicating time solely to oneself for relaxation and self-reflection.

Self-reflection: Evaluating personal thoughts, actions, and experiences to gain insight.

Asking for help: Seeking support when needed to manage challenges effectively.

Setting goals: Defining personal objectives to provide direction and motivation.

Developing healthy habits: Establishing routines that promote long-term well-being.

Using your voice: Speaking up for oneself to ensure needs and desires are met.

© bloomzone

[windvexer]

Building walls as a part of protection

I truly believe that when most witches fall short of success, it's not necessarily a failure of power or spellcrafting but rather a failure of strategy.

Witches can raise power and cast spells just fine and still not be able to accomplish goals. So when it comes to protection here are things I've learned, take what you like and leave the rest behind:

Do you actually have a magical wall or boundary that stops unwanted things from reaching you?

For this post, ward = protective wall; a division that creates discrete, defensible spaces

Conjuring good energies is not a ward

Cleansing negative energy is not a ward

Binding behaviors is not a ward

Banishing unwanted beings is not a ward

Calling guardians is not a ward

Cursing your enemies is not a ward

Asking gods for blessings is not a ward

A good place to start any protection is to BUILD A WALL.

This should be understood as a literal magical wall that is built within the spirit worlds that overlay our physical worlds.

Physical boundaries make the best anchor points for magical walls: the boundaries of your property, your house, the walls of the room, fences, cairns or markers, or encapsulating objects (your whole bed, your whole body)

Wall building spellcrafting and correspondences post

You can build walls by:

Making container spells with correspondences like stones, nails, wood, shells (sea creatures, nuts, eggs).

Making sigils that define the existence of the barrier

Going around physical boundaries and raising and fixing energies

Placing magically potent amulets or symbols along the boundary line, including symbols drawn with energy

Enchanting a candle or incense and carrying it along the boundary line to establish the boundary

Asking spiritual helpers to assist you in any of the above

You can have multiple walls. If you are under serious spiritual attack, you should probably have multiple walls.

Suit of armor: personal protection

Inner chamber: ward on your bed/sleeping space to protect your sleep

Room: ward on you bedroom or private area where you work magic and divination; a place where you can get a break and rest

Home: ward on entire home; more rooms may be individually warded as desired

Homestead: ward on entire property; can still be done on your building/nearby property if you live in apartments

Avoid splitting focus when you build walls.

Focus on BUILDING A STRONG WALL.

You can place 'aggressive protections' down later, this is like waiting to add spikes and boiling oil until after you've built the wall.

Do not siphon off your wall's strength and power by also having the wall do cute tricksy things ('this wall cleanses what is within!' NO, why are you redirecting power to provide passive cleansing?! You need to prioritize your actions, stop trying to mop while there's a hole in the side of the ship.)

Plan a point of ingress/egress and retain complete control over it.

"This wall is an immovable object. This wall is a mountain that existed before the rings of Saturn. This wall has only one gate, and I hold the key."

A physical key works very well to control this magical gateway.

DO NOT BUILD IN LOOPHOLES TO PROVIDE GRACE TO HARMFUL SPIRITS.

"This wall protects me from all spirits, unless I misunderstood their intentions, unless they apologize to me, unless they agree to be nice to me, even if they really dislike me but they just agree to not actively harm me-" like why are you doing this to yourself. Do you not think you deserve a greater degree of protection? You are not the 'mom friend' to spirits who needs to give them chance after chance for their mental health. You are not the 'group glue' that is holding the spirit community together. It is not your job to sacrifice your sense of security and wellbeing so random spirits have a game night to attend. Please choose yourself and your own safety.

Once your wall is built, assign guardians to it.

Pray and petition that powerful protectors assign angels, elementals, or spirits to patrol the gate in your wall. Contract with spirits yourself (such as your familiars or helper spirits). Build watchful and protective energy constructs.

If you've wisely placed the gateway to your wall to align with a physical gateway (such as the front gate or front door), see if a nearby plant, tree, stone, &etc. can be contracted to watch the gate for you.

Energy construct vessels (an amulet where the construct lives) and spirit vessels can be placed near the physical gateway to greatly empower their work.

Assign guardians in this order: First the gateway, to oversee who approaches and tries to pass through - the guardians should reinforce your rules, and protect against anything that isn't allowed to pass. Secondly, other guardians may patrol around the wall.

Planets can assign elementals, making Mars an excellent planetary power to petition for protection

Ask your spirits to introduce you to guardians who can help you with this task

A second protection spell can function as a guardian by utilizing protective correspondences and assigning the second spell to guard the gateway of the first.

When searching for guardians or creating constructs, keep in mind that keen eyesight and discernment are of great use; therefore correspondences that also benefit Second Sight and clarity are well employed (give wormwood or star anise a spin).

Once guardians are assigned, build any fancy extras you want - these are your aggressive or illusory protections.

Work with your guardians and ask them what tools would best help them protect the wall. They may give answers that aren't exactly about fortifying the wall (like, 'the wall is fine but we could use a resting place nearby').

If you aren't working with guardians or otherwise ready to proceed, now at this point add the spikes, the boiling oil, the invisibility shields, and anything else you want to fortify your defenses.

Add these by creating additional protection spells that 'drape over' the wall. Once the boundary of the wall has been established you may find it to be much easier to lay down additional protections along the same line.

Finally, deal with conditions inside of the wall.

Once protection work is done, things like cleansing, adjusting the vibes, etc., are a separate and IMO unrelated process.

[etherealkissed88]

its all about self, not the physical object.

its so interesting knowing u are never manifesting a material object, but the version of u with that object. u are always manifesting urself, thats why we always want the feeling & why the material world (3d) is always neutral. since everything is u -> u are always manifesting you!

stop trying to "get" the material object and BEcome the person who already has it. there is a difference between the two. there are infinite STATES, infinite versions of YOU, not versions of that car or that acceptance letter (<-reread this until it clicks!) BE it, dont chase it.

the object does not define the person. edward art said that two ppl can have the same clothes. lets say two ppl have a juicy contour tracksuit; one knows they are poor and ugly & the other knows they are rich and beautiful.

the object doesnt mean shit for their identities!

objects cant change who you are - YOU change who you are! even if you think otherwise like the object brings you confidence aka a new identity, at the end of the day it is YOU deciding to change based on the object. its all you. stop putting objects on the pedestal! the change in identity and what you know to be true about yourself comes from YOU. THATS what u have to CHANGE, NOT the object itself. crave BEING that version of you, NOT the object.

you're always only manifesting yourself, never the object. this is a fact so idc if u think im wrong. we are always being (manifesting) a version of ourselves. and this version might have a material object but the root of it all is that we are always manifesting a version of US! NOT THE OBJECT. this also makes sense bc everything is only you (consciousness) so ofc you will always be manifesting yourself. thats why we say the only success story is when you change self/states/your identity or fulfill yourself! its all about YOU YOU YOU, not the OBJECT!

this connects to "you dont want the object, u want the feeling (knowing/fulfillment)." listen: OFC U WANT THE OBJECT. but yall gotta realize that the object gives u some kind of validation or satisfaction so thats WHY u want it.

