#crud challenge

[skjam]

September Challenge Movies Poll

[apthepotat]

am I late/silly

The original that I found

Sona belongs to me :]

[okapiandpaste]

me trying to figure out how tf i'm going to make rpg battle mechanics based on bodily systems (vascular, muscular, nervous, digestive) now that i have rpgmaker mv.

[darlingsfandom]

what’s mine is mine !

pairing: emperor geta x fem reader!

summary: Geta has met his match.

tw: public fucking, p in v, unprotected sex, nipple play, jealousy , cream pie! Mention of hairy pussy! That’s not really a warning because hairy pussy is 100% natural and valid ! Not proofread.

Rome, the city of beauty, romance and lust the place you’ve called home since birth has expanded further than anyone could ever imagine including yourself , but over the last few years you’ve been feeling like it’s not what you need anymore. You need more!

The city was busy as always as you walked around on the cobble stones holding the bottom of your tunica with a smile on your face. Everyone knew who you were but never dared to challenge you. They would smile and nod. You were the grand daughter of one of the men in Geta and Caracallas senate and that’s how you found yourself constantly wondering around in the palace drawing the twin emperors attention. It was no shock that the two would fight over you but you never gave them the satisfaction.

As you walked back into the palace after your usual morning stroll you stumbled across Geta standing there looking out at the streets below.

“My Emperor.” You nodded your head before bowing just enough that he could catch a glimpse of your breasts. Geta straightened his posture and held his head high almost looking down at you. You placed your hand over your heart and gave him a gentle smile , but little did he know what was lurking behind your lips.

“And just where have you been?” Geta asked as you went to walk away.

“Out for my morning walk, as I do every morning MY emperor.” You spat on the word my making sure he understood that you meant business. Just like Geta, you were also a selfish, crud human being however you were able to mask the ugliness in a way that no would ever suspect. Geta walked up to you, gripped the side of your throat and made you look into his enraged eyes. His nostrils flared as your eyes softened.

“Try again.” His grip on your neck tightened making you gasp. His ears perked up to the sweet little sound. “Because you know that I know exactly what goes on in my empire.” He spat back at you.

“Fuck you Geta.” You spoke quietly since he had a grip. Geta raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Fuck me? FUCK ME? How dare you! You’re nothing more than a senators grand daughter…”

“Who was birthed from Venus herself! And raised as if Pluto himself was still around! You don’t dare mess with me Geta.” You gritted your teeth before shoving him with what strength you had left. Get scuffed at you before rolled his eyes.

“And you seem to forget that the gods speak to me! I am emperor!”

“That you share with your brother! You could never be an emperor on your own!” You huffed rubbing your throat before you felt your back against the wall as Geta shoved you backwards. His hands quickly gripped your wrists and pinned them above your head.

“Now I know you’re a sweet girl, what has you so worked up you dare tip toe the line to disobey me?” His nose rubbed against yours making you soften a little bit. Both of you stood silent looking in each other’s eyes. He could see the temper boiling behind them making him turned on.

“What’s mine is mine Geta! You are mine!” You lunged forward making Geta chuckle until he realized how what you just said was true. “I gave you my virginity many moons ago! Our souls are connected and you can not deny it. The fact I have to even say it like that makes me want to cry. The fact I witnessed you looking at a whore the way you look at me… what if I had looked at Caracalla the way I look at you? You’d have my head cut off in a second!” Anger boiled in your voice as your hands gripped onto his arms making him whimper a little since your nails were digging into his soft flesh.

Geta couldn’t deny what you were saying, he could easily have your head cut off but he also wouldn’t actually hurt a hair on your head. He was secretly soft for you and loved actually making love to you, yes fucking you was just as good but you were more than that, no one else was allowed to touch you the way he did. The issue between the two of you is that you’re both so stubborn but the difference is that you are actually acting upon your feelings for Geta. He stepped back and reached out to stroke your face as if you were made of glass. You titled your cheek into his hand.

“You my beauty, have no reason to be so jealous of such a common whore. I do not love her, she was a sight to look at. You, you’re a goddess and you know that. You are mine and only mine!” Geta ran his thumb over your bottom lip while you felt tears roll down your cherry cheeks.

“Then love me like you meant Geta! No more whores around the palace! No more staring at them until your brain is no longer functioning! If I am yours, then I want you to announce it to the gods themselves !” Your words were heard as Geta grabbed your face and kissed you hard. The kiss was nothing like you’ve felt from him before, it was making your stomach feel full of butterflies and your thighs clench together all at once. His lips moved away from yours so he could place his forehead to yours and look into your eyes.

“My beauty, I will do more than tell them and not just the gods, all of Rome will know who you belong too!” Geta pulled on your hand and took you out to the balcony. The people below stopped what they were doing when the heard the sound of Geta clearing his throat to speak but he did not say a word! You furrowed your eyebrows together in confusion as Geta put his hand on your back, pushed you over the edge enough that everyone got a good look at you and the crowd gasped when they realized it was you. As if the gods were actually watching, the sun poked through the dark clouds and illuminated your figure. Anxiety ran through your veins but your face would never show it.

Silence. Complete silence as Geta stood there holding you close until he opened his mouth.

“I will make this clear as I can so that no man will ever lay a finger upon MY beauty!” His words made you clench around nothing but your cheeks turned even redder by the second. Geta stood behind you , untied your tunica and let it fall exposing your naked body making the crowd gasp. “A true beauty shaped and birthed from Venus herself and she belongs to me. No one shall harm a hair on her head nor shall they try to make love in way to her, if anyone shall try then you will be meeting the gods sooner than you’ve thought.” He placed his hands on your breasts and massaged them slowly, rolling your hardened nipples inbetween his fingers while his lips kissed along your neck making sure to suckle on the delicate skin that made your eyes roll back.

