#but honestly I need so much practice and possibly different tools

[xreaderbooks]

Reward | Leo Valdez

Summary: Reader has had enough to worry about without her boyfriend coming to ask her for help with a homework assignment.

based on this request

Warnings: Language, Aged-up, fluff, making out like constantly, very slight angst, readers bad at math (cuz i'm bad at math and i cant fake it for the fic)

Word Count: 1.8k

PJO/HOO Masterlist | Navi | Masterlist of Masterlists

"You want me to help you?" A quizzical look befell your face as you look up from your spot under the shaded tree. You sat by the edge of the lake, you were taking a quick break hiding from the younger campers who wanted to train with you as you were a crowd favorite with the new arrivals. You just needed a recharge, a moment away from the energy that overexerted you. "Of all people?"

Leo rolled his eyes, "Who else?"

You snorted, "Cabin 6 is that way." You pointed and nodded your head in the direction of the Goddess of Wisdom's cabin, filled with the brightest minds and much better options to help Leo with his current request.

"C'mon baby, please?" Your boyfriend pouted and lowered his chin to gain your favor with his golden brown eyes that, you were afraid to admit, made you weak. 

"But I'm tired and I want to take a nap, using my brain will probably kill me at this point." 

He knelt with outreached hands, you allowed him to hold both of your palms in his own, you should have known better. He used his strength to pull you up from the ground and brought you to his chest, his hands settled on your hips. 

Instinctively you looped your arms around his neck and rolled your head to the right, tilted perfectly for him to mold his lips to yours. And he did, pecking chaste kisses onto your lips, pleading with you to join him in Bunker 9.

"I suppose I could be persuaded," You nudged your nose against his. 

~~~

The moment you arrived inside the bunker and saw his work table, normally filled with scattered tools and mechanical pieces that were in the process of being fixed or tweaked, was now littered with papers. 

Leo's homework was divided into five different sections that had their respective piles. "By some miracle, I finished everything else, now all I'm missing is this." He reveals papers that were held behind his back.

"Math." You skim the equations on the document in your hands, nothing on this page was anything you would be able to help him with. 

The smirk on his face made you glare at him and fold your arms stubbornly, "Yup," Leo rolled two chairs over to the desk that felt like your new timeout spot. 

"Honestly, I feel like I shouldn't be subjected to torture because you decided to take courses over the summer." 

"What happened to 'you die, I die'?" He reiterated the phrase you had spoken to him as a sort of mantra during the war. Your jaw dropped at the use of them being thrown back in your face and quickly shut it close. 

"In the face of war!" You exclaimed and shrugged it off, "Just for that, you can die alone."

"I did, it wasn't my vibe," He twirled a strand of your hair, and let it fall back into place, stepping back with a hand on his hip leaning the other on the table. "Aren't you testy today?"

"It's been a day, the kids were hard to gather and once I had them riled up they wanted to learn this specific trick they've seen me do but how many times can I let them down gently and tell them they need to learn the basics- drills that they've repeated hundreds of times, that some still aren't getting and will possibly die if they get caught by a monster if they don't get-" You inhale deeply, "So what do I do? I let them learn the hard way to get it through their heads that it's not as simple as it looks and I've only managed after years of fucking practice. And you know what?"

"What?" You wanted to smack the amused smirk off of Leo's pretty face. 

"They didn't pick it up like I knew they wouldn't, now they hate me but still wanna train with me because they still want me to teach them. My body is sore, I'm tired and I hate you for making me do homework," You pout. 

He approaches you with caution, slowly caressing your cheeks in his hands, he presses his lips against yours that were currently being smushed together by his hands. It was a quick but meaningful kiss, only for him to say "I'm going to fail if I don't get this done."

"Leo!" You push him away from you. "What the hell do you mean, you're going to fail, you've been cooped up in here all summer!"

A sheepish smile and pink-dusted cheeks appear at your sudden outburst, he chuckles nervously knowing he just put the cherry on top of your already bad day. "I've been behind on a couple of assignments and I've finished most of them already, I'm mostly caught up"

"Mostly?" You were going to strangle him. You haven't spent much time together lately because of his homework. He decided to take summer classes to get ahead, and he's been busy ever since. You were constantly teaching the younger campers, and helping out around camp, whether in the infirmary or setting up activities to keep busy and you loved it but you missed your boyfriend. 

"But Nyssa had this project she'd been working on and I couldn't help it."

You rolled your eyes and sighed, you couldn't be upset with him- not completely, you understood how hard it was for Leo to stay focused on a task that wasn't something he could physically tinker with, but there had been moments where you wanted to just be with him in his presence and you stopped yourself from going to him knowing that you'd only be a distraction. 

"I promise this is the only one left," He takes your hand and leads you to sit on a chair then sits in another one next to you. 

"I'm so annoyed with you right now," You snatch the paper and look over the equations. 

An hour and a half into the 50-question work packet, you and Leo moved to the mattress lifted by wooden pallets used for shipping crates. 36 out of 50 equations were done, with work shown, Leo had barely any trouble working on it as he was naturally good with numbers you weren't sure you were needed at all. 

You solved a couple for him when he got bored and started leaving trails of kisses from your cheek to your neck and shoulder, you were sure the answer was right and took a break, though when he pulled out of his dazed and loving state he looked over it and kissed you deeply.

"What was that for?" You asked in a whisper. 

"A reward," He held your chin with his forefinger and thumb, pecking your cheek. "For helping me with my homework."

"Well, if I don't help you get this done, who will?" 

"Malcolm and I are pretty tight," Leo has a deep stare on your lips, his thumb swipes your swollen bottom lip. "You've also got eight of them wrong, Mi Amor." 

"I did nine of them," You did the math- that you weren't good at in your head, piecing together that you indeed sucked. "Why'd you ask me to help you, if you knew that I couldn't do math."

"I wanted to be around you, it's been a while since we've been alone." He toys with the bracelet he gifted you on your first anniversary, five charms for the five years you've been together since you confessed your feelings at age 17 after the war ended. You met at age 15 when Annabeth brought him to camp, and the rest is history. 

"I'm still annoyed at you, you know, just because I've let you kiss me a couple of times doesn't mean-" He cuts you off with another kiss like earlier, catching you off-guard, intense and full of feeling. You immediately kiss back, not having the willpower to not, succumb to the charms he begrudgingly has on you. 

You deepen the kiss by entangling your hands in his hair pulling his impossibly closer, it was a synchronized dance at first, the years of being used to the pattern of each other's kiss being shown in the heavy minutes of your mouths moving together in passion. It soon became heated, teeth clashing, tongues moving sloppily, mouths chasing each other after breaking apart two seconds at a time for breath. 

Leo gently laid you on your back, breaking apart to take off his shirt, the moment it slipped off you brought him down to you, he fit perfectly between your legs. You gasp at the sensation of him grinding against you. He parts his lips from yours, to which you whine softly. He licks a stripe from your neck to your jaw and sucks until he's satisfied with the way you sigh and rock your body up and clutching onto the blades on his shoulders on his back. 

He repeats licking, sucking, and kissing soft kisses as an apology for the spots he bit until you were sore.

You pull away from him and flip your bodies so that you are on top, you grab his wrists and pin them to the top of the pillows to see his reaction and wanting to be in control for a while. You gave him the same treatment and brought your body lower so that you could kiss all over his chest and back up. 

You sat up to breathe fresh air, straddling him and releasing his hands only for him to intertwine his hands with yours and play with your fingers. He bucks his hips up playfully, and you jump slightly, your eyes widen for a second, and your lips turn up in a grin. 

"You've gotten better at not... you know," You hint at the control Leo's gained with his fire powers. Heated makeouts like this were often interrupted by the smell of smoke or his skin feeling feverish. 

He lets go of your hands and places his larger hands on your hips, you ignore the butterflies that flutter in your heart and stomach at the way he rubs up your waist and hips. "My hair was steaming earlier, I was hoping you didn't notice, thankfully you didn't or this would've been awkward."

"It's not awkward when that happens Leo, it's a little funny, to be honest, part of the reason why I love you." You tell him earnestly, "Nothing's awkward with you, you're my best friend." 

"I love you," Leo responds with unwavering eyes on yours. "I'm sorry for the time we lost."

"It's okay, we were just making up for it." 

~~~

holy gods, I haven't read this series in forever 

I feel like it's a crime to admit I haven't read the new book yet, i'm rereading the series and waiting for the episodes to come out before i watch the show so im going in timeline order... just wanted to let y'all know. oh, and also i haven't fully read the trials of apollo which i know has info on where the HoO people are at in their lives that i'm not aware of...

#leo valdez x reader #leo valdez #leo valdez x y/n #leo valdez x you #leo valdez fanfic #leo valdez one shot #leo valdez/reader #leo valdez/y/n #leo valdez/you #leo valdez imagines #heroes of olympus #heroesofolympus #heroes of olympus fanfic #heroes of olympus imagine #percy jackson #jason grace #piper mclean #annabeth chase #frank zhang #hazel levesque #camphalfblood #camp half blood #bunker 9 #hephaestus #xreaderrequests

[babyrdie]

Achilles if he was the Champion on Olympus instead of Theseus and Asterius, inspired by a fic (by @baejax-the-great) I read recently.

