#defensive driving online class

[courtapproved]

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[butchgtow]

Introduction to Armchair Activism

Fundamentals

"Yes, Everyone on the Internet Is a Loser." Luke Smith. Sep 3, 2022. YouTube.

An activist movement can be a place to build community with like-minded people, but action is its foremost purpose, not community. To allow yourself and other activists to remain effective, you are obliged to abandon your personal dislikes of other individual activists. Disagreements are worth discussion, but interpersonal toxicity is not.

Connect with in-person community and do not unhealthily over-prioritize online community. Over-prioritization of online community is self-harm.

Luke is a loser, but his channel is teeming with entry-level digital literacy information and advice pertaining to healthy use of technology for us cyborgs.

"Surveillance Self-Defense: Tips, Tools and How-Tos For Safer Online Communication." Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Hackblossom, outdated, is discontinued. The EFF project Surveillance Self-Defense is up-to-date, comprehensive, and follows personal educational principles of simplicity and concision.

To learn more about general (not focused solely on personal action) cybersecurity, visit Cybersecurity by Codecademy and Cyber Security Tutorial by W3Schools. Both contain further segueways into other important digital literacies.

Direct recommendation: Install and set up the linux distribution Tails on a cheap flash drive.

Direct recommendation: Develop your own home network security schema.

Direct recommendation: Always enable 2FA security for Tumblr, disable active / inactive status sharing, and learn to queue reblogs and posts to protect against others' interpretations of your time zone.

Direct recommendation: It's both possible and relatively simple to host your own instance of a search engine using SearXNG.

Zero-Knowledge Architecture.

As a remote activist (even if also a hybrid activist), none of your action should be taken on, using, or interfacing with non-zero-knowledge-architecture services. Tumblr is, of course, a risk in and of itself, but you should not be using services provided by companies such as Google, Microsoft, or any others based in or with servers hosted in 13-eyes agreement nations.

Search for services (email, word processor, cloud storage) which emphasize zero-knowledge architecture. Businesses whose services are structured as such cannot hand over your data and information, as they cannot access it in the first place. If they cannot access the majority of your metadata, either - all the better.

Communications for Armchair Activism

"Technical Writing." Google.

Contained within the linked page at Google Developers, the self-paced, online, pre-class material for courses Technical Writing One, Technical Writing Two, and Tech Writing for Accessibility teach activists to communicate technical concepts in plain English.

"Plain Language." U.S. General Services Administration.

Plain language is strictly defined by U.S. government agencies, which are required to communicate in it for simplicity and quick, thorough comprehension of information.

"Explore Business Law." Study.com.

Extensive courses are offered to quickly uptake principles of business law such as antitrust law, contract law, financial legislation, copyright law, etc. Legal literacy is often the difference between unethical action of a business and its inaction. Legal literacy is also often the difference between consideration and investment in your policy idea and lack thereof.

"Business Communication." Study.com.

Now that you're able to communicate your prioritized information, you may also initiate writing with bells and whistles. While other activists care most about the information itself, business communication allows you to communicate your ideas and needs to those who you must convince worthiness of investment to and win over.

Logic.

Learn it through and through. Start with fallacies if you're better at language and work your way backwards to discrete mathematics; start with discrete mathematics if you're better at maths and work your way forwards to fallacies, critical literacy, and media literacy. State that which you intend to state. Recognize empiricism and rationalism for what they are. Congratulations: you are both a mathematician and a law student.

Economic Literacy for Armchair Activism

"Microeconomics." Khan Academy.

"Macroeconomics." Khan Academy.

The globe operates on profitability. Women's unpaid labor is a massive slice of the profitability pie. While it's possible to enact change without understanding all that drives the events around you, it's impossible to direct or meaningfully manipulate the events around you beyond your scope of comprehension.

Understand economics or be a sheep to every movement you're active in and to every storm that rolls your way.

[asharkapologist]

Jade Palace + Social Media

Basically, I thought up of a bunch of silly headcanons about if Po + the Furious Five had social media because I thought it would be funny. Enjoy!

Viper has the most followers. Like, she has millions of followers. She was also the first one to ask Shifu if they could get social media accounts, as she wanted to keep in contact with her family. Shifu kept telling her no, thinking such a thing would be a distraction for them. (Viper, then Monkey and Mantis, went behind his back and got accounts anyways. After Po came along and Shifu found inner peace and became a lot less strict to his students, he allowed them to get social media. They wisely pretended as if they never had it when they made their accounts public.) Viper was originally fine with just commenting on and sharing what her sisters and other family posted, but then she discovered ASMR, and fell absolutely in love with it. She developed a strong attachment to ASMR, and began practicing it, and people love it, thinking her voice and the rattles she makes when she moves are perfect for ASMR. She also gives excellent affirmations.

Monkey and Mantis also downloaded social media before Shifu allowed it. They both have a substantial amount of followers, with Monkey having slightly more than Mantis. Monkey posts selfies/pictures but also spams the group chat with memes. Mantis advertises his acupuncture services and sends extremely cursed memes to their group chat, which Monkey appreciates. Tigress is not so amused. She has threatened to block both of them multiple times in order to not see their constant cursed memes.

Po has the second most followers. He had social media before he became the Dragon Warrior that he used to market his dad’s business, but after he became the Dragon Warrior, naturally his follower account exploded, as did his dad’s business. Po fills his stories and posts with selfies and pictures of Shifu (despite him trying to avoid appearing on social media posts), the Furious Five, and shares all the content that his friends make. Naturally, whenever he posts pictures of him and the Five eating at Mr. Ping’s restaurant, Mr. Ping experiences a boom in business. Po also posts pictures of his food just as much--if not more--than his pictures of his friends and family.

Crane was somewhat hesitant to get social media, and his account was private for quite a while. He eventually made his account public after being peer pressured into it. He’s the least active of Po and the Five online, and Viper and Po (especially the latter) are trying to convince him to post his calligraphy and artwork, considering it to be quite skilled. His self-consciousness has prevented him from doing so thus far.

Tigress has the third most followers. She’s very no-nonsense on social media, and surprisingly, Po managed to talk her into getting it fairly soon after Shifu allowed it. Now, Tigress posts manageable workouts on her accounts for the average person, focusing especially on self-defense skills that women can use. Her popularity online has certainly grown quite well. Po also talked her into doing a couple lives with her followers, keeping everything professional and answering questions relevant to the content she posts. Po keeps trying to talk her into teaching a kung fu class for girls or a self-defense class for women in general. (“Come on! They think you’re awesome! They love you! You’re so hardcore!”) She may be considering it. 

Shifu is not terribly technologically literate. He is definitely a boomer who would struggle to figure out how to download something to a flash drive. He also has a habit of taking pictures that are very off-center, or otherwise do not look great (his thumb has covered the camera several times before). He doesn’t have social media, and is constantly asking Po to teach him how to take good pictures (Po takes the best ones) and has accidentally downloaded viruses onto the Jade Palace computers twice. Oogway is chuckling at him from the Spirit Realm.

