#this is something that I started to understand while learning mandarin

[helendamnationx]

Excellent advice! Whatever skill you're learning, it's important to realise that you're not really going to just... encounter something and then know it. You need to let it sink into your brain and stay there. Learn, then reinforce.

Your brain assigns priority to things you do on an everyday basis, so the duolingo "15 minutes a day" method works better than you'd think.

I'd like to add that it's OK if it feels overwhelming right now. It won't always. One thing will click into place, then the next, then the next, and before you know it you'll be an expert. It'll all feel just as natural to you as typing. It just takes patience.

Hello! I am very new to Game Dev and I have a question. So 2 days ago I was watching a tutorial on how to move your player. And to be honest, I was quite overwhelmed by the amout of code and stuff to do. So what I am asking is: "How do you remember alot of code to achieve what you want to add in the game". Not just for making your character move, other things aswell. Thanks for answering in advance!

Honestly, the answer is "familiarity and practice". When you wrote your question to me, you probably weren't thinking about how to spell each word, or where the key for each letter is on the keyboard, or how to put the sentence together in a coherent fashion. For someone unfamiliar with the language and keyboard layout, it could take hours or even days to compose a paragraph. You've already internalized many of those concepts such that you don't even need to think about it anymore - the rules and the vocabulary for composing and expressing your question just came naturally because of how familiar you are with the means of expression.

Much like learning a new language or how to use a particular tool, writing code and coming up with game logic requires a lot of familiarity and practice. This is because they are all essentially ways to express ideas. In order to convey the idea of how a character can move in a game to another person, you would need to use words, concepts, and maybe illustrations that the person understands to express that idea. Similarly, if you wanted to convey an idea using a computer, you would need to use words, concepts, and data the computer understands to express that idea through the computer. The more familiar you are with how the computer works, the easier this becomes. The way you gain familiarity with something is through practice.

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[phoenixglacier]

5.6 Paralogism Archon Quest Interlude Chapter: Act IV

This quest has single-handedly made me happier than anything.

Spoilers for literally everything below.

The 5.6 update has just come out, and with it came the new Archon Quest in Mondstadt!

I’ll start by saying I super super enjoyed it and was also super super looking forward to it. (This is not an unbiased review)

Some notes before we begin:

I play CN dub and EN sub. Always have and always will. It’s a personal preference, but also because mandarin is my second language so I can understand quite a bit. (Fun fact: the dub and sub have quite a bit of difference even in the basic meaning.)

I’ve been in and out of genshin, but I first started back in 1.6.

It’s completely possible that anyone might not have enjoyed this quest for any reason — rather than a review, these are just thoughts I need to get out of my head.

Thoughts in no particular order:

It took just under 3 hours for me to finish the whole thing. There are enough opportunities to pause and take breaks, and most of the fighting isn’t intensive, and the dialogue doesn’t just infodump on you. All in all nice pacing for me!

Dahlia’s relationship with Venti was surprisingly exactly what I was fantasising; he’s close friends with Venti and fully aware of his silly little personality, and it only makes his faith in Barbatos all the more stronger. I think lots of people (Jean, Diluc, Kaeya) love their archon even more when they can see him as a person, so it’s so fun that Dahlia is in the same boat while having an even stronger faith.

The way they kept locking eyes really sold how close of a relationship they have. And then their silly little conversation where both of them danced around Venti’s true identity and teased each other was also super adorable. I look forward to learning more about Dahlia – he seems so professional and also cheeky.

Dahlia running messages for Venti was also something predicted beforehand, but I was so excited to see it come true!

They jumped straight into the trial, which was pretty awesome! That way I wasn’t anxiously waiting through gameplay for something to go wrong out of nowhere. I think putting it at the beginning also showed they teased the right part, since that way we pretty much all started out with similar information whether we watched the trailer or not.

Kaeya did a great job as the defence. Earlier when the trailer dropped, I found it interesting that he was the one taking on that role, since it’s not really his thing? Kaeya’s job usually involves intel, infiltration, negotiation… in particular, I thought he might be up there to buy time, like maybe the whole trial was a diversion. So when it was revealed that Kaeya was performing an elaborate façade the entire time, it was really personally satisfying because it matched up with my thoughts. It was the same with Albedo: the trailer seemed like it was leaning fully into him being evil, so I did guess he was putting on some sort of performance too — he does like to act a little evil sometimes. For enrichment.

While I listened to Hertha and her evidence, I kept thinking “The evidence looks really bad for Albedo, but also isn’t conclusive evidence at all.” Her behaviour and the behaviour of the rest of the knights really made me feel that it was strange she was so set on persecuting him. I was already imagining that maybe it wasn’t really her, because she was acting so dramatically. The payoff was super sweet!

Knowing that this update was coming, I rewatched Act I of Albedo’s story quest, 1.2’s The Chalk Prince and the Dragon, and 2.3’s Shadows Amidst Snowstorms to be updated on the whole story beforehand. As a result, my understanding of everything they said during the quest was pretty smooth — I can’t be objective about how smooth it would’ve been otherwise. That being said, I like how they explained things as they came up too!

Pacing felt pretty good for me! I preferred this style of going back and forth between objectives and dialogue in shorter intervals. I personally hope they do this more in the future!

They brought in absolutely all the characters, which made me so happy! I play Genshin for the characters after all! Of course we had our major cast, but I was super happy that characters like Bennett also had their moments. It also felt super appropriate since it was a Mondstadt-wide situation. It was also really fun to see them mixing up the pairings a bit, with Lisa teaching Razor, Eula going with Klee, Amber teaming with Mika, and so on. It really sold the idea that our characters have lives and connections outside of what we are privy to, instead of just convenient pairs. It also seemed like a way to show that these characters aren’t isolated anymore and are becoming a tight community of people.

Speaking of community! Mondstadt has grown so much closer and trusting than way back in the Prologue. From Diluc working together with the knights, to Albedo freely trusting them with his biggest secret, to everyone knowing about the personal lives of NPCs, it really seemed like they’d become so much stronger than before by strengthening their trust. 

People pointed out the presence of Donna way back in the trailer and joked that she was only here to watch Diluc — another awesome payoff! I also liked that they brought up her crush enough that it was okay if you didn’t really know her before. The same with Beatrice and Quinn. It was made so special because we’ve known their stories for so long, but the story was understandable without it too.

In terms of more characters I didn’t expect, all that Durin talk definitely made me think about Mini Durin. I figured they had decided not to bring him up, so seeing Mini Durin show up really blew my expectations out of the water.

I will say that unlike all the Shadows Amidst Snowstorms references, I can’t imagine anyone would understand Mini Durin’s situation without having visited Simulanka (4.8 Summertide Scales and Tales). I really hope they decide to bring back all the events someday. 

The tease of Durin’s human form completely caught me off-guard! I’m so excited to see what they’ll do with him. Maybe when he comes out as a playable character, they’ll make Simulanka a proper permanent quest in some form..?

I love Venti so much. So much. And this quest did him so much justice. It was established way back in the Archon Quest Prologue and his Story Quest that Venti constantly switches between “Venti mode” and “Archon mode”. Miaojiang’s voice acting makes that difference really beautiful. In “Venti mode”, Venti purposefully plays up his weakness, ego, love for drinks, and all-round puts on a face as a bard of no particular threat. It’s an act, one that Venti really likes playing, but an act nonetheless. This quest showcased this really well! Venti was involving himself so much and using his godly powers, and then putting on an act to hide his identity when he thought he needed it.

The extent of Venti’s involvement also felt really warranted. The knights clearly felt they had it handled, so all he did was give them support in specific ways and make sure to keep an eye on everything going on. It’s a type of archonly oversight that just feels so comforting. It’s also funny that between Venti and Jean, Venti can’t possibly succeed in teasing her.

I imagine both Albedo and Kaeya would have felt really happy that they officially have the blessing of Barbatos (per the wind communication spell)

More gameplay things: I really like setting up the story so that Lumine doesn’t always have to be involved in every little thing, such as when Diluc and Kaeya were on the bridge. The trial characters were a neat bridge to achieve that, but I do wish they let us choose to use our own characters too if we had them built!

That beautiful still art of Venti, Varka, and the Hexenzirkel really struck me because they used Venti’s modern outfit instead of his archon look. And it felt like it all just kept teasing more and more information. Albedo navigating the Hexenzirkel like a big, complicated extended family was awesome. Just listening to him negotiate with Alice while calling her Āyí made me feel things. Him ultimate referring to the whole situation as “just another day for his family” and calling Durin his brother were perfect.

More bits and pieces here, but I like the angle they took for Albedo’s pursuit of science. To my understanding, he believes in “Knowledge for the sake of knowledge”, while at the same time, being conscious of the consequences of acting carelessly. In other words, he doesn’t inherently aim to better the world with his science, nor does he believe there are inherent consequences to doing drastic things like creation. But he also doesn’t ignore the possibility of causing harm. It’s not my personal approach to science, but it’s very reasonable and very congruent with his character.

I can’t possibly cover absolutely everything, but Eula deserves a mention. I was wondering why she wasn’t speaking up about our experience in Shadows Amidst Snowstorms during the trial, and thought it might be because she’s worried her reputation as a Lawrence would just cast further suspicion, but it turns out she was part of the plan all along. I love how panicked she was when she lost Klee. I love how she happily played along with Klee after that. I love how a subtle signal from her was all Amber needed to know exactly what she wanted. I love how when Amber heard Eula kept it all a secret, she was so proud of her secret-keeping abilities instead of being upset. Also shout-out to Diluc saying that he could tell Kaeya wasn’t acting right, and continuing the trend of protecting him. They clearly still have a ways to go, but it feels like young adult awkward distance to me.

