#this one is low res because i had to chop it up but i'm feeling lazy so i just took screenshots sorry

[genshin-impact-updates]

"Dodo-Adventures, Kaboom!" — "Dodoco's Bomb-Tastic Adventure" Event Tips

Ahem— Dear Traveler, are you ready to experience the all-new "Dodoco's Bomb-Tastic Adventure"?

The Knights of Favonius have prepared a gameplay guide for participants. Let's take a look together~

[thessalian]

Thess vs A Return to Normalcy

Updates from the workplace, and the news is ... for once, not terrible.

See, turns out that Scruffman came in on Sunday, along with the other part-timer (who has been petitioning for more hours and I think she's going to get them at this rate), and really registered the massive dent I made in the backlog. Because seriously, that whole week we went from just under 300 to just under 150 and that was about 95% me. So we're finally back down to the low-mid double digits in terms of the size of the typing queue, and I have a feeling Scruffman had a general sense of, "Ooh. [Thess] did a lot. [Thess] should not have been doing that much, I know that."

Scruffman does not have the best communication skills, mind - especially not over email. He sent an email going, "Give me a bell ASAP" and actually included his number, which I have had stored on my phone for literally years, so I thought there was going to be something urgent and horrible. Because, you may recall, he was going to touch base with me today about potentially having to drag my poor fibro-riddled carcass over to fucking Hampstead owing to lack of bums in seats. I was concerned that this was going to be a call where Issues were brought up.

However, no, this was his way of saying, "I has a concern and want to make sure you're okay after the hours you put in last week". I didn't pull punches, either. He asked how I was doing, which is how he starts all telephone conversations, really, and I just told him, "I seriously overdid it last week". I could hear the gears turning as he was going, "Oh. Yeah. Oh, right" before moving on to the whole thing about the various unexpected absences.

So ... turns out that Violet, Goblin, and Temp are all out at the moment, though Goblin and Temp are apparently coming back on Friday. He's got Other Part-Timer coming in tomorrow, so it's really only Thursday where there might be a requirement for me to come in. But apparently that's only if Scruffman himself takes ill or something else goes entirely to hell. It was pretty clear that he was trying desperately hard not to make me go into the office, particularly after the couple of weeks I've already put in. He also recognised that I do more typing when I'm at home than I do at the office, and then surprised me further by going, "I don't necessarily mean overtime or anything!" like he very much doesn't want me to have to do any more of that either.

So the overall gist is, "Things are back to normal, we will try to manage things without forcing you on to public transport, thank you for all the help and we promise we're not going to make you do too much more of that!" I'm not sure what happens with my overtime - whether it's Time Off In Lieu or actual money, but I think I'll find that out when Head Honcho comes back from his own holidays ... or rather, when I come back from mine because he's away until next week and I'm off next week.

I very much need to be off next week. I haven't fully recovered yet. But at the very least my house is full of nice foods to have that don't require too much in the way of cookery. I did up a pork roast last night so I have leftovers from that. There's a roast chicken that's good in the fridge until Friday, which gives me time to do things with the leftover pork roast and with the duck legs and pork chops I got on sale with this month's grocery shop. But tonight, since I am exhausted (whoever was typing with me today also left me with the longer bullshit - thankfully there were no ten-minute atrocities but if I see one more placenta report this week I'm going to lose my damn mind), it will be leftover roast pork with mashed potato and an asparagus/tenderstem broccoli medley, with an appetiser of gluten-free mozzarella sticks (which, yes, still have the lactose issue but I have Lactaid so I can still have my breaded hot cheese) and possibly a salad. I did actually eat today! Okay, not lunch, but two pieces of gingerbread as breakfast went really well with my morning coffee.

[tozettastone]

re-reading Kabu atm and im like damn... that sounds like some good soup.... so here I am to ask if you have any soup recipe recommendations!

I feel like my toxic trait might be taking this at face value, even though I know Itachi poisons himself and eats dirt in Kabu LMAO.

Here are my soup suggestions, although I am not sure what quantities or temperatures I really use since I'm more of a home cook than a person who meticulously documents these things. There's lots of other soups to make as well. This is just what I cook at home.

roast pumpkin, garlic and onions until they're soft and then get the flesh from the skins of these veggies and process them with just enough water til they're smooth and then put it on a saucepan and add cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. then you can just heat it through on the stove so everything's the right temperature to eat.

roasting a bunch of tomatoes and garlic (keep the skin on) in the oven and then adding vegetable stock and a little cream and pureeing it on the stove top. you can add chillies to this and it works well also

chop up some brown onion, cloves of garlic, carrot(s) and celery, put them in a big pot and cook them on low with some butter and pancetta or bacon, ideally not the smoked kind. Cover it with stock and a tin of tomatoes. Add some other vegetables you like at a time relative to how long they need to cook (eg., potatoes must be earlier, but zucchini later, you know) add beans—tinned beans can go in late, dried need to go in early. I think most people serve this with conchiglie pasta, the one in shell shapes. but like. sky's the limit. use macaroni or risoni, what does it matter. if you have coeliac disease use rice.

basically any combination of onion, garlic, carrots and celery cut up very finely and cooked very low in oil or butter for a while will make a good base for. soup. bolognaise. you know. I do this often and then the next step is "add stuff I like" and "cook it until it's cooked".

onion, garlic and bacon also a great soup base. you can saute this in fats like rice bran oil or butter (or use the fat rendered from the bacon) and then just add stock, tinned pureed tomatoes and a heap of chilli and cook it down until it is thick and eat it with cheese. although. this isn't like. health food.