[blackbat05]

Mystery Solved

Al Rothstein (DCEU) x Reader

A/N: Not me churning this out almost after Black Adam because I think his character is so endearing? Feedback greatly appreciated for my first character fic!

Genre: PG-13, one curse word.

Notes: You finally meet your new mystery friend with a few hiccups along the way.

So. When can I get to see you?

You fingers hover inches above your phone, unsure of what to type to IamAS - aka your online friend that you made at the start of your final year in college.

Hm… I don’t know… I would really like to meet you too but school and work is messing me up real good. Sorry :(

You hit the send button, hoping that whoever was behind the username wouldn’t get too offended. At least you were being completely truthful.

Ah… that’s ok. I have commitments too. Totally understand. How about mid term break? Doesn’t have to be for long. We could go grab a bite or something.

Biting the edge of your lip, you gave it deep thought. Not that they gave you any trouble. In fact, they were absolutely respectful of your boundaries and didn’t rush you in revealing things about yourself.

All that you knew about them was that they were attending the same school as you were. And, they were a huge emotional support whether was it school or work troubles. Whoever it was, they seemed genuinely sweet.

It wouldn’t hurt to try right?

You fire a message off to your mystery friend before heading to class.

Sure. Four fingers - the one beside Connaught Drive. 5pm. >< wear your collegiate jacket!

***

You slip into the booth, tapping your fingers rhythmically. It wasn’t a lie to say that you were downright nervous.

What if they turned out differently from your expectations? Maybe it would be one of the annoying Chads in your tutorials who never paid attention in class. Or the annoyingly popular girl who seemed to have it all?

It sounded cliche, but you were entitled to let your mind run wild.

As your mind wandered to what kind of sauce you wanted to get on your chicken wings, a loud commotion was going on outside the shop. Curious like other patrons, you decided to crane your neck for a better look.

“Help!!!” A young girl no more than the age of 10 was screaming as a man attempts to drag her away. “Someone please help me! He’s not my father!”

You couldn’t believe that no one was helping even after that revelation. Everyone thought it was simply just a belligerent child. Seeing her tear stricken face, you simply couldn’t just ignore it. Bolting out of the shop, you ran towards the duo, ready to give a piece of your mind.

“Hey buddy! Why not you lay your hands of her?” A voice pipes from behind you.

“None of your fucking business asshole.” The man in a dodgy getup sneered at the newcomer… in the same college jacket. Could it be?

“Been called worse.” He shrugs. “We can always talk things out.”

The potential kidnapper raised a flick knife, raising it towards him. “You want to act tough? Fine. I’ll give it to you then!”

“Don’t say I didn’t give you a chance.”

Before you know it, the kidnapper was slammed to the ground by same college guy, writhing in pain. He turns to you, giving a boyish grin.

“I’m Albert Rothstein but you can call me Al. We’re supposed to have chicken together later. Hey, do you think you could wait for a few moments while I call the police to take this creep away?”

You nod dumbly, still trying to process what you just witness. Once you made sure the girl was ok, you went back to the same booth in the shop, waiting for Al. He arrives shortly after, a sheepish smile on his face.

“Sorry about that. Uh… didn’t expect that to happen.”

“Oh! That’s alright.” You waved his apology away. “That was quite something back there.”

“That? Earlier?” Al laughs nervously. “I guess self-defense training from my uncle really paid off.”

“Ah, I see.” You nodded your head. His explanation made sense, but there was still something unreal about how quickly he took him down. “Um.. haven’t I seen you somewhere before?"

Al sips from the soda cup nonchalantly. "Can't say you have."

The door to the exit slides open, making way for 3 individuals that you would have easily identified from a mile away ever since watching their battles in Khandaq.

"Al!" The middle of the trio marches up to your table with an older man and a girl strolling serenely behind their leader. Al chokes on his soda upon the sight, taking a moment to recover.

"Where have you been? Maxine's been trying to call you. We've got another rogue metahuman on the loose" It seemed like the man hadn't seen you yet.

Feeling a pair of steely eyes on you, you find yourself staring at an elegantly dressed man, holding a golden helmet in one arm.

"Leave them be Carter," he chuckles, a twinkle in his eye. "Al's simply enjoying his youth." The girl beside him smirks. It was only then, the second man turns around to face you. A moment of confusion soon turns into realization.

"Oh, I see. The man was too busy to give us a heads-up about his date!"

"No, it's not a..." By now, Al had gone positively tomato at the ruckus his team was making as well as the attention of every patron in the shop. "Ok! Fine, I'll go! Can you please just wait for me outside?"

With a series of mumblings, the trio heads back out, awkwardly standing in the middle of the street.

"I'm so sorry about that..."

"You're from the Justice Society." You whispered.

"Yeah, um... that's not something I really want to advertise you know." Al stammers. "I mean you're a great person and I have nothing against you, in fact, I really like you, and- oh god what am I saying? What I meant is-"

"Don't worry, your secret is safe with me." You grabbed his hand in yours. "I can do a rain check on this. Go save the world - Atom Smasher."

Al gives your hand a squeeze, before grabbing his things to meet the rest of them outside.

"I'll see you around!" He yells back, disappearing with a flash of golden light.

***

Epilogue

"So... a date huh?" The leader smacks Al in the back, causing the youngest to groan in pain.

"Would you please!” Al was grateful that his mask was still on.

"I'm just saying!" Hawkman raises both his hands up in defense. "I'm glad you kids are getting to experience the normal life you know?"

“He’s right.” Kent Nelson removes his helmet, placing it aside. “I still remember my days with Inza. It only seemed like it was just yesterday.”

Cruiser parked, the team ambles into the main hall of Hawkman’s Residence. The bell rings.

“Pull out side camera.” Carter commands, showing a screen of you waiting nervously with a bag of chicken and five cups of soda in your hands. Al could feel all eyes staring at him cheekily.

“Uh… hi! I’m here to see Al?”

“He’s right here!” Maxine happily sits beside Carter, waving a friendly hello to the camera. Amused, Carter presses a button to the door.

“Come on in. He’ll take a while to clean up. Meanwhile we can have a little chat.”

Al’s eyes widen, realizing where his team was going with this. “Oh, no you don’t! I know I’m the newbie but don’t screw this up for me!”

Carter nods to his old friend who puts his helmet back on. Moving towards Al, the Doctor teleports him to somewhere else in the giant residence just as you opened the door.

“Hey! Hope you guys are hungry.”

“Always have room for chicken.” Maxine skips over, taking the bags from your hands.

“Um… where’s Al?”

“He’ll be here soon.” Carter replies a little too smoothly. Just at this moment, a loud crash could be heard from the gardens and you see two large blue legs running towards the main building.

