#I WAS NOT GOING TO TAKE ECONOMICS OR STATS

[canyourfavesurvivecastledracula]

I humbly submit Princess Cimorene as a candidate

Princess Cimorene of Linderwall is Dangerously Genre Savvy. But is she going to approach Castle Dracula as a Fairytale protagonist or as a Horror protagonist? Is she Genre Savvy enough to force a genre shift in her favor? And what is Dracula but a nasty old Dragon - and Cimorene certainly has plenty of experience dealing with dragons...

I guess the first point is that Cimorene is going to die of Old Age. That was her deal with that Djinn she freed. It is stunningly difficult to die of Old Age in Castle Dracula.

But okay, lets be fair. Let us assume that when she says "I'd rather be eaten by a Dragon" the unprincely frog directs her not to Kazul but to Dracula (always remember to be careful what you wish for, kids). Can she survive based on her starting stats alone? That is, spunk, genre savvy, latin verbs, and cherries jubilee.

As a fairytale heroine, Cimorene is not going to refuse any gifts offered her. As a dangerously genre savvy fairytale heroine, if the sinister lord of the creepy castle tells her not to sleep outside of her room, she is not going to sleep outside of her room. She knows how this works.

I think the primary hurdle is going to be whether Dracula tolerates her initial frankness. Cimorene can quickly learn how to handle his personality, but only if she survives opening with Refuge in Audacity. Dracula doesn't appreciate being back talked, but she might take him sufficiently by surprise that he leaves her alive long enough to see where this goes. And where this goes is that she organizes his library then starts in on his treasure hoard and before he knows it she's taught herself basic Scholomancy and replaced the curtains in the ladies wing amd dusted everywhere and he honestly doesn't know how he got on without her and he patronizingly indulges her Absolutely No Biting Me rules (it's because she's useful, not because she won't take off that crucifix, he tells himself) and doesn't even realize he is no longer remotely running this show.

A sticking point is going to be the whole Evil Vampire thing. Cimorene isn't going to approve of all the assault, kidnapping, and murder - Kazul was a dragon but she wasn't outright evil. She will however be sympathetic to the "Look, everything has to eat" argument. She'll make it her mission to solve vampirism. She's really good at finding creative economic solutions to supernatural problems. I dunno, turn the Castle into a luxury resort for people with a blood drinking kink. You only need to find a couple of them to make the engine work. And if she's persuasive enough to get this far, then she's persuasive enough to talk him into it.

And they all live happily ever after.

So yes, I do believe that Princess Cimorene can survive Castle Dracula

#cimorene #princess cimorene #the enchanted forest chronicles #royalty #fairytales and folklore #servicepeople #chefs

[dropout-if]

Dropout Customization

Due to some questions about MC customization, I have decided to compile all the physical and personality aspects that are selectable about the Dropout.

A reminder that this is all subject to change and that new things may be added (or deleted). Feedback and ideas to further develop MC are encouraged.

Main Ideas

Name Surname Nickname

Sex, Gender, Pronouns (it's possible to customise them), Breast/Pecs, Penis/Vagina (If MC is transgender, their transition takes place while they're away) Title (Ms. / Mr. / Mx.)

Virginity or lack thereof.

If MC is trans (when they realized about it [high school, middle school, college] and if they told their family // the ROs already know, as MC told Uma and J, and word spread).

Birthday which establishes the Dropout's age as either 21 or 22 depending on the season (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter)

Major (Engineering, Biology, Chemistry, Computer science, Law, Economics, Education (in relation to science/maths/etc), Mathematics, Physics, Psychology). The Dropout's Major affects flavor text. These options are the ones approved by the Dropout's parents, though it's possible for MC to express interest in other degrees/topics (music, art, English, anthropology, archeology, classical studies, history).

Reason behind dropping out (MC got kicked out (they were caught cheating) MC didn't get a high enough GPA and dropped out / MC never even wanted to go to college and ultimately decided they wanted out / MC didn't fit in (they were discriminated, lonely, etc) though they really liked college / MC originally liked their degree and college but gradually lost interest in the entire thing / MC never liked their degree and decided to drop out / Something specifically related to mental health (mainly anxiety) / Impostor's syndrome.) This affects flavor text.

2 Coping Mechanisms (Alcohol, Tobacco, Drugs, Sleeping around, Avoidance, Overspending, Humor, *Hobby (overworking self) [Anger, Fake/forced happiness, Sadness, Indifference].) Each coping mechanism opens a variable and a storyline. You can choose two, though choosing one related to emotional responses [between brackets] automatically blocks out the others.

2 Hobbies (Singing, playing an instrument, songwriting, creative writing, drawing, sketching, sculpting, acting, photography, soccer, football, swimming, basketball, gymnastics, boxing, judo, karate, taekwondo, kickboxing, going to the gym, cooking/baking, dancing [ballet, contemporary dance, modern], yoga.) This affects flavor text and scenes.

Job (Bartender [Wanda, Statler is also around often], Cashier [Statler], Columnist [J (+Kai if poly)], Caregiver [Kai], Waiter/Waitress [Uma (+Travis if poly)], Tutor [Travis]) Each job gives you more time with a certain RO, as well as unlocking a storyline.

Personality Stats

Playful/Serious Honest/Dishonest Friendly/Rude Introverted/Extroverted Laid-back/Uptight Cynical/Idealistic Flirty/Reserved Family oriented/Individualistic

Others: Insomnia, Migraines

Physical Appearance

*It's possible to choose MC's appearance as a high schooler as well. This affects flavor text.

Height (very tall, talk, average, short, very short)

Skin tone (ebony, dark brown, light brown, russet, golden, olive, honey, tawny, tanned, fair, rosy, ivory.) Choosing any skin tone gives you the possibility of choosing to be a poc (idea I stole from Mila, @beyondthegame)

*Build (scrawny, skinny, lithe, lean, muscular, chubby, curvy, hourglass).

*Hair color (max 3 tones, 1 base and other 2) (possible to return home with a mess of dye for Maude to fix. NATURAL (Ashen blonde, Sunflower blonde, Strawberry blonde, Caramel, Honey brown, Chocolate brown, Copper, Auburn, Ruby red, Midnight brown, Jet black, Ebony black) NON-NATURAL (Pink, Violet, Lilac, Blue jade, Vermilion red, Snowy white, Silver, Emerald green, Canary yellow, Bleached).

Hair texture (kinky, very coiled, coiled, curly, wavy, slightly wavy, straight)

*Hair length (ear-length, chin-length, shoulder-length, below shoulder-length, chest-length, waist-length)

*Hair style (SHORT/MEDIUM: natural, side-parted, mullet, layered, bob, ponytail, twin ponytails, buzz fade, slick back, messy, wolf cut, bun. LONG: natural, high/low ponytail, messy, shaggy, California waves, a half updo, side-swept, bun, braid, twin braids, twin ponytails).

*Eye color (albino red, dark blue, light blue, dark green, light green, hazel, amber, chestnut brown, chocolate brown, black, grey).

Others

*It's possible to choose MC's appearance as a high schooler as well. This affects flavor text.

*Glasses (yes, no, contacts)

*Facial hair (No/shaved. Stubble, full beard, goatee, ducktail,van dyke, garibaldi, mustache, soul patch, light beard).

Scars, can choose as many as possible (Back, chest, abdomen, upper and lower arm, thigh, knees, calf, mouth area, neck, cheek, hands, eye area, shoulder)

*Tattoos (One big in X body area, patch-like bodysuit, bodysuit, one/two sleeves, just legs, a few tattoos all over, a small in X place).

*Piercings (Ears [helix, lobe, industrial], navel, tongue, nose ring and septum, eyebrow, lips, smiley, nipples, genital)

Dimples

Braces

Freckles (face, body, both)

Beauty mark, multiple (under eye, over lip, neck, body)

*Outfit/Style (streetwear, alternative, cute, preppy, casual, formal, business casual, dark academia, messy, boho/eclectic, comfortable)

*Bedroom, at family home and at new apartment (messy, colorful, emo, basic, boho, modern, industrial, vintage, minimalist, cute)

*Diet (vegan, vegetarian, pescetarian, keto, meat-eater, lactose intolerant)

Family pet (small/large dog, cat, fish tank, hamster/rabbit/guinea pig, cockatiel/parrot/canaries)

Characters

Closeness to all family members (tight-knit, close, so-so, cold, barely any relationship)

Same with the friend group

Crush on Statler during high school (yes/no)

'Popularity' during high school and college (popular, social butterfly [got along with many people but wasn't part of the popular groups], normal, loner, outcast [somewhat antagonistic in a way/rebel].)

#dropout if #dropout #cog wip #cog #choice script #hosted games #interactive fiction wip #interactive fiction #mc #gameplay

[hockeylovee12]

Crossing Enemy Lines

Chapter Five

Luke Hughes x Original Character

November 14th, 2023

In the middle of a vast lecture hall at NYU, Jordan sits in her 9 AM economics class, struggling to stay focused as her professors' monotone voice drones on about opportunity cost. 

Suddenly she feels her phone buzzing in the back pocket of her blue jeans, a welcomed distraction. 

She quickly glances around the room, making sure her professor or his TA’s aren't watching and carefully grabs her phone, sliding it underneath her notebook. 

She unlocks the screen, and sees a text from Luke: Hey what are you up to?

A small smile tugs at the corners of her mouth as she types out her response.

Trying not to fall asleep in econ. It’s so boring

She hits send and tries to refocus on the lecture, but her phone buzzes again almost immediately.

Luke: Those classes are the worst. Last year at Michigan I had a 9am for stats. It sucked and my professor kinda sounded like one of those drowning goats from YouTube. 

Jordan stifles a laugh, her shoulders shaking. Her friend, Taylor, sitting next to her, nudges her shoulder and leans in, whispering, "What's so funny?"

Jordan shrugs, trying to play it cool. "Oh, nothing. Just a meme I saw earlier."

Taylor raises an eyebrow, not entirely convinced, but turns back to face the front of the class. Jordan looks down at her phone and types out another message: OMG stop you’re making me laugh. 

Luke's response comes quickly.

Luke: Mission accomplished then. 😎 I'm just picturing you in class, trying to hold it together. It's a pretty cute mental image.

Jordan feels a blush creeping up her neck as she reads his words. She bites her lip, trying to suppress the giddy smile threatening to spread across her face.

Jordan: You're going to get me in trouble! But I have to admit, it's a lot more fun texting you than listening to this lecture.

She hits send and looks up, only to find her professor staring directly at her, a stern expression on his face.

"Class, I know it's early," he says, his voice carrying across the lecture hall, "but please put your phones away. This information is important and will be on your upcoming test."

Jordan feels her cheeks heat up as a few of her classmates glance in her direction. She smirks sheepishly and puts her phone back in her pocket, mouthing a silent "sorry" to the professor.