I ended up drawing Achilles because I wanted to train more metal and Patroclus in this fic doesn't have much metal in his design. Maybe I'll try to do Patroclus too, but I can't promise anything because trying to imitate Hades has already taken me a long time for a train.

I tried to use Hades' style as a kind of observation study. Honestly, I already knew it was going to be difficult all along because I don't have stylization as my strong point, and also the style of this game seemed so unique that it gave me the impression that it would be difficult to replicate. All said and done, it really is. Even if I cheated by establishing a firmer pose on Achilles to avoid the need to draw a good gesture, it doesn't change that the rest is still outside my comfort area.

My conclusion was: the head is the hardest part for me, which I didn't expect. My facial style is very different from Hades' style, so it complicates my life. Plus, using just one brush for the whole thing is surprisingly good. I should practice gesturing instead of avoiding it.

And here I'm going to put some notes about Hades' style that helped me try to replicate it, but that's it: in Jen Zee's case, perceiving characteristic X is more complicated than doing characteristic X! I still think I need to train a lot to really be able to replicate it, especially in the head area. I don't know if this counts as a tutorial of sorts? But that's it, expect lots of images and explanations from here on in this post.

SHAPES

You can easily see "geometric" aspects of the drawing. It's easy to "disassemble" characters into shapes, which is a kind of basic concept often used in drawings.

I think that trying to be "sharp" is a good thing, as most of the shapes I saw on the characters were more sharp than rounded.

I got the impression that Jen Zee focuses on the macro and then goes to the micro, not micro for macro. In other words, she first establishes a visible and well-made shape and then cares about details.

This is very good in terms of anatomy, because a common mistake artists make, for example, is to care too much about detailing things like the face and muscles instead of creating a well-done silhouette. It turns out that the detailed parts are realistic, but the character as a whole has questionable anatomy. Typical case of a perfect face, but too big or small for the body.

I think the most obvious example of Hades' style is its hair. There is no separation of hair strand by strand, but rather making a large, recognizable shape that will later be further molded.

LINEART

The line is always black. Don't paint!

Lineweight: the outer line is thick but the inner lines are thin. There isn't much more line weight variation other than that.

It's mostly consistent but, in some parts, it's purposely interrupted or less polished. It's nothing so noticeable that if you do it completely polished it will greatly affect the result, but if you intend to get as close as possible I would advise you to purposefully "fail" in some parts.

Even with these "flaws", it's a CONFIDENT lineart. This means that you will have more luck copying the style of making your drawings in firm, quick strokes at once rather than slowly retouching stroke by stroke. Draw a line and if it looks bad, just do it again. I don't recommend drawing over it to fix it.

I don't know if this fits in line, but I'll put it here. There are some random lines of striking colors here and there. At first glance, you don't even notice them, although they actually help the drawing stand out, but they are there.

COLORING

Color blocking is your friend.

Don't use blending tools, and use a hard brush and hard eraser. I used one of CSP's default brushes for the entire drawing. It's a style that doesn't require fancy brushes.

From what I saw, Jen Zee doesn't paint this style in grayscale but directly in color. If your fear is getting the color wrong, using layers is a faithful companion because it's easy to change a specific part.

It's IMPOSSIBLE to do the Hades style without inking, which is that part where in the traditional drawing you would apply the ink. In Hades, this is visible in the parts that are shaded black.

Inking is MAINLY used in areas where there is less light, such as the neck, but it's also widely used on metal surfaces.

Don't insist on gradients and blurring the drawing! The shadows here are more solid, quite easy to point out where they start and where they end. In some parts, the transition is made by putting an "edge" on the shadow in a tone that is between the shadow tone and the base tone, not by blending. In others, there is no transition at all. Faces, in particular, seemingly have no transitions.

In the illuminated parts, I particularly found it easier to use rubber to shape them. First paint straight and then start erasing and making the shapes.

Highlights are very important in this style, and they are generally in a more saturated tone.

It seemed easier to follow the order of base color > lighting than base color > shading. That is, first paint in the darkest tone and then add lighter tones instead of painting light and then making it dark.

-Use of complementary colors and analogous colors in certain palettes.

Color picking can make you a little insecure about the base colors, but trust the process because color theory is crazy. The base skin tone of Achilles in Hades is a yellow that is strange at first glance, but together with the other added tones it simply looks like a normal tan. Believe me, I was surprised at first! But, sure, it doesn't all have to be color-picking.

SOME EXAMPLES IN IMAGES

And now trying to explain what I already said, but visually. If you look at the images, I recommend zooming in. Very simple images because some of them were actually loose studies and not something made with the intention of posting so don't expect anything beautiful lol

#IK #Hades Game #Supergiant #Achilles #Digital Art #Artists on Tumblr #Fic Art #Greek Mythology

[attorney-anon]

Hey, I’m a law student and I’m also autistic and ADHD and I was wondering if you have any tips for working in law as a neurodivergent person? I love my course and I can’t wait to work but the 85% unemployment statistic really scares me.

This is a long answer, so I'm going to cut it for the sake of mobile users. I do link some products below; I'm not getting paid, and I'm only linking them because they honestly work for me. Also, as a caveat, a lot of this advice assumes that you're American and/or working in-person at a private law firm; unfortunately, that's my only experience other than a month doing part-time intake for my regional legal aid service.

The biggest hurdle you will meet is the bar exam*: you need a study buddy who does not have ADHD and can help keep you on track. Don't study separately then meet up; do things like watching lecture videos together and keeping pace with one another in person. I'm not ADHD myself, but my best friend and forever study partner is, and she struggled to self-start.

Buy a bar prep course. This is not the time to be a scrooge; don't buy Kaplan just because it's cheaper (it also sucks). Barbri and Themis are both good - of these, use whichever you can get for cheapest or, if the costs are comparable, use Barbri if structure gives you comfort and use Themis if you need some control over the order in which you do things. Also use Themis if humor engages you; the Property and Contracts lecturers are hilarious. Stick to your bar prep program, but be gentle with yourself if you fall behind pace - realistically, you need to get through all the topics at least once, but you don't have to do every practice MPT, every practice essay, and every practice MBE quiz. Use the same study techniques that got you through law school. IMO, useful supplemental tools include the Critical Pass flashcards (get them used if possible, or get a referral code from somebody) and the Finz Multistate Method guide. Do your best to treat the bar exam as a game - because it is one.

There's a strategy for every section, and you should practice these strategies. For the MBE, use the Finz method - it works. For the MEE, or any other essay exam, use IRAC - and make up the R if you need to. The UBE, and most state bar exams, are graded such that you do get more points for knowing the rule, but you can still get points if you make up a reasonable-sounding rule and then apply it correctly. For the MPT, just throw in as many case and rule cites as possible. Try to cite every document you're given.

Join a bar prep FB group if you use FB; I was in Themis Memes for Should-Be-Studying Teens, but I know there's a Barbri group too. I found that being able to laugh at my bar prep course made it less miserable to do it. Don't be afraid to turn the videos on 2x or 0.5x speed - or faster or slower as needed. Some of the Themis lecturers talk to slowly that we went up to 3x; one of them talks so fast I had to slow him down.

Practice for the test in as many different environments as you can. I took the 2020 Pandemic Bar, so my bar was different than standard (I took it in a hotel room with my back to the door and proctors patrolling the hallways, it was mildly traumatizing fun), but I highly recommend getting used to noise while you're taking the test. Your ADHD/Autism hyperfocus will help here - make the bar exam your hyperfixation to the extent possible.

Once you pass the bar exam, your next hurdle will be the job search. You are going to have to mask for interviews, there's just no getting around it, but how much you mask will depend on your area of law. Big Law firms and intense, litigation-focused practice areas (e.g., business lit or criminal law) will expect you to be gregarious, friendly, and charming from the get-go; less litigation-focused practice areas (e.g., probate or family law) will often have more tolerance for quieter, less aggressive types.

Do not panic if you wind up at a less-than-favorable firm on your first or even your second job; a lateral shift between firms won't kill your resume as long as you can give a tactful reason you left (e.g., "I found that I prefer to focus on X instead of Y," or "I found that I had more opportunities to explore X at Y firm, and I am interested in focusing on X"). It is not normal to cry every day after work. It is not normal to routinely have panic attacks in the bathroom.

Once you have a job, billing is going to be difficult unless you gamify it. I use the Finch self-care app, so I have a task at the end of every week to make sure I have billed my time. My friend rewards herself for every day she bills by buying herself a new pen. Some people thrive off of timers (MyCase and Clio are popular case management software programs; both have timers built-in), but if nothing else, simply note when you start tasks and when you finish them by sending e-mails to yourself (or others, if relevant) at the end of every task. If your case management software can integrate with your e-mail (MyCase can integrate with Outlook, for instance), then use that to tag outgoing e-mails so you can be sure each one gets billed.

