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#this is why I make like one vid every three years
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Just deleted a bunch of big chonky files and programs I don't actually need, want, or use and freed up like 16.5GB on my harddrive. Which is great, because I literally had just over 100 megabytes left on my C drive this morning, lol.
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zoekrystall · 7 months
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Zero idea if it'll help or fade into the background but I downloaded stuff to track things and smacked widgets onto my homescreen to not forget. Initially searched for pain ones (where I downloaded two just for good measure ig) but saw that one is customizable for like anything you want and no purchase stuff for me bc included in that one pass and said sure fuck it. I think at the min I need to track pain bc by my memory do I go mental thinking if it just feels frequent n all or if it actually is and mind goes blank when at the doc (will just be fun translating to ger OTL I learn sm to describe stuff in eng but then it lacks in first language). Alas for whatever reason lil me never thought abt actually writing these things down (prob bc every adult anyways dismissed them to the point of not being sure if the pain was actually there so what was the point. but now. now I'm the adult in my life who calls the shots for their own life even if anxiety makes it hard).
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#a wild lux appears#randomly downloaded stuff when my headache almost made me want to cry again thank fuck for that binaural vid#Btw I will not tackle both languages full on at once they're just both there to not forget either#The group goal will prob be the hardest but at least I now realize I instead of beating myself up I just become avoidant#Which isn't good either but at least knowing what I do helps tackling it ykno#Btw the apps I got are dailyio. manage my pain. and. chronic insights (which is specifically for pain my recommendation since it's made by#one w it and completely free of ads n all. got a lot you can add n visually really nice. just fancy stuff behind paywall)#Zero idea if my stuff is chronic maybe I am since years in my denialism era either way pain is pain and I learned more online from disabled#ppl than from doctors which is just oh so great. but after learning not suprising yikes.#Also reg every adult I remember school trips being nightmares bc I ran out of energy and breath fast and the stops were not even close to#what I needed to recover.#Safe to say I became a v seething child who w reasons hated forced outdoors stuff#Got lots of fun stories which totally don't make me want to combust#This one is like. The tamest I think. Got literally locked out of my room to be foces to go outside#But all that is more stories abt one specific horrendous place I wish(ed) to burn to the ground than physical pain focused talk.#So gon cut it here#Need to shower anyways I just woke up I need v quickly food after it so cya#(just woke up I say. As if I'm not since like three hours awake but just since shortly out of my bed. anyways-)#Also last thing even if a child fakes pain to get out of stuff maybe talk w them as to why they feel the need to do that#Believe kids they know their body etc etc or I will hit you cartoon style w a piano over your head#Fuck wrote one app wrong I meant *daylio
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katvazamo · 1 year
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god every time i see a new video essay title i want to bash my head it
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matan4il · 4 months
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I wanna share with you a small cut from a 2010 documentary about events that began unfolding in 2008. The film (which was up for an Oscar nomination, but wasn't shortlisted), followed the story of a young kid called Muhammad. He was born with an immunity deficiency that killed two of his sisters. Three other siblings didn't have it, but also weren't a match to donate bone marrow to him. To even consider the donation procedure, Muhammad's family needed 55,000 dollars (over 80,000 dollars today), which they obviously didn't have. An Israeli journalist did a TV piece about Muhammad, asking for the money to be donated. An Israeli man, whose son was a soldier killed by Palestinian terrorists, decided to do exactly that.
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While Muhammad was in the Israeli hospital, his mom Raida was by him, and here's an exchange she had with the Israeli journalist who helped the family get the money they needed to save their kid's life:
I'm not sharing this because I want to demonize Raida. I'm not sharing it because every Palestinian thinks this way. I'm sharing it because some Palestinians, certainly the ones related to Islamist terrorist organizations like Hamas, do believe that if their child dies as a shahid (a martyr), during an attempt to kill Jews, then the kid would be with Allah. And that will be as if their child never died, because what's better, an imperfect and short life on this earth, or an eternal life with every good thing imaginable by Allah's side? So yes, there are parents who want their kids to die in a confrontation with Israel. There are kids who were brought up with these beliefs. And kindness and humanitarian gestures might change it, but many times they just can't compare to the promise made by this way of thinking.
That's not every Palestinian, but it's enough people to have an impact on the forming and continuation of the Israeli-Arab conflict (much like how Amin al-Husseini was one Palestinian leader, but his antisemitism had a crucial influence on the conflict, and translated into the deaths of countless people, mainly Jews). There are currently at least 30 terrorist organizations in Gaza alone (at least 5 of them are big enough to be household names in Israel), and Hamas on its own includes at least 30,000 people who think this way.
No one can understand this conflict as long as they ignore that the widespread existence of this mentality plays a factor in it. No one can bring about peace here, without getting that this is a part of what threatens it. No one can solve a problem while turning a blind eye to some of its parts.
And if you still think Raida is an exception, here are some more vids reflecting the same mentality from over the years... (I'm not gonna get into how heartbreaking it is that entire generations of Palestinian kids never stood a chance, because I think that's obvious for anyone with a heart watching these clips)
Official Palestinian Authority TV interview with the mother of a shahid, Nov 28, 2003:
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"Being with Allah is better." Hamas TV on Jul 21, 2014:
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Mother of murderer of 3 Israeli teens: "He was honored with Martyrdom because Allah loved him." Oct 6, 2014:
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Palestinian mothers explain why they make joyful noises when their kids get killed as shahids. Apr 7, 2015:
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"Death is inevitable, so why not die as shahids?" Oct 28, 2019:
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Palestinian father explains his choice to expose his son to danger by bringing him to the site of violent riots, by saying his 4.5 years old wants to go to paradise. Jun 20, 2021:
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"My son had nothing called a funeral, rather it was a wedding..." Official Palestinian Authority TV, Sep 13, 2021:
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Shahid's mother says her son is a role model for Palestinian kids. Dec 31, 2022:
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Shahid's mother shares she instructed her son on how to be a proper shaid. Official Palestinian Authority TV, Feb 21, 2023:
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(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)
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rinchfest · 2 months
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Coming this September to an internet near you: Rinch Fest 2024, a ship week for Harold Finch/John Reese from Person of Interest! This is a low-pressure event meant to encourage the creation of more fanworks for Finch/Reese or Finch & Reese’s friendship. Fic, art, gifs, vids, podfic, you name it—all are welcome, as long as they’re Rinch-centric.
Posting for Rinch Fest will run from September 24 through September 30, 2024
PROMPTS:
Day One – September 24 Fluff• Pining• "Always" • Dark• Domesticity
Day Two – September 25 Be Nice To John• Established Relationship• Road Trip • Food/Drinking/Cooking • Art
Day Three – September 26 Be Nice To Harold• Belly• "Beach Cabin in the Woods• "Five+1" • Pets/Animals • Music
Day Four – September 27 Kids/Babies/Pregnancy• Hugs• Clothes • Setting/Genre Change AU• The Machine
Day Five – September 28 Bed Sharing• Wedding/Marriage• Crossover • Canon Divergence • Tropes
Day Six – September 29 Finch Whump • Reese Whump • NSFW/Kink • Retirement • Home
Day Seven – September 30 Free-For-All/Catch-Up Day
Keep reading for more info!
Who’s running this? ArgylePirateWD. Hi! Now with mods @alexsrousseau and @stingalingaling
Any changes since last year? None! As in previous years, Reese&Finch friendship is also allowed
Why not call it Rinch Week? It started out as Rinch Fest on The Rinch Loft on Discord, and that’s what stuck.
Plus, Rinch Fest and Reese & Finch share the same initials.
What’s allowed? Complete fanworks focusing on Harold Finch and John Reese in a romantic or close platonic relationship with each other. Fic, art, vids, remixes, sequels, you name it! No length requirements, no style requirements, all ratings allowed—do what you want!
Anything not allowed? Works where Finch/Reese or Finch & Reese is not the primary relationship (additional ships are fine), works that are incomplete at the time of posting, and remixes or other transformative works for other people’s fanworks that are done without the original creator’s permission. Anything else is fair game, as long as it’s labeled.
Also, don’t be a jerk.
What about [insert controversial topic here]? Can I make something with x?/OMG someone made something with x! Anything else is fair game, as long as it’s labeled. This includes works featuring tropes and kinks that you may not like or approve of. As long as it’s warned for, it’s fine and allowed.
Please warn for the usual AO3 warnings (Major Character Death, Graphic Violence, Rape/Non-Con, and Underage) and any subjects others may find deeply unpleasant, and clearly label any NSFW works.
What about poly? Gen? Poly is wonderful, but this is a Finch/Reese or Finch&Reese event. Sorry.
Finch & Reese gen is allowed!
What do I do with x prompt?/Can I do [insert concept here]? Anything goes! Seriously, however you want to interpret a prompt is fine.
Do I have to make something for every prompt? No! You can if you want, but it’s not required. Feel free to skip days, combine prompts, create multiple fills for each day, anything! This is as flexible as it gets.
If it fits multiple prompts, when do I post it? Whatever day works best for you!
What if I want to do something NSFW? There's no nsfw prompt this year. Is it still allowed? YES! Bring on the spicy if you want!
What about a multi-chapter/piece thing where each chapter fulfills one day’s prompt? When do I post that? Post an update each relevant day until you’re done! (Just make sure you can finish it by the end of the event.)
What if it doesn’t fit a prompt? That’s what Day 7 is for! :D
What if I need to post my fill(s) on a different day? Life happens. The AO3 collection is set to Unrevealed, so I can reveal early submissions on the right day, but if that doesn’t work for you, I’m sure we can work something out.
Can I work on a previously-posted WIP? As long as it’s finished when you make your post for the event, sure! If you’re just updating a WIP without finishing it, no.
Can I start working now? Absolutely! That’s why I’m announcing it now—so there’s plenty of time for people to make things.
Can I talk about/share previews of what I’m working on? Sure!
Wait, there’s a Rinch Discord server? Do I have to join to do this? Of course not. We’d love to have you at The Rinch Loft, and it’s a fun place to hang out, but Rinch Fest is for anyone into Rinch.
If I want the Discord link… Send in an Ask to the @rinchfest Tumblr, contact ArgylePirateWD somewhere, or ask around. It’s open to anyone who likes Rinch or Person of Interest. I’m happy to give it out to anyone who wants it.
Where do I post? On Tumblr, post to your blog and use the #rinchfest23 or #rinchweek23 tags. You are They are being watched. 👁 And maybe add @rinchfest in your post to be sure. Tumblr is as hungry as Bear and Shaw.
Submissions are also open.
On AO3, you can post it here: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/rinchfest23/
Do I have to have a Tumblr? AO3? As long as you’re on some kind of platform and can get a link to the work to me somehow so I can share it with the world, you’re welcome to play.