Bringing up pacing again, but I really liked the pace that they gave us info. Nothing is in a huge chunk, and everything is enough to understand what’s happening, and Paimon validates us when we’re not supposed to know something. We’re told as soon as it’s revealed that all of this was a setup and now we have to defend the city, and then between fights and dialogues they explain the details of the plan to us, which made all of it way more enjoyable. Later when Albedo mentioned that Gold devoured Naberius, Paimon’s reaction let me know I was supposed to feel confused, which immediately made the experience comfortable.

Also what do you mean Gold ate the Ruler of Life. Albedo. What is wrong with your family.

I think it’s very fitting that Albedo looks a little crazed and perfect trailer bait when he’s creating a new body for Durin — it’s when he most resembles his mother, after all. Also, he is very unrepentant about killing several whoppers. Mondstadt is lucky he’s one of them.

Also Venti in his sniper's nest never happened, trailer blatantly lied to us. But something I thought about when I saw him up there with his bow was that Venti actually gets involved in his people's business super quickly, but rarely through combat. At the time, I thought him showing up in public in combat mode showed how dire the situation was. But instead, the threat was so adequately contained by the knights that Venti didn't have to bust out combat mode at all, and instead helped out in his usual Barbatos way (and a little more!)

Closing thoughts:

I was so excited leading up to this update that it nearly scared me. A part of me thought, if I have such high expectations, what if it can’t meet my expectations anymore? I even speedran the whole Natlan quest over the course of four days so that I would be ready for anything in this quest, and I had a lot of issues with it. I had built the Mondstadt quest up in my mind to be this huge thing — thankfully, it delivered with flying colours. The singular only thing that would have made it better is if Venti sang a song.

Based on the recent behind the scenes where the developers talked about Nod-Krai but also a lot about their process in general, I feel like returning to Mondstadt was likely part of their plan to wrap up all the plot threads they’ve put out from the beginning. They seem to be listening to things that the players have said about missing pieces of information or certain technologies being too jarring. The return to Mondstadt was handled beautifully, and felt like coming home to see everyone stronger together.

I wrote this because I’m still bursting with excitement from the quest and need to speak to someone about this, so into the void it goes.

[saxophonesir]

Part four of my white passing Tim Drake agenda

It started with a joke.

Dick had been helping Tim clean up his apartment—by which he meant Dick was lounging on Tim’s couch, making comments, while Tim actually cleaned.

Tim was reorganizing his bookshelf when Dick, scrolling through his phone, snorted. “Man, I swear, Bruce has us all collecting languages like trading cards. What are you at now? Five? Six?”

Tim rolled his eyes, shifting a stack of books. “Seven.”

Dick let out a low whistle. “Show-off. What are they?”

Tim didn’t even look up. “French, German, Spanish, Russian, Latin, Greek, and Mandarin.”

Dick froze. “Mandarin?”

Tim, still distracted, hummed in confirmation. “Yeah.”

A beat of silence. Then—

“Huh.”

Tim turned, eyebrow raised. “What?”

Dick sat up, studying him like he’d just grown a second head. “You speak Mandarin.”

Tim frowned. “Yeah? So?”

Dick gestured vaguely at him. “Since when do you speak Mandarin?”

Tim rolled his eyes. “Since I learned it, obviously.”

Dick scoffed. “No, I mean—why?”

Tim blinked, thrown off by the question. “…Why does anyone learn a language?”

Dick narrowed his eyes. “Okay, but, like… was it just for missions? Or did you—” He cut himself off, his brain finally catching up.

Tim saw the exact moment it clicked.

Dick’s eyes widened slightly, his expression shifting from confusion to realization to something softer. “Wait. Is this a family thing?”

Tim sighed. He should’ve known this was going to happen eventually. “…Yeah. My mom was Chinese.”

Dick stared at him. “Holy shit.”

Tim rolled his eyes again. “Really? That’s your reaction?”

“I mean—! I just—!” Dick gestured wildly, clearly thrown. “Dude, how did I not know that?”

Tim shrugged, turning back to his bookshelf. “I don’t really talk about it.”

Dick was still staring, his brain visibly short-circuiting. “I just assumed—you know, rich Gotham kid, white parents—” He groaned, dragging a hand down his face. “God, I’m an idiot.”

Tim smirked. “Finally, something we can agree on.”

Dick huffed, then, after a pause, asked, “So… do you actually use it? Like, can you hold a conversation?”

Tim hesitated, then admitted, “…My Mandarin is kind of crap.”

Dick’s brows shot up. “But you speak seven languages?”

Tim groaned, flopping onto the couch beside him. “I know! It makes no sense! I can read it fine, my grammar’s solid, but my accent—” He shook his head. “Apparently, I sound awful.”

Dick snickered. “Like, ‘off’ how?”

Tim glared at him. “Like, I sound like a white guy reading from a phrasebook.”

Dick lost it, doubling over with laughter. “Oh my god—”

Tim shoved him. “Shut up.”

Dick was still grinning. “No, no, it’s just—it’s so you! Of course you’d be perfect at every other language but sound like a tourist in the one tied to your own family.”

Tim scowled. “Glad you find it funny.”

Dick nudged him playfully. “Hey, it’s kinda endearing. And, you know, we do have a bunch of native speakers in the family. If you ever wanna work on it, I’m sure Damian would love to mock—I mean, help you.”

Tim groaned. “Great. Exactly what I need.”

Dick grinned. “Hey, I think it’s cool. And, you know, if you ever do wanna talk about it, I’m all ears.”

Tim glanced at en gave a small nod. “Yeah. Thanks, Dick.”

Dick beamed. “Anytime. Now, say something in Mandarin. I gotta hear this accent.”

Tim threw a pillow at his face.

Now, Bruce. Bruce prided himself on knowing everything about the people in his life. It wasn’t just a habit—it was a necessity. Information was protection. If he knew, he could prepare. If he could prepare, he could keep them safe.

It wasn’t arrogance—it was necessity. Their lives depended on preparation, on understanding the people they fought alongside. He had contingency plans for all of them, profiles meticulously detailed, habits cataloged. He knew how Jason held his jaw when he was about to throw a punch, the exact lilt in Dick’s voice when he was covering up exhaustion, the barely perceptible shift in Damian’s stance when he was about to lie.

And yet, somehow, he had missed something so fundamental about Tim that it made him question everything.

He had overheard it by accident.

A rare quiet evening in the manor, Damian and Tim sitting at the long dining table, a chess game between them. Bruce had only been half-listening as he went over case notes, his mind caught between the present and the ever-growing weight of unfinished business. Then, in a tone that was more observational than judgmental, Damian had said, “Your pronunciation is dreadful. It is almost shameful, considering your background.”

Tim had groaned. “Yes, thank you, Damian. I’m aware.”

Bruce hadn’t thought much of it at first—until Damian continued.

“It is strange. You should be more naturally inclined toward it.”

Tim had sighed. “Yeah, well, language skills aren’t genetic, Damian. And just because my mom was Chinese doesn’t mean I grew up speaking it fluently.”

Bruce had stilled.

It was such a small thing. Just a few words exchanged between brothers.

But they hit Bruce like a blow to the chest.

Tim’s mother was Chinese.

Janet Drake—distant, sharp, refined—had been Chinese. And Bruce had never once thought about it. Never questioned it.

And suddenly, all the little things he had overlooked over the years began to piece themselves together.

The way Tim brewed tea with an almost unconscious precision. The books on his shelves, some with spines marked in Chinese characters. The way he sometimes hesitated before saying certain words, as if recalling something half-forgotten. The fact that he had never quite seemed at home in spaces meant for him, never quite fit into the image of “Timothy Jackson Drake” that the world had constructed around him.

Bruce had missed it.

And that realization settled deep inside him, alongside all the other failures he carried when it came to Tim.

Because, of course, he had missed it. Of course, Tim was the one son he had never quite been able to read.

With Dick, there was warmth, openness. With Jason, there had been fire, defiance. Even Damian, for all his sharp edges, had a clear, undeniable presence.

But Tim?

Tim had always been quiet. Always watching. Always adapting. A chameleon in any situation, taking up only as much space as the moment required. He was easy to perceive, but never to see.

And now Bruce was wondering—how much else had he missed?

The thought lingered with him long after Damian had won the chess game and Tim had grumbled about it. Long after they had cleared the board and gone their separate ways.

That night, Bruce found himself in the cave, staring at Tim’s file on the Batcomputer.

It contained everything—height, weight, medical records, case history. But nowhere in those cold, analytical lines of text was the truth of who Tim was.

Who he had always been.

Bruce sat in the dim glow of the monitor, fingers steepled, jaw tight.

For the first time in a long while, he felt like the world’s greatest detective had failed to solve the most important case of all.

His own son.

It makes sense now, in everything Bruce had dismissed before. When he overheard Tim practicing Mandarin with Damian, his accent just slightly off. When he’d caught sight of an old photo of Janet Drake, tucked away in a folder on Tim’s desk. Or when it was the tea—chrysanthemum, Tim had said absentmindedly one night, a quiet tradition carried from his mother, a detail Bruce had never thought to ask about.

It was staggering.

Not because it changed anything—Tim was still Tim. But because he had missed it. Because it made him realize just how much he had always been missing when it came to Tim.

It was a quiet night in the Cave when he finally said it.

“I didn’t know.”

Tim, hunched over the Batcomputer, barely looked up. “Know what?”

Bruce hesitated. “That your mother was Chinese.”

Tim’s fingers froze over the keyboard.

For a second, there was nothing. Then, slowly, Tim turned, raising an eyebrow. “You didn’t?”

Bruce exhaled, feeling something heavy settle in his chest. “No.”

Tim studied him, and Bruce could see it happening—Tim processing, assessing, deciding how to react.

Then, with a faint, almost amused scoff, Tim said, “Huh. And here I thought you knew everything.”

Bruce closed his eyes briefly. “I should have.”

Tim was quiet for a long moment, and when he spoke again, his voice was unreadable. “Does it bother you?”

Bruce’s eyes snapped open. “Of course not.”