As she tries to refocus on the lecture, her thoughts keep drifting back to Luke. She can’t help but feel a slight thrill, at the thought of him picturing her, even when they’re apart. 

The rest of the class seems to drag on forever, but Jordan finds herself feeling lighter and happier, despite the boring subject matter. She knows it's because of Luke, because of the way he can make her laugh and smile even from a distance.

As the professor finally dismisses them, Jordan gathers her things and heads out of the lecture hall, already pulling her phone out to see if Luke has texted her again. 

*****

The New Jersey Devils players gather in the video room, going over video footage, from their match from last night against the Red Wings. 

Coach Ruff stands at the front of the room, laser pointer in hand, breaking down the team's performance.

"Okay, guys," Ruff says, pausing the video on a particular play. "Let's take a look at this shift. Nico, great job on the backcheck here. You managed to break up their odd-man rush and turn the play around."

Nico nods, a small smile on his face, as he receives a few head pats and shoulder claps from his teammates.

Ruff continues his analysis, and in the midst of him discussing the power play, something Luke should really pay attention to considering he’s on the first unit, Luke feels his phone buzz in his pocket.

His hand twitches, itching to reach for it, but he knows better than to check his messages during a team meeting. He tries to focus on the video, on Ruff's words, but his mind keeps drifting to thoughts of Jordan and what she might be texting him about.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, Ruff wraps up the meeting. "Alright, boys, that's it for today. Remember, we've got a big game coming up against Columbus. Let's make sure we're sharp and ready to go."

The team murmurs in agreement and starts to file out of the room. 

Luke is one of the first ones out, making a beeline for the locker room. 

He walks to his stall, taking a seat and pulling out his phone to check his messages. 

Sure enough, there's a text from Jordan. He opens it eagerly.

Jordan: Just saw a dog on campus that looked exactly like you. 

Luke laughs out loud, shaking his head as he types out his response.

Luke: Oh yeah? Was it incredibly handsome and charming? 

Jordan's reply comes quickly.

Jordan: Nah, it was just really goofy-looking. 

Luke: Wow, rude. See if I ever compare you to a cute animal again. 

Jordan: Aww, I'm sorry. You're much cuter than any dog. Forgive me? 🥺

Luke grins, feeling a warmth spreading through his chest.

Luke: I suppose I can let it slide this time. But only because you admitted I'm cute. 

As he hits send, he hears someone clear their throat. He looks up to see John standing there, a knowing smirk on his face.

"Texting your girlfriend again, Hughesy?" John teases, leaning against the stall.

Luke rolls his eyes. "She's not my girlfriend. And mind your own business, Johnny."

"Oooh, defensive," Tyler chimes in across the room. "Must be serious."

"Who are you texting, Lukey?" Jesper asks, looking up from his stall.

Luke sighs, pocketing his phone. "No one. Just a friend." he claims, causing his teammates to exchange some looks.

Luke stands up, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "I gotta go find Jack. See you guys tomorrow."

“See ya later, Romeo!” Nate shouts as Luke walks out of the locker room, he rolls his eyes before walking towards the trainer’s room, knowing Jack is probably there. 

He can feel his phone buzzing in his pocket again and he smiles, having a pretty good idea who it's from. 

*****

Jordan settles into her bed, propping her phone up against a pillow as she waits for Luke to answer her Facetime call. After a few rings, his face appears on the screen, a warm smile spreading across his features.

"Hey, you," he greets her, his voice soft and intimate in the quiet of his room.

"Hey yourself," Jordan replies, feeling a flutter in her stomach at the sight of him. "How was your day?"

Luke sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Busy. We had a long practice today, and Coach really worked us hard. I'm pretty wiped."

Jordan nods sympathetically. "I know the feeling. I've been studying all day, got like five tests coming up. I feel like my brain is going to melt out of my ears."

Luke chuckles, “I’m sure you’ll do great” 

Jordan feels a blush creeping up her neck. "I don't know about that. But thanks for the vote of confidence."

They fall into easy conversation, trading stories about their days. Jordan complains about her homework and Luke tells her about the prank war that's been brewing in the Devils locker room.

"I swear, if I find one more rubber snake in my skates, I'm going to lose it," he laughs, shaking his head.

Jordan giggles. "Maybe you should retaliate. Put some itching powder in their gear"

Luke's eyes widen. "You’re an evil genius, you know” 

Jordan laughs. 

“Hey Jordan?” Jacob’s voice cuts through the screen as the door to her room bursts open. Luke freezes for a moment on the other line, before, quickly clicking the buttons to hide his camera and mute his microphone. 

Jordan turns her phone face down on her lap, “What’s up?” Jordan says trying to come off as casual as possible

“Kelly is going out tonight, so it’s just us for dinner. Any preferences?” Jacob asks 

Jordan lets a small smile cross her face as she shakes her head. 

“Whatcha up to?” Jacob questions a smirk dancing on his lips 

“Nothing just chatting with a friend about homework” Jordan lies

“Mhmm, ok well I’m gonna make salmon then, sounds good?” 

“Ya sounds good” Jordan says, Jacob smiles again, before leaving the room, shutting her door completely-which is a very rare thing for a sibling to do. 

“He’s gone” Jordan says her voice hushed as she flips her phone back over. 

Luke unmutes himself and turns the camera back on “That was kinda close” Luke exhales

“Ya, but don’t worry, he just thinks it’s some guy from school” Jordan whispers 

"Does he know about date?" Luke asks 

"He just knows I'm going on one on Saturday" Jordan explains

“Ok good, I should probably get going though, Jack’s gonna be back any minute with our dinner” Luke says

“Ya me too, but I’ll talk to later ya?” Jordan asks 

“Definitely, bye Jordan” 

“Bye, Luke” She responds, letting his name fall off her tongue in a hushed tone. 

*****

November 15th, 2023

Jordan’s 10 AM psychology class is in full swing, as her professor goes on and on about the different types of validity, for probably like the millionth time. 

Her notebook is open in front of her but her pencil hasn't touched the page in minutes, as her professor's voice fades into the background and her mind drifts to thoughts of Luke and their upcoming date.

She pictures the restaurant he mentioned, which she had done a quick google search of prior, it’s a rather nice italian/seafood place, located away from the city.

She imagines the way he’ll look, with his tall frame, his curly hair, which kinda reminds her of a poodle, but in a cute, charming way. 

Jordan's thoughts turn to her outfit, and she mentally rifles through her closet, trying to decide what to wear, even though this date is still three days away. 

She wants something that screams come and get me, but not desperate, or easy, definitely not easy. Something that will make her feel confident and beautiful. 

Maybe that navy blue dress she bought last summer, the one with the straight neckline and the tight skirt. Or maybe her favorite pair of dark-wash jeans, paired with a fun strapless corset and her leather jacket.

As she loses herself in thought, she has that faint feeling that her name is being called, then a small nudge to the shoulder, by the classmate to her left, forces her to regain focus. 

“-rdan, are you with us?” 

Jordan blinks realizing her professor is staring directly at her, an expectant expression on his face.

“I’m sorry what?” she asks, feeling a blush creep up her neck.

Her professor sighs, a hint of exasperation in his voice. “I asked you to explain the difference between content and criterion related validity.” 

Jordan's mind goes blank, and she feels a surge of panic rising in her chest. She knows she should know this, they've gone over it in class before, and she’s seen it in her notes but right now all she can think about is Luke and their date.

Her classmate nudges her gently with her elbow, again, a concerned look on her face. Jordan takes a deep breath, trying to focus.

“Uh, I’m sorry I don’t know the answer” she admits, her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Her professor lets out a heavy sigh “This is a key concept, we’ve been talking about for weeks. You need to learn if you would like to pass this class, please stop daydreaming and pay attention” He scolds towards Jordan. 

Jordan sinks lower in her seat, feeling a mix of shame and frustration wash over her. 

*****

Jack and Luke sit comfortably inside Jack’s range rover, heading towards the Prudential Center, to meet with their team, before their flight to Columbus. 

Luke is in the passenger seat, his phone in his hand as he texts back and forth with Jordan. 

Jordan: Are you excited to go to Ohio? 

Luke Nope, I hate Ohio

Jordan: How do you hate a state? 

Luke: I’m from Michigan, Michigan doesn’t like Ohio. 

Jordan: Just a general overall hatred?

Luke: Nah, it's a whole thing. Pretty sure it's in our state constitution that we have to hate Ohio. I think it's right after the part about cherishing our Great Lakes and wearing socks with sandals. Jordan: Note to self: Never wear Ohio colors around Luke 

Luke chuckles softly at Jordan's last message, a goofy grin spreading across his face. Jack glances over at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Who you texting?" he asks, a note of curiosity in his voice.

Luke quickly locks his phone, slipping it into his pocket. "No one," he says, trying to sound casual.

Jack gives him a look, clearly not buying it. "Seriously, man, Tell me."

Luke sighs, shifting in his seat. "It's just a girl, okay? No big deal."

"A girl, huh?" Jack presses, a hint of a smirk on his face. "The same girl from the bar the other night? You guys make up?"

Luke feels his cheeks heat up, and he looks out the window, trying to hide his smile. "Maybe," he admits.

Jack laughs, shaking his head. "I knew it! So, when are you gonna see her again?"

Luke hesitates, he can tell Jack about the date, just to get him off his back, just don’t give away details, 

"We have a date on Saturday," he says, trying to sound nonchalant. 

Jack's eyes widen, and he lets out a low whistle. "Damn, Lukey, moving fast!"

Luke rolls his eyes, feeling his face flush even more. "Shut it, Jack. It's not a big deal."

But he knows that’s a lie. 

“ Come on, kid, you've been grinning at your phone like an idiot for days. It's obviously a big deal.” 

“Shut it” Luke scoffs

“Oh come on, give me the details, what are y’all up to?” Jack presses,  with  a wide grin plastered across his face. 

“Don’t worry about it” Luke says

Jack's eyes leave the road, and shift towards Luke “Why all the secrecy?” Jack asks, curiouss

“No secrecy I just don’t wanna tell you” Luke shrugs

“You tell me everything” Jack retorts, with a chuckle of disbelief.

“Ok well I wanna keep this to myself” Luke explains, avoiding eye contact

Jack pauses for a moment, “Alright, Lukey” Jack says, shifting his vision back to the road, “Well I’m here if you want any advice.” 

A smile crosses Luke’s laugh as he speaks, his voice laced with a teasing tone, “I think I’m alright, I’d like this relationship to last longer than two weeks” 

Jack glances at him, before throwing a light punch to Luke’s shoulder.

 “Jerk” Luke mutters, and Jack smirks. 

They pull into the parking lot of the Prudential Center, and he grabs his bag and heads inside to meet up with his teammates, he can't wipe the smile off his face, can't shake the giddy anticipation building in his chest, for Saturday. 

