#I'm either going to cut some of the double pages up into singles or double (and a couple of triple) pages will be the only update for the

[bleaksqueak]

There's one weird page in chapter 3 where the coloring came out so weird, it looks like none of the other pages, and it drives me a little crazy. But, you know, whatever lol done is better than not-done. I have a huge buffer, I *really* should get to posting. I also want to get to posting bc (well, I want to, I like reading update comments more than you can know)...and bc I keep getting asks that have a few things that are quite literally in chapter 3, so I sit here looking at them, going (marge thinking sounds)

Well, here, have two unrelated statements that look amusing put together.

#there is also an omake comic paula did that goes before chapter 3 #so I really should just start posting lol #solivaga #I think my brain is slightly scarred by when I started posting my buffer last time I quite literally had a weird stalkernotquitestalker #situation pop up right when i'd started #and the whole mess after that ate thru my buffer #like wtf man lmao #here though for anyone reading the tags #I'm either going to cut some of the double pages up into singles or double (and a couple of triple) pages will be the only update for the #week they land on #do you prefer the single page pacing and two pages a week #or the doubled up pages for better pacing one post a week #bc I really like manga pacing where some actions are allowed to breathe #but those make poor single week updates #so I usually double them up together with their setup or payoff #it's the one true downside to webcomics #pacing generally demands every page has something very interesting on it #and i'm like dangit bobby no sometimes I just want a page of a character doing jazz hands

[russellsppttemplates]

So... pure and so you (Charles Leclerc)

Going back home means Charles sees how you've been healing, and your parents haven't missed it either

Note: english is not my first language. I know it's past Christmas, but this still counts, right?

Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is appreciated 🤍 and I'm taking requests so if you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to do so as I'll try to get to them the best I can!

my masterlist

Cw: talks about having kids

Tag list: @myloverjk-blog

"Is your mother making those biscuits I really like? Those fluffy ones, they're like little cakes actually", Charles asked, his hand over the console and resting on your thigh as he turned left for the final cut to your house.

"She said she was planning on making them these afternoon, I can't wait!", you squealed, clapping your hands together at the prospect, seeing your parents left the gate open so you could drive in.

Parking the car, Charles ensured it was safe before coming out of it as well, being greeted by your family dog while you hugged your parents, "hello buddy, how are you? You're very excited to see us, hm? Yes you are!", Charles cooed, rubbing his belly as he wagged his tail at the attention he was receiving.

You hugged your parents before looking for your boyfriend, "Arlo loves Charles more than he loves me", you chuckled, seeing the labrador run back to you as Charles followed him.

"Hi, how are you?", Charles offered as he kissed your mother's cheeks, opting to shake your father's hand as you walked inside, "did you have a good drive back here?", he questioned him, "yes, not too bad actually. It wasn't too busy", your boyfriend replied, seeing you store your coats and get comfortable in your parents' house.

After lunch, your mother asked for help with baking while your father and Charles helped with preparing the table to you could then roll the dough properly.

It was a sight to behold. You were helping your mother with Christmas cookies and the cakes your boyfriend mentioned, your clothes littered with flour stains as you touched your mother's cheek with some of the mixture, containing your laugh as she didn't seem to notice the powder on her skin.

You were happy, giggly and you had a glow that Charles was sure put all of the products you had back home to shame.

"It's good to see her like this", Charles commented when he felt your father's eyes on him, "work has been a lot lately, and she'll only listen to so much of what I say and take the advice even less than I'd like", he chuckled.

Your father shook his head, "She's always been like that. It was worrisome for a little bit, and we always make sure she's not pushing herself too much. And we know we have you in our team, too", the older man touched a Charles' shoulder, rubbing it slightly before he offered him a drink.

After wishing your parents a good night, you and Charles headed to your room upstairs, needing to catch up on some sleep after the busy day. Your old bedroom had slightly changed since you moved out to live with your boyfriend. Your parents swapped your single bed for a double one, for whenever you and Charles visited, and updated the colour of the walls, wanting to keep it on the neutral side in case they needed it for other guests, "are you showering now or after me?", Charles asked, grabbing a towell from himself, "I'll go after you, I need to hang my clothes first", you smiled, kissing his lips as he went to the bathroom.

Looking through your wardrobe, you noticed your mother still kept the family albums in there, remembering something about the downstairs drawers being humid and her worry about loosing the memories. You flickered through the pages, recalling some memories from when you were younger, some of them you probably constructed by other people telling you the moments.

Charles walked in a little while later, ruffling his hair with a towell only in a t-shirt and underwear, "you can go now, amour", he said as he noticed you closing the album, pressing a kiss to your forehead when you walked to take a shower.

You were already in bed when you noticed Charles looking at the books, "you want to look at what's inside them, don't you?", you chuckled as his eyes lit up, "I'm not too tired to look at them, and I bet there are some good memories in there", he confessed.

Opening the book while your boyfriend pulled you to rest against his chest, "this is so pretty", you appreciated all the details on the pages, either doodles or descriptions from the moment when the picture was taken.

"Look at these cheeks!", Charles groaned as he pointed at a picture of you. From the date on the page, you were around four, two pigtails on your curly hair and a toothy smile, "if our kids have your cheeks, which I hope they do, I won't be able to stop kissing them, I know I just won't", he breathed out.

"Do you think about that a lot?", you wondered, looking at his face as you adjusted your position slightly, genuinely curious about the subject. It had been something you had talked about before and it seemed to come to again.

"Yes, I do. I still think we should wait a little bit longer, get married first, enjoy married life just you and me and then we can think about little ones, but everytime I see a child or someone asks, it's you I see. With a baby bump, then a little baby in your arms, and we play with them and love in them like they deserve", he cooed, rubbing the tip of his nose on your cheek, kissing it softly.

"Me too", you smiled, "I mean, its always you I see whenever I think about the future. And it looks so good. Sometimes it looks scary, because I don't know how it will play out, but I'll have you with me, so all will be well", you admitted, kissing his lips properly.

You had been friends before you dated, and it has been a whole process to get you to be this open to him when you started dating, never wanting to put too much on his plate as he had his own things to deal with, not wanting to burden him and not wanting to lose him from your life.

"We're a team, amour, there's no need to fear", he said, closing the book and setting it down on the floor, cuddling you to him.

The next morning was slow. Charles' lips littered kisses on your neck and cheeks, seeing the smile as you slowly woke up, "it's Christmas, ma belle", you heard his whisper, his eyes looking for yours, "Merry Christmas, handsome, I love you", you muttered, pulling your hands out from under the covers and cupping your boyfriend's' cheeks, rubbing the stubbly skin before kissing him.

"I love how smiley you are", Charles complimented, big coats and scarf on as you walked on the trail after having breakfast, occasionally pestering your mother with a fallen tree branch or twigs as she thought some animal was crawling up her skin.

"Am I not smiley regularly?", you wondered, knowing what he meant. Coming home meant, after a lot of work on yourself over the years, you would enjoy yourself without any outside pressures. You were amongst family and in the safe place you grew up. No prying eyes, no one commenting or second guessing what you said, wore or looked like.

"You are, but you're carefree, I think. You're not so stressed, your inner child is showing so much more, and it's so... pure. So you", he smiled, kissing the side of your head as he pulled you to walk closer to him.

They had both become adults way faster than the rest of the people their age. Charles' career forced him to grow up earlier and grow thicker skin very early on, and because you were there with him, too, you were also taken with the wave. You started working as soon as you finished your degree, and while you wouldn't complain about it, it did come with a lot of work and investment of yourself that you lost some of your younger years.

"Whenever we are not doing well, when it gets too much, we will do this. Visit your parents, do all the childish things we want to do, no matter how silly they may be", Charles stated as he rubbed your palm with his thumb, "I never want you to give up this side of you, and I'm willing to do anything to see you smile like that again and again".

Smiling at his words at chuckling slightly at the fact that there was no way this man was ever getting away from you, you held out your pinky, "I promise", you smiled as you two laced fingers, sealing it with a kiss.

#charles leclerc imagine #charles leclerc x reader #charles leclerc fluff #charles leclerc fanfic #f1 x reader #f1 imagine #f1 fanfic

[uglypastels]

i dont agree with the anon that your fics are unreadable, but it is weird you dont use "double quotations" especially since you're like an English major or something right?

+ No, but why is punctuation suddenly so hard?. everyone knows you use double quotes when characters speak. its like writing 101. you're just not using them right. learn and get over it.

ok, i saw writers getting shit about this on TikTok months ago, and it already pissed me off then. there is no one way of quoting things, and its so narrow-minded to think so.

Let's do a lil exercise shall we

[below cut] Here's the first page of The Godfather by Mario Puzo, published in four languages - English, Dutch, Polish and French.

Let's find the differences:

In the English edition, the dialogue is written between "double quotations"

In Dutch, it's 'singular'.

— Polish uses em-dashes.

