#this is what I love about these shows - theyre case studies of such particular kinds of people

[hawkeyenothawkguy]

One of the things about Torchwood that always really got me was how clearly it's an extension of the Doctor Who ethos. DW is all about how ordinary people handle extraordinary circumstances and the nature of goodness in us, and I think TW is much the same! But the lengths people will go to are fundamentally different because their treat assessment and available options are skewed by the CONSEQUENCES. We get some consequence episodes in DW but nothing on the scale of TW because they make all of these things REAL. They show what the rest of the civilians would be dealing with and how institutions are likely to respond. No one better understands that "everything looks like a bail" better than the OG "Aliens are Evil" team.

[chumpmagump]

24 things you've learned about your 24th year on this planet. 1. After having lots of trouble with love and loss, I've learned I will be ok. Remember you are growing into the woman you are are piece by piece.. reclaiming the person you were before the rest of them thought it was okay to take you away from yourself and you thought it was okay to let them. Many will come and go, but you dont have to lose a piece of yourself with them. Be strong, don't let them. 2. It is okay to love someone but not like them. It is okay to have compassion and empathy yet still hold your ground that you deserve better treatment. Compassion is not synonymous with lack of boundaries. 3. After talking to your therapist and doing some hardcore reflection you know you show traits of bipolar disorder or borderline personality. Your therapist thinks its bipolar, you're pretty sure its BPD.. this hurts because BPD is stigmatised to the shit house - you would almost rather have bipolar. You work in a hospital where BPD presentations are rampant and you diagnose them in your assessments a lot. Your coworkers like to say things like '' we got another borderline up in ED...'' as if its a massive inconvenience. You feel kind of weird being a 'quiet' borderline because you function quite well but know you have this fucked up secret that you keep from others for fear of judgement. Your behaviour isnt affecting your functioning enough to warrant a diagnosis. But that doesnt mean your experience isnt true. You're good at recognising when your triggered and where it originates from, and actively pull back more and more from impulsive decisions. You can sit with your emotion at times and you've stopped abusing phenergan and have been self harm clean for almost a year now? so yay for you regulating more of yourself! 4. You realise searching for validation only leads to experiences of invalidation. Stop doing it. 5. You're good at empathising to a point where you find it hard to be angry at others for long, you sometimes tolerate too much because you can reason with the persons reasoning for acting the way they are. You shouldnt mistake this for respect, because its not. You still need self-respect. 6. Making spontaneous choices has led to some new experiences, like changing jobs, moving towns, meeting new people. You've learned you've missed out a lot in your last 5 years of 20 hood because of fear of rejection/anxiety/ unsafe situation phobia. but now thats all you want to do, you fear staying static for too long more than you do change. You're ready for new exciting things. 7. Friendships matter way more than romance ever will. Build your friendships and you will always feel connected and OK no matter what the status of your dating life is. 8. Going for solitude car trips with your music blaring, singing meaningfully, on a road in the dark to no particular, with no particular deadline is your muse. You spend a lot of time in your thoughts and with yourself, and sometimes you imagine being in company when the loneliness hits. But funnily enough when company does finally arrive, you yearn for the space you had with yourself. Honour that time. 9. What you make of this life literally doesnt fucking matter. You will be born again. You will never get another chance to be in this body, with this family, with these friends, in this place, at this time though. Do whatever you can to enrich your experience and dont worry about if other people are having a better time. Concern yourself with your own experience. 10. You validate yourself. Stop asking your friends what you think you should do about a situation, dont feel the need to tell them every situaiton thats going on with you to hear their perspective. Listen to your own voice. You dont listen to her enough. 11. You dont actually have to put up with people being rude to you anymore, you can voice that things bother you. You're not quite there when it comes to friends you dont know too well.. or family you know blow up easily, but you're less of a people pleaser somewhat and i'm proud

of you for that effort.

12. You realise you need to stop seeking validation that others have hurt you. If it hurts it hurts. Simple as that. 13. Trust a person by their actions waaaaaaaaaaaay more than their words. And give a person 6 months. They tend to send their representative first for a while. 14. Sometimes you dream up people without knowing first who they are. Its ok to do this but don't be surprised when they dont fit the version you had of them in your head. Sometimes living in fantasy is far more intoxicating than what comes to fruition. Sometimes i wish i only knew some people for the period of time where they were warm to my heart.

15. Keep going to therapy, its doing amazing things and slowly but surely helping you change your procedurally learned patterns of behaviour including the desire and panic to want to fix social relationships that sometimes shouldnt be fixed. If someone did something shitty to you, and they are upset with YOU , for whatever reason- this does not mean what they did to you is void. It may even mean they are deflecting and gaslighting you. Get out of there and you know dont like goodbyes of any kind. so in this case slowly drop off contact. 16. people cant read your mind with how your feeling, so tell them.. what they do with that information is on them after that.

17. you dont have to take pictures of everything. You will remember the experience more if you dont. 18. Drink your damn coffee!! its not going to stain your teeth anymore. you are so diligent with your skin and teeth care, you deserve to live a little.

19. Dont have sex with friends, just dont. its messy.

20. Just because someone doesnt choose you, doesnt mean you arent good enough. It means they're blind, theyre not meant for you, or better doors are opening. Sometimes you need to shut a few doors for some to open. Trust the process. 21. Its time to start doing the things yu have said you were going to do for years. Its time to sign up for that dance class, its time to start writing again (and you have been!), its time to start stretching (and you have been!), its time to finish your courses (and you have been chipping away!). The best thing is you are so motivated right now to do all of these things. They no longer feel like words, they feel like happenings. 22. Your body and mind is so much stronger than you think. You are managing a 23 + caseload, and working across emergency and intake. You sometimes dont have a lunch break and work 9 hour days at times. You still have the ability to relay information and type notes at great speed, connect with clients at a great depth and come to eat, shower and have been dedicating time to study and friends. Your body is a machine, and you are so much more robust than you give yourself credit for. People look at you and see a small petite typical white girl, but you are strength! 23. You have learned sex can be a safe and very enjoyable experience this year very recently. Even though the partner turned out to be a careless character emotionally within the friendship, you were able to experience what it was like to be that connected with someone sensually in such an intense way which was a first for you. Now you know what kind of sex you like - well you always did but now you know it exists. Good for you.

24. You spend the most time by yourself with yourself. Validate your own experiences and try to interrupt the fantasy that you should be waiting for someone else to enhance or witness it. i know you like to think about what it would be like to sing in the car with someone next to you, or to laugh about a ridiculous vine and hear someone elses laughter drown out your own, or to dance around your house and have someone watch you in awe... but its okay to be your own witness. This is one is probably the hardest ones of them all... All you've ever wanted is to feel seen. You fantasize about it all time, you live in fantasy because atleast you can always feel seen there. You're not so sure if you put yourself out there you'll leave feeling more discarded and invisible than before. This way its safer. It's time to witness you. It's time for 25. A year full of spontaneity, new experiences, enhanced friendships, self validation and enormous growth.

It's finally time to stop hiding from people, pleasurable experiences and desire.

It's time for 25.

[springfieldblues]

my long ass review for S32E03 Now Museum, Now You Don’t

warning: LONG because i rambled about history more than i thought i would

id been looking forward to this one because i like art history, especially after seeing how they tried their best to stick to historical accuracy in the previous episode I, Carumbus. this time however….they didnt try that hard. i dont know why i thought theyd go through that sort of trouble again LMAO

but its okay, i dont really expect the simpsons to be the paragon of historical accuracy or anything. especially in anthology episodes told through a particular character's lens (in this case, lisa, whos already feverish so whatever)

first i just wanna say that this is, i guess, less of a review and more of an accidental list of history fun facts. so im just gonna get my general thoughts out of the way first.

the episode was fun! to me at least haha. i mean it got me to think and do a lot of research on my own so that must count for something. besides a couple of really weird ones, the jokes were good. anthology episodes tend to be….not that good but i thought this one was one of the better ones so far. idk.

anyway on to lisanardo da vinky its the renaissance! jesus christ the italian accents in the beginning of this segment were annoying as hell but i also feel like that was the joke lmao. ill be real i kind of tuned out for a second there when grampa started rambling so idk what he said.

i told myself i wouldnt get nitpicky with historical accuracy if the jokes were funny (final edit: so that was a lie) but this meh bit with the pizza guys and mascots was really not worth ignoring the fact that its impossible for italy to have any tomato-based food in the 15th century (tomatoes were brought to europe from the americas in the 16th century, and pizza as we know it today—flatbread, cheese, tomato—originated in the late 18th century)

oh this next part was kind of legit tho. lisanardo, like the real leonardo, became andrea del verrochio's apprentice at his workshop. i loved this next bit:

"Whoever paints the sweetest cherub will have the honor of having MY name signed on their work. That's what great artists do!"

SO YEAH as it turns out, lisanardo painted the sweetest cherubs. the painting here is called The Baptism of Christ, and the real leonardo assisted verrochio in finishing it. specifically, he painted the cherubs in the corner.

this causes verrochio to quit and go someplace with less talented people: a music school (yes, verrochio did quit painting after getting owned by young leo and his mad angel painting skills. he never did anything with music tho, he was more of a sculptor)

alongside lisanardo, in mr largo-verrochio's workshop we have barticelli (botticelli bart), dolphatello (donatello dolph), ralphael (raphael...ralph) and mediocrito (no one that i know of. sorry milhouse) (and kearney i guess but they dont refer to him by name). botticelli and donatello are said to have also been apprentices at verrochio's workshop, but raphael came a couple of decades later so he couldnt have been there. and donatello was too old so that claim is a bit questionable. but anyway

it IS true that leonardo's peers envied him, to the point where he was anonymously and purposefully accused of being gay (a major crime punishable by death in 15th century florence) while he was still working at verrochio's workshop

we are then treated by what im pretty sure is the fourth time the show has used 'at seventeen' by janis ian, this time sung by a dejected lisanardo (man they really do keep making yeardley sing these days huh) who only wishes to be appreciated and not envied.

"I'll show them all! I'll show them all in a secret diary that no one will decipher for 400 years!"

some of lisanardo's future inventions. who wouldve known

so after barticelli, for some reason (revenge??? or something?? what was his plan here idgi) steals lisanardo's diaries full of blueprints of her inventions and takes them to mr burns who i have to assume is pope alexander VI here, they decide to use her inventions for war.

"With these, we can kill the most evil people in the world!! ....Slightly different Christians."

leo actually did this of his own accord. im surprised this is what they decided to do with lisanardo instead of talking about leo's love of nature and vegetarianism (not a single mention of that in this episode? come on...) then again, trying to do good only to end up indirectly making things worse is a very standard lisa storyline. i guess they didnt want to miss the chance to have evil pope burns (very fitting, especially for that era since they were all about money and controlling the people)

so lisanardo decides to leave for france, unlike the real leonardo who was more or less persuaded by his ultimate fanboy king francis I to move to france.

"Lisanardo, I have many questions. Why are you hitting yourself? A nerd says 'what'? And how is it possible that I am rubber and you are glue? Et cetera, et cetera."

that line may seem a little random, like hes just nelson saying nelson things (and i mean, obviously he is) but the real francis also "had an unquenchable thirst for learning, and Leonardo was the world’s best source of experimental knowledge. He could teach the king about almost any subject there was to know, from how the eye works to why the moon shines." so yeah, he did have many questions and lisanardo, finally being appreciated for her intellect, was happy to answer them all. its very interesting how lisa assigned this role to nelson in her retelling of da vinci’s life :^)

and so she lived the rest of her days in france, nat king cole's 'mona lisa' plays because duh, and they make a da vinci code reference because duh. and the segment ends. and not a single time did they show the actual mona lisa painting. the fuck?

(ngl i was fully expecting bart to say 'leonardo da vinky' for a second here)

so this next segment is about french impressionist painters, most likely the batignolles group, a name adopted by the early representatives of impressionism. its much more vague than the lisanardo segment since no one here is referred to by name (except moe, more on him in a sec) but i dont feel like it really matters in this case. bart is prrrrooobably claude monet but its hard to say, this segment is kind of a mish-mash of a lot of things. also i gotta say i really liked how lisa introduced the story to bart with an 'if you hate the formal study of art' and not 'if you hate art' because thats exactly my headcanon. i LOVE the concept of artist bart and whenever its referenced it just makes perfect sense to me.

anyway the segment opens in 1863 at the école des beaux-arts (back then it was actually known as the académie des beaux-arts), preserver of traditional french art styles. skinner reviews his students’ paintings one by one. praises the plain, unimaginative paintings depicting your typical european countryside landscapes. very run-of-the-mill (haha get it...cuz theres….a windmill) (although the real académie didnt approve of such basic stuff, they wanted artists to draw epic historical and mythological scenes) then he gets to barts painting and he gives him an F- because the painting made him think.

(the paintings in this scene arent real famous paintings as far as i know but they are inspired by real paintings enough to get the point across)

in comes barney dressed as bacchus as a model for the students to sketch, which i just loved:

barney: “You prefer robe open or robe off?” skinner: “Just cover your privates with this walnut shell.” barney: “Whoa!!! So roomy!”

skinner gasps in horror at bart’s sketch, which “looks nothing like him” and bart explains that “it shouldn’t; we’re making the art that we feel because we can’t compete with a camera.” damn, you go bart. take that, realism. draw what you feel!!

(also no, you didnt need to hold still for 17 hours for a daguerreotype. 30 min tops.)

nelson haw-haw of the week: FOIE-gras!

so here they are at the moulin rouge (“enjoy it before baz luhrmann ruins it” hey shut up. i love that movie), which wouldnt be built for another 26 years, but it is the most widely known gathering place for bohemians in the public consciousness so i can understand why they went with the moulin. nelson delivers this anachronistic line:

“This époque keeps getting beller and beller!”

which alludes to la belle époque, the golden age of france usually dated from 1880 to 1914. made me snort so ill let that slide

and heres moe! as henri de toulouse-lautrec, who was actually born a year after the year this segment is set in. yo moe szyslak he was just 1

toulouse-moetrec introduces himself as the chronicler of the demimonde (not an actual job). an iconic figure associated with the moulin rouge (largely due to his affinity for alcohol and prostitutes), toulouse-lautrec was also a painter, having illustrated a series of posters for the moulin himself. he simply had to be in this segment, anachronisms be damned, just because they decided to include the moulin. cant have one without the other.

and yes he did have a walking cane where he kept his liquor.

i love how everyone drinks absinthe in this place. theyre bohemians what else would they drink

toulouse-moetrec points out that barts paintings are the greatest thing hes ever seen (and hes seen like five things!) and that hes a genius. milhouse realizes that they should stop doing what the teacher says and use their own minds to instead...start doing what bart says lmao. to the easels!

next we have skinner hyping up chalmers about the art his students made for the salon de paris, an art exhibition that the emperor of france will attend. he assures him that none of these paintings will encourage debate, provoke thought or be out of place at a dentist’s office. when they unveil the art, theyre both SHOCKED at how scandalous the paintings actually are.

this reaction was kind of accurate. impressionism was severely rejected at the salon de paris, due to paintings not looking finished enough to them, they thought they were ugly and vulgar for depicting nudity in a contemporary setting (historical and mythological nudity was fine). these impressionist paintings were sent to the salon de refusés, which is. yeah. the place where they sent the rejects. the salon de refusés does not make an appearance but this scene makes a reference to it when the artists get expelled from the royal salon. also:

“What about our student loans?” “Oh they’ll be refunded. We are not barbarians, I mean, come on.”

(god if only)

so the painters are down because they want the emperor to actually see their paintings. toulouse-moetrec pipes in once again with an idea.

“There is one thing the emperor loves more than anything.” “France?” “No, he hates France.”

apparently the emperor really loves cheese, which makes sense since its napoleon III (who loved cheese) and homer (who loves cheese.) so the painters roll into the salon inside a giant wheel of cheese (obviously.) as lenny said, “Eh, you know French cheese. Very runny.” napoleon III chases after the wheel into a room, where the wheel falls apart after getting chomped on by the emperor. now that they got his attention, the painters proudly show the emperor their impressionist art, which he couldnt be more indifferent about because he just wants to eat his cheese dammit, and he awards them with the royal medallion just to kind of get them out of his way. skinner immediately starts kissing ass (as he does) until marge’s like ‘hey wait a minute. you expelled these students from the royal salon’ and an executioner immediately starts ominously measuring skinners neck.