you want a car -> you want the feeling/freedom of driving wherever, whenever; having control you want a glow up -> you want to know/feel comfrtoable in your own skin or have people love the way you look; self validation or validation from others you want to be with this sp bc you love them -> you want to be loved & give love; want to feel worthy of love, etc

everything comes down to SELF, what you KNOW about you. its the feeling that comes first and THEN the object. its not you want the object THEN the feeling. that makes no sense.

theres nothing wrong w acknowledging u want the feeling first. some of yall love arguing about how this is wrong but it actually helps so many ppl who get so hyperfixed on the object itself, getting unhealthy obsessions & anxieties over objects when getting objects isnt the goal.

i know for a fact that the ppl who say its wrong are the same ppl who havent felt fully fulfilled w something they want. bc when you become truly fulfilled, you literally KNOW you have it even when you dont physically have it. the feeling feels SO powerful.

you can even get fulfilled / know "negative shit" in the 3d. thats proof that the FEELING CONTROLS ALL. regardless of the physical, regardless of the objects. this is especially true since everything in the 3d is NEUTRAL. so feelings are all you can receive from it!

★ you are always manifesting yourself, not the object

☆ you want the feeling first, then the object regardless if you believe it

★ having a object doesnt change your state/identity -> you do

☆ stop focusing on the object & just be

kisses, cutie jani ☆

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Hi!! What do I do if I have an idea for a story but can't seem to develop it far enough? Or, I can't decide on how a certain event or setting should play out?

Writing Tips: Developing Story Ideas

Use a Plot Structure

Example: HOW TO TELL A STORY (Peter Rubie)

Once upon a time, something happened to someone,

and he decided that he would pursue a goal.

So he devised a plan of action,

and even though there were forces trying to stop him,

he moved forward because there was a lot at stake.

And just as things seemed as bad as they could get,

he learned an important lesson,

and when offered the prize he had sought so strenuously,

he had to decide whether or not to take it,

and in making that decision he satisfied a need

that had been created by something in his past.

When Writing a Plot Driven Story, Answer These Questions About Each of Your Main Characters:

What is the character’s back story?

What is the character’s personality?

How was the character’s personality shaped by his/her backstory?

How does each scene develop the character?

What is driving the character’s reaction within the scene (based on his/her back story)?

How does your character change within the course of the story?

What is the character’s internal conflict?

What is the character most afraid of?

How would he/she define happiness?

When Writing a Character Driven Story, Answer These Questions About Your Plot:

What does your character want to happen in each scene?

Is there tension or conflict within each scene?

What action does the character take within each scene?

How does this action move the story forward?

How does each scene contribute to the overall story?

What is the worst thing that can happen to your character(s)?

How does your character prevent it from happening?

What happens if your character cannot prevent it from happening?

What key events change the main characters in your story?

Brainstorm Ideas

Use flash cards. Think of a topic. Take ten blank flash cards and on one side of each flash card, write a line about this topic. Use a mixture of emotional detail, concrete detail, and images when writing these lines. Put all the cards face down in front of you. Turn five of these cards over, face-up. What kind of story is this? What questions remain? Experiment with which five cards should be turned up in order to create a story that is both mysterious and clear enough for the emotions to be anchored.

Eavesdrop. Carry your notebook with you as you go about your daily tasks and write down interesting things you overhear. At the end of the day, go over the snippets of conversation you wrote down and, rather than thinking about the content of the conversation, analyze how it was said. What have you learned about the way people speak? Incorporate this speech rhythm into a new story.

Analyze your every move. In the evening, write a list of 20 things you did that day. Use this form: “I washed the dishes, I ate an avocado, I read the newspaper,” and so on. The only rule is: don’t list the things in chronological order. Review your list of 20 activities and see if any of them spark the beginning of a story. Try to make use of one of these seemingly mundane activities to write a longer story.

Free write. Take your notebook and give yourself 10 minutes to simply write whatever comes to mind, not letting your pen or pencil leave the page, and not revising. After 10 minutes have passed, review what you wrote. How do the subject and tone change from the beginning to the end? Is there anything you might want to lift for a new story?

Explore Your Surroundings

Find inspiration in your environment and everyday activities:

Take a walk. Go on a walk and bring your notebook. Look around and write down observations on what you see: a tree, a person, a neighborhood. Try starting a story by using some of these descriptions.

Find an interesting object. Whether you’re in an office or a kitchen, a park or a library, choose an object you can see and describe it. Does it evoke personal memories? Does it have cultural implications, or elicit a certain emotion? Try starting a story with this object and its associations to guide you.

Play With Setting

Transport your story idea to different time periods and locales:

Write a few lines setting a scene that is easy to accept. Think about the example of snow on pine trees or a dog lying under a hammock. Establish a scene of your own. Then have your story take a twist. Take your reader and yourself somewhere very different—spatially or thematically—from your original scene.

Subvert the norms. Don’t censor yourself. Don’t feel that you have to be serious, or even sincere. You can be playful, even sarcastic in your stories. Think of a subject that may seem outside of today’s literary decorum and write a story about it.

Look Inward

You are the greatest muse for your own story. The following exercises require you to mine ideas from your personal life:

Does your personality make its way into your stories?��Think of what kind of social person you are and consider the feedback you get from others about your personality—from family, friends, and others. Write a story that is spoken in your natural speaking voice. This story need not exhibit your best self. Try allowing the story to be controlled by a voice other than the one that shows you off. Write a story that lets the ruggedness of your life drive the voice.

Start a letter to someone you know, would like to know, or once knew. The rule is: assume that they won’t see it. Start this letter by addressing this person directly (think “Dear X”). After you’ve written a few lines or sentences, try to incorporate this as dialogue in your story.

Imitate Writers

Imitation is the best form of flattery. Look to writers you admire for inspiration in your own writing. The following writing exercises borrow concepts from other authors:

Mimic voice. Think of some of the writers or stories you admire. These could be books you’ve discovered in this course or longtime favorites. Pick one of these and read it over and over again, noting the methods the author uses to achieve his or her voice? Notice how the story develops stage by stage. How does it find its way through itself? See if you can write a story that follows a similar style of organization or path of development. This is more than an exercise; it’s a way of opening yourself to the influences of other authors.

Create tension. Use space to create suspense, putting the reader on the same level of knowing and not knowing as the speaker. Write a story that describes one large action and uses spacing as a way to force the reader to pause, creating tension and suspense as the action of your story progresses.

Use a Writing Template. Examples:

A 7-Part Book Development Template. Take your story from a vague book idea to an impactful first draft.

Plot Planning Worksheet. Acts 1-3.

The Story Circle by Dan Harmon. A basic narrative structure that writers can use to structure and test their story ideas.

Sources: 1 2 3 ⚜ More: Writing References on Plot ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Hi, here are some tips and templates from previous posts, a few were modified to better answer your questions. Choose which ones you would like to try and see which works. You can find more tips in the sources. All the best with your writing!

