#i haven't played a game in months (except for my job) because there's so many shows i'd like to gif ugh

[pharawee]

I've been thinking about it for a while but I decided that I probably won't gif or even watch Only Friends. No special reason. The show is fine. The trailer looks good. But I need a break (from gmmtv shows especially).

I'll still watch and gif other shows but cutting out the biggest/most hyped show of the bunch seems like a good opportunity to get some rest.

Plus, I need all my energy to gif every frame of I Feel You Linger in the Air. 🤡

#jane watches stuff #sorry to everyone waiting for gifs etc #i'm just #so dangerously close to burn-out when it comes to making gifs #it's becoming such a chore and I don't want that #even with only friends it's more about the fomo than the show itself and that's sad #i haven't played a game in months (except for my job) because there's so many shows i'd like to gif ugh #but therein lies madness #and i don't want to lose gif-making as a happy place #there might still be a chance that i get hyped af once the show airs #but that'd actually be a good thing because rn i'm actually so relieved to be able to take a break #isn't it so ridiculous that this is entirely due to pressure i put on myself? #not exactly very mindful lmao

[kaija-rayne-author]

Bear with me here. I only started playing DA games a couple months ago, so still a huge special interest for me.

Perspective is such an interesting part of these games, and I love how they juxtapose that against current events and characters' personal goals/needs.

Let's say you're the bodyguard of someone you really respect. You fail in your job to protect. You're doing your damnedest to save people who need to be free. You're a freedom fighter, because you care, deeply.

Your protectee is murdered, but you survived. I would imagine this would be something that could piss you off.

You imprison the perpetrators in the only way you can.

Then because it was such a big magical undertaking, you pass out and slip into uthenera for thousands of years.

You wake up, a bit groggy, find out how weak you are (which, to someone who has never been lessened in power is awful) possibly panic a little and fuck up.

You see you fucked up, while dealing with some pretty massive mental illness issues (PTSD, Depression, anxiety, survivor-complex) just for starters).

The entire world feels like a bad dream. Like it felt for people seeing the alternate future.

Humanity, a species you last remember as 'beings setting up tents in mud, selling bone beads, who stank a lot' have somehow flourished and enslaved the very people (or the descendants of your people?) you gave so much to free.

I don't see how, given that, at the beginning of the game Solas could honestly feel any different.

It'd be like waking up and finding out some sort of creature you thought of as vermin (sorry human lovers, perspective here) was running the world and harming your grandkids.

And worse, because of how you imprisoned the murderers, it actually tore the world you were trying to save apart, dooming said grandkids.

Except, familiarity can breed caring as well as contempt. He learns over time, as he's repairing his strength and healing his mind, that these 'tranquils' are still actually people. If romanced, you even fall in love with one of them!

Aaaand, you're probably also (originally) a wisdom spirit with any spirit's ability to demonize. Into Pride in his particular case.

It's a miracle he's not even more stand-offish with people.

Pride can blind us to a lot of things. In many established world religions, pride is bad. It's a deadly sin in xtian mythology.

And Solas is both wisdom and pride. Two sides of the same coin.

It's warped into his very being.

His character growth arc from who he is at the beginning of the game, to who he is at the end is so well written.

I hope Dreadwolf continues his growth arc in some way. I really love growth arcs. He might even have a redemption arc.

I think it's utterly delicious when authors play with perspective like this. It's really well done with Solas.

I only wish I felt more of the other characters were as well written so I could analyze them, too. But honestly, most of them really aren't well characterized. On a professional level, I'd send them back to the author with a gentle suggestion that they do some more character development & much needed writing for them.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Note that I base all my analyses on the base game and DLCs. I haven't managed to afford the books yet. (Being poor sucks.) So there could easily be information I don't have access to. And wasn't there a show? Was that any good? (I struggle with passive entertainment like tv shows.)

#dragon age series #solas #solavellan #dragon age inquisition #dragon age #inquisitor lavellan #solavellan hell #solas dai

[goblinofbiscuits]

Hello again! Maybe a Dave x reader where maybe y/n is Kurt’s friend and Dave likes her??

Kurt's friend

A/n: sorry this took so long, I have been focusing on my music alot more and was trying to pass school for a good solid month, I have been working on my writing again and finishing request and all of that, so hope you like it more to come

Warning: smoking, invasion of personal space

You and kurt have been friends since the beginning of nirvana, you were a musician in the same scene, had the same believes, and tastes. You personality were quite different though. You were a little more outgoing You had your shy moments yea but doesn't everybody.

Kurt's was more shy and reserved, he did have his burst of energy moments though, especially on stage, many who observed you friendship thought you two were in a relationship you were quick too shut them down though you two were friends that's it that's all.

Kurt had called you asking if you want to play a solo on one of his songs, you were suprised one because kurt didn't collaborate too often and two, cause he wasn't one for solos either. But of course you excepted, who were you to turn down a opportunity like this, so next day you packed you guitar and headed to the studio

"Kurt!"

"Y/n, hi!"

You two hugged for a moment, Kurt's become a very busy man in the last couple years so you haven't had much time to hang out

"I missed you man how are you" you said taking in his new hair, no longer a dark brown color

" I've been doing good, touring us grueling as hell though" he said sitting down lighting a cig before turning to you with a worry look and quickly going to put it out.

