#i had what i think is a pretty common experience at 29

[punksocks]

Astrology Observations: No.29

*only based on my observations, only take what resonates

(Oml I didn’t realize that I haven’t written out a proper observations post since May?? I’m so sorry y’all life has been crazy b u s y and the world has been on fire due to colonialism, but I’m going to write more again 🙃 I love astrology but existence is wild y’all)

-I had a client say Geminis always get Gemini tattoos.. while getting a Gemini tattoo lol (and they were right!!) (Leo suns are second most likely imo)

-mutable venuses like changes in fashion a lot, they tend to go through fashion phases



-Every Pisces sun I’ve met has said they don’t really like being a Pisces at least once. Which is so interesting because Pisces sun isn’t a placement in determent, Libra is ! And I think 9 times out of 10 Libras will say they love being Libras (or it’s a huge part of their personality fr)

-My favorite thing I’ve heard from a Libra sun I knew was that they hated doing all of the things that made them appear socially functional so I said “why do you do it? why not just stop doing what you hate?” and they just looked blank like they couldn’t even imagine not conforming (even though they were an aqua moon)

-Ok so I’ve been wondering why I’ve had repetitive instances of some people being passive aggressive and w e i r d at my main job when I literally own the business and I’m their boss?? But it’s that Lilith in 10th. No one is neutral about your energy and you can rub folks the wrong way just by minding your business. I don’t like it but especially at work bc I’m a Capricorn and this isn’t productive >:/ lol

-Oh another Lilith touching Asc observation is when people start a conversation with me like 60-75% of the time they try to challenge me or ask lowkey rude questions (sneak diss shit lol) like 3 different people asked me what tattoo I regret the most and I was like ??? Hello? Who are you? Lol these streets oml…

-cancer placements can be really centered on defending their self, their perspective, their family, their community (they don’t have to be but it can be a common trait). I just noticed the pattern after ages of wondering why cancer was associated with nationalism on a wide scale. (Pluto in Cancer generation and the rise in nationalism after ww2 for example)

-I feel like Sagittarius placements (especially the big 3) will always be ready to do something new and life changing at any age (moving abroad, going on vacation and exploring new places, getting their first tattoo, anything that seems like it’ll open the door to a set of new experiences)

-Strong mars and mercury energy can make someone brutal in arguments (air mars, Virgo and Gemini mars, even Kendrick is an example he destroyed Drake- and Kendrick has mars conjunct Mercury and a Gemini sun)

-Sag Venus culture is being clingy because you need a lot of attention/stimulation and suddenly ditching when you don’t get enough attention/stimulation to keep your interest 🥴 (even more with sag mars since they’re action oriented, they’re in the same camp imo lol)

-I blame America’s Aquarius moon for the cultural phobia of being too “irrational” or “emotionally expressive” ….while being known as being too passionate and irrational in many non US cultures (also the US and the emotional detachment for the sake of “progress”, dark side of this placement but thematic nonetheless)

-imo when sun’s transiting your Lilith you can feel like a lot of attention is on you, sometimes good but often pretty scrutinizing. I also feel like you can achieve some impossible things during this transit due to Lilith’s energy (she’s built for rebellion, so when a lot of criticism is pointed her way she finds an unconventional way to come out on top)

-I have so much writing to do but if there are specific placements you want me to do observations on, let me know in the comments and my inbox!

[jadeacereigen]

Why I see Reigen as asexual

This is a very self-indulgent post, but it's his birthday today and I wanted to compile all the things about Reigen that make me see him as a fellow ace.

Please don't take this list too seriously! None of these are This Is Canon signs and some of them are just jokes. Also, it's pretty hard to find evidence of asexuality barring a character explicitly saying "hey i never feel sexual attraction" so bear with ne here.

1. That Scene With Dimple

Yeah, we all know the scene.

"But does love always have to come with sexual desires?" -Reigen Arataka

This is what almost asexual person asks at some point. It's just such an asexual quote. Society often conflates the two things as inherently hand-in-hand, but that's not true for everyone!

2. He never shows attraction to anyone

Now of course, the story is not primarily focused on him, and he's usually with Mob so he probably wouldn't be flirting in front of him. But there aren't even MOMENTS of him showing a smidge of attraction to other people, even when we see his life without Mob's presence. It really stands out in comparison to other goofy mentor figures in manga/anime who are commonly portrayed as hopeless flirts.

3. He's never been in a relationship before

When asked about his past romantic experiences in the official fanbook, he pretends he's had plenty of passionate romances and then describes a scene from Titanic before saying "Marriage is one of the countless types of lifestyles you can choose. It's best if everyone does whatever they want." So basically, despite being 29 years old at the time of the fanbook, he has had no significant romantic experiences and doesn't see himself getting married. (Even if he might be interested, as I'll explain in the next point.)

This is not exclusive to asexuality of course but it's a very common sentiment for ace people imo

4. He doesn't think he can be in a relationship

In Confession Arc, he has no idea how to ask someone out and has to cheat while giving advice to Mob. He also tells Serizawa afterward that if anyone saw him for who he really was, they'd turn him down right away.

But then, at least in the manga, he says that he hopes he can be in a relationship where he and his partner "can exist without distorting each other". So I think he does want to be in a relationship, he's just way too insecure about himself for many, many reasons.

I like to think one of these reasons is because he is asexual. It's a struggle for allo aces to find someone whose sexual preferences are compatible with ours, and yet it remains important to maintain our boundaries (aka not distort ourselves).

5. His anime outfit has ace flag colors

I mean. Gray, white, pink purple...

6. His reaction to a porn virus

Look at the face of this poor asexual man who spent an entire night trying and failing to get rid of a porn virus...

7. He is asexual

He is just asexual hope this helps (:

[thedragonchilde]

Ship meme spam, sexy edition

1. What was their first kiss like?

Lots of pent-up passion here, folks; rough and needy and maybe a little bloody

2. Where were they the first time having sex?

To be determined, though it takes a little bit to even get to this point. (Who has fewer neighbors?)

3. Who's louder?

OH MY GOD BOTH OF THEM

4. Who wakes up first?

Domon is up with the sun

5. Favorite form of foreplay?

Flirty sparring

6. Who performs/receives oral more often?

...that’s a good question. It probably evens out down the line, but at first Domon probably gets blown more often

7. What kink they most often use?

Sensation play casts a pretty wide net

8. Who more often tries new things?

Chibodee’s more often the one with the ideas (though sometimes these things just happen)

9. If they had to include a third person who would it be?

Yeah okay, you think they'd slow down enough for a third?