[peachkkuma]

ᰍִ ۫͟ ͟ ☁️ ִ✧ 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐅𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐌𝐘 𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐌 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄

hello, I’m Tiffany and this is my manifestation diary! If you haven’t read my previous diary entries yet, recently I’ve come to the realization that I’ve overcome all of my obstacles and there truly is nothing in my way except for me. So I made the decision yesterday to put my foot down and take the leap of faith, in other words, stop putting off manifesting my dream life because of fear. now this account will hold not just my diary entries but also the documentation of my journey to finally and seriously manifest my dream life.

╰┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄ ♡ ♡ ♡ 05.21.2024

let’s begin!

ㅤㅤㅤ𝐈. ⊰ ۫ 🐻‍❄️ ◌ ִ ੭ ˑ DEFINING THE OBJECTIVE

I want to make the end goal a bit more clear, the term dream life is both pretty straightforward and a bit vague. what would I like my dream life to include? how would my dream life make me feel? and ofc, I’m not just manifesting my dream life, I’m manifesting my dream self. what would my self concept be? how would I like to be?

tiffany’s dream life check list - what it means to live my dream life

attend my dream school

be 100% perfectly healthy (physically, mentally, emotionally, in every way basically)

have good eating habits and a good relationship with food

have perfect straight A pluses (revision to previous grades as well)

have the perfect friend group for me

healthy, super soft, hydrated, moisturized, smooth clear skin (and elimination of acne genes) (body + face)

perfect tangle free hair at all times, pretty, voluminous, bombshell hair

a healthy, perfect, loving relationship with everyone in my family

own a super cute and fluffy golden retriever puppy

high paying jobs for my parents <3

have a rolls royce with a pink exterior

grow taller

have every single clothing item I’ve saved on Pinterest

have my YouTube channel blow up

complete head to toe desired appearance

desired lifestyle

perfect eyesight

be super good at makeup and have all desired products

have a gorgeous bedroom

have a very active and lively social life

have the perfect, most ideal school, social, and home life

completely healed phone addiction

have a lot of desired hobbies that I’m very good at

have a fun and eventful life, always have fun plans and something going on

be on the right track career-wise

elimination of social anxiety and shyness

high self esteem and confidence

be more in touch with my culture

be a complete master at manifestation

huh, this is shorter and less serious than I thought it’d be, ig this was also a way of getting out of my own head. I thought manifesting my dream life would be a bit challenging for some reason, but ig a dream life rlly isn’t as complex as I thought it was. I mean now I feel silly, it’s just a dream life! nothing more than a lifestyle and a few personal fixes. I feel like I just got humbled.

𝐈𝐈. ʚ ⊹ ִ⏲️ 𑁯͟ ɞ THE OUTLINE

alright, I know what I want and I know how manifestation works. but just to make sure I don’t over complicate anything or things dont get confusing, I’ll create a sort of plan or outline. Little steps I can fall back on if I get a bit lost.

step number one we have covered, have a desire

step number two, put your foot down and make the firm decision that you have it. this decision is for good, nothing u do can take this decision away so don’t u dare worry about “ruining progress” or “messing up”— u’re better than that.

step number three, once you’ve decided it’s done, it’s done. the only and I mean it when I say only thing for you to do is to act like it. imagine you, the creator of your reality, making the decision that you have something only to then be like “is it coming?” “do I have it?” BE FR!! act like you have it, think like you have it, and see the world as if you have it— because you do. you decided you did, didn’t u? It’s ur reality, what u say, goes. and no, you’re not acting like u have it to get something out of the 3D, you’re doing it for your sanity. Because you deserve a break, you deserve relief, you deserve to be the you that has it all!! let yourself be in the sowf because why shouldn’t u be certain you have it? don’t entertain anything that says u don’t. getting in the sowf is easy, u deciding u have it is all the confirmation u need. there’s no reason for u to not be certain u have it.

sowf = knowing that u have it

step number four, optional not necessary but it’s really gonna help and is fun. immerse yourself in the new story. experience it!! have fun!! u finally got what u want, u finally r who u want to be, so choose to live that life!! try methods for the sake of fulfilling urself (never to make anything appear in the 3D, u know better, 3D desperation doesn’t get anybody anywhere.) try out methods to have fun and be more familiar with having what u want.

that’s it girl, that’s all u gotta do, that’s all u ever had to do. decide it, experience it, assume it. u don’t always have to feel “good” or “happy” u just have to know u have what u want, u just have to assume. the goal is to truly know that u have it, to be faced with the 3D and still know it in ur bones u have what u want. u deserve to trust urself like that, u deserve to be fulfilled like that, and u deserve those things from YOU not from the 3D. U deserve to feel secure in urself, don’t let ur security come from the 3D. loa bloggers mean it when they say the materialization is simply the cherry on top and I get that now. For me, it’s about being able to depend and trust urself, to rely on urself, and in that way everything else comes off the pedestal.

✉️ : ahhh I forgot to finish up this post yesterday but here it is!! I’m so excited!! part two to come soon ♡

[bitchy-craft]

The Manifestation Box: Manifestation Methods

Hello and welcome to this new post of mine! I decided to make a new series, this time about manifesting methods. I hope you find this useful and enjoy.

Masterpost > Paid Readings > Subliminal Channel

What it is used for:

The Manifestation Box method is honestly used for absolutely everything, and is a great method for anything you wish to achieve. For many this method works because you use actual physical objects to define your goals; already putting the manifestation into a physical form.

Instructions:

1. Choose a box

In order to do this method you need a box; this can be any box. It doesn't need to be pretty, or big, but it can if you wish it to be (you can decorate your boc with colours, crystals and sigils to connect it more to your goal if you wish).

2. Write your desires down

Take a piece of paper, or multiple pieces of paper, and start writing down your desires, what it is you want to manifest into existence. This can be as vague and as detailed as you want; as long as you know what you want to accomplish.

3. Add symbolic items

Find items that remind you or you correspond with your manifestations; maybe you want to manifest something for school, and you can add an old schoolbook, or a lover for which you can add a picture, or something that reminds you of them, or what you did together. Anything as long as you see relation and connection with your manifestation(s).

4. Put the box away

Close the box as you keep your intentions and mind, and put the box anywhere you want, I suggest following your first thought of where to put it, since intuition often has a reason for showing up if it does.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

There’s no such thing as “shareholder supremacy”

On SEPTEMBER 24th, I'll be speaking IN PERSON at the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY!

Here's a cheap trick: claim that your opponents' goals are so squishy and qualitative that no one will ever be able to say whether they've been succeeded or failed, and then declare that your goals can be evaluated using crisp, objective criteria.

This is the whole project of "economism," the idea that politics, with its emphasis on "fairness" and other intangibles, should be replaced with a mathematical form of economics, where every policy question can be reduced to an equation…and then "solved":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/28/imagine-a-horse/#perfectly-spherical-cows-of-uniform-density-on-a-frictionless-plane

Before the rise of economism, it was common to speak of its subjects as "political economy" or even "moral philosophy" (Adam Smith, the godfather of capitalism, considered himself a "moral philosopher"). "Political economy" implicitly recognizes that every policy has squishy, subjective, qualitative dimensions that don't readily boil down to math.

For example, if you're asking about whether people should have the "freedom" to enter into contracts, it might be useful to ask yourself how desperate your "free" subject might be, and whether the entity on the other side of that contract is very powerful. Otherwise you'll get "free contracts" like "I'll sell you my kidneys if you promise to evacuate my kid from the path of this wildfire."