“How about we take this inside?” Carter leads you into the dining area with Maxine following behind, attempting to suppress their giggles. You shrug, taking your belongings with you.

Looks like Al would take a while.

[flutishly]

LBD rewatch, part 2

I’ll just update for a few episodes in one go, but in pieces.

1. Lydia in LA

Before I dive into Darcy Day whatnot, I want to pause for a moment on the way that Lydia presents herself in the two episodes between the Great Darcy Reveal. I remembered the existence of these episodes, but nothing about their content; I suspect that their placement in the story makes it hard to focus on that. I mean, DARCY is going to APPEAR in the NEXT VIDEO. And it’s hard to assign Lydia’s arc here to something fixed in the original Pride and Prejudice novel, which maybe also makes it fly under the radar a bit.

There’s an odd bit of performance happening in these videos that I again find more believable now than I did when it first aired. Lydia, notably, does not turn the camera off in “Runaway” once Jane starts pressing her, nor even once she starts answering Jane’s gently probing questions. It’s ultimately Jane who turns the camera off and forces the rest of the conversation offscreen. We don’t get a clear resolution to her line of questioning, either. The initially somewhat judgmental assumption that Lydia is skipping class in order to be with a boy is quickly supplanted by the more concerning reality that Lydia is skipping class in order to avoid a boy. But it’s reality that doesn’t get the spotlight (and I don’t believe this is raised again). Even when Lydia is controlling her own narrative, it’s not quite hers. Jane is sweet in how she talks to Lydia, but she’s still very clearly talking down from a place of “older sister” to “baby sister” (and I think it’s notable that Jane so often calls Lydia her baby sister, not just her youngest sister). And the unedited nature means that this does feel ultimately like Lydia’s approach is to let someone else decide what parts of her “image” get to go online. It’s fascinating.

And it’s also beautifully vulnerable. Lydia’s constant performance is something I associate with the first half of the show and her tiredness and isolation something I associate with the second half. Yet these two tiny episodes bridge the gap rather beautifully. I don’t think I fully appreciated it on first watch.

Interlude as “Are You Kidding Me!” begins: “Oh no, I forgot how awkward this is, I don’t want to watch thissssss”, pauses repeatedly, grimaces, writes this interlude, returns.

2. Darcy

Mm yeah, that was pretty much exactly as awkward as I remembered it. And it’s still really funny/weird to me that this episode tries to hew so closely to “familiar” phrases, because the episode overall ends up feeling the most old-fashioned and out of place. Which makes sense on Darcy, but not as much on Lizzie. It’s one of the episodes that feels most scripted and adapted, I think, which is not exactly to its favor. I’d forgotten how good some of Darcy’s expressions are, though. But yeah, super painful to watch, as expected.

3. Lizzie and Lydia reset

I did not remember this at all, but the parallels and foreshadowing in “Letter Analysis” and “The D Word” are fantastic, even a bit in the preceding “Sister, Sister”. Lizzie and Lydia both talk and joke around their great insecurities - Lizzie about driving people away, Lydia about being left alone. (Which are extremely similar insecurities! And yet they don’t see it on the other!) Lydia again displays that intense loyalty to her family, even praising Lizzie by saying “Family first, bitches!”. And her loneliness is on display again, between leaving Jane in “Sister, Sister” and missing Mary in “The D Word”. Lydia’s episodes in particular feel like they’re meant to be transition episodes, but they’re shockingly good in adding depth to her character and contextualizing everything that’s coming. And Lizzie is clearly meant to be in some sort of post-climactic breathing space, but here too it feels like she’s also coming face to face with a lot of her real concerns. She’s worried about how she’s pushing people away. She’s defensive. And she’s suddenly no longer so confident in her judgements of those around her (Darcy to the positive, Wickham - unnamed - to the negative). It’s really good character work in moments that could easily have been cut. I’m glad they weren’t.

4. Charlotte’s relationship with the Bennets

I love how Charlotte is so clearly integrated into the Bennet household, to the point where she makes a point of standing up for Jane as well (yes!! wonderful!) and Lydia talks about hanging out with her, and she’s just... an obvious part of all three’s world. It’s so great. 

[cadaverschaoss]

"I'll sacrifice everything for my family."

"And I mean everything."

Character’s full name:

Kasumi Niragi

Character’s nickname:

Sumi, Kas

Reason for nickname:

Shortened version of her given name

Birth date:

10/10/97

Physical appearance

Age:

25

Eye color:

brown

Distinguishing marks:

small knick in her eyebrow

Hair color:

Black

Hairstyle:

Short and scrappy

Beach Wear:

Games outfit:

Personality

Good personality traits:

loyal determined

Bad personality traits:

chaotic, emotional

Mood character is most often in:

bored

Sense of humor:

ADHD humor

Character’s greatest joy in life:

her brother

Character’s greatest fear:

dying alone

Why?

She believes if she dies alone then no one will remember her

What single event would most throw this character’s life into complete turmoil?

Finding her biological father

Character is most at ease when:

She is around those she trusts and cares for

Most ill at ease when:

She has to get out of her comfort zone

Enraged when:

You try to hurt her brother

Depressed or sad when:

She believes her brother is dead post 10 ❤️ game

Priorities:

Surviving

Life philosophy:

What's the point in living if there are no risks?

If granted one wish, it would be:

For the secret of her mothers affair to never have been revealed

Why?

She wouldn't have had to leave home.

Character’s soft spot:

People giving her small gifts and things and pay attention to when she talks

Is this soft spot obvious to others?

Yes

Greatest strength:

She's very good at reading people

Greatest vulnerability or weakness:

She cares a bit too much about those around her and neglects her own safety

Biggest regret:

Leaving home and leaving just a small note behind

Minor regret:

Getting into fights in school

Biggest accomplishment:

Buying her own apartment at 27

Minor accomplishment:

Finishing highschool online

Past failures he/she would be embarrassed to have people know about:

She once worked as a healthcare telemarketer and accidentally deleted information that ultimately led to an old man's death. It was an honest mistake but she carries the blame anyway.

Why?

She essentially killed a man

Character’s darkest secret:

Read the killing a man bit above

Does anyone else know?

