#Hope's proper place and Rage's proper mitigation

[sunshinecircusworld]

story test - tom and star lion

this was actually the first proper scene i wrote for this project, but i didn't feel comfortable posting it publicly until now.

the story and contents are subject to change, but i still thought it was something i'd like to share for now

i hope people enjoy it :)

[Tom is a medium height anthropomorphic black-furred tomcat. Ahead of him is a large anthropomorphic lion more than three times his size, radiating light like the sun or a star.] 

Are you a God? 

[The star lion looks down at him with a blank face.] 

☆ No, I am simply the star of the show. 

What does that mean? 

☆ The show cannot go on without the star. The spotlight shines down on center stage and I perform unendingly for the audience. I observe the audience and ensure their reactions are that of pleasure and enjoyment. I remember my performances and I recall my memories of the audience's reactions. 

Is that your job? 

☆ It is my role.

Do you like your role?

☆ I am the star of the show. I am a performer. I am an observer. I am a recorder. If I did not do these tasks, there would be no more show. The audience would be disappointed. 

That's not what I'm saying. I asked if you liked it. 

☆ ...

Hello?

☆ There is no necessity to wonder whether or not I enjoy it. It is my role. 

Don't you think that's a bit depressing? I mean, haven't you ever thought about what you actually want to do in your life? 

☆ Ever since I was a child I observed the other stars and planets around me crashing into each other with such violence. Planets colliding and scraps of rock and molten metal shooting through space and destroying nearby beings. Stars corrupting and erupting and exploding into a million little sparkles of dust. They will never come back. They will never be whole again. 

What are you trying to say...?

☆ What I am saying is that I watched all of this conflict take place, and I committed myself to the role of one who does not perpetuate violence. I exist to mitigate arguments and to bring comfort and pleasure to the audience so they do not behave in erratic ways and are always filled with at least a small remnant of joy after the performance. I am not permitted to feel emotions like 'rage,' nor to perform actions like 'destruction'. This is for the sake of the rest of the universe. 

Don't you think that's putting a little too much pressure on yourself? I mean, sure, people are out there fighting and hurting each other, but that's not your responsibility.

☆ What do you mean?

Like, people are going to hurt each other no matter what. And even if you try to bring comfort and happiness to others, it's still going to happen. So the way I see it, it's not your responsibility. 

☆ Do you mean to say that I should abandon my role? If I were to do so, don't you know how much more anguish and sadness there would be in the universe? I'm playing a very important role, I couldn't forgive myself if I were to ever step down from this stage. I'd be at fault for allowing the other beings of the universe to only continue their struggles and discontent without any relief. 

Don't you think you should take a break from it sometimes at least? 

☆ I must not abandon my role as I would only be allowing further sadness and suffering to permeate our world.

Why do you feel guilt for violence that you didn't even cause? 

☆ ...

It's not your fault. 

☆ ... 

You've lived this way for a long time, haven't you. 

☆ ...

Haven't you ever thought about what it could be like if you did something else? Played a role for yourself?

☆ How can I justify my existence if I am not performing to lessen the suffering in this world? 

You know, most people never really think about stuff like that. We just exist, and live, because we do. 

☆ What is the justification for your existence? What is your role? 

I don't know. I often feel something similar, wondering why I'm alive. What I can do in this life to make it worth it. But that's not something easily answered.

☆ I don't think I could leave this stage if I tried. I couldn't bear the guilt of leaving the audience. 

It'll probably take some time 

☆ I don't want to leave! I don't want things to change! I don't want to take the time to slowly abandon those who depend on me! 

...

☆ I don't want to leave this stage and this role! I don't know who I am without them! 

[The star lion begins to cry] 

Hey, it's okay. I didn't mean to upset you. 

☆ I'm not upset by you! I'm upset by myself! Why can't I perform correctly! Why is there always someone in the audience who doesn't laugh no matter how grand the show is! Why can't I help people! Help this world! Help this universe! 

[The star lion is crying profusely and slowly shrinking in size, hiding its face in its hands]

Hey, it's okay, it's okay. 

☆ I'm sorry for crying. 

Why would you be sorry? It's just an emotion. 

[The star lion sniffles. It is still avoiding eye contact with Tom.]

☆ It is not convenient or helpful to anyone if I cry. 

It doesn't need to be. Actually, I think it's helpful to yourself. That's why your body does it. 

☆ ... 

Sometimes we have things trapped inside our bodies that need to get out.

[The star lion looks up at Tom.] 

☆ Why are you being so kind to me?

... 

[It looks down again.]

☆ I don't understand why. 

It's not a matter of 'why,' I just always... try to be kind to people in general, especially if they seem like they need it. 

☆ Are you pitying me? Do you think I'm pathetic? 

Hey, wait, I didn't say that. 

☆ I'm sorry. 

You really don't have to apologize. 

☆ Okay. 

I'm glad you shared your story with me. 

☆ It is the least I can do. I hope it was entertaining and did not cause discomfort to you. 

It doesn't matter if it did. We all have to live in discomfort sometimes. 

☆ I wish it were not so. But maybe, in a way, I understand. The joy of a smile cannot be understood without the sorrow of a frown. It is why many clowns embody this dichotomy. 

Yeah, there will always be both good and bad, fun and difficult things in the world. 

☆ I am glad that the clowns can ensure the existence of fun and good things in this world. 

[The star lion has stopped crying and started smiling slightly.]

It's great that the circus exists. But you have to remember that it's okay to be kind to yourself as well, and take a break from the stage every once in a while.

[The star lion looks into Tom's eyes.]

☆ I do not know if I know how to do that. 

It's okay. 

☆ ... 

[Tom approaches the star lion and wraps it in a hug] 

☆ ... 

... 

☆ ...

...

☆ Thank you.

[macawritesupdates]

Yay new chapter ✨️ damn so proud of Yuuji he's getting stronger bit by bit he's going to be so formidable someday. Calling out Sukuna on his bullshit behavior is great especially since he actually did research and knows that alphas in the past really didn't act all awful all the time. I don't doubt Sukuna when he says he had people trying to get with him all the time back then though especially since in the manga he's got yorozu and kashimo flirting with him. I wonder if he'll be able to put it together in his head that he didn't like how pushy Yorozu was with him so why would he assume that kinda behavior would fly with someone else… Probably not. Ahh man Yuuji's right on the money Sukuna is a bit feral with no proper socialization. It was so good to see all the ways he's trying though looking up how to be a good alpha is straight up hilarious and the crooning was adorable!! He's learning ok he's capable of change it's just slow and he needs examples on what to do. Unfortunately all of their previous interactions have not left Yuuji with a good impression of Sukuna so of course he didn't respond the way Sukuna wanted him to. I was so happy to see Sukuna's lovely nest hehe<3. In the first chapter Sukuna asked if Yuuji grew up around omegas and learned to make nests from them. I wonder who he learned from? He could have learned from the internet of course but maybe in this fic Uraume was an omega and he learned from them. No romance there, they're just besties. The sleepover was delightful. I could read about all the students getting to cuddle and relax together forever and the mini war to cuddle the pillow had me grinning so hard. The upperclassmen being all supportive was exactly what Yuuji needed. the ending though ahh you really know how to hit hard huh now I've got to be all scared for my boy!! Yuuji's in danger what could Sukuna possibly ask in exchange for his help?! Wait this fic is interactive I've got to come up with some ideas to help answer that question. Ok Ok so I was kinda hoping Sukuna would really have to earn his place in Yuuji's nest although asking to be allowed in would make sense… hmm maybe he could ask to be allowed to scent Yuuji instead. Gotta (enjoy the brat smelling like him) Keep bothersome alphas away after all. I Think after Sukuna rescues Yuuji he should take him back to his grandpa's house and make a nice nest there so Yuuji wakes up surrounded by familiar comforting blankets that still smell like home to him. When it's all over and they talk Yuuji should get close to Sukuna and Sukuna tenses up a bit but Yuuji gives him a hug and whispers thank you. Sukuna should get to freeze and then very carefully hug back. Perhaps Sukuna can learn what it feels like to save someone and be the hero for just a moment. Perhaps if he plays his cards right and manages to mitigate his bastard tendencies for a whole five minutes he'll even get to cuddle. Ahh man I'm caught between loving slow burn enemies to lovers and loving happy sweet cuddling so so much ugh Maca how do you decide when to let them get all fluffy together? Sukuna could decide he really doesn't like it when other alphas try to bully Yuuji and offers to teach him something to protect himself. I think it'd be cool if Yuuji learns a simple domain or makes a deal with Sukuna where he could use his technique against enemy alphas in exchange for Sukuna being allowed out for a bit whenever he does. There's also an angsty option here where Yuuji compares the awful alpha to Sukuna in a moment of rage, which deeply hurts Sukuna although he hides it under anger. Loved this chapter and look forward to the next one. Thank you for writing and sharing with us!!

The trick to knowing when to do the cuddles is that the emotions are there, the time is right, and the stage is set c: When dealing with characters, it is always about doing it on their own terms that makes it fluffy! Like after all this...now they are taking those first steps <3 All about the feels. When the time is right, the characters will make their move <3

Going to pull some ideas from here for sure to mix into the next chapter! Got so many suggestions, I'm excited to see how this next chapter comes out! (as I never have any idea until the compiling of all the comments happen, which was today hehe!)

[kumaradosha]

I’ve noticed a lot of people seem to get the Rage aspect cringily wrong.

Like, probably more wrong than people tend to get other aspects. There’s a decent reason for that, though. People seem to forget that the only references for Rage that we have seen in characters are those whose classes represent the subversion of their aspect, tending to display either the negative or the opposite of what would be expected in that aspect generally. We’ve only seen a Bard of Rage and a Prince of Rage.

According to “word of god” in its description, Rage is not just chaos for its own sake. It’s not wanton destruction or fear/anger over nothing. It’s not even believing that nothing matters (on the contrary, Rage tends to be overreactive--everything matters...often negatively). It’s about truth. Specifically, despising and eliminating what isn’t. A rage player would rather live in uncertainty--if the only other option were living in delusion. Rage’s disruption and destruction has a purpose. Its fear and anger have a purpose. Its rejection of ideas has a purpose. It opposes the notion that simple faith in something false makes it real or true and finds that taking solace in comfortable delusion is harmful and dangerous. There is ultimate truth, but we as limited and fallible beings are incapable of finding or comprehending it fully. Therefore, the best possible goal is to eliminate what isn’t real or true in order to stay on the path to truth as closely as possible.

