#i went to public school in the us

[embossross]

I saw that you mentioned reading poetry, do you mind sharing any recs/suggestions?

oh this is tough because i'm not a good poetry reader. i think my education in it was very poor, so i'm trying to dip my toe in and having mixed results.

i do better with poets writing things that aren't strictly poetry, so i can give a mix:

Golden Ax by Rio Cortez - new collection i'm reading right now that has some longer line poetry that i find pretty powerful

Bluets by Maggie Nelson - an old favorite all about a love affair with the color blue. i found the thematic through line helped anchor me in this collection.

Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood - this is a memoir, but you can tell she's a poet by trade long before she tells you. very funny look at the weirdness of the catholic church.

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov - this is a strange mystery/experiment that unravels around a poem by an imaginary poet and its post-humous commentary. the poem is written out entirely and pretty fun to interpret (not easy but fun!)

Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson - novel in verse; modern retelling of Greek myth, crazy beautiful prose

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino - a novel that is ridiculously beautiful in its prose as well

Also, i really love stuff that read aloud has a certain musicality, so tender buttons by gertrude stein (actual poem) and any of sandra cisnero's novels, especially if you can properly pronounce the spanish, because it tastes so sumptuous on the tongue.

And then, i don't know if these are good, but i'm planning to read the poems of adrienne rich, joy harjo, and rainer maria rilke soon.

[forgetme-eternally-blissfully]

“So, babysitting?”

Alberu follows after the delinquent. From the record the vice-principal gave him access to, Cale frequently drinks alcohol, he often gets himself into a lot of fights, and he barely passed his classes at the end of the grading period. The teachers never call on him in class, girls and boys avoid him alike, and he is- supposedly- completely intolerable.

Which is why Alberu Crossman, who’s only a little older yet infinitely more mature has been assigned by the principal (his father) to get the troublemaker under thumb. Cale's father is quite wealthy, actually, and since there isn't much known about the successor to the Henituse family... it'd be bad if he had to be expelled.

Cale scowled. “Yes, babysitting, your highness. Please, leave if you must,” He jeers at Alberu, but internally he thinks, 'No, really. Please leave.' Otherwise, he might get caught in the act.

Of not actually being Cale.

Roksu aims a sour expression at Alberu, who returns it with a more flowery one. Acting as his twin for the day had been easy enough, mainly because being trash is great!- until Alberu Crossman strolled into his lunch period and introduced himself.

He is even following him out of the school to his job. Well, this job is Roksu’s and not Cale’s, but because he can’t ditch work nor can he get glib-tongued Alberu off his tail-

Well shit.

Thankfully, the kids call him hyung. Except Raon, who calls him human. Hopefully Alberu doesn’t look into it too much. If everything goes right, Alberu Crossman will be Cale's problem to deal with tomorrow. As it should have been.

“I didn’t know you liked kids, Cale,” Alberu smiles charmingly, walking side by side with Roksu. “Can you introduce me?” Roksu struggles to not put on his own disarming smile out of spite, instead plastering on a classic Cale Sneer™. It fits on his face perfectly, like he’s playing a character in a play.

They enter the building and ‘Cale’ guides Alberu to a colorful playroom, decked out in toys and a fountain of running water as the centerpiece (A gift from his father, who is still upset that Roksu doesn't visit more often). There’s a tray of fruits and oatmeal on the small table in the corner of the room, except not a soul to be seen. Picking up a bowl of oatmeal and finding the ceramic to still be hot, Roksu almost smiles.

Alberu frowns. Where are the kids he's supposed to babysit?

Roksu tells the empty air, "Come on out."

Three children appear out of nowhere in front of them.

“Hyung!”

“Human! You’re back!”

“Hyung, nya.” On examines Alberu some more.

All of the kids had been revealed the moment that Roksu spoke, as Raon unveiled the invisibility on them.

Raon runs up and grabs Roksu’s hand, who places it on his head, rubbing the black hair comfortingly. “Mm.” Raon beams at the affection.

“Raon, On, Hong,” they each look up at him at the call of their names. “This is Alberu Crossman, he is doing a report on my trashy behavior. Don’t be rude."

All three children become hostile immediately. “He isn't trash!”

On observes Alberu with an intense glare. Raon shifts under Roksu’s hand, his deep blue eyes glinting with magic. Roksu positions him away from the older teen’s view. Raon grips onto Roksu’s pant leg with a vengeance. Hong stares openly, offensive.

Alberu smiles at them.

"I'm visiting with Cale Hyung for today, nice to meet you."