The problem is that power is hard to represent faithfully in quantitative models. This may seem like a good reason to you to be skeptical of modeling, but for economism, it's a reason to pretend that the qualitative doesn't exist. The method is to incinerate those qualitative factors to produce a dubious quantitative residue and do math on that:

https://locusmag.com/2021/05/cory-doctorow-qualia/

Hence the famous Ely Devons quote: "If economists wished to study the horse, they wouldn’t go and look at horses. They’d sit in their studies and say to themselves, ‘What would I do if I were a horse?’"

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/27/economism/#what-would-i-do-if-i-were-a-horse

The neoliberal revolution was a triumph for economism. Neoliberal theorists like Milton Friedman replaced "political economy" with "law and economics," the idea that we should turn every one of our complicated, nuanced, contingent qualitative goals into a crispy defined "objective" criteria. Friedman and his merry band of Chicago School economists replaced traditional antitrust (which sought to curtail the corrupting power of large corporations) with a theory called "consumer welfare" that used mathematics to decide which monopolies were "efficient" and therefore good (spoiler: monopolists who paid Friedman's pals to do this mathematical analysis always turned out to be running "efficient" monopolies):

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/20/we-should-not-endure-a-king/

One of Friedman's signal achievements was the theory of "shareholder supremacy." In 1970, the New York Times published Friedman's editorial "The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits":

https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/13/archives/a-friedman-doctrine-the-social-responsibility-of-business-is-to.html

In it, Friedman argued that corporate managers had exactly one job: to increase profits for shareholders. All other considerations – improving the community, making workers' lives better, donating to worthy causes or sponsoring a little league team – were out of bounds. Managers who wanted to improve the world should fund their causes out of their paychecks, not the corporate treasury.

Friedman cloaked his hymn to sociopathic greed in the mantle of objectivism. For capitalism to work, corporations have to solve the "principal-agent" problem, the notoriously thorny dilemma created when one person (the principal) asks another person (the agent) to act on their behalf, given the fact that the agent might find a way to line their own pockets at the principal's expense (for example, a restaurant server might get a bigger tip by offering to discount diners' meals).

Any company that is owned by stockholders and managed by a CEO and other top brass has a huge principal-agent problem, and yet, the limited liability, joint-stock company had produced untold riches, and was considered the ideal organization for "capital formation" by Friedman et al. In true economismist form, Friedman treated all the qualitative questions about the duty of a company as noise and edited them out of the equation, leaving behind a single, elegant formulation: "a manager is doing their job if they are trying to make as much money as possible for their shareholders."

Friedman's formulation was a hit. The business community ran wild with it. Investors mistook an editorial in the New York Times for an SEC rulemaking and sued corporate managers on the theory that they had a "fiduciary duty" to "maximize shareholder value" – and what's more, the courts bought it. Slowly and piecemeal at first, but bit by bit, the idea that rapacious greed was a legal obligation turned into an edifice of legal precedent. Business schools taught it, movies were made about it, and even critics absorbed the message, insisting that we needed to "repeal the law" that said that corporations had to elevate profit over all other consideration (not realizing that no such law existed).

It's easy to see why shareholder supremacy was so attractive for investors and their C-suite Renfields: it created a kind of moral crumple-zone. Whenever people got angry at you for being a greedy asshole, you could shrug and say, "My hands are tied: the law requires me to run the business this way – if you don't believe me, just ask my critics, who insist that we must get rid of this law!"

In a long feature for The American Prospect, Adam M Lowenstein tells the story of how shareholder supremacy eventually came into such wide disrepute that the business lobby felt that it had to do something about it:

https://prospect.org/power/2024-09-17-ponzi-scheme-of-promises/

It starts in 2018, when Jamie Dimon and Warren Buffett decried the short-term, quarterly thinking in corporate management as bad for business's long-term health. When Washington Post columnist Steve Pearlstein wrote a column agreeing with them and arguing that even moreso, businesses should think about equities other than shareholder returns, Jamie Dimon lost his shit and called Pearlstein to call it "the stupidest fucking column I’ve ever read":

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/06/07/will-ending-quarterly-earnings-guidance-free-ceos-to-think-long-term/

But the dam had broken. In the months and years that followed, the Business Roundtable would adopt a series of statements that repudiated shareholder supremacy, though of course they didn't admit it. Rather, they insisted that they were clarifying that they'd always thought that sometimes not being a greedy asshole could be good for business, too. Though these statements were nonbinding, and though the CEOs who signed them did so in their personal capacity and not on behalf of their companies, capitalism's most rabid stans treated this as an existential crisis.

Lowenstein identifies this as the forerunner to today's panic over "woke corporations" and "DEI," and – just as with "woke capitalism" – the whole thing amounted to a a PR exercise. Lowenstein links to several studies that found that the CEOs who signed onto statements endorsing "stakeholder capitalism" were "more likely to lay off employees during COVID-19, were less inclined to contribute to pandemic relief efforts, had 'higher rates of environmental and labor-related compliance violations,”' emitted more carbon into the atmosphere, and spent more money on dividends and buybacks."

One researcher concluded that "signing this statement had zero positive effect":

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/08/companies-stand-solidarity-are-licensing-themselves-discriminate/614947

So shareholder supremacy isn't a legal obligation, and statements repudiating shareholder supremacy don't make companies act any better.

But there's an even more fundamental flaw in the argument for the shareholder supremacy rule: it's impossible to know if the rule has been broken.

The shareholder supremacy rule is an unfalsifiable proposition. A CEO can cut wages and lay off workers and claim that it's good for profits because the retained earnings can be paid as a dividend. A CEO can raise wages and hire more people and claim it's good for profits because it will stop important employees from defecting and attract the talent needed to win market share and spin up new products.

A CEO can spend less on marketing and claim it's a cost-savings. A CEO can spend more on marketing and claim it's an investment. A CEO can eliminate products and call it a savings. A CEO can add products and claim they're expansions into new segments. A CEO can settle a lawsuit and claim they're saving money on court fees. A CEO can fight a lawsuit through to the final appeal and claim that they're doing it to scare vexatious litigants away by demonstrating their mettle.

CEOs can use cheaper, inferior materials and claim it's a savings. They can use premium materials and claim it's a competitive advantage that will produce new profits. Everything a company does can be colorably claimed as an attempt to save or make money, from sponsoring the local little league softball team to treating effluent to handing ownership of corporate landholdings to perpetual trusts that designate them as wildlife sanctuaries.

Bribes, campaign contributions, onshoring, offshoring, criminal conspiracies and conference sponsorships – there's a business case for all of these being in line with shareholder supremacy.

Take Boeing: when the company smashed its unions and relocated key production to scab plants in red states, when it forced out whistleblowers and senior engineers who cared about quality, when it outsourced design and production to shops around the world, it realized a savings. Today, between strikes, fines, lawsuits, and a mountain of self-inflicted reputational harm, the company is on the brink of ruin. Was Boeing good to its shareholders? Well, sure – the shareholders who cashed out before all the shit hit the fan made out well. Shareholders with a buy-and-hold posture (like the index funds that can't sell their Boeing holdings so long as the company is in the S&P500) got screwed.