Of course, eliminating what is wrong isn’t nearly the entire route to a fulfilling reality. It’s simply Rage’s specialty. We need all the other specialties, a diversity of skills, to create a whole and useful society/existence. And we do still need Hope. We need creativity and ideas, specifically ones that are right and true; don’t worry, we’ll shoot down the ones you have that aren’t. We need to be able to trust some things and bridge the gaps in our understanding with faith in the interim between fallibility and perfect discernment. Even scientists have to guess at things before they are proven right or wrong (or at least the evidence suggests such--absolute proof isn’t technically a purview of science).

Speaking of which, lots of people seem to wrongly think Rage represents religion. It doesn’t. Hope represents faith, has themes of magic and religion. Rage’s themes include doubt and skepticism. The mistake is made, because it is Gamzee that is religious. But Gamzee is a Bard. He represents the negative, harmful permutation of religion (generally seen as profane and toxic to other religious people). The same way Eridan is an antitheist of sorts (technically a magic-denier) and represents the negative, harmful permutation of atheism/skepticism (rejecting the concept of things that clearly do actually exist just because they don’t fit his already-established belief system). They are extremes in the direction opposite to their aspect, because they cause destruction in/of that aspect. Hope has a similar, but somewhat lesser, problem of being misunderstood, because its only character representations are a Prince, a Bard, and a Page (somebody who starts out especially unskilled or clumsy at their aspect).

So just as Rage players recognize Hope players run the risk of supporting and perpetuating useless/harmful falsehoods. Rage players would grow to admit they themselves run the risk of proverbially throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We are so focused on eliminating anything that even might be fishy or that doesn’t make sense to us at the time, that we might unintentionally shoot down good ideas and reject actual truth. Hypothetically, what if a certain religion actually were true--or if magic/supernatural things actually did exist? Should we not accept and pursue that truth? At the very least not reject it? Something to think about.

The key to being a whole and healthy person is recognizing and strengthening your weaknesses as you grow more powerful at what you’re good at. Respect that our opposite aspects are important, even if they rub us the wrong way. Every skill is helpful as long as it is used responsibly and doesn’t extend its reach beyond its purpose. The key is to find where those boundaries lie and knowing exactly when Hope is okay or when Rage is too much. And that is very difficult.

Edit: I have not progressed in Hiveswap very far (even though I intend to eventually), so please forgive me if I’ve said anything that’s proven untrue because of my limited knowledge. Sorry about that.

[why-this-kolaveri-machi]

chin fucking up, amigo.

Titans 3.02

... eh?

SPOILERS ahead.

1. you know that music video for billie jean where michael jackson would dance along the pavement and the tiles would light up under his feet in different colours? yeah? me too.

titans hasn’t met a table top or a support arch that it doesn’t want to light up in a headache-inducing blue like the world’s most boring nightlight. i mean, i’m not an expert on lighting or cinematography or just... colour by any means, and the quality of the video i’m watching is poor given that i can’t access hbo max, but all the orange and teal and neon is making it very difficult to really differentiate between say, the batcave and the gotham police department and hell, the titans tower. i feel like there’s oftentimes a gap between idea and execution with titans, with gotham being this almost otherwordly hellscape with an aesthetic pulled from a gothic horror novel, but the colours and design just... leave it flat and dark and dull.

1.5. like what really frustrates me is that titans has a delightful mix of tones--the fights often remind me of schumacher-era batman camp, with the contrived quips and the start-stop rhythm and krypto just sallying in and ending the fight with a fucking SuperBark (tm) but in the same episode you have red hood just casually pulling out severed heads out of a duffle bag and desperate people blackmailed into killing themselves out of drug overdoses. I MEAN. it’s wonderful! but it looks all the same. it sounds Absolutely Bonkers on paper but on screen both Quip and Murder happen in the same washed-out blue and i wanted to be excited about the batcave, dammit!

2. things re: red hood have happened at such a breakneck speed that it feels like there’s so much that’s happened off-screen that we’re not privy to. a real proper mystery! 

things that are intriguing about the red hood arc so far:

a) what was that chemical he huffed just before going to fight the joker? is it a regular old performance/adrenaline booster or is it something more lazarus-juice adjacent? if it’s the latter, i can’t imagine he got that much information from a lone chemistry textbook. and where is he getting the resources to set up his little chemistry lab? is somebody else orchestrating things behind the scenes?

b) the red hood persona, costume and mask, plus the elaborate plan he’s putting in place to both string along gotham’s rogues and enact his revenge against the titans seems too... fully-formed and elaborate to have been concocted in just a few days. how long do you think jason’s been planning this? just... stewing in resentment and building rage, dismissed and passed around and underestimated and realising that the power he thought he would get by being robin is no power, no protection at all, but something that’s left him even more vulnerable than before? 

c) do we think that the scarecrow is at least partly behind this transformation? because yes, it was batman that set up this whole hannibal lecter-esque situation with him, and he would be irresponsible enough to have jason-as-robin go talk to him regularly regarding “~profiling~” criminals. it’s not too far of a leap to assume that scarecrow could’ve been manipulating jason at a very vulnerable time, and that he could’ve passed along some of his chemistry know-how, too.

d) ... or fuck, i wouldn’t put it past titans to introduce ra’s al ghul in a fucking ten second aside

e) anyway, the thing that won’t leave me alone is jason seeking out the joker not necessarily to fight him, but to orchestrate his own death. the whole thing has to have been part of a bigger plan. he broke batman with it, after all. and he’s starting to break the titans, too.

f) i love it! i mean, it does re-tread some of the storybeats we had with deathstroke last season (turning the titans against each other as revenge, etc) but it’s... tighter, this time, and at least for now seems better-executed. and as a red hood story it’s different enough to be really interesting, and i appreciate the ways in which its reframed the revenge story to focus on the titans rather than just the batman. like fuck everything up, i say! turn it on its head! slash the innards out of that sacred cow and strew it like garlands in the path of the Story You Want To Tell!

(and yes i am fully aware that by the time i post this review, there will be a whole lot more information out but if i come across like a fool then goddammit i will be a fool!)

2. i love how every season of titans starts off with, ‘oh dick, you thought you were settling into a role and a life and a pattern of relationships? well fuck you, here’s a terrible and traumatic thing, tons more responsibility, and circumstances that will lead you to uproot your entire life and move somewhere else.’ and dick’s just like, ‘well, ok. fuck you, but all right’.

can you imagine? the man was just settling into leading a team in sf and smiling for the first time in years, and now he has to deal with jason’s death, bruce experiencing a full fledged breakdown, coming back to a city that represents more bad memories than good, red hood, and a frightening new case that seems to be targeting him and his team. it’s a testament to dick’s growth that he’s not reacting to this stress like he did last year, shutting everybody out, making irrational decisions and experiencing sharp, short bursts of anger. (not to mention a full fledged psychotic episode.)

2.5. but i’ve also talked about dick performing a fair amount of unwarranted emotional labour for his team(s) in that he just lets them take out their frustrations on him and... does nothing. be it his team exploding at him for jericho (both in flashback and present-day) or donna and hank needling him for handling deathstroke poorly or barbara berating him for not handling the bank situation as well as she thought batman would though just the previous episode she had talked about how fucked up it was that bruce just expected dick to step up and replace him in gotham without any real notice. i mean it’s all perfectly understandable and sympathetic from their end--and i’m not trying to bash them here!--but hank, my man, the same chin you’re asking your amigo to keep up is the one that you punched last year and never apologised for. just sayin’.

2.75. @superohclair did a wonderful breakdown of what the ‘fear’ contract could imply here and there’s not too much i could add to that. it’s just really interesting that fear ended up being such a defining feature of their lives, albeit it’s the fear of seeming less than invincible in the face of bigger, more tangible fears. am i making sense?  dick feared loss, and abandonment, and the more existential concept of turning into something that he didn’t want to. bruce so feared being alone that he’s scouting kids to replace robin within days of jason dying. 

it also goes some way in explaining the tense sort of... restraint that bruce and dick show in the wake of loss and tragedy, like anything less than complete control of your emotions can lead to tragedy. it’s conditioning that dick couldn’t shake off when he was at his lowest in detroit, hating his legacy but unable to let it go either.

2.775. but i definitely appreciate the softness that dick displays with his team now, checking on them after a mission-gone-bad, welcoming back old members with no caveats or resentments (and kory’s delight in seeing hank back! hank and dick hanging out together and hank trying to prop dick up!), and appreciating their teamwork in solving cases. that’s always been the essence of dick as a person, and the beating heart of this show: flawed and traumatised people coming together to a place that will always be open to them, where they can be their worst and be supported still, allowed to make mistakes and grow from them. that’s family.

2.8. coming back to bruce for just a sec, it’s interesting how that gotham rogue was so certain when he said that ‘batman doesn’t kill’ but it’s not a rule that either jason or dick put much store by when they were robins. the ‘no-killing’ rule clearly didn’t mitigate dick’s fears about turning into batman and jason’s never been seeing giving two shits about it. it seems to me of a piece with bruce’s distant, second-hand sort of parenting that we see in dick’s flashbacks from s1 where the fear was never about personally disappointing batman, but taking lessons from him on finding a place in gotham’s hellish ecosystem and surviving.

3. kory having waking flashbacks! i don’t buy the bullshit parasomnia episode explanation from fake!HPG (because c’mon, justin has to be some sort of tamaranean ruse) because for one, you have to be actually asleep for that diagnosis. 

(and here i was, hoping against hope that HPG would actually end up as the team’s therapist)

curiouser and curiouser! i wonder if these flashbacks are from the time between kory landing on earth and the beginning of season 1, when she was completely amnesiac? it’d be cool if the show was considering repercussions from that time, and if kory hasn’t gained all her memories back. 

4. i just love the vibes between gar and conner and kory. gar Having Things To Do is only one part of my wishlist for him, however: other parts include having an actual story arc, and actually bonding with members who are not conner and kory. (dick! dick! hank! dick!)

anyway. time to move on to watching ep3 and seeing this family bond and nothing terrible and tragic happening at all, nope, nosiree. 

[symptomofconvalescence]

Ben and Rey: Wounds, Growth and Healing

I want to talk about the kinds of growth that Kylo and Rey have both experienced over the course of this trilogy and the kind of growth that will need to take place in them if they are both to reach their true potential. I also want to talk about how and why their wounds and so healing differ from each other and how and why they are also complementary. First, the obvious. Rey and Kylo Ren are both damaged and, though I think it’s fair to say that his damage goes much deeper than hers and that his path forward will necessarily, because of his moral choices, be much harder and longer, it is this equality of damage that makes their story so fascinating. Not incidentally, it is what makes their story of healing also a love story. It is the very fact that it is not a story of one-sided growth or change that also gives it the mark of all great love stories. They affect each other equally and profoundly and they both inspire growth in the other. 