Outside of Big Law or intense practice areas, very few people bill 8 hours per day - a lot of the work you do will be non-billable, but also you will suffer from exhaustion or burnout if you try to bill 8 hours per day (my minimum is 20 hours per week, which is just 4 hours a day). You also will usually have some discretion in billing - use that to make yourself feel better if inattention issues make something take longer than you feel is fair. As for billing enough, if you find that you are most productive outside of work hours, find a firm that will let you access client files offsite - work at home if they'll let you.

I do a lot of my best billing either in the mornings right when I get to work or at 10:00 at night. That's okay so long as you take breaks during the workday (I watch a lot of TikTok during my breaks, but I also fiddle with various online games and such); you'll need mental rest to reset between cases. If you struggle with task-switching, use a break to help reset your focus. I strongly recommend setting an alarm for yourself during breaks so that time blindness doesn't derail you. Make your alarm kind of annoying; something you won't just mindlessly ignore.

Let yourself hyperfocus on things; all of that time you spend researching and drafting and correcting and perfecting that motion or brief is billable, and it's also good practice of law - your client and your partner will appreciate your thoroughness, and the judge will almost never hate it (some judges prefer brevity, but I've never had a judge upset at me for wordiness).

I also recommend getting apps that can automate things for you; I use Espanso to make my life easier by having easy-to-type shortcuts for common phrases and information (e.g., the current date, my bar card number, my work e-mail address, etc.). You can customize these things to make sense to your own brain - your process doesn't have to work for anyone but you. Similarly, I use macros in Word to make drafting go faster by letting buttons do all my formatting for me.

Excel sheets make excellent task lists because you can split them up by case, and set them up to highlight things (e.g., today's date) automatically. Most firms will have some kind of "docket meeting" where everyone goes over the status on each case - some people prefer handwritten notes (my best friend does), some people prefer digital notes (I have an excel workbook I use). Find a method that reduces distractions but lets you keep up with the flow of conversation.

On the topic of technology, if your firm provides a computer for you, or if your firm will provide accessories to supplement your own computer, push to have multiple monitors - I use my own laptop, but my boss provides monitors and I have two plus my laptop screen. It is WAY easier to keep up with billing if you can keep your time entry software open and visible on one of your screens.

You will be spending a lot of time in your office; make it comfortable. Once you are making enough to get by, invest in a good office chair (that you own, so you can take it with you if you leave the firm) and some basic office supplies that you like, such as a post-it note dispenser (mine is a cat!). My office chair is designed to let me sit cross-legged - I highly recommend having an office chair that matches your most comfortable sitting style. Having some things that are yours will make any future moves less awkward. I also strongly, strongly recommend getting some simple and quietish fidget toys - I have several spinners, wacky tracks, tangles, and clicky fidgets in one of my desk drawers, amongst others, to help me self-stim, as well as a sensory sticker on my desk pad (on the linked set, I have the rough version of the bottom middle sticker, the rainbow finger labyrinth one).

For me, I find that actual litigation requires scripting. Whether it's an oral argument or just a temporary orders hearing, I typically have every word I intend to say written down as much as I can (re-direct examination or re-cross examination can't be scripted before the day of, but I usually at least scrawl a summary of the question I need to ask as I'm taking notes). I don't necessarily read from it, and sometimes I veer off-script, but there is a specific comfort in having the words scripted out. On the few occasions I have ad-libbed things, I find that I come off less authoritative and confident, which gives the judge the impression that I am guessing. I also find comfort in having a copy of the code I need (which is always the Texas Family Code for me) on-hand at the counsel table. You are allowed to tell the judge you'd like to consult the statute when the judge asks you a question.

I also find that, for courtroom litigation, it's worthwhile to make sure your court clothes are comfortable. Courtrooms in my area are universally a little too warm, so I have a linen blazer that breathes and a variety of shell tops that don't have sleeves. I also have bad ankles, so I wear exclusively flats despite the fact that I am less than 5 feet tall. For me, heat sensitivity is a part of my sensory issues so I am all about setting myself up for success. It's also worthwhile to bring extra water bottles; at my firm (we are almost all ND in some regard), the standard is 2 per attorney and 1 for each support staff, then 1 for the client.

For out-of-court days, even "business" can be comfortable if you're a creative shopper. My last firm required business attire, though not necessarily courtroom attire. I wore a lot of dresses to stay cool, and a solid-color dress in a modest cut paired with a black blazer (which you can remove when you're just working in your office) almost always makes the cut. For those who don't like or can't wear dresses, comfortable slacks and a modest blouse or dress shirt, paired with a blazer, also works. My current firm only requires business casual for client meetings, courtroom attire for court, and otherwise as long as we cover our shoulders and don't wear shorts, we're good to go. I use a cardigan to cover my shoulders when I'm outside my office, as most of my blouses are sleeveless. It's worthwhile to invest in a good office sweater anyway; I like a thin t-shirt material cardigan for me, but my officemate uses a pullover knit sweater. Do what's comfortable.

Office meetings, or even court hearings, can sometimes get loud and overstimulating - buy you some Flare Audio Calmer ear inserts, they really do help take some of the 'sharpness' off of the noise. I also recommend a playlist that contains binaural beats (assuming you like them) or colored (white, brown, pink, etc) noise and a solid pair of ANC headphones or earbud, depending on your preference (the linked products are far from the only options, they're just reasonably-priced options that I know work; I personally use first-gen Airpod Pros). If you don't like binaural beats or white noise, instrumentals of pop songs are also excellent.

You can also get phone apps that layer binaural beats over your music - I find that it sometimes helps me calm down when I'm close to a meltdown, though I personally feel worse at the lower frequencies (I usually stay around the alpha-beta frequency line, but ymmv). I think there are probably also some apps for colored noise over your music, but I haven't looked. If you haven't before, I recommend experimenting with binaural beats and/or colored noise - I find that they can help calm down some of the staticky feeling I get from overstimulation.

Offices also sometimes involve other sensory dangers - like, for instance, food texture issues (another big one for me). You can often get out of things like that by simply explaining that the food doesn't agree with you, or that you're not very hungry - or, if your boss knows that you have sensory issues (mine knows I'm autistic), you can just quietly explain that it's a sensory problem and you have it under control. Keep some safe snacks in your office. You can avoid alcohol, if you're picky about it or just don't like it, by explaining that you're not in the mood to drink (or that you don't drink, period) and that you'll stick to soda/tea/water/whatever. Only major assholes will push past that.

Most coping mechanisms for sensory issues can be justified with "I don't feel good" or "I have a headache."

If your office chair hurts your back, get up and walk around. You are not in elementary school; at most firms, you can step out and just let your coworkers know where'/how to find you, and when you'll be back.

For intra-office and extra-office communications, if you have any doubts about the quality of the communication, you can put it in writing afterwards. A quick e-mail saying, "Okay, so this is my understanding of X, please let me know if I've misunderstood anything or if anything changes" is a good CYA to cover any communication difficulties; don't use idioms or shorthand in these e-mails - actually spell out exactly what you think happened, or what you think you've been asked to do.

If you're worried about your tone in written communications, Chat GPT is good at doing a first draft. It can also do a first draft of your attorney bio, if you're asked to write it yourself. Tell it the message you want to convey, and the tone in which you need it said. For instance, if you need to convey to a pro se opposing party that your world does not revolve around them, but you want to do it professionally, you might tell Chat GPT, "Write a professional e-mail to my opposing party conveying that my world does not revolve around them and that I will get to them when I get to them." That won't give you a perfect e-mail, but it gives you an idea of how to set the tone. Never trust any citation the thing gives you, but you can also use it to simplify complex thoughts for motions that you need to be simpler.

Law practice is also emotionally draining. Take the time to cry if you need to, or to go outside or into a breakroom and breathe.

Essentially, working in law when you're ND means finding tools to help you. It's definitely doable (as I said, most of my current firm is ND), but you'll need to find coping mechanisms to soothe yourself. If you've gotten into law school, I think it's clear that you're competent enough to work. The trick is not burning yourself out entirely, which I hope the above can help with.

* - This is not and never will be an endorsement of bar exams as a measure of competence for new attorneys. The bar exam is a racist and classist institution born from the desire of old white men to keep their good-ol'-boys club exclusive. Fuck the NCBE and abolish bar exams nationwide.

#lawblr #real lawblr #ask anon #anonymous ask #bar exam #attorney

[copperbadge]

Sam, you’ve talked a bit about the anger that comes with going undiagnosed for so long, and with having parents that dismissed your struggles. I’m about your age and I recently told my mom that I am relatively sure I have ADHD and that I was looking into getting a diagnosis, and I was at least 60% expecting her to disagree. And instead she said. “Oh yeah, I always thought that.”

Like. ????? WHAT. WHY DID SHE NOT EVER SAY ANYTHING???? Also, she was a teacher for years, and she knows how much I struggled in school so I am just. I’m honestly not sure if this is better or worse than her trying to say I couldn’t possibly have it. Like, at least she acknowledges that I struggled I guess? :/ Anyways, how’s it going with you?

I mean, I'm a big fan of repression.