Right wing economists criticize the left for caring too much about "how big a slice of the pie they're getting" rather than focusing on "growing the pie." But that's exactly what Boeing management did – while claiming to be slaves to Friedman's shareholder supremacy. They focused on getting a bigger slice of the pie, screwing their workers, suppliers and customers in the process, and, in so doing, they made the pie so much smaller that it's in danger of disappearing altogether.

Here's the principal-agent problem in action: Boeing management earned bonuses by engaging in corporate autophagia, devouring the company from within. Now, long-term shareholders are paying the price. Far from solving the principal-agent problem with a clean, bright-line rule about how managers should behave, shareholder supremacy is a charter for doing whatever the fuck a CEO feels like doing. It's the squishiest rule imaginable: if someone calls you cruel, you can blame the rule and say you had no choice. If someone calls you feckless, you can blame the rule and say you had no choice. It's an excuse for every season.

The idea that you can reduce complex political questions – like whether workers should get a raise or whether shareholders should get a dividend – to a mathematical rule is a cheap sleight of hand. The trick is an obvious one: the stuff I want to do is empirically justified, while the things you want are based in impossible-to-pin-down appeals to emotion and its handmaiden, ethics. Facts don't care about your feelings, man.

But it's feelings all the way down. Milton Friedman's idol-worshiping cult of shareholder supremacy was never about empiricism and objectivity. It's merely a gimmick to make greed seem scientifically optimal.

The paperback edition of The Lost Cause, my nationally bestselling, hopeful solarpunk novel is out this month!

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/18/falsifiability/#figleaves-not-rubrics/a>

[comicaurora]

I heard you talking on a recent OSPod about Hades, and as someone who very much can get ADHD-yoinked into games, it got me curious, but I'm...not great at video games and have found Dark Souls-y games where you try over and over and keep failing at the same task kind of frustrating. How's your Hades experience been in those regards? (although I'm not sure your general game skill)

Hades feels like it's really carefully designed to circumvent those frustrations.

I also hate the feeling of lost progress, which had me wary about playing a roguelite defined by constantly trying and mostly failing, but by far the most helpful part of the game design is that Zagreus also hates it, so it feels like the game and I are on the same page about it.

It also helps that most of the actual, tangible progress in the game is bound up in advancing the character arcs, which isn't a totally skill-free experience since it involves finding a couple characters out in the underworld, but a lot of it can be done back in the House of Hades, so every time you lose and die you can run around having conversations with everyone, almost all of which will be new and unique and advance your arc with them. If a character doesn't have a new interaction for you, you usually just can't find them on the floor, so there's very little time-wasting.

Speaking of, there's a lot of advancement that can only be done in the House of Hades, and a lot of it involves resources you can actively choose to seek out on runs. I did a couple runs today where my only goal was getting the last of a specific olympian's Boons so I could fill out their Minor Prophecy achievement and reap the rewards, and everything after that was just a bonus. This means the game is passively encouraging the player to develop secondary objectives beyond just making it to the end of the game again. It also helps that making it to the end of the game basically just gives you a weapon-unlocking resource and another small slice of conversation with [EXTREMELY OLD SPOILERS] so while it feels important, and is necessary for advancing towards the true ending of the game, it's not so overwhelmingly rewarding that you feel absolutely crushed when the final boss takes you out halfway through his second healthbar again.

You also benefit very greatly from not playing the game the same way twice - using new weapons or adding new challenge modes is the only way to re-acquire the unique boss rewards for the three main regions of the underworld, instead of the more generic resources that replace the unique ones after you win them for the first time, which means instead of feeling like you need to optimize a winning build and then use it every time, you're encouraged to play with the other weapons that you might find unwieldy or annoying, and if you manage to beat even the first boss with them, you'll be disproportionately rewarded. Also, on every run a random weapon will be empowered to give you bonus resources if you choose to use it, so even if you're a strictly melee-only main you might find yourself willing to figure out how to use the bow in exchange for the extra gems. The Boons you get also dramatically change the strategy you're likely to naturally fall into over the course of fighting your way out - some builds are extremely melee-based, others just boost your ranged abilities to the point that you can mostly just dash around the battlefield while your Casts chew through everyone's healthbar at top speed. So when you reach the final boss, you're not going to be using the same strategies, and even if you lose, it feels less like you had a skill issue and more like you've learned something to look out for or try out next time around. The final boss's strategies and moves don't change either, so you'll know what to expect every time even as your own moveset might be completely different from run to run.

In my personal experience, I have a pretty good feel for when a game is disappointed in my performance. Nothing says "the designers didn't expect you to get stuck here" like endlessly looping dialogue or not-so-subtle hints that you can knock down the difficulty if you need to. Hades has thus far done this to me very little, and only in specific areas - even if I'm no longer getting unique banter with Theseus every time I kick his ass, I'm still having unique conversations with Asterius in the same region and it doesn't feel like I'm anywhere near done with the dialogue back in the House. Zagreus's dialogue when he enters the same three boss arenas will also randomly go from seemingly-interchangeable lines of "yep it's this boss again" to much more unique angles that legitimately change the game from then on. Yesterday, after killing the bone hydra something like a dozen times, he randomly decided to nickname it Lernie, and now he consistently calls it Lernie and every time I kill it the victory banner says "LERNIE VANQUISHED". Today he got Tisiphone to say his name instead of just "murderer" all the time. The game knows you're going to be fighting these guys a lot, and this tells me I haven't outstayed my welcome in the anticipated main timeline of gameplay.

If I have a frustration, it's that I'm not always sure that what I'm doing is advancing the character plotlines, and you can only talk to a character once on any given visit to the House. The game kind of helps you out here, your little information codex will tell you stuff like "Learn more by having X more conversations with this character" or "learn more by deepening your relationship with this character" but it can still be pretty vague and opaque. There's no dialogue trees, Zagreus basically just says what he wants, so when, for instance, Achilles indicates that I should talk to Nyx about maybe getting Orpheus's deal with Hades undone, it's a little frustrating that I can't then go over to Nyx and ask her about that. Or, in fact, ask her about it at all in any of the dozen runs I've done since that nugget got dropped. It's not a game-breaker, but it is a little frustrating. On the other hand, this is clearly intentional, because this means you're tempted to get back into a run as quickly as possible, because then when you die more conversations will have unlocked back at the house - but also, to deincentivize just running out and dying on purpose to get those dialogues going, there are some characters who will only appear in the House if you get far enough into the run to deal with them, and certain characters whose arcs and dialogue only advance if you find and talk to their missing loved ones out on the run. So you'll always have something new back at the House, but you're strongly encouraged to get as far as you can before you die, because the farther you get, the more you'll have to do when you get back.

The game is basically designed to never, ever make you want to sit still. You can quickly exhaust everything there is to do in the house, and that makes you want to go out on a run and see what new things will happen. Then while you're on the run you have the benefit of randomization keeping things interesting and making you make plans for the next time you encounter a given character. It's got a good rhythm to it!

