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themidnightcircusshow · 2 years

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I said I was going to write a post about how the slow death of tv tropes contributed to the fall in media literacy and bad faith criticism in fandom, so here we go:

For those not in the know, TV Tropes is a website that acts as a wiki of common tropes, how they’re used, and what media they appear in. It was one of the hotspots for fandom. That probably sounds strange considering my description of it, but TV Tropes was iconic for being extremely addictive, helped by being a site made of rabbit holes and commonly being written in a very fun and often times humorous way. The website originally started as a way to analyse Buffy, but soon grew from connecting tropes within the show to other shows, until it became something where every media property you know had a frequently updated wiki filled with the fandom analysing the show (or one lovingly cultivated by one or two fans). Fun and interactive as it was, TV Tropes essentially acted as baby’s first media criticism, a great way to get people recognising and understanding tropes across media. It also helped that one of its many taglines was ‘tropes are not bad’, because literally everything is a trope, that’s what tropes are.

Unfortunately, due to what many people claim is a change in site runners who heavily cracked down on moderation (including allegedly at one point taking down the page for Lolita. Three guesses why.) the site started bleeding users maintaining the wikis which of course led to a serious loss of traffic. Go to any page for something that came out in the late 2000s vs in the 2010s, and you will see a marked difference in not just what there is but how detailed the wiki is.

This coincided with a sharp increase in low effort but high traffic bad faith criticism such as Cinema Sins, WatchMojo, buzzfeed articles, etc that pump out such a high volume of content that is designed to be quickly consumed that it would be genuinely impossible for them to give in depth, good faith criticism and earn a profit. So they don’t bother.

Good faith media criticism has also changed drastically in this period. Video essayists have been on the rise all decade (albeit with a very wide margin of quality, which has become a problem now that people are so easily convinced of your argument simply because you’re well lit and have a decent mic), but this is still the opinion of one person, usually one person deconstructing a work that is bad, instead of a wide group of fans analysing the work together. Media analysis became something to be passively consumed rather than a group activity that honed your own analysis skills.

The whole point of TV Tropes was to dissect things down to their bare bones, like taking apart a car to see how it all worked. That taught fandom as a whole to recognise plot elements, gave the tools to discuss good examples, bad examples, and what’s overdone. It also tried to remind people that some tropes are a matter of opinion (Your Mileage May Vary) and some are just fact, but not necessarily in a bad way.

There’s a lot of reasons why fandom has changed so drastically in the last decade, and the problem with media literacy extends well outside of fandom. But while there have always been bad takes and bad critics, the TV Trope era at least gave us somewhat of a leg to stand on, if for no other reason than people were able to put into words what they were talking about.

#Fandom #Fandom Analysis #Fandom Things #TV Tropes #Television Without Pity died around the same time too #And Cracked #(which had its problems but were not nearly as bad as hyper commercialised quick read sites now)#So we're back to capitalism and bad site runners ruin everything #I'm noticing this even more now coz this is (partially) my job but finding websites that want in depth articles is next to impossible #If you want a consistent living wage #So in fandom we're losing media literacy #Those bad takes then get taken out of those circles (or brought in) by people who either can't be bothered or can't afford to care #So now we're stuck in this self perpetuating cycle where so few people seem to have even an idea of what they're talking about #It makes me sad #It also makes me extremely annoyed and sometimes even angry #My Meta

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jcmarchi · 10 months

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A Web Designer’s Secrets to Longevity

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/a-web-designers-secrets-to-longevity/

A Web Designer’s Secrets to Longevity

The web has been around for 30+ years. And we’ve reached a point where “old timers” exist within the industry. In this case, let’s define it as anyone with more than 15 years of experience.

My web design career began in 1996. That was right about the time when the web was becoming mainstream. More people were coming online. Organizations began to see the value in having a website.

So much has changed. We’ve gone from static HTML to content management systems (CMS). The industry has adopted many standards and best practices. Most impressive is that we can take the web with us. Mobile devices have been a game changer.

Truthfully, I couldn’t foresee any of this when I started. Nor did I know that I’d still be working on the web. Things just turned out that way.

Or did they? There must be some secret formula for sticking around this long.

I’ve thought about what it takes to achieve longevity in web design. Here’s what I found.

You Need Enthusiasm for Your Work

Enthusiasm is a key to longevity. And it applies to every career path. Staying on course is difficult when you’re not having fun.

But sometimes we get the wrong impression. Enthusiasm isn’t a 24/7 feeling. It can leave us for days, weeks, or more.

And there are numerous causes. A particularly stressful project can sap your energy. A difficult client can make you dread going to work. Plus, this work is just plain hard. Things don’t always go according to plan.

So, where does enthusiasm come from? Some find it in the creative process. Others may find it in solving complex problems. Helping a client achieve their goals is also a goldmine of good vibes.

Being filled with endless joy isn’t the point. That’s not a realistic expectation for any of us. It’s about finding bits and pieces that excite and motivate you. And you can adjust your workflow to experience more of these moments.

These are the things you can hold onto during tough times. And they’ll give you the energy to take on the next challenge.

Be Willing to Adapt to New Tech

Very little stays the same in this industry. Fundamental technologies like HTML and CSS remain. But even they have evolved. As they say, change is the only constant.

Adapting to change is difficult. As is understanding when to make a change. There are no easy or universal answers.

New technologies arrive daily. But not all of them will be worth your time. How will you know when it’s time to adapt?

So much depends on your niche. Look for tools that will add value to your skill set. Find technologies that will help you better serve client needs. These are areas where change makes sense.

The benefits of something new aren’t always apparent. You may need to experiment to find them. Finding the right one can provide a boost for your career.

You don’t have to jump on every new thing that comes along. But a willingness to try can make a difference. You’re investing in yourself and your future.

Work for Something Bigger Than Yourself

Web design is just another job at the end of the day. There are positives and negatives. And not everyone has the desire to stay in the industry.

Those of us who stay seem to have a common thread. We want to become involved in the web design community.

This involvement takes many forms. It could be contributing to an open-source project like WordPress. Or you might advocate for important causes like security or accessibility.

But you don’t have to focus on making change at the highest level. It’s also possible to impact others on a one-to-one basis. Activities like mentorship help bring others into the industry. It may make someone else’s journey that much more rewarding.

Paying it forward gives you a reason to stay in web design. It doesn’t have to be anything time-consuming or difficult. Even small contributions provide a sense of purpose.

Stay around as Long as You Like

Being a web designer for 25+ years is hard to fathom. The job description has changed dramatically. And yet here I am.

I’m far from the only “old timer” out there. Other talented and dedicated folks have made it this long. Some have even come full circle and retired.

If you’re hoping for similar longevity, think about the items above. Find a niche that you’re enthusiastic about. Don’t be afraid to try new things. And give back in a way that suits you.

Each of these items will help you establish roots in web design. They’ll open you up to a world of opportunity and support. You’ll need them to survive the challenges and changes.

You may make it longer than me! And who knows what the web will look like then?

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designaday · 11 months

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Advice from a UX Manager: Patience

I'm currently managing designers that are embedded in a number of product teams around our organization. Some of them are supporting products for commercial aviation, some are working on tools for training, while others are supporting military customers. There's a lot of variation in UX maturity from team to team, and I sometimes have to weight my time towards teams that are experiencing friction.

One of my most valuable contributions is helping designers that are being inserted into teams that haven't had UX support before. This requires the application of a lot of soft skills, but the word that I'm using a lot in meetings recently is "patience."

In general, there's a serious lack of patience in the world. Empathy and understanding require patience. Empathy and understanding are necessary for teams to incorporate a new role. Adding a new role, with that role's methods and goals, will significantly change the way a team functions. Change is hard. Change requires patience.

A team must learn a lot to integrate UX for the first time.

What is the value of UX?

How does a designer work?

How does a designer work with us?

What is a designer responsible for?

What tasks does a designer perform, and where do they fit in the overall development process?

How long do those tasks take?

What kind of output do we get from a designer, and what do we do with it?

How long is this list of questions going to get before our team is functioning smoothly again?

It's going to get much longer. It's going to take time to answer all of those questions. That requires patience. At the same time, the designer is trying to learn the team's processes and the domain in which they work. That requires patience, too.

You can think of patience as grease. As long as people are patient, things keep moving forward smoothly. People learn. Relationships are nurtured. Respect is built. When patience runs out, friction occurs. Tempers rise. People say and do things that hinder progress.

Have patience. Have an abundance of patience. Have enough patience to get the full story, see issues from multiple perspectives, and understand motives. Listen to what people say, seek understanding, and build bridges.

#Advice from a UX Manager #design management #ethics #communication #collaboration #working with developers

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rudeboiricebran · 1 year

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on being fired

just over a month ago, a meeting appeared on my calendar for the next day, "Performance Review." Invited to the meeting were my boss (the head of my department), the CTO (ostensibly his boss), and our HR person.

Seeing this caused me to panic. I can feel my pulse spiking as I type this right now. I sent a message to the CTO asking if I was being fired. He asked if I could talk at 4PM.

I showed up at the meeting with him, and he said to wait a second, that others would be joining. I asked if they were just moving the firing up to today; he didn't say anything.

They were. My boss read some canned statement, they told me what the severance terms were, and that that was my last day. I was numb; I had been miserable and I didn't see any point of arguing, so I said ok. 5 minutes after the meeting ended, I no longer had an email address or a slack login.

The extreme suddenness of it all caught me off guard. I knew things had been going poorly, but I figured if it were this bad I would have been warned. I thought the frustration was on my side, but it seems they were sick of hearing about the things preventing me from working effectively.

I flatter myself slightly, but I am _Very_ good at what I do. I work closely with folks in creative departments to express their will thru software; more than that, I build them the tools they need to be self sufficient, not constantly needing to come back to engineering for updates.

But at the company, I was stymied at every turn. I met several times with engineers and designers before taking about a month to implement a core combat system; this was met with extreme dismay by one of the other engineers who had wanted to be more involved. The next roughly five months were spent in code review with him on the feature. And all the while, I was told not to work on anything else, because this was critically important.

I expressed to my boss my dismay and frustration, he just said he trusted the other engineer and to work through it. During this period he (my boss) took several weeks-long trips out of the country; if I needed to talk to my manager (which I very much did) I was left with the CTO. There was no other option. We had no managers, no producers, no system of accountability, upwards or downwards.

I wonder if my beginning to speak more freely with the CTO may have contributed to my ouster. Maybe my absentee boss felt that he was being undermined or avoided. Again, this is the person where if a new employee asks how much unlimited PTO they can take off, we would just show them his calendar. C'est la vie.

Within the final few months, my frustrations were visibly growing. The five-month-code-review ended, the feature was committed, and others were finally unblocked to start building against it. I knew of areas where designers still needed help; instead I was moved onto another "mission critical feature" fully unrelated to the last one. In fact, this area of the project had been owned by another lead engineer, but he had been shifted to something else, so it was foisted upon me.

About one week before I was fired, during my regularly scheduled one on one with the CTO, I asked if I was being set up for failure. I pointed out that none of the features I was working on were areas where I had particular expertise, and I had been repeatedly prevented from making improvements elsewhere. I admitted that because things felt so out of my control, maybe I was just being paranoid, but I felt that open communication was important. One week later I was gone.

---

I ask myself: how did this happen? What were the signs, what could have been done to prevent it?

In retrospect, the warnings came early and often. Within the first 6 months after I joined two of the department directors had left the company to find other opportunities. A few months after that the lead producer, who I quite liked, also quit to turn to greener pastures.

Each of these people had all had their individual stories; I remember talking to my boss about this, asking "should I be concerned?" and being told that, no, this stuff just kinda happened sometimes.

Incorrect. People don't join startups at director level roles, then depart well before vertical slice if things are going well. Lead producers don't bounce if they feel they have the attention of the directors and the support they need. Founders leave companies that no longer match their vision for what the company should be.

At a macro studio culture level, these people who left formed a diverse cast. The people who didn't leave, my boss, my cto, the folks who replaced the departed, were all white men. In retrospect, the culture was breaking from the diverse portrayal that had initially enticed me, to be subsumed by overwhelming the same dudes making overwhelmingly the same sort of game they had been making for the past 10+ years together.

Maybe subconsciously I was already recognising that this was not what I had signed up for, and this was cranking up the Bad Brain Thoughts. My frustrations at unable to contribute in even minor ways was boiling over. I tried not to take it out on my teammates, but I was clear exactly how cucked I felt to my boss and the CTO. If anybody had the power to make changes that would allow me to work more freely, it would be them. There were no higher authorities; I was begging to be thrown a life preserver.

