#for hypothetical hygiene reasons

[windvexer]

Hello!

I've seen you talk a few times about the dangers of over-warding, which I can certainly see the sense in; at the same time, wards can also certainly be useful things. I'd like to ask you: in your opinion, what is the most sensible amount of wards to have? Does it make sense to ward (oneself, one's home, whatever) at all if you don't have a reason to expect attacks or infringements?

Good morning!

We're at least in reference to this post.

The silly answer is, but I promise to explain it so that it's useful, the most sensible amount of wards to have is however many cover your needs.

I think the topic of warding is often framed in relation to attacks and retaliation, which it certainly relates to. But I think that also gives it a bit of a crusty patina, if you will: "I don't have main character syndrome; I'm not one of those witches who's so paranoid that everyone is going to attack them, and I don't mess around with spirits, so warding isn't for people like me."

Which is all well and good, but the idea of warding in and of itself is that it's just a barrier that stops things from coming through.

Wards can hypothetically block out anything: malifica and spirits, sure, but also unwanted guests, solicitors, debts, poverty, stress, illness, spam phone calls, and spiders.

"Attacks" may not be common, but tangles of unhelpful energy, the Evil Eye, and blustery storms of ill-effect aren't all that rare. Just because someone didn't aim at you and pull the trigger doesn't mean that your life will remain void of deleterious energies.

Spirits living their lives will infringe on you, not because you're the main character or because they're malicious, but because the two of you live in the same reality and sometimes your lives intersect in unwanted ways.

And you can accidentally infringe, and then spirits can be offended and decided to make it your problem.

So in a certain sense, not having wards because you don't expect attacks or infringements is like not having house rules because you don't expect your room mates to ever do anything upsetting:

On the one hand, it's perfectly fine to wait until something is happening before you deal with it.

On the other hand, some people prefer to say, "welcome to the house! Please don't invite your friends to stay the night without checking with us first."

Another confounding factor is whether or not you tend to draw spirits to you, as some people do; and whether or not you live in an area with very high spiritual activity. If you live in a paranormal activity desert, baseline wards might not be useful at all, whereas someone who has sensitive psychic perception and lives in an old converted mortuary might need lots of baseline protection just to feel comfortable.

But perhaps the most important deciding factor is whether or not you want to deal with it.

Early on in my education I heard a witch of great experience say, "the more experienced you get, the less wards you need. You get to a point where you can just deal with things as they arise instead of needing to stay walled in all the time."

Which is technically true. However they may manifest on the astral plane, the functional effect of a ward is like a bug screen: it's likely to stop or mitigate whatever it's meant to hold out.

The real question then becomes, what things would you prefer to never deal with, and what things are you comfortable dealing with as they arise?

Wards should be for that - the things that you would just like to not ever have to deal with, even if you don't particularly expect them to darken your doorstep.

Wards can be useful because they are proactive and preventative. A ward to stop bad energies and stress from your workplace following you home can help reduce the need for more regular spiritual hygiene. A ward against uninvited spirits can help stop you from getting distracted from the magical work you actually want to be doing.

So a ward is like a wall. Does it make sense to build a wall around your farm, even if you never expect a raid from the neighbors?

I don't expect raids from my neighbors. I still build walls.

[mx-heinous]

I know Alastor is aroace, but hypothetically, kissing him would be absolutely disgusting. Like, if I remember correctly, the reason he has black gums and yellow teeth is because of his poor dental hygiene. Also, he eats meat raw. His breath would smell worse than a sewage canal.

[ntrider]

Listen I’m not saying it’s freaky kink shit they just rub me the wrong way especially with how dirty they prob get like I’m down to use my hands on someone else but not have someone else’s hands used like that on me or do literally anything with my feet or armpits like it’s a turn-off for some weird reason

see this is more nuanced now. you're ok with your hands but not anyone else's. is it because the people in your life generally don't have the hygiene you expect from yourself or is the hypothetical scenario a constant hell? and then you're saying you don't want anything done to your feet and armpits, but I never said in my post whose feet and armpits they were. what about other people's bodies? if there's someone you really like don't you like their armpits regardless of the fact that you think they're kinda awful in your own context? aren't you a little interested? how interested are you in the stuff that's not any of these three examples? if you see someone's stomach how long do you stare at it without saying anything? this is what I'm talking about

[thousand-winters]

Okay so we’ve all seen that post of Alador and Darius as women.

So imagine- Hunter and Darius (Brielle and Daria??) as THE mother/daughter duo ever actually.

Daria teaching her about proper period care, feminine hygiene after being neglected her entire life, and also just other cute mother/daughter things??