[hargreeves-duncan]

⎯⎯ SFW ALPHABET

a/n: as voted by you guys, here’s the sfw alphabet for luca - enjoy!!

warnings: mentions of alcohol

word count: 2.5k

visual is for vibes only, reader’s appearance is nondescript!

A = Affection (How affectionate are they? How do they show affection?)

Luca is extremely affectionate with you. It comes as second nature to him and nicknames like, ‘Gorgeous’, ‘Beautiful’ and ‘Darling’ roll easily off of his tongue. His hands almost always linger on your waist and he is in no way afraid of a kiss or two, even in public.

B = Best friend (What would they be like as a best friend? How would the friendship start?)

Luca is the type of friend who just shows up without you having to ask him to, he just knows.

Whilst he’s not necessarily the wildest friend, by any stretch of the imagination, he is the one who’ll walk you home after a night out or remember your drink order after seeing you order it once.

It’s comforting to know that Luca’s on your team and he’d quickly become a safe place to anyone with how dearly he cares for the people he loves.

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

Despite the fact that Luca is a human heater, he’ll always suffer through the sweat and the heat for the chance to cuddle up with you. He relishes in the feeling of having you in his arms and he’d bask in the heat of a thousand suns happily to do so.

Luca is almost always the big spoon, and his hands always slide over your waist to cup your stomach with his big palms from behind. Soft kisses against your back and shoulders are a must when he’s close to you.

D = Domestic (Do they want to settle down? How are they at cooking and cleaning?)

Absolutely. Luca’s end goal has always been to settle down and have a family of his own all to himself. He had you moved in with him eight months in, and hasn’t let you go since.

In your household, Luca reigns over the kitchen too. His line of work means you’re graced with the most delicious meals all day, every day. He’s always coming home with new trial desserts for you to give a try - you’re his very own sweet-treat taste tester.

E = Ending (If they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)

Luca’s mature when he has to be, and when it comes to a breakup, he’d treat it with the seriousness it needs.

He’d break the news in person, not only because he’s terrible at texting, but because when he’s in a relationship, emotionally, he’s all in, and he’d want to work through your and his emotions in a healthy conversation, face-to-face.

Luca would be sure to define where the two of yous’ boundaries stood post-break-up and he’d want you both comfortable, amicable and on the same page before he thought of moving on.

F = Fiance(e) (How do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)

He’s desperate for it. So desperate that he holds off for years before he finally pops the question. Despite moving in together in the early days, Luca would be terrified of you turning him down.

He’s putting in all the groundwork so that he knows your dream proposal and ring before he’s even considering it. There’s no chance he’s going to have things be any less than perfect when he proposes to a girl like you.

G = Gentle (How gentle are they, both physically and emotionally?)

Physically? Very. Luca is all soft touches and gentle reassurance, rubs up and down your forearms, forehead kisses and tracing his fingers up and down your back, the whole shebang.

Emotionally? Less so. Luca is never mean with you, but he’s direct. He wouldn’t lie just to coddle you or save your feelings. He’s upfront and objective about things, and he’s solution focused. He’ll give you the comfort you need and then he’ll ask you how you can make things better and help you find a solution. A truly logical approach.

H = Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)

Standing at 6”2, Luca engulfs you, when you hug. His big, built arms are always tight as he squeezes tightly, pulling you as close to his chest as is humanly possible, every time, without fail.

Nothing can cure your sadness like a Luca hug.

I = I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)

He waited for you to say it first. When the two of you first started dated, Luca wasn’t one hundred percent sure where he stood with you, so he’d waited it out until you’d said you loved him four months in.

Now, though? At home, it’s every ninth phrase out of his mouth.

J = Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they’re jealous?)

Luca isn’t a jealous guy at all. He’s secure in his relationship with you and his faith in you outweighs any mistrust of the people you interact with.

Besides, it’d be pretty hard for him to get jealous when any time you go out, he always circles back to you, an arm around your waist, before any guy can step in anyways.

K = Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you? Where do they like to be kissed?)

Luca likes to give you little kisses. They don’t have to be particularly lusty or passion-driven, but, he’ll always peck your lips or forehead as he passes by you in the house or out and about.

He uses his kisses as mini reminders to you, just to say, ‘I’m here’ and ‘I love you’, they’re soft and tender above all else.

From you, Luca’ll take any kind of kiss he can get. Rough? Soft? Romantic? Torturous? He’ll take it all and anywhere as long as it’s a taste of your lips.

L = Little ones (How are they around children?)

Luca is always hesitant the first time he’s meeting or talking with a child. He’s a tall guy and knows that when he’s towering over someone so small, he can be intimidating, so, he softens himself elsewhere.

Luca’s quickly crouching down to their level, offering his hands out to children as they chatter away nonsensically to him. He nods along with great enthusiasm and his exaggerated excitement often has them erupting with laughter.

His voice is always softer and quieter when he’s talking with children, but he gives them just as much time, attention and credit as any adult he meets. It’s endearing to watch.

M = Morning (How are mornings spent with them?)

Most days, Luca’s up before you’ve even awoken from bed, needing to be at work and food-prepping by five, so, there isn’t often a morning between the two of you.

Luca tends to just leave a sweet message for you on the nightstand or drop you a text once he’s at work to keep you informed of his morning whereabouts.

However, on the rare occasion that you get to be together in the morning, Luca’ll wake up and prepare you both a hot drink to have in bed. He’s still an early bird and often eager to be productive but he’s happy to take a few hours for morning cuddles to indulge you.

N = Night (How are nights spent with them?)

Luca always showers in the evenings, despite how you’ve told him it’s much better to do so in the mornings, so you’ll sit in bed, lamp turned on, and read whilst he showers.

Luca will come out from the bathroom, dripping wet. He’ll gently pat himself dry and slip into new underwear, and you’ll pretend not to notice the missed beads of water trickling over his body.

Then, Luca will crawl into bed beside you, his hand instinctively going to your thigh and rubbing gently. He’ll scan his phone for work emails and when he gets bored, he’ll shift closer to you and read over your shoulder.

Typically, you hate people doing so, but you make the exception for him, and as your eyes begin to blur with tiredness whilst you try and read, Luca’ll sense it.

He’ll press two small kisses to your shoulder, humming a soft declaration of sleep and, so, you’ll pack up your book and settle under the covers with Luca until you fall asleep.

O = Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)

To begin with, Luca was a very reserved person. You couldn’t get much out of him, especially over text, and knew hardly any more than anyone who came across his dating profile, but, after your first ‘I love you’, he completely flipped the switch.

Having the confidence of knowing that you loved him allowed Luca to be a less restrained and performative version of himself and now he’s more open with you than you could ever dream he’d be.

P = Patience (How easily angered are they?)

Luca’s very level-headed, especially when it comes to you. He very rarely gets truly angry with you and the extent of his anger usually only extends to a chastising “Darling.” and that disappointed look in his eyes.

Q = Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every little detail you mention in passing, or do they kind of forget everything?)

Luca knows almost everything there is to know about you. He treats getting to know you like learning a new recipe. Memorise all the steps and you’ll have a good bake. Remember everything about her and you’ll have a happy girl.

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

His favourite memory of you had to be the day after you’d stayed overnight at his place for the first time.