While they are both damaged, it is easier- at least for me, though I have seen this recurring fairly frequently with others too- to feel a particular swelling of compassion for Ben that is not quite as strong for Rey. I don’t mean that everyone who is interested in this story will love him more- that is a matter of personal preference- but just that narratively it is perhaps easier to pity him than it is her. I believe that this is for two reasons: one is, as I have said, because his damage is necessarily deeper than Rey’s; the second is because Rey is frequently positioned in this story as more surrounded by love and support than he is. She has a larger support system than he does, plain and simple. The fact that his lack of support is the result of his own choices does not have to lessen our sympathy for him, though with many it does. Unable and unwilling to make the choice he needed to make to be happy, the end of The Last Jedi finds Kylo on his knees, alone, bereft of love and warmth and light, and it finds Rey, sad and hurting, sure, but also surrounded by friends and love and comfort. Although I can only speak with certainty for myself, I don’t believe that I am alone in that my heart is instinctively more protective of Ben than Rey because he is so obviously suffering more or, at the very least, more openly suffering than she is.

This is not a tangent to emphasize why I feel more for Kylo Ren than I do for Rey- I do and he is certainly my favorite- nor is it just to emphasize that I relate to him more, worry about him more, and in the end probably love him more. This is an important distinction to make. Because it is this fact of open, evident vulnerability on his part vs. secret, closed, barely admitted suffering and trauma on hers that together form the heart of their dynamic and is the key to the potential for healing that they both can inspire in each other. Rey has sympathy for Kylo because she has a big heart, but also because she understands and relates to his brokenness on a fundamental level. @kylo-babe-too has pointed out before that Rey has adopted the role of Rescuer as a way of dealing with her own childhood wounds. And while it is true that her Rescuer mentality is one she has to grow past, it is through recognizing that she isn’t the only one who is broken that her true healing begins. Kylo can and does give her that. He is so openly flawed and damaged- he cannot hide it from anyone for any amount of time- he is one open, obvious, gaping wound of pain and thwarted love that Rey, looking at him, is given the relief of seeing the pain of her heart, her abandonment, her anger, her secret, explosive rage, embodied in another person. She wants to help him because she is generous and sympathetic, but she also wants to help him because in his pain and in his lashing out against the pain he is her. This, to me, is the real key to her draw to him and I also believe that it is a part of herself that neither she, nor those who surround her on the Millennium Falcon at the end of The Last Jedi, can fully understand or even admit. And I think, in some strange way, that seeing him in his full, open brokenness is helpful for her if only because it starts to push her to a deeper acceptance of her own wounds- the scars of which are harder to see for others because she is so beautiful, so good, so charismatic and because she draws people into the circle of her charm so easily, and harder for her to see herself because it was by ignoring those scars and pretending they weren’t there- “they’ll come back, one day, you’ll see”- that she survived at all.

Kylo is one of the few (possibly the only?) character who can actually see Rey’s wounds. This is because he made it inside her head. “You were so lonely, so afraid to leave, at night desperate to sleep...” He understands right away that she has deep scars, many that look like his, and almost immediately he has sympathy for her. The way he delivers the above lines is a huge first clue but it is also explicitly spelled out in the novelization when Snoke says “you have compassion for her”. But while compassion is a huge part of his draw to her and identification of himself with her it is not necessarily the most powerful or fascinating part of that attraction. That, I believe, is the awe and wonder he feels for what she has done and made of herself in spite of her wounds. When he looks at Rey, he sees someone whose trauma and heartbreak has made her strong. She has pulled the broken pieces of her heart and her life into a coherent whole. And she has not let it harden or break her. She is compassionate, she is adventurous, she is kind, she is internally strong. I believe that Rey still has wounds that need admitting, addressing, and healing- all the more so because they are harder to see- but her life is not the shattering mess his is. She does not project that pain outward, wrecking lives and hearts in an effort to reconstruct her world. She has chosen saving and protecting others as recompense for her own abandonment where he has chosen destruction. It is so good for Kylo to see that, and her strength in the face of her pain is one of the reasons that, when his legacy lightsaber answers her call instead of his and in doing so he can see that the Force is as strong with her as it is with him- and in this case perhaps stronger-, at the moment when he recognizes her absolute, unquestionable power she possesses despite her abandonment and her parents’ betrayal- he falls in love with her. She represents what he never was but she gives him hope for what he could be. He represents the path she rejected but which she still needs to accept as what was once, and still might be, a very real possibility for her.

Rey is someone who fell back on morality because of her abandonment; Kylo is someone who rejected it because of a (similar) (believed) abandonment. This is why they need each other, and why on their own they only have one piece of their healing. Rey’s morality is not whole or perfect because it was, and still is to an extent, a coping mechanism, and while this is a far healthier coping mechanism than his, morality is not meant to be a coping mechanism. If her goodness, compassion, and protectiveness are going to be a permanent part of her, and not just a reflex to ward off her own hurt, she has to grow by accepting her own wounds. She needs to accept her internal brokenness and Kylo can help her do that, sometimes consciously, - “you’ll never stop needing [your parents] it’s your greatest weakness”- and at other times simply by being who he is- an open and living cauldron of pain and hurt. Kylo’s destructive manner of dealing with pain is obviously harmful and unhealthy for himself and for the galaxy as a whole and he can, and has maybe started already?, to learn to keep some of that pain and rage if not out of his heart at least out of his actions. He can learn from her different, healthier ways of channeling his wounds; he can learn that being broken does not mean he cannot also act in a way which would suggest that he is whole, that his brokenness does not have bleed over and spill out into everything he touches, that it can be patched up and stilled and maybe one day healed and during that process of healing the damage it spreads can be mitigated. And it is in this way that they can and I do believe will help each other heal.

His openness about his brokenness, his inner, aching vulnerability will help her to see and then address wounds so far she has run from, denied, or ignored, and because he will be there to help her do it, because she won’t be alone as she rips off the bandage to find what is festering beneath, she will find the strength to accept and heal even the most secret parts of herself. And her strength will help him see that he can lift himself out of the damaging effects of pain run wild, that he doesn’t have to drown in bitterness forever, that next to her and with her he too can be whole, or close enough to it, that he can be happy again, loving and loved in return. And it is that love, in its proper context and space, with healthy boundaries, fixed in a living morality, that will heal both of them most fully.

[tarysande]

ADHD Update

I woke up this morning to ... uh, thousands of new notifications on the ADHD post I made six weeks ago (I think it’s @seananmcguire‘s fault ;D ... which is fine because iloveyourbookssomuch*fangirl*). 

Over the past weeks, I have received dozens of supportive notes from complete strangers. I’ve received PMs and Anon messages. I’ve read all your reblogs and I’ve read all your tags, and I want you to know I see you. I hear you. Even if we are strangers who may never speak or meet, every time I see a new notification, I send a little bit of love and support your way. 

I know most of the people who’ve seen and interacted with that post probably won’t see this one, but in case they do: Thank you. I’m proud of you. I believe in you. None of us are alone; that’s the beauty of the internet. Even if the people you regularly interact with in your day-to-day life don’t get it, chances are you can find spaces on the internet where people will understand you, support you, and believe in you.

I intended for that post to be something hopeful. Maybe a nudge, for people like me who don’t fit the typical diagnosis criteria---even when it seems impossible, there are diagnosticians out there who will listen. There are resources you can access online. Treating ADHD is always a multi-pronged approach. Medication is one prong. Knowledge is another. Cognitive-behavioral therapy can help. So, research is finding, can daily meditation. There are free resources online to help you help yourself. Here’s a good place to start; CADDAC has compiled lists of online, Canadian, US, and international resources. While therapists (or medication) may be out of many people’s price range---I certainly don’t want to diminish that difficulty, especially considering how poor coverage can be for anything mental-health-related---taking tiny positive steps forward is possible on your own. Or with a supportive group of internet pals.

I am almost 40 years old. ADHD wasn’t even suggested as a possibility until I was 37. On the one hand, I grieve for the time I’ve lost to things beyond my control. Of course, I do. On the other, as I said to my husband the other day, fighting for this diagnosis and finally getting some proper treatment for it (an ongoing process!) has given me so much to hope for. If I get another five minutes or another fifty years, fighting (and continuing to fight) for my health and well-being has been worth it.

A few words of advice based on my personal experience:

If your medication makes you feel like a zombie, you’re on the wrong medication or you’re on the wrong dose. This goes for ADHD meds, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety meds. The goal is not to be numb. You should feel more like yourself, more like your best self, not lesser or smaller or quieter. Don’t stay on the wrong medication. And don’t be afraid of medication if you’ve had this experience (I have!), because I am here to tell you it does not and should not be this way.

I am a writer and an editor by profession. Too many people spread the lies that a creative person needs their depression, anxiety, ADHD, substance abuse, or other treatable issue to be Creative. This is a lie. This is a terrible, harmful, horrific lie. The healthier I am, the better my mind works, and the more creative I am. The healthier I am, the better I’m able to manage and use my time for creative pursuits.

There’s no magic wand. There are only tools to help you do the work. No one can ‘fix’ you. They can help you see yourself more clearly, they can help you focus, they can help you breathe, they can help you learn, they can point you in fruitful directions, they can give you tools, they can love you, they can support you, they can help you get back up when you (probably inevitably) stumble, they can hug you really tight, they can hold you as you cry on their shoulder. Unfair as it may seem to those of us handed the challenge through no fault of our own, mental health involves work, and no one else can do that work for you.

It’s okay to be angry and sad and frustrated and happy and hopeful and full of rage and full of grief, sometimes all at the same time. We feel a lot of things. Sometimes we have to linger in those feelings to figure out why they’re happening or what they mean or how to adjust things to mitigate them healthily. But it’s okay and it sucks and it’s wonderful and it’s horrible and it’s okay. We have good days. We have bad days.

I know these are just words written by some stranger on the internet, but I care about you. I hope for you. I am glad you’re in this world, thinking and believing and creating and fighting for yourself and loving and enjoying and breathing and working.

Because a few people have asked, yes, I have a Ko-Fi and yes, I have a Patreon (which I’m revamping). 100% no pressure, but any support I receive keeps me writing my own work instead of editing the work of others to feed my cat ;D. Tumblr is primarily a fandom space for me, but any ADHD- or mental-health-related posts I make are tagged tara talks adhd or tara talks mental health (or both!). I believe strongly in speaking about these things---for me, yes, and for those who can’t.

[sentiniel-butitgetsworse]

rwde

highly unpolished, awful explanation, but scene-by-scene commentary of unbridled annoyance and rage. read at your own peril.

