#and like... hate them SO much because of their impact on education

[pearl-kite]

Okay, so as a teacher I hate Pears0n on principle, BUT, they have a ton of openings listed for in-office in Montana that no one has applied to in 3 weeks and 3 months and other extended periods of time, I think I might actually have a chance

[astrosamara]

Astrology Observations #3

🩵Venus in 8th tend to not date until later in life because love and relationships are serious to them. When they do get into a relationship, it can end up transforming them entirely. Saturn aspecting Venus can cause even further delays in romance.

🩵Mars in Leo rarely show their anger. It's not that they don't get angry, but they feel much too proud to let others know they're angry. I feel like people would assume all fire mars are quick and prone to anger, but I've rarely seen Mars in Leo get angry.

🩵I've met so many Sagittarius risings that have lived incredibly difficult lives with dark pasts. This usually surprises me since they're ruled by Jupiter. I wonder if it has something to do with their Scorpio 12th house?

🩵Sun in 7th are very non-confrontational people. They tend to be people pleasers who prefer being passive in conflict. They can struggle a lot with caring about what others think and because of that, they can struggle with expressing themselves genuinely and without fear of judgement.

🩵Pluto in your chart can show where you'll experience the greatest transformation in your life. I have Pluto in the 9th and higher education, spirituality, and traveling have deeply impacted my life the most. With Pluto energy though, this transformation tends to come through very dark and challenging periods.

🩵Pisces placements can spend so much time alone and not be bothered at all. In fact, their alone time is sacred to them. They're the type to get happy when plans are canceled.

🩵8th house stelliums are prone to heavy depression throughout their life due to how tapped in they are to the darker aspects of life. There's an unavoidable intensity and deepness to them. This familiarity with darkness can build this incredible resilience to get them through anything life throws their way. A lot of people with this stellium are drawn to spirituality as well, due to this interest in what is "hidden" from us.

🩵Capricorn placements are so blunt and their dry humor is my favorite. They have this no bullshit tell it how I see it energy to them that my Scorpio self loves. Capricorn humor is so underrated imo.

🩵Gemini moons and especially suns seem to know so many people and have so many connections. I feel like they're just naturally friendly and sociable. Even if they're introverted, they have this natural talent for communicating with others.

🩵Aquarius women have an otherworldly beauty to them. They look like beautiful mythical creatures. Their appearance is so unique and captivating. They also tend to have a style that stands out from the crowd in some way.

🩵Sagittarius MC/Jupiter in 10th dream of a career that can provide them freedom and opportunity. They're not meant for a traditional career at all and if they do have this type of career, it can really affect them negatively. Traveling can be prominent with this placement.

🩵Jupiter in 2nd/8th can have a lot of success with money in this lifetime. This is the creating generational wealth placement. Ofc with any placement, the sign it's in and aspects to Jupiter can be a stronger indicator of how this money comes in and how challenging the process is.

🩵Scorpio and Aquarius placements hate authority and restriction. They want to live their life their own way without anyone telling them what to do. They're the true rebels of the zodiac.

🩵Jupiter conjunct Ascendant/Jupiter in 1st can feel naturally lucky. They seem to get out of issues easily and have a very abundant and optimistic approach to life, even during times they feel like they've hit rock bottom. They don't linger in pessimism for too long because they see the bigger picture easier than most.

[alienssstufff]

Hey so, tomorrow (or today depending on where you live.) is the end of the strike and well hate to be bearer of bad news but rest and doodles isn't assured when you return to regular posting. In literally TWO days from now, a new bill will pass called the KOSA bill, and it will cause MASS CENSIRSHIP across the media! Now this bill claims to "protect kids" but in actually it will cause more harm than good to everyone since kids won't have readily availible acess (or even at all) to content that can actually help them, people would not be able to educate themselves as access to some information or topics would be deemed "innapropriate", freedom of expression would be revoked especially lgbtqia people, a lot, privacy wouldn't be respected because you would have to verify yourself, and most importantly fandoms would cease to exist (or at least have trouble existing).

Now what can you do to help? Research on the topic, inform your government, friends, and family, and sign petitions against KOSA. Now some of these are optional only if you can't do them, but's what important is that YOU SPREAD INFORMATION AGAINST KOSA.

Yes AND passing this bill would greatly affect protests and spreading awareness such as this now. Time and time again the US has made it clear they are not with Palestine. Like if the US was allowed to post pro-isreal ads in the superbowl WHILE isreal was bombing Rafah, imagine how much worse the propaganda will get if this bill is passed.

I’m leaving a link that explains it pretty well. Source has a copypaste form +number you can fill out to send to your lawmakers.

If you are able to call said lawmakers, here is also a script in suggestions on what to say on call - written in target of democratic lawmakers (left image) and republican lawmakers (right image) respectively [ credit : swopusa (twt) ]

[ CONTACT SENATE 202-224-3121 ]

While KOSA is a bill specifically introduced to the United States, knowing how much influence the US has on the internet - passing this bill would by proxy impacts EVERYONE

2 Days. It is crucial that this bill does not pass.

[tangibletechnomancy]

Neural Nets, Walled Gardens, and Positive Vibes Only

the crystal spire at the center of the techno-utopian walled garden

Anyone who knows or even just follows me knows that as much as I love neural nets, I'm far from being a fan of AI as a corporate fad. Despite this, I am willing to use big-name fad-chasing tools...sometimes, particularly on a free basis. My reasons for this are twofold:

Many people don't realize this, but these tools are more expensive for the companies to operate than they earn from increased interest in the technology. Using many of these free tools can, in fact, be the opposite of "support" at this time. Corporate AI is dying, use it to kill it faster!

You can't give a full, educated critique of something's flaws and failings without engaging with it yourself, and I fully intend to rip Dall-E 3, or more accurately the companies behind it, a whole new asshole - so I want it to be a fair, nuanced, and most importantly personally informed new asshole.

Now, much has already been said about the biases inherent to current AI models. This isn't a problem exclusive to closed-source corporate models; any model is only as good as its dataset, and it turns out that people across the whole wide internet are...pretty biased. Most major models right now, trained primarily on the English-language internet, present a very western point of view - treating young conventionally attractive white people as a default at best, and presenting blatantly misinformative stereotypes at worst. While awareness of the issue can turn it into a valuable tool to study those biases and how they intertwine, the marketing and hype around AI combined with the popular idea that computers can't possibly be biased tends to make it so they're likely to perpetuate them instead.

This problem only gets magnified when introduced to my mortal enemy-

If I never see this FUCKING dog again it will be too soon-

Content filters.

Theoretically, content filters exist to prevent some of the worst-faith uses of AI - deepfakes, true plagiarism and forgery, sexual exploitation, and more. In practice, many of them block anything that can be remotely construed as potentially sexual, violent, or even negative in any way. Frequently banned subjects include artistic nudity or even partial nudity, fight scenes, anything even remotely adjacent to horror, and still more.

The problems with this expand fractally.

While the belief that AI is capable of supplanting all other art forms, let alone should do so, is...far less widespread among its users than the more reactionary subset of its critics seem to believe (and in fact arguably less common among AI users than non-users in the first place; see again: you cannot give a full, educated critique of something's failings without engaging with it yourself), it's not nonexistent - and the business majors who have rarely if ever engaged with other forms of art, who make up a good percentage of the executives of these companies, often do fall on that side, or at least claim to in order to make more sales (but let's keep the lid on that can of worms for now).