He’d gotten up at the crack of dawn to go to work, reluctantly leaving you alone, in his bed, in his flat, and had gone to work until late into the night.

You’d woken up, alone, in some guy’s flat, with no explanation of where he’d gone, because he’d rushed out of the house, and yet… when Luca had came home that evening, you were still there.

Most people would’ve been freaked out, you’d only been on a couple dates, but coming home from a gruelling shift, coated in flour still, to the gorgeous sight of you in his clothes, holding a plate of warm food had made his heart swell.

“About time, chef. I was starting to think I’d made you up.” You’d grinned teasingly, pushing the plate in his direction. And, in that moment, seeing you blend so naturally into his life and home, Luca had never been more smitten.

S = Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?)

Luca’s not a very standoffish or rude person. He’s blunt with people, but that’s to get the best potential out of them, but he’s not confrontational at all.

The only time his hackles get up is when it comes to you. Luca’ll always keep his head, no matter what, but there’s a gravelly tone in his voice when it comes to protecting you and his hands are quick to grab your waist and safely manoeuvre you behind him when you need protecting.

T = Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, gifts, everyday tasks?)

Luca is a details guy. He might not be flashy or over-the-top with his displays of his affection but his effort is shown in more subtle ways. Every date is thoroughly thought out.

The tablecloth, for example, for your first anniversary dinner, was an amalgamation of yours and his favourite colours. And, in your fridge, you almost always have a supply of your favourite drink, thanks to Luca.

When it comes to the everyday, Luca can read you like a book, and he’s happy to take the little things, like laundry, off of your back without being asked, just to make your life that little bit easier.

U = Ugly (What would be some bad habits of theirs?)

Luca is a neat freak. Working in a kitchen, means he’s had it drilled into him to keep everything clean at all times and so he gets on your back about it with your house, a lot.

It’s so intense for him, that you can often find Luca following you around the kitchen as you prepare dinner, cleaning up a stray knife you’ve put down or a sauce you’ve let drip from its bowl before you’ve even realised you’ve left it there.

Whilst it can feel like micromanaging at times, you’re grateful for your personal cleanup team when he swoops in.

V = Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)

Not very. Luca is one of those people that is naturally handsome, no matter how little he tries to look good. He doesn’t stress all too much over his face or body.

He does, however, like dressing well and presentable. He has an abundance of different trainers and coats to compliment the basics that make up the rest of his wardrobe. He’ll always preach that subtle and classy is the way to go.

He’ll be sure to wear a nice ‘going-out shirt’ for your dates and his more expensive cologne, but that’s more for you than his own vanity.

W = Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)

Not necessarily. For Luca, incomplete is the wrong word. You’re separate people with your independent lives, skills and talents and he loves that you each get your respective turn in the spotlight.

But if he has to go without you for more than two days, best believe that you’ll be hearing about it…

X = Xtra (A random headcanon for them.)

Luca’s mum buys him Heineken beer for Christmas every year and, even though he much prefers cider, he doesn’t have the heart to tell her how much he hates it because she’s always so proud of herself for getting ‘his favourite drink’ for him.

Y = Yuck (What are some things they wouldn’t like, either in general or in a partner?)

He hates waste. Leftovers going into Tupperware is unavoidable living with Luca. Even if the food doesn’t get eaten right away, he’ll find a way to reuse it somehow in another dish or even as compost. Anything to avoid seeing you tossing half a plate of food into the bin.

Luca likes to keep his home, much like his workplace, clean, neat and tidy and he doesn’t have time for people who can’t maintain their own space well. He doesn’t ask for spotless, you’re both busy people, but he wants his partner to keep up their share of the chores to keep your house a home and to clean up a mess straight away, instead of pushing it back to an undefinable ‘later’.

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?)

Thankfully for your ears, Luca doesn’t snore, nor does he sleep talk but he always, always, always has to sleep in nothing more than his underwear.

Rain or shine, winter or summer - it doesn’t matter. Luca is a furnace all year round and he’d overheat cuddled up in bed beside you if he didn’t sleep almost naked, but it’s not as if you mind it.

[vampire-connoisseur]

Since 2025 is apparently the year of the no-buy and the stash down, I have a very controversial opinion.

I think "using up your stash" is barely an improvement to just continually buying new yarn. The idea comes from a good place, but when the goal becomes reducing the size of your yarn stash, it just becomes a challenge to use what you have any way possible so you can buy more.

If you don't particularly want a granny square blanket, you probably shouldn't use pristine skeins to make one. Same thing with cabled beanies or what have you. When you start trying to use up your stash, instead of just limiting yourself to knitting with mostly yarn you already own, the goal can become to burn through it as fast as possible chasing the feeling of progress, instead of ending up with useful things that you or people in your life will love. If you knit a hat and then never wear it, it isn't actually any better than not knitting the hat at all, in terms of waste.

I honestly think yarn should not be such a defining feature of the hobby. I think it holds inherent excitement because a new skein could become anything, we automatically feel interest and desire for new skeins, and it has the same dopamine fountain properties as other forms of shopping, but it probably isn't good for most of us. When the most exciting part is buying the skein, and then using it becomes an obligation, the joy of knitting and crochet is reduced to consumerism.

Yarn is beautiful and exciting to me, but I'm really trying to change the way I see it. Instead of an exciting blank slate, I'm trying to teach myself to view yarn as a companion. I don't want yarn to be what excites me, because then the hunger for more of it never goes away. I'm glad when I run out of a beautiful yarn because it means I can buy more. Buying is the reward. New yarn is a treat. I don't want that to be part of my life, though. I'm trying to see yarn as enabling the project, and if anything the pattern as the exciting component. When I knit, I try to focus on the work itself, the properties of the finished object and what it will be for, and the techniques I'm learning or practicing, instead of my progress through the yarn.

It's difficult because often inspiration comes from the yarn, and yarn is something that all knitters and crocheters can share an enjoyment of regardless of experience level, style, or time investment, but I still think it's doing more harm than good.

When I buy yarn, I want to be thinking about all the time I'm going to be spending with it. I'm going to be touching it, carrying it with me, frogging it, measuring it, finding patterns for it, and examining it as I knit it up. I will probably use it for multiple projects, at the very least in scrap form, and it will probably lead me to consider buying more yarn of a similar weight and fiber content to use in conjunction with it. That's what I mean when I say it should be a companion instead of a commodity. It goes with you and you pull projects out of it; you don't transform it into projects and move on.

I don't want to use yarn I thought I would love in patterns that don't make me happy and that no one in my life particularly wants. I want yarn to be a resource, rather than a burden. If there are no projects I want to make with my existing yarn, I should save it for later or find another owner for it. I don't want to choose projects out of obligation to yarn I have so that I can make the space to buy more.

Part of me wonders if the emphasis on yarn has amplified the boom in very plain knitting patterns. I can't speak to crochet, but I know that the most popular patterns on ravelry and among knitting youtubers are very simple stockinette pullovers or plain ribbed beanies or something else that is very quick and easy to make and doesn't challenge your knitting capabilities. It could just be because these are what become wardrobe staples, but I also know that a lot of non-knitters wear complex cabled and lacy sweaters and cardigans on a daily basis, including very fashionable people. These simple patterns emphasize yarn choice and let you process stashed yarn faster, but how many people knitting them would rather have a more complex piece, and just don't feel inclined to dedicate the time to one sweater when it could be used to make three?