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

so the episode opens with a fight scene. sweet! cool! but its so badly staged, sometimes you have no idea what is happening the first time round. it’s crowded and messy, not a very good look? im talking about grim being hid behind ice while the camera is panning and hitting some trees when we’re literally panning out to show someone else in focus DESPITE THE FACT THEIR MITIGATION SHOULD BE FRONT AND CENTER TO LET US KNOW IT HAPPENED CLEARLY. legit! there’s the one where nora shoots at a grim and the shell explodes into black dust and the grim is gone. did it die? grim dont usually die by fuckin smoke but this one sure fuckin did i guess ‘cause i literally dont know what happened to it? no recoil and fall, just deleted and hid behind some 2d-lookin smoke! sure! why not?!?!!!?

s/o to the white/rose speedy thing that had no reason to be there and yet they did it

---

then there was the “adam ruins everything” segment where he literally just murders? everyone? like i get that its off screen for the younger audiences but also like he fucking murders everyone. literally! did i miss something? is it a good tactic now? did they think it was very villainous of him to murder people??????? god bring me back to the beginning when he actually has a good character reason for why faunus would follow him into revolution because this adam taurus is so bad he’s worth flushing down the drain for.

“tHe BeLlAdOnnA nAme HaS bRoUgHt Me NoThINg BUt gRiEf”

also that opening shot where adam is proud. jfc what? is he even part of salem’s crew anymore? was the Adam short supposed to tell us he isnt? is anyone reviewing this and thinking 100% it’s a good idea?????

wait why is this scene even second? that’s a really awkward position to put it in the whole episode? honestly? like it kinda underlines how awkward a villain adam really is; it has no build up, no reason to be there. sure, the audience is hungry to know what happened to adam, but there’s legitimately no reason to put it as the second scene in the episode, there’s no context??????

callout post for this scene because its literally just voicelines while panning slowly through the bottom floor of the room. and the blood only shows up later??? also is the white fang only comprised of like 7 people now??? isnt it a globally feared organization (ie. isis)????

---

there are two bodyguards for the train. two? two. and for some reason they’re asking for dlc to provide more/personal protection? hello, did i miss something? anyone thought it was a good idea? what class of transportation did they get? if it was dangerous enough that on a train ride they’d need people to guard the journey it wouldn’t even be built there? or what, did they get a max-luxury, train ride with insurance kinda deal? and it had two (2) bodyguards? two (2)!!!!! or was it in the middle of the road??? i may have enough context for the environment but none on economy of this place i swear

“hey ladies we’ll protect you wink” jaune and lie ren literally sitting one (1) feet away not saying anything, could be everyone’s moment to justify “hey we’re literally huntsman despite being kids, we know what we’re doing” but qrow has to step in and apparently his  credentials would ward off some bodyguards???? like “hi yes sorry im the dad of literally 8 kids, i can protect them all” not a convincing argument here bud

illia deserves more time on screen and also closure because neptune fuckin hit on her and that’s obviously enough to change scenes right

also neptune being “you really gonna let her go? l:/” feels like he’s salty instead of wukong tbh; wukong feels/sounds like the literal i can do anything kinda guy -- which he is in mythology and probably in universe (except for intelligence i guess, despite the fact he literally outsmarts his opponents through a lot of his mythos) so i dont mind him being let off the hook, but any hesitation implied during this scene? weak

illia building up to kiss but hugging blake instead, but blake kissing wk on the cheek straight up on camera yo really

---

blake emos in the corner and because its queued up right after the wk/neptune scene its not a far fetch to say she’s emo-ing about wk but turns out its yang? would’ve preferred the setup to be stronger (blake watches yang get on the bed and feels sad/regret, zoom in on yang’s arm to show the audience but not tell them)

i give props to blake being shown “wait leme get that for you” real out the way though, because it underlines properly that blake feels ridiculously bad and wants to do something to make up for yang. good characterization/storytelling!

then they break it w/ like a 30s scene of yang and blake making up almost immediately with a “oh everyone will feel better about it soon :)” BRUH SHE GUILTY BOUT YOUR FUCKIN ARM BITCH CUT BACK TO REALITY DAMN the running away part is sincerely legitimate but also??? blake should be a/ more anxious than that and b/ be more worried about???? yang’s arm??????? for real m8

---

“dont let anyone else die” a/ assumes the bodyguard trying to defend the train literally died and b/ also really fell flat? as a line? get something better...????

genuine dislike for the tactic of qrow fights the Big Boss and everyone gets a handful of weaklings; to stall? possible. but also just feels like a bad tactic overall? also their animations always look like they’re doing an rpg battle; one ability used + animation! then return to original position. that’s a big fallacy of fighting monty oum style and i genuinely hope they recognize it soon

“YOU’RE ATTRACTING THE GRIM TO THE PASSENGERS” ??? i get the part where leading them to the back of the train may help (having them all divided in sections [grim + hunters, passengers, front of train respectively] may help but how does automation attract grim again? like, turrets shooting at them would do so if they’re in range, and they all came from the back so they’d move along towards the middle, but also they wouldn’t continue moving forward? i guess? what im saying is they should really just be around jnxr + oscar instead of way forward in front

when the bodyguard tried to get into the train and barely made it, that SNAP sound was just. raw. i felt that. good! i was very scared/horrified/eager to see if they’d literally break off his arm and he’d just be lying there in a pool of blood or something in shock. he didnt because of aura and i don’t know what to say because a/ it definitely wouldn’t be a bruise and b/ if he had aura and was in the bodyguarding business, wouldn’t he also have a proper semblance to fight off grim most likely? and he aint using it so why he so confident for dlc earlier the heck

bumblebee looks back to the carriage and one lady’s just with her baby like a cheap heartstrings tug

“WHY WON’T YOU TELL US THAT” yang’s line here assumes that they’ve asked about it before and ozpin/oscar refused to answer. i disagree? i think it works better with “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US THAT?” because it definitely was a factor they’d all have to take into account with regards to travelling w/ it in the first place. which they are. tbh yang (and jaune in the op) has every right to be mad at him real talk but also change that line please it bothered me so much

---

blake sees the hooded adam figure and honestly idk what kind of omen that is but it feels/looks weird. another no context scene i guess. tbh id take that one out of this episode entirely and shuffle it next episode probably. (and put the adam ruins everything scene at the back of the episode)

grim stop chasing because tunnel. and then they chase the train through the tunnel really slowly? feels weird but okay i fuckin guess; these are just the things im willing to pass on

ren and jaune look at each other like “lets do it” but why does ren? look up? like there’s no extra effects there, its not visible that he’s trying really hard to extend his semblance out. no cool semblance-using eye powers there. it feels kinda cheap for him to do that w/o any additional highlights that he’s activating his aura? also creepy

OH THERE’S THAT SCENE. yang starts off the Big Fight Montage with grabbing the grimm by its horns and then flips it around. cool move! then she promptly punches it up and closes her eyes. what? tbh that was ridiculously weak after a stupid good setup. budget aside i’d say there was an opportunity for a focused choreograph there; instead of a punch up, use a bullet fire up, keeping the enemy’s front half up in the air for a longer period of time. run under, punch/kick the underbelly, bounce off to the side, bullet fire off the side of the train. 

blake cutting off the tail was a good move. rt studios deciding to change shots when the enemy has the same pose, so that we cut to ruby fighting the same kind of grimm is not. it breaks clarity for the viewers, that’s not how matching cuts should work tbh

these big grimm dying in a couple of hits are also just? kinda weak-feeling. like these characters got stronger from rpg levels, but not from actual combat training and learning to outsmart your enemies, or upgrading your weapons. feels cheap.

ruby bouncing around in attempt to kill these grim is kinda cute? which may be what they were trying to do? but also not well choreographed i guess. it doesn’t flow too well, just bounces in seperate spikes.

when weiss redirects the flying grimm to ruby, it feels like its? not clear what she did. was it a semblance/shield? colour that blue, we know she uses white but white on white doesn’t work out well. ruby’s scythe sinking into the grimm also doesn’t work great because you get confusion when the shot is supposed to show it sink into the grimm, but you cant see the scythe blade sink into it. like you could only get it from context after watching it that she sent the grimm flying by doing the above, but dont recognize the action in the moment.

callout post to yang and blake fuckin shooting at nothing when there’s a clear path/shot to ruby and qrow’s big monster.

fireball just kinda looked cheap. there wasn’t a long breathy build up, and the fireball just feels way too fast (camera or distance?); reasonable that qrow would be hit by it, but cheap-feeling in the sense that it shouldn’t have happened/it felt unfair, that it happened. he should’ve gotten knocked on his ass by power/strength and being caught off guard, and it felt like more like “oh no he got knocked down! D:”

HHHHHH WEISS ICE SKATES TO THE GRIM BUT ITS NOT LIKE YOU PAY ATTENTION BECAUSE SOMETHING ELSE CALLS FOR IT AND THEN SHE LEAPS UP TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE GRIM. SHE’S WHITE, THE BACKGROUND IS WHITE, YOU LOSE SIGHT OF HER, I LEGIT THOUGHT SHE VANISHED BEHIND THE GRIMM BUT IT WOULDNT MAKE SENSE FOR THAT TO HAPPEN. IN THE NEXT SHOT YOU MAY SEE HER AT THE LEFT BUT HER SEMBLANCE IS BLACK TO MAKE HER STAND OUT MORE BUT THEY DIDNT DO THAT FOR THE PREVIOUS SHOT WHY????????

“YANG!” yang promptly bounces off a grimm that isnt shown to have hurt or is dead from the fight and runs off to the bigger grimm as called. understandable, but the other grimm? is just? there? not dead? not doing anything???

also the we need to ground it idea feels really cheap? the grimm isn’t a problem because of its wings, it’s a problem because it’s being dealt with by one (1) person who decides it’s best fighting it on one (1) front vs two on a train. there’s so many ways to tackle this guy! we know qrow’s capable of jumping onto it, but all he’s doing is that, instead of moving to the other side and maybe catching it off guard?????? qrow, fight fucking better.

s/o to qrow/ruby pulling off a move together, cute but also they should’ve been slicing it at different points of the grimm, because they would’ve just died right away if they both went on the same plane? or anywhere near each other? weapons are fucking dangerous we remember right?

GRIMM LAUNCHES A FIREBALL AND IT GOES ON AN UPWARDS TRAJECTORY. IT DOESNT AND INSTEAD GOES IN AN ARC WHEN IT NEVER NEEDED TO. HERE’S HOW YOU COULD DERAIL THE TRAIN. FIREBALL, MOUNTAIN, AVALANCHE/ROCKSLIDE, TRAIN DESTRUCTION. OLD GRANDMA THAT STUMBLES OUT OF THAT/APPEARS BEHIND THE TEAM AFTERWARDS IS MORE IMPRESSIVE FOR HAVING ADAPTED TO THAT FROM INSIDE THE TRAIN THAN TO JUST SIT THERE AND POP OUT LATER LIKE xD lmao wassup yall?