Geta did not care who watched as he ran his fingers down your body until he reached your hips. He moved his lips along your shoulder as he moved his hands to your plushy thighs and spread them apart. His fingers trailed along your hairy folds. A soft moan escaped your lips as his finger slowly slid inside of you. Geta moaned at how wet you already were. The fact that he could easily fuck you in a public place and every other nasty kink you had made him feel proud. His finger slowly moved in and out of you making you bite your bottom lip to which Geta squeezed your cheeks with his free hand and made you open your mouth. You were melting into his touch.

Geta smirked as he leaned in and spit into your mouth making the crowd below you make mixed noises. You swallowed eagerly and Geta county deny how attracted he was to you. Who on earth would allow something like that? But that’s why he was attracted to you. His finger pulled out of your wet cunt and slipped into your mouth. You sucked softly on his finger as he spread open your legs, bent you over the railing and worked on lifting up his on tunic. His cock was leaking with milky pre-cum, the feeling of his wet head rubbing against your hairy folds made you moan around his finger until he pulled it away and wiped it on your cheek. You smiled until you felt the head of his cock pushing inside of you.

“Geta!” You whimpered as he eased into your warm hairy cunt .

“That’s it , tell them who is pleasing you so well!” He gripped onto your hips tightly as he pushed his cock all the way in making you grip the railing until your knuckles turned white. Geta groaned at stretching you out, the way you were mumbling below him made him close his eyes. He waisted no time in bottoming out before he railed you over the railing. The sound of his balls slapping against your wet cunt echoed to the people who were still watching below. A few of those people were also touching their bodies as Geta took no mercy on your cunt. You were a whimpering mess until Geta wrapped his arm around your waist and held you up straight so he could play with your nipples while his cock pounded into your cunt.

Sweat covered your skin as Geta praised how good you feel. His fingers twisted your nipples making you yelp at first before he pulled on them. His lips attacked your neck with kisses while his hand reached down and pressed his finger against your clit to rub it fast. The added pleasure had your knees buckling as your orgasm rushed inside of you.

“Geta , Geta , please , I … oh I feel..”

“I know you do, I can feel how wet you’re getting, how hard you’re squeezing me! Show them! Show them how good you’re feeling, let it go.” Geta whispered into your ear and nibbled on your ear lobe which sent you over the edge.

“GETA!” You cried out as your orgasm ripped through your body, making your knees shake and in a surprise your body was in a state of pleasure that you actually squirted against his cock, soaking him and Geta was beyond pleased. You were the first one to ever orgasm like that for him.

“What a beautiful sight!” He couldn’t hold back his own orgasm and groaned out as his cum shot into your cunt. You could feel him filling you up. The warm sticky liquid dripped down your thighs since he had such a big load. Geta used his fingers to scoop his cum up and shove them into your mouth that was panting. You suckled greedily as Geta stood behind you with a satisfied smirk while the crowd below cheered.

“Let it be known that what’s mine is mine and she is mine!” Geta clapped his hands as he did a loud boom of thunder sounded making him smirk. Geta got exactly what he wanted and so did you. You stood up slowly as he admired the number he did on you. Your neck was covered in purplish marks , cum covered thighs and pupils blown, a true beauty in his mind a beauty that belonged to him.

[jochi-the-veristithaylen-baker]

Dawnshard naming speculation. Wind and Truth spoilers. Long.

In Dawnshard ("Stormlight 3.5") we learned the name of one of the four Dawnshards. And that one is Change.

In Wind and Truth (Stormlight 5) we learn the name of a second Dawnshard, Exist.

The Shards of Adonalsium are named after concepts (Preservation not Preserve, Cultivation not Cultivate). But the Dawnshards are named after actions. Specifically verbs that are imperative. They express Intent directly.

And now is when I bring in a parallel to make guesses at the last two Dawnshards.

In Computer Science there's a model of interaction called "CRUD". It's an abbreviation for "Create, Read, Update, Delete" and are the primary four actions of interacting with a system.

Exist and Change could be seen as synonyms of Create and Update, when taken as verbs. That implies the last two are equivalents of Read and Delete.

The last one, Delete, would be easy to rename "Destroy".

In that phrasing it sounds ominously related to Nightblood and whatever is going on there.

But it doesn't quite fit. Destroy has an external grammatical object. Someone destroys something even if it is unspecified in a sentence. The two know Dawnshards don't have grammatical objects. You exist. You change. Delete and Destroy translated into a parallel of that could be Die.

The second action, Read, is a bit more of a challenge. I will suggest that the Iriali people have a central religious tenet of Experience. Their religious duty is to experience the cosmere from as many viewpoints as possible so the memories can be collected back into "The One" that they believe everything (or at least every Iriali person) originates from.

And the Iriali feel way more important than the impact they have had on cosmere politics so far

Thus we end on four dawnshards named

Exist • Experience • Change • Die

It feels like a complete set and very much like four commands that could create a living universe. Or kill a god.

As a post-script, let me just state that if I am right and one of the Dawnshards is the command Die, I am already really storming scared of it.

[snoozykazoo]

we're on tumblr again yay✨

Hey everyone! And welcome to Snoozy Kazoo's first ✨TUMBLR DEVPOST!!✨ We'll be releasing these every month from now on as a way to keep everyone updated on Snoozy Kazoo news!

If you're new here, hi! We’re Snoozy Kazoo, a game dev studio of six guys who make dumb, silly, and fun games. You might know us from the games Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion and Turnip Boy Robs a Bank, available HERE and HERE!

Let's get caught up! In this issue we're covering a new mobile release, anniversaries, and... our NEW GAME? 😳😳😳

What's Snoozy been up to?

