#fish tank divination lol

[aliquid-de-magis]

okay!!! i've performed the ritual!

the questions posed to the fish tank were:

will we have a rainy may?

and what is the meaning of life?

the results were:

snippet took the shrimp from my left hand, while scoot, smidge, and smudge split the one in my right hand. lenny and bugs hung back and watched.

that means:

we will have some heavy rain in may, and the meaning of life is to cooperate and build community!

@fishyfishyfishtimes @brightlotusmoon

[unmeiokaemasu]

finally making progress on a maddening run of 3h 8)

verdant wind, because the final battle on that route is the one that I find the easiest by far, and the thought of even trying maddening was very intimidating to me. If I beat this route I’ll probably do a maddening azure moon with some even stricter rules.

I did start a maddening run before, and found if you start a new game+ file and utilize like all your carried over renown and stuff, it still completely trivializes the game even on maddening. ...I forgot why I still did the new game+, so uh. hm. anyway so rules:

I can’t spend renown (no weapons from the abyss statue, can’t buy friendship or weapon levels for units, whatever else it’s used for)

can’t use the free shit I found under my bed. I don’t usually do that anyway so

no amiibo gazebo bonus items because I want to be limited by the gold I can obtain normally, so I have to think about how to allocate my funds, and the gazebo sometimes gives you like basic weapons and things you can sell...although I didn’t think about that until I’d already picked up two items. I don’t remember what I got, I think it was like. two ingredients. so yeah I started this run one fish and one tomato richer.

Absolutely allowed to use divine pulse; I’m definitely treating this as a learning experience and it’s way easier to learn what you did wrong if you can immediately go back and try it a different way that works. 

I’m allowed to recruit all free units, so I’ve got the ashen wolves and anna (and sylvain, is it universally known that he joins for free if you picked another house but your byleth is female?); this unlocks other paralogs, but I’m still going to have to deal with hunting by daybreak, so using units outside my house is a handicap I have to think carefully about. Ashen wolves give you access to the abyss passes tho so that’s a pretty big bonus* (moved a tangent about how good Constance is to the end)

I’m playing online, so I am allowing myself to pick up the extra exp and items. It’s another case of if I’d thought about it sooner I probably would’ve said no but. I’m already here.

since it’s new game+ bcs idk the saint statues are all fixied, so yeah I guess I’m getting whatever boon I get from that

it took me a long time to get past the mock battle at the beginning; I don’t know exactly how many attempts bcs the first time I tried I was like “well I guess I’m not as much of a better player as I thought” and didn’t come back to it for a while. but I finally beat it a couple nights ago! it wasn’t like I wasn’t trying to strategize the first attempt, but I came away with the impression that it was intentionally more like a puzzle you had to solve with a pretty narrow solution than like the sprawling battles later. (Those still have an order to them, y’know, get to this advantageous spot, take out the miniboss, deal with the reinforcements, proceed to boss with caution, that kind of thing). I tried hiding the woods, but that by itself wasn’t enough. I’m really used to relying on my magic users, so not having any that were powerful yet really forced me to think differently.

In the end I had to send Claude (whose map position was fixed) into the woods to take a hit from Ashe, and then gang up on Ashe with Claude and Hilda without agroing Hubert and Ferdinand in that direction. Then I could get Byleth posted up in the lower forest, take out Ferdinand in one turn with Byleth and the magic girls (I swapped Lorenz for Lysithea lol, she’s really weak at the beginning but I wanted to get her exp as soon as possible), and then take out Hubert next turn with Byleth. I had tried to have Marianne tank a hit from Hubert because she has good res, but in maddening there really are some enemies you can’t just tank hits from.