yesterday evening I had leek, carrot, potato, garlic and parsnip soup with lots of black pepper. you have to wash leeks after you cut them up instead of before, sometimes, to get all the dirt out of the layers. you can just saute them, add everything else, add water and a stock cube and puree this too (when everything is tender, obviously). This is a very mild soup, though. If you think potato and leek soup tastes like nothing you won't like this either.

more pureed soup: try 2 carrot, 1 leek and 1 medium potato with a lot of fresh ginger and chicken stock. The carrots are sweet so it has a nice ginger-sweet taste

I like to make sliced red onion, birds eye chillies (or similar medium-hot ones, I guess—habaneros work too), rice noodles, roughly chopped coriander leaves and 2 baby pak choy (like leeks, you have to make sure these are well cleaned because dirt gets between the leafy layers) with a broth that's 1:1 stock (any stock) and water + dash of fish sauce, little bit of vinegar, some sliced ginger. you can add rice noodles and a poached egg.

if you have a tin of coconut milk you can add some of that to the soup above with some lime zest instead of vinegar. the fish sauce kind of subs in for shrimp paste you'd usually use in that kind of coconutty soup. you need to taste it to make sure the coconut/savoury/chilli/acid is working in your favour though.

cook off some diced onion, garlic, carrot and celery in oil at very low heat with some stirring to make sure it won't catch on the bottom, then add a lamb shank, some bay leaves, 2 large potatoes cut into roughly even chunks, and a tin of tomatoes, cover all with water, salt to taste, cover pot and simmer on low until the meat falls off the bone (hours). potato chunks need to be large enough to retain some integrity by the time the meat is done, so if they're smaller or you like smaller chunks add them later. make sure you fish the bony bits and the bay leaves out before you eat it though. you can do this with cheaper, tougher cuts of other red meat that need long cooking. if they don't have the bones and joints in you can add stock

this takes ages, but if you have a slow cooker and a roast chicken or bony bits of a roast you've carved the meat off you can just add veggies for flavour, like, onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves, parsley, peppercorns or whatever other herbs you personally like, cover with water, salt, and leave it covered and plugged in while you're at work or something (obviously don't do this with your oven or a burner if you're going to be out. but that's what slow cookers are good for i guess) and then when you come back you can strain everything out with a colander and have litres your own very good broth for adding to everything so you can just slice up whatever vegetables you like and make whatever fast soup going forward. It freezes well for a few months. It's good value for getting the most out of the meats you eat, if you eat them. you can get something like this out, bring it to a boil, add thinly sliced vegetables and rice noodles and have dinner on the table in like 10 minutes.

I like going to the supermarket and seeing what pre-sliced vegetables they give you in packages. I struggle managing energy. There's a package of finely cut up veggies that my local supermarket stocks. It's 400g carrot, celery, leek, turnip, parsnip, broccoli, cauliflower and parsley. If you rinse it, dump it in a pot, cover it with water, add a stock cube and then bring it to a boil before lowering it to a simmer for, like, 10–15 minutes, you can use a stick blender and add pepper and it's easy and you didn't have to think about anything. adding cream or a chopped potato will make it more filling.

laziest option that still feels like cooking: miso paste, simmering water, rice noodles, fresh chopped chilli. I'm sure it's not how you're meant to use miso paste but they sell it to me at the grocery store anyway.

[wakandamama]

1: this isn’t a question but I really like your account :) <3

2: for your hair, I feel where you’re coming from pulling it out because of stress! I tend to scratch my scalp for no reason when I get really stressed... but I would say that maybe you can trim / cut it to even out the length of your hair and then in order to re-grow your edges and the rest of your hair, massage with castor oil frequently. As far as retaining moisture, you should test the porosity of your hair. Because I am not good at retaining moisture either.

Porosity test: Take a strand of your hair and place it in a glass of water and if it sinks then it has high porosity, which means it will soak up the products that you put in it much easier. If it floats that means it does not absorb products very well and you have low porosity hair and need to open your hair follicle before or as you apply moisture. (Which maybe you actually do have Low porosity hair, I do.)

Tip #1: if you do turn out to have low porosity hair, when you wash it, let the conditioner sit for at least 5-10 minutes and wash it with warm water (never hot because this damages your hair the same way flat ironing does) … If you feel like it, sit under a dryer with a plastic bag or shower cap over your hair to heat the conditioner, deep conditioner, co-wash, or whatever product into your hair follicle (10-20 mins). Make sure that your edges are under the cap as well so they do not burn off (I have done this lol) Do not blow dry your hair because that does not give it time to absorb the moisture because it evaporates the moisture. 

Tip #2: The order in which you apply your hair product really really matters… Do not put oil first!!!!! Oil is used as a sealer, not a moisturizer. Here’s an example of the order in which you should apply your product:  1: moisturizer / leave-in conditioner > 2: Oil (to seal moisturizer) > 3: styler (optional) (any curling cream, custard, or butter)

Tip #3: take advantage of dollar store products!!!! Hair products are definitely something that will break your bank… So I recommend going to a dollar general or a family dollar if there’s one near you and looking at their hair products which range from around 3 to 6 dollars. This is a lot better than going to an actual beauty supply store where they tend to price the items towards the high end. Try basic products like Cantu which if I can remember are around 2 to 5 dollars.