On October 1st, I’ll make a round-up post full of links to all the shiny things people made. If I know you made it, it’ll go in!
What time zone? The daily prompt posts will be going up at 12 am Central Time, but as long as it’s the relevant day for your fill somewhere in the world, go ahead and throw it in!
(And if you want to sneak in some Day 7 things a little after, as long as they get posted before the Master Post goes up… 😉)
Sounds fun! How do I sign up? No signups! Just post your stuff somewhere on the right day(s), and you’re in!
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whumpofalltime · 1 year
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friends, enemies, lurkers, we've made it to the
Whump Of All Time Finals!
What's the whumpiest whump of all time? Help us decide!
Find links and propaganda under the cut. Quarterfinalist and later match-ups are untagged, so your votes and reblogs matter! Make sure you click through to the main blog to find the run-off poll to crown third place, as well!
ROTK:
(spider attack, rescue)
"The Lord of The Rings, when Frodo gets bitten by a giant spider and left for dead by Sam at the end of The Two Towers, and then when Sam finds him in The Return of the King being held prisoner and whipped by an orc."
The Young Blood Chronicles (Save Rock and Roll's music videos, Fall Out Boy):
(link)
"Everyone gets bloodied, bruised, beaten up, tortured, rescued, limbs are amputated - it's brutal. Alone Together is particularly strong."
sorry for being late, but you want YBC propaganda? then you're getting YBC propaganda. I know you're a FOB fan, but I will be writing this for the benefit of those who don't know what YBC is, for better propaganda purposes! and yeah this is gonna be LONG. sorry.
So! The Youngblood Chronicles (shortened to YBC) is a series of 11 music videos made by the band Fall Out Boy, for their album Save Rock And Roll (you know this album, it's the one with My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark on it). The whole thing is quite short, less than fifty minutes long (even shorter if you don't count the uncut version's credits!!), and every single music video has some element of whump in it. This propaganda is gonna break down each individual music vid, and at i'll also talk a little bit about the irl context the album was written in, and why even THAT can be a little bit whumpy if you're insane like me!
(note: i'm going in the original release order over the uncut order, hence why i'm starting with MSKWYDITD instead of The Phoenix)
My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark: Arguably the least whump-y out of all of them, but man, seeing all of Fall Out Boy's discography and memorabilia be burnt while people are dancing around the destruction? Man, when you know the real life stuff (the reception the band had in 2009, leading to them to take a three year hiatus)... and at the end, you see four guys bound in the back of a van!! And that van is getting burnt!! Burn everything you love and burn the... ashes.
The Phoenix: NOW here's the first of MANY whump tastes you'll get. Patrick Stump, the singer/cutie of the band, gets kidnapped, tied to a chair, has his hand CHOPPED OFF and mailed to his bandmate/best friend Pete Wentz, then gets tied down and utterly tortured by women who are laughing at his misery the entire time, getting prodded and stabbed by tools for... well, you'll see. By the end of the video, Pete and the other two members of FOB (Joe Trohman and Andy Hurley) have been kidnapped by these mysterious women too, with Pete specifically getting kidnapped by the blonde woman he was in bed with when Patrick's hand got delivered to him. If you enjoy cute boys getting tied down, covered in blood, and writhing around like worms while getting tortured... well you'll enjoy all of YBC but specifically you'll enjoy this!! I did :D! The war is won, before it's begun, release the doves, surrender love...
Young Volcanoes: Good news, FOB has been reunited! Bad news, by the women who dismembered Patrick! And now all the band members are tied to chairs, hooked up to IVs full of god knows what types of drugs, and blindfolded (all except Patrick). They are then forced to drink, snort hard drugs, and are force fed Patrick's organs! Yep, all four of them are forced to eat their lead singer's guts, and are so fucking drugged up they don't even realize what's happening (and now you know what the women were doing to him in the last mv, and you even get a nice little shot of the hack job of stitching him back up)!! Patrick hallucinates everyone having fun, but of course, at the end, all of them are knocked out because of the drugs. Americana, exotica, do you wanna feel a little beautiful baby?
Alone Together: This is the song the OG propaganda mentioned, and for good reason. All four of them are shipped off into little personalized torture rooms, and, well, tortured! Pete is able to break out and even steals the hook from the girl who was torturing him, but little does he know that'll be his own undoing... also, in general, this song has some whumpy elements, specifically the line "my heart is like a stallion/they love it more when it's broke-in"... but notice how easy it is to hear "broke-in" as "broken"! At the end of the video, Pete is at least able to find Patrick (Joe and Andy have NOT been having a good time, either!! But sadly, they aren't found by Pete, but Pete DOES find Big Sean), and is even able to attach the hook to the stump (ha!) where his hand used to be. But something is clearly wrong with Patrick now. His eyes are yellow, and as the song ends, we hold on him, sneering and twitching. This is the road to ruin - and we're started at the end...
The Mighty Fall: First off if you say this is the worst song off of SRAR I will hunt you for sport. OKAY ANYWAYS, chronologically this comes after MSKWYDITD, and yeah, the four guys are the members of FOB. Pete is able to free himself with Patrick's new hook hand, and is able to get the other three out while Pete is hacking up a lung from the fire they just barely escaped. But they're not done getting their shit rocked yet. A gang of children show up (the leader being the kid Patrick waved at right before he was kidnapped back in the Phoenix MV), and proceed to separate them and beat the living shit out of them. The leader kid who's chasing Patrick plays something on a boombox... which triggers Patrick to go yellow-eyed again (from here on out i'll call it "going Youngblood" or "Youngblood self"). It was confirmed in the commentary track that ANY music would cause him to go Youngblood. And knowing Patrick IRL fucking loves to create/compose music... yeah! Take something he loves and turn it into something that drives him insane!! I'm normal!! And also the irl parallel you could draw to his solo career doing the same thing to him (on a less uh Dramatic level but you know)!!! Ouch!!!! Big Sean is able to save Patrick, but at the cost of his own life (and a killer rap verse... HELL YEAH I'M A DICK GIRL, ADDICTED TO YOU). Oh, how the mighty fall in love...
Just One Yesterday: The last vestiges of comfort you're gonna get for a WHILE. The four are separated, getting even more beaten up, Pete vomits up a snake, Andy gets his shit rocked by a homeless guy, Joe has to use white sheets as a makeshift tourniquet bc his leg got fucked up in The Mighty Fall MV, and Patrick is picked up by a kind stranger (hi Foxes! you have a very pretty voice! PLEASE KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE STEERING WHEEL!). And finally, finally we get a hope spot. Fall Out Boy is reunited (the part where Andy just grabs onto Patrick's arm, in disbelief they're both alive... augh!!! AUGH!!!!), and for a moment, it seems they've been delivered to a hospital... before Foxes' eyes go completely black, looking at Patrick... and turns on the radio. She's able to trigger the Youngblood. And now Patrick is gone. The other three scramble into the hospital, Patrick not far behind, determined to kill them to stop the noise in his head. If Heaven's grief brings Hell's reign, then I'd trade all my tomorrows for just one yesterday...
Where Did The Party Go: Patrick, now fully consumed by the Youngblood brainwashing, is now stalking his bandmates in a hospital. Patrick is seeing visions of the hospital as an abandoned party, Andy has to painfully disinfect the wounds he's gotten, Pete is able to call for the police, and Joe... oh, poor Joe. He barricades himself into a room, but not well enough. Patrick finds him, and kills him, slitting his throat with the hook hand, showing no remorse at all... until Andy and Pete find them. The Youngblood wears off, and Patrick looks to what he's done, and is horrified at what he's done to his friend. And, bad news for him, the police are here, ready to arrest the murderer. All Andy and Pete can do is watch as tears roll down Patrick's eyes. And for the extra IRL context, this was the first song written for the album that made Pete and Patrick realize they had to get FOB back together... so lets match that with a music video where the member who helped get the band together in the first place dies. By the hands of the kid he found. Let's fade away together, one dream at a time...
Death Valley: Joe gets... uh, a little comfort? I mean, he thinks he's getting sent to heaven but goes to hell, buuuuut I think doing drugs in rock and roll hell with Tommy Lee is actually a pretty sweet deal, better than the deal the other three got! Pete and Andy are being interrogated while Patrick is in a jail cell. We find out that the cult that kidnapped them, Silence the Noise, is lead by Pete's girlfriend from WAAAAY back in the Phoenix MV, Courtney Love. And at the end of the MV... Patrick is bailed out of jail by Silence the Noise. They have him again. And this time, they're not gonna let him walk out until he's fully under their control. 'Cause tonight it's just fire alarms and losing you...
Rat a Tat: Silence the Noise has Patrick, and they utterly brainwash him, A Clockwork Orange style, with electroshock stimulation to keep him from looking away or closing his eyes, until there is nothing left. Patrick Stump does not exist anymore. Only the Youngblood, pliant under the control of Silence the Noise, tasked to destroy what he once loved; music. Andy dies at the hands of the cult, and now Pete has to protect a briefcase, the thing that got them into this mess, and keep it away from Silence the Noise, all while his best friend hunts him down. Are you ready for another bad poem?
Miss Missing You: THE WHUMPIEST OF THE WHUMP. What if we were best friends but you've been driven insane and I know the only way to stop you is to kill you and it was my fault you got into this mess and I was the one who gave you the weapon that will be my own undoing. What if we both died at the same time. What if we died, both of us failing the mission we had before us. What if that was a reference to one of their first music videos. What if this song was originally written for Patrick's solo album but he realized it was more of a Fall Out Boy song so it was scrapped until now. What if there's a legit argument to be made that half the lyrics for this song was written by Patrick. What if we were both boys. Grips walls, yeha i'm normal. If you don't watch ANY other music vid, watch Miss Missing You. Sometimes before it gets better, the darkness gets bigger. The person that you'd take a bullet for is behind the trigger.
Save Rock And Roll: And our final track gives us a final bit of comfort. Patrick is able to overcome the Youngblood, and gets into heaven, where all of FOB is finally, finally reunited. God (aka Elton John) gives them new instruments and brings them back to earth, so they can do what they love; play music together. Which just so happens to release people from the control of Silence the Noise! But, because we can't have nice things, a cult within Silence the Noise got a hold of the briefcase, and summoned a spirit that starts to kill everyone. FOB stands together, and blasts the evil spirit, the blood coming up to the gates of heaven and covering Elton John in it. And... that's how it ends. No true resolution. Just Elton John covered in blood, as the song fades out. Oh, no! Wherever I go, go! Trouble seems to follow! I only plugged in to save rock and roll!
