#ditch and switch

[essentiallybetterliving]

Why I Chose Young Living

In 2013, I experienced the bittersweet paradox of losing my mom to Alzheimer’s and giving birth to my daughter in the same year. It was then that I started pursuing a healthier, more natural way of living. I was searching for natural remedies to help promote memory for my mom before she passed, while at the same time learning healthier habits during my pregnancy and for my new baby following her…

[weaverofink]

punk douxie redesign!!! i just think he should have had an undercut tbh

+ bonus doodle:

i feel like they for sure wouldn't let him wear his whole punk getup at his cafe job so i put him in a uniform. for fun.

[cosmichorrorlesbians]

what's your dissertation about? you mentioned it in the siltcord and i'm really interested

oh my god hey I'm so happy you're interested! broad strokes because I've only been working on it for a few weeks but: the current theme is 'resistant landscapes' (both man-made and natural) in the later writing of Shirley Jackson!

Essentially, my main thread is that Jackson had two parallel strands to her work, which as far as I can tell began kind of interrelated but then diverged quite significantly? She's probably best known now for The Haunting of Hill House and to a lesser extent We Have Always Lived In The Castle, which are these. weird surreal psychological horror novels, engaging explicitly or implicitly with the supernatural, and centred around introspective, strange and sometimes deeply misanthropic female characters from isolated social units with dysfunctional, possessive relationships to each other.

Aaaaand then on the other hand she was known for being a 'happy housewife' who wrote these whimsical, quasi-autobiographical stories about all her children and how hopeless her husband was. These were popular too. Betty Friedan called her out in landmark 1963 feminist manifesto The Feminine Mystique for essentially spreading patriarchal propaganda.

The interrelation between the two is really jarring, because in one family is a source of horror and tragedy and in the other it's a source of, like... laundry. And Jackson's home life wasn't everything those stories made it out to be-- her marriage was unfaithful, her mother could probably be fairly called emotionally abusive, and as I talked about on the siltcord, she developed severe agoraphobia which often left her housebound.

So, yeah. My plan is to explore the depiction of families as constructed social units in dialogue with the environments they are constructed in in that work. Obviously a lot of that is relation of house to family, in the context of which Hill House is especially rewarding to consider, but I also want to look at relationships with nature and urban environments (especially in the context of settler colonialism and how that has had an enduring legacy in Jackson's particular part of New England), xenophobia (largely in regard to class, though racism and anti-Semitism are presences in her writing), domesticity and the idea of the housewife, and how horror relates to All Of This. The ideal of making a home within a hostile environment and of that environment turning on you, essentially.

I don't yet have particular areas of focus within that broad umbrella, but I might update with bits and pieces about it as I work? I don't really talk about academic stuff on here but I am very much Critical Literary Analysis Guy and I do also post relentlessly about haunted houses as a concept so if people would be interested in it maybe I will

anyway if you've read this far I recommend Horror in Architecture: The Reanimated Edition (2024) by Joshua Comaroff and Ong Ker-Shing which is a book about how horror movie tropes can be mirrored in built environments! I'm reading it right now and it's conceptually fascinating plus fairlyyy comprehensible by academic standards (if a little dense) if you, like me, are a Fool who knows nothing of architecture. very good also for getting to look at pictures of some of the most Fucked Up Buildings (affectionate) you've ever seen.

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

yknow what else abt s4 i had forgotten until i was going back to the transcripts for caps?

ARTHUR: [...] And I’ve been failing you lately, as well. I’m… I’m seeing that. Is that why you’ve been slipping away? Is that why you can’t see certain things? With Yellow, I was so… poor at shaping him, I was… I was so angry with him. I made him… feel small. Is it me that’s causing you to fail? Is it my lack of trust?

neither of them know what's wrong with john yet but it's obvious that something is wrong, and part of what arthur says to him at the farm is fear that it's his fault somehow. he can tell, and has been able to tell since addison, that something is up with him (this bizarre insistence on the order, the immediate shutdown of certain subjects, the prickliness at random times), but he's missing such a fundamental piece of the puzzle that john is standing there lying to his fucking face and arthur's like, maybe the problem is i'm not trusting him enough.