And in French spoken words are between «guillemets»

Isn't that fucking fun? I speak, write and read in 3 of these languages, so I grew up with all that. So did plenty of other people around the world because these differences aren't just per one country. If one way speaks more to you than the other because that's what you know? then go for it. These are all perfectly fine and normal ways to write and I'm sure there are even more out there that I'm not aware of.

But yes, you're right, I am writing in English, and I do study it, so I should learn how to use quotations properly, shouldn't I 🥺. Well, let's see some of the books I had to read this year.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby:

Oh damn. Uses 'single quotes'.

Spring by Ali Smith:

Uses — and then doesn't even use quotations??? Just speaker indicators??? Yeah. you can even switch styles mid-novel because who cares.

But it gets better. As an example, here's a page from Sally Rooney's Normal People:

Rooney said fuck yall quotations. You can figure it out yourself.

Are some easier to read than others? Sure. But they're not fucking wrong either.

#rage #uglypastels answers #anon #z goes off #rant #idk why i get so worked up by this stuff

[authenticitysports]

Cramming for the Harvest

Classic rookie running move here. I strung together about 4-5 weeks of real "training" then had an unexpected opportunity to hop in a late fall marathon that's been on my bucket list. At first, I scoffed at the notion, knowing full well I was under-prepared for a marathon, but pretty quickly, I started contemplating about what it would take to get a Boston Qualifying time, whether if I punted away the opportunity I would be remorseful on race day, and that whether having the marathon there as a ticking time bomb would be helpful to make sure I sustained the short training surge beyond four weeks.

So, I am now in a figurative and literal race against time. I have zero margin for error and just about 7 weeks to get ready. By any measure, that's not nearly enough time. In my collegiate marathon racing days, I wanted a 12 - 16 week build up, loaded up with intervals, long runs, and mileage. During my COVID lockdown marathon build up, I had nearly 12 months of relatively uninterrupted training in which I started to really grasp longer tempo runs, threshold efforts, and the things I needed to do as an older athlete that couldn't recover from 3-4 hard workouts a week.

I don't have time to do either of those approaches right now. I have to figure out a few short cuts, how to "cram for the harvest", so to speak. I learned a lot from the COVID build up, even though I didn't get to do the race, so I'm leaning heavily on that, plus experimenting a little bit.

First, I am keeping a weekly aerobic threshold long run. This is basically, "best easy pace" and builds the foundation. In practice, they are extremely long progression runs that generally start well above marathon pace, but may ratchet down to marathon pace or below over the last 2-3 miles. I can fit in 4-5 of these runs before I need to taper. These are the "must do" workouts of each week.

Second, I'm going to use double threshold sessions as my second "hard" day of the week. During my last build up, I found that, if I was lounging, I could muster up to three workouts per week, but if that I was doing much else other than running and studying, I could only handle two. So, I'm going to borrow a page from the Norwegians and try some double threshold workouts. These are two workouts, run on the same day, around threshold pace. They're usually mid to long intervals (miles, 3Ks, etc) followed by shorter intervals (800s, 1Ks, etc). The intervals make it slightly easier for your body to handle more work, versus continuous running at threshold pace (i.e. a tempo) and the double workout day lets you "top up" on total threshold mileage without needing a full cycle of breaking down and recovering, effectively cramming two cycles worth of work in a single day. I am, in effect, trying to cram my three workouts into two days.

The trick or concept behind this is that, with a shorter break between two hard sessions, your muscles will relax, but not entirely go into the rebuild/repair cycle so you can basically sneak in additional work without feeling like garbage or over taxing your muscular-skeletal system. You need to be disciplined though, in that threshold pace is generally slower than standard interval-type efforts which are often VO2 max type that develop anaerobic capacity as well.

As someone desperate to cram for the harvest, I have to try short cuts, otherwise I'm cooked regardless. Fortunately, a lot of my staple workouts are adaptable to this. I run a lot of floating fartleks and tempos, so I can just adjust the pace slightly and fit within the system. I think the first day of double workouts will be rough, but also telling. If I rebound in time for the weekend long run, then I think I'll adapt quickly and see rapid improvement. If I'm sore and achy, then it could spell trouble.

My nominal training week will look something like this:

M: 30 min easy

Tues: 45 min easy (+ strides or something to loosen the legs)

Wed: 45 min easy

Thurs: AM - warm up, 4x3km @ threshold, cool down; PM - warm up, 8x800m @ threshold, cool down.

Fri: 30 min easy

Sat: 45 min easy

Sun: Aerobic Monster (13, 17, 21, and 24 miles at best easy pace).

If I can hit that for 5 solid weeks, then taper, I think I can run in the mid-2:50s.

The clock is ticking.

#run #running #marathon #harvest #clock #time bomb

[fictionaladoptionpolls]

How Does This Bracket Work?

Due in part to the large number of submissions (a very good "problem" to have) and my desire to reach the finals in a timely manner, and also my general complexity addiction, I have decided to run this bracket in an unorthodox fashion.

This isn't set in stone yet; I'm open to criticism and suggestions. So if you see some problem you think I've overlooked, please let me know! Just, you know...politely. Please do not call me an idiot.

Skip the details, how do I vote?

When I have everything organized, I'll post a bunch of polls like this one. They'll have more than two children each; pick the one you want to adopt most! Optionally, post propaganda about your favorite children.

A week and change after that, I'll post another bunch of polls. Some polls will have a bunch of characters who definitely lost; this is intentional. Do the same thing. Repeat until the finals.

If you just want to pick your favorite anime kids, that's all you need to know. If you want details (alongside an explanation of why the details are that way and some hopefully relevant infodumping), they're under the cut.

Double Elimination?

In the FAQ post, I mentioned that I wanted to run a double elimination bracket. So I might as well start by mentioning that I still intend to do that.

What is double elimination?

In a "normal" single-elimination bracket, competitors only get one chance. If they lose a single match, they're out of the tournament. A double-elimination tournament is structured such that all competitors need to lose two matches before being eliminated. Hence the name.

Here is an example of a double-elimination bracket from the Wikipedia page:

I will not be using this bracket. For starters, I have almost seven times as many children as this tournament had teams. (Which might be a comparable number of children, but our anime children are not organized into teams.) Also, 110 is not a power of 2.

Before I start explaining how my double-elimination bracket is going to work, though, I should probably justify using one at all. It doubles the number of matches required, after all! Why am I making it harder to reach the finals in a timely manner?

Why double elimination?

Several reasons.

I like double-elimination brackets.

I have a complexity addiction.

Double-elimination brackets can mitigate bad seeding, which is a common problem in Tumblr tournaments.

Double elimination should also mitigate some potential problems with my big make-this-tournament-shorter plan.

I think all these kids deserve a second chance.

Again, this isn't set in stone, but I think it's a good idea.

What's your big plan for making this bracket a reasonable length?

It's pretty simple.

The reason big tournaments get so cumbersome is that it takes a while to eliminate everyone in duels. Here's a diagram I made to...illustrate the problem?

Um. The column to the left is the "main" bracket, the one to the right is the "second chance" bracket, each row is a different round. Please do not question the creative choices which went into this diagram. I likely will not have answers.

Anyways. 55 polls right off the bat is pretty awkward. Also awkward is that after the first round, either some of the polls are going to need to have three options or some competitors are going to get a free ride past that round. Both are common, neither feels great to me.

My solution? Double the poll size.

The downsides of this are twofold. First, it makes constructing the actual bracket diagram way trickier. Second, it eliminates a higher proportion of competitors each round...except it doesn't have to.

The number of polls would be further reduced if I didn't, but this is still a big improvement. The overall effect is basically to combine two polls in every round...assuming you have four-competitor polls.

Four or Five?

I actually have two rough plans drawn up for the brackets. One has about 102 polls across nine rounds, most with four kids in each and a few with five. The other has about 71 polls across seven rounds, most with five kids but some with four or six.

(The "main bracket" is a mixture of four- and five-kid polls, the "second-chance bracket" is a mixture of five- and six-kid ones. No matter how many children are in a given poll, the top two "win". This makes the second-chance bracket a little more competitive, partly to slightly de-emphasize the unfamiliar aspect and partly because of the complexity addiction. Sorry.)

(Also the exact number of polls and rounds isn't 100% certain because)

Anyways. The 4-bracket is a bit simpler, and cleanly preserves the 50/50 win/loss ratio (except when numbers aren't divisible by four, but that's only a problem for one poll in ten). But it also means the bracket would go way longer. The 5-bracket is about 30% shorter and makes my brain go 15% more brrrr, but it's a lot messier.

I joke about having a complexity addiction, but I've only indulged it when I think the added complexity provides a good trade-off. I don't think the 5-bracket offers much benefit for this complexity.

So what does the bracket look like?

It doesn't.

...What?

Alright, so a few hours ago I added an image of a double elimination bracket. It had convenient lines and labels showing where everyone would go. If George Walton and Chaska won in round 1, they would compete in round 2. At this time, I have not made and do not plan to make such a diagram for this bracket. I have two reasons for this.