That's only partially a joke. I'm not a big fan of repression but I do believe in trying to correct negative/damaging thoughts when they can't lead anywhere productive. I'm not a "think positive" person per se, but...

Yes, I am angry I didn't get a diagnosis earlier, particularly since it's not like my family was ignorant about the issue. But meditating on that just makes me more upset, and discussing this with my mother is not going to be cathartic for me or productive for either one of us. Even if I just wanted to take out my anger on her, which is a childish but understandable impulse, it's not like she did it maliciously. She was doing the best she could alone with three kids to raise and she desperately needed at least one of them to be "normal", for reasons that have much more to do with her upbringing and mental health than anything to do with me or my siblings. 

And that's all a fucked up situation, but there's nothing to be done about the past. So when I feel annoyance or anger, I stop and think, okay, but there's no point in lingering. Get it out if you have to, but then let's move on to how you can repair that damage. Then I talk about it on here so other people will feel okay about it, and I try to practice compassion, to remember that my parents tried to give their kids a good life with the tools they had and with their own disabilities to deal with.

It sounds like you're in a different place than I am, so I don't know how helpful this is. Not that you really asked for help, it's sweet that you just asked me how I'm doing, but I like to be helpful anyway :) I think the anger you're feeling is normal; the "oh yeah I assumed you had a disability and DID NOTHING" situation is actually quite common, you're not the first person I've spoken to who's had that experience. But part of managing the anger is making a conscious decision about what to do when you feel it.

Pema Chodron, a Buddhist nun, wrote a book called Start Where You Are that I read about five years ago and which I've found useful in managing emotions about things I can't change. I think it gets overhyped as a self-help book, but that's not really how it functions; it's more about explicating a specific line of Buddhist reasoning and using Buddhist practice to accept the difficulty of the world without buying into helplessness over it. Part of that is learning to sit in the pain of unhappiness -- to acknowledge an emotion, experience it, and move into either using it for a productive purpose or letting it go. It's a practice that doesn't come easily, but it does seem to help, at least for me.

Funnily enough, I started writing the Shivadh novels before I had a diagnosis but I knew from the first novel that Jerry was neurodiverse. Writing him with ADHD, even as a supporting character, has been very helpful for me because like me he can't really talk to his parents about it, with a father who has passed and a mother who is in denial. But he's still a fundamentally likable person who gets to demonstrably mature over the course of the books, to achieve things he couldn’t before and be praised for it. It's very satisfying to write about someone who got a late diagnosis and that made his life measurably better. Because it has, for both of us! I would rather have this diagnosis at forty than never have had it at all.

So yeah I'm sad, and angry, and struggling, but crucially I'm not taking it out on myself or others, and I know that this is a temporary situation. These are feelings that will fade in time because they arise from grief for could-have-been, and it's worth the sadness and the anger to have the diagnosis and to finally have help. I can't help the failures and bad relationships and mistakes I made because I had a disability I didn't know about, but I didn't know about it -- and now that I do I can improve my life going forward. What I'm feeling now is passing; what caused those feelings is permanent, and from now on I'll understand myself better (and, at least in theory, have access to bomb-ass medication to help raise my quality of life).

#sam has adhd

[beardedmrbean]

I'm seeing Judao-captelism being use to described Jewish people who voted Republican or dont fully agree with progressive socialist ideology. It's being used by black identitarians and marxists, so hopefully it says that way.

At its core, Judaism is about unity: the unity of the one G‑d, the universe and the unity of all people created in the image of G‑d. And yet, Judaism also gives the ordinary man an irrevocable right to his own property—as we see in the Torah’s division of the Land of Israel to tribes and families, as well as in the command to celebrate the Jubilee year (where all property is returned to its original owners every 50 years). The idea of land ownership by definition creates separation and division within society, contradicting the ideal of unity. How is it possible for us to live with these opposing ideals in our philosophy and practice? ____________________

Goes on with how the 'every 7 years fields are fallowed and whatever grows there is free game' evens thing out.

It's a good read, and I've got no doubt there's 47 Rabbi's with 63 different takes on the matter but it seems to be a reasonable conclusion to me.

I'd love to hear a Jewish perspective from some members of the Jewish community on all this since I'm just a gentile out here trying to do my best to help which lands me in the 'sticking with safer answers' area when complicated situations come up. _______________

As for socialism, I could pull up Marx's take on "The Jewish Question" but it's just easier to paraphrase.

Marx's take was 'I don't mind Jewish people I just wish they weren't so Jewish' basic idea worked out to cultural genocide, everyone has to have the same celebrations, traditions and all that good stuff regardless of the history of that particular group since the group is getting absorbed into the collective.

Hopefully this here will give you the start of some tools to respond if need be, but honestly the thinking I'm having with this is the current mode is Rothschild conspiracies without the Rothschild's.

Jewish people just like everyone else are also individuals and each one will make up their own mind about whatever subjects they want, so you're gonna get these guys.

And folks in the community that actively hate the guy.

People trying to use phrases like Judeo-capitalism just show that they're willing to take a page out of the nazi playbook if it serves their purpose, much like the ones that try to claim the Jewish people today aren't the same as the one's from Jesus's time.

Genetics has proven that one wrong.

#anonymous

[rollercoasterwords]

hie rae! i have query/a dichotomy about gender and shit that i would love you to share your thoughts on (if you feel like it, no pressure!). i remember someone once called you something like the "resident tumblr smart person" and you also seem knowledgable about gender (do you do gender studies?) but first i just wanted to say how much i love your fanfics! they're some of my favs ever honestly and thank you so much for writing them!

i remember someone once called you something like the "resident tumblr smart person" and you also seem knowledgable about gender

ok, so basically one of friends was staying at my flat a few days ago, i mentioned (jokingly) that i feel like a bad feminist when i shave my face but that i hate having hair on my face too much to not shave it. for reference i'm a brown cis women who has a fair amount of facial hair and i have been shaving my face since i was a teen. my friend (who's trans) pointed out that she also shaves her face regularly but that for her, its a form of gender affirming care and so would it be possible that its also that for me?. we're both really interested in gender and the elements of performance in it and so we spent ages talking about it and couldn't really come to a conclusion. the thing that i was wondering about especially is that when i do shave my face, it doesn't really feel like its affirming my gender - it feels more motivated by insecurity and the desire to conform. so do you think it would be possible that for cis women it is possible for shaving to be gender affirming or is it all a product of our socialisation/ the beauty industry?

sorry for the mess that this ask is, i hope you can understand it! thanks!  💙💙💙 

hi!! ty 4 the kind words i'm glad u like my fics <3 and i do in fact study gender studies lol there are of course many people v knowledgeable abt these topics tho it's not like i'm the foremost expert etc. happy 2 be ur tumblr smart person 4 the day tho & happy 2 share my thoughts!

so in the first place i don't necessarily think a distinction between trans/cis is useful here in determining whether something can/should be considered "gender affirming," nor do i necessarily think there's a strict dichotomy between "gender affirming" beauty practices versus "it's just socialized" or whatever. every woman is going 2 have different experiences with & reasons behind shaving, and oftentimes those differences will not map neatly onto a binary of trans/cis in which one side always finds the experience affirming and the other does not. additionally, all beauty practices are socialized in the first place & will often engender a mix of feelings that don't fit neatly into "this is 100% affirming" versus "this is absolutely not affirming in any way."

i think it's easy to say "shaving is just patriarchal conditioning for women and we need to stop to be good feminists!!" but that sentiment also fails to recognize that many women derive very real economic and social benefits by conforming to beauty standards, and many women furthermore find it necessary to shave to mitigate violence they might otherwise face. it doesn't mean it's a good thing that these standards exist (beauty in and of itself is always a tool of power imo), but it also makes it, in my opinion, kind of pointless to quibble over whether it's "feminist" to shave or not; each person faces their own set of material conditions that they have to navigate. also, the things an individual person chooses to do with their body hair really don't strike me as incredibly important in like...the grand scheme of Feminist Action, y'know? the entire question seems to lie more in the realm of like...personal feeling & decision making, and in that instance i am a supporter of total bodily autonomy. everyone picks and chooses their own battles when it comes to what beauty standards to adhere to; i don't shave my body hair, for example, but i'm scheduled to undergo a cosmetic surgical procedure in a few months, and for me there isn't a clear divide between the medical/gender affirming/socialized beauty standards reasons that i've chosen to do so. physical pain is one factor, but i'd be lying to myself if i said that i haven't been socialized to think about gender & the way it relates to my own body and appearance, and that that isn't factoring in as well. even if surgery is "affirming" for me, i still don't necessarily know that i'd call it a feminist action so much as something i'm doing to make my body easier to live in.

anyway, all that is to say--no, i don't think shaving makes you "a bad feminist." and i don't doubt your friend when she says that shaving is gender affirming for her. you both have different experiences when it comes to shaving, though, and if you've reflected on this and don't feel like shaving is something you really want to do, then maybe consider seeing what it's like if you stop--not to become "a better feminist," bc again, i don't think whether you personally shave is going to make or break Feminism, but bc it might make you happier. personally, my experience when i've stopped partaking in certain beauty routines or practices is that there's a period of insecurity at first which slowly fades as i've realized that most people really don't notice all the things about my body that i do. but that's my personal experience; if you decide to stop shaving and find that there are conditions in your life that make it too difficult, it's not worth agonizing over if you decide to start again, or to shave sometimes. in general i think this sort of individualistic emphasis on whether or not every single thing a person does is "feminist" is not useful tbh, nor do i think personal feelings of empowerment or affirmation are the best yardstick 4 measuring whether a certain action is "feminist"

#ask #ranting and raving #<- putting this here since this answer is like. long. not really a rant tho #in general i am pro reflecting on and acknowledging the motivations behind why we engage in particular beauty practices etc #but like. everyone engages in some way let's be real. it's just up to each person 2 decide to what extent & by what means they engage #so while i find it grating when people uncritically claim that things like shaving can be 'feminist' if it just 'feels empowering' #i find it equally grating when people get on high horses abt not shaving or place it in this like. hierarchy of beauty practices #hopefully this all makes sense...