The other major departure is that I normally go straight up to whoever’s got the right base and get the “wow they’re fighting both houses?” remark from whoever’s on the left, and just never deal with the two people hiding behind the barrier because they come out of it to fight, but this I had to absolutely avoid agroing both houses so go up left and carefully lure out Dorothea and Edelgard by letting Byleth take a hit from Dorothea while everyone else hid in the leftmost forest. It’s really fun seeing the thought that went into designing these maps once you can’t just knock down enemy units like bowling pins! This game really does a good job of teaching you how to think about this kind of strategy if you were like me and just not good at that to start with.

Anyway no map after that was nearly that hard, including the practice battle after that were you still don’t have divine pulse (you have to manage your whole squad at that point so I can see why they pulled back the level of the enemy units; also I just realized that teaches you that generic enemies are weaker than named ones, huh). Even with divine pulse I failed the next map once because of trying to juggle exp gains, but it was fun to start the map from scratch now knowing everything I had to do better.

* (the Constance tangent that I moved:) honestly I’ve used Constance a lot bcs I always like to get the relic for Yuri so I always train Constance up to not die during that...and she’s probably my sickest unit every time? She learns a barrier ability that gives her exp when she uses it, so between that and teaching her healing she can get a lot of non-kill exp and tends to level up really fast, and then you put her in the air and she gets all those crazy benefits...

So if I beat this route, like I said I’ll probably do a maddening azure moon, and NOT play on new game+ and NOT connect to the internet. A “no divine pulse” run is kind of the dream, but again, not worried about that right now. I think as long as I beat the side story I’ll still be allowed to recruit the ashen wolves, which I probably will do. but beating this file is still probably a long way off so 8)

So yeah...I think I went through a bit of a “3h fatigue” phase when I started playing the older games and was like “dang these are all really good,” but 3h isn’t just popular because it’s new or even just because the writing’s good, it’s a really great game. Blazing Blade and Path of Radiance are still my favorites, but 3h is a much closer contender than I thought, they’re basically all on the same level.

[shinygoku]

gordon gordon gordon gordon

Gordon Gordon Gordon Gordon!!

He's been sneaking into these asks by proxy, so it's finally time for his dedicated session, hehe~

First impression

WUAAAGH what's up with this WEIRD LONG NOT-THOMAS and his FACE?!

Impression now

His face is still pretty weird! But you know what else it is? Part of an Absolute Legend ✨

Like, man, Gordon is such a big presence and interesting character, the entire premise leans heavily on him. I'm inclined to go as far as to say that the Blue Boys of 1, 2 and 4 here are the three most important characters for the franchise (not at all to knock everyone else lmao) and they slot nicely into a Triforce of Courage, Wisdom and Power, and Gordon has Power in spades!

Gordon is The Vain One (not James!). He's legit very strong and the fastest on Sodor (which isn't just being a big fish in a small pond because that island has some crazy cool engines!) but unfortunately he lacks humility. His success seems to have been lodged in his head before the series even begins and this Pride is the source of pretty much every single conflict he's involved in.

But when it isn't his self satisfaction in his actions, it's being smug about being such a grand, magnificent Tender Engine and he is snooty as hell about it. He seems to look at smaller engines [pretty much everyone compared to him lol] as a lesser class, particularly if they're small and cheeky and Tank Engines. This may not be the case exactly, but his way of talking to them and some other things he says are very condescending.

However... as much as a gigantic jerk he is at several points, with Gordon I kinda feel like he plain ass doesn't conceive of his words being out of line. That and having to Unlearn things... he's not innately better than everyone else. He sees things in black and white. There are Useful Engines, and those who should be scrapped. There are Noble Tender Engines and Lesser Tank Engines who exist to do the tedious chores on behalf of the Superior ones. Edward doing shunting is seen as Demeaning and contradicts Gordon’s world view that Tender Engines Don't Stunt™, and he doesn't like that one bit! (Also Edward was crossing the picket line but that wasn't Awdry's concern lmao)

Related is Gordon does seem oddly dense at times, like assuming that Tenders are in of themselves a Status Symbol rather than a large lunchbox of sorts lol, or that Tender Engines like him being too heavy for Branch Lines being because something about Branch Lines are degrading. This might be all Elitist Brainwashing influence. But still, that he just takes these as The Truth means I get to affectionately call him an idiot. And there is no other way to explain how he genuinely believes Bill and Ben were going to murder him if he wasn't missing a few brain bolts in there.