*****

Hours later, Jordan sits cross-legged on her bed, a canvas propped up on her lap and a palette of colorful paints carefully balanced beside her.

 She's working on a piece for her art class, a vibrant abstract that's slowly taking shape under her careful brushstrokes and that was supposed to be due yesterday, but thankfully she received an extension on it, because she was a little distracted. 

In her ear, she listens as Luke’s laughter mingles with the soft sounds of a running shower. Alex is in the room seeing as how room checks have already been done, and that last thing Luke wanted was to give his teammates another reason to tease him.  

"So, who's your favorite artist?" Luke asks, his voice echoing slightly off the bathroom tiles.

Jordan hums thoughtfully, dabbing a bit of blue paint onto the canvas. "That's a tough one. I love so many different styles and periods. But if I had to pick just one, I'd probably say Van Gogh. There's just something about the way he captures emotion and movement in his brushstrokes, you know?"

"Yeah, I can see that," Luke agrees.

They talk about their favorite paintings, the museums they'd love to visit someday. Jordan tells Luke about her dream of studying abroad in Paris, of spending her days wandering the halls of the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay.

"What about you?" she asks, switching to a smaller brush for some detailing work. "If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?"

Luke is quiet for a moment.

"Iceland," he says finally, his voice a little muffled as he dries his face. "I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights, to hike through those crazy landscapes with the glaciers and the hot springs. Plus, I hear the people there are really friendly and laid-back."

Jordan smiles, picturing Luke bundled up in a puffy coat and hiking boots, his breath fogging in the crisp Icelandic air. "That sounds amazing," she says softly. "Maybe, someday we should go together” 

There's a beat of silence on the other end of the line, and Jordan feels her cheeks heat up, worried that she's overstepped. But then Luke chuckles, and she can hear the smile in his voice.

"I'd like that," he says warmly. "We could rent one of those little cabins, spend our days exploring and our nights curled up by the fire."

Jordan's heart flutters at the thought, at the easy way Luke includes her in his future plans. She knows it's still early, that they're just getting to know each other, but somehow it feels right, like pieces of a puzzle clicking into place.

"So, did you have any pets growing up?" Luke asks, changing the subject.

Jordan laughs, setting her paintbrush down and leaning back against her pillows. "Oh, yeah. We always had dogs in my family. Golden retrievers, mostly. They were like our unofficial mascots."

She tells him about Bubba, the rambunctious puppy who chewed up all her favorite stuffed animals, and Ginger, the gentle old soul who used to sleep at the foot of her bed every night.

"What about you?" she asks, curious. "Any childhood pets?"

Luke groans, and Jordan can practically hear him shaking his head. "No, no pets for me. Although one time, my brother found a lizard in our backyard and decided to adopt it."

"A lizard?" Jordan giggles, trying to picture a young Luke with a scaly companion.

"Yeah, he named it Godzilla and everything. But then one day, he thought it would be hilarious to put it on my head while I was sleeping. I woke up with this thing crawling all over my face, and I've hated lizards ever since."

Jordan bursts out laughing, imagining the look of terror on Luke's face as he wakes up to a lizard on his head. "Oh my god, that's terrible," she gasps out between giggles. "Your poor brother, though. He was probably devastated when you didn't want to be Godzilla's co-parent."

"Hey, he's the one who ruined it by using the lizard for evil," Luke protests, but Jordan can hear the laughter in his voice. "Besides, I think he was better off an orphan, than having my brother be his parent" 

They dissolve into laughter again, the kind that makes Jordan's cheeks ache and her eyes water. It's the kind of laughter that comes from a place of pure joy, of feeling completely at ease with another person.

As their giggles subside, Jordan realizes that she's been talking to Luke for over half an hour, and that her painting is long forgotten on the bed beside her.

“I should let you go, don't you have a game tomorrow?” She asks 

“Ya, you gonna watch me play?” Luke asks, a smile crossing his lips

Jordan know’s she’s got class tomorrow, from 9-3, but Luke plays at 2, she hesitates before responding “yes” 

“Sounds good, goodnight Jordan” 

“Goodnight Luke” 

*****

November 16th, 2023

Jordan wakes up to the sound of Jacob knocking on her door. She glances at her phone and sees that it's 8 AM. 

“Come in,” Jordan calls out, sitting up in bed.

Jacob opens the door and peeks his head in. "Hey, Jordy. Kelly already left for work and I’m heading to skate, so I wanted to see if you want a ride to campus?” 

Jordan hesitates for a moment, then shakes her head. "No, thanks. I think I'm just going to walk today.”

Jacob nods, a smile on his face. "Alright, Have a good day, I'll see you tonight after the game."

Thanks, Jake. Good luck today!" Jordan calls out as Jacob closes the door behind him.

Once she hears the front door close, Jordan flops back onto her bed, a grin spreading across her face. She has no intention of going to class today - not when Luke and the Devils are playing at 2 PM.

She grabs her phone and sends a quick text to Luke.

Jordan: Good luck today, superstar! I'll be cheering you on from my bed.

Luke: Haha, thanks, Jordan, I’ll try to score for you ;)

Jordan smiles, before setting her phone. 

She spends the next few hours working on some homework assignments, trying to stay focused despite the anticipation building in her chest.

Finally, 2 PM rolls around, and Jordan settles onto her bed with her laptop, ready to watch the game. She puts in her headphones and pulls up the streaming site, her eyes immediately scanning the ice for Luke's familiar figure.

The game is intense from the start, both teams fighting hard for every inch of ice. Jordan finds herself on the edge of her seat, her heart racing with every shot on goal.

And then, halfway through the second period, it happens. Luke gets the puck on his stick, weaves through the defenders like they're standing still, and snaps a shot past the goalie's glove.

"Yes!" Jordan cheers.

She's so caught up in the moment, so focused on Luke, that she almost doesn't hear her bedroom door opening behind her.

"Jordan?"

Jordan jumps, her heart leaping into her throat as she quickly slams her laptop shut and yanks out her headphones. She looks up to see Kelly standing in the doorway, a confused look on her face.

"Kelly! Hi! I didn't hear you come in," Jordan stammers, trying to catch her breath.

Kelly frowns, glancing at the laptop on the bed. "I thought you had class today? What are you doing home?"

Jordan's mind races, trying to come up with a plausible excuse. "Oh, my 2pm was canceled so I decided to come back and get some studying done.”

Kelly nods slowly, there's a hint of suspicion in her eyes. "I see. And the cheering?” 

“Just uh finally understood my econ homework” Jordan says, forcing a laugh, hoping it doesn't sound as fake as it feels. Kelly studies her for a long moment, and Jordan holds her breath, praying that her sister-in-law will buy the lie.

Kelly nods, and her smile widens “Ok, well don’t let me keep you from studying, I’ll be in the living room if you need anything” 

Jordan nods, relief washing over her. "Will do, Thanks, Kel."

As Kelly leaves the room, closing the door behind her, Jordan lets out a shaky breath. She knows she won't be able to watch the rest of the game now, not with Kelly home and the risk of getting caught.

With a sigh, she grabs her phone and sends a quick text to Luke.

Jordan: Ugh, had to stop watching. Kelly came home early and almost caught me. But I saw your goal! You were amazing out there. Can't wait to hear all about it later.

She sets her phone aside and tries to focus on her homework, for real this time. 

*****

After a thrilling 5-2 victory over the Blue Jackets, the Devils' locker room is buzzing with energy and excitement. Luke, still riding the high of his first multi point night, with a  goal and two assists, and is grinning from ear to ear as he towels off his sweaty hair.

"Luke!" a member of the Devils' PR team calls out, poking his head into the locker room. "Media wants to talk to you. You're up for post-game."

Luke nods, taking a deep breath and trying to compose himself. 

He follows the PR rep out to the media scrum, where a cluster of reporters and cameras are waiting for him. He takes his place in front of the backdrop, the Devils' logo prominently displayed behind him.

"Luke, congrats on the big win tonight," one of the reporters says, holding out a microphone. “You’ve scored a goal your last two games now, what has contributed to your improved performance?” 

Luke grins, shrugging modestly. "Just feeling good, I guess. When the team's playing well, it's easy to feed off that energy. We've been working hard in practice, and it's starting to translate onto the ice."

The questions continue for a few more minutes, ranging from his thoughts on the team's defensive performance to his personal goals for the rest of the season. Luke answers them all with poise and professionalism, even as his mind keeps drifting back to Jordan, to the way her voice sounds when she's cheering him on.

Finally, the PR rep signals that the interview is over, and Luke makes his way back to the locker room, a spring in his step and a glint in his eye.

As he enters the room, he's greeted by a chorus of cheers and wolf whistles from his teammates.

"Rusty!" Dawson calls out, grinning broadly.

"Two apples and a goal, Hughesy? You're making the rest of us look bad," Jesper teases, tossing a ball of tape at Luke's head.

Luke laughs, ducking out of the way and flipping Jesper off good-naturedly. "Hey, someone's gotta carry you slugs to victory."

"Oh, is that right?" Nico chimes in, raising an eyebrow. "And here I thought you were just trying to impress a certain someone."

Luke feels his cheeks heat up, and he shoots a glare at Jack, who's sitting in his stall with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"You told them?" he hisses, his voice low.

Jack shrugs, looking entirely too pleased with himself. "I might have mentioned that you have a big date coming up."

Luke groans, burying his face in his hands as his teammates start to hoot and holler around him.

"Lukey's got a girlfriend, Lukey's got a girlfriend!" Nate singsongs, doing a little dance in his skates.

"She's not my girlfriend," Luke mumbles, but he can't quite keep the smile off his face. "We haven't even gone out yet."

"But you want her to be your girlfriend," Dawson says, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Come on, Hughesy, spill the beans. What's she like? Is she hot?"

Luke scoffs, and rolls his eyes, hoping his silence is enough of an answer, which it is, but only because coach comes in the room, and tells them to hurry up because they gotta get to the plane. 

*****

November 17th, 2023

Jordan emerges from her bedroom, dressed and ready for her English Lit class. She's wearing a comfortable but cute outfit - her favorite pair of jeans, a cozy sweater, and a pair of ankle boots. Her hair is pulled back into a messy bun, and she's got a backpack slung over one shoulder.

As she walks into the living room, she sees Jacob and Kelly sitting at the breakfast table, sipping coffee and chatting quietly. They both look up as she enters, smiling warmly.

"Morning, Jords," Jacob greets her, setting down his mug. "You're up early."

Jordan shrugs, adjusting the strap of her backpack. "Yeah, I've got class at 9. Figured I should probably be on time for once."

Kelly chuckles, shaking her head. "I still don't know how you manage to function at that hour. When I was in college, I avoided 9 AMs like the plague."

Jordan grins, grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter. "It's not so bad once you get used to it. Plus, my teacher is pretty cool. He makes the lectures interesting."