10. Favorite toy?

You know, the nice thing about dating a trans guy, if you’re in the mood to get dicked down, you can pick the dick

11. How careful are they about using protection?

I'd say a hysterectomy is pretty thorough protection for some things, and monogamy covers the rest

12. General feelings on sex in the relationship

Very intense and a little spiritual actually (‘communicating with your fists’ extends to other physicality, not to mention the Shuffle Alliance empathy)

13. Sexuality?

Chibodee’s bi as fuck. Domon is uhhh new to this, give him time

14. Position Preferences?

Definitely not a static thing, tbh, though I guess face to face makes things more intense

15. Kinks?

Aside from the aforementioned? Edging and overstimulation are pretty up there, and it's pretty common for them to not even get fully undressed

16. Dirty little secrets?

Maybe how they handled long-distance, ahem

17. Best time ever?

Maybe the time they first discovered overstimulation (and, uh, in related news, that on good days Chibodee is capable of multiple orgasms)

18. Worst time ever?

You ever get a concussion from sex?

19. One thing they’ve never told?

Chibodee has never given anyone a straight answer about any previous experience and probably never will

20. Most exotic place they’ve done it at?

I'm sure there's better/worse, but what I can tell you is that Chibodee's dressing room has absolutely seen a few quickies

21. Number of sexual partners?

That entirely depends on how far Domon got with Rain. And as aforementioned, nobody knows whether Chibodee is a slut or a virgin or what, and he's not telling.

22. What they do after sex?

Honestly, that’s a workout, they’re fuckin starving

23. Stamina?

You’d better believe it (something something twelve rounds joke)

24. What gets them in the mood?

You know, it doesn't take much

25. What is their mood-killer?

Oh my god do you know how hard it is to get uninterrupted alone time sometimes, seriously, some days it's like people/calls/the universe time things exactly to derail the mood

26. Most sensitive spot?

Ass and spine for Domon, jaw and hips for Chibodee, and honestly lips are a very good bet for both of them. (For a different kind of sensitive, so to speak, go for hands.)

27. One thing your partner should never do?

Okay look, being competitive is one thing, but cross the line into humiliation and there will be issues

28. Threesome or an orgy?

Say what now? Look, I don't know what you've heard about Chibodee's relationship with the gals, but that is a great big not-on-your-life

29. How adventurous are they?

Define adventurous? ;)

30. If there was a safe-word, what would it be?

‘Matte’ (‘wait’, used as surrender in many martial arts) or ‘time out’; when words fail, they tap out

31. Going down or standing up?

Oh, they’ll go any which way, probably in the same session

32. Old-school or into experiments?

Experimenting sounds more hands-on

33. Masturbate or seek for a helping hand?

Why would it have to be one or the other

34. One night stands; yay or nay?

That’s a weird question to ask about an established relationship

35. Foreplay or straight to business?

Depends on whether it’s a ‘test of endurance’ type of day ;) Although I can tell you that they waste absolutely no time after a boxing match - no sex for a fucking week before a match, honestly, what the hell kind of rule

36. One thing they’re dying to try?

Domon has, ah, given a fair amount of thought to doing it outside

37. In the morning or when night falls?

Hey, you never know when the mood will strike!

38. Roleplay? If so, what exactly?

You know, I don't think that's Domon's style. No way would he be able to stay in character

39. Props they’d like to use?

Domon’s headband?

[sohannabarberaesque]

Postcards from Snagglepuss

So what exactly goes into a Character Convocation?

RECOVERING FROM THE JULY 4TH CELEBRATIONS IN CLEAR LAKE, IOWA: For one, such convos could be considered as a way for many of us fellow Hanna-Barbera character types to get together in common purpose and company and share much in the way of common issues and problems, not to mention common interests and anecdotes.

As if the renewal of acquaintenances with old fans and new wasn't exactly common enough, as witness appearances at the parades, carnival areas and any other common areas of celebration for the festivals which we time the Convocations around. But we like to make such appearances the impromptu sort, when one least expects it, not unlike some theme parks.

As a matter of fact, yours truly and Huckleberry Hound, who share these road tripping experiences in this space, couldn't help but share much in the way of acquaintenances with fellow characters and the public. Like on the Friday evening in the carnival area, finding the Cattanooga Cats (didn't they have a song called "Country Carnival" in their repretoire?) keeping as much late hours as sharing much in the way of the excitement inherent in especially the newer generation of carnival rides and distractions--though Groove, in the case of one particularly thrilling ride, couldn't help but throwing up afterwards. Some rides, it seems, weren't meant for such who may think they're macho, but in Reality may hardly be the case.

At least one visitor sensed Groove's situation and gave him a half-litre bottle of Starry lemon-lime soda to ease the discomfort. Thankfully, Groove didn't quite see stars dancing around his head.

During one especially fascinating walkabout on Saturday during the arts-and-crafts fair, no less than Sheriff (bhling! bhling! bhling!) Ricochet Rabbit made his presence felt, looking for some objets d'art tending to an Old West theme and feel, look even ... even going so far as to remark that, in his secondary role as a small-time rodeo announcer, he even put in his name to do some announcing work at Iowa's most famous rodeo, the Sidney Iowa Championship Rodeo. (Sidney, if you ask, is in extreme southwest Iowa off I-29 about halfway between Omaha and Kansas City.) End of July/early August, to be exact, but beforehand, his calendar sees him calling small-time rodeos in Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota.

"And the crowds can't help but resist my style!"

Too, we couldn't help but join with Magilla Gorilla in sharing some dark chocolate-covered frozen bananas ("I read somewhere that dark chocolate might actually have some health benefits, as if those found in bananas weren't good enough already for this growing boy!"--Magilla), which at least beat more conventional ice cream bars when you get to thinking about it. "Even at about $4 a pop," Magilla remarked, "it's not a bad choice of snack."

Yet when signing autographs, yours truly does admit going a little for the flamboyant, almost theatrical even, and Huck may be a bit on the simple and unpretentous side. Still, pretty much every one of us in the pantheon has a distinctive style all his own, even if some in the vein of Scooby-Doo, the Hair Bear Bunch and the Cattanooga Csts even, work paw prints in as well ... and manage not to have the old John Hancock look like, as the poet once put it, "it had been written with a thumbnail dipped in tar."

Oh--and ere we forget about Peter Potamus' invite to join him for a little diving into Clear Lake proper: Over breakfast on Sunday morning at a small-time diner, Peter mentioned that he had his nephew Patrick along as well as underwater photographer Squiddly Diddly and Breezly Bruin for that particular experience. And even if it was his Magic Balloon that was along, "just be assured," the dive-happy hippo remarked, "that an interesting time underwater is sure to be in store. And then some!" (What with his mentioning on the side that afterward, he'd be joining the Three Wolves and the Divin' Wolf Pups as were having a diver's holiday on Lake Okoboji ... and wouldn't it be interesting if we joined them as well?)

More to come ...

