#but here it is none the less x'D

[mitamicah]

My experience having my birthday at a Blind Channel concert (Pumpehuset, Copenhagen April 22 2024)

Better late than never here's my few cent about my (birthday) concert with Blind Channel last month :3

Me and a friend arrived at 3 pm where a cute little queue consisting of 3 Finns and 3 german people had gathered. This was where I got my first birthday song of the evening (it wouldn't be the last).

The queueing reminded me a lot of Malmö yet this time I was less surprised since I have more experience with Danish queues. (we are not very good at queueing for long periods of time especially on a monday xD) I did meet a handful of lovely people tho including a fan France, one from the Netherlands and a fellow danish fan who'd seen the band four times. One of the german fans were so kind of gifting me their VIP bag (since they'd gotten quite a few on this tour alone having early entrance/meet and greet to more or less all the shows). Despite having nothing personally to gift the fans this time this wouldn't be the last bit of merch I'd get since a fan later gifted me a homemade silk bracelet :'3

At 5.30 (aka my time of birth) the queue was starting to form. Me however decided to play Käärijä from my phone so the first song I'd hear in my 29th year would be Cha Cha Cha. The three Finns from earlier were right next to me when I sang my way through the song and they were surprised I wasn't from Finland xD. Me explaining why in the world I chose to play CCC in the middle of queuing got people to sing a second row of Happy Birthday xD

We ended up getting a pretty good spot on third row at the concert. The venue was tiny (I believe it was the small one with the capacity of 300 people) yet I was hopeful since last intimate concert I'd been to (Malmö) became one of my favourites real fast.

First band of the evening was Cold Culture from Denmark. I couldn't unsee the resemblance between Mads the frontman and Bojan (you may have seen my other post about this x'D). So I was sorta stalking him with my camera the whole set and the one time I didn't, he reached out to hold my hand (just like Bojan x'D). I didn't get the same stomach churning awe as with Bojan however but it was still a magical moment :'D. The band were really good and I have been pretty hooked on their sound since pretty much one half of a song played that evening.

Next band was Rock Band From Hell that - unfortunately given their name - is not really from Hell but are from Finland xD. Another pleasant surprise and once again a band where I felt drawn to the frontman but this time because his fit was the perfect mixture of nostalgia (think 2004/American Idiot Green Day) and gender envy (fishnets and coloured hair included) for me. The songs too were heavily influenced by 2000s pop punk which is just up my alley so I had a blast. My friend caught a guitar pick from Frontman Jani and then gave it to me as a birthday gift which I am more than grateful for :'D <3

Blind Channel got on stage around 10 pm and their set too was a lot of fun. I had made a sign basically stating it was indeed my birthday (as it turned out I was the only one there with a sign OVO) which I put up after the third song. Joel noticed and then lead the audience through a round of happy birthday (I had honestly no idea what I'd expected to happen with the sign so this was a pleasant surprise). At one point the band started requesting for moshpits which was a bit of a disaster given half of us were not into it (think closer to the Joker Out crowd in terms of overwhelmingly being girls and gays present) and the other half trying way too hard to make up for it. When the band realised that this wouldn't work they instead started a circle pit and that felt more right (I was in it and Mads from CC was too). It took me almost the entire circle pit to realise Joel had place himself in the middle of our pit and stood there unbothered singning x'D.

When the circle pit stopped I found myself having lost my good spot at the front and where now closer to the back. It didn't matter too much given the tiny size of the venue so I could still see just fine. The danish flag got on stage during the Dark Side encore which felt really good experiencing actually seeing my own flag being tossed around at one of these concerts (I am so used to it being Swedish, German or Finnish flags now x'D).

After half-heartedly attempting to get a pick, drumstick or setlist after the concert (spoilers: I didn't get either) I went to the merch stand where I got to talk to Jani and Jere from RBFH (frontman and guitarist) and knowing me of course I ended up venting about Finland and Käärijä for half a minute xD they were really nice tho and I bought their album ^V^

Then I went to chat with Cold Culture and got pictures with almost the whole band (keyboardist Andy had to get home since he lived 4-5 hours away). the guys were more than a little excited learning that it was my birthday. They sung Happy Birthday to me at least twice and drummer Andy (there are two with the same name but pronounced differently to make the confusion even bigger x'D) were especially excited about my flag cape (I had a flag with arms on the entire evening x'D) so he got to wear it and I almost just gifted it to him then and there :'D.

Having spoken to CC for a while (I can confidently say Mads also has a personality that resembles Bojan) a merch person got out with a shirt that had a minor defect that they couldn't sell. Turned out that would be my last accidental birthday gift x'D.

