#john and hank green mentioned

[mspaghetti420]

Guys you should do my quiz I made its silly.

[hedonistbyheart]

The brothers Green being cute.

[tired-momfriend]

I've seen some people making posts about bullying Ryan Reynolds off the app because they don't want other celebs to migrate here from Twitter.

Come on y'all.

Don't act like degenerates.

That is a very Twitter/"toxic Tumblr era" thing to do.

Don't act like animals. Just let him experience us in our natural habitat and if he's cool, then he'll integrate perfectly.

[sage-lights]

hank green was such an unexpected but lovely guest for today's episode i was dying laughing the entire time

[therealmrconley]

i have a little bit of a boycrush on john green. i don't think i'm ever going to be able to explain it

[regulusrules]

Yo, I saw your post about orientalism in relation to the "hollywood middle-east" tiktok!

How can a rando and university dropout get into and learn more about? Any literature or other content to recommend?

Hi!! Wow, you have no idea how you just pressed a button. I'll unleash 5+ years on you. And I'll even add for you open-sourced works that you can access as much as I can!

1. Videos

I often find this is the best medium nowadays to learn anything! I'll share with you some of the best that deal with the topic in different frames

• This is a video of Edward Said talking about his book, Orientalism. Said is the Palestinian- American critic who first introduced the term Orientalism, and is the father of postcolonial studies as a critical literary theory. In this book, you’ll find an in-depth analysis of the concept and a deconstruction of western stereotypes. It’s very simple and he explains everything in a very easy manner.

• How Islam Saved Western Civilization. A more than brilliant lecture by Professor Roy Casagranda. This, in my opinion, is one of the best lectures that gives credit to this great civilization, and takes you on a journey to understand where did it all start from.

• What’s better than a well-researched, general overview Crash Course about Islam by John Green? This is not necessarily on orientalism but for people to know more about the fundamental basis of Islam and its pillars. I love the whole playlist that they have done about the religion, so definitely refer to it if you're looking to understand more about the historical background! Also, I can’t possibly mention this Crash Course series without mentioning ... ↓

• The Medieval Islamicate World. Arguably my favourite CC video of all times. Hank Green gives you a great thorough depiction of the Islamic civilization when it rose. He also discusses the scientific and literary advancements that happened in that age, which most people have no clue about! And honestly, just his excitement while explaining the astrolabe. These two truly enlightened so many people with the videos they've made. Thanks, @sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog

2. Documentaries

• This is an AMAZING documentary called Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Villifies A People by the genius American media critic Jack Shaheen. He literally analysed more than 1000 movies and handpicked some to showcase the terribly false stereotypes in western depiction of Arab/Muslim cultures. It's the best way to go into the subject, because you'll find him analysing works you're familiar with like Aladdin and all sorts.

• Spain’s Islamic Legacy. I cannot let this opportunity go to waste since one of my main scopes is studying feminist Andalusian history. There are literal gems to be known about this period of time, when religious coexistence is documented to have actually existed. This documentary offers a needed break from eurocentric perspectives, a great bird-view of the Islamic civilization in Europe and its remaining legacy (that western history tries so hard to erase).

• When the Moors Ruled in Europe. This is one of the richest documentaries that covers most of the veiled history of Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). Bettany Hughes discusses some of the prominent rulers, the brilliance of architecture in the Arab Muslim world, their originality and contributions to poetry and music, their innovative inventions and scientific development, and lastly, La Reconquista; the eventual fall and erasure of this grand civilization by western rulers.

3. Books

• Rethinking Orientalism by Reina Lewis. Lewis brilliantly breaks the prevailing stereotype of the “Harem”, yk, this stupid thought westerns projected about arab women being shut inside one room, not allowed to go anywhere from it, enslaved and without liberty, just left there for the sexual desires of the male figures, subjugated and silenced. It's a great read because it also takes the account of five different women living in the middle east.

• Nocturnal Poetics by Ferial Ghazoul. A great comparative text to understand the influence and outreach of The Thousand and One Nights. She applies a modern critical methodology to explore this classic literary masterpiece.