Jacob nods, taking another sip of his coffee. "Speaking of class, what happened yesterday? I thought you had a full day, but Kelly said you were home when she got back."

Jordan feels a flicker of panic in her chest, but she tries to keep her expression neutral. "Oh, yeah, my last class got canceled. The teacher sent an email the night before, but I didn't see it until I was already on campus for my second class. So i just came back” 

She takes a bite of her apple, chewing slowly to give herself a moment to compose her thoughts.

Jacob studies her for a minute, as if he’s looking for something. 

She glances at the clock on the wall, realizing that she needs to get going if she wants to make it to class on time. "Alright, I should probably head out” 

Jacob stands up, stretching his arms above his head. "You want a ride? I'm heading to the rink for practice, but I can drop you off on the way."

Jordan hesitates for a moment, tempted by the offer, before deciding to decline, “That’s okay, I think I’ll walk” 

Jacob shrugs, grabbing his keys from the counter. "Suit yourself. Have a good day, Jords. Learn something new."

Jordan laughs, rolling her eyes. "I'll do my best.."

*****

Luke sits in his stall, methodically taping his stick as he goes through his pre-game routine. Around him, the locker room is a buzz of activity - teammates stretching, chatting, getting into the right headspace for the game ahead.

But Luke barely notices the noise, his mind a million miles away. He can't stop thinking about Jordan, wondering what she's doing right now.

He takes a deep breath, trying to center himself. He knows he needs to focus, needs to be fully present for the game ahead. The Flyers are a tough opponent. 

But even as he tries to push thoughts of Jordan aside, he can't quite shake the butterflies in his stomach, the giddy anticipation that comes with the promise of seeing her again soon.

Suddenly, his coach's voice cuts through the chatter, calling the team to attention. It's time to hit the ice, to put everything else aside and focus on the task at hand.

Luke stands up, grabbing his helmet and gloves and falling into line behind his teammates. As they make their way down the tunnel and onto the ice, he feels a familiar rush of adrenaline, the roar of the crowd washing over him like a wave.

The first period is a blur of motion and speed, the puck bouncing from stick to stick like a rubber bullet. Luke is in the zone, his skates carving through the ice like blades, his mind completely focused on the game.

But the Flyers are relentless, their forecheck suffocating and their defense stifling. The Devils struggle to gain any momentum, their passes just a little off, their shots just a little wide.

As the buzzer sounds for the end of the period, Luke skates off the ice feeling frustrated and drained. They're down 1-0, and he knows they need to find a way to turn things around if they want to have any chance of winning.

In the locker room, the coach tries to rally the troops, his voice stern but encouraging. "We're not out of this yet, boys," he says, looking each player in the eye. "We need to simplify our game, get pucks deep and work harder on the forecheck. We can still win this."

Luke nods, wiping the sweat from his brow and taking a long swig of water. He knows the coach is right, knows that they have the skill and the determination to come back from this deficit.

But as the second period starts, it becomes clear that the Flyers have other ideas. They come out flying, their skates a blur as they swarm the Devils' zone like angry bees.

Luke does his best to keep up, defend rushes and create chances for his team. But the Flyers are relentless, and before he knows it, they're down 3-0, the game slipping away from them like sand through an hourglass.

As the second intermission rolls around, the mood in the locker room is grim. Guys are hanging their heads, muttering curses under their breath. The coach tries to keep things positive, but even he seems to be running out of words.

Luke sits in his stall, his head in his hands. He can't help but feel like he's letting his team down, like he should be doing more to turn the tide.

But even as he tries to rally himself, to find that extra gear that will help him push through the fatigue and the frustration, his mind keeps drifting back to Jordan.

He wonders if she's watching the game, if she's cheering him on from her couch or her bedroom. He pictures her face, the way her eyes light up when she smiles, the way her laugh makes his heart skip a beat.

And somehow, for the first time in his life, he feels like there’s more to life than hockey, and he doesn’t know if he should be ecstatic or terrified. 

As the final buzzer sounds and the Devils skate off the ice with their heads held low, Luke feels a sense of disappointment wash over him. It's never easy to lose, especially at home in front of your own fans.

But as he makes his way back to the locker room, he feels his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulls it out to see a text from Jordan, a simple message that makes his heart swell with warmth.

You played your heart out tonight. I'm so proud of you. Can't wait to see you tomorrow.

#luke hughes #nj devils #original story #crossing enemy lines

[max1461]

Scattered thoughts on "let's have a universal language for the economic benefits".

So like, ok, some object level considerations: languages are not dying out (mostly) in favor of English. Like, English is not naturally becoming a universal language. Languages die out in favor of local majority languages, and there's hundreds of those. I feel pretty confident in saying that the only way to achieve a universal language within a couple of centuries would be some sort of highly authoritarian set of language policies that I think everyone in this discussion is against. So we're not getting a universal language naturally any time soon—in particular, not within the present technological horizon.

I think once we look outside the present technological horizon the issue is probably mostly moot. Like, machine translation is already getting very good. I suspect it will be within my lifetime that the job of real-time interpreters can basically be totally automated, at least outside of particularly high stakes contexts. And maybe in the far future we'll all be a hive mind or some shit, I don't know.

So anyway, I don't think "we're going to get a universal language naturally soon, and that's something that will have large economic benefits" actually stands up very well to scrutiny on the object level. I would bet against this.

Worth noting also that I don't think that at present language barriers are a large source of economic friction in the industrialized world. Like from naive observation that just doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe it is, I don't know. It would be cool if someone had stats on this.

Anyway, I think the large-scale "linguistic homogenization will be really good" thing is probably not likely.

The more thorny issues are local (in both time and space). Being a member of a minority speech community has various economic downsides, and in exchange speakers often report intangible benefits like a sense of pride, a feeling of connection to ancestors, access to works (such as oral or written literature) that are composed in the language, etc.

Obviously I'm a big fan of vague intangible benefits because I'm one of those Gender Havers, and the idea of sacrificing some practical utility in exchange for like, achieving my desired expression is very close to home for me. So I'm always big on defending the value of intangible benefits.

Of course not all members of minority speech communities report intangible benefits. I think this correlates a lot with, you know, ideology, just like gender stuff does. The point is that people have complicated feelings about their relationship with language and you can't always predict what they will be. This is why I compared the ethics of minority language immersion schooling to population ethics questions about ending autism. See that post for elaboration.

Anyway, you could probably predict I was going to say this, but the point I keep coming back to is "languages matter a lot to people, and once they die you can't get them back, so you probably should not throw them away lightly". And when I say that languages matter a lot to people, I don't mean to linguists. I mean like... if you ever listen to someone from a moribund speech community, here in the states at least, the relationship between language and personal identity is something you'll hear about immediately. I've heard some version of "when a people loses their language, they've lost everything" about a thousand times. And like, sure, the concept of identifying with "a people" might not hold much stock for you, but the concept of identifying with a gender doesn't hold much stock for a lot of people. I think it's important to take people's word for the intangible benefits they say they derive from stuff.

So like, I guess the upshot is:

My strong hope is that within my lifetime, redistributive economic policy and the advancement of machine translation will make all ethical debates around language policy absolutely trivial. In the meantime I think it's worth supporting policies that support the existence and continued use of minority languages. Obviously not if it impinges on individual rights—you know, I'm not saying anybody should be forced to speak their parents' language, that's fantastically beside the point.

I'm not just saying this because I'm a linguist and, clearly, find language to have aesthetic value in themselves. Although, you know, I do think that. It's just not the most salient fact here.

#society

[curiousb]

The DBU Alumni Newsletter: Volume I

Welcome to the first edition of the De Bourgh University alumni newsletter, where we catch up with all our recent graduates, as they take their first steps in the world beyond academia!

Engaged couple Martha and James have moved back to Merybury, to take up residence at the Knightley family home.

~ Scorpio  8 / 7 / 5 / 2 / 7

~ Animal Lover / Bookworm / Coward / Absent-minded / Vegetarian

~ OTH: Nature

~ Favourite colour(s): Turquoise / Orange

~ Aspiration: Knowledge / Family

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Animal Lover / +Mechanical / -Rebellious

~ Major: Mathematics (3.6)

~ LTW: Have 6 Grandchildren

Almost as soon as the young couple move in, there's a sad loss to endure - of family pet Tiger.

But this animal-loving family have since opened their home to former stray Sake.

~ Scorpio 6 / 3 / 7 / 6 / 7

~ Athletic / Brave / Loner / Night Owl / Frugal

~ OTH: Tinkering

~ Favourite Colour(s): Blue

~ Aspiration: Fortune / Knowledge

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Adventurous / +Reserved / -Daydreamer

~ Major: Economics (4.0)

~ LTW: Have $100,000 Mansion

Marmaduke has moved in with his older brother Ambrose, to share a rented apartment in Merybury, while he looks for the right opportunity to exercise his business acumen.

He's already winning new friends and influencing people.

~ Gemini 4 / 7 / 9 / 1 / 3

~ Genius / No Sense of Humour / Dog Person / Diva / Ambitious

~ OTH: Sport

~ Favourite Colour(s): Primaries

~ Aspiration: Fortune / Romance

~ Turn-ons / -offs: +Athletic / +Serious / -Rebellious

~ Major: Biology (3.7)

~ LTW: Own a Top Business

Also returning to the family home is William. Although he's a Literature graduate, he's decided that he would really like to follow in the footsteps of his mother Fanny, by pursuing a career in Natural Science, which will mean dedicating himself to many years of further study. He's also still considering what the future might hold for his relationship with fiancée Keziah.

~ Cancer 7 / 3 / 6 / 4 / 9

~ Coward / Shy / Natural Cook / Eco-friendly / Avant Garde

~ OTH: Cuisine

~ Favourite Colour(s): Mauve

~ Aspiration: Family / Knowledge

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Reserved / +Tidy / -Infamous

~ Major: Literature (3.1)

~ LTW: Become Ecological Guru (Literature is going to be a big help with that 🙄 - yet another example of the Maxis criteria for rolling a Want to study a particular Major making no sense!)

Former family pet Boo puts in regular appearances, to remind them that nothing is really gone forever - not in this world anyway.

Over in Sanditon, Keziah is dismayed by the light fixtures in her rented studio apartment, and I'm dismayed by her postgraduate attire.

With her signature look re-established, she too is reflecting on the current status of her relationship with William, and hoping that they can move beyond a certain unfortunate misunderstanding.

~ Pisces 3 / 4 / 5 / 4 / 6

~ Absent-minded / Rebellious / Eco-friendly / Brooding / Avant Garde

~ OTH: Film & Literature

~ Favourite Colour(s): Orange / Blue

~ Aspiration: Knowledge / Pleasure

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Reserved / +Unique / -Fitness

~ Major: Mathematics (3.7)

LTW: Job Hopper

And finally, for this edition, we catch up with Marmaduke and Ambrose's sister Olivia. Although the Military has decided that it's not a good match for her unique talents...