When this ties to existing online censorship issues, such as a billionaire manchild taking over Twitter to "help humanity" (read: boost US far-right voices and promote and/or redefine hate speech), or arcane algorithms on TikTok determining what to boost and deboost leading to proliferation of neologisms to soften and obfuscate "sensitive" subjects (of which "unalive" is frequently considered emblematic), including such horrible, traumatizing things as...the existence of fat people, disabled people, and queer people (where the censorship is claimed to be for their benefit, no less!), the potential impact is apparent: while the end goal is impossible, in part because AI is not, in fact, capable of supplanting all other forms of art, what we're seeing is yet another part of a continuing, ever more aggressive push for sanitizing what kinds of ideas people can express at all, with the law looking to only make it worse rather than better through bills such as KOSA (which you can sign a petition against here).

And just like the other forms of censorship before and alongside it, AI content filtering targets the most vulnerable in society far more readily than it targets those looking to harm them. The filters have no idea what makes something an expression of a marginalized identity vs. what makes it a derogatory statement against that group, or an attempt at creating superficially safe-for-work fetish art - so, they frequently err on the side of removing anything uncertain. Boys in skirts and dresses are frequently blocked, presumably because they're taken for fetish art. Results of prompts about sadness or loneliness are frequently blocked, presumably because they may promote self harm, somehow. In my (admittedly limited) experiment, attempts at generating dark-skinned characters were blocked more frequently than attempts at generating light-skinned ones, presumably because the filter decided that it was racist to [checks notes] ...acknowledge that a character has a different skin tone than the default white characters it wanted to give me. Facial and limb differences are often either erased from results, or blocked presumably on suspicion of "violent content".

But note that I say "presumably" - the error message doesn't say on what grounds the detected images are "unsafe". Users are left only to speculate on what grounds we're being warned.

But what makes censorship of AI generated work even more alarming, in the context of the executive belief that it can render all other art forms obsolete, is that other forms of censorship only target where a person can say such earth-shaking, controversial things as "I am disabled and I like existing" or "I am happy being queer" or "mental health is important" or "I survived a violent crime" - you can be prevented from posting it on TikTok, but not from saying it to a friend next to you, let alone your therapist. AI content filtering, on the other hand, aims to prevent you from expressing it at all.

This becomes particularly alarming when you recall one of the most valuable use cases for AI generation: enabling disabled people to express themselves more clearly, or in new forms. Most people can find other workarounds in the form of more conventional, manual modes of expression, sure, but no amount of desperation can reverse hand paralysis that prevents a person from holding a pen, nor a traumatic brain injury or mental disability that blocks them from speaking or writing in a way that's easy to understand. And who is one of the most frequently censored groups? Disabled people.

So, my question to Bing and OpenAI is this: in what FUCKING universe is banning me from expressing my very existence "protecting" me?

Bad dog! Stop breaking my shit and get the FUCK out of my way!

Generated as a gift for a friend who was even more frustrated with that FUCKING dog than I was

All images - except the FUCKING dog - generated with Dall-E 3 via Bing Image Creator, under the Code of Ethics of Are We Art Yet?

[envy-of-the-apple]

That what if when ms. moon already has a family but has to leave because of him is so HEARTBREAKING. Imagine moving on from a tramatic situation, meeting the love of your life, having a wonderful kid for all that to just get squashed in a instant. That literally had me about to tear up but imagine her kid was a bit older lets say like 10 (i know the math doesnt add up well with the timeline but its a what if)and then she just has to leave, that alone would greatly negatively impact the kid, just leaving a lasting mark. Maybe the kid would remember gojo’s face and resent him for the rest of their life.

The husband thing is equally as sad because I imagine ms.moon as shes about to leave crying and whispering how much she loves him and that shes so sorry. (Bonus heartbreak points they all breakdown as shes about to leave and she cant even hug or kiss them goodbye because shes being watched). After this incident ms.moon’s pervious family completes spiral down the drain and moon’s mental state goes down the drain with it

In conclusion amazing story but that shit was sad as fuck but I still eat it up with silverware and all

(merging multiple SEM asks cuz i feel so guilty for clogging up ppls dashes lmao)

ughhhh anytime kids are involved it just gets way more depressing, right? It think age 8-10 is like the worst time for this to this to happen because the kid can understand little, but not enough to get the whole picture.

The kid knows that their mom is leaving, but they aren't seeing the wavering tears in Ms.moon's eyes, the shaky hands, as you hug them for the last time. All that they can see is the fancy new car your new lover sits in. The grand ring that sits on your finger. Yeah, your kid will hate gojo for ripping apart your family.

But they'll hate you more, considering you're running off with a man who has more money than their father.

I think the only upside is that gojo might not bat an eye if you send money back to your family, keeping them comfortable. With enough pleading, he might pull a few string to get your kid into a good school. With your indirect help, your kid will have the best education and prosperity. Them resenting you is a pretty small price to pay, right?

in the fic, the case took about three weeks, so it took three weeks for gojo to just snap.

He would definetly try to toy with ms.moon for as long as he can. Despite claiming that he forgave ms.moon, he does carry a tiny bit of resentment. It's kind of a punishment, in that sense.

And honestly the moment he figures out you who are, I doubt you'd have a chance to run anymore. The reason why Ms.moon was able to 'get away' the first time was because gojo was still a teenager, hier of the gojo conglomerate, but still not powerful yet. Now, he has tons of resources available for him. You're not getting away lmao, I think that's why he's so much at ease this time around.

I never really considered the family's response. their reactions is something I'm not really interested in exploring. i don't think they got any characterization other than 'housewife mom' and 'dad who works'. I don't really think ms.moon would even mention gojo's torment to them. It'd be embarrassing, knowing that some kid the same age as you is just lording over your life, right? I did mention that Gojo confronts your family in EKM, but I don't like that addition now, so I'm retconning it. I feel like they'd find out just like everyone else did: From the media. Everyone in your little town knew who the Gojo was, but the fact that their kid is getting married to one of them has so be surprising.

But then again, not something im interested in exploring

If Gojo had managed to find Ms. Moon before, things would certainly have been much different. The gojo now has 'cooled down' and is far less volatile. If they had met again, if they were in their early twenties....things would not be much different from his high school counterpart.

[alwaysbewoke]

AITA for telling my ex wife I don't care if she and her family starve that I am just responsible for our sons?

I have two sons ages 16 and 14 with my ex-wife. Our marriage reached a bitter end when I learned she had remained married to me for over three years so I would support her through returning to school so she could switch careers to an even better paying one, despite her old one paying as much as mine. For years I tried like hell to save our marriage because I felt it fracture. She played along until she got what she wanted and then she was honest that she had never wanted to save our marriage and had been over me for years. When we divorced custody was set to 50/50 of our boys and she was ordered to pay child support to me because she was making so much more after her change of career and education. She remarried a year after our divorce and had more children. After the birth of her last child four years ago things got bad. Her husband was diagnosed with cancer, then one of her kids got diagnosed with a long term medical condition, then Covid impacted her job. Our boys would tell me how rough things were at their mom's and how they wanted to live more with me, so I went to court and the judged moved her down to every other weekend and changed the child support order to reflect her decrease in custody. Recently she had to move into a smaller house because of how badly they were struggling and then she came to me for help after the courts refused to end the child support payments. She told me I needed to help her and that I should be helping to take care of my boys family, and that's what she and her family are. I told her she used me for three fucking years so she could survive off my money, she did not get to ask me for more, to support a family that is not my own. She called me a selfish asshole. Told me her family is living off charity and they could be so much better off if I would help them. I asked her why I was supposed to care. She told me she wished she had cheated while we were together and that using me for money wasn't enough. Again she told me about her family and how they would starve. I told her I didn't care if they did or not. That none of them are my problem and I only care about my kids. She called me an asshole. Her husband sent me a text that night saying I was a cruel asshole and he hoped the boys would hate me when they realize I want their whole family to suffer.