After a while we got hushed out by security yet gathered around the venue to talk/digest about the concert. Standing close to the bus we got to say hi to quite a few of the members from Blind Channel including guitarist Joonas (the fan from France got a photo with him) and Joel (he remembered me as the person with the birthday so he said happy birthday again :D <3).

Around 2-3 am (so 12 hours after arriving x'D) we said our goodbyes and me and my friend went home to my mother's house were we were staying. I got like 3 hours of sleep that night and a sore throat but it was definitely worth it given the amount of experiences we got this one night. Definitely in my top 5 if not top 3 of recent concerts although personally I'd say Käärijä in Berlin and Joker Out in Malmö is still a bit higher for me personally even considering the amount of little blessings from this evening :'D

[sasstastikarts]

Whispers Feral Leo seeing Usagi~☆

IM SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! I kept adding to it...

but yeah, Leo is still on the non-verbal side, but he is more social by the time the Mad Dogz think it's safe to re-introduce him to others outside the "treasure" group. Usagi being the obvious first. Leo may not remember the noise Usagi sometimes slips up making, but it makes him feel happy none-the-less!

Fun fact: Happy rabbit noises consist of oinking, honking and their own version of purring. Not very loud, but super cute. (I know next to nothing about reptiles so I'm going off of @cupcakeslushie's chuurps here)

In this AU I kinda see Leo and Yuichi Usagi bonding between the series end and movie. So established besties at the very least.

(If you meant Miyamoto Usagi, then my bad, I have NO idea how he'd react to Leon at all X'D)

[moodymisty]

Hello! Hope you are well! Do you have any headcannons of how the horsemen would confort a female reader, stressed out because of work? 🙂

Author's Note: Hello and welcome! If this was perhaps prompted because of some IRL stress (I feel you), here's some cute Horsemen headcanons for comfort. If not, still here's some cute Horsemen headcanons X'D

Relationships: Death/Fem!Reader, War/Fem!Reader, Fury/Fem!Reader, Strife/Fem!Reader

Warnings: None, just some mentions of vague stress

✦ Death ✦

Death is no nonsense. Get it done, get over it, or move on. Stewing and stressing is a pointless act.

When he realizes that isn't gonna work on a human the same as it did when he was a young Nephilim, he has to figure out something else.

He has the utmost faith in your abilities, no matter how much he may wryly say otherwise. You can count of him to always be there supporting you in this silent, brooding sort of way.

This will be one of the rare times Death will actually be a bit more forwardly affectionate towards you in any way. You might just be better off hugging him yourself though given how awkward he is. But he's trying.

He just hates seeing you all sullen like this. You're supposed to be his little beacon of light, so he'll do his best (even if it hurts him inside to be this, bleh soft) to silently help.

Death is also unfathomably patient when it's someone he cares for, and will be there for you until you no longer have such need for him. Though he isn't going to say it isn't nice- to be someone's rock for awhile.

✦ War ✦

War doesn't really, get stressed. At least not in the way most people do. So when you're buzzing around, he doesn't really know how to handle it.

He ends up silently being a wall for you to literally and figuratively rest on while you work or try and wind down. He's warm against your back, looking over your head curiously. Whatever you're doing might not make any sense to him, but he finds himself enjoying watching anyways.

He isn't entirely sure what to do, but this is working, so he just lets it happen. It's not like he's getting a raw deal, with you snuggling him.

He's the perfect person for if you just want someone's presence.

He might get a little bit antsy if you don't pay attention to him every now and again, or at least tell him that he's helping.

War blooms under the gentle praise of you telling him he makes you calm. You've done the same to him an uncountable number of times when he feels himself losing control of his anger, so he likes returning the favor for you in a way.

✦ Fury ✦

You stressing makes her stress, Fury will joke. Though she honestly isn't far from the truth.

You're much more of the jokester out of the both of you; So when you're too stressed out to do any of the sorts of usual quips and such, Fury is very quickly on edge. She at first something had hurt you, before she realized that wasn't the case.

She's definitely tied with Death when it comes to struggling the most to comfort someone.

She'll talk about how you're better than this, and that none of this should bother you, nonchalantly throwing her hand.

Eventually she settles, and it turns out she's a surprisingly good ear, if you're in the mood for complaining or just vocalizing your stress.

Venting is her favorite way to deal with things and while your venting may be a bit different (and less violent) than what she's used to, she doesn't mind. It helps and you're her favorite human, so she's more than willing to.