And remember, hair is good hair, all hair is beautiful and we should care for and embrace it. Natural hair is not something you can just sit down and do, it is something you have to put work into, and stay patient and gentle with yourself. I have learned that in the long run! I’m not a specialist, but I do know a thing or two and I’m glad I could help out. Blessings ✨

Thank you for the advice!!! I've already done the big chop twice. The first when I was 12 and a perm wrecked my neck and the second after my mama passed and my hair fell out due to stress (that kinda runs in my family for women so it was kinda expected)

My hair had been doing so good lately but for some reason it's just not retaining moisture like it was!

It was just staring to get out of that awkward length and while its staying thick, the fall out it falling out a bit more lately.

I'm just thinking of packing it up in some feedin cornrows for the winter before I snatch up my dad's clippers and buzzing off the whole head. 😞

[naomiknight-17]

Hello Fresh Meal 12

Steakhouse Burgers with Saucy Mushrooms! Yet another burger-based offering from our friends at Hello Fresh, with a side of potato wedges. Beginning to think whoever is selecting my meals has particular preferences. Unless the selection is all electronic... in which case, there's a computer out there that really loves burgers and potatoes.

The usual procedure began with washing all the produce, and getting the potatoes ready first cuz they take a while to roast.

More often than not, I am done prepping the potatoes before my oven has preheated, so I went ahead and did a couple other steps ahead of time, chopping the mushrooms and preparing the mustard-mayo burger sauce. Then, when the oven was hot, the potato wedges got tossed with some oil and steak spice and salt & pepper and put in to roast - y'all know the drill by now.

As is becoming our routine, hubby worked on the burgers while I prepped the produce.

Unfortunately, despite having a bit of practice at burger-forming, something went a bit awry this time. Whether it was the fat content of the beef (which had only steak spice added to it) or the initial shape of the burgs not being flat enough... they shrunk up into almost meatball-shaped things!

Small... small burger puck things

The burgers were put aside to make room for the mushroom gravy. The butter and shrooms went in the same pan without bothering to wipe it out, so our sauce will pick up some tasty burger flavor bits. Once the mushrooms were getting a bit soft, a little flour was sprinkled in, then finally a small amount of water and the provided broth concentrate were mixed in and left to simmer and thicken up a few minutes.

Apparently the 'remaining steak spice' was supposed to go in the mushroom mix but I didn't have any left at this point! It seems I was only provided enough for the wedges and burgers, and yes, I measured it. Someone made an oopsie.

Anyway, I just gave the shrooms a bit of extra salt and pepper and it turned out fine.

You can really see how much the burgers shrank when you see them beside the buns, oops.

Shrunken or not, the burgers got a topping of mozzarella cheese and went in the top of the oven with the buns for a quick toast.

The toasted burger buns got a smear of mustard-mayo, a good fistful of spring mix greens, a tiny cheeseburger meatball puck, and a generous spoonful of the mushroom sauce, which was also poured over the wedges.

Once it was all put together, this burger was a delicious mess. I am not usually the type to have fries with gravy but I am trying to be open to new things here, so hubby served it as recommended and I gave it a go.

Definitely one I'll be ordering again. A little labour-intensive for a burger recipe due to the mushroom sauce, but very tasty and worth the bit of extra effort. This may have been 45 or 50 minute cook? I need to start writing down my times if I'm gonna keep doing these.

Speaking of - this was meal 12. And I was supposed to decide whether to continue or not at this point.

There have been some bumps along the way - getting the wrong citrus, or wilted arugula, or a shortage of steak spice - but nothing that caused too much stress or prevented a meal from being make-able. Out of 12 meals, only one was a disappointment.

The cost does add up after a while, but since hubby and I are doing okay financially, as long as we don't order too much takeout or such we'll be fine. Heck, part of the reason I started getting Hello Fresh was because I was sick of takeout anyway.

On the whole, though, the meals have been delicious. Cooking them takes time and effort, but they have almost always been worth the trouble. Hubby is becoming more confident and skilled in the kitchen, and for me (a culinary student who is already pretty good in the kitchen) the food already being measured out, and sometimes even pre-washed and/or pre-cut, has helped me get dinner ready in less time with less effort.

Finally, I am actually feeling excited about food again! I look forward to my HF deliveries and trying the new recipes. Even on low-energy days, I've been able to cook great meals (usually with some help from hubby) where, if I was cooking entirely from scratch, I probably would have just turned to takeout or frozen processed food.

So my decision? I will continue to do Hello Fresh as long as I can afford it, and as long as it stays exciting - which hopefully will be a long time.

And I'll keep posting reviews here to practice my food photography and writing! I am going to start getting some meal repeats soon, though, so reviews will become less frequent as I won't be re-reviewing the same meals again.

Thank you so much to everyone who reads these, and even more so to those who have offered feedback!! Let's look forward to lucky post #13 which, if I recall correctly, was a roasted-vegetable-couscous with Greek lemon chicken.