"Kurt I smoke Tolman, you don't have to not smoke around, I promise you my asthma stops nothing"

"I know I know, I'm just trying to be thoughtful" he said relaxing after your statement

"Well thank you that's very sweet but you don't have too" you say before ruffling his hair and going to set down you guitar case and start tuning.

As soon as you start tuning the e string, a man with long brown hair walks in with two drumsticks in hand

"Sorry I'm late, traffick was shit" he said absent mindly

" it's all good man, hey let me introduce you two, this is y/n, y/n this is dave our drummer"

"Hi" you said brightly, happy to meet a new person

"Hi" dave replied with a love struck look that you didn't quite know what emotion he was feeling

" so it's only gonna be you two working in the studio, kris is visiting his girlfriend and the main guitar and vocals are already recorded, the only job left is the solo and the Drums behind the solo" the producer chimed in

So you finished tuning threw some ideas back and forth with kurt about what the solo should sound like and got to work.

You made your way to the booth and briefly just marked your solo to dave so he can come up with the beat and extras like fills and such. You did pick up on the fact that he might be a little off his game.

Kurt had mentioned dave before, talked about how he was kinda shy in his own personal way, you had also picked up on how he spoke a lot less than the rest of the members. So you just chalked it up to you being new and unfamiliar, qnd the blush on his cheeks from the heat considering it is summer.

You and Dave started playing and it was amazing, you didn't have to more than two takes. You were so excited about how well it went that as soon as you put down your guitar you rushed to hug dave as he was standing up from his kit.

"OH shit I'm so sorry I was just really excited about how well that went that I had seem to forget that person space exists" you said pulling away once common sense kicked in

"nah it alright, I was actually mean to ask you something?" He said kind of tense

" wass up?" You said messing with your hair a bit

" would you like to go on a date friday, I really wanna get to k-know you better" dave said really nervous at this point

"I would love that umm aha here we go this is my number call me" you said grabbed a piece of paper writing your number and giving it to the musician

You said your goodbyes and set up plans to hang out with kurt, you ste up a time you were gonna see dave on Friday and head to you car feeling on top of the world

#dave grohl x reader headcanon #nirvana x reader #grunge x reader #80's rock and roll x reader #motley crue x black reader #metallica imagine #slash x reader #tommy lee headcanon #metallica headcanon #kurt cobain x reader

[thefirstknife]

can we please. go one (1) week without the PVP obsessed people going off about how PVP is the only thing that matters in the game. im so very tired. "PVE people are probably about to find out that PVE can't carry the game because PVP is ruined and we're all gonna quit and play better games" please just can they shut up and go already instead of threatening us with a good time they never follow through on??

I saw that stuff as well, I know exactly what you're talking about. It's incredibly disingenuous and deliberately incendiary to cause more people to bitch about the game being doomed or whatever.

They are constantly using "steam numbers" to show that this is the lowest population count that Destiny 2 ever had and how that's proof that the game is being ruined and dying, that pvp bros and content creators are more important than we think they are, that Bungie needs to make Destiny 3 (yes, that is unironically stuff that people are saying) and other really incredibly tiring things.

Not to mention the vitriol towards the devs. Every time they bitch, more and more people show up in the comments saying awful shit about devs and how they are lazy, they don't work, they don't care, they are bad at development and so on. This is what eventually fuels harassment.

These "steam numbers" are disingenuous because they are taken out of context and they strip all other external reasons from the "low player count."

Is there a low player count? Yes! That is correct. Even when we account for console players, it's still low.

This is nothing new. This is a constant trend. Last month of the season ALWAYS has low numbers. People finished their story and their pinnacle grind and their seals and are doing other things.

More under for length:

Is this the lowest it's been so far? It seems to be, though the final month on steam charts isn't over so we can't fully tell yet, but it seems to be one of the lowest. However, there's been similar numbers before during seasonal end. It's quite literally nothing new. We go through this every season, except this season it's slightly lower than usual.

Why is that? Well, the chart Aztecross put to prove there's not many people playing happened on a Monday before the final Tuesday reset of the final week of the season. Yeah bro, very few people have things left to do in the season. They're not bothering. Unlike you, other people have other hobbies and games to play. I haven't played in days, I only got on on Saturday to finish my King's Fall seal and that took 10 minutes. This is what I mean by "disingenuous." It's a cheap bait tactic. Find the lowest number and ship it for cheap outrage engagement.

Others are constantly also posting the cummulative steam chart for every month of Destiny since the game came to steam and they're pointing out that we have lowest numbers now. Which is, again, posted for cheap outrage. They look at the number and see it's low and their conclusion is "game is dying." They don't care about the trend (every season end is "dying"), they don't care about external reasons (other game releases), they don't care about overall how some seasons are just weaker and have less interest (not the first time), they don't care about anything.

They just want people to be mad enough to harass the devs. Because like, what do they think is going to happen when they spend 2 months blogging to hundreds of thousands of people about the game being ruined by evil devs who don't do their job? When they constantly talk about how everything in the game is bad, pvp is bad, pve is boring and easy, story is bad, seasons are bad, events made for fun are bad, small community event is bad. What's going to happen is thousands of people are going to harass the devs. That's what going to happen.

