#and less likely to buy that shit because of the annoying ads

[foone]

why are printers so hated? it's simple:

computers are good at computering. they are not good at the real world.

the biggest problems in computers, the ones that have had to change the most over the time they've existed, are the parts that deal with the real world. The keyboard, the mouse, the screen. every computer needs these, but they involve interacting with the real world. that's a problem. that's why they get replaced so much.

now, printers: printers have some of the most complex real-world interaction. they need to deposit ink on paper in 2 dimensions, and that results in at least three ways it can go on right from the start. (this is why 3D printers are just 2D printers that can go wrong in another whole dimension)

scanners fall into many of the same problems printers have, but fewer people have scanners, and they're not as cost-optimized. But they are nearly as annoying.

This is also why you can make a printer better by cutting down on the number of moving elements: laser printers are better than inkjets, because they only need to move in one dimension, and their ink is a powder, not a liquid. and the best-behaved printers of all are thermal printers: no ink and the head doesn't move. That's why every receipt printer is a thermal printer, because they need that shit to work all the time so they can sell shit. And thermal is the most reliable way to do that.

But yeah, cost-optimization is also a big part of why printers are such finicky unreliable bastards: you don't want to pay much for them. Who is excited for all the printing they're gonna be doing? basically nobody. But people get forced to have a printer because they gotta print something, for school or work or the government or whatever. So they want the cheapest thing that'll work. They're not shopping on features and functionality and design, they want something that costs barely anything, and can fucking PRINT. anything else is an optional bonus.

And here's the thing: there's a fundamental limit of how much you can optimize an inkjet printer, and we got near to it in like the late 90s. Every printer since then has just been a tad smaller, a tad faster, and added some gimmicks like printing from WIFI or bluetooth instead of needing to plug in a cable.

And that's the worst place to be in, for a computer component. The "I don't care how fancy it is, just give me one that works" zone. This is why you can buy a keyboard for 20$ and a mouse for 10$ and they both work plenty fine for 90% of users. They're objectively shit compared to the ones in the 60-150$ range, but do they work? yep. So that's what people get.

Printers fell into that zone long, long ago, when people stopped getting excited about "desktop publishing". So with printers shoved into the "make them as cheap as possible" zone, they have gotten exponentially shittier. Can you cut costs by 5$ a printer by making them jam more often? good. make them only last a couple years to save a buck or two per unit? absolutely. Can you make the printer cost 10$ less and make that back on the proprietary ink cartridges? oh, they've been doing that since Billy Clinton was in office.

It's the same place floppy disks were in in about 2000. CD-burners were not yet cheap enough, USB flash drives didn't exist yet (but were coming), modems weren't fast enough yet to copy stuff over the internet, superfloppies hadn't taken over like some hoped, and memory cards were too expensive and not everyone had a drive for them. So we still needed floppy disks, but at the same time this was a technology that hadn't changed in nearly 20 years. So people were tired of paying out the nose for them... the only solution? cut corners. I have floppy disks from 1984 that read perfectly, but a shrinkwrapped box of disks from 1999 will have over half the disks failed. They cut corners on the material quality, the QA process, the cleaning cloth inside the disk, everything they could. And the disks were shit as a result.

So, printers are in that particular note of the death-spiral where they've reached the point of "no one likes or cares about this technology, but it's still required so it's gone to shit". That's why they are so annoying, so unreliable, so fucking crap.

So, here's the good news:

You can still buy a better printer, and it will work far better. Laser printers still exist, and LED printers work the same way but even cheaper. They're still more expensive than inkjets (especially if you need color), but if you have to print stuff, they're a godsend. Way more reliable.

This is not a stable equilibrium. Printers cannot limp along in this terrible state forever. You know why I brought up floppy disk there? (besides the fact I'm a giant floppy disk nerd) because floppy disks GOT REPLACED. Have you used one this decade? CD-Rs and USB drives and internet sharing came along and ate the lunch of floppy disks, so much so that it's been over a decade since any more have been made. The same will happen to (inkjet) printers, eventually. This kind of clearly-broken situation cannot hold. It'll push people to go paperless, for companies to build cheaper alternatives to take over from the inkjets, or someone will come up with a new, more reliable printer based on some new technology that's now cheap enough to use in printers. Yeah, it sucks right now, but it can't last.

So, in conclusion: Printers suck, but this is both an innate problem caused by them having to deal with so much fucking Real World, and a local minimum of reliability that we're currently stuck in. Eventually we'll get out of this valley on the graph and printers will bother people a lot less.

Random fun facts about printing of the past and their local minimums:

in the hot metal type era, not only would the whole printing process expose you to lead, the most common method of printing text was the linotype, which could go wrong in a very fun way: if the next for a line wasn't properly justified (filling out the whole row), it could "squirt", and lead would escape through gaps in the type matrix. This would result in molten lead squirting out of the machine, possibly onto the operator. Anecdotally, linotype operators would sometimes recognize each other on the street because of the telltale spots on their forearms where they had white splotches where no hair grew, because they got bad lead burns. This type of printing remained in use until the 80s.

Another fun type of now-retired printers are drum printers, a type of line printer. These work something like a typewriter or dot-matrix printer, except the elements extend across the entire width of the paper. So instead of printing a character at time by smacking it into the paper, the whole line got smacked nearly at once. The problem is that if the paper jammed and the printer continued to try to print, that line of the paper would be repeatedly struck at high speed, creating a lot of heat. This worry created the now-infamous Linux error: "lp0 on fire". This was displayed when the error signals from a parallel printer didn't make sense... and it was a real worry. A high speed printer could definitely set the paper on fire, though this was rare.

So... one thing to be grateful about current shitty inkjet printers: they are very unlikely to burn anything, especially you.

(because before they could do that they'd have to work, at least a little, first, and that's very unlikely)

[shegetsburned]

𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐣𝐤 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 | part i ‧₊˚ 𓐐

— ft. satoru gojo. suguru geto. kento nanami. toji fushiguro. ryomen sukuna.

a/n : silly hcs i made while I was starving and I hope it’ll make you salivate as much as me !!

𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐣𝐨

normally he prefers to just eat what other people prepare for him, tasting his friends and students’ meals, most of the time.

but when he cooks, gojo doesn’t have time for shit, so I’m thinking of something simple but good. he likes to eat, especially sweet stuff. something sweet and salty, maybe?

he can do anything he sets his mind to, but is probably too lazy to cook most of the time, so he’ll just do the same two or three meals.

main dish; i’m thinking of teriyaki sauce chicken with some rice. it’s simple and soooo good. you can also feel the sweet taste of the sauce on the meat and it’s absolutely delicious.

you’ll have to close your eyes before satoru feeds you the first bite as he waits for your reaction.

i’m sure it’s sublime and it annoys you that he can always do everything just right. I mean, after cooking the same thing over and over again, everyone would excel, but this man has done it perfectly since the first time.

𝐬𝐮𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐮 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐨

man looooooves to cook for you. you’re barely doing the cooking when he’s at home and it’s delicious every time.

he’ll learn new dishes just for you and ask what you prefer. he doesn’t cook for him, he does it for you, to see your smile when you swallow one of your favourite dishes.

it’s not extra elaborate dishes, but it’s cooked with so much love. the presentation is insane and it’s always exquisite.

suguru will find a way to make an amazing meal with the few ingredients you guys have in the fridge.

he’s definitely the type to add his own touch to every meal so that it tastes absolutely divine.

main dish; maybe a spicy ahi poke which is a spicy tuna bowl made with fresh chunks of fresh sashimi and a spicy mayo sauce. despite looking like an ordinary meal, its lightness and flavour makes me think suguru would be the type to cook this for you.

𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐢

i have mixed feelings about this man because he used to buy the same sandwich from the same bakery for years. so i have a feeling he barely used to eat, especially being so occupied with work and doing overnights; less experience in the kitchen?

but for you, he has a soft spot and wants to do the best in everything that concerns you, including cooking. so he’ll learn his ass off in secret and surprise you with amazing meals.

he often prepares multiple dishes for one dinner so you can taste as much as possible. this man is hardworking.

main dishes; seafood salad + vegetable stew + temari sushi (their presentation is adorable, you’d love them) + a bunch of meat and seafood.

kento prepares everything before you come home, living for the sparkles in your eyes when you see the delicious-looking plates on the table.

𝐭𝐨𝐣𝐢 𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐨

honestly, he barely cooks for you. he usually just orders take-outs, and makes you pay.

I just know he likes spicy stuff. it’s always fuming hot when it goes into your mouth.

i’m sorry but this man doesn’t know how to cook. he just endures food or goes out to eat. i swear he doesn’t give a fuck about what he eats, as long as he thinks it’s good and enough for his belly to be filled, he’ll eat it.

main dish; instant noodles at best. adding canned meat and sriracha sauce into the mix. he’s lazy, okay? but who doesn’t enjoy a good old cup of instant noodles?

also, toji’s the type to shove the food into your mouth to make you stfu thinking you’re annoying because you’re hungry.

𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐮𝐤𝐮𝐧𝐚

uuuh, is he even cooking for you, or are you the one doing everything?

i have a feeling he’s crazy about meat. he needs some in his meals at all times otherwise it’s uninteresting.

so if he ever cooks for you, don’t be surprised to see different kinds of meat, and it is spicy asf too.

he takes pleasure in killing the meat himself, loving the thrill of chasing and devouring his prey.

main dish; roasted lamb shoulder with garlic. a whole ass piece of meat for the king of curses and you. he’ll probably eat many shoulders to satisfy his hunger and watch you take your time with the giant meal he prepared while salivating.

he’ll eat you after.

© shegetsburned 2023. Please do not repost/edit/or claim my writing as your own.

[feelbokkie]

🐺How he would react to you being a werewolf🐺

☀️Feelbokkie M.list☀️

genre: werewolf au, crack, some fluff

pov: 2nd person

description: you're a werewolf and this is how each skz would react (gifs have nothing to do with the writing)

pairing: bf!skz x gn!werewolf!reader

warnings: lycanthropy(?), fluff, suggestive, swearing, let me know if I missed anything

word count: 1,222

©feelbokkie (2023) — all rights reserved. reposting/modification of any kind is not tolerated.

방 찬 (Bang Chan)

Would almost definitely try to get you to howl in the soundbooth for a song

Has fun testing your hearing by playing frequencies only dogs can hear and adding them to songs like an easter egg for you

If you're going to a concert he'll make sure you aren't in a crowded spot, you have noise canceling protection headphones, and if there are going to be any fireworks he will warn you

Wolfgang is unironically your favorite skz song

It started off as a joke, because of course your favorite song would be the one where your boyfriend is barking in your ear

You are in possession of the chain collar necklace that he wears in the Kingdom performance and you wear it religiously

Is in the studio almost every day but if it's a full moon he'll make sure to leave early or take the day off so he can keep you company

이 민 호 (Lee Min-Ho)

Has a spray bottle and will use it on you

Like an actual dog

"Get off the couch!" *Spray*

He's joking but he has too much fun with the spray bottle

One time you annoyed him so much that he bought a dog bed

As a joke he served your dinner in a dog bowl and put it on the floor

He slept in the dog bed that night

Got you a pup cup from Starbucks one time as a joke, but you loved it so much that it confused him bc it's literally just whipped cream in a small cup

Keeps small cups and whipped cream at his dorm just for you

Found out by accident that you don't like thunderstorms

Will just swaddle you with a weighted blanket and shove noise canceling headphones on your ears either with music or a drama playing

Will feed you snacks in your anti thunder cocoon

Doesn't hug you often but will pat your butt or head frequently

서 창 빈 (Seo Chang-Bin)

He's naturally loud but speaks quietly around you because of your dog like hearing

Bought you those ear protection noise cancelling headphones, like the ones they give babies, so you can go to their concerts

Will immediately go take a shower when he comes back from the gym and you're hanging out at his dorm because your sense of smell is also like a dog's

Takes you with him to the gym sometimes so you can be a little stronger physically and be affected by the change a little less

You mostly do cardio

Has fun with it

"Are these dog treats?" "They're good for your teeth and will keep your coat silky smooth."

"Binnie, did you buy me shampoo?" "Yeah, here." "... This is dog shampoo." "Human shampoo isn't good for dogs." "Pissing me off isn't good for your health."

"I love you and that stuffed animal is cute but if it squeaks, I'm going to lose my shit." "I've got a few returns to make..."

황 현 진 (Hwang Hyun-Jin)

You're basically a giant dog to him

Makes him sad that Kkami loves you better than him

"We have a bond that you can't understand." "Can you talk to dogs?" "No." "Then what do you--" "We have to put up with you."

Pouted for an hour

His hands always find their way in your hair, petting you

Refers to your full moon days as your time of the month

"It's almost your time of the month, do you have everything you need?" "Please, for the love of fuck, stop calling it that." "What else would I call it?" "Literally anything else."

Still calls it your time of the month

It's okay, you tease him back harder

"I know Stay joking calls you a dog kisser but I think they're going to have to start calling you a dog fucker." "Why is that your first thought after we just had sex?"

Your nails are always long so he offers to paint them

Your hair grows long and fast so he has fun playing with it and trying new styles

한 지 성 (Han Ji-Sung)

So unserious

"So, it would technically be politically correct if I referred to you as my bitch?" "I guess?" "Perfect."

Would have fun referring to you as his bitch until Chan, who doesn't know you're a werewolf, smacked and lectured him for being disrespectful

"Does we just or count as beastiality?" "Jisung, what the actual fuck?" "I'm serious!" "No! I was in my human form the whole time."

You can tell he's going to have a panic attack before he even knows

You can literally hear it

A lot of the time, you'll gently pull him to the couch or the floor and put your head in his lap so he can calm down

If you two are in public, you try to find a quiet place and sit with him and try to calm him down

Emotional support pet partner

This doesn't mean you can fly for free, you already tried that

이 용 복 (Lee Felix Yong-Bok)

"Wait, like a Twilight, Teen Wolf, or Harry Potter werewolf?" "Are those the only fictional werewolves that you know?" "Yes, now answer the question."

The answer is a Twilight wolf but you change monthly and go through 3 days of pain and hell

Will sit and give you head pats and belly scratches once you're comfortable in your wolf form

"I baked these for you!" "Have one with me?" "I'm good." "..." "..." "Lix, did you bake me dog treats?" "Taste it first before you get mad!"

They were good

Fed some to the boys to see if they noticed

They did not

Loves cuddling with you, you're like a heater with feelings

Hates seeing you in pain but will at least sit with you on full moon days and the days before and after because that shit is not a one day thing

Tries to calm you down when you get the zoomies

김 승 민 (Kim Seung-Min)

Surprisingly chill with it

Suspiciously chill with it 🤨

"I kinda figured already." "How?" "You were way too happy playing frisbee. When you said you were a werewolf, it all made sense."

Gives you space the week of the full moon

He knows that you're going through enough mentally and physically, he doesn't want to add to your stress

Will go on walks with you

A lot of the time it's because you were overstimulated and he's trying to tire you out

"If you don't like it, you don't have to eat it." "How do you know I don't like it?" "Your ears went down a little." "My ears did what?"

Alternately, your ears wiggle slightly when you're happy or excited, which Min learned early on

Your ears always happy wiggle when he sings

양 정 인 (Yang Jeong-In)

A partner and a pet, all in one! He wins

Would overthink a lot about it

"I was going to buy you a necklace but I didn't know if you'd prefer a collar instead so I came home empty handed." "The necklace would have been fine, Jeongin."

Compromised and bought you a choker

"Are... are you shedding?" "I literally can't help it. I'll clean it up, don't worry." "It just threw me off. I thought only animals shed." "Please stop talking, I get it."

"So, when you get sick, do you go to the vet or a doctor?" "Are you being serious?" "Kinda of..." "I'm still a human, In."

Will lean on you like a pillow in your wolf form to keep you company

—

Buy me a coffee?

[kichikichiko]

Bento box of love

A/N: Hi everyone! I was cooking yesterday and I thought of this idea for 3 characters teehee

I love writing headcanons now istg

Scaramouche, venti and Itto (seperate) x fem!reader

Reader cooks, being his wife (scara), being his gf (Venti and Itto), modern AU, fluff, headcanon, proofread I think 😃

♡♡♡♡

SCARAMOUCHE ▪︎ the balladeer

(For background you both kept your marriage a secret when at work because he doesn't wanna deal with people yelling and shouting at him all stunned and confused abt him having a wife)

You started bringing him food from home as you found out that he has been consuming an unhealthy amount of convenience store food

You scolded him at first then the next morning he was met with the sweet aroma of chicken katsu and curry layed out in a bento box on the dining table

He thought it was for you and you worked as well

But got confused when he saw you coming out of the kitchen still in pyjamas and not your formal attire

"Who's this for?" He pointed at the bento while looking confused

"For you silly" you replied "I wasn't kidding when I said I'd start making you bentos" you added before disappearing to the kitchen again.

He was stunned and lost for words but he brought the bento anyways

When it was lunch time in his office, his coworkers came up to him and asked if he wanted to buy some food down by the convenience store as they always did

Scara declined the offer and took out the bento you prepared for him

He got looks from his coworkers "holy shit you brought a bento from home??"

"Damn lets see what you got open it open it!"

Out of all the people in the office, he was the last person they'd expect to bring a bento from home

Scara opened it and revealed the neatly arranged chicken katsu curry.

The sweet aroma of curry made his coworkers drool

"Wow Scara this looks amazing! Who made this for you?" "Your mom?" The other asked

Scara smiled slightly while still looking at the bento "my wife"

From then on he demanded* (begged) you to make him more bentos and make them as creative as possible

They make his day at work more bearable <33

VENTI ▪︎ windborne bard

He usually ate out with his fellow singers and barely ate at home unless it was breakfast

Which means he was spending loads of money

Not to mention he liked to drink so it was double the money spent

You yelled at him for spending more money than he needs

One day when he was about to leave to his agency you catched him before he opened the door and gave him a wrapped bento box

Kissing him on the cheek while handing it to him you said "for lunch today, have fun at work! Say hi to the rest for me love"

He didnt mind, both you making him a bento as well as giving him a kiss on the cheek

When lunch time came around he indirectly kept on mentioning how his lovely girlfriend made lunch for him and how much he loves his beautiful girlfriend

"Oh how much I miss my lovely windblume, good think she made me a bento box for me to remember her" he loves u so much if u cant tell

Kazuha as well as Aether just nodded and congratulated him

Xiao was annoyed

And Heizou rolled his eyes

He ate the bento while smiling the whole time

Giggling and blushing as well.