See y'all then :)

[extreme-technicality]

does talking to an anon help about ninjago help? cuz I'm down

DHDKCKGSC YES IT DOES THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR OFFERING YOUR SERVICES

Okay now that I know I won’t be clogging people’s dashes buckle the fuck in my dude and I should stress that I literally would not be talking about this as much as I will be if I didn’t genuinely enjoy the show. I’m gonna go season by season and just Rant

S1 has the serpentine as the bbeg and like, as far as villains go they’re p lit. They’re early enough that they haven’t been done to hell, things are fresh, the characters and dynamics are being fleshed out, and all in all s1 is a pretty solid season. There’s some fuckery that gets brought up re: how the FUCK aging works and what the actual timeline of Ninjago is and how Wu and Garmadon fit into that timeline, fuckery that LITERALLY NEVER GETS RESOLVED IN A SATISFYING WAY BC ITS REVEALED IN A LATER SEASON (s8, dw we’ll get there lmao) THAT THE ONLY REASON THE FIRST SPINJITSU MASTER, WU, AND GARMADON LIVED AS LONG AS THEY DID IS CUZ THEYRE BASICALLY DEMIGODS AND ITS IMPLIED THAT LLOYD WILL ALSO LIVE FOR A LONG ASS TIME WHICH MEANS ONE DAY HES GONNA OUTLIVE ALL HIS FRIENDS AND EVERYONE HE EVER LOVED WHICH IS A FUN THING TO THINK ABOUT AT NIGHT But anyway I digress, s1 also coincidentally introduces Lloyd (he wasn’t in the pilot episodes that set up the rest of the series) and the existence of Evil Dad Garmadon.

S2 is where Garmadon starts acting a lot more Evil and a lot less Dad. He’s the main antagonist for that season, and I actually read somewhere that the show was originally slated to end after s2 which high key explains the fuckery of literally every single season after this lmaooooo. Much like s1, I really can’t find much to complain about, the first two seasons are pretty decent as far as I can remember

Season. Fucking. Three. Where the fuck do I start??? I hate season three for entirely personal reasons revolving around the STUPID GODDAMN ROMANCE WRITING. okay lemme back up and explain a thing first so, Jay is dating Nya and they’re fine, they’re going steady, aND THEN????? THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON INTRODUCES BULLSHIT LOVE TRIANGLE FUCKERY FOR ZERO GODDAMN REASON, BITCH I HATE LOVE TRIANGLES AND I HATE THEM EVEN MORE WHEN THEYRE DONE FOR NO GODDAMN REASON!!! AND THEN. AS IF THAT WERENT ENOUGH. THEY SHOEHORNED A ROBOT ROMANCE BETWEEN ZANE AND PIXAL AND I KNOW I RANTED ABOUT THIS A LITTLE BIT WHEN I WAS ACTUALLY WATCHING BUT I DIDNT GO INTO ENOUGH DETAIL!!!! THEY MADE THE OTHER NINJA OOC IN ORDER TO PROP UP THEIR SHIP!!!!!! AND AT ONE POINT ZANE GOES “its like we were…made for each other” AND I HAD TO FUCUCJDHVE I HAD TO SCREAM INTO A PILLOW BRO, IM SO TIRED!!!! NO THE FUCK YOU WERENT!!!!!! YOU WERE MADE FOR YOU AND PIXAL WAS MADE FOR PIXAL AND IF YALLS WANNA BANG BOLTS THATS FINE BUT DONT IMPLY THAT EITHER OF YOU WERE MADE INCOMPLETE!!!! THATS AN INSULT TO YOUR MAKERS AND YOURSELVES, MOVE ON, PLEASE AND THANK YOU. anyway that season also killed Zane (for the first time, but not the last) (spoiler alert lmao) and like, not to be an emotional little shit but I did cry a bit at his funeral.

S4 is honestly one of my favorites, even though the romance crimes continue (the love triangle bullshit is continuing and honestly I maintain that Cole, Nya, and Jay should all have gotten together and in my personal canon they DID, and also Kai has a forced romance) the VILLAIN makes up for it imo. He’s campy!! He’s funny!! He’s a clown!! He’s serious enough that if he says “I’m gonna kill you” HE MEANS IT and that’s so fucking refreshing!!!! S4 is honestly 8/10 just for the villain alone, don’t like that it retconned the SHIT out of the elemental masters and how many different elements there are TO master but eh, it’s ninjago, shit is stupid.

S5 was…interesting? OH WAIT I FORGOT TO MENTION THAT S3 INTRODUCED A GARMADON WHO WAS A LOT LESS EVIL AND A LOT MORE DAD, HONESTLY I THOUGHT IT TOOK A LOT OF THE FLAVOR OUT BUT THATS JUST ME LMAOOO. anyway s5 killed Garmadon, and I was a little sad cuz I like him okay??? I just think he’s NEAT, he’s got big dad energy, he was teaching Lloyd some shit that just got DROPPED and literally was never brought up again which is honestly a theme in Ninjago. Ninjago drinking game: take a shot every time they introduce a plot point or ability and drop it at or before the end of the season. WHICH THEY ALSO DID IN S5 WITH A DIFFERENT POWER ACTUALLY, so all the ninja are masters of Spinjitsu right, well s5 introduced the concept of Airjitsu which only Spinjitsu masters can learn and it lets them FLY and they used that for seasons 5 and 6 and then they nEVER BROUGHT IT UP AGAIN EVEN THOUGH IT WOULDVE COME IN HANDY FOR S E V E R A L DIFFERENT SITUATIONS ACROSS THE SEASONS, ONE OF THEM WOULD BE FALLING TO THEIR DOOM AND MY ASS WOULD BE YELLING “YOU CAN FLY, DUMBASS” - anyway, they do that again later lmao it’s fine. But what’s low key NOT fine is they made Nya the WATER NINJA!!! Like I’m not mad she has powers, except I kinda am, she was doing just fine as Samurai X and honestly the only reason she has super special ninja powers is for plot reasons. Also Cole got turned into a ghost, but by s7 he’s????? No longer a ghost????????? And that’s NEVER addressed or reasoned away, so like. Cool lmao