• The Question of Palestine by Edward Said. Since it's absolutely relevant, this is a great book if you're looking to understand more about the Palestinian situation and a great way to actually see the perspective of Palestinians themselves, not what we think they think.

• Arab-American Women's Writing and Performance by S.S. Sabry. One of my favourite feminist dealings with the idea of the orient and how western depictions demeaned arab women by objectifying them and degrading them to objects of sexual desire, like Scheherazade's characterization: how she was made into a sensual seducer, but not the literate, brilliantly smart woman of wisdom she was in the eastern retellings. The book also discusses the idea of identity and people who live on the hyphen (between two cultures), which is a very crucial aspect to understand arabs who are born/living in western countries.

• The Story of the Moors in Spain by Stanley Lane-Poole. This is a great book if you're trying to understand the influence of Islamic culture on Europe. It debunks this idea that Muslims are senseless, barbaric people who needed "civilizing" and instead showcases their brilliant civilization that was much advanced than any of Europe in the time Europe was labelled by the Dark Ages. (btw, did you know that arabic was the language of knowledge at that time? Because anyone who was looking to study advanced sciences, maths, philosophy, astronomy etc, had to know arabic because arabic-speaking countries were the center of knowledge and scientific advancements. Insane, right!)

• Convivencia and Medieval Spain. This is a collection of essays that delve further into the idea of “Convivencia”, which is what we call for religious coexistence. There's one essay in particular that's great called Were Women Part of Convivencia? which debunks all false western stereotypical images of women being less in Islamic belief. It also highlights how arab women have always been extremely cultured and literate. (They practiced medicine, studied their desired subjects, were writers of poetry and prose when women in Europe couldn't even keep their surnames when they married.)

4. Novels / Epistolaries

• Granada by Radwa Ashour. This is one of my favourite novels of all time, because Ashour brilliantly showcases Andalusian history and documents the injustices and massacres that happened to Muslims then. It covers the cultural erasure of Granada, and is also a story of human connection and beautiful family dynamics that utterly touches your soul.

• Dreams of Trespass by Fatema Mernissi. This is wonderful short read written in autobiographical form. It deconstructs the idea of the Harem in a postcolonial feminist lens of the French colonization of Morocco.

• Scheherazade Goes West by Mernissi. Mernissi brilliantly showcases the sexualisation of female figures by western depictions. It's very telling, really, and a very important reference to understand how the west often depicts middle-eastern women by boxing them into either the erotic, sensual beings or the oppressed, black-veiled beings. It helps you understand the actual real image of arab women out there (who are not just muslims btw; christian, jew, atheist, etc women do exist, and they do count).

• Letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. This is a feminist travel epistolary of a British woman which covers the misconceptions that western people, (specifically male travelers) had recorded and transmitted about the religion, traditions and treatment of women in Constantinople, Turkey. It is also a very insightful sapphic text that explores her own engagement with women there, which debunks the idea that there are no queer people in the middle east.

---------------------

With all of these, you'll get an insight about the real arab / islamic world. Not the one of fanaticism and barbarity that is often mediated, but the actual one that is based on the fundamental essences of peace, love, and acceptance.

[anne20055]

not short, very nonsensical rant you’re so welcome:

i just saw a tiktok about this girl talking about how guy-friend duos are always more successful than girl-friend duos when it comes to entertainment, specifically on youtube and other similar platforms, and she was giving examples and i was waiting for dan and phil to show up, but they never did, so i looked in the comments and one of the first ones said something like “not the dan and phil erasure”

anyway, i liked the comment, cause obviously, and then i went to the replies, and it was all people arguing about dnp’s relationship, cause of course it was cause the tiktok was talking about guy-friend vs girl-friend duos and nothing more than that, and it has just become so irritating to see.

so many people say “everyone saying they’re friends are all idiots” and i will never understand why we can’t say they’re friends. it’s the label they like to use. all opinions and feelings aside, you can be friends with someone while being romantic. as (mostly) queer people, we above everyone else should understand that labels can be subjective.

i also feel like it’s low-key problematic to use labels that the person hasn’t used first. of course, there’s always a chance that they’ve used “boyfriend” or maybe even “husband” in their private life, but we don’t know that.