@warnerbrosentertainment @iheartgod175 @funtasticworld @zodiacfan32 @theweekenddigest @ultrakeencollectionbreadfan @archive-archives @hanna-barberians @themineralyoucrave @screamingtoosoftly @hanna-barbera-blog @thylordshipofbutts @thebigdingle @hanna-barbera-land @warnerbros-blog1 @indigo-corvus @jellystone-enjoyer @railguner34 @groovybribri @warnerbrosent-blog

[dragneto]

For the wrapped ask: 16, 17, 18, 28, 29, 30 (sorry I'm greedy) <3

all excellent questions, and thank you very much for being curious enough to ask <3

16: What’s your most common “additional tags” tag?

Ooh, interesting. in no particular order, I think Developing Relationship was used pretty often, along with Introspection, Set in a Previous Simulation (for that one fandom specifically, of course), and, uh… Masturbation. :D

17: Your favourite character to write this year?

Hanno Tauber, always. but my single foray into Midnight Mass fic made Father Paul a very close second <3

18: The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

Riley Flynn from my fic …in vitam aeternam, mostly because of the situation he was in, and because his experiences are so incredibly specific that I found them difficult to cover. that’s not to say it wasn’t fun, though, the dialogue cadence was easy and enjoyable! and I got to read a lot of Catholic stuff to prepare for it.

28: Favourite work you wrote this year?

This feels like a… difficult one to answer. :( I’m going to say… a tie between The Old Witch and the Good Man (The Quarry, Travis & Laura) and cave-in (Dark, Jonas/Noah). I love them for wildly different reasons—for the former, it’s because of the fun I had writing a time loop fic with unconventional formatting, and for the latter, it’s creating the emotional catharsis that I wanted these two to have at that time in their lives.

29: Favourite line/passage you wrote this year?

Hmm. you know, I keep coming back to this, from staring and a-shakin’ like a leaf (1899, Ramiro/Ángel):

Ángel choked a noise that might have been ‘quiero’ or ‘Ramiro’, and it didn’t matter which he said, or whether he had truly said anything intelligible in any language; he could speak and he could walk and he was not lying dead somewhere in a shadowed corner of Prometheus with pieces of his hand splattered across his own face, broken bits of flesh and bone glued to his skin by a hot spray of blood from a sidearm that shouldn’t have been on Prometheus in the first place, its wielder snarling righteous bloody fury and prepared to mete out divine justice at any cost, too focused on a dangling slab of meat to see the snarling wolf behind it; the same look Ramiro had seen on Tove’s face, judging him for passing his own judgement, for making an impossible call that was really not all that impossible to make when the only other option was to watch the rest of Ángel splinter and spray across the wall.

there was just something really fun about delivering a very important piece of backstory in one incredibly long run-on sentence. :)

30: Biggest surprise while writing this year?

I don’t know if I can say that anything truly caught me by surprise, but I did learn lots of neat HTML tricks that I was able to use to spice up some fics with unconventional formatting. so I’d say that was very fun. :’)

[valeriestahl]

3, 16, and 29 please??

i'm sorry for posting this meme and then immediately forgetting about it. classic me :)

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

as of recent, i'm really happy with i think my woman's calling because i think i got the character voices down and it felt really natural and exhilarating to write - kinks i haven't yet explored! yippee! weirdly balanced relationships!? negotiation!? it was fun and a bit complicated but felt very natural to write. this is an astarion/tav baldur's gate 3 fan fiction. it's BASICALLY self-insert. i'm kidding.

i'm also pretty proud of my loser's club reverse bang, though i think my artist never finished reading it, probably because it's kind of boring :) just kidding. it was hard to write because it was very beyond my usual style and was...rated T for teen. but i'm proud of it as an actual story. born from a wish is its name! if you don't know what losers club means you won't care that it's an IT (Stephen King Movies) fanfiction. i wrote a lot of those!

16. What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag?

is there a way to actually determine this? oh. found it. shocking no one - Blow Jobs (30)! :)

the second most used only hits 15 times.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

probably from almost sweet

And that was the crux of it, if Jean let himself accept it. He wanted to know Harry better than anyone else, and he was satisfied that he did. They hadn’t been at it for long, but still, he was certain that no one else understood the inner machinations of Harry like he did. That was what others told him, at least. Harry’s different around you. You keep him almost sane, the captain had said, a couple of months into their partnership. They even gave Jean a minor raise, indicating that if he kept his mouth shut and kept Harry in line, there would be more where that was coming from. Maybe not a promotion, that wasn’t really something they could give him, not with how little experience he had, but a little extra cash in his pocket never hurt.

and okay i miscounted because i was looking at a list without numbers and answered 30 before realizing you'd asked 29 so here's 30

30. Biggest surprise while writing this year?

that i wrote!?!?! i had kind of resigned myself to a year of little output and then it hit and i've been back on the grind and it's felt really nice. like i haven't written a crazy amount compared to previous years but considering i couldn't find my voice, period, back in february...i feel good.

my other biggest surprise is that i'm back into a dragon age: inquisition esque fandom where i'm actually sort of using my tav(s) as visual indicators even if personality wise it's something i'm more molding on a variety of factors. i don't find OC or reader fanfiction to be at all my forte and this is the closest i get here, and it reminds me of my dragon age era (which was very productive).

[ckret2]

OMG YES THE EPISODE WITH MURKYS BACKSTORY WAS A GAME CHANGER. pretty much my entire career of interaction with fictional media I've been obsessed with things like villain origin stories from before they were bad and/or redemption arcs, which is a big part of what draws me to "the axolotl reincarnates bill in a human form as cosmic punishment" au's. and i had a very similar experience with video rental stores! also having my parents scour the internet for episodes on piracy sites full of malware ridden popup ads. lately i have been heavily considering getting a tattoo of rainbow herself, you're definitely pushing me towards booking that appointment! 👁️🕳️

I'm like, all het up over the injustice. His mom punishes him for using colors and it messes him up so bad he spends the rest of his life trying to clean up colors, and then AGAIN his mom punishes him for GETTING RID of colors? without ever once recognizing the part she played in the man he's become?? I'm so mad. This infant with a mustache did not deserve that. Someone give him therapy.

My first ever Favorite Movie was Return of Jafar, where (uhhh spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen it in the last 29 years) Jafar's henchparrot Iago slowly comes to reassess his villainous associations, switches sides to Aladdin's gang, and (briefly) sacrifices himself to save Aladdin & friends; and like, as a preschooler I was obsessed. I've been into villains and redemption arcs and villains-befriending-heroes stories ever since. I'm sure Iago is a contributing factor to why I'm writing a Bill redemption fic today.