S6 didn’t happen. Like, canonically, s6 ends with wish fuckery that undoes the entire season and none of the characters remember anything that happened except Jay and Nya because S6 is the season where they get back together so they remember all those events for???? Feelings reasons?????? Unclear, moving on. The actual bbeg for S6 was a djinn with a vaguely Spanish accent, and to this DAY I don’t know why they made him have a SPANISH accent. Djinn are Arabic, not Spanish!! They’re not central or South American, either!!!! Your villain design makes no sense, do better

S7 had MORE time fuckery, and retconned what happened to Kai and Nya’s parents and hmmmhmhmhmhmhm that makes me Upsetti Spaghetti :3 not just the retconning, but the fact that they LITERALLY brought them back oNLY TO NEVER MENTION THEM AGAIN!!!!!! LITERALLY!!!!!!!! Okay so at the VERY very beginning, like pilot episodes beginning, Kai talks about their dad like he died/left fairly recently, BUT s7 contradicts that and claims that both of their parents were essentially abducted when Kai and Nya were little kids, which makes me question what in the fresh fuck two little kids were doing for all those years alone. SETTING THAT ASIDE FOR A HOT SECOND, their parents were also apparently good friends of Wu’s and old war buddies (from the Serpentine wars, which is YET ANOTHER bit of the timeline that doesn’t quite add up but honestly I could make a whole other post about that shit). But if they were such good fucking friends, why didn’t Wu check in every now and again??? What the fuck was Wu doing that was so fucking important that he couldn’t have been assed to visit his friends ONCE in like TEN MOTHERFUCKING YEARS and realize “oh shit, they’re not here and there are two tiny children running around unsupervised…My Kids Now : )” LIKE????? WU YOU LOW KEY SHOULDA LOOKED OUT FOR YOUR FRIENDS’ KIDS BETTER, THEY COULDA DIED BRO!!! Uhhhh the time fuckery also results in Wu getting yeeted ahead in time a bit and the ninja gotta find him

Season. Eight. I have…mixed feelings about this one. The beginning absolutely SLAUGHTERED me, and not in a “this is so fucking funny” way. No, the beginning made me feel like I was being flayed alive with just about every episode because Ninjago was back on its forced romance bullshit and this time it was Lloyd’s turn on the chopping block. That hurt my soul cuz like, look at that mans color scheme, he’s CLEARLY alloaro, why are you forcing romance on my aro man, why would you hurt me like that, BUT ALSO BECAUSE HE AND THE GIRL HE WAS BEING SET UP WITH HAD A LITTLE HEART TO HEART REALLY EARLY ON AND IT WAS THE MOST QUEER CODED SHIT!!!! IT DEADASS READ AS A CONVERSATION BETWEEN AN OUT AND PROUD QUEER AND A CLOSETED QUEER AND THEY MADE!!! IT!!!!! STRAIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!! The only thing that kept me watching at first was wanting to find Wu, and then I started enjoying myself once Cole found a plot-relevant baby and had fatherhood thrust upon him. Everything went from “ehhhhh” to “holy shit this FUCKS” once it was revealed that Rumi (Lloyd’s love interest) wAS PLAYING HIM THE WHOLE TIME AND WAS EVIL AND HAD AN EVIL GIRLFRIEND!!!!!! LITERALLY IMPROVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THE SEASON FOR ME, I COULD EVEN FORGIVE THE WHOLE “let’s resurrect Garmadon, but as evil as possible” BULLSHIT!!!!!!

S9 is a continuation of s8, Garmadon is back and 1000% Evil, 10% Dad, but none of the Dad energies is directed at Lloyd - it’s all directed at Rumi, and honestly I could write a whole ass post on just RUMI cuz that’s honestly my DAUGHTER and I LOVE HER and I’m MAD SHE DIES AT THE END OF THIS SEASON!!!! SHE DESERVED THERAPY AND TO LIVE WITH HER GF AND MAYBE SOME CRIME. AS A TREAT. RUMI DESERVED BETTER AND LOW KEY IM GONNA WRITE A FIC ABOUT IT, BUT ANYWAY WHERE WAS I

Ah right, so s9 has the four major Ninja stuck in the original dimension with no way home, while Lloyd has no powers (cuz he almost died last season) and has to somehow lead a resistance against Garmadon (who has taken control of Ninjago City and is working on the rest of Ninjago). Actually, s9 is pretty cool. Like, the end of s8 and into s9 are low key my favorite episodes, and I kinda wanna rewatch them now -

S10 is a FUN one. Garmadon got got last season, but he didn’t DIE, so he’s in cold storage and now there’s Another Threat and he’s the only one who knows wtf they’re up against so they let him out and he works with them. The funny part is, he is still Very Much Evil and doesn’t quite Get emotions like he did when he was, uh, human lmao, sO HE WOKE UP EVERY DAY DURING THAT SEASON AND DECIDED TO CAUSE PROBLEMS ON PURPOSE. IT WAS THE FUNNIEST FUCKING SHIT. 1000000/10 MY FAVORITE GARMADON, he ended that season by literally fucking off into Ninjago and they never decided to track him down 😭😭😭😭😭and I’m so SAD about it dude