UH. AGAIN I APOLOGIZE FOR THE LENGTH. but i really wanted to express just how much WHUMP they manage to fit into less than fifty minutes, all backed by an amazing album colored by the three years they were apart. colored by how they grew, colored by how bad the hiatus was for Patrick specifically, colored by how Confessions of a Pariah got Pete to reach out to help him, and this album came out of it, Fall Out Boy came back out of it, and now here we are, ten years later, with the title track being performed every night for their concert, with all the band singing the final lines together, and the line you are what you love, not who loves you hitting every single night.
SORRY. LISTEN TO FALL OUT BOY. thanks for letting me rant.
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thebroccolination · 6 months
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KRIST’S LEGENDARY TAIKO DRUM SOLO
He’d probably be the first to quibble with the adjective, but that’s how I think of it.
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In April of 2023, Krist kicked off his first solo tour around Asia in Japan. This tour was three years in the making, originally planned for 2020 when the world shut down. In that time, he did more planning and made it even bigger, including different features for every individual country he’d visit as a nod to their respective cultures.
Krist has committed a lot of time and effort in recent years to vocal training—to the extent that I think he’s genuinely the best live singer GMMTV has. He’s dynamic, he has incredible breath control, he knows how to improvise, how to move around the stage, how to belt. I saw his solo concert twice in November, and I count it as the second best I’ve ever seen. (The top can’t be beat because of Feelings.)
However! He’s not new to music in general, and has said over and over that he still considers himself more of a musician than a singer. He’s been playing the drums far, far longer, and in fact, that’s Singto’s first memory of him at Kasetsart: drummer in a band.
So when he visited Japan for the first leg of his tour, he decided to pay tribute to one of Japan’s most revered instruments: the taiko drum.
He studied not only how to play it correctly, but also its cultural and religious significance. And before he began his performance onstage, he wai’d before the drum to show his respect. It’s even been immortalized in chibi art form.
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Then he casually shattered not just my whole brain but the whole brains of many.
[Vid Source: @KristFanClub]
It was such a popular performance that he recreated it for his final two concerts in Bangkok using a different type of taiko drum. (I think the one he used in Japan was a local rental.)
And while we don’t have full, official footage of the concert in Japan, Krist’s fan club was wonderful enough to record segments like the one above and share them afterward, and it’s become one of my all-time favorite performances of his.
Krist has had a vast and loyal fanbase in Japan ever since SOTUS aired in 2016, so I thought it was lovely that he started his tour there. In a behind-the-scenes interview after the concert, he said he was amazed and moved that his Japanese fans had already memorized a song he’d only released days before. And sang it with him. In Thai. He said something like, “I realized that they support all my work, and it makes me so happy.”
And in return for that love, he gave his Japanese fans a beautiful concert filled with respect for their country and culture and music.
That’s why, to me, it’s a legendary performance.
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catacombbee · 3 months
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welcome home (i missed you dearly)
tyden tattoo shop au; crossposted on ao3:
INSPIRED BY A POST @the-killies MADE
just mentioning beforehand they are older in this bc they are adults bc tyler has a tattoo shop BUT the way tylers thinking abt aiden isnt meant to be sexy hes just thinking aiden is very very pretty boy okay this isnt supposed to be horny okay pls dont make it horny 🔫
sometimes theres just the desperation to touch someone to feel someone to be near someone. so im totally projecting
also i dont know exactly how tattoo shops work if anything is inaccurate SHHHH dangles gay in front of you to distract. does the distraction dance
It had been two years since Tyler had seen Aiden.
Sure, they kept in touch. The group chat was more alive than ever even after they all graduated. Life drew them in their own different directions, but they'd always be friends.
And yet it had been two years since all six of them met up in the same place. They had gotten together to celebrate most of their respective college graduations. Taylor had been working at a mechanic shop for over a year at this point, and her boss loved her friends so much that he ordered pizzas for them to celebrate. Of course they ended up back in the graveyard, sitting together in that bus as they ate and laughed and fell asleep on each other.
Tyler had made friends in art school that filled the gap that was left when he didn't see his five best friends every day. No, they'd never replace the others, but he felt less alone. By the time he graduated, he and two of his new friends really wanted to open their own tattoo shop together.
Taylor pointed out that the building beside her shop had been empty for sale for years. Tyler thought it was pretty funny that even into his career he couldn't get away from his sister. It was great, by all means. He got a discount on car maintenance, and they got a discount on their tattoos. It also meant he got the honors of giving Taylor her first tattoo himself. TH + AB inside a heart was pretty sappy, but he didn't tell her that when he did it. He was happy she was happy.
And he was happy. He was thriving. Ever since he gave up baseball, accepting that it wasn't making him happy like it used to, and let himself embrace his creativity, he felt so much more comfortable in himself. Who knew that art scholarships were a thing?? Why had no one told him??
But now he was living on his own and making enough money to not only support himself but pay for his mom's therapy. She was doing better, too; Taylor hadn't moved out when Tyler did, opting to stay living at home to take care of her. Now all three of them were moving uphill. Tyler was happy, he was secure, the tattoo shop was busier than ever. Everything was great.
And then Aiden Clark walked through the door.
Tyler wouldn't say he was disappointed to see him. No, far from it. In fact, he was far happier to see the blond than he would let himself admit. While most of the group was in college, Aiden had taken his parents money and gone who the hell knows where. Italy, France, Germany, Japan, other countries that Tyler couldn't remember, he saw it all. Along the way, he'd posted almost every bit of his journey online for people to live vicariously through him. At least, that's what Ashlyn called it. People loved watching him not only traverse beautiful landscapes, but also explore other cultures and share stories from people he'd met.
That meant that, as Aiden built an online following large enough to support himself without his parents' help (which in hindsight was probably his goal), Tyler got to watch through a screen as he did all sorts of impressive or death defying feats. Because of course he did. He's Aiden.
It's one thing to watch someone in full scuba gear get locked in a shark tank. It's another to watch him set up a camera and jump off of a cliff into water shirtless.
There were a lot of videos where he ended up shirtless, actually. A byproduct of his love for being in the water. Surfing, swimming, snorkeling- why did so many of those words start with an S anyway? Aiden did it all. And he did half of it wearing nothing from the waist up.
Seeing Aiden shirtless made Tyler's heart flutter every time-
"Tyler!" Aiden broke him from his thoughts. Fortunately. Instead of thinking about how nice he looked in his videos, Tyler could focus on how nice he looked standing right in front of him.
"Aiden," he responded, the second half of the name coming out like a bark as Aiden slammed into him with a bear hug. "It's so great to see you!" He said, squeezing Tyler not tightly enough to take his breath away as much as he did. "How have you been?"
He had been absolutely horrible before he saw Aiden. What the hell was he doing that would dare compare to this man wrapping himself around Tyler like he was never as overjoyed as he was now seeing him again?
"I've been great."
Aiden let go and stepped back. Unfortunately. He grinned up at Tyler, who was still proudly taller. "You look great. I mean, I saw you in some of the pictures posted on your place's Insta, but you look even better in person, yknow? Your tattoos are so cool woah-"
Tyler was much too distracted by the sound of his heart thudding in his ears to pay much mind to Aiden poking and prodding at his arms excitedly. He was blabbering something about how he couldn't wait to have a tattoo of his own- wait, what?
Shaking himself back to reality, Tyler pulled his arm back. It was the only way he'd focus: without Aiden's hands on his skin. "Are you here to get a tattoo?" He'd thought Aiden was just visiting. Why wouldn't he just visit? Ben came by to visit and didn't get a tattoo. Logan came by to visit and didn't get a tattoo. Ashlyn-
"Yeah! I already know kind what I want, too." Of course he did. "Oh, is it okay if I record some of it?" Of course it was. "I don't know if you follow my channel that much, I just wanted to show them the process." Of course. "Plus! I can say HEY here's this cool place! So if you're in the area and you want a tattoo, come see my buddy Tyler!" Of course.
And he wanted Tyler to give him the tattoo. And he wanted it on his back. Wings. Of course. Of course Aiden wanted a large tattoo on his back. Of course Aiden wanted Tyler to sit for hours and look down at his naked torso and have to focus on not screwing up the ink just because his client is pretty. He had tattooed pretty men before! This did NOT have to be any different.
But they weren't Aiden.
Aiden came with some reference photos. He and Tyler came up with a design Aiden liked. It wasn't that elaborate, but it was still going to be time consuming. Unfortunately.
Aiden was lying on his stomach, humming contentedly to himself as he scrolled through his phone, his arm dangling off of the table. Beside him stood Tyler, who was focusing so hard on his art.
Frankly, this was the longest he'd ever seen Aiden sit still. Even when he was asleep, he was such a wiggle worm. Sure, he remembered Taylor said once that she saw Aiden sleep completely still once, but he didn't want to think about that night.
On second thought, maybe that would be better. Maybe if he thought about the night Aiden died he wouldn't think about all the perfectly toned muscle that was right there. How many nights had he laid awake in bed, only his phone lighting the room, watching those videos of Aiden and imagining how it'd feel to wrap his arms around him? How many nights had he rolled over, his arms snug tightly around the middle of a pillow, so that when he closed his eyes he could imagine it was Aiden's waist instead?
How much longer could he deny that he wanted more than anything to be close to him?
After what felt like a year or maybe two minutes, they were halfway done. He'd told Aiden upfront that he'd need to come back again to finish it, which was fine. He had an opening the next day. Aiden was too eager to return. His smile was burned in Tyler's vision much like spots swimming in one's eyes after looking at a bright light.
Taylor came over to see him after work. Tyler was busy scrolling through his phone and definitely not thinking about a certain blond. "Aiden stopped by to say hi today."
"Mhm."
"He showed me his half-finished tattoo."
"Mm."
"You need to tell him you love him."
"Mhm."
Taylor punched him in the arm. Ow. She was fucking strong. "Tyler, c'mon." He finally made himself look up at her from where he was sitting. "We all knew it years ago, and here you are still acting like you don't care."
Tyler rolled his eyes. "Don't care what, that he's back? Of course I care that he's back, he's my friend."
She looked at him unamused. "You sure don't look at each other like you're friends," Taylor argued.
Well, what the hell did she know?
Tyler grumbled to himself the entire drive home. He sulked about it as he sat down to watch tv. He moped as he laid in bed, trying to sleep. He dreamed about it, Aiden's laugh echoing throughout his subconscious. He grumbled yet again as he trudged into into work the next day.
Aiden was back late that afternoon.
Surely he must have noticed the way Tyler was avoiding eye contact. The way he practically mumbled in response to Aiden trying to spark a conversation. The way his hand shook as it pressed against his back for the first time that day.
"Don't fuck up my tattoo, halfwit," Aiden grumbled playfully, turning his head to try and look up at Tyler.
He just smiled in response. "It's been a while since you called me that."
Aiden shrugged, earning a scolding from Tyler who was about to put the needle back to his skin. "Well, it's been a while since we've seen each other. I missed you."
Tyler's hands paused. Only for a second.