I took the "steam numbers" chart that people are throwing around and I went into it in-depth to explain what the numbers mean and add context to them. You can see it here. It's a big image but you can zoom in and explore. It makes more sense when you see it separated by seasons; you can CLEARLY see the main trend of "low population at season end."

Another thing to consider with these numbers is the scheduling pattern. Shadowkeep released in October, Beyond Light released in November after a delay. October-November are usually months with a lot of other game releases and holidays. In 2019 and 2020, Bungie had an expansion themselves to cover that time. In 2021, there was no expansion in Oct-Nov; and that was the last time the game had the lowest population record ever. WHAT A SURPRISE. In this period, if Destiny doesn't have an expansion, people move on to play other games!!!! WOW! We have the technology to decipher the low numbers!

It's important to also note that back in 2021, that was the first time a game was delayed properly and significantly, so the year was without an expansion and there was a lull in Oct-Nov period. However, at that time, it was the first time this schedule happened and people generally didn't know how will it go. We were also kept in the dark about the seasonal story end (the infamous When Is Exorcism incident) so people had to keep coming back. Now, we're in the same situation; no new expansion in Oct-Nov, seasonal lull, nothing is happening. However, now, we know how this goes. People know how this schedule works AND we're not dealing with an extended season. We know when this season ends and there's nothing to wait for. People are more comfortable taking a break. So there's less people in Oct-Nov 2022 than there were in the previous lowest point, Oct-Nov 2021. It's almost as if there are reasons for this that go beyond "game is obviously dying."

These people also seem to be incapable of understanding that some players just... stop playing. For no specific reason. The game isn't dying, some people just lose interest. Content creators are especially guilty of this, because THEY can't stop playing, because they tied their income to a single live service game. To them, quitting the game is losing a job. Curious, maybe that influences their views about the game and about burnout and taking breaks and the quality of the content?

They simultaneously want Bungie to drop FOMO and reduce burnout, but they ALSO want for there to never be "content droughts." Which one is it? Because these two things cannot both be gone. If you want less FOMO and less burnout, then there will be less content. If you want more content, then you have to get on that burnout grindset.

It's the end of the god damn season. Yeah, nothing is happening. Yeah, fewer people are playing. Players finished their grind in the Destiny mines and are doing other things before the new season drops. Stop catastrophising it for cheap outrage bait. You not being able to take a break and having to keep making new content even when the season is ending and there no new content is your problem. Not Bungie's, not the other players'.

Bungie is not going to force their devs to crunch 80 hours per week so you can have brand new content every Tuesday that no regular player can catch up with. As it currently is, I want MORE downtime. I want seasons to be 4 months and to have less time and more downtime to catch up with stuff. Imagine the outrage though. Genuinely, society if these people would actually deliver on their promise and leave. Someone else will take your place, bro.

Also, as a final note before a dissertation in the tags: these pvp mains are weak. They whine about only having 2 new maps in 2 years. Gambit got -2 new maps. Like, literally we had 6 maps and now we have 4. LMAO. Crucible has a total of 24 maps and 8+ modes, constant updates, Iron Banner rework, multiple Trials reworks, incoming competitive rework, Crucible labs, three different sets of armour, prestige weapon loot, three different seals, entire twabs dedicated just to it. And they whine about not enough attention for the Crucible?

It's getting more attention than any other core playlist. Their problem is that they're not the ones being catered to. An update doesn't count if it doesn't satisfy mister Crucible Main #37. Fuck everyone else I guess! They are the most entitled selfish childish little pricks I've ever seen. They do not deserve Bungie talking the players at all.

#destiny 2 #community #bungie #long post #ask #genuinely though. for the love of god. every 3 months the same horror #just take a break. I am begging #are there issues with the game? absolutely. this season had a lot of them especially with all the weird stuff with challenges and quests #quests that are too grindy and make no sense and requirements that go through the roof #and some content creators eventually ended up mocking players for wanting it changed. because they have infinite time to play and we dont #there are issues. always. i can write a post three times as long detailing stuff i would love to see addressed #but instead we have to explain the concept of other games existing to destiny youtubers #i would love to be able to get some good conversation going with bungie but alas #we're talking about a monday before the final week of the season having less people playing #no fucking shit. nobody is playing on the final monday at 11 am? wow. how peculiar /s #most are done and those that aren't done are waiting for the final week having double rep in all playlists #also like. i said in the image i posted but. do they think bungie doesn't know this? lmao. trust me their marketing department knows #the execs know about how many people are playing. you're not the first one to notice #i'm so tired of this being the topic instead of actual real issues that we can work on solving with meaningful feedback

[depoteka]

last week @nxposure tagged me in two different tag games and now i have some time to answer! thank you, dear!

first game: 15 questions

Are you named after anyone? no, i'm not. my parents just liked the name. but allegedly for a short while they considered naming me after a song by a band they love and i dislike. i thank god everyday that in the end they decided to name me weronika instead

When was the last time you cried? this month? or last month? i don't remember

Do you have kids? i don't but i want to in the future

What sports do you play/ have you played? only PE classes at school. would love to start doing some yoga at home tho because i don't move much other than evening walks from time to time