which is an echo of a similar sentiment from the nightmare, actually-

KELLIN: He’s lying about something. Is it Kayne? What isn’t he telling you? ARTHUR: I don’t know! KELLIN: Or maybe… just maybe… he’s slipping away.  ARTHUR: What? [...] KELLIN: Yellow. The King. John. Three separate entities. ARTHUR: Yellow is the King. KELLIN: Is he? If he was trapped inside of you, he’s clearly no longer a whole! And look at what you did to that. ARTHUR: What I did?  KELLIN/OTHER ARTHUR: What you ruined. (Whispers start to rise again.) You can hate me for saying this… [...] But I’m only saying what you’re saying to yourself, Arthur. Something is off about John. You know it. Because I know it.

i feel like since john got so defensive of yellow so quickly arthur keeps circling back to that sentiment every time he thinks about whatever's going on now. like all of the talk abt "failing" is just a distorted, reapplied version of what john has said abt yellow. he's so certain it's his fault somehow.

and part of that is probably just the Guilt™ but i feel like part of it is also, like, if it's his fault then he can fix it. if this is a repeat of what he fucked up with yellow, then he can course-correct and bring him back. if it's out of his control... then he's going to lose him, and there's nothing he can do about it. of those two options, of course he'd choose the first one every time.

meanwhile john's just watching arthur assemble all these unrelated clues into this disastrous tower of lies like Well Well, If It Isn't The Consequences Of My Actions,

[randomnameless]

Even before Nopes I had interrogations about Leopold switching sides, from being a random noble under Ionius' orders, to someone who sides with Ludwig, to ultimately betray him and lend his forces to Supreme Leader.

Then Nopes popped up and apparently his motivation was to support her because he thought she was "strong" enough to finally conquer Fodlan or something?

(or was it only Ludwig's reasoning? Do we even learn why Leopold switched sides? I know he's rewarded with Leicester in CF, but is that it?)

But then, I popped up on those lines by earlier checking the localisation changes and it made me think :

Doro blames the nobles for, uh, ditching Supreme Leader when she dies and cozying up to the Alliance and the Church, and how apparently, by doing so, they only think of themselves .

But then she talks about Leopold, and comparing him to those "other nobles" is apparently supposed to bring him in a good light - but hey, Leopold also betrayed everyone only thinking about himself, first by ditching Ionius, and second by ditching Ludwig!

Also, the loc prettied up the thing, but it's actually a bit more muddled :

Leopold offers his life so his soldiers won't be held responsible/liable and will be forgiven for their participation or "involvment" in, well, the war.

Putting aside real life and how "but I was just listening to orders" never worked in recent history when people are put on trial after a war ends and the general issue of post-war reconciliation - while this is an unexpected nice move Leopold pulled, as the Minister of War, he seems to be the only Adrestian character to take responsability for his actions.

But again, he was the Minister of War - the one who lead armies - so in a way, taking a bullet for his men is the least we can expect him to do, and yet, the game will forever (at least FE16!) remain silent on why he decided to side with Supreme Leader after betraying her father and their Prime Minister.

Was he interested in money? New territories? Just wanted to battle? Did he really believe in Make Adrestia Great Again?

He dies for the sake of his soldiers, but why did he even join the war to begin with?

[jonathanbyersphd]

I'm never going to get Jonathan suffering through prom for Nancy and I hate the duffers for that

[dykerikki]

is it a weird time to say ive been thinking of changing my name to jackie or mb just jack but NOT because of the yj girltwink. its because of my crush on my primary school netball coach okay? also i think itll be really funny to be called jack but regardless call myself a jane of all trades for the bit.

[soylunathoughts]

i can't believe i started watching Soy Luna in 2023. now it 2025 and i'm still not done 😂🤣

[shiraishi--kanade]

The more I wrestle with Windows 10 the more I miss my Windows 7

[essentiallybetterliving]

Making the Switch to Thieves Cleaner

We made the switch to Thieves products ten years ago and it has been one of the best changes we have made for our family. Thieves products are plant based, all natural and potent! A picture is worth a thousand words. Just look at the image below to see how Thieves responds to bacteria vs its chemical laden counterparts. And of course Thieves oil is a key ingredient in Thieves Cleaner so it…

[thegoblinwitch]

i finally took the jump and am ditching my macbook for good for a dedicated linux mini desktop (star labs byte, if you're wondering, you prob aren't), after a literal decade since i was on linux last (though it was on a windows machine, with the issues that entails).

it's pre-installed with ubuntu, 'cause i thought that was the easiest to deal with to start, though i plan to do some distro hopping.

any linux peeps on here have any advise on how to easily (i.e. low need to manually partition and/or install/uninstall constantly) do said distro hopping? and also any distro recs?

my only requirement is that it be low on the need to use the command line to start with, i wanna ease into it, not jump in the deep end without floaters on...!