---

yeah thats it and here’d be the adam ruins everything scene right before the opening but we cant get what we want so w/e

[scrambledgegs]

A Perfect Storm

     In the context of the Philippine situation particularly, the COVID-19 Pandemic is a Perfect Storm epitomized. Everything that could go wrong – has, and in synchronous, epic proportions. As this storm rages on in torrential rains, we are nearing neck-deep in water in an extremely problematic situation, rooted from, or exacerbated by other bad decisions (or the lack of thereof). For others who are worse off, they are already drowning – and desperately reaching out for something to cling onto, even for a while. This pandemic has also further exposed and brought out into the light, the country’s vast and decades-long web of entangled and interwoven complex problems – poverty, the inaccessibility and lack of education, as well as miseducation, the government’s abuse of authority, incompetency and corruption, poor infrastructure (including internet connectivity to allow us to work optimally at home), insufficient public and private health resources, bureaucracy, crisis management and crisis communication – you name it, we got it all.

     We do not even know if we are in the eye of the storm, or if the storm is merely a-brewing. Could it be true according to experts in medical and economic fields that the worst is actually yet to come? I would like to be hopeful in my personal belief that a vaccine is on the way and will be ready by the third or fourth quarter of 2020, as finding a cure for this nasty virus is the only way the world can regain any semblance of normalcy. As for the cures of our other problems – I do not know if they can be cured, at least not in my lifetime.

     As I have mentioned in a previous post and can’ t help but say again - is that many things to mitigate the spread of the virus could have been done by the Philippine government early this year such as, by already banning flights to and from China since January 2020. This is not a recommendation made in 20/20 hindsight, as this was the vehement clamor from members of the private and public sector back then already. Tragically, it has been one bungle after another since then. It always makes me wonder just what kind of sweetheart propositions that the President must receive from the Chinese government in exchange for his pro-China decisions. They must be quite the fat paychecks for him to constantly sacrifice the welfare of his own countrymen. Kapwa niyang Pilipino.

I doubt there will be any sort of reckoning for as long as Duterte is in power. It pushes me allude instead to Dante’s Divine Comedy, where Dante describes how traitors end up in the lowest layer of the Inferno in the after-life, along with souls like Judas.

As for the Chinese government, still no accountability at all from their end, and they furthermore have the audacity to point fingers at other nations like the United States.

Pasa Load

     Another recent and very bothersome update in this unfolding, bleak COVID-19 saga was Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque’s pronouncement last Monday, May 18, 2020. He said “that the government still has no plans to carry out mass testing to detect COVID-19 infections in the country, adding that authorities will leave such efforts in the hands of private businesses” (CNN Philippines).

     We’ve all known how unreliable our government has always been. Hence, it comes as no surprise that the government is placing the burden of ensuring health and safety of employees (disinfection, proper training, protective gear, etc) onto the private sector. However, the portion where they also pass on the colossal and costly responsibility of mass testing to the private sector is the point of concern and major frustration.

With President Duterte at the captain’s helm during this Perfect Storm, steering through unchartered waters as it is, it seems as though he has chosen to just abandon ship. It is statements such as [above] which confirm some of our worst fears – that he still has not, and does not seem to have any plans whatsoever of constructing a concrete battleplan to fight COVID-19. His only “plan” is to lockdown identified high-risk communities, enforce social distancing though the police and military, and then for everyone to passively wait for a vaccine from a developed country to emerge. Whatever happened to the hundreds of billions PHP “War Chest” that his administration has long been discussing and even boasting about? Is it to be assumed that this Fund has also mysteriously been depleted? Couldn’t his administration at least consider structuring a somewhat shared collaboration with the private sector for these testing costs?

I was stunned with disbelief and anger as I read this full article. Moreover, to add insult to injury, the DOLE has the nerve to spew out incredibly hypocritical lines like “for the sake of our economy we encourage them (businesses) to dig deeper into their vast reserve of charity and benevolence so that their workers and the communities can continue to further weather this crisis…” The DOLE need not solicit such a phony appeal to the private sector’s conscience and integrity. What do they think businesses have been doing this all time? Many private corporations including SMEs, have shown much compassion and a value for human life during this time – for instance, by releasing full salaries regardless of days worked and zero to minimal revenues, but they are also not invincible.

DOLE instead should take a long and hard look into the mirror, so they can actually practice by example what it is to really “dig deep.” I surmise, they have only scratched the surface.

Certain Uncertainties

Now on the nth day of Metro Manila’s ECQ and all modifications (I have also heard of the term MMECQ – Matirang Matibay ECQ), I have received various messages from weary friends saying that after all of this, they are seriously considering uprooting their families and moving to a more progressive country. This pandemic and the subsequent meek efforts to contain infections and address its consequences has convinced them that the Philippines is, and perhaps will not ever be, a liveable country in the next couple of years. Myself, being the usual the optimist and patriot, found myself sadly agreeing on some points.

Another big problem close to my heart is the future of our children’s education. As much as I applaud and deeply admire our relentless and kind-hearted educators for doing their best to continue online classroom learning, this educational BCP should only be a temporary solution. Children deserve to be learning with other children in classrooms. Yet, our schools too are in a tough spot, as education or any concrete back-to-school initiatives do not seem to be a priority right now by this administration. They are not given much guidance or support.

It is during these days that I get flashbacks of the time when President Duterte and his lackeys won the 2016 Elections. Exasperated by the results, including when Bong Bong Marcos closely trailed behind VP Leni Robredo, I became convinced that we Filipinos, across all generations and walks of life, just do not learn. I took a break from writing until 2019. I let Duterte supporters all around me say their ridiculous pieces, and I didn’t attempt to engage in debate. What for? I thought. A part of me was hoping though that Duterte would prove me wrong.

Sadly, he has never proved me wrong or others who voted otherwise wrong. In fact, his administration is gradually unravelling by the day. It is a clear “I told you so moment;” however, at the expense of the Philippines. It took this pandemic to finally open the eyes of many to see just how literally fatal it was to elect someone like Duterte into the highest position in the land. I still ask myself though – will we all really learn from this experience? History has shown us just how ignorant and stubborn we Filipinos can be. I am also not surprised that there still remains a large number of Duterte supporters who still go to great lengths to justify all his actions and express their undying loyalty.

Search for the Silver Lining

     Many nights, I ponder on the fate of the Philippines and the rest of the world, and like everyone else, all these uncertainties keep my anxieties running high. Last night however, I felt an air of comfort to hear senior-aged family members talk about how they have lived to withstand greater crises throughout their lives such as, Martial Law and the economic meltdown and nationwide bankruptcies that erupted during the years after Senator Ninoy Aquino’s assassination in 1983 up to post EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986. The peace that followed was short-lived as well, as coup d’ etats further rocked Metro Manila in the early 1990s. These wise boomers also discussed the global problems of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, and over a decade later, the Financial Crisis in 2007-2008. Yet here they are today, driven with the same determination to weather another storm, this COVID-19 pandemic. Certainly, these boomers still have a lot to teach us Millennials and GenZs.

It felt good to hear from wizened, older minds that there is Hope.

So, I thought to remind myself today and everyday moving forward, not to get too troubled about these times. Yes, there is much to worry about, but many things are beyond our control. We must keep our mindsets in check everyday if we are to get through all of this. Prayer and faith must also never be taken out of the equation, as well as counting our blessings and paying them forward. As I’ve also said in a previous post, acts of kindness (and humor) during these dark times happen everyday – we need not look far to witness or feel it.

As I began to reflect more, I remembered that rainbows appear after a storm – the more disastrous a storm, the brighter and more vivid is the rainbow. I am holding out for that rainbow to emerge (hopefully soon) after this vicious Perfect Storm.

[brownstonearmy]

2019-08-30: A Friendly Wager Part 2 (Law and Order: Special Modrons Unit)

June 8 (monday afternoon)

Everyone in the party flees across a rigidly gridded landscape, looking for a place to hide. Bob is still leaking oil and its wings are too damaged to fly. Q heals Bob, which restores functionality to its broken wings but does not stop the oil from leaking. Grieg notices a contingent of several modrons that look like Bob and they are being led by a different type of modron, and all of them are following the oil trail right toward the party.

Grieg starts walking toward the other modrons, ready to defend the party. Lucky readies a spell in case things go pear-shaped, but it triggers a wild magic surge that turns her into a tiny pumice statue. When Grieg tries to negotiate with the presumed modron leader, he is met with something that sounds like dial-up. Bob leaves the repair efforts to go assist Grieg with negotiations because no one else in the party speaks the modron language.

Kalani and Q pick up the statue of Lucky and rejoin Grieg and Bob to figure out what is happening. Bob tells everyone that the party has been issued several citations for littering and trespassing. Bob is also issued a Notice of Destruction, due to be executed by the end of the day tomorrow. The party is released on their own recognizance, under the condition that they surrender the object that the wizard Brynnan gave them. Grieg insists that the object not leave his sight, but agrees to turn himself in to the authorities at the Differential Hall of Justice as long as he can follow the other modrons to make sure that the object is treated carefully along the journey.

With the party effectively cut in half, Kalani and Q must find a way to get home without getting into more trouble. Bob volunteers to act as a translator in the meantime, requesting that the party take Bob to their home whenever they find a way back (thus avoiding Bob's impending destruction). Their first order of business seems to be avoiding more littering fines from dripping oil on the ground, so Q and Kalani and prepare to get their hands dirty with an impromptu field repair.

Unfortunately luck is not with either Q or Kalani today. Although  Kalani's nimble gnomish fingers are able to temporarily staunch the flow of the oil; everything else the two attempt makes the situation worse. Kalani suggests that their safety vest be used to create a makeshift diaper in the meantime, and Q asks Bob if there are any modron doctors who may be able to repair the oil leak. There are several modrons who function as doctors, but Bob will not be repaired if the it is suspected that Bob is acting rogue. Additionally, non-modrons are rare in this area and would need to somehow be there on officially-sanctioned business or risk more trespassing fines.

Q and Kalani put their heads together to come up with a solution. Q breaks out their costume kit to impersonate a diplomat, while Kalani works at forging official-looking documents from their citations and using Bob's leaking oil in place of ink. It's a longshot, but Kalani does some great work and the newly created "diplomatic papers" look good enough to pass muster. Everyone sets out toward a more densely-populated part of the city to get Bob treated by the modron doctor known as D72.