But the rescue was never attempted the CTO, after one of my Vent Sessions, asked me what I wanted him to do about it. I told him you could, right now, get rid of the thing that is consistently blocking me. The element of process that is not present at any other successful studio, but which had been the bane of my existence. He could get rid of it, he could make a choice to lighten the burdens on new code, he could speak to the individuals who were always on my nuts and ask them to lighten up a bit for the sake of my sanity.

But no, this was just a "me" problem, not a broader engineering problem. Never mind that our department never delivered any feature within the time estimate window; never mind that a quarter of the features delivered didn't work, half did the wrong thing, and the final quarter were so disperformant as to be unusable.

Never mind that, outside of the engineering department, people extremely liked working with me and thought very highly of the few features I was allowed to deliver. Never mind that, two weeks prior, the CTO had had to speak in an all-hands engineering meeting and announce the list of things that were now so far out of scope that they wouldn't even be attempted, including some very low hanging fruit that had no list being on that sort of list.

The problem with the engineers was me.

Could I have "just shut up and worked?" I was certainly trying. A month before my final ouster, I removed all of the sticky notes around my monitor that reminded me of vector math shit and tiny tasks, replacing them instead with sticky notes that said "BE QUIET!" and "SHUT UP" and "STOP TALKING" and "THEY DON'T CARE." I was trying to keep my mouth shut.

But again, I'm pretty good at what I do. I know the correct ways to do certain things, having executed or witnessed their execution by some extremely talented individuals at previous companies. And we kept doing the wrong shit. Multi-month code reviews, ignoring designers, putting people with low experience in front of critical tasks and then being unwilling to deviate from whatever courses they selected... I am only human.

I think the final nails were when I was being directed to use inappropriate technology for the task that was ostensibly on my plate. This was another system where I knew what success looked like, but I was told that I was wrong. I was directed to use a tool the AI team had been using, which sorta fit some of the purpose if you squint (and refactor), but otherwise would need other drivers in the logic.

I was made to delete the code containing those other drivers, as I gradually lost my mind trying to figure out how the fuck I was supposed to do the engineering equivalent of drilling 1/8th inch holes in plywood with curling iron.

My last public slack message was in getting the feature owner to agree that, yes, the way I was being asked to do it didn't make sense, and that I'd be fine to pursue what I thought the correct course of action was.

An hour later, I had the "Performance Review" on my calendar. Two hours after that I didn't have a job.

---

What next from here? I've been interviewing, but I'm extremely in the "twice shy" period after being once bitten by the enticements of a "new AAA startup founded by industry veterans working on a cool IP."

I just want to work with designers, artists, animators, VFX; the cool people who make cool video games. I want to join a team that isn't being dominated by white guys who were brought up in oldschool studios, and I want to work somewhere that doesn't underserve their team by skipping production, management, and QA.

But maybe I don't want to make games any more. When things are firing on all cylinders, it's absolutely the place for me, but if I'm just going to be pushing my hands into the grindstone, I can do that in another industry and actually make enough money to afford a house. What a concept.

Mostly I just want to find something relatively soon. My dad spent years unemployed, and it messed me up in ways that still hurt me today, so I just want to not have to think about selling my car in order to afford rent.

#fired #gamedev #aaa #horrible bosses

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full-potential · 1 year

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Boost Your Productivity: A Comprehensive Workflow System

Good morning Full Potential beings! The purpose of today's post is to help you get more done. Why? It can feel very fulfilling to accomplish all the things you set out to do each day. Some people question whether its better to just flow. I suggest you can do both. Be in the flow WITH structure. Structure your life with schedules and timing , and then just give yourself generous amounts of time to flow within that structure. So with that said, here's a simple system that's helping me stay focused, use or adapt it as you see fit. 1. Prioritize and Time-Track Your Tasks Start with a clear list of tasks for the day, prioritizing them based on their alignment with your goals. Use a timer to stay focused on each task, a concept similar to the Pomodoro Technique. This method encourages you to work for a set amount of time, take a short break, then start another work session. 2. Develop a Habit List List your regular habits and keep track of the time spent on each one daily. This could be personal growth habits like reading or professional ones like checking and responding to emails. This list will help ensure consistency and let you see where your time is being spent. Here's what I do: I have a google sheet with a tab full of my habits. A column for the time it took to complete each habit. Then I time the habit with a stop watch and when I finish the habit I enter the time next to the habit and move on to the next one. 3. Estimate and Reflect Before you start, estimate how long each task will take. Over time, this will help you plan your days more effectively and improve your time estimation skills. At the end of each day or week, review your performance, and adjust your plan accordingly. 4. Group Similar Tasks Batching similar tasks together reduces the cognitive load of switching between different types of tasks, increasing your efficiency. I have a separate tab in my google sheet for my key results and the actions that help me move those key results forward. I have a column once again for how much time each action takes. I organize actions in order of priority and then I use a stop watch to start to time my focus as I complete them one by one. 5. Delegate and Eliminate Consider whether tasks that do not significantly contribute to your goals can be delegated or eliminated entirely. This can greatly sae time. If you don't know why you're doing something or there's an easier or better way that consumes less time, eliminating an action is by far the easiest way to free up time. 6. Use Diverse Tools Utilize a mix of digital and physical tools. Physical tools like notebooks and whiteboards can be useful for visualization, brainstorming, and reducing screen time. Online tools like Google sheets and an online time tracker you'll see on your screen the whole time will help you stay focused. (I use a timer called Tempus and another one called Session) 7. Practice Mindfulness and Rest Incorporate meditation and music into your routine to cultivate mindfulness and manage stress. Schedule regular rest periods to avoid burnout and maintain mental and physical health. Remember as part of work flow to take breaks from the screen for movement, meditation, music and shifting your state before going back to the level of intensity that this system can create. When I get done with screen I go into movement to clear my mind. Then meditation with a notebook nearby to write down ideas that flow while I'm taking a break. Then as a bonus for fun and shifting from my logical side to my creative side, I'll incorporate some music. 8. Incorporate Movement The combination of these three will definitely help you shift your state. 9. Limit Screen Time Designate certain times of the day as "screen-free" periods. This can help reduce eye strain and improve focus. When I give myself prolonged periods of time without screen I feel more clear headed. Additionally - I like to close my eyes while I write and type so I can limit my screen time even while using the computer. 10. Align Tasks with Strategy Ensure each task is aligned with your overall strategy and contributes to your key results. Regularly review progress towards your goals, discuss any obstacles, and make necessary adjustments to the strategy. Know what your key results are, the strategies you are taking to realize these results, to leverage yourself find an RP (Responsible Party) for a key result or for each strategy. Then just track the time using this system for each action item and reflect on progress at the end of the day! Conclusion Remember, the most effective system is the one that works for you. It's okay to tweak and adjust as you discover what best suits your needs. The key is to experiment, refine your approach based on your experiences, and remain flexible to change. Here's to a more productive you! Title: The Symphony of Productivity In the orchestra of life, each day begins anew, A blank canvas, awaiting strokes of vibrant hue. Tasks lay before us, as notes on a page, In the symphony of productivity, we set the stage. Prioritize, organize, let not time be your foe, Like a steady metronome, let your focus flow. Each tick a reminder of the passing scene, In the dance of duties, be in the supreme serene Habits are the rhythm, the recurring beat, Consistent and reliable, making life neat. Estimate and reflect, learn from the past, In the melody of mindfulness, make each moment last. Batch together, the similar tasks, Efficiency improves, under productivity's mask. Delegate, eliminate, in the strategy's song, To the harmonious goal, we all belong. Screen time limited, eyes rest awhile, In the silence of the break, let your spirit smile. Move and stretch, let your body be free, In the rhythm of rest, find your glee. From digital tools to the humble whiteboard, In the chorus of creativity, ideas are stored. A symphony we weave, with each passing day, In the orchestra of life, we find our way. Read the full article

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mojamoza · 2 years

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How To Easily Learn Coding In 2023

Introduction Learning how to code is a skill that will help you become more productive and competitive in the future. But it's not easy: many people struggle with it for years before they're able to make any useful contributions. So how do you go about learning coding? And what should you do after that? This guide will answer those questions and more! Where should you start? When you're learning to code, the first step is always the same: you have to pick a language. There are many options out there, but in my opinion it's best to start with the basics and work your way up from there. For example: if you want to learn how to write code using Visual Studio Code (a great editor for beginners), then start by setting up your text editor and installing extensions like Grammarly or keyboard shortcuts for common tasks. Once those are set up, move onto learning about how files work within VSCode—and then once that's settled down, see if there are any other resources available online that can help improve your understanding of these concepts even further! If this sounds like too much work at once (and it probably will), then consider taking advantage of local meetups where fellow developers come together every month or so; these groups usually host speakers who speak about their experiences working with specific technologies such as Ruby on Rails or ReactJS so that everyone gets something out of attending them regardless what level they currently operate at within tech fields like web development/designing websites etcetera." How can you tell if coding is for you? If you're not sure if coding is for you, there are a few things to look for. The first is that you should be able to explain what your goal is and how it will help someone else. For example, if you want to build an app that helps people find affordable restaurants in their neighborhood, then explaining this will help clarify whether or not coding is right for you. The second thing to consider when determining whether or not coding is right for someone else is whether they can explain why they want or need something like this on their own without having any specific knowledge about programming languages or technical details involved with creating software programs. Coding experts often speak of "getting into code" as being similar in nature but more difficult because it requires one person who knows exactly what needs done (the programmer) and another person who does not know anything about programming (the user). What's the difference between programming and coding? Programming is the process of writing code, while coding is the act of writing code. Programming is a higher level of abstraction than coding; it's about solving problems and making things happen, whereas coding is about making things happen. Do you have to be good at maths to learn to code? The simple answer is no. You don't have to be good at maths to learn coding, but it helps. If you're interested in tech and want to get into the industry, then going through school with a technical degree has its perks. The reason for this is because maths teaches us logical thinking skills that are invaluable when learning coding languages such as Python or JavaScript. It also teaches us how data structures work and how algorithms work together with each other so we can understand what's happening under the hood of these programs that we use every day (or night). What are the most popular languages for new coders to learn? If you want to learn coding in the year 2023, there are a few popular languages that will give you the best bang for your buck. You can use these tools alongside each other and make sure that your skillset is solid before diving into any specific language. JavaScript: This language has been around for over 15 years and it's still used by millions of people across the world every day. It's easy to learn—you don't need a degree in computer science or math to get started with JavaScript! With its popularity on mobile devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops alike, this makes JavaScript an excellent choice for beginners who want their first step into coding-based learning paths without spending too much time learning something complex like C++ or Python first (which might require some expensive courses). Python: Python is another popular programming language with many similarities with JavaScript but also some differences too - specifically regarding how they're used inside web applications versus standalone applications running on desktop computers/laptops/tablets etcetera... Are any programming languages just better than others? There are many different programming languages, and each one has its own unique strengths and weaknesses. If you're just starting out as a programmer, it's important to know what your goals will be before choosing a language. In case you want to build websites, then HTML and CSS are good options because they're both widely used across the web (and even in mobile apps). If your ultimate goal is building mobile apps, Swift or Objective-C may be more appropriate depending on what kind of platform you have available on which device(s) that user owns/owns within their household (Apple products tend to run on iOS devices only). Are there any languages I should avoid? - Avoid languages that are not in demand. - Avoid languages that are not widely used or in demand. Should I learn just one language or many? If you're interested in learning programming, it can be helpful to know multiple languages. You don't have to learn them all at the same time—you can start with one language and then add another later. Learning a second language is great because it will improve your understanding of the first one and give you exposure to other cultures and ways of thinking. It's also fun! However, if your goal is more career-oriented (e.g., becoming a software engineer), then focusing solely on learning coding won't necessarily help you get where you want fast enough; instead, taking classes or working on projects that involve both front-end design skills and backend development could help build up both sides of yourself as an individual developer Which one should I choose first? One of the most important things to consider when choosing a career path is what you want to accomplish. Do you want to be an entrepreneur or a solopreneur, or do you have other goals in mind? If so, then it's critical that your first step is determining whether coding will help achieve those goals. - If it's not something that interests you and makes sense for who you are as a person (whether it's related to work or not), then don't bother learning how to code! - Even if it does interest you but doesn't seem practical at all right now (because there aren't enough jobs available in that field), keep reading on because I've got some tips for getting started with coding even if it does seem far-fetched now—and maybe even some ideas about how we could make this happen! Do I need to be able to code for a long time before I can do anything useful? You don’t have to be a programmer for years before you can do anything useful. In fact, it is possible to learn coding and become an expert in just a few months with the right method and tools. The best way for beginners like yourself to get started is by taking classes at your local community college or university, where they will provide all of the materials necessary for learning how computers work. These classes will teach you what makes up computer programming, such as variables, functions and loops (which we will discuss later). They’ll also explain how these concepts work together so that when they apply them correctly—and they always do—your code becomes more efficient! This isn't rocket science; everyone learns differently but everyone learns at their own pace too! If someone finds something difficult then another person might find something easy but still needs extra help getting started on certain things like taking notes during lectures etcetera... What does a typical day look like for a coder in 2023? In 2023, a coder's day will be different depending on the role. Some coders are in teams, some are left to their own devices and learn as they go. Most importantly: You're always learning new things! As a general rule of thumb, you should expect to spend at least half your time on learning new skills and technologies (and maybe more). If you're working solo or with one other person, it's likely that they will also be teaching themselves as well—which means there might not be much time for actual coding until later in the week when everyone has caught up with each other’s work (or if someone needs help with something). Think about what you want to accomplish when learning how to code. The first step in learning how to code is figuring out what you want to accomplish. If it's just for fun, then maybe some introductory courses will be enough. If your goal is more career-oriented, however, then it might make sense for you take a few more classes and become proficient with your chosen languages. In either case, don't forget that there are many different types of jobs available in the tech industry today—and not all require coding skills! For example: Conclusion We hope this article has helped you to think about what your goals are for learning coding, and how you can use that information to make the best choice of language for your situation. We’d love to hear about your experience with coding if we missed anything important! If you need more help choosing a course or getting started with coding, check out our resources page. Read the full article

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techaspirations · 2 years

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6 Tips To Developing A Sustainable Website

As websites get more feature-rich and complex in order to attract and retain visitors, they consume more power and drain batteries from devices faster. Besides, this also leaves enterprises with two serious consequences: poor user experience and high costs spent on page and content loading. So the bottom line is what can enterprises do to make websites less power-consuming without sacrificing user experience and performance.