No

Goals

Drives and motivations:

to reunite with her family after the borderlands

Immediate goals:

Survive

Long term goals:

Get a self defense teaching certification

How the character plans to accomplish these goals:

Taking classes

How other characters will be affected:

N/a

Past

Hometown:

N/A

Type of childhood:

Decent until 15

Pets:

A stray black kitten she fed

First memory:

Her earliest memory is her brother make believing a tea party for her just when she was barely able to walk

Most important childhood memory:

When the truth of her parentage was discovered

Why:

She was kicked out of the family home

Childhood hero:

Joan Jett

Dream job:

Rockstar/self defense teacher

Education:

Highschool graduate (barely)

Religion:

N/a

Finances: lower middle class

Present

Current location:

Shibuya

Currently living with:

Alone

Pets:

N/a

Religion:

N/a

Occupation:

bartender

Finances:

Lower middle class

Family

Mother:

N/a

Relationship with her:

Strained

Father:

n/a

Relationship with him:

Nonexistent

Siblings:

Sugura Niragi, Nisha Niragi (@thepsychosister )

Relationship with them:

Strained, close but strained

Spouse:

N/a

Relationship with him/her:

N/a

Children:

N/a

Relationship with them:

N/a

Other important family members:

N/a

Favorites

Color:

burgundy

Least favorite color:

electric blue

Music:

rock

Food:

hotpot

Literature:

Manga

Form of entertainment:

Tv

Expressions:

N/a

Mode of transportation:

Motorbike

Most prized possession:

Her motorbike

Habits

Hobbies:

Fighting, bartending

Plays a musical instrument?

No

Plays a sport?

No

How he/she would spend a rainy day:

Watching Netflix

Spending habits:

lives within her means

Smokes:

Occasionally

Drinks:

Yes

Other drugs:

Occasional weed use

Old bio:

Kasumi was the product of their mother having an affair, always feeling like the oddball in the family growing up. Her mother doted her with attention in the beginning then leaving Kasumi to wonder what she had done to lose her mother's love, during this time of inner turmoil she started to purposely get in trouble, eventually meeting delinquents , and later being invited to join their gang. To keep her gang life a secret from her family she worked hard at school, until her first week of highschool when she got into a fight that hospitalized two kids, the two boys who she found out were bullying her only siblings. The day she got kicked out of school was the same day she found out the circumstances of her birth and kicked out of the family home. She stayed with friends here and there before securing herself a cheap apartment in Tokyo, she had planned to find her brother and explain why she left their family so abruptly but never had the time. It wasn't until she woke up in the borderlands that the realization hit her, it wasn't until her first few games that she might actually die before seeing her only family again.

[theseventhoffrostfall]

I sometimes get asked why I, as a fan of hack and slash games, robot games, and weird existentialist shit, have never played Nier: Automata

The reason is very simple: it fails the Uncle Greg Test.

My uncle Greg is a simple man. He's a road construction worker with a greying handlebar mustache, he drives his Harley, he kicks back with a few Bud Lights, he has a few young grandkids and an ex-wife, he helped his son through a substance abuse habit and helps his mother, my grandmother, with the growing issues her dementia is causing for my grandpa. He's the living archetype for the blue-collar -> bootstraps -> upper-middle-class pipeline; if you look up "salt of the earth" there's a solid chance you'll see his picture.

For that reason, I think of him as the sort of grounding rod for my life. If I'm gonna play a game or watch a show, I like to stop and think "What would uncle Greg say about this?". The fact that on the odd occasion I'm actually in the US I'm usually staying at my grandpa's place and Greg popping his head in to say 'hi' and thus see what I'm doing makes this a less than abstract test.

So I take a game like, say, Nioh. Passes the Uncle Greg Test handily.

"What's that you're up to, Frosty?"

"Oh, just a samurai game. Fighting these weird Japanese demons."

"Right on, right on. You have fun."

Compare and contrast with Nier: Automata.

"Well hey, there, nephe--boy, what in the hell is that?"

"No no, uncle Greg, I know it's a half-naked woman dancing around so you see up her skirt all the time, but it's really deep and meaningfu--"

"Just watch porn like a normal person, Frosty"

"No no no, it's a philosophical exploration about what it means to be huma--"

"Who's the ten year old boy in short pants there?"

So yeah. Helps keep me grounded on the the actual end-result of a product whenever its Online Defense Squad starts assuring everyone that it's so much more than being weird and kind of perverted and it's Really Deep And Meaningful

[cold-butter-warm-toast]

My favorite chess opening is e4, the king’s pawn. It stakes a claim on the center and opens diagonals for the queen and light squared bishop. Trouble is I’m never quite sure what to do after that. It’s so easy to begin something, but so difficult to finish it. I began playing chess my senior year of high school with my friend Sophie. We would start an online game in the morning, then play each other back between classes. We kept track of our wins - I think we each had 20 or 30 by the time graduation rolled around. Sophie and I don’t see each other very often anymore.

Typically I’ll follow e4 with d4, the queen’s pawn. This is assuming my opponent has played e5, mirroring my king’s pawn with their own and meeting me in the middle. The d4 pawn is protected by my queen, so their best move would be to capture it, leaving me to recapture with the queen in an equal trade. Except the trade is only equal in material. With my queen out, I am now up in development. Development is the process of moving your pieces away from their starting locations and into more strategic positions - castling, connecting your rooks, controlling the center. All of this allows you to activate your pieces to their best potential.

Have you ever looked carefully at the initial setup of a chess board? It’s fairly secure. Each pawn has at least one defender, and the important king and queen pawns have three. I’m not very good at chess. I’m too absent-minded, I have a tendency to leave my pieces hanging without any defenders to back them up, and I end up smacking my own forehead as my opponent smugly plucks them off the board. Sometimes I think my pieces would be safer if I just kept them where they began.

I grew up in a small town. All of our shops are along one main street, and our nicest restaurant is the Applebee’s in the next town over. Throughout high school, Sophie and I, and her twin brother Peter who doesn’t play chess but I still love him dearly, had a list that we called the “hometown activities”: we would go to Target, we would go to the thrift store, we would go to Applebee’s. We rotated through this list, doing one activity after school a week. Once a month we would drive to the fancy mall an hour and a half away. At this point, I honestly don’t remember anything else I did with my time back then. I think I just watched a lot of TV.

The starting position may seem safe, but allowing your opponent free movement while your own pieces stay stationary lets them easily set up a battery. A battery is a setup in which several pieces work together along the same file (column) or diagonal to crash through defenses and open lines of attack. For instance, the opponent could place a rook behind their queen on the f file, and if you didn’t play a defensive move such as f3, the queen could take the f pawn. With all of your pieces still in their beginning positions, this would be checkmate. It may have seemed safe at first to avoid moving into more exposed positions, but by keeping your pieces still, you have trapped your own king. He has no options, nowhere to go when things turn from his favor. The game played on around him while he sat in his own grave.

One of the most important concepts to learn on the path to becoming a chess master is sacrifices. You cannot keep all of your pieces for the entire game. You must strategically give some of them up to open up lines and advance your position. Knowing just when a sacrifice is called for in a game of chess is something I still struggle with. How can I give something up without knowing if I might need it back?

I go to college out of state. These days I only get to see Sophie and Peter on breaks, so maybe about ten times a year. We still try to do at least one hometown activity every time we’re all together, but it feels different, slightly more desperate each time, like we all know that our time together is running out but none of us wants to be the one to say it. I feel so much more whole now that I’ve moved out on my own, and it makes me so happy to watch them flourish too, but an irrational part of me grieves the loss of the past I hated while I was living it. Maybe the thing that held us together most was our desire to leave.