Tim tilted his head slightly, like he was testing Bruce’s reaction, looking for cracks in his composure. “Then why bring it up?”

Because I failed you.

Because you’re my son, and I should have known.

Bruce exhaled. “Because I realize now how much I’ve overlooked.”

Tim blinked at that, clearly not expecting the admission.

Bruce pressed on. “I… I’ve always felt like there was something missing. Like I was never able to connect with you the way I do with the others.” His jaw tightened. “I thought it was just me. That I was failing in some way.”

Tim’s expression flickered—something unreadable, something quiet.

“…Bruce.” His voice was softer now, less guarded. “It’s not like I was hiding it.”

“I know.”

Tim glanced away, drumming his fingers against the desk. “…Guess I just never thought it mattered.”

“It does,” Bruce said simply.

Tim let out a slow breath, then, after a pause, smirked. “Well. If it makes you feel better, I barely speak Mandarin anyway. My accent’s terrible.”

Bruce gave him a look. “Yes, I’ve heard.”

Tim groaned. “Oh my god, not you too—”

Bruce let the corner of his mouth quirk up, just slightly.

Tim rolled his eyes, but there was something lighter in his expression now, something easier.

And Bruce… Bruce felt it, too.

Maybe they weren’t as disconnected as he had always feared.

Part three

[bloomzone]

hi, what's your morning to night routine

MY MORNING & NIGHT ROUTINE

🍄-Morning Routine

I wake up at 5:30 AM every day (yes, I’m a morning person). The first thing I do is drink warm water because, let’s be honest, I feel like a dried-up sponge when I wake up. Then, I do a quick stretch—it’s nothing fancy, just something to get the blood moving.

My favorite part of the morning? Opening Duolingo. It’s such a vibe starting the day with something productive, and I feel like I’m keeping my brain sharp (plus, the streak pressure is real ... I'm learning mandarine). After that, it’s skincare time! I wash my face with cleanser - I put usually aloe Vera gel mask so my skin thanks me for the extra love.

Breakfast is sacred—I don’t skip it, ever. Some days it’s eggs and olive oil, other days I’ll have boiled rice or a piece of bread with something energetic. And, of course, hot milk / coffee because it makes mornings feel extra cozy. By 7 AM, I’m ready to conquer school, feeling like I’ve already accomplished a mini checklist.

🍄-Night Routine

After school, I usually eat something , help my mom and get straight into homework. If there’s something I didn’t understand, I’ll go over it until it makes sense

Once the schoolwork is out of the way, I give myself some time to relax. Journaling has become a little ritual for me—it’s just me, my pen, and a brain dump of all the things I need to get out. Sometimes I plan my next day or even just write down random thoughts.

When it’s time to get ready for bed, I do my skincare routine Then, I scroll through Tumblr for a bit watch Youtube or daydream about my goals while tucked under my blanket. I’m usually in bed by 10 PM, though sometimes my mind wants to stay up plotting the next big thing.

@bloomzone ✒️

[mielwriting]

My thoughts on the 5.0 livestream

Disappointed Mavuika appears to be another pyro claymore. Was really hoping for a 5 star pyro sword. Would also help make connections to Bennett, since he's the only other pyro sword.

Props to those who predicted Il Capitano would be a cryo user!

Also props to whoever predicted the Archon Quests would follow the pattern shown in the Mond prologue: that is, first we learn about the Abyss Order as enemies, then we focus on the Fatui for a while, then the Abyss Order comes back into focus closer to the final showdown. It seems they’re getting a much bigger focus in the Natlan archon quest!

Also, wow, so we already know Natlan and Mondstadt have weird connections - Now we know they have another one: Natlan and Mondstadt are the only 2 nations the Abyss Order is interested in. 

Hey look a pale npc with dreadlocks

Love the greater focus on the Mandarin language! Very nice for a learner

Furina wasn’t biologically an archon, so her hair didn’t glow - she had that glowy fabric in the back of her outfit to kinda hide that. Mavuika is a really nice contrast - her entire head of hair glows very bright! Not just the tips like previous archons

Was noticeable how they reframed the player feedback: “everyone’s very interested in our inspirations for Natlan” as a corporate translation of everyone’s anger over the whitewashing and Spirit Halloween-ifying

Still disappointed in the pyro archon’s leather biker suit

Someone more familiar with Genshin’s music look into this - but around 34:10 when they started answering the question “will someone be resurrected” does the music resemble more the music from La Signora’s funeral video?

Wonder about the original Mandarin titles for the Archon Quest acts - Because “Flowers Resplendent on the Sun-Scorched Sojourn” sounds so cool - and then Act 2 is “Black Stone under a White Stone”. It’s just comically simple compared to the big words that are usually in genshin titles

Also really interested in the Ancient Names thing. I’m almost certain it’s something taken from a real-life culture, and should really research more into that. 

Did I understand that right? They’re gonna give us Kachina for free, just like we got Amber and Kaeya and Lisa back in Mondstadt? 

All 3 of the new 5.0 characters mark regional specialties, and also have additional exploration benefits!

Wow you can really see the effect that Wuthering Waves had on Genshin

And Test Run finally lets you test out the effects of the characters in an open-world environment!

Traveler will not get the pyro element this update - but it sounds like that’s a possibility for once the Archon Quest has finished?

So I noticed that the 2 new Geo characters we’ll get - Kachina  and the tall lady - both come from the same tribe - the one associated with rocks and such. Makes me wonder if it’s possible to even get a vision that doesn’t correspond to your tribe’s element. 

Really seems like the cultural elements here are more simplified “everyone in this tribe loves music” “everyone in this tribe loves extreme sports” “everyone in this tribe loves mining” where’s the complexity. 

I shall add capybaras to my teapot!

Yay another Dodoco event! I really enjoyed the one last year

They’re also giving out extra rewards for completing archon and story quests within the 6 week release - including giving us a lot of the ascension materials to get to level 60!

Did find it funny when one guy was explaining all the new benefits and the other is like, “wait, this is Genshin Impact? All this cool stuff is in Genshin Impact?” Like yeah Wuthering Waves bred innovation!

FREE STANDARD FIVE STAR EVERY YEAR

I already have Tighnari, Dehya, and Keqing. I don’t really want any of their constellations, so my choice is between Qiqi, Mona, Jean, and Diluc. I don’t want Qiqi, and I don’t need Mona since I already have Furina. It’s down to Jean or Diluc. Jean’s ability to push people away looks really fun, and I can certainly think of places where I would’ve loved to have that skill. However, I have wanted Diluc since the very first time we played him in that trial run during the Mond archon quest. I also already have Kaeya, Rosaria, and Venti, so completing the Angel’s Share team would be cool. My only hesitation is that his gameplay will probably be outdone by Mavuika. But leaks have said she might not release til January, when I was expecting her in November (however leaks also said Emilie was part of Hexenzirkel they aren’t always right).

Love that Oratrice Mechanique d’Analyse Cardinale made it into the stream

BEFORE Khoi Dao repeated that phrase, I did not know he spoke French. But I could hear his actual good French-speaking accent when he said it, and turns out he does indeed speak it! Cool!

Yippee!

Zach Aguilar and Khoi Dao are a great comedic duo

LOVE to hear Brittany Lauda talk about relating to her character, Chiori, for both being seen as intimidating - I specifically relate to Chiori for her basic facial expressions, her bluntness, her acceptance of her quirks, and difficulty making friends because of those traits. Just really glad to hear I’m not the only one. 

The English voice actor for Lumine actually has a twin brother?! 

Amber Lee Conners appeared at the end of the stream, so this is a good place to say how AMAZING her voice acting as Furina is. Just listening to her voice lines and hearing the difference between her acting confident and her actual, recovering-from-depression self is a clear display of talent. Always a treat to listen to. 

Jenny Yokobori (Yoimiya VA) having worked as a pyrotechnician! Cool! 

And her sharing the bond with her character for their dads. So sweet.

Let Erika Harlacher-Stone sing as Venti more!

The Clorinda VA Crystal Lee also loves Tabletop Games!

[j0kers-light]

Hey <3 What would Joker think about a reader who speaks lots of languages? Does he speak multiple as well? Would he learn some together with the reader? Or does he not really pay attention to that? Have a lovely day~

Hey hi my love!! 🖤✨

It’s a beautiful day actually and my brain is running a mile a minute to answer this. As someone who is trilingual, (and working on learning more) I find it tricky to answer this ask from Joker’s perspective. 

Because on one hand learning a new language is both daunting and fun; anyone can do it! However it does have a tendency to pinpoint origin and define you as a person. 

Joker knowing a different language (in my opinion) is too risky given his strict, “I have an untraceable past” reputation. If he starts speaking a different language, it can be traced back to his past.

So no. I don’t think Joker would bother learning a different language. He speaks English and sarcasm. Now if it were for the betterment of his Light? He might?

Joker believes that pain translates the same across all languages, so why bother trying to understand what a person is saying as they plead for mercy?

He doesn’t have the need to pick up a new language so English it is!

That all changes when he meets his Bunny who is a foreign speaker. And ohh boy, he wasn’t prepared.

Your accent, the speed in which you talk.. Joker finds it downright sexy! Everything you say has a bit of a kick to it.

He doesn’t know a word you’re saying most of the time and you use that to your advantage when you’re upset with him. 

You stop talking in English and rant in your mother tongue leaving Joker standing there like 👁️🫦👁️

Joker is a certified simp. We know this. He instantly bricks up hearing you speak, especially if you say something during sex that he can’t translate. Horn-Y to the point of no return. 🥵

He is in awe how you speak multiple different tongues in the same conversation, simply because you can. 

One minute you are cracking a joke in English, you pause to listen to someone speak (insert language) and then you reply in a third; effectively blowing J’s mind.

You are constantly translating in your head and thinking of the correct consonants and vowels to use while still engaging in conversation.