...she and boyfriend Elliot have a much happier event to report. We're sure that this dynamic young couple are set to take Merybury by storm!

Olivia's adult stats:

~ Scorpio 4 / 5 / 7 / 5 / 1

~ Ambitious / Vehicle Enthusiast / Handy / Mean-spirited / Workaholic

~ OTH: Tinkering

~ Favourite Colour(s): Burgundy

~ Aspiration: Fortune / Knowledge

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Occult / +Serious / -Daydreamer

~ Major: Biology (3.9)

~ LTW: Earn $100,000

Elliot's adult stats:

~ Pisces 8 / 5 / 10 / 6 / 3

~ Grumpy / Virtuoso / Born Performer / Workaholic / Anxious

~ OTH: Music & Dance

~ Favourite Colour(s): Black

~ Aspiration: Fortune / Knowledge

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Cultured / +Serious / -Daydreamer

~ Major: Economics (3.7)

~ LTW: Become Criminal Mastermind

#sims 2 #gameplay #merybury #martha knightley #james morland #tiger knightley #sake knightley #marmaduke elton #william bertram #boo bertram #keziah dashwood #olivia elton #elliot wentworth #knightley family #elton family #bertram family #dashwood family #wentworth family #dbu alumni

[dipperdesperado]

what is capitalism?

After watching this video and thinking about it a little more, I want to quickly discuss what has been the most useful way for me to define capitalism, along with what are the most interesting features. If you want a deeper dive, check the linked video above.

When people think of capitalism, they might think of free trade, freedom, or innovation. When it's put like this, being anticapitalist sounds like being against these idea(l)s. While some folks might be against free trade in its current definitional context, the ideals of freedom and innovation can be featured in non-capitalist systems. I'd go so far as to argue that the maximum realization of freedom, free trade (as in choices and options, not race-to-the-bottom competition), and innovation flourish proportionally to the level of equity of the economic system. The more people that have access and power to the means of production, the faster things can progress. So, what is a useful way to think of capitalism? I'm going to refer to this definition from the Center for Popular Economics:

Private Ownership, especially of the Means of Production ["MOPs"] (Factories, Fields, etc)

Wage Labor (you exchange your time and energy for currency)

Profit Maximization (a focus on getting more than is needed for perpetuation)

Commodity Production (using MOPs to create goods, over which the producers have a bounded autocracy)

Market Exchange (platform of exchange based on supply and demand)

These are the main things that make up capitalism. The first two are necessary features, and the last three are common patterns. I'd argue that we need all of these working together, as agents/elements in the system that is capitalism. Depending on where you are in the world, some features might have a higher focus. If nation-states were RPG characters, and capitalism was a class for those characters, the stats for private property and wage labor start off with higher specs, while widely varying amounts of XP could be put into the other stats.

If you take away the first two elements, then the system stops being capitalist. If you can get rid of private (not personal) property and the need to trade time+energy for money, then you can create other relationships with stuff. This is true even if there's still a market, there are still commodities being produced, and a focus on making more than is needed. Not getting rid of those things, or only getting rid of one, may either lead to a system that is a nicer form of capitalism (like social democracy) or could leave the door open for capitalistic relationships to crop back up.

#economics #economy #econ #anti capitalists be like #neoliberal capitalism #late stage capitalism #anti capitalism #capitalism #activism #activist #direct action #solarpunks #solarpunk #praxis #socialism #sociology #social revolution #social justice #social relations #social ecology #organizing #complexity

[romance-of-three-memes]

I know talking about the war in Ukraine has fallen out of the regular new cycle in many parts of the world so talking about it isn't vogue anymore, but anyway if you've ever wondered why Russia wants Crimea *so badly*, it can be broken down into three primary reasons.

1. It provides those sweet, sweet warm water ports Russia is always dying to have since it opens up a lot more commerce options, and with the way Russia's been doing economically, it needs all the help it can get, but unfortunately due to uhhh history, most everyone else is unwilling to help. Many of its neighbors in particular have been getting bullied by it for centuries, and when your bully comes up and asks to borrow a coat because it's cold, you're probably not going to be inclined to hand it over. That, plus Russia is often too proud to ask for help anyway.

2. It offers a nice little foothold into Ukraine, which we've seen them take advantage of.

3. What's most relevant to the general interests of this blog, the fact that Crimea is a defender's wet dream. It's a textbook case of just about everything you could possibly want, it's a peninsula connected to the continent by one small isthmus that at most is three or four miles wide (or about five to seven kilometers). That isthmus is marred by lagoons, and the terrain often changes significantly with the tide, which goes from low to high and vice versa approximately every six hours. It's a perfect choke point. There are a couple of major bridges connecting it to other parts of the continent, but those can easily be guarded or sabotaged. Moreover, Crimea also has some pretty steep mountain ranges, so if you were smart enough to make sure they were under control, you'd have the high ground, especially since so much of the rest of Crimea is pretty flat. It has a ton of rivers acting as natural barriers to either keep the enemy at bay or slow them down if you have to retreat.

Likewise, Crimea is a nightmare for invaders. Sure, they could attack via air or sea, but that's much more expensive and logistically nightmarish than just having your guys march or drive across dry land, and that mostly necessitates having had a really good navy or airforce to begin with. The most 'reliable' strategy is also one of the worst case scenarios for just about any military force, having to throw people into that choke point and cross your fingers hoping that if you throw enough people hard enough for long enough, eventually they'll make headway. This is an incredibly costly strategy, for Crimea in particular just about every successful invasion with somewhat accurate stats count tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of deaths often spread out over months, the majority of those being on the invader's side.

'If Crimea is so great for whoever's occupying it then why did Russia take it so easily in 2014?'

A few reasons, largely because they'd been planning ahead for a long time. In the 1940s the Tatars who inhabited Crimea were forcefully removed and it was resettled by ethnic Russians, many of whom continued to be loyal to Russia even when Crimea was made part of Ukraine. A lot of the guys in the military had also been there since the soviet days and felt some sense of loyalty for that, and they happily defected due to that loyalty (or because they knew they were on the losing side and wanted to save their own skin). Basically the population was preemptively primed to not resist because Russia coming along and taking over was seen as a good thing by many of them. The state of the Ukranian military also didn't put them in much of a place to put up a fight, and even the few who tried were quickly handled by the Russian military. So that was a process at least seven decades in the making, but it sure did work out for them, unfortunately.

#other history #other military

[council-of-beetroot]

do let us know how the chicago trip goes!

The stat about chicago having more poles than Warsaw comes from an estimated number based off he number of immigrants and projected second-generation populations-- NOT the actual population of self-identified poles in chicago. Historically a lot of Poles went for integration so it's not surprising that a lot of people of polish heritage stopped self-identifying as polish by the third gen. I'm sure if you counted every single person who has a drop of polish blood as polish, Chicago might still count as having more poles than warsaw.

tho most polish americans in chicago are third gen by now, so a lot of them are very americanized. polish community stuff is all but gone tbh. From what I hear the polish community is basically a stepping stone of sorts before going on to economic prosperity and moving elsewhere-- to the suburbs or whatever. I would say most people of polish heritage don't speak Polish, but there are still a fair amount who do-- theres even a polish radio station, 103.1, & whoever djs in the late afternoon (after 2pm but before 8pm) absolutely SLAPS.

Apparently there's still a 'Polish American accent' (which sounds about as much like Polish as an Italian American accent sounds Italian) but honestly to me it just sounds like your typical white accent. Maybe a touch lower class, but it's stopped reading like that to most people since a significant amount of second-gen Poles got good respectable jobs and are pretty middle class overall.

Culturally speaking food practices are usually the absolute Last things to go in terms of naturally occurring assimilation. I've seen classmates having pack pierogis for lunch. The cherry ones go crazy imo. Anyways you should def go check out some of the Polish restaurants in town!

but yeah if you're looking at chicago as a polish city it Will be disappointing. if you take it on its face tho as an american city with heavy polish influence, you'll be pleasantly surprised by how much polish stuff is around.

Yeah it's similar here in Michigan and not much of what used to be remains. And unlike the Italians we didn't really make our name in changing American cuisine or inventing st Patrick's day like the Irish.

My family is probably the exception to the norm solely from the fact that you can find jars of chrzan at Thanksgiving, and even then no one speaks much polish and there's a lot of traditions that we've lost throughout generations.

It's a little sad but it is what it is 🤷🏼‍♀️ i guarantee in fifty years there won't be much of anything and in a hundred years the prominent groups today will make way to even more groups of immigrants that will do the same with those groups being like alright let's move on and do our things.

#asks and replies #anon

[anotherpapercut]

College Resources

hey y'all so I have a degree in math, and have been tutoring college level math, stats, physics, and study skills for a few years now and I have several certifications as a college level tutor and in my years tutoring I've picked up a lot of absolutely essential things you NEED to know to pass math classes (and others!) if you have a hard time in math class, which unfortunately most schools will not teach you

so if you're in college (or high school, but some of these will be college specific) and you would like to hear my Professional Tips for how to survive math in college I have compiled a list of things I think you should know below the read more! I'm going to put a couple general tips at the top though for people who aren't taking a math class

alright, welcome to the read more! let's start with some general things

ok I'm starting with a kind of tip before the tips: if you are disabled, talk to disability support services at your school. a lot of times they provide services to attain a diagnosis if you don't have one, but if you do it's typically pretty easy to get accommodations and if your teachers try not to follow them, they will get in A LOT of trouble (I'm in the us so idk how disability laws are in other countries but here this is a big deal for universities bc public funding etc and if you make a complaint they will be FORCED to comply). I'm not saying bad experiences never happen, I've not been to every school in the us and I'm sure there are places that suck abt this, but I literally would not have been able to get a degree in math without accommodations (I'm autistic and have dyscalculia + memory issues) so it was worth every annoyed sigh by a dumbass teacher (which honestly rarely happened. most of them were cool). some possible accommodations include, extra time on tests, separate testing locations, formula cards, ability to use notes etc etc

I work in a free tutoring center at my local community college. while I won't say these are definitely universal, every college I have encountered (in the US, where I live) has one of these. Google the name of your school with tutoring. there is a very high chance you have free tutors available in a variety of subjects who are ready to help you. you should utilize the fuck out of this bc ur already probably paying for it in ur tuition

my favorite resource ever is one you may have heard of but I'm reminding you of it anyway. the Crash Course YouTube channel! it has free comprehensive videos about various subjects (including anatomy, physics, biology, economics, statistics and lots lots more). the videos are about 10 minutes each and they're incredibly easy to understand. they're an amazing way to study for finals. trust me on this one. they actually now have real introductory college courses that you can take for credit (tho I think you have to pay for that?) through YouTube so check into that!