[2n2n]

Is there a possibility that Hanako-kun will be able to work together with Teru? If so, how do you imagine? Because honestly I can't imagine a scene like that 😅

I mentioned that possibility here, so I assume that's why you're asking? I can go into it a bit more.

The thing about both Hanako and Teru, is that they are very practical/pragmatic agents. They are hardened and ready to do inconvenient, difficult things, they are OK with becoming monsters or appearing 'bad' or 'evil' to anyone around them, if it is necessary. Teru was trained by the Minamoto clan to have a kind of resilience against the pull of sympathy...

Whatever must be done in a moment, can be done, numbly.

I think that for Hanako or Teru, if there were a momentary advantage to be gained, or a necessary measure to take, which involved utilizing the other's skills... they would simply do it? I don't think there would be a "NO, I'D NEVER HELP YOU!!!" if it was a situation where there was no better option ... I think they are both more realistic and practical than that ... it is more Kou-like to be resistant to useful help on some principal or dignity or moral.

I mean, Hanako already helped rescue Teru?

Both Teru and Hanako know the other has their own, values, operations.... neither has any intention of 'changing' the other, I am sure they know they are both on completely opposing sides, by nature, by nurture. But I think that could just make them both easily reach a "you know what this is about" goal-oriented temporary partnership. It wouldn't be a threat to their values. We can still kill eachother later, when the circumstances call for it. A truce for a minute would not change that. Not about trust or bonding.

Being manipulative opportunists who control information, and being very stalwart in their greater beliefs/positions, I do not think either fear any sort of degradation of their moral fiber.

the weird thing about Teru and Hanako is they are both very, very alike! Really!! So much so that I think working together could actually be quite fluid and efficient!

In this scene in the Far Shore, the subtext is that, Teru is describing exactly what he does, for Kou, whom he loves. Teru takes on all of the dirty work himself, accepts seeming like 'the bad guy'. His life is already miserable, and he already has committed to so many grim acts. It makes no difference, to do another, and another, and another. Just something for the list. The Minamoto clan are well-experienced in committing atrocities. Teru contributes to a grand legacy of harm.

I think a partnership between them would be without sentiment, without personability, without any friendliness. I don't even think they need be embarrassed to do it....

Both would just accept whatever tool they can use. Dehumanizing works like that.

#avvy's JSHK

[chemicalpink]

hi! i’ve seen that you also work with tarot cards so i wanted to ask this question mostly for curiosity and also to understand more tarots!

is it possible to misread the cards because of bias we have? like we really believe in something or we have a strong opinion on someone and then when we do a reading about them or that topic we just read what we wanted to see, i mean we are still human so i think it’s pretty hard to be as unbiased as possible, right? eventually, is there a method that we audience can use to understand when someone is biased or not?

honestly i think no 😅 maybe the only way we can have is observing and making our conclusion lol.

anyway sorry for the long and different asks i’ve made 🙏🏻 hope you are good and thank you in advance for your answer <3

OHHH I LOVE THIS HIIII

I'm always so glad to gather around for some curiosity asks. And this is right up my alley So !!! even better.

YOU, MY FRIEND, ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT.

And it is something I try to always to about on here!!! It comes hand in hand with a lot of other different topics, especially when it comes to the generalisation of social media and content creation/consumption.

Listen, I get it. Tarot and astrology are fun. They're quirky, they're great, they have a somewhat stable foundation. They're a pseudoscience and when done right, it can be scarily accurate and thus, lures you in. So I get the popularity, the need to consume. To know more.

Now, I wish it were more about becoming more knowledgeable on the spiritual practices themselves rather than it being just about having to know the tea. There are a lot of ifs, buts and ands when it comes to tarot (more so than with astrology, which isn't that much interpretative).

Truth is, wanting the tea to be spilt, comes with a lot of attention and a point blank period opportunity to get attention on social media. It isn't that hard to just- you know, order a deck on Amazon, use its booklet for interpretations, ask a question and just- pull a set of cards from it, write something up, post it online and stir some things. Right?

Whereas CREATING CONTENT RESPONSIBLY should be a MUST, I truly believe that the way to fill the gaps and not create a hostile environment within the spiritual community online is RESPONSIBLE CONTENT CONSUMPTION.

I actually tackle all of this in one of my intro to tarot courses (which have yet to come back) and I'll probably create one that isn't that much about reading tarot but consuming its content. YES, readers 100% have a bias when reading!!!

But also, YES, it is our job to get rid of it. Now, not many people do it, because it takes time, patience and most important, willingness to admit that you might make mistakes. I'll try to give a quick rundown on how exactly it goes on before we move on to how YOU as a tarot content consumer can better approach these situations.

As intricate as the art of tarot is, it can easily be summarised as us (readers) using a spiritual tool (the deck) to access a universal answer (the answer to a question being asked) and we do this by *threading* personal energies (of those around the matter at hand) under a specific current context (especially time) and by doing this, we get to pick and choose which of the outcomes seems best suited for what we are looking for.

If you've seen Doctor Strange/Avengers Endgame... you can picture it similarly to the scenes where Dr Strange gets to see a million possible scenarios and finally settles on a specific one being 'the most viable'

The reader's bias comes into play when we are truly wishing for a specific outcome/ our mind is settled before the reading (which is why, it is extremely important to prepare beforehand/set the mood/meditate) since the 'strongest energy thread' AKA what we usually take as the most vibrant/accurate one will be the one most influenced by our own energy and it may not necessarily be the most accurate one.

As all divination methods, tarot isn't 100% accurate because they're just archetypes that are subjected to change due to a million things. But having a biased reader will most likely downgrade the accuracy to around a 20-40% in accuracy.

Now, even expert readers may be biased. Not that much, and most definitely not all the time. The difference with someone who is pretty much biased and set in remaining that way is that practised readers are able to tell when they're being biased even in the middle of a reading (eg. they'll see a card that doesn't fit and know it is out of place)

It's a pretty wide topic... and it doesn't necessarily mean to instil in you a fear of content consumption, nor does it mean that YOU have to become knowledgeable in tarot if you want to have fun reading silly little things online.

My best advice is: Don't be afraid to question things!!!

More often times than not, biased/unethical readers absolutely despise being cross-referenced (but do so politely, please)

There's this weird idea of content creators, especially spiritual ones being all dark and mysterious, vague in explanations and unapproachable, creating this sort of gap that sort of makes them seem like they're in a position of power. When!!! that's!!! not!!! the!!! case!!!.

Tarot/astrology/divination methods are spiritual choices that we make in our lives in our human search of becoming better people/nurturing more sides of our multidimensional being. And while doing so with respect and proper guidance, there isn't a reason why it should be treated as something that is only accessible to some and kept out of hands reach for the rest.

#marinette answers #marinette rants #ill probs do a VERY PERSONAL list on spiritual content red flags #i feel like ive done it before tho

[lewdladylily]

so it looks like hypnosis can be a productivity/motivation boost? i'm kinda interested in that, but i've no desire in doing the sexual aspect of it (bc ace); do you think it could still work with these stipulations? -öé

Absolutely, but there are a few things to understand. The biggest is that hypnosis is not exactly a science. What works for you is going to be different from what works for me. It's seriously also not a substitute for any sort of medical help, physical or mental. It is a supplement at best. For me, it can get me past the last speed bump, so to speak, to be able to concentrate better or overcome executive dysfunction.

Also, you are almost certainly going to need a trusted partner willing to do this with you. Its possible to hypnotize yourself or use resources that don't involve anyone else, but it isn't easy or as effective. It doesn't need to be one way, by the way, you could trade off hypnotizing each other, so that does help.

Also, being hypnotized and allowing this sort of suggestion to influence you is a learned skill, and though you can see some effect early on and those effects can be dramatic, shaping your triggers and suggestions to what you really want them to be with the effectiveness you want will take many, many hours of work and practice from both the subject and the hypnotist. The ease at which I can switch into different modes to overcome things like executive dysfunction took a long time to learn

That all said, there is no reason it couldn't work. Hypnotism is not inherently sexual, sex is just a very powerful motivator to do that necessary work, and unless you are a hypnofetishist there are very few people willing to do something this weird.