It takes a sharp mind and loads of patience that Joker greatly admires. How you do it? He’ll never understand but it’s definitely hot.

Joker finds out that you know to sign and can read Braille too by accident; what are you? A walking Rosetta Stone? At this point what language do you not know?

Imagine his disbelief when he discovers you can sing certain songs in several more languages…

Joker dubs you his Google translate and if he needs assistance, best believe he’s asking for your help. 

You turn to glare at your boyfriend in disdain. He really dragged you out of bed for this. “I don’t know Mandarin, Joker.” You say for the fourth time.

Your response isn’t what J was expecting and his wide grin slowly falls from his face. Tense seconds pass as he hides his disappointment. “Bunny… you know a loT of languages..”

“Yes, but not..” You pinch your nose with a sigh. You are not an automated translator that J assumes you to be. You don't know every language! (that would be so cool btw)

The best course of action is letting Joker's hopes and dreams down softly. “It’s a rather hard and complicated dialect to learn, J.”

“And that mumbo jumbo you sang the other day wasn’t hard?!”

You drew a blank at him cutting you off. “J, what are you talking about?”

“Uhh you sa~ng in the car jusT fine, what's stopping ya now?” He grumbled. It took you a minute to remember what he's talking about and even then, you're still confused.

“Joker. That was Hebrew. Completely different language. Omg, are you really that racist?” You ask.

The poor guy that Joker abducted will just have to wait until you and J finish arguing to confess that he's fluent in English. He's too invested in this discussion to interrupt.

So that was a self insert head canon anon sorry not sorry. 🤣🤣🤣🥴 To clear the air. 

I can speak English, Greek, and Spanish. Although I can read and comprehend Spanish better than speaking it. 😭

I began learning French and Russian when I was in school but dropped it for personal reasons. Oh! I totally forgot that my boss was teaching me Vietnamese for two years back in the day lol.

I can sing certain songs in Hebrew, Danish, Latin, Spanish, French, and Japanese. I also poorly translated a few chapters of a book in German out of desperation until the official release was published in English. 🙃 I'm a menace.

[butterrdream]

Let's talk languages in In Somnis (and general language headcanons I have for characters)

Truthfully, I'm not sure how exactly I'm going to go about this in the actual fic itself because realistically not everyone would be speaking the same language nor at the same fluency. For the ease of telling a story I might just not have anyone really acknowledge this and just pretend everyone speaks the same language but I also feel this isn't true or accurate to the story I want to tell so I'm still figuring out how realistically I want to handle this topic in In Somnis (as I could also use it to help highlight certain themes I have if I do make languages a big deal but once again that comes with an assortment of other complications).

Biggest example being is that Apple doesn’t actually speak Italian very well (and eventually Japanese too once it gets to that point in the story). She’s just fluent enough to get herself by (especially after already having been living there for about 2 years before the start of the series) but she struggles a bit at learning new languages. Do I lean into this or not? I do worry how it would complicate things such as communication down the road. But perhaps that's just the struggle I need to work through as an writer...

Anyway! let's talk about some headcanons!

As I said earlier Apple doesn't speak Italian very well! On the other hand we have Reborn who is a polyglot and who I see as someone who takes a special interest in languages. I think Reborn would try to teach Apple Italian but because I also headcanon him as Sicilian I definitely think he tries to teach her Sicilian too (which is a bad idea especially at the start because she's already struggling hard enough with one language why are you throwing two at her now). On the other hand we have Luce who I headcanon as Northern Italian (From Milan). I think it would be funny if Luce would try to teach Apple Northern Italian slang and intonation and accent. Something that annoys Reborn to no end (which only makes Luce wanna do it more!) and only proves to confuse Apple more lol. Now what languages does Apple actually know? She's the most fluent in English having grown up in North America (I don't know if she's American or Canadian yet but probably Canadian since that's what I'm most familiar with), some Burmese, very little mandarin, and enough Japanese to show anyone she's a weeb /lh. I think her daily life gag would be that due to her poor understanding of Japanese she would often mistake similar sounding (or not so similar sounding) words for one another which leads to all sorts of misunderstandings and hijinks!

Let's talk about Reborn now (and the other arcobalenos in general)! Well I already said he's a polyglot... For Apple and Reborn I think they're primarily speaking English to one another but do randomly mix in or switch to the other languages they know. I think Reborn would actually speak better Burmese (and of course mandarin) than Apple which annoys her to no end. Apple girlie... Why are you letting this white man show you up? /lh I think in general when it comes to the Arcobaleno they're all speaking a mix of Italian and English to one another depending on their level of fluency but it's also just a mix of languages. I imagine them all sitting at a table together you're gonna just hear a lot of different languages being spoken back and forth. Reborn would speak to Fon in Mandarin, while immediately turning to Luce to address her in Italian. Switching to English when it's a group discussion but then switching to French to bicker with Verde. And then of course those who are also fluent in those languages would also contribute and all around! Many languages to be had here!

Now for the tenth gen!! So obviously Gokudera is fluent in Italian but I also like to think he's fluent in English (when he and Apple bicker it's mostly done in English lol). Mukuro I think is another one who is fluent in all three (English, Italian, Japanese). And honestly... Hibari being a rich boy I think he would definitely be fluent in multiple languages. I'm not sure which ones yet but I think if he wanted to learn he could pick it up pretty easily! Now, will he actually speak those languages to you? That's a whole other can of worms... Oh, and I think Lambo is also fluent in all three! (and as we know I-Pin only really knows Mandarin but gets better with her Japanese with time) For Tsuna, Yamamoto, Chrome, and Ryohei I think they're not fluent in either English or Italian (well chrome is learning Italian and is getting there thanks to the Kokuyo gangs influence). I definitely think once things calm down (so post-canon) Reborn starts to give them weekly Italian lessons (he makes Apple sit in on these too much to her displeasure "why am I learning with the kids this isn't fair I'm more fluent than them!... Maybe..."). And he also makes Apple give them English lessons! Though she's not the best teacher so... the results vary lol. Also, Gokudera, being fluent in both languages, doesn't need to be there but attends them anyway to support and help Tsuna. He's so respectful during Reborn's lessons meanwhile for Apple's he's always got something to say and nitpick at. The girls also attend these lessons at times (Haru is the most fluent in English out of them all but Kyoko's isn't bad either!) Apple also gives them separate lessons at times because she finds them more pleasant to be around /j

And then finally... Let's talk about the True Earthlings! Considering they're basically some form of ancient being that they would have their own language! I do think because they've been alive for so long though most Earthlings have picked up multiple other modern languages.

And that's it for now! If anyone actually read this all thank you, and please let me know your own language headcanons for canon characters or your own OCs!! I would be super interested to know how you guys go about it! As in do you touch on it much or is everyone just sorta fluent in the same language? It's a really fascinating and fun topic to me!

[jukipptx]

heyy can u do when u secretly learn mandarin for chenle and when he finds out he teases u about it lovingly? tyy if u do 🫶

this one was a bit hard 😭😭😭 but your idea was so cute i haaaaad to try 😭😭😭 hope you like it 💗💗💗💗💗💗💗💗

chenle did everything for you. he picked you up everywhere, he ordered food everyday, he bought you pretty expensive gifts, he carried you from the sofa to the bed, he did everything so you could live on auto pilot. he always said he wasn’t romantic ??? but he was the most loving boy you’ve ever met. his love language was taking care of you. so you thought that it was time for you to take care of him.

you had tried several times, but he would never let you do anything. you would try to make breakfast, but he always woke up first on purpose. you tried to make the bed, but he tackled you during your attempt. you tried to wash the dishes, but he distracted you with kisses and kissed you all the way to the sofa. he always said he was fine and that he invited you to live in his place just to have some peace and fun and quoting him “live happily like a baby” 🙄 so it took you some time to figure out what you would do to help. you thought maybe you wouldn’t try to help, but you would surprise him somehow and do something nice.

so next month chenle’s family was visiting for a few days, they also gave him some days off, so he decided it was time for you all to meet 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫 so you decided that you would start learning chinese so chenle wouldn’t have to translate every single thing during the meeting (it was so serious to you omg). it would be a very hard challenge, it took you years to start to understand korean, but you would give it a try because you just loved him so much and everything he did for you. you still had a month till the visit was happening, so you got to work.

you struggled so much omg 😭😭😭 they said it would be easier if you already knew korean, but it wasn’t!!! also it was being super hard to hide from chenle. he almost caught you like a hundred times while watching videos.

“what are you doing?” he creeped behind you and smirked. you just locked your phone quickly. “nothing, don’t be nosy.” you just rolled your eyes, pretending you weren’t nervous.

when the day came, you were also soooo nervous. what if you didn’t understand anything at all???? what if it’s harder to understand a real chinese person than a chinese teacher????!!!! when chenle spoke on the phone with chinese members, you tried to overhear, but it was so hard. he spoke too fast and sooo lazily. you never understood a thing. you were only hoping for a miracle when meeting his mother. fortunately enough, miracles do happen sometimes.

her mother greeted him in chinese. they hugged and shared a few words, and you could also somehow understand that she was scolding him for ??? being so skinny ???

then she looked at you, gave you a big smile and hugged you hard as well. whilst hugging you, she told you how she was so happy to finally meet you, how you were so pretty, and she also started scolding you for being so skinny. you actually understood all of it!!!! 😭😭😭 you simply responded with a smile and a “thank you” in chinese.

when chenle was about to translate you stopped him with a proud look on your face.

“what my mom is trying to say is-“ he started but you interrupted.

“oh i understood.” you smiled at her and then told her “i’ve been learning chinese.” she just smiled back and held your hand lovingly. chenle just smirked and kept quiet. you kneeeeew the teasing would come eventually.

when his mother left, it started. it took him exactly 5 seconds to start. the second he closed the door, you could hear him mock you.