Ok I know what I said earlier, but let’s be honest: if you’ve stumbled deep into the mines enough to find your way here, you’re surely familiar with our beloved Turnip Boy. We just passed by his anniversary of robbing a bank on January 18th! Aww! They grow up so fast… But it’s a good thing he’s not robbing banks anymore, that’s a crime, you kn-

Aw crud he's doing it on your phone now

Snaps my fingers disappointingly. Aw man. Yerrrrp. Turnip Boy Robs a Bank is now on iOS and Android devices near you. His mindless yet fervent desire to wreck crime upon the world seems insatiable. It’s really unfortunate, except for the fact that it’s honestly really fun watching him go at it.

The game is available TODAY on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store! Re-experience the game or force your friends to — its fun either way!

Ahhh the beloved Turnip Boy. Surely your next game will be about him right?

Heehee nope!

Excitingly, in November, we announced our next game: Hobnobbers! A co-op mall-looter where you rob malls for your goddess!

If you haven’t already wishlisted the game yet, well… go wishlist it! Go make your friends wishlist it! Wishlist wishlist wishlist! It really helps us beat the Algorithm Overlords, so literally every single wishlist counts!

I already know about your little crow-gnome mall-looting game you do not shut up about it. What else is new?

We also released a new devlog over on our YouTube! We’ll be releasing one of these every few months, so make sure to subscribe!

In it, we’ve covered the game’s conception till its early development, which means a lot of concept art. Honestly, let’s toss a little bit more of it over here; it’s always exciting to see behind the curtain!

Now get ready for... 🥁🥁🥁

Woah! What’s this little place? Perhaps the chance to get to meet different members of the team and bombard them with questions to foster a parasocial relationship with them? No way!

Introducing… Alexis! Our Unreal Developer!

What are you most excited for in Hobnobbers?

I’m very excited for a lot of different technical aspects and seeing people’s reaction to the game! I want to see all of the systems come together to create a perfect storm of chaos. The randomly generated map ontop the hexes system, with events like Money Storms, Floods, and Fairy Circles of Doom, is going to make each run completely unique and you’ll never know what kind of madness you’re getting into! On launch day I intend to be hopping into games with people (and fixing any bugs that crop up).

What’s something you’ve worked on in Hobnobbers recently that you’ve found particularly frustrating?

The level generation for the mall has been a particular nightmare, but in a very fun way. The mall is generated from bottom-to-top and each floor tells the floor above it about the different combinations of rooms that it can generate. This allows us to have those iconic vertical levels that overlap eachother with walkways above the floors below! This has required a lot of tuning in both making the parts that generate, and how to place them to get results that are always interesting (without bugs). Not only do we have to generate each floor, we also have to generate each store! Accounting for the size and placement of these is a constant challenge when making segments but I made a blender template that speeds it up quite a lot.

What pitch did you end up bringing to the pitch competition?

My pitch was a game about a vampire who was ousted from their castle by another vampire, and is trying to take it back. You would have to sneak back in through various pathways that challenge you in different ways, some would require parkour skills, others would require puzzle solving. And while you’re doing all of this, the AI learns and adapts to your behavior setting traps or blocking off paths in a constant game of cat and mouse. I am still extremely passionate about this idea, and fully intend to pursue it one day!

Awesome! Thank you for your time! 😊

Okie dokie that’s a wrap for now

In future devposts, we’ll be including questions sent in by the community! Feel free to send them in over here on Tumblr, or join our Discord and ask questions in the “ask-the-devs-❓” channel!

See you soon!

— Kiki

[spnfanficpond]

Weekly Pond Newsletter

The crud that's going around is now in the house. Actual video of Admin Michelle right now:

If something doesn't make sense here, it's probably not you. 🤣

Old Business:

Valentine’s Day Writing Challenge - The deadline for the writing challenge is approaching! Click here to check out the prompts and get all the details on how to participate!

New fic exchange rule enacted - This new rule affects only fic exchanges and similar events where someone else depends on a writer to write. If you sign up for a fic exchange that we host, and you ghost us without posting your fic, then you will be banned from future exchanges with us. It's not fair to those writers who have written their fic to not receive a fic in return. If you stay in contact with us, keeping us updated with your status, or even decide to drop out, that's okay, and we will work with you. If you simply stop responding to messages, you will be banned from future exchanges. If you have any questions, feel free to contact an admin!

Angel Fish Awards for January - See above gif. 🤣 We'll combine the nominations we received in January with everything we get in February!

I would be okay if Cas wanted to check me out like this right now. 🤣

New Business:

Writer's Hangout - At 11am EST today, Manta Ray Laili will be hanging out in our general voice channel to talk with you about writing! If you don't want to turn on your mic, there is chat in that channel, too. No need to be shy!

Fishing For Treasures - Next weekend, we will be celebrating SMUT here at the Pond! Got a favorite hot, smutty fanfic that you want to share with the world? Members can drop links in the #fishing-for-treasures channel in our Discord server, and non-members can send us an ask with a link to the fic they want to share. Then, next weekend, we will reblog all of these fics for everyone to read! (Tumblr links are preferred, but we can create a Tumblr post with any link submitted.)

Manta Ray chat - On Friday, Valentine's Day, at 8pm EST, Admin Marie will be hanging out in the Discord server to chat with you! Come join us and say hi!

Competitive Writing Sprints - On Saturday at 11am EST, Admin MJ will be hosting competitive writing sprints in our Discord server! Add words to your WIP and win fabulous prizes!

SPN Rewatch: FanFic Edition - Saturday at 5pm EST, we'll be discussing the next two episodes in our rewatch: 4.05 Monster Movie and 4.06 Yellow Fever.

Coming Soon - Ummm...the New Member Spotlight still hasn't gone up, has it? Yeah...we're gonna get on that. Promise. 😇

(Divider by @glygriffe!)