S11 has another Serpentine as the bbeg, though in the setup to that they retconned how the fucking Serpentine tribes and history work??? I think???? Also Wu was a good 150% angrier and generally Done with the ninja’s shit, which was honestly refreshing tho I’m not quite sure I liked what the refreshed view was, but whatever lmao. S11 also had the ninja get yeeted to the dimension farthest from Ninjago, and honestly - okay, so they didn’t all go at the same TIME, Zane left about a week or two before the others did but there was time dilation fuckery afoot which I’m not too mad about cuz low key it makes sense. What I AM mad about is that they didn’t play the angst up to its full POTENTIAL!!!!!! Zane was EVIL in the other dimension!!!! Okay so I’m Ninjago he was only gone for maybe a week or two, but DECADES had passed in the other one, and all that time Zane was alone and disconnected from everyone he knew and loved, with a staff that boosted his power while slowly corrupting him and Turning Him Evil to help him, and like???? The thought of Zane trying to find a way home, trying to get SOME sort of message back, while he has to use the staff more and more to help him survive the long, lonely decades, so that by the time his family DOES show up its too late??? BRO. B R O. THAT JUST HITS DIFFERENT, BUT NINJAGO DIDNT DO THAT!!! THEY MADE HIM EVIL DUE TO MEMORY WIPE!!!!!! MEMORY WIPE IS BABY SHIT COMPARED TO A LONG, SLOW CORRUPTION!!!!!!

S12 was alright. It went into Cole’s mom, touched on some of the adventures she had had, threatened another forced romance (this time on poor Cole, just leave my mans ALONE) but thankfully didn’t follow through this time, introduced cool new powers that honestly hasn’t been elaborated on since that’s the most recent season I think lmao

Anyway thanks for reading and letting me rant!!!! I have,,So Much More I could talk about, PLEASE ask me about Rumi, some of my headcanons re: Garmadon and Wu’s dynamic, the Serpentine, my top five times they butchered Kai’s character for Plot Reasons, or anything else I brought up here that you want me to elaborate on!!!

[ghostofbambifanfiction]

Can you be more specific on why you like Arya and Sansa? So many people like Arya for being strong and fierce, but for some reasons so many hate Sansa for what she was like in the earlier seasons. Can you give specific instances why you like both of them? And why not Daenerys? Thanks! (I'm just really curious, please indulge me :) )

I’m going to talk about Dany first (and I’m sticking to the show here, though I have read the books, but they’re never getting finished, let’s be real), and then I'll put my thoughts on Sansa and Arya in another post (hey, you asked, so I’m delivering) because otherwise this will go on forever and it’s cleaner this way. Putting a ‘read more’ here because this is long (lol I’m at work I should be working)

To preface, I would not dislike Daenerys as much as I do if she didn’t want to be queen. I’ll touch on this when I talk about Arya, but I appreciate characters who have the self-awareness required to know who and what they are. Since Daenerys does want to rule Westeros, I have so many issues.

I also think the eighth season is going to see her turning on most of the people she’s currently allied with and I think the catalyst for that is the discovery that Jon is the legitimate child of Rhaegar and Lyanna, and therefore his claim to the throne supersedes hers. I’ll gladly admit that I’m wrong if I am, but right now I don’t think I am. Here’s why.

1) She is an ineffective ruler

After Dany liberated the slave cities of Astapor, Yunkai and Meereen, she stayed to rule and did a terrible job of it. Nobody in particular was better off, the majority of the slaves she freed were homeless and scraping for food in mess halls, and she killed elders who had spoken out against slavery without even listening to what any of them had to say. She has the mind for conquering, not for ruling.

(side note: why does she even want to be queen? It’s something she just seemed to jump on in season two without ever reasoning it out, and from there on in it’s like an obsession that has grown inside her. Now she says she wants to make the world a better place but she hasn’t the skills to do it. It should be enough for her to liberate oppressed societies and allow somebody qualified to fix them. But it’s not.)

The truth is, Meereen saw no real improvement until after Dany skipped town on Drogon, because Tyrion had the idea to replace the slave trade with actual trade. He made changes that impacted the city’s economy and allowed its residents to start supporting themselves, so of course, the slavers attacked just as Dany came back, at which point her bright idea was to decimate an entire armada when she needed ships. Tyrion had to talk her out of it. Which brings me to her next point.

2) She requires constant babysitting

It’s ironic to me that Tyrion told Cersei that “the difference” between Cersei and Daenerys is that Dany knows herself well enough to hire advisors who tell her not to do dumb, impulsive things, firstly because that is such a low bar, Tyrion! There are people out there (Sansa) who do not require that kind of monitoring! Secondly because Cersei is far more self-aware than Dany.

Cersei knows that the things she does are bad and does them anyway because fuck it, she knows she wants power for power’s sake. Dany has such a narrow view of justice that actually thinks she’s being righteous when she burns people to death (more on that later) and that is the most dangerous mindset a leader can have. Compare that, if you will, to Sansa, who quite sensibly told Arya that chopping off heads might feel good but that’s not the way to make people work together. Jorah, Tyrion and Jon have all had to speak out against Dany’s more violent predilections and she’s fast running out of people she wants to listen to. She and Tyrion are certainly hanging on by a thread. Which brings me to my next point.

3) She mistreats her own Hand

The relationship between Dany and Tyrion absolutely reeks of Aerys and Tywin, their respective fathers, who were the best of friends until Aerys’ jealousy and paranoia forced them to opposite sides of a bloody war. Dany is all too happy to take credit for Tyrion’s best ideas when they work (and he is happy to let her) but as soon as one of his plans go wrong she whirls on him and berates him like he’s a piece of trash. Everything’s his fault when a plan goes wrong.