“oh i understood.” he mocked you. then he hugged you from behind, resting his chin on your shoulder. he planted little quick kisses in your cheeks.

“stop it.” you tried to break free from his hold, but it was stupid to try. he was way stronger than you. he started walking towards the sofa and inevitably dragged you along.

“you were so cute, i almost cried.” he held you tighter, even lifting you a little from the ground. then he sat down on the sofa and pulled you in his lap. he squealed which made you jump a little. “i’m sorry, i just can’t believe how cute that was.” he kept on hugging, and started swinging you from left to right.

“stooooooop.” you threw your head back, letting it rest in his shoulder. he took this opportunity to kiss you soundly on your cheek. you wiped it and he gasped dramatically, but then he went back to teasing.

“aigooo baby you’re so cute i might cry.” he pressed his cheek on your cheek and started jumping in his seat with a big smile on his face.

“stop teasing or i’ll regret it.” you threatened with a serious voice. he just squealed some more.

“no but that was really nice, really really. thank you baby. my mom was so happy. you’re such a nice and cute person. i love you.” he kissed you on the cheek again.

“love you too.” you turned and kissed him too 😭😭😭😭

[mtkay13]

hi! I have a question, i dont quite understand why zhou zishu is drawn to wen kexing, would you be able to help me? Esp in the earlier chapters, i just get the vibe that he's annoyed with him and doesn't want the guy's company. Do you know when he starts having feelings for wkx or how it progressed? I know zzs is very composed and in pain due to the seven nails so maybe i missed it while being focused on the plot, or maybe the translation is confusing me

Hello there!!! I'm sorry for the time I took to reply, I've been quite busy lately and I am currently taking sort of a break from this fandom (I'm not done or anything haha, just focusing on other things atm.) Anyway! Since you sent two asks, I'm going to quote the other one as well here and reply to both at once! :) Here's your second ask:

i think i answered my own question, i saw the ask where you recommended a certain translation, and the translation is completely different from the one i read. In one, zhou zishu comes off as annoyed w wen kexing and i had a hard time figuring out why tf he was even bothering to meddle. In the other, he comes off as an inquisitive person who suspects more to the situation and to wen kexing, and he's drawn in. Not to sound like an idiot but i understand why there's so many translations of greek classics now. The word choice make the interpretation completely different. I wish i could learn mandarin and learn what the original work says. Random but do you know if it'll ever get an official translation? It has a TV show and all, wouldn't it be marketable to western audiences? Question by the same Anyonymous person

As you put it yourself, yeah, the translation and tone does a lot to indicate what ZZS sees in WKX. I feel like there has been a widely shared sentiment that ZZS is pretty much fed up with him for the better part of the book's first half, and while I think it's a front that he puts up indeed, I feel like the original version and some of the translations do a good job of showing how ZZS finds WKX very intriguing, likely very strong and quite handsome (haha). I like to feel like he started developing a crush quite early on in the book, already seduced by WKX's deep and suave voice in chapter 2. From then on, more and more details about him catch ZZS' interest--WKX's appearance, mystery, his strength and martial arts expertise, and of course the way they seem to profoundly understand each other. It seems to me like there's a big shift during the campfire scene where ZZS recognises WKX's sword technique as being Wen Ruyu, the two of them thus discussing WKX's ancestry and, following that, what it means to be a good or bad person. The connection feels so strong during that conversation that it seems very likely to me that they both started falling in love from then on. Overall, where the translation may play a big role in perceiving ZZS' attraction is how "human and lively" he may seem in some versions. His quirks and "humanness" come out stronger in the ones I have recommended (IMO at least) and thus comes off as much warmer and fun. Through that characterisation, the nuance of him expressing one thing (annoyance) but feeling another (interest) is easier to understand. So yeah, indeed, translation sure is something! Haha, and there are many stories of disagreements and re-interpretations of classics even within professional translators (because for how much I can sometime criticise some versions of TYK, it's important to reiterate that these are all fan translations provided by people kindly dedicating their time and ressources to translate for free--most of the time (cough)--and share for free as well.) Well, I can only wish for you to get to read it in mandarin one day, because it's really, really great (and mandarin is just a fascinating language altogether!!) As for the official translation... I'm not very optimistic. It seems like getting publishing rights is rather complicated to begin with, and on top of that, TYK is currently locked on jjwxc (the website where it was initially published) due to censorship, which I feel makes it even more difficult. Priest has expressed in a rather recent socmed post that she didn't want to edit TYK (whether to censor it or for publication) because it was too old, so it's quite possible that she just isn't interested in putting in the work for TYK to be officially published and translated. That being said, it's just my opinion/analysis of the situation, and I may very well be wrong! Anyway, many thanks for coming to me and trusting my opinion, and I wish you a wonderful day!! 💗💗💗

[rigelmejo]

Do you have any advice for learning tones? I made the mistake of getting to an intermediate level without giving them much attention. Should I just increase my listening, or make a deck specifically for tones? something else? I can hear them in pairs or if someone's speaking slowly, but I don't know where to go from there.

love your language posts btw <3

I hope my answer helps ToT. Some links which have tools for improving tones below. All these posts can be found tagged under #tones on my blog.

I suggest going through these materials first:

Videos that explain tones (including tone sandhi), and here's one from Grace Mandarin on explaining when tones change.

Tools for Practicing Tones (I recommend just going through dong-chinese.com's Pinyin pronunciation guide, then using the tone trainer and tone pair trainer for a little while as those are the basics, then use the minimal pairs site, and the Yoyo pairs chart and Yoyo pairs test. I've used all these tools and continue to use them. If you just use these 4 resources, you'll make a lot of progress).

What do I recommend beyond that? Whatever you want honestly.

If it's important you can speak tones correctly, practice speaking with a tutor or someone who can tell you if you make a mistake. (Or if you want to practice alone, you could do shadowing - I've used Chinese Pronunciation Trainer free app before - the app lets you record yourself and then compare the recording with the app's sentence audio, or I just repeat after sentences I hear in shows or audiobooks sometimes).

If it's important you recognize them better when listening, practice listening more, with some time dedicated specifically to something like listening to the Yoyo Tone Pairs Chart for focused practice.

If you do make a deck specifically for tones, I'd suggest either making a short deck with something like the Yoyo Tone Pairs Chart, and drilling that. Or just keep using whatever language decks you're already using for words and/or sentences with audio, paying closer attention to the pronunciation. You are probably already learning with materials that have audio, so you can probably just keep doing that regularly. I don't think making a deck specifically to practice tones is necessary, if you're already getting listening in other ways which I am guessing you are.

It's always a good idea to listen more, if you want to have good listening skills.

Finally: I don't think I've mastered tones lol, so take what I say with a grain of salt. I practiced a TON the first year, to get better at hearing them, then didn't focus on tones at all. Now I am in this situation where I can clearly HEAR the difference between words with different tones, but I can't correctly label the tones I am hearing. I can speak words in what sounds to me like the correct tone, but if I see pinyin with the tone marks then I sometimes incorrectly pronounce the tones. So there's some issue there, I am not sure yet how to solve it. For listening purposes, I can clearly hear the differences between words when needed for understanding, so I am not actively working on tone recognition. I am sort of hoping that when I start speaking again, I just have the right pronunciation. But if I don't, talking with a tutor and shadowing a lot is my plan to iron out issues when that day comes.

Extra resources below the cut.

More Tone Practice tools:

*Tone explanation (but with words w more than 1 syllable, which is great because the hard part is when a word has 2 o more syllables) Link

More tones! Link

*Youtube vid explaining tones and exceptions like tone modification and the half 3 and 4 tones Link Link2  (edit 1)

Exercises: (edit 7)

which tones do you hear

match pinyin + tone to the sound

match the sound to the pinyin + tone

differenciate between tones

And here's some more:

Links to help on pronunciation:

Wikipedia Standard Chinese Phonology

Wiki Pinyin Table

20 Tone Pairs Chart

Sinosplice pair drills (a free program)

Learn Chinese Tone Pairs (youtube video)

And this explanation from a textbook which I found very helpful. Note: 3rd tone is quite low, and any tone chart in any learning material is not going to be quite accurate. Real tone ranges in conversation lower over the course of a sentence/phrase. Also tones change in TONE PAIRS, which is why so many resources I mentioned include tone pairs, because it's easier to learn to recognize tones in Tone Pairs. Julesy's video goes into it, like how tone 1 is not as high as textbooks say it is, and tones change pitch in tone pairs. I do not think you need to worry about these nuanced details until later on...

[starflungwaddledee]

hii!! i just wanna say your comic and starspeak lore are SO cool omg!! the way you incorporate the essence of the starfolk culture into their language is incredibly creative and very fitting auauagahsahdbsnsnn <3

i'm pretty interested in all the grammar of the language!! i think you mentioned that there's a question particle that kind of works like mandarin chinese, do other final particles exist? little tone indicators in the language seems like it would help mutual understanding between a bunch of mystical star-beings :0

also, if it's been developed yet, how do verbs work in this? granted, i don't know a lot about greek/latin languages or if you're basing the grammar off of them too, but does it lean more towards romance language's crazy conjugations, or a simpler "subject verb noun" structure?

sorry if this is a lot haha i know the language is still a wip, but it's such a cool concept! i think languages are really interesting and the way you incorporate it into kirby is so mmbdbbrnzmxfh✨✨

alright, this one took me a very long time to get to (because i knew it would be long and i've been working on it on and off for a while) and i'm so sorry! thank you so much for your patience veve! and it's been a little while since we've had a starspeak post so let's go!