With the Internet playing an important role in the daily lives of billions of people, especially during these times, we have to create more sustainable digital products and services. Sustainable web design is the way to go. It's an approach to designing web services that put people and the planet first. It delivers digital products and services that are clean, efficient, open, honest, regenerative, and resilient.

Sustainable websites make great use of compressed images, efficient file formats, and lightweight fonts, avoiding bloated frameworks. Making your website eco-friendly isn't just better for the environment. You will notice some great advantages in the user experience of your website. In this article, we will discuss some sustainable web design strategies to upgrade your website to a greener level.

How to build a sustainable web design strategy?

The Front-end energy consumption of any digital product or service is typically determined during the design phase. Designers, developers, and creators of sites have the opportunity to reduce the environmental impact. There are several key areas where we can make small but significant changes. All it takes are a few tweaks to the workflows. With this tool, you can discover how to green your website already is. If those results need some improvement you can contact us to help you out.

Let’s see:

The first thing you can do is reduce the time to first paint. The time to first paint is the time between navigation and when the first pixel is painted on the screen. You can do so by:

Caching;

Generating and inlining critical CSS;

Serving images in next-gen formats;

Compressing text-based assets.

Avoid animated content i.e. CSS animations, and spinner GIFs that constantly trigger painting. Whenever possible, use declared animations so the browser can manage content visibility.

Cut down on JavaScript: JavaScript directly impacts a website’s efficiency by adding file weight to a page and by increasing the amount of processing that’s needed. If you cut down the JS execution time, you can decrease the power consumption significantly.

Optimize images: Images weigh a lot and are one of the primary reasons why websites consume too much power. So, the best way to optimize them is to reduce their size. Make sure that the tool compresses the image without sacrificing its quality.

Use accelerated mobile pages: AMP disposes unnecessary code and file weight from your website and thus contributes to its faster delivery and load.

Use CDN: A content delivery network efficiently distributes the content across multiple servers and uses the server that’s closest to a user to deliver content to them. In this way, the delivery time reduces greatly which leads to faster load time and less power consumption due to shorter delivery.

Use lazy loading media: This means loading above-the-fold content before or in priority and loading the below-the-fold media (images or text or graphics) afterward as and when required or scrolled.

Periodic cleanup of the website: This requires periodic cleaning of unwanted codes, plugins and old dead weight content, etc. The more streamlined your website, the less energy it consumes.

Improving site navigation: Longer the users spend time on your site the longer computing resources the site consumes. Improved navigation not only serves the visitor for better UI/UX but would also save computing power. One of the best ways to improve navigation is to use search boxes, so it can compensate for faulty navigation.

Limit the use of video: There should be no doubt about the use of video, enhancing user experience to give a good and vivid perspective about the message the site wants to convey. At the same time, however, stuffing your site with videos can be catastrophic! After all, the video uses up even more energy to host and play.

Write reusable code: If you enjoy being efficient, don't reinvent the wheel. The carbon footprint of a website includes the emissions of the team that created it like office energy and travel. You can save time and energy by writing reusable code when it's possible. It's more efficient and delivers results with lower carbon emissions. Don't repeat yourself, make a class do just one thing, write unit tests for your classes and make it easy to test them. Write code that can easily be extended, don't write code that isn't needed. Keep your code reusable by maintaining high cohesion so it can adapt to a different environment.

Conclusion

Heavy websites demand more energy. Therefore, it’s the responsibility of enterprises to be conscious about website development: not only for the sake of low power consumption but also for the sake of sustainability. Sending an email has the same effect on our environment as using a plastic bag. Therefore, books are often more environmentally friendly than e-books. Buying music albums is better for our resources than streaming them. The list is endless. Above all, these statistics shake up our previous general understanding that digital also means "green".

Digital can be eco-friendly and better for the environment, but only if we use it wisely. The Internet also makes it much easier to spread information about sustainability and environmental protection. It's time to get on the train toward sustainable web development and design. If you need some help with that, feel free to contact us and we will help you on your sustainable journey!

#webdevelopment

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actlikeyoudidntdoit · 3 years

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ASSASSIN’S MODERN DAY PROFESSIONS

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ALTAÏR

College Professor

-We all know that Altaïr has spent most of his life teaching, so what better job does he have than a college professor?

-He knows what he’s talking about, that much is certain, but sometimes he gets a little too lost in his lesson to realize that his students are scratching their heads. So it’s normal to have students staying after class, but they leave understanding every word of what he said.

-He’s not the fun teacher, but he’ll be able to teach you what you need and still remember it at the end of the day.

-He’s pretty lenient, and even with the obnoxious students who cause a scene, he calmly gets them to at least do their work.

-Other teachers always use him as a reference when it comes to the perfect teacher.

EZIO AUDITORE

-I can see Ezio being a public speaker since he’s not all that scared of crowds and spends a lot of time giving advice, so I think he’d really enjoy being able to help a crowd of people whose lives are falling apart

-Ezio would be the single anchor in a sea of storms because he always seems to have an answer for everything. He’s a man whose words are turned into inspirational quotes that people hang on their walls.

-When he says that things will be okay, no one doubts him since they know that he lost his father and his brothers very early on and that it took years for Ezio to accept the loss the way he had. If he could soldier through it, why couldn’t they?

-He doesn’t involve himself in politics, finding them to be a waste of time and breath despite how many people ask for his input on the political status of the country he’s staying in.

-He speaks to a lot of people in private, letting them speak their minds and giving his advice if they want it. He’s a therapist without a license, and you always feel hopeful about life leaving his office.

Connor

Construction or Sports

-This boy was designed for heavy work, and I’ve heard some good points in saying that not only would he be amazing at sports, but he’d also really enjoy it too.

-In my personal headcanon, I think he’d be a good construction worker as well. Not the high end kind that build skyscrapers or anything, but I can see him building simple houses for small communities, taking the lower jobs that can’t afford much help like the sweetheart he is. He definitely volunteers to make houses for the homeless.

-Since most of the homeless he helps don’t have much money, he makes sure to offer them baked goods because he’s definitely a baker.

Edward Kenway

-As a young man, he joins the navy

-Once he’s on his own, he buys his own boat and treats it like royalty.

-He’s not a pirate himself, but he does let less legal people on board for a price. At the time, it was just an easy cash pay since people paid good money when they were desperate.

-When he’s older and gets a grip on some of the people he’s helping (like the REALLY bad criminals) he quickly lets it go.

-Yet after seeing some of the more decent people and the places they were running from, I can see him being a sort of smuggler, but instead of smuggling drugs or weapons, he sells medicines, canned foods, and clothes to the regions where they’re scarce or hard to pay for.

-When he’s older and found a fortune over time, he starts up his own official charity, hiring various sailers to sail supplies to more places than he himself could alone.

SHAY CORMAC

-Okay, I have to say it. Shay would DEFINITELY be an FBI spy. Maybe I haven’t thought of it as heavily as I could, but he just strikes me as a man who could kill someone in plain sight and still not be seen.

-He already knows everything he can about infiltrating and getting vital information

-He knows exactly how to manipulate people to get what he wants.

-He’s like Macgyver but as an agent.

-He does things that make sleeping at night impossible, but he tells himself that every long night for him is another person somewhere else having a peaceful night, and peaceful nights means he’s doing his job. Right?

-Constantly questions his morals, but he can’t bring himself to stop, not knowing that he’d do if he stopped, because at least here he’s doing something. He’s contributing.

-That and maybe I might or might not want to see Shay in a suit 🤷‍♀️

AVELINE

-Actress. And a damn good one. She’s one of the kind of people who get paid millions each job and gives most of her cash on people who really need it. Not only that, she’s a fan favorite everywhere.

-She takes extra jobs in smaller businesses barely staying afloat, and public morality boosts has nothing to do with it. In fact, she keeps her fame life out of everything, choosing to see it just as another job.

-I can see her sharing similarities of Zendaya or Zoe Zaldana

ARNO DORIAN

-High school teacher or actor, I can’t decide.

-Because let’s be honest, this guys brain is more wrinkled than a raisin. He knows his stuff.

-He’s good at simplifying what he’s saying, and that happens to be a very useful trait when it comes to teaching.

-If he was a teacher, he’d be a damn good one, that’s for sure. No one will fail his class because he’s so good at explaining things, and he’d be the one who actually cares for his students.

-When it comes to acting... just admit that Arno’s a theater boy through and through. If you need proof, he’s the only one with a crazy amount of fancy robes and colors. FOR GODS SAKE HE OWNS A THEATER! So on modern day, I could totally see him as an actor as well.

-He’d be the Ewan Mcgregor of the modern day, because everyone recognizes him from SOMEWHERE because he’s really tested his acting ability on multiple various roles. Well read, charming, and level headed, he’d totally rock being an actor. He’s good friends with Aveline, and when they both have time in their busy schedules, they stop by for coffee and fill each other in on their life.

JACOB

-Boxing

-I saw the photoshops of Jacob in boxer life, and I have not been the same because oh my god that is amazing.

-but absolutely he’d be a boxer. He’s the shortest guy in the entire match, but he doesn’t need a stool to knock you on your ass before you can laugh about it.

-His opponents are lucky shattering bones is against the rules because he knows how to make someone wish their dad wore a condom.

-A lot of people think that his rounds must be rigged, and his sister had to physically hold him back every time Jacob threatened to give him a close up of how ‘rigged’ his fights were.

-Jacobs a powder keg, so it doesn’t take much to make him explode, and a lot of the less respectful people he has to fight picks particularly sore spots to do just that.

-He might be pissed, but his punch isn’t the only thing that stings. He knows exactly what words to use, and when they’ve gone too far, he doesn’t hold back.

-Might have a temper, but he has a good heart despite it all. He visits schools and completely turns his personality around with kids. He signs autographs, takes pictures, and makes sure that every one of them have a fun day because he knows that there’s some kids in this school that don’t have those kinds of days. He pays the school for field days each time, making sure they all get out. They bring out the scooters, parachutes, capture the flag, and ‘wrestling’ matches for the kids who want to face him. He loses every time. He never has a bigger smile on his face than when he has children fans walk up to him.

EVIE

-She is totally a lawyer and you can’t change my mind.

-Logic and Facts are her strongest weapons, and so far she has yet to lose a debate.

-Every other lawyer knows that seeing Evie walk into court is an instant death sentence, because like her brother, her words are sharp as a knife and her mind is even sharper.

-If they didn’t look identical, no one would believe that she would be related with Jacob the hot headed boxer, because she was level as water and was near impossible to make angry, but god help the poor sod that presses her.

-Her clients almost always get the best case scenario with Evie by their side by how good she is.

-Also like her brother, children are her weak spot, and her hard composure melts whenever she needs to speak to a child in the witness post, making sure that the child feel comfortable unlike the others that drill the kid with questions when they’re too skittish to answer. She takes her time and gets the kid feeling safe, and gently asks their side.