That’s all for this week! To see all Pond events, and also other SPN-related things like conventions and online concerts, check out our Google calendar! Click here for a static view in Eastern US/Canada time (desktop only, no mobile app access, sadly), and click here to add our calendar to your own Google calendar! We try to keep it as up-to-date as possible. If there’s something you want to see on the calendar that’s not there (maybe a convention we missed, cast birthdays, or something similar), send us an ASK and let us know!

Hope you have a great week! - From your Admins and Manta Rays, @mrswhozeewhatsis, @mariekoukie6661, @thoughtslikeaminefield, @heavenssexiestangel, @spn-fanfic-reblog-writes, and @manawhaat!

[hawkland]

Art Masterpost: Those Eyes Like Fire Story by @ladyknightskye Art by @hawkland | sidewinder

Hey everyone! So I'm currently battling a bit of con-crud after SciFi Valley Con this past weekend (which was amazing in a lot of ways but...yeah...it left a lingering mark). BUT I couldn't miss sharing my art today for my @spnbangbang collaboration with @ladyknightskye! I'm so glad we got to work together again.

So my prompt was, probably obviously, based on *cough* that one shot of Misha from Gotham Knights.

I joked so much at the time that he looked like some kind of Renaissance-era Venus, I ended up doing my piece to basically be "The Venus of Endverse".

It ended up being more challenging than I originally thought it would be and I spent a lot of time fussing over it, but there it is at long last!

Now you'll excuse me because I'm going to crawl back into bed soon and enjoy reading the final version of the story myself...I hope you will too!

[theoriginalmarke]

TITANIC TUESDAY TIDINGS

The city's crews showed up bright and early yesterday morning to start digging up the road and install new water lines. I noticed one guy started cutting the blacktop on my block which meant my drive would soon be blocked off.

I finished by coffee and did the grocery shopping I had putting off for several days, realizing it could be a few more days before I could get out of the house if I waited any longer.

After spending way too much money for way too few groceries I zigzagged around all of the equipment to get back home.

Around 4pm the water went off. The city announces such things like Facebook, and sure enough there was a post saying they were replacing a water main. I looked out the front window and there were two guys in the newly dug ditch and six guys standing around supervising.

More pickups and more supervisors showed up to oversee things. A couple of hours later the water was back on, though I had to run all of the faucets for a while before the crud filtered out. Yuck.

Last night every single time I let Lulu outside she barked at the equipment sitting in the street, daring it to make a move. Challenging the front end loaders. Warning the excavators. Ruff.

This morning they were back out at seven to start again. I think I'll go supervise.

I love you, baby. I'm grateful for you. MWAH!

Y'all have a great day.

[webthreecorp]

Mastering Linked Lists: Beginner's Guide

Hey Tumblr friends 👋

After learning about Arrays, it's time to level up! Today we’re diving into Linked Lists — another fundamental building block of coding! 🧱✨

So... What is a Linked List? 🤔

Imagine a treasure hunt 🗺️:

You find a clue ➡️ it points you to the next clue ➡️ and so on.

That's how a Linked List works!

🔗 Each element (Node) holds data and a pointer to the next Node.

It looks something like this: [data | next] -> [data | next] -> [data | next] -> NULL

Why Use a Linked List? 🌈

✅ Dynamic size (no need to pre-define size like arrays!) ✅ Easy insertions and deletions ✨ ✅ Great for building stacks, queues, and graphs later!

❌ Slower to access elements (you can't jump straight to an item like arrays).

Basic Structure of a Linked List Node 🛠️

data -> stores the actual value

next -> points to the next node

📚 CRUD Operations on Linked Lists

Let’s build simple CRUD functions for a singly linked list in C++! (���� CRUD = Create, Read, Update, Delete)

Create (Insert Nodes)

Read (Display the list)

Update (Change a Node’s Value)

Delete (Remove a Node)

🌟 Final Thoughts

🔗 Linked Lists may look tricky at first, but once you master them, you’ll be ready to understand more powerful structures like Stacks, Queues, and even Graphs! 🚀

🌱 Mini Challenge:

Build your own linked list of your favorite songs 🎶

Practice inserting, updating, and deleting songs!

If you loved this explainer, give a follow and let's keep leveling up together! 💬✨ Happy coding, coder fam! 💻🌈 For more resources and help join our discord server

[thedanicode]

100 Days Of Code Challenge - day 11/100

16/01/2024

Day 11:

Hi guys!!!!

Yesterday I managed to finish correcting all the observations made by the tech leader, and they approved my Pull Request wiiiiiiiiiiii! Since I had some time, as I had completed my tickets, I decided to throw a lifeline to my colleague who was struggling to fetch an endpoint from the backend. After several hours and a lot of coffee, we were able to finish all the code. Today, I'll be assisting him with integration tests. I'm proud not only to learn new things but also to be able to help others.

If there's time, I'll try to finish the practice CRUD I'm working on to learn Nest

[nospendtillbrooklyn]

Pausing a No Buy, Failing a No Buy: Belated. Because I suck at consistency

It’s been a minute since I updated. This is for a couple of reasons. The first, and most important is that I suck at consistency. I get distracted easily (I do have ADHD after all) but I also get busy with my life, with work and I run out of bandwidth to write about my experiences. Which I think is actually kind of a shame because I’ve had some really interesting experiences around the no-buy. The second reason for the lack of updates is that I attended an art show a couple of weeks ago and immediately upon coming home came down with covid. It sucked. I spent 7 days basically a zombie. Between the virus causing fatigue (like going let the dogs out to go potty and need a two hour nap fatigue) and the cold medicine induced fuege state I basically became one with my couch for a week. And the week after while I was testing negative, and didn’t have any of the worst symptoms I was still struggling with the fatigue.

But I’m recovered. And living my life (okay I am really just catching up on work after two weeks of covid related crud.) So let’s talk about the No Buy.