“Uh, sir...is your tongue sticking out because you’re dead or because you’re mad at me?”

and thats the end of that lmao (gore in this episode, gore in the last episode, and next week we’re getting gore too cuz its THOH, what the hell is goin on)

we get a short intermission with maggie, who wants a story for her too! lisa tells her that renaissance artists loved to put babies in their paintings, especially baby angels.

here she is showing her The Triumph Of Galatea by raphael:

King David Playing The Harp by peter paul reubens:

and a very simplified version of pretty much any depiction of hell by hyeronimus bosch lmao:

not much else to say about this one, really. but i really liked that sky!

the last segment is about frida kahlo and diego rivera. or as bart puts it ‘the one about a fat guy whos wife is too good for him.’ i was REALLY looking forward to this one because i love frida and i thought itd be a cool opportunity for animators to go bonkers and do really cool shit with her art as inspiration…..but the segment is not about frida, its about diego and his selling out to capitalism. and its also yet another story with homer and marge drama. no funky cool animation here. sigh i guess i’ll take it

the story begins in 1929 at la casa azul, frida’s home (now museum dedicated to her life and work.) frida and diego are getting married. this courtyard definitely did not look this way yet back in 1929. also theres something very cringy yet funny about lovejoy saying spanish words the way he does, i honestly cant decide how i feel about that one

the writers know theyre being cringy with their gringoness so they go along with it.

moe: “Spanish for ‘best wishes’!” mel: “Spanish for ‘congratulations’!” bumblebee man: “Spanish for ‘muy bueno’!”

OH YEAH BUMBLEBEE MAN this is his new voice actor, eric lopez! hes not mexican but its still great to finally have a latino actor voicing a latino character and hes very excited to be part of the show so i hope to hear more of him!! im rooting for him

el barto/zorro makes an appearance which i am very confused about. he has jack shit to do with frida and diego and mexico in the 20s-30s. el zorro was set in the spanish california of the early 19th century. their use of the original theme song makes me think they just wanted to flex their disney privileges tbh

lets not talk about that that whole scene was bad

anyway diego announces he and frida are going to new york, without even asking her first. frida is obviously pissed.

“Don’t worry, as a woman, you’ll be treated with much more respect in America.”

so in new york, diego is having a bit of a business meeting with mr burns as one of the members of the rockefellers, who is commissioning him to draw a mural for the rockefeller center. its kinda funny how he refers to him and frida as socialists even though they were very much communists lmao its okay you can say it. ok so far, but then frida says ‘yes, we hate the capitalists! right now, a young socialist is being born who will take them down! mr. bernie sanders. i hope hes quick about it’ and that was a simple enough joke and couldve been left at that but then its immediately followed by this weird as fuck family guy-esque cutaway gag to bernie as a baby:

“Getting a cootie shot should not cost your lunch money. And if you don’t listen to me, listen to the Bernie Babies! What? Everybody’s got goons.” *larger babies start beating up this other baby* “I disavow that, and welcome it.”

this confused me so much that i had to ask one of my american friends to help me understand, but even she was like ‘uhhh yeah thats a weird joke,’ especially now that hes been out of the race for months (then again these episodes take almost a year to produce. i guess they couldnt be bothered to replace it with something more relevant.) whatever that was weird and confusing and unfunny moving on

frida is pretty irked that diego is going through with this deal. after all, it goes against everything they believe in. im not sure how the real frida felt about diego doing the mural, but she did feel a bit of rage during her visit to the united states, especially the obvious disparity between rich and poor. she hated having to interact with capitalists and found americans very boring. in this segment, frida seems to be acting more like the american communist party, which diego got kicked out of for accepting commissions from wealthy patrons. in any case, frida is pretty upset about this whole thing.

and finally we get the first and only kind of surreal frida moment. kinda. maybe. its more cartoonish than anything but im desperate ok

interesting how they felt like they had to add a “don’t smoke” in big letters after showing patty and selma flying away on their giant cigarettes. i wonder if this is something theyre making them do now? i remember hearing something about them toning down patty and selma’s smoking

diego comes home to frida, drunk as hell, followed by the marx brothers. i cant believe they didnt make a marxism joke come on it was RIGHT THERE. THE MARX BROTHERS. KARL MARX. COME ON

frida paints her feelings.

this makes diego realize that frida is a genius and he is not half the artist she is. he proclaims he will now show his awe of her by sleeping with other women, starting “an hour ago.” to which frida replies, “and i will start sleeping with other women, starting two hours ago.” yes this was pretty much their relationship. though im just wondering how the hell did diego not know frida was this kind of artist until now? i know homers an idiot but jeez. art was how frida and diego met, diego knew from the get-go that frida was an incredible artist. i guess the fame got to his head or something. again, homer just being stupid.

“well enough already, while the art is still deco, okay?”

its time for the mural diego painted, Man At The Crossroads, to be unveiled:

rockefeller examines it. good and great so far, and then...uh oh

“Who’s that fellow…? With the beard, and the bolshevik smile…” “That’s the founder of Soviet Russia, Lenin!”

“B-b-but he’s a communist!” “Oh he just attended a couple of meetings.”

rockefeller will not have this communist in the temple to capitalism that is the rockefeller center, so he orders diego to paint over it. diego stands his ground and refuses. despite rockefeller’s threats, diego says that theres only one person he wants to be proud of him no matter what and in true homer & marge fashion, frida is touched by this. they happily leave the rockefeller center.

now, the real story of Man At The Crossroads and the rockefeller center was actually not that different. as soon as the rockefellers found out diego had snuck in a portrait of lenin into the mural, they ordered him to paint over it, to which he refused. diego even offered to include abraham lincoln and even american abolitionists in the mural as a compromise, but the rockefellers simply did not want any references to communism whatsoever. they did not complain about the hammer and sickle, though. yes, they did know diego was a communist and hired him anyway. what did they expect? lmao. diego said:

"Rather than mutilate the conception [of the mural], I shall prefer the physical destruction of the conception in its entirety, but preserving, at least, its integrity."

so they decided to destroy the mural before it was even finished and they never talked to each other again.

diego then repainted the mural at the palacio de bellas artes back in mexico, this time known as Man, Controller of the Universe. this new version included even more communist leaders and a depiction of john d. rockefeller jr. drinking at a nightclub, right underneath a depiction of syphilis bacteria. cue nelson haw-haw:

this was the version they used in the episode also, since the original was, well, never finished and also destroyed. only a black and white photograph of it exists, taken by diego before it was destroyed so he could remake it.

right so, homer!diego then pulls a Barthood and finishes the episode with a large mural summarizing the entire episode. he says some rick and morty thing i didnt get because i dont watch the show idk idc

the end

ALRIGHT NOW ITS TIME FOR THE STORY OF VINCENT VAN MOE

[vendettacanons]

⚔️ Characterization Hour : Vaas ⚔️

// It’s been a hot minute since I posted anything and I’m sorry for that. My motivation inexplicably tanked this week. I’m feeling a little better now so I’ll get around to my inbox and replies soon. In the meantime, I’ve been playing a lot of Far Cry 3 and analyzing the characters (both to pick up one or two more and specifically to study things for ship ideas and characterization of Vaas specifically).

// Mind the tags for trigger warnings. Far Cry 3 is dark as shit.

// I noted this the first time I watched the cutscenes, but playing through the game and actually getting the full context firsthand really hit different; Citra openly says that Vaas was not always the way he is now. He wasn’t always so crazy. (Granted, both of them are crazy but I’m chalking that up to some idea about genetic things that I’ll talk about later.) She says he wasn’t always a fucking maniac- the drugs turned him into that. The drugs and the unforgiving harshness and cruelty Hoyt and his work demanded of him. She blames Hoyt for turning Vaas into what he is, and she’s right. She mentions that Vaas used to live with her and the Rakyat, and that he had some kind of birthright he ran away from (meaning Vaas is likely supposed to be the one leading the Rakyat and that’s another thing I’ll touch on in a bit.) After Hoyt discovered the islands and began trading drugs to the settlers in exchange for bodies, Vaas was one of the unlucky ones who ended up getting hooked. Hoyt took a liking to him, and put him in a downward spiral.

// There’s more to this though. It’s never explicitly stated how long Hoyt has been in the Rook Islands but we can draw a rough timeline. Not much is known about Hoyt’s upbringing, but it is known that he likely started young, killing his father and joining a criminal consortium before eventually taking it over for himself. No exact age is given, but I’d clock him at 20 then. Our biggest hint to that is a line that we get from him during his fight with Jason. He states “he’s been doing this since before [Jason] was born”. This is likely in reference to attempts made on his life by mutinous Privateers or Pirates. Jason is 25, so his business has lived for about 25 years, which makes sense given Hoyt himself is 45. He must have discovered the Rook Islands later on (thanks to his Pirate lackeys knowing the oceans so well) given that he states he has connections all over the world. I’d say he’s been on Rook for about 10 years, considering he has a whole foothold on the place and a giant satellite dish (which would take years to build by hand, especially when his men are incredibly varied and probably not all experienced in design and building, much less any of the locals). He’s definitely been sitting on the property for a long ass time.

// This makes sense considering Vaas and Citra lived and survived on the island as orphans for a long time- theyre part of the native population. Going by this timeline, Hoyt arrived when Vaas was 17. Perfect timing for him to get hooked onto drugs, abandon his birthright before he was set to receive it, and putting him at an ideal age to be easily manipulated by Hoyt into something evil and sadistic. He was following Hoyt’s example, the drugs just amplified the effect of his cruelty.

// Again this is all speculation and largely headcanon considering Far Cry 3 didn’t give us any solid hints at an actual timeline.

// Branching away from the why, I wanna talk about some headcanons I have about Vaas himself. It is very plain to see throughout the game that Vaas is not entirely bad. I mean, he is irredeemably awful, but there are some points that I want to draw attention to. He obviously cares very deeply for Citra. He mentions it often how he loved his sister and would do anything for her at some point, even kill, and in a conversation with Hoyt he sounds legitimately heartbroken that she is tattooing Jason and giving away his birthright like that. He seems to have this sober moment of clarity where he feels like his sister is replacing him based on how far gone he is. So obviously, part of his emotional instability is chalked up to Hoyt’s conditioning and drugs. But not all of it is.

// Part of Vaas’ mental instability comes fro mugs parents, and Citra is proof of that. There is literally nothing known about their parents, they were abdanoned as children. But both Vaas and Citra carry something from them: mental illness. It’s hard pinpoint exactly what kind, but addiction might very well be in the genetics. Why would Vaas, who was basically a prince capable of having anything he wanted brought to him at the snap of his fingers, turn to drugs? Unless one of his parents was an addict themselves which, again, very possible considering the island’s were likely discovered by the Pirates— meaning prior to Hoyt’s arrival, drugs were still being trafficked. That would account for why Vaas got hooked so quickly, while Citra showed a measure of restraint. However, Citra betrays other things that only genetics could account for. Because the environments they’re in are so vastly different. Both Citra and Vaas demonstrate developign strange obsessions and compulsions. Citra develops an irrational obsession with Jason after he finds an artifact (one that is important to her people granted, but how quickly and deeply she develops it is what makes it so concerning). Vaas just develops obsessions with fools who end up on the island in general— Chris, Jason, etc. In Vaas’ case, it’s hazardously exacerbated by the drugs but hey- Citra wasn’t exactly tame about how she handled it either. It’s impossible to tell what the defined cause of them being so unhinged with their obsessions is given how little else they show, but there’s definitely some common illness they likely inherited.

// And before I go any further, I just want to put a disclaimer that mental illness does not inherently make people evil or more likely to commit crimes or atrocities. That’s not the case at all and that is not what Citra and Vaas are meant to portray in canon or in my own writings. Mental illness is not the reason why both Citra and Vaas are fucked up as characters. Special conditioning to torture, abuse, and kill people, treating them like disposable toys, and violent drug addictions in Vaas’ case, or as a threat against them until proven otherwise/ indoctrinated into their sacred culture in Citra’s case, are. The fact that they may have inherited some type of mental illness from their parents developed as a result of Hoyt before he even showed and it’s gone completely unacknowledged or treated is just a catalyst.

// Anyways, what is the point of all this? Why did I do this characterization assessment? Well, this is basically a long-winded way of describing a new facet to my portrayal of Vaas. One that I’ve been looking for for a while now. With all of my characters, I try not to let them fall flat and be defined by one particular characteristic. In Vaas’ case, this is very difficult. He’s so all over the place and unpredictable that writing him is easy, but actually capturing the essence of him is hard because he is often only portrayed as being one thing: insane. But after playing the game for hours and carefully studying him, I found it really interesting how Vaas has all these “breaks in his insanity”. They mostly happen when he’s talking about family. His quiets up, he softens, and his act vanishes only to pop back up when something seemingly random sets him off again. But the fact he has these breaks at all, and the way he acts during them, implies that part of Vaas— the man that he was supposed to be, is still there. His entire persona is driven by a work and drug motivated impulse to be as destructive and chaotic as possible. And he is. He is cruel, evil, nasty, and wicked. But he’s also still capable of being gentle and loving like he was when he was with Citra. He shows he still loves his family. He even still carries some of their traditions, like calling everyone “brother” or “sister”. There are moments, rare as they are, where he is free from the demands of his work and his addictions aren’t gnawing at him. There are small moments of calm in the storm that he has become. It doesn’t erase or justify the destruction that he inevitably brings. But it does exist. Because Vaas is still a man after all. And he knows there is something really wrong with him. He’s not only guilty, he is tormented by it. He literally gets on his knees and begs Jason to kill him. He knows he’s fucked up. He’s just not strong enough to change.

// TL;DR: Hoyt’s been fucking shit up since before Vaas was born. This is all Hoyt’s fault. He’s the reason Vaas is an orphan, he’s the reason Vaas was mentally unstable even before he gave him drugs and forced him to abandon his birthright and work for him, he’s the reason Vaas is such a wicked little brute that destroy everything he touches. But there are brief moments where his facade cracks and reveals he’s still capable of being the gentle loving brother he once was. He still loves his sister very much and he feels very guilty for abandoning her. He knows there are things wrong with him and he knows he can’t correct them or finish himself off by his own hand, hence why he begs for death in the end. Thanks, Hoyt.

// Looking at it, this will definitely impact my portrayal of Vaas. Probably not by default, but definitely in terms of pre-established relationships and ships going forward. I’ll mention ahead of time that nobody except Hoyt, Citra, and Vaas really know the extent of what has happened to him. Buck does to a certain degree but he doesn’t have the full story. I’ll also say this does not change the fact that most of Vaas’ relationships that aren’t business related are going to be unhealthy or downright abusive, if not for a large portion of it than for all of it. Vaas has proven that he is not above threatening, manipulating, emotionally toying with, and physically hurting people. Especially those he develops obsessions with. He might be infatuated with someone, but his infatuations are far from pure and wholesome. And stemming from that, he is not one of those “fixable” villain types. Lots of love and understanding are not going to cure him. He is not going to go change overnight because someone was nice to him. In general, I dont see Vaas changing for anyone. He’s just too... stubborn and set in his way to do so. But if he does, it’ll require some hardcore chemistry and a metric fuckton of plotting (and probably a dead Hoyt but that’s neither here nor there).