they’ve obviously used other non-platonic labels for themselves, like “soulmate”, “4,000 year old tortoise” (which is my personal favorite), “person i live with”, or other things that separate themselves from just regular friends, like “i guess you’re the only person i can count on; phil doesn’t count as a person” from dans grandma video from dystopia daily.

but using labels that they haven’t used themselves can seem pretty presumptuous, even if the label seems like it fits. for instance, you wouldn’t call a pansexual person bisexual, or a genderfluid person bigender. they’re all very similar labels, and might even be interchangeable depending on the person, but they’re not the same.

also, back to the tiktok, the girl even mentions hank and john green as an example, and they are obviously brothers, which she acknowledges, so dan and phil could have been there anyways!!

i really hope this made sense, i doubt it did but im not editing it.

tl;dr, labels are subjective, they can mean literally anything, and don’t use labels that the person hasn’t used first, even if they seem like the right one

[road2nf]

I thought this story was worth sharing, and whether it is read by none or one or twenty five, I’m glad I wrote it down, and I’m glad my brother read DFTBA from a bumper sticker on the highway. I hope someone smiles at the words on this page, before they are swallowed by the deluge of love and care sent by people all over the world with stories just like my own.

To be up front about it, your videos saved my relationship with my brother, Donovan.

He was my absolute best friend growing up, the person that everyone else had to live up to in order to be even considered a decent person.

He was my hero.

He’s three years older than me, and he was a protector as I went through the struggles that “high potential” kids have which aren’t always understood by those in authority positions.

All my teachers wanted to move me up a grade, which ruined the friendships I had cherished as ten-year-olds do. Fast forward six years, and my brother and I grew apart pretty quickly.

I was president of a couple of clubs at school and he was off to Vanderbilt that fall. We stopped telling each other everything, and I didn’t know what to do to keep talking.

We were driving to visit our grandmother who lived an hour away, and it was getting late.

We were keeping each other awake, blaring music and singing at the top of our lungs.

It was one of the best memories I had with him, and then it got better.

As a car passed us on the highway, my brother (pointing, reading a bumper sticker) yelled, “DFTBA!” And looked at me expectantly. I thought he was crazy, and he just kept repeating,

“Don’t forget to be awesome!...Vlogbrothers...John... Hank...none of this rings a bell?”

When I still didn’t understand, he just told me to go on YouTube on my phone and search “John Green pennies” because he couldn’t remember any specific title.

That was it.

Three minutes and fifty seven seconds, and I was hooked. We sat in my grandma’s living room until past 2:30 that morning watching any video that came up.

The most popular, related to the current one playing, and all of Hank’s songs. Since that day, we would run into each other’s room and talk about the videos for hours.

I also have a (totally healthy) obsession with Jane Austen, and watching all the Pemberly Digital projects with him has been second only to reading them in the first place.

We have read John’s novels together, and cried for hours.

This Christmas, my brother made a donation in my name for the P4A and it was the most amazing thing anyone could have ever done for me.

Without ever watching a video, our parents soon picked up on who we were speaking about when ‘John and Hank’ were mentioned, which is astonishing when they can’t even remember the names of our closest friends. I could list off one hundred other things about being a Nerdfighter, but most importantly is saying thank you.

Thank you for doing this and putting yourself out there which is so difficult to do.

Thank you for leaving your children something to be proud of when so many are left with nothing.

Thank you for turning Nerdfighters into Nerdfighters by decreasing world-suck.

And thank you to your wives and families who support you as you change lives on a daily basis.

Thank you for inspiring me personally, and showing me how easy it is to be passionate about writing and words. I thought this story was worth sharing, and whether it is read by none or one or twenty five, I’m glad I wrote it down, and I’m glad my brother read DFTBA from a bumper sticker on the highway.

I hope someone smiles at the words on this page, before they are swallowed by the deluge of love and care sent by people all over the world with stories just like my own.

Many good wishes and blessings.

-Kate Elizabeth

[fake-daily-watcher-tweets]

Besties..do you think that Neil Gaiman knows the impact and importance of his work? The Green Brothers, do you guys think they know? James Dashner?? Uncle Rick?? FUCK.