[blues824]

The remarried empress with a female Scaramouche.

💙Her falling out of the sky and and being found by sovieshit.

🖤How would everyone react to her being a doll that was created by a goddess who she has mommy issues with because she didn't give her her birth right (if I was correct it was his heart. )

💙Her being over 500 years old and holding grudges against humans and now is in a world that she doesn't know about doesn't help her especially sovieshit and rattrash doesn't help her hatred towards humanity.

🖤Her becoming a lady in court who has a enormous attitude towards people but still respect because of her status as a person created by the gods .

💙She does not need to eat drink or sleep making them panic at first but she do not need the things humans need to survive.

🖤What would they think of her outfit (I love Scaramouche his hat ngl ) and her ability to fly.

(Like I said I'm still new to genshin impact so if I made a mistake feel free to correct)

The story of Scaramouche is high-key sad, not gonna lie. This one is just three characters: Sovieshu, Rashta, Navier.

Sovieshu

He had met you after Navier took you in, and to say that he thought you were beyond childish would be an understatement. You clung to his wife as though she were your mother, and he got feelings of jealousy out of nowhere. You even said that he was stupid for abandoning her for that ugly woman that he calls his ‘mistress’.

From that point, your relationship just went downhill from there. You had a more popular and agreeable reputation as a creation by the gods themselves, so you were in a place of power. He could see that you used it to your advantage, and you made your hate for the Emperor public. But, under the order of the High Priest, the worst he could do was lock you in your room. Best not to anger the gods, after all.

Any attempts to try and find out anything about you were all in vain, as you were not a citizen from this world. You weren’t even human. You’re a doll that’s sentient. You were able to be mean to anyone and not suffer any questions. You were untouchable, to say the least. All he knew was that you probably had a bad experience with both gods and humans because of your distaste for them.

Rashta

She was very excited when she heard that someone new would be joining the palace, but less excited when she found out that it was because Navier had found you. So, she had her claws in you already… She honestly thought that the Empress was taking advantage of your status as a ‘creation of the gods’. 

This feeling was especially apparent when you said something about how she was taking advantage of Sovieshu’s status and power. Actually, you said things like this to everyone, but because of your reputation you were dismissed. This made Rashta so angry, as she could be as kind as possible and people would hate her because of her beginnings.

You didn’t really like her either, as she was living proof that humans couldn’t be trusted. You would rather go back to Raiden than have to be taken care of by her. That being said, you tried to stay away. Your job as a lady of the court that was serving Navier meant that you wouldn’t come into contact with Rashta much anyway, so it was perfect.

Navier

She had found you lying on the ground in her secret spot within the garden. She was definitely worried, but this was the first time a human had actually shown genuine care towards you. You hated to admit it, but you almost immediately grew attached to the Empress, but she didn’t mind it. Instead, she treated you as though you were her child, making sure that you had gotten a good education so that you would be knowledgeable. The connection you had with Navier was like mother and daughter, and it made you feel like your past could finally be forgotten.

When the High Priest came to visit you, he saw your abilities and deemed you a creation of the gods. He was actually right, but not about the gods that created you. The archon Raiden had created you, and you told your new mother about how the goddess had abandoned you and thought you were a failure for being a sentient vessel that wasn’t capable of holding her gnosis. 

You had been through so much, but to be fair, you had been around for 500 years. You became a lady of the court, and she made sure that you stuck by her side. Actually, she took you in, claiming you to be a child. For once, you didn’t mind, as you were happy that your new mother made you feel like you were enough; like you were a normal human.

[unhelpfulfemme]

I think Lymond's early scenes with the Somervilles gain a lot more nuance and impact and emotional punch when you reread them.

Because, okay, on the first read they seem like kind, intelligent, respectable people who love each other very much - the warmth and connection and the instinctual wordless understanding between Gideon and Kate is immediately palpable - but at that point you don't really know enough about Francis to understand how they appear to him specifically. At this point he just seems like a callous cunt who takes pleasure in offending anyone who isn't Christian.

But think about it - artistic, intellectual boy grows up in a family full of constant acrimonious conflict (Mother bought a crate of books, Father burned it, they fought over it, Father drank...), his interests cnstantly belittled as too soft and his things smashed against walls until he learns to be vicious enough to defend himself. Father seems resentful about his very existence, angelic little sister has suicidal tendencies, Mother loves him but can be a manipulative bitch. He's a POW at sixteen, then groomed by an older woman, then sent to a probable death by that same woman. He's accused of treason over an incident that killed the sister, spends years as a slave suffering through every kind of abuse imaginable, tries coming back home but Father kicks him out because he doesn't believe him.

Ends up running a band of outlaws and considering how he later admits to hating the St. Mary's lifestyle - where his officers are all middle class intellectuals handpicked by himself - because he misses his music and his clever conversation and being friends with women? Can you imagine how he must have felt with the outlaws, where he, who used to read books on ethics for fun, had to constantly keep them entertained so they don't rape and pillage their way across their own countryside?

And then he goes to Flaw Valleys and sees a music room? And one of the first things to come out of Kate's mouth is how must not get many opportunities to play the harpischord with his kind of lifestyle, and how he must miss it a lot? She has no idea how much she's hit it right on the head.

And then he gets to know them, and they're... probably his Platonic ideal of a perfect family? He probably didn't think families like that existed outside of his own imagination (just compare them to every other family we see in the series). And then compare them to Francis's own interests and personality.

The husband is an accomplished musician, and the wife adores him for it and begs him to play every opportunity she gets. When he's in a mood, she knows how to draw him out of it skillfully and subtly and wittily and without being too intrusive. He, in turn, knows her well enough to anticipate her every need and delights in making her happy and giving her everything he can. There's palpable love and respect and understanding between them - they seem to understand each other wordlessly. They're both kind and empathetic and well-educated and keep themselves up-to-date on current events, on which they have nuanced and insightful opinions beyond picking a side. The wife is a master of witty conversation and enjoys and can keep up with Francis's own barbed back-and-forth. The husband and Francis come to an immediate understanding over politics despite technically being on opposite sides of a very complicated war. The husband's managed to keep his hands clean throughout it. Their daugher is already growing up to be a person of intellect, talent, and bold personality, because she's growing up surrounded with love and care and support and books and music and opportunities to be carefree and make messes and run around with the village boys.

He's barely twenty and he's been to hell and back so many times that he feels subhuman, and these picture perfect people take him in even though he's done nothing but treat them like shit, and they offer him their kindness and care and support and try to help him every way they can despite having zero reason to trust him or like him.

Can you imagine the kind of pedestal he'd put them on? It's no wonder he keeps coming back and maintains that friendship through everything. They're like the only stars he can see from his pitch-black gutter.

And I think this makes all his hand wringing over Philippa a lot more understandable, especially considering how he now sees himself as subhuman in ten additional ways after the extra trauma of the intervening years? On the first read you kind of just want to smack him because he's being so unreasonable, but really at that point you've spent so much time in Philippa's head and so little in Francis's that she's just Philippa to you (despite all the admiration she gets), while Francis is the one everyone is constantly panting over.