// Anyway if you read this far, you’re awesome and I love you, thanks for coming to my TedTalk. ❤️

[sambarvadai]

#6: the curious art of crunchtime creativity (2/2): aha

posted on 14 nov 2019

exams happened yesterday, and also i wrote this blog post yesterday, but now it’s all gone and i’m rewriting it. c’est la vie! edit before posting: it is one week later and another exam has happened and now i have more material to write about. c’est la vie pt2!

so. there’s a second type of creativity – calling it creativity isn’t accurate; most would consider it to be going down the rabbit’s hole that is the internet. we’ve all done it before, somehow finding ourselves staring at something in horrified fascination with no clue as to how we ended up there. in my case – or at least, in this context, it is mostly subject-related, specifically to the subject on which i am about to write the exam. (future me: the exam is over) please note: this has only applied to tamil and chinese, the two languages i take (english doesn’t count. you can’t study for english), because those have scopes so wide that they might as well not exist at all. hence, it’s not me, it’s the subject. we move on.

chinese is a lovely, lovely subject ((please forget the fact that my exam is in two days and i’ve barely started studying) <– this exam is now over i hate it) and my love for it came from this book i found when i was starting out. it taught the story of each character by broke it down into radicals and connected these radicals into a coherent plot that told its meaning. that was a long sentence. so this made learning chinese, which is, primarily, a pictoral language, quite manageable.

a tangent here: simplified chinese is harder to understand pictorally as compared to traditional chinese, because in the name of simplification, many radicals have been bastardised to mean completely different things from what they were actually intended to be. for example, the character for listen (听, 聽), as you can see, has been grossly simplified from including the radicals for ear and heart to just including the radical for mouth. kinda sad, isn’t it

anyway back to story so i have amazing friends who kick my ass into studying and will absolutely scream at me for browsing taobao two days before the exam (which i did haha) and it’s great learning chinese in a chinese-speaking country because you have so many somewhat-native-chinese-speakers who will correct your chinese but still encourage you to strive on and not make (too much) fun of you. it’s lovely because my friends have similar pop culture exposure compared to me, so if i drop in a random korean reference or whatnot they get it. it’s really, really great and cool, especially when i want to write fanfic in chinese and they get it B)

speaking of fanfic, i recently discovered twosetviolin (why recently, you ask? i’ve been seeing their thumbnails in my recommended for ages but never clicked; sorry) and i was hooked. so naturally, i turned to fanfiction (idk if i actually ship them but the stories are cute). surprisingly, there was a large amount of chinese fanfiction about them, which led me to lofter (chinese tumblr)! and i learnt so much vocab from that and it was so so fun to read, because it was seeing familiar tropes in a slightly-less-familiar language. i do want to continue learning chinese, so hopefully this will prove to be a good gateway into the language.

the tamil section’s going to be shorter because it’s been a while since the exam, but anyway, i shall try my best.

tamil has been my pride and joy for the last four years, in no small part thanks to my peers and teacher who made me love the language and love myself for inheriting the language. i once regarded tamil as a burden and hated speaking it because of how i stumbled and had a funny accent. now, though, my accent is a lot better, and i speak it much more naturally. it’s still a work in progress, but i love the language so much more and that has translated directly into (or has affected) how i interact with my peers and family. i’m a lot more confident expressing myself in the language, and i like speaking it and making a connection to other people who have chosen the language.

because that’s what it is, isn’t it, you choose a language. you can choose to reject the language you were born with, or you can choose to cultivate it and respect it. you can choose to learn a language that was not yours to begin with, but has grown to become close to you in a different but equally inexplicable manner. you choose the language, and you give it the acknowledgement it rightly deserves.

anyway. the love for the language stayed largely within class, where our teacher showed us ancient tamil poems and translated them for us, showing us that themes of love, kindness, filial piety, and so many more have not changed one bit in the last 2000 years. recently, however, i found oldtamilpoetry.com, in which the blog-writer translates tamil poetry into bite-sized pieces. as i stayed up late reading the archives, i felt the language settling into my bones, draped over me as comfortingly as a childhood blanket. it was reassuring. calming. lovely.

this, i now realise, is just a really long love letter to my languages. these are my languages now, and i’ve made them my own by finding the beauty in them. that beauty was best discovered in the moments before exams, when pressure drives you to look for alternate ways to make learning bearable. this was when i discovered why i actually love the language – and love learning, really. yeah.

i don’t know where i was going with this but YES. tldr, during exam periods, i find how beautiful subjects – languages – are. it’s really cool, and i recommend you do it too. just go down a rabbit hole and find what makes you click. find that pull factor that makes you realise that yeah, this was worth it. this is probably kind of incoherent but hey. hopefully a bit of you resonated with this!

please watch out for part 3. idk when ill post it, but yeah! it’ll be a wrap-up to this academic year, or maybe just exams in particular. important! because i have quite a bit of reflection to do about that too. hope you enjoyed reading this haha thanks for reading so far !!!!!!!!!!! legitimately bless you owo (pls check out twosetviolin theyre amAzing) stay tuned for more !11!1!!

anbudan, noon xoxo

[gg-astrology]

Hey I’ve been following your tumblr for a while now and I just wanted to thank you for creating such fascinating content. I really like the way you interpret astrology. Also just wanted to ask you a question: What’s your perception of Venus-Neptune Natal aspects? For instance, Capricorn Venus Conjunct Capricorn Neptune? I watched a video on YouTube about this natal aspect and the guy said it meant the Venus would behave more like a Pisces Venus. What’s your take?

Hey there!! ❤️💕 Ahh thank you so much ;; really, it means a lot to me hearing this? Your kind thoughtful words really touches me, I’m always so grateful to see heartfelt words from people 🙇🏻‍♀️❤️💕 

As for Venus/Neptune conjunct -- it?? wouldn’t be?? like Pisces Venus because it’s not actually Venus in Pisces?? ;; There’s no mutual reception between the two either (i.e. Pisces Venus - Libra Neptune/Taurus Neptune) the main difference is that Pisces Venus live and breath the signs expressions. 

If we go by the same logic of Capricorn Venus/Neptune would entail the Capricorn Venus (??) being similar to Pisces Venus. 

That’s like saying Cancer Venus/Neptune would have the Cancer Venus behave like a Pisces Venus?? (I really don’t get?? this?? ;; since Venus doesn’t rule Pisces? So even in the decans, it wouldn’t be connected to Venus/Pisces?)  -- Or an Aquarius Venus/Neptune conjunction would be like a Pisces Venus or share similar traits to it?? Bc of?? What?? Neptune’s influence on Venus?? When Neptune is in Aquarius?? 

Which doesn’t really? Make sense?

Or is it like. We’re immediately going Neptune = Pisces. And thus we think Neptune (Pisces) + Venus = Pisces Venus? When?? Neptune isn’t in Pisces?? Neptune is in Capricorn so it should’ve been Neptune (Capricorn) + Venus (Capricorn) = Capricorn Neptune/Venus?? Where did Pisces come from unless we’re talking about something else??

Capricorn Venus/Neptune Conjunction + Further Explanation of Capricorn Venus/Neptune =/= Pisces Venus by Nature ⬇️

It’s kinda like picking and choosing what should turn out in our favour if that’s the case? Like say you’re a poc who’s darker skinned than most (sorry if this part is a little harsh)-- when you see others of a lighter skin in the community who doesn’t have to live day in day out with people making micro-aggressive comments about the tone of your skin. You and your lighter-skinned friends can be a part of the same community -- but there’s a difference there, what you face is a different experience from each other. 

Sorry didn’t want to relate it to this but ;; hm do u kinda get it? its kinda like. It is what it is, be proud of what you have. Talk about it (capricorn venus) instead of relying on something that could metaphorically represent an ‘ideal’ of what your capricorn venus could be (when it’s not?). A Capricorn Venus isn’t a Pisces Venus?? There’s no mutual reception, the aspect is conjunction in Capricorn?? I don’t?

Ok nevermind hsjndjnd I just. I’m just trying to figure it out. I kinda get where this might be coming from? Like, if they’re just trying to give us an example we might be more familiar with like ‘oh! pisces venus!’ but it really isn’t productive nor accurate because alot of people have to unlearn that it isn’t interchangeable like that/has no logic to it besides the metaphorical sense?

But hm. Anyways. I mentioned the difference with Pisces Venus at the beginning because it’s important to acknowledge Pisces Venus’s experiences as well. Pisces Venusian-- I’m so sorry you got dragged into this. I don’t? get it. But Capricorn Venus/Neptune conjunction can often point to a tendency to manifest what they have/idealize about inside their mind/heart into reality for others (or themselves). Particularly when it comes to giving to someone else. 

Capricorns are actually pretty protective of others, particularly of others ego/feelings-- we talk alot about how they’re protective of their own feelings/egos --but rather than just 1) their own hardship in communicating it forward/openly sometimes, it’s more because they’re also observant of others and can often hold themselves down/quiet themselves to be there for others (putting themselves second, giving to others first sometimes as well). That they tend to have strong sentiments towards others, but doesn’t always know how to express it outwards all the time (which is very different than a mutable venus, Pisces Venus in particular)

Because they themselves (Capricorn Venusians) do care a lot about others and tend to act/prove that by putting others first. There’s a misconception here that they are self-sacrificial like a Pisces is. The difference here is that the Capricorn is a cardinal -- they use actions to get themselves where they need to go, where they need to be. They like comfort as much as others, and like to feel like the connection is deeper in a way that they can understand/go somewhere with it.

Pisces Venus play this game like an art, but the Capricorn Venus/Neptune may often be a lot denser and slower when they’re deceived by their own disillusion because they strongly believe in the path that theyre on. They didn’t come into this empty handed or full of uncertainty, they walked into this realizing that they want to make something out of it, realize and manifest something from it that’s precious/valuable to them (both partners or more sometimes).

The main difference here between Pisces Venus and Capricorn Venus/Neptune is the nature of Capricorn that’s influencing the planet. It isn’t like Pisces who’s exalted in Venus. The nature of Venus/Neptune can be sentimentalism, idealistic. It can be romantic and very ‘look at the stars and let me help imagine what you have in mind with you’. The Capricorn (and all signs, to be fair) has the capacity to be deeply romantic in it’s own ways already. They may not always show it, or express it openly to others all the time (or at all sometimes). But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have the capacity for that.

There’s potential for it to foster in this Capricorn in particular, because of the aspect that’s being made in the native’s own chart. But the native isn’t a Pisces Venus-- the way the native Capricorn Venus/Neptune would translate this would be to imagine the future together. The happiness right now, what could be built from it. What could add to nurture what they already have. A Capricorn is an earth sign-- and although they share the same polarity -- the nature of earth is different from those of water.

People with Capricorn Venus/Neptune may possibly be a touch gentler on others sometimes-- or maybe slightly more sensitive than other Capricorn placement, aspect, natives. But it doesn’t take away that they’re a Capricorn and that Capricorns are capable of being sensitive/achieving that. That nature isn’t grounded in water like Pisces, but rather a grounded, deeply rooted Capricorn approach to observing and making room/space for others in their life.

They behave differently, than a Pisces Venus native. Not only that, but Capricorn Venus/Neptune native may often feel like they a little ‘looser’ in love (in terms of controlling their sentiments) which may feel ‘destabilizing’ somewhat to the Capricorn if they’re still a little under-developed. But that’s just a matter of developing your Capricorn placements -- which wouldn’t develop if we think of it as Pisces instead of Capricorn -- in order to feel both the highs of love but not feel like you’re dis-alluding yourself at the same time (consistency can sometimes be the key to feeling ‘locked/grounded’ in a Capricorn/Taurus to be fair)

So. To wrap it up. Capricorns do have the predisposition to be everything Venus/Neptune entails. The romantic nature, the ideals. The imaginative nature isn’t all ‘dried up’ in Capricorn, but the way they behave and express it is why the sign that’s in question (and learning about it) is so important. 

It’s just like saying ‘Capricorn Venus aren’t romantic’ because the wills/wants of Venus is imposed with restriction from the Capricorn’s strict saturnian nature. Or that ‘Capricorn Neptune aren’t imaginative’ when a whole generations of artists, designers, architects exists. It’s about learning the nature and expressions of the signs, and appreciating the things that may not be conventionally expected all the time. 

The things that could come out of it-- and expecting the ‘shock’ factor that comes with planetary bodies meeting and activating/lifting up things that we haven’t seen from the signs before (making/receiving aspects from each other, an augmentation of the signs/planets figuring themselves out) - it’s not something that’s popped out of nothing, but rather a dormant thing that was already there-- waiting to be explored in the signs expression/development.

So. Anyways. I hope this answers your question? ❤️💕  I know I focused a lot on conjunctions, but different aspects would also talk about different things. Kinda like picking a wall colour -- and you have like, 6 shades of whatever colour you picked shown to you. From light to dark, if you’ve already picked the tone that is. But phew, yeah anyways! ❤️💕

I think a lot of digestible information are put in a way that’s like ‘___ is like ___’ to help people learn. Which is like!!! good sentiment!! well-intended!! love that! 

BUT it would be nice to also be? accurate? because it’s not the same thing. And beating the bush around the topic without explaining it as is tends to just make people go around in circles. There are so many cool things to learn like mutual receptions and how/when to use it, house derivation techniques, debilities/dignitaries. There’s so many cool things to learn that can actually help people further their studies/techniques and make them self-dependent, so sometimes these types of comparative/nothing is structured/everything is interchangeable and blended type of concepts (in certain context) can be hindering the progress to learn/study even more so?? 

It’s kinda like pictionary in a way -- you draw a lion but instead of saying lion we’re calling it a big cat? Which is like. Nice! ❤️💕 Very cute! ❤️💕 But also not the right answer and can sometimes be like.

A lion’s environment and interactions with human isnt the same as a house cat. So we dont know how to care for it properly? If we apply the same logic of a house cat to a lion? It’s? Kinda?? Huh.

But anyways i’m ;; I hope its?? ok?? I hope i didn’t scare you off ksjdnskjn I know I was pretty confused at the beginning trying to work it out and maybe I was a bit nit-picky but. I hope the answer was satisfactory, and that it did make sense/come in handy at some point ;; ❤️💕❤️💕 Thank u for liking the blog and writings, even tho im probably ksjnkffjnkernjksndkn

Anyways thank you ❤️💕❤️💕 thank u so much for the kind words at the beginning as well ;; I hope I didn’t sound like I was attacking you because I definitely was not!!! ❤️💕❤️💕 hkjsdnksnk you did nothing wrong, and you definitely shouldn’t take this on you ❤️💕❤️💕 please!! ❤️💕❤️💕

[booksandchainmail]

nanoha vivid liveblog: episode 11

Time for Corona vs. Einhart!

ok, i know wendi is referring to teo, but i did misinterpret at the start as einhart has been nicknamed kitty cat

... still better than most of the other contestants

attacking from the start, before corona can summon. it’s the obvious weakness of anyone who needs prep in the way she does

but shes ready for this it seems, and starts summoning while still in the air, which is pretty cool

oooh, i don’t think anyone else has used the terrain like this. makes you wonder how corona would fare in a larger or varied arena

damn. the goliath packs a punch

Einhart know the first rule of fighting someone with a summoned creature: directly attack the controller

Or in this case, separate her from the golem to where she’s vulnerable

Oh, seems like goliath needs pretty active instructions at all times, which means with corona knocked away, he just kinda stands there and gets hit

the most brutal attack of this match

I think we’ve seen elements in this in how corona started planning from the assumption that einhart could beat her: she’s very level-headed. That extending into combat is valuable, especially in a setting like this where her opponents are also amateurs and likely to falter under pressure. Though einhart might be less vulnerable to that, due to her war memories

her strengths fit her powers well. She literally creates in order to fight, and she needs to be strategic in order to get time and space to summon.

is she gonna stab einhart

This is a very calm match, in comparison to the others we’ve seen. It’s partly that theyre friends, and there’s no grudge driving them, but also just a lot who they are as people. Einhart and corona are both relatively quiet, but also self-assured. They have good understandings of their own abilities, and you can see that here in how calmly they return to the ring, theres no worry about running out of time or how theyre going to continue

flashback time!

I really love the range of motivations and backstories this show gives the contestants. You do have people with tragic backstories, or who want to prove themselves, or have a deep passion for martial arts, but you also have those who just value the connections it brings, or for whom its just an extracurricular. You don’t need to be deeply motivated to do something, it can still be a meaningful part of your life, and you’re not lesser or shallower for it.