First, a rigid bracket would make it impossible to fiddle with the polls round-by-round. This would mean I either waste even more time on trying to find the optimal seeding, or I just accept that sometimes I'm going to end up with three Precures in the same poll or a second-chance poll that's almost an exact copy of a main-bracket poll or whatever.

Second...well...

It would be impractical to draw a whole bracket which follows the rules I outlined above. I didn't time how long I spent on that visual aid, but I'm pretty sure designing a bracket diagram would take all day. I have an unhealthy perfectionist streak, but it has its limits! (Especially when not making a rigid bracket like this would have some advantages to distract my perfectionism. I'm not making things worse for my own convenience, I'm choosing one side of a trade-off!)

So my plan is to make a big seed list for the tournament, seed the first round based on that, then re-seed each round based on that big list. Maybe I bump some kids up or down on the seed list based on their performance. I know it's an uncharacteristically simple plan, but I think it's better than the alternative. And not just because of the bracket design nightmare.

I have questions and/or concerns.

Feel free to send in asks or something about them! I'll respond when I'm able, and hopefully remember to add them to this section (so I hopefully don't need to answer the same question repeatedly).

Aren't you overcomplicating this goofy Tumblr blog?

Probably!

#anime child adoption bracket #update #bracket #tournament poll #torn between “How did it take this long to write a thousand words?” and “How did I write a thousand words about my goofy Tumblr polls?”

[wrestlingisfake]

AEW Fake Rankings, 4/1/2023

Men's singles division - babyfaces

Kenny Omega (IWGP United States champion)

Adam Page

Adam Cole

Jack Perry

Ricky Starks

Wardlow

HOOK (FTW champion)

Konosuke Takeshita

Matt Hardy

Action Andretti

Men's singles division - heels

MJF (AEW men's world champion)

Chris Jericho

Bryan Danielson

Sammy Guevara

Powerhouse Hobbs (AEW TNT champion)

Samoa Joe (ROH television champion)

Daniel Garcia

Juice Robinson*

Jeff Jarrett

Jake Hager

Unranked: AR Fox, Ari Daivari, Darius Martin, Jack Cartwheel*, Jay Lethal, Mark Briscoe, Parker Boudreaux, Preston Vance, Serpentico, Starboy Charlie*, Swerve Strickland

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

The next world title program looks to be a four-way with MJF, Perry, Guevara, and Darby Allin. Whether that headlines the May 28 pay-per-view remains to be seen. I could picture the four-way being on one of the "special" editions of Dynamite, like Mother's Day Mayhem or Earth Day Slam or whatever they might call it. It feels like Adam Cole is being set up for a big babyface push, so maybe MJF vs. Cole will headline 5/28. But for now it's too soon to be sure.

To make room for all these new faces in the world title picture, AEW has moved a lot of the established top guys into multi-man feuds. Omega and Page are separately dealing with the entire Blackpool Combat Club (Danielson, Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta), while the Jericho Appreciation Society is regrouping against the House of Black. Wardlow is probably going to return to chase Hobbs, but to get there he'll likely have to cut through the new QTV group. Hook seems to be busy beating everybody in the Firm one-by-one. Starks's feud with Robinson may or may not lead to fighting the entire Bullet Club.

AEW has not yet announced a "Blood and Guts" double cage match for 2023, but this is usually around the time of year they'd start setting that up. At this point, they're spoiled for choice as to which multi-man feud to put in the cage, not to mention the whole Outcasts storyline in the women's division. I suppose some of these feuds could be blown off with Stadium Stampede, or Anarchy in the Arena, or Clobbering in Catering, or whatever they call it.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

The Acclaimed - Max Caster & Anthony Bowens

Lucha Bros. - Penta El Zero Miedo & Rey Fenix (ROH tag team champions)

Darby Allin & Sting

Keith Lee & Dustin Rhodes

John Silver & Alex Reynolds

Evil Uno & Stu Grayson

Men's tag team division - heels

The Gunns - Austin Gunn & Colten Gunn (AEW tag team champions)

Matt Menard & Angelo Parker

The Kingdom - Matt Taven* & Mike Bennett*

Varsity Athletes - Josh Woods & Tony Nese

Unranked: Harv Shira* & Gurv Shira*

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

Following the Lucha Bros. ROH tag title victory, I'm still uncertain how much separation we're going to see between the AEW and ROH rosters. It feels like several AEW acts (such as the Kingdom) have been earmarked to primarily work ROH-branded shows, but very few of them have actually stopped being featured on AEW. It may take a few more months to get the brands separated...if that's even what Tony Khan wants to accomplish, that is.

The top two-on-two programs right now look to be the Acclaimed vs. Menard/Parker and the Gunns vs. FTR (Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler). My hunch is that FTR will win the tag titles and move on to a big match with the Acclaimed. If FTR doesn't win their April 5 title match, they've vowed to leave AEW. Would that send them to ROH full-time, or would they just leave altogether? Either way I have no idea what shape this division will take.

Men's trios division - babyfaces

Orange Cassidy (AEW international champion) & Chuck Taylor & Trent Beretta

Dalton Castle* & Brent Tate* & Brandon Tate*

Men's trios division - heels

John Moxley & Claudio Castagnoli (ROH men's world champion) & Wheeler Yuta

Malakai Black & Brody King & Buddy Matthews (AEW trios champions)

Kip Sabian & The Butcher & The Blade

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

The trios division is in flux right now. Everyone in the Dark Order has been laid out by Moxley's group, so it's not clear which of them will be available for a trios match (with or without Adam Page). With the Young Bucks on the shelf, Kenny Omega is torn between teaming with other guys or going it solo. The Jericho Appreciation Society had a trio ready to go, but Sammy Guevara's pursuit of singles gold probably changes the formula. I'm guessing Jericho & Hager & Garcia challenge the House of Black, but that's not certain yet.

I'm a bit surprised we never see Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, and Satnam Singh make a run as a trio, considering they're all inseparable anyway. But then, Singh is rarely put in the ring, so my guess is they don't think he's anywhere close to ready.

Women's singles division - babyfaces

Jamie Hayter (AEW women's world champion)

Taya Valkyrie

Willow Nightingale

Skye Blue*

Emi Sakura

Women's singles division - heels

Jade Cargill (AEW TBS champion)

Toni Storm

Saraya

Ruby Soho

Marina Shafir*

Leila Grey*

Unranked: Ava Lawless*, Nicole Matthews*

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

Aside from Valkyrie chasing Cargill, the women's division now revolves around the Outcasts (Storm, Saraya, and Soho) vs. Hayter, Britt Baker, Nightingale, Blue, and Riho. Assuming Baker's back issues don't keep her sidelined, the heels need a couple more women to back them up. I'd go with Marina Shafir and Nyla Rose, since they're already a duo, and Nyla would end the narrative of "ex-WWE heels vs. AEW originals," which isn't helping anything.

No TV/PPV matches in 30 days, but had a Dark/Elevation match: Aaron Solo, Athena (ROH women's world champion) Big Bill, Boulder*, Brady Booker*, Bronson*, Brandon Cutler, Brian Cage (ROH trios champion), Charlette Renegade*, Christopher Daniels, Ethan Page, Isiah Kassidy, Julia Hart, Lance Archer, Lee Johnson, Lee Moriarty, Luther, Nick Comoroto, Nyla Rose, Peter Avalon, QT Marshall, Riho, Robyn Renegade*, Sonny Kiss, Zack Clayton*

No televised AEW matches in 30 days: Anna Jay, Anthony Ogogo, Bandido, Brian Pillman Jr., Britt Baker, Brock Anderson, Cash Wheeler, Dax Harwood, Fuego Del Sol, Leva Bates, Luchasarus, Madison Rayne, Matt Sydal, Michael Nakazawa, Miro, Ortiz, PAC, Penelope Ford, Red Velvet, Rush, Satnam Singh, Scorpio Sky, Serena Deeb, Shawn Dean, Shawn Spears, The Bunny, Trench, Yuka Sakazaki

Part-time/Semi-retired: Billy Gunn, El Hijo Del Vikingo* (AAA mega champion), Jeff Cobb*, Kyle Fletcher*, Mark Davis*, Mark Henry, Mark Sterling, Paul Wight, Paige Vanzant, Rebel, Stokely Hathaway, Sonjay Dutt

* Not listed on AEW's official roster

Inactive

Abadon (shoulder - collarbone fracture)

Andrade El Idolo (left shoulder - pectoralis tear)

Christian Cage (storyline - "buried alive")

CM Punk (left arm - triceps tear)

Colt Cabana (unspecified injury)

Danhausen (right shoulder - pectoralis tear)

Dante Martin (left leg - unspecified injury)

Eddie Kingston (storyline - "quit" AEW, jumped to ROH)

Griff Garrison (unspecified injury)

Hikaru Shida (finger - unspecified injury)

Jeff Hardy (suspension - DUI)

Kris Statlander (left knee - ACL tear, lateral meniscus tear)

Kyle O'Reilly (neck - herniated disc)

Leyla Hirsch (knee - ACL tear)

Marq Quen (unspecified injury)

Matt Jackson (arm - partial biceps tear)

Nick Jackson (storyline - "separated shoulder")

Santana (left knee - unspecified injury)

Tay Melo (back - protrusion)

Thunder Rosa (back - unspecified injury)

#aew #fake rankings

[volot]

grips u and shakes u. i am so late for this but i will not be deterred!! listen i love your volo portrayal SO FUCKING MUCH words are hard but you just nail his character so damn well and the way you write him is just so special and nice i love it. i love it. there's just Something so special about the way you get his voice and character down into all of your writing with him and!!! it's so great it's a delight to see your replies every single time. also the way you write down his little silly lying ways into even pre reveal things??? chef kiss

GINTER AS WELL BECAUSE GRANDPA IS GREAT AND YOU WRITE HIM SO WELL??? even with SO little material in canon you make him so distinct and your hcs for him feel so in line with him i could see them as canon so easily. love how well you got down the tired old man that has seen Shit but cares even when he pretends he doesn't. you do all of this so fucking well. i care him thank u for writing him

›   ❝  report card, but brutal honesty edition.