take notes!!!!!!!! for real. seriously. even if you've never had to before. trust me. and don't just copy exactly what the board says, write what your teacher says out loud as well, that is often the most important stuff. I highly recommend investing in a few colored pens and/or highlighters. anytime the teacher says something important (such as formulas in a math class or a grammar rule in an English class) either write it in another color, or highlight it. color coding your notes even the tiniest bit will help you tremendously when you're studying and doing homework later. this doesn't mean having a color code so elaborate and strict that you're spending more time and energy figuring out the right color than listening and writing. I usually do the bulk of my notes in black then things like formulas or whatever in one bright color and extra bits of info from the teacher in another, this way it's easier to find the important stuff later on

if you've got a couple extra bucks, invest in a mini stapler. you'll be shocked how often those lil bitches come in handy

DO NOT EVER purchase your text books before the classes start (unless you get like an email before class starts telling you you need the book, but this is pretty rare tbh). half of your teachers are going to tell you on day 1 that they don't use the book at all. and honestly almost all of your books can be found by googling the name + pdf. just triple check that you have the correct edition!

speaking of emails, CHECK YOUR FUCKING SCHOOL EMAIL. I am so dead serious about this one. set up notifications on your phone. if you do not check your email you are going to show up for cancelled classes, miss assignment corrections, and generally not do nearly as well in your classes. I know this sounds fake but holy fucking shit please for the love of all that is good and holy check your fucking email. seriously.

the best way to study for your finals is to look at past tests and homework! if your teacher isn't a total dick they'll give you back your tests and homework. when studying for your final, go through and redo any that you got wrong, and look over the ones you got right. teachers usually take final questions from old tests and homework so if you do this it's very possible you'll study your exact finals questions. if they won't give you these back, reread your notes (in a way I'll describe in a moment)

reread your notes the same day you take them or very soon after so the lecture is still fresh in your mind! when you do this, grab a colored pen and take notes on your notes. I know this sounds ridiculous but it's actually a very important study tool. if you come across something you wrote that is confusing, write out an explanation. write down extra things that will help you understand the material. if there's something that you don't understand or don't remember PLEASE ask your teacher. some of them won't answer email so catch them in office hours or after class if you can. at the end of the semester when you're studying for finals, do this all over again but through your whole notebook for the semester (not all at once. pls take breaks lmfao)

if your teacher doesn't offer it up at the end of the semester, ask "can you please tell us some of the topics we should emphasize when studying for our finals?" (you can also say this in a far less pretentious way but I've found that professors are more likely to give you a real answer if you talk like this ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) I'm ngl, some of em will be assholes about this. they may laugh at the idea and snarkily say "look at your homework" or some shit equivalent. roll your eyes at these old bitches and move on. but many if not most will at least give y'all some idea of what to expect. and crucially: write down what they say and use it as a study guide

okey dokey!! that concludes the general section. now I'm gonna talk about some math specific stuff that will help you a lot if you struggle with math!

starting with an easy one: get a good calculator. please for the love of GOD do not get the TI-30X IIS unless you love it and are EXTREMELY familiar with all of the different operations. I'm sorry but this calculator sucks ass and it will hold you back. for about the same price you can get my personal favorite the Casio FX-115ES Plus (1st edition only, I haven't tried the 2nd edition bc I don't like change) or an FX-991 EX. if you're a Texas instruments guy get a TI 30XS or if ur doing calc and shit I'd get a 36X pro. I just prefer Casio personally lmao. in all likelihood your math teacher will be a calculator nerd who can teach you how to use any of these but there are also lots of videos made by calculator nerds on YouTube as well

so next I just want to emphasize how important your notes are. you cannot pass a math class without good notes unless it's a class you've already taken or something, and honestly even then I'd recommend you write some stuff down because the thing about math is there are a lot of different ways to do the same thing. which brings me to my next point

pay attention to the process your teacher uses to solve problems (I'll give an example in a sec) and especially to how they write the process down. if you're like me and you have trouble with the whole "show your work" thing this will help a lot, because you can use what your teacher writes down as a guideline for what you should write down. for instance, you may have learned about a math concept like permutations and combinations in high school one way, and then be taught a completely different way of performing the calculation in college. if this happens, ask your teacher about your way. sometimes their way is better for a specific reason and it's really important that you learn it. sometimes they'll say it doesn't matter just do what makes the most sense to you. sometimes you will also not get full credit if you do things a different way too so be careful and pay attention to what your teacher says abt it. you may have also been taught to show some steps in an operation but not others and your new teacher may want all of them. or none. or different ones. unfortunately math has a lot of variations

similarly, if there's a concept you don't understand, start by asking your teacher about it first bc they may want you doing a specific thing. if they're not helpful and you don't have access to a tutor turn to the internet. here are my recommendations for resources: Khan Academy has videos and examples explaining concepts in pretty much all types of math. usually really helpful because they'll show you several different methods and use different explanations, MathWay for classes that come before trig/calc. you can use it for those but it's a little more annoying lol specifically in regards to graphing and solving integrals and shit. this tool has A LOT of stuff in it but is best as a calculator to check your work on stuff and for showing you graphs that have transformations and shit like that from college algebra. it's got settings for different math types and even chemistry tho!, for more complicated graphing I'd use Desmos. you can use this in all classes but it's just a bit more complicated imo and it's more made for complex operations so I prefer to use MathWay as much as possible bc it's just more user friendly., there's also Symbolab which a lot of my fellow tutors really like but I personally tend to use the others more, Wolfram Alpha is a pretty well known one. tbh I find it kind of hard to use sometimes so i usually use it as a last resort lmfao but it is really good!, this last one is calculus specific (including things like calc based physics ofc) but derivative calculator and integral calculator are everything to me. could not have gotten through calc 2 and 3 w/o these mfs

OK THIS PART IS REALLY IMPORTANT!! we're going to talk about how you can make your math tests WAY easier on you and massively improve your chances of passing. here's what you're going to do for every test

1. when studying for your test, go through and find ALL formulas that you used in the unit(s) your test is over (this includes formulas you learned previously but used in this unit as well!!)

2. commit them to memory. easiest way to do this (besides practicing using them!!) is to rewrite them a few times including what you use them for and what all of the symbols and letters stand for

3. when you go in to take your test, spend like 5-10 minutes beforehand, right up until they make you put everything away, studying and rewriting these

4. the SECOND the test hits your desk, flip it over and write down every single formula immediately (including as much extra info like when to use and variable definitions as possible). now you won't have to try to remember them 30 minutes in when your brain is frying!!

5. go through the test and read each question carefully. if you can't remember how to solve it within 30 seconds skip it. you might only do 4 or 5 questions (maybe less depending on the length of your test) after the first pass, but just go back to the beginning and do it again, giving urself a little more time w each pass. this will ensure that you're not spending 45 minutes on problem 4 and having no time to get to the rest of the test. additionally with math it is extremely common to basically find the answer to how to do one problem while you're doing another problem. doing the ones you know first will also boost your confidence and help prevent anxiety from wiping ur brain. this is a really really important part of math tests

6. before you hand your test in, make sure you've written SOMETHING down on EVERY SINGLE QUESTION. even if you have absolutely 0 idea whatsoever what to do, there is always a chance for partial credit. a lot of times, you also know more than you think you do. so even if you can only do half a step of the whole process, half a point is better than 0!! if you really have no clue what to do, make something up. I know this probably sounds ridiculous but I'm so deadass. once I was taking a physics test and could not for the life of me remember what formula to use so I just made one up based on my vague idea of how it worked lmao. I wrote off to the side "I know this isn't how physics works, but I can't remember that so just pretend I'm god for a second" and I got like 75% of the points bc the teacher appreciated the effort!! there were fucking countless times when I was taking a test and I got to a point where I knew the steps of what I was supposed to do but could not figure out HOW to actually DO the math. so I wrote in words my understanding of what the next steps were. even though I didn't finish answering the question, I always got points for trying. this is what teachers are wanting from you. effort. so PLEASE write literally anything even if you're just making that shit up (just explain your reasoning in words to the side, as long as you're using logic you're really getting the essence of math anyway). you would not BELIEVE how fast your grades will improve by doing this. I tutored a girl who went from Ds to Bs within literally 2 weeks of starting tutoring just because she stopped leaving any questions blank and started getting partial credit

that's all the important stuff I can think of for now though I'm sure there's much more so I may update this in the future!

of course everyone is going to have a different experience and relationship with math. so adjust all of these tips to fit how you learn best. please try to remember that learning math is a very important part of developing your critical reasoning and logistical analysis skills. these are essential to understanding and interacting with the world and math is just a way of exercising those muscles. trust me when I say I know how infuriating math can be. I have dyscalculia and a math degree. I've spent so many hours crying over math you probably wouldn't even believe me. but it's worth it! and frankly, if you're in college, you're paying a lot of money for this class. you deserve to get everything you possibly can out of it

above all, if you're having trouble ASK FOR HELP. ask your teacher, ask your classmates, ask the head of the department, ask student services, ask Google!! and if you need help you can always ask me! :) I love helping people with this stuff and even if I don't know the answer to your question I'm pretty good at knowing where to look for them!

#this is so long and im praying the readmore works #this has been in my drafts for like a year sjdbakhdwihddnemsodm #college resources #math resources #forgot that tumblr builds in its own readmore now #good enough right?

[winemom-culture]

The economy debate is the most insane I’ve felt on Twitter in a long time. The core of the argument seems to be “we can’t judge an economy based on vibes,” which, alright, fair. But then there’s a contingent that takes it a bridge further to say “well, people SHOULD be happy with the economy because we’ve returned to a pre-covid state that’s comparable/better than 2019. You’re just doing bad faith hatred of the Democratic Party if you’re not happy with the economy now.”

This group always seems to conveniently gloss over the relatively massive increase in our welfare state from ~2020-2022, which is now slowly being axed bit by bit. I think it follows to say when you have a population that is drowning, throw them a bone and then rip it back away- the return to the “norm” is going to produce bad economic sentiment, and that’s totally reasonable.

Instead of talking about that at all, they’re QTing TikTok screencaps of 15 year olds complaining about the economy through the lens of McDonald Hamburger and going “gotcha leftists! There’s more to economy than just McDonald’s Hamburger!” without pausing for one second and using that big adult brain to realize maybe that’s NOT someone who has a fundamental understanding of the core problem yet, and blindly sees prices around them soaring.

I don’t know if it’s intentionally disingenuous or just primarily a group of people lucky enough to have not felt a tangible improvement in their quality of life with stimulus, child tax credit, Medicaid continuous coverage, etc., so maybe it really doesn’t occur to them. But I don’t think arguing and going “well actually…,” in the face of parents who got pushed back below the poverty line between 2021 and 2022 is conducive to the Leftist/Socialist/whatever mission for any reason at all, really, even if the stats do technically support it.