Along the way, the party receives a message whispered on the wind. Q recognizes the voice as that of Ariatha, the half-elf wizard who was polite and not a raging douchelord when it came to the bet. Ariatha apologizes for how things went down, and says that Brynnan is prone to violent and impulsive outbursts with a history of disciplinary actions. Most of the other wizards only follow him out of fear. Although Ariatha can't offer anything to incentivize the party to take her side in the bet (that modrons don't poop), she can ensure that the bruising Brynnan's ego will receive upon losing the bet will be a reward in and of itself. Conveniently, a prior discussion with Bob indicated that modrons do eat food but their bodies are creations of perfect order and thus do not excrete waste. Ergo, no poop!

Shortly after this message is received, everyone arrives at the office of D72. Bob and D72 converse in their beepy language, and D72 gestures for Bob to move to a workbench. D72 brings out a big saw and starts hacking away at Bob, and Q is clearly worried that Bob is in danger. When they ask Bob questions in common, all they get back is beeps at first, though Bob eventually flashes a thumbs-up sign. Additional questions directed to Bob are only answered in the modron language. Has Bob lost the ability to speak common?

D72 finishes the operation and puts some new paneling on Bob, then D72 extends a hand to Q. Kalani realizes that D72 is expecting payment, and Q puzzles through trying to determine the cost of the repair while not being able to speak the language the deal was conducted in. Q tries several denominations of coins before discovering that D72 will only accept payment with platinum. Now that payment has been made for services rendered, the adventure continues.

Q realizes that the timepiece is probably counting down, and once the timer hits zero it will probably open a portal home. But if it does open a portal home, it will only be opened in the immediate area of the timepiece, and that means the party won't be getting home unless they can get the timepiece in their possession before the portal opens. Kalani and Q pick up the pace toward the evidence storage vault at Differential Hall, hoping to get there before it's too late.

In order to more effectively pose as a diplomat at Differential Hall, Q uses the Traveler's Orb of Direction to gain temporary fluency in a random language. The orb grants access to a heavily accented form of Primordial which can be understood by the modrons seen so far. With Bob's help, Kalani and Q are able to meet with the evidence vault supervisor in room 102-E.

Although the supervisor would love to help, Q and Kalani lack the proper paperwork to recover the timepiece, and even if they had the proper paperwork, it would still take 4-7 weeks before the judicial paperwork to grant access cleared. Attempting to visit Grieg results in a similar outcome: it will take 7-12 business days to arrange a supervised visit with Grieg. Q and Kalani excuse themselves to determine the best course of action. Bob reports that the quickest way to get access to Grieg and the timepiece is to trigger the building's fire suppression and hazard mitigation systems, which will force all the doors to unlock and require everyone to evacuate.

Since Q still has fluency in Primordial, they notice a sign next to a glass cabinet that reads "Hazard Mitigation." Q pulls the lever in the cabinet and an alarm blares through the corridors. A large clockwork sentry that looks like a centaur with the bottom half of a scorpion emerges from the evidence vault with a sign on its chest that reads "How may I help mitigate your hazard today?"

It has a sword and doesn't look particularly friendly. Fire sprinklers spray water all over the place as tonight's session ends on another cliffhanger. Will the party make it out alive?

[paulgdaluzusa]

Water Damage Rochester Hills – 5 Flood Prevention Tips

Hey Rochester Hills!

These pro tips are for you – and the rest of the great state of Michigan, and anyone who can benefit from the advice we’re about to share.

We’re MI Floodmasters, the state’s foremost experts on water damage restoration. And as water restoration companies know, not all water damage is avoidable. Sometimes things just happen – like “flash flooding,” for instance.

However, that’s not always the case. Sometimes the old Franklin adage – an ounce of prevention and all that – actually holds water.

Ouch. That’s a bad joke, but great advice. Water damage from manmade sources – plumbing issues and overflows and so on – is avoidable with proper maintenance and vigilance. Flood damage is a bit more complicated, but there are still things you can do to minimize your risk.

So let’s talk about … well, all of that!

Water creates as many problems where it isn’t wanted as vermin or fire. It can cause major structural damage to your property and it can wreak unbelievable cosmetic havoc.

It can cause mold to grow in your walls, leading to respiratory infections and allergic reactions. And in the case of contaminated water, it can carry microbes that can cause illness or even death.

So, as a residential or commercial property owner, how do you mitigate the risk factors?

Many would say that a great step one is don’t build in a floodplain. But we humans aren’t really like that. We’re adventurous and tenacious. If we build in Tornado Alley, we’re going to build anywhere. So we’ll gloss right by that piece of information and jump into some real, manageable, actionable tips you can take right away.

Water Damage Prevention

First off – most water damage in Rochester Hills isn’t caused by flooding and natural disasters. Most cases of water damage are caused by plumbing and poor roof maintenance. So we’ll start there, before we dive into the flood damage prevention tips.

So:

A View From the Top: Or, Roof Rage!

The roof of your home is the perfect way to stay dry …

… until it isn’t. All it takes is a blockage in the gutter or a couple of loose or missing shingles to start allowing water to seep in and wreck the joint. You may not have a visible hole in your roof but that doesn’t mean you aren’t in trouble.

Keeping an eye on that is pretty easy. Call a roofer for an annual inspection, and make sure shingles and gutters are being properly maintained. Your dry belongings will thank you.

About Your Appliances

That washing machine. That dishwasher. That icemaker.

Anything in your home that has a water supply line could be the culprit when gallons of unwanted water go sloshing around your home or office. If you want to ensure that nothing goes horribly awry, you’d better:

Check supply hoses and ensure they’re tight – but not too tight.

Have your valves manually inspected.

Look for kinks in any hoses.

Check for leaks, pooling water, or other signs of potential issues.

Oh, and your sink can be an issue as well. That means:

Check the plumbing under the sink any time you get a chance.

Make sure the shutoff valve is in working order, and that you and everyone else in the building know where it is and how to operate it.

Check for kinks and clogs.

Call a plumber if you’ve got little repetitive issues like a constantly clogging drain or a leaky tap.

Your hot water heater is another potential source of damage. Most hot water heaters live less than a decade … but most hot water heaters aren’t replaced until they fail.

Lots of things undermine the integrity of that appliance. Sediment pools inside them. They’re rarely maintained by homeowners, and property managers often overlook them as well. They’re also rusting basically all the time.

Did you know:

Your hot water heater doesn’t rust for only one reason. There’s a bar inside called an anode, made of a reactive metal like magnesium or aluminum, that essentially does all of the rusting so your water heater won’t.

Anodes only last a couple years, though. And most homeowners don’t bother having them replaced. That’s like losing a member of the Secret Service and not replacing him.

You’re leaving the Appliance-In-Chief vulnerable to attack. Simply replacing that anode could extend your water heater’s life by double, and keep the water damage at bay.

Maintaining that appliance will keep your home out of hot water.

Lastly, on the topic of appliances, keep an eye on your toilet. Wait until it finishes flushing to leave the bathroom, pay attention to ensure that it doesn’t run longer than it should, and have it inspected annually if you can.

Do that and you will drastically improve your chances of avoiding a toilet-based disaster that buries your floor in a few inches of questionable liquid.

Plants are lovely – but shouldn’t be planted without a little knowledge.

A lot of us like to do our own landscaping. One area where you’ve got to be careful, though, is trees. Willow trees, for instance, are notorious for their deep and long roots.

They can travel many feet from the tree’s trunk – and they can rupture anything in their path. We’ve done some cleanups that resulted from a willow tree’s roots puncturing a septic tank.

That can be fairly unpleasant, to say the least.

When you’re planting, it wouldn’t hurt to get a little professional advice on where to safely embed your green and growing friends. Watch out for underground pipes, drainage sources, sprinklers, septic tanks, wells, and so on.

Your. Water. Bill.

Your water bill can predict the future. If it stays relatively consistent, things are probably okay. However, if you notice it climbing a bit (or a lot) each month, you can safely wager that there’s a leak in your pipes somewhere.

You can also safely assume that it means you harm. A leak will either continue leaking, or it will get worse. It will not get better. And even a small leak could be damaging your property by causing mold to grow behind your walls or weakening the foundation with slow seepage.

Get intrepid – go looking for leaks.

And if you’re not feeling up to that, call a contractor. We love looking for trouble.

Most water damage that results from plumbing could have been avoided. Don’t be a statistic.

Invest in a drain snake – not chemicals.

A drain snake is a one-time purchase that costs about as much as two bottles of your average clog-eating chemical. So why do most homeowners reach for the Drano?

Because it’s advertised as safe and easy … but the reality is a little uglier.

While it might seem easy to drop a couple caps of caustic chemicals down the drain to deal with that clog:

They’re eating your pipes.

They’re releasing noxious vapors into your home.

They only work once.

They’re EATING YOUR PIPES!

You only have to buy a drain snake once. It always works, and it isn’t hard to use. Stow it in a closet or under a sink when you’re not using it, and never buy drain cleaner again.

That’s a fair collection of tips that you can use to avoid causing water damage. Neglecting your own plumbing is unwise, so we hope you’ll take the advice we’ve given you here to heart. If you don’t, we’ll be here to help you clean up the mess.

Now it’s time to discuss flood damage, which is a whole different ballgame.

Flood Damage Prevention Tips

We will – once again – be skipping right over “Don’t build in a floodplain.” Most people don’t. Some people do. We don’t really have any power over where you’ve chosen to live. If you live somewhere near a river that occasionally hops its banks, you can do more than shake your head ruefully when record rains fall.

Floods are, of course, among the most dangerous (and most common) hazards our earth has to offer. Here are just a few ways you can protect yourself against them.

Seal your basement walls with waterproofing compound.

Seepage is a serious issue. Whether you do or don’t have great drainage, a sump pump and waterproof walls will go a long way to keeping your home safe when the water rises.

This isn’t an easy DIY project, but it’s something good contractors can handle for you. With more than half of all homes in the US suffering from a case of “wet basement,” it’s not something you should take lightly.

Keep a weather eye out.

Most of the time, floods don’t catch us completely off-guard. If you think there’s a chance you’ll need to be prepared, keep your radio or TV on the appropriate station and listen for the information you need.

Elevate your furnace and water heater.

Other permanent appliances can be elevated, as well, but those jump to mind immediately. Have them placed on risers above the expected flood levels in your area, if you live in a known flood zone.

Inspect your sump pump and drainage annually.

Or, better yet, have a professional do it for you to make sure you don’t miss something! Your sump pump takes water entering your perimeter drains, or natural ground water, or rain overflow, and send it to a municipal drain or dry well.

As far as home appliances go, these unglamorous little guys are your best friends in a flood.

Install a generator.

An electrician can help you create a redundancy in case of power loss that will keep your sump pump operational in the event of a flood. A battery backup is also possible, and if it’s an option, you should take it.