-Evie might not do it as a profession, but Evie has beaten Jacob in the boxing ring in the gym. She knows damn well how to handle herself, knowing she’d need it since she’d be fighting corrupt politicians or gang members who have too often tried attempts at her life. Every time she emerged unscathed, using the attempt at even more evidence against them and insuring a spot in jail. No one dared try attacking her again after that.

BAYEK

-I’m thinking police officer or motivational speaker for trauma.

-Either way, he’s a guardian who takes care of the people he’s in charge of. He knows words well, and having been down the dark path himself, he knows exactly what people experience and what they want to hear.

-Be the change you want to see in the world, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.

-He’d be a well respected officer, and he’s not afraid of telling off a comrade if someone is wrongfully accused. He’s not very popular in the police station, but as long as he’s doing his job, he’s satisfied.

-He’s saved several people over the course in his life, and his word is well honored since he’s on no ones side. He sees things as what they are and doesn’t twist events he disagreed with to his point of view. Even if it hurts him personally, he doesn’t lie.

-He’s divorced, but they’re still best friends with each other and visit when they can.

AYA (ran out of gifs. Sorry)

-She is hands down a self defense teacher for women

-She sells hidden self defense tools for less than ten dollars, always sure to keep constantly supply of them since many have confessed that they’ve saved them from dangerous situations.

-Like her former husband, she’s a protector and makes sure she provides her students with the best.

-She teaches children what to do if they ever get grabbed, and she’s had many parents in years thanking her when that information ended up saving their child’s life.

ALEXIOS

-Hands down he is a stunt double

- Preferably Arno’s since he relies more on flexibility than brute strength. Then there’s the fact that they look similar enough in features

-He does the moves that would probably be safer if they were just CGI, but he hates those computers with a passion, preferring to do the real thing instead of giving out something fake. He’s broken more bones than he can count, and the companies he works with always have a medic on standby when something goes wrong.

-They tried convincing him that they only needed him for a few spots, but after realizing that he wanted this (and him assuring them that he doesn’t bother with suing), they let him do his thing. The results are fruitful since the most nitpicky movie fans are absolutely thrilled when there’s a particular move done right.

-He teaches Arno a good few things about how to do action scenes, and they’re definitely good friends.

KASSANDRA

-Roller Derby

-She lives for throwing people and smacking them without being judged for it, so the Derby’s her safe spot.

-Everyone on the opposing team is terrified of her, always scared when they see her devilish smile, knowing that they’re about to get their asses handed to them. Like her brother, she’s an adrenaline junky, and when she’s not doing the derby, she’s going off into car races in a water trench. She’s surprisingly very good with cars too, knowing the inside and out of a car like the back of her hand.

-She loves it when men try to catcall her. It gives her a perfect opportunity to punch them in the face.

-She loves the races themselves because no one expects it. Sometimes she pretends to act like a beginner and absolutely slaughter them, giving them a nice wink before driving out with her cash.

-Only has a soft spot for the girl who visits her on weekends. She’s practically her older sister, and there will be hell to pay if her favorite kid gets hurt in any way.

EIVOR

-BACA(Bikers Against Child Abuse)

-The moment I saw this, I instantly thought about them.

-they would absolutely be a part of this

-Looking all badass in leather while turning into a softie for children? That’s Eivors entire character right there.

-Eivors not afraid to get physical with an abuser. They’d beat the abuser to a pulp and right after take the child out for ice cream.

-No one messes with Eivor, knowing that their lenience was stretched only for children. Anyone else tried to pressure her? Your teeth would be shattered and they’d wear the bits for a necklace.

-Children are much more brave around them because they’re tougher than their parent and on their side, so they’re not afraid to give them to the police

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ilovejevsjeans · 3 years

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Why there’s far more to Russell than qualifying specialism

The old adage in Formula 1 that the first person you must beat is your teammate may be cliched, yet it rings true. Drivers constantly compare themselves with the man across the garage, knowing the importance of becoming the in-house alpha.

It makes qualifying head-to-head records a valued statistic for many drivers. As pally-pally as Lando Norris was with Carlos Sainz at McLaren, he took some pleasure in pipping the Spaniard on Saturdays across their two seasons together (11-10 in 2019, 8-8 in 2020). Fernando Alonso’s 21-0 whitewash of Stoffel Vandoorne in 2018 meant so much to the two-time F1 world champion that he was still trotting out the statistic 18 months later.

But even Alonso’s qualifying prowess looks workmanlike compared with that of George Russell. In his 46 appearances with Williams , not once has he been outqualified by a teammate. He equalled Alonso’s 21-0 sweep in 2019, when paired with Robert Kubica – a grand prix winner – and leads Nicholas Latifi 25-0 in their season-and-a-bit together. The only F1 teammate to ever outqualify Russell is Valtteri Bottas, who pipped him to pole in their single race together at Mercedes – and we all know who really walked away as the moral winner that weekend…

It has led to the moniker of ‘Mr Saturday’ being attached to Russell by TV types, who then rattle out those statistics like tickets from a slot machine every time he makes it through to Q2. As impressive as his qualifying record is, to reduce his significance to that of a quali-day footnote belies the true power of Britain’s burgeoning F1 star. Last year in Sakhir he offered a glimpse of what he could one day do for Mercedes, jumping in at the last minute and making full use of the tools at his disposal. But to be true world champion material requires a greater contribution: it’s being a leader, rallying those around you, and being a figurehead in the team’s progression in every area.

They are valuable skills which those around Russell at Williams have seen him hone since making his debut in 2019. “He’s just got better and better, and developed almost with every race,” says Dave Robson, Williams’ head of vehicle performance. “Not so much in terms of the driving, that’s always been very strong. But in terms of his understanding of the whole game that we play and everything that we need to get right and we need his help with, it’s just improved endlessly.

“His role within the team is particular, he takes it in his stride in leading that. He’s an excellent asset in all regards.”

The evolution into a leadership role was something Russell was required to embrace quickly. As the depth of the team’s plight became clear in early 2019, there was a contrast in the response of the two drivers: while Kubica – the more experienced, seemingly senior head – subsided into negativity, the junior Russell accepted the state of affairs and got stuck in trying to make a difference.

“2019 was an incredibly difficult baptism of fire,” recalls Robson. “Once he’d got his head around the situation we were in, he was extremely good at being clear about the order of the problems that needed tackling.”

Dealing with a car as devilish as the FW42 helped Russell hone his development skills and feedback, helping the team make big strides in each of the past two seasons and move off the foot of the pecking order in 2021. He even gleaned some helpful slivers of information during his one-race sojourn with Mercedes, feeding back to Williams that it should change its clutch paddle designs after sampling a different steering wheel.

The technical understanding he has forged is “right up there” with the best drivers Robson – once a race engineer to Jenson Button and Felipe Massa – has worked with: “His technical understanding of what the car has to do, how the tyres have to work, and some of the compromises you have to make, is now as good as anyone, I think, in the pitlane.”

It has made Russell not only an important asset to his team, but also to his teammate. Nicholas Latifi joined Williams as a rookie in 2020, and while paired with a younger driver who had just 21 grands prix to his name, he was quickly able to lean on Russell to help his own performances as he got up to speed in F1.

“It’s been hugely beneficial to have a teammate like George,” Latifi says. “Definitely in those opening races at the beginning of the year and throughout the year, [I was] learning from him what I can in the data, seeing what he is asking for from the car, what he thinks the car needs to go quicker, when I was just trying to find my feet and get up to the limit – for sure relying a bit on that information was very helpful.”

Latifi’s confidence may have grown into his second season, but he still finds it a “great help” to have such a strong reference in Russell – even when on the wrong side of the qualifying scoreline. “Part of it just stems from having George as your teammate,” Robson says of their head-to-head record. “He does have an incredible ability to pull something out when it really matters.”

But it is not just Russell’s on-track capabilities that have made him such a powerful and important figure within Williams. The soft skills he has developed off-track, knowing how to best work with the team around him and keep heads up – even through the trickiest of times – has been hugely important to Williams.

“It’s not just his technical input, but also the way he interacts with everyone and his positivity,” says Robson. “Although he can, quite understandably, get frustrated in the heat of the moment, his positivity and general way he is so constructive is very good and exactly what we needed over the last couple of years. He’s played a big role.”

At just 23 years old, Russell has a growing voice and authority that few of his peers boast. It has earned him the respect of the entire F1 grid, evidenced by his appointment as the GPDA’s newest director at the start of this year following Romain Grosjean’s exit from the series, wishing to represent “the younger half of the grid”. Internally at Williams, he has also used his eagerness to speak up to good effect, wishing to make himself heard from day one.

There’s something about him: when he talks, people listen,” says Robson. “It’s important, provided he’s talking about the right thing. Perhaps right at the beginning, he didn’t always get [that] right, but it didn’t take him long to suss that out and understand.”

Robson’s comment is another sign of Russell’s willingness and ability to learn from his mistakes, a trait that fits perfectly with the culture built by Mercedes in its evolution to a title-winning F1 juggernaut.

It was something that he has already had to put into action this year, having brazenly pointed the finger at Bottas for their crash at Imola and then proposed a theory that had tinfoil hats quivering across the F1 Twittersphere. On the flight home after the race with Mercedes head honchos Toto Wolff and James Allison, Russell said he was given some “tough love”, but he acted quickly: he apologised, retracted his comments, and vowed to learn from the saga.

It’s exactly the kind of growth Mercedes wants to see, and will undoubtedly be part of its considerations when it decides on Russell’s future for 2022. He is a free agent, as is Valtteri Bottas, the man he would surely replace should Wolff decide the time is right to cash in on his investment.

But where would that leave Williams? Robson does not mince his words, admitting it would be a “huge loss” for the team both on- and off-track.

“It’s been fantastic working with him, right from when we first put him through the evaluation,” Robson says. “It was obvious George had something about him, some genuinely outstanding talent to drive the car. And it’s been probably frustrating at times, but a great journey to be on with him.

“Of course he’d be a massive loss. I think we’ve all put in a lot of time and effort to help him where he needed a bit of help, to guide him, and it would be a real shame to lose that without really seeing the benefits of it in our car.”

CEO Jost Capito says he would “of course” hand Russell the multi-year deal he craves from 2022, should it be viable. “I think he would fit very well to Williams for our future as well,” Capito says. “If he believes in our future, there might be a chance to keep him.”

It is a future that Russell has helped forge for Williams. Steps such as the sale of the team and investment from Dorilton Capital has secured the team’s immediate future, but Russell’s role must be recognised.

Robson agrees, saying he “can take a good amount of credit” for the team’s progress since hitting rock bottom at the start of 2019.

Williams may have a strong history for backing and cultivating young talent, giving the likes of Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg, and Valtteri Bottas their starts. But to be the force that helps lift the team out of its hardest moments, acting as the catalyst in its revival, arguably makes Russell the most important of the bunch – even if he doesn’t stick around to enjoy the fruits of his labour. (X)

#george russell #george

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tossawary · 4 years

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Chapter 27: “The First Day” of “pride is not the word I’m looking for” quotes and commentary. Not a full list of favorite quotes or full commentary.

Right now, deep into the safety of darkness, Shang Qinghua thinks about how he never actually expected to be lying in his bed with Mobei-Jun. No, there’s a reason his sofa is comfortable enough to sleep on! That was by design too! Sure, Shang Qinghua had lots and lots of bed-related fantasies, but he had no expectations of those fantasies ever coming true. He didn’t dare to have expectations.

It’s kind of weird, lying in bed with Mobei-Jun. It’s definitely weird lying in his bed partially on top of Mobei-Jun. With the way things were headed, Shang Qinghua was admittedly fostering some hopes about those bed-related fantasies, but he still didn’t think to mentally prepare himself for the practical details. He really wasn’t mentally prepared for the softness of Mobei-Jun’s hair, for the thickness and the weight of the man’s arms, or for the coolness of his skin against the warmth of the blankets.

Fuck, now there is no way that Shang Qinghua is going to be able to see Mobei-Jun with a plunging neckline without thinking about touching the man’s bare chest. It’s a nice chest! It feels great underneath Shang Qinghua’s hands now.

He can feel a steady heartbeat beneath his fingers.

He can feel the gentle rise and fall of it with the man’s slow breaths, as the man’s eyes have fallen comfortably closed.

Shang Qinghua has never seen Mobei-Jun this relaxed.

AN: Moshang in bed together is very good. I loved writing Moshang cuddles. I think it’s really nice when they’re allowed to be soft and relaxed, and everything is understood between them. Mobei-Jun at this point has learned to treat Shang Qinghua like a particularly anxious cat sometimes - if he just stays still and relaxed, eventually Shang Qinghua will calm down and chill with him.

Shout out to Mobei-Jun and all those years he spent trying to get some hint as to how human social everything worked, only to get nearly no help from Shang Qinghua. In this fic, part of the idea is that Shang Qinghua has been a slightly better communicator. Mobei-Jun can be a good listener when he doesn’t feel hideously embarrassed over his fuck-ups.