[piece-of-the-pie-if]

Could I ask a prompt question? If not please just ignore this! I borrowed the bonus word for word from another blog so thank you to that anon lol 🩷

"📚 BOOKS - how were they at school? what is their best subject? what is their worst subject? do they have a favourite subject? BONUS: which clique do they fall under/are they in?"

Much thanks in advance

this was fun to think about, and very relevant!!

+little run down of the teachers and their subjects: professor bhart(history), mr thorp(math stats&trig), mrs halberd(math algebra), professor kiernan (chemistry), mr gigandet(p.e), mrs gigandet(p.e.), miss friek(physics), mr willingham(biology), professor lewis(social studies), mrs okoye(calculus), mr davidson(geometry), miss joubert(languages deutch&french), mr allon(language spanish&latin), mr cosi(languages german), mrs liao(language mandarin chinese), miss elphard(economics), mr dain(civics), mr darren(geography), mrs pollock(psychology) and professor grupnin(i.c.t). there are others too but... this is already long.

+let me know if you guys want to know more about the teaching faculty!

It's safe to say Dylan isn't the best at school, it's not that they don't like school or don't do the work──they just have different priorities that take president over studious things like math and science... Dylan's favourite subject will always be art and it's not just because it's the only subject they excel in──art being a creative outlet for them to channel their feelings into let's them be so laid-back and easygoing with the rest of their life, art is truly an escape and a paradise to them. Their worst subjects usually depend on what exactly is being taught... they're not bad at math but they're not good at algebra or trigonometry... they're not good at history but they know so much about the renaissance era. Their teachers usually affect their focus is class, teachers like Professor Bharti and Mr Willingham make it so engaging Dyl has no choice but the pay attention where as Mr Thorp or Miss Friek are not engaging at all and Dylan has to push themselves not to fall asleep in class!

Shay is kind of a difficult one to place. He's new, completely new to the American school system. Back in England he was fairly average, maybe above average in a few classes, but he's kind of been shoved in at the deep end right now. Technically Shay is overall good at academics, basics like math and the sciences he's got down, the subjective ones like history and english, not so much──he's got to relearn and catch up to a whole different curriculum which is hard! So I think it's a little harsh to call him bad at any subject... it's p.e. it's always been p.e──he's built like a bean sprout, a string bean. There's no stamina in those lungs, there's no muscle in those arms, he'd rather not crack a rib trying to run 100 feet, thank you very much! Shay's favourite subject is actually I.C.T or computing as the Americans call it, he's very good with the digital stuff! (and Professor Grupnin is so cool it's worth the pain of going through stuff he already knows!)

Kinsley is... Above Average. She has to be, her mother expects it. Her lowest scores are never below a C and she's always firmly in the top 10 of each class overall. She excels is civics/government as well as social studies but her favourite class would have to be art too──and not just because Dylan's there with her! Kinsley isn't particularly good at art but she loves painting, like her mother used to... Her worst subjects are actually the ones where communication and group work is essential, like her language class (mandarin chinese), or english and history because of the group work... Kin isn't the best... team player... but she's not a slouch either! It might take a while busy she does her piece, she can't bring (academic) disappointment to her family's name, you know.

In a shaking turn if events, J is actually the best performing in academics of the ROs! It started as a genuine interest is learning when they were young but was twisted into spite as they grew older and was told they would never amount to much by their father. J doesn't skip classes, especially for no reason, but with their reputation everyone thinks they pay nerds or beat up losers to do their assignments for them... J's teachers have never done anything about those rumours because when sitting tests and exams, J's always had some of the highest marks... there's no cheating off of someone who gets less marks than you... J's favourite class is history, full stop. Mainly because they're not interested in civics (government) or fictional stories (english) or fancy numbers they couldn't give less if a shit about. They like history because it's real, but it's also not at the same time, they like the challenge it brings to their mind, in what they believe history is about and if it's right. They also like p.e... mostly the running but they'd never admit it! (their worst class was government, they dropped it as soon as they could. They get enough politics at home to last them a lifetime!)

Theo tries their best at school, but it's a significant challenge when they're dyslexic. They're earnest in their enjoyment of school, as a shocker their best subject is math, specifically Mrs Okoye's calculus (because Theo is also in pre-calc!), because they're good at numbers, the numbers are straightforward and don't give them a headache just to look at. Their worst subject is probably a mix between the language (spanish) they dropped and psychology (which they're thinking of also dropping)... the big scientific words in psychology hurts their eyes and they always confuse terms, and the prospect of even comprehending english is hard enough let alone spanish! Theo's favourite subject... is the music elective with a non-teacher who comes in to... teach every thursday!

BONUS! What clique do they fall under?

Dylan──the popular by opinion clique, put there because of everyone else simply since they're so friendly and easygoing. If Dyl had to name their own clique they'd probably say something like the chill clique... because that's what they are.

Shay──the new person clique... that's to say he's too new to truly be apart of a 'clique'. Shay is quickly swept up by many different people which confused most others as to where he and his 'allegiances' should lie... He talks to both Dylan and MC daily pulling him into both the popular by association clique and the nobodies and nerds (by association) clique but he's also one of the few friendly with J placing him with the rebel kids and smokers club cliques too... maybe he should be part of the chill clique for being such the social butterfly!

Kinsley──the popular by choice and reputation clique and she's on top, at least from everyone else's perspective. She's powerful, as is her family. She's got connections. People aren't sure if they want to be Kinsley, be with her or be out of her sight! Her reputation is covered in ice, as cold as her stare and as unforgiving as her opinion of you... Though perhaps behind the scenes she's not the one pulling the strings and her facade is beginning to thaw.

J──J is a bit of an enigma at school. They're cool and therefore infamous, popular by default... but they're also scary, untouchable in a different Kinsley and Dylan are, unshakable in a different way that Shay is. Truly the embodiment of the rebel kids clique, part of the smokers clique on account that J is a smoker, not that they're friends with 'the smokers'. People tend to stay away from J simply because they don't know how J will react... some brave souls attempt to enter their circle, create a door in their walls but they're all shit down... Somehow Shay is an automatic exception and now MC is suddenly entering the ring too... it puts people on edge and the rumours we'll, they're flying.

Theo──the nobodies and nerds clique. Even though, like Kinsley, Theo's parents are powerful people they're not one for the spotlight. They trip over their words and are too anxious for they own good──they're perfectly fine living under the judgemental radar until they can get through the hellscape that is high school. That being said... being part of the nobodies part of this clique is a blessing... seeing as they don't get nearly as bullies as the losers clique. Theo often ponders if they're not there because of their parents or because they're not nearly enough of a loser to be worthy of the time to be bullied... (Theo ponders if it's because the nobodies and nerds clique are a group of close knit friends instead of lonesome losers... one person is less if a target they suppose.)

#piece of the pie if #all ros #dylan quinn #shay walker #kinsley grace-cameron #j montgomery #theo wesley

[perestroika-hilton]

When the bottom 20% economically go from 10% representation in the military to 19% over the course of a few decades I think it's fine to start talking about the military preying on poor people

Also whenever there are 3 quintiles they are going to make up a majority

The military is middle class thing while true still relies on the middle 3 quintiles making up more than 50% and it's like by that metric a lot of shit is gonna erroneously be labeled a middle class phenomenon if the middle class makes up most of your data points this is like not even stats 101 shit this is .6>.5 you guys are fucking embarrassing yourselves with that soundbite like use proportionally overrepresented just something other than "majority"

Most military people never kill anyone they just mop a floor on a military outpost somewhere this is still really fucking bleak but your average campus bootboy isn't doing Abu ghraib shit and it reduces whatever point you're making into leftist echo chamber fodder

Idk we just need to be better at hating militarism in a more effective way and the prevailing online lefty dogma is out of touch and dated like the military heard your complaints and started taking in more poor people great job gang let's hit the showers

[bisamwilson]

15 questions, 15 friends

tagged by @roguecassians! thanks maggie :)

are you named after anyone?

i am not, but my middle name was inspired by brooklyn on general hospital (not brooklyn, but close-ish)

when was the last time you cried?

thursday night bc margaret and i rewatched two towers and sam's speech never fails to make me bawl like a baby

do you have kids?

i do not, nor do i plan to! i do have two very cute nephews tho

what sports do you play/have played?

lmao. i was a dancer as a kid/younger teen (stopped when i was 15 bc of the pre arthritis in my ankle) but other than that in high school i lettered in the great sports of academic team and orchestra lmao

do you use sarcasm?

probably too much

what is the first thing you notice about people?

this is probably gonna sound weird, but their teeth? i tend to zero in on people's smiles and their teeth bc i love the different ways that people smile! i think there's so much personality hidden in a person's smile so it's what i tend to latch onto first

what is your eye color?

blue!

scary movies or happy endings?

definitely happy endings! it's the life of a hopeless romantic who doesn't believe in love to fall for every cheesy rom com i can find

any talents?

i am very good at balancing things on my head! when i was a kid my mama made me walk up and down the stairs multiple times in heels with a bible on my head without it falling off before i was allowed to wear the little wedges i wanted to my fifth grade graduation ceremony and now i've just got a knack for balancing stuff on my head. someone once put a connect four board flat on top of it while i was sitting down and stacked all of the chips in a column on top of each other one by one on my head and i held it for like five minutes

i'm also a half decent writer when i actually write i guess

where were you born?

kentucky! bluegrass girlie

what are your hobbies?

i watch a lot of movies and go to the movie theater a ton! i haven't gone a bunch this month bc i was finishing up my oscars a thon but generally i go to the movies 3-6 times a month probably? if not more?

do you have any pets?

my beautiful rat who is not actually a rat but a 15.5 year old chihuahua who definitely served in the infantry in world war one and has zero thoughts in her head. i love her <3

how tall are you?

5'4! but i seem shorter bc my proportions are wacky

favorite subject in school?

high school? math (especially ap stats) for sure with latin as a close second. in college my favorite class was called star wars and religion and my second favorite class was and economic introduction to game theory

dream job?

a job that i enjoy and keeps me satisfied intellectually where there's a good work culture and work/life balance that allows me to like. take care of my needs and wants and be comfortable enough in life, which is what i have! i'm not want to want a specific generally unattainable career, i just like. want something to keep me fulfilled and financially stable yk?

i never actually tag the number of people i'm supposed to but no pressure tagging @firstelevens @logicheartsoul @writerkenna @apatheticjoy @livingincolorsagain and @thatmexisaurusrex

#this was fun! #tag game #long post #posts about mak

[atotaltaitaitale]

.

Xmas23/NY24

It’s the time of the year, yet again when we reflect on the past 365 days.

As we are winding down to the end of the year, we are reminded by all the technology that helps us or distract us, depending how you see them, how much time we’ve spent on them or how much we’ve accomplished during the past year. From how much music/podcasts we’ve listened to kilometers/miles we’ve traveled either by plane, by train or even the numbers of steps we took (steps numbers are more impressive than if it was simply measured by km/mi). We are also presented with a medley of our best pictures or more accurately the ones that were best liked or commented on social media (not always the same).

