#Problem-Solving Made Easy

[lsscreative1]

Mastering Creative Solutions for Everyday Challenges

Introduction Ever faced a challenge that seemed impossible to overcome? Whether it’s a work-related hurdle or a personal roadblock, finding the right solution often requires more than conventional thinking. Creative problem-solving is the secret sauce to navigating these moments with ease, transforming obstacles into opportunities. In this article, we’ll explore the essence of creative…

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

Hi hello I watched all of carmilla in a weekend when I was 17 because a student teacher who in retrospect I had a bit of a crush on mentioned that she knew one of the actresses. also I am pretty invested in all your recent vampire stuff because I watched iwtv in 2 days last week because your edit intrigued me

oh hiiii 🫶 thank you for indulging me. thats so cool that you watched iwtv! did it live up to the expectation?

i also watched carmilla at 17! or like, 17-19. i found it when s2 had just started and followed it to the end. did something permanent to my brain but i think it was a good thing. on rewatch now im like, i was right to like this. like it's a solid show, it's good. it has its flaws obviously but it's well written, the emotional moments still get me, i can see why i liked it and i still like it now even when it's not anymore, you know, meeting every need that baby gay me didnt even know they had

what it doesnt reaallyy do though - i dont remember if i posted abt this or if i left it in my drafts but - is explore vampirism as a concept. their subject matter is more lesbianism than vampirism. which is great! thats what they wanted to do and they did it and it's very good. but reading interview with the vampire the book rn im realising how much potential vampires have to be metaphors for like so many things and i started wondering like 'wait, did carmilla just not really engage with it or did it all go over my head'. but it just didnt really engage with it all that much. which again is fine bc that wasnt what they were doing. im glad they were more about the lesbianism than the vampirism

but there's this interesting difference in framing, because in iwtv they keep calling armand 'ancient' right? and emphasising how old he is. and he's like 500? and i was like 'wait isnt carmilla like 400?'. she isnt, shes 340, but still, thats getting there, you know? and we know quite a lot about her history, but kind of just the Big Events. when she was turned, the events of the novella, coffin of blood, silas. thats sort of what we know. but none of the long lonely slog of history day to day you know? with armand i feel like we can really feel how much time everything takes. how every one of those years is made up of single days. with carmilla i dont feel that as much. i keep kind of thinking about daniel, when louis calls him a boy in the first episode, saying "im an old man, with all the triggers that come with it"

because carmilla might look 18 (or mid twenties at this point) but she has lived all that time. shes also seen her native land be claimed by like a succession of ruling powers, right? like armand. shes been buried alive, like louis. when lestat is born, shes already 80 years old, shes lived a whole human lifetime, and the entire adult part of it shes been a vampire. shes lived through 1680-1870 being a lure. i compared her to abigail hobbs in some tags on a post, i dont know if youre familiar with hannibal the tv show, but i do also kinda keep thinking about that comparison

if youre not familiar, in the first episode of hannibal the murderer of the week is this guy garrett jacob hobbs who kills and cannibalises girls who resemble his daughter. and later on it turns out she was made to be his lure. like they'd go places and he'd sent her to the victims to make friends and maybe get them back to their home or smth. not sure if they specified all the details. but that's what carmilla did for mother. and in s2 we hear from mattie that while every couple of decades carmilla had to lure victims for the fish god, she also seemed to just enjoy humans between those times, right? like the doctor, gets lonely, gets a new companion. but we've only sort of got mattie's mocking word for it ("dont eat him, hes a poet! or her, shes got such a wonderful voice. or that one, shes just too pretty to ruin"), we don't know exactly from carmilla's point of view what she was doing or why. if mattie's talking about stuff that happened after the blood coffin, 1950-now, then i think it's a fair assumption based on what carmilla says in the s1 sock puppet show that after she'd figured out what the real situation was and what her role in it was, when she'd started trying to save girls from being sacrificed, that she mightve been doing the same trying to save people from becoming mattie's victims. it's probably more likely that she was just trying to find excuses to stop mattie from sucking someone dry rather than actually having like an aesthetic based morality. but it might be a bit of both. im still trying to figure out what her philosophy actually is, like i dont know what existentialism actually means ghkfjghkj but i will