Do you use sarcasm? i suppose. i don't pay attention to that

What is the first thing you notice about people? hard to say, i'd say general vibe. having some sort of social anxiety and experiences with bullying makes you decide pretty fast if the other person is nice to you or if they make you uncomfortable

What's your eye color? dark green. sort of blueish

Scary movies or happy endings? happy endings. i avoid horror movies at all cost (with some exceptions)

Any talents? uh i guess crocheting! not an expert on it and cannot make my own patterns but it makes me and some other people happy

Where were you born? poland, in a shitty hospital in a different town so i don't even have my hometown on my birth certificate

What are your hobbies? as tumblr puts it "media consumption" (watching movies and listening to music) but also crocheting like i said previously

Do you have any pets? a black cat! she lives with my parents so i don't see her that often now

How tall are you? 162cm which is 5 feet 6 inches i believe. i've had to convert inches to centimeters in so many crochet patterns and i still don't remember how much an inch is

Favorite subject in school? english because it was the easiest class for me. i also liked history and geography

Dream job? translating movies but they don't give me a deadline and i can just make the most perfect translation. or i could do voiceover for nature documentaries. an impossible job is an old hollywood movie star or a rockstar in the 70s

and now the second game!! 5 songs i like. i think i will just list things i've been listening to lately

i went thru sleater-kinney's discography again after the release of their new album because well, i didn't like the new album. so i'll stick to their older ones

spotify reminded me about this song by putting it on my discover weekly playlist and i'm just looping it constantly

peter!!! i love this song, the ending especially (and also the reworked version of this from birdy soundtrack)

finally watched shaft the other day and i love this instrumental

haven't heard this song in years but now i'm listening to it a lot like it's 2008 again

#thank you once again! #not putting it under readmore. everybody has to look at it #and whoever looks at it can choose which game they want to do #because i dunno who to tag! just felt like answering some questions #Spotify

[objectivistnerd]

good blogs to follow for politics stuff?

I can't in good conscience give a recommendation without first telling you to try going outside (or failing that, trying video games) instead of developing an interest in politics.

This isn't total do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do because I used to be way, way more politically-engaged and can't say I got too much for it. The combination of circumstances that led me out of that darkness probably aren't easy to recreate, though I can say that reading The Sequences went a long way to helping me see through the fog of tribalism. More actionably, I basically quit Twiblr for a few months earlier this year because I was too busy bingeing fantasy novels and playing Civ VI. (Having good coworkers and meatspace friends probably helped.)

The best stuff probably isn't on Tumblr. If you want blogs, I recommend Scott Alexander's substack and the archives of his old blog, and usually appreciate the posts I read from Noah Smith and Matt Yglesias, though I wouldn't describe myself as a regular reader of either. Sadly, most of the Neoliberal Project crowd seems stuck on TwXitter, and I'm not going to tell you to spend time on a website where you gotta pay to longpost. A few notable blogs (which I don't read) from that cluster include Some Unpleasant Arithmetic and Word Rotator.

Tumblr is superior among the socials for enabling actually meaningful discussions. Often the best stuff comes from people you wouldn't expect. Posts are usually better than the blogs that produce them. I try to collect good posts more than I try to follow good blogs, because actually good blogs are few and far between.

If you must have recommendations of Tumblr blogs, though, a few accounts which are more likely to produce or surface good political, economic, and meta-political content while not spewing total garbage constantly or posting lots of non-politics content include: @centrally-unplanned @eightyonekilograms @iates @isaacsapphire @marginal-cost and @powermonger. Any omissions naturally represent direct personal insults and I expect all of you to name your seconds before the week is out.

In all seriousness, I do not necessarily endorse any particular view the above take (and in fact do not even follow several of them) so much as appreciate their commentary on particular subjects. You can, of course, follow @argumate to be exposed to more discourse bloggers than you could possibly ask for and sort at your own leisure. Due to his continued efforts many old posts from good bloggers no longer active still circulate; many of my favorite bloggers fall into that category, which I have not included. I will make an unprincipled exception to point out that @theunitofcaring wrote some excellent posts before getting a real job.

You'll notice I'm recommending a lot of people from the Less Wrong diaspora. That's because talking about politics with people who haven't read Politics is the Mind-killer, Meditations on Moloch, and I Can Tolerate Anything Except The Outgroup is generally a waste of time. You'll get so much mileage and insight out of Yudkowsky and Alexander's top posts that it's hard to put into words.

That's a long answer to a short question. Hope it helps.

#i think this is the first time i've been asked for blog recs since obama was president so i'm a bit out of practice #ambivalentright #ask

[star-going-supernova]

Ya know, everytime I post one of these things I keep thinking it will be the last one... anywho here's another one, this one is a throwback to my first ever idea.

Bot Boy Idea/Concept 12: VR Game testing second attempt

So after Vanessa leaves the company, the Fazbear Funtime Service gets canceled after they realize that the numerous logistical issues with manufacturing possibly thousands of animatronics and then delivering them to people in thousands of cities is extremely unprofitable as well as unfeasible. The multiple glitches, as referenced in the cut emails, did not help matters. Steel Parasol decided to turn it into a mobile game, one basically identical to FNAF AR, except with far more bugs and not as good.