I also like the idea (idk if this is canon) that Corona sought out summoning because she recognized that she couldn’t keep up with normal fighting. It’s a unusual thing in a fighting show to have a character who isn’t at the same level as everyone else, and who finds their own style that draws on different strengths.

this is a great summary of everyone’s motivations, but also einhart is hilariously incongruous with the others 

OH SHIT I THOUGHT THE PARTIAL SUMMONING WAS HER NEW TECHNIQUE

HOLY

FUCKING

CHRIST

shes just knocking einhart around effortlessly

ooooooh

This makes a lot of sense for Corona’s character! She’s a clever and observant fighter who’s willing to innovate but not particularly talented, and who takes motivation primarily from her friends. Of course she studies their techniques, and of course she copies them

And no wonder einhart was caught off guard, it’s like she was suddenly fighting a different person

but einhart gets up

she’s spent her life struggling with hundreds of years of guilt and grief, and just keeps on going through all of that

i think klaus may have been defined by his loss, but einhart is defined by the strength it takes to carry that loss

…y’know, you could have rested a little bit before forcing yourself up, there was plenty of time

oh this is tricky. Can corona press an attack, which is definitely outside her normal mode of fighting, or does she give up the advantage she’s won here?

The other question is if corona also learned anything from rio, or from einhart herself, though I think using her own style against her could backfire badly

… if that’s based off vivio, it’s primarily a counter, and using it for a direct attack might not work as well

ducking like that is both well suited to the height difference, and one of vivio’s signature moves

most of how corona’s moving here fits vivio, or any of the more close quarter fighters we’ve seen, but that arm sweep looked new to me, and seems very indicative of corona’s fighting style. Calm, collected, redirecting the opponent.

and in contrast, you can see how panicked einhart looks, which is very unusual for her

Okay, things are looking bad for einhart here. But she’ll have a chance to heal, and I think the next round will go differently. A lot of corona’s success here is she’s brought out completely new techniques and styles, and einhart’s just been reeling most of the bout: all her fighting’s been very basic hand-to-hand, with basically no hegemon style attacks or more elaborate moves. But with a chance to collect herself and replan, I think einhart’s experience will let her adapt to this fairly quickly. Additionally, a lot of corona’s new moves are based off vivio, who einhart has fought (and beat) before.

so she has copied from rio as well

OH

that’s a neat twist. It explains how she was able to pick these moves up so quickly, and how she can handle without any particular skill at martial arts. This also explains why Nove disapproved: I can’t imagine using techniques meant to control large amounts of stone on your own body is particularly safe.

That’s fucking cool. 

And also a massive weakness, because it makes her predictable. If einhart can figure out what triggers one of those moves, then immediately counter based on knowing how corona will respond, she can retaliate very quickly

from your own memories, or klaus’s?

this is the complete opposite of how I’d expected an einhart vs corona fight to play out

yeah, she’s not just copying specific moves, but entire fighting styles. that is honestly incredible, especially when you consider she had to pre-program them all herself

awww, i’m glad to see she’s in there too

Having multiple settings gives corona a lot more flexibility…

...but einhart’s already figuring out the pattern

I can’t help but think this technique would work a lot better on anyone else. Corona has the disadvantage her of her opponent already knowing all the sources of her automated moves, but imagine a fight where one side keeps pulling out new completely unknown styles every couple of hits.

I guess that’s why this isn’t common

Oops

Yeah the other reason einhart can deal with this is she has a completely ridiculous level of knowledge about this one particular style

And corona is starting to fight wildly, while einhart remains calm. This is a complete reversal of the previous round

Holy fuck is that blood

~tempting faaaate~

and yup, automation is weak to feints from people who know the moveset.

Though to be fair, I don’t know if a non-automated fighter would have dealt with that any better

DOES THIS TOURNAMENT FOR CHILDREN HAVE SAFETY STANDARDS

PLEASE DO NOT MAGICALLY PUPPET YOUR OWN ENTIRE BODY

i feel like that would go badly

fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck

theres some excellent and creepy puppet imagery going on here

And einhart mostly just looks sad here. I’m guessing with memories of actual war, she’s not that happy about her friends pushing themselves this dangerously for a competition?

OR ITS ABOUT OLIVIE AGAIN

because this is einhart, and everything always comes back to olivie

But yeah, the puppet connection would be a bad reminder. And corona’s whole  feeling weak compared to her teammates, and wanting to be able to stand next to them, seems like it connects pretty strongly to olivie’s story 

she just looks so tired and sad here, and i’m remembering how happy she was at the idea of a way to fight without stakes, and she’s just now realizing that even if they aren’t lethal, there are still consequences to these matches

at this point, einhart is pretty in control of the battlefield. she’s brilliant at this kind of fighting, and corona doesn’t have any moves that einhart hasn’t already fought against

I’m starting to think this fight won’t end with an attack, but with corona just collapsing when her magic or body wears out

another connection to olivie with the damaged arms. this must be hell for einhart to have to fight

gods

just, can someone stop this match please? are there any kinds of precautions?

and here’s the hardest part for einhart. Because of her memories, she has a pretty unique first-hand perspective on war. I don’t think mid-childa has had a war, and certainly not recently enough to still have wartime soldiers around. And even with all the pain they cause her, there must be some comfort in the fact that olivie’s dream of peace was achieved, even at the cost of her life. But here, even in this peaceful world, there are still children willing to hurt themselves terribly in order to have the power to fight. And this must feel like such a failure and betrayal of the world to einhart. 

THEN STOP

NO, GIVE UP PLEASE

THAT IS A MAJOR PROBLEM

i want nanoha to show up to stop the match and yell at everybody about techniques that excessively strain your body

THERES MORE?!!!??!!

ok, that’s a fair point. Corona has pulled out some really impressive moves here, but she hasn’t done much in the way of golem stuff. I wonder if in her rush to make up for her weaknesses, she’s discounted her own techniques too much?

finally

corona has amazing terrain manipulation abilities. combine that with her summoning, the automated moves, and even i guess the full body technique, and she’s maybe the most versatile fighter we’ve seen. In a larger area with unfamiliar opponents, or as support for a team, she’d be devastating.

all those anime characters who dramatically slice rocks in half with a sword have nothing compared to einhart

ooh, nice feint using the partial summon as well as the big one. even here at the end, corona continues to fight smart

and now she has a ranged attack as well. no matter the outcome of the tournament, i’m voting corona for mvp

awwwwww

and she uses binding magic as well, because apparently corona reacted to not being as good at punching people as her friends by learning EVERYTHING ELSE

bit of tonal dissonance, but awwwww kitty!

and her golem can reassemble itself.

corona is amazing

but einhart is the martial arts master, and she just stops it stone cold

what a hell of a match. this was definitely my favorite fight so far, and the finale’s gonna have a tough time topping that. The variety of techniques and strategies used, as well as the brilliant character work on corona and einhart, made this incredible to watch. 

it was hard fought, and corona pulled out ten times what anyone expected from her, but in the end einhart managed a victory

but in the aftermath, she just looks defeated

this was a hard match emotionally on all sides

(i count myself as a side)

[ninjayuri]

F/O Freepass! Ramble about your fictional crushes, friends, family, in a reply to this ask!

yoo....... ilysm anon

hello, my name is sorin, and i am a blackquill. i have a whole script for that self insert but BASICALLY simon and aura are the best big siblings ever!! i know, i know, who in their right mind would choose to have THOSE two as their siblings,, well, i didnt. it is how it is and i love them (dont tell them that). also its kind of weird bc i recognized things like auras green goop gun and the space center and simons theme song before i even played dual destinies but thats probably me thinking too much

as the youngest blackquill, i often get left out of things a lot, but to be completely honest i prefer being less well known. its easier anyways. i actually ended up studying both law and science, law with simon and science with aura, making it super easy for me to investigate cases!!

anyways. aura is the type to make fun of you in general, but when anyone actually bothers you,,, she's scary, to say the least. actually, we're all like that. i myself have a particular hatred for my fictional enemy, booby foolblight, for his actions, and cannot type out his name without an influx of rage, the idiot.

simon is fun to goof around with. he seems really intimidating as well (never as much as aura tho) but he actually is the BEST to do pranks with. everyone hates us 😁😁😁 taka has been part of sooo many tricks

we can never choose what to watch on netflix because simon's aaaaall about his silly samurai shows, aura refuses to watch anything but science fiction, and im more of a mystery genre type of person myself. theyre both SUCH NERDS (altho,,, i am too) and its funny when people are scared of them bc i know how they actually are. then again i wouldnt test them when theyre mad either

anyway im part of all of the found families. prosecutors office, the agency, and space center. i actually met clay and apollo a few times so it was weird seeing apollo again, we're friends now. im part of the gen z gang, with seb and kay more like siblings, ema as my bestie, and edgeworth as the tired dad who puts up with everything. oh and THAT MAN too

THANK YOU ANON THIS ISNT EVEN EVERYTHING AND I HAVE SO MANY OTHER CANONS BUT I LOVE THEM. BYE!!

[rennyji]

about party schools and proof and effect of their reputation...

May 27th tweets...

The reputed party school wants to spend 11 years wondering why “I don’t go out” in the sense of bars/partying. For their personalities or the kids they’re used to, from the low grade requirements for their school(nothing against anyone for getting admission there), -

-I suppose it’s to be expected. With my grades at Iona Prep High School, I had scholarships with free laptops at some decent private schools. But I chose to go to the Harvard of the SUNY’s: Binghamton University. -

-I transferred out, because I wanted a fresh start with a new major, late in my academic career, after an attempt at electricalEngineering. The only place that’d take me is a reputed party school. Theyre probably like F* you in reading this, but being the truth, it’s undeniable.-

-And at that point in my academic career, I thought, what's in a name to a school or its reputation. But look what happens when you go to some places. Leaving Binghamton was the worst decision for so many normal/abnormal reasons. -

- i mean, for one thing, your grades reflect on the kind of person you are. it can say your hard working, or equally smart but just want to take it easy and do things like party and alcohol and drugs all day. but different story, moving on...-

-I used to spend a lot of time in computer science lounge and in the faculty department common room, at said party school. Despite me being there almost everyday, and at the Starbucks in Colonie, NY for networking, where this location is at the center of multiple Universities,-

-the professors who had a role in this, sided with random kids they don’t see in that area often. I guess it’s because they partied and I studied. “Sided “in that they listened to random kids who don’t know me, rather than talk to the guy in their vicinity on a daily basis. -

-Such is the reputed party school. While in the common area, I heard one of their professors say, they take as many kids from a local community college: Hudson Valley, to boost their graduation rates. -

-I guess they don’t get the kids they need for that in normal admissions at a reputed party school. As I hear them talking sometimes, while making me look crazy for it, you should have heard their astonishment at the Binghamton common computer area in comparison to what they-

-have at their reputed party school. It says a lot about reputations. The orchestrators try to make it seem like, the way I am in a ridiculous situation(probably filmed or the equivalent all day), while living with my parents, is how I am. -

- They’ve been doing this for 11 years, after robbing me of my opportunities for 11 years. I had a life before this, and I intend to continue to, after, with my own network, family, etc, away from these orchestrators and their craziness.-

- &another thing, regarding the party school, think im just saying things? check the books. and are their graduates or students going to get mad at me, despite the school's clear role and for calling the students equally smart, a number of tweets ago? well, oops, OK..moving on.-

moving onto addressing something else...-

-The orchestrators are always misusing people under the pretense that I’m a picked on kid. I’m a successful, grown man. -

-Not because I’m conceited,  but from life experience, I wrote 11 yrs ago: “I’m not the last person people harass, but I’m also far from the first.” When it happens, with my image (while chubby, and not handsome now), I know somethings up. -

-Try me, and be direct about it, rather than do something ridiculous from afar. I don’t waste time on idiots. -

-The orchestrators perpetuate and take part, and make official and global, a small rumor of a girl I don’t know or knows me (or her misguided teenage friends who also don’t know me nor do I know them-big theme in this, with all involved) from 11 years ago.-

-The only thing that ever harmed me, abused me, or robbed me of health and opportunities, is the orchestrators. -

-Teenage kids have no power. Whatever effect they have dies down. It takes something big or reputable (like adults of a particular standing) to give their ideology power. -

-These adults...I don’t know them, they don’t know me...I don’t understand their 11 year project/vendetta/-whatever this massive lie is, against me. Maybe it started with just wanting to make money off of me and my life and my lifestyle. -

-In trying to address this 11 year problem, my true focus: my career, gets hidden, and you end up thinking I’m taking part, or after the cr*p-ola of the orchestrators. I’m big on what’s natural. -

-Anywho, I wrote this 1st in the “Notes app” on my iPhone yesterday, to publish on Twitter & tumbler today, in case I forgot. - in case todays posting was seen earlier...think it happens to emails sent to myself and other things...-

-Focus on what’s 4 each day on Twitter &tumbler, despite what cannot be helped i.e. the random relaying of everything @ any time, since no 1 helps me stop it by talking 2 me. Imagine what would happen if you told me-the power to save myself...what a great thing you'd be doing...

about that party school? before things escalated, as soon as I noticed the potential for a problem behind a situation occurring without telling me, I went to their Conflict Resolution office at their school and told them about my concerns and what I noticed-

- the next day, the guy that spoke to me, walks in a different direction, from a small distance, forces a head turn, and gives me a retarded smile. -

-Despite my "reporting things" like one does to the police in the face of a problem, that school went crazy against me on the day of my 2012 finals. can you imagine a school allowed to go nuts on the day of a student's final exams? -

-once again, goes back to the talk about reputations from several tweets ago - this morning. Ur reputation is who you are and reflects in your actions...and here we're dealing with a reputed party school...while they slander my reputation by putting me in retarded predicaments.-

- so many bad experiences with students and faculty at that school...in the first dorm suite i lived in, 5 guys pushed me into my room for pushing them back alone, by myself, for telling them to pitch in cleaning-

-&one of them - a stupid fraternity idiot - rushed to tell on me, saying i punched him. in a part time job, i told  the guy i was working w/to teach me the trade or get the phone in my cubicle working in an area with no cell reception. he just responds nastily and it culminates-

- on another occassion, i locked myself out of my room in a different dorm suite, b4 going to my next part time job, which was in their down town. took the highway to get there. went to the faculty and told them my problem - that i had work, can't be late, need to get in my room-

-they tell me that i have to wait 2 hours b/c that's when their services are officially available. what if it was class & i needed my backpack? when they eventually agreed 2 help me, the woman i was speaking with, probably saw me going to my dorm building, -

-& she drives around &past me w/a nasty look to spite me 4asking them, when saying she'll go to my room and unlock it. when i think i went back to their office &told them about it, she claims she went to my building &waited, but i didn't show up. i saw her drive in a circle.

- and that second part time job...to prove myself useful when things weren't busy with a computer job, i would, alone, move big shelves, i think desks, &other furniture, down a floor or two. It was a gesture on my part after hearing them talk about no one clearing their office-

-after the things i did for them, i emailed them if they knew anything about this, &never a response. -

this is the party school now wondering about why i'm not out, socializing, getting laid all day/everyday, hitting the bars, or whatever. To the orchestrators: leave my life alone. They're so much proof to all this...i guess amidst everything else, maybe they can see memories...-

- i mean would it kill these people to go the conventional route and use a lie detector with all involved? It's so easy to clear this up. Based on what I truly want for my life, all of this is a mess.

- based on tech they use, in claiming 2 help me(when i need no help aside from telling me whats happening), they try to justify lies 2slander me or try to get me 2write all day. They perpetuate nonsense 2get me 2write, 2 I guess, see if they can predict it-to put it another way.

and going back to conflict resolution at the party school? there was one thing i forgot to mention. not only did he allow this to transpire without telling me. -

-on the day of my exams, when the sounds projected 2 me, made threats 2 a relative of mine, there, by saying "maybe we should help him too", I called Conflict Resolution @ party school several times. They wouldn't pick up. I think I left messages, but no call back. -

- in the face of harassment, threats, evolving to what it is today, under a false impression by people of power, such is the party school.

- U gotta wonder amidst yrs of this mental strain, especially at party school, where was cr*p flowery Amerian psychology/counseling system, what was the school's Conflict Resolution doing. -

-at that party school, failures all around..at the time I was there, academic departments were closing like i think their French department. but whatever. orchestrators are people in power, parading as those of quality, when they're not. 11 years of torture attest to that.

and one normal tweet for when we can move past this...-

love the @onepeloton (peloton). love #leannehainsby (cycling trainer) for her appearance, personality, and training.