Its like, the experience of pretending to be a puppy, kitten, or similar is fun and cathartic. But very few people do it because it is "weird". It's pretty much just fetishists, little children, and furries - all groups who tend to ignore the mainstream sensibilities on what is weird, cringy, or even deviant behavior when deciding what they want to do. That's where you need to be if you want to get into hypnosis. Maybe your reason for breaking away from standard accepted behavior and motivation to continue sinking effort into that isn't sex, but you'll probably need a reason beyond the eventual hope that it might help you deal with executive dysfunction better.

Basically, if you want to do this, you are going to have to learn to have fun with it, or at least get something else out of it that makes you excited to do it. And there are plenty of non sexual reasons! I mean, the utter relaxation of a trance is worth it alone in my opinion. The enhancement to non sexual petplay could be another motivator, honestly pet play (even without sex) is something everyone should try once just to see if they like it.

Now, using hyposis in a practical sense is a bit more involved. I'll break down how it has worked for me, including for writing this week. In this case, I overcome executive dysfunction and anxiety difficulties by using a dronfication command then receiving orders from an outside source. As a drone I don't stop thinking necessarily, but I have very little impulse to think or do anything of my own will. I've happily sat staring at a wall for 15 minutes in something like a standby mode, waiting for more input, or repeating an assigned phrase over and over and over.

If the drone mode is working right, and it doesn't always work right, the dronification command allows me to feel as if I am a tool being used by others, decoupling the connection between my own motivation and decision making process and what I think and do, instead handing it to someone else, externalizing most sense of decision making and motivation. In essence, the suggestion is I become a robot who does nothing but obeying commands, and is incapable of doing much without those commands. I do and think what I am told, nothing more, nothing less - if I start acting autonomously, the suggestion starts to break.

Fortunately, I have a great deal of leeway in how I perform a task, because I am a thinking robot. I am ordered to write, I will write. But I will also go get water to make sure I am hydrated, I will go to the bathroom, I will make sure I get snacks as needed, because all those things are helpful to writing. However, at the end of my task I tend to just stop. If the suggestion is still in strong enough force, I will not choose a new task or activity of my own volition. I am good at breaking out of the suggestion as needed, but I might end up staring at a wall for ten minutes before I realize "hey, I should probably stop being a drone". There are solutions to this end point problem of course, like leaving behind an exit trigger for me to find once I am done with my task.

So you can see how if you are not into the idea of dronification, it might be hard to implement a dronification mode because your mind will fight it, not embrace it. You will need to find the imagery and methodology that works for you to achieve the effects you want, and find a motivation to do it. You are not just going to have to be ok with cringe and weird, you are going to have to embrace it and make it part of you. I strongly suggest (sexual or non sexual) pet play and/or becoming a furry as onboarding because they complement hypnosis so well. They feed back on each other and strengthen each other very well. Pretending to be a puppy is fun, but when you feel compelled to bark instead of speak, your mind is clouded except excitably puppy thoughts, and it feels more right to crawl on all fours instead of walk it is a completely different experience.

Now, as far as non sexual hypnosis resources, I haven't a clue. I am firmly in this for sexual reasons, the other benefits are side benefits. And even then I barely scratched the surface in terms of how to learn to do this stuff, I was basically trained by Raven and I have no real idea where she got her ideas and knowledge. All my knowledge is from her, and while I have some experience as a hypnotist I've never started with a rookie subject. I'm happy to explain more about my own development in hypnosis if you think that might help.

#lily talks

[coinandcandle]

Hey! I’m a bit of a novice witch (Finally learned the bare basics, phew that was alot of reading.) and had a small question, what are the different types of altars? Im aware they’re is deity altars but overheard some girls calling their crystal shelves altars.

I adore your page and it has helped me tons on my mountain of research to do!

XOXO <3

Howdy~!

First of all, thank you so much for your sweet words <3 I'm happy if my page can help people further their own research!!

Honestly this may not be the answer you're looking for but the possibilities for types of altars are kind of...infinite? in a sense.

I say this because the common definition of an altar is that it's a table or surface (i.e. a shelf) that is dedicated to some sort of religious or spiritual practice, often where offerings or sacrifices would take place.

This definition is slightly different in most modern witch circles, but the idea is the same: It's where you place your witchy stuff or do witchy things.

So while there are altars for deities, as you mentioned, many witches also have their own personal altars that they use in their practice! In this case, it's likely a place where they might burn incense, make spells, prepare ingredients, use divination tools, and so much more.

Of course it would be wrong of me not to mention that in some cultures, as well as some folk's personal practices, people will have altars set up for loved ones who have passed. This can be used as a way to honor them or keep their spirit alive. These can look similar to how you think a deity altar would look, often with a photo of the loved one and perhaps an offering like incense or food.

There are digital altars as well for those who don't have the space, time, or energy to have physical altars. I don't have one since I am lucky enough to have two shelves dedicated to each of the deities I follow, but I think they're a wonderful idea! Though I know that there are other tumblr witches who have delved into that area of altars, so feel free to comment links below if you have a posts on digital altars.

Basically: In modern witchcraft an altar is a place for witches to work their magic or are used to place offerings meant for metaphysical beings; gods, spirits, demons, (whatever you fancy).

The things to place on your altar are entirely up to you and should be based on your intuition and your own craft, though asking for guidance from other witches or taking inspiration from other witches is encouraged especially for newer witches.

Some of the more common items are:

Candles

Iconography of the deity or spirit the altar is dedicated to (if there is one) such as a statue, painting, drawing, etc.

Crystals or metals

Some sort of cup, bowl, or any container that can hold liquid for libations

Incense holder

Anything you would like to offer to the deity or spirit if there is one

If it's a workbench-type altar, you can put herbs, oils, or other objects you may often use in your practice

I will say that it would be a little strange to me that these folks considered a shelf of crystals an altar if they are using those shelves as storage but of course there could be more to it than that and we just don't have that context.

You altar can be whatever you make it, it's like a work bench for witches!

I hope this was helpful, I know sometimes with answers like this it leaves you with more questions. If you have anymore go ahead and send them my way and I will try to answer them to the best of my abilities or I will give you the resources needed to learn on your own! :)

#altars #altar #types of altar #witchcraft #witchy ask #ask me #witch

[fractallogic]

so i realized that when I'm going through a medium-strength depressive episode, I want to learn languages and do vocabulary and stuff like that... so i turn to duolingo, usually

unFORTUNATELY, duolingo also makes me mad because everyone's like "oh duolingo is awesome, it's the best, you *really learn a language* with duolingo" and I'm constantly finding errors in the languages I know and inconsistencies with the languages I don't and it's only a small part of any given language pedagogy and it's just so FRUSTRATING, and possibly more so because they didn't fucking hire me to highlight and fix any of these problems any of the four times that I applied and did the initial interest interview

and now they're really going hard on "we teach ENDANGERED languages" when the navajo course is seven units long and the fucking high valyrian course is 29 units long. you don't learn shit in seven units. like idk if the hawaiian course is any better!! and there are, in all likelihood, issues with getting additional approval from tribes, etc. to share their language, and issues getting native or very good speakers to record stimuli, and honestly I started the navajo course because I wanted to see how they dealt with navajo morphosyntax (so far: not well) and that's probably also a stopping point... but you can't tell me you're going to Teach Me Navajo in any meaningful way, which imo is even more disrespectful than just like... not having it.

and THEN you even compare western european courses like french/spanish/german to, idk, finnish, and the former courses all have these extensive "guidebooks" for grammar, they include notes and conjugation tables, etc etc etc, and finnish has ... a list of some of the sentences and phrases that you learn. is it LIKELY that someone's learning finnish from english as their very first non-english language? no, probably not (and i KNOW duolingo's research scientists have the data that can back that up). would it still be USEFUL to have those same tables and notes and so on? ABSOFUCKINGLUTELY. is it useful to have cultural elements like a finnish instrument called a kantele and being able to say "matti is a finn with sisu"? YES. but do they fucking bother to explain what either of those things are? NO.

and like, the thing about duolingo is that they make these extensive claims and it's used in classrooms now (?!) and they're seen as this super high-prestige program among language nerds, and it's just WRONG, and it really pushes my buttons. memrise doesn't make the very strong claim that you use it to learn a language; it really bills itself as more of a vocabulary practice tool (which both of these are), and i'm happy with that. there are memrise-made courses and user-made courses, and they're like "here are certain guarantees we can make about the general quality of the memrise courses, which we cannot make about the user-made courses", which I am also very much fine with. memrise hides some of its stuff behind a paywall, which, fine (caveat: I paid for a lifetime memrise membership—which is a big reason why I'm so !!! MY ACCOUNT WAS STOLEN !!! about the whole thing), but there's so much free content that imo the paywall is really just a nice bonus and not actually the necessary things to have. more and more it feels like duolingo's paywall is blocking some of the necessary stuff (like a personalized practice session, which I feel like is simple enough to program in and not necessarily worth a whole-ass paywall) and is also really expensive, AND without any options for a lifetime membership/single-pay model, afact.

maybe I would feel differently if i worked for duolingo. i would definitely feel differently if i was just a language-learning enthusiast instead of a linguist who literally specializes in how people learn words and word pieces in languages that are different from their primary language. duolingo is just TOO BIG FOR ITS BRITCHES and self-important and it needs to be knocked down several pegs.