Like i genuinely would not have made it past middle school without the Maze Runner series. The complexity of the characters was my gateway to millions of other great series, and while the books aren’t my favorite now as a 20 year old, I appreciate everything they did for me in terms of learning to read novels and mapping out in-depth plots.

I wouldn’t have picked my major or found myself able to go through long auto-immune treatments without Hank and John Green..hell I probably wouldn’t have passed my high school classes without them either. Would I have picked the major I did without Crash Course US History.. ?probably not..and gosh, did every single one of their books ruined my life? yep.. (I literally clutched my cluttered TFIOS copy everywhere I went for like 2 years😭). I just want to sit down and talk to them and just even try to understand why they think the way they do.. just gain any wisdom from them.. I have so so so so so much to learn..

and Rick, I genuinely wouldn’t have found understanding for my disabilities without his writings.. I had never seen a main character who also had ADHD/Dyslexia until I met Percy. Not to mention that Will and Nico were the very first gay characters I had been exposed to, and little 10 y/o me had no idea the importance of that for later on.. (Though I blame him for my on going greek mythology phase..not cool uncle rick.. not cool..also I blame him for the creation of one of the best musicals ever ok ok). This man literally shaped part of my life for the better. I have a signed copy of PJO and its my prized possession and I wish that was a joke.

and Neil, literally where do I start? This man’s writings were introduced to me my freshman year of high school and were one of the only things that kept me alive until now. I graduate COLLEGE next year and I genuinely do not know if I would be here if I didn’t have American Gods, Good Omens, and The Sandman.. and who knew that it was going to be Crowley.. of all the fucking characters in the world - that gave me the courage to come out to my friends. (Honestly, it only got worse after David took the role, I’m annoying about it now.. I love that man so much but also Michael <3). Do you guys know the hoops I would jump through just to have a conversation with him?? To thank him for literally everything his work has done for me?? AHHH.

Authors are truly some of the most amazing people. If they can have an impact on such a small, inconsequential life such as mine, just imagine what their writings did and do for others who are bound for such great things. It makes me so excited. Fuck, I cannot wait for my generation to grow up.

Its 6 am and I just got out of exam week (so I haven’t slept for like actually 2 weeks so I don’t know if any of this made sense but take a sip of water if you agree). Goodnight✨.

[bi4bihankking]

Are there any Alan Scott comics you would recommend? I've only seen him with Kyle and Hal and he just seems likes a tired old man who stans his grandkids.

YEAH ACTUALLY:

First of all I know I shouldn't recommend Infinity Inc. to everyone, but also I am going to, if you want to meet his kids this is where to start, he's also in a lot of the first 30 issues, also since I am going to suggest reading... Green Lantern/Sentinel: Heart of Darkness later it's necessary to see just how fucked up his actions in that mini are.

More importantly, there's All-Star Squadron, which is also by Roy Thomas, he's in... I think most of it, although the JSA do go to war as soldiers during it, it's very relevant to all the Golden Age heroes, it has the BIG scene where we see what Alan is capable of which is in #20. I forgot to mention All-Star Comics from 58 onward, before 58 is also JSA but 58 is the 70s restart so it may be more readable for modern audiences. Showcase (1956) #98 and #99 also have some Alan.

Justice Society of America (1992) not the 1991 version, has a lot of old men interactions, I think he's a bit nicer in this one than he necessarily should be, but if you want JayAlan this one and also Flash and Green Lantern: Brave and the Bold #3 (feel like this one is likely to already have been read but)

I think the BIG one is JSA 1999 because it involves bitchy old man Alan in most issues, it is old man cause problem hours, and honestly just has so many funny Alan moments. It's probably fine to start here but I want to big up Roy Thomas instead of Geoff Johns given that Geoff is being given credit for one of Roy's creations rn.

(GL/Sentinel needs some warning for medical abuse and forced institutionalization, it's also a bit misogynistic toward Jennie because it's about depowering her so she can be a good girlfriend to Kyle, but I don't think that is like... legitimately triggering like the shit happening to Hank lol, needs less of a warning than the man drugged constantly and being experimented on I feel)

Basically... please read JSA, JSA is so good, I love the old men, I love the old men's children, I think more people should read the old men and their children.