Follow ur dreams, especially if it's something you've loved a LONG time. I wanted an Invader Zim tattoo since high school, finally got one almost a decade later, and several years later still am pleased with it—but I knew I'd be pleased with it because of how long I'd consistently wanted it even when IZ wasn't my active hyperfixation. If a story has been part of you for years and years I think getting a tattoo to honor it is really cool! (Just... don't do what I did and get an allergic reaction from one of the ink colors lmfao. It's possible to get tested at a dermatologist for allergies to common tattoo ink pigments and i def shoulda done that, I recommend that if you have the opportunity.)

[katherineholmes]

AO3 Wrapped

Oh my God, the year has come to an end. In many ways, 2022 was the worst year of my life, but in some small ways, it was also a year of learning. I think I learnt a lot things year, about life, about love, about myself, and of course about writing.

Which means I have to do an AO3 wrapped, so here we go!

How many words have you written this year?

287,532 (this is not counting all the drafts that I have scrapped and haven’t published yet.)

How many works did you publish this year?

29

What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

Oof, I’m gonna give you guys TMI, my nana passed away this August, on a Sunday evening. So two weeks after that, on a Sunday, thick in the throes of my grief, I sat down and wrote The Monster In Her Mind. Seven hours and almost ten thousand words, it’s the most cathartic experience I’ve ever had. (Sorry Elena baby ❤️)

What work of yours has the most hits?

Irresistible

What work of yours got more feedback than you expected?

Fireplace Ashes

Favorite title you used?

Painted Red and Purple

If you use song lyrics, which artist’s songs did you pull from the most?

Probably Taylor Swift.

Pairing you wrote the most for this year?

Klena of course

Favorite pairing you wrote for this year?

Klaus/Elena/Elijah OT3. It’s a challenge, but I love navigating around the three of them- all of them so different, yet they have such strong personalities and bonds with each other. All three relationships are so different individually, but there’s so much potential there.

What work was the quickest to write? Probably The Monster In Her Head. 10k words in ~7 hours is pretty quick. Editing in 2 hours, I posted it the same night, I think.

What work took you the longest to write?

Make It Holy - still developing/writing it.

How many WIP’s do you have in your docs for next year?

14

What’s your longest work of the year?

Irresistible

What’s your shortest work of the year?

Heart and Soul at 395 words.

What WIP are you taking into next year with you?

All fourteen of them, I’m gonna have a lot of free time after exam, so I’m gonna try and finish as many of them as I can.

What’s your most common “Additional Tags” tag?

Canon Divergence

Your favorite character to write this year?

Kol Mikaelson - he is so chaotic, he can literally do anything and not be considered OOC (except for stuff I won’t write anyway) and I it’s just so much fun writing him!

The character that gave you the most trouble writing this year?

Klaus (but I’m getting better at writing him) - he has so many motivations at the same time! Plus, he’s incredibly unaware of the true cause of his own actions sometimes, so it can be a bit difficult to get into his thought process.

What’s one pairing you want to explore next year?-

Lucemond (Lucerys/Aemond). Hopefully I’ll have time next year to do so! There’s so much to unpack there!

Which work of yours have you reread the most?

Irresistible. I have a terrible habit of either re-reading my own work, or never looking at it again because of embarrassment 🙈

How many kudos in total did you get this year?

8002, I - have no idea how.

Which work has the most comments?

The Monsters In Her Heart - this is also a fic I’m extremely proud of writing.

Did you do any collaborative works this year?

Yes! Let’s Start Some Rumours and A Little Wicked with @amandamonroe

And Would It Be A Sin with @sevensistersofsussex (it’s yet to be published.)

Did you write any gifts this year?

Yes, I wrote five gift fics this year for @feralcherry @sevensistersofsussex and @amandamonroe

Did you receive any gifts this year?

Yes! I got some amazing fics from @amandamonroe and @sevensistersofsussex.

What’s your most common category?

I think f/m.

What do you listen to while writing?

The first thing I do while writing/developing a story is make a playlist!

Favorite work you wrote this year?

What’s Love (Got To Do With It).

Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

Oh God, okay, this is very difficult! There’s literally so many! But I’m gonna pick this one from I See You (From The Shadows).

(She’s learnt a long time ago that pursed lips, and downturned eyes garner far more sympathy than a sharp tongue.) It’s in the faces of all the men who love her and hate Katherine - believing Elena to be toothless, to think that because her teeth aren’t fangs, she won’t sink them in their throats and possess them. It’s the first mistake they make, she thinks, trusting her soft demeanour as they ignore the knifes she’s sharpened her nails into. They’re all so wrapped up in the beauty, they don’t realise how dangerous high school girls really are.

Biggest surprise while writing this year?

That I’m somewhat good at it 🥴 I had a writers block till 2021, of almost six years, and I was convinced that I was a terrible writer and that I’d never be able to write again. I’ve honestly put in a lot of effort to improve my writing and trust my gut and I hope I can continue evolving. I’ve had big, big help from @sevensistersofsussex @qvnthesia @amandamonroe @feralcherry @jennifersminds (honestly the biggest reason my writing is more poetic now is cause I read her works!) @kaizsche.

[shinelikethunder]

I posted 1,893 times in 2022

That's 350 more posts than 2021!

221 posts created (12%)

1,672 posts reblogged (88%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@shinelikethunder

@cuntugolino

@deadpanwalking

@amarguerite

@calvinandhobbes

I tagged 1,705 of my posts in 2022

Only 10% of my posts had no tags

#supernatural - 307 posts

#hannibal - 236 posts

#fanart - 84 posts

#hannigram - 71 posts

#sandman - 70 posts

#twin peaks - 62 posts

#hellsite (affectionate) - 54 posts

#art - 50 posts

#will graham - 48 posts

#laugh rule - 47 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#'average meme dies in six weeks' factoid actualy just statistical error. average meme dies in 1 week. spiders georg‚ who lives forever on tu

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

very invested in the Hannibal s4 that only exists in my head where

okay

you know how season 3a is "hannibal tries to live without will" and season 3b is "will tries to live without hannibal" and they both fail miserably

i want a season 4a that's "will tries to go full murder husbands for hannibal" and a season 4b that's "hannibal tries to lay off the gratuitous murdering for will" and it somehow goes even worse

1,242 notes - Posted March 13, 2022

#4

bold of SPN to not only give us a peek into both main characters' sex lives, but to make it a canonical characterization beat that the toughguy-projecting wannabe womanizer is a sweet earnest bottom in the sack and the babygirl-coded wannabe normie fucks like the world's kinkiest freight train

1,652 notes - Posted November 10, 2022

#3

i've been going on archaeological expeditions into the depths of the SPN tags on AO3, and tonight i got drop-kicked into an out-of-body experience so cursed that it'd require LAYERS of explanations to convey to a civilian how fucking funny it was:

unfortunately, SPN fandom is as enamored of mundane AUs as every other goddamn fandom seems to be these days

noted gay angel Castiel is, as you may have heard, a celestial entity possessing some poor guy named Jimmy Novak

apparently standard practice when mundane-AUing Castiel is to just give him the surname of the guy he bodysnatched?