i also found it pretty striking in the movie when shes turning back into a vampire she says like "this was supposed to be done, you know? the blood lust, the self-loathing, the sleeping tied to a chair in my own bedroom". thats what defines her vampirism, wanting blood and hating yourself for it (the third part is a joke/reference to s1 but also i think meaningful for how she sees her relationship with laura when she IS a vampire. little bit of that 'she will reject me for my monstrousness' shining through). and thats what defines vampirism for lots of vampires across the genre obviously, but i dont know, it struck me. we dont get a lot from carmilla's pov, we know a fair amount about her, but the story is always told through laura. we get laura's diaries, but just snippets here and there from carmilla, what shes thinking, how shes feeling

and i love that shes a philosopher. i love that thats how she seems to try and find something to hold onto, in a world that kind of moves around her, having been murdered, kidnapped, turned and groomed to be a lure on the cusp of adulthood, never having been properly loved (the relationship with her father wasnt good she says in s3, and her mortal mother i dont think has ever been mentioned (like laura's)). the only good relationship she seems to have had for the better part of 3 centuries seems to have been mattie, and mattie seems to love being a vampire. i can imagine carmilla just sort of going along with anything mattie wants to do just because shes so desperate for that friendship. not like, against her will necessarily really. but more like, she hasnt even had the space to develop her own will, you know? and philosophy lets you do that. philosophy gives you frameworks to understand the world and to develop your own opinions on it. and by the 21st century she seems to have developed those opinions, she has a sense of her own values, but shes also still stuck in that same situation. shes jaded and cynical in the face of laura's optimism and strong moral code a lot of the time in s1 because she feels probably pretty powerless. like she does what she can to save some girls but at the end of the day shes scared of her mother and she has nowhere else to go really, right?

i like how she grapples with that over the course of the series, in tandem with laura grappling with her black and white morality. she sort of jumps ship from her mother to laura bc theyve fallen in love, but then laura still stuck in her hero thinking refuses to see her monstrous side. not literally bc i think the biological vampirism never seemed to be a problem for laura, but morally. the having murdered. carmilla needs laura to see that and love her while seeing it bc the last girl she loved rejected her for being a vampire.

but you see her kind of swing back and forth in s2. she softens first with laura but then they break up and she leans back hard into the sarcastic cynic defense mechanisms, leans hard into "im a monster, dont expect heroism from me". but thats like, it's sort of learned helplessness i think. it's powerlessness, resignation. bc morally shes not a monster. maybe she doesnt have as strong a drive to help other people as laura does and is a little more selfishly hedonistic in that she just wants to enjoy her/their life, but she doesnt hurt people for fun, she never has. she just sort of didnt have another option for a Really long time. so she pretends she doesnt care. "im a vampire, this is what i do, this is who i am". but clearly from the way she talks about it when she turns back into one, she doesnt enjoy it

and i like how she goes even further in s3, where she starts swinging even more to the heroic side, bc she sees hope. shes like "wow if we kill my mother, i'd be free". theres hope and she becomes like a lot more active. and shes like that at the start of the movie too, a lot happier, a lot more relaxed, and then vampirism is back and bam depression gfhgkjh like shes immediately more gloomy, ashamed of her past and her self, retreats into herself

sorry i just took this as an opportunity to dump all the carmilla thoughts floating in my head on you. you didnt ask fhkghgjh consider this an open invitation to you or anyone else to come talk to me about carmilla

[stainedglassthreads]

So Dungeons and Daddies Season 2 is really just taking the average coming-of-age story and making it to every horrifying extreme, huh.

It is that moment in which you realize your parents don't know what they're doing any better than you do, and people present it like it's something comforting, but it's just even more terrifying because there really, really is no right answer. It's realizing that no, love isn't enough, sometimes you love your family and it just made everything worse. Everyone who came before you fucked things up even when they were trying to make things better, and unfucking everything just seems impossible, but not even trying is such a depressing option, and one your kids will never be able to forgive you for.