But to him she's part of a family so perfect and loving and healthy and aligned with all his ideals that he can't quite bring himself to believe that not only do they exist but they also like his miserable self, a family to whom he owes a great personal debt he can never repay (as he tells Kate in RC) and Philippa's the brightest and most impressive and accomplished member of that family. She is on a pedestal so high there's literally nothing he can do to measure up to what she means to him short of becoming a god.

And then consider how he later thinks that she's broken herself beyond repair over him. They're the only pure and flawless thing he knows of, the literal embodiment of how he dreams of people being in an ideal world, and he's destroyed it.

[misscammiedawn]

"Your mind makes it real"

So I was watching the new Folding Ideas video on meme stock and how a cult formed around a number of ideologies regarding financial systems and short selling.

I like watching videos like this. Dan Olsen does a number of good videos on different online conspiracies such as Flat Earth and NFTs and then you have HBomb doing the same thing with anything from Colecovision to the war on christmas and alt right grifts.

And whenever I research these sociological trends I become uncomfortably aware of the fact that I exist within one of these little closed circles. (Well, more than one given the communities and support groups around psychology and mental health, but I'm here to talk about Kink today)

Hypnosis, especially within our community, is entirely held up by a series of beliefs with an internal language that creates a massive divide between those in the know and those out of the know and it literally only works because we believe it works.

In many ways what we do is as much sociology as it is psychology.

And I kind of that it's okay for that to be true so long as we all occasionally remind ourselves of that fact and never abuse the power we each possess as authors of that shared narrative, because much like under hypnosis our hypnotees are suggestible and need to have care in what we provide to their open mind, educators within the community have an eager and open audience that stretches further than we know and regardless of intent, our beliefs and teachings will become their facts and reality as surely as had we have programmed a hypnotee to believe them as they wake on the count of 1--2--3!

Okay. Let me break this up a little.

Does this mean I think hypnosis is fake and we're all just going along with it?

One of my partners and I have had conversations about subjectivity in both hypnosis and mental health spaces before and we hate that one of the most approachable quotes comes from an author that leaves a bad taste in our mouths.

"Of course it's all happening in your head [...] why on Earth should that mean it's not real?"

One of the big differences between the online erotic hypnosis community and the NGH (National Guild of Hypnotists) who rue our existence is that we do not require legitimacy to function when they themselves exist in a half-truth state where when receiving both of my certifications it was impressed that we needed to perform an uneasy dance of providing services without practicing medicine because hypnotherapy is not licensed psychology in the same was that chiropractors are not performing medicine.

Within *certain portions* of hypnokink we are perfectly okay with the idea of being wrong and of sharing ideas.

Wiseguy said it best in his class "The best induction is the one that works" and what works works because it is effective in that moment between that particular hypnotist and that particular hypnotee.

Likewise, the more educated a person becomes, the more effective hypnosis becomes. Understanding trance is a tool to achieve it faster. Even a cold hypnotee who is being introduced for the first time receives an education via pre-talk which we tend to believe is more important than the induction itself.

You know what I mean when I talk about pretalk, right?

"We all go in and out of hypnosis multiple times a day" "Highway hypnosis" "Flow state"

These are all real and observable things and we can view hypnosis impacting a mind on an EEG.

Hell even Oh No Ross and Carrie (a podcast where they join insular communities with intent to learn if they are cults/grifts) did an episode on hypnosis and conceded that the principals of suggestibility, hypnotic state and conditioning are all just... how the brain works... and that you can't really dive into fact/fiction when it's essentially telling a person to do something and they either do it or they don't.

It's not mind control. It's suggestion and even within our circles we all agree that mind control is a fantasy.

So I guess... it's as real as we all agree it to be.

The issue is that group agreement of all the little elements is held up by The Community as a whole and... maybe we should talk about the vulnerabilities at play there.

What do I mean when I talk about insular communities?

Recently I read a REALLY good line on a quote on Twitter that speaks to what I mean here:

And this is what I mean when I talk about belief systems inside and outside of the community. It's a good post as I firmly agree with what it communicates.

The Online Hypnosis Community is a term with no specific borders. In my reality it's the orbit that happens to take place around those who are known, trusted and teach at the primary US erotic hypnosis convention circuit.

However I know that in reality the online hypnosis community contains multiple pools and factions that I either strictly ignore, such as ones surrounding dangerous figures like NeuralNets and Nimja or ones I am not close to, like local kink scenes for cities across the world including those where English is not a first language or mlm communities where I do not really have a place, to niche pockets such as the furry hypnosis community, dronekink and even the tiny little subniches such as Empty Spaces and HDG which have splintered off into entire little separate universes with their own language and core beliefs.

For the most part this is a beautiful thing. What I'm describing is no less a divide between interests as being a member of the "Video game horror" scene and not visiting the niches of Indie Game Horror, Japanese Horror, creepypasta mods and such.

Every community has pockets like this.

But the more specific and tight a community becomes, the more "insular" it is. Language and widely held beliefs begin to gather in tighter pressurized windows. One need only look at how brainwashing and conditioning are viewed collectively in darker corners to see the difference and this is to make nothing of things like political and social beliefs in certain corners.

In those dark corners "You can't be hypnotized to do anything you don't want to do" is an essential lie WITHIN their insular community so that they can maintain a degree of plausible deniability and power over their people.

So what's your point?

That is the question, isn't it?

I guess the answer to that is... "always question what you believe, why you believe it and don't assume everyone around you does or should think the same thing."

When discussing red flags in the community on Discord and Twitter with other educators, I've always said the biggest red flag an educator can have is teaching that there is believing they have all the answers.

ALL OF US are working in this space from a belief system. An organic and living one which is impacted by our interactions with the kink, with one another and with the world around us.

No one individual in our community holds all the answers. Not me, not the authors of the manuals that we push, not Richard Nongard, Milton Erickson.

It also means we need not be defensive about our hobby and beliefs. Many will never accept what we do as actually having any basis in reality and that's okay. We're making spaces for play and some will just see us as overactive roleplayers who are tricking ourselves into believing things and to that I always say:

"You're dang right we are. That's the point."

It's not magic. It's not hard science. It's just belief, confidence and a willing to play along.

I could bust out the EKG studies or describe the altered states of consciousness and I will ALWAYS preach how suggestible a person is in and out of hypnosis and the dangers of what we do because those dangers are real and present. But at the end of the day, I want to take a moment and evaluate "what if I'm wrong?"

And the correct answer to that is "will I or someone else be hurt by my ignorance or misaction" and act accordingly.

But that's me. That's my belief system and I am aware of the fact that what we do is entirely built upon our belief that it works and that we are being safe and sane and fun.

That doesn't make me right. That doesn't mean I didn't learn some bad lessons.

It just means I want to keep doing better and I trust that the people around me are all doing the same. With hope of growing. Learning more about individuals and the community as a whole and trying to make this place better.

Because... if I stand in front of a room and teach a class that carries some bad ideas. They'll take seed.

And let me tell you something...

This community is FULL of bad ideas

I've been here since the early days. I was there when Warp My Mind and Wendi.com were the two sites that popped up when you went searching for files. I was there during the implosion of Inraptured and the transphobic meltdown of Isabella Valentine. I have witnessed hypnocon board after hypnocon board fall apart. I've seen scandals and dramas and chaos.