Hong gasps suddenly.

“He-!” On gives her brother a look, and he clamps his hands over his mouth. Alberu feels a deep curiosity, as if something isn’t quite as it seems.

Roksu sighs. It’s going to be a long hour.

At the midway point, Alberu has easily disarmed the children. They look fascinated at the magic he shows them, while Roksu can only rub a palm over Raon’s shoulder as a warning to keep his dragon magic under control. He's still just a child that wants to brag. Everything is going well.

Bang!

“Hey Roksu! How was-“ Cale bursts through the door, bright red hair equipped with a shit-eating grin, wearing clothes far less fancy than his usual. He tenses up, frozen in place when he spots Alberu on the floor, politely sitting "crisscross applesauce" with the children. Roksu narrows a withering glare at his twin.

“… Roksu?”

Alberu looks at ‘Cale,’ sitting next to him, the one he's spent the entire day with, who is trying to send what must be the real Cale into the sun with his eyes.

“Ha… ha?” Cale winces. Roksu wipes his expression from his face.

“Cale-hyung, run! That’s the human’s bad look!” Alberu’s eyes widen as he watches the confirmed real Cale bolt back into the hallway and out of the front door. Alberu whips his head back toward the stranger behind him, who is a perfect replica of the Cale who ran like Hell. Cale has an identical twin?? Since when? Why doesn't he go to school?

Roksu levels an emotionless gaze at Alberu. “Hello, your highness. Don’t mind me.”

Alberu can only watch in astonishment as this stranger walks out of the playroom, with a smooth and deadly gait as he hunts down his twin like a predator would to prey. He recalls the look 'Roksu' gave him and it sends a shiver down the principal’s son’s spine. That gaze held secrets.

Something about this stranger is even more interesting than the sudden appearance of a twin.

On walks up to him, sitting down in his lap and looking into his eyes. “Roksu-hyung will be back soon, nya!” Hong bounds over and sits next to his sister, grinning widely. Raon huffs and looks at the door. He wants his human to come back.

[mokeonn]

The most annoying phenomena on this website is grown adults refusing to educate themselves, despite the abundant recourses at their disposal, because their heads are still stuck in highschool.

[janet-the-interplanet]

linoleum wiggly!!!!

[tokillamockingbird427]

Hey you guys know when military recruiters would like show up at your school with the pull up bar shit and you'd get prizes for doing pull ups? (Yankee moment.) Yeah I can see Hesh and Logan doing that shit. They'd fucking love it. They'd chat the recruiters up after too, 100%. "Yeah our dad's in the military-" headasses. Walk away with a T shirt and a tiny speaker that cost $5 max. They just give it to Elias when they get home, so proud, and he just smiles and puts it with the pile in his closet collecting dust lmao.

[menalez]

you have no right to throw shade at redberryterf for having the money to travel when you yourself have cosplayed as poor for several years when in fact you lived in the states, the uk, and now germany and get to study in these countries as well. your parents likely paid for your studies as well and paid your mental health care. so shut up about wealth privilege

wait u think studying in a public university in germany makes me rich?? hahahaahahah 😭😭😭

[morningstar1399]

I was just struck by the most random memory of a website I used to play on all the time as a kid. If I remember correctly, it was either made by PBS or perhaps the US mint, but it was all about coins and money. There were stories and games and coloring pages and the like, and the main reason I remember this site is because every so often I randomly recall the one story about how one character collected pennies, and had one from almost every year for like, a good century, but he was missing one from 1942 I think. So one of his friends hops in their time machine (oh yeah, there was time travel so you could go to various times in US history and learn about why currency was weird, but also like…see different historical events like the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and go through Woman’s Suffrage to learn about the Susan B Anthony dollar but also like…the California gold rush?? but anyway. time machine) and she tries to find a penny, but as it turns out, there were no pennies minted that year—or at least no copper ones—because copper was needed for the war effort. And I remember this because a little girl was trying to buy a hot dog but her mon was like “sweetie they don’t sell frankfurters bc those are German and also the war effort. do you want a victory sausage instead?” And then she went to pay with a dime but then the lady at the hot dog cart was like “wait this isn’t a dime this is a penny” because the penny was minted in whatever silver colored metal it was idr and the friend of the main character guy was like “ohhh that’s why there’s no pennies from this year!” and went back to modern day. Anyway I’m realizing that WOW was that some serious USA propaganda game shit I was playing but I also kinda miss the “learn about history” aspect of it? Also I remember sifting for gold in one of the games and that was fun.