"I missed you too," he admitted. He really, really had. Far more than he would admit. He missed that manically brilliant grin, knowing something mischievous was soon to follow. He missed the way he laughed, the way he always knew what to say to get on everyone's last nerve, the way he masterfully turned the attention onto himself to distract from whatever was going on around them.
He missed how close they were when they saw each other every day; it gave him more chances to get close to Aiden.
"Why wings?" He blurted out, desperate to change the mental subject to something that did not include wishing he could wrap his arms around Aiden and ask him never to leave again, or worse, to beg him to let Tyler come too.
Aiden hummed, wiggling, despite however many times Tyler had told him off. He was either really lucky that he never made Tyler mess up or he was really good at moving only when he couldn't mess Tyler up. It was impossible to tell.
But of course, he stilled when Tyler leaned back in to continue his work. "Wings are a symbol of freedom, right?" He said, leaving it at that.
Tyler could feel the smile through his words, but he knew there were layers to this sort of symbolism. Freedom from the phantom dimension. Freedom from his parents, to whatever extent it hurt. Freedom from this little town. Freedom to explore the world to his heart's content.
Aiden wanted the world, and Tyler wanted to be his world. But he knew he'd never be enough to satisfy such a deep-rooted wanderlust.
Maybe Aiden was more like his parents than he'd like to admit. They, too, could never stay in one place for too long. They stayed in the house Aiden was living in through high school just long enough for him to leave the house, and then they were gone again. Ashlyn liked to tease that she preferred her new neighbors because they kept to themselves.
How deeply rooted was the Clarks' need to stay on the move? In fleeing the country to both satisfy his own desires and to escape association with his parents, how much was Aiden solidifying how alike they really were? How much did it bother him, or did it at all?
Tyler wondered so many things, and voiced none of them.
But perhaps he wasted too much time thinking and didn't spend enough of it actually talking. The tattoo was finally finished. It was late afternoon, and Tyler had no other appointments that day. Aiden was paying. He was leaving. He was about to leave, and Tyler was about to not see him again for another two years.
Tyler couldn't let that happen.
"Hey," he said suddenly, as Aiden was digging his wallet out of his pocket. "How much longer are you going to be in town?" Because if you aren't busy, we can meet up. Because if you're still here, we can go out somewhere together. Because if you're not leaving, I still have time.
Aiden shrugged. "I was gonna stay for a few more days originally, but my hotel didn't have any vacancy past tonight. I'm gonna sleep in my car and head out tomorrow morning."
Tyler's heart dropped into his stomach. Aiden was leaving tomorrow. Aiden was going to walk out that door and be gone and Tyler wouldn't know how long it would be until he saw him on the same side of the screen again.
That's why he blurted out: "Stay at my place."
Both men stared at each other, dumbfounded, neither really expecting Tyler to suggest such a thing. Aiden's eyes were wide, his tanned cheeks ever so slightly rosy. Tyler wondered if he was imagining it.
"Okay," Aiden said, his grin impossibly wider.
That's how Tyler ended up driving home with Aiden reclining in his passenger side seat. Did he insist that Aiden could just follow him home in his own car? Yes. Did Aiden somehow convince him to just let him throw all his stuff in his backseat and hitch a ride and leave his car parked outside the tattoo shop? Yes. Unfortunately.
The radio was on low; nothing that interesting was playing. Tyler could hear his own voice randomly stopping and starting from Aiden's phone. Sometimes while he was still working on the tattoo, Aiden would hold his phone up, video already rolling, saying "cheese!" and earning a glare from Tyler. Probably for the "I got a tattoo" video. A few times he even got Tyler to stop and take a quick shot of the progress, which was preferable as it kept Aiden from moving as much.
Why did Tyler suggest this. Why did Tyler suggest this. Tyler lived in a one bedroom home, all by himself, and the couch was probably fine but not comfortable enough to SLEEP on WHY did Tyler suggest this. Why did Tyler bring Aiden home. Why was Tyler helping Aiden bring his things inside and showing him around the place.
"So you live by yourself now?" Aiden asked cheerfully as he helped himself to a formerly unopened bag of chips. "That's cool. I thought you and Taylor would've still been living together but this is also cool. I guess since you work next door you need time apart, right? I wish I was still this close to Ben. He doesn't like moving around a lot, I'm happy he found a place he's comfortable." Aiden never stopped talking, and Tyler didn't want to stop him.
"Taylor's still living with Mom," Tyler said, shrugging. "We aren't really living apart cus we needed more space, I just..." How could he put into words that he couldn't stand the vacant look in his mother's eyes anymore? Even as she was doing better, how could he admit he couldn't handle the aching emptiness of that old home?
But Aiden nodded even despite the lack of an explanation, and Tyler understood that it wasn't actually needed.
That was another thing he loved-
That was another thing he enjoyed about Aiden. For all the nonstop chatter that came from him, he was actually a remarkable listener. Sometimes Tyler really struggled to put things into words, but Aiden didn't need him to. He was good at reading between the lines, and Tyler was grateful for that.
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Aiden's stomach rumbling so loudly he wondered if he'd eaten at all that day. It was so stupid, he couldn't help but laugh.
The deer-in-headlights wide-eyed look on Aiden's face made Tyler laugh even harder. "I'm just going to cook some spaghetti. Think you can wait that long? And stop with the chips, you need real food."
Aiden threw the clip from the chips at Tyler; he caught it. "Shut up, I forgot lunch."
"That's not my fault," he shot back, gesturing at him with the box of spaghetti noodles. The now open box of spaghetti noodles. A small clump of uncooked noodles flew out, falling at Aiden's feet. "But that was!" He responded, picking them up and taking a bite of one. Tyler cringed.
Aiden was quiet as Tyler started cooking. Fortunately. He did chime in when Tyler was putting the pasta in the pot, shrieking until he agreed to not snap the spaghetti. Because what was he, a fucking barbarian? No, only heathens snap their spaghetti. Tyler was eager to point out to Aiden that he did the same until he visited Italy.
"It's a JOKE!" Aiden insisted through a mouthful of pasta, since Tyler had yet to drop the matter even now that they were eating. "It's a silly thing like, 'oh no! My Nonna is rolling over in her grave because you're breaking your pasta!' I don't think people actually care that much."
Tyler raised an eyebrow at him as he noisily slurped up yet another mouthful of spaghetti. He snickered, wiping his mouth. At least he had the decency to use a napkin. "Well, I like it long. It's more fun. So I guess I care."
Never again would Tyler Hernandez break pasta. At least not when he was cooking for Aiden.
Dinner wasn't very eventful, unless you counted the fact that Tyler was sitting across from Aiden Clark and talking to him and having dinner with him alone sitting in his house for the entire night. But no, no big deal. Just two guys being friends, hanging out. Two bros sitting at a table, five feet apart-
Aiden was right next to Tyler, wrapping an arm around his shoulders in a quick side hug. "Thanks for dinner!" Tyler just stared at him, because oh, now he's very close and smiling down at him. And now he was walking away with his and Tyler's plates in hand. "I'll clean up since you cooked."
That brought Tyler back to reality. "You're my guest, you don't need to do that. And don't thank me for feeding you, that's literally the bare minimum."
He was ignored; the clinking of plates being washed began as the tap came on in the kitchen sink. Tyler just sighed and allowed it. If Aiden insisted on cleaning dinner up, Tyler could busy himself with finding something for them to do afterwards, at least. After all, it wasn't that late at night; they needed something to do.
There was a dusty box of video game cases. Tyler hadn't played Mario Kart in ages.
That turned out to be the best idea he'd had all day. He could barely begin suggesting the idea to Aiden before the controller was snatched from his hands and a certain blond planted himself on the sofa, staring intensely at the screen, waiting for Tyler to start the game.
There were too many characters to pick from; Tyler always tried a different one every time. This time he picked Rosalina, earning a curious glance from Aiden. On the complete other side of the character selection spectrum, Aiden IMMEDIATELY beelined for Waluigi. His entire cart was built and ready before Tyler even decided which character he wanted.
It'd been a long time since they played together, but Tyler knew how Aiden played. Normally selecting the Mii character to play as someone like Sans, but settling for Waluigi because he knew Tyler wouldn't have his weird characters saved. All speed, not great handling. As for Tyler, he preferred putting more into acceleration than speed. What's the use in being fast if it takes you too long to speed up when you crash into shit?
And his performance proved him right. Or it proved that Aiden's Mario Kart skills were rusty and he had circled right back to noob status. Tyler won time and time again, all his time playing with Taylor when she came over for sleepovers paying off.
He let Aiden end on a high note, though. There was no way he was going to go easy on him, of course; he figured Aiden must've finally got the hang of the game again when he won the last round. "YES!" He yelled, pointing a finger right in Tyler's face. "I finally got you!"
Tyler let him have it, considering how miserably he did in the very first races. "Alright, you got me."
Aiden giggled. He giggled. And he smiled right at Tyler. Unfortunately.
"It's late," Tyler said, looking away. They'd been playing for a couple of hours at this point. It felt like they'd just sat down. "I'm not letting you stay up all night before driving for hours."
Confusion growing on his face, Aiden watched as Tyler set up a pillow and blanket on the couch. "Am I sleeping out here?"
"No, of course not. You're sleeping in my room." Did Aiden really expect to be left on the couch??
Aiden just grinned at him. "You don't have to sleep on the sofa, Ty."
It was hard to ignore the way his heart fluttered. This man was going to be the death of him. He just had to survive one more night. Surely. "I'm sure as hell not making you sleep on the sofa. Especially with a healing tattoo, you need to rest on something comfortable, dude."
But Tyler had misunderstood exactly what Aiden was getting at. "Tyler, I don't care if we share the bed, yknow."
Oh. Tyler hoped that the way his face burned wasn't visible. He never would have expected Aiden to suggest such a thing. Why would Aiden suggest such a thing? Why wouldn't Aiden suggest such a thing, actually? Why did it matter? It shouldn't matter. They were friends. Friends could share a bed. Surely.
That's how Tyler found himself laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, as Aiden scrolled on his phone to his right. He had tucked a pillow securely under his chest to prop himself up, whatever app he was using casting a soft glow on his face. Tyler couldn't help but look a few times. Just a few.
This was all made worse by the fact that Aiden was laying there on his stomach shirtless. It took Tyler dragging him back to the bathroom after they both showered and forcing him to sit down for him to remember that, yes, his tattoo needed proper attention of its own. And now there he was, lying on his stomach so as to not irritate his back, and his phone was lighting up the sleepy grin on his face. Unfortunately.
"Go to sleep," Tyler grumbled, as if the light was bothering him. It wasn't the light itself keeping him up, though. How could he sleep with this man lying a foot away from him?
Aiden grumbled back, putting his phone on the nightstand. "You don't have enough pillows. I need, like... three."