“I had made plans to speak with you at some point about… this,” Mobei-Jun agrees. “But that was not why I had come to see you that day.”

“Ah, what… what was it, then?”

Mobei-Jun sighs. “I had come from a gathering of demon lords, hosted by my father at their request. They have loosely agreed to each contribute to an attack on the next conference of human cultivators,” he explains, apparently annoyed at just having to recollect this event. “My uncle encourages my father to force my involvement. He must have trouble planned… or see an opportunity for it.”

Shang Qinghua processes this, then sits bolt upright in bed. “What?!”

Mobei-Jun frowns up at him.

“There’s a demonic alliance to attack the next Immortal Alliance Conference?!” Shang Qinghua demands, leaning over the demon lord beside him.

“Yes.”

“And you waited to tell me this?!”

“There are years left before this event,” Mobei-Jun points out.

Shang Qinghua stares at him.

Sure! But he feels like he should start planning now! He already knew that there was going to be a demon attack of some kind - the seal on Luo Binghe’s powers has to be broken - but demon lords getting involved is bad news! Multiple demon lords who are important enough to be socializing with Mobei-Jun’s father is worse news! Demon lords potentially including Mobei-Jun’s shitty father and shitty uncle is the worst news of all!

“You should warn your people,” Mobei-Jun says, dryly.

AN: Mobei-Jun doesn’t care about the sects, but he cares that Shang Qinghua cares. Mobei-Jun and Shang Qinghua really are villainous in SVSSS. Shang Qinghua just so happens to sometimes be on the protagonist’s (Shen Yuan’s) side and Shen Yuan has romanced a budding tyrant who has MBJ as a loyal minion. But, oof, I didn’t want to go that route with this fic.

I mean, I considered it! I considered having Shang Qinghua be forced to bring a demon invasion down on the sect he’s come to care about and his own nephew, but that felt a little too angsty for me. It totally could have been good, I was just like, “I can’t handle that.” Plus, with the world update, it felt fitting to jazz things up a little bit - to up the ante by inviting more demon lords and also have a little role reversal by letting Mobei-Jun be the spy. This way, I think, it really feels like Mobei-Jun is on Shang Qinghua’s side.

Shang Qinghua isn’t on the demons’ side. Mobei-Jun isn’t really on the humans’ side. But they are on each other’s side. They’re a team!

Again, what’s more romantic than your demon boyfriend actually doing the work of growth on his own? Moshang can be a little rough and with a lot of sharp edges (on both sides, they’re both kind of mean people) sometimes, so it’s sometimes nice to remember that they can support each other too.

Also, I’ve always been kind of curious about what Mobei-Jun’s family thinks of his relationship with a human. Mobei-Jun’s father is still alive throughout SVSSS, so it’s fun to think about ice demon politics, power and influence and loyalty in that court, and whether that factored at all into Mobei-Jun’s extremely slow-moving courting timeline of a human.

The person at the door knocks a third time, and Shang Qinghua feels the person beside him stir. He can feel a not insignificant amount of weight shifting, a low and unhappy grumble, and cool skin brushing against his own as that person makes to get up. Possibly to handle the person at the door? Shang Qinghua here abruptly remembers many important details about his current situation that make the sect potentially being on fire seem like a not-so-bad emergency.

“Demon invasion,” Shang Qinghua finds himself thinking. “Mobei-Jun. Fuck.”

“No, no, no! Don’t get up! I’ll get it!” Shang Qinghua cries, throwing off tangled blankets and flying out of bed. “I’ll handle it, my king! Sorry! Ahhh, sorry! I’ll take care of it, you can just stay where you are-”

Shang Qinghua, now on his feet, pushes firmly down against Mobei-Jun’s chest. He’s not expecting the man - a very, very strong and very, very stubborn demon lord - to go back down under his hand without any resistance at all. This easy obedience, this willingly being pushed down, leads to a surprised Shang Qinghua overbalancing and catching himself hard on Mobei-Jun’s chest and shoulders.

As though Shang Qinghua is actually pinning the man down.

Mobei-Jun stares up at him, eyes low-lidded, and raises his eyebrows.

Ah.

Wow.

Shang Qinghua is going to… well, he’s going to think about this for the rest of his life, probably.

AN: Mobei-Jun is so self-conscious in SVSSS that it’s kind of hilarious. So it’s fun to let him be a little more confident (rather than arrogant and lashing out defensively). Mobei-Jun probably thought to himself here, “You know what’ll be funny here? If I just go down now.” I feel it in my heart that Mobei-Jun is a teaser, especially when he’s relaxed and happy.

Shang Qinghua takes the time to fix up his appearance a little more - to get rid of the “I slept with a demon” smell - because if the asshole at his door has kept it up this long, they can wait a little longer. It turns out that he didn’t really need to bother, because it’s his fellow transmigrator and most dogged critic, Peerless Cucumber.

“Bro,” Shang Qinghua says seriously. “Do you have a deathwish?”

Peerless Cucumber - Shen Yuan, Shang Qinghua has to remember to call the kid by his real name - lowers his hand with a scowl. “...One of your disciples told me to knock on your door and keep knocking until you answered,” the other transmigrator says defensively. “After I said you said to meet you in the morning.”

“...Which one?”

“Wen Shufen, I think?”

“Ah, just for that prank, Sticky Fingers is going to be hauling fertilizer for Long Sheng Peak for a month,” Shang Qinghua says tiredly. “Bro, do not believe half the things your martial siblings here tell you. They’re pretty much all liars, cheats, and thieves.”

“Then why keep them around?”

“Ah, well, sometimes you need someone to lie, cheat, or steal.”

“...It’s nearly not morning anymore, you know.”

“Eh, I guess you get a pass this time, since I did tell you we’d have a nice long talk about things tomorrow morning. Come on in.”

AN: I don’t know if this vibe is coming across, but Shen Yuan feels a little ignored and neglected. They just got back from a mission and Shen Yuan has already been shooed off like twice. Shang Qinghua is so busy. Shang Qinghua is so experienced and so established here. Shen Yuan has latched onto SQH as his lifeline, though he’s trying very, very hard to be independent, and yet Shang Qinghua kind of has SY on the back burner most of the time.

Not only is Shang Qinghua the author of this world, but he’s also an important figure in this world. Shang Qinghua really lives here and if the plot wasn’t looming over them, SQH would be very happy here. This place feels 100% like Shang Qinghua’s | Airplane’s world and brand new transmigrator Shen Yuan feels like an unwanted intruder. SY is still lonely and scared.

“...Are you going to try to activate it now?” Shen Yuan asks.

“Hmmm… no, not right now,” Shang Qinghua decides, standing up off the dusty stool he was sitting on. “Cucumber, bro, I’m just not awake enough for tackling anything serious right now. Let me get a few texts and tools together first to test this thing properly, alright? Some safety equipment! Aprons and face shields! Thick, fireproof gloves! I’m still trying to figure out how to safely ask Duan Tianyu what he knows about this map the System apparently made him send me, when he might not even know what the fuck I’m talking about! Maybe he can give us some hints.”

“Who?”

“One of my Huan Hua not-disciples,” Shang Qinghua answers. “I picked up some extras a few deadly missions back. They’re good kids. All grown up now! Less naïve than they used to be! Duan Tianyu is teaching back at Huan Hua Palace now, so maybe I’ll have to be the one to wander over there on some pretense.”

Shen Yuan agrees that getting as much information as possible is probably the better course of action. Shang Qinghua ushers the kid out of his secret basement and his fellow transmigrator goes easily enough. Shang Qinghua complains about his shitty, no-good System on the way up for forcing them to do all the work by themselves.

“It must think everything is more ‘authentic’ if I don’t know what the fuck is going on,” Shang Qinghua suggests, removing his spiritual seal and causing the door to the secret basement to vanish. “Ah, I’ll admit that’s kind of cool to watch.”

AN: Throughout this conversation, SY is kind of reaching out, giving himself or Airplane excuses to let him stay. It’s not that he doesn’t want to cultivate, but SQH represents a sort of safety and familiarity SY doesn’t have right now.

In SVSSS, Airplane was always pretty direct with Shen Yuan, from what I remember, but he wasn’t necessarily open. He was direct about some potentially vulnerable or personal topics, like Luo Binghe’s insanity or his own general fear of his character’s planned death, but that’s not the same as actually being vulnerable. They snap at each other, they’re pretty direct about their personal goals, but they don’t actually get vulnerable with each other by confessing their personal fears and new relationship developments.

So I’ve tried to adopt that here, while making Shang Qinghua a little kinder and slightly more vulnerable, thanks to the efforts of Luo Jiahui. But Shang Qinghua still isn’t necessarily open here and neither is Shen Yuan. He’s just like, “Hey, it’s shit and I don’t like it either, but what can you do?” He’s not actually seriously talking about his breakdown or just how scared he is of his own plot.

For some people, there’s a certain kind of openness in confessing things to a stranger, so it’s kind of like that too. Shang Qinghua and Shen Yuan have fallen into kind of familiar dynamics, because there’s nothing else to really do, and they are kind of acquaintances, but they’re still not friends yet.

I think I want to have SY and SQH actually address this soon. SY feels that SQH has been kind of dropping the ball when it comes to honestly helping his fellow transmigrator, though SY, being SY, can’t quite put his finger on the lack of emotional intimacy and affection that he’s starved for right now.

The day-in-day-out of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect can’t get him down today! He feels kind of like he’s walking on air! Sure, the work never stops and there are some fucking terrifying things ahead, but he just had a very successful mission overall! He just had a really, really successful conversation with Mobei-Jun! He and Mobei-Jun are romantically entwined and Mobei-Jun was very explicit about the fact that he expects them to be romantically entwined… pretty much indefinitely!

“There is no one else,” Mobei-Jun had said. “There will be no one else.”

Shang Qinghua fostered a lot of hopes over the years! More hopes than he felt that he should have reasonably fostered! And to have those hopes unexpectedly fulfilled like this is… really something! It’s really, really something! Mobei-Jun really isn’t the type of character to say that - to say any of the things he said, and wow, he said a lot of things back there - without meaning it completely.

Shang Qinghua doesn’t really know what to do with that.

Forever is a long time.

He understands, of course, that some things really do last an impossibly long time. He used to be pretty certain that all love matches faded eventually - that people were genuinely wildly in love… that people were sincerely in love with each other, sure… up until they inevitably weren’t anymore - but now he can’t really imagine Liu Qingge or Luo Jiahui ever getting tired of each other. Liu Qingge keeps bringing Luo Jiahui new recipes to try and rare ingredients to interest her, so she can make dishes for the two of them or her family as a whole, and Shang Qinghua can easily imagine the two of them doing that pretty much indefinitely.

Shang Qinghua can’t think about this for long, before he has to focus on greeting his disciples (it’s just Peng Hongpeng and Chen Xuan in here at the moment) and getting to work. “Good things last while they last!” he decides for now, because thinking about things not lasting kind of makes him feel like he’s dying.

AN: Shang Qinghua can’t quite bring himself to believe in a relationship lasting forever right now. Part of it is his commitment issues, but another part of it is his persisting inability to see past the looming plot. He’s still worried about Luo Binghe and the Eternal Abyss, so he’s having difficulty seeing past that hurdle, even though things like Luo Jiahui’s marriage and his new relationship with Mobei-Jun are forcing him to confront the fact that there’s still a life outside of and beyond the plot.

For Shang Qinghua, it’s kind of a “I’ll think about that later if we all survive” thing when it comes to him and Mobei-Jun.

“He made a mistake with good intentions and got a small injury for it,” Shang Qinghua says, as reassuringly as he can. “He’s fine! He’s in trouble with his shizun for it, though, but I’ll see what I can do about bringing you up to meet him or bringing him down here as soon as possible. I’ll do my best to make it happen!”

Luo Jiahui leans into Shang Qinghua’s side and admits, “I miss him.”

“He misses you.”

“I miss you too,” Luo Jiahui adds.

“...Ah, sorry.”

“It’s okay,” his sister-in-law says warmly. “I’d miss you even if you visited every day.”

Shang Qinghua is holding her hands, but it feels like she’s got an extra one wrapped around his heart. “Where’s that husband of yours? Doesn’t he come down the mountain every day? Should I be telling him off? Sorry I ran off with him for a little bit!”

“What does Qingge have to do with you and me?” Luo Jiahui demands. “It doesn’t matter how often I see everyone else, I still miss you and Binghe the most.”

“Hm, that’s a point! That’s a point.”

What else can Shang Qinghua do but admit that he misses her the most too?