(Brielle literally means female Hunter btw!! I know a lot of people hc Huntress but I think it’s cute)

Oh, Brielle is such a cute name! I think, even going by Huntress so Belos can have his awful little pun, it could be a name she chooses for herself later on, so it works either way!

We were talking about this recently in the Dadrius server, actually. I feel like especially because Belos made such an emphasis on how Hunter had to fulfill his duties and be a good soldier and everything, none of that would really change if he were a woman, so hypothetically, she wouldn't know much about self-care because there's just no time for that.

I imagine Belos would still be as weird as he is about the whole Caleb thing no matter what, so Brielle would probably still have the same short hair in the exact same haircut because it's easier to ignore since she doesn't really have time to take proper care of it and for some reason it makes her uncle happy. No reason why she should question something that works for her benefit, right?

So later on, when she's already living with Daria (mmm, I feel like switching this one up would be fun too but I'm bad with names, so let's stick with that), it would be a whole trip to figure all of that out. Belos certainly didn't care about learning anything she could need to know and even if he had, he was NOT gonna sit down and explain, say, periods to her, because that would require a level of care he simply did not have.

It's not that bad when she already has to learn a lot about... the world in general, practically, boundaries, self-care, how neglecting your needs is NOT something you should be expected to do and it is, in fact, abusive (not like anything else Belos did wasn't already...), and it's... a lot, but there are things that would make Brielle feel calmer about than others, because learning something every other teenage girl around her age has to learn feels better than learning things like "hey, so actually you shouldn't have had to live in constant stress of failing and getting kicked out or killed by your guardian".

I brought up the hair earlier because I think she would want to try growing it out at first even if she chose to cut it later on, and I can imagine Daria and her having some nice mother-daughter bonding moments with Darius teaching her how to take care of her hair or brushing/braiding it for her. She always has to account for her kid half falling asleep every time she does that because she finds it so relaxing but that's fine, there's always a next time to teach her... and to spend time together, of course.

[femmefatalevibe]

hi. currently my boyfriend and i planned the decision to move in together. though we honestly have no idea where to begin. the only thing we rlly know at the moment is the fact we want a one bedroom one bathroom. neither one of us have vehicles and are both paying bills/rent at our parents. any advice on how we can even begin this step? i always appreciate your advice that your share on here!!

Hi love! Thanks so much for your kind words and support. Sharing a huge disclaimer here that I've never lived with a romantic partner, so all of these suggestions are based on old roommate experiences and a hypothetical context (I personally would never live with a man I'm seeing, but that's personal preference). Here are some tips/things I would consider:

Discuss and determine why you're choosing to live together and want expectations that sets up in the relationship. Is this mainly a decision you made to give you both more autonomy from your parents/for financial reasons or another life convenience? Are you moving in together with the expectation of engagement/marriage/kids in the future? It's important to be on the same page for why you're choosing to move in together. There's only one wrong answer – it's not right for you as individuals or as a couple

Discuss how you will split costs/finances and division of labor (cooking, cleaning, chores, errands, etc.) ahead of time. Know who is paying for what, and which chores each of you can reasonably commit to doing (if one person hates cleaning/laundry less and the other person doesn't mind cooking and grocery shopping, for example). Considering you don't have any plans set in stone, create a budget for what you can realistically afford rent-wise (with some padding in case, honestly) and the financial situation you would need to maintain both your desired standards of living

State your hygiene dealbreakers upfront, especially regarding the shared bathroom and inside/outdoor allowances (e.g. no shoes inside/outside clothes on the bed, etc.)

Know and respect each other's work and sleep schedules

Prioritize still dating each other – having date nights (whether that's going out together for dinner or a movie or a special night in with a dimly-light homecooked meal and your favorite TV show)

Don't allow your sex life to become an obligation or a routine – have "sleepover" nights scheduled to create anticipation and introduce the fun of a new flame into the dynamic of your long-term if desired

Retain your own hobbies, self-care activities, and social life – still ensure that go to that workout class, watch that TV show only you love alone, get your nails done, go out to dinner with your friends, etc. without your partner. You now spend most of your time together, so make sure not to lose yourself/isolate yourself in your relationship

Be upfront about your social expectations with the other person – are you the type to always want people over/go out with friends or are you more introverted? What about your partner? How about family visitation/expectations for holidays, birthdays, etc.? Make sure you're on the same page or can find a compromising arrangement that doesn't feel like a self-sacrifice

Hope this helps xx

[thosearentcrimes]

Absurd hypotheticals are fundamentally unreasonable by definition. Most reasoning tools implicitly rely on there being a way for the thing they are analyzing to be real in order to work properly (otherwise garbage in, garbage out). Now, nobody's stopping you from running through the motions anyway for entertainment, but I think that it can be unhealthy if you're not careful.