and since SPN angels are all referred to as siblings (and are, of course, highly normal about that) it seems pretty common to just slap the same name onto other humanverse'd angels too

in the middle seasons one of Castiel's endless procession of dickwad angelic bosses is named Naomi

now you gotta bear in mind that i was not thinking about ANY of this. my brain had to backfill it. while reeling after almost blacking out when i scrolled past this character tag:

me, sitting there with my soul about to vacate the premises, thinking this fic is doing something WAY more interestingly cursed than it really is: listen man. listen. just because it's possible to reductively summarize the origins of AO3 as "Naomi Novik wanted a site she knew would never take down her Wincest fic" doesn't mean you gotta--

2,093 notes - Posted November 29, 2022

#2

seriously though, it's incredible how much of my "maybe titties again?" goodwill tumblr torched in 30 seconds through obnoxious UX alone:

i am browsing around in the android app. i see a post about disabling some new content filter. this is the first I've heard of it, even though my version of the app does turn out to have it - they put it in place before adding any mechanism to let me know it's there. strike one.

i go to settings > dashboard, the place where all the settings about what you do and don't see are supposed to live. no sign of it.

i go back to the settings menu. squint at it. see an unremarkable entry near the bottom called "Content you see" that isn't highlighted or marked as new in any way (even though i can't even visit anyone's blog anymore without having to actively tap past an FYI tooltip that can't be turned off, every single time, shilling weeks-old gift features that I've already used)

...oh, that's where my custom tag and keyword filters went. no prior indication they'd even been moved!

i have a lot of filters set up. like. a LOT. i now have to scroll past every single one of them, tag AND keyword, uncollapsed and unabridged, just to see whether there's another setting hiding underneath. on mobile! even the desktop site is more polite than this, jesus

just to recap so far: the only reason i even know to look is that i saw a random post about new content settings, and i would never have bothered with all that scrolling if i weren't crusty and paranoid about sites that hide vital settings in the depths of Menu Hell. i mean, that'd be crazy, right? surely listing all those filters with no collapse is a signal there's nothing worthwhile underneath them.

oh no wait, there they are!

it's not just one toggle, it's FOUR new settings!

all of them are set to "hide everything and never even let me know it was there"

even though there is a "blur" option that would've let me know that stuff was being hidden from me without actually showing it

even though i have, in the past, gone into every iteration of the adult content settings that tumblr has ever rolled out and affirmatively ordered it to show me the titties

THEY ARE NOT TOGGLES. EACH ONE OPENS A SEPARATE MENU SCREEN. every single one of the FOUR new settings needs like 3+ taps in the android app just to put it back to normal.

does turning on the catchall "mature content" setting cause the three more specific ones to default to "show" and let me pick restrictions as needed like a goddamn adult? NOPE, i have to go into the stupid little menu for every single one

it's almost like you didn't want me to find them and, having found them, wanted to make me pay as high an annoyance tax as possible to opt out of being nannied

the dashboard banner that eventually shows up, btw, says nothing about having been voluntold for additional filtering, and also just dumps you out in the general settings menu and leaves you to fend for yourself, with no indication of where this shit is hidden or what "this shit" even is. and that's downright friendly next to the link in the announcement post that's apparently been kicking people out of the app and onto web.

this is not how you get a rightfully mistrustful userbase to be optimistic about putting scarlet letters on their own posts. this is not how you convince anyone that it's just a courtesy, not a scarlet letter, or that it won't be used to punish and stigmatize you the instant the wind shifts direction.

in the most practical here-and-now terms, this is also not how you get people to USE the new content warnings on their posts! artists, especially, are hardly gonna jump to flag anything as mature if it means every single one of their followers - regardless of age, previous adult content settings, or whether they're in Apple's walled garden or not - has just been silently opted out of ever knowing it was there. (this goes double if it requires more than one sentence to explain how to reverse it. which this new setting seems almost deliberately designed to do.)

look, i want the titties back, okay? i would be delighted if this turned out to be the first step towards bringing them back. i know Tumblr is under duress from Apple that affects how they can do whatever they're doing here. but the way it's being rolled out sucks needless ass, and if they wanted my hope and trust, well, those are easier to muster up when I'm not going in grouchy about the frustrating UX of an app that's just taken hostile action against my prior explicitly-affirmed preferences.

2,103 notes - Posted September 26, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

hey you wanna see something beautiful? this is Elsevier's wikipedia page. the actual contents are even more brutal.

make enough sworn enemies out of academics, open access advocates, and freedom of information activists, and one natural consequence is: your wikipedia page will never again be a place of cozy low-profile positivity where you can drop "about us" copy directly from marketing and expect no one to care enough to challenge it

6,727 notes - Posted April 19, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[chuyinstheaterib]

Week 27-29 march

One week before semana santa!!! yayy full classes and the funnest week yet :3 27: For this class I need to talk about the activity, last week we got pairs (via seeing who had the most similar shoe to ours and then standing next to them) I got paired with Ortiz :3, and together we decided to make an amazing play, we based our script on a theater piece called ¨Decir SI¨ which had a premise about power and being dominated, we played a married couple in a house, however the husband was a submissive person and the wife was dominant and angry at the husband, so a scene plays out of showing this relationship until the wife kills her husband because she's tired of his wrong doings basically.

For the actions I loved how I played my character, being upstage and setting everything up, it was like last week where I did improvisation however this time I had a plan, we had rehearsed, and we knew what we needed to do, I got up on stage and so the story began, for my character I focused on the submissive part and fear, playing someone with very telegraphed actions that were predictable with a constant shake on the legs and fingers, it showed anxiety, and it represented how common this was as the character never felt or showed fear around how he felt, it was a routine. He wiped the floor after he spilled a drink, he made two coffes for her with different ingredients couse she knew she liked many things. he was happy and tried to show affection when he thought he did the right thing but always had a sad and defeated look when he didin't. He tried to get out but died. This character I made I think was represented in a very well done manner, I think I gave the vibes of this type of relationship, however I must note that it was excessive the ticks and movements, I used the stanislavski method for this, utilizing emotions and experiences to try and portray this character however exactly due to this it's bad that I acted too much on the little details. Thing the teacher noted to me after the play where there was general intention One play I enjoyed was the one of Paola and Ana Vale, couse with the given dialoges they made a story which utilised one diaologe as one and had a very very unique story with a dead person, a sstory about grief, discovery crime and sadness with 5 lines about giving coffee, their creativity was unmatched and while I think there was a lack of stanislavski in their acting with very little emotions, it was a good play which I enjoyed. :3 I learnt a lot this class and finally got to act a scripted play in the class!!! I enjoyed it and well as you saw it was a new experience which had me put a lot of thought into it. :3