Install a backflow prevention valve.

A plumber can easily minimize your risk of sewage backup – and we cannot stress how glad you will be that they did if the worst should happen. Sewage is by far the most hazardous kind of flooding damage your property can sustain.

It comes with many health hazards – not to mention a distinctly unpleasant odor. While water damage restoration experts – like MI Floodmasters here in Rochester Hills – can take care of that for you, it will be an unpleasant experience for everyone.

Create floodwalls and other barriers where possible.

Anything you can do to keep water from getting into your home is a valuable thing. You can use beams, sandbags, and other materials to create levees and floodwalls. Stockpiling sandbags isn’t a bad idea if you live in an area prone to occasional flooding.

Know a “Flood Watch” from a “Flood Warning.”

In the minds of many property owners, these two terms are interchangeable. Unfortunately, they do not mean the same thing, and should not be taken with the same degree of seriousness.

A “flood watch” is an informal thing. It means a flood is possible, and that the community should keep a weather eye on things. A “flood warning” is like a tornado warning; it means a flood is either happening or is likely to happen.

A flood watch means you should start preparing, just in case. A flood warning means you should activate those preparations, grab the survival kit you’ve packed for just such an occasion, prepare your home as best you’re able, and be ready to seek high ground.

While our job as water damage restoration technicians is to worry about your home or property, your job is to stay safe. Flash flooding is always a possibility, and you shouldn’t remain in your home if that could happen.

Move your essential items and important documents to the top floor. Disconnect electrical appliances and shut off your utilities if you need to.

After a flood, if water damage has still been sustained, restoration companies like MI Floodmasters will be there to help you clean up the damage.

Whether the cause is manmade or naturally-occurring, the best water damage restoration crews in Rochester Hills are available 24/7/365, for residential and commercial cleanups. Let us keep you dry. Call (586) 842-8142 today

The post Water Damage Rochester Hills – 5 Flood Prevention Tips appeared first on MI Floodmasters.

source http://www.mifloodmasters.com/water-damage-rochester-hills-5-flood-prevention-tips/ from MI Floodmasters http://mifloodmasters.blogspot.com/2017/10/water-damage-rochester-hills-5-flood.html

[mifloodmasters]

Water Damage Rochester Hills – 5 Flood Prevention Tips

Hey Rochester Hills!

These pro tips are for you – and the rest of the great state of Michigan, and anyone who can benefit from the advice we’re about to share.

We’re MI Floodmasters, the state’s foremost experts on water damage restoration. And as water restoration companies know, not all water damage is avoidable. Sometimes things just happen – like “flash flooding,” for instance.

However, that’s not always the case. Sometimes the old Franklin adage – an ounce of prevention and all that – actually holds water.

Ouch. That’s a bad joke, but great advice. Water damage from manmade sources – plumbing issues and overflows and so on – is avoidable with proper maintenance and vigilance. Flood damage is a bit more complicated, but there are still things you can do to minimize your risk.

So let’s talk about … well, all of that!

Water creates as many problems where it isn’t wanted as vermin or fire. It can cause major structural damage to your property and it can wreak unbelievable cosmetic havoc.

It can cause mold to grow in your walls, leading to respiratory infections and allergic reactions. And in the case of contaminated water, it can carry microbes that can cause illness or even death.

So, as a residential or commercial property owner, how do you mitigate the risk factors?

Many would say that a great step one is don’t build in a floodplain. But we humans aren’t really like that. We’re adventurous and tenacious. If we build in Tornado Alley, we’re going to build anywhere. So we’ll gloss right by that piece of information and jump into some real, manageable, actionable tips you can take right away.

Water Damage Prevention

First off – most water damage in Rochester Hills isn’t caused by flooding and natural disasters. Most cases of water damage are caused by plumbing and poor roof maintenance. So we’ll start there, before we dive into the flood damage prevention tips.

So:

A View From the Top: Or, Roof Rage!

The roof of your home is the perfect way to stay dry …

… until it isn’t. All it takes is a blockage in the gutter or a couple of loose or missing shingles to start allowing water to seep in and wreck the joint. You may not have a visible hole in your roof but that doesn’t mean you aren’t in trouble.

Keeping an eye on that is pretty easy. Call a roofer for an annual inspection, and make sure shingles and gutters are being properly maintained. Your dry belongings will thank you.

About Your Appliances

That washing machine. That dishwasher. That icemaker.

Anything in your home that has a water supply line could be the culprit when gallons of unwanted water go sloshing around your home or office. If you want to ensure that nothing goes horribly awry, you’d better:

Check supply hoses and ensure they’re tight – but not too tight.

Have your valves manually inspected.

Look for kinks in any hoses.

Check for leaks, pooling water, or other signs of potential issues.

Oh, and your sink can be an issue as well. That means:

Check the plumbing under the sink any time you get a chance.

Make sure the shutoff valve is in working order, and that you and everyone else in the building know where it is and how to operate it.

Check for kinks and clogs.

Call a plumber if you’ve got little repetitive issues like a constantly clogging drain or a leaky tap.

Your hot water heater is another potential source of damage. Most hot water heaters live less than a decade … but most hot water heaters aren’t replaced until they fail.

Lots of things undermine the integrity of that appliance. Sediment pools inside them. They’re rarely maintained by homeowners, and property managers often overlook them as well. They’re also rusting basically all the time.

Did you know:

Your hot water heater doesn’t rust for only one reason. There’s a bar inside called an anode, made of a reactive metal like magnesium or aluminum, that essentially does all of the rusting so your water heater won’t.

Anodes only last a couple years, though. And most homeowners don’t bother having them replaced. That’s like losing a member of the Secret Service and not replacing him.

You’re leaving the Appliance-In-Chief vulnerable to attack. Simply replacing that anode could extend your water heater’s life by double, and keep the water damage at bay.

Maintaining that appliance will keep your home out of hot water.

Lastly, on the topic of appliances, keep an eye on your toilet. Wait until it finishes flushing to leave the bathroom, pay attention to ensure that it doesn’t run longer than it should, and have it inspected annually if you can.

Do that and you will drastically improve your chances of avoiding a toilet-based disaster that buries your floor in a few inches of questionable liquid.

Plants are lovely – but shouldn’t be planted without a little knowledge.

A lot of us like to do our own landscaping. One area where you’ve got to be careful, though, is trees. Willow trees, for instance, are notorious for their deep and long roots.

They can travel many feet from the tree’s trunk – and they can rupture anything in their path. We’ve done some cleanups that resulted from a willow tree’s roots puncturing a septic tank.

That can be fairly unpleasant, to say the least.

When you’re planting, it wouldn’t hurt to get a little professional advice on where to safely embed your green and growing friends. Watch out for underground pipes, drainage sources, sprinklers, septic tanks, wells, and so on.

Your. Water. Bill.

Your water bill can predict the future. If it stays relatively consistent, things are probably okay. However, if you notice it climbing a bit (or a lot) each month, you can safely wager that there’s a leak in your pipes somewhere.

You can also safely assume that it means you harm. A leak will either continue leaking, or it will get worse. It will not get better. And even a small leak could be damaging your property by causing mold to grow behind your walls or weakening the foundation with slow seepage.

Get intrepid – go looking for leaks.

And if you’re not feeling up to that, call a contractor. We love looking for trouble.

Most water damage that results from plumbing could have been avoided. Don’t be a statistic.

Invest in a drain snake – not chemicals.

A drain snake is a one-time purchase that costs about as much as two bottles of your average clog-eating chemical. So why do most homeowners reach for the Drano?

Because it’s advertised as safe and easy … but the reality is a little uglier.

While it might seem easy to drop a couple caps of caustic chemicals down the drain to deal with that clog:

They’re eating your pipes.

They’re releasing noxious vapors into your home.

They only work once.

They’re EATING YOUR PIPES!

You only have to buy a drain snake once. It always works, and it isn’t hard to use. Stow it in a closet or under a sink when you’re not using it, and never buy drain cleaner again.

That’s a fair collection of tips that you can use to avoid causing water damage. Neglecting your own plumbing is unwise, so we hope you’ll take the advice we’ve given you here to heart. If you don’t, we’ll be here to help you clean up the mess.

Now it’s time to discuss flood damage, which is a whole different ballgame.

Flood Damage Prevention Tips

We will – once again – be skipping right over “Don’t build in a floodplain.” Most people don’t. Some people do. We don’t really have any power over where you’ve chosen to live. If you live somewhere near a river that occasionally hops its banks, you can do more than shake your head ruefully when record rains fall.

Floods are, of course, among the most dangerous (and most common) hazards our earth has to offer. Here are just a few ways you can protect yourself against them.

Seal your basement walls with waterproofing compound.

Seepage is a serious issue. Whether you do or don’t have great drainage, a sump pump and waterproof walls will go a long way to keeping your home safe when the water rises.

This isn’t an easy DIY project, but it’s something good contractors can handle for you. With more than half of all homes in the US suffering from a case of “wet basement,” it’s not something you should take lightly.

Keep a weather eye out.

Most of the time, floods don’t catch us completely off-guard. If you think there’s a chance you’ll need to be prepared, keep your radio or TV on the appropriate station and listen for the information you need.

Elevate your furnace and water heater.

Other permanent appliances can be elevated, as well, but those jump to mind immediately. Have them placed on risers above the expected flood levels in your area, if you live in a known flood zone.

Inspect your sump pump and drainage annually.

Or, better yet, have a professional do it for you to make sure you don’t miss something! Your sump pump takes water entering your perimeter drains, or natural ground water, or rain overflow, and send it to a municipal drain or dry well.

As far as home appliances go, these unglamorous little guys are your best friends in a flood.

Install a generator.

An electrician can help you create a redundancy in case of power loss that will keep your sump pump operational in the event of a flood. A battery backup is also possible, and if it’s an option, you should take it.

Install a backflow prevention valve.

A plumber can easily minimize your risk of sewage backup – and we cannot stress how glad you will be that they did if the worst should happen. Sewage is by far the most hazardous kind of flooding damage your property can sustain.

It comes with many health hazards – not to mention a distinctly unpleasant odor. While water damage restoration experts – like MI Floodmasters here in Rochester Hills – can take care of that for you, it will be an unpleasant experience for everyone.

Create floodwalls and other barriers where possible.

Anything you can do to keep water from getting into your home is a valuable thing. You can use beams, sandbags, and other materials to create levees and floodwalls. Stockpiling sandbags isn’t a bad idea if you live in an area prone to occasional flooding.

Know a “Flood Watch” from a “Flood Warning.”

In the minds of many property owners, these two terms are interchangeable. Unfortunately, they do not mean the same thing, and should not be taken with the same degree of seriousness.