Fortunately, he does eventually start to learn the important lessons.... very gradually, but the Early Gordon is a pretty different beast to Later Gordon, and it's wonderful~

Also, I gotta give credit to him for having some moments of utter brilliance and actual grasp of reality and more complex matters, like culture. (Yeah, I'm rolling with his geniune Opera Knowledge from s6 of all things. It's good!) As much as Awdry himself may have disagreed, Gordon was in the right to want a Station Pilot and the Strike was called for (not bullying Edward for it, but myeah) ...but this leads to my next point: He seems to have a mental block when it comes to Emotions.

Certainly, he's as emotional as the others are, it's not just a scale of Snooty, Arrogant, Condescending, Prideful ....well, it is, but ALSO the more mixed and varied feelings: Shame, Sadness, Fear, Ambivilance, Irritation, Anger, Passion, Amused, Delight and so on. However, Gordon is seemingly unaware of how his words may make the others feel, and even at his cruellest it doesn't look like he's aware he's twisting a knife in. To Gordon, he's being honest, but his verbose manner ends up twisting and wriggling away from any valid point like an overgrown vine that somehow links back to how [Other Engine] is disgracing him, Gordon, by association.

Examples include: Being offended by Henry's new shape (??? Gordon dude he nearly died and this is an improvement, a good thing!), saying that Edward's age and difficulty starting a heavy ass packed load of passengers is grounds to be Retired or even Scrapped, other little insulting things like calling the likes of Thomas and James Little insistently (it seems to vary if he's trying to put them down or actually be affectionate), and many more when in the hands of inept writers who have to wheel out the same Gordon Learns A Lesson Plot every other season.

Like I said in the James post, I also think he kinda poisoned the Red guy with his snooty attitude... but I maintain that I think Gordon was unaware of this. He may know he has Influence, and enjoy that, but he really truly doesn't appear to mean to mould James into a smaller, redder version of himself. He's oblivious and from his own point of view, benevolent. Which is in fact a dangerous combo indeed!

It's... a lot o7;;

Again though, if you're looking at the books and s1-s5 of TVS you can see him grow and change. He does take a while to learn the lessons, but as time goes on he moves 2 steps forward and 1 step back, then eventually less steps back entirely. It's great! And so is Gordon. A big dumb meathead with not entirely uncalled for delusions of granduer. A dramatic so-and-so who is the best engine for his job.

I love this sophisticated jock who grows more kindness~ 💙

Favourite moment

Hm! This isn't as easy to decide lol. We all like Gordon Goes Foreign... but you know what sticks in my mind more?

hOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH

Look, I’m not 100% objective, here! But Ringo’s read of this line is fantastic (and keeps making me expect him to finish saying OOOHH SHIT) and it’s also a well deserved bolt of divine retribution for how rude he was being earlier. (As long as my essay already was, he very much needed the knocking down of some pegs here!)

Idea for a story

While both my fics with him thus far have been variations of Pre-Canon, Full-Arrogance and Snobbish Gordon (and both were a lot of fun!) ...but I cannot bear the same expired horse being beaten more when the story is set waaay later but he’s still up his own ass. Please, PLEASE writers, let him hold what growth he’s managed to gain!

I think it’d be good to accept that he’s gonna be outdated sooner or later, so have him help train another High Speed Engine and take them under his wing. The Christopher Awdry books kinda have something similar with Pip and Emma, but I think a better way of having Gordon be involved would be if he was actively doing some mentoring himself, as well as being a neat parallel with Edward, whose type was once Express only but got outclassed by A1s, and so the same can happen to this big A1 -> A3 lad and he can form a healthy relationship with some bright eyed newbie (and maybe have some self awareness and try to stop their head getting too large, lol).