AN: It was fun to follow up Shang Qinghua’s romantic developments with a return to his most important and longest relationship: the one he has with his “fake” sister. Luo Jiahui is and always will be important to Shang Qinghua and who he’s become. They have such a lovely relaxed feeling that’s nice to revisit. I’ve missed Luo Jiahui these past few chapters, as things get twisted up more and more in sect business.

It would feel dishonest to the rest of the fic if Shang Qinghua’s other relationships disappeared in favor of his new romantic relationship. They all have their own importance. Mobei-Jun and Liu Qingge don’t make Shang Qinghua and Luo Jiahui any less important to each other.

I am looking forward to making Mobei-Jun and Luo Jiahui meet again, and tackling some of Mobei-Jun’s thoughts on Shang Qinghua’s relationship with his family. Mobei-Jun has a really shitty family, so it’s interesting thinking about what family means to him and how loyalty/love plays into it.

While he's busy plotting around the plot, there’s a hum of power behind him, the cool whoosh and crackle of a portal opening, the faint hair-rising warning of demonic energy. Shang Qinghua finishes tapping at his own face in thought, looks up at the looming shadow standing behind him, and smiles. He kind of feels like he should run away, but it's too late for that now. He held on long enough that he made it too late for himself.

“Hello,” he says.

AN: I took this almost exactly from the first chapter of Part 3 of this fic. I can’t remember the chapter number, but it was the one titled “The Inevitable Plot”.

Parts 3 and 4 of this fic blend together a little. Part 3 of this fic kind of ends here, but I have a couple more chapters that I want to tackle before I feel that I can say we’re for sure in Part 4? I have some things I want to accomplish before we go into a slight time skip towards the Immortal Alliance Conference.

#tossawary commentary #tossawary svsss #pride is not the word

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zodiacrant · 4 years

Text

10th House and Daddy issues (This is also applicable to any father like figures in your life not only your biological one. It also sheds some light on what would you be like as a father/father-figure)

✤ Aries in 10th house ✤

✤You and your father have a hot and intense relationship. There’s is such a difference in power where your father implemented their dominance and rules over you, creating an unbalanced relationship. They have a tendency to one up you and be competitive over the simplest of things, creating a wedge very early on.

✤Your daddy issues played with your self confidence. You’re unsure of yourself and your decisions, often going along with it just to avoid conflict . You have a fear of loud noise and screaming, and feel very uncomfortable around others.

✤As a father figure you’re strict and upfront. Growing up with a no-nonsense father made you knowledgeable of both sides and any tactics your kids could use. Cause you been there, you’ve done that. However, you won’t repeat your fathers mistakes and would allow your kids to have their time to shine and enjoy life.

✤You’re into romantic daddies that exude confidence effortlessly rather than force it. Love to travel, preferably works in a high risk job or even can be in the mafia so you can live that godfather fantasy.

✤ Taurus in 10th house ✤

✤Your father was very strong willed, stern and stubborn. You two had a hard time when having any conversation. Disagreeing leads to an argument and they had to have the last word. No word is above theirs.

✤Your daddy issues made you a conformist. You approve of others ,even if you disagree, and keep your true opinion to yourself. You doubt your capabilities, work, undermine your contributions and believe that your thoughts are wrong or irrelevant.

✤As a father figure you’re stern but kind. Your time with your father taught you how to listen and now it’s time to talk. You will make a clear set of things that have to go your way but allow your kids to have a say when it comes to other things. You will be conflicted and get scared of imaging your father so you gotta find a balance in there.

✤You’re into daddies that treat you like the king/queen that you’re. Clothes, food, mansions, yacht, flying around the world. You want someone give you what your father never did. Very Lana Del Rey.

✤ Gemini in 10th house ✤

✤Your father was very childish and immature, possibly having little to no respect for anyone. They’re the father and they can do whatever they want. They didn’t mind their business and were always in yours, violating your privacy made you a very sneaky person and a big time liar. They would sit around while you’re with your friends, making fun of, embarrassing you, humiliating you all at your own expense and to please their tiny fragile ego.

✤Your daddy issues developed a hate for childlike behavior and immaturity. You’re intolerant to pranks, roasts and other unsavory acts. You’re quick to take it personally.

✤As a father figure you’re a vicious protector. No one can come to your kid with that playground bullshit. You’re quick to shut it down. Your children grow very dependent on you emotionally, rendering them immature in some ways.

✤You’re into a smart daddy, very career man, educated and highly knowledgeable. Someone that can take you to the world wonders rather than just talk about then, a person of their words and keep promises. They highly stimulate you, Intellectually of course.

✤ Cancer in 10th house ✤

✤Your father enforced their ideals and beliefs on you. You were not allowed to do anything without them approving of it first. Friends, clothes, video games, social media, music and even food, they had the say on what’s comes and goes.

✤Your daddy issues made you a rebel. You go against any rules, and don’t like to be told what to do, you like to be shocking and be controversial. Think religious girl gone wild, like Madonna or Katy Perry.

✤As a father figure you cherish your kids for who they are and give them the liberty of being their own person. The down side is that your kids have little respect for rules and others wishes and personal space. Disciplining them is especially difficult since they do as they please with no regards cause “I am my own person and I do as I please.”

✤You’re in love with daddies with power that are very macho and masculine. Police officers and criminals are a big part of the fantasy. Being with a powerful daddy makes you feel feminine and like a whole woman.

✤ Leo in 10th house ✤

✤Your father was an unbearable self centered overlord. They took good care of themselves but gave just the bare minimum to you. They drove good cars, slept on a good mattress, flied first class and wore designer clothes. You on the other hand took public transport or drove an old used car, slept on their old jacked up mattress, was lucky to even get on the trip and wore the same old clothes.

✤Your daddy issues made you self sufficient. Your independence made relationships seem pointless, you were provided everything to yourself so no one compared. People are expandable so they have to prove their worth and purpose.

✤Being a father figure you taught your children how to be on their own. They cleaned after themselves and were responsible for themselves, as much as a child can. You gave them tough love when needed but also gave them the freedom of learning and living their life to the fullest. Your motto is “when you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready”.

✤You’re into dominating and different power dynamics. Pool boy, the Gardner, a coach, a secretary, you like to dominate and have sex with a young daddy. Meow cougar.

✤ Virgo in 10th house ✤

✤Your father had set up relentless standards that were basically impossible to achieve. Being good was expected and a most, but every fall or second place made all those achievements disappear. Completely destroying your self-esteem.

✤Your daddy issues made you a perfectionist that is hard to please. Everything has to be a certain way or else it’s all going to the trash and in vain. Your father’s disappointed words play on a loop in your made. To the world you’re the best of the best, but on the inside you’re your own worst critique and enemy.

✤As a father figure you’re your kids biggest supporter. You don’t only give them advice but teach them the tools to be great at solving problems.You can be at times over critical with how things should be done but you’re not opposed to your children correcting you or doing it their on way. Sometimes.

✤You want a daddy who got it all. The wealth, the prestige, the brains and the career. You want someone that will not only fulfill your physical needs but also give something priceless, knowledge and know-how.

✤ Libra in 10th house ✤

✤Your father was pushover that cared more about others opinions over your own happiness and individuality. He was easily played by others and didn’t defend you. He isn’t around when you need him and is very dependent on others.

✤Your daddy issues made you an independent go getter. You’re socially skilled thanks to years of raising yourself on how to dodge uncalled for comments from family members, and have a good balance between giving people a second chance and stand in your ground.

✤As a father figure you’re a fair minded person that treats every child specifically based on how they’re and their needs. You value honesty and doing what is right, you teach your kids to learn from their mistakes. That means they will be given a second chance as well as suffer the consequences of their actions.

✤You’re into cheesy romantic things, you love to be pampered and be taken care of your. That means daddy got to have a good bank accounts, since wine, diner, flowers and diamonds don’t come cheap and so does you.

✤ Scorpio in 10th house ✤

✤Your father was very critical of you and had difficult expectations for you. They asserted themselves over you by meddling all aspects of your life to make you “theirs” forever.

✤Your daddy issues made you a cut-throat straight up over achiever. An everyday politicians, you know how to manipulate and change minds. Growing up with your father made you strong willed and assertive, no one can get through your icy thick walls.

✤As a father figure you give what was not given to you as a child, freedom and no expectations. You raise your children to be smart, strong and capable humans that won’t need others.

✤Your daddy issues made yearn for love and affection. Living a love story is something no one would guess that you’re looking for, but that’s because they don’t know you.

✤ Sagittarius in 10th house ✤

✤Your father inconsistent in your life. One minute they’re cold, the other they’re hot, first it’s left and then it’s right. Living with your father was crazy to say the least. Their inconsistency made it difficult feel safe or stable in anything.

✤Your daddy issues reflected badly on your behavior. Early on you were flaky, late, lazy and felt abandoned from all those times your father forgot and wasn’t there. Then the cycle switch and you start taking your life very seriously, the idea of being your father or seeing their behavior in other boiled you. You’re a straight shooter that stuck to their guns no matter what.

✤As a father figure, you try to always be there for your kids. You want to make memories with them and document everything so those memories will live forever. It is very hard for you to get over your father but making up with your kids help.

✤You’re into adventures daddies that are not afraid to take risks and live life to it’s fullest. You love making memories, especially if it’s in a foreign country at night where anythings feels possible.

✤ Capricorn in 10th house ✤

✤Your father was a nit picky authoritarian that meddled with all aspects of your life. For the most past of your childhood you were not to be exposed to anything they disagreed with and you were very sheltered. Your teen years were weird and awkward since the way they brought you up made them the only person that was there and had any effect on you.

✤Your daddy issues rendered you incapable of holding social interaction and lacking real knowledge of the world. You emerged in your young adult years as a child again, as if you truly started to live from the moment you left your father behind.

✤As a father figure you’re precise and attentive. You remember a lot about your kids, and you gave them all that they needed physically and emotionally. Because of the way you were brought up, you can get overly protective and paranoid over their safety and who they’re with. Although you can be suffocating to them, no one can deny that you raised your children to be well educated and wholesome people.

✤Your daddy issues made you crave someone that holds a powerful or influential position. Politicians and religious figures make a big part of the sexual fantasy. Reliving being dominated by someone like that is a secret that you keep that you will never tell.

✤ Aquarius in 10th house ✤

✤Your father was more focused on their work and external affairs. You felt abandoned and unheard growing up, where your issues were not as important and that you should be grateful for what you have.

✤Your daddy issues made crave attention and being wanted. You feel angered when unheard and would do anything so people would like you. Growing up with your father, however, made you value your life goals and passions.

✤As a father figure you’re a mentor and teacher. You teach your kids through actions and show them their true potential and strength. Helping them grow into a great human being is more important than being successful.

✤You’re into an easy going daddy that showers you with all the attention you crave. Someone that’ll spoon you but also knows how to use non physical communications. You want someone that can take you far away.

✤ Pisces in 10th house ✤

✤Your father undermined your work and treated you like a child. There was never true praise and they didn’t take you seriously, making you feel unworthy and incapable. Growing up, they always took your comments, opinions, and thoughts as a cute little from their baby that doesn’t know better.

✤Your daddy issues made you dependent and lazy. You’re emotionally immature and can’t handle the pressure of everyday life. You don’t give yourself credit for the work you’ve done and on bad day you expect others to do the work for you, whether it’s to make you feel better or run a simple errand, dependency, work and individuality are things you will always struggle with.

✤As a father figure you’re pushover. You give your kids all the attention and things they want as a way to fulfill your deprived child self.This may grow into a problem though, since living vicariously through your kids never works out well.

✤You want a daddy that will baby you and make you feel like the princess/prince that you always dreamed to be. They’ll give you the fairy tale fantasy you used read, a romance just like in the movies and gives you the type of love you always hear about in songs but never saw in real life.

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brandywine-tomatoes · 3 years

Text

Lightsaber Trials

Bad Batch Fluff

Prompt chosen by my wife @icedcoffee101

Masterlist

TW: arguing/bickering, a few dark implications here and there, ms. tano not leaving the jedi order, Ahsoka saving the day

Word count: 2163

Prompt/Inso: #4 from my list: Fun times with a lightsaber

QUICK NOTE: BSL stands for Basic Sign Language, and yes I made it up

“Why exactly are we giving our debriefings on Coruscant?” Crosshair asked, the question directed beside him at Hunter who was fiddling with a datapad. Something about booking landing zones?

“The Jedi want to meet us in person apparently,” Tech, who was bringing the Havoc out of hyperspace, answered instead.

“Haven’t we met them already?”

“It’s statistically impossible for us to meet-”

“I didn’t ask what was statistically impossible,” he sat forward in his seat. “I asked why we’re debriefing on Coruscant.”