I think the cardinal issue with Rationalism as a movement was probably that everyone involved was pretty obviously performing reasoning for entertainment and frequently deluding themselves about it. Sanity checks are buzzkills, so let's just not do them, and so on, for all the talk about epistemic hygiene they really didn't seem to be doing much for it. Very short path from there to people assigning arbitrary numeric values to their vibes and treating them like they're objective truth, since it's all made up anyway. Again, probably fine as entertainment if you understand that's what you're doing, less fine when you're, say, deciding how to spend billions of dollars.

That said, I don't want to suggest there is no intellectual point to implausible hypothetical propositions. The proposition is accepted on principle, and as already established, the proposition is incompatible with our understanding of the world. It follows that to seriously consider an implausible hypothetical is to deliberately put yourself in a situation that would cause cognitive dissonance.

That's useful! We get to experience cognitive dissonance (if it's real) in a controlled environment and see what it does. Helps you identify disordered thinking in the future and so on. Maybe prepares you for when reality inflicts cognitive dissonance on you. Another possible use is to identify what points your rationalization will pivot around, what premises you reconstruct reality around in a crisis.

Just don't treat the stuff you get out of these hypotheticals as information about the world. It might be information about your own mind, if you can make sense of it, but you have to be careful not to overinterpret it. For example, your intuitive responses to an absurd situation probably aren't particularly indicative of your intuitive morality or reasoning, because intuition is an even more practical approach than reasoning and so the garbage in garbage out rule is even stronger.

[autumnalwalker]

Hi sage

I'm finally sending out blorbsday asks again (I think). Please assign your blorbos to the setting of a book you like and explain briefly (or longly) how they'd fare.

Greetings. This is an interesting one. Goes fairly well with the Empty Names cast since that setting has some degree of world-hopping as canon already.

For the setting to have them visit, let's go with Curtis Cradock's "The Risen Kingdoms" trilogy. Read that last year and rather enjoyed it. For context, the gist of that setting is that it's essentially late middle ages/early Renaissance Europe, but the world is a bunch of floating islands over a seemingly-bottomless sea of clouds traversed by airships and the various magic powers are (mostly) linked to bloodlines and used by the nobility to justify their divine right to rule.

Let's say that this crossover happens after the main events of "The Risen Kingdoms" trilogy, partly because there's some stuff that happens at the end of the third book that would provide a convenient excuse for the Empty Names cast to end up there on accident and in need of looking for a way back off-world. For extra fun times, I'm going to assume that they all start off separated.

Lacuna:

How well she'll fare will really depend on whether this hypothetical crossover happens at the point in time Empty Names is currently at, or some number of chapters down the line after she's finally cracked the secret of doing transmutation magic on herself and has kitted herself with a bunch of custom enchanted items to simulate being a mage.

In the former case, she is going to be, as the old meme goes, straight up not having a good time. It's a 50/50 shot whether or not she would have a translation charm on her at the time of accidental world hop so she might not be able to speak the language of anyone there, she's not going to have access to her HRT medication, the world's got some serious patriarchal misogyny problems going on (although by the end of the trilogy there's starting to be some social change going on to make that better), with those last two points combined she would probably have to seriously consider the prospect of temporarily going back in the closet for safety reasons, would be basically helpless in any sort of physical or magical confrontation, and would probably not deal well with lack of modern technology/amenities/conveniences/hygiene. Depending on where she lands, non-zero chance of winding up either begging on the streets or dead within a week, especially if she doesn't have any ability to speak the local languages.

In the latter case, there'd be some initial panic as she tries to get her bearings and form a plan on how to find the others, and then she'd be having the time of her life being the world's biggest tourist getting super excited by all the local magic and science. Also, by that point she'd be living the trans anime catgirl meme dream and be getting mistaken for one of the nobles that shapeshift into animals, so that helps give her a bit of a leg up on social matters. She might also be able to pass off her various enchanted trinkets as being some of the ancient maybe-magic-maybe-sci-fi artifacts native to that world, up until the church hears about some random person flaunting a small hoard of ancient holy relics.

Ashan:

So, in the setting, instances of magic that isn't directly tied to one of the various noble bloodlines and does its own unique thing do exist, but any time someone manifests it, they are declared to be an abomination by the church, hunted down, and executed. Not a good place to be a wizard operating on an entirely alien magic system. High chance of very quickly winding up on the run from the church, but also decent odds of being able to stay one step ahead for an extended period of time. Might end up finding Lacuna that way once they both manage to become theologically problematic.