Unpopular opinion

I know I just said him mentoring would be a cool story idea, but in canon? He is NOT a resident Dad type!! He’s a hotshot young man but he’s also a hot mess. He’s physically large but he’s not got the Energy of someone who dispenses sage advice and a shoulder to cry on. At best, he’s a weird uncle! One who means well but you shouldn’t take his life advice to heart because he’s actually just as, if not more clueless than you!

Favourite relationship

I feel inclined to say Thomas here. Emphatically not because Gordon is ‘old’ and Thomas is ‘young’, but because they’re so damn alike and actually make an excellent, albeit unconventional type of Rivalry.

Both are self important with genuine finesse in their respective talents, both are honest to a fault, both have redeeming qualities to offset their initial abrasiveness, and the first TVS episode is centred on the both of them and sets the tone for the series as a whole. There’s more parallels, of course, but I also wanna point out they’re effectively the mascots of North Western Rail in universe too, and I absolutely love this picture:

I also have immense fondness for the Down the Mine paradigm shift! Thomas gives Gordon grief over the ditch incident and later when it emerges the Fat Controller is gonna send for Gordon to pull him out, Thomas is filled with dread. But Gordon isn’t using the chance to lord over Thomas, he’s actually so amused by Thomas’ mishap and it coming at a time where he’s been significantly humbled, they instead become Comrades and I love it. I eat it up! Paint Pots and Queens isn’t anywhere near as good but I adore the little bit where they’re appealing for the other, equals and watching each other’s back~

But yeah, as Friendly Rivals they both feel very authentic and yet, in a daft way, sweet ;3

Favourite headcanon

He still says “Hurry, hurry, hurry!” when pulling the Express. That’s a HC as I think the show phased it out, but I like it lol. I feel like my essay on him contains most of the headcanon stuff, but it’s all based on what’s shown, baybee!

[coconutseaways]

July 16-2017 - I love my job!