 Initially it does ok, but after 6 months it has lost its charm and people aren't playing it anymore. The constantly increasing number of bugs doesn't help due to lack of personnel due to the transfers. By the time Vanessa gets her job back, Steel Parasol games is getting close to bankruptcy.

Desperate for an idea to save the company, one of the head people there decides to try and look for an old project that was abandoned and see if it is in a reasonable state. They find the VR game we know as Help Wanted. It was shelved because after beta testing was completed the game was nonfunctional and no one could be bothered to fix it. They decide to see if it somehow still works by simply checking to see if it boots up and not actually playing the thing.

To their surprise it seemingly works, so the management decides that it is good enough to release as a sort of playable alpha. When they hold a meeting with everyone and announce their plan to release the game by the end of the week (3 days), Vanessa and Luis look at each other with expressions of panic and fear.

Luis knows about what happened to Vanessa because she told him about it, along with Freddy and Gregory on the first day she was freed, before she was too overcome with emotion. After a night to think it over Luis decided he believed her since they were/are really good friends and he knows she wouldn't lie about something this serious, not even as some weird joke. Also the way she struggled to not burst into tears during her explanation helped. It also explains why she was acting so uncharacteristically cold during her last few weeks before being transferred. He helps her by just being a pillar of support and just being a good friend overall.

So they both know what the potential implications of the game being released are if HE is still corrupting it, just one person nearly brought HIM back fairly easily. If there were many…

Vanessa, trying to calm herself, asks the people in charge of this idea if any of them have actually PLAYED the game yet. They say they haven't and plan to just release the thing as a "paid alpha" and if there are problems, fix it later. She realizes that if she does nothing, then what happened to her has a very high probability of happening again. This is her chance, in her mind, to try and fix things. After mentally preparing herself and taking a deep breath, she asks if she can…test it. They say yes and give her the game and a headset.

She really, REALLY doesn't want to test the game for obvious reasons, but she feels like she HAS to because she is the only person who knows what HIS presence in the game looks like. She wants to make SURE that what happened to her NEVER happens to anyone else.

Vanessa doesnt want to make the same mistakes twice, so she takes some precautions with testing the game. She decides to not test the game by herself, but instead at the pizzaplex surrounded by the animatronics, Luis and Gregory. This is for 2 reasons, if she loses control then there will be more people who can subdue her. The second reason is that she really doesn't want to be alone with the game and the company calms her. Vanessa also doesn't strap the headset on, but instead holds it in place with one hand. This is done so that if HE appears again she can rip the headset off before he can possess her through it.

After a few hours everything is in place, the game is turned on, the headset and controllers are activated. Vanessa prepares herself, pushes the "continue game" button and… 

…finds nothing. HE isn't standing next to her, the "pizza party" minigame has disappeared. The tapes are still there, but are now accessed by a normal non glitchy tape recorder. Other than that there is  The game is now just that, a game. All of them then spend the rest of the night taking turns playing the game and just having fun as family of sorts.

Ok I don't think I have any ideas left in the tank, but I won't promise anything lol.

Good for Vanessa, refusing to stand by in silence! The idea of the animatronics playing fnaf vr is hilarious, I can only imagine the critiques over the past designs.

#i answered a thing #halogenrobotics #life and times of star

[wyrdify]

You ever get tired of being depressed about the same thing, but there's not much you can presently do about said thing? That's me right now with my job.

I'm just... I don't like the constant reminder of the low pay, how I haven't gotten a raise in years, how I basically trained my replacement, and that my hours are continuing to be cut. Like, my schedule has been inconsistent every week now when it used to not be, and now I have to move appointments around. All while I'm getting less than 20 hours per week scheduled. So I have to see if I can pick up any extra hours elsewhere, often outside of my availability or on my days off.

"Just get another job," I hear you say. Yeah, except all of the other jobs in my area are basically admin assistant jobs. That's essentially all I'm qualified to do. Or work in retail/food service. I don't want to exchange one hell for another just on the basis of pay. I also am working with a staffing agency to find me something better, so there's that. There's just not many jobs right now. "What about going back to school?" Once the taxes are done, I'll work on the FAFSA again and see about getting my MLS/MLIS. But, it's gonna be slow. I'm not gonna get that degree instantly.

I feel like a constant bummer to be around. Husband has a temp job right now that'll last for 2 months, so we'll be financially fine. We had money saved from his previous job anyhow, so maybe now we can get tires for his car. Just... I'm making $13.80/hr because that's my state's minimum wage. My company doesn't do regular raises. I'm afraid to ask for one. We don't even do regular employee performance reviews or shit like that.

Like, I get that I'm privileged to be able to work from home with a lack of a dress code, and I can play games during my slow shifts. But, the cons of this job largely outweigh the pros. I wrote out a list.

I needed to get it out of my head.

I dunno. I guess I'm just in "I should isolate instead of complaining about the same old thing" mode. So, once this shift is over in like 15-20 minutes, I'm going to go play Genshin. If I'm quiet on disco, this is why.

#thewriter; post #tbd #negative tw

[pedropascalunofficial]

Pedro Pascal and Lena Headey

Head to head interview

Hunger Magazine, Issue 6. Released December 28, 2014. Photoshoot October 15, 2013.