"What the fuck do you need three pillows for." Tyler only had two! The only person that slept over was Taylor, and she brought a sleeping bag and pillows for herself; she, too, didn't want Tyler giving up his bed just for her.
The response was punctuated by a scoff, as if Aiden was offended that Tyler wouldn't know why Aiden needed three damn pillows. "I need something under my stomach and my head to be comfortable on my stomach."
Then he should have brought his own. "You can't have my pillow."
"Can I just lay on you instead?"
Once again, Aiden said something that left Tyler stunned and defenseless. The room went silent as he couldn't come up with an answer that didn't sound as desperate or excited as the thought made him feel inside.
Aiden took his silence for rejection. "I was, joking, uh-"
"Yes. Uh, yeah you can. If you want to."
Silence again. This time much less uncomfortable. Slowly, tentatively, Aiden shifted closer. Placed an arm on Tyler's other side, holding himself up. Lowered himself to settle against Tyler's chest, tucking into his shoulder.
They both let out a long breath as they fell into place together. It was as if whatever anxious walls they'd put up crumbled and vanished as their bodies moved on their own, suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to be closer. Aiden's leg looped under Tyler's. Tyler's arms settled around Aiden, Aiden's latched together under Tyler's back.
Aiden's head tilted back, his gaze meeting Tyler's. They were close, too close. Unfortunately.
Or maybe it wasn't a bad thing. Aiden was searching his face, a calm smile adorning his face. Tyler stared right back, unable to stop himself from glancing at that pretty smile, wondering what it'd feel like pressed against his own lips.
Aiden noticed; he smiled a little brighter. It suited him, that natural smile. That smile for Tyler. How could he deny any longer his own feelings when Aiden was smiling like that? Smiling like that just for him? How could he deny his own feelings when it was so clear suddenly that Aiden felt the same?
"Aiden?" He said softly, eyes unable to focus on just Aiden's eyes or just Aiden's lips, bouncing between the two. He just hummed in response, staring back with a level of focus that was surprising for him.
"I- I want to kiss you," Tyler blurted out.
Aiden giggled, his eyes nearly closing as laughter took over his body. Tyler's face burned, and he scowled even despite knowing that he was just being teased. "Aiden."
"Can I tell you a secret?" He responded, managing to cease his snickering. Tyler just stared, waiting.
Aiden leaned close, suddenly serious. Tyler couldn't keep up with the mad facade for much longer, given that he could feel Aiden's breath on his face. This was the closest they'd ever been, at least that Tyler could remember. He'd lean in and end his suffering if he weren't waiting on Aiden to go on with what he wanted to say.
"I lied about the hotel," Aiden whispered, "so you'd invite me over."
Then Aiden kissed him. And Tyler was too blissfully reduced to mush to even get mad at the realization that this entire situation only happened because Aiden was banking on Tyler suggesting he stay over instead of sleeping in his car.
Now Aiden was gripping Tyler's shirt like he'd disappear if he opened his eyes, Tyler was running his hand through Aiden's hair and pulling him ever closer, and neither of them wanted it to end. Finally, finally, Aiden was his.
Who cared what would happen tomorrow, or a week from now? Who cared what they'd do when Aiden had to leave again? Tyler was firmly rooted at home, and Aiden was endlessly roaming without a constant one. But that was tomorrow's problem.
Tonight Aiden was his. And he wasn't letting go.
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signedeclipse · 2 years
Note
yayyy finally your request is open! may I request a prompt like, you wanna confess to them on valentine's day but accidentally already confessed to them, or you can watch this vid (https://www.tiktok.com/@punkgal_/video/7204905468186152197) with gyutaro and muzan, but you can add extra character if you want, and can it be in kimetsu academy au please? you can make muzan become our senior or same age friend! I really like your signed with love work, you write it so well and accurate with their character😭 thank you in advance!!!
Gyutaro
Gyutaro is not one to celebrate holidays which is why you pulled together a plan to ask him instead
The only trouble was how unpredictable he could be, and after almost three attempts gone wrong you were starting to realize having a large scale setup for it was pointless
The first time you had wrapped yourself like a present in his room, but, he stayed out late and by the time he got to you he thought you were being held hostage by someone
The second time you made a sign with lights and flower petals but he ended up grounded for a week for bullying first years
And the most recent attempt was something akin to today, except no candles this time because he accidentally caught his hair on fire when playing with the candles
So now you were searching through every hallway to find him and get him to meet up with you properly so you could ask
When you did, he was outside the school at his parking spot, polishing his motorcycle even after everyone had already gone home
"Gyu-kun! I have been looking everywhere for you!"
He only grunts in response and shrugs his shoulders
"When you are done come to my place so i can finally ask you to be my valentine! You are so hard headed sometimes...!" You were already stomping away down the sidewalk
Leaving the poor red-faced boy behind
Once he gets his motorcycle on he'll be chasing down the street to catch up to you and accept your confession
Muzan
The senior student was always punctual, working off of a strict schedule
So it was easy to predict the best time to stop him
As his self-proclaimed best friend, you knew him better than anyone else which was still very little
Between every class, he would pull out a book and read exactly twenty pages
But depending on the length and size of the font, the time it took varied
Luckily for you, you noticed this book was not typical novel size and had a larger font, which would give you a minute to cut in before the teacher showed up!
Of course you can't judge his punctuality when you could pay attention to such small details with ease
"Muzan-kun, are you available at 5 o'clock tonight to meet outside the school library?"
The second his book had been put down on the desk you asked sharply, having taken the seat next to him
"5:15 and I will be."
The boy only stared forwards at the chalkboard, but you knew he cared what he had to say by the fact he was holding onto the side of the next with a grip so hard his knuckles were going white
"I will be asking you to be my valentine, see you then!"
Right then the teacher walked in and you moved to sit across the class from him
He would lower his head so some of his hair falls in front of his eyes and use a hand to cover his mouth
Not because he's bored of the teacher talking, but because he wants to hide his shifty eyes and red cheeks
Of course you would confess like that, you were so stupid- and now he had to arrange to get some of your favourite flowers by next week
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Authors Note - Thank you so much for those kind words! I am really happy my SIgned with Love series was enjoyed <3 Funnily enough I saw a tiktok once of that audio with Shinobu! I hope I captured what you were hoping for!
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mysteriouslybluepirate · 11 months
Note
Thank you for offering your askbox. I've been thinking that Izzy being just a side character whose story wasn't main plot thread makes even better proof that not everything was well planned? If I was a writer and this would be easily the most discussed topic about the finale, I'd reflect on storytelling decisions I made. There's a good reason why Izzy's fate overshadows everything despite that he wasn't the point of the show.
(Post posted 10/31/23) Feel free to comment below if you agree or disagree, we're all here for discussions.
Thank you so much for this amazing question!! [If you're seeing this and want to discuss some aspect of S2, or my thoughts on OFMD overall, SEND ME AN ASK! I love doing this]
TLDR: Vague characterization from historical records means Jenkins is free to bend history without a lot of guilt. During early days of casting and during scene changes Jenkins got inspired by Con's audition tape. Con was told to play this shit as a Jesus/Judas relationship. An amazing performance in S1 keeps the character relevant in fandom spaces in the hiatus, and in Jenkin's mind for S2. The S1 season finale accidentally reveals a really interesting dynamic in Ed/Izzy's relationship. [Speculation from this point on] Jenkins feels like he needs to explore, with little plans to fully explore it. Fleshing out both Ed/Izzy abuse and love.
Jenkins realizes 'Oh shit, Izzy wasn't supposed to be this' midway through S2. But he still follows his original plan in killing him off, because he's not needed for the story in his outline, leading to him accidentally killing off a character as they're growing and healing. Leading to what some consider a move SO off-brand for the show, they are leaving the fandom.
[*Tin Foil Hat On*] I expect the original cut of S2 to include more scenes of the crew. I bet for every other Izzy scene, we got a crew scene. So when 'extra' not plot-relevant scenes had to get cut, they kept the Izzy scenes due to Izzy's stable arc, the fact that he'd die at the end either way and Con's amazing performance.
EXPLINATION AND DEPTH BELOW! It's a long one. A lot of this post will be speculation, interviews from Jenkins, and highly dependent on if you were in fandom between seasons 1 and 2. If you need me to hunt for sources, I can do that for you.
I'll separate everything into a chronological timeline as much as possible.
Before we touch on why Jenkins wrote Izzy to stick out in the story, we need to assume how he outlined this entire show.
Pre Con O'Neill:
I am of the personal belief that Jenkins likely wrote out an imagined arc for Ed and Stede. Including a lot of cool set pieces, fights, etc. for the three seasons he wanted vaguely based on the real lives of Stede Bonnet and Edward Teach(watch a YouTube vid documenting their history, it's a wild ride) turning it into something explicitly romantic. This is easy enough to do, as most of what we know about them was written YEARS after their deaths.
Next was filling in the cast. This is where we get our crew, mostly characters Jenkins made up, as very little is known of the men either sailed with.
Izzy Hands being a pirate under the age of 18 whose notable actions with Blackbeard include- Captaining his own vessel, running a ship aground, being Blackbeard's first mate, and getting shot by Blackbeard maybe on accident.
[THEORY] So. If you're any writer you see that and think 'cool a side character we know almost nothing about'. You slot him in as being Edward's one thing keeping him to the pirate lifestyle. Not necessarily romantic, but a serious Boss/underling relationship. This is a bit of how Izzy was written in S1 UNTIL-
Con O'Neill is cast as Izzy.
In interview, Jenkins has admitted that Con's audition tapes influenced how he wrote Izzy. As a writer, this shouldn't necessarily be ringing red flags. But he has gone on record as admitting to changing the script before shooting to suit Con. IN SEASON 1. My guess is Izzy at the end of episode 10 was meant to be more of a side character. Another Frenchie, or Wee John, who serves their purpose and then gets pushed to the side by the plot.
But at some point, Jenkins wrote how important the dynamic was between Ed and Izzy. Describing Izzy/Ed to Con before filming S1 of a 'Jesus and Judas' relationship like in Jesus Christ Superstar.
If you tell a (then closeted) queer actor who has been playing queer roles since the 1990s that his leather daddy character was having a Jesus&Judas JSC dynamic in a TV show that respects and celebrates queerness? 🤩 MY GOD.
[Speculation] That's how we get an Izzy Hands who is watching the man in front of him slip away, trying to dig his heels in. Hell, if I were Jenkins, I'd be adding a few more lines for Izzy to be pissed just to see Con have fun in the role. Let him be mad. Let him be in the background of scenes just glaring. Let us see a man slowly lose something he's built up his whole life.
[As mentioned from Comic Con- From Con O'Neill] This was important for me to bring up as Jenkins could have said 'henchman' but he didn't. Hell, when Taika and Con did hair and makeup they'd listen to the JCS cast album. It was a choice on both their parts.