Does anyone else remember this website? If so, what the hell was it? If it helps, it was definitely from between 2007 and idk maybe 2016.

[erisolkat]

i think i don't wanna go to my friends bday party tmrw because of jealousy tbh. which isn't fair

[kaoharu]

actually being asian to me is having been made fun of for lots of asian things i did before it got cool and now its like. hrmmm ok white people

[onlyfangz]

what i dont get with the colleen ballinger alleged grooming accusations is if you wanted to brush all of this under the rug why in the fuck would you make an earworm of a song to do it? i have had the chorus stuck in my head since it came out, and every single time it gets stuck in my head, i’m reminded about how much of an evil creep she is.

[kermitheefrog]

one of my friends from college is the best I love her but she's just so richbrained yet believes herself to not be.. like be real u went to a private school that was eight grand a year 😭 i can't deal with the things that come out of her mouth sometimes as much as i cherish her. this other lad in the year ahead was saying to her before that he wouldn't have been able to go to college if he didn't get a scholarship and she was like repeating this to me like WOW. 🤯 really makes you think 🤔 never met anyone like that 🫶 like WHAT DO YOU MEANNNNN

[sprinklethetangerine]

I think this is a pretty reasonable situation to cry in, right?

[victorluvsalice]

VITD Sims Lookbook: Victor

All right, we've seen Smiler -- time to move onto the group's beloved Whisper, Victor!

First up, a perfect everyday casual outfit for Victor once he ditches his parents and moves in with Smiler and Alice -- look at that nice red waistcoat! :D This Realm of Magic top actually looks something like what you might see if the Victor in the movie took off his tie and his jacket -- yeah, okay, it's more brightly colored, but poor Victor deserves to have a bit of color in his life, damn it. XD

For bedtime, we have some lovely blue pajamas for my boy. I went for a slightly-mismatched look between the solid blue top and the striped pants, but I think it works for him. (Besides, most of my own pajamas are like that.)

For those sort-of-formal party situations (or any situation where Victor might want a nice jacket), I decided Victor had to have this particular Realm of Magic jacket because it has a little silver moth pin on it! :D That is very much in keeping with Victor's aesthetic. Though looking at the pants again, not sold on those thick cuffs -- I think they make poor Victor's feet look even smaller.

And for those times when Victor has to go full formal, here we have him showing off the Authoritative Aristocrat's Suit from History Lover's Sims Blog! (Paired, of course, with a Simmer of the Dawn top hat.) This looked like a good "fancy" outfit for Victor, even if he is "new money" rather than an aristocrat. XD Feels, again, like something he might actually wear in the movie if we ever saw him at his actual wedding, or going to a fancy party.

As for when Victor needs to get athletic -- okay, I know this is one of the teen High School Years sports team outfits, but I really liked it on Victor as it felt like he was throwing on his old "private school" gym kit for working out. XD It just fits him! (Though I guess this does imply that private schools exist in my Valicer In The Dark AU -- maybe as part of the universities? *shrug* I shall have to update my worldbuilding!)

And finally, Victor gets his own comfy sweater to hang out in for those nippy days around Duskwall! Part of me wonders if the undershirt is a bit too casual for Victor, but I really like the sweater itself -- and he's supposed to reject his nouveau riche upbringing and become at least a little bit less of an anxious mess during his time with the Three Pillars, so hell with it. Victor can have proper casual looks. :p

[jegulusofwesper]

i’m reading rwrb before watching the movie and just got to

He has a bit of a caring-too-much problem about most things, including whether people can pay their medical bills, or marry whomever they love, or not get shot at school. Or, in this case, if kids with cancer have enough books to read at the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.

and i’m sat here choked up because that’s where i was this time 10 months ago.

like i know this is a book and what i went though isn’t fictional however all the stuff they have there is real and that had to have come from somewhere. they give you so much and provide so much like there’s school rooms, art places, games rooms, a communal area with playstations, books, massive TVs, a rooftop garden, a creep scarecrow for the little kids that i could see from my window and creeped me out, cool lazy boy chairs that are so fucking comfy, clothes, blankets, teddies, pjs, underwear, colouring books, parties if it’s your birthday/you got the all clear, massages, haircuts. and obviously the medical shit too but that’s boring rn

and it doesn’t really look like a hospital. my room for example looks like it was groovy chick inspired, and the whole place was really colourful and bright and just cosy.

i don’t know where i was going with this post but uhhh stan the royal marsden? they’re doing an awesome job even if one of the nurses who works with the teenagers/young adults is terrified of spiders and you wake up to them on a bed near you because there’s one on the floor.