Suddenly he started spending less money on food from outside and started appreciatinf your food more

You were happy he enjoyed your cooking

But more happy tht he isnt spending money on food from outside💀

ITTO ▪︎ hanamizaka heroics

Itto doesnt have money, and he doesn't cook. He usually depends on his gang to bring food for him when they meet up or ask Shinobu, but when they forgot or simply didn't come to the meeting, he was left starving for the whole day

He couldn't ask granny oni as well as she lived far away from the city

And even if she did, he'd feel bad about it

When you started dating him, and found out about how he kept skipping meals you decided to surprise him by whipping up a bento for him

He liked food with meat and lavender melon so you tried your best to incorperate those 2 together

He watched you as you made his bento early in the morning

Peaking from over your head (tall oni) from time to time watching in awe

Practcially gets giddy when youre finally finished and held the bento box like it was the most precious thing on earth

Brags about it to his fellow gang members

"Oh my beautiful gorgeous stunning amazing jaw dropping awesome GIRLFRIEND made me a BENTO BOX for lunch today, she made me a delicious BENTO BOX-" SMACK! Was the sound that came about when Shinobu slapped his head

The gang was hapoy for him though, as they felt guilty when they werent able to feed him

They felt at ease knowing he finally had someone feeding him

That loud ass oni practically ran around the city carrying his bento box yelling chants and praises at you and how much he loves you

When you found out what he did from the rest of the gang you gave him an earful

But flattered that he went to the public to chant his appreciation for his gf <33

♡♡♡♡

[canmom]

a big mercy in the world is that it's actually much harder to hijack someone's behaviour with some kinda visual stimulus than capital would like.

so despite the constant semiotic fusillades of advertisers trying to 'shit in your brain' as the ad hacking slogan goes, you still get better at shutting it out. the advertisers have to resort to more and more desperate means to try to get you to buy product. of course they sell this to their clients as subtle behavioral modifications that manifest without the target even realising. but despite the occasional breakout viral success, it's mostly just a zero sum desperate battle to remind you that they exist at all. most ad exposures are wasted on people who either were never going to buy the thing or were already going to buy the thing. advertisers mostly just copy other advertisers and follow fads but present themselves as the key to success like a court alchemist to a king. overall it's a cancer swallowing up more and more of its host.

this does not make it any less annoying.

anyway, ads are only one part of marketing, and since they kind of suck, the modern method to promote your shit is to try to get 'organic' promotion through word of mouth, positive user reviews on a storefront, etc. so of course many companies cultivate 'influencers', post shill reviews, buy fake metrics, and all that. since all these mechanisms then become immediately less trustworthy, an arms race develops of trying to camouflage the fake marketing speech as 'genuine', 'honest', 'unbiased' etc. the result of this on communication is bad, there's chaff everywhere, but once again the effort of the marketer trying to control you bounces off the wall that people hate it and will not go along with it if they can help it.

a more subtle approach is to just try and cultivate people assigning themselves the role of reviewer. this can create something a bit more symbiotic. the reviewer gets to build an identity out of consuming product and being a discerning connoisseur, and the stuff they like gets free marketing written about it. hence sites like goodreads and letterboxd. not only that but when the thing they like does well, the reviewer gets to feel proud that they acted as a kingmaker.

one weird upshot of all this is that a small company will get really worked up about a negative review on a platform from some rando and go out of their way to placate them. i feel like we're going to see more people exploiting this - ig the gacha mra shit in korea is in part a ripple of that, though those cunts went a lot further than just review bombing.

anyway I've participated in this machine. arguably all the writing about fiction i do on this blog is feeding into it. when i think about it, i think it stinks, but I'm not sure what else to do. there are authors i admire, and who are my friends, i want them to be read by people and have bread on the table.

obviously just because there are powerful actors whose primary concern is moving product doesn't reduce all the discussion of art to elaborate games around moving product. in some sense the 'product review' form is an invading force, best disregarded. but i feel like it would be unwise to ignore the ecological mechanisms underlying what gets made and how and what makes its way to my eyeballs... and how my own behaviours belong to that ecosystem. even if it's depressing to think in those terms.

[boxheadpaint]

hungry but not much to eat and tgen mildly depressing news, ok. obviously this is worsened by being hungry and not medicated yet. decide instead to go back to bed and lie to still to use up energy and sleep through hunger. Somehow this does not work and just end up more tired and more hungry. And still havent taken meds. my thrilling life. dove noises outside tho. wait i havent done a diary post in a bit hang on lemme rev up here.

ok back. Collapsed while cooking because im intwlligent, but did enjoy a good meal with my partner. watched some Star Trek while my body refused to regain energy so as to take a shower, and had to take a shower anyway. Have been much less depressed lately, though have been dealing with constant daytime fatigue for some reason. Im mr fall asleep. going to get groceries later today thank goodness

current goal in pokerogue because of course. Like obviously yes shiny farming but also at this point im trying to make the most disgusting dog possible. Behold

Completely and utterly nasty thing.

im not sure how to get back into digital art sooner rather than later, my computer has become immensely annoying to use. Beyond having to prop it by hand because of lack of back panel, it also heats up a bunch very quickly and the cursor is Still an irritating molecule off center to me- likely because of the angle I have to look at when it’s laying flat from no adequate support.

I don’t want to ditch digital completely because of some minor inconveniences but my patience with the machine has been wearing thin for a long while now. at least it’s not giving me notifications to update to windows 11. Like fuck off and such.

Lately I find myself more and more mad about advertisements and marketing. Beyond the disruptive nature of these things and the wastefulness theyre also straight up stupid and just make things look worse by existing. It doesn’t matter how many different ads for reeses you show me with the bojack guy over them, and in fact the more I see them the more likely I am to just say the governments putting poison shit in it so people will stop buying them. Also fuck everything that charges more money for a gluten free version of a product

come June im going on a ride up north and visiting my sister briefly, which I look forward to. There was some miscommmunication about days so I thot I was going to be able to hang out with her for a full day on her weekend, but it turned out that was unavailable and it made me upset. still, even if it’s just for a few hours after her shift ill be happy to spend any time with her. I miss being just a room away from her at a given moment sometimes and wish I could have appreciated that time more, though I know a part of why I didn’t was the house itself and its effect on me. Swagless really

anyway somehow I managed to be up until 3 am once again. Im marking the date down as today even if I started this post yesterday. Hoping to relax and get good news soon, or at least neutral news. News of a sort

5/18/2024, the dog is also several levels higher now than pictured. Like by a lot

[mrswhozeewhatsis]

Shifted - The Humbug (Chapter 5/?)

A/N: Still no end in sight. Been sitting on this chapter for a while because it's short and posting takes TIME, and I just haven't had the time to post what with life, the universe, and everything. Again, this is a Secret Santa fic for @jensengirl83, who I can only hope will forgive me for how long this is taking me to throw together. Also, not beta-read because we die like men and all that. (Since no one follows me on ko-fi, I've kind of abandoned it, so y'all get to read it here first!)

Story summary: The Winchesters are meeting your family for the first time when you all visit for Christmas. Things don’t go quite to plan.

Chapter summary: Everything just feels hopeless.

Pairing: Dean x Reader

Word count (chapter/story): 1178/7213

Warnings: Just a lot of humbug with a smidge of fluff.

Previous chapter - Series masterlist

“Y/N?” she whispered loudly, her eyes wide and jaw tense. “What were you doing in there with Dean while your boyfriend is across the hall asleep?!?”

You gave your sister the most annoyed sibling bitchface you could muster and hoped it covered your nerves while you lied through your teeth.

“I went in there to wake him up because he sleeps like an angry bear with a gun under his pillow and I didn’t want you or Mom or Dad getting shot. Also, I needed to talk to him about a gag gift we’re getting for Sam after we’re back home. I was considering adding a clown element, but Dean thought that might be taking things a step too far.” You snorted a little giggle at the idea and hoped that would further sell your lie to your all-knowing sister.

Your sister’s expression didn’t waver, however.

“The man you love has a serious phobia of clowns, but you want to get him a gag gift involving clowns?” Tracey shook her head at you disapprovingly, threw her hands up in the air, and turned back towards her bedroom. “I can’t believe I’m related to you!” she snapped as she walked back into her room and slammed the door behind her.

Nearly dropping to the floor with relief, you patted yourself on the back for managing to fool your sister.

Breakfast was relaxed and made you finally feel like you were back at home with your family, mostly because Dean was in the shower and Sam was out for a run. At one point, you thought you saw Dean approach the doorway, but when you turned to look, he wasn’t there. Your mom distracted you with a story about Christmas when you were five and started a food fight with Tracey during breakfast, making everyone laugh.