29:

We started with a very interesting activity where we used the same partners from the script, and we had to asign one person to be a and one to be B then we took turns trying to immitate each other, I was with Ortiz and well it was.... it was xD

We were laughing and laughing all the time at the beginning couse it was weird to stare at her while she stared at me, I felt a bit insecure however when we started copying each other and going into movements which required a great amount of precision that stopped. While we weren't perfect, but we did do pretty well from time to time altough we focused on doing things too quickly, at least for me, I was intrigued to see how she would react to different movements I made and see if she could keep up altought I shoul've tried to have her follow me with precision. We also had sometime where we had to not copy each other but follow a movement that felt natural, here we did horribly xd it was clear either one or the other took initiative to talk about something, so it happens, not really lletting things flow... but oh well

We then continued with the feedbakc about the plays. There was a great emphasis on simple actions to tell big stories, if you want to tell a story you must be able to justify it. Alex's Cordovas play was discussed about and asked to be replayed for the purpose of trying to make a clearer story, utilizing better props which showed the space we were working on, and also change the story and acting a bit to tell a story which was just a woman who came to the funeral of her brothers after 20 years to a woman who left her family for 20 years to pay the cancer bills of her brother because she was at work, and her brother being mad and angry she left while not understanding the reasons and being bitter in his brother's funeral as she handed him a bitter coffee. They reshot the scene and now it was longer, more emotion and the sister was clearly a familiar of the brother so that was improved, there was a shift in tones which depicted her true colors of a bad person, and the thole dissinterest of the brother. Which was the true intention of this play, to draw attention which was made possibly with the actions by changing tones changing movements and more. Theater must be always expressed in a clear demener.

[kitkatt0430]

6, 23, 28, and 29 for the fanfic writing game.

6.) What’s the last line you wrote?

Of course... Eobard did wonder just what kind of effect those healing blue flames might have on a damaged speedforce connection...

23.) Is writing the beginning, middle, or end of the story easiest? Hardest?

The middle. Definitely the middle. It's what gets me left with several unfinished long fics. If there's too much middle I eventually start losing momentum and need a break and then adhd kicks in because if I'm not looking at something does it exist? (yes, but do I remember it exists... no) And then getting back into finishing those fics becomes a gargantuan task.

28.) What area of writing do you want to improve in?

Related to the above. Finishing my long fics. I want to improve on that and figure out what I can do to improve my ability to stick with longer fics and series until they're finished. Shorter stories are definitely my strength as a writer, but I have a lot of longer ideas that I want to tell - or finish telling - so I continue to work on my ability to focus on an idea without burning out on it.

29.) What’s something about your writing that you’re proud of?

I used to really struggle with dialogue and balancing showing vs telling - both of which are typically necessary to build a good story, despite the common advice to "show, don't tell".

Dialogue in particular tends to flow pretty well for me these days and making sure to keep it clear who is saying what without being too cluttered about it. But I do think I still struggle with giving the characters their distinct verbal ticks. Still, compared to where I started as a teenager, I've improved a lot.

For showing vs telling, I had to grow out of the urge to show every little thing that happened to the characters I write. For a long while I was doing that to the point of self sabotage - I just... never let myself get anything posted and kept circling the same scenes aiming for perfections. I needed very much to learn that time skips are my friend and it's okay to let events happen off screen and get explained through exposition instead. And not only have I gotten comfortable with doing more telling in my stories, I've let myself get experimental with it.

Spiral was very much an experiment in a story heavy on telling more than showing, since I was aiming for a narrator heavy, borderline fairy tale-ish vibe to the whole thing. It was a step outside my comfort zone, but I really love the final result. And I'd like to think what little dialogue is in the fic is pretty snappy too. :D

[m-a-k-k-u]

I'm on ch 29! And I can't speak to Tru's experiences, but growing up, girls are constantly bombarded by media, and even other women, that we are a statistic waiting to happen no matter how hyper vigilant. Whether as a child, a teen, or adult, you're pretty lucky to not be included! We're even taught to do what she did. Can't get away? Give in till you can so you don't die. So while yes, these themes are pretty dark, I think about them every time I'm in a parking lot, or walking at night, or even when a stranger seems to just be chatty at a bus stop 🤷‍♀️. And I know enough men that have also been in those statistics. It's just, I dunno, common thought? Not sure how to explain the desensitization more thoughtfully ^^;;

But menstruation is taught to be this taboo and shameful/gross thing to talk about and we need to deal with it "with grace" 🙄 and hide any evidence of it existing so as not to make people uncomfortable. We all have at least one mortifying memory while growing up with one. So the idea of someone going thru our trash and collecting these rank ass used pads of ours, and displaying the sheer number of them/how long he'd been collecting, really just hit it home how fucked she really was, cause that man literally doesn't care about shit (⁠^⁠～⁠^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ and is capable of anything.

Hope that helped explain it a bit! I wasn't trying to be blasé about the content, but I can see how it DEFinitely came off that way!

Well, I mean, I understand what you're saying about the statistics. Of course, we've all had some experience with things like that or know someone who has.. unfortunately.

I think I meant more along the lines of who it came from and how often and for how long. That it happened to both of them so there were two separate stories of it. Also how her mother treated it.

Not to mention the whole situation she has him in now. The 'dog' situation. I find that to be more disturbing than the pads but, I've never found menstruation to be a big deal.

I don't know why something a huge chunk of the population naturally experiences is so stigmatized as gross or shameful. It's literally necessary for the future of the human race

[abroadchangedme69]

Four nights in Lyon.

I’m still behind but I’m catching up. I’m writing this in Porto and I’ve been to Avignon and Nice before this, but that’ll be in the next post.

I really enjoyed Lyon, and it was nice to spend a bit more time in one place. The city is beautiful but I don’t understand what it is about being French that makes a person unable to pick up after their dogs. It’s really striking, there’s just dog shit on the sidewalks everywhere. But I had a nice slow-paced stay, though I wasn’t able to rest as much as I would’ve liked due to the inhuman snoring by my bunkmate. The noises and the volume at which he made them were truly concerning. Sounded like a duck was choking to death in the bed next to mine. Most of the time when a person snores it’s on and off during the night, but this man snored all the way through the night. And he slept like 12 hours a night. First in bed and last to leave. He actually almost never left the room. He also smelled disgusting so we chose to open the windows and sleep in the cold with the mosquitoes. I’d rather be eaten alive by mosquitoes (and I was) than sit in that stench. I try to be tolerant and compassionate but -without speaking a word to me- this man tested me. I haven’t felt contempt for a person like I did in that dorm room, sleep-deprived, being wrestled back into consciousness as soon as I’d manage to slip out of it by that man’s violent snoring.