I was there when Bimbopolitic was outed as a CIA plant for fucks sake. Please don't ask follow-up questions. My head is still spinning from that saga of events.

and that inevitably means I have internalized some dumb shit in my day. I've been unlearning it as much as I can over the past 5-6 years. But it's there.

Likewise a lot of the books I read and grew up on are based on the beliefs of less than wonderful human beings. Milton Erickson is no rolemodel, but damned if his theories aren't worth looking at.

This is one thing I respect about sleepingirl's NLP Book. The conceit was to study what PUA instructors taught and see what could actually be used from an objective standpoint. Actually interrogate the beliefs of NLP from a "I don't know anything" standpoint.

If I have any point in my whole ramble of a post it's that. Approach learning things with the curiosity of someone who is willing to learn and doesn't know any better but with the wariness of someone who has been burned too many times and knows that there's bad actors all over and everything needs to be turned over a few times to examine.

At the end of the day I just want a safe community full of positive ideas and if there's one thing I've learned about hypnosis it is this "positive associations stick, negative suggestions are harder to ground"

Both in the good way and the bad. Unlearning things is hard.

Let's just be aware that we're all playing in the same sandbox. Share our tools and try to build something beautiful.

and never stop asking "...am I sure about this?"

*Shrug* Or don't. It's just a suggestion <3

[theoreocat]

An instant Holiday Classic.

I've been seeing a lot of cute fabricated film posters among the pet accounts these past few weeks. So I thought I would try MY own hand at it.

1) This was drawn by me.

2) No, it's not in a Disney style (because I can't draw that way) nor can I afford to pay a real Disney artist to draw my cats.

3) No, it's not AI.

This post is not meant to be controversial or political nor is it meant to scold anyone in any way. It's simply for the sake of education. So, what is AI exactly and WHY do artists dislike it? AI-generated art is created by computers instead of humans. Typically, AI images are created with an AI image generator. These image generators work by inputting text descriptions of what you're looking for. The image generator will then use a database of existing work found online in order to create what you've requested. These images are then all smushed up together and spit out and create the AI image that you see.

The reason artists hate this is simple:

AI steals and learns from publicly available imagery, period. Many artists have spoken out about no compensation or credit for work that appears in the databases. The programs are trained using databases of art belonging to artists who have not given consent. The implications of AI image generation are massive and could impact everything from film to graphic novels and much much more. It’s basically a question of ethical use.

I get it and I understand that AI is "fun", but it's still important to think about what you’re sharing and where it comes from. Essentially this type of sharing is helping to make stealing OK and we all know that it isn’t. Artists deserve to be credited and compensated for their work even when it’s part of an AI generated image.

So yes, I agree that all of the little Disney Pet posters are super cute but it's not something I will do as an artist. So my version is from my own hands. I welcome any real artists who'd like to make one for us in their own style! I'd be happy to share them!

With Fluff,

Tina.

[croziers-compass]

Summary Notes of Terror Camp 2023 (9.12.23)

(A small summary of notes and references I took during Terror Camp Day One)

Erasure of Sailors of Colour in Arctic Exploration!!! Needs to be explored much more. JEAMS Fitz-James Fitzjames - w'ont put his apostrophes in the back of words. Capitalising Letters where you would Not usually capitalise them is like Italics. it is Emphasis in speech when written.

These jokes are getting Auld. (If you know you know)

Most things were phonetically written.

WOAHOO!!! - James Thompson

Relic? Or Artefact?

Semiophore - Objects regarded in a given community as carries of meaning.

Walpole is a little fucked in opinion. (imo)

Dundy was awful at spelling. Worse than Goodsir.

Capitalists should really look into Thomas Holloway

Everyone knows and loves Snarfin' On Them Ribs Saturday Man Proposes, God Disposes

Lady Jane was offended.

Hudson Bay Speedrun - Let Curiosity be your Compass

James Knight does not girlboss but he thinks he does.

A Ship Called The Whalebone Roald was both an asshole but good at what he did.

The Raft of the Medusa - We knew where that was going.

Johnathan Miles is a Horse Girl

Foreshadowing of the Cannibalism and Mutiny

HOOSH

History is a Panopticon They were just people... (Also a Note. I am worried that a lot of the fandom thinks that the concept of a Panopticon originates from TMA and that it was a TMA reference. It was not. I am wondering now if the TMA listeners know who Jeremy Bentham is.)

Cultural Understandings

IceBound Not Down - I did not take a lot of notes on Professor Hester Blum's panel. I was far too invested to write and when it was over I realised I had not made any notes. She was incredible. I loved her narratives very much. I would love to get her book. It is on my list! You would have had to have been there. It was wonderful. Not News: Dan Simmons is a wee fuckboy. We have established this a lot. He also establishes this for us. (?) Umlaqtalik - There is a boat there.

Imperialism is a disease.

How to read Ethically!

Some of my Notes from the Panel with Paul Ready and Nive Nielsen:

"You can hear a smile in a recording" - Nive Nielsen

Paul "I am not an expert on Anything" Ready

He is so very attached to Goodsir. Goodsir is very much a part of him. Hearing him talk about how integrated Goodsir is to himself was wonderful.

"I think we need more Goodsirs in the world."

Nive and her impressive education on the importance of indigenous representation and how that impacted her. How her voice as not only an actor but an Indigenous Actor was taken with such respect and was given the space to allow for respectful and creative extrapolation on the Set.

A small Note in my book that says: Oh goodness me he is hideously beautiful. I cannot stand how beautiful he really is. Oh my goodness.

"Nothing is good or bad. Just the potential to be." - Nive Nielsen - Terror Camp 2023

Nive: All Humans are good at picking up sincerity.

Goodsir would have hated Hickey.

"Ah. Would you look at that. Dead with my ass carved up." - Paul Ready

Nive: You cannot kill people or let people die because everything is connected and you do not know how that will effect your future. You have to depend on each other. So when there was conflict you had to solve it with as little violence as possible.

A very Important Book Nive Nielsen had spoken about!

You can get a copy on Thriftbooks of "Give Me My Father's Body" by Kenn Harper Here

I had an incredible amount of fun during this event. I am so excited for tomorrow. What notes you are seeing here are just references to part of the panels and some side comments I had made between all of my other more detailed notes. There was so much to be had and so much that we saw and heard. The speakers were incredible and each individual was incredibly dedicated to their impressive Art and Passion. It truly showed. As Nive said: You can hear a smile in a recording". I feel as if this applies to every one of the speakers and all of the panels we had the pleasure to enjoy today.

I have more detailed notes in my journal which, of course, you can see I scrawled a lot in. I had amassed about seven whole pages worth in that time. So to type them all would be just simple a task I cannot do. But I am open to discussions regarding how everything was if you did not get to attend it! Also Terror Camp has a wonderful setup available for you to explore the other avenues that they have presented on their website. So please do go check that you if you are interested! I cannot wait to do this tomorrow with my fellow Shipmates. Thank you so much for everyone that put together @terrorcamp. I am quite excited for tomorrow!

With much love and saltwater kisses,

Second Leftenant in heart and spirit,

-Wilbur E. F. C.

[damnknoxandothernonsense]

knox’s teacher AU

David is a principal.

He scares all of the students because of his scheer size and general scariness of him. However, the moment a student comes up to him with an issue, he is doing everything in his power to help them. He is secretly a softy. His office is actually quite comforting.

additionally, Angel is the secretary that everyone likes, they have candy in a bowl for anyone that comes in. David acts like he is irritated with them, but they are secretly engaged (they wear the ring on a necklace). The students keep trying to set them up.