Sadly, it didn’t last long. The mood took another nosedive when Sam returned from his run, even though he only grabbed a muffin from the table, kissed your cheek, and headed directly towards the shower. The table went quiet as everyone ate their pancakes and bacon, and you wondered what more you could possibly do to fix things.

Why couldn’t your family trust that you knew what you were doing? Why couldn’t they just believe you when you told them that Dean and Sam were good people?

Maybe because you were lying to them.

Shit.

Suddenly, you didn’t want to be there, anymore. If you couldn’t be honest with your family, then you just shouldn’t have come to visit at all. It had just seemed so easy to have the man you love and his brother in the same room as your family. You’d thought you could give the brothers something they’d never had: a real Christmas with people who cared about them. You wanted them to see parents who remembered to buy presents and were there, because they didn’t have to get revenge or hunt evil. You wanted to give them silly traditions like wearing stupid sweaters and making each other guess their presents before they could open them. But that wasn’t what was happening because you’d lied.

Dean came in, sat down next to you at the head of the table like he’d been the night before, and put way less food on his plate than he normally would. Breakfast continued in near silence, with only occasional attempts at small talk between your parents. By the time Sam had returned, Tracey was helping your parents with the dishes while you and Dean were leaving with the excuse that you needed to shower, and Dean had to put finishing touches on his presents. With a tug of his sleeve, Sam turned right around with you and followed you and Dean to the guest room.

“I take it breakfast was about as comfortable as dinner last night?” Sam asked with a sad sigh as you all sat down on the bed. You and Sam settled with your backs against the headboard, and Dean sat next to you on the side of the bed, stroking your leg with his hand.

“It was fine until I showed up,” Dean replied, grimacing. “They were even laughing until I got there, and then it all went silent again.”

Giving the boys a sad smile, you slumped where you sat. “Normally, we’d put on our sweaters, open presents, then go into town for a Christmas market thing they do in the afternoon, then come home for dinner. However, I’m beginning to think we should just say that a job came up that we can’t refuse and leave. I mean, nobody is happy this way, and maybe we can all salvage a little joy if we’re just not together. Tracey already caught me coming out of Dean’s room this morning and then yelled at me for considering giving you a clown-related gift, Sam. They can’t possibly think any worse of me if we just leave.”

Sam looked thoughtful, but Dean slid up the bed so he could put his arms around your shoulders and hold you close. “I’m so sorry this is such a shitshow, pretty girl. If you weren’t with me, then none of this would be happening.”

With a little shove, you sat up straight and looked Dean dead in the eyes. “Don’t you even go down that road, mister! You are not the problem here! You are the best man I know, and I wouldn’t trade a minute with you for anything in the world. Especially not just for some stupid Hallmark holiday crap. This is happening because I lied to my family.”

Dean tried to interrupt, but you shushed him with a hand and shook your head.

“Maybe it was your idea, but I went along with it. I could have put a stop to it right at the start, and I didn’t. And now we’re deep in it, and I don’t see a way out besides just leaving. And, although I’ll be a little sad that this didn’t work out the way I’d hoped, I think it’s the best possible choice, right now. I love you, and I love our life, and I wouldn’t change a thing, so just stop whatever self-deprecating bullshit you’ve got running through your head right this minute!”

Sam snickered while Dean looked properly chastised.

“Alright, darlin’. If you say so,” Dean said, leaning in and giving you a chaste peck on your lips. “Then you go give your regrets to your family and we’ll get packed up. We leave in ten.”

“Wait,” you said, stopping Dean from standing up. “Make it thirty. I really do want to shower and put on clean clothes before we start the drive back to the bunker. Someone got me all hot and sweaty this morning, and I still feel a little gross,” you joked.

Sam closed his eyes and turned his head, putting a hand up so he couldn’t see you. “I don’t want to hear that, guys!!!” You and Dean both chuckled and took advantage of Sam not looking to share a kiss.

Ye olde forever tags list: @manawhaat @sammit-janet @littlegreenplasticsoldier @leatherwhiskeycoffeeplaid @iwantthedean @growningupgeek @feelmyroarrrr @thing-you-do-with-that-thing @helvonasche @rizlowwritessortof @wheresthekillswitch @sandlee44 @icequeen1371 @tistai @pie-and-pudding @thelittleredwhocould @supernaturallymarvellous @ellen-reincarnated1967 @notnaturalanahi @salt-n-burn-em-all @fumar-et-flores-blog @chalicia @smalltowndivaj @littlefreakingfangirl @straightestgay-voice @percywinchester27 @vanessa-monique-blog @gallxntdean @antares1980 @hunterpuff @beffyblueeyes-blog @sammiesamness @cassieraider @emoryhemsworth @speakinvain @andkatiethings @latetothewinchesterparty @winchesterprincessbride @drakelover78 @calaofnoldor @idreamofplaid @akshi8278 

[tuwann]

social media is pushing their luck lately on all fronts. even when you understand their mindset these changes are risky - mainly operating under "social media is like a slot machine" kind of mindset, since thats effectively the same thing.

my point is: the best thing they can do is make it as easy as possible to use the website and develop addictions, any friction hurts this and this is why selling data is their strongest practice, *its invisible to the user*. ads, like promoted posts and such, are less intrusive. theyre just another post. ads, like how youtube does it, are very intrusive and frictional. ads still need to exist for data collection to be worth anything to the corporations, but from a social media companies perspective data collection weighs more on the scale.

but recently, theres been a few interesting developments. its not like ive been to shareholder meetings and can predict exactly what the baby eating ceos are thinking, but - i think they believe the addiction the average person has is so powerful over them that they can get away with putting more friction (or theyre just fucking stupid). the examples im talking about right now are twitters "$1 subscription" and youtube waging war on adblockers. twitters seems like just a fucking stupid descision but youtubes seems more calculated, but its still some big friction.

seriously the twitter thing is unbelieveably stupid friction if youve ever been like... on the internet without access to a credit card you know the difference between free and not free VERY well. the subscription idea will probably get dropped but if it somehow does go through like. every kid will not use it for certian, anyone who... yknow... evaluates the worth of the thing theyre buying even SLIGHTLY will quit, like... the only people that will remain are the blue checks who are not beating the nonsentient allegations. anyway.

i dont know how "normal people" use social media. i surround myself with people who are quite aware about the mass gangstalking of users and are generally above average in tech-proficiency. i dont know the social media habits of jimmy age 25. maybe jimmy will just deal with the friction, but the people i know are fairly averse to the friction and are just... using the sites less because of it. there doesnt really seem to be a stopping point in adding this friction until the site owners get burned somehow (unless youre twitter lol theyre gonna keep doing shit until the servers cant afford to be paid they have NO brakes). i guess we just have to see how much it takes for the lowest common denominator to get too annoyed with social media before sites stop their nonsense

uh, anyway, im gonna take a break from youtube until theres a way to use an adblock on it. a week? a month? never? well, thats fine. i quit reddit basically for good after the API change i can drop a site again if i need to

[mjlovescm]

10- Crossroads, 🍋

Completed, 30 chapters, “Grey” Fezco O’Neill x black fem reader

Content: Nsfw, car sex, cowgirl, smoking weed, clit rubbing. 

Rue had really given you something to think about. And you had been thinking about it for a while now. You thought about if there was anything still worth fighting for when it came to you and Fez. You thought how it would affect Rue and Ash. And oddly enough, the positives out numbered the negatives, but the negatives outweighed the positives. One of those negatives being easy access to pills. But things were different now. Fezco and everyone else knew about Rue's problem. And if you and Fez were together now, he wouldn't give Rue anything or let her near anything. He showed this when Rue came to him begging for something anything, and even when she yelled and sobbed saying awful things to him, he didn't budge.

He considered Rue family, and that didn't change when you "Broke up". If anything, it only strengthened. It still felt wrong, and maybe it always would, but if Rue was okay with him and with him and you, then maybe you could be too. Jumping right into a relationship was the last thing you needed or honestly wanted right now. So for now you and Fezco were on friendly terms, friends nothing less, nothing more.

"Fuck." Rue says as the bell rings.

"I told you all this shit was rigged." You complained.

"You wanna go on the gravitron?" Lexi suggests as the four of you walk away from the game.

"Uh, no." Rue shoots the idea down.

"The Ferris wheel?" She tries again.

"Nope."

"Why?"

"Because she doesn't wanna throw up." You answer for her.

"Because I don't wanna die." Rue clarifies.

The four of you walk around looking for a ride to go on or a game to play. After not wanting to go on rampage, you ask Rue what she wants to do, but she seemed distracted. You look in the same direction as this distraction, but saw nothing but people, no one who stood out to you. But Rue saw differently. A girl you could only assume was Jules ran into a hug with Rue. Together they spun around as their bodies collided. You couldn't hear what they were saying, but the smile on Jules face told you everything, and Gia's comment only added to your suspicion.

"Um, I think she's in love with her." Gia tells you and Lexi.

"Really?" You both say.

"Yeah, like... Rue is in love with Jules, I think."

You looked at the girls again, they were still hugging.

"Don't you think?"

"I hadn't really thought about it." Lexi says truthfully, although it doesn't fully feel that way.

"Neither have I." You admit.

You knew they were friends and obviously Jules had to mean something to Rue if she stayed clean for her but love. That was something completely different.