[athenagrantnash]

Is anyone ever gonna talk about how Bobby clearly knows his way around a gun? No?

I mean, it could just be as a fire captain that he knows how to use one. It’s not something he uses in his line of work but it follows that he’d know how to assemble/disassemble one since he knows how to use practically every tool and contraption known to man. As a first responder it makes sense.

He asked Athena for her gun, jokingly of course, when they were having issues with that robot vacuum and her rolling her eyes was hilarious but it also made me think of how he gave her the hammer for her car and what if, when they were secretly dating, they started randomly teaching each other random skills they have due to their jobs. They were dating four months in secret. It’s possible they have a lot of knowledge overlap but it’s not like Athena is out there making splits all of the time or finding ways to disassemble anything and everything ( also, did Bobby totally build model planes or work on cars as a kid/teen? He did shop class for sure and was good at it. He knows mechanics, he knows how to disassemble things so that means he knows how they go together too) and I think it would have been hilarious if she taught him a little bit of self defense or weapon handling. I mean, he’s a big strong fireman but he’s now disarmed three people, two with guns and one with a bomb, I feel like some of those moves could have come from Athena.

No for real, when Bobby reached for his phone to call Athena after seeing Junior's truck I legitimately thought that he was going to pull out a gun. And it made me realize that while he's not the Gun Guy(tm), he so clearly knows what he's doing that I would not have questioned it if he did have one.

And honestly? I would trust Bobby Nash with a gun.

But omfg YESSSS!!! I love this idea! I mean let's be real I love any and every headcanon that people come up with that talks about what they did during those four months of secret dating, AND THAT'S LITERALLY A PERFECT WAY TO SPEND THEIR TIME!!!

It goes all the way back to their pre-date conversation where they bonded over they different-yet-similar way they enter a room, and it's a way to get to know each other by exploring their differences and then learning from those differences.

Plus like. Imagine that trope of one of them having to put their arms around the other to show them how to Hold The Thing(tm) and the other person gets so distracted by how close they are they stop paying attention to The Thing. (bonus points if you imagine teeny tiny little Athena putting her arms around big huge Bobby to show him how to do something).

I LOVE THIS and now I need somebody to fic it for me.

But also, the fact that him being able to disarm people that well might have come from Athena really just makes all of those scenes (especially the bomb one) so much better. Athena watches as her fiance goes up to the kid with a bomb, and she is terrified for him, but she trusts that he can handle himself and because they spent time showing each other how to do things, she knows for a fact that he knows how to disarm the bomber.

It doesn't make it any less terrifying for her to watch him in danger, but at least in the back of her mind she has done everything she can to help protect him that can be done before the situation even happens.

ALSO ALSO ALSO!!!

You cannot mention Bobby's childhood without making me start SCREAMING, because I am the QUEEN of headcanoning Bobby's childhood.

So obviously we know (aka I've headcanoned and refuse to be refuted) that Bobby got his love of cooking from his mom, and that's how they would spend hours and hours and hours bonding. When he broke his arm in a skating accident he spent most of the weeks it took to heal hanging out in the kitchen with Mama Nash. It's why Bobby could literally cook an entire gourmet meal with one hand tied behind his back.

But I LOVE the idea that he also did a lot of shop class stuff, and since I've headcanoned Dad Nash as basically being a MacGyver type character, I want that to be how Bobby bonded with his dad. Dad Nash helped Bobby build his first model plane, he helped him build a ship in a bottle, and when Bobby was old enough to start wanting his own car Dad Nash bought a car that was run down, broken, and on its way to the dump. And the two of them spent an entire summer working to fix it together, and by the fall Bobby had the sweetest ride of any of his peers and Dad Nash was just beaming with pride.

#ask me a question #911 spoilers #bobby's parents #also this got long but also HEADCANONS!!! FOR MY TWO FAVORITE ERAS???? HOW COULD IT NOT GET LONG???

[dreamingpartone]

hi i love your art so so so much it's so warmy and nice <333

also wanted to ask if you had any tips for lighting? cuz yours is so so warm and soft and beautiful so any tips no matter how tiny at all would be swaggy xx

hi!! thank you so muuch, I’m very glad you enjoy it <333

and ahhh lighting tips! I could probably talk for ages about how much I love lighting, but I’m not sure how many useful art tips I actually have for it haha 🤔 let’s see….

✦ I suppose, to start with my usual art advice: observation! I haven’t done a lot of actual study when it comes to lighting, but I have spent hours and hours of my time just staring at/admiring light in real life and in media. (Which, again, I could ramble about examples of cool lighting in art/games/tv/films etc that I enjoy but we’d be here all day :’))

One practical thing I do is that I take photos, like…all the time, everywhere. Which a) is great for later reference if you want it, but also b) I think the act of photography is quite handy at training your eye to see the effect of light and shade.

Just for fun, here is a brief light-focused selection from my camera roll:

In particular, I think it’s really useful to observe how light acts on different surfaces (e.g. water and glass can get quite complex, but even when it comes to hair or skin, it varies; look at where it reflects or is absorbed, at how it shines through thin surfaces (a leaf, an ear!)) and how it changes the look/mood of an environment — either with natural light shifting throughout the day, or using different types of artificial light.

✦ The next thing I would say is (especially when it comes to intensity of lighting), don’t feel constrained by what’s “realistic”. Of course, what you aim for in your art is entirely up to you, but (I think I’ve said this about colour too) I am personally way more interested in using lighting to express a mood/idea/story than exactly replicate reality.

So, I tend to make the contrast between light and shadow more defined, and also like using as much colour as possible in them. (Which is another thing I think I’ve said before: try not to use pure black for shading! My go-to is blue or purple, but you can have fun experimenting with different colours!)

Like, for a recent example, how often does sunlight actually make everything this bright yellow/orange/red? Very rarely, but accuracy is not my purpose in using it :-)

✦ The other important thing, particularly when it comes to bigger pieces (i.e. art with backgrounds): don’t let lighting be an afterthought! I think when it comes to digital art especially, it’s easy to fall into the trap of going sketch -> lines -> flat colours -> maybe now I need to consider lighting? But if you think about it early, you can plan ahead to implement it best.

In recent years, I tend to approach lighting from a set design angle more than anything else. I don’t just go, “Ok if the window I drew is here and he’s standing there, then the light will have to hit him like this…” Instead, near the beginning of an artwork I tend to think about it like, “Where do I want the focus to be? What do I want the lighting to say about the mood/atmosphere/etc? Ok, here’s where I’m gonna put a light source, here’s where I want shadows, these are the colours I’m using.”

Often that initial planning stage is very rough and just looks something like this:

(final version)

Or this:

(final version)

But it’s honestly super helpful to get even a vague idea of lighting early so you can figure out how the scene is going to work as a whole. (Rather than get annoyed later when you realise you could’ve done something different....I have been there....)

Anyway, I think that’s all I have right now…! TL;DR: take some time to look at how light works in different ways! Don’t let the pursuit of accuracy hinder your vision! And remember light is a tool for you to use! It takes some practice and experimenting, but it can be really fun imo :>

#fair warning there are a lot of words and a few pictures behind that readmore so click at ur own dash's risk #anonymous #ask #art asks #anon i hope something in here is somewhat swaggy !!!! #i feel like i did end up rambling too much for only three (3) questionable tips lmao but #i tried :')))

[kokiri]

So, I have a lot of feelings about how art is inherently a unique human experience. Everyone can create. It doesn't matter the skill level or medium, everyone is an artist. To sing, to dance, to craft, to paint, to write, to weave... every human is an artisan and we can cultivate our work into a profession. Or we can create simply to create because we enjoy it as a hobby or to continue a tradition. To create is to be a human. 

But to forgo the experience? Just for an automated result? It lacks humanity. That, alongside the prevalent issues of stealing art from countless artists, is what makes AI “art” so reprehensible.

Is there opportunity to use AI as a tool to assist in the artistic process? Yes! Absolutely! Already there are dozens of existing AI-based tools that aid in the workflow of digital artwork from photo correction, to illustration, to 3D modeling, and so much more. But that’s not what these thieves are using AI image generators for. This is not the direction that we should be taking for AI, period. These are people who are abusing AI technology for clout. For products. For easy money.

The key difference between using AI-based digital tools and AI image generators is simple. AI-based tools assist in the process of creation while AI image generators are abusing artists and taking art for granted.

I’m a hobby artist and I’m a graphic designer. So I’m familiar with AI-based tools to assist in my digital workflow in programs such as Photoshop. But the thing is that while these tools certainly help they still require a human touch and eye. A quick background remover is nice to have, yes, but it’s an imperfect tool. An artist still needs to clean up the edits. Honestly, sometimes, it’s easier to manually make the edits without the AI-based tools.