[ovservation from here on out] Con plays it up, and a lot of queer fans saw this and grabbed hold of a man so desperate to keep the man he loved close that he sacrifices almost everything for it (Izzy also signs the Act of Grace to get Ed out of there).
Izzy, in a show full of openly queer people, is still on the fringe of society. SO MANY queers saw this and said 'OMG me'. ME INCLUDED. With a super supportive actor who genuinely is respectful of the fandom? Of art, and fic and meta? The Izzy 'Canyon' became so loyal because Con is a Queer Elder we didn't know we all needed in our lives!
Jenkins accidentally wrote into what could be an amazing story of a queer character living in a homophobic society where he learns to open himself up. All without ever writing a 'coming out' scene for Izzy. Jenkins knows this. Hell, since S1 Izzy fans have been telling him how cool that type of arc would be.
Now here comes the issue of where to take a side character, when you have loose plans for them.
S1 IS TIGHTLY WRITTEN ONTO ITSELF... S2?
Something we might forget now is HOW tightly written Izzy's falling out with Ed is tied into Stede and Ed falling in love. Beat per beat, Izzy is shoved away as Stede takes his place. That's really fucking smart. So smart, it was planned in the writer's room. The fact that some took it as romantic, that Ed could ever really love him back? Well...this is where Jenkins had a decision to make.
So he dips his toe. Let's make Ed even more violent than at the end of S1ep10. Let's include the bit where Blackbeard shoots Izzy Hands. Let's have Izzy confess his love for Ed and have it not be enough for Ed to change his mind. Let's show Izzy rising like a phoenix reborn after a failed suicide attempt where Izzy chooses to mutiny on Ed to protect the crew. Let's see Izzy growing. Because Jenkins loves Con's performance. Everyone in the cast enjoys him as a person. Let's give Izzy one last hurrah.
Jenkins knows this character meant a lot to Con. It's obvious in the way Jenkins recently confessed he told Con about Izzy's death midway through shooting. Sadly we likely will never be told when Con was told. But imagining Con filming the AMAZING character change of S2eps 1-2, then AFTER being told Izzy would die anyway? Oh. I wouldn't be alright. Not after all his fans had spent the last year telling him how much seeing a character like Izzy 'being accepted because they are worthy of love'.
This is the 1 thing that fucks me up. Not telling Con until midway through shooting, Versus his belief that writing Izzy's death was a fitting way to end his story. BOTH CAN'T BE TRUE. Right? If Jenkins felt the need to take con aside and go grab a meal to announce Izzy was dying but then market the ending as a 'Good Idea'. Then...What? If Con felt it fit the character, then he would have likely guessed Izzy would die. But that wasn't the vibe in the fandom at the time. It feels like a decision Jenkins made this season.
Because yes, some general audiences predicted that Izzy would die. But when your core fanbase for a character don't expect it, you didn't plan the death correctly. Fuck, I thought Izzy was trying to RECOVER this whole season. Not that Izzy was hiding how hard he was struggling. That's not a good sign when I've ALWAYS called Izzy as some brand of suicidal/depressed.
[Quote from Jenkins Entertainment Article: Oct 26 2023] 'What's the best journey we can give him(Izzy)? And what's the most interesting thing we can do with Con, who can do just about anything?'
That is not the quote of an author who has planned everything out. That's a writer who knows points A and E and is fighting to find everything in between.
The Fly in My Ointment
There's a point most writers know when a character or story slips out from under you. You didn't mean for this to happen. Hell, I write Scene by Scene outlines. My stories change. When Izzy Hands' growth arc became the most interesting part of S2, Jenkins had a choice.
How far was he willing to bend his idea to keep a character that wasn't 'essential'? Not that fucking far apparently. Because for some reason, Jenkin's labeled Izzy in his mind as 'Blackbeard' and tied Ed and Izzy's fates together. Ignoring how this season Izzy died to separate his old life with Ed from his new life with this crew.
Your question poses it perfectly- If I was a writer and this would be easily the most discussed topic about the finale, I'd reflect on storytelling decisions I made. There's a good reason why Izzy's fate overshadows everything despite that he wasn't the point of the show.
That's a trick they teach you in some writing podcasts. That in the end, you are telling one story. You can have twenty side characters and a romance arc, but in the end, you are telling one story. Each side character is going to show what happens when you fail or succeed at the central thesis.
What do we have in S1? What does Frenchie sing to set up where our story STARTS-
"A pirate’s life, [it’s] short but nice,” -“we won’t live long,”  AND “to death we go, a certain death we go.”
Our characters expect a short simple life of what most pirates EXPECT. In my mind, this story has ALWAYS been about survival. From the extravagance of Stede's ship, and a crew ready to throw him overboard, to the barebones Shark eats Shark type of survival described in Ed's own fleet. OFMD is about living in a world that doesn't want you there. About surviving and thriving. About these two men from different worlds coming together and forging a life of kindness for them and for their family.
Saying fuck you, I'm here, I'm still alive, and I'm going to THRIVE. I deserve kindness, happiness, love, and a fully lived life. I deserve to spend my short time on this Earth happy.
IN S2? The ONLY character that matches this thesis is Izzy. After scenes of Izzy struggling. Of finding himself. Of crawling up from his own personal hell, Izzy dies. He dies from a random bullet wound in the same spots that didn't kill Stede or Ed in the previous season. Breaking the one established rule for wounds in this universe that the left side is the safe side so that Izzy can die.
Even if Izzy spent this entire season wanting to die, he tried to live. For a few days after a breakup of over 20+ years of casual intimacy. Of a bond where Izzy was the murderer, the brawn. The dangerous right hand. Where Izzy dying meant not just his death, but likely that of Ed. Given the man's constant depressive moods, crews that didn't like him, and reoccurring suicidal tendencies. Ed didn't need Izzy Hands anymore. Ed had Stede now. He was ready to finally leave Izzy for good. What will Izzy Hands do now?
He gave up. He tried to move on. He listened after being told he was too rough, too loud, too mean. He tried. He tried to survive this new way of life surrounded by people who supported him. But he was tired. After so many years of putting up a mask, tearing it down was too much work. So he wanted to die. In the end. Izzy died in the arms of Edward surrounded by his family.
Buried on a plot of land Jenkins has already told us Stede and Ed will leave when things get boring. Left behind like the corpse of a pet the family has forgotten. Buried without his ring and cravat, items Izzy is only seen without when he's naked. Without the prosthetic gifted to him by a family that cared about him.
Izzy wasn't mourned for more than five seconds, before Stede and Ed were making jokes on his fresh grave, and then the episode moves on to a wedding.
RIP Izzy Hands- a man who loved more than he was ever loved in return.
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Was this the right message? FUCK No. But for those of us who believed that theme of queer survival and community- We saw framing Izzy's death like this as a fucking betrayl.
Izzy Hands isn't buried with his most prized possessions- they're left out to be stolen or rot in the front yard. With only one man crying over his death and a silent funeral. He leaves this world without more than a 'he was intense'. Which...isn't great coming from the man Izzy loved for most of his life.
The reason why we're mad about Izzy isn't that it's Izzy. It's that when we boarded this flight we were given a set of rules to follow. It's a comedy about men falling in love on a boat that sometimes gets serious. That's it. To watch a character start to grow only to die for NO PLOT SPECIFIC REASON. Is insulting. If your death has no tie to the narrative (sacrifice or it comes with a revelation) it's a death just set up for shock. Izzy and Ed could have had that deathbed confession talk at the start of episode 7.
A REASON WHY I'M MAD BEYOND THAT SPECIFICALLY. [Very Personal Gripe]
A SALUTE TO CON O'NEILL -AGAIN!
I had the privilege of hyper-fixating on this show from the entirety of S1 ending to S2 beginning. During this time I explored the catalog of Con O'Neill's work on Tumblr under the tag 'Conography'. I watched this man play queer roles since the 1990s. Genderqueer/somewhere on the Trans spectrum, Gay, Bi. This man loves to play a queer story, even if it's sad. If it's tragic. He will breathe new life into their lungs and express their moments of Joy. Of love. Of community.
After the filming of S2 at a con, Con he felt comfortable publicly coming out due to the love and support he felt from our fandom. Do you know JUST how crazy that is? That Con KNEW Izzy was dead, yet he loved our fandom so much he let himself be vulnerable, and come out as queer? It's fucking INSANE to me, and shows just how much this show means to him.
He's not just Queer. He's a Queer fucking elder whose been protective of this entire community since S1. This 57-year-old man has proudly stood up in the name of Trans rights this entire time. Treating everyone, but especially Trans Izzy fans with so much fucking respect. Trans Izzy is a common headcanon partially because of how comfortable people feel knowing they won't get harassed because they interpret Izzy a certain way. That trans people feel at home seeing themselves as a misunderstood character with a chip on their shoulder.
I'm pissed for every in universe thing listed above AND NOW THIS. Because our Queer Elders are dead. There is a generation of Queer people we can never get back. They died from a mix of society pressuring these people into the closet or an early grave. Of disease running wild in communities unchecked. Of media ruining the careers of anyone who dared to come out. To see Con O'Neill So Fucking Happy and having it cut short because Jenkins thought Izzy was better dead than being an actual background character makes me see fucking red.
No. Jenkins probably didn't know Con was Queer when writing S2. But I'm assuming he still saw how happy Con was at Izzy fans before S2 was written which still makes it feel shitty.
Sure. Give Izzy all the amazing speeches about family and belonging and rip that right from his hands as soon as Izzy realizes it's something he might want for himself. Let's have Con O'Neill say all the prominent lines that are a blatant metaphor for why the Queer community needs to stick together.
Izzy's arc isn't just overshadowing the conversation because it was mismanaged and feels unplanned, it also just feels cruel to the central arc of this series. Add that to an actor who was so vocal about loving this community, it feels pointed to give him a tragic ending.
Jenkins doesn't need to consider why people hated this finale. Because there are SO MANY Ed/Stede fans who just don't care. They put Izzy in the box with every other side character and decided to put their effort into the protagonists and point and laugh when we suffer. Jenkins won't rethink anything because he can just say the 'Izzy community was passionate and are sad their favorite died'. Ignoring how this season made Stede into a shittier, less sympathetic captain and gave Ed an interesting arc only to give up before the finish line.