“They ask squads to report to Coruscant whenever they feel it’s necessary,” Echo said from the co-pilot's chair.

“That must waste a lot of time,” Wrecker piped in from behind them all.

“The jedi just love to control everything,” Cross mumbled and sat back up, crossing his arms.

“I doubt you’d get away saying that around them.”

“Well then it’s a good thing we haven’t landed yet.”

“Will you ever stop being so condescending to authority?” Echo turned to face him.

“Guys,” Hunter interjected. “Enough.”

Echo rolled his eyes and turned back to help Tech land the ship.

“We have better things to do than meet the people who send us to die every day,” Cross wryly concluded. He got up and went to open the hatch. The bright Coruscant sun blinded him for a few seconds as he stepped out onto the tarmac, the rest of the batch following closely.

They lined up and stood at attention for the general approaching from the Jedi temple.

“At ease Clone Force 99, welcome to Coruscant,” Jedi General Plo Koon greeted them. “I assume you know why you’ve been called here.”

“Yes, general,” Hunter answered.

“There will be an evaluation of the mission's report and of course an extensive debrief...” Plo Koon went on about how the day would shape out for the batch and what was expected of them, Hunter nodding at every word beside him while the rest of the batch followed in their path.

“You’d think they’d be more efficient,” Crosshair mumbled to himself.

“Trust me, CT-9904, this is the most efficient and effective system for assessing clone squads,” Plo Koon turned to look at a flustered Crosshair.

He nodded and muttered an apology.

“Just through here, it won’t take an obscene amount of time I’m sure,” the general gestured to a doorway as they climbed the staircase of the temple.

---

“‘It won’t take an obscene amount of time’ he says. ‘This is the most efficient and effective system’ he says,” Crosshair complained on the way back to the Havoc.

The bustling city around the temple went on as the sun was crawling towards the horizon, casting a wave of deep orange over the little part of Coruscant. The clones walked wearily back to their ship, completely exhausted from the assessment and debriefing. The helmets under their arms were close to falling out of their grips as every step took more energy out of them.

“It could’ve been worse,” Wrecker tried to reason.

“Worse? What could’ve been worse than that!”

“Being court marshalled, decommissioned, reconditioned-” Echo started rhyming out, counting on his left hand.

“You know what I mean!” He threw his free arm in the hair.

Echo smirked. His favourite game was messing with Crosshair, it was just so easy, it was always an effortless achievement.

Tech was lagging behind the others, too busy sorting through his notes from the assessment on his datapad to contribute to whatever Echo and Cross were arguing about. Though, he wasn’t so tuned out that he missed the small cylinder his foot kicked. The metal tube made a small jostling sound as it rolled a couple feet away from Tech. He’d studied them enough to know what it was on sight. A lightsaber.

Not uncommon on temple grounds, but very uncommon just lying on the tarmac. Such a crucial part of the Jedi religion would never be left without its user nearby. He looked left, looked right, nothing but perfectly lined up ships on either side. No jedi to claim it, no general there to see him maybe...

He quickly picked it up and stuffed it in his satchel. What could happen? A Jedi would need to make another one, boohoo. They’ve made them for thousands of years, their stash wouldn’t deplete. The religion would survive, the temple would still stand, the war would go on. Who cares if he gets to study a lightsaber up close? He was becoming as giddy as a cadet. Who ever got to study a lightsaber other than their creators and the wielders?

As soon as they were in hyperspace, he whipped it out and started examining the intricate designs and mechanisms. Tech had fiddled with it for a solid couple of hours, trying to open up the hilt, before Wrecker noticed Tech had been weirdly quiet during their hyperspace trip.

“What is that?” He asked, pointing to it for emphasis.

Everyone turned to look at where Wrecker was pointing. Tech slowly raised his gaze from the small tool in his hand that was previously trying to pry open the hilt. His feet were on the seat, his eyes level with his knees and various small tools were balanced on them.

They stared at him, at first, with fear for their own skins. Then it turned to frustration. They all knew Tech wasn’t one to let go of something he wanted to study, but this definitely crossed a line.

“Tech,” Hunter said slowly, like he was coaxing a clanker into submission.

Tech sprang from his seat and darted down the Havoc, the rest of the Batch quickly following.

“Tech!”

He spun around and the green blade ignited from the hilt in his hand. Everyone jumped back immediately, hands held up in surrender. Tech practically threw it away from him in surprise. The polished dark metal hilt clattered to the ground and the green plasma retracted, leaving the crew in an adrenaline-filled silence.

Then all hell broke loose.

“What the absolute fuck were you thinking!” Echo yelled, not so much a question.

“It was just lying there!”

“You can’t just go around taking lightsabers whenever you damn well please!”

“But no one was using it-”

“We were at a Jedi fucking temple, Tech!” Echo threw his arms in the air.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it,” Wrecker tried reasoning.

“Really! He didn’t mean anything by it! Stealing a fucking lightsaber isn’t nothing!” Echo was fuming angry. “We could get in so much trouble, do you understand that!”

“Enough Echo, we all know how serious this is,” Hunter interjected.

“I don’t think you do!” He took a step towards Hunter, his fist shaking.

“Echo, they’ll know it’s a misunderstanding, it isn’t like they’re going to execute us,” he tried lightening the tension, but it seemed to only make it worse.

Echo looked at all of them with a dark look on his face. “You’re all lucky I have strings I can pull.”

“And what are those, exactly?” Crosshair smugly asked.

“I know people, and most of them own me favours.”

Echo dug through his belt of pouches to retrieve a single commlink.

“Oh yeah, we’re all saved,” Cross mumbled, walking back up the aisle to the cockpit, conveniently where the lightsaber was sitting.

“Rex, we have a problem,” he spoke into the comm, leaning against one of the bunks.

A few tension-filled seconds passed.

“Oh no, do I want to hear this?” Rex’s staticky voice filled the silence.

“Probably not, is Commander Tano with you?”

“Uh, yeah, hold on.”

The comm went silent for longer, everyone growing restless.

“Great plan, your reg Captain ditched you,” Cross said from the isle, no one noticing him examining the polished dark metal hilt.

“Echo? What’s up, what happened?” Ahsoka’s calm voice floated through the comm.

“You remember that place with the thing that one time and the promise you made?” Echo’s lips twitched up in amusement.

“Oh god, don’t remind me,” she groaned. “What do you need? How can I help?”

He gave Tech an irritated look. “Well, we accidentally stole a lightsaber-”

“Accidentally? How do you accidentally steal a lightsaber?”

“It’s a long story. Can you maybe just... I don’t know, work the force in our favour?”

She sighed fondly. “Who do I need to talk to?”

“I like her,” Wrecker tried to whisper.

Echo glared at him. “General Plo Koon.”

“I’ll holo him right now- oh wait, oh shit,” the crew heard Ahsoka ignite one of her lightsabers and deflect a couple blaster bolts. She shouted orders to Rex and the other clones who sounded like they were taking heavy fire.

“Slight inconvenience, I’ll have to holo him later. This won’t take long,” she shouted over the intense fire. “I’ll talk to you later Echo.”

The comm went silent and Echo looked worried sick.

“She’ll be fine, she’s a jedi. They don’t need anyone else’s help,” Crosshair bit out as he looked for the ignition button on the lightsaber.

“I guess- wait, Cross, what are you-”

The green sabre shot out, startling everyone except Crosshair who looked pleased with himself.

He spun it around in his right hand, getting used to the weight. “These are pretty cool.”

Hunter rolled his eyes. “Quit it Crosshair, they aren’t toys.”

“Oh, I beg to differ,” he tried to spin it in front of him, doing a terrible imitation of the jedi.

“Cross-”

As soon as he tried to switch the blade to his left hand, the plasma sliced through the thin aiming plate attached to his shoulder. The thin plastoid plate clattered to the ground and everyone burst out laughing while Crosshair looked absolutely heartbroken, his gaze never leaving the sliced armour.

He pushed the button on the hilt and the blade retracted. The thick tension evaporated and everyone walked up the aisle to the cockpit, patting Cross on the shoulder and chuckling to themselves.

“Switching course back to Coruscant then?” Tech asked, amusement still edged in his voice.

Hunter took his seat behind Tech. “Let’s just hope Commander Tano keeps her promise."

---

“We are incredibly sorry for the inconvenience, it won’t ever happen again,” Hunter practically followed Plo Koon out the temple and into the gardens like a sad puppy. The Batch held in their chuckles at his behaviour, all of them purely relieved Ahsoka holoed him in time.

“There’s no inconvenience, Sargeant. The padawan who owns this sabre learned a valuable lesson.”

The group walked around a cement corner to see a little twi'lek sobbing, holding her face in her hands as another padawan had an arm around her shoulders.

“Sapher.”

Her head shot up and ran to the group, seeing her hilt in Plo’s hand.

“You know not to leave this lying around,” the general knelt on the cement.

She nodded profusely, stray tears dripping down her cheeks.

“You’ve learned your lesson, Sapher?”

She nodded again. The general offered her the blade and she snatched it up, overlooking it with a keen eye. Tech felt a little bad for the scratches he made in the metal while trying to pry it open.

The kid must’ve put 2 and 2 together to figure out the clones decked out in red and black armour were the ones who returned it. She started moving her hands and arms around in precise movements, trying to convey her thanks.

“Uh, Tech, do you know what she’s doing?” Hunter whispered.

“You don’t understand BSL?” Tech rolled his eyes. “You wouldn’t survive a day without me. She says she’s eternally grateful and she’ll always be indebted to us in the simplest terms, she’s using quite advanced phrases I doubt you’d understand.”

The girl looked very pleased with herself at his compliment and signed something back to Tech. They conversed for a few seconds more before she handed him a small circular piece of matte metal. He signed a goodbye and she ran back to her friend to tell her all about her new allies.

“We best be going then,” Hunter said to Plo Koon. They bid their thank yous and goodbyes and soon enough, they were finally en route to their next mission without any detours.

“What was that disk she gave you?” Echo asked.

“A holo. For once, I think we have an ally amidst the jedi ranks.”

“A holo that small? Impossible.”

Tech smiled slightly. “Very limited production, I’ve only heard about them from comm chatter.”

“How touching,” Cross sarcastically added, fiddling with a toothpick between his lips.

“You’re just sour cause you don’t have a levelling plate anymore,” Echo chuckled, turning his attention back to the controls.

“We’ll find someone to get it fixed,” Hunter cut in, not wanting another argument to break out.

“Fates forbid you don’t have the best sniper in the GAR watching your back.”

“From today's events, I’m not so sure I want you watching my back at all,” Echo jokingly mumbled.

Cross stood up. “Why you little-”

Hunter blew a fuse. “Enough already!”

A/N: This took so much fuc-fricking time to write!! I thought it was gonna be maybe 500, maybe 700 words, but I ended up with a 2000 word fic. Life just does that to you ig.

ANYWAYS, I hope y'all liked it, I loved writing that little Rex and Ahsoka cameo. I do want to note that this is after they rescued Echo from the Techno Union, but it's many months before the events of the Seige of Mandalore. It's also kinda a fix-it fic?? I wanted to bring ahsoka in and I was just so excited to do so that I forgot she wasn't part of the order during this time... WHOOPS

(Don't forget to drink some water right now and go eat a snack, you deserve it so much bestie ❤️❤️)

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benevolent-savage · 4 years

Text

this is what happens when u enable me lets go

(spoilers ahoy)

Firstly, here’s some somewhat miscellaneous reasons that don’t contribute to any sort of narrative analysis but are still parts of the character I like.

His boss fight is my favorite in the game thus far. It’s not super hard, but it isn’t super easy either, and I even managed to solo it on my Balance after a few practice rounds. Sufficiently challenging without feeling unfair.

His boss fight music. It is a bop and a half, go give it a listen, my soul ascends from my body a few centimeters every time I hear it start up.

His voice. I’m sure it’s processed at least a little but gotdamn his voice is so deep and spooky it startled me when I first heard it. Very curious who his actor is; I think he and Inyanga Whitestripes share the same one. Either way, very well voiced and acted.

His design is very good. It’s the perfect mix of innocuous but also spooky sorcerer fella who knows some shit. And I was afraid that the designers would try and make him like. Handsome? Under the hood? To try and make him more sympathetic? But they didn’t and I’m glad for it.

With those out of the way, the next thing to establish, I guess: I don’t interpret Old Cob to be the main villain of arc 3, nor do I interpret Raven as such. They’re definitely antagonists, but they’re not the ultimate problem; the ultimate problem is their divorce, and how they keep dragging people into their bs. It’s established the Aethyr is a physical manifestation of their anger towards each other, and as it thins, communication between them becomes possible, as Sparck puts it in this thinly veiled metaphor toward the start of Empyrea part 2.