"Oh. I don't know. Okay, um... Anyway, I'm gonna go catch some friends."

"Okay." is all Lexi said before her gaze returned to Jules and Rue, who were now apart and chatting.

"Keep your phone on and don't go too far." You yelled as your sister walked away.

You stood with Lexi for a moment before you spotted an overdressed Maddy.

"Uh, have fun, okay." You told Lexi before walking over to Maddy.

She gives you a half-hearted smile and goes on her phone.

"What the fuck are you wearing?" You asked Maddy once you caught up to her.

"Let me guess you don't like it either." She says solemn.

"No." You quickly disagree with her. "It looks fucking good but- "

"But what." She's blunt, blunter than she was usually with you, which meant one thing, Nate said something.

You held your tongue, not like anything you were going to say was bad, but still Maddy wasn't in the mood.

"You look good, too." She says with a small smile, which you match. "I wanna get high." She whispers, lacing her fingers with yours.

It was less of a statement and more of a warning. She was trying to tell she was gonna buy from Fez and Ash. Which you had no problem with and told Maddy this before, but she was a very considerate friend and wanted to give you a heads-up.

"Come on, let's get high." You told her fake annoyed.

Throwing her arms around your head, she pulled you into a hug and presses kisses to your cheek before the two of you walk over to Fez. Who although you wouldn't admit out loud was looking extra fine. Standing against a pole he wore a Supreme big letters sweater, his gold chain over his collar and two rolls of tickets on his hand.

"So, what you was lookin' for ?" He asked the two of you, his nonchalant face changing only for a split second before returning.

"Molly."

"You fr?" He asks you immediately calm exterior replaced with instant concern.

"Not for her, for me." Maddy clarifies.

"Oh." He calms down. "She over there workin' at the pretzel stand." He gives her a yellow ticket.

"Thank you." She says, taking it from him. "Have fun." She whispers teasing you before going to the pretzel truck, leaving you and Fez alone together.

It should have been awkward, it could have been awkward, but it wasn't. Mostly because as soon as Maddy was gone Fezco suggested playing one of the carnival games you said yes and so the two of you did.

"This is bullshit." You complained. "All this shit is rigged, so of course I lose."

"Shi, I don't know nothing bout that I'm winning over here." He humbly bragged. "Which one you want?"

"That one." You rolled your eyes and pointed to a big teddy bear.

You thank the employee and graciously took Fezco prize for yourself.

"You want another one?" He asks you with a smirk.

You had to hide the smile that grew on your lips before accepting Fezco's offer. In less than thirty minutes, he had managed to win you two more prizes. One for Gia and one for Ashtray. You felt bad for not doing anything with them, so it would be your apology. Bored of watching Fezco win games and actually wanting to get high. You planned to find somewhere to smoke, but Fezco didn't want you to be alone, so he took you to his car instead. Friends could smoke without anything more happening, right.

That's what you thought or well told yourself, but weed had the same effect alcohol had on you but double. And when it came to Fez, he was almost too hard to resist. So you just didn't. You completely and utterly gave into your desire and brought your lips to Fezco's. Who took them with ease and even with need.

"Come here." He said against your lips, setting the blunt aside before bringing his hands to your face and pulling you closer.

You oblige and Fezco pulls you closer. He was so fucking warm, his skin, his hands, the smoke leaving his lips. You put your hand on his knee to stabilize yourself before running it up his thigh. Surprised to feel Fezco was already hard, he groaned at the contact and pulled away from your lips.

"Have you been like this, this whole time?" You ask him in a whisper, continuing to tease the outline.

"You know, I love watching you smoke what chu expect."

Your tongue rolled over your bottom lip before your teeth gently grazed over and bit into it. The thought made you want to moan, knowing after all this time you still had the same effect on him.

"You like that shit, huh?" He asks you before taking a deep inhale of the blunt. "Knowing how good you make me feel."

He blows the cloud of smoke, and you released the smile you were biting back.

"You ain't even touch me till now, and you feel that."

He puts his hand over yours and squeezes firmly, making you fully feel him.

"Fuck." He groans. "Shit, I'm ready when you are."

Car sex in all honesty was a bit complicated along with messy and very risky. But it is surprising how fast jeans come off in times like this.

Your moans are lazy, matching the movement of Fezco's thumb over your clit. Slow sensual circles sending waves of pleasure through your lower stomach. He watched you intently, pleased by the way your hips rolled into his touch.

"You miss me, baby." He says with a tilt of his head.

Unlike last time, the word didn't slip though the cracks of your mind. He picks up speed and the circles tighten, causing you to gasp.

"Don't c-call me that." You tell him between moans.

His brows pull together for a second, but his high won't allow him to be upset. Fezco's other hand cradles the back of your head, and he pulls you to him. His lips hover over yours, but he doesn't kiss you.

"You sittin' in my car smokin' my blunt." You search each others, glossed eyes. "Imma call you whatever I want."

You didn't know how to respond, all you could do was moan. He was serious but not in an intimidating way, a dominating one instead. His thumb continued to work your clit as he finally brought his lips to yours. Kissing you with a deep hunger, matching your moans with groans as his fingers got lost in the loose coils of your hair. With every stroke of his thumb, you could feel a familiar pleasure building.

"Fez-please." You begged. "Not yet, I wanna- fuck." You threw your head back and Fezco redirects his lips to your neck, and you squeal.

Fezco chuckles and continues his movements.

"Don't worry, you not gon come yet." He whispers against your skin. "Not yet baby. Not without me."

You nod quickly, then whine at the absence of Fezco on you. He sucks his teeth at you and releases himself from his pants and boxers. Freely, he strokes himself at the sight of you as he takes a hit of the blunt. Blowing the smoke to the side, he passes it to you, his free hand now caressing your thighs.

He watches you with a lazy smile and those gentle blue eyes, his cheeks darkening with pink. A far too familiar look. You ignored the more than friendly gaze and moved to straddle him. Careful with the angle, Fezco guides your hips, his eyes on yours. You both gasped as you lowered onto him, taking Fezco with ease. A moment passes before either of you start to move, but after that you were nonstop.

His lips stayed on yours with every thrust of his hips and every rock of yours. Pulling one another closer and closer to that bittersweet ecstasy. It was almost fucking addicting. The sex, the atmosphere, each other. It had been so long since someone made you feel like this. As if you were floating carelessly through the fog that now filled the car. Truly enjoying the journey to climax and not just forcing yourself up that hill.

"Yea you like that shit huh. Fuck you taking me so good baby. Making me feel so fucking good."

All you could really do was moan in response. And that was all Fezco needed because he knew. He knew how you adored these dirty whispers twisted with praise and the unforgettable feeling of his lips on you. Anywhere, everywhere, reminding you of what you've both always known. You were his and he was yours.

You weren't fully sure when your orgasm hit you, but when Fezco started to slow down and eventually stopped, you knew it had. He doesn't let you go just yet, he doesn't want to. Fezco presses small soft kisses to your shoulder, his arms wrapped around you tightly, keeping you close.

"I miss you." He whispers so very quiet, he hopes you won't hear.

But you do and knows this. Reality comes back and suddenly everything changed. You wanted the moment to last, to stay in it as long as you could, but you both just knew you couldn't. Slowly, you pushed Fezco's arms away and climbed off of him.

"Here." You said, handing him a baby wipe from your purse.

He cleans himself up, leaves the car and gives you space to do the same. When you're done, you leave the car, and it was almost hard to not look at Fezco. You didn't want to say goodbye, but you had to. Pulling you into a hug, Fezco gives a small kiss to your forehead. No sexual intention behind it at all. He hands you two of the stuffed animals that were waiting in the front seat and a twenty dollar bill.

"You and the kids get something to eat and tell me when yall get home aight."

You nod and force yourself to walk back to the carnival without him. And just like that, Fezco had lost you all over again. 

Next chapters :)

All chapters ;)

[matrixonvhsanddvd]

Here's my set up!

In England most ppl do use roll ups. U tend to find that ppl who only smoke straights (pre rolled) are older ppl, ppl who have more money and ppl who don't smoke often enuff to bother. A packet of straights can last a really long time and will keep better than a packet of baccy (loose tobacco) as there's less to dry out.

I use a rolling tin because i cant roll freehand for shit no matter what (and im a handy person, its just too fiddly for me), it's easier to do while walking and i have physical difficulties. It's rare that i see anyone else use a tin, i only started because my bff did! It's not uncommon for ppl to use a rolling machine tho, which is like a tin that's been reduced to just the liner and..rolling pins?

Tins are no more expensive than a good rolling machine and tend to last longer. I prefer to change the liner when it dies rather than but a new one tho. They can be annoying to clean if u care about that but they're useful in that they can hold ur supplies! And put stickers on :3

A packet of tobacco is usually about 30g for £12-17 (tho average is about £14) now from a regular supermarket. It did used to be less before the recent inflation :( a 20 pack of pre rolls is about the same price. To give u an idea of how much more cost effective roll ups are than straights; a 20 pack currently would last me 2-4 days (IV had to cut down coz i have no money lol but this is numbers only, not counting factors like poverty) and 30gs of baccy would last me 2-3 weeks.