When he brought up the matter of the succession she accused him of plotting her death with his brother, which not only is batshit insane but proves that Daenerys gives far less of a shit about the future of Westeros than she claims to, because if she cared that much, she’d care about planning to carry on the legacy she wants to build. She can’t seem to forgive Tyrion for the heinous crime of…loving his siblings? Trying to broker the most peaceful end to the war? Not wanting his brother to die?

Honestly, her treatment of Tyrion is one of the most telling aspects of her character and I am aghast that nobody seems to be talking about it.

4) Like all of the maddest Targaryens before her, she gets off on burning people

This one isn’t subtle at all. Sorry to drop the intellectual veneer for a moment but she fucking loves that shit. It doesn’t bother her a whit to watch people scream as they’re being burned alive. She takes pleasure in burning people, you can see the satisfaction on her face, and a good leader should never take pleasure in something like that.

(FYI people like to mention how Sansa smiled when Ramsay’s dogs ate him when I make this point and to that I blow a raspberry. That was her personal moment of justice against her rapist and abuser, not the lord of some house who wouldn’t submit to her, there is no fair comparison)

Dany was smiling like a satisfied cat when she burned down the temple of the Dosh Khaleen and killed everybody inside it, which was something she did to seize power, by the way. She didn’t do it to stick it to a bunch of misogynists, though I’m sure that was an added bonus. She did the exact same thing Cersei did to the Sept of Baelor and for the exact same reasons, yet only one of them is painted as a villain by the viewing public even though you can argue that Cersei was also sticking it to misogynists when she killed the High Sparrow. The only reason for that is that Dany was given humble origins while the narrative told us that Cersei was bad from the very beginning.

Theon is still beating himself up for killing and burning those two farm boys — as he should. Stannis burned his daughter and everyone was horrified. Jon was so repulsed to watch Mance Rayder burn that he defied Stannis and shot him in the heart. How many times is the show going to have to tell us that burning people alive is a terrible act of evil before people stop cheering Dany on for it? When Ned Stark was Lord of Winterfell, he understood and felt the weight of executing a man. Jon feels the weight of it, too, as we’ve seen on a couple of occasions. Sansa clearly thought long and hard about executing Petyr — that’s what her moment of reflection on the battlements was meant to show us. Dany just… doesn’t care. I think she cared a bit when she had Daario execute Mossador, but I can’t think of any other occasion where she has been directly responsible for a death and been remotely bothered by it.

So. yes.

I think the reason a lot of people – and in particular a lot of women – support Daenerys is because she has a girl power narrative. She does have a girl power narrative, it’s true, but that is not a good enough reason to support a character who on so many occasions has proven herself to be unqualified for the job she wants, not to mention bordering on dangerously unhinged and increasingly paranoid. In that sense I think her season 1 narrative was genius, because her origins and the way in which she started to gain power (as well as her gender) has granted her a kind of automatic forgiveness for behaviours that several male characters – and Cersei, most importantly, because she also has a girl power narrative (and she and Dany are two peas in a pod) but the show told us she was a baddie from episode one – would be dragged through the mud for. And I’m sorry, but it’s not good enough for me. I’m not going to support a powerful female character just because she’s a powerful female character who did some good things once. Powerful women can be good or bad.

Some other points re: Daenerys

The dragons are weapons of mass destruction and need to be killed. They’re nukes with wings. She’s burned her own people with those monsters because fire doesn’t fucking differentiate. Sorry not sorry.

The Targaryens are literally GRRM’s interpretation of the Aryan race. It’s practically in their name.

“I have tried to make it explicit in the novels that the dragons are destructive forces, and Dany has found that out as the tried to rule the city of Meereen and be queen there. She has the power to destroy, she can wipe out entire cities, and we certainly see that in Fire and Blood, we see the dragons wiping out entire armies, wiping out towns and cities, destroying them, but that doesn’t necessarily enable you to rule – it just enables you to destroy.” – George R R Martin, folks.

One of the show’s directors, Jack Bender, made a reference to Hitler when talking about her. He said we should be “horrified” by her. No shit, Jack. No shit.

“Do you wonder if the gods ever get lonely?” Just… this line. Get a grip, woman.

[jpat82]

Wade And How I Met Your Mother

Quack.

Quack.

Quack... quack... hiss...

"Damn it, Wade!" Toms eyes shot open wide, a mass of feathers taking flight as the preocular bird hopped from his chest. The credits from the movie he had been watching was rolling, he must of dozed off. Wade was pacing the living  room for the hundred time that day and what feathers he did have were ruffled.

The little bird was agitated, pacing and looking at the door every time a car drove by. Tom sighed heavily, he had tried give the angry avian a bug an hour ago and he wasn't having any of it. You had went on a girls retreat yesterday and at first the duck hadn't thought any thing of it. He slept well the first night, curling up on your side of the bed, stretching out ultimately taking over half the bed.

That all changed first thing this morning upon waking. The duck woke in the foulest of moods, nipping Tom on the lips, jolting the man out of a deep slumber followed by the ninja chopping of mostly featherless wings till Tom got out of bed. He was making a ruckus, quacking and hissing, chirping and squawking.

It didn't stop there, oh no, at breakfast when Tom set the bowl down for the annoyed bird he gave the man a dead pan look before slipping his beak under the edge and flipping it over. Duck food and bugs spilling out across the floor, Wade waddling away. Tom had to take a deep breath before cleaning the mess, and refilling the bowl. It was the first time in a long time you had left the bird with just Tom and Wade was not happy about situation.