Asher is the Physical Education teacher.

He is specifically the one that everyone likes. Class with him isn’t a competition. It is a matter of not sitting on the sidelines. He makes it a safe space for all people of all types. Asher goes and argues the fact that “benchmark testing” in gym is beyond idiotic and has no measurement on how much a kid improves. He refuses to do any tests related to that. preac

Milo is the tech ed teacher.

He without a doubt refuses to go by “Mr. Greer”. He specifically tells the kids to call him Milo. David isn’t pleased with that, but when Milo says that “Mr. Greer” sounds like his dad. David doesn’t argue after that point. He lets the kids have creative liberty over their projects when they get to a certain point in their skills.

Lasko is an English teacher.

Lasko teaches specifically creative writing. He has lamps all over his room because he understands that LED lights trigger headaches. He has one of the aesthetic, cozy rooms. He constantly has kids in there hanging out and making themselves at home. He has a drawer full of a variety of drinks and snacks for his kids. He wants them all to be aware that he is a safe space.

Huxley is an Environmental/Biology teacher.

Hux is the kind of science teacher that is able to explain the different concepts in understandable ways. Rather than explaining it in the long winded terminology, he does projects and experiments to better cement his lessons in the classroom. He isn’t judgemental and has the most easy going personality. Every school in the area has tried to get him to transfer at some point. Not a single one has been successful.

Gavin is the health/anatomy teacher.

Okay, everyone knew that this was happening. However, he is honestly the best to fulfill this role. He would be able to handle it without making it uncomfortable. Gavin goes over consent, in fact it is the first topic discussed within his class. He teaches inclusive sex ed courses, as well as actual sex ed and offers ways to be safe. He is blunt about it, but he still makes jokes about things to lighten the mood. I wish I had him for sex ed instead

Damien is a math teacher

He likes definite answers. He likes certainty that comes along with math. There is rarely more than one right answer while everyone is scared of him at first, they realize that he is a lot like David. They seem so harsh at first and rough, but once they open up they are just big softies. He focuses more on the impact he has on his students and providing a positive role model rather than following the curriculum. Makes deals with his students for movie days for good grades on exams.

Guy is a theater teacher.

Tell me where i am wrong with this? I dare you to tell me I am wrong. He is the most qualified to be licensed drama queen and teach his students how to do it. He is not a theater kid, he is a kid in theater. There is a difference. He also plays the most fun acting games, not the uncomfortable cringy games that makes everyone hate acting classes. I would love him. He would have fun projects too, he would make options because not everyone wants to be in theater. He would also be super open and just tell his class every little detail. He would always have a coffee too.

Geordi is the on-campus therapist.

Offers so many actually helpful things not just “have you tried drinking water?”. Offers a safe space for students, allowing them to speak out without any sort of judgment. Would offer hugs if the kid is okay with it, because you can’t tell me that he wouldn’t be so comforting. He is close to the students’ age and is able to relate to them all with some of the experiences and actually gives good advice, is willing to sit down with parents/teachers to sort issues out. Checks in on students, plans fun events.

Elliot is an art teacher.

He loves clay and making non traditional things. He teaches the basics, but then he loves to see what the kids create. He does not grade based off of skill, but instead on how much effort they put into their projects. He also loves a good laugh with projects, and has students pick the music. At the end of the year, he presents the spotify wrapped so they are aware of the really interesting music taste that they all have. He is like a big brother to most of the kids.

Sam is the school nurse.

First of all, he has a room dedicated to those students that are sleep deprived. Would take so many classes to make sure he is up to date on different medical information as well as different signs for bad situations. Has protection in his office to give out in order to prevent teenage pregnancy. Has so many things for periods too because he understands how much those things are and he knows that not everyone comes prepared. He always looks so cozy. No judgment passed.

Vincent is history teacher.

He makes it interesting, like he sticks to the curriculum, going over the basics and vital information because he has to. However, he also has “Weird History Wednesdays” where he teaches events in history that are really weird. Makes it into a game, where he groups up the students and they have to guess what happens next. The prize is opting out of an homework assignment. He spends hours setting up teams. Has an organized spreadsheet. Yes this is based off of Puppet History. Don’t judge me.

Avior is the physics and astrology teacher:

He loves space, would take field trips to the nearby observatory. He would be the teacher that even the “outcasts” because he is able to make it such a fun environment. Refuses to give individual tests, instead gives group projects and group tests. He makes sure that everyone participates and ensures that it is a safespace. He teaches classes on the stories on the different constellations as well to break it up from the more serious class work.

if you want to read more of what I’ve written, you can find my masterlist here!

if you want to ask for something to be written, you can find my guidelines here!

[starrclown]

Very specific LMK headcannons that is basically me projecting onto legos but the personal ones are saved for the characters I like and the average ones are for the ones I don't know much about, I don't really care about, or just straight up don't like (Part 1)

I made this because a comic I wanna make is gonna take a minute and I like the headcannon posts I make.

MK

Didn't know what he wanted to be when he grew up for years. He has a bunch of interests and talents so that confused him on what he should pressue. Eventually when he got to be a senior in high-school he bit the bullet and just decided to work for Pigsy.

Wasn't directly bullied in high-school but people made jokes about him being on the poorer side. He understands that their just joking but sometimes it genuinely bothers him.

Has a hard time focusing especially when it comes to educational subjects. He tries his hardest but he gets distracted. This heavily impacted his grades but he was to scared to ask help from Pigsy or Tang so he struggled in silence.

Mei

Struggled with her femininity for years. Her mother forced her to wear makeup, do her hair, and dress extremely feminine. Eventually she resented it and hated having to get dressed in a extremely feminine style. When she got older she started bracing makeup and dresses on her own terms. She will wear a dress but she goes for a more masculine style.

Hates people thinking that she never had to work for anything just because her parents are rich.

Sometimes gets to rough when she messing around and ends up hurting Mk. She feels extremely bad about it and apologizes about 50 times.

Redson

Is really insecure about his appearance because his parents used to point out what the deemed unattractive. They weren't trying to be intentionally mean but they continued to do it.

Has a weird relationship with his mom. He loves her and would love to have a stronger relationship with her. They can get along and have a atcual child and mother relationship. Redson feels like she doesn't love him because of the outbursts Princess Iron Fan had had at him. She has said some genuinely damaging things that he still thinks about.

The idea of marrying someone terrifies him because he's afraid his quirks and flaws will cause someone to become sick of him and then leave him.

Has very low empathy for people he doesn't know. He tries to show he understands and feels for their situation but he just can't.

I was gonna add Macaque and Wukong but I atcually do wanna work on my comic. I'm gonna try and get it out before my birthday (it's my birthday tomorrow :D!! I'm turning 15!! I'm ancient now 😔) but I make no promises.

I got this idea from 2 of my mutals so thank them 🫶 (also I have 159 followers and that's WILD. It's not alot but it's still weird!)