Thirteen million. That's the number of people, on average, who tuned into each episode of the third season of Game of Thrones. Among them was Chilean actor Pedro Pascal, who was as enthralled by the sex and slaughter as the rest of us. But little did he know that within a few months he'd be pitching up on the shores of Belfast to join the cast as Oberyn Martell, affectionately known as the Red Viper. Sound ominous? It is. The Red Viper is GoTs newest anti-hero, “sexy and charming but driven by hate”. Sounds like he'll be right at home.

Pedro, on the other hand, though he looks good on paper, wasn't the obvious choice for the role. Expecting a big name to ride into King’s Landing, the show's fans took to forums to express their concerns as soon as the news broke. So is he worried? Like hell he is. “The fans had the part cast in their minds already. They knew who they wanted and it certainly was not me. But I'm not stupid, | presumed that people were going to say ‘who the fuck is this guy’. Since I anticipated the reaction it didn't throw me off.”

“There are so many different ways to go into battle with yourself when you're trying to get a job. I felt a certain amount of pressure because I wanted to make everyone happy. The fan base is so specific and, as a fan myself, I understand the relationship that they have with the show. The Red Viper is the best part I've ever played, and in season four shocks come at the most unexpected times. You might think you know, but you have no idea,” he explains.

Looks like the Red Viper could be in line to fill a Walter-White-sized-hole in television, but to test the theory we pit Pascal against Lena Headey, aka the Queen. Because if you can come away from Cersei unscathed, you can handle anything.

LH: So, Pedro, you come into Game of Thrones in season four, playing a pretty major character. Does that fill you with joy or dread?

PP: I'd say it fills me with joy because it’s a really fucking fun part. He’s a badass. He comes up against a lot of the main characters in the show. I'm very aware of the show. I watch it like a fan.

LH: Were you a fan before you arrived in Belfast?

PP: Yeah, I was a proper fan. I was caught up in the drama of it before I even auditioned for the part. I was already up to speed.

LH: I remember meeting you and thinking, “he fucking loves the show’.

PP: I kissed your ass.

LH: Well, it worked. We're friends now.

PP: I was like a tourist visiting the set, and yet I had to act with you and be in a scene with the characters that I had such a specific association with already.

LH: So you’re saying it’s boring?

PP: No, it wasn’t boring at all. It was extremely, relentlessly surreal.

LH: And who were your favourite characters up until that point?

PP: Not you.

LH: I realise that!

PP: There are too many characters to have a favourite, but I was fascinated by the Lannisters because they're so frightening. They scared me and then you would come in and pull sympathy from your audience somehow, and I found that rather fascinating. The Northerners were so easy to like or get behind, but it was quite something to see people sympathise with a Lannister, after you made people see things from their perspective.

LH: Speaking of being slightly ambiguous as a character, you come in as a major player and a very well-loved character in the eyes of people who read the books, and he’s somewhat of an anti-hero. Did you base him on anyone?

PP: What does an anti-hero mean exactly?

LH: It means he doesn't wear deodorant, doesn't it? [Laughs]. Someone you shouldn't champion, but you do, like Walter White in Breaking Bad.

PP: No, | didn’t really base him on anyone.

LH: Did you take anything from classic movies that you thought you could use and spin to your advantage playing the Red Viper?

PP: God, that’s a good question. I probably did subconsciously. Now I feel under the spotlight because I need to think of somebody, and I have so many in my mind! I think that’s something that is happening a lot in TV today: the anti-heroes are central to these television shows, and people are really getting behind them, even though they're not necessarily the most moral characters. So I'd say that ‘ve become more familiar with the character who's obviously very flawed but gets you on their side — you have complicated feelings about them. But I think I saw the story too much from this character's perspective to perceive any flaws.

LH: He has some.

PP: I know, from the outside. But I don't see any of them. What are his flaws?

LH: His flaws? He's a dirty bastard!

PP: Why is he a dirty bastard? He likes to fucking fight, for sure.

LH: Back to you as an actor. You've done it for a long time and, as we all know, the path is not always golden, and sometimes you think, “fuck it” and you want to leave it and do something else. Have there been moments where you wanted to give up?

PP: Yes, there have been moments where I came very close to giving up. But I never had anything to fall back on. I think you can understand that.

LH: Because were stupid?

PP: We're stupid.

LH: I can't even make pizza!

PP: We don’t have any other skills.

LH: None at all!

PP: And that’s the odd conundrum. You get to a point where you think, “This isn’t going to happen. This isn’t sustainable. I'm too exhausted, and it can't be good for me.” There were moments where I truly did try to formulate an idea of what I'd do. I thought I'd go back to school, start pre-med again and go to medical school or something like that.

LH: But that didn't happen, you just thought about it?

PP: Yes, I'd have thoughts, but it was still fantasy really. But at the time it felt like a practical life plan. Do you know what I mean?

LH: Yeah of course, you need to pay the fucking rent.

PP: Exactly. You just try to escape from the chaos of what you're feeling by trying to create order in your life. Order seems like a solution to save you from the pain of acting!

LH: It's a mental pain. Who was the first person you called when you got the role?

PP: My sister.

LH: Does she watch the show?

PP: Yes, she does.

LH: Pedro Pascal... or Pablo as I called you when I had too much wine, which was deeply insulting.