I watch chess videos on my phone late at night. I study openings, positions, and strategies in an attempt to improve my skills. I am still rated 500, and the blue light hurts my eyes.

Do I even like chess anymore? Is it even fun? I got into it recently because I wanted to do something more valuable, more stimulating with my time than just scrolling through social media. I wanted to exercise my brain. Since I was in middle school I’ve always had an obsession with being smart, with being deep. But I think I just never learned the difference between being deep and being sad. When you’re being destroyed from the inside by something you cannot identify or explain, it’s easy to believe that nobody understands you, that you’re different from the other kids. From there it’s not a leap to think that being sad means you’re special, means you’re chosen. I don’t feel like being deep anymore. I’m tired. I want to be simple, and feel the sun on my face, and put honey in my tea, and look in the eyes of the people I love, and live my life instead of just sitting in it.

The thing about chess is that it’s just a game. If you don’t want to play, don’t set up the pieces. Some may say that if you choose to play, play well. I disagree. If you choose to play, you may play however you please. Blunder your queen, make your pawns kiss, wait until your opponent isn’t looking and eat the pieces. Play because you want to, and play for fun.

[its-a-hil]

ok. random question. literally from the random question generator at randomwordgenerator dot cahm: What's your go-to funny story now, but was horrendous at that moment?

(i think it gave me a question i already know but eh shoot)

hm.

alright i think this is actually more of the reverse than the forward direction, but sure

when i was in middle school, i was such a horrible procrastinator (note: i am still one of those) that i often wrote rough drafts of essays during lunch

(the one year in middle school i didnt do this was when i had english 1st period. tbh i wish my schedule had worked out like that all 3 years, but alas)

but i got so comfortable just throwing out words with a pencil that i kept doing it and now i almost never edit anything bc i need to write it all in one go or it's wrong

but final drafts still had to be typed & printed, so it was only my rough drafts that were like this

fast forward to high school, and rough drafts became less of a thing

my compulsion to procrastinate did not.

oh also relevant here is that i was emotionally incapable of asking for an extension or submitting online after class or anything

so.

senior year of high school. we had an essay to write on Twelfth Night, where we had to pick a word that was repeated a few times and discuss its effect on the story

i picked 'fancy' and used it to argue the absolute bullshit point that it meant the whole thing was a dream, because i had no other ideas and my brain refused to set aside time to do something more reasonable

except.

i did not begin writing until lunch of that day.

i did not have access to the computer lab i had planned to write the essay in.

i pleaded with a friend to lend me his laptop, on which i did the most frantic writing of my life. i dont remember if i ate any food during that lunch period.

(according to my diary i also said something shitty to that friend even as he was doing me a massive favor, which. god.)

looking at the document now (ty google drive), it seems that i didnt actually finish the essay, just wrote notes on the different uses of the word

im not sure if it was just a rough draft or notes kind of thing that was due, or if i lucked out and the essay was extended or something? unclear

but what is clear is that i wrote 440 words in just over an hour, and that's not counting the quotes i had to transcribe (which also made up over 400 words)

the following night i turned it into an actual 750ish word essay in also about an hour, bc. yeah. (i still didn't write an intro until i printed it out during study hall the next day lmao)

so anyway the essay was shit, the teacher was genuinely confused and pulled me aside after the class where she handed the essays back

note: she was also the theater teacher & that semester i was doing the play afterschool, and i think she knew i was better than what i handed in

:/

in my defense i was fairly depressed that couple of months, partially due to an responsibility that i did not realize i could easily say no to. the only consequence that refusing that responsibility would have had is that i would have hated myself less and possibly liked engineering more

oh also looking at my diary apparently that was also the week that i taught precalc bc the teacher's partner was suddenly out for paternity leave and i had an essentially free period during the precalc class

so yeah that's probably the third most interesting week of my senior after the week that we had the play performances and the week i was out in the hospital when my lungs spontaneously collapsed

the funniest part of that story is that it took me another 3ish years to realize that i wanted to be a teacher, and another 2 years after that to act on that desire. lmao

anyway bc im sure you freaks want to see it, im putting the essay under the cut

Actual essay:

Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s most fantastical plays. Even without the use of magic, the supposedly realistic events are completely improbable. There is evidence that the play was intended to be a fantasy, and throughout the play, the word “fancy” is used to suggest to the audience that the events of the play are little more than a fanciful construction of Orsino’s mind. 

Orsino speaks four of the six instances of “fancy” or “fantasy.” Two of these instances come in his first monologue, right at the beginning of the play. He claims that “so full of shapes is fancy that it alone is high fantastical” (1.1.14-15). As Adams says, in this passage Orsino claims “that his own imagination is so fertile that it is supremely capricious and whimsical.” (Adams 58). It is odd that the play would start with this double mention of fancy, especially when the word is not mentioned again until the end of Act two. It is even stranger that the plot concludes with Orsino making Viola/Cesario his “fancy’s queen” (5.1.415). Although Feste finishes the play with his final song, this line is the last spoken by any other character, and is a natural conclusion to the play nonetheless. There must be a reason why the play both begins and ends with a word only used six times throughout. This is the most direct clue that the play does not merely describe events in Shakespeare’s mind, but instead describes events in Orsino’s mind. 

More clues can be found by examining the other uses of fancy in the play. Sebastian remarks “Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep” after encountering a smitten, and unfamiliar Olivia (4.1.65). This line comes in one of the more fantastical scenes in the play, where Sebastian enters Illyria and is mistaken by everyone for Cesario. Sebastian can only conclude “this is a dream,” and calls upon fancy - imagination - to keep him from waking up. Sebastian addresses fancy as a powerful being, that has the ability to manipulate the world he sees. If the play does take place in Orsino’s imagination, fancy would have this power. Another thing to note about Sebastian’s mention of fancy is that it is in reference to Olivia. Her love for him, and reproach of the men who were dueling him, is the only reason he would want to continue living in this dream.

Olivia is a common subject of fancy, as used in its alternate definition of love. Malvolio, just before seeing Maria’s letter, thinks aloud that “should [Olivia] fancy, it should be one of my complexion” (2.5.24-25). Almost all references to fancy are directly related to Olivia. In fact, every major male character, except her uncle, is in love with Olivia. It is difficult for Orsino to conceive of a character who is not enamored when in the presence of the beautiful lady Olivia.  To him, when Olivia enters, “heaven walks on earth” (5.1.99). 

Regarding the rest of Malvolio’s scene, it is no less strange than Sebastian’s. The dour puritan begins with a statement of love for his lady, and then follows the insane directions of a letter that apparently describes her love for him, while the pranksters hide and watch in a nearby bush. Orsino’s mentions of “fancy” also take place in strange scenes. Without touching on the chaotic mess that is 5.1, 1.1 regards a Duke, who has been laid low grieving over his unrequited love for Olivia. She, in turn, decides not to admit any suitors until she has spent seven entire years mourning her dead brother. This scene feels almost surreal, setting the stage for the play that is to follow. Since almost every instance of the word fancy comes during a surreal scene, it can be inferred that the word is an indicator - a message to the audience that this play is a fantasy in the mind of Orsino.