It's still common to see empty cigarette packets littering places and u will occasionally see a tobacco packet. They're all decorated now with warnings and warning images due to the law, all packets. They have different warnings and related pictures they get used but I'm not sure how often new ones are added? This one is my favourite atm for sure:

It's also useful to at least have the ability and resources to make a roll up if ur ever desperate/smoke drugs. Old fags on the floor can be picked up and u can squeeze any unsmoked baccy out into a bag to use for a Frankenstein roll up. I tend to find certain brands of straight cigarettes only get half smoked ?? Very good pickings if ur bottom of the food chain.

Its also easier to roll a spliff if u can...roll lol (spliff as i know it to be is a regular fag sized roll up with a blend of baccy and weed) and any other combo of smoking materials (other drugs, herbs etc).

On community culture (i promise this is the last bit), rolling sumone a fag is way more intimate and thotful than just handing em a straight (tho depending on ur Poverty Status™ it may be difficult to accept a straight due to their higher value). There's also the act of passing on the rest of ur fag to another person, usually towards the end of its life. Here that's called, 'twos'. So itd be, 'can i have 2s?' or, 'u can have 2s if u want?' which is a fun word for it i think!

Sorry to ramble but i figured ud be interested and i enjoy teaching ppl about menial things like this lol

----------------------------------------

Holy fuck thank you so much for detailing all this to me, I was honestly really happy reading all of this because it interested me so much. It's funny to me still how the demographic for rolling cigs here is usually the polar opposite lol, it seems its always people who are a lot older who enjoy rolling them up more than just buying a pack of straight cigs.

Also I absolutely love the pack you showed off of course, I'm always a sucker for the ones with "gore" on them, but also I've just never seen a tobacco pack before so that's really sick, thank you!

I guess if someday I'm ever down in England for some reason, I will be very caught up on smoking culture at least. Thank you again for sharing lol

[pregnantseinfeld]

Ranking the 3 things I've bought because I was fooled by enticing ads

3. plastic earwax wand

the worst one. you have to understand how big the pieces of earwax were in the ads. they were so fucking huge. and doctors say you shouldnt use q-tips right? so why not buy a modern scientific tool designed by ear experts? offered dozens of replacements of the cool drill shaped end-bit. didn't work for shit, all lies.

2. specialty dusting sponge

we get a lot of dust in our place. in the ads the heavy dust comes off in one light swipe of this nasa engineered super dusting sponge. In the end its probably only slightly better than using a rag. ultimately realized the dusting was less annoying for lack of special tool and more having to move stuff around and reach all the nooks. and the crannies.

hand rake for getting pet hair from carpet

showed me carpets too much like my own to ignore. arent you ashamed? without a high end vacuum, what other choice do you have but to submit yourself to us? this is number one because its the only thing that works very well just like the ad showed. still foolish of me because who wants to clean a whole carpet on their hands and knees? did not think that part through.

[vegasandhishedgehog]

Okay friends of the MDZS/The Untamed fandom

If you've seen my previous post about making lotus root and pork rib soup, you know the journey I've been on. If you'd like to try making the soup yourself, a link to the recipe is toward the end of the OG post. That one got a little long with all the additions and extra advice from friends, but since I've made it again I'm reporting the results. Why I feel the need to do so is beyond me but this is the only genuine cooking I do and I deserve to be proud of every attempt, so if this annoys you, imagine these faces:

I will give a disclaimer that I had meant to make this soup a week and a half earlier but the mental illness was too strong, so yesterday I forced myself to push through the mental illness anyway so I wouldn't waste too many ingredients (we still wasted some 😔). So, alas, this soup had no ginger and half as much lotus root as desired, plus I forgot to read how much seaweed I was actually supposed to use (way less than what I used), and completely omitted the chopped scallion even though I had it ready because I just. Forgot to actually add it.

We carry on.

In all of my past versions of this soup, I didn't include the rehydrated seaweed. I was advised to give it a go this time and ...well. 😅

That bowl is a good 9 inches in diameter and 3 inches deep. And I took that photo AFTER adding a liberal amount of seaweed to the pot. Yes, I rehydrated the whole package. I didn't think about anything other than, "I'm finally adding the final step to this recipe I've been following!" and entirely missed that it only calls for 1 cup. [Hold on. Googling how long rehydrated seaweed be stored right now. OMG YOU CAN FREEZE IT THANK HEAVEN.]

This is me scooping out all the fuckin seaweed that entirely took over the soup 😅😅😅😅😅😅

Remember how I said there was half as much lotus root? Yeah, this is seaweed soup with a hint of pork now. Good luck finding any slices of lotus root.

I had also assumed that this seaweed would be salted (the packaging was NOT in English, but honestly I can't blame the label for this). I had certainly added what I thought was already a generous amount of salt but let's remind ourselves that I am barely a cook by any means. This girl doesn't know shit about how much salt should go into 12 quarts of water to add enough taste. I did go heavy on the goji berries though.

This resulted in the broth being mainly pork and goji berry water :/ if I'd had the motivation to go out and buy fresh ginger and remembered the scallion I'm sure it would've been better (and more salt obviously), but hopefully I'll be in better spirits next time I make an attempt. I learned a lot from this one.

The one thing I am proud of though?

Look at how clear that broth is. The oily bubbles are from the meat, and I also apologize I don't know if it's my phone's camera or my photography skills, but if it doesn't look clear to you I promise it does irl! I didn't use any of the cooking wine or soaking the meat with the ginger like @of-sevenseas suggested, but just by following the process in the recipe and making extra sure I washed the meat well this time, it seemed to work out!

Lessons learned:

Making soup while having a bad mental illness day is not a failed endeavor, but watch out.

Don't do this without ginger. What are you doing. That soup is wet stuff in hot water.

ADD MORE SALT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, YOU CANNOT BE THIS WHITE.

Read the recipe including measurements. Cooking is, of course, more improvisational than baking, but there's a reason we follow guidelines. Especially when we're rookies, still.

Next time we're gonna try the cooking wine and ginger thing with the meat. It sounds like an adventure.

Celebrate your wins!!!! I did have a success in this attempt!

I also did very well keeping the cat away from this whole 7 hour process, which is the greatest success of all.

(Obligatory kitty pic, since I mentioned her. Meet Lucy everyone. She's hiding under my blankets from the loud scary generator outside my window.)

[tophsazulas]

You mentioned somewhere that Donna is annoying you lately, so I'd love to know what you'd most want to change about how the character was written (and/or acted). Based on how she's described, I expected to adore Donna. In theory, Donna should be one of my favorite characters of all time, but in reality I range from being just "she's fine" to outright dislike (mostly past season 2!) It's so disappointing because I wanted so much to love her and to buy into her and Eric as an iconic couple, but I ended up hoping Eric would find someone else.

Yes! I mentioned it here.

Gonna put this under read more just in case.

When it comes to Donna, my issue is when it comes to her relationship with Eric. Both of them are flawed and make mistakes, but the difference is that Eric is always called out in canon and always held accountable, even for shit that isn't even his fault.

Whereas Donna almost never got that luxury. In season 1-2, I have no issue with how she's written, aside from the fact that her sisters were retconned. But after that, it's so much worse.

In "Eric's Panties", I can't get over how trusting Donna was of Eric until Jackie stuck her nose in. But my main issue is Donna's reaction. Like why is she even listening to Jackie in the first place? The only relationship she ever had was with a guy who cheated on her several times and would constantly pressure her into sex. She's not exactly the relationship expert. Even Hyde was defending Eric, and Donna still humiliated Eric and Shelly. And didn't even apologize! There's also the adding fact that even she believes Eric was lucky enough to be with her and boy did it show.

And then there was "The Backstage Pass" where Donna ditches Eric and doesn't even TELL him she's going to meet with Ted Nugent. Not only that, but she somehow believes that trust and honest communication only applies when two people are married? Then there's the cherry on top where she says she isn't sorry. Like wtf. If I were Eric, I would've broken up with her right there.

Don't even get me started on season 4. But my issue isn't even how Donna acted because I get it. I actually think in terms of writing, that's one of her strongest seasons. But it's the fact Eric is just Donna's doormat and he just...takes it. Aside from "Bye Bye Basement", Eric literally never claps back. She has so many more opportunities whereas Eric is the "loser".

In season 5, she seems fine from what I've seen sans her initial reaction to JH, but their attitudes about her relationship with Eric are no better and this goes on for seasons on seasons, so I'm not as mad.

Then there's season 6, where she gets mad at Eric for having fun with Jackie. Like Donna has a right to be upset that he tried to get out of it with her, but shouldn't she be happy that he did end up having a good time? Yet she's upset that her plan to make Eric miserable backfired and somehow he has to be the one to run after her. Her being like 'ugh' is a human reaction, but idk. They just should not have rushed the wedding and should've had a long engagement.

Also her saying they shouldn't have sex before their wedding because it would make it "less magical" is weird. I get what she's saying, like having a clean break. But like them not having sex for a bit and then doing it after marriage doesn't really do anything if you look at it from a logical standpoint.