Eris:

She doesn't generally keep a translation charm on her person on principle, so that's a problem, but unlike Lacuna she's pretty good a fending for herself and good at quickly learning languages. Could also make for good comedic value if the setting's local fantasy-Spain-with-a-different-name winds up speaking a language that is moderately comprehensible to someone fluent in Earth Spanish. Would result in a lot of "I'm not complaining, but seriously, why is this place just Spain, and why is that other place just France?" on her part. Also, unlike Lacuna, being a towering wall of muscle with superhuman strength and durability as well as an uncanny resistance to magic makes people a lot less likely to mess with her. Would probably find herself a job as a dockworker or something while she slowly picks up the local language and looks for the others, eventually working her way onto an airship crew to expand her search area.

That is, of course, assuming she doesn't first make a scene of beating up a noble for harassing a hapless peasant, in which case absolutely everyone involved is in for an extremely bad time when they try arresting the angry lady who can walk off bullet wounds and grit her teeth and keep punching through soul-flaying bloodshadow sorcery. On the up side, there's a decent chance of this kind of display catching the attention of the protagonist of the book trilogy whose world the party is visiting. And also of catching Sullivan's attention.

Sullivan:

He'd take one look at all the court intrigue and cloak-and-dagger politics, decide it reminds him an annoying amount of the world he was born on, proceed to quickly insinuate himself into high society and become an absolute menace. Of course, his number one priority would be using his newly forged high society and criminal underworld connections to track down Road. His number two priority would be messing with everyone for the proverbial shits and giggles while all the inevitable assassination attempts fail on account of him being very near immortal. Priority number three is finding the others.

Road:

Would set out to find the others, but then immediately get distracted by some random person in need. They'd help that person out, continue their search, and then get distracted again. The cycle repeats until they tick off some noble or another and get the attention of Sullivan and/or the series's protagonist. In particular, reports of the soul-draining bloodshadows not being able to affect them (due to weird ontological issues that Road has going on) would be especially likely to get said protagonist's attention due to her best friend being similarly unaffected (although for fairly different reasons).

[menalez]

I’m genuinely wondering and mean nothing bad by this, but I got curious about that ask you answered about lesbians having sex with guys. Because there’s straight women who experiment with women or even choose to be with women exclusively for a variety of reasons, and that makes me think, is it really possible to willingly be with someone you can’t be sexually attracted to beyond idk, mere experimentation (and if so, what makes it more common in say, straight women in comparison to lesbians)? Or are there simply a lot more unaware/in-denial bi people than we think?

Also do you think there actually are lesbians who have willing sex with men even when being fully aware/accepting that they are lesbians? Idk but in my opinion, it seems kinda far fetched, first of all because why would you wanna sleep with men when you’re into women? Like I’d assume being lesbian would mean you don’t have that rose-tinted romantic perception of men (as much ig) that makes a lot of straight women see past men’s unattractiveness, manipulativeness, bad attitude/hygiene etc. But also because discovering you’re lesbian/gay is for many people a harrowing experience. Wouldn’t having sex with the opposite sex be pretty unpleasant then, if it can bring out all these negative thoughts and feelings one may associate with the topic of same-sex vs. (?) opposite-sex attraction? And there’s also the possibility of internalized misogyny pushing towards relationships/sex with men in favor of women. Also would you even get properly turned on if there’s no sexual attraction present? I mean, it’s probably possible to feel pleasure from the sexual acts themselves, but wouldn’t it be harder to get off than with another woman still? If so, where’s the point, then?

Like if we’re being hypothetical, there’s probably lesbians out there who are fully aware and completely sure of themselves being lesbians and have no internalized homophobia/lesbophobia/misogyny whatsoever, but simply sleep with men because they find the sex pleasurable, or because they have no preference (if that’s the fitting word? Or requirement? Idk) in sexual partners when they’re horny, despite their same-sex attraction.

But like, this is just some hypothetical woman. The possibility of there being a lesbian out there who fits that very improbable description does not in any way take away from the correct assumption/general definition that lesbians=don’t sleep with men.

Also sorry for my clumsy writing

there’s probably lesbians out there who are fully aware and completely sure of themselves being lesbians and have no internalized homophobia/lesbophobia/misogyny whatsoever, but simply sleep with men because they find the sex pleasurable, or because they have no preference (if that’s the fitting word? Or requirement? Idk) in sexual partners when they’re horny, despite their same-sex attraction.