Originally when I set out to do my No Buy, it was the beginning of August. I set the original intention to be two weeks. Just to see if I could really do that. As I dove in, after a week I extended it to September 21st. I chose that date because it was roughly 6 weeks from the official start of my No Buy, and because it was during a trip surrounding my exhibition at the art festival. And I love me a gift shop, y’all. So I knew that would pose a challenge of different kinds for me. So I wanted the option to be done, and not beat myself up if I bought some souvenirs. As my No Buy progressed I realized I wanted to extend it till December, December 31st specifically. So I made some choices.

The first was that on September 21st I paused the No Buy. I was in a beautiful, incredible place and I was so tempted and struggling with Not Buying Things. Especially since the town I was in is almost entirely supported by summer tourism, which was coming to a close. So I compromised. I paused the No Buy as that was my original end date. What I found was that I did not want to buy all the gimmicky teeshirts and things in the past I might have been tempted by. My brain was recognizing, acknowledging that I have plenty of clothes (I am by no means a clothes addict, but I have plenty of clothes and could stand to have a few less… especially tee shirts.) But what I did buy was stickers, and post cards to put into my scrapbook journal as a means to document my experiences. I bought a beautiful artistic map print of the absolutely stunning wilderness that surrounded this quaint little mountain town. And one bandanna that had a beautiful print. All of which I think would constitute a failure for my No Buy, which was why I paused it.

Did I need to? I am not sure I did. I think I might have been okay not buying the things I did. I didn’t -have- to buy them, I had no real genuine need of them. But they were fun, cool and I collect stickers to put into my scrapbook journal and onto water bottles etc. I think my No Buy might be more authentic had I not paused it. But I felt so proud of myself that how I spent money that weekend was almost exclusively on food (required because I was staying in a hotel so there was no cooking option.) I did not buy anything for my service dog (look his collection of collars is extensive, I buy a lot of things for him… that he does not need.) I did not buy any fun tee shirts. I didn’t spend frivolously on expensive meals, mostly because I would purchase a lunch, eat half and take the rest back to my hotel to heat up later. I toured the little shops of the town, and I saw some art, and things that I really liked and would genuinely have enjoyed in my home… but I recognized they weren’t things I needed in my home. I have more art then can fit on the walls of my small house. I have more books and  tchotchkes then can fit on the bookshelves I have. (One of the many reasons books are expressly forbidden in my No Buy my TBR is impressively stacked.) Something has definitely changed with in my brain about shopping. But I am not perfect.

I did Fail. I booked a photosession for myself and my horse. I have almost no photos of the two of us together. I’ve recently lost 30 pounds and don’t have any good headshots for my business site. I thought this was a good opportunity to congratulate myself on the weight-loss, and get some decent photos. But I realized about an hour after I booked the session; this was not a need. I don’t HAVE to do this. There is no dire pressing need that couldn’t wait till next spring after the No Buy is scheduled to be finished (more on this later.) I confessed this failure to my accountability buddy (who is not my partner, though my partner is also part of my accountability.) And I felt bad about it for quite a while. I could have canceled it and forfeit the deposit. But that didn’t seem the right thing to do either. So I told my partner I would write about this failure, and what happened during and how my brain simply did not recognize it was a failure until after the fact.

The photographer had placed an add, I follow them because they happen to live on the property where I board my horse. They help out around the barn, and her work is honestly beautiful. It has a very modern western flare, and she is always taking photos of the boarders and their horses. She was advertising mini sessions on site. And I thought “man I’d love some photos of me and Horse.” (His name is not ‘Horse’ though it would be funny if it was, but this is a place anonymity and my horse’s name is fairly recognizable to any one who knows me, or of me.) Next thing I knew I had paid a deposit. I wasn’t even aware of it until it was over. And it took my partner pointing out ‘did this break your No Buy?” for me to even realize: yes, yes it did.

Immediately I felt sick. What the hell happened? How did I simply skip out on recognizing this behavior as a violation of the No Buy? How did I just make this decision and not think twice about it? I spiraled through the dark thoughts of this invalidating the entire project. I swam in dark waters of beating myself up, and kicking my mental ass. Raking my psyche over the coals of ‘ you are a failure!’ My heart raced and racked my brain to figure out HOW I let this happen.

The reality is that the reason I made this choice was because one of the things I have done through out myself is ‘treat myself.’ I treat myself when I am feeling good, and when I am feeling bad. Shopping was used as a means to measure ‘rewarding myself’ for things, or making myself feel better. Now this is a learned behavior, both of my partners have throughout my life done this for their children and themselves. It’s a behavior that was modeled to me very young from my grandmother(s) as well. So I come by it honestly. But I need to break this cycle. This is the part of my No Buy that is going to be hardest, because what I bought wasn’t a material good (which I clearly have already gotten much more adapt at avoiding) I did not connect that the behavior was the same at it’s core. That ‘treating myself’ is going to be the biggest thing I have to unlearn in my journey to under consumption, environmental conscious consumption and just having Less Stuff.

So what did I do? I’ve kept the appointment. Because I did not want to forfeit the deposit. Because the photos will have use and purpose in my life and my career. But I also added to my mental checklist about reasons I am spending money. And I went back and redoubled my consumption of books and online content (y’all youtube is free and invaluable to help reprogram your brain, also podcasts are free) that helps me stay in the head space of Not Buying Stuff. I don’t know that I will post the photos here. Annonymity is important to me in this space, at this moment.