There is one more use of “fancy,” however. During the argument between Orsino and Viola, Orsino speaks of men’s fancies as “more longing, wavering… than women’s are” (2.4.41-42). Twelfth Night is certainly long, spanning three months in Illyria, and the play constantly wavers from uplifting to demeaning, from reasonable to insane. The play as a whole fits so well with Orsino’s description of his “fancies” that one must wonder why that particular description was used. Interpreting Twelfth Night as a fancy conjured up by Orsino’s stricken mind makes a good deal more sense than attempting to reconcile the events with the real world. 

Work Cited:Adams, B. (1978). Orsino and the Spirit of Love: Text, Syntax, and Sense In Twelfth Night, I. i. 1-15. Shakespeare Quarterly,29(1), 52-59. doi:10.2307/2869169

The notes i wrote during the lunch period:

The first appearance of the word comes during Orsino’s monologue. The grief-stricken man describes his lovesickness by referring to his imagining of fantasies involving Olivia. Fancy is “full of shapes” to hear him tell it, filled with all kinds of images (1.1.14). This implies an interesting idea of the plot; it may be nothing more than a lovesick dream conjured by Orsino’s mind. After all, the plot is as “high fantastical” as something a distressed lover might imagine. (1.1.15). 

Malvolio’s mention of fancy is also about love and imagining it. He talks about “her [Olivia’s] fancy,” but the context of the scene and the rest of his dialogue imply that he is the one who fancies Olivia (2.5.24).. Malvolio claims that Olivia has said she would fancy “one of my complexion,” indicating that Malvolio has, through confirmation bias and imagination, convinced himself that Olivia was in love with him even before reading Maria’s letter (2.5.25). The fact that Malvolio, the outwardly stalwart Puritan, is as fanciful and in love as Orsino is a strong device for making fun of the Puritans as Shakespeare was wont to do. 

Sebastian has his reference to fancy when he meets Olivia and finds that he is the object of her fancy. 

[Discussing of the other two quotes]

In Twelfth Night, characters mention fancy when in fantastical scenes. Orsino had neglected his duties as a Duke to be lovesick over Olivia, Malvolio convinced himself that Olivia was in love with him moments before happening upon a letter regarding Olivia’s love, Sebastian came to a foreign city and found that a woman he had never seen was madly in love with him, and the final scene is perhaps the most fanciful of them all. Everything comes together in a hilarious, satisfying, and utterly unrealistic way. The use of the word fancy indicates that a scene either was or will be fanciful. This implies that Shakespeare is breaking the fourth wall, drawing attention to works of the imagination when the audience may be considering the play as imagination. In that way, Shakespeare implies that this comedy, however nice it may seem, is just a lovesick fantasy in the mind of Duke Orsino. 

Note also that almost every mention of the word is in reference to Olivia. The only exception is when Orsino calls Viola his “fancy’s queen,” but Orsino could just be (Inception-style) trying to prove to himself that he can love another. That is why the timeline does not make sense; Orsino needed to believe that his mind was not so changeable, that he would need three months with another woman to move past his love for Olivia. 

Quotes:

1.1.14-15:

Orsino: “So full of shapes is fancy 

That it alone is high fantastical.”

Context: These lines conclude Orsino’s opening monologue about his lovesickness and passion for Olivia. The monologue is discordant throughout, and this line sounds very arrogant, that nobody but a lover could have an extreme imagination.

This quote illustrates Orsino’s arrogance about his position (which is expanded upon in his later argument with Viola) and tells the audience that Orsino has spent some time cooped up in his mansion thinking of Olivia. 

2.5.23-25

Malvolio: “I have heard herself come

thus near, that, should she fancy, it should be one

of my complexion.“

Context: This comes just before Malvolio finds Maria’s letter, when he is fancying that Olivia might be in love with him. He has almost convinced himself of her love even before he sees Maria’s letter, which would be a strange coincidence if Twelfth Night was not a comedy. 

This quote describes Malvolio’s desperation to be loved by Olivia. He uses a few choice words and actions of Olivia as a justification for her love, indicating confirmation bias and lack of perspective. 

4.1.63-66

Sebastian: “What relish is in this? how runs the stream?

Or I am mad, or else this is a dream:

Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep;

If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!”

Context: This comes just after Sebastian enters Illyria and finds a beautiful woman suddenly wish to marry him. It is so illogical that he believes he must be dreaming, and he wishes for fancy to keep him from waking up. 

This quote tells us that Sebastian is wondrous at his entrance to Illyria. He forgets about Antonio as soon as strange men wish to duel and a strange beautiful woman claims to be in love with him. Sebastian is far more relaxed than most people would be in this context, especially if they could not find Antonio, the only person he was close with for the past three months.

5.1.412-415

Orsino: “Cesario, come;

For so you shall be, while you are a man;

But when in other habits you are seen,

Orsino's mistress and his fancy's queen.”

Context: This is the last line spoken by any character except Feste. It comes after Orsino learns of Viola’s true identity and gives up his love for Olivia. 

This quote implies that Orsino still thinks of Viola as Cesario, at least while she is in men’s clothing. 

[my-makeshift-masquerade]

So, Warren the Worm’s Friendship Episode gave me PTSD Flashbacks and I NEED TO SHARE WHY.

The friendship episode, at least for the first chunk of it, parodies kid’s edutainment that teaches social skills. If you don’t know the specific genre I am talking about, then be grateful. This shit was cringe af and probably led to way more bullying in schools than it ever could’ve prevented.

I defended myself from being beaten up when I was in the fourth grade, using self defense techniques I learned in a class because I was that worried I’d get beaten up. I got punished for it by having my recess in extended day revoked every other day. Instead of being outside, my bully got to play with my friends while I sat in a cramped dark office watching these sorts of videos. My mom moved me out of that school after the year ended, but I still remember these anti-bullying videos very vividly.

The “Okay Stop” format is basically what all of them used, rewinding and showing good/bad ways to handle bullies. Of course, none of these covered what to do if the teachers didn’t help you when you told them, or when you were going to be hurt by said bullies. Instead, all the “solutions” boiled down to the victim saying “Hey, bullying is not cool, man. It is not groovy to hurt people’s feelings.”, and then the bully would magically be like “Oh, sorry, dude. That was lame of me. Let’s go play together instead.” Sorta like how Warren dubs over Yellow and Red to have them say the ridiculous shit he wanted them to.

You can imagine how this sort of scene would unfold if a victim was using this against an actual bully, especially when that bully was trying to punch or kick you in the face… Yet, this is what they taught children was the only “appropriate response” beyond going to tell a teacher. I’m autistic, and let me tell you using the “social skills” I was 1984-style brainwashed with for 50% of my recess time did not end well for me. It taught me there was no use defending myself at all… Many other adults solidified that belief as I grew up.