HUH??? theres even straight women out there who arent finding sex with men pleasurable, why would a lesbian want to be with a man sexually to begin with? why would any lesbian have "no preference in sexual partners when they're horny" like ur basically saying lesbian boundaries fall apart once we're horny and that just.. doesnt make sense.... if u get horny for men and enjoy sex with men then thats a very blatant sign ur not a lesbian. when im horny i dont suddenly want to have sex with men bc men as a whole are entirely sexually undesirable to me. its not even a neutral act bc its directly me going against my desires & sexuality to do sth like that.

Also do you think there actually are lesbians who have willing sex with men even when being fully aware/accepting that they are lesbians?

i think some lesbians feel like they have to "try" it to prove they're not interested in men since we are all pressured to be "open-minded" by trying being with a man before "insisting" that we're lesbians. but i dont think theres lesbians who regularly are just having casual sex with men knowing full well that theyre lesbians, no. that just doesnt seem rational to me whatsoever.

[stillinthatweirdfaze]

it’s so funny when like trash cans in bathroom stalls call tampons n pads like ~sanitary towels~ or ~feminine hygiene products~ like,,,,,,,,they have,,,,,,a name,,,for a reason. Hypothetically the person reading this sign is a user of said product. who are you shielding here? Like who are you trying not to embarrass? It’s just hilarious when people unnecessarily treat menstral stuff like it’s a fuckin curse word.

[nyeogmi]

more verbose post on my negative experience with ADHDOnline

when taking the ADHDOnline screening, I listed my diagnoses (anxiety, autism, “probably CPTSD”) and explained my trauma in some detail (extensively bullied in middle school, abandoned by my dad, abused by my mom) i also mentioned that i have sleep interruptions but my sleep hygiene is good now, and that i used to overuse caffeine but do not do so now.

i got a form letter that implied i am not assertive, i have low-self esteem, that i should be screened for anxiety, and that i should try meditating. 

I HAVE ALREADY BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH ANXIETY BY THE PERSON WHO REFERRED ME TO YOU.

they concluded i show many of the symptoms of ADHD but do not have it because they could be explained by stress, bad sleep hygiene, caffeine overuse, or my negative self-image. in conclusion, i should not be diagnosed with anything and there’s no underlying problem.

now the thing is, i mention i’ve been in counseling -- i mention that i used to have these problems but mostly do not have them now. that is because of the counseling and because of decisions i’ve made to improve my own mental health. i have worked very hard to get to the state i am in now!

i feel like i would not be one tenth as annoyed at ADHDOnline if they said "well, sorry, we can't diagnose adhd based on a multiple-choice self-report screening when we think there are other factors that could be at play," which is a fairly sensible response.

instead i feel like they're assuming a bunch of negative stuff about me based on fairly personal details i shared because i had faith that like they would somehow use that info to help me

and instead i've just been judged by an anonymous asshole who believes there’s no way my mental health has improved through middle school, despite the fact that i’ve told him i’m following the standard advice for the list of problems he thinks i have -- implying that either he literally did not read my intake form (instead scanning it for keywords) or that he knows the advice he has given has already failed, meaning he has no reason to believe it would work

like, what if, hypothetically, all the things they had assumed about me were actually true and (like i claimed) i had tried them and (like they had assumed) they did not help? in what world would i not be just completely despondent that what i’m being told to do is the exact same thing i’ve tried. this is explicitly the world they should have predicted they would be in, given the assumptions they were apparently making and the information they had

(it’s fucking infuriating to me that so much of the mental health profession assumes that whatever diagnoses you’ve ever been given in the past are diagnoses you will have forever and be in constant maintenance mode on, to the point that the idea that someone has been successfully treated for anything is not even considered. like i’m not a stupid fucking baby who needs to be coddled for my entire life and kept in a dark soundproof room -- i have enough agency to fucking do something about my own problems and have done so)

i will be fine -- i’m feeling less personally injured (although i’m feeling fairly personally injured, because i absolutely just told an intake form a large number of my insecurities and then the computer on the other side of it decided to twist that like a knife) and more morally outraged (because if the same thing that happened to me happened to someone whose treatment had been less successful, they’d be fucking crushed)

but JESUS CHRIST.

[gameclam3]

have i been running with the wrong definition of pride this whole time? because to me, pride is a fairly intense and quite specific emotion. it's like, you feel proud when something good happens and you had a significant role in making it happen. either you did it directly, or you closely supported the person who did do it. and when people say they're proud of each other for things they had no hand in, i get almost mad at them for it? if I were to do something positive, say... I start showering daily, where previously I had been neglecting my hygiene. and then a total stranger says "I'm proud of you." I don't think of this as a good thing, a sign of support, it feels like they're pretending to have helped, you know? what do you have to be proud of here. But it feels like people say they're proud of each other, and they mean something else? Do people just say they're proud when really they're relieved, or thankful, or happy for you? because those 3 all seem like reasonable reactions for a stranger to have in this hypothetical, but pride is a very personal feeling to have.