[ghoul-aunty]

John Green mentioned yesterday on dear john and hank that he reads his tags so i wanted to mention that he’s very important to me for being the only adult in the public sphere that talks about having a mental illness not as a thing you can overcome but as a condition you live with and like. He’s successful and sometimes happy!! It means a lot to me idk

[piss-bong]

just curious why are you anti green brothers? i’ve only heard good things about them and i havent heard much of the other side of things, so i want to try and get the full picture before making any judgements

Short answer is they're capitalists.

Long answer is it's mainly because they're capitalists (seriously, get a load of this shit) who center a large part of their personal brand around a goal to enact positive change in the world while only loosely defining what that change is, and only enacting it by raising money for any of their million different nonprofits and making themselves richer in the process. They're bad for the same reasons Bill Gates is bad despite pledging to give away all his money or whatever. Nonprofits really aren't fucking great to begin with, and they have a lot of them.

There's also the assault allegations that happened on youtube in 2014 and their responses to said allegations, which weren't exactly great and kinda just completely shirked responsibility for their role in what took place. I know that they did take some measures to make vidcon and other irl events safer, but there's a reason vidcon isn't happening anymore.

Also, the way they tend to get really fuckin weird when responding to any sort of criticism.

Plus, John has just,, said and done some shitty things in the past, and most of this I'd be willing to let slide under "they were younger and I'm sure they've grown since then," but it's pretty obvious that his bad opinions definitely bleed into his writing, and it's kind of concerning when his target audience is teenage girls.

Not to mention, they position themselves as science educators when neither of them have degrees in science or education. I know they work with people who do, but sometimes their "educational content" is just fucking capitalist propaganda. (edit: turns out hank actually does have a STEM degree, but that doesn't change the fact that the "education" they're providing is just thinly-veiled propaganda)

Also not to be demeaning but,, it's obvious you're new here bc we have a long history of hating these guys. Here's a reddit post about the time we bullied john off the site.

If you wanna listen to a podcast, Big Soy Naturals has two episodes about them. I pulled some of these sources from there and they definitely cover the topic a lot more in-dept than I can in a tumblr post.

[siamusotima-aranea]

[tagged by @sidewalk-scrawls​ ]

fav color: Yellow

song stuck in my head:  Molina - Hey Kids last song listened to:  Metro Boomin - Am I Dreaming last google: “how to get my kid a library card in Albuquerque“ (The kid is actually my sisters kid, but I couldn't find the answers I needed until I phrased it this way. As it turns out we’d need my sisters signature and ID, which is BALLS! because my sister will NEVER go down to the library and do the things, uuuughhh. I as the kiddo’s tia should be able to get the library card damn it!)

(I’m adding my own questions. Anarchy! )

Whatca up to today?: Renewing my library card, and unfortunately NOT getting the kiddo a library card.

Whatca been up to lately?: I’m in competition with the kiddo. We’re trying to see who can read the most books this year, and I am by FAR winning! But I mustn't  grow complacent, I need more books, MOOORREE BOOOKSS. We’ve settled on audio books and graphic novels counting for half points, and that is pretty much what I read, but still, the kid has read read like 3 book books and I've finished 17 audiobooks and 13 graphic novels so far! (plus 5 I started and intend to finish eventually.)

Would you say that you’re a competitive person?:YES. Yes I am.