While all those numbers can summarize a year it doesn’t take into account all the moments in between, the little snippets that cannot really be captured by a photo or a number because it’s more a feeling. For me it was the excitement of catching a musical in English in London or the stress of getting to a planned trip to Madrid to see our daughter in the middle of a French strike while we were in aforementioned London. Finally visiting Warsaw because we ran out of time the last time we were living in Europe and didn’t make it then. It was about reconnecting with friends living, briefly passing through or visiting Paris but also the joy of seeing a friend from many expat postings ago on the other side of the globe. It’s the surprising blissful hours spent in a car on a road trip across the vast north USA, followed by spending a month in Montreal. Celebrating our 25th anniversary in Venice, Italy where we spent our honeymoon, or being so close to so many wonderful places in Europe; discovering Dubrovnik, Croatia or going back to old grounds like Glasgow, Scotland. But it’s also about reconnecting with different corners of France; this year was a trip down memory lane in Pau, 17 years after briefly living there or exploring the Christmas markets in France this time with a visit to Colmar and Strasbourg. The home town in the French alps for summer vacation is still on the must-do list. Yet, one of the best part of this past year was the awe of walking the streets of Paris, days after days, and still finding things that fascinate me as well as all the cultural activities at our doorsteps.

After more than 20 years of Christmas/New Year letters, sent to friends and family around the world this year I didn’t feel like “spamming” everyone. Not that it was a not great year because it was. As I was recollecting our past year memories, I decided to just write it for myself and file it with the previous ones as a keepsake. My first full calendar year back in Paris since we left on expat. If I look up my personal collected stats (because I cannot keep track of everyone on top of my own) I spent almost 27,000 km in the air, I rode trains for nearly 7,000 km and walked more than 3.5 million steps while listening to thousands of hours of music/podcasts and took most likely over 10,000 photos on my iPhone all over the city, the one I live in and the ones I’ve visited; which translate to 543 posts on my blog and yet I didn’t posted on any of my social media platforms, most likely overwhelmed by too many choices and a bit of procrastination.

As for the other members of the family; dear husband spent almost as much time in the air than me, slightly less time on the train and I’m fairly certain he didn’t walk as much, but he beat me for sure on the metro rides contest. Since we are empty nesters, oh wait I read somewhere that we shouldn’t say “empty nesters” but “bird launchers” and I like that; Fly my babies, the world awaits. So as birds launchers, I have no accurate stats on our little birds but I can tell you that dear son is into his second year of Business/Economics at the University of Tilburg in the Netherlands and still enjoying his independence while having a hotline to us for critical daily tasks. Dear daughter has started her second year of Master degree at ESCP and finally decided it was time to live in one of her passport countries. Her nest is just over the Seine on the left bank of Paris, while we kept our nest in the center of Paris right next to the great monuments that make Paris such an enjoyable city to walk and gives a direct metro ride to work for dear husband .

#CelineIsNotAnExpatAnymore #France life #Christmas 2023 #happy new year 2024

[cassynite]

What was their first kiss like? Who takes the lead in social situations? Who gets jealous easier?

for Sparrow and Daeran? :D

Aaaah thank you for the questions Ella!

SHIP QUESTIONS

What was their first kiss like?

I imagine it was pretty hesitant actually! Their first kiss is pretty much the canon one in Daeran's route, at the culmination of his not-a-date; Sparrow is the one who initiates it but only when Daeran basically does everything short of hold up a sign saying 'let's kiss now' to get her to make the first move. She knows where it's going to go and she's there for it but she's also pretty nervous and it shows.

On Daeran's part he mainly takes the lead, but it's all very like technical--he's using his experience and practice because he's basically trying to show her how good he is at kissing, not really doing it for it's own sake if that makes sense? Like the primary emotions behind the kiss are the affirmation that this is going to lead to sex and nervousness about doing well. It's like the first foray into unknown territory!

Who takes the lead in social situations?

Daeran like 90% of the time. I'm not super good at showing it when I write her (and most of my writings at this point have shown Sparrow and Daeran in private situations where she's far more comfortable), but Sparrow is just an incredibly quiet person and kind of an awkward speaker! She tends to take a long time to speak because she likes to put her words together perfectly and oftentimes she's rather economical in her speech. She can be well-spoken but her charisma is her dump stat and it shows. Daeran is just more comfortable in social situations and Sparrow is usually more than happy to let him take the lead. Exceptions are when the situation calls for her to be the former commander of the fifth crusade--when blunt authority is going to win out over like snide barbs. Then Sparrow tends to step in.

Who gets jealous easier?

Oh Sparrow, definitely. Daeran's just a naturally flirtatious guy, and his social standing, reputation, and beuaty means he gets a lot of admirers. His casual banter with others never means anything and she knows this, but Sparrow's got a lot of insecurities about her ability to make someone stick around her especially in her early marriage! I think it eases up with time, though. I do think that on Daeran's part, it would actually take less for him to be jealous--his jealousy comes from a possessive streak that surprises even him, and if someone was flirting with Sparrow it would mean something. It's just that those kinds of situations don't really come up.

#cassy answers #trevervaenic #daeran arendae #oc: sparrow #sparrowxdaeran #ngl. daeran's hypothetical jealousy level is probably the most unsure thing i have about his character in general

[curiousb]

The Pemberley College Yearbook: Volume III

It’s time to meet the freshers at De Bourgh University’s oldest and most prestigious establishment, including a new face (who might actually be quite familiar to some).

Of course it’s a very proud moment for George when he drops off daughter Isabella - if only her mother could have been here to see this day arrive!

But like any caring parent, he can’t say that he doesn’t have his concerns about his daughter’s growing independence!

Isabella’s stats:

~ Scorpio 7 / 6 / 7 / 7 / 9

~ Coward / Kind / Neat / Natural Cook / Eco-friendly

~ OTH: Cuisine

~ Favourite Colour(s): Yellow

~ Aspiration: Family / Pleasure

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Tidy / +Charismatic / -Undead

~ Major: Art

The instant that her boyfriend Ambrose also arrives, she wastes absolutely no time in making her intentions clear! (Her moment of weakness with Elliot seems to be behind her.)

And Ambrose surprises me once again by saying yes without any hesitation!

I can see the appeal - he’s grown up to be quite a handsome chap.

~ Taurus 5 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5

~ Easily Impressed / Dog Person / Supernatural Fan / Daredevil / Schmoozer

~ OTH: Sport

~ Favourite Colour(s): Red / Brown

~ Aspiration: Popularity / Romance

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Athletic / +Charismatic / -Indoorsy

~ Major: Art

Other relationships look like they are going to be a bit more... complicated. Daniel and Henrietta swiftly pick up from where they left off at home, but Daniel’s former sweetheart Clara seems to be taking it hard (even though she’s still also got a thing about his big brother Benjamin).

Daniel’s stats:

~ Pisces 5 / 6 / 9 / 9 / 10

~ Animal Lover / Kind / Over-emotional / Charismatic / Technophobe

~ OTH: Nature

~ Favourite Colour(s): Orange

~ Aspiration: Family / Popularity

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Animal Lover/ +Well-liked / -Undead

~ Major: Literature

Daniel is unimpressed that Gabriel seems to be making a move on his girlfriend.

But while Henrietta is open to a bit of light-hearted flirting, she does not want to kiss him!

Gabriel’s stats:

~ Libra 6 / 4 / 6 / 7 / 5

~ Absent-minded / Eccentric / Good Sense of Humour / Easily Impressed / Ambitious

~ OTH: Games

~ Favourite Colour(s): Yellow / Blue / Turquoise

~ Aspiration: Pleasure / Popularity

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Charismatic / +Indoorsy / -Serious

~ Major: Drama (a perfect choice for him!)

Henrietta has some strong features - she takes after her dad - but I like her unique face.

~ Taurus 6 / 5 / 10 / 6 / 7

~ Coward / Hates the Outdoors / Supernatural Fan / Charismatic / Lucky

~ OTH: Music & Dance

~ Favourite Colour(s): Red

~ Aspiration: Fortune / Popularity

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Cultured / +Well-liked / -Plant Lover

~ Major: Economics

New-found freedom means party time!

Esther is also new to the College this year, but she’s been taking time to get settled into academic life, before throwing herself into the social scene.

Aries 6 / 7 / 6 / 4 / 6

~ Heavy Sleeper / Disciplined / Handy / Workaholic / Loves the Cold

~ OTH: Tinkering

~ Favourite Colour(s): Red

~ Aspiration: Family / Fortune

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Serious / +Tidy / -Unique

~ Major: Literature

There’s also someone who is not only new to the University, but new to the planet too! Green Bean (by @moocha-muses​) is a half-alien who was raised in mysterious circumstances in a lab on Sixam, but he showed significant academic promise and so was granted sponsorship to study on Planet Sim.

Libra 2 / 8 / 4 / 8 / 10

~ Cat Person / Adventurous / Inappropriate / Avant Garde / Loves the Outdoors

(He would never wish to cause offence, but his unusual background means that he is rather ignorant of Sim etiquette and has some quite unconventional ideas; and he just thinks cats are really cute.)

~ OTH: Cuisine

~ Favourite Colour(s): Pink / Turquoise

~ Aspiration: Family / Popularity

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Foodie / +Well-liked / -Undead

~ Major: Literature (he believes that the best way to understand the culture of his new home planet is to study its creative works)

He’s a very curious soul, keen to explore his Sim heritage and experience everything that this new world has to offer, especially - after a lifetime of lab-processed nutritional supplements - the food (and beverages)!

He’s also very friendly and good-natured, and loves meeting new people! But most of all - given his rather clinical upbringing - he longs one day to be part of a real family.

Oh no, not you too, Green Bean!

Since it’s Winterfest-time, the College decorates the Refectory with a festive tree, but it brings the partying to an abrupt halt by catching fire! (I didn’t know they did that, what a nuisance!)

And all this time, our final new student, Joanna, has been keeping to herself - just as she always does.

~ Sagittarius 8 / 2 / 6 / 3 / 6

~ Bookworm / Never Nude / Workaholic / Brooding / Unflirty

~ OTH: Film & Literature

~ Favourite Colour(s): Orange

~ Aspiration: Knowledge / Fortune

~ Turn-ons / -off: +Cultured / +Reserved / -Rebellious

~ Major: Mathematics (her first love is Literature, but being a supremely practical girl, she knows that studying Mathematics will give her more options)

#sims 2 #gameplay #merybury #de bourgh university #isabella knightley #ambrose elton #daniel bingley #henrietta wentworth #gabriel smith #esther dashwood #green bean #joanna brandon #clara dashwood #pemberley college