AND HERE COMES FAE WITH THE STEEL CHAIR THE DOUBLE PRAISE...........

I HAVE TO PUT THIS ONE UNDER A READ MORE BC IT GOT RIDICULOUSLY LONG........

i feel like i sound like a broken record with how much i keep saying thank you so i'm sorry for saying it so much 😭 but thank YOU. sincerely. from the bottom of my heart. i say this with full honesty when i say that like... people's support really keeps me going. i tend to doubt myself a lot with writing, and namely with a character as popular as volo whose... popular fanon opinions i tend to heavily disagree with, for the most part, as if my 500000 page metas didn't make that obvious enough. because of that, i usually tend to lean towards self-critique and i sometimes wonder if maybe i've got it all wrong, and i often worry my frequent rambling and ooc posts come off as obnoxious and in a sort of soundproof room of me never stopping in running my Big Mouth about this blorboayga from my myths. i've also been out of practice with writing for a few years and my rust is immeasurable, so coming back to writing on tumblr made me indescribably nervous. all of this encouragement really brightens my spirits a whole bunch; just hearing simple things like 'hey, we like your writing funky magic man' brings a smile to my face. :')

EITHER WAY thank you, sincerely, i'm really glad my efforts into trying to write all that i can into him don't go unnoticed! i always worry on sneaking in showcasing how he's lying into pre-betrayal stuff, because i think to myself 'well, maybe i shouldn't? would it be more impactful if i cut it from this writing, to make it more unable to discern if he's being genuine or not? does telegraphing it like that cheapen it? am i telling, rather than showing? or should i keep it, to show the double nature of who he is? is it better for the impact?', so knowing someone appreciates that definitely helps with easing some of those thoughts!

and with ginter, thank you so much again! i wouldn't be exaggerating when i say picking up a character with next to nothing with them and fleshing them out has always been my specialty: i think my last long-standing muse had maybe.. my god, six lines total? in canon? and like, thoughts from the characters around them that i just worked off of, and somehow, it worked. so i'm glad that you enjoy him, too: i think he's a character with a lot of potential, and i was a little sad when he wasn't anything more to him other than just idle shop dialogue. i hope in the dlc, we might see more to him and what's up with him, since volkner's a fan favorite: until then, i'll keep on trucking with grandpa, and developing that sweet ginkgo lore... and amassing the angst with good ol' volkner, of course, because the stuff we've talked about with them Gets My Ass. :')

and before i sign off: to you, fae, i give my praise as well!! as i said with morty, i think ingo and emmet are difficult characters to pull off. being the popular fandom darlings of the 2011, it's easy to water down their characters or shove them into tropey boxes, but you put a lot of charm into ingo and a lot of thought that goes a long way! he feels very natural, and wonderfully pulled off! you really dig into the depth that pla gives him too, and while he bounces magnificently off of morty's emmet - kudos to that too! their relationship feels very natural - you guys manage to strike them as individual people who can stand on their own, while also being the most important character's in each others lives and highlighting how important their bond is. a two car train!!

and i've also mentioned how much i love your volk in dms, but seriously, you made me care for the big lug who i didn't spare a second glance usually because he just wasn't my type of character. that takes a lot of skill, and i can't tell you how much i commend you for it. full speed ahead, and don't lose your spark!

#long post #asks. #ooc. #prompt: portrayal

[raleighliving]

Raleigh Apartment Culture

So I'm of the mind that Raleigh is a great place to live. It has my favorite things, my favorite people, and I'm too broke to move anywhere else.

Raleigh works for me, but I recognize it doesn't work for everyone. Some people had less than ideal childhoods and wanna escape the state ASAP, some just want to live closer to their dream jobs or have new opportunities. That's all fine, but what if this describes where you are now?

What if, for the sake of argument, you're outside of NC and wanna move in? Moving is expensive, time-consuming, and risky at the best of times; so you wanna make sure that wherever you're landing is at least as good as where you started 90% of the time

"But RL," I hear you say, "you make Raleigh sound like an idyllic dreamscape populated with parks and a diverse kumbayah of peoples living in harmony"

I do talk about Raleigh in a positive light but, like a life saving medicine flavored like ass, sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.

So before you spend thousands of dollars on moving vans, boxes, and grits; here's a crash course on what it's like living in a Raleigh apartment, coming from someone whose majority of Raleigh Living (heh) has been in apartments.

First off, location. Any realtor will tell you that location is 80% of the sale to sound profound, and as anyone who has lived in the middle of ass-backward nowhere can tell you: It sucks having to drive 30 minutes to go anywhere.

Good news: With the Raleigh Beltline and connecting roads, there are very few places in Raleigh where your trip will last longer than thirty minutes one-way. Bad News: where you set down still matters because cutting down on travel is important for car and mental health.

North Raleigh is different from south Raleigh is different from northwest Raleigh, and the locals aren't the only difference you'll find between locations. Each segment of Raleigh has something to offer, with easier access to some attractions than others and neighboring cities for when you need something outside the RDU area.

Using downtown as the center of our wheel, people generally divide Raleigh into North and South Raleigh (with distinction given for NW, SE, NE, etc when needed). N.Raleigh is considered generally more upscale, a slice of suburban living interspersed with plenty of shopping centers for families and the moderately wealthy; but it's boring as all hell.

Want some fun? Excitement in the evenings and a more traditional urban experience with bars, night clubs, strip clubs, and more? South Raleigh is your best bet, at the cost of being the "sketchy" side of Raleigh. That kind of place where you'll see a bunch of auto shops that look abandoned but haven't been closed in the past 5 years and there's at least one customer from time to time.

Of course, this is a lot of generalizing but you'll find that it's still mostly accurate. The main exception in this is Capital Blvd, a highway cutting across north and south Raleigh on the eastern half of the city; a high crime corridor that's undergoing some changes in the northern half that have (somewhat) reduced crime but most people will still associate that area with the majority of Raleigh's crime and debauchery.

More importantly, is the distinction Raleigh citizens put on inside the beltline versus outside the beltline. The I-440 and 540 highways that wrap around Downtown form the mythical beltline, and to a degree what you have access to. Inside the beltline is the majority of workplaces, stores, and shopping centers; while outside you'll still have these things just to a more... dispersed extent.

North Raleigh actually kinda exemplifies this perfectly. Living inside the beltline, you have access to places like North Hills, Crabtree Valley mall, and Triangle Town Center. Live outside the beltline, like I currently am, and you're looking at 10 to 15 minutes to the nearest sheetz for that late night double hot dog fix.

So for point one: How important is it that you're near things? The majority of apartments and rental properties are in or around the belt-line, but if you want to save some cash on rent checks the cheaper properties are gonna extend your trips a bit.

Next, what can you expect in terms of neighbors? Does Raleigh have a hip party scene full of teens renting cheap apartments and blasting trap music at 3AM?

Depends on where you live

I swear not every point is going to be this, but there's an important distinction this time that affects the type of people your complex will likely have surrounding you; are you in North or South Raleigh?

North Raleigh has a ton of pre-schools, k-12 public schools (Leesville, Hillburn, Lead Mine, just to name a few), and office complexes that make up the job market. As a result the majority of apartment renters in north Raleigh tend to be families with a few small kids or so.

As a result, living off of Glenwood North and Edwards Mill I never had any noise problems from neighbors, the worst being kids playing outside at 3PM sounding like they were being murdered (which apparently is a common thing and I apologize to any neighbors I frightened with ghastly shrieks).

What I did have a problem with, however, was the typical Karen's you hear people complain about online. Renting a property now, we have access to our neighborhood's NextDoor page and it's hilarious sometimes to go on and read the comments, but living at a certain property we had a sort of mini-Facebook for residents

That thing was always full of either people who were moving out looking to sell their furniture or people passive-aggressively challenging each other/the apartment managers with comments about things happening around the complex.