[estoysugoi]

Since this account is “dead” im vomiting some spicy brain stuff here (deleting later):

I feel fucking boarderline fucking devastated i havent seen my friends in WEEKS, im afraid to reach out bc i feel like i did smth wrong or im not being a good friend but if i ask if that’s the case i risk making things awkward and/or upsetting them somehow and i dont want that and my brain is being spicy with bad thoughts and im constantly digging my finger into myself for not meeting my expectations as an artist AND a full grown ass adult there’s so many things i need but i feel overwhelmed about what to do and asking people i know for help feels like im burdening them and taking valuable time out of their busy schedules and they may not even be able to help me in the first place, which is one of the reasons why i barely ask my dad for help since he’s always busy and the rest of my immediate family either have their plates full or can’t actually help me for whatever reasonable reason so i need to learn how to do things myself i just dont know where to start or what resources to refer to. We live in an age where information is act ur fingertips and I STILL cant push myself to look for a simple tutorial i dont know whats wrong with me my brain is fucked up and im worried that i have some kind of executive dysfunction i dont know how to go about it outside of just setting good habits, like how we develop hygienic rituals everyday, i just need to put in the effort to build some kind of well planned schedule or something maybe then i can get a fucking grip at improving my life let alone my skills as an artist i keep taking so fucking long to do what feels like mediocre work and i want to improve so bad but for some reason i do all this thinking and imagining and planning ideas out but my body can never move something’s wrong with me and i dont know what to do i sometimes get scared if im not bottleing up anger towards myself as i just sit there and vegetate im just so tired of being tired and not doing anything worthwhile with my life i just want to be better i want to feel better and i just need to do better i dont know i just dont know how else to go about it aside from vomiting words like this there needs to be some kind of outlet for all this noise its almost like gossip through old walls with peeling wallpaper and i hate it i hate that i keep imagining the worst situations like im trying to prepare to feel ready and making plans for what i could do in hypothetical stressful situations. I think that’s just a by-product mechanism i developed after losing my mom suddenly, i kept thinking that she would be ok and come back from the hospital but things just got worse and more machines and tubes and wires filled her hospital bed until she couldnt take it anymore one day. There have been days where i could even feel what she experienced while being trapped like that its terrifying and im scared to think about it even if it comes from a habit of trying to understand others by placing myself in their feet and dont get me started what i imagined what my dad went through and my brother and my mom’s sisters and brothers and her mother i dont know how things didnt get worse than they did. Ok maybe things still turned sour but i guess thinking it could’ve been worse is just me excusing the circumstances that a part of me feel did me wrong like some kind of injustice i didnt deserve to go through all that and neither did my family. But i think whats worse was the divide that formed im part to blame for that but i dont know how to connect with people that are like 40 years older than me i dont know their past that well and they dont want to burden me with their pasts so im just left to pick up hints and pieces. But how can i find the help i need when im still overcome with an old desire im trying to let die finding a romantic happily ever after was never in the cards for me to begin with im not conventionally attractive enough for my type to be attracted to me nor am i in a good place to be dating or risking my heart to get broken again i just dont think i can bear that pain of loss in another form i fear it woul break me so now im-

[official-staylor88]

EVENT #2: EIC Bulldog Pitch Competition

On May 2, 2024, I had the opportunity to attend the EIC’s Bulldog Pitch Competition. Seeing the competition was a great experience and inspired me for next year’s competition. I RSVP’d the day before and, with the company of my best friend, headed to JEP for the competition the following day. First and foremost, every presentation was amazing. I loved the individuality of every pitch, especially with the commercials and commercials. The effort and attention to detail were noticed. My favorite presentation was that of sophomore Justice Morant, with her app Empower Her, an app to help Black girls aged 8 to 20 with hygiene, menstruation, and puberty overall. The app connects users with OBGYNs, resources for both them and parents, games, and more. Her presentation stuck out to me for multiple reasons. Firstly, she was SERIOUS about her brand, and how she presented that showed that passion. She even made a t-shirt to advertise the app, like that’s true commitment. Furthermore, her slideshow stuck out. She created a prototype app display to show judges and the audience how EmpowerHer would come to fruition. There was a lot of dedication and time put into her pitch and it showed. 