Warren is interesting to me because he shows just how even in adulthood certain people take advantage of the “rules” of friendship and relationships to sway things in their favor…then they become the exact people who are deemed “experts” on relationships. His backstory isn’t a sad one at all. His friends just didn’t want to be part of his pyramid scheme and he got butthurt. They apparently apologized but Warren said it was “too late for them”, which isn’t a very “good friend” thing to do. There’s even a slide where his friends are just petting a rabbit and he looked jealous!

The fandom simping for this guy is oddly fitting to the meta narrative of the episode, too. Warren drives everyone away from him, acts pitiful despite manipulating and controlling every social situation he is in, and yet… Y’all find him attractive or endearing? This is exactly why people fall for these so-called pick up artists, relationship experts, and similar personalities online, despite them being blatantly unhealthy and harassing people. This is the “Oh he’s just a poor skrunkly wittle meow meow uwu! I can fix him!” mentality at work.

The fandom’s very predictable reaction to this character is only making the satirical message of the episode even stronger! This show is GENIUS.

[courtapproved]

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[edietello]

Full name: Edith Ellen Tello

Nicknames: Edie, Ed, Eddie

Age: 26

Star sign: Aries (April 2nd)

Hometown: Aurora Bay, California

Occupation: Student at Aurora Bay College (Law), Barista at Driftwood Coffee

Pronouns/Gender: She/her, cis female

Time in town: 26 years (in and out for undergraduate)

@aurorabayaesthetic

tw for cancer, parental death, assault

TL;DR local girl who thought her brain was gonna get her out of town, and it did for a minute, but her dad got sick and she came home and has found herself stuck here ever since -- works to save for eventual law school and help her mom make ends meet

THE RUNDOWN

-Edith Ellen Tello was born the youngest child and only daughter to Marigold and Javier Tello; she has two older brothers

-the tello's have been fishing in aurora bay for several generations since immigrating to the us from argentina in the 1930s to escape political conflict following a failed revolution. her parents met while her mother, a foreign exchange student from spain, was attending aurora bay college for a semester.

-grew up in Aurora Bay; the Tello’s are known for their fresh and locally caught fish that is supplied to many area restaurants

- always a spitfire, edie had her fair share of trouble in school discipline wise – often sassing at teachers and getting into scuffles in the hallway – but no one could ever say she was a bad student. she often tested at the top of her class and maintained a 4.0 average and graduated valedictorian. as a result, she recieved a full academic scholarship to UC Berkley with plans to study pre-law.

- towards the end of her senior year of college, edith’s father was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. upon graduation, edie put off her plans to apply to law school in favor of staying in aurora bay to help care for her ailing father. even after several surgeries and dependent on an oxygen tank, her father fought stubbornly for five years and tended to his boat and nets religiously until his passing three months ago.

-after spending nearly a lifetime turning down his advances and flirtation, edie began to see ulysses flynn in a different light when she came home from college. after a month or two of fucking in secret, edie ended up breaking her biggest personal rule: never fall for a local. it was big time love, and the two of them were well-matched and content for a few years, until uly ended up in jail for assaulting a man who had attacked edie while she was walking home from the bar one night. they came to an impasse over the future of their relationship in the prison visiting room, and have not spoken since.

- edie has worked as a barista at driftwood coffee for the last three years; while sometimes still taking trips out on her father's boat with her brothers to try and get a decent catch. she’s very serious about her occupation and using her money wisely and making as much as she possibly can while she attempts to help pay off her father’s funeral expenses while also trying to save for law school

-she is currently taking online classes in law, hoping to catch up on some credits and go back to school full time eventually

FUN FACTS

-drives a 1971 baby blue Ford Bronco

-drink of choice is a tequlia sunrise, followed by whiskey gingers

-if she has a day to herself she likes to go to the county courthouse and sit in on cases to watch real lawyers in action. doesn’t even matter if it’s just traffic court, she’ll sit and take notes

-karaoke song of choice is ‘breathe’ by faith hill

-occasionally smokes in situations of high stress constantly these days

-always has her nails done and she's partial to a deep red color

-has been taking self defense classes at the gym for the last year

PERSONALITY

*Important to note that Edie is on the autism spectrum and is written accordingly

- smart cookie, good at faking interest to someone's face, always has an escape plan, very brash if she has Had It, will call people out on bullshit, difficult to trick, can and will lie to your face without blinking, does let her feelings complicate her life

CONNECTIONS

-ex-girlfriend of @ulyflynn

-friends/business partner in the sale of feet pics @jordanmitchell​

-pointless arch-nemisis since childhood @mackmontgomery

-friends with @wesxevans

-goddaughter of @santiagodeleons

-former hook up of @buddywellls

WANTED CONNECTIONS

- friendships! people she has known since childhood, cradle to grave besties,  high school friends, and friends from work!

-fellow students! people she shares classes with or tutors!

-family! i would love for her to have aunts, uncles, and cousins in town!

-romantic! she probably has a couple exes from high school and has done a bit of dating/hooking up in the last year to varying degrees of seriousness

[petra-creat0r]

Now I'm currently thinking about what the DF kids are up to during The Puppet and The Real Boy. Most of this won't be really relevant for a while buuuuuuut, just thought I'd put it here.

Got a bit long so it's under the cut. Interested in hearing more about where the Undertale/Deltarune cast has ended up by the time of TP&tRB? Shoot me an ask!

Starting with Asriel because he will end up being relevant the soonest. It was mentioned back in Chapter 5 that Asriel recently graduated film school. This is because Asriel decided to go into the film industry. He currently has a mid level script editing/writing job at Mettaton's Studio and has been waiting for his chance to possibly direct something bigger than some random commercials or short films. Out of all the gang, he lives the closest to Chicago as Azzie has an apartment in Meta City (A city that's not that long a drive from Ebbot and Hometown and where Chicago lives.)

As for Exxy? Goat cat plant boy still lives in Ebbot and helps Asgore out with his flower shop. Exriel dropped out of college a few years ago, giving up his degree in botanical engineering or something as he found college just wasn't for him. He's been trying to make it up by working on an online degree at his own pace. For now though, he regularly visits Asgore and Goat Dad's 3 adopted boys. Rupert, Wilbur and Yule. Exriel lives in a small starter home with his partner, an human named Emily, and his 4 year old kid, Elyxiem, aka Elli.