Quickly you end up getting distracted and feeling the stress fade from your body for a bit, and Fury has to contain a bit of pride from knowing she successfully put that smile back on your face.

✦ Strife ✦

Honestly, Strife is probably the worst guy to be around if you're stressed in any capacity.

He tries though, and that's what matters.

He hovers, a lot, attempting to try and cheer you up in whatever way he thinks could work.

He'll try multiple different avenues; Things like offering to give you a ride on Mayhem, or relaxing once you're done. These offers might quickly start to become a little more, risque, if you don't quickly stop him.

As amusing (or tempting) some of them might be, it might not be the best strategy, depending on how you feel. If you take him up on any of his offers Strife will be overjoyed to get your mind off of things, even if it's just for a little while.

If you don't, he'll end up getting stressed out even more, thinking it's really serious if none of his usual methods worked.

The best way to deal with him is to just tell him to stop pacing and sit down. Get him to relax so you can try and relax.

He'll do down near anything to make you happy again; You only need to tell him what you want, and he'll try his damn best.

[fizzingwizard]

and now a before-bed stress rant

I don't even remember if I bitched about how this term has begun. Suffice to say we are more understaffed than ever, and are relying on so many new hires, some of whom are lit fresh out of college and have zero experience working with young kids. And the thing about where I work is, when I first joined, there was a general policy that new teachers, unless they're very experienced, do their first year at the less busy schools.

Now the bar for experience is low: I was specifically moved to the school I'm at now after my first year because I was then considered "experienced." But IMO that first year really does make a difference. If I'd started at my current school, which is our company's biggest and busiest, I bet I would have quit like I've seen multiple first-year teachers do here. It's so much less stressful to learn the ropes at the smaller schools - which still have plenty going on! I found my first year very hard! - but at least I had room to make mistakes and figure things out. Here, the fact is we get by on the details. Everyone needs to know their part inside and out. That is what the company didn't value and why we're in such a jam now. They didn't value the workers who busted their butts for years, instead insulted and blamed them, and are now surprised that everyone except me and one other teacher quit. (Two are hanging on as subs, but one was at least partially, hmm, begged? bribed? lol. and they will both leave for good soonish)

The new teachers are having a rough time. I was out sick for two days recently, and while I wasn't there apparently there was some meeting in which a bunch of grievances came out, and someone even cried. It's only May for heaven's sake x'D the hard part is yet to come. we haven't even begun school events...! But that's how it is - the new teachers have just had so much dumped on them and had to hit the ground running because we don't have time for them to learn. It is fucking stupid. They are all great and really working so hard, but when me and a couple more experienced teachers brought up that we are exhausted and have child safety concerns because we are having to do too much classroom management on our own, the new teachers took it personally. Of course we assured them none of this is their fault (it's the company's!!!) and they are good people who took us at our word. But that kind of stressful feeling doesn't just evaporate. We need to find our rhythm, and in the mean time it is very difficult to hash out repeat problems without causing hurt feelings.

Now these past two weeks make it difficult for me to believe I was on a break in the first week of May lol. Part of that is getting sick. I had a great first week back, then the kid with the seizure thing happened - and the next day I had a fever. I got such a bad cold and in the end completely lost my voice. But I only have a few days of PTO left for the whole rest of the year, so I didn't want to use it all up. Plus, this week one of my coworkers was going to be off the whole week, and another off two days. Being so understaffed, we really can't afford teacher absences unless they're really necessary. So I've been going in, but most of the time I've feel tired, brain foggy, and congested. (For some reason the kids are all uber healthy tho lol)

Usually you get sick, lose your voice, and it comes back after a few days or a week. But it's been two weeks and I still can't talk about a whisper. I sound like a chain smoker. My hope when going back to work was that my coteachers would take over the talking. But I felt doubtful because I have two classroom coteachers, one I've worked with for a few years and she is just not a loud or talkative teacher, and the other is one of those new grads who's never worked with kids before. The first coworker did try her best. She's really amazing in so many ways. But it wasn't nearly enough help. I still had to talk so, so much. And that coteacher has so much writing in Japanese she needs to do during the day. While she's doing it, it's just me able to lead the kids. The new coteacher just doesn't know what to do. Anyway, she's been out this whole week and we've had a rotation of subs.

So I got sympathy from work, but really nothing to help my voice actually recover. There's no sub who could teach for me. I'm straining my voice every day and it's making me uneasy, although I know it does sometimes take longer for your voice to come back. I'll go to the doctor if it's still bad this time next week. But I really wish someone at work would have had a way I could get a little extra help during this time the kids can barely hear me unless I hurt myself shouting. I've completely lost all soprano notes lol.