Then there was her reaction to Eric dating Chloe while they were broken up and she was dating Casey. Like accusing him of cheating and somehow the mere possibility of them having being revolting?? Don't even get me started on her slut shaming Chloe. I've noticed this habit of her (and Jackie) slut shaming every woman they hate. And it can't be a coincidence that all the women Donna shamed are blonde (a pattern I noticed is that it's mostly blondes getting put down) but anyways.

I'm also very disappointed in her season 7 arc, with her and Eric stuck in this going nowhere fuck buddy relationship. Idc what anyone says, they were NOT dating this season. They called themselves 'bf/gf', yet didn't do ANY of the things people do in relationships. And then there was her reaction to Eric going to Africa. Which, her being upset makes sense. Her boyfriend is going to be on another continent. But her and Kitty teaming up to stop him from going is so selfish.

Donna herself even mentioned maybe wanting to travel, but when Eric does it, she's mad? And her being upset he "didn't include" her is ridiculous given that she walked out before Eric could even do so.

Also the fact that she, herself, post s2, seemed to believe Eric was lucky to be with her. Guess everyone's bs got to her head. And Red's bs advice got to Eric's head in s2 and so did everyone's comments after that. Even his own brother believed that Eric was lucky to be with Donna. It's so disappointing and he deserved better.

[kaphyr]

Making Shigaraki Make Sense

Is anyone else confused by the “character” Shigaraki not his disjointed philosophy or whatever? I literally don’t get what’s going on as a writer. He’s confusing and I have no idea how to write him into a fic - and honestly, there are barely any Shigaraki-centric fics I like out there. 

(If you have any thoughts on Shigaraki’s character or recs for Shigaraki-centric fics (preferably ShigarakixIzuku) do leave them in the comments/DM me :D )

However! I found a solution - basically, I stopped being lazy and actually did the thing I normally do when writing a book: a Character Sheet!

Essentially, the way that I understand Shigaraki (by which I mean I don’t) didn’t gel with the story I was making or the relationships I was building, so, I figured I would build him from the ground up!

Which meant research. Ew.

First things first, I kept his physical description though I gave him scars where he got shot during the USJ arc. But since I don’t know what exactly he’s got going on with his skin, I thought I might explain it as a mixture of conditions: being extra dry (Catching UFOs by mrjengablock - which I just started reading - talks about how that might be helping him have direct contact with objects without oils/sweat getting in the way), stress-induced eczema, and a very mild dust allergy (lol). Also, I’m not leaving him like that just because! I’m doing that to show how little he cares for appearances (based on societal expectations) as well as not caring about the pain or even thinking that’s just how his life has to be for him.

Enter Izuku!

Izuku helps him take care of himself, buying him eczema cream, washing and styling his hair, and getting him petroleum jelly (which I assume would be the least painful and least likely to react badly with his cuts). This is how I can show that Shigaraki can compromise and does consider Izuku’s opinion and shit. 

Second: Shigaraki’s personality.

I basically used what was on the BNHA wiki but added that he cares about Izuku and that he gets less irritable as time goes on. He also feels proud when Izuku says/does things that go against the hero status quo. He also changes from believing in chaos for the sake of chaos and being directionless under AFO (seeing as in my fic AFO is dead).

Third: Shigaraki’s relationships

I did a lot of changes here, the most notable one being his relationship with Izuku. As Izuku didn’t go to UA, they didn’t meet until Izuku was 20 and they had a couple of one-night-stands that devolved into the mess of a labelless thing they have rn. Think open relationship with someone you’re constantly arguing with but would die for. 

Since LoV isn’t exactly a thing, rn, Shigaraki only has close contact with Dabi and Kurogiri. He still has a master/servant relationship with Kurogiri - actually, it is more pronounced here than in canon because AFO is dead so Shigaraki is his only boss. Dabi hangs around the bar and still works with him as muscle, tech guy, and a friend. He split up with Toga on good terms (this will become relevant later in my fic). He’ll meet Spinner online and they’ll bond over gaming. I think I’ll have him radicalize Spinner. We’ll see. As for AFO, he slowly realizes how AFO was just using him, moulding him.

Fourth: Shigaraki’s past.

It’s the same, lol. Except I’m pushing the USJ and training in the mountains arc to Katsuki’s last year in UA. Additionally, AFO and OFA die after his kidnapping.

Fifth: Shigaraki’s political ideology.

BNHA is inherently highly political and I don’t know why I’m surprised it’s such a letdown when it tries not to be. Honestly, some of my biggest gripes are right here. It’s trying to make Shigaraki an “anarchist” the way that the West colloquially understands them to be. (He wants to end society as it is and believes “the strong should live, the weak should die, and I am strong”.) Which. I can’t explain how much I find that annoying. In canon, he’s just an annoying manchild who can’t even take his thoughts to their logical conclusion. Dude, if you hate the fact that you were overlooked in a world where there are heroes and you suffered greatly, what do you think will happen to all the children in the world if you destroy it!?!!?!!

Anyways.

I’m not saying it’s unrealistic to make him this destructive while also making his grievances and actions clash - but it does make him stupid. Or willfully ignorant. And I don’t think he should be. He’s strong, he’s charismatic (in his own ways) and he already has a bunch of negative qualities (stubbornness, bad temper, etc.); he doesn’t need this.

So, instead, I’m making him start off with the same ideology except it’s going to get refined with AFO no longer controlling him and Izuku being in his life. I don’t wanna spoil too much but I’m thinking terrorism/stochastic terrorisim, using social media, (political) tailing (i.e. using other political movements to build your own), espionage, etc. All of it to expose how the hero system is corrupt, corrupted, and unnecessary and to find other ways for people to live the life they want to live no matter their quirk. Basically telling a story where you can imagine that he sees himself as the hero of his own story instead of an unthinking villain.

Would love to hear anyone’s thoughts on this. BTW, I found Lots of Thoughts about MHA by  sarehptar (Tumblr post version) to be a great resource when I was just staring to think about my BNHA fic: The Long Defeat.

[venomgaia]

A mutual acquaintance wants to try getting one of those fancy pens, got any suggestions for newcomers?

Absolutely!

Despite me always pining for the super pricy fancy pens, some of the best pens you can own imo are less than $20 USD off the bat, and while the "nicer" ones out there are. over that price, you don't really need that to get a really good first experience. I'll offer some super easy pens, some more intermediate pens, and some inks! This is going to be a long ride, so buckle up!

If you don't know where to start and are intimidated by bottled ink and instead want a pen that can write right away, I recommend the Pilot Varsity! You can get them at Michaels here in the US, and theyre slowly becoming more popular in retail shops like Walmart.

Classic steel nib, not much flex because it's steel, but it writes pretty sturdily. I really like that it comes in different colors. They're disposable, so if you don't like them then you dont gotta keep 'em, and if you bust the nib by accident (we all have at least once), you aren't going to have to sell a kidney to replace it like you might need to with pricier pens.

If you want a pen you can put ink cartridges into, or just want a good workhorse of a pen, i HIGHLY recommend the Platinum Preppy. The one I own was $14 USD and came with a cartridge of water soluble black ink. For $4 USD, I got 4 cartridges of Platinum's Carbon Black ink, which is waterproof and smooth! Very versatile!

I REALLY like this one. Ive never had the ink dry out even when i had tucked away for like a month, and if you ever want to use it with bottled ink, you can get a Platinum converter and use whatever fountain pen safe ink you dream of :] This pen only comes in F as far as I know (which is a western EF), but the chinese market has a version called the Platinum Meteor that comes in EF and has a cute shooting star on the nib :] Back when I started writing this I had lost mine for like a month but just found it and it wrote just fine the second i opened it up. The only thing I DISLIKE is that the converter cartridges are sold separately and you HAVE to buy platinum brand for this pen. I already have two bc of my other platinum pens, but. Yanno. Its still annoying to HAVE to do that.

Similarly, the Kaküno is fantastic! all the above statements, but it has the added benefit of having a cute face on the nib as well as some cute collabs sometimes :] They're also about $14-$16 USD. They take Pilot cartridges in various colors, which are $3-$4 USD and Pilot converters.

I highly recommend the platinum preppy for the full fountain pen experience! It's not mega-expensive as pens go, so if you dont like it you havent sunk hundreds of dollars into a tool.

Lamy is having quality control issues that no one seems to want to contest because of their popularity, and the recent "no bro its totally the same color as the old popular one trust me" ink fiasco. TWSBI is another brand thats normally recommended and while theyre good pens, theyre shitheads as a company and like to use their muscle to bully both retailers and also smaller pen companies. I dont recommend either brand right now.

NOW, ONTO INK AND PAPER:

Your nib, paper, and ink are pretty important. fountain pens dont like rough paper, but they handle it better the larger they are (M, B). Dry inks will not always play nice in fine pens (Ef, F), and an EF pen will eat the shit out of rough paper and can get clogged. If you can get your hands on Rhodia paper to practice, good! If not most sketchbooks will tolerate F pens in my experience. Stillman and Birn are my workhorse sketchbooks and the pens work fine in all of their paper styles, but Hobby Lobby's sketchbooks also handle it well, as do BLICK's colorful leather sketchbooks. Don't Buy Moleskine. If you want to get really good ink effects (ie, you bought an ink with glitter or it has some cool effect like sheening or shading), tomoe river paper is hailed as the gold standard, but you can get similar effects on Rhodia or Clairfontaine paper, which afaik is easier to get ahold of overseas (cant speak for other countries on the US continent, but I will say I saw more clairfontaine in france than here on the us).