[dissirnulo-blog]

Hello! I just stumbled on this blog by complete accident, and it's interesting to read your posts about akechi! I'm sorry if this actually comes of rude or ignorant or whatever, but i'm genuinely curious about life in orphanages in japan. Your akechi seems to be awfully not fond of it, and i guess the same with go with canon akechi actually. What are you thoughts?

OH MY GOSH? im really flattered that you found them interesting, and im more flattered that you actually want to hear my thoughts on such a delicate subject. youre not being rude or anything!!

i very well cant give proper opinions on a subject without laying down the facts first, though, and surprisingly, other than passing mentions and links to an article or two, no one really talked about just how awful the system is in japan, and in turn how it affected goro, so let me talk about the system while adding in my own commentary

WARNING: WERE GOING TO SPOILER TOWN HERE.

spoilers and very, very, very, VERY heavy text under the cut. im so sorry mobile users

these are all articles i have bookmarked lolol i suggest yall read them but tldrs aint that bad too

What’s it like to be raised in a Japanese orphanage?

many kids that wind up in orphanages were neglected by their parents or suffered some kind of abuse from their parents. its also not uncommon for parents to leave their kids there simply because theyre too overwhelmed by the job

but even then, some (read: a whole fucking lot) of these parents refuse to let their children be adopted bc of a social stigma involving it. they cant support/cant take care/dont give a fuck for their children but theyre too scared of the shame that comes from getting their kids adopted to let them live in a family that can care for and love them. think about that for a minute.

these kids are sometimes called throw away children by society. goro is a throw away child, you can say.

the kids tend to form a hierarchical society where the oldest or the biggest kid orders all the other kids around. refuse to listen to them, and you get beat up. abuse and bullying is rampant because of this

a child leaves their orphanage at around 15 to 18. once they leave, any kind of support from the government is cut off. gone. nada. youre on your goddamn own. 

japan is a country thats held together by connections. you get a job if you have a good network to back up your credibility. basically, without any kind of networks, youre already ruined before you even got outside of that goddamn orphanage you live in

to add: its not uncommon to hear about orphans released from orphanages becoming homeless or unemployed, and without a support network, more often than not they also suffer from mental illnesses such as depression. or theyre also manipulated into committing murder. you know.

im gonna throw my assumption out here that goro most likely was released from whatever orphanage he was in when he was 15. not too long after, he had awaken to his persona, and thats when he approached shido. probably. if that were the case, then it would align with when the mental shutdown cases started: two years before the main game. goro died at 17 years old.

with these facts, we can assume that HE WAS LITERALLY A HOMELESS KID WHEN HE WENT TO SHIDO, AND HE WAS BARELY LEGAL WHEN HE DIED, YOU FUCKING MONKEYS

“When I was growing up in orphanages I sensed the staff was fulfilling their responsibilities but I didn’t feel protected or loved. When I had to leave the orphanage I was all alone. I had no one to turn to.” — Sayuri Watai, 27, founder of a support organization run by and for ‘graduates’ of childhood welfare facilities.

Japan: Children in Institutions Denied Family Life

basically, the foster care system and the alternative care system (aka orphanages) in japan are a fucking trainwreck, but thats the whole point of this post, so its not that surprising.

orphanages are just really fucking bad, theres not enough space, bad facilities, abuses from both staff and fellow children, that kind of shit

its also mentioned here how those who leave the orphanages have no support to help them ease back into society and again brings up the importance of having connections in japan

adoption is rare. by 2011, only 303 kids (out of like, roughly, 30,000) were formally adopted out of the alternative care system. more on Why later

childrens’ best interests are often set aside in favour of letting the parents or family, who put them there in the first place, decide what happens to the kid, which basically means if the parents/family of the kid doesnt want the kid to get adopted, then no, the kid wont be adopted.

basically, the system favours the stupid adults’ opinions over the kids’ wellbeing. as quoted from one of the careworkers mentioned in the article, “In Japan, the interest of the parents is seen as more important than the interests of the child.”

“The Convention on the Rights of the Child states that for the full development of a child’s personality, they ‘should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding.’” 

hey so guess which persona 5 character never grew up in a family and ended up screwed up in the personality department and got so lost and confused with what he really wanted so he desperately clung to the flimsy fame he had and the idea of revenge and fake praises from a certain shido masayoshi? yeah i thought so

japan likes to cram all these kids into orphanages that, even though there are caretakers who do want to take very good care of these sad kids, there isnt enough staff to deal with them, and thats when what looks like neglect from the staffs part arises

the article lists testimonies from children and adults who are and were from these institutions. one of them, a one sentence testimony, stood out to me in particular: “I don’t have any dreams for the future.” it sounded so jaded and tired to me, and it makes me think of the last time we saw goro in the game. that really tired smile really hit it home for me. goro had goals, but what about dreams?

lets speak in hypotheticals: if goro managed to inflict his revenge on shido, and he won, what comes after? what will he do? he spoke in the ship about being heralded as the hero who took down shido, sure, but do yalls really think, after everything, he actually plans to get out of that goddamn mess alive? goro made it his life mission to ruin shido. nothing matters but that, not even himself. after all is said and done, it doesnt seem very plausible for goro to keep on wanting to live. theres nothing to live for, after that

Witness: Lack of Support in Japanese Orphanages

“Masashi cared about his appearance – he wore fashionable [ … ] clothes and had styled his hair – but a sense of isolation clung to him.” that sounds familiar but maybe thats just me

studies show that children younger than 3 who grow up in orphanages have the risk of delayed mental, emotional, and even physical development because of the lack of bonds with a proper adult or family. orphanages are also a really poor environment for older children, who most likely already experienced abuse in the hands of their families or severe trauma after losing their parents. either way, orphanages are just a really bad idea for children

the first two articles have mentioned this, and now this article mentions this again: kids who grow up in orphanages are often poorly equipped for the real world because of the lack of support after their release, and yeah yall know how they end up homeless and jobless bc of it

as continuation, sometimes, education for these kids are so poor that they get out of the system barely able to read or solve simple math problems. 

children get subsidies now (bc back then they didnt wtf). its around 55,000 yen, or 550 usd. they cant even get a drivers license with it, which also happens to be really good extra points for when applying for a job. another opportunity lost for them

Adoption in Japan Part 1: Why are there so many kids in orphanages?

this article focuses more on why adoption is so rare in japan and also reinstates some things that have been mentioned earlier, namely, childrens’ well being getting set aside in favour of what shitty parents have to say

majority of kids in orphanages have living parents who retain legal custody but are not raising them. because of this, they are not allowed to be adopted, even if the parents dont come back for them

for some reason, japan is really insistent on giving the parents full control on their kids life even though they already abandoned them. this idea is so strictly followed that even a baby found in trash cans or some shit are usually ruled by court as not allowed to be adopted in case the biological parents come looking for them. i know. its full of bullshit.

with that and the stigma of a family letting their kid adopted, it makes me think that maybe its why goro ended up stuck in orphanages and never lasted in foster homes. because despite being a good kid (which i actually think he was), he was never adopted bc his mothers family refused to let him be adopted. its really messed up

apparently, people think orphanages are “the right place for nobody’s children to be raised.” add in the “throwaway children” nickname from one of the earlier articles, i get where goros coming from with his whole “unwanted, cursed child” mentality, and why hes so desperate for anyones attention. spend your entire childhood having the idea that youre a throwaway child, that youre a nobody’s child, that your mother killed herself because youre unwanted planted in your vulnerable mind, and then taste praise for the first time despite it coming from the one person you want to ruin the most, no wonder goro was intoxicated by it.

while there are orphanages with staffs that try their best, sexual and physical abuse are still prevalent, mostly in private orphanages. though they are supposedly monitored by the government, those sent to inspect these private orphanages have little to no training for the job. most of the time, the inspector only comes for tea, then they fucking leave, and the abuses and badly maintained facilities continue to prevail

the article brings up again how children are badly prepared for the real world and are doomed to a life of hardship when they leave. it never stops

in japan, only middle school is compulsory, but most jobs require that you should be at least a high school graduate. only 10% (or lower) of kids from orphanages get to attend high school, because 1) getting into high school is like a super big deal and hard, maybe like getting into college, and normally, middle schoolers attend cram schools to prepare for their entrance tests, 2) these orphans cannot afford cram schools, 3) the government refuses to fund cram schools for these kids bc its also acknowledging that their public education fucking sucks and cant afford to get anyone into a high school

imagine goro burning his fucking eyebrows to be able to get into high school. although, truthfully, i wouldnt be surprised if shido had something to do with goro being able to get into high school, if we still go along with “goro approached shido at 15″ thing. but i stand with the whole “goro is actually smart and intelligent despite being a wack detective” thing bc lets be real, that shit he pulled in saes palace is fucking nuts. you cant deny the kids a genius in his own right

Adoption in Japan Part 2: Attitudes to Adoption

adult adoptions, the kind thats done by adults (duh) for convenience or inheritance etc etc, is a frequent thing in japan, but child adoption, the kind that we all are more familiar with, is apparently kind of a wack concept in japan. its entirely new to them. in fact they only legalised that shit in 1989

koseki likes to make everything complicated. its so fucking hard to describe, but its like a family tree of sorts, except when you (the mother) have a kid out of wedlock, youre not allowed to register your kid to your family tree for some fucking reason; you have to start your own family tree with just you and your kid. if you give up your kid for adoption and they got adopted, their name doesnt get removed from your family tree for some fucking reason, but the fact that they were adopted is noted in your family tree. and this starts the discrimination and stigma that comes from getting your kid adopted, and it makes parents who leave their child to orphanages unwilling to get their kids adopted. its also the source of stigma surrounding single mothers and children born out of wedlock. (hey guys guess whos both a kid born out of wedlock AND an orphan?????) NOTE: this is how i understand the concept of koseki so far, and i may not be 100% right bc that shit confuses the fuck out of me. idk. japan why

so yall know how obsessed goro is with being perfect—perfect grades, perfect public image, perfect everything? as it turns out, theres this stupid idea in japan thats widely accepted that “everything from your taste in food to the language you speak is biologically pre-determined” now that makes a shit ton of sense, considering the kind of person shido is. that fucking asshole. holy fuck.

Japan’s Forgotten Children

it says here that about 4,000 children were formally adopted out of the system, as opposed to an earlier article that says 303. i dont know which one is true.

this entire paragraph:

“Last month, a Chukyo Television director who was documenting this problem, asked a high government official why Japan had such a system, as opposed to promoting adoption and foster care like other developed nations. The man, whom I respect for his honesty, basically said that after the war there were many children without parents. At that time, many orphanages were built. So, that became Japan’s system to this day. Let me translate that for you…There are many jobs involved in this system. Plus, we don’t like change.”

orphanages run by the government receive funding based on how much kids they have, so more kids = more money, and that basically is also one of the reasons why no ones making an effort to get these kids out of the system. the kids are their means of getting free fucking money.

the government isnt trying to remedy this problem bc it doesnt want change, at least according to this guy named yamanta tokuji. hes an ex-child welfare worker who wants change, to put it simply.

he also says that living in orphanages for years damages a childs well being and behaviour. some who end up in family environments can develop reactive attachment disorder in which they regress to behaving like a baby.

the government wont tackle the issue “because it doesn’t want to know the truth and thus be forced to change.” yamantas opinion again

look, before anything else, i dont condone what goros done. shits fucked up, kids killed a whole lotta ppl, and he didnt fucking hesitate to pull the damn trigger on akira, but since this is fiction, context is important. if youre one of those people who simply dismissed goros character and went “eh. hes fucking evil with daddy issues” im just….. :(, bc you fucking missed the entire point of his character. its important to note hes the only teenage antagonist in a game where the adults are the Bad Guys™. i dont remember where i read this, but i (sorta) quote: hes a warning of what couldve happened to the phantom thieves, without morgana, without the support system that they had, without the positive influences that made them decide to do what they did. even yusuke acknowledges this, once they come back from shidos palace after Hell™ happened (i would have put a link to a photo, but where the fuck do i even find a pic of it).

i think that people seem to misunderstand goros character simply because of really fucking bad writing atlus COME THE FUCK ON they forget that theyre playing a game based on japan, where culture and society are very different from theirs, and in turn they dont understand the context behind goros backstory and how japans society views orphans and illegitimate children can really fuck with a kid, and okay, just because youre either of the two doesnt mean youll resort to murder, but 1) this is a modern fantasy game, where cats can become buses and fake gods can force a lonely kid who happens to be a wild card into the depths of hell, come on, 2) goro wasnt even the one who came up with the murders, it was shido. he fucking bragged about it in his boss fight you fucking monkeys!!!! i forgot to mention this, but shido also threatens goro if he ever so much expresses doubt

its also because of bad writing. its mostly because of bad writing. god. goro deserves better than this

goro was a vulnerable kid with powers, and that made him a perfect puppet for shido. imagine if he had known about changing hearts sooner, because no one ever told him about it. imagine if he was able to bring his wild card ability to its full potential, and dont even get me started with the fact that he was a wild card user. this post about wild cards and goro really makes you think, but that isnt the point of this post, so

anyway its 2 am im tired Good Night Have A Swell Night Sir

[i-m-sulphur-i-guess]

The concept of “deserving” and the justice system

At some point of my life I liked to spend my time over watching true crime videos – the solved ones in particular. It seemed fascinating to me to find out about the criminals’ backgrounds and their possible reasons to do what they did. Human minds never fail to impress me with their diversity and flexibility, and I sometimes choose peculiar ways of studying people.

But anyway, everything seemed pretty much okay, until I stumbled upon one case. If you’re familiar with this kind of content, you might know what case I am referencing. Two young boys, about ten years old each, kidnapped a three-year old baby from a shopping mall, then tortured him and killed him. An extremely cruel case, if you ask me, but that is not the point I was getting to. The boys were found, went through the trial, were sentenced to several years of imprisonment and served it in special facility for underage criminals. Then they both were released and given different identities, and one of them kept committing crimes as an adult and going to prison again.

So, I decided to check the comment section under the video. Just wondered what the people were thinking. And oh boy. What a shitstorm. I have never seen such violent comments under any true crime video before, and I was infuriated. Lots of people were absolutely seriously typing that the boys deserved bigger sentences, that their prison conditions were too mild, they needed to be executed, they did not deserve anonymity and they are garbage and a waste of space and oxygen. Basically – that they didn’t deserve to live.

I have been saying for a long amount of time: if you think you have the right to decide, who is worth living and who is not, what makes you different from the murderer? Can you even hear yourself? All of these comment writers, all of these tens of thousands of people who were protesting and pressuring the government back then to punish the two boys harder, cannot see anything above their aggression and desire to punish and suppress. But… that is exactly what criminals do. Suppress and show their power and dominance via hurting, punishing and taking lives.

You might say “yeah, but this is done in return, and they deserve to feel the pain because of how they made their victim(s) feel!” But there’s also a thing that most people forget, don’t think about or prefer to comfortably ignore. No one ever will decide to commit a crime if they’re happy. Whoever does something awful, no matter if it’s a crime or just something painful for other person, is already suffering. No exceptions. Some may not show it or may not understand it themselves, but they are extremely unhappy people. No one does bad things for no reason. And the fact that you, yourself, are offended or triggered, should not make you forget about that, dehumanize the offender and basically be absolutely the same in the desire to hurt.

(Disclaimer: I absolutely do not promote and/or encourage staying in any kind of abusive relationship or letting people face no consequences. Forgiving the person and treating them as a human being does not equal staying around them and forgetting about their actions.)

This whole concept of deserving something is what led our society to the way it is in the first place. It is the reason we have crimes, victims and criminals. Suicides and bullying. Poverty and wars. People become unhappy, twisted and insane because of their lack of love. Because someone has decided that they don’t deserve love for some reason. Because it was established as an extremely old way of control and manipulation, portrayed as “the right way of raising children without spoiling them”. Because generations and generations of unhappy people raised unhappy people, being unable to give them the love they never had themselves. The two boys, in this particular case, were born and raised in extremely unhappy families, and they never saw anything except violence and alcoholism. Nobody cared about them, nobody wanted to help them. And if it isn’t a perfect way to raise someone with an absolutely twisted perception of life, then I don’t know what is. Sure, everyone adapts to such circumstances differently, and some kids don’t become openly violent against others. But when you sow nothing but aggression and unhappiness, you can’t expect to reap anything different.