Instead, work, while unintentional, has been even worse for me than it would have been normally. Because of the teacher absences, we've had that rotation of subs - but by subs I mean random part-timers, random admin, and random teachers from the older kids' school stopping in to help for a while and then leaving. These are good, helpful people - they just don't know the kids, don't know their personalities, don't know the behavior strategies that work with them, don't even know their allergies/medical info. It's so much pressure on us regular teachers even when we're healthy and have our voices. We should have actual subs who are trained in the school routine, but we don't. Once in a while, not being able to find a sub and having to rely on a non-teacher is just the reality and we have to accept it - but this has been happening consistently for over a year, on top of ever so many teachers quitting, and I've heard it's not just at my school but across all schools. Low pay, hard work - go figure!

I really needed someone with a voice and I have not been able to get it. Some coworkers and I were talking about company shadiness and I pointed out that although we work X hours, we only get paid for Y of them. So every time we work more than Y, the company is getting free work from us. (Overtime is on an approval-only basis and you never get it if you ask for it - company has to ask you. Doesn't matter if it's because the company assigned you too much to do.) Since we almost never get even half of the unpaid time available to take a break during the day, and nearly always have to work through it, it's pretty much like our hourly pay is less than it actually is because it's divided over the X hours instead of the Y hours. But the company doesn't tell you that :) because you COULD take the break if you want :) it would just mean you aren't able to finish your work at least without taking it home :) :) and then you'll get fired! :) :) :) absolutely nothing shady about that no sirree

if you are not paying me to work for you during a certain time... then I should NOT BE WORKING during that time. or you should pay me.

i mentioned to my coworker that the understaffing bugs me because when i was hired i was assured that regardless of teacher student ratio, there would be three teachers in every classroom. i wasn't surprised that that wasnt true for really small classes (I once sat in on a class with three teachers plus me as an observer, and only two kids x'D it was definitely overkill. it was because the other kids were out sick... but still they only totaled 6 :P). However, when my coworker said that sort of thing ("as long as we're still in ratio only two teachers is fine") I had to say "yes but the amount of work and duties we have is for three teachers, and no adjustment is made to the work load if you have only two" and then the coworker was like oh no i totally agree it's for three. And now imagine you have just two teachers, one of you is brand spanking new, and the other is a random admin because your usual coteacher is out sick... and you have three teachers' worth of work to do and twelve one-year-olds to take care of. and one-year-olds are feral. so are twos and threes. but ones in particular bc they have no sense of self-preservation and some of them think biting other kids is just a fun way to kill time.

and NOW imagine that same situation and cast AND... you have to lead these one year olds who can barely walk without tripping (or at all, in some cases) down several flights of stairs for an emergency drill. OMG. it is freaking chaos. i honestly don't know how we do it.

and on that note... here's how we do it: by the grace of god go I. It's not JUST luck. We are all hard workers and we care so much about our students. But we are only human. I keep trying to impress on the upper management that more PREVENTATIVE measures need to be in place, and that starts with actually staffing the school how it's meant to be staffed. But I doubt anything will change unless something big and awful happens. And I don't want something like that to happen, of course. That's why we scrambled to cover the company's ass - not because we care what happens to the bigwigs, but because anything that goes wrong is probably going to involve a kid getting hurt. I would much rather the company just fix things and not have to have some traumatic scenario play out first. Also might as well mention that, despite all our warnings, if anything does go wrong, it will be the teachers' fault. Maybe the company will take some sort of hit, but we exhausted, overworked teachers will be the ones whose jobs and reputations could get ruined. I don't want kids to get hurt, and I don't want me to get hurt.

It has me tearing my hair out over how silly and avoidable it all is. Just stop undervaluing pre-K teachers. Your whole line to sell our school is about how vital early education is and how you have this specialized curriculum about learning through play. Then you treat the teachers like we're babysitters. Despite all the lesson planning we do, and all the art project, science projects, sensory activities, grading, paperwork, school events, and more, that are required of us. Lol. If I'm a babysitter, I'd like to have a babysitter-level work ethic. I babysat when I was a teenager so I know. Put the kid on the couch with a movie and stick some chicken nuggets in the microwave, make 20 bucks an hour. BTW, these days babysitters often make more than that, and guess what, I get paid almost half that hourly x'D obviously more consistently! but still.

you know going into pre-K that this is what the pay's like, but I def wasn't prepared for how much work unrelated to watching the kids would fill up my unpaid break time, is my point.

anyway when will my voice come back from the war :P

[ducknotinarow]

Bailey Richard - 👫

|Send a 👫and I’ll write four headcanons I have about our muse’s relationship

1. If Bailey and Richard could have stayed in contact from when they were kids babies im pretty sure these two would have been crushing on the other likely long distance friends considering there ages would have had to send hand letters between them and have phone calls here and there but as tech would advance im sure email and cell numbers would be exchange for better keep up. But these two are idiots and im.sure the distance would have been enough for them to never admit to again thing.