Chara ended up moving to Hometown with her partner, a human named Sara to open up a bakery like Sara's dads' had in Ebbot. Chara also runs a gym/work out studio and teaches self defense classes. Susie has been one of Chara's regulars, using the gym as a place to train up or pent out her anger. Chara and Sara live in the house that, in normal Deltarune is Toriel's house. However in Ish, I'm still working out stuff with that. I'm thinking maybe for a short while the DFs lived there around when the older kids went to college? Not all that long before the story of Deltarune takes place in Ish? idk, there's a lot of shuffling around I've had to do to make this timeline work. Regardless, currently Toriel, Sans, CK and Sariel all live back in their old house in Ebbot. With CK and Sariel going to school in Hometown after the schools in Ebbot closed. It's not that far a drive as the cities are next to each other and the DF's live near the border.

Finally, Frisk! Frisk finished their generals and is currently finishing up their law degree online from their home in Portalopolis. While they and MK would've preferred to actually live in Hometown or Ebbot, both to raise their 2 year old kid, Rebecca/Gecky, but also to be closer to family like Chara or Sans and Toriel, the closest they could get while also being close enough for work was the outskirts of Portalopolis, which borders Hometown. Frisk is finishing up their law degree so they can be an actual politician and be the proper ambassador of Monsters to Humans, even if they've technically held the title since they were eight. In reality, they were a figure head and someone else did the actual ambassador work (sadly not Papyrus.), but they've always wanted to get actually involved in it. Also it was either law school or med school and Frisk found law school to be the lesser of two evils easier of the two.

[alyszaen]

Venting about some things I need to process TW: mentions of self-harm, relapse, mental health, sexual assault and death-threats

I feel like I need to get this off my chest in detail. I'll never process it if I don't.

Ce was my friend. She was my best friend. She was the girl I trusted with everything. She knew all my deep and dark secrets. This was primary school. When my bully started telling me I was ugly and worthless, she was there for me. Except she told An about it behind my back. She laughed about me behind my back. Ce, you were my best friend, but I was never yours.

Al was my friend. She was there with me when my bully threattened to kill me. She went to the self defense class with me, so I wouldn't need to be alone. We had a dynamic, no matter how much we fought you were there. But when you failed the classes you switched schools and never reached out again. I missed you.

Me was my friend. She was not in my class, but in the same year. We were the best little group, with her classmates in there. But whenever they hung out they didn't invite me. I wanted to be close to them, but they never let me into the last border. You didn't want me.

Em was my friend. She was her own kind of disturbed, but we vibed so well. She promised me I could get drunk this time and she'd protect me. Yet when he touched me she dismissed me and said "It's cool he does this." If I hadn't yelled at him and made him drive home drunk I would have been raped that night. You broke your promise. You would have let him. You made me self-harm.

Si was my friend. He was the person I told about everything. He was my trusted person when all the others left me. He knew my triggers. He knew I couldn't handle rape-jokes yet made them a lot. When Le joined the group and kept mistreating me and I told Si about it, he told everyone about how much of a "pussy" I was being. You lied to me.

Al was my friend. He was the one that told me what Si was doing. He was the one that picked me back up when I fell. We watched shows together daily, healing together. I was the first person you told about your date. I cheered you on the loudest. When she asked you to distance yourself you did it without question. You left me alone, after you knew how hard it was for me to trust anyone. You chose to ignore me and treat me like I didn't exist, after everything you knew. You made me relapse.

Ja was my friend. She was easier to trust because she was online. She was mute and never turned on her camera, but our messages meant so much. I felt like I was finally being understood. Until it turned out that she lied about getting into accidents. She was a pathological liar. She was a guy acting like a girl to get close to me. You made me incapable of trusting people that don't turn on their audio.

Di was my friend. He was a trusted person. It took me a year to open up to him. And when I finally fully did I felt safe. He was there for me through every hardship that followed. He was the one that actually got me to finally get diagnosed and medicated. But he started to make rape-jokes. And when I distanced myself to not get hurt again, he got mad. He spread rumors. He attempted to have me murdered. He told our friends he'd like to rape my dead body. You broke the last trust I had in anyone.

I can't trust anyone. You can say you are not going to leave me as often as you want, I'll never be able to believe you. I still give a general trust so easily. I still get attached so easily. But I'll never be able to give you that last bit of trust. I'll always be stuck on 80%. Too many people I trusted betrayed me. Too many people I thought had my back were the ones stabbing it. I try to be kind. I try to make everyone feel welcome. I try to be there for anyone who needs it. I try to be the shoulder to lean on. Because I don't want this to happen to anyone else. My heart aches at the thought that someone would be betrayed so often that they can't trust anymore.

8 friends. 8 BEST friends. 8 people I would have trusted with my life. 8 people that hurt me beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

[brianbentleyr]

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[mydrivepermit01]

Navigating the Digital Highway: The Importance of Online Driver Education Courses for Teens

One of the primary advantages of online driver education courses for teens is flexibility. Unlike traditional classroom-based courses, online programs allow teens to learn at their own pace and convenience. With busy schedules filled with school, extracurricular activities, and social commitments, the flexibility of online courses enables teens to balance their responsibilities while still obtaining essential driving knowledge. Whether it's late-night study sessions or early morning lessons, Online Driver Education Course for Teens online driver education accommodates the diverse schedules of today's teens.

Furthermore, online driver education courses offer interactive learning experiences that engage teens in ways traditional methods cannot. Through videos, simulations, quizzes, and interactive modules, teens can grasp complex driving concepts more effectively. Visual aids and real-life scenarios help reinforce key principles, making the learning process both engaging and memorable. Additionally, many online courses incorporate gamification elements, such as rewards and progress tracking, which motivate teens to stay focused and committed to their studies.

Safety is paramount when it comes to learning how to drive, and online driver education courses prioritize this aspect. These programs cover a wide range of topics, including traffic laws, road signs, defensive driving techniques, and the dangers of distracted driving and driving under the influence. By instilling a deep understanding of safe driving practices from the outset, online courses help teens develop the skills necessary to navigate various driving scenarios confidently and responsibly.

Moreover, online driver education courses often include practical components, such as simulated driving exercises and hazard perception tests. These simulations provide teens with a simulated driving experience in a controlled environment, allowing them to practice critical skills such as parallel parking, lane changing, and emergency maneuvers. By honing their skills in a risk-free setting, teens can build confidence before hitting the road with an instructor or parent.

Another significant benefit of online driver education courses is accessibility. Regardless of location, teens from urban areas to remote communities can access high-quality driver education programs with just a computer and internet connection. This accessibility is particularly beneficial for teens living in rural areas with limited access to traditional classroom-based courses. Online driver education breaks down geographical barriers, ensuring that all teens have the opportunity to receive comprehensive driving instruction.

In addition to providing teens with essential driving knowledge, California Drivers Ed Online  driver education courses also offer convenience for parents and guardians. Rather than chauffeuring teens to and from in-person classes, parents can oversee their teen's progress from the comfort of home. Online courses often provide parents with monitoring tools and progress reports, allowing them to track their teen's development and offer guidance as needed. This involvement fosters open communication between parents and teens regarding driving-related topics and reinforces the importance of safe driving practices.