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Liveblogging real life part 2: Joel (it's been 12 13 days) (already watched)
Okay so maybe we'll do the liveblog-every-five-minutes-unless-something-crazy thing also idk if I should link this up to my intro post (idk how) or reblogged my og one with this oh well we'll figure it out why am I eating AGAIN doing this
I got inspired after rewatching secret life my beloved for the umpteenth time :P
Okay ep. 1/finale is hilarious and new "series" 😭
Joel why did you point out the cursor I can't take my eyes away
First batch
Joel jumping then immediately keeling over in nausea:
Idk how to respond to that but it struck a chord within me, how true
BigB wholesome waving but it also looks like his arm is BENT I can't get over VR arms man 😭
Punching BigB because he's so tall is so real tbh + love the smash cut to Gem being salty
Headpatting + baby-ish voice "little gem/Ren/skizz" what a gentleman makes me think of the try not to cry challenge or Jimmy's crazy christmas series where he says Joel is a crybaby and Gem says he's a romance guy in a mental gymnastics train of thought
Grian throwing his head back from the outside?! Cryptid behaviour
The real life vids don't make me motion sick but Joel making retching and vomiting sounds does NOT help it makes me sick by proxy or something I hate being disoriented and nauseous too buddy
There's probably a video out there of someone comparing regular mc to vr because vr just hits different like proportions wise
Joel noises
Love this Joel-Gem duo already idk how to describe it just fun
Also Joel having to process out loud he won't throw up on Gem I remember playing Richie's plank experience or whatever years and years ago shit was REAL
Joel's inventory becoming disorganized with things that can be stacked together :(
Hey what gem said kinda reminds me of what grian said :D at the end of his episode awful :DD
Poor Joel he's battling his height complex alongside his motion sickness (rip bozo poor little meow meow)
I think almost everybody had the problem of facing the wall dude, it's okay it's very silly
Water foreshadowing (he will swim with his future gang and become incredibly sick)
Geminislay that pig
Wait till Joel learns about lying down‼️‼️
JOEL STOP MAKING NAUSEOUS SOUNDS I'M GONNA FROW UP 👹
"...Falling in powdered snow" kinda reminds me of this short story I read in grade 9 English class "The Bamboo Trap" protag fell in The Bamboo Trap™ and got bitten by big ass spiders or something the idiot, also I think got published in the same anthology as the most dangerous game 👊
Joel admits to weakness
Weird ass snow, someone built this or something?
Joel with his arms out looks so silly, so does gem
Oh gem how graceful with the figure skating history 👊👊👊✌️👉✌️✌️🤜🤛🤛🤜🙏
Lol they learn about the wrist chat
Second batch
Jimmy, oh iconic Timmy
Shield (why did I write this again?)
Bi shoes, love seeing gem's skin wearing the bi shoes I forget about it every once in a while and when I see it again it's a pleasant surprise
Vr players learn to pvp
When you use the shield to block in first person it looks kinda stupid dude
Campsite vibes tbh, I really like it.
Bee spotted 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝 what is it doing
Shaky controller cursor over top chest plate I feel you
Falling irl indeed (recursive mention about plank)
LOUD holy moly Joel is loud (not negative)
Healf being something people can't look at at all times is actually a kinda funny mechanic
Smajor friendship aww when will they team up (did I forget about a series)
The poor beg for bread, we live in a society ✊😔
Grian killing??? Since when??? (Sarcastic)
Batch three
Peace and love is why they haven't died yet 😘
Arms again! Weird looking things
Hand gesture reminds me of that one diamond scar short with etho's greedy "I want the diamond" voice
Flint and steel? Weird looking thing
Omg red club looks like bugs, the way the trio gossips about them ♥️
Right no out messages...
Can't believe the most motion sick man gets in the water not once but TWICE this ep
Does he know
Where did the horse thing come from
Can't remember if I mentioned this but when the sword swings without critting in VR it looks so silly it pokes
A bugs life: the sequel
Club: deadly euphemism
Sword 😐
Something about jimmy doesn't get burnt...
Why is Jimmy jiggles the only one with a wooden sword???
Strong words from a man on the verge of mania 👀
Lol knowing impulse breaks the ground under Joel big brain man going for the kill
Something about the disappointed way Joel says "scar!" And scar stabbing him in the first caused this
Tim is so British he says "get in" so much
Joel, again exasperated, cries out "where's all my stuff?!"
Funny Minecraft men, my favourite funny Minecraft men
My god seeing from Joel's perspective his second death is from zombie
I think Joel was about to saying bluming + the cover behind house + the constant begging for his stuff back + violence as an answer (he hits men)
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Oh scar up to no good again
JOEL GETS IN THE WATER AGAIN!!! MOTION SICKNESS WIN!
Joel and scar just did mitosis stop being scared of biology 🙄
What was Mr solidaritygaming doing in that hill and said yes to did he finally get iron?
Aw the silly arm motion I love greeting people with spirit fingers reminds me of that
GOON SQUAD?! (neuron activated)
Famous moment
Oh more famous moment here comes the smallidarity kiss
Love Tim's body language once again the sharp smooth head turn to grian he's like a cartoon character
(what grian mean they are suited and booted he cut this part out I don't remember the other povs 😢)
Leave it to solidaritygaming himself to be the most homoerotic straight man there is of course + Joel is still patting him on the head? + Timsel being cringefail needing to jump multiple times on ONE BLOCK + Joel did NOT need to lean that much he looks like he's powered by springs + Jim's arms always being so tight together. Makes him. Look like. An old granny??? + Joel IMMEDIATELY checking his wrist afterwards like it's a Tuesday and he's on break + homophobic GRIAN + impulse's dad delivery one liner
The more I watch smallidarity kiss the more bizarre and asinine it becomes to me 😀
When did Joel learn to button jump (he WAS mental for jumping irl irl)
Okay Joel cut out that canary comment why don't you 🙄🙄🙄
WHACK 💀 SHAKE YOUR HANDS REAL FAST 💀💀 JOEL SCREAM #3997 💀💀💀
Fond of Joel's cadence of saying "hello guys!" And "I'm coming in boys!" And "HAHA!" oddly musical
Okay aaaaaaand he dies worst ranking ever good for him the end
Idk if I should liveblog scar next or watch Ren because I've already watched up to skizz + me 'ead 'urts oh well
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misty-moth · 5 months
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hi, just ignore this if it’s too personal—
Why did you switch from comp sci to sociology? And do you enjoy your studies?
I don’t mind at all! It’s a somewhat long story (because I ramble 😅) so I put a tldr at the bottom 😭
Basically I signed on for a school that specializes in computer science. The gist was it was a sped up process where in 3 years you earn a bachelor’s degree and a guaranteed job. Which is a pretty rad deal. In theory.
I am nooot a fast learner. I think I’m pretty smart, but when it comes to memorizing it takes a hot minute to settle. I knew that going in, so I got tutoring every single day during lunch and after classes. I got to the second semester easily enough, but then I had a coding class with a particular teacher who lives in my mind’s hall of shame 😐
I was excelling at all of my gen ed classes, but if you fail any coding class at any time, you have to wait a year before you can take that class again, and you can’t move onto the next cs course because it’s a progression. So obviously I was trying my damndest to study so that wouldn’t happen. I asked a ton of questions during class, too, no shame if it meant passing.
And riiight at the end of the semester it all finally clicked. We had a project where I realized all of the math was mathing, I knew what programs to call, etc etc. But my teacher still just knew me as asking “too many” questions.
In the fine print of the college acceptance agreement, turns out a college professor there can change your letter grade if they feel like it. So I earned a 70.1% in the class (which is baaarely passing) but he switched it to an F. 🙂
So then I transferred because I wasn’t going to only take gen ed classes for a year on the off chance they pass me the next time (it was also crazy expensive ofc) so I transferred without any clue what I now wanted for a degree…
Funnily enough, what made me choose was a gender studies class I signed up for on a whim. It opened my tiny lil world from everything I learned from my childhood, and I realized I liked people 😅 I branched into sociology because it’s like psychology-in-motion, and figuring out why people do things made the world make more sense.
I don’t work in the field anymore, but I worked in the behavioral science field for a while. I taught a class of three year olds who’d experienced trauma how to cope/socialize, and later at an elementary school I was a med tech/receptionist/multi-office manager of a few behavioral units (they gave me a lot of hats but no raise 🥲) but the The ‘Vid happened and I burned out.
I loved working with kids, truly, but I didn’t make anywhere near enough to live so I had to give it up. The 3 yo job was $11 an hour and the elementary school was $15… for context. Degrees required for both *feels good inc laugh*
Tldr: I think sociology is really interesting, but I also found computer science interesting. I was just better at one of them 😅 I also would have been making a lot of money rn had I succeeded (my friends who graduated there are making six figures kill meee)
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babyspacebatclone · 7 months
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I’ve been working on being more constructive with some meditation work after several months of extremely exhausting work due to limited staffing*.
I’m 40+ and self-diagnosed AuDHD, and I somewhat struggle with meditation products.
Because I started ad hocing stuff as a teenager out of pure survival, and a lot of “professional” stuff three decades later bore me because they don’t offer much I don’t already do.
Anyway…..
I created Body Scanning around 13 years old out of that survival necessity.
And now I wonder…
Is the fact I can influence my physical sensations at the drop of a beat, section by section, more due to experience or my Neurodivergence?
Because it feels like the latter, in a way that only makes sense if you have intuitive ND experiences but whatever…
Curious to get some data points about this.
Details below poll.
I’m really curious here largely because, while I suffer from the alexithymia and issues with interoception common in Autism, as I describe below manually changing how parts of my body feels through mindfulness is intuitive and almost instantaneous for me. And it doesn’t feel like a paradox - partially because these things not being automatic anyway, having manual override is easy?? 🤷‍♀️
A Body Scan is a basic meditation/mindfulness technique where you focus on specific parts of your body, assessing the sensations there. Typically it is performed as part of a relaxation script, where part of the intention is to release tension in the muscles as you scan: Starting with your face, you’re encouraged to relax your brows, unclench your jaw, etc.
When I perform a body scan, there is a distinct heavy warmth as I travel down each limp, distinct from the sensations of the parts of my body I haven’t targeted yet.
Here’s a link describing Body Scans from Cleveland Clinic, and an example meditation video.
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I personally don’t like this vid, but all the body scans from channels I like are longer than 5 minutes and this was the best short one I found.
* I work at a daycare center, and the issue isn’t exactly hiring new people. It’s the fact 2 out of every 3 new hires don’t last two weeks, and half of the rest drive us nuts before leaving after only a few months.
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matan4il · 9 months
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Daily update post:
Yesterday, a suicide drone crashed in the Golan Heights. The IDF estimates that it was launched from Syria (though earlier, there was an Iranian funded militia in Iraq that claimed responsibility for firing at a target in the Golan Heights). the alarm didn't go off, and it wasn't intercepted, which is a reminder that no warning and defence system, not even the best one, is impenetrable. There was then a wave of sirens going off through Israel's north, likely because of debris from the interception, falling on different commeunities.