As the day rolled on so the disgruntled animal. He marched his butt to the living room, looking up at Mickey's mouse house. He flopped and floundered till he made his way on to the couch, all while poor Tom was cleaning up the breakfast mess. Wade pushed the top of the cage off, reaching his head in and gingerly picked Mickey up by the stub of his tail. He back peddled from the cage just as Tom walked in.

"Wade, don't you even.." Was all the poor man could muster out before the dastardly bird dropped the mouse on the couch and made a bee line for the back door.

Tom rushed toward the couch, jumping over the waddling creature whose wings were stretched out behind him. It took him an hour to re-catch Mickey and get him safely back in the confines of his home. That wasn't all, as Tom went to make lunch later in the day, Wade decided it was time to go swimming... in Sherbert's tank.

The poor beta was in the bottom, hiding in the fake weeds as the duck's webbed feet flitting back and forth under the water. Water sloshed this way and that, out of the tank saturating the floor in the process. Tom groaned when he came in and saw the mess. Gently lifting the duck, getting nipped multiple times as he did.

After a while the duck just sat in his bed, glaring at the man, looking like he was blaming Tom for the reason you were missing.

"She'll be home tonight." He told the bird with a huff. He could hear the mammal grumble in response. "I know, I don't like this either, you're absolutely inconsolable without her."

That's when he had made the mistake of putting a movie on and dozing. After Wade abruptly woke him he saw the mess that had ensued. All the magazines were strewn across the floor, his tea cup face planted next to a magazine. One of the throw pillows had peck marks and stuffing pulled out, the dvds on the lowest shelf were scattered about. Tom took a deep breath and stood walking to his room.

He reached up into the closet and returned to the couch and opening the pale teal book. Wade perked his head up, his head tilting ever so slightly as his interest peeked.

"Wade, come here. Let me tell you how I met your mother." Tom stated, patting the couch while looking at the semi feathered bird.

Wade launched from his spot, wings stretched out as he rushed across the wood floor. He hopped up as he reached the plush couch, failing to get high enough and rebounded off the cushion. He hissed at the furniture before Tom leaned forward picking the bird up from the ground and set him next to him on the couch. The first picture was a selfie taken by Tom, at a local and quiet diner.

    The low lights capturing the moment perfectly.

    You walked up to the restaurant, fidgeting with the strap on your purse. Your heels clicking along the sidewalk. You closest friend set you up on a blind date, supposedly the guy was a cook and understood the operations and stress of opening a bakery.

    Secret Treats, it was your bakery. Something you had worked your whole life to, not stopping, or settling till you had it up and running. It had always been your dream to open a bakery in London, something small, cute, whimsical and most of all comfortable. And now, she was pressuring you to find the love of your life to settle down with.

    Now here you were, being seated a quiet little diner, mahogany decor and gold accents. You had chosen a simple black dress and heels, unsure of what to expect. You looked over the menu and ordered a glass of wine while you waited. You sipped on the wine and continued to look around, the diner was beautiful and warm and if you had ever thought about opening a restaurant it would been something like this.

    You continued to think to yourself as the time ticked by, five minutes turned into ten and then into fifteen. Soon it had been half an hour and the waiter gave you a sad smile as he refilled your glass. Unknown to you someone had been watching, his own date standing him up. He took a deep breath as he stood, fixing his shirt before walking across the diner floor.

    "Excuse me, I couldn't help but notice you seemed to be waiting for someone." The man stated, you could feel your cheeks flush as you looked up your eyes meeting the most endearing shade of blue you had be seen.

    "I was, but I don't think he is going to show." You replied softly, embarrassment creeping up again.

     "Do you mind if I join you? I was stood up and I don't feel like having dinner alone." He asked you softly, his hand on the back of the empty chair.

     "Actually, that would be nice." You smiled back up at him. He smiled back, and you knew you had to get know him. "I'm y/n."

    "Tom." He smiled to you as he sat down. You spent hours talking to him, getting to know him. He like you had been stood up, and who ever could stand up a man as handsome and sweet as he was needed to have their head examined.

    He spoke elegantly, his voice soft and light. And talked animatedly with his hands, his face full of expressions. You were smitten from the get go, and hoped that this would lead further then any other dates you had had in your life. His charming blues, and blondish semi curled hair, he had a clean face and was more handsome then you remembered ever seeing in a man.

“Oh dear, it’s midnight already.” Tom said softly in disbelief looking at his watch.

“Crap.” You chuckled looking up from your empty glass. “I really didn’t want this to end.”

“Neither do I, Darling.” He sighed, handing the waiter his card. “May I have your number? I’d love to take you out on a proper date.”

“Yes.” You replied a bit quickly as he handed his phone over so you could put your number in. “So this doesn’t count as a date then?”

“Well, technically it could be but we were both supposed be seeing different people.” He said as you both rose from the table.

“Their loss.” You smiled.

“Our gain.” He smiled softly back.

You walked into the quiet house setting your bags next to the door, you took in the mess. Stuffing and magazines, the tea cup on the floor, tv playing infomercials. And there on the couch was Tom head tilted back, eyes closed mouth slightly parted. Wade curled up next to him, using the man’s thigh as a pillow, and the teal scrap book in Tom’s lap.

The book was opened to the picture from restaurant you met in. You smiled to yourself remembering that night as you walked over and gently shut the book. You looked at your boys and smiled, you had come home early because you had missed them.

“Thomas.” You said gently, tapping his shoulder. His eyes fluttered open, looking about the room before they landed on you.

“Darling, why are you home?” He asked softly as you tenderly lifted Wade.

“Doesn’t matter, let’s go to bed.” You smiled, walking towards the bedroom.

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