Once I logged in to see one man accuse another, without ever actually accusing someone specific ("I know who did it and they should be ashamed" type post) of putting glass beer bottles under the tires of his truck to try and puncture them. Everyone acts civil in public, but then online they'll stir the pot harder than a chef with a hand mixer.

South Raleigh, you have the schools like Shaw University, Meredith, and NCSU; so the people renting down there are typically college kids. You'll see more apartments that cater towards them like University Village or University Woods, but sometimes these places will cater to both college kids and working adults

Avoid these places like the plague, because despite sometimes having a lower cost to live there the neighbors and their shenanigans will drive you up the wall (unless you're the type to join in, then go wild).

I've had friends stay at places like University Village and The Proper (formerly The Vie, formerly Wolf Creek) who've shared horror stories. 3AM parties ending in property damage or vomit in inconvenient places, drug deals not even trying to be subtle, and maintenance workers doing nothing because regardless of the apartment conditions; no school's gonna pull their contract with them unless news articles start getting written.

http://www.technicianonline.com/news/article_898ddf34-82f5-11e7-b3d8-07059d248619.html

https://www.wral.com/vie-at-raleigh-residents-finally-able-to-move-into-clean-units/16887833/

http://www.technicianonline.com/news/article_ea8ed7aa-a092-11e8-a2af-e70af36566d0.html

Otherwise, south Raleigh apartments are largely like north Raleigh apartments; except the crime rate tends to be a little higher and you'll run into more singles and people working full time.

Otherwise, Raleigh apartment culture is like apartment culture anywhere else in the country. You have a mix of apartments catering to those just looking to live versus more ostentatious luxury apartments with fancy pools, exercise facilities, and tech packages to draw people in.

If you're renting in Raleigh, however, do try to get a roommate or two if you can manage. Even with a decent job paying 800+ on a one bedroom one bath apartment can be exhausting at best, but with even one other person that can functionally halve your expenses

So if you're a young professional, or a student, or even if you have a small family, I can safely recommend renting in Raleigh. There's plenty of places that'll accommodate you, and cater towards your needs.

But what about everyone else? Are there people who shouldn't rent in Raleigh?

No

But there are groups who I'd seriously ask to consider their other choices before picking Raleigh as a destination for their new home.

For instance, are you a member of the LGBT community? A trans or non-binary individual? Well then, first off, I want you to know that you're loved and valid. I'm accepting of who you are and appreciate everyone's right to identify how they choose, but I'm not everyone.

Raleigh's bluer than other parts of North Carolina, as I've stated in other blog write-ups, but it's still part of North Carolina unfortunately and as a result, you'll face some challenges.

I doubt anyone's gonna burn a cross in your yard or knock over your mailbox, but Raleigh doesn't offer LGBT protections for housing, jobs, or credit/lending discriminations according to the Movement Advancement Project's website.

We have support organizations for LGBT and NB individuals, plenty of high schools and colleges have Gay-Straight Alliance clubs, and there are numerous businesses downtown that cater specifically to those individuals... but we're also the state that got into a lot of hot water because of a stupid bathroom bill, and our politicians are trying to pass anti-trans sports legislation (because they now magically care about the integrity of womens sports).

By that measure, but to a lesser extent, if you fall outside the Liberal/Conservative political spectrum then be prepared to have no one to discuss your politics with outside of a few sparse networks like the DSA.

Additionally, if you don't have someone to room with or a significant other to split costs with; you may want to try searching somewhere a little cheaper.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Raleigh housing prices aren't terrible for a major metropolitan city, but we're not the best prices in the world.

You can get prices on apartments and rentals lower than say, California or New York. However, compared to other parts of NC like Greensboro or Garner; rentals are still a bit much.

On average, a Raleigh apartment can run you about $900 for a single bedroom and a single bathroom. You can find cheaper, but often times there's some risk associated (Crime levels, quality of the room, quality of the property manager, etc.) Looking for a two bedroom? Then your average price is gonna jump up to around $1,200, and this is all before utilities and cable come into play.

It's true a lot of companies around here will pay more than the $7.25 minimum wage, but most low-skilled jobs will pay around 10-11 an hour.

I guess though, that's kind of an obvious statement. "Don't live in Raleigh if you can't afford to live in Raleigh."

I might expand on these thoughts at a later time, but hopefully for now I've given you some food for thought; or at the very least an entertaining read for a few minutes.

I love my city, and I love the friends I've made in it, but the sad truth is that nowhere is perfect for everyone; leastways Raleigh. If Raleigh sounds like the kind of place you'd like to live in, at least take a day trip to come visit and see how things go that way. Visit some stores, meet some locals, and form an opinion off of more than travel blogs and youtube videos.

#raleigh #North Carolina #NC #north carolina #travel #photography #urban photography #city life #city #city of raleigh #advice

[jeepersjeeves]

Sketchbook Excavation Tour 1/??

(Future Note): I'm fortunate enough to still do this! Came back home after spending time out of town, only to get displaced for a month. My sketchbooks somehow survived, though, so I guess I'll just tear through them with a bit less fanfare than this one. There have been bigger fish to fry.

Also, I spent way too much time trying to explain myself, worried that I'd come off as preachy and not really knowing what I'm talking about, and now, the iron is ice cold, and the thoughts shared in this entry are no longer fresh on my mind. So, I'm just going to post this and move on.

Here's the first of many sketchbooks. This one is from high school. A classmate of mine gave it to me, because she didn't like the paper quality, if I recall correctly.

I vividly remember the feel of drawing in this sketchbook. The pages felt super grainy, like nothing would stick and would just immediately smudge. So, half of the sketchbook is still blank haha

I did this thing where I wanted to journal while traveling, and this page was supposed to be where I kept track of finances.

I rather liked the idea of anthropomorphic(?)finances(?), and I liked their contrasting fashion sense, one being more relaxed than the other, so I thought I'd give these designs some more attention.

I wanted to emphasize that visual contrast between the two, so I focused on giving them a more obvious shape language, as seen in the first two images.

Retrospectively, after I had drawn everything, I revisited the above image and took notes of what I wanted to keep and what I felt should be further developed or adjusted.

These are things like keeping the contrasting silhouettes of the boots, getting rid of the glasses on the left deign, and putting more thought into the design of the hair. Some of this is reflected in the final image of this post.

I still feel a bit sheepish about this page of sketches, but, I scribbled some forms to get an overall feel of the design, and how the clothing would look from different angles and poses. Also tried to hash out what I wanted the sleeves to look like.

Around this point, I started to visualize them more as bankers, so I thought of their outfits more as uniforms.

Once I had a series of design elements that I felt I liked, I drafted up these designs to see how they'd come together. I was also pretty excited about color, so I added color too, just to see how it would look.

So this is where I'm at right now. I think there could stand to be a bit more variation. Guy on the left also looks a tad too similar to another design I worked on not too long ago, so I might give this another pass.

Either way, though, it was fun, and I like them well enough. Gotta come up with names.

Extended ramblings under the cut.

Clothing Variations

I still have some thoughts, like, while drawing the guy on the left, I kept Persona 3’s Akihiko Sanada in mind, particularly Sarah Kipin’s rendition of him. In keeping with the round silhouette, I thought of adding round and broad shoulders, which would lead downwards into round fists, making me think of an old-fashioned boxer. And because of this round silhouette, I opted to give him a sweater vest instead of a regular* (?) vest.

The material of a sweater vest is soft, you see, which I thought would help with creating a more round silhouette, and I thought that'd contrast nicely with the sharper feel of a more traditional vest with coattails, but because I wanted to give them a uniform, those two articles of clothing felt too different from each other. I'll have to spend more time with it and do some research, maybe on uniform variations or something. In the back of my mind, I kept thinking about, like, a three-piece suit, but it didn't quite come out that way, I think because I was so set on the vest idea, and was trying to depict two different types of vests, rather than a vest-jacket combo. Mixing up the latter (wearing just a vest, just a jacket, both, etc.) has more cohesion than two types of vests, I would think.

Something Something Visual Tropes

That thing with Akihiko is what I want to refer to as visual tropes. I read it once in the comments section of a video art tutorial, and I think it‘s applicable here. Though I guess “visual signifyer” might be more appropriate. Still, I think ”tropes” gives it that nuance of “design elements that are commonly or repeatedly used to convey certain ideas”.

So, when someone says that a drawing looks like [famous anime character], I think that it’s an interesting way to examine what design elements it might have in common, and even to see where those design elements might trace back to.

I think it’s worthwhile enough for me to start doing more often, so I’ll try it and report back

Design Process

A previous venture in character design led me down a similar mode of thinking while drawing these two, and now I've scrounged together a sort of thought process when it comes to designing characters. I'd distill this down to "ideation then research". Can I say that? Ideation?

Basically, get all the ideas out there first, and then ask questions about what you drew (why did I draw this? what led me to this?) and to research elements that you're not quite familiar with (what does this actually look like/how does it function?). I mean, it all sort of remains in the abstract, but feeling my way around along these parameters really helped me to get the ball rolling, got me excited and curious, and helped me to feel a bit more intentional about what I was designing. I tend to put the cart before the horse, when it comes to both drawing and storytelling, wanting to create something that falls into place on the first try, but I've found more value in working with your gut reaction. You have a more active voice that way, there's more problem solving, you arrive at the result in the literal sense.