I have many feelings on this.

[practicedvmm13fullofpotatoes]

At this point, I'm just projecting on to Janae 💀

This is basically what I thought when I was trying to find the ballpen that just. Disappeared. It was in the one place that was so fucking obvious but I didn't bother checking because it was too obvious

[fluffypotatey]

YOU'RE RIGHT WHAT IF THIS IS A TWISTED IRONY OF GETTING WHAT YOU WANT. MACAQUE HAS THE POWER TO KILL WUKONG OR MK FOR REAL THIS TIME??? but he doesn't want to. what if he's forced again. what if this power has the potential to destroy him to be removed/stopped from affecting others?

….so about Wukong’s death flags— *gunshots*

[elftwink]

have to work on a project today and an unrelated thing happened that just made me so so so so so mad (just some irl personal stuff), which normally derails my entire day because i find it so hard to come out of the angry/upset state and tend to just circle back and obsess over whatever triggered it but! today after 20 minutes of that i had a council meeting about it (<- what i call my decision making process) the outcome of which was putting it aside (!!!) for later when i could actually talk about it and resolve it (!!!) & in the meantime we could just do other stuff.

local man exuberant and jubilated to achieve feats of basic emotional self-regulation and was seen excitedly telling reporters he "never thought this day would come" and began giving a thank you speech to nobody in particular. more on this story as it develops

[vox-off]

conjuration plus alteration is The caster combo in skyrim, i'm sorry, i don't make the rules. dragonhide + daedra lord + summoned bow, your fave (destruction) could never

[peemil]

i was gonna say something funny re: last reblog but like. to any of the younger folks who follow me, if you’re considering frequent substance use there is probably some sort of underlying issue and you should consider addressing it through other means. i know you may feel powerless but you’re more capable than you think. if you still want to experience just like. existing in different states i promise the drugs will still be there when you and your friends are older and will be better able to take care of each other if something goes wrong

[lume-nosity]

gonna say this but am i the only one who likes chemistry and physics (the bearable concepts i’m not that insane i promise)

[delta-piscium]

mmh and what if i rewrote an entire wip just to change the pov what then? (tears, that's what)

[ghosts-devilman-wip]

Im making a neocities to replace and improve upon this blog. Very exciting development

[arolesbianism]

In the future I believe I shall be calling looped Chou Piéride even tho they'd still go by Chou for clarities sake 👍

[dravidious]

You're more amazing than a full minute

Werewolves need help but everyone else trying to help them is STUPID and WRONG so I did it better. You're welcome

Also an artifact that I just had the idea for and kinda sorta supports werewolves if you squint so I gave it Innistrad flavor and threw it in the batch. So there, unique support cards that aid werewolves in their transforming endevors without defaulting to the laziest possible-

"Why not just give werewolves flash?"

FUCKING FINE

You want flash so bad you can spend 3 mana on it

[hrrtshape]

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　become the laziest shifter ,

shifting is not a labour camp. you are not laying bricks. you are not a victorian chimney sweep, coughing up soot and hoping the foreman doesn’t notice you pausing for breath. shifting is supposed to be effortless.

　　　　here’s how to become one.

　ʚ stop trying so hard. seriously. shifting is not an algebra equation that needs solving. the more you obsess, the more you reinforce the idea that shifting is difficult, that it requires strain. it doesn’t. it’s like falling asleep. easy, natural, inevitable. you don’t need to ‘do’ shifting. you just allow it.

start ditching the obsession with techniques. they are tools, not commandments. if a method feels like a second job, drop it. some people shift while blinking. others shift mid-sneeze. some wake up shifted. some never have to think about it at all. you’re allowed to be one of those people. shifting doesn’t reward effort, it rewards ease.

people who shift aren’t ‘lucky.’ they just decide they’ve already won. embrace the delusion. belief isn’t something you prove; it’s something you wear like an expensive coat. you don’t need external validation. your reality is dictated by you, not by polls or peer reviews.