July 16-2017 Hey guys! We are obviously still having a great time here in the Azores and our Airbnb's have just been amazing. July 10, we came back to Horta to prepare for the Belgian family that was coming aboard. We set anchor and I let them know we were here and ready for them tomorrow morning. They invited us to the beach but we were tired from sailing and had just arrived so we politely declined and told them we would see them tomorrow. A little bit later in the evening I got a message from them saying they could see the boat in the harbour and were excited for the next day. Early in the morning on July 11, we went and tied up to the concrete pier in front of the port authority. This is where you can get gas and water. We filled up our water tank and put some gas in, in case the wind dies and we have to motor. While we were tied up an English couple came and tied up beside us. We started chatting, and they were getting ready to sail home to England after a 2 year voyage. Lionel was the guy's name but I didn't catch the girls name. They had a border collie named Buddy who loved eating fish. Mike caught one while we were tied up and fed it to Buddy who gobbled it right up haha. They were in the Caribbean for a while and now here in the Azores. They had planned on leaving a week earlier but had some rigging damage that needed repairs first. It worked out in our favour because while talking with them, we told them our plan of sailing down to the Caribbean and they gave us two great sailing guide books of the islands down there. Best places to anchor, restaurants, beaches and all kinds of insider knowledge to help us. They had gotten the books from another guy down there so they were passing it on. It was very nice of them and it just shows how friendly most sailors are. Everyone is always willing to lend a hand or a book. So now we are totally set for when we head down to the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. I already learned something new from one of the books and that is that hot lime juice dissolves sea urchin spikes. Sea urchins are everywhere and if you get poked it will hurt like a mother. Once we were loaded with fresh water and fuel, our guests arrived. They only brought 2 suitcases and 2 backpacks which was awesome for us! They left a couple bags at their other Airbnb because they knew of the lack of storage space. Kris, Ingrid, Lobke and Flo make up the Mast family. The three girls and I went for a walk to the grocery store while Kris and Mike stayed on the boat. We bought ingredients to make kebabs on the BBQ for supper that night but forgot the skewers haha. So we ended cooking up the veggies and meat separately. It tasted delicious either way and besides, you take all the food off the skewer to eat it anyways. Kris and Ingrid spoke English very well, Lobke could understand most of what we were saying but wasn't sure of speaking it and Flo needed most of the conversation translated back to Dutch. It worked out well though and Mike had the girls laughing with his Mr. Bean impressions which don't require translation lol. It was great though because Mike can speak Afrikaans which is a mix of Dutch, German, French and Hottentot. He was able to recognize a lot of words they were saying and also speak to them and they were able to understand. It was a fun time learning new words and doing translations. We set off and with the wind coming from the North, we headed south to start our way around Pico. We sailed for about 3 hours and unfortunately the girls were feeling a little green. So we stopped in Sao Caetano, a little niche about half way to Lajes Do Pico where the marina is. Mike dropped anchor and we got in the water and did some snorkelling. The water was so clear here and we had literally thousands of fish under us. Check out Instagram for some awesome pics. I got in with my go pro and I was in the middle of the school. It was amazing. After about an hour we continued on to Lajes. We arrived in the early evening and tied up to a dock for the night. We had our stickless kebabs and then went for ice cream. They had Bounty ice cream which was divine! The others got crepes or waffles but I was so content with just my coconut and chocolate ice cream. Lajes is a lovely protected lagoon so we knew there would be no wave action coming in as we didn't want the girls to feel ill since they were now feeling better. The boat was very still until we laid down to go to sleep. Then the tide came in and because the full moon had just passed, the tide had a little more energy in it then usual. The dock made a terrible knocking and screeching sound as it lifted with the water and unfortunately all of us didn't have a great sleep. But everyone was still in good spirits the next day. Before we left we found a Moray eel hanging out in the rock wall beside the boat. I got a nice clip of him coming out of his hole. Our guests booked one night with us on 11th and then another night on the 14th. In between they had an Airbnb on Pico. So we parted way with them for the day, we kept their luggage because they were going to scooter from Lajes to the eastern tip of Pico where their Airbnb was. Mike and I sailed to the tip and met up with them again to give them their luggage. Then we continued around the island. We had planned to meet them in Sao Roque on the northern side, since sailing all the way from the top back to Horta would most likely be too far for the girls and might make them dislike sailing, which is the opposite of what we want. It was getting later and we were feeling tired, the wind was not cooperating so we decided to beam reach over to Calheta on Sao Jorge island which was only 7 miles away, instead of Sao Roque do Pico which was 11 miles away. We got there in the early evening and set anchor in the small harbour. We walked around a little and saw they were setting up for a party for the next day. Luckily, we were a day early and we could get a good rest because the stage was right by the boat and the way these Portuguese party, they go until 4 or 5 in the morning haha. It was another rocking boat night but we managed to get some zzz's. We did some fishing and I saw the brightest red starfish so far. Mike also found a huge sea snail and a small octopus. I held the octopus and it is the coolest feeling. Little suction cups all over. Very very cool. The next day we sailed over to Sao Roque, which is where we were meeting the Mast family. We got there with a day to spare so we could do a little tidying up and also get groceries and a little fuel. While we were in Sao Roque, a large navy ship came in - a frigate. It was cool to see. We went for a pizza at the cafe which was delicious, but they don't put pizza sauce on it so it's not quite like home but still very yummy. I will make pizza sauce and dough and we will make our own pizza. Our guests came to the harbour around 11 AM and we did some more snorkelling and walking around the rocks. Kris LOVED being on the boat. You could tell he was just in pure heaven. We did lots of fishing and I think everyone had a really great time. We hung around Sao Roque until about 3 PM and then we set sail for Madalena. It was a nice short 2 hour sail there which I think Flo was happy about. We got into harbour, dropped anchor and headed to the grocery store for meat, beer and wine. Mike made his famous spaghetti bolognese for us and I prepped a salad and some delicious garlic bread. After, we went for ice cream again and by the time we were done and back on the boat we were all ready for bed. That night we all slept very well, and I was out like a light. The harbour was very calm and I was clearly very tired. The next morning, Kris was making the most out of his last day and out fishing early in the morning. He took a line and went out with a snorkel. He came back with a good size fish and we netted it to bring on board. We left Madalena around 12 and got to Horta at 1. I checked us in and we got them ready to depart. Their flight was at 530 but they had to get a cab to take them to their first Airbnb so they could get their other bags, and then get to the airport a couple hours in advance. We had a nice large beer together and said our goodbyes. Lots of hugs and handshakes between new friends as we said farewell. It is always sad when our guests leave because we have made new friends and it's like a piece of us is leaving. Kris and his family had an amazing time and I could tell by the look in his eye that he truly had the time of his life. Kris said "I truly hope we get to meet again" and I'm sure we will in the future. It is such a nice feeling to know that we are able to give people such an amazing experience that they will never forget. After they left I felt a little buzzed from the beer, so we walked around town for a bit. We came back to the boat after a couple hours and Mike and I fell asleep so fast. We were spent. We woke up around 10 and had some left over spaghetti and then we went back to sleep. Oh man were we tired. This morning, July 16, Mike rowed the dinghy to the concrete pier where the container ships and big fishing ships go. They have blocked this pier off from pedestrians but that is where Mike painted his original painting when he was here in '84. He tried to spot his old painting but sadly, the wall has been wrecked from pipes being added in and he couldn't see it. It is really too bad that they allowed the wall to be ruined because it is a magnificent piece of history, of the boats that came here and left a mark for all to see. We will put our own new painting on one of the other walls closer to the harbour before we leave. Now we have 10 days before our next guests, so Mike and I have decided to head to Graciosa Island which is north of Sao Jorge. Another island for the list. We will head out tomorrow or the next day and spend a few days there before coming back to Horta for another Airbnb. We are doing great, we are making it work and I love my job. I miss you guys! I miss home, the family and friends. But man, this is the dream and I don't want to wake up! Keep following us on Instagram #coconut_seaways and Facebook Page: Coconut Seaways for pics, videos and updates. Share our page with your friends and our Airbnb page with anyone you know with a travel itch. I promise we will give an experience that they will never forget! Lots of love from the Azores!!