- ⭐️StarClown⭐️

[gothic-galene]

Future spouse predictions

☆ 🖇️ 𖥻 ＜꒱                PAID SERVICES

Pile 1

Meeting and the energy surrounding it:

Villain energy from you, you might meet this person during a very sad time of your life. You might be in an anti-romantic phase or just be in a casual dater phase is what I'm picking up on, you might be spending a lot of time with your friends as well. Your person is likely very responsible. You or they might be saturn dominant. You'll be feeling like you have new ideas about healing yourself and becoming better but don't have the resources or growth is just blocked for some reason. I feel like a gap of some sort between you and your immediate friend group or your family might be the reason you end up getting close to this person. You will be feeling really wronged by someone (I'm getting a group of people tbh) and they'll be like a place for you to let it out. The fact that your person is taking the middle path instead of wholeheartedly and blindly supporting you and hating on the ones that wronged you is going to get you all riled up and you might not want to date them. You might act like you're not interested in them and stuff because you might have to compete for them. They might be casually going out with other people and be very busy with work or education which will leave you sad too. I'm getting the relationship starting a bit more slowly even though you'll definitely like them from the start. They might be starting a new career when you meet. You might meet them when you're younger as well.They might also introduce you to their friends or you might meet through mutual friends.

Personality:

I feel like your person was someone who was talented even during their younger days. Leonardo DiCaprio and an aquarius classmate came to my mind for some reason (might have air placements.) Their personality is going to impact your creativity, confidence and self esteem. You might find yourself questioning your self worth because of them. They'll be the type to provide you with the emotions and communication that you need. You're going to love how fun loving they are for sure. They're an incredibly patient and understanding person when it comes to you.

Trope:

The both of you might have a slow burn relationship trope. I'm getting the both of you liking each other a lot but you being scared of the heartbreak that might follow the happiness and the both of you caring a lot about each other. You'll want to protect this person and be there for them later on but at the beginning they might be the only one who's aware of the depth of the connection between the both of you. When you finally figure your shit out, this person will be done with the whole situation, the both of you will probably reunite after a few years again. I'm getting they'll try to make things work between the both of you but it'll be very difficult for the both of you and then they'll finally run out of patience. You'll be having a hard time when it comes to trusting them. They'll be able to sense and almost clearly see your emotions but as humans we don't trust our intuition as much as logic so they won't be entirely sure as to whether or not you're feeling how they think you are feeling, they might find you a bit indecisive and toxic but they'll just choose to accept you and love you regardless of how bright and obvious your red flags are at that time. I'm picking up friends to lovers for some of you.

Random stuff that might hold significance:

Reading, hugs, bookstore dates, skeleton (idk maybe a t-shirt or a literal skeleton), greek statues, friends to lovers, anger lash outs, pearls, black nails, Harry styles or one direction concert, band tshirt?

Pile 2

Meeting and the energy surrounding it:

I'm getting your soulmate being stuck in a rut during the time the both of you meet. They might have a fear of change during that time. My advice is for the both of you to go with the flow. You're not going to be in a good place either though, a time of anxiety will have finally passed you. Both of your self doubt will prevent the meeting for quite some time. You'll both be confused about each other's feelings and intentions. I feel like the both of you will like each other romantically before even knowing anything about each other but you'll approach each other as friends at the beginning to not scare the other away. Definitely going to meet as co-workers, some sort of gathering or mutual friends.

Personality:

Your person has a habit of not reaching out first, especially when it comes to romantic relationships. I think they are pretty logical and might have difficulty with feminine qualities such as emotions, empathy, reading inbetween the lines, etc. They might lack creativity and be the type to go straight into getting the job done. I feel like they'll be working towards freeing themselves from the mental rut when you meet them. They might come off really distant. They can give up too easily when it comes to romantic relationships.

Trope:

A lot of miscommunication, you'll have opportunities but will occasionally (pretty constantly tbh) ghost each other, I'm getting the both of you not even noticing the other ghosting you because you're ghosting them too. Mixed communication, you don't understand if this person hates you, likes someone else, likes you or you're just overthinking everything. One or both of you are going to be very career oriented, it might prevent your meeting for a while or simply just create a lot of frustration to the other party. They'll definitely teach you how to go forward and make a move towards people you're interested in (even platonically.) They'll also help you become more ambitious. I'm not getting anything about the way you might end up dating.

Random stuff that might hold significance:

Chokers, saudade: a nostalgic longing to be near again to something or someone that is distant, or that has been loved then lost; the love that remains, the black angel, grunge style, mysogynistic tendencies, leather coat and jacket, cigarettes.

Pile 3

Meeting and the energy surrounding it:

I am getting you meeting this person in the months June-July or it's just going to be hot (in case you live in the southern hemisphere, it's going to be in whatever months that are hot for you.) This person won't be able to get you off their head after meeting you for the first time. You might meet through social media or have interactions only on social media before meeting (I feel like this person is going to be popular among the people around you, your friends or coworkers might simp over them before you get involved with them.) I'm sorry but one of you is going to be involved with someone else. Someone other than the both of you is going to feel played by one of you. You're going to enjoy the date though, it's like everything becomes soft yet intense when the both of you are around. I feel like this first date is going to make the both of you feel like the both of you are already dating. Holding hands, hugging, a lot of skinship even on the first date. You might be the one to like this person first but they'll grow into liking you. They might be the kind of hate hugs and skinship but love it when it comes from you.

Personality:

Your person seems to have a similar personality to pile 2's person but more developed. Your person has a habit of not reaching out first, especially when it comes to romantic relationships. I think they are pretty logical and might have difficulty with feminine qualities such as emotions, empathy, reading inbetween the lines, etc. However, unlike pile 2's person they do not lack creativity. I feel like they'll be in a good place when you meet them. They might come off really distant. They can give up too easily when it comes to romantic relationships.

Trope:

I feel like the both of you might have some sort of a gap like maybe you have an age gap or you're not their usual type. I'm sorry but they might be dating other people too, this one person is standing out, they might have cat features (the third party.) They will be all lovey dovey with this person, however, your person doesn't commit unless they're sure it's going to provide the stability that they require. One or both of you might be capricorn/sagittarius moons. Your person might not want to commit but really want to commit at the same time. I feel like you won't be able to meet them for whatever reason for quite a long time and their love language might be quality time so they will get close to the third party during that time. Your person might have to move out of the town soon or something. You might meet them for the second time and you will either treat them the same way which will make them feel some way which in turn will make them question their feelings towards the third party or you won't touch them at all but will talk to them as if nothing happened but they'll be craving for your touch and you might express your emotions randomly like they might be sipping coffee and you just go "I love you, take care of yourself, I'll always be looking out for you from here." Or they'll ask you something like "why did you do that?" And you just go "because I care about you." They seem to have gotten hurt in the past. This is a very intimate relationship, both of you care about the other without even knowing it yourselves. Might dream about each other.

Random stuff that might hold significance:

Grunge jewelery, leather jacket, skirt, angel baby, us against the world, LGBTQ for some of you, Sofia (the name), heartbreak, my everything, sunshine, push and pull, confusion.

[rodricksfilipinagf]

Academia AU Pt.1 (Eris Vanserra x Reader)

After another successful, though exhausting class taught, I clutch my Stanley cup and take it off my desk, eager to make it to the English department meeting. I hoped the meeting would be over soon so that I could make it back to my apartment to read my latest romance novel I checked out from the library. 

As an English professor at Prythian University, my personal interests tend to creep into my curriculum, and I like it that way! I want my students to love reading, and the best way to do that is to get them to read something they’ll be interested in. Something they’ll relate to. Something they’d read already without me getting involved. 

I recently included manga in my curriculum after my brief stint working with kids. My all-time favorite student absolutely loved Naruto. Like, devoured the mangas because he loved the anime. Little kids and university students aren’t that different- intrinsic motivation is the key to reaching them. 

As I reach closer to the room the meeting will be held in, I unscrew my Stanley cup and take a sip. 