PP: Even family members have done that to me! Do I look more like a Pablo? Because it happens with about ninety-five percent of the people I meet.

LH: No, I think I’m just an ignorant drunk person.

PP: No, you were an ignorant drunk person that night is what you're saying.

LH: And now I’m educated.

PP: [Whispers] But | want you to call me Pablo.

LH: Ok, Pablo! When you first arrived on set in Northern Ireland, what was your feeling showing up to a bunch of British actors? Did it feel different to doing an American project?

PP: Yes, but I loved it. It wasn’t intimidating. I found it surreal because I’d watched and loved the show. I hadn't had the opportunity to work on something that I was really familiar with before, so it was overwhelming. But it was far more delightful than intimidating. Also you guys were really cool. Everyone was friendly.

LH: Oh, that’s just fake.

PP: Well, you guys were good at it!

LH: We know Game of Thrones is very popular obviously. Do you have any thoughts, or fears, about what this is going to bring you in terms of exposure?

PP: I have hope.

LH: Oh, God. I don’t mean to shatter that, but give it up.

PP: I don’t know really. It’s all been filmed, and now I'm back to my normal routine, so I haven't really thought about it. I remember when we finished filming and we were on our way to the airport, you asked me, “How does it feel you're all done?” and I couldn't really answer.

LH: You were quite emotional that day.

PP: I was very emotional because I’d had such an amazing time doing the part. Also just being there immersed in the experience... You described it to me best. You told me how I'd be feeling.

LH: We don't know your character's backstory when you enter the show, and you have some rather brutal scenes. Anyone who has read the books will know what I’m talking about.

PP: My character comes in, he stirs a bunch of shit up, and then he makes this fucking enormous exit. Now can | ask you a question?

LH: What is it? I’m not going to sleep with you. Give it up.

PP: Oh, come on! This has gone to shit and it’s your fault, so good luck to whoever has to edit it! But anyway, sometimes I'd hang out with the cast members and we'd go to dinner and they would get stopped constantly. There was no denying who they played because they were so recognisable, but you got away with it because you have this beautiful blonde wig on in the show, and in real life you are...

LH: Grey?

PP: {Laughs] No! You have beautiful chestnut hair! Is it liberating to not be recognised the way some of the other cast members are?

LH: Yes, it is liberating.

PP: Liberating being able to walk down an alley in Dubrovnik without being stopped?

LH: Yes, except sometimes | get recognised in the weirdest places. A woman was emptying my bag at Heathrow Airport's security gates and just went, “Are you the Queen?” while rummaging through my underwear. It was so fucking weird.

PP: It seems they're more respectful to you?

LH: Because they're frightened. Wait until they meet the Viper.

PP: Well, that covers it.

LH: I think we're going to get our own show out of this, you know

Interested in learning more about Pedro? Check out Pedro Pascal Unofficial on Pinterest!

#pedro pascal #lena headey #hunger magazine #shot October 2013 #published December 2014 #game of thrones #queen cersei #prince oberyn #oberyn #oberyn martell #hunger tv

[punderfulowl]

Top 10 Anime (That I've Seen) in 2020

Well now, it has certainly been awhile. I'm currently sitting at eight months too late for posting this, but, y'know, something something life happens. More accurately, I already made this list, but wanted to try out what response I'd get from Reddit. Turns out, they're not as cool as you guys!

Anyways, as the title states, this is not a list of my favorite anime that came out during 2020, but instead my favorite anime that I just so happen to see during that year. While it's fun to have an end of the year retrospective, I find that having a list in this format not only adds variety, but also helps bring attention to anime that might have been lost in the shuffle in previous years (I also don't have enough time to stay caught up in seasonal releases).

Honorable mentions:

Aggretsuko S3, My Hero Academia S4, Today's Menu For the Emiya Family, Interspecies Reviewers (yes, really), and I Couldn't Become a Hero So I Reluctantly Decided to Get a Job

10. Maid-Sama (2010)

In hindsight, I find it a bit funny that I wanted to watch something wholesome to kick off 2020. Anyway, Maid-Sama is about a high school girl that is also a no nonsense Class President and she kind of has to be at a school where, until recently, was an all boys school. While she kills it in academics and is good at shutting down any shenanigans from the male student body, her financial situation isn't the greatest and has to balance a job at a maid cafe along with her school-related responsibilities. She does her best to hide her employment there to keep up appearances, but is one day found out by one of the boys who happens to be a big flirt and, yeah, hijinks ensue. While this anime doesn't have too many surprises, our main leads bounce off each other well enough to keep me entertained. Nothing I haven't seen already in other anime Rom-Coms, but I think it has more than earned its place at the start of this list.

9. Haganai NEXT (2013)

It's a personal rule of mine when making these lists that I don't include sequels of shows that were in previous lists. While I DID see the first season of Haganai a couple of years ago, it didn't quite make it into the top ten at that time. Because of that, it meets the criteria for this year's list. While I found the characters were just as charming here as I did during the first season, the development of their relationships really took off. It's a shame that it will most likely not get a third season, but I'm happy with what ride this show gave me. But hey! At least I can read the light novels/manga to continue the story! Wait, nevermind, the Haganai fans on Reddit are saying that's a bad idea.