Every presentation used graphic design, and graphics in general, in various ways. Some presentations had unique logos, the EmpowerHer presentation and the Vegan Pub presentation (from Calvin-Caleb Amiolemen) had their hypothetical app layouts, the KTV presentation used the presenter, Keonna Thomas’ past digital imaging and artwork to show off her credibility for her media recording and production business. Everyone’s personalities showed off in their presentations, especially with how they related to the audience through jokes, the standout points they highlighted in their pitches to the color choices they used to advertise their product. That’s why I felt so connected to the presenters and why this event inspired me. I like to show my personality in the work I create, and that was especially present in the collage assignment done in Intro to Computer Graphics. Color choice, font choice, and image choice are all very important, and how they blend can affect how someone interprets your message and interprets you. Overall, the event was great. It inspired me to start working on an idea for the next Bulldog Pitch Competition, and hopefully, I can create some as amazing as my fellow Bulldogs did this year.

[batteredwarriorstillstanding]

Well...truth be told...since snapping my left humerus in two, and severely breaking my right forearm/wrist last year (exactly 1 year ago to the day) I have had difficulty reaching certain parts of my back and lower legs with a washcloth. These are the only areas of my body I have any difficulty cleaning, so i have reasoned that overall hygiene likely wasn't noticeably affected...but, I had little choice but to "reason" this. Lol.....I would absolutely take you up on any offer of assistance while either, preferably both, of us are completely naked.....as for cleaning one another in the shower being preferable to sex, from your vantage point, don't take offense to this, but......I don't fuckin' believe you. Lol...I mean, I don't know how else to put it. I think you are lying.....but, it's almost certainly for my benefit.....which, if true, is touching. I know i have tripped out after barely even THINKING about how this, hypothetically, might be addressed in a fashion that would provide your needs in this area appropriate "sustenance." I hope you have not already concluded that this is a subject you would be wise to resolve on your own....that isn't necessary. I hope you aren't completely discounting the possibility that only frequent out-stepping provides you with ANY chance of getting what you have come to need. How about we at least replace assumptions with an actual result. But, bottom line....we'll get it worked out, okay? I mean....IF it comes to that....IF it's ever necessary to see....I promise. I won't let you suffer.

It goes without saying, but I had better point this out regardless....I Force Myself to take a tiny kernel of potentially positive information regarding a subject important to me, then spend the next day or two pretending that, in stead of a tiny kernel of "potentially positive" news, EVERYTHING had gone precisely my way. This provides great day-dream fodder...the fact that I'm not even sure anything changed, and if it did, my new reality will resemble the utopian carnival in my head not a bit....in fact, I am essentially bombarding my consciousness with scenarios not merely improbable but, literally, not possible. What could go wrong?

[writer59january13]

Negligent grooming habits unbridled

Apathy toward mine personal hygiene i.e. relinquishing attention linkedin with bare toiletries, cuz I rarely spruced myself up nor never maple leave to cease being hard nut to crack and rendered adopted couture modus operandi of yours truly shabby chic figurative page taken directly from Pigpen's playbook.

Indifference to attire automatically spelled damnation

when presenting slovenly appearance

responding to employment for hire upon returning home parents did require

report, and upon being rebuked

for dressing unkempt, yours truly

wished for genie in lamp to wire.

I would fain call my appearance one hundred and eight degrees opposite to spiffy except when witty wordsmith participated in contra dance purportedly the most fun one could experience while being clothed even more exciting than sightseeing in France. When approximately one third current age gave permission to set (he/him shy person) free from self imposed cage just  barely enough wiggle room these then (and now) mine myopic eyes did gauge. Aforementioned secular activity heartily welcomed me, who (despite being severely afflicted with social anxiety) hypothetically asked an Asian girl, I'll tell Yue (her name arbitrarily chosen mine then twenty something self did flirtatiously woo - to rhyme without reason - when crafting subsequent poem), whereby Saint Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church 8000 Saint Martins Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19118 represented designated social venue lad learned lingo: allemande, ladies chain, pass thru, et cetera a whole slew of other steps with his partner progressed up or down the set (line), and upon reaching foot or head waited their turn before entering the queue (maybe in the interim noshing on Neptune salad) as active or inactive couple, invariably, innovatively, and inevitably they pledged vows and emigrated to Peru raising consciousness within Machu Picchu equivocating, erecting, and establishing, quasi rudimentary sanctuary honoring the imported llama husband and wife team (author of poem and his missus crocheted bedding for natives) while loosely adhering to Judaic tenets, world's oldest monotheistic religion dating back nearly 4,000 years, which respective religion linkedin to both alluded, unnamed persons and their honest to dog genealogies. Poet and missus qua solitudinarian each espoused disestablishmentarianism, he with chutzpah and nerve, she excelling at the art of hen pecking each figuratively leaned politically left the mister re: man me solidly Anchor right into liberal Democratic opinions wordsworth manifests métier I write. Courtesy an indie alt rock'n tribe Rebeckah dishabille poet, I view the challenge of writing analogous to betting an heir or heiress which includes gestation of an, emotion, idea, sentiment,...unbeknownst if outcome birthed to be fabulous