Application

So yeah (this is the last thing), I wanted to make them NPCs for a western-themed game idea (will explain later) that I had about a summer ago. The combination of banking uniforms and western-like accessories (the bolero tie, sleeve garters, and boots) had me thinking about, well, westerns.

So that's that! :v

*I did a google search and it seems like most vests were made out of silk. Bless Wikipedia. At a glance, it reminded me of details like single and double-breasted coats, as well as U and V necks. There’s a lot of potential here, and opens up more design options for a vest alone.

[elizabethrobertajones]

I'm genuinely curious and I'm sure you've talked about it before but what're your headcanons on Cas & Dean getting together in the show? How different do you think what you would like to see vs. what might actually happen are? I feel like this season is gonna make it harder and more detrimental to keep feelings "strictly platonic" if that makes any sense. I feel like it's pointless for them to keep dancing around each other considering what they've been through in the past 2 seasons especially.

I actually don’t really talk about this or have more than passing headcanons about how to do it usually right in like the next 3 episodes range of coda fics I approve of sort of level >.> At least not that I’m set on or have any real strong feelings about, mostly because I’ve learned to enjoy the show while still living in fandom you really can not let fandom expectations get too deep into your head to the point you’re imagining the show as a sort of interactive pick your own adventure game where you’re desperately trying to turn to page 83 but the show keeps flicking back to page 6 and you’re like WHYYY and scrabbling around feeling like they’re holding the pages down for you or something… Gah, bad metaphor. Double ear ache. I apologise for the quality of blogging around here this week :P 

So I mean what I would LIKE to see or headcanons I have are all of the coda fic formula of just taking the episode a minute past its appropriate end. And I’ll tell you the 2 most jarring moments of my life watching the show were in 10x03 where the episode went past the expected end and Cas walked into the bedroom with Dean but then left again but my heart was hammering the whole time, and to explain it to myself retroactively, 11x04 when the camera stays in the back of the car after they leave the Bunker, talk over the details of the case, and then there’s just this long silence while Dean’s driving and Sam’s sitting there, and it’s just… wrong… The scene is going on past the point we KNOW as viewers it should have cut to the next day when they roll into town, and the silence and the length of the pause were exactly made to pass through a boundary, to transgress what we should be expecting as a viewer. The scene in 12x19 is very similar to the one in 10x03 in set up - Cas walks through the door to Dean alone - but the transgression is only in 10x03 when all the other loose ends are wrapped up and Dean’s cured and Cas could easily have made the same excuse to Sam and left, but instead they pushed through for one character-driven scene of Cas and Dean together, and we were intruding on Dean in privacy with his photos, and we see him react as if he doesn’t want people seeing him doing that, and then Cas comes in and they’re alone together and talk, and there’s no purpose except for personal communication between them. Either Cas leaves, Dean tells him to leave, or he stays and they get together :P And obviously it would be one of the first 2 but it was one of the rare times the show drifted into set up for a coda fic where they were given that privacy and even the hint that this could transgress expectations because it was indisputably the last scene of the episode we could have between members of TFW and all the plot was over so there was nothing for them to discuss except feelings.

I think my expectation for a scene where it’s going to go canon for real will cross some of those same invisible boundary lines and that’s what gets my heart hammering about things on this show. Moments where I’m not sure what it going to happen and I’m out of a comfort zone of being able to confidently say I can predict it all in a rote way, where character reactions are all somewhat reliable. There’s sometimes stray dialogue where they seem to hint so far. The only times recently they got me was the 11x11 line about pining for somebody else. I could feel my heart against my ribs and I got up to walk it off because I thought I would die if I stayed in front of the screen, because it crossed a line of stuff that seemed acceptable to say about Dean in the context of knowing Robbie is very aware of what he’s doing and even on first watch the episode had a lot of Destiel cues in it to go with the Amara surface text (also that means Robbie got me twice in a row and I sort of haven’t forgiven him :P). 

And specifically the giving of the mixtape because the set up to the scene didn’t feel weird at all to me, I was predicting exactly how it would happen until it completely threw me for a loop that they would use an almost always romantic trope (without further context and Dean and Cas are *terrible* context to judge a trope by because they are a trope dispute battleground where mainstream romantic tropes go to Hunger Games it out :P) in the middle of what should have been another round of the subtextually romantic but surface text everything else Destiel is on top of that argument. So yeah that really was a weird moment because it was more like becoming untethered from expectations and I think that’s why 12x23 still hasn’t really hit a place in my heart yet because I’m still seeing the last shot of Dean and Cas in my eyelids when I blink and the boundary-crossing it did is surreal to me because the line I drew behind it once upon a time was how to make it canon in the worst possible way if they were going to fuck with us >.> 

I guess that’s a 3rd one. But anyway. It was so weird. Like… that feeling of not quite believing it? I think there’s a lot of joking we do about it but there’s actually expectations and we will ALWAYS expect Dean and Cas’s language or language about them to single them out as a partnership. Or the oddly specific clarifications like we/I need you, I love you/all of you. Or Dean and Cas to get into a stinking argument while Sam’s eyebrows raise to the moon in the background and he clears his throat until it’s raw. Dean fielding the phonecalls and wandering off in private or going on speaker phone in alarm when Sam comes nearby. There are a LOT of basic expectations I have about how their relationship is written and not many things transcend those lines. Even a lot of the romantic gestures we’ve had since I was watching. Like the end of 10x14, was a “well duh” if you search your heart and only extreme pessimism and distrust in the writing of the show or its patterns and tropes.

Actually 9x18 which got me into the show was another one of those transgressions and a really important one where Robbie (fuck you) really drew attention to stuff you’re not supposed to point out  - not just using the fourth wall break to point out there’s a story, but that it has a subtext and that it’s drawing attention to it. And 10x05 telling us the subtext exists and it belongs to Dean and Cas who are a couple in real life (which is also queer). Now I think about it there are more of these way back when and they’re all Robbie’s fault until recently :P He’s given me at least 4 mild heart attacks. 

Aaaanyway I guess what I’m saying is, the times when I get really dizzy and alarmed about what’s going on is when something doesn’t go like it’s supposed to, and the “supposed to” on this show is a very specific pattern of reactions and stuff which are still romantic and yet because we’re used to them being the telling of Destiel, are actually *boring*. If they repeat them without escalating them, it’s nice to have the continuity and reassuring presence that Dean will always sidle up to Cas and look him head to foot on his arrival in a room (pls someone explain the meeting in 12x12 to me I’m still laughing… You’ve known him how many years and you still do it???) But yeah it’s when things go off-script, as it were, to our expectations. 

So I think it would start normal as hell, the sort of thing you’d always expect them to do, and then something would just be *off* or over some invisible line, like Dean not letting go of a hug too quickly or Cas hovering on the door and not leaving when he meant to, them going to a bar and the conversation halting and one or both of them smiling and looking away after a too-long pause. Something where our expectations can chug along in the moment thinking our smart arse knowledge of these boring old teasy Destiel scenes are doing exactly what they always do - until they don’t, and we’re left reeling. 

(And, incidentally, the mixtape is definitely strike one to my mind, and the escalating panic I felt as the camera seemed to tell us, everything is over now, it’s just Sam and Dean standing outside and Mary and Lucifer are gone and Cas is dead on the floor —– and is Sam looking around at the house and Dean *isn’t* what the FUCK, Sam is going inside - and Dean - he’s still - he’s — they ———— and my brain has been stuck in dashdashdash territory on this subject ever since)

And also sorry for answering this while sick, I hope it’s not terrible but weirdly I think it was something I needed to ramble about even if it wasn’t directly about your question… I don’t think I’ve let myself think about this until new canon is less than a month away and I can start to peer between my fingers after having my hand over my eyes all summer)

#Asks #I still don't know if it would go canon or what #but the level of fuckery at this point is going to put me in hospital #I am FRAGILE #destiel #12x19 #12x23 #riverboat gambling

[hella-free-space]

Hi :) I'm pretty new to rats I kept one when I was a child poor rat, my main questions are what bedding and food people use for their rats I'm really concerned about bedding because of their respiratory issues. What fun activities you can do with them and whether to get 2 or 3 and make or female for a beginner. I have a local breeder who desexes, vet checks and everything before they go, and what size cage I currently have a 2 story but will upgrade as they grow but not sure to what :)

@notalltreellamas I want to preface thisentire reply by saying that The Rat Gugu on Youtube is one of my favorite resources for rat care! TheRatGuru hasa playlist called “Rattiepedia | The Ultimate Guide to Pet Rats” and it coversall of the questions you asked PLUS a ton more stuff! :) I highly recommendchecking out the channel!! Also, Ratblr exists so I’m sure there are a ton of blogs that you could peruse or send asks to if you have any other questions or want to know about specific setups or ideas they’ve posted on their blogs :DThere’s also an INSANE amount of DIY enrichment, hammocks, and other cage decor on pinterest. Rattie toys don’t have to be expensive, either, since there’s a ton of “Dollar Store DIY” toys and enrichment ideas out there! Google is your best friend when doing research so don’t be afraid to ask questions or dig a little deeper to find an answer! more under the cut