[adiamondsrae]

✨🎆🌌Welcome to Divine Timing...Videos that can only be explained by #DivineTiming : perfect timing of the unknown paths and future events also could be labeled as “CLOSE CALLS” (Video) : Listen ☝🏽…I LOVE SHARKS✨ 🦈 😍🖤✨ I can’t state that clear enough… buuut this is nightmare fuel…like put me in the Shark Tank every day all day ANY DAY…but that is a controlled ENVIRONMENT!!! DA FUCK…I LOOK LIKE SOMEBODAYYYS FISH FOOD in a ITTY BITTY ASS CANOE 🛶 …(sucks teeth Trini Style 🇹🇹 ) before married life I’d settle being Suicide Squad’s King 👑 Shark 🦈 fish food ANY DAY lol 😝🤣sheeeit …but thiiis is a BIT much…this gets the heart PUMPIN…cardiac arrest style lol 😂 ✨💯✨ #BlackGirlsLoveHorrorToo #BGLHT #Melanin #BlackGirlMagic #Cosplay #Horror #Art #Halloween #HalloweenIsYearRound #HorrorMovies #Scary #Creepy #Dark #HorrorFan #Movie #Gore #Goth #HorrorMovie #Blood #Film #HorrorArt #Movies #Makeup #Terror #HorrorFilm #Spooky #SpookySeason https://www.instagram.com/p/CQOM1h_lDz7/?utm_medium=tumblr