stop tensing up in bed like you’re about to undergo surgery. roll over like you’ve just been fed grapes by hand and have never known stress. get comfortable. let go. do you think nero worried about his shifting technique? no. he just made a decree and the world bent to him. you are your own emperor. decree your reality.

shifting doesn’t need to feel like a cosmic event. no need for vibrating, levitating, the heavens parting. sometimes it’s quiet. lose the expectation of ‘fireworks.’  sometimes it’s like slipping into warm water, seamless and smooth. don’t wait for ‘proof’. just shift.

stop acting like reality is a prison cell. you are not ‘trapped’. you are not ‘stuck’. you’re just sitting in one room when you could walk into another. no chains, no locks, just a door.

　　　　　　or how to . . 　　　　　　　　　　　　become the laziest manifestor ,

manifesting is not an unpaid internship. you are not earning it through blood, sweat, and desperate scripting at 3 a.m. manifesting is a birthright. a casual shrug. a ‘wouldn’t it be funny if. oh, look, it happened.’ you are not grinding for your desires.

　　　so let’s talk about getting everything you want.

　⭑ in its core, manifesting is just deciding. it is not a scavenger hunt. it is not an exam. it is not a ‘what if’. it is a ‘this is.’ people who get what they want simply assume it’s already theirs. they don’t waver. they don’t worry. they don’t ‘hope,’ they know.

stop micromanaging the how. do you manually control your heartbeat? do you stress over each individual breath? no? then stop hovering over your manifestations like an anxious project manager. you want it. it’s done. the ‘how’ isn’t your problem. the universe has already sorted the logistics.

start being delusional. your current reality is just a collection of past assumptions. want a new reality? adopt new assumptions. pretend you already have what you want. no, really. stop analysing. just be the version of you who has it. the world will catch up.

if you’re ‘waiting’ for your manifestation, you’re reinforcing that it isn’t here yet. and if you’re reinforcing lack, you’re just extending it. let go of ‘waiting.' live like it’s already yours. because it is.

the universe is not a vending machine you need to shake. detach. you don’t ‘make’ things happen. you request them, step back, and trust they’re coming. you ever seen a billionaire refresh their bank balance anxiously? no. they just know the money is there. treat your manifestations the same way.

you are already doing it. every single thing in your life right now, you manifested it. consciously or not. so you might as well start doing it on purpose.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　┊

stop making shifting and manifesting your part-time job. you are the main character, yes, but not the tragic, struggling one. be the one who gets what they want simply because they decide to. the one who moves through realities with ease, who manifests without breaking a sweat. become the laziest, most effortless version of yourself. because that’s the one who wins without having to lift a finger.

[baekuras]

god having any free time really makes you wanna quit your job and run into the woods never to be seen by society again and just live out your life

[diz-eaze]

; yandere, the parent trap...

albedo, an artificial being born from his master's exceptional capabilities, has no means of reproducing biologically - he's all chalk and khemia. however, as an alchemist and pursuer of the truth, perhaps that problem can be solved.

as he stands before his research camp in dragonspine, he can't help but think that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. his imposter and his master's affinity for creation... he's not so different in a sense. in his hand, he holds a strand of your hair, a DNA sample - plucked when you were too busy gawking at his notes and potions when visiting earlier. it was all too easy.

he may not be able to reproduce in the traditional fashion that's expected from males made from flesh and bones, but an alchemist of his grandeur cannot be stopped once he sets his mind on something. he navigates through his reading materials and equipment with a clinical level of precision, eyes narrowed in focus.

a child. he will give you a child created in the same way he was. a child will be created whose genes and appearance are the perfect blend between you two - an ideal offspring.

this is the exact push he needed for you.

the next time he calls for you to visit him in dragonspine, you're greeted by the sight of an infant who eerily looks like you and him, with a star-shaped mark adorning their neck, identical to his.

confused, you move your gaze to look at albedo, searching for an explanation. all he provides is a minuscule smile.

he truly hopes you'll welcome the new addition to your family with the same warmth you have always kindly given him. he's sure klee will love having a new playmate, too.