Anything that slows down your purchasing will be beneficial to your finances and environmental impact, but I think an even greater change in perspective than what you get from a buy ban is in order. You may learn what yarns you actually enjoy or become more creative or experiment with new techniques, but that doesn't actually address the supposed materialism or consumerism issues regarding how we engage with our hobby.

I honestly don't know if building a stash should be a goal or common practice at all. I know all the defenses; I think it makes sense to want to save yarn if your finances are unpredictable, but I think this is a separate issue not really related to the topic of stashing generally. That is either a sensible behavior in a situation that a lot of people with massive craft hoards are not in, or a maladaptive response to traumatic experiences. Either way, saving yarn when you get your hands on it is different from building a "mindful stash" or knitting to use up what you have as fast as possible.

I know a lot of people reason that if you have what you need to create on hand, you can make things more easily, but there are so many limitations of material, quantity, weight, and color that knitting from stash for many people is just an additional challenge (I know for amigurumi artists this is not really the case) and when you have a large stash, it becomes a question of whether you can use it before your tastes change. I know I have a lot of aran weight yarn I don't really know what to do with.

I don't think we should use shopping for joy or comfort. I suspect we would be happier if we almost exclusively bought yarn we planned on using immediately. I saw a youtuber turn an entire advent calendar into a granny square blanket in the name of "stash busting," and maybe she really treasures that blanket now, but if not, I don't see why it had to be "busted" in the first place.

Maybe our engagement with yarn should take the form of reading up on our material options, building lists of specific things we want to try, or following whatever source of yarn is within our budget-- not to seek out deals or new releases, but to get a sense of what our options will be when we do decide to replenish our supply. Instead of looking at skeins of yarn and indulging or fighting a drive to snap them up before they're taken away from you, we could try to translate the skein from a visual and textural experience in the moment into the entire course of working with the yarn. We should imagine the experience of working with it and the finished objects we can pull from it.

I think making fewer finished objects would be okay, as long as each one was worth more to us. Using less yarn on the same budget would also let us try fancier yarns. And when shopping for deals, it's worth remembering that the qualities of the yarn are not what you are bargaining for, but the enjoyment and utility you get per dollar. Even very expensive yarn that you get for cheap and then rush through using is only worth the fun you got from using it and the pleasure the finished object brings you or others (unless you sell the FO).

Joy from shopping is very temporary and sometimes comes as a loan when the purchase becomes a burden and we miss our money and time. I think shopping for fun, especially online, is an inefficient way to get value for our money at best and a maladaptive behavior at worst. I'm curious how often we buy yarn for the act of searching and buying instead of because we want a new yarn in our lives, and I'm curious how doing so impacts how we engage with our hobby.

TL;DR: I think a lot of people have a shopping problem, not a hoarding problem. I think no-buy time and working from stash will not resolve the underlying issues, and I think different behaviors would make us happier.

My mind could be changed, but these are my thoughts right now.

[alslamalskenaalraha]

Characters/OCs asks

1. How would they define love if asked

2. When someone says "this is [character name] coded," what comes to your mind

3. if somebody told the character that they admire them what would they feel and how would they react to it

4. How much weight do they give to others' opinions of them

5. When bad things happen, do they usually think it happened to them or because of them

6. How well do they cope with the reality of their mortality

7. How easily and frequently do they ask for help

8. What is their perspective on religion and the concept of God

9. When in pain do they take it out on others or do they keep it inside

10. Their most defining moment vs your favorite one of them

11. One word they'd use to describe themselves, one you'd use to describe them and lastly a word that their closest/loved one would use to describe them

12. How committed are they to their principles, and what might get them to abandon them

13. Is there a moral line they would never cross

14. What could be considered as their worst moment

15. Do they have a stomach for violence and harm and if so do they only do it out of necessity or at any whim

16. Do they idolize anyone, if so why is that

17. How open are they to change their viewpoints on matters

18. Are they vengeful or do they easily forgive and forget or do they not forgive but don't go as far as acting on that

19. What's their strongest emotion, the one which mostly rules them and compells them to action

20. Are they more inclined to take or give

21. How much do they prioritize their own survival, and what lengths would they go to for self-preservation

22. What is their relationship with their body like

23. How connected do they feel to their community and society

24. Do they self harm and if so in which way

25. What's the worst physical or mental pain they've ever endured

26. How do their family and their relationship with them influence their perspective and the way they navigate life

27. Are they content with their sexuality and gender expression? would a difference in their sexuality and gender affect their role in the story and if so how

28. How much importance do they place on their appearance, and on others' appearance

29. What criteria do they use to assess others' character

30. Do they take themselves too seriously

31. How easily do they forgive themselves after making a mistake and how easily do they forgive others

32. Are they more concerned with the bigger picture or are they hung up on the details

33. Do they prioritise other people's needs over their own or the other way around

34. What do they believe their hands were made for

35. Do they consider themselves lucky or privileged

36. What is their level of emotional intelligence and social adeptness

37. Presented with three different ponds offering eternal health, strength, or wealth, which one would they choose to drink from, they can only drink from one

38. In the event of an apocalypse with only one limited safe haven available, whom or what would they prioritize bringing along

39. If they could end one thing—be it a person, ideology or misfortune—what would they choose to eradicate

40. Would breaking their heart be a quick task or would it require significant effort

41. Are they comfortable expressing their emotions and thoughts

42. If given the chance to bring back someone from the dead, who would they choose and why

43. With whom or when do they feel most authentic and true to themselves

44. Do they believe they are more in control or being controlled (by others, their circumstances or their life in general) and are they correct in their assumption

45. What is their fatal flaw

46. To what extent does shame or guilt influence their psyche

47. If they were an object, Which material(s) would they be made of

48. What gets them out of the bed each morning and how obvious is that motivation to those around them

49. Do they believe there's a cause, person, or a goal worth sacrificing their life for

50. If faced with a magical mirror revealing their deepest fear and greatest desire instead of their reflection, what would they see and would they be surprised by it

51. What does responsibility mean to them and do they embrace it or take it on reluctantly

52. Does their race significantly shape their personality or is it more of a background aspect

53. How entitled do they feel to others' emotions, time or labor

54. Are they more likely to do a good deed if they know it will be noticed or do they not care about acknowledgment

55. Do they live in the past, the present or the future

56. How do they go about making decisions: do they consult a particular individual, rely on a trusted group, consider input from anyone willing to share or solely trust their own judgment

57. How likely are they to intervene if they witness something illegal or immoral, If they choose to get involved what method do they typically use, Does their eagerness to correct the situation and their approach vary depending on the perpetrator's status, closeness or strength

58. When it comes to hope do they view it as: impractical or necessary and why is that

59. Do they tend to overwork themselves

60. What type of smart are they

61. If they could make people do whatever they wanted without any consequences, would they use that power and if so how

62. Which of the following do they have the hardest time accepting: affection, money or help