How can the justice system be called that way, if it brings absolutely no justice most of the time, and just turns away from the source of the problem and gives no real cure? You can’t apply a formula to other people’s grief, you can’t measure guilt and you can’t prevent crimes by fear of punishment. You can’t state what other people deserve or don’t deserve because of what they did or didn’t do, make it a rule and force everyone to fit into it.

I have already described my view on justice “in a perfect world” before, on my other blog, but I’ll try again. In every case, in every crime the biggest thing that matters is the criminal’s background and their desire to change. Every single case should be reviewed individually, without any planned patterns and comparison to other crimes, and there definitely should be no violent sentences. The goal should be not to punish and beat the desire to do wrong out of people, but to offer them a chance to heal. To figure out why they did wrong and what can be done to teach them how to do right. Of course, if the person doesn’t want to change and sees nothing wrong in their actions, they have to be isolated from society until they change their mind sincerely. But again, not to punish, but to prevent more people from being hurt. And I think that even if such system might be tricked and the change in the prisoner’s mind can be skillfully faked despite all the high-tech ways of control and trained psychologists, these cases would still be less frequent than justice system mistakes that we have today.

Because, after all, I believe that everyone in the world is worthy of a chance to be happier. And if everyone was judged only by their past mistakes (that we all have made) – what would have happened to all of us and our lives?..

[batterymonster2021]

The food we were born to eat: John McDougall at TEDxFremont

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/the-food-we-were-born-to-eat-john-mcdougall-at-tedxfremont/

The food we were born to eat: John McDougall at TEDxFremont

Translator: Denise RQ Reviewer: Luis Tsai Hsu Starch! (Laughter) Yeah, its starch. You already know, rice, corn, potatoes, candy potatoes. Its starch that has healed enormous quantities of my sufferers. For example, a young girl from the Bay discipline had deforming rheumatoid arthritis, to the factor the place she couldnt seize her mom. Juliea Baker determined, at 17 years old, she was once going to vary her weight loss program. She used to be going to stop the cheese, the meat, and the oil; and change to a food regimen based upon rice, corn, and potatoes. And it took about seven days before she started getting higher. Or, from Sacramento, Robert move. He used to work in the lawyer generals place of work. He had horrible chest pains; excessive blood pressure, diabetes, high ldl cholesterol, chubby. He went to his medical professional for a solution. Speedily ended up in front of the cardiologist, who endorsed what? A coronary heart surgery. He said, "No.Ive received a better notion". And he switched to a starch-established food regimen. He lost 60 kilos, dropped his ldl cholesterol from 300 to 150, and cleaned out his arteries. Or Deb Tasic, from Chicago. He had horrible a couple of Sclerosis. In fact, she fell down, stayed down for a month, couldnt get up. Her doctor advised her shed be in a wheelchair in five years, and certain bedridden or lifeless in 10. She stated, Im no longer going to try this. So what she did is, she switched to starch. Yeah, starch. Im health care provider John MacDougall. Ive been in this business for 44 years. And Im the luckiest health care provider on the planet in view that my patients get good.It began out… (Applause) I have got to let you know, it started out through slightly of an accident. I was once in Michigan, and determined to move to Hawaii for my internship, again in 1972. I stayed in Oahu for a yr, practiced simply normal inside treatment or internship variety of application. And then after a year, I fell in love with Hawaii and didnt need to leave. So, I took a job on the significant Island as a plantation physician. And there I worked as a general health care provider for 3 years. I caught infants, I stated folks lifeless, I did brain surgery in the core of the night. However Ive discovered the whole thing that i know today for the period of these three years from my patients. First thing I discovered was once that I wasnt a very good surgeon. I idea I was once going to make all these dazzling cures. I imply, I watched Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, Marcus Welby. I knew what a real surgeon did. And i went into this normal apply on the enormous Island of Hawaii, and i began caring for these 5000 sugar plantation sufferers.And i gave them the pleasant tablets I would in finding, I despatched them off to the great surgeons in Honolulu. And they wouldnt get good. They just stayed fats and ailing. At first, I notion it was once considering I was a nasty physician. I realized my obstacles as a health practitioner for the duration of these three years; I used to be humbled. The 2d thing that I discovered from my sufferers, It was a particular atmosphere on the gigantic Island of Hawaii, within the sugar plantation, is I realized devour. When you consider that I used to be taking good care of 5,000 people who ate otherwise. I used to be taking good care of first, 2d, 1/3, and fourth generation of Filipinos, jap, chinese, and Koreans. Now, my first generation, they learned about how you can eat when theyre sons and daughters in their native land: the Philippines, Japan, China, Korea. They learned a weight loss plan of rice and greens. Then, they had the fortune of relocating to the significant Island, to start new households, a new existence, however with them they took their common weight loss plan.And they endured to devour rice and vegetables. The kids, who have been influenced a bit bit by means of the western food plan, started to alter. And by the point you obtained to the grand-youngsters, youre looking at persons who ate the natural western weight loss program. Now, have an understanding of these are people of the same genetics, equal type of labor for over a hundred years on the sugar plantation yet, before my eyes as a surgeon, I saw persons residing on rice and greens No dairy, just a little bit of meat at most. Trim, healthful, hardy men and women. No MS, no arthritis, no diabetes, no coronary heart disease in that first generation dwelling on those common diets. Then, I watched the second new release get fatter and sicker as they abandoned starch. After which, the third new release, which feared starch, – rice, corn, potatoes – and took on meat and dairy of their diet, and oils. They bought fats and in poor health similar to each different American.Well, after three years, I had to depart as a health practitioner. I went again to Oahu to become a board-licensed internist. And that i spent the subsequent two years studying within the scientific library, within the clinical Library, subsequent to Queens scientific Centre, to see whether or not anybody else had made this remark: that humans who live to tell the tale starch – rice, corn, potatoes, candy potatoes – are skinny, healthful, hardy, young-looking. No longer just on the earth at present, however in the course of historical past. And once they swap to a well-balanced weight loss plan, the wealthy American weight loss program, with plenty of protein, calcium and different of these unusual vitamins and minerals, do they get fat and sick? What I found out used to be that scientists over the prior 100 years had made this commentary. Correctly, it goes extra again than that. That was main, because that informed me right there and then, that ageing didnt imply getting fat and unwell; it didnt have to be that manner. However as I read in the science, I found out anything that used to be relatively profound, and Im definite its going to be convenient for you to recognize.Whilst you stop doing things that make humans unwell, they get good. And so, if I had discovered that consuming a well-balanced eating regimen, plenty of meat and dairy made men and women in poor health, then the only subsequent clue I wanted was the suggestion that I could be a miracle medical professional. I could fulfill what I desired to do as a healthcare professional, which is to aid different people with the aid of making use of this very simple precept. That is, to feed humans a food regimen for human beings. You know, there’s a weight-reduction plan for people.I do know you perhaps amazed considering the kind of what everybody eats. But there’s a eating regimen for human beings. Each and every of you ought to be competent to reply that question for your self, for your spouses, in your kids, to your associates. You should be competent to have that reply. When any person says, "What do people eat?" I imply finally you realize what a cat eats, right? Cats are carnivores. Horses, they’ve a weight loss plan, and parrots have a food plan, You in no way take and feed your parrot meat or your cat nuts and seeds. So each animal have to have a weight loss plan. What��s the food plan for human beings? Historical past will inform us what that’s. While you look again via history, which you could go back 2.5 million years, and also you see that the bulk of human beings have lived on starch-based diets. We’ve proof from forty four,000 years ago that stated that the Neanderthals lived on starches.And from 30,000 years in the past, we’ve populace stories in Europe, that talk about individuals dwelling on starch-founded diets. I mean, thats pre-agriculture, so they say. Thats pre-civilization, so they say. However how about over the final 10, 12, 14, 000 years? Now we have particularly direct proof, we now have written evidence about what persons ate. And if youre a man or woman of history, you realize what people ate. During human historical past, all large, victorious populations of folks, have bought the majority of their energy from starch. Im certain plenty of examples are popping on your intellect. Youre serious about the Aztecs and Mayans; the men and women of the corn. And in case you go just a little bit extra south, and you appear on the Incas; they lived on potatoes. Besides after they went to fight then they’d change to quinoa And should you go to the middle East, these people are from the bread baskets of the sector.In Asia, I believe most folks can relate to the rice-based diets. And believe about these humans. Trim, hardy, healthy, robust warriors. The food plan of human beings has been commonly and normally shall be a weight loss plan established on starch with the addition of fruits and greens. What occurred is persons became more effective at gathering calories. And the richer individuals in every society, what occurred to them is that they no longer needed to eat the starches. They may be able to as a substitute eat the animals that were consuming the starches. And for this reason, there is a targeted section of population in the course of all of human history that grew to become wealthier than the leisure of the folks. And these individuals might devour meat, pheasant, or pigs, or different varieties of animals, and put the starches as aspect dishes.We had the pharaohs, the kings, the monks and the priestesses of three,500 years ago who were described as fat. The examination of their bodies, 3,500 years later, shows horrible atherosclerosis, gallbladder disorder, and all varieties of other problems of Western civilization. Good, we had few kings and queens again then. After which, as time went on, more and more persons had been competent to consume like kings and queens. You recollect King Henry 8th and his court. What did they seem like? Americans. Thats what they gave the impression of. And then, as time went on, we grew to become extra efficient at gathering food. Humans grew to be wealthier. We had the economic revolution in its midst of 150 years in the past. And we had the invention of fossil gasoline And as a consequence, almost everybody in western society can consume like kings and queens. And what’s the effect? Cant you see it?! Cant you see it? When people abandon their starch-based diets of rice and corn and potatoes, with the addition of fruits and vegetables; as an alternative, they devour the meals of royalty, as humans do in western society, what would you assume?! That youd have individuals that appear like kings and queens, and are in poor health with diabetes, and coronary heart disease, and melanoma, and more than one sclerosis.Anyway, thats the atmosphere of the country at present. The statistics are very familiar to you, Im sure. We reside in a society the place men and women are fat and ailing. No longer simply the adults, however the children too. 30% of the children are chubby. Not most effective they may be overweight; however deep beneath the dermis, theres numerous sickness. These kids have atherosclerosis; they’ve arthritis; they endure precocious puberty. Little boys are going by way of puberty at the age of nine, little ladies round age eight. Thats five-six years before supposed. We now have a society of ill youngsters. Now, come on. Civilized men and women dont let youngsters be harm. But by some means we do in our society. Come what may its k for the youngsters to be in poor health. Well, its no longer k. People will have to stand up to the celebration and shield their youngsters, How about our squaddies? Our squaddies are ill. We send our men and women across the world to symbolize us, yet, half of of the squaddies are overweight. And underneath that weight problems theres plenty of health problem. What kind of society tolerates men and women who battle in our defense, tolerates them being in poor health? On account that the rich western food regimen feeds them a eating regimen of kings and queens.Is unnecessary at all. How about our companies? We are competing in a global market and our workers are fats and in poor health?! How will we compete with people in Japan who live to tell the tale a starch-headquartered eating regimen? Or China, or India? Oh, i know how; we simply wait untill they swap to the american weight-reduction plan and get fat and ailing, correct? I consider there is a higher way. We will work tough to get our staff healthy. How about our wellness care system, the place 20% of our gross countrywide product is predicted to be spent on ailment? How will we ever get ahead? How do we remedy the deficit? How might we fix this world? When we have now an international the place folks look, suppose and function like kings and queens? The answer is unassuming, but it doesnt favor trade. We have a social gathering right here. George McGovern. Senator George McGovern died last month. October 21st, 2012. George McGovern used to be very nearly the author of dietary targets of the us, which were published in January 1977. These targets have been to be just like the surgeon Generals record of 1964. The general practitioner Generals file of 1964 changed the usa. It changed the Western world. Back then, in the 70s,, half of the population smoked. Today, fewer than 20% of the folks smoke. Back within the 70s, obesity used to be half of what it’s in these days; diabetes was once half of what it is in these days. Industry has received. Americans have misplaced. However now we have an alternative to change that. By using becoming told about what the human being eats. The individual is a starch eater. All of you available in the market which might be struggling, your families are struggling. And youre watching to latest medication for a solution; discontinue looking. Theyre now not going to healing dietary diseases with a tablet or a surgical procedure.Youre going to repair dietary ailments through fixing the main issue, which is the food. And when you fix the food, what occurs is persons get healthful. You as participants, sick with various diseases, communities, nations, and the arena, can get healthful by making a simple change, back to a starch-established food regimen. And that i suppose it is going to make economic experience to have a healthy country. I suppose its valued at doing. I know a variety of you who’re new to this; you believe about altering your weight loss program, and a person says to you, "well, you have got to give up meat, you need to give up dairy, your ice cream, your cheese, your chook, your steaks". You say, "Im going to starve to loss of life; its like asking me to give up respiratory, or asking me to give up consuming water". You feel its unattainable assignment. Thats given that youve been confronted with a serious untruth about starches. You like starch; i know you do. Once I mention rice and beans, you’ve gotten an awfully constructive reaction. If I mention pasta, you say, "good, thats relief meals". Potatoes, "I was once raised within the Midwest; If it wasnt for mashed potatoes, I wouldnt be right here at present".So when an individual says, "You have to quit meat and dairy", they usually fail to finish the sentence, What you need to do rather is, you must survive starch. On oatmeal for breakfast, hash brown potatoes; for lunch you have got to have bean soup, pea soup, lentil soup; for dinner you have got bean burritos, pasta with marinara sauce, mu-shu vegetables and rice. You say, "i can do that!" Of course you can, you like these meals.That is the form of education that we want. We need new dietary goals for the USA. We need a govt with a purpose to arise and tell the truth to the folks. We’d like a society so one can no longer tolerate uncivilized behavior like letting our kids be in poor health, our army be ailing, our terrible persons be unwell, and our workers be ill given that of the food regimen of kings and queens. And when we do this, we are able to exchange it, can not we? We will make a difference. Thanks very so much! (Applause) .