(i will preface by saying again that the language is still very much a wip which i could change at any time, and that i'm no trained specialist; i'm just doing this for fun and there's a high chance i fully have no clue what i'm talking about 😅)

❓ i'll start with the easiest one of these and go for the question particle!

i think that Celestials are not often doubtful or questioning things, but when they do the particle is an opener rather than a sentence-final (such as ma (嗎/吗) in mandarin chinese). it otherwise works extremely similarly in that it is tagged on to turn a sentence into a question.

so the most common starspeak question particle is tc, almost a mouth sound than a word. the letters are a combination not often used elsewhere in their speech patterns, which i like to think also wraps back around to them being fairly certain of most things they open their mouths to say.

tc is predominantly used when seeking clarification about someone else's experiences, which is probably one of the more frequent times they wouldn't know something in (self-presumed) absolution.

combining it with some other things we've learned; ��pios (see) and eu (you) we can ask someone what they're seeing presently, where the target of the speaker (eu) is in active possession of the seeing action and vl is an active tense:

"tc vlépios eu?" // "(what's) seen (by) you?" // "what do you see?"

unfortunately in the conlangs current state, moving things around even a little bit throws out the meaning of sentences a lot, which is something i could probably iron out more with significantly more time 😅 "tc eu vlépios?" for example would be closer to "you're seen?" and "tc vlépios-eu?" would probably be like.. "what sight possesses you?", which is... still kind of the same i suppose but it's just an unnecessarily intense way to say it 😂

🥰 okay! question particle done and it was not actually the easiest but anyway; onto the personaliser! "ki".

i'm not 100% sure if this sort of thing exists in other languages or what it might be called to begin researching, but it's ostensibly a way to turn an external item or concept into something internal or individualised

asté (star/s) for instance is a very overused word in their language, understandably. you can use it to refer to gaseous bodies, other Celestials, other non-Celestial beings, or even a specific individual rank within a relationship system. ei asté applies an amount of ownership over the star/s, but still does not make them an individual in their own right. you would most likely use this if you happened to be carting around an actual giant flaming ball of gas

ei astéki however immediately makes the star something more personal, a little soul-deep. maybe it's a warm light inside you, or maybe it's the beating heart of another living being. dropping the 'ei' you could use this as a nickname, though it'd be kind of like calling someone 'person'.

"ei astéki skotei koris eu" // "my stars dimmed lacking you" // functionally just a really big ham "i missed you"

🤏 alright rolling on, last one: a diminutive. this one's easier i think; maybe i ought have started here. oh well!

like it says on the tin, this is to make things small and/or cute! the particle is ró and it is usually tacked on at or towards the end of a word. much like in english i think this is usually done affectionately. though it could be done a little pettily or rudely, being small in size is significantly less of a negatively-judged-concept by Celestials than being low in brightness.

here's some examples, probably the easiest way to go about this one! all of these are actively affectionate, not unlike a pet name?

moiydísró - (small) cheeky one astéróki - small star (personaliser; makes this a clear nickname) ei Vaýtitaró - my little gravity

💬 and then to wrap up, this last part about verbs and conjugations!

answering this one with complete confidence would require that i were a bit better at this and had it more fixed and figured out, but i'll do my best!! i'm not really basing the grammar off any one language in particular (I only use translations to form a rough sound/word and go from there), just kind of what feels like the right sort of vibe.

because i was just doing this for myself and for fun i didn't start out with any rules, just rolled with what i enjoyed! if you were doing conlang more seriously i think it would help to set those rules up at the outset 😅

in its present state, my starspeak seems to me to be a topic prominent language with less individual conjugations and more modifiers; including significant reliance on sentence order and word placement

so instead of having many different words for see (seen, saw, to see) it's more about the placement, word combinations, and other modifiers;

ei épios - me see (a request, often used in place of 'wake up') vlépios ei - seeing by me (active tense added by vl but it's not strictly necessary) eu épios - you see (the speaker sees the target) épios-koris eu - without seeing by you (sight possesses a term for "lack", so the sight itself is lacking. "you don't see clearly", ostensibly.) épios ei prioto - seeing by me before (i saw it earlier)

this is sort of a necessity because right now the overall variety of words is limited; both by the earliness of its development and also because i think that this is a species that might not have needed a lot of words.

maybe they moved the same few hundred words around and minced them up in new ways rather than making lots of new ones. maybe they might have communicated through body language as much as with words (despite how much galacta knight clearly loves the sound of his own voice) or maybe i'll change my mind and they'll be a talkative bunch and we'll have dozens of new words soon 😂

anyway, i hope this is a ~fun and cool answer~ that you will enjoy despite its incredible lateness and sprawling length!! thank you so so much for asking me about the language; as you can tell i dearly love to talk about it despite its nebulousness, and i'm sorry it took me so long to get this out!

[oliviabutsmart]

Physics Friday #5: The Wonderful World of Programming Paradigms

Welcome to the first actual post on the dedicated blog! This will be continuing on from what I started over on my main account @oliviax727. But don't worry, I'll still repost this post over there.

Preamble: Wait! I thought this was Physics!

Education level: Primary School (Y5/6)

Topic: Computer Languages (Comp Sci)

So you may be thinking how this is relevant to physics, well it's not. But really, other adjacent fields: computer science, chemistry, science history, mathematics etc. Are really important to physics! The skills inform and help physicists make informed decisions on how to analyse theoretical frameworks, or to how physics can help inform other sciences.

I may do a bigger picture post relating to each science or the ways in which we marry different subjects to eachother, but what is important is that some knowledge of computer science is important when learning physics, or that you're bound to learn some CS along the way.

Also I can do what I want, bitch.

Introduction: What is a Programming Language?

You may have come across the term 'programming paradigm' - especially in computer science/software engineering classes. But what is a programming paradigm really?

Computers are very powerful things, and they can do quite a lot. Computers are also really dumb. They can't do anything unless if we tell them what to do.

So until our Sky-net machine overlords take control and start time-travelling to the past, we need to come up with ways to tell them how to do things.

Pure computer speak is in electrical signals corresponding to on and off. Whereas human speak is full of sounds and text.

It is possible for either one to understand the other (humans can pump electrical signals into a device and computers can language model). But we clearly need something better.

This is where a programming language comes in. It's basically a language that both the computer and the human understands. So we need a common language to talk to them.

It's like having two people. One speaks Mandarin, the other speaks English. So instead of making one person learn the other's language, we create a common language that the two of them can speak. This common language is a synthesis of both base languages.

But once we have an idea of how to communicate with the computer, we need to consider how we're going to talk to it:

How are we going to tell it to do things?

What are we going to ask it to do?

How will we organise and structure our common language?

This is where a programming paradigm comes in - a paradigm is a set of ideas surrounding how we should communicate with a device. It's really something that can truly only be understood by showing examples of paradigms.

Imperative vs. Declarative

The main two paradigms, or really categories of paradigms, are the imperative vs. declarative paradigm.

Imperative programming languages are quite simple: code is simply a set of instructions meant to tell the computer specifically what to do. It is about process, a series of steps the computer can follow to get some result.

Declarative programming languages are a bit more vapid: code is about getting what you want. It's less about how you get there and more about what you want at the end.

As you can see imperative programs tell the computer how to do something whereas declarative programs are about what you want out.

Here's an example of how an imperative language may find a specific name in a table of company data:

GET tableOfEmployees; GET nameToFind SET i = 0; WHILE i < tableOfEmployees.length: IF tableOfEmployees[i].firstName == nameToFind THEN: RETURN tableOfEmployees[i] AND i; ELSE: i = i + 1; RETURN "employee does not exist";

And here's that same attempt but in a declarative language:

FROM tableOfEmployees SELECT * WHERE firstName == INPUT(1);

Note that these languages aren't necessarily real languages, just based on real-life ones. Also please ignore the fact I used arrays of structures and databases in exactly the same way.

We can see the difference between the two paradigms a lot more clearly now. In the imperative paradigm, every step is laid out clear as day. "Add one to this number, check if this number is equal to that one".

Under the declarative paradigm, not only is the text shorter, we also put all of the instructions about how to do a task under the rug, we only care about what we want.

With all this, we can see an emerging spectrum of computer paradigms. From languages that are more computer-like, to languages that are more English-like. This is the programming languages' level:

Lower level languages are more likely to be imperative, as the fundamental construction of the computer relies on a series of instructions to be executed in order.

The lowest level, the series of electrical signals and circuitry called microcode is purely imperative in a sense, as everything is an instruction. Nothing is abstracted and everything is reduced to it's individual components.

The highest level, is effectively English. It's nothing but "I want this", "I'd like that". All of the processes involved are abstracted in favour of just the goal. It is all declarative.

In the middle we have most programming languages, what's known as the "high level languages". They are the best balance of abstraction of reduction, based on what you need to use the language for.

It's important that we also notice that increasingly higher-level and increasingly more declarative the language gets, the more specific the purpose of the language becomes.

Microcode and machine code can be used for effectively any purpose, they are the jack-of-all trades. Whereas something like SQL is really good at databases, but I wouldn't use it for game design.

As long as a language is Turing-complete, it can do anything any computer can do, what's important is how easy it is to program the diverse range of use-cases. Assembly can do literally anything, but it's an effort to program. Python can do the same, but it's an effort to run.

Imperative Paradigms: From the Transistor to the Website

As mentioned previously, the imperative paradigm is less a stand-alone paradigm but a group of paradigms. Much like how the UK is a country, but is also a collection of countries.

There are many ways in order to design imperative languages, for example, a simple imperative language from the 80's may look a lot like assembly:

... ADD r1, 1011 JMZ F313, r1

The last statement JMZ, corresponds to a "Jump to the instruction located at A if the value located at B is equal to zero" what it's effectively saying is a "Repeat step 4" or "Go to question 5" type of thing.

Also known as goto statements, these things are incredibly practical for computers, because all it requires is moving some electrical signals around the Registers/RAM.

But what goto statement is used as in code, is really just a glorified "if x then y". Additionally, these statements get really irritating when you want to repeat or recurse over instructions multiple times.

The Structured Paradigm

Thus we introduce the structured paradigm, which simply allows for control structures. A control structure is something that, controls the flow of the programs' instructions.