Things like this are valuable lessons in a No Buy journey. Because things like this are where you do learn what triggers your spending, and what you need to do to consciously reprogram your brain to avoid these things effecting your wallet. Is it a lesson I needed? I don’t want to say yes and have it feel like I’m justifying what I did. But the truth is, I am not sure I would have realized that trigger point any other way. I was genuinely unaware of how I was failing my No Buy in the moments where I signed up for this photoshoot. It was entirely blocked in my mind and it was only later, with an outside perspective, that I recognized what really transpired in that transaction. I can be more mindful going forward, something I am not sure I would have really recognized with out that failure. It’s not justifiable, and I owe it to this blog and the honor of my No Buy to be truthful in confessing how I failed. But hopefully the lesson I’ve taken away it will serve me going forward.

And forward I shall go. Right now the No Buy is scheduled to end December 31st. But I have already discussed with my partner extending it to a full year, so August 2025 would be the end. They have very wisely pointed out I should focus on getting to the end of this year first (I am very prone to “if a little is good, a lot is going to be great…” right up into injury and catastrophe.) But the longer this goes on, the more I want to enter a lifestyle that emphasizes the principals of a No Buy. I want to simply LIVE this way. That when I do purchase something non-essential it’s conscious, it’s intentional and it serves me and not serves just buying something. I want to live this way because it’s better for the Earth and our struggling environment. I want to live this way because I want to someday own land for my horse, and to be a farmer again (I grew up on a horse farm.) I want to live this way because my partner and I want to live in a 500sq foot home with out a life burdened by Things. So while officially this No Buy will end December 31st. I think it’s going to end up being extended again. And from there? Maybe I can simply just finally change my behavior to be a conscious consumer of very little things. I want to live this way because my rig has 202,000+ miles on it and will not live forever, and a car payment is going to make a giant impact on my budget.

And maybe as time goes on I can get more consistent with this blog. And I can delve deeper into my family’s pattern of Treat Yo’Self shopping that has clearly informed my own behavior. And I can share ways I am trying to consume less, and impact the environment in more positive ways.

I hope if you’re here, if you’re reading this, you stick around. You find value in my self reflection and the weird, inconsistent thoughts on what I am trying to do. If not, that’s okay. Because I’m going to keep at it, even if I struggle with it.

Enjoy a cellphone snapshot of the place I was in for my art show.

[mrs-luigi-vargas]

How to Become Patient Zero in One or Two Easy Steps

Rating: General Audiences Characters: Bowser, Bowser Junior, Kamek, Mario, Luigi, Peach Relationships: Bowser & Bowser Junior, Bowser & Peach, Bowser & Luigi, Bowser & Kamek Tags: Sickfic, Humor, Fluff, Kamek is Bowser’s Dad, Sicktember 2023

Summary: Bowser’s having a good feeling about this kidnapping attempt, so when he discovers he’s sick he tries to push through and hide it to see his latest scheme through to the end. This doesn't work out, obviously. Prompts: 4. Hiding an Illness, 6. Sick and Injured, 14. "I shouldn’t be worried about you, but for some reason I am", 21. "But if you stay, you'll get sick too", 30. Patient Zero Word Count: 1,352 words