Best book so far this year?: Hard question, very hard question, especially because I am hard to please. I guess it’s a tie between A House with Good Bones by T Kingfisher, because the writing was fun and funny, and The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward, because religious lesbian cat pov. (honorable mention for the graphic novel Something Is Killing the Children.) Worst book you’ve finished so far this year?: Recursion by Blake Crouch. It had such a promising premise, but my GOD it was boring as hell. So disappointing. Second place goes to Universal Harvester by John Darnielle. Pretty writing, went nowhere so sooo slowly, and boringly.  Most recent book?: The last book I finished was The Push by Ashley Audrain, I just started Clown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare and I’ve been reading the half comic half book of essays book Flash Forward: An Illustrated Guide to Possible (and Not So Possible) Tomorrows by Rose Eveleth.  Want some book recs?: YEESS, yes I need book recs. Horror book recs especially. Anyone that reads this post should rec me books. I’m on a horror kick this year, but I also like sci-fi and fantasy. I mostly hate romance, but I have a soft spot for The Night Circus Erin Morgenstern. Murderbot Dairies by Martha Wells is my all time fave. Honorable mentions include The Carls Series by Hank Green and The His Dark Materials trilogy by by Philip Pullman. Feed my need people, rec me BOOOKKSS.  (Ok, anarchy over.)

dream trip: Japan, cause i’m a bit of a weeb. I want tasty food, and pretty pictures, and cute souvenirs. I wanna see the train cats, and the mascots that get stuck in elevators, and I wanna take pictures of nature, and I wanna go to the pokemon store, and I want to eat big fluffy pancakes, and ramen and rice balls and everything else that looks good.

anything i want right now: Book recs and rice balls. (Not tagging anyone, but if you wanna do it, go for it!)

[professorrivertam]

You're so right about the John Green post and looking at the notes on it is so infuriating... That guy is doing the work of making the world better in so many different ways. I'm embarrassed for tumblr.

Yeah, it really bothers me that many people on this webbed site are perfectly able to look back on a time when they treated a person horribly and think “haha yeah, that was a great time. That guy was so lame and annoying.”

I’ve never seen any credible evidence for the bad stuff people accuse him of, and for someone who’s been curating an online presence for as long as he has, his record is impressively clean. He and Hank support a lot of worthwhile causes that tumblr would approve of and have for years. They’ve used their platforms to make the world suck less, and that’s not nothing.

My instinct is to want to mention all of the good that the Green brothers have brought to the world as a counterpoint to the claim that they are “annoying,” but the fact is - bullying someone is bad. Period. Even if the target is a moderately famous white guy you think is annoying. Or perhaps, even if you think the stuff people are saying is funny.

[ambrosiafaery]

Heya Vtubers! It's nice to see people moving over from twitter - as much as people joke about "amping up the cringe" to drive people off, tumblr's more welcoming than you're expecting!

My ask box is definitely open if people have questions and I've seen some help starter guides floating around, and figured why not make my own too?

This isn't about how to use tumblr though it's about a lot of the common in jokes/memes that float around. Tumblr culture works very different than Twitter culture - memes dont really come and go, they stick around. Part of this is because you can reblog posts multiple times - and yes I know good memes stick around on twitter too, but it's a very different slowness to Tumblr meme culture

This does in fact mean someone can and will flood your dashboard with repeats of the same post and yes I'm looking at you reg

We've got some silly weekly traditions like out of touch thursday, wizard wednesday, and fingers in his ass sunday and yes people Do re-reblog that shit every week. If you tell me "I like your shoelaces" I will, very stupidly, blurt out the first thing that comes to mind and it will be "Thanks I stole them from the president"

The rest shall be under a readmore because this got Very long. It's not all the memes but its a lot of my favorites that I see pretty often.

the "color theory" post

if someone says anything about color theory especially if they mentioned "children's hospital" they're likely referring to this

The skeleton wars preceded my entry onto tumblr but that was in fact a thing learn your history

Mishapocalypse was also a thing, but more relevant, is our newest holiday, Nov 4-5th

I hate to say you had to be there, but it really was a sort of manic energy you can experience in the moment. It didn't matter if you liked supernatural, destiel, sherlock, or anything, we All held hands on Nov 5th

The queen's death came mildly close, but there won't another queerbait like it. This is also the origin of the superhell meme for my fellow LGBT+

Speaking of the queen, tumblr had been waiting to celebrate her death for a Long time. People will be respectful about how her death affected shit for everyone, but they aren't going to be respectful towards her or the royal family here. We had our crab raves ready for Years before she finally kicked the bucket.

We did enjoy the sexyman polls btw, even if you twitter people were silly enough to host them offsite

"Daily Dracula" isn't just tumblr specific, but it is very popular here. It's an email newletter that sends snippets of the classic novel in real time with dates from the book.

horse plinko.