NOW FOR INK. my favorite part :] :

For both Waterproof and Black ink, i recommend Platinum's Carbon Black. I think it's pigment-based, unlike most dye-based inks, so it can be tough to clean out of your pen if it dries, but its noting a lil soap and water cant fix :3 It's benefit is that it comes in cartridges usable with platinum pens, so you dont need a whole bottle if you dont want one.

For color inks, I really like Pilot's Iroshizuku line. It is a WET ink and is not waterproof, but they come in cool bottles and pretty colors. I own Ajisai, Shinkai, and samples of Momiji, Murasaki Shikibu, Chikurin, Kosumosu, and Asagao. I use them both to sketch AND to color things and write. My workhorse non-waterproof color, the one i draw most in, is the Sailor Studio 343, but the sailor manyo line is also great! If you like and/or miss scented inks, De Atramentis has a line of them!

Be careful with inks that have glitter. I own the J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor and its glorious but if you leave it in your pen...thousands soaks hell attack. That being said if it would entice you, treat yourself to a fun and shiny ink! I have Colorverse Scorpii Glistening and its really pretty! Diamine has an excellent range that are easier on your pen but I dont have experience with them ngl.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE SHOULD YOU BUY ANYTHING FROM NOODLERS. aside from having a shithead of a company leader, their inks are actually pretty volatile and can blow up both vintage and modern pens and im speaking from experience even though I used to use their eel bulletproof black and a waterproof blue one. I ended up using the blue ink to dye a cu chulainn wig darker for a wip alter cu cosplay. the last ink i bought, Tchaikovsky, also had a strange and suspicious stank about it.

Buying inks in bottles can be super expensive, but Goulet Pens sells 2ml samples that you can buy a shitload of and try them all out! I try to get new samples on the rare occasion when i need a new bottle of my favorites :> I'll probably buy a full bottle of Sailor Nekoyanagi, Pilot Iroshizuku Chikurin, or Diamine Writer's Blood next.

I hope this helps! I had to edit it a few times over the course of the past few weeks bc i went on an entire tangent about bootleg pens I like and uh. realized thats both overly complicated for the base question/bootleg pens tend to need tweaking to work nice. that being said, i'll say it quickly: buying lil nibs from aliexpress has actually worked pretty well for me n my tswbi knockoff (lanbitou 3059) has a fude nib i got that's bent to allow brushlike strokes! but I donmt recommend it for a first pen bc it required some grease and a nib tweak upon purchase and dries p easily bc of the cap.

[kai-kurono]

How Dol characters would react to you crying because you lost your bestfriend

Disclaimer!!! When I said lost, I mean they ended the friendship with you.

GN! characters x GN! PC

(I’m assuming you would be dating the character Love Interests)

Under a cut because I added almost all the characters

Robin would try to comfort you the most. They would go easy on you when playing video games and would offer to take you out on dates. They wouldn’t want know what to do. They’d hang out more often with you and tell you that nothing was your fault and that it was the other persons lost

Kylar would act like they are sad with you, but they are actually very happy. It means they get to have you even more and doesn’t need to share you with your ‘bestfriend’. At the same time, they are mad at whoever made you feel sad and made you cry. Would start to threaten them. It doesn’t matter if that best friend was Sydney or Robin, they will never let them live a happy life anymore

Sydney the Faithful would tell you that everything is alright and tell you that “That friend must have a fake one if they ended your friendship like that. You are a person the deserves someone better”. They would pray for you to have a new bestfriend that will always be there for you. Sydney the Fallen would immediately start cussing them out (Not in front of the person, of course, but they’ll start to cuss them out in front of you to make you see that they are just as mad as you are). They would pray for the downfall of that person. 

Whitney is a bitch that don’t give a fuck about it. Well, that is what they are trying to act like...Kinda. They really didn’t give a fuck about it, but subconsciously did. Do they comfort you? No. Do they do anything about the situation? Yes, but you don’t know about. They would  subconsciously bully them. Maybe punch the person a few times and glare at them, but they don’t even realize that they are doing it because they kinda care about you

Avery will get annoyed if it keeps interfering with how you act during dates. If you only show that you are sad about it when you guys aren’t on public dates then depending on their love they might spoil you even more than the usually do. If they are at High Love they can take you out to shopping and let you buy whatever or they might give you a fuck ton of gifts. Low love Avery would give you money and tell you to buy something and to cheer up by the next date or else. They also won’t give a fuck

Alex is honestly confused. You can’t expect a country girl/boy to know anything. Their best friend is literally one of the horses (So the only type of losing a friend they know is if the friend dies). They’ll put some of their chores aside to comfort you. Maybe they’ll put on a date, other than that, they won’t really do much

Eden would take this as another good reason to why you should stay at the cabin. “You don’t have to worry about that here” they would tell you. Likes the fact that there is one less person that hangs out with you. Would they hurt the person? No. Will the comfort you? Well they can hug you and listen, but not really say anything to comfort you 

Great Hawk would be confused no matter what. You can explain to them about losing a friend all you want, they will never understand. Your best bet would be to tell them you are sad, Then they will finally start to comfort you. “I am here for Husband/wife” they would say as the hug you and cover you with their wings

Black Wolf would also get confused. They would compare you situation with losing a pack member. “Friend is a fool, leaving is no good. You stay here with rest of Pack.” Doesn’t know how to comfort you. If you cry, they will just stare. Since you are their mate, you can sit down and cry next to them, just don’t expect to get comforted at all

Remy won’t give a fuck. If it’s riding school Remy, they don’t give a shit. Why would they? You are just another student in their eyes. If it’s farm Remy, they also don’t care. Even if you are the favorite/best animal there, they don’t give a shit. “Unless your bestfriend is some animal at the farm, I don’t know what you want me to fucking do. Why the fuck do you have a best friend?” A Harsh truth, I know

Morgan would tell you “See, this is why you need to stay with me. I will never leave you, so why don’t you come back <3″. Other than that, they would comfort you as if you were their child who lost a friend. Honestly pretty shit at comforting though, they won’t really do much

Bailey ain’t going to give a shit. They’ll get mad at you for even telling them because they could care less about it. You are just annoying them. Might make your rent a little higher if you keep annoying them. Would yell at you and make it worse. “Go tell Robin and get the fuck out of my Office”. It’s the harsh truth

Leighton would either act in 2 different ways. If the best friend is a student, then they’ll pretend that they don’t care and secretly punish the friend. (The type of punishment is a secret). If the friend ain’t a student, then what do you want them to do? They ain’t going to comfort you and they ain’t going to do anything. This is the Harsh Truth

Briar is going to tell you to stop telling them about it because they don’t give a fuck. You work for them, you aren’t buddy-buddy with them. They do not care about you enough to comfort you. “How sad, PC. That’s how life is, get use to it. Are you going to go work now?” It’s the Harsh truth

Darryl wouldn’t let you work at all! They’ll ask to talk to you instead. (You’ll get paid though) They will be very understanding and would try to comfort you and give you advice. They’ll let you get a free drink to feel better. They would want to help you just like how you (hopefully) helped them

Doren would let you vent about it during school breaks in their class room or after school in their apartment. If your friend was someone who attends the school, Doren would act more strict with them. Other than that, They can’t really do much. 

River wouldn’t do anything in school. They would try talking to you about it at the Soup kitchen, but they would mostly listen to what you have say while they work on whatever Soup kitchens do.  

Sirris would comfort you. They’ll let you use their shoulder to cry on, make Sydney do all the work at the shop while they talk to you in the back. If that friend is a student, Sirris is giving them hell in class. You are their favorite student. *insert wink*

Mason would tell you that swimming will help you feel better. They would tell you to meet them at the lake and they’ll help you there. Does it work? Depends on the type of person you are. We all know Mason is young, they are definitely going to act like a teenager listening to gossip 

Wren found it amusing. “Well PC, you can always be with my friends and I. Don’t see why you need anyone else” *cue all their friends agreeing*. Would make everyone leave the place for like 10 minutes and let you rant about how you feel. “Well PC, That never happens with the idiots around me, but good luck. Wanna play Black Jack again?” 

Gwylan would let you into their shop and follow them around as they take care of the place. The place isn’t busy because almost nobody comes in, so they can very easily stop what they are doing to go up to you and comfort you. If you need someone to listen or talk to, they are the person!

Landry would just say “I can have something done to them. Just get me my box that is lost at *insert place* and I can have it done.” or “If you want to kill them or something like that, I can help cover your tracks”. Then after explaining that No, you don’t want them dead, they will say “Oh...Did you want me to comfort you? Sorry to break the news, but I can’t really help you now”

Charlie would ask you to talk to them about it after class, when they aren’t busy. Would dance with you while the sad music plays in the background. “Let it all out with a dance, my dear PC”. Would get more emotional than you while dancing.

Harper would take this as a chance to get you to make more appointments with them. They'll clear their appointments to make more time with you. If you are at the mental hospital, this gives Harper an excuse for some special things

Can you guess what I’m going through? Lol