[AO3 Link]

~~~

In Bowser’s opinion, this latest kidnapping scheme was going pretty smoothly so far.

Princess Peach was captured and secured, despite a small scuffle — it was equal parts fun and frustrating when someone accidentally left a weapon lying too close to her — and the Mario Bros were — well, they weren't being stopped, but they were only midway through World 2! The later surprises he had in store for them would get them for sure!

Everyone was working like a well-oiled machine, at top form, and Bowser was just going to join them. Just as soon as he finished enduring this wave of whatever crud he’d woken up with today.

Well — actually he’d woken up with it days ago, hoping to push through it as his plans fell into place. But it proved hard to ignore, with his throat so raw and his sinuses so stuffed and his very bones aching something fierce. Usually it’d be something to just sleep off and let pass, but with all these preparations to do he’d hardly had more than a few minutes to sit down, let alone take a nap. This was the longest break he’d had in a while, to be honest, hidden in some forgotten hallway taking a breather.

It wasn't like he could call all this off either; everything was way too far along for that and besides, Bowser had a good feeling about this attempt! Though, he knew if Kamek got even a whiff of the idea that Bowser was under the weather then he’d force him to cancel everything anyway. Luckily, Bowser had coincidentally sent him off earlier to supervise the World 7 and 8 work, sparing him from those scrutinizing eyes.

As for the other pair of scrutinizing eyes, though...Bowser turned to face Junior, who had been watching him suspiciously. Those were a bit more difficult to avoid.

“Hey, Junior!” Bowser’s voice cracked a little as the words left his mouth. He hid a wince.

Junior’s gaze narrowed. “...Dad, are you sick?” he asked Bowser outright.

“What? Nah,” Bowser replied a little too quickly. He realized he was leaning a hand against the wall for support and straightened abruptly, almost falling over the other way as he got dizzy for a second. “I just...uh...didn't get that much sleep last night! Working hard, you know how it is!”

Junior didn’t look convinced.

“You don't have to worry!” Bowser stifled a cough. “I’m fine! Just taking a break!”

“But what if I'm worried anyway?” Junior said, frowning up at Bowser. “Even though I'm not supposed’ta be?”

Bowser made to ruffle Junior’s hair, remembered his elevated body temperature, and then didn’t. “Well then...” he said, pasting a smirk onto his face, “I’ll show ya you don't have to be worried, by squashing those Loser Bros. flat when they get here!”

“Not if I beat them with my mech first!” Junior grinned, suspicions visibly fading at the implied challenge.

“Heh, we’ll see about that!” Ah, what else could distract him...? “Speaking of your mech, you figure out how to fit in those rocket launchers yet?”

“Almost!” Junior began rambling about his design process, successfully distracted. Bowser breathed a tiny sigh of relief, managing to cajole Junior into running off to put some finishing touches onto his contraption. 

In his son’s absence, Bowser muffled a sneeze into his arm, his nose burning at the effort to keep it locked behind his teeth. Yikes, that was close. He wasn't sure how long he could keep this up. Pretending he was fine was exhausting, almost more so than being sick itself. But Bowser refused to let some minor illness get the better of him so easily. He stepped out from the hallway to rejoin his army. Yeah, he’d have those pesky germs knocked out flat in no time!

---

Bowser woke up slowly, blinking up at the rich purple canopy of his bed. Why was he in bed? He wracked his brain trying to remember. The cotton his head felt stuffed with made it impossible. The last thing he did was...was...what was it?

Bowser heard a shuffling noise next to him. It was Greenie, staring at him wide-eyed.

“...What’re you lookin’ at?” Bowser glared at him. 

In lieu of answering, Greenie burst into tears.

“Wh —?” Bowser tried to sit up; it was a bit difficult with his arms and half his torso in bandages and his entire body feeling shaky and weak, but he somehow managed. Whatever was sitting on his head fell off — an ice pack, whose absence was almost immediately felt based on the throbbing in his skull. “Shut up,” Bowser snapped at Greenie, trying to sound intimidating. The words came out as if he’d eaten gravel, and upon hearing them Greenie somehow began crying harder, so obviously that didn't work.

As if summoned, Mario skidded into the room, Kamek not far behind with a large mug of tea gripped in his claws. “Oh, you're awake,” Kamek said. He sounded cross, and Bowser couldn't help but feel nervous. “I was wondering why you insisted on keeping me out in the field,” he continued, and uh-oh. 

“You said I didn't have to be worried!” was the first thing Junior shouted as soon as he ran into the room next and aw jeez. What even happened?

Peach, a blanket over her shoulders and the last one to crowd his bedside, filled him in. Apparently his and the Marios’ final battle had started off as usual, but partway through the fight Mario had noticed Bowser acting off. The lack of banter and boasting, the faltering reflexes, the whiffed attacks...the amount of evidence pointing to something being wrong had grown ever larger. Until Greenie had thrown his hammer at Bowser’s head, a predictable, highly telegraphed maneuver that Bowser normally would have dodged with ease. Instead, it had hit Bowser full force, and he’d dropped like a stone and stopped moving. Greenie had been honestly scared he’d killed Bowser right then and there, hence the waterworks now.

“As if you could kill me.” Bowser scowled at Greenie. Greenie hiccuped, still teary.

Anyway, Mario had swiftly run off to find Kamek, and Peach had passed along the suspicions Junior had shared with her a while ago plus a few suspicions of her own — for example, Bowser had visited her a lot less than usual this time around. And then they all stayed to help take care of Bowser. “This is the first time you’d woken up this coherent, you know,” Peach told him, cocking a grin.

The first time? Bowser frowned. “Well, now I’m awake for real. So get out of here before you get sick with whatever this is, too.”

Peach shook her head. “That ship has already sailed —”

As if on cue, Mario sneezed. Bowser looked over to where he was patting Greenie on the shoulder. Mario met his gaze and shrugged. 

“It’s been a few days, and you were really bad off,” Peach explained. “So we’re going to keep helping you until you’re better, and then you’ll have to mind us, as we won't be fit to travel for a while.” She raised her chin. “Think of it as payback, for scaring us all half to death.”

Bowser grumbled, sinking further into the bed. He didn't want the Mario Bros hanging around his castle. Blegh.

Kamek knocked back the rest of his tea, slamming the mug down on the end table with a little more force than necessary. “If you're finished with your explanations,” Kamek said mildly, gesturing at Mario and Greenie and Peach even as he kept his eyes on Bowser. “I’d like to have a moment with Patient Zero here, if you wouldn't mind.”

Mario helped Greenie to his feet. Peach gave Junior her blanket before she followed them out of the room, and he clambered onto the bed next to Bowser, wrapping himself in it. As the door swung closed, Bowser realized he’d prefer the Mario Bros running around his home, actually, to the look on Kamek’s face as he opened his mouth to give Bowser the scolding of a lifetime.

[novantinuum]

anyways please with all the kindness i can muster, pardon me if fic updates take a While to happen after my recent update of Crack the Paragon, i am A) stuck in the ruthless coils of capitalism, B) sick with con crud, C) just coming off of a four month nonstop writing challenge wherein I've been writing DAILY

i can really use some time to rest and gather up new inspiration before re-centering myself with my projects, thank u <3

[vellatra]

Fire Emblem - Three Houses - A Dumb Summary

I was challenged to summarize 3H. I know very little about the game. You've been warned!

Once upon a time there was this guy Billy. Or this girl Billie. Actually you get to pick so we’ll just pick one now… wait and there are also several stories to pick. Shoot. Well we’ll just have to have several summaries then, won’t we? Nyeh!