“Well, well, well,” a familiar voice drawls, and I almost spit out my water. On him. Although…I might really love that, it might actually make him unfairly hotter. With his bright red hair, amber eyes, and the gorgeous planes of his face, he didn’t need me splashing water onto his white button down, revealing probably ripped abs. Eris Vanserra, the worst English professor at this university. 

It’s not that he’s bad at teaching, although that would be an enormous plus and give me another reason to hate him. He’s actually a huge hardass when it comes to assignments and grading. What’s most infuriating about him is his inability to recognize that what I do matters just as much as what he does. 

“Drag yourself away from lecturing about childrens’ books?” he asks. “You are aware that this is a university, not an elementary school.” Fuck him. Fuck him, fuck him, fuck him. 

“As if children’s literature isn’t a recognized genre,” I say.

“Just admit it. You just want to go easy on your students. Coddle them and give them easy A’s so they’ll like you,” he says. 

My mouth drops open at that insulting remark. How dare he? “What would you have me do? Assign them stuff I know they hate so they won’t read it at all?”

He rolls his eyes. “Ever heard of giving them a poor grade? It’s how they learn not to do that.”

“I’m surprised you still have enough students to fill a class,” I retort. 

“Because my students take their education seriously, unlike yours. Yours wouldn’t last a week in mine.” With that, he breezes into the room, not bothering to talk to anyone else. Why would he? With his father being the Chair of the English Department, he has no reason to schmooze. 

Speaking of, his father, Beron, takes the podium. I quickly find a seat near the front, far, far away from Eris. 

“Welcome, Prythian University English Department. It is with the utmost despondency that I announce my upcoming retirement. Next semester, I will no longer be Chair of the English Department. I’m growing old, and I want to spend my next years away from academia after my many years serving this university. That being said, one of you will be replacing me. I hope the next generation will continue the legacy of this great university,” Beron says. 

I think it over. This is a leadership position, which all my life I’ve always craved. I’d love to get this job. I would still teach my students but also get to impact the curriculum that gets taught here. I have my Romance Novels, Children’s Literature, and my one class dedicated to manga and graphic novels, as well as Creative Writing classes in Poetry, Fiction, and Nonfiction. I could make sure that these classes stay at the university, and that there’s more like them in the future. Not only that, I could make sure that we get advanced playwriting and screenwriting classes, as well as more funding for the more fun and creative classes. 

After Beron goes over all the requirements for the position, the meeting disperses. I gather up my stuff and leave. Unfortunately as soon as I leave the room I run smack into Eris.

“Don’t even think about it, bunny,” he says, tweaking one of my ears. “The position’s mine.”

“Fuck off,” I say. “I deserve this way more than you do.”

“And why’s that?” he raises an eyebrow. 

“Cause you’re tired. Boring. And stale. Oh sorry, I meant what you teach,” I say, suppressing a smile. 

“And in thousands of years, no one will care what you teach,” he says. “Even now what you’re doing’s a waste of time. So why don’t you throw in the towel now so you don’t get hurt.”

“The only one who will get hurt is you when you don’t get the chair position,” I say.

“Oh,” he breathes. “Is that so, bunny?” Before I could react, he backs me into the wall. “You really think what I teach holds no value?”

“I didn’t say no value,” I protest.

“Uh-uh, don’t go back on it,” he wheedles, pressing me into the wall. “You said tired. Boring, and stale, was it? And what do you think is so much better? Those romance novels you teach?”

I let out a breath. “I didn’t know you kept such tabs on my curriculum.”

He chuckles. “How can I not keep track of everything that’s wasting university money that should go to me?”

The sheer arrogance of him. “Sounds like you’re obsessed with me.”

He smirks. “As if you’re not obsessed with me, darling.”

“Fuck. You.”

“Don’t you wish you would,” he whispers. “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.” He runs a thumb over my cheek. “It’s not from one of your romance novels, but you look pretty flustered to me,” he comments. 

I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from blushing further. “Fuck off,” I say. Even I’m not immune to a fucking Shakespeare quote, but did he seriously think I was dumb enough not to recognize it?  “I have to plan what I’m going to say to the English department heads to convince them to choose me to be the next chair.”

His eyes darken. “Including my father.”

I snort. “So? I’m not going to give up just because your father might give it to you out of nepotism.”

“You really don’t know my father, do you?” he asks. 

“No,” I admit. “But I know my stuff. So watch out.”

“Oh I will, bunny,” he assures me, his eyes running the length of my body. “I will.”

[thestrangestthing89]

This situation with Noah isn't a new problem in the fandom. These fans have been harassing everyone for months in them name of progressive causes they aren't well-informed about. This is obviously not specific to the Stranger Things fandom. Go anywhere online and you will likely see a bunch of teens screaming about something even though they clearly skipped the step of educating themselves. Not only have I been the target of the dumbest shit, but so many other people have too. No one can post here without someone getting self-righteous and yelling about it. I have been accused of the following simply for posting something to my own blog: - I've been called misogynistic because I said El wasn't the main character. A thing the writers have said several times now (it's Will). The writers aren't misogynistic either. - I've been called misogynistic because I said El has character flaws like everyone else. - I've been called a condescending bitch when I politely tried to explain what misogyny actually is. A thing you'd think they'd be interested in learning if they actually cared about that cause (clearly they don't or I wouldn't have been called a bitch so much). - Been called racist because I said Hopper wasn't copaganda, even though I explained clearly why I thought this was. - Got called racist because I pointed out that Lucas was often filling his Ranger role and that's why he is helping Mike in S3 (the boys all play their D&D characters). But the trendy thing to say at the time was that he was being written in racist way so obviously this means I'm racist too. - Had multiple people say I was silencing them when I wrote my own damn post (not a response to theirs) about many of the above topics. I just simply disagreed with their points and that isn't allowed here. - Had someone I never interacted with spread a rumor that I sent them anonymous hate filled asks even though I had no fucking clue who they were. And those posts were anonymous so they have no idea who actually sent them. They just wanted my attention. But I never sent anyone an anon ask before anyway so this was just bizarre. But a several people believed it. - Pretty much every adult on here has been accused of pedophilia for watching a show with kids on it. This gets pretty relentless sometimes. I'm sure I could think of several others and other people have had a lot as well. The thing about this as someone who has actually experienced things like misogyny first hand is that being called this is incredibly upsetting, especially when you are being called this by someone who doesn't know what they are talking about and doesn't care about the impact of these words. They just want you to shut up and stop telling them they did something wrong.

This is all happening because they are watching a show that is overwhelming them and they can't deal with people discussing it in a more nuanced way than they are. This wouldn't be happening if there were more adults here to drown it out. But as it is, no one can actually discuss this show and it has nothing to do with Noah. It's because kids are watching when they shouldn't. And they have weird, boundaries with the fandom and the cast that are constantly causing problems. This didn't happen back in the first 2 seasons because it was only adults watching. I'm not saying adults can't be problematic too, but most of this shit is from people who are way too young to handle this. And now we are all getting lectured by 14 year old foreign policy experts. It's not ok and they need to spend a lot of time learning about how to interact with people online better. This isn't the shows fault. But they can make it clear who this is actually for. Because these kids are going to throw a fit over everything. They always do. They aren't going to like S5 either. They are only watching because it's cool and they have FOMO. They can't understand it and are constantly insulting it and everyone associated with it and the fandom. Seriously, amp up the horror. Make it rated R. A lot of us would really love to be able to discuss this show and can't because of how awful it is here.