[airoasis]

The food we were born to eat: John McDougall at TEDxFremont

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/the-food-we-were-born-to-eat-john-mcdougall-at-tedxfremont/

The food we were born to eat: John McDougall at TEDxFremont

Translator: Denise RQ Reviewer: Luis Tsai Hsu Starch! (Laughter) Yeah, its starch. You already know, rice, corn, potatoes, candy potatoes. Its starch that has healed enormous quantities of my sufferers. For example, a young girl from the Bay discipline had deforming rheumatoid arthritis, to the factor the place she couldnt seize her mom. Juliea Baker determined, at 17 years old, she was once going to vary her weight loss program. She used to be going to stop the cheese, the meat, and the oil; and change to a food regimen based upon rice, corn, and potatoes. And it took about seven days before she started getting higher. Or, from Sacramento, Robert move. He used to work in the lawyer generals place of work. He had horrible chest pains; excessive blood pressure, diabetes, high ldl cholesterol, chubby. He went to his medical professional for a solution. Speedily ended up in front of the cardiologist, who endorsed what? A coronary heart surgery. He said, "No.Ive received a better notion". And he switched to a starch-established food regimen. He lost 60 kilos, dropped his ldl cholesterol from 300 to 150, and cleaned out his arteries. Or Deb Tasic, from Chicago. He had horrible a couple of Sclerosis. In fact, she fell down, stayed down for a month, couldnt get up. Her doctor advised her shed be in a wheelchair in five years, and certain bedridden or lifeless in 10. She stated, Im no longer going to try this. So what she did is, she switched to starch. Yeah, starch. Im health care provider John MacDougall. Ive been in this business for 44 years. And Im the luckiest health care provider on the planet in view that my patients get good.It began out… (Applause) I have got to let you know, it started out through slightly of an accident. I was once in Michigan, and determined to move to Hawaii for my internship, again in 1972. I stayed in Oahu for a yr, practiced simply normal inside treatment or internship variety of application. And then after a year, I fell in love with Hawaii and didnt need to leave. So, I took a job on the significant Island as a plantation physician. And there I worked as a general health care provider for 3 years. I caught infants, I stated folks lifeless, I did brain surgery in the core of the night. However Ive discovered the whole thing that i know today for the period of these three years from my patients. First thing I discovered was once that I wasnt a very good surgeon. I idea I was once going to make all these dazzling cures. I imply, I watched Ben Casey, Dr. Kildare, Marcus Welby. I knew what a real surgeon did. And i went into this normal apply on the enormous Island of Hawaii, and i began caring for these 5000 sugar plantation sufferers.And i gave them the pleasant tablets I would in finding, I despatched them off to the great surgeons in Honolulu. And they wouldnt get good. They just stayed fats and ailing. At first, I notion it was once considering I was a nasty physician. I realized my obstacles as a health practitioner for the duration of these three years; I used to be humbled. The 2d thing that I discovered from my sufferers, It was a particular atmosphere on the gigantic Island of Hawaii, within the sugar plantation, is I realized devour. When you consider that I used to be taking good care of 5,000 people who ate otherwise. I used to be taking good care of first, 2d, 1/3, and fourth generation of Filipinos, jap, chinese, and Koreans. Now, my first generation, they learned about how you can eat when theyre sons and daughters in their native land: the Philippines, Japan, China, Korea. They learned a weight loss plan of rice and greens. Then, they had the fortune of relocating to the significant Island, to start new households, a new existence, however with them they took their common weight loss plan.And they endured to devour rice and vegetables. The kids, who have been influenced a bit bit by means of the western food plan, started to alter. And by the point you obtained to the grand-youngsters, youre looking at persons who ate the natural western weight loss program. Now, have an understanding of these are people of the same genetics, equal type of labor for over a hundred years on the sugar plantation yet, before my eyes as a surgeon, I saw persons residing on rice and greens No dairy, just a little bit of meat at most. Trim, healthful, hardy men and women. No MS, no arthritis, no diabetes, no coronary heart disease in that first generation dwelling on those common diets. Then, I watched the second new release get fatter and sicker as they abandoned starch. After which, the third new release, which feared starch, – rice, corn, potatoes – and took on meat and dairy of their diet, and oils. They bought fats and in poor health similar to each different American.Well, after three years, I had to depart as a health practitioner. I went again to Oahu to become a board-licensed internist. And that i spent the subsequent two years studying within the scientific library, within the clinical Library, subsequent to Queens scientific Centre, to see whether or not anybody else had made this remark: that humans who live to tell the tale starch – rice, corn, potatoes, candy potatoes – are skinny, healthful, hardy, young-looking. No longer just on the earth at present, however in the course of historical past. And once they swap to a well-balanced weight loss plan, the wealthy American weight loss program, with plenty of protein, calcium and different of these unusual vitamins and minerals, do they get fat and sick? What I found out used to be that scientists over the prior 100 years had made this commentary. Correctly, it goes extra again than that. That was main, because that informed me right there and then, that ageing didnt imply getting fat and unwell; it didnt have to be that manner. However as I read in the science, I found out anything that used to be relatively profound, and Im definite its going to be convenient for you to recognize.Whilst you stop doing things that make humans unwell, they get good. And so, if I had discovered that consuming a well-balanced eating regimen, plenty of meat and dairy made men and women in poor health, then the only subsequent clue I wanted was the suggestion that I could be a miracle medical professional. I could fulfill what I desired to do as a healthcare professional, which is to aid different people with the aid of making use of this very simple precept. That is, to feed humans a food regimen for human beings. You know, there’s a weight-reduction plan for people.I do know you perhaps amazed considering the kind of what everybody eats. But there’s a eating regimen for human beings. Each and every of you ought to be competent to reply that question for your self, for your spouses, in your kids, to your associates. You should be competent to have that reply. When any person says, "What do people eat?" I imply finally you realize what a cat eats, right? Cats are carnivores. Horses, they’ve a weight loss plan, and parrots have a food plan, You in no way take and feed your parrot meat or your cat nuts and seeds. So each animal have to have a weight loss plan. What’s the food plan for human beings? Historical past will inform us what that’s. While you look again via history, which you could go back 2.5 million years, and also you see that the bulk of human beings have lived on starch-based diets. We’ve proof from forty four,000 years ago that stated that the Neanderthals lived on starches.And from 30,000 years in the past, we’ve populace stories in Europe, that talk about individuals dwelling on starch-founded diets. I mean, thats pre-agriculture, so they say. Thats pre-civilization, so they say. However how about over the final 10, 12, 14, 000 years? Now we have particularly direct proof, we now have written evidence about what persons ate. And if youre a man or woman of history, you realize what people ate. During human historical past, all large, victorious populations of folks, have bought the majority of their energy from starch. Im certain plenty of examples are popping on your intellect. Youre serious about the Aztecs and Mayans; the men and women of the corn. And in case you go just a little bit extra south, and you appear on the Incas; they lived on potatoes. Besides after they went to fight then they’d change to quinoa And should you go to the middle East, these people are from the bread baskets of the sector.In Asia, I believe most folks can relate to the rice-based diets. And believe about these humans. Trim, hardy, healthy, robust warriors. The food plan of human beings has been commonly and normally shall be a weight loss plan established on starch with the addition of fruits and greens. What occurred is persons became more effective at gathering calories. And the richer individuals in every society, what occurred to them is that they no longer needed to eat the starches. They may be able to as a substitute eat the animals that were consuming the starches. And for this reason, there is a targeted section of population in the course of all of human history that grew to become wealthier than the leisure of the folks. And these individuals might devour meat, pheasant, or pigs, or different varieties of animals, and put the starches as aspect dishes.We had the pharaohs, the kings, the monks and the priestesses of three,500 years ago who were described as fat. The examination of their bodies, 3,500 years later, shows horrible atherosclerosis, gallbladder disorder, and all varieties of other problems of Western civilization. Good, we had few kings and queens again then. After which, as time went on, more and more persons had been competent to consume like kings and queens. You recollect King Henry 8th and his court. What did they seem like? Americans. Thats what they gave the impression of. And then, as time went on, we grew to become extra efficient at gathering food. Humans grew to be wealthier. We had the economic revolution in its midst of 150 years in the past. And we had the invention of fossil gasoline And as a consequence, almost everybody in western society can consume like kings and queens. And what’s the effect? Cant you see it?! Cant you see it? When people abandon their starch-based diets of rice and corn and potatoes, with the addition of fruits and vegetables; as an alternative, they devour the meals of royalty, as humans do in western society, what would you assume?! That youd have individuals that appear like kings and queens, and are in poor health with diabetes, and coronary heart disease, and melanoma, and more than one sclerosis.Anyway, thats the atmosphere of the country at present. The statistics are very familiar to you, Im sure. We reside in a society the place men and women are fat and ailing. No longer simply the adults, however the children too. 30% of the children are chubby. Not most effective they may be overweight; however deep beneath the dermis, theres numerous sickness. These kids have atherosclerosis; they’ve arthritis; they endure precocious puberty. Little boys are going by way of puberty at the age of nine, little ladies round age eight. Thats five-six years before supposed. We now have a society of ill youngsters. Now, come on. Civilized men and women dont let youngsters be harm. But by some means we do in our society. Come what may its k for the youngsters to be in poor health. Well, its no longer k. People will have to stand up to the celebration and shield their youngsters, How about our squaddies? Our squaddies are ill. We send our men and women across the world to symbolize us, yet, half of of the squaddies are overweight. And underneath that weight problems theres plenty of health problem. What kind of society tolerates men and women who battle in our defense, tolerates them being in poor health? On account that the rich western food regimen feeds them a eating regimen of kings and queens.Is unnecessary at all. How about our companies? We are competing in a global market and our workers are fats and in poor health?! How will we compete with people in Japan who live to tell the tale a starch-headquartered eating regimen? Or China, or India? Oh, i know how; we simply wait untill they swap to the american weight-reduction plan and get fat and ailing, correct? I consider there is a higher way. We will work tough to get our staff healthy. How about our wellness care system, the place 20% of our gross countrywide product is predicted to be spent on ailment? How will we ever get ahead? How do we remedy the deficit? How might we fix this world? When we have now an international the place folks look, suppose and function like kings and queens? The answer is unassuming, but it doesnt favor trade. We have a social gathering right here. George McGovern. Senator George McGovern died last month. October 21st, 2012. George McGovern used to be very nearly the author of dietary targets of the us, which were published in January 1977. These targets have been to be just like the surgeon Generals record of 1964. The general practitioner Generals file of 1964 changed the usa. It changed the Western world. Back then, in the 70s,, half of the population smoked. Today, fewer than 20% of the folks smoke. Back within the 70s, obesity used to be half of what it’s in these days; diabetes was once half of what it is in these days. Industry has received. Americans have misplaced. However now we have an alternative to change that. By using becoming told about what the human being eats. The individual is a starch eater. All of you available in the market which might be struggling, your families are struggling. And youre watching to latest medication for a solution; discontinue looking. Theyre now not going to healing dietary diseases with a tablet or a surgical procedure.Youre going to repair dietary ailments through fixing the main issue, which is the food. And when you fix the food, what occurs is persons get healthful. You as participants, sick with various diseases, communities, nations, and the arena, can get healthful by making a simple change, back to a starch-established food regimen. And that i suppose it is going to make economic experience to have a healthy country. I suppose its valued at doing. I know a variety of you who’re new to this; you believe about altering your weight loss program, and a person says to you, "well, you have got to give up meat, you need to give up dairy, your ice cream, your cheese, your chook, your steaks". You say, "Im going to starve to loss of life; its like asking me to give up respiratory, or asking me to give up consuming water". You feel its unattainable assignment. Thats given that youve been confronted with a serious untruth about starches. You like starch; i know you do. Once I mention rice and beans, you’ve gotten an awfully constructive reaction. If I mention pasta, you say, "good, thats relief meals". Potatoes, "I was once raised within the Midwest; If it wasnt for mashed potatoes, I wouldnt be right here at present".So when an individual says, "You have to quit meat and dairy", they usually fail to finish the sentence, What you need to do rather is, you must survive starch. On oatmeal for breakfast, hash brown potatoes; for lunch you have got to have bean soup, pea soup, lentil soup; for dinner you have got bean burritos, pasta with marinara sauce, mu-shu vegetables and rice. You say, "i can do that!" Of course you can, you like these meals.That is the form of education that we want. We need new dietary goals for the USA. We need a govt with a purpose to arise and tell the truth to the folks. We’d like a society so one can no longer tolerate uncivilized behavior like letting our kids be in poor health, our army be ailing, our terrible persons be unwell, and our workers be ill given that of the food regimen of kings and queens. And when we do this, we are able to exchange it, can not we? We will make a difference. Thanks very so much! (Applause) .

[unloveddaughter99-blog]

Family

Exercise 1: Did you feel valued, loved and respected by both parents and your siblings? Write what you felt from and about each member.

My brother

My brother is the youngest in the family and I would argue that ours is the least complicated relationship. Sometimes we spent some time just the two of us and if he’s fought with my parents, he can always find an ally in me. Do I feel valued by him? Sometimes. However, his bond with my mom is especially strong, some would say he’s been brainwashed. He constantly repeats what my mom has to say about me: That I dress like a boy, that I don’t look after myself properly, that they’re embarrassed to walk next to me. Do I feel loved by my brother. Yes, definitely. He shows me a lot of affection, even though he disagrees with a lot of things that I stand for. Respected? Well, if you earned a 12 year old’s respect, then props to you, I guess. 

My dad 

My dad has always been on the softer side. He’s always shown me a lot more affection than my mom. But as my brother, he isn’t always happy about the person I am. Whilst my mom shows her disgust face-to-face, my dad tends to hide it and talks about it with my mom. Yeah, I know, it all comes back to her. Sometimes I feel as if my dad sees himself in me. My dad used to compose songs and write poems before he started uni and I feel like he’s been forced to give up a great passion of his. When he sees me playing, he seems happy on one hand, on the other hand he seems kind of jealous. He always discouraged me from pursuing music next to my studies. And my music is very important to me and a big part of who I am. For a few years now, I have started becoming more and more resentful towards my dad, because he knew, that something wasn’t right with me. But he decided to ignore the inconvenient truth, as it would lead to confronting my mom. 

My sister

My dynamic between me and my sister is one of the things I regret most in my life. Something has always been very off, and this from the very start. My sister adores me. I have always been a role model for her and one she couldn’t measure up to, because she’s physically disabled. I wish I could say I treated her nicely, but that’s simply not the truth. I wish I weren’t as cruel as I was. My sister felt like an intruder to our small family of three when she was born. I only found out a few months ago, that my parents were so busy with work and her surgeries, that I didn’t live with them for nearly two years. I lived with my grandparents and started calling my grandpa “dad” and my aunt “mom”. I didn’t recognise my own mom when she came to visit. And since caring for my sister took up so much of my parents’ time, I think I felt jealous (I don’t remember it in particular). I really disliked my sister. We didn’t get along at all and only now it’s become tolerable. We had nothing in common, besides the fact, that we share the same parents. Also, my sister has always been the more obedient one and so she used to tell on me (my brother does this, too). I feel like this is one of the reasons our relationship is so strained: Because I never felt like I could trust her. I could never fully trust anyone in my family. 

My mom

Most of the time, I feel like my mom’s project. She nearly always has an opinion on what I should look like, how I should behave etc. And this, even though I’m an adult now. Did I feel valued by my mom? Never. She only recently started saying “thank you” and only because my aunt urged her to do it. Did I feel loved by her? I don’t know. We had our moments. Me and my mom always bonded in times of crises. When something was wrong at school, she always stood up for me. She always tried to protect me. I guess, that could be considered love. But love as in acceptance of who I am? No, that definitely wasn’t the case. My mom only likes what is presentable to other people. The fact, that I speak multiple languages. The fact, that I’m 19 and finishing my bachelors. But does she like, that I can be sensible and emotional? No, definitely not. Does she like, that I have friends I can count on? No, she feels threatened by them. Did I feel respected? Not, not yet. And I don’t feel like I could ever earn her respect. She’s always taught me, that I owe her respect, because she raised me. But as we all know, respect is a two-edged sword. You need to respect in order to be respected. 

Also, my mom constantly jokes about my appearance. I mean by now I’m really used to it. She’s also discouraged me from pursuing any friendships. Maybe because she doesn’t have one of her own. Funnily, she definitely encouraged me to be in a relationship. Maybe she just wanted to make sure I wasn’t a lesbian (haha).

One day when I came back from uni I tried to show my parents my true self. And well, they didn’t like it. They hated these parts. So I hid them again. Underneath. 