2. Richard would have started to draw when they met as kids and I'm sure your guessing g what this is. Richard 110% definitely has old attempted protiats of opal, Benedict, sue and Bailey. Clearly drawn by a child who was learning to draw in sercet but none the less and likely forget he even drew them but deff has the sketchbook they are in.

2.5 he totally has one of Bailey with a heart next to it not thinking much of why he put a heart by Baileys

3. Bailey and Richard definitely text or speak over the phone/ FaceTime each other even if they are in the same place but different rooms because they are love sick fools who jist need to talk to husband u_u im sure many times people think the other isn't at home or where ever they are at that time but clearly aware thay are talking to thier husband in thw moment only for Bailey/Richard to walk into the same room seconds later X'D

4. I'm pretty sure Bailey to this day still believes Pollito is just his name in spainsh and Richard refuses to tell him other wise cause hes his pollito to him anyway xD

[fizzingwizard]

soooo xD

(politics and my dad)

I had a lot of college loans to pay back after graduation. I started off paying 1300 a month which was haaard. I lowered it to 1000 when I left my first job, and kept up that way until I started my most recent job, when I had to take a pay cut and also had increased bills due to a new living arrangement, so I lowered the payments to 700 a month. I didn't stop paying during the pandemic. Even so, the interest just piled up and piled up and piled up.... I was paying one third to half my paycheck every month since I graduated and it wasn't making a difference.

Well, after my parents split up, my mom decided to see the house. We moved into that house when I was 8 and were renters my whole life. They finally paid it off and became owners when I was in college with the intent of fixing it up and selling it (my mom never liked living there anyway, it was small, and on an awful downward sloping hillside). Of course, the recession was going on, and the housing market totally collapsed. They couldn't get their money's worth and were stuck living in it.

So finally when one of them at least would have to move out anyway, mom decided to sell. It was her choice because my dad had been lying about a bunch of money stuff, the trigger for the split, and letting her sell the house was his apology I guess. I have very mixed feelings about it but it's not my decision.

Then mom said that she wanted to use some of the funds from selling the house to help me pay off my school loans - the point of this post lol (finally). You know what my dad said?

"Don't do it. Biden's going to reduce school debt, so Fizz might not have to pay."

First of all, I was amazed. Although I'd love to have my loans disappear, I never thought any new policy would affect me x'D It would start off, at least, with people in the tightest traits. I'm low middle class, not low income - most relief programs skip us over because there are lots of people with less privilege in need. They were always going to take priority IF any relief was coming. (Since that time there have been various new fixes from the government, but yeah, none so far that would affect me.)

Second, my dad as you probably know is a Trumper, claims to be socially liberal but only ever touts far right ideology, and categorically hates all Democrats. None of us have love for either party >_> But my dad can't get through a single conversation without railing about "libtards" and "dem devils." But he was relying on Biden to clear up my loans?? Which was a thing even I had zero expectations would happen??

Ok! Well! Anyway - my mom did help me, for which I'm both very privileged and very grateful every single day of my life. I have savings for the first time since graduation. It's not a lot, but it's finally like, if I have an accident, it won't be the end of the world...

Which brings me to today on Facebook: My dad's sharing a post that says, "Student debt relief: Step 1 - Take out a loan, Step 2 - Pay it back." You know, the usual.

BUT YOU LITERALLY WANTED ME TO RELY ON BIDEN FOR DEBT RELIEF.

When it's someone else, "pay back your loans!" When it's him/his family, "we deserve relief" what?????? I have no idea how else to interpret such a flip-flop.

but for that matter my dad is also staunchly pro-life... despite wanting an abortion for himself when my mom was pregnant with me and the doctors thought I would have a birth defect. I don't have one, but here we go again: my dad's pro-life for everyone else, but pro-choice for himself? :/ However a lot of pro-choices are like that... My grandma's extremely religious family was on surface pro-life, but before she died grandma revealed she had been forced to have an abortion by her mother. Lol. Lies lies lies, it all smells like sewage. All these people want is to control everyone else and continue to cover up their own messes to look pristine...