HOUSING

[ Source: julieszoo74 ]I’m not sure what cage you have, but I highly recommend looking into whether or not your specific cage is a good fit for ratties :) Some cages that are labeled as rat appropriate by pet stores are not (same goes for hamsters, birds, bettas, etc.) so it’s a good idea to check that out or upgrade asap! :)The rule I’ve heard mostoften is 2 sq ft/rat but bigger is always better! Also keep in mind that ratslove to climb so make sure your cage has some vertical space to hang shelves, hammocks,tunnels, etc. The Critter Nation is personally my favorite rat cage. You canbuy a single or double critter nation and a single will comfortably house 2-3adult male or female rats! I definitely recommend using no-pill fleece bedding (shelfcovers + ladder covers + litter box) with this cage, since it makes cagecleanup a breeze. You can buy the shelf/ladder covers (usually on ebay or etsy) or sew them yourself! This cage has plenty ofspace to hang toys, hammocks, shelves, perches, baskets, and whatever else youcan think of :)

(note: you can buy a single critter nation, which has the shelfunderneath and the rolie feet, or the “add-on” which has no shelf or roliefeet. The add-on is usually a little cheaper, but the single critter nation’s shelf and roliefeet are handy dandy)

Martin’s Cages areanother popular choice among rat owners! :) Lastly, you can even DIY a cage!

[ source: reachthestars ]

I’ve seen C&C cages,cages made out of old cabinets or book shelves, and even custom-build ones!

Bedding

My twofavorite types of bedding are the Carefresh paper bedding (nonscented andnoncolored) and no-pill fleece bedding! Rats have sensitive upper respiratorysystems, so they shouldn’t ever be kept on any type of bedding that gives offdust (like cedar or pine shavings). You can use Carefresh if the cage has adeep enough litter pan at the bottom. You can also use fleece strips since they’rewashable/reuseable :) Whenever you use fleece bedding (whether it be asshelving covers or as strips) I’d recommend using a litter box (Yes! It’s possible to litter-train rats!) as well to helpkeep the fleece clean longer and to minimize having to shake out thefleece/pick poop out of the fleece strips before washing.

Food

Blocks arebetter than mixes when it comes to feeding your rats! If you use a mix, therats will probably just pick out what they like and leave the rest of the fooduntouched, which can be an issue since they wouldn’t be getting propernutrition! I love Oxbow and Mazuri for rattie staple diets! :D Now, youngratties and older ratties have different protein requirements and it’s veryimportant to make sure those needs are met! After I discovered this, I changedmy rats’ diet so I wanted to mention it to you since it might not be listed inarticles you find online! The Rat Guru covers this issue more in this video: 

Treats

Rats can eat a TON of different “people-foods” so varying a rattie diet is pretty easy! The video above lists some treats and foods to avoid, and this list is also pretty extensive! :) (dark chocolate seems to be debated and I don’t have any personal experience with feeding it to my rats, so if anyone has some resources or opinions about feeding rats dark chocolate, leave a comment or reblog!)

Water

Waterbottles work better than water bowls imo :) I like to have at least 2 waterbottles in the cage, usually one near the food bowl and one somewhere else inthe cage (like, one on the ground floor and one on another level). You can use water bowls, however, for enrichment! I’ve seen people give their rats a bowl for bobbing-for-frozen-peas! :p

Pairs vsTrios vs Groups

I had pairsgrowing up! However, my mom adopted a trio (and then a pair, for a total of 5ratties) so I feel like how many rats you own depends on how much time you haveto devote to them :) I don’t think I could have 5 rats out at a time unlessthey had their own room or tall large pen, and when I interacted with her rats,I’d take them out one or two at a time since that’s what I felt mostcomfortable with :) If you feel like 3+ rats would be overwhelming or if youwant to start with just a pair, that’s perfectly OK :) As long as they’re notkept alone, you should be good!

Males vsFemales

I’ve alwaysheard that males are a lot more laid back and relaxed than females. I’ve onlyhad 1 pair of male rats growing up, and they were older from what I canremember so that may have also played a part in their activity level. Youngfemale rats are super energetic for sure though! :D Adult males are also alarger than adult females, so if you want big fat ratties, go for males! If youwant energetic playful ratties, go for females! I should also mention, though,that not all ratties will conform to this gender stereotype, and this doesn’tmean that male rats aren’t playful or fun or that female rats won’t cuddle withyou! If you’re picking up ratties from a breeder, talk with them about whatpersonalities you’re looking for and I’m sure they can set you up with rattiesthat are a good fit for you! :)

I feel like it’s also important to address The Rat Fan Club and Debbie “The Rat Lady” Ducommun. She’s a heavily debated figure in the rat community and I have my own personal feelings about her, as do many others.The Rat Fan Club facebook group andwebsite are good sources for questions that might have hard-to-findanswers, however, I would not suggest these sources for *actually treating* medicalissues. Both the group and website are good resources and have aninsane amount of information on the nuances of rat care and ownership and recognizing certain illnesses.

However, Debbie “The Rat Lady” Ducommun is NOTA REGISTERED OR LISCENCED VETERINARIAN as far as I know (she has a degree in animal behavior and has worked as a vet tech, though)and is a proponent of at-home care and/or homeopathy and I do NOT agree with at-home surgeries of ANY kind unless they are performed by a veterinarian who has the proper and necessary equipment + environment to do so.

I’m not exactly sure if she’s pro-vet or pro-owner treatment, as she seems to feel like vets overcharge and can be a waste of money and details a TON of treatments for different illnesses and injuries on her webiste, but also provides a list of veterinarians and prefaces some of her pages with the suggestion that you should seek veterinary care if the situation warrants it. I would advise you to take her medical advice with a few grains of salt and consult a veterinarian as to whether a treatment can be given with otc meds or if a treatment needs to be performed by a licenced veterinarian!

There are some issues that can be fixed athome (i.e. if your rat is itching you might need to usehypoallergenic/non-colored/non-scented detergent to wash their fleece beddingor hammocks. However, your rat might be itching because s/he has mites and thatrequires medical treatment and you should consult a vet) but it’s never a bad idea to get your vet’sopinion! :)

Please, please, please consult a local veterinarian! You said thebreeder has a vet, so talk to the breeder about vets that they would recommendto you! :)

If anyone has anything else to add about rat ownership, rat care, enrichment suggestions, or anything else concerning ratties, please feel free to add on to this post! :)

#roni replies #ask #notalltreellamas #ratblr #rat care

[auskultu]

Yardbird Jimmy Page says, 'Open Your Mind'

Hit Parader magazine: WHEN YOU were a session man, were you playing bass or lead guitar?

Jim: Lead guitar.

HP: Was it difficult to switch to bass when you joined the Yardbirds?

Jim: It was at first because I tended to play it like a guitar. With the bass you just play a sort of root thing. I was just leaping around all over the place with great speed and I had to stop doing that. I managed to simplify it. But at first I was playing far too quickly.

HP: I read somewhere that you were going to play lead soon?

Jim: I already have because Jeff was taken ill. Chris took over bass.

HP: Who were some of the other people you have accompanied?

Jim: Them, the Kinks, Georgie Fame, I did some stuff for the Rolling Stones. Actually, we just did a lot of things for fun for Andrew Oldham. In fact, it really was good fun. But I've never been on any of their records. I was on the Who stuff. Petula Clark, P.J. Proby. Nearly everybody who didn't have their own backup group.

HP: How would you describe your style of guitar playing?

Jim: My style has always been very similar to Jeff Beck's. We knew each other for about 9 years. We've always liked the same music and we had the same tastes. As a result, it's been quite easy to fill in for him. When we get the two lead guitars going, it should be pretty good. Because it'll be like two identical people playing together.

HP: What's your opinion of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band?

Jim: I haven't seen them live. But their album is pretty good. As a harp player, Butterfield is really great. He's better than anybody in England. Lots of people speak of Mike Bloomfield, but there are a lot of guys in England who play that stuff.

HP: Beck is an excellent guitarist, but why isn't more of his solo work heard on records?

Jim: How far can you go? We've been told our latest album is too far advanced. There's too much electronic stuff on it. But I think it's all basic. We cut a single with Jeff. It's a Bolero thing. It's very exciting and strange. It's either going to be a monster or a bomb. It's an instrumental based on the classical Bolero piece. Beck's guitar-playing is exploited quite a bit there. But how much can you do that the public will accept? You either make a commercial record or a musicians' record. You've got to draw the line somewhere.

HP: Are there some good blues bands in England?

Jim: There's one called John Mayall's Blues Breakers. Mayall himself is terrible. And then Eric Clapton is good, but he's in the Mike Bloomfield bag, and that's that. And there are lots of good guitarists in minor bands.