then however whimsical notion spins

within thine cerebral centrifuge, the imagination pregnant with fetus of a fledgling concept feeling with byte size sea legs, not quite ready for prime time and beak comb devious though, as swollen womb dwarf full pygmy up expansive lettered girth manifests and coalesces into miniature Confucius versatile rubber baby buggy bumpers unless unexpected contusions render exertion aborted effort, the proud pro-creator bounteous which success inspires this writer to tackle another and fleeting thought and sire by product with audacity.

[english10roentgensmh]

Einstein-Inspired School

We students were tasked into making a school designed similarly to Einstein’s vision of education. My group brainstormed and thought of ideas on how to incorporate Einstein’s vision into a potential school with a curriculum that may benefit students more than it’s current one does.

What would be the design of the school's curriculum?

The school would have a curriculum wherein the younger students are first taught life experience before anything else. Though basic maths and linguistics are part of the curriculum for the younger students, over all, they would be taught first the basics on how to simply functionally live life.

Our curriculum will be relatively lighter compared to the Philippine’s current curriculum. We would like to have a much healthier work-life balance for students where most school work stays at school and where once a student leaves the school grounds, they can freely not have to carry the burden of still doing school work.

 Our curriculum will be much kinder in giving chances to students to fully comprehend the subject matter. We believe that to only have one chance to prove your understanding of a subject matter is unfair and that people, especially students, should be given more chances and time to understand and to comprehend ideas. In the Philippines current curriculum, once a quarter/grading period passes, the subjects in that quarter/grading period often do not get revisited. This causes problems, especially to students who didn’t fully comprehend the subject matter the first time, when the next quarter’s subject is based on the subject from the previous quarter. It creates a domino effect of not understanding anything going forward until the subject fully changes into something completely different. In this curriculum, students are given a multitude of time and effort to fully comprehend something or to at least have the basic understanding of something.

What kind of facilities would this school have?

The school will be as inclusive and safe as possible with its structural design. Though the school might be restricted by other factors such as location and budget, we would like to aim to make our facilities accessible to everyone. 

The facilities will have wide open spaces so that the students wouldn’t be too cramped. People who have mobility issues will be accommodated accordingly by means of which their accommodations are already built in the structural foundations of the buildings. Ramps, rails, elevators, different types of chairs, etc.

I personally thought of making the school 3 floors max, but due to it needing to be realistic, from a realistic standpoint, it is very unlikely to be able to get a hold of such a large amount of space and accommodate the hypothetical amount of people.

Cleanliness and safety is very much a priority of the school. Washing stations, hygiene vending machines and alike will be scattered throughout the campus where it is easily accessible to students. Each room will also have basic first aid in case of minor accidents. 

Additional facilities would be a quiet room with dark lights for people who need a place to rest during break time. People may get overwhelmed and overstimulated even if we try to avoid such environments in the school, so another place where it is quiet besides a library would seem beneficial.

How would the process of teaching and learning be?

The process of teaching would be for the first half of the class as like the usual teaching method where the teacher gives out information and teaches the subject matter, the second half would be dedicated to asking questions such as why or how these things function the way they are. It’d help the students deepen their understanding of the subject quicker when information is given meaning and reason that aren’t purely given as information.

It wasn’t discussed in the group but imagine that for younger students, the method of teaching will be similar to the Montessori method of teaching and when they grow older it’d be like a graduated version of this where the concepts are taught more like an open discussion.

The teachers will be given a guide on how to teach subject matter to the students but will be encouraged to teach in a way that best suits their teaching style and on what they think suits their class more as well. Reading off a slide of text and calling it a lesson will not be tolerated in this school, thus the hiring of teachers in general will be tighter for the benefit and interest of the students.

The teachers will have an extra hour after school to teach the subject again for students who might need extra time to understand the subject at hand. This will be more one to one than the ones during usual class hours in order to truly help the student understand the lesson.

Additional Stuff:

Logo:

Mission and Vision (unupdated):

Uniforms:

I, personally, would have opted for a unisex uniform to be more accomodating and to have a much less segregated student body.

Final Thoughts:

I found the activity fun and though I’m not fully satisfied with the end result (as I feel like we could have gone more in depth on how the school could functionally work) I stil enjoyed what we came up with regarding the curriculum and how to teach in a way one would feel like they could actually learn something.