I don't have room for the entirety of the Connecticut Clark saga but its a lovely comic and Cark and Malfina are All our blorbos

You may be familiar with tumblr celebrating the Ides of March (also a very real holiday respect our traditions), so heres another history meme we've got. If people joke about the value or copper or Ea-nasir, theyre referring to this post

Around 2017, there was a time where nazi, pedo, terfs and other sorts of shit blogs were taken over by someone using Toy Story's Woody as an icon and Howdy Pardner as a blog title. Eventually the whole thing got out of hand but whoever originated Woody's Roundup was pretty funny

Popularity on tumblr is hard to gauge, but theres a few blogs out there that just Everyone knows.

We know Sixpenceee for the "Sixpenceee Heals" incident among others,

we know about thejorie's Three Weed Smoking Girlfriends,

we had bone stealing witches at one point, but not sure if they're still hanging around

thecybersmith is well known for being the Human Pet Guy among other incredibly weird takes. i think they also went to twitter but they've got a Reputation here for sure

we are Very Aware about John and Hank Green due to an incident when editing other people's posts was a thing, and people edited one of John Green's posts to be very nsfw. There's a bit of a back and forth on this one whether it was actually funny or not, but this incident did drive them off tumblr which makes John Green's recent string of tweets Fascinating

The wizard blogs are special to us, please be polite to them and pay your wizard tithes on time. I don't listen to the wizard council though, I'll cast transmute idaho if I want to.

People are sometimes really bad about reading the op of a post, and one-time-i-dreamt is well known for jumpscaring people with posts that seem like almost real encounters until you realize the blog title means this was something someone dreamed

There's definitely more but i woke up in a cold sweat at 3:30 am to write this and its now 5am so I'll leave it at that. add your favorite tumblr specific memes if you'd like.

tumblr loves to beat a dead horse (or put it in a plinko) so dont be afraid to reblog old jokes, or put a new spin on an old joke, or be like Reg who regularly reblogs the "i control the paladins" tiktok fifty times in a row when people get a bit too weird in their notes (not an exaggeration. I learned tumblr hotkeys for you my beloved mutual)

[fumbliesthots]

2022 Review + Rezzo 2023

This post is almost a week late because I was trying to take it easy after my Bali meditation + fam vacation trip. This year end trip really made me appreciate the slow life where I was really trying not to overthink and over-plan. (Also, geez, what happened to me? When did I become this sort of person?)

It's only been 2 days into the new year and I'm beginning to feel tired of the super-fast pace of work life again. I must remind myself to take it down a notch, as John Green says. I'm not working in a hospital – nobody will die if my job doesn't get done.

But first, let's recap some things I'm really grateful for in 2022, in no particular order -

Gratitude list 2022

1. My parents: They are not perfect but they are always doing their best to care for us the ways they know how. I'm learning new things about their outlook in life recently. My mom is an optimist that makes the best out of every sucky unexpected situation because she just wants everyone to feel ok. I think I probably got that from her. My father cares a lot about the world at large. Although we have different views of what "good" is, I appreciate that side of him.

2. National Library Board: Ok nerd. I feel like somehow I'm reading more books than ever this year. And really starting to get back more into physical books. Although I still love Libby for its convenience, sometimes reading on digital devices can be distracting. So I really appreciate having such a great library system in Sg – I can choose either to hang out at a nearby air-conditioned library or just to lie in bed and scroll Libby on my phone. It's the top perk of being Singaporean IMO.

3. Authors: I cannot not mention the people that wrote those books I enjoyed so much from the library. Some of the books that moved me last year:

Jon Yates - Fractured: Why Our Societies Are Coming Apart and How We Put Them Back Together Again.

Brene Brown - Braving Wilderness, Dare to Lead, Atlas of the Heart (also her podcasts have helped me so much last year)

Hank Green - I don't read enough fiction so these YA books were a surprise pleasure for me: An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor

Yanis Varoufakis - Talking to My Daughter About The Economy

4. The 3-Headed-Oracle: We completed 2 more writing challenges this year! I really appreciate the way we kept so consistent with this habit through the process, and got to know how each other thinks. I enjoyed learning how we see the world through different lenses, having their perspectives was really valuable and precious.