Control structures come in many forms:

Conditionals (If X then do Y otherwise do Z)

Multi-selects (If X1 then do Y1, if X2 then do Y2 ...)

Post-checked loops (Do X until Y happens)

Pre-checked loops (While Y, do X)

Counted Loops (For i = A to B do X)

Mapped Loops (For each X in Y, do Z)

These control structures are extra useful, as they have the added benefit of not having to specify what line you have to jump to every time you update previous instructions. They may also include more "safe" structures like the counted or mapped loop, which only executes a set amount of time.

But we still have an issue: all our code is stuffed into one file and it's everywhere, we have no way to seperate instructions into their own little components that we might want to execute multiple times. Currently, out only solution is to either nest things in far too many statements or use goto statements.

The Procedural Paradigm

What helps is the use of a procedure. Procedures are little blocks of code that can be called as many times as needed. They can often take many other names: commands, functions, processes, branches, methods, routines, subroutines, etc.

Procedures help to organise code for both repeated use and also it makes it easier to read. We can set an operating standard of "one task per subroutine" to help compartmentalise code.

Object-Oriented Code

Most of these basic programming languages, especially the more basic ones, include the use of data structures. Blocks of information that holds multiple types of information:

STRUCT Person: Name: String Age: Integer Phone: String Gender: String IsAlive: Boolean

But these structures often feel a bit empty. After all, we may want to have a specific process associated uniquely with that person.

We want to compartmentalise certain procedures and intrinsically tie them to an associated structure, preventing their use from other areas of the code.

Like "ChangeGender" is something we might not want to apply to something that doesn't have a gender, like a table.

We may also want to have structures that are similar to 'Person' but have a few extra properties like "Adult" may have a bank account or something.

What we're thinking of doing is constructing an object, a collection of BOTH attributes (variables) AND methods (procedures) associated with the object. We can also create new objects which inherit the properties of others.

Object oriented programming has been the industry standard for decades now, and it's incredibly clear as to why - it's rather useful! But as time marches forward, we've seen the popularisation of a new paradigm worthy of rivaling this one ...

Declarative Paradigms: The World of Logic

Declarative languages certainly help abstract a lot of information, but that's not always the case, sometimes the most well known declarative languages are very similar feature-wise to imperative paradigms. It's just a slight difference in focus which is important.

Functional Programming Languages

Whereas the object oriented language treats everything, or most things, like objects. A functional language uses functions as it's fundamental building block.

Functional languages rely on the operation of, well, functions. But functions of a specific kind - pure functions. A pure function is simply something that doesn't affect other parts of the computer outside of specifically itself.

A pure function is effectively read-only in it's operation - strictly read-only. The most practical-for-common-use functional languages often allow for a mixture of pure and impure functions.

A functional language is declarative because of the nature of a function - the process of how things work are abstracted away for a simple input -> output model. And with functional purity, you don't have to worry about if what takes the input to the output also affects other things on the computer.

Functional languages have been around for quite a while, however they've been relegated to the world of academia. Languages like Haskell and Lisp are, like most declarative languages, very restrictive in their general application. However in recent years, the use of functional programming has come quite common.

I may make a more opinionated piece in the future on the merits of combining both functional and object-oriented languages, and also a seperate my opinions on a particular functional language Haskell - which I have some contentions with.

Facts and Logic

The logic paradigm is another special mention of declarative languages, they focus on setting a series of facts (i.e. true statements):

[Billy] is a [Person]

Rules (i.e. true statements with generality):

If [A] is [Person] then [A] has a [Brain]

And Queries:

Does [Billy] have a [Brain]?

Logical languages have a lot more of a specific purpose, meant for, well, deductive/abductive logical modelling.

We can also use what's known as Fuzzy logic which is even more higher-level, relying on logic that is inductive or probabilistic, i.e. conclusions don't necessarily follow from the statements.

Visual and Documentation Languages

At some point, we start getting so high level, that the very components of the language start turning into something else.

You may have used a visual language before, for example, Scratch. Scratch is a declarative language that abstracts away instructions in-favour of visual blocks that represent certain tasks a computer can carry out.

Documentation languages like HTML, Markdown, CSS, XML, YML, etc. Are languages that can barely even be considered programming languages. Instead, they are methods of editing documents and storing text-based data.

Languages that don't even compile (without any significant effort)

At some point, we reach a point where languages don't even compile necessarily.

A metalanguage, is a language that describes language. Like EBNF, which is meant to describe the syntaxing and lexical structures of lower-level languages. Metalanguages can actually compile, and are often used in code editors for grammar checking.

Pseudocode can often be described as either imperative or declarative, focused on emulating programs in words. What you saw in previous sections are pseudocode.

Diagrams fall in this category too, as they describe the operation of a computer program without actually being used to run a computer.

Eventually we reach the point where what were doing is effectively giving instructions or requesting things in English. For this, we require AI modelling for a computer to even begin to interpret what we want it to interpret.

Esoteric Paradigms

Some paradigms happen to not really fall in this range form low to high level. Because they either don't apply to digital computing or exist in the purely theoretical realm.

Languages at the boundaries of the scale can fall into these classes, as microcode isn't really a language if it's all physical. And pseudocode isn't really a language if it doesn't even compile.

There are also the real theoretical models like automata and Turing machine code, which corresponds to simplified, idealised, and hypothetical machines that operate in ways analogous to computers.

Shells and commands also exist in this weird zone. Languages like bash, zsh, or powershell which operate as a set of command instructions you feed the computer to do specific things. They exist in the region blurred between imperative and declarative at the dead centre of the scale. But often their purpose is more used as a means to control a computer's operating system than anything else.

Lastly, we have the languages which don't fit in our neat diagram because they don't use digital computers in a traditional manner. These languages often take hold of the frontiers of computation:

Parallel Computing

Analog Computing

Quantum Computing

Mechanical Computing

Conclusion

In summary, there's a lot of different ways you can talk to computers! A very diverse range of paradigms and levels that operate in their own unique ways. Of course, I only covered the main paradigms, the ones most programmers are experienced in. And I barely scratched the surface of even the most popular paradigms.

Regardless, this write-up was long as well. I really wish I could find a way to shorten these posts without removing information I want to include. I guess that just comes with time. This is the first computer science based topic. Of course, like any programmer, I have strong opinions over the benefits of certain paradigms and languages. So hopefully I didn't let opinions get in the way of explanations.

Feedback is absolutely appreciated! And please, if you like what you see, consider following either @oliviabutsmart or @oliviax727!

Next week, I'll finish off our three-part series on dark matter and dark energy with a discussion of what dark energy does, and what we think it is made of!

[fff777]

reaction to chinese practice with the dreamies on dream x dream! i'm excited heh

aw renjun laoshi and chenle laoshi

i guess they're both T as in mbti thinking T?

trying so hard not to laugh

with students jaemsung

chenle giving renjun a challenge already by asking too many questions heh

chenle let out a little squee, so cute hehe

i wonder who did the powerpoint lol

chenle saying things wrong on purpose to incite the crowd

jaemin says chenle's showing his understanding when he purposely gets everything wrong lel. but also i do think 3j in general have a decent level of listening proficiency when it comes to mandarin and they can kind of tell when something sounds right or not.

why does he look like he's preparing to confess to renjun laoshi

no for real why do they look like characters in a romcom drama, mischievous student and studious TA hehe

i feel like jaemin is reciting what he says in concerts

aw renjun astonished by his little bub jisung

i feel like for jaemin, he still speaks mandarin while thinking of korean grammar because he tends to not say the verb after the subject

jaemin catching on that sentence structure in chinese is similar to english which is true.

awww renjun being the kind of teacher who gives his kids stickers

jisung catches on so quick, recognizing renjun's name in hanzi :3

jisung recognizing 色 in 音色 but knowing that it means colour, and jaemin completing the puzzle that the sentence is about his vocal tone

demonstration of the sentence

korean does also have the advantage of some words and phrases sounding similar to chinese

lol they're moving on to the tones next and jaemin deadass was like bro?? shouldn't you have taught this first???? and he's right

and chenle being like nah dude that was just a proficiency test, now the actual lesson starts! lol

having way too much fun with the tones

jaemin pronouncing 久 the way mark pronounces 九 ^^;;

when chenle praises jisung 😏

they're practising their pronunciation by speaking into google translate and seeing if it recognizes the sentence

while reading the tongue twister, renjun messed up a bit and chenle pointed it out but renjun was like 老師是對的 and jisung understood it and renjun is once again shook <3

now time for chenle's class

LMAO JISUNG flirting with the teacher already are we ;) why are both these classes so romcom coded

chenle's teaching slang

getting in trouble uhuhu

he wants to be strict

so 電子榨菜 means watching things while eating

omg now they're going over the lyrics of chenle's new song and he's getting nervous hehehe 你也有今天啦

i didn't know this song was an ost on someday or one day though

renjun: *raises hand* chenle: let the others answer, i know you'll be right renjun: how do you know i'll be right? lol stop playing

whenever chenle calls jisung 'jisungie' 🥰🥰🥰🥰

LMAO chenle had to remind renjun to write his name. i feel like renjun often forgets to write his name on things too.

the guys reluctant to smash the 招財進步 gold piggy bank because it's cute :3

now jaemin and jisung have to speak in mandarin and chenle and renjun will have to guess what they're saying

lol they didn't teach the lv sound so jisung is so ??? at 旅行

jisung started 我們一起 and there was a viral song called learn to meow 學貓叫 that started 我們一起學貓叫 so renjun started to sing it but only renjun and chenle got it for obvious reasons lol

jaemin reading can the english way ^^;;

it does really feel like jaemin has been working on english and is reading the pinyin the english way

jisung getting a hug for being good at mandarin <3

LOL the notebooks are blank!! i thought they were workbooks

jisung keeps calling chenle 大哥

this was cuuute :3 low key wonder if it's because of sm's new push into the chinese market again lol. i did always know that dream was decently good at chinese :P

[natsuki-bakery]

⁎˚ ఎ CG! China hcs ໒ ˚⁎

Can you make china aph caregiver hcs >.<?