While Lyon did not prove to be the relaxing experience I had hoped for, there’s nothing like a common enemy to bring people together. I was pretty much instantly friends with the other roommates. Hell of an icebreaker.

I met a 23-year-old German named Carl who just graduated college and plans to keep studying law. We went out for drinks. He falls into a category in which I would include Jonathan (the Swede from Faro) and a few other friends I’ve made over the years. Mature, thoughtful, cultured, intelligent, humble. We had some really enjoyable conversations about a wide range of topics. One moment that stuck out to me was when we were talking about travel, and people that travel. We both agree that traveling isn’t a personality trait, though some people you meet might make it seem otherwise. You don’t become a new person by traveling, you’re just the same person in different circumstances. Traveling does give perspective though which is important for self-understanding, and that can lead to growth. But it’s not automatic.

I spent the next evening with Thinh, a 29-year-old Vietnamese-Polish cook (formerly a digital marketer) and Charlotte, a 22-year-old gemologist. I had fun hanging out with them. While we were at a bar after I’d had a couple drinks I got on the topic of ants (shocking). I think I started by talking about how I used to dissect ant brains, then I moved on to what makes ants such an effective animal. I brought up game theory to try to illustrate my point, and I even ended up drawing the prisoner’s dilemma matrix on scrap paper. I have no idea if I got my point across effectively but Charlotte was very complimentary of my passion so I’ll take it. I also asked Charlotte for her initial impression of me and she said introverted and “adorable.”

On my final night I went to dinner with Thinh. I really don’t enjoy going to restaurants alone nearly as much as I do with company. Especially when the person I’m with is a cook that can speak the local language. Thinh quit a comfortable desk job in London to become a cook with very little experience, which is something I respect. But I’ve gotten used to being around people like that. When someone else me that they quit their job, sold all of their belongings and decided to live a nomadic lifestyle, that’s not out of the ordinary to me in the slightest. I’ve met so many people with a similar story. It’s odd to think about. Before I left, lots of people told me how they’d be afraid to do what I’m doing or that I’m somehow “brave.” I don’t think about it that way, it’s more that I got bored out of my mind and needed to break the cycle. That’s very much been the norm among the people I’ve met on this trip.

Later that night a pair of 18-year-old Canadian girls named Rosie and Octavia invited me to get ice cream with them. I’d met them earlier that day while I was doing laundry. All the ice cream places were closed so we ended up just walking around Lyon for an hour and a half. They were a funny duo. I enjoy seeing when friends develop a sense of humor between them. Most of it was them excitedly telling me stories about their travels while I’d inject dry humor into the conversation.

So yeah, that was Lyon.

[jbrunsolved]

JonBenet Investigator Talks Exclusively to Fox 31 News

Holly Smith - head of Boulder County Sexual Abuse Team.

Created: Monday, 13 Nov 2006, 9:29 PM MST JonBenet Ramsey

DENVER --

The tenth anniversary of the murder of JonBenet Ramsey is rapidly approaching. The whirlwind surrounding the arrest and release of John Mark Karr shows it's a mystery that continues to capture the nation's attention.

Fox 31 News and Investigative Reporter Julie Hayden have received new information as one of the investigators talks for the first time about her experiences with the case.

Holly Smith recently wrote a book about her 20 years with the Boulder County Sexual Abuse team. She left out the chapter about the Ramsey case, but is now revealing her part of the investigation exclusively to us.

A Memory Forever Engrained

Holly Smith remembers walking up the steps to the Ramsey home: the big candy canes more jarring than festive considering the circumstances. The house was lavishly decorated.

Smith recalls, "It was big and it was meandering and it was schmanzy fancy."

It was the third day of the investigation into the murder of JonBenet Ramsey. Smith was head of the Boulder County Sexual Abuse team and has been called into the investigation, as she says, "to consult about some of the dynamics and some of the things people suspected might be going on with this case."

She started, as always, with a visit to the child's bedroom.

"That's a really important piece of getting a real feel for a family," Smith explains.

With portfolio pictures galore and closets full of JonBenet's elaborate pageant outfits, Smith says she had a hard time getting a fell for who the little girl really was, even in her bedroom.

She recalls, "I just had a sense the type of decor in her bedroom was not really a child's decor."

One poignant find that she does recall was a red satin box with what looked like JonBenet's secret stash of candy.

She found something else in the room, however, which raised an immediate red flag. Smith says most of the panties in JonBenet's dresser drawers had been soiled with fecal material.

"There is this dynamic of children that have been sexually abused sometimes soiling themselves or urinating in their beds to keep someone who is hurting them at bay," explains Smith.

JonBenet also had a history of bedwetting. While Smith points out there could be innocent explanations, this was the kind of information that raised questions.

"It's very different for every child, but when you have a child that's had this problem and it's pretty chronic for that child, and in addition you know some sort of physical evidence or trauma or an allegation, you put all those little pieces together and it just goes in your head," she says.

Smith adds, "There was an indication of trauma in the vaginal area."

The coroner's autopsy discovered evidence investigators say indicates JonBenet suffered vaginal trauma the night she was murdered. However the autopsy report also describes evidence of possible prior vaginal trauma. Experts disagree about the significance of that.

It could indicate previous injury or infection, a sign of abuse, or nothing at all.

Arapahoe County Coroner Dr. Michael Doberson says you would need more information before you could come to any conclusion. That was part of Smith's job. But then she was abruptly pulled off the investigation and told police were handling everything. "There was a lot of territoriality around the case," she says.

Smith says she also saw things in the Ramsey investigation that she's seen in other cases, like the factor that money played in it.

"No one is exempt but people with money are able to keep themselves more cushioned," she says.

She says she also saw a reluctance to even consider the issue of child sex abuse.

Says Smith, "It's just not a place where you know it's so abhorrent to people that they can't even do it, they can't even wrap their heads around it but it's more common than we think. The sexual violation of children has been around for a long time."

Smith believes all of them involved with the case lost their way.

She concludes, "In all the hyper-personalization around this case, everybody wanting a piece of it, everybody wanting to be the hero understandably and wanting to find out what happened to this little girl, our purpose really got lost. We lost sight of this child."

In her writing, Smith describes seeing a picture of a smiling JonBenet, taken Christmas morning and tells how distressing it was to realize the child would die what she called a hideous death that very day.

A lawyer for the Ramsey family did not return our phone calls. But the Ramseys have always denied that JonBenet suffered any kind of prior abuse and point out her pediatrician never saw anything indicating abuse, either.​

[imfuckingdepressedman]

Hey I'm gonna be real, there is absolutely a great deal of harm coming from deliberate misinformation and scaremongering about doctors and medicine (especially vaccines) but I think a Huge thing that we aren't often mentioning is that its becoming increasingly less common to actually be able to afford to go to the doctors and compound that with the same problems of old. Like not being believed about chronic pain, sexism and racism by both individual practitioners as well as systemic gaps in research and training, and of course, good old insurance denying treatment and prescriptions.