5. Workshops attended: Learning new self-awareness, critical thinking and communication skills at 2 in-person workshops which both happened at Common Ground - Facilitating Conversations for Change (by Shiao-yin), and Seeing & Shifting Systems (by Studio Dojo). These courses were so perspective-expanding that I wish more people would have the chance to attend. So I'm also grateful that my company has L&D funds for us to upskill ourselves.

6. Vipassana: Renewing my meditation practice at a 10-day course, and getting to disconnect from the world temporarily. Really amazing to have the opportunity to do that again after more than 6 years, such a privilege. This is my third time doing it but I somehow still gained new understanding and wisdom this time around.

7. XD Summer Offsite: Something about work - Meeting all my XD colleagues in person at our offsite in Prague. Even though this trip was expensive (they flew all of us in SG down) it was also necessary to at least start the process of gaining trust and building connections in the newly re-organized team.

8. Standing up XD Ops: Finally given the opportunity to upstand this new function officially in the group. I also learned that sometimes the right thing to do is to actively ask for things and not just wait for them to drop from the sky. Unsaid expectations and unset boundaries will just cause resentment. This is a huge theme this year for work. Clear is kind.

Intention review 2022

So what did I say I wanted to do last year? Balance? I regretfully say I did not achieve that. I was too busy balancing other people's priorities while neglecting my own. I was reading and learning a lot more, desperately trying to get more information about why things happen the way they do, trying to get more tools that could help solve the problems I see. As a result, I was feeling quite burnt out at some point, and people around me noticed.

I guess that was what pushed me to sign myself up to do a 10-day silent retreat again. I have to forcefully shut myself away and disconnect from the external world to find out what is happening inside myself.

A lot of things came up for me during my time meditating - the past, the future, imagination of things that has yet to come, assumptions of how things came to be. I have to remind myself, all these are anicca, impermanent. Stories in my mind that arise and will pass away. I am not the same person just 1 millisecond ago, what for carrying this baggage forward? What is more important is the choices I can make in the present moment, which is to sit here and observe my breathe and my body sensations. That's the only true thing.

Knowing all these theoretically is one thing, but the benefit of having these 10 day silent protected time is for us to actually start the process of rewiring our brains and stop the habitual impulse reactions of daily life.

But still, I guess these 10 days are not enough. I was refreshed and ready for the new year, yet, just 2 days in, facing all these unread emails and to-do lists leftover from last year, I'm starting to feel tired again. This won't do.

Intentions 2023

1. Spend more time practicing meditation. From past experience of previous retreats, my self-discipline has not been very strong when it comes to daily sittings. This a new strategy this time is to join a regular group. I've put a recurring event on my calendar to attend a weekly group sitting. Hopefully, this will help me maintain my practice.

2. Help my family be more healthy. In both body and mind. My parents are getting older, and although they are actively doing exercise by themselves, I think they would also benefit from learning Vipassana and begin the reduce their mental burden of growing old (and having the worrisome baggage of 3 single adult children lol). I'm also seeing how my bro is suffering from health problems because of an unhealthy lifestyle. He too could benefit from being more mindful of his habits. It may be a tall order to have them sign up for a 10-day meditation course, but hey, I've done harder things! 3. Turn things down a notch. I know it's counter-intuitive to say I have a deadline, but I've told my boss that I want to leave for my postgrad studies by the next year. So during this timeframe, I'm going to try my best to see what things I can create automated or self-running systems around, and maximize things that can be left undone. In short, how can I make myself dispensable? 4. Continue to serve others and build relationships, but be less "bottom". I used to think that there is a freedom that comes with being invisible and ego-less, and have used that easygoingness to get people to trust me and thus get what I need to be done. But I am starting to learn that doing things this way can be effective earlier in my career, but does not scale when I reached a certain level. Sometimes the right and kind actions are to actively set boundaries, keep clarifying situations, and align expectations. Don't try to be everything for everyone, instead, how can I help others learn how to help each other and help themselves?