HP: Would you say blues is still a big rage in England?

Jim: No, not really. It's still got a market; it's the same thing as in America.

HP: Are you basically a blues guitarist?

Jim: Before the Indian thing was exploited, everyone said I played like an Indian. Mainly because I was interested in the music so many years back. I had the albums and I sent to India for a sitar. I had one long before George Harrison. I tried to learn the actual classical music. It's very difficult. There are so many sides to it. I tried to adapt that to my guitar playing.

HP: Why have musicians latched on to these Indian sounds?

Jim: Because it's so esoteric. Everybody thinks they understand. They get a new sound and they say this is it. But really, they don't know what's going on, I'm sure. I've heard people in groups playing sitars and they don't know what's going on. They don't even tune them up right. Apparently, George Harrison has become deeply interested in it. He plays a sitar on their new album and he was getting along very well. People like Brian Jones just got it for the one record and I doubt if they'll ever use it again.

HP: There are a lot of Indians living in London, aren't there?

Jim: Yes, there are quite a few. Strangely enough, when you speak to them of Indian music, they don't seem to know anything about it. The only thing they know is the western music or the Indian film music, which is completely different from the classical. When you ask them about it, they recommend you to the Asian society or something. I met Ravi Shankar and that's how I got my information on how to tune up the sitar.

HP: Will you be writing material for the Yardbirds now?

Jim: With them, not for them. When one of us has an idea, we all chip in on it until it's finished. I wasn't on the last two, but 'Shapes of Things' and 'Over, Under, Sideways, Down' were all made up in the studio.

HP: What kind of equipment do you use?

Jim: When Chris is on rhythm guitar, we use any old amplifier because it isn't that important, but on bass we have a big set-up with 2 or 3 speakers.

On this tour, we've been given Jordan equipment. It's all transistorized equipment. We're sort of experimenting with it. It hasn't worked out properly on the lead guitars. But it's been sufficient on the bass. On bass, we've got 6 speakers to 8 speakers. In England I've been using a Showman Fender amplifier. And a Fender concert amp which is a smaller one with 4 ten-inch speakers. I link them up together so I get double the power. Through one you get the bass frequencies and through the other I use feedback and the treble frequencies. This is about the best set-up I've had so far. But Jordan is working on some new equipment which should prove to be great. I play a Gibson Les Paul guitar, Chris has an Epiphone bass and there's another Gibson floating around. Eventually, it will be all Gibson because we bought them and never bothered to change them. They're quite adequate.

HP: How did you finally end up with the equipment you've got now?

Jim: We just worked on it. I've been playing guitar for a few years now and I just work on this certain line. You do as best you can. The only problem being we blow up quite a few amps. We did one show and I had 4 amplifiers all linked up. It must have been about 400 watts all together. Those were Vox amps. They just can't take the volume. The speakers blow and then you don't get any sound at all. The Jordan ones didn't blow up, but they don't have enough volume. I've never broken a guitar, but I've been through nearly every make. I've never found a guitar which is exactly what I want. At the moment, I'm happy with this Gibson. I've also got a Fender Telecaster. I find every guitar's got a sound of its own and you can use them all and get something out of them. I haven't used the Telecaster on stage yet. Actually, all my guitars are in England because I came over playing bass. I switched to Jeff's guitar. His is very close to mine because they're both Les Paul models. Normally, we all travel by plane and the equipment goes by van. We have two road managers, one for the equipment and one for us.

HP: Have you found a big difference in British youth and American youth?

Jim: The Americans are a little more narrow-minded. The English, at the moment, are completely broad-minded. This wasn't the original concept of the English, was it? You can shock people in America very easily. If people are shocked, that's their bad luck. They should open their minds. In England, you could walk around in the nude and you wouldn't shock anyone. They'd think you should be put away, but they wouldn't beat the guts out of you. Also, the age of consent is 16. You can marry at 16. The attitude over there is completely free, just like the attitude toward clothes.

HP: Are you really that concerned about how you look?

Jim: I'm not really concerned with clothes. People put that on my shoulders. In actual fact, I'm pleased to see people walking around in outrageous things. They're throwing off the chains of a society that was. It's probably making England completely decadent, but so what. Billy Graham was just over there in England and if you walked around with him, you'd have seen it look all pretty decadent. I'd have to agree. He didn't make any impact at all. Actually, it's a forecast of the end of society. But I don't care because I'll be dead before it ends. If we've come this far in five years, it should really be something in another five. I'd like the new society to be a peaceful one but it won't be, because violence seems to be the answer to every problem. Every fringe society must be experiencing this. We walk around with long hair and someone shouts something, so you give them an answer back which is a little sharp and which they don't quite expect. Then they can't give you an answer, so they come to fists. What sort of mentality is that? I can't argue with a person like that.

It must be terrible for someone to have to fight in a war. I haven't had to think about wars. It's just something I haven't had to contend with, really, I hadn't realized what a big problem it is. I've just seen the horrors of it.

HP: Well, England doesn't have any big thing going now.

Jim: No, this is it. We have no conscription whatsoever. I'll never be drafted or anything.

HP: They won't send you over to Africa to beat up some people or anything?

Jim: Well, they don't do this. People wouldn't do this. If they had a mass conscription now, I dread thinking how many people would go. Because it would only be 40% of those who would have gone before they dropped conscription. People don't want to know about it anymore. They think, well, why should I waste two years of my life and probably lose my life in the process. They just don't want to know anymore.

They've got a regular army where you join and you jet paid every week for doing it. And you just do maneuvers and things.

HP: They have that here, too!

Jim: Yeah, sure, but yours is more of a reality because they get drafted over to Viet Nam. Basically, I must be a coward, but I just couldn't shoot someone. I guess it's different if they're looking at you with a gun and you're looking at them with a gun. You'd have to do it, though. I'd just be violently sick afterwards. I'd never forgive myself, anyway. I'm not the sort of person who's the violent type. I've never never had a fight in my life. I've never put my fists up to anybody. I've never needed to. Only, as I say, through the long hair problem people have said things. But it's never developed. Even if you say come on then, they still won't do anything. Basically, they've still got no guts. But even if they did, I'd run a mile. It's funny because you think, well, what are they going to do, and they don't do anything. So they just wasted the whole time laughing at you. Perhaps they just laugh to reassure their own masculinity.

HP: Why do you think there's such a big concern with clothes?

Jim: I don't know. It's a projection of one's character, I suppose.

HP: Is Carnaby Street a real madhouse?

Jim: It's so easy to send that Carnaby Street thing up. It really is. It's really a street with lots and lots of clothing shops. It's quite a revelation if you've never seen anything like it before, and I'm sure nobody over here has. There's nothing like that. It's just teen-age fashions, bizarre styles. You go there on a Saturday and the kids are there spending money. This is all part of the game, I suppose. Yeah, they spend a fortune on clothes. I don't know where some of the young ones get it from. You see them walking around and they must have spent twice what they've earned.

HP: Do they have things like charge accounts over there?

Jim: No. Not on Carnaby Street, anyway. They won't take checks or anything, not from the kids. Not unless they know you. But there is a big leaning towards clothes and fashions. It's an extension of their character. People have become more aware of the fact that, if they dress up and they look really elegant, I'm not saying Carnaby Street, but if they've got a very clean-cut suit on and still look pretty hip with it and not just sort of middle class, it has the affect on a girl.

HP: What's the biggest thing you dislike about America?

Jim: You see, the only thing that I've seen is violence, but I've only been doing concerts. I don't get out to walk around and meet people very often. If I was walking around the street, I probably wouldn't see any violence whatsoever. So, it's difficult. You see, I haven't seen much of America on this tour. But, when I had my holidays before in Hollywood, I enjoyed it. I thought it was great.

HP: You spent your holiday in Los Angeles?

Jim: Before I joined the group, I spent my holidays for the last couple of years in Hollywood.

HP: What are some of the things you enjoyed in Hollywood?

Jim: The weather. The weather's pretty bad in England. I met quite a few people and made some good friends. I liked the Sunset Strip; there's quite a bit happening there. I got to see groups I could never see in England.

HP: If you had a choice, where would you like to live?

Jim: Miles away from anybody. That's what I'm going to do when I get back. I'm buying a house. It's about a half a mile from anybody else. It's got a river, five bedrooms. That's for when the group slows down a bit. But we'll be working hard for the next year. There's so many things I'd like to do that I don't have the time for now. Things which are very important to me, like painting. But it's best to work now and make all the money I can.

HP: What kind of books do you like to read?

Jim: I used to study religion when I was in art school. But I stopped.

HP: Was that how you got interested in Indian music?

Jim: It may have been subconsciously. But I didn't just read about it and then go onto it. At the moment, I read sort of very strange things like I, Jan Cramer. Things which are a social comment. This Cramer is a beat painter in Holland. I like Henry Miller, too.

#yardbirds #jimmy page #hit parader #1967 #1960s #sixties #60s