Like take me for example; outside of getting vaccinated and boosted this past year has been the first time in my adult life I've gone to a regular check up to get routine blood work done. I'm 29, apparently I've been severely anemic for a while now. My insurance denied my lab work, causing me to get a $944 bill. This is a lab supported by them according to their own website for routine work ordered by my primary care physician. That's a life ruining amount of money. For something that was routine and necessary.

Now take into account that (by virtue of living in a 7.25 minimum wage state) I make almost 3 times the minimum wage. This is my first appointment in a decade and now I'm fighting this much medical debt.

As of 2022 just under 68,000 people in my state are making minimum wage.

People cannot afford to see doctors even if they want to and then when they finally do get to see one (Or have to) they're pretty much guaranteed to have a horrible experience. Even if they get a good Dr who listens to them, know how to help them and diagnoses them correctly on the first try their most likely going to be hit with a bill they can't afford right after or be denied the treatment by their insurance company before they can even get anything done anyway. Compound that with the fact that they got charged an exorbitant amount of money just to be told what's wrong and what could (if they had the money) be done to fix it. You suddenly have a fuck ton of people that either continue to grit their teeth and bare it, start relying on over the counter drugs for day to day functioning, turn to substance abuse, or don't fucking survive. When the choice is to attempt treatment and potentially bankrupt yourself to then die in the streets because your can't afford rent or die at home what do you think people are going to do?

So yeah, no wonder people are turning to "alternative medicine", they can't afford actual help. No wonder they don't trust doctors, they see one for half an hour ever 5 years if they're lucky and then they tell them they need to stop drinking energy drinks (they work 12 hour nights). Or they need to consider a restriction diet to see if they have a condition that could be treated by a gluten free diet (they're balancing childcare and a full time job, all quick gluten free meals are either expensive, taste terrible, or have to be learned and prepared at home aka one more thing to steal another hour of their life). They need to lose weight and, no we won't check for any other conditions or recommend other tests first clearly all your health problems that have recently and drastically manifested are because you're the same weight you've been your entire life. Or or or.

Its almost like if people had a good relationships with their doctors, could afford treatment and care, had options available to them, they might be less distrusting of modern medicine.

[nancycastrogiovanni]

On Stage and Beyond: Kamila's Journey with ICP English Theatre Club

Have you ever wondered how joining a theatre club can transform your life? After interviewing Michelle last April, who joined the theatre club in January, I thought it would be interesting to learn about a member who has been with us since the project started.

Today, we will hear from Kamila, a talented costume designer whose contributions have been vital to our theatre productions. Kamila joined us three years ago, right at the start of the project. Originally from Uzbekistan, Kamila shares her experiences of moving to Prague, learning a new language, and finding a creative outlet in theatre.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you came to Prague?

A: My name is Kamila. I’m 29 years old, and I’ve been living in Prague for three years. I moved here for work after graduating. I was looking for a job, and one company that offered me a position was based in Prague. So, that’s how I ended up here.

Q: How do you find living in Prague compared to Łódź?

A: Prague is much bigger, and there’s always something happening. You can go for a walk and end up seeing a performance or visiting a museum. I really enjoy living here. The culture is different, and even the temperature is different, but I love the vibrant atmosphere.

Q: How has learning Czech been for you?

A: It’s hard, very hard. I attended courses from the ICP Integration Centre of Prague, completing A1 and A2 levels. I have basic survival Czech; I can order food and beer, but that’s about it. I’m trying to improve, though.

Q: How did you find out about the ICP English Theatre Club?

A: I think I saw an ad on Facebook or maybe in a city newsletter. I had just finished my Czech courses and thought it would be cool to try something creative, like costume making, but I ended up performing instead.

Q: What was your first impression of the theatre club?

A: This is my first theatre club, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I really love the atmosphere and the community. It’s all international people, like me, who just came to Prague and are looking for friends or a place to practice English and perform. I really like it.

Q: What do you enjoy most about the theatre club?

A: I love the creativity and the freedom to express yourself. Even though we’re all from different backgrounds, we have something that connects us. Maybe it’s being an expat in a foreign country or our personality types, but there’s definitely a unique bond.

Q: What have you learned from being in the theatre club?

A: I’ve learned to slow down my speech, project my voice, and perform confidently. It’s taught me how to improvise, act, and be open with the public. There are many things I’ve learned.

Q: What are the requirements to join the theatre club?

A: The rules are pretty common sense: be polite, respect each other, no harassment or bullying. Other than that, there are no special requirements. You don’t have to be an actor or have any theatrical background. You just come as you are.

Q: How long have you been a member of the theatre club?

A: I’ve been with the theatre club for about two years. I’m taking a break this year, but I’ve been taking part in the first two years of the project, and I had a role in both performances.

Q: How did you feel about performing in those shows?

A: Performing was definitely exciting. The first performance was more children-oriented and really fun. We had time machines and future travel themes—it was very playful. The second performance was more philosophical. I opened up and shared my personal story, which was a bit scary but also very rewarding. Both experiences helped me grow and express myself in different ways.

Q: Do you have a memorable moment or activity from the theatre club?

A: One memorable activity was when we practiced speaking with corks from wine bottles in our mouths. It was difficult, but really helped with articulation. I remember that class clearly because it made a big difference in how I speak.

Q: Would you recommend the theatre club to others, and if so, why?

A: Absolutely. Joining the theatre club is great for making friends in a new country, practicing English, and developing public speaking skills. It’s also wonderful for personal development and learning how to perform on stage. The theatre club offers a supportive environment where you can grow and express yourself creatively.

Q: Any final thoughts on your journey with the theatre club?

A: Being part of the theatre club has been transformative. It’s allowed me to explore different aspects of myself and understand others better. Theatre is a powerful platform for expression and connection, making me feel less like an outsider and more like part of a community.

Kamila’s story clearly illustrates the many benefits of joining the ICP English Theatre Club. Being part of a theatre club offers a wonderful opportunity to immerse yourself in theatre and grow both personally and socially. Kamila's journey from being new to Prague to becoming a confident performer highlights the positive impact that joining a theatre club can have on individuals.

If you're considering joining a theatre club, take Kamila’s advice and go for it. It’s a chance to learn, grow, and become part of a vibrant, creative community.

Thank you for joining me in exploring Kamila's inspiring journey with the ICP English Theatre Club. I hope her story encourages you to pursue your passions, find creative outlets, and connect with communities that uplift and inspire you. May you find joy and growth in every step of your journey, whether it's in theatre, personal development, or simply embracing new experiences.