8. Engaged to the Unidentified (2014)

Based off of a Four Panel joke manga, Engaged to the Unidentified tells the story of a girl in high school suddenly getting some life changing news. As it turns out, her grandfather made an arranged engagement with her and the son of a family he knew. Next thing she knows, the boy in question, as well as his little sister, moves into her family's house! While the boy is unassuming at first, there may be more to him and his family than he lets on. Plain and simple, this anime has charmed me. There's a decent amount of drama and mystery despite the source material and I applaud it! Even though this also doesn't have much new to offer, even to the point where I would compare this to Maid-Sama, what made me pick this at the 8th spot were the color choices and animation quality. Give this a shot if you can!

7. Grimoire of Zero (2017)

It's a fantasy/adventure story starring a loli sorcerer and a huge, anthropomorphic white tiger man. I honestly can't say anything else. I won't be able to do it justice. That first sentence should intrigue you a lease a little bit. Read it, again. Please check it out. It's an underrated gem that no one is talking about.

6. ID: Invaded (2020)

Hey, here's something recent! Unfortunately, this is also not something I can say much about. There may not be too many deep characters and the secret bad guy isn't hard to figure out, but BOY is this anime cool! The best way to describe this series is that it's like the movie Inception, but instead of brain heists, it's brain murder mysteries.

5. Carole and Tuesday (2019)

A runaway rich girl has a fated meeting with an orphan and they decide to make music together...oh, this also takes place Mars. Joking aside, this show was something special with its music (a new song almost every episode no less), interesting setting (freaking Mars, dude), and endearing main cast. Shoot, the music itself would be top 3, maybe number 1, but what bogs it down is the show's second half. I can easily see myself watching this again someday, and maybe my opinion will lighten up, but for now, 5 is a dang good spot.

4. Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front - Babylonia (2019)

Part of me hesitates placing this high up on list due to this show being animated, fan service spectacle for Fate fans. However, that hesitation is overshadowed by the fact that I am a Fate fan myself and I can do whatever I want with this list. Even if you're not a Fate fan or play FGO, if you enjoy some solid fight animation, this is worth a look.

3. K-On S1 (2009)

I'll admit it, I might regret not watching the second season then putting the series on the list as a whole, but this how I've been doing these lists and I'm such a creature of habit. There's not much I can say about K-On that hasn't already been said. By itself it's an anime classic and one of Kyo-ani's biggest properties. It's a sweet and wholesome watch, but be sure to have some insulin within reach.

2. Princess Principal (2017)

Imagine you're working with a team of programmers trying to make a mobile game then all of a sudden someone asks to make a show out of it. You know, a show with different character motivations, plot, twist and turns and all that? Most might say that's just a shameless, shallow cash grab, but it turns out okay for Princess Principal. Sure, most might summarize this anime as, "cute girls doing espionage things," but with its cast, visuals, and interesting alternative timeline, it works! Apparently there's a new season or movie in the works and I am all for it!

1. Beastars (2019)

I was not expecting this to be number one, but with much deliberation (with myself obviously) this feels right. It tells a pretty unique story while showing itself to be the exception to the rule when it comes to 3D anime.....it being that it's actually good. While I acknowledge that shows like K-On are classics and deserves to be number one on many different lists, it didn't line up with my personal criteria like Beastars did. My biggest deciding factor is: Now that I've watched this, do I want more? It's true that while I'm excited to start K-On S2, Beastars intrigues me more and ever since season two was announced, I'm looking forward to that more.

Sorry again for this list being so late, but at least the silver lining is that the next end of the year list is about four months away (in theory)!

#anime #k-on #beastars #princess principal #fate grand order #carole and tuesday #id invaded #grimoire of zero #engaged to the unidentified #haganai #maid sama

[hurlumerlu]

Top 5 "must see/read" you've enjoyed then 8)

huhu :3

Okay so I had actually never seen Casablanca in its entirety - the movie is so ubiquitous and the script so often used as The exemple of a good script that I had of course seen/read some scenes, and knew basically all of the plot as well as everyone and their mom's opinion on the movie, but as a result I was always a bit hesitant to actually sit down and watch it ? I kinda felt like the chance had past me by, which is truly absurd but also thematically appropriate. Anyway then @the-lady-knight came home from vacations and was like, "dude, did you know that Casablanca is super gay ?" and so I went "uh, yeah, duh." and she said "wait, you've seen in it ?" but I hadn't, so she said "wait, you HAVEN'T seen it ?" and - long story short - that's how I watched Casablanca and saw that it was good (and gay).

Next one is weird because I almost put it into "hidden gems" but I mean... it's one of the most prestigious Cdrama of this decade so I really couldn't, but it's also a bit strange to put it here because if I say "Nirvana in fire" people around me will just go "what in what, now ?". But it was one of the important media piece of this year, for me : this Montechristo-esque tale of revenge and political intrigues and standing up to corruption. I'll be frank, on a purely political stanpoint I have numerous issues with it, but also it's just. My shit. It's so much my shit. (except the yeti subplot. i wish i could forget about the yeti subplot.)

And hey ! speaking of famous chinese stories whose politics I don't vibe with but entirely deserve the hype : the-lady-knight bought us The Three-Body Problem and it is hands down one of the best books I read in a year full of great books