[psalmsofpsychosis]

Some Batman: Telltale thoughts

[this is a Batman Telltale critical post, ye be warned.]

So. There are perhaps no words in the english language to describe with how stupid i feel right now.

I started Telltale Batman because i thought that it's one of the more distinct unconventional Batman narratives that would let you have a more interesting, complex and nuanced relationship between Bruce and Joker— the game even lets you bring all of Bruce's sincere hypocrisy and sentimental selfishness to the surface and have him admit that yes, he can fight the rogues gallery because it takes a madman to know a madman; to love a madman. For a moment i geniunely thought that i can escape the everpresent shadow of DC hays code in the freakshow funhouse that is Batman comics, i thought Telltale had done something different.

But telltale's approach to The Enemy Within is so flaky and flimsy and timid at best— such noncommittal twist on themes of pain and grief. They take on a hefty plotline, "what does it take to actually fight through evil and be surrounded by it? How long does it take before your resolve and your selfhood cracks? When you lose the mask, which one did you truly lose— The ideal persona, the superhero, the crusader, or the person underneath, the casket that holds all your humanity and your heart and your hopes? How long can you stare onto the abyss before it stares onto you?" It's indeed a very Nietzsche approach to Batman— except that a good Nietzsche narrative takes a lot of intentional plot points and honesty of thought and of heart. And Telltale doesn't commit, not to Bruce's characterization, and not to any other character, and definitely not to Joker's journey in any variation of it. The existence of the Vigilante route is useless on every front; Joker is going to turn into a villain anyway, just with a different hello kitty eyeshadow palette and an extra bland consolation lollipop. No good choice Bruce makes on Joker's behalf affects anything whatsoever, and i particularly love the "community and friendship and sympathy do not help the mentally ill and all that ever works is punishment and shock therapy and confinement and loneliness" message the vigillante route puts on the table, charming charming status quo commandments from DC as always.

Telltale Batman could only be revolutionary if it had dared to break comic convention and let the vigillante route play out like Selina and Bruce's relationship always does; very grey morality, irrational, full of tension and trust, unstable, intriguing, inexcusable, irreversible, unavoidable and heartfelt, human. But we can't have nice things in batmanverse, so both Joker routes run on stuck gears and topple and fall into a predictable narrative hole that neither Bruce nor Joker can claim out of.

And on the predictable front? this story is too lukewarm to be a good time for me personally. When you get 84 Batman comics per minute every other Tuesday, all ending the same way no matter whatever the fickity happens inbetween, you have to pull no punches. This is my 53368532th Batman-with-tragic-batjokes-implications read of the week, say something new or forever hold your blue-balling silence, i dont care.

[dirtytransmasc]

I have a question for other fibro, chronic pain/fatigue, disabled people, cause I need some help.

I have issues showering, like most of us do, due to pain and fatigue and weakness etc. that makes standing up for long periods and the physical labor of washing myself difficult, and have spent quite a while just making it work.

I tend to just sit on the floor, but because of the tightness in my legs that makes it so I have to kneel or hunch over to avoid pain/stress on my joints (which causes circulation issues in my legs if I kneel or back pain if I hunch), the difficulty I have getting up and down, and the amount of times I've almost passed out from the effort, sitting on the floor is becoming less of a solution and more of a hindrance.

my real problem is that I can't stand shower stools. I have never found one that lets me feel mobile in the shower, I always feel stuck and boxed in because they limit the range of motion I still have.

I have issues turning around to wash my hair out. I have to pick between being in the water or being just out of it which makes washing my hair and body difficult. I can't easily make any major position changes without more effort than I would need by just sitting on the floor. I have a very hard time holding the shower head so I have to leave it up in the holder which leaves the water and me in very fixed positions.

overall, shower stools do not work for me, and I was wondering if anyone had found other solutions to the showering issue, cause I want to rip my hair out.

[mothusband]

also i cant believe switch 2 games are gonna be $80 😭 ive wanted to buy tears of the kingdom since i got into loz but ive refused since its $70, but looks like thats the new normal :(

[hallowed-axolotl]

genuine tragedy: favourite song ever is only on one platform and no versions of it exist on the main platform i use to listen to music

[mimicteruyo]

Happy New Year! I hope 2024 will treat you kindly. And maybe this will finally be the year I figure out how to properly balance my life lol.