Today, another attack drone was intercepted over Israel's north. Over the area where my paternal grandparents lived, when they were still with us. Thankfully, there are no known injuries, but on top of that, there were no less than five more warnings of a drone crossing into Israel. If there will be no diplomatic solution for the situation in the north, meaning if the world doesn't intervene and FINALLY implement UN resolution 1701, which says that Hezbollah will not operate next to the Israeli border, or anywhere south of the Litani river, then things will get worse. One Israeli Aramean expert I was listening to, was talking about how much ammunition, and how many weapons, Hezbollah has aimed at Israel. Let's put it this way, they make Hamas look like kids.
Three more soldiers were killed in Gaza yesterday. We get news like this every single day now. Usually we get the names once or twice a day (morning and evening), depending on how many have died. You see people tense up around the time when the news is about to drop. I wanted to share with you that Israeli civilians have starting doing something so often, that it's almost like a new custom. When people learn about where a funeral will be held, they stand by the sides of the road with Israeli flags, to escrot the fallen soldier on his or her last journey, even when they didn't know the soldier at all.
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I wrote a whole post about why Oct 7, despite all of the differences, and the fact that there is no comparison, bears similarities for Jewish people to the Holocaust. I was reminded of that post again today. I saw a vid with Holocaust survivor and famous Israeli actress, Lea Koenig. Knowing of her history, when I heard the start of her testimony, I was sure I was listening to her recounting her experiences during the Hoolocaust. It turns out that no, she's reading a testimony from Oct 7. The fact that some of these testimonies are indistinguishable should explain why the massacre, shocking as it is all on its own, is also deeply triggering for Jews. Here's the vid:
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Australia says it will look into whether an Australian citizen who was killed in an Israeli counter strike in Lebanon yesterday, was a Hezbollah terrorist, as the organization claims. If he was, then fighting for a terrorist organization (as Hezbollah is defined in Australia) is a criminal offense under Australian law.
The IDF has destroyed a whole network of terror tunnels underneath the Rantisi hospital in Gaza. It says the length of the tunnels is several kilometers. Reminder: it's a war crime to build a terror tunnel underneath a hospital. It is NOT a war crime, to act against the terror tunnel used to attack a country's innocent civilians, even if it is built underneath a hospital.
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This is 19 years old Agam Berger.
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On Oct 7, she was kidnapped to Gaza. Her family identified her in a vid posted by Hamas, as she was being led away, handcuffed, and with blood stains on her pyjama pants (left side of the pic). Her father said that as released hostages talked about sexual abuse, Agam's family are terrified for her. He also wanted people to know that she was a gifted violinist, and used to volunteer with people who have special needs. So, in accordance with his wishes, here is Agam playing Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah on violin:
(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)
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rinchfest · 1 year
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Coming this September to an internet near you: Rinch Fest 2023, a ship week for Harold Finch/John Reese from Person of Interest! This is a low-pressure event meant to encourage the creation of more fanworks for Finch/Reese or Finch & Reese’s friendship. Fic, art, gifs, vids, podfic, you name it—all are welcome, as long as they’re Rinch-centric.
Posting for Rinch Fest will run from September 24 through September 30, 2023
PROMPTS:
Day One – September 24 Huddling for Warmth • Belly • Nesting The Oh of Realization • Hurt/Comfort
Day Two – September 25 Family • Flowers • Food/Drinks/Cooking Time Travel/Loop • "Always"
Day Three – September 26 Pets/Animals • Road Trip • Beach Cabin in the Woods • Music
Day Four – September 27 Dancing • Bookshop • Declaration of Love Surprises • Retirement
Day Five – September 28 The Machine • Only One Bed • Bird Watching Mutual Pining • "Five+1"
Day Six – September 29 Power Outage • Outsider POV • Boundaries Wedding/Marriage • Gender
Day Seven – September 30 Free-For-All/Catch-Up Day
Keep reading for more info!
Who’s running this? ArgylePirateWD. Hi!
Any changes since last year? More prompts for each day and Finch and Reese friendship works are now allowed.
Why not call it Rinch Week? It started out as Rinch Fest on The Rinch Loft on Discord, and that’s what stuck.
Plus, Rinch Fest and Reese & Finch share the same initials.
What’s allowed? Complete fanworks focusing on Harold Finch and John Reese in a romantic or close platonic relationship with each other. Fic, art, vids, remixes, sequels, you name it! No length requirements, no style requirements, all ratings allowed—do what you want!
Anything not allowed? Works where Finch/Reese or Finch & Reese is not the primary relationship (additional ships are fine), works that are incomplete at the time of posting, and remixes or other transformative works for other people’s fanworks that are done without the original creator’s permission. Anything else is fair game, as long as it’s labeled.
Also, don’t be a jerk.
What about [insert controversial topic here]? Can I make something with x?/OMG someone made something with x! Anything else is fair game, as long as it’s labeled. This includes works featuring tropes and kinks that you may not like or approve of. As long as it’s warned for, it’s fine and allowed.
Please warn for the usual AO3 warnings (Major Character Death, Graphic Violence, Rape/Non-Con, and Underage) and any subjects others may find deeply unpleasant, and clearly label any NSFW works.
What about poly? Gen? Poly is wonderful, but this is a Finch/Reese or Finch&Reese event. Sorry.
Finch & Reese gen is allowed!
What do I do with x prompt?/Can I do [insert concept here]? Anything goes! Seriously, however you want to interpret a prompt is fine.
Do I have to make something for every prompt? No! You can if you want, but it’s not required. Feel free to skip days, combine prompts, create multiple fills for each day, anything! This is as flexible as it gets.
If it fits multiple prompts, when do I post it? Whatever day works best for you!
What if I want to do something NSFW? There's no nsfw prompt this year. Is it still allowed? YES! Bring on the spicy if you want!
What about a multi-chapter/piece thing where each chapter fulfills one day’s prompt? When do I post that? Post an update each relevant day until you’re done! (Just make sure you can finish it by the end of the event.)
What if it doesn’t fit a prompt? That’s what Day 7 is for! :D
What if I need to post my fill(s) on a different day? Life happens. The AO3 collection is set to Unrevealed, so I can reveal early submissions on the right day, but if that doesn’t work for you, I’m sure we can work something out.
Can I work on a previously-posted WIP? As long as it’s finished when you make your post for the event, sure! If you’re just updating a WIP without finishing it, no.
Can I start working now? Absolutely! That’s why I’m announcing it now—so there’s plenty of time for people to make things.
Can I talk about/share previews of what I’m working on? Sure!
Wait, there’s a Rinch Discord server? Do I have to join to do this? Of course not. We’d love to have you at The Rinch Loft, and it’s a fun place to hang out, but Rinch Fest is for anyone into Rinch.
If I want the Discord link… Send in an Ask to the @rinchfest Tumblr, contact ArgylePirateWD somewhere, or ask around. It’s open to anyone who likes Rinch or Person of Interest. I’m happy to give it out to anyone who wants it.
Where do I post? On Tumblr, post to your blog and use the #rinchfest23 or #rinchweek23 tags. You are They are being watched. 👁 And maybe add @rinchfest in your post to be sure. Tumblr is as hungry as Bear and Shaw.
Submissions are also open.
On AO3, you can post it here: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/rinchfest23/
Do I have to have a Tumblr? AO3? As long as you’re on some kind of platform and can get a link to the work to me somehow so I can share it with the world, you’re welcome to play.
On October 1st, I’ll make a round-up post full of links to all the shiny things people made. If I know you made it, it’ll go in!
What time zone? The daily prompt posts will be going up at 12 am Central Time, but as long as it’s the relevant day for your fill somewhere in the world, go ahead and throw it in!
(And if you want to sneak in some Day 7 things a little after, as long as they get posted before the Master Post goes up… 😉)
Sounds fun! How do I sign up? No signups! Just post your stuff somewhere on the right day(s), and you’re in!
Finally, thank you to everyone who participated last year, and to everyone on The Rinch Loft that contributed prompts for Round 3!
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theyogs · 7 months
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May i humbly request that you ramble on abt anything to do w jar/ihe plzplzplz? Hot takes, silly assumptions/headcanons, favorite vids, fanfics or fanart you wish you could make (or see someone else make), anything at all!!! Make it as long and annoying as you please even if you think no one will care bc I WILL care <3
I NEED to hear other ppls thoughts abt these boys or i will go crazy
posdacted ily but you have put me on the spot and now i fear Every single piece of ihe/jar media knowledge has left my brain……….
my favourite jarcast of maybe all time is the snugglebrothers cast they did recently… like wow.. if there was no james upskirt censor it would be the most Perfect video of all time Let me see up there. i loooooveee when the boys are all comfy and cosy looking it’s so heartwarming and cute Plus this moment was so cute
i think my favourite stand alone alex video is trying to watch star wars christmas special idk why but when alex sings porn helmet wookie time it changed something in my little 14 year old brain and at 21 years old i still sing that to myself skjdowjdi
i want jartists to draw the boys in Cute pyjamas and i think they should have a Pyjama cast where they’re all in cute matching pyjamas and it’s dark outside and they have candles going…… WAIT I JUST REMEMEBRWD SOMETHNG There was a james blab on the og jar channel called is james racist - james blab and in 2022 i was GOING THRU IT emotionally like crying all the time and that video was genuinely the only thing that would cheer me up but it’s deleted or got taken down idk it’s not up anymore and i’m so sad about it because it was so funny… alex’s editing on that was Cwazy in another life he would be making ytp.. all old jar is so nostalgic and especially like old fan videos… ;-; i love jar so much they’ve changed my vocabulary permanently. i also really enjoy “the WORST video on youtube” idk what it is about that specific video but it just Gets me
i don’t really have any hot takes i don’t think i guess i think james is Really Awesome and cool for his opinions on pornography and i admire him a lot for that especially when all the comments were kind of disagreeing with him but i thought it was Epic And Cool especially coming from three different men :p i disagree with his opinion on the film cars tho, that is one of my favourite movies and i had a (serious) cars fan blog on here at one point.
i want more stand alone videos about Vidya game because even if i haven’t played/don’t have a desire to play any of these games i loveeee to hear their opinions on them like yayyyy ❤️ i think i just love to hear their opinions on anything because it’s like a Trip into their brains and i enjoy that :3
i’ve seen liek 2 or 3 tweets recently like hating on alex/the i hate everything culture of the 2010s and Waow i did not think i was still so autistic about alex&jar i got so offended because YOU FONT KNOW HIM LIKE I DOOOOOO you’ll never know the first and only podcast on youtube you don’t know Smosh hates us?! they will never understand just how meaningful i hate everything and jar media was to me as a teenager like they got me thru so much and continue to get me through hard times JAR MEDIA IS FORVER <///333333 ok i’m emotional now and i think i’ve ran out of things to say so
tl;dr make more fanart of boy in Pyjamas and allow us to have james upskirt as a Treat
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