And this also leads into my frustration of AI “artist” chuds comparing their “AI artwork” to the advent of digital programs such as, again, Photoshop. Yes, Photoshop is easy to learn and you can pick it up in a day without being a computer whiz. But it takes time and effort and practice to actually master the program. There is no easy “click and it’s done” button for art or editing. Automation will always be imperfect and all too often unnatural.

So, yes, I firmly believe that AI-based tools can be a lot of help for artists. But because we have this problem of a commodification and theft of art with AI “art” image generators we can’t even begin to broach the possibilities.

#emi talks #ai #art #thoughts #art talk #if this isn't well worded sorry i've been awake since 6am and i'm vibrating from adhd meds and a monster #this is just regurgitated from an even messier rant i had on twitter like a week ago

[honest2goodness]

Not All Counselors Are Good For You

I’ve been the client to several counselors and the intern to several more. I have sat on the couch, hugged the pillow, and been asked, “How does that make you feel?” I have also been the person to guide the sessions – to listen carefully, dig into someone's psyche, and ask "Where would you like to go from here?” 

More interestingly, I have observed what counselors are like behind the scenes. Spoiler alert, they are human and flawed – works in progress like everyone else… some more so than others. 

The honest to goodness truth: There are many hoops a counselor must jump through to be licensed, but in reality, being healed themselves isn’t one of them. 

One of many reasons people are attracted to the field of counseling is that they once needed it. For a counselor, having life experience – of struggle and pain – is a powerful tool: it provides a deeper level of understanding. However, if a counselor has not healed from their experiences, their ability to facilitate someone else’s healing is weakened. 

When you go to the doctor, you expect them to at the very least not be intoxicated, right? Well, basically, unhealthy counselors are like intoxicated doctors who will vomit as soon as they see your blood. Once, I had a counselor say to me, “Oh, don’t cry, you’re going to make me cry.” 

If a counselor hasn’t looked within themselves – taken stock of their cuts, bruises, scars, and broken bones – they might squirm in their seat when you tell them something you’re ashamed of, argue with you about your beliefs because they feel the need to defend their own, be unable to listen when you are pouring your heart out, and scold you like you’re their child.  

Naturally, counselors have blind spots when assessing their own mental health. It seems there are always new things to learn, grow from, and adapt to; we and our worlds are ever changing. “Healing” never truly ends. Nonetheless, some professionals are more self-aware, honest, and motivated to work on themselves – to pick up a mirror and see what's hidden. While they may be scared of what they'll find, they are strong enough to keep going.

Seeking services from a licensed professional is like choosing to eat something FDA approved: in theory, it assures a certain level of quality; in practice, many without substance – without nutritional value – are licensed. 

If you are a client, or will ever be a client, I want you to know: (1) not all counselors are healthy, (2) not all healthy counselors can offer what you specifically need, (3) there are some counselors that simply aren’t a fit for your personality, meaning it’s okay for you not to like a counselor regardless of their relevant knowledge and expertise, and lastly, (4) it's possible to outgrow your counselor… for a myriad of reasons. 

Like working out at the gym, therapy is difficult, and if you're doing it right, there will be days your mind and heart are sore. Over time, you should see growth in yourself – change in the way you feel, think, and behave. 

If your wounds aren't being addressed, if you feel you haven't been gaining new skills, or if you aren't learning anything, talk to your counselor about it. If they respond negatively, consider trying a different counselor. Ultimately, you are responsible for your mental health, and counseling costs too much money for it not to be helping.

I highly believe in the value of therapy, which is why I've decided to talk about it honestly. If you have any questions about counseling, feel free to contact me! 

#mental health #counselor #psychotherapy #hot take #warning signs #therapy #emotional health #healing #self healing #self growth #mental health professional #psychology #self awareness #heal yourself

[wheelsondeck]

Torrie Wilson the professional wrestler, personal trainer and model.

You can thank Wikipedia for that one. And Google search results for the images I will be using of her haha. Regular camera pictures of my real merchandise will be used too, along with screenshots from Torrie Wilson’s social media, etc. I’ve sort of built my own little collection on my other phone- a tracfone Nokia model. It’s not much but that’s sort of my point; if you have to be cheap then do it! I’m talking about your platform and resources. It’s okay to be a little crafty. You don’t always have to be official. Good luck! That’s what I’m doing to be handy with the tools I’ve got to use as I explore all this newness.

Anyway, Torrie Wilson is my favorite person in the whole world basically! Favorite WWE superstar as a diva. And probably favorite celebrity period. Definitely favorite all time professional wrestler. I figure I’d give this blog to her since she’s a big part of my story. I personally am not that great at speaking. Like Torrie, I’m a little shy. But I’ll do what I can in giving the “abouts her” or, whatever you might say, justice. She reminds me a lot of myself when I explore her on social media. It’s very refreshing because I already like Torrie so much. I guess you could call me a mark. Torrie might as well be the real life Barbie doll I never really let go of as a little child. I play with her all the time.

Fitness is pretty much her life. I’ve always looked up to Torrie for fitspiration and motivational talk ever since times got challenging in my life with the human trafficking. Torrie has actually spoken up pro in anti human trafficking. That’s really cool. She’s always bringing up a good point. Too many for me to keep track of honestly. But they are strong points I believe in wholeheartedly and could see myself saying, that I hold onto subconsciously. I do similar work that Torrie does but I’ve been stuck on working on myself first and foremost. So for now I choose to just live by it and practice the preach. Live by light. Being spiritual is something Torrie Wilson is about too. Star seeds you might call us. Spreading the good vibes and tapping into that let loose way of delivering the message with positivity is just a little something the soul’s love to cater to those seeking the guidance does for the world that needs it. But she’s very straightforward. Works out like super serious. I should know, I’ve done a fitness challenge Torrie Wilson hosted when she did work with this group called Sage Spot. One of many project gigs picked up by Torrie. I think that’s what she does in life but with many of them. Always something new and refreshing every so often with her. I haven’t taken advantage of all the different fitness and professional wrestling stuff she’s offered since leaving WWE because I hadn’t the time or the money to get involved. I’m trying to play catch up with the fitness work out stuff. WWE, I haven’t got to see any of Torrie’s recent matches and appearances except for what YouTube barely has plus her first Royal Rumble match and some of the hall of fame speech from the induction in 2019.

With a nearly ten year career before making some rare appearances in WWE later, Torrie Wilson still shares entertaining moments that are so sexy and fun for me to watch even to this day. Known for not being the best wrestler but more eye candy and valeting, Torrie has a certain value to her that makes her one of a kind in the industry. That’s why I think she made an epic hall of famer! There’s so much more to know about this woman but I’m not going to pretend I can run through everything, at least not right away.

I’m applying some life coaching out of my human trafficking drama. And part of the human trafficking drama was to be a success story from a possible nice comeback into the entertainment industry through professional wrestling as I’m a former sports entertainer for a brief time in my life. My peak was in Los Angeles when I had an opportunity to impress WWE as I was under their radar unofficially being trained by former WWE superstar Brian Kendrick. It was there I found myself remembering how much I loved Torrie Wilson and actually found her (and Barbie Blank fka Kelly Kelly) to be the one inspiring piece of the business I needed to envision myself as I would present myself for business proposals to continue with my shot for a WWE tryout. But I got lost in the human trafficking scene.

I tended to look up to Torrie Wilson’s storylines for a relation that felt compatible and out of anybody, it just happened to be her. My favorite all time wrestler. It’s the perfection in her storylines and character that made me feel like I had a mirror to help keep me going strong as I went through some real trials after I left Los Angeles. I was learning more about the truths of true love and where the heart is in a home. While continuing to be me. And because of who Torrie Wilson is, I can basically say I stayed true to me and I am just like her with no apologies. Same drama as her WWE career in many ways. Very pretty. Maybe I’ll tell you about WCW someday.

I couldn’t have a story in mind for Wheels On Deck without Torrie either, obviously. That’s why you’ll see her in my blogs and social media so much. I’ve got this! I’m Torrie Wilson haha! To a core. Wheels On Deck been in the works much like I have as I’ve been holding onto myself and applying myself to my obstacles and fun. But facing the challenges and the drama is the fun I wrestle with anyway. Much like it’s fun to start this blog but I am so not a writer normally so this is taking much effort!

But the story has to start somewhere, right? Plus I’m having to get use to calling myself Barbie boy out loud. That way this whole concept will eventually catch on. Especially for what’s confidential. That world “confidential” is inspired and comes from a WWE episode of a show called Confidential that really made me tell myself “she’s the one I admire!” when I first started watching WWE and got to see more of Torrie. It was her life before she became famous. And this was only a brush of who she is and what the two time Playboy cover girl was about. I tried to mention most what IS the general information off the top of my head as you’re only getting hints of me too in the beginning of Wheels On Deck. It’s part of the sorority/fraternity rules that I came up with in my concept of fun as I go in the current moments. It’s all a little silly but that’s to keep this world a little carefree. But yeah, Torrie Wilson is the one I play with in Wheels On Deck. Thanks for touring.