Story One - Azure… Something

Once upon a time there was this girl Billie who taught battle strategy or something at the Mach 10 Monastery. She was very confusing to everyone, ‘cause she was the same age as the students but also teaching them, but also not the same age and like a super old goddess or dragon or something and also might’ve been possessed by the demigod descendent of Sothe and Yune? Look I don’t know and neither do you. Anyway, so she’s teaching and they’ve got this system like Hogwarts where everybody picks a sports mascot to rally behind, and the teachers also get to pick favorites. She picks Gryffindor because she has a major crush on this dude in the house who wants to KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM. Who are “them”, you ask? Yes. It’s a wonder anybody survived going to school with him okay? Super bloodthirsty dude. Dunno why either, something to do with working for the Holy Faerghan Empire and the Spanish Inquisition I think? And also he talks to ghosts? Yeah that sounds right. Eventually somebody got annoyed with his serial slaughtering because at some point he lost an eye, but we’ll get to that later.

Mr. Inquisitor’s classmates (who will probably never show their faces in this story again) consist of a bottle of Felix Felicis, Ash from Pokemon, Miklan’s Brother, a car, the mailwoman from Rune Factory Frontier, and a d-dude (people always stutter when they talk about him so his title is canonically “d-dude”).

There are also some other teachers, but most of them are boring. Except of course for Mole Lady, and the Phantom of the Opera who’s trained to become a ninja.

So Billie taught the Inquisitor and his cronies all there is to know about combat and strategy and whatnot, until one day when she decided to go on a years-long vacation to “find herself” or something. Everything blew up without Billie there to stop it! But you play as Billie so it all just kinda happens without you and she comes back like “Oh crud what’d I miss?” and she just joins in the war that’s started, on the side of her teacher’s pets of course because they’re her most favoritest and are absolutely in the right in this war, right? Turns out they’re fighting against the other two houses, who are also fighting each other. It’s just a total mess. Also there’s this group of sewer rats who come out of the gutter and say they’re the totally legit and super awesome FOURTH HOUSE DUN DUN DUN! Led by somebody named Japanese Lesbian even though he’s a dude? Whatever, anyway he says they want to join Billie’s side because… I dunno she’s cool I guess? So off they go to fight everybody else, and of course, to KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM! Especially the leader of Ravenclaw, Edelwiess, because she’s definitely a heretic who wants to be a normal Fire Emblem lord and fight the church and defeat god like everybody else. Ew! The horror! She’s definitely evil! So um… yeah that’s basically what they do I guess? Just whoop up on everybody and take over the continent? Oh and also they make a detour to Miklan’s Brother’s Brother’s house and smite him in particular because nobody likes him. He liked to be mean to his brother when they were little because his brother had a fancy hat or something that meant he’d get to be king after their father? I think? Or something? Anyway Miklan’s Brother’s Brother was super jealous of the fancy hat and made sure it was everybody’s problem so they all went to his house to smite him before continuing on their journey to KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM. Which they did. Then if you play your cards right Billie marries the Inquisitor and they live murderously ever after! Yay!

Story Two - Crimson Flour (What the heck is that made of? Red 40? Ew!)

Billy decided to teach Ravenclaw because he thinks their albino leader Edelwiess is cute, but then he discovers that she has this menacing bodyguard who never eats, never sleeps, and follows her everywhere, and he thinks “ya know what, I should’ve picked another house”, but then it’s too late. Ravenclaw consists of Edelwiess, Scary Hubert, a nerd, a ghost, Sonic’s mom, a modern girl cameoing, and Cool Fiona.

So anyway, like Billie, he teaches the kiddos and then leaves for a well-undeserved vacation while the war starts. When he comes back, he’s like “well obviously my faves are the good guys” so he joins the Ravenclaws on their quest to defy the Holy Faerghan Empire and the Church of Kronos’ Wife and to slay god or something. This means they also run afoul of Mr. Inquisitor, but they slay him too and put an end to his bloodbath… while they go off and do basically the same thing I think? Starting to think there are no good guys actually. Oh dear. Anyway at one point things get so evil and wrong that Billy gets to choose whether to stick with Edelwiess or to backstab her. If he sticks with her, they smite their foes and probably live happily ever after (but they don’t get married because Hubert is too scary and Billy doesn’t want to get poisoned on a date). If he betrays her, I have no idea. All I know is that the story turns into Story Three - White… Fluffy Clouds… or something…. And he probably teams up with the aforementioned sewer rats, because they think he’s cool. I’m sure he wins but how in the world does he defeat Hubert? That man is an all-powerful menace. Somebody fill me in? Haha

Story Four - Fear the Deer

Billie joins Hufflepuff, mostly because she sees it’s led by fellow Star Wars enthusiast Claude von Beethoven. He’s so committed to the bit that he even has a little padawan braid and everything! So cool! Anyway so she teaches him and his buddies: a dude obsessed with roses, an artist self-insert, a Micaiah wannabe, Amy Rose with an axe, and some girl who’s obsessed with The Witcher. They’re all a bunch of nerds and we love them for it. I have no idea what these guys want when the war breaks out - they’re probably just excited to be in a Fire Emblem game honestly! - but obviously, since Billie’s with them in this version of the story, those crazy sewer rats join them and they mop the floor with everybody else and, uh, they live happily ever after I guess! Except for Miklan of course. ;P

There’s also Story Five - Whiskered Eggplant, but we’re not getting into that today ;) XD

THE END.

[this-acuteneurosis]

Here’s a scenario I never considered till this chapter: the whole padawans in battle thing could get the Jedi in legal trouble not just from a moral perspective. Let’s say I willing give my child up to the Jedi order. I give up custody, thinking my child will be protected, only for them to die on a battlefield they never should have been permitted onto before they reach legal adulthood. I’d be furious. I’d sue the crud out of the order. And that’s assuming my giving my child to the order was something I felt good about. If I was less sure of my decision, I’d be triple furious. This feels dumb. I’m honestly shocked it’s cannon, though I’ve thought that before. Thoughts?

The tricky bit with suing the Order is...suing the Order. It's part government agency, stationed on Coruscant, and has money and connections. That's not to say no one could do it, but you'd need resources. And you'd need to know that your child was on a battlefield. Depending on how they are releasing news on the war, they could be covering information like that up, or obscuring it.

So unless a number of individuals who live on different planets are able to track each other down (and the Order does keep their list of Force sensitive children secret), pool money, find a legal representative who sees profit (or is morally motivated enough) in taking action, and then is willing to engage in a legal case that will challenge a thousand years of political and legal decisions for however many months to years it will take to get through all the steps...it's gonna be tricky for any given angry parent to give this a go. No matter how willing.

The other reality is that even very young children have been on or near battlefields for pretty much all of history, formally and informally. It seems obvious to say they shouldn't be, and I know characters in DLB have said it. But what constitutes "adulthood" and "permissible" isn't a fixed cultural value.