A “flood watch” is an informal thing. It means a flood is possible, and that the community should keep a weather eye on things. A “flood warning” is like a tornado warning; it means a flood is either happening or is likely to happen.

A flood watch means you should start preparing, just in case. A flood warning means you should activate those preparations, grab the survival kit you’ve packed for just such an occasion, prepare your home as best you’re able, and be ready to seek high ground.

While our job as water damage restoration technicians is to worry about your home or property, your job is to stay safe. Flash flooding is always a possibility, and you shouldn’t remain in your home if that could happen.

Move your essential items and important documents to the top floor. Disconnect electrical appliances and shut off your utilities if you need to.

After a flood, if water damage has still been sustained, restoration companies like MI Floodmasters will be there to help you clean up the damage.

Whether the cause is manmade or naturally-occurring, the best water damage restoration crews in Rochester Hills are available 24/7/365, for residential and commercial cleanups. Let us keep you dry. Call (586) 842-8142 today

The post Water Damage Rochester Hills – 5 Flood Prevention Tips appeared first on MI Floodmasters.

from MI Floodmasters http://www.mifloodmasters.com/water-damage-rochester-hills-5-flood-prevention-tips/

[cristinkgarzaky]

Water Damage Rochester Hills – 5 Flood Prevention Tips

Hey Rochester Hills!

These pro tips are for you – and the rest of the great state of Michigan, and anyone who can benefit from the advice we’re about to share.

We’re MI Floodmasters, the state’s foremost experts on water damage restoration. And as water restoration companies know, not all water damage is avoidable. Sometimes things just happen – like “flash flooding,” for instance.

However, that’s not always the case. Sometimes the old Franklin adage – an ounce of prevention and all that – actually holds water.

Ouch. That’s a bad joke, but great advice. Water damage from manmade sources – plumbing issues and overflows and so on – is avoidable with proper maintenance and vigilance. Flood damage is a bit more complicated, but there are still things you can do to minimize your risk.

So let’s talk about … well, all of that!

Water creates as many problems where it isn’t wanted as vermin or fire. It can cause major structural damage to your property and it can wreak unbelievable cosmetic havoc.

It can cause mold to grow in your walls, leading to respiratory infections and allergic reactions. And in the case of contaminated water, it can carry microbes that can cause illness or even death.

So, as a residential or commercial property owner, how do you mitigate the risk factors?

Many would say that a great step one is don’t build in a floodplain. But we humans aren’t really like that. We’re adventurous and tenacious. If we build in Tornado Alley, we’re going to build anywhere. So we’ll gloss right by that piece of information and jump into some real, manageable, actionable tips you can take right away.

Water Damage Prevention

First off – most water damage in Rochester Hills isn’t caused by flooding and natural disasters. Most cases of water damage are caused by plumbing and poor roof maintenance. So we’ll start there, before we dive into the flood damage prevention tips.

So:

A View From the Top: Or, Roof Rage!

The roof of your home is the perfect way to stay dry …

… until it isn’t. All it takes is a blockage in the gutter or a couple of loose or missing shingles to start allowing water to seep in and wreck the joint. You may not have a visible hole in your roof but that doesn’t mean you aren’t in trouble.

Keeping an eye on that is pretty easy. Call a roofer for an annual inspection, and make sure shingles and gutters are being properly maintained. Your dry belongings will thank you.

About Your Appliances

That washing machine. That dishwasher. That icemaker.

Anything in your home that has a water supply line could be the culprit when gallons of unwanted water go sloshing around your home or office. If you want to ensure that nothing goes horribly awry, you’d better:

Check supply hoses and ensure they’re tight – but not too tight.

Have your valves manually inspected.

Look for kinks in any hoses.

Check for leaks, pooling water, or other signs of potential issues.

Oh, and your sink can be an issue as well. That means:

Check the plumbing under the sink any time you get a chance.

Make sure the shutoff valve is in working order, and that you and everyone else in the building know where it is and how to operate it.

Check for kinks and clogs.

Call a plumber if you’ve got little repetitive issues like a constantly clogging drain or a leaky tap.

Your hot water heater is another potential source of damage. Most hot water heaters live less than a decade … but most hot water heaters aren’t replaced until they fail.

Lots of things undermine the integrity of that appliance. Sediment pools inside them. They’re rarely maintained by homeowners, and property managers often overlook them as well. They’re also rusting basically all the time.

Did you know:

Your hot water heater doesn’t rust for only one reason. There’s a bar inside called an anode, made of a reactive metal like magnesium or aluminum, that essentially does all of the rusting so your water heater won’t.

Anodes only last a couple years, though. And most homeowners don’t bother having them replaced. That’s like losing a member of the Secret Service and not replacing him.

You’re leaving the Appliance-In-Chief vulnerable to attack. Simply replacing that anode could extend your water heater’s life by double, and keep the water damage at bay.

Maintaining that appliance will keep your home out of hot water.

Lastly, on the topic of appliances, keep an eye on your toilet. Wait until it finishes flushing to leave the bathroom, pay attention to ensure that it doesn’t run longer than it should, and have it inspected annually if you can.

Do that and you will drastically improve your chances of avoiding a toilet-based disaster that buries your floor in a few inches of questionable liquid.

Plants are lovely – but shouldn’t be planted without a little knowledge.

A lot of us like to do our own landscaping. One area where you’ve got to be careful, though, is trees. Willow trees, for instance, are notorious for their deep and long roots.

They can travel many feet from the tree’s trunk – and they can rupture anything in their path. We’ve done some cleanups that resulted from a willow tree’s roots puncturing a septic tank.

That can be fairly unpleasant, to say the least.

When you’re planting, it wouldn’t hurt to get a little professional advice on where to safely embed your green and growing friends. Watch out for underground pipes, drainage sources, sprinklers, septic tanks, wells, and so on.

Your. Water. Bill.

Your water bill can predict the future. If it stays relatively consistent, things are probably okay. However, if you notice it climbing a bit (or a lot) each month, you can safely wager that there’s a leak in your pipes somewhere.

You can also safely assume that it means you harm. A leak will either continue leaking, or it will get worse. It will not get better. And even a small leak could be damaging your property by causing mold to grow behind your walls or weakening the foundation with slow seepage.

Get intrepid – go looking for leaks.

And if you’re not feeling up to that, call a contractor. We love looking for trouble.

Most water damage that results from plumbing could have been avoided. Don’t be a statistic.

Invest in a drain snake – not chemicals.

A drain snake is a one-time purchase that costs about as much as two bottles of your average clog-eating chemical. So why do most homeowners reach for the Drano?

Because it’s advertised as safe and easy … but the reality is a little uglier.

While it might seem easy to drop a couple caps of caustic chemicals down the drain to deal with that clog:

They’re eating your pipes.

They’re releasing noxious vapors into your home.

They only work once.

They’re EATING YOUR PIPES!

You only have to buy a drain snake once. It always works, and it isn’t hard to use. Stow it in a closet or under a sink when you’re not using it, and never buy drain cleaner again.

That’s a fair collection of tips that you can use to avoid causing water damage. Neglecting your own plumbing is unwise, so we hope you’ll take the advice we’ve given you here to heart. If you don’t, we’ll be here to help you clean up the mess.

Now it’s time to discuss flood damage, which is a whole different ballgame.

Flood Damage Prevention Tips

We will – once again – be skipping right over “Don’t build in a floodplain.” Most people don’t. Some people do. We don’t really have any power over where you’ve chosen to live. If you live somewhere near a river that occasionally hops its banks, you can do more than shake your head ruefully when record rains fall.

Floods are, of course, among the most dangerous (and most common) hazards our earth has to offer. Here are just a few ways you can protect yourself against them.

Seal your basement walls with waterproofing compound.

Seepage is a serious issue. Whether you do or don’t have great drainage, a sump pump and waterproof walls will go a long way to keeping your home safe when the water rises.

This isn’t an easy DIY project, but it’s something good contractors can handle for you. With more than half of all homes in the US suffering from a case of “wet basement,” it’s not something you should take lightly.

Keep a weather eye out.

Most of the time, floods don’t catch us completely off-guard. If you think there’s a chance you’ll need to be prepared, keep your radio or TV on the appropriate station and listen for the information you need.

Elevate your furnace and water heater.

Other permanent appliances can be elevated, as well, but those jump to mind immediately. Have them placed on risers above the expected flood levels in your area, if you live in a known flood zone.

Inspect your sump pump and drainage annually.

Or, better yet, have a professional do it for you to make sure you don’t miss something! Your sump pump takes water entering your perimeter drains, or natural ground water, or rain overflow, and send it to a municipal drain or dry well.

As far as home appliances go, these unglamorous little guys are your best friends in a flood.

Install a generator.

An electrician can help you create a redundancy in case of power loss that will keep your sump pump operational in the event of a flood. A battery backup is also possible, and if it’s an option, you should take it.

Install a backflow prevention valve.

A plumber can easily minimize your risk of sewage backup – and we cannot stress how glad you will be that they did if the worst should happen. Sewage is by far the most hazardous kind of flooding damage your property can sustain.

It comes with many health hazards – not to mention a distinctly unpleasant odor. While water damage restoration experts – like MI Floodmasters here in Rochester Hills – can take care of that for you, it will be an unpleasant experience for everyone.

Create floodwalls and other barriers where possible.

Anything you can do to keep water from getting into your home is a valuable thing. You can use beams, sandbags, and other materials to create levees and floodwalls. Stockpiling sandbags isn’t a bad idea if you live in an area prone to occasional flooding.

Know a “Flood Watch” from a “Flood Warning.”

In the minds of many property owners, these two terms are interchangeable. Unfortunately, they do not mean the same thing, and should not be taken with the same degree of seriousness.

A “flood watch” is an informal thing. It means a flood is possible, and that the community should keep a weather eye on things. A “flood warning” is like a tornado warning; it means a flood is either happening or is likely to happen.

A flood watch means you should start preparing, just in case. A flood warning means you should activate those preparations, grab the survival kit you’ve packed for just such an occasion, prepare your home as best you’re able, and be ready to seek high ground.

While our job as water damage restoration technicians is to worry about your home or property, your job is to stay safe. Flash flooding is always a possibility, and you shouldn’t remain in your home if that could happen.

Move your essential items and important documents to the top floor. Disconnect electrical appliances and shut off your utilities if you need to.

After a flood, if water damage has still been sustained, restoration companies like MI Floodmasters will be there to help you clean up the damage.

Whether the cause is manmade or naturally-occurring, the best water damage restoration crews in Rochester Hills are available 24/7/365, for residential and commercial cleanups. Let us keep you dry. Call (586) 842-8142 today

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