But Cob’s still an antagonist and I love him so I’m gonna talk about that. Most of this is going to be talking about his motivations for doing what he does, since I don’t see him quite as the ‘likes to watch the world burn for the hell of it’ archetype that others might.

One of the reasons that drew me to his character is how legit his gripe is, when put in perspective. Old Cob- or Grandfather Spider, if you prefer- is not a mortal like the other antagonists of previous arcs, which establishes he has a different thought process right off the bat. This new universe was built on his suffering and he has a grudge against the ex wife who made it, so as a god, it makes some sense he’d try to destroy it and build one he would like better. He’s fully aware that what he is doing will hurt people but decidedly doesn’t care, and I appreciate that so much. He’s chaotic as fuck and he owns it, along with his superiority complex that’s as wide as the day is long.

Yet his reasoning is like. Weirdly understandable? Like, if my ex-whatever put me in jail for a lifetime sentence and stole my kidney to pay for a new house or something, I too would go apeshit and want my fuckin kidney back. That’s mostly how I interpret his situation. He’s not doing this for hell of it, he’s doing it because he wants to get back at his ex because he’s bitter and petty and for the most part he knows this but he feels justified in doing do because she ripped out his goddamn kidney- I mean heart, and he wants that back.

And then, even after all that, he and his magic are treated as if they’re inherently evil. While, sure, Shadow is a ‘dark magic’, its actual properties aren’t anything malicious by itself. It is described as “a magic that changes reality,” and that’s it. Incredibly exploitable and you should practice caution while handling it, but used correctly it is powerful and helpful; this is likely alluding to the backlash mechanic, where likes decrease the percent of damage you take, dislikes increase the percent, and I imagine the person meant to be the literal embodiment of the magic in question to be similar in nature: not inherently harmful and lashes out if he feels he’s been mistreated.

Going off that, I’m not sure he ever wanted the FirstWorld to be destroyed, and therefore believes his incarceration to be entirely unjust; he doesn’t deny that he instigated the fight between the Titans, but when it comes to being accused of its actual destruction, he gets angry.

...Okay the written text doesn’t really display how mad he got here, but he was like. Big Angy. Super offended. Honestly, a big part of why I love and analyze the hell out of his character comes from how his VA delivers his lines and his voice in general. If you haven’t heard it for some reason, I recommend looking it up. Anyway, here he’s basically saying he didn’t destroy the First World, and even if he did, he’s suffered enough punishment because of it, to my interpretation. The only one I remember blaming him for it is Raven; Bartleby was there, and I don’t recall him blaming anything other than the Titans for it. This is of course not accounting for the various changes made to the lore since he was introduced, but they could have easily thrown in a line like ‘And now Spider plans to destroy the Spiral the way he destroyed the FirstWorld!’ or something to make it clear it was done intentionally.

And this may very well be straying into headcanon territory here, but I think he holds positive relationships very closely to him, even if things went sour in the end; he clearly still has some remaining affection for the Titans, calling them ‘the children’ and being incredibly angry at Raven for forcing one of them to destroy his Heart.

When Rat loses in Polaris he shows up to praises his efforts and even comfort him, in his own weird way. He reprimanded Scorpion in Mirage, but it’s because Scorpion wasn’t doing what his dad asked him to and got his ass kicked as a result. As for Bat, every time they’re in the same room together he pays him some sort of compliment.

Bat claims that he and his brothers are meant to be his tools, and to some extent that’s true, but he also genuinely cares about them, and it’s really interesting to see a villain defect from the usual ‘not caring about anyone other than themselves’ and openly show affection for his kids while still managing to be an incredible asshole.

In line with this is his relationship with the Wizard. There is, of course, a foundation of manipulation to their dynamic, at least to some degree. I thoroughly believe that Spider was overshadowing Coleridge, at least partly, so our character could bust him out of prison.

And while this is happening, he regains some of his spent power and removes threats to it as well, namely Morganthe, using the Wizard’s help. In fact, I have very little doubt that he was at least partially responsible for her fall; his timing on that two-liner was too on the nose.

But even with that, I think he genuinely treasures the Wizard’s help and company, which is why he attempts on four different occasions to either sway them to his side, or warn them away from what he’s doing.

Boy, I want that vacation, but it’s your fault I’m here.

And then, of course, his relationship with Raven, something that is basically a summation of his character arc. Laden with baggage and tragic in concept, it is my belief that most of what he’s doing isn’t because he genuinely hates the Spiral or he wants to get back at her, but because he loved her and treasured their relationship; so upon her mistreating him, he lashed out at everything she’d made and detested it as a result. But only because he felt betrayed and hurt so he has to inflict that on other people because he is, as aforementioned, a petty and bitter old fuck.

Moving off that line of thinking, an admirable quality he possesses is how smart he is. This guy has so many wrinkles in his brain it must look like a raisin. Well, perhaps not ‘smart’ exactly, but how good he is at manipulating certain situations to his advantage. Like in Mirage; you just know that he was fully expecting Mellori to be there and fully planned to use her as a back up plan, or you could even argue that the whole debacle in Mirage was a ploy to get his hands on her, while having the added possible benefit of things actually working out.

Actually his scheme in Mirage was really interesting now that I think about it. His aim was to turn back time to when the FirstWorld was whole, further implying that he never wanted its destruction in the first place. It would also, of course, be a time where he had his Heart and would have the ability to avoid having it ripped out again. This would involve not having the Titans fight each other again, or at least not starting it and suffering the consequences. It would be everything he wanted to achieve knocked out in one go with minimal muss or fuss, compared to other methods. It’s probably a part of why he shows up personally to bargain with Eerkala and the Cabal, and why he directly intervenes in our Wizard’s efforts to stop him; it was too important to trust to any of his kids, so knowing Scorpion probably wouldn’t have been able to execute it anyway, he used his kid as a distraction for the most part.

I also like looking into the fact that his element, besides Shadow, is Storm, as opposed to pure Shadow or Death, as most major antagonists are. Storm is a school based on invention, experimentation and improvement. This is something that interests me for two reasons: one, the magic of major antagonists is always a part of their character, Malistaire the most blatantly, and two, because of this line he says in Mirage.

To my interpretation, this would imply that he sees the Spiral as something that could be improved. And as a god, he would of course find it his obligation to try and fix this flaw. When he made the barter with the Cabal, I don’t doubt he was being at least partially honest about restoring the FirstWorld; it would certainly fix the flaw it has in the context of stealing his internal organs, but he would also probably seek to improve it, make it more suited to Shadow or something.

Something else I find intriguing is how weirdly honest he is; I don’t recall him ever lying to us once, unless you count omitting certain facts as lying. But that’s absolutely something I can see him using against people, like “I didn’t lie to you, I just didn’t tell you, your fault for not asking ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .” As said before, he;s really good at manipulating people and he weaponizes whatever he can; @that-wizard-oki made a really great post about how he uses conflicts- his fault or not- to his advantage, and does his own thing in the background without interruption, Mirage and Neumia probably being the best example of this, with Scorpion and the Cabal serving as distractions while he either carries out things himself or gives instructions.

To pull all of this together narratively, I think it’s important to consider this line from Mellori during one of their confrontations:

He feels powerless, so he puffs up his god status. He has little power to fight with, compared to before, so he mostly manipulates and creates back-up plans while causing conflicts to serve as distractions. His love hurt him, so he lashes out at others and drags them into his problems.

You may ask, “But Sam, these are all bad qualities, why should we like him because of this?” And I would respond “Because it makes him a complex and interesting antagonist.” The kind of character that executes his shitty actions in such a way that you can’t help but respect- even just for the level of dramatics put in to it- while also having a motive that makes you stop and consider that maybe he has a point but is very much handling the situation the wrong way.

Like, c’mon, he ticks so many villain boxes. Tragic backstory? Check. Blatant thespian who owns it? Check. Gets his hands dirty before the climax of the story? Check. Smart/ manipulative/ has back-up plans? Check. Understandable, strong motives? Check.

He’s got layers. Like onion. I felt like there was always something new to discover about him, and for that I can assert my opinion that he’s one of the best characters in Wizard101.

lmao if you read this far into my simp-for-shithead post congrats. feel free to shoot me more asks on the subject bc i cant write persuasive-essay-esque format anymore my brain is rotting. if you will excuse me, im off to listen to the chronoverge combat track for the 82937487734th time

#i get that a lot of people havent gotten far enough into the game to meet him but I ENCOURAGE U TO TRY BC HE'S A GOOD AND FUN CHARACTER OKAY #i need more cob content >:U #wizard101 #w101

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bimboficationblues · 4 years

Note

I’m interested in going to law school, but as a commie I’m not really sure I’d be able to fit in lol what has your experience been?

In the words of my political hero, Urdnot Wrex, “better than I feared, worse than I hoped.”

The short version: law school is culturally and pedagogically hierarchical and conservative. As a part of the capitalist social architecture, it’s structured to wear down the spirit of people who might otherwise use legal tools and skills for good, and get them to go help fuck over workers. I have made some good friends, met some great people who are doing comradely work that I really respect, and I know what my goals are, but I was pretty miserable before I achieved those things. But, on the other hand, I think it’s a net positive if more people who care have the tools to help their comrades.

Even now I don’t find legal education rewarding in itself but as a means to my desired end - and I’m privileged to even be able to consider that end as a realistic possibility. I think this essay is worth reading and accurately describes many of my experiences. Feel free to DM me if you want to talk more directly!

The long version:

1) If you go to law school then you will almost certainly hear a lot of staff and faculty say stupid bullshit about how it’s training you to “think like a lawyer.” This is true, but not necessarily a good thing. “Thinking like a lawyer” is a way of narrowing your understanding, making you less adept at understanding the world in general in exchange for a better understanding of one specific aspect, making you into a weak and malleable subject for your future employer. It is not some kind of access to the Deep Knowledge that couldn’t possibly be figured out on your own; because in most states you cannot take the bar exam without attending law school, legal education is essentially a class-based barrier to entry for one of the few tools that the liberal capitalist order actually values and responds to.

This idea of "legal reasoning" is designed to make you believe in the magic power of words and rules, to the neglect of material power relationships. Legal realism - the completely correct assessment that rules are (in Karl Llewellyn’s words) "pretty playthings" except insofar as they are useful to make power do what you want (whatever side of the bench you're on) - will be given a passing mention, but never actually applied in the skill-building process. Because of all this I have found law school, especially the first year, deeply frustrating; it obfuscates as much as it clarifies. The silences can feel oppressive in their own way.

2) This will probably depend on where you go, because some schools churn out more legal academics, but ime law school is not very intellectually stimulating or rigorous. If you are searching for something that will be engaging it will probably not be found in law school; there are ways of examining and analyzing law in interesting ways (and useful ways, for a revolutionary), but they largely require the application of other disciplines.

3) Many of your professors will lean authoritarian, if not in their politics then in their pedagogy. Not all of them - I’ve had several that I consider good and one that I considered great - but typically the reliance on the cold call system, curves, class ranks, and a generally infantilizing attitude all contribute to the distinct feeling of losing one’s autonomy. The hierarchical structure of the classroom inoculates you to the hierarchies that shape capitalist life and the legal system; the relationship between the authoritarian professor and yourself is not unlike that between the judge and the attorney, or the senior partner and the junior attorney. Many students tolerate it because they figure that when they get into their firm of choice they can work their way up and lord over some poor paralegal or junior attorney.

4) Any given peer you interact with will probably be some kind of liberal, but frankly that’s not so different from society in general ime. And just because they’re liberal actually doesn’t mean they’re not feeling the same sort of hostility towards the infantilizing educational environment. As it happens I have a higher tolerance for liberals compared to other communists (though not this year tbh), so usually when my liberal friends start spouting some shit I either gently but explicitly disagree or just move on.

5) Those who go to law school and want to contribute to positive change, but lack scholarships or personal/familial wealth, are faced with a difficult choice. a) They can grapple with debilitating debt in an underfunded public defense or public interest job (though loan forgiveness is a thing), or b) They can go work at a well-paying law firm (or maybe even in-house counsel) that will pay off their student loans in exchange for fucking over the working class, domestically or internationally. The materialist answer as to what people will do is not surprising; most people will gladly accept bifurcating their private and public lives in this way. Even those who aren't saddled with debt are in a social environment that highly favors the corporate firm as the site of maximum social mobility, and it can be hard to see beyond that. (And those who don't care at all about having a positive influence can go into sports law or become prosecutors, I guess.)

I say all of this not necessarily to be like “don’t do it,” but like, know what you’re up against. Legal education - like the rest of capitalist ideology - is designed to either destroy you and drive you out, or make you surrender and assimilate to it. I think it’s possible, on an individual level, to do neither, but it’s hard.

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