•China is naturally calm and patient, which makes him an excellent caregiver. He handles any regressive behavior you exhibit with a gentle demeanor and understanding

•He introduces you to traditional Chinese activities such as calligraphy, painting, and simple Tai Chi exercises to keep you engaged and calm

•China enjoys cooking comforting, nutritious meals for you. He often prepares congee, dumplings, and other Chinese comfort foods that are easy to eat and soothing

•With a wealth of history and mythology at his disposal, China tells you captivating stories and fairy tales to entertain and comfort you, often weaving in moral lessons gently !

•He uses traditional herbal remedies for any minor ailments you might have, like calming teas for anxiety or gentle balms for bruises

•China has a collection of soft, traditional Chinese toys and plushies that he uses to comfort you

•China creates a safe and cozy space for you, filled with soft pillows, blankets, and calming decorations like lanterns and paper fans

•Language Lessons : He might teach you simple Mandarin phrases or songs, making the learning process fun and engaging without overwhelming you

•Instead of strict discipline, China uses gentle guidance and positive reinforcement, understanding that you need a nurturing and supportive environment

•He celebrates Chinese festivals with you, such as the Moon Festival or Lunar New Year, involving you in fun activities like lantern making or dragon dances !

If you’re feeling sad while age regressing :

-Immediate Comfort : China would immediately notice your sadness and offer comfort by sitting next to you, gently patting your back or holding your hand

-“It’s okay to feel sad sometimes. I’m here with you sweetheart”

-China might play some soft, calming traditional Chinese music or sing a gentle lullaby to help soothe your emotions and create a peaceful atmosphere

-He would prepare some of your favorite comfort foods, like warm congee or sweet baozi, hoping that the familiar tastes might help lift your spirits

-He would engage you in gentle activities that you enjoy, such as drawing, painting, or playing with soft toys, to help take your mind off whatever is causing your sadness

-He would ensure that you feel safe and secure, perhaps by creating a cozy nook with soft blankets and pillows where you can relax and feel protected

-He might try to cheer you up with gentle humor or a lighthearted joke, hoping to see a small smile return to your face <3

If you're being bratty while age regressing :

-China would maintain his calm demeanor but adopt a firmer tone to address the behavior. “Little one, that’s not how we behave”

-He would clearly explain why the rules are important and how your behavior is affecting others. “These rules are here to keep you safe and happy.”

-China would gently but firmly set boundaries, ensuring you understand the consequences of not following the rules. “If you continue to behave this way, we won’t be able to play with your favorite toys.”

-When you start following the rules again, China would offer praise and positive reinforcement. “Thank you for listening. I’m so proud of you !”

-He would try to redirect your behavior to something more positive and constructive. “I see you’re feeling upset. Let’s try drawing or playing a game to feel better.”

-“Are you feeling frustrated or upset? Let’s talk about it love !”

-China would provide emotional support, acknowledging your feelings and helping you work through them. “It’s okay to feel upset, but we need to express it in a better way, okay sweetie ?”

[bloomzone]

how did you get into studying chinese?? also any tips for beginners?

How I Got Into Studying Chinese + A Beginner's Guide!

So, a lot of you have asked me about how I started studying Chinese and tips for beginners. I thought I’d share my story and a little guide for anyone wanting to dive into this (Piàoliang ! 漂亮 - beautiful ) language! +++ I will put a link of a PDF document and free webs that will help uuu at the end !

First things first, why Chinese? For me, it’s because I’ve always been drawn to the culture—everything from the festivals, history, and even Chinese dramas. But most importantly, my dream is to get into a good college in China! 🏫Just thinking about living there, speaking the language fluently, and experiencing everything firsthand keeps me motivated.

Starting Out:

When I first started, I was overwhelmed (it’s Chinese, after all!). But once I broke it into smaller steps, things became manageable and even fun! Here’s what helped me:

Step 1: Master the Basics

Learn Pinyin: Pinyin is the Romanized system for pronouncing Chinese words. It’s like the training wheels for speaking Chinese. Apps like HelloChinese, or Duolingo (for pinyin .. it HELP TRUST ME) !

Practice Tones Daily: Chinese is a tonal language, meaning the tone you use changes the meaning of the word. Start with the four basic tones and practice them with simple words like 妈 (mā - mom), 马 (mǎ - horse), or 吗 (ma - question particle). Don’t stress if it feels awkward at first—it gets easier!

Step 2: Build Vocabulary Slowly

Focus on high-frequency words like numbers, greetings, or common verbs. Think of words you’d use every day.

Try flashcards! Apps like Anki or Quizlet are amazing for memorizing characters and words.

Step 3: Start Learning Characters

Characters might seem scary at first, but they’re not impossible! I recommend starting with basic ones like 人 (rén, person) or 好 (hǎo, good).

Practice writing them—it helps you remember better. Plus, it’s oddly relaxing!

Step 4: Immerse Yourself

Watch Chinese shows or movies (C-dramas are SO good). Even if you don’t understand, you’ll start picking up tones and common phrases.

Listen to Chinese music or podcasts. [My playlist here!] while reading lyrics to learn new words.

Step 5: Practice Speaking

Speak out loud as much as possible, even if you’re just talking to yourself.

My Top Tips for Beginners:

1. Set small goals. Start with something achievable, like learning 5 words a day.

2. Be consistent. Even just 15 minutes a day is better than cramming once a week.

3. Get a notebook. Writing down characters and vocab feels more fun

4. Celebrate your wins. Did you recognize a word while watching a show? Did you finally pronounce something right? That’s progress!

5. Don’t compare yourself to others. Everyone learns at their own pace.

PDF DOCUMENTS + SITE WEB (FOR MANDARIN LEARNING)

document n¹ if the link didn't work write down on Google ( nihao textbook 1 pdf)

document n² if the link didn't work write down on Google ( Chinese text a pdf )

site num ¹

site num²

Why You Should Keep Going:

I know learning Chinese can feel overwhelming, but trust me, every step you take gets you closer to your goal. For me, imagining myself walking around a college campus in China, speaking fluently, and making friends there keeps me inspired. If you have a big dream like mine, hold onto it—it’ll carry you through the tough days!

Remember: 加油 (jiā yóu - "keep going"). You've got this!

@bloomzone ✒️

[zoniteillusion-pyritedreams]

So, I basically asked Aphrodite & Nyx, “Hey, is it cool if I just speak my desires into the universe, trust you two badasses to handle it, and then just relax?” And they were like, “Hmm… yes, but also no.”

They love that I know my worth and I’m not out here begging or micromanaging the universe. Very main character energy, boss bitch vibes. That part? Approved. They’re like, “Yes, love, speak it, own it, and let it come to you divine delegation is sexy.”

BUT. They also said I need to stop spiraling or second-guessing the moment things go quiet. Like, just because it's not happening RIGHT NOW doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Breathe. Stop overthinking and stalking the manifestation like it's your ex's socials. That’s giving desperate, not divine.

Also, they’re side-eyeing me for sitting in limbo when I could be aligning better. They’re like, “Baby, you can’t just manifest and then emotionally check out or avoid the work. You’re magic, but you’re also human. Balance it. Do your part and then let us work.”

Basically: they love the vibe, the confidence, and the trust—but if I want to manifest like a goddess, I better act like one. That means being clear, being calm, letting go of control WITHOUT falling into chaos, and knowing that even if it all falls apart first which could happen, it's making room for something bigger & better.

They’re not saying “stop,” they’re saying “refine.” Manifest like the ethereal little powerhouse I am relaxed and calm, not like a stressed-out squirrel with a Pinterest board & to much caffeine.

So like this is the other way I could possibly end up doing readings but I feel like it would be very short I'd have no excuse to sit there and save pictures to put on the post and I feel like a lot of people would not understand exactly what cards I ended up pulling to get to this answer.

( I also wonder if it's just because of the way that I word things? But I feel like that also makes sense like fun fact random wardrobe I learned English from watching 2000s movies literally. Like late 90s early 2000 movies I was obsessed with movies like clueless, the Scooby-Doo live action movies Etc that's where I started picking up and learning English my mom doesn't speak English she speaks Spanish and fun fact Thai fluently because while she is fully afro-colombian she was actually raised in Thailand for a good 10 years of her life as a child. My dad does speak English and Mandarin but he was more inclined to make sure that his children spoke Mandarin fluently rather than making sure that we spoke English fluently. On top of that as I stated before I grew up in Asia as a child back and forth between my parents as they had joint custody so I spent like several years in Korea with my mom and my stepdad and several years in both China and Japan with my dad and my stepmom so I primarily spoke Asian languages. My English was quite literally learned from '90s and 2000s movies alongside Middle School I started going to an International School. But by then I have basically already picked up a weird combination of the New York and Valley Girl accent or so I've been told by other native English speakers. Also the way that I speak can sound slightly weird and slightly dated because I don't keep up with current flying I don't see a reason to unless I think the word sounds really cool then I'll keep up with it but outside of that I'm not using it. So maybe that's why I sound like a robot to tell me y'all and then also the fact that I use terms like y'all but that's just because I have family members that live in the south and again it's one of those words where it's like I like the way it sounds. I don't know I'm trying to figure this shit out so let me know which way do you guys like three days when I'm breaking it down or when it's like this?)

Also isn't it cute how Leehan is always eating fruit after they do like sand meats and stuff like someone pointed this out on Twitter and then have this picture with it and I was like oh my God that's actually kind of adorable. Like absolute adorable nerdy baby boy can sit there and talk about fishes for hours no way more about aquatic life than you would assume a 21 year old would and also has that habit of replenishing after schedule with eating fruits it's kind of adorable. How can a human be this cute and real?