[yoonasgf]

171013- saturday a rant dnt bother reading

i feel like i wanna talk to someone but then i think about it and what am i even expecting ? whenever i say smth i regret it immediately so just thinking abt expressing whats bothering me to others i just know ill regret adn feel guilty and embarrassed about it later so i never talk to anyone abt anything that goes on in my mind and it gets to the point where its so over bearing i feel like its drowning my head somehow , im so.. lonely wld be the word but lonely in my thoughts but like that doesnt even make sense idk im just writing here bc i need to let my feelings out somehow and i’d usually do it on twitter but like the 140 characters thing anyway i just feel like i want to let things out but whenevr i do i never like the answer i get, like if they give me advice i feel annoyed cus i wasnt asking for help i was simply stating how i felt (and most of the time its stuff that cant really be fixed?), if they tell me stuff like “i love you !” its like ok? ik its mean but someone elses love does not affect my situation at all since its an inner issue that doest rly have to do with self-esteem, and if they just are like ‘yeah’ or ‘thats so bad:(’ ijust feel like theyre not paying attention (even if they are) which makes me regret opening up, so i dont really know what im expecting when i vent to someone i guess i just want to feel like someone is listening to me idk im like so full of thoughts and feelings. writing this feels like its calming me down a little bit so i think im just gonna keep writing, in english (its funny how id rather open up in english since its my second language i feel more alienated from it so it feels less real? what im talking about seems less seriousdk) so whats circling in my mind is that i dont have anyone im urging to meet i dont have anyone i truly like anymore and that my ladies is so fucking sad and frustrating that ive mentally grown apart from my friends im just not myself when im with them and sure my fake-extroverted persona ive built throughout highschool is good at doing her job and she still gets along with them so well but now it feels like that side of me, the fake one, is another person like we used to share some “mental common ground” but not anymore i just dont have anything in common with that persona anymore so whenever im with my old friends i just become her it’s like i completely leave reality it makesme so lonely inside. and i cant help it its unvoluntary how i switch places with the other me i cant stop it and i hate it because i feel like its drowning me alive, along with my personal issues. lately ive been isolating myself a lot, i stay in the classroom during recess and i havent gone out in like a month.actually last time i went out i decided i just wont go out anymore i just think its not for me i truly dont have fun. is that okay like is that normal? like is just dont enjoy the loudness and the kind of jokes that go on, i think if grown too fast. i justdont wannatalk about drinking andsex and how evil the math teacher is, like its fine once ia while but iwanna discuss science and philosohy and share thoughs too,  anything else is so irrelevant it’s so sos irrrelevant to me. not that i dont enjoy good laughs anddrinking, but for that i feel like i wanna be with someone who is special to me? like someone whoi respect intellectually first, and then we can laugh at dog memes. someone i can show my realpersona to,and the thing is i have my best friends she’s literally so perfect bc she’s smart but also silly so we can talk abt hitler but then we can talk abt that one episode of sponge bob ? but the thing is shes graduating this year, and she has like an almost boyfriend, so i decided i should start getting used to her not beingwith me, but thats way more lonely than i thought. the guy thing, it wasnt planned, and shes with her crush most of the time which i totally understand i watn them to be together and stuff but i dont have anyone else but her- that is the real me not the fake persona, the fake persona hasmany people- but i though “she deserves this” so decided to step back so they can concentrate on each other. she ofc wouldve never asked this of me, but it seems like it was the best, sometimes i feel like a huge burden to her. but now imrealizing how lonely it has made me, being with her is like letting go of a breath that ive been holding and im realizing how much i need her. so i thought of like ‘slipping’ back in but im faced with the fact that we will infact part ways when she graduates because we’re attending universities in different parts of the country so maybe i should be getting used to the solitude, until someone else comes. and someone else seems to be here, this one friend i have in my new class, but im so scared of opning up to her, im scared of her kindness to me. i always think “why is she so nice? why does she stand up for me” at first she wasa bit too rough for me but as we spent time together i think she realized what kind of person i am and changed her ways so now were getting closer and closer and it makes me so 불안해 and 두려워 (idk how to express the sentiment in english) i dont even know what im scared of, it;s not like ive been hurt before in that way i think? maybe i have i cant remember. the point is, i know i should let this person in because she’d help me but i just cant seem to opne the freaking door its like my hand is shakinly holding teh doorknob without actually twisting it. i do think i will eventually tho. anyway. i was saying i spend alot of time alone these days, reading,studying, twitter, watching stuff, and its really nice i really do enjoy being by myself but i honestly dont have manyb things to do? so eventually the Thoughts come, and lately what ive been meditating is how the reason why i dont get close or attached to people (again the fake me might get closed but not me) is because simply no one is as good company to me as myself? which is fine wyou know many people feel like that, but i hate that if im alone poeple thinkg i dont have friends or that im sad and they think its bad that i am alone which is really not the case. i could be with ppl if i wanted to i just chose not to. theres this particular guy in my class actually, who thinks he has to be my friends bcim often alone and it irriates me so much bc 1. hes interrumpting my enjoyable me-time 2. he does it out of pity and boi do i hate pity like sometimes i just stay in the classroom doing homework or reading and he comes in likw “why are u always alone:(” because i want to you fucking dumbass andtoday or maybe it was yesterday particularly he said “why are you always alone is it becayse you dont have freinds bc you went on exchange and dont know anyone” llike um no im alone because i literally want to be alone you absolute dipshit and ido have 10 times more friends than you i just dont feel like being wit hthem you fucking asshole it pissed me off so much as if he’s ?? helping in anyway ?? i just wish anyone whosaw me alone wld tjust think ‘i guess she likes being alone’ isntead of thinking that im alone bc no one is willing to keep me company. isuddenly got really mad writting this. i think this really calmed me downishould do it more often its not like anyone who follows me here wld open it, like ideally this is whatdiaries are for but i dnt like to waste paper. im gonna write the date as well 

[ourhealthyfoodblog-blog]

New Post has been published on Healthy Food and Remedies

New Post has been published on http://www.healthyfoodandremedies.com/2017/05/04/roots-mental-health-maybe-theyre-not-heads/

The Roots of Mental Health—Maybe They’re Not In Our Heads

The number of people—and women in particular—who are taking antidepressants worldwide has skyrocketed in recent years. Here in the States, the count is at 30 million. One out of every four women in their forties and fifties takes them. And antidepressants aren’t just being prescribed for depression; they’re being given to those of us struggling with PMS, stress, irritability, anxiety, lack of sleep, and so on. But what if antidepressants aren’t a cure for any of these conditions, or even a safe way to treat the symptoms?

In her book, A Mind of Your Own, Dr. Kelly Brogan (board certified in psychiatry, psychosomatic medicine, and integrative holistic medicine) argues that our common understanding of depression as a disease caused by chemical imbalances in the brain is…entirely wrong. Lifestyle imbalances, and inflammation, she explains, are actually at the root of depression and anxiety. Dr. Brogan’s case against conventional medicine—backed up by a veritable library of shocking research studies, along with personal stories we can all relate to—is very compelling. As are her suggested solutions (and 30-day action plan) for finally feeling well and like yourself, pill-free. Below, Dr. Brogan shares a new paradigm for mental health.

A Q&A with Kelly Brogan, M.D.

Q

One of your big arguments is that depression is not a disease, but a symptom—can you explain?

A

We have been told a story about depression: that it’s likely genetically driven and if it develops, it’s because of brain chemical imbalances that require management by chemical medications, often for the rest of our lives. This is a false tale that has been sold to us by an industry that has influenced the training of doctors and has spent billions on messaging patients through direct-to-consumer advertising. I invested my entire career in this narrative as a conventionally trained psychiatrist until I learned the truth.

In six decades, there has been no evidence of a discrete chemical imbalance that causes depression. This isn’t all that surprising, however, when you zoom out a bit to realize that depression is not one thing. It is an indication of imbalance. It’s as if your toe hurts—it can hurt because you have an infection in the toenail, you have a string tied around it too tight, or you dropped a hammer on it. The hurting is just an invitation to investigate further to identify the best way to resolve the problem.

It is time, even according to leaders in the field, to let go of the chemical imbalance theory and take a fresh look at what the science says. Depression is rooted in inflammation, not the brain. The human body interacts with its environment with deep intelligence. Your body creates symptoms for a reason. Depression is a meaningful symptom of a mismatch, biologically, with lifestyle—we eat a poor diet, harbor too much stress, lack sufficient physical movement, deprive ourselves of natural sunlight, expose ourselves to environmental toxins, and take too many drugs. Inflammation is the language that the body speaks, expressing imbalance, telling you that something is wrong somewhere that needs your attention. We usually suppress these symptoms with medication, but that is like turning off the smoke alarm when you have a fire.

What if your depression is actually a thyroid imbalance? Blood sugar instability? Food intolerance or a side effect of a medication? It makes little sense to treat any of these reversible conditions with a psychiatric medication, but it’s easy to fall into the trap of the quick fix, particularly if you are a woman. Women are twice as likely to be prescribed medication when they present to their doctors with complaints like flat mood, fogginess, poor concentration, poor motivation, and feelings of overwhelm.

Depression is an opportunity. It is a sign for us to stop and figure out what’s causing our imbalance rather than just masking, suppressing, or rerouting the symptoms. It’s a chance to choose a new story, to engage in radical transformation, to say yes to a different life experience.

Q

Modern antidepressants are based on the idea that serotonin improves mood. But you make the case that this is all a myth—how?

A

Despite being taught, in my training, that antidepressants were to the depressed (and to the anxious, OCD, IBS, PTSD, bulimic, anorexic, etc.) what glasses are to the near-sighted, I don’t buy this anymore. I don’t think patients are getting the whole truth.

Here’s the deal: There is not a single human study that supports the “monoamine hypothesis” of depression, which is the idea that depression is caused by a certain kind of chemical imbalance in the brain, such as under-activity of serotonin. The only studies in which tryptophan (an amino acid precursor to serotonin) depletion resulted in depression were in patients who had previously taken antidepressants.

Imaging studies, post-mortem suicide assessments, and animal models have never yielded consistent patterns of neurotransmitter levels, metabolites, or receptor profiles. Compelling discussions by Drs. Joanna Moncrieff and David Cohen suggest that antidepressants actually create abnormal states rather than repair them. They use the analogy of alcohol’s disinhibiting effects: The fact that booze can ease one’s social phobia does not imply that alcohol is an appropriate treatment or a correcting agent.

Direct-to-consumer advertising in America has allowed pharmaceutical companies to “teach” the public about brain chemical imbalances and serotonin deficiencies through cleverly worded taglines and absent FDA-policing.

But they do work! Say many patients and their prescribers. And they do work! Sometimes. Thanks to active placebo effect or expectations of relief that manifest as actual physiologic changes—as demonstrated by Harvard’s Dr. Irving Kirsch, a placebo effect expert. (He also collected unpublished data to show that more studies demonstrated lack of effect compared to marginal benefit largely attributed to placebo.)

Q

What’s the thread that connects our gut and brain to inflammation and depression?

A

I think that for most of us, the impact of the brain on the gut is intuitive. We’ve all had butterflies with excitement, lost our appetite when we’ve fallen in love, or had diarrhea before a big performance or event. What’s less intuitive, but now has been substantiated by two decades of medical research, is the impact of the gut on the brain. We now understand that the gut communicates information to the brain about the environment and that the microbial ecology of our gut—the microbiome—manages this communication. The language used by the body is inflammatory messengers.

In this way, depression joins the ranks of all of the diseases of modern civilization, including heart disease, autoimmunity, and cancer. The body is setting off alarm bells in the form of inflammation in an effort to adapt to perceived stressors. The most powerful way to send a signal of safety is to heal the gut through whole foods. Ancient medical practices from Ayurveda to Chinese medicine have known this for thousands of years. We are just learning about the complex interconnectedness between all of these systems we have come to believe are separate entities.

Q

How does food affect our mood, and what kind of diet do you recommend to your patients struggling with stress/anxiety/depression?

A

We don’t eat food anymore. We eat food-like products, and when we eat actual foods, they have often been grown in depleted soil, shipped across the globe, and saturated with chemicals. Food is not just fuel, though. Food is information, and it speaks to our genes. We no longer can get away with eating food that screams at our genes. We need food that whispers a love song. The wrong food can impact your mood by driving blood sugar imbalance (which can masquerade as anxiety attacks, chronic fatigue, ADHD, and depression), by impacting your brain through your immune system in the case of dairy and wheat, and by depriving you of nutrients essential to balance hormones, your gut, your immune system, and your nervous system.

I work with a dietary template that I used to put my own Hashimoto’s thyroiditis into remission and that has worked with hundreds of patients. It is a diet high in natural fat, and organic foods, including those from animals. As a former ethical vegetarian, it has taken a lot of research, learning, and mentorship from the now late Dr. Nicholas Gonzalez to appreciate the role of animal foods in healing certain conditions. In the end, the dietary template I recommend often just “feels right” to the women it is meant to heal. It’s almost like I’m giving them permission to eat what they already know, deep down, that they should be eating.

Q

What’s the latest research on the link between toxins and anxiety/depression?

A

We are swimming in a sea of 80,000+ unstudied chemicals that we never evolved, over 2.5 million years, to recognize. Our immune systems are ablaze because of it and our hormones are going haywire. I have grave concerns about endocrine-disrupting plastics, about fluoride in our tap water that directly affects the brain and thyroid, about pesticides that decimate healthy gut bacteria, and about neurotoxic metals like mercury and aluminum. Mostly, we are beginning to see that the dose doesn’t necessarily make the poison and that small amounts of these chemicals combine and interact with our systems in unique ways to cause significant problems, many of which manifest psychiatrically.

We have to also include medications, now the third leading cause of death in America, in this discussion. Medications from antibiotics to birth control pills to antacids to over-the-counter pain relievers to even antidepressants themselves are based on a one-size-fits-all model of human physiology. This can be Russian Roulette-causing, and perpetuate chronic mental illness.

Q

What are other important lifestyle changes that can make a significant difference?

A

I put food first and I work with my patients to take this “prescription” very seriously. I want them to experience an internal shift through prioritizing nutrition. When they do, they understand that the power to change their experience was always just under their nose. They don’t need a doctor or a guru. They just need to get back to basics and honor themselves.

I also ask them to start with 3-12 minutes a day of a Kundalini yoga medical meditation. We have to rewire the nervous system, our perceptions, and release fear. In my experience, this ancient technology can take you there and beyond, very quickly.

I ask them to move. This can be 20 minutes a week of high intensity, low volume interval training on an elliptical. It can be dance or yoga.

I ask them to honor their sleep and we begin detoxification of their home environment—products, air, water, and electromagnetics.

We also engage in a mindset shift. Through this process, we remember what we have forgotten—that the body is best at self-healing if we just get out of our own way. We realize that we can reclaim something we gave away. Something that’s not available through a model of care based on life-long pharmaceuticals. It’s that feeling that we are always missing something even if our symptoms are “managed.” It’s our personal power and fearlessness. With this, anything is possible, including becoming medication-free after decades of exposure. Remember, this is your journey for a reason and there are no regrets.

Q

Which medical tests can actually help pinpoint the root cause of what we commonly think of as mood disorders?

A

At the very start of treatment, as my patients begin my strict dietary protocol, I order the following tests:

Thyroid function tests: TSH, free T3, free T4, thyroid autoantibodies, and reverse T3

Underlying genetic variant: the MTHFR gene test (the MTHFR gene produces the MTHFR enzyme, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, which is essential for several bodily processes that directly tie into mental well-being)

Signs of vitamin B12 deficiency: serum vitamin B12 levels and homocysteine levels, which can detect B12 deficiency as well

Levels of inflammation: High-sensitivity C-reactive protein

Blood sugar balance: Hemoglobin A1C

Vitamin D deficiency: Levels of 25OH vitamin D in the blood

Q

For people who are on antidepressant meds and who want to get off them, what’s your recommendation?

A

This has become my unintended specialty. I have learned that these medications can be some of the most challenging of all chemicals to detox from and that their withdrawal syndromes are serious. I believe everyone deserves a chance at a new chapter and a shift in mindset to one that embraces their human experience as meaningful and rejects the illusion of the magic pill that promises to keep you punching the clock. When my patients decide they are ready to taper off of medication, first we begin with healing their body. If you imagine yourself to be a bucket that is almost full, the stress of a taper is likely to cause overflow. If we can drain the bucket with lifestyle changes like those outlined in my program first, then the taper can be a relative breeze.

A typical pace can be determined after a “test dose” decrease of approximately 25% of the total daily dose. After 2-4 weeks, if this has been tolerated, this increment can be attempted at a pace of every 2-4 weeks. Many patients will need to drop down to 10% of the total dose, particularly closer to the final 25% of the total dose. Because withdrawal effects can be delayed and fluctuate, it can be challenging to identify whether symptoms are related to a recent dose decrease or even a previous one. Remaining stable for several months may sometimes be necessary before proceeding.

In my practice, I never taper if fear is the dominant emotion. We have too much data that tells us about the power of what is called expectancy (belief around what is happening in treatment) to determine the outcome of an intervention. If you are afraid of life without meds, life without meds will come back to scare you. If, on the other hand, you feel empowered, energized, and excited about awakening to your true self and moving through this window, then you will succeed. I do not start patients on meds under any circumstances, so if they struggle after a completed medication taper, we never return to meds. This means that we ask why they are struggling, we investigate whether it is physiologic and/or psycho-spiritual, and we commit to sitting in it for a bit, making space for it, until it becomes clear. This is a different mindset. It’s one of tolerance, patience, and trust. Fear is something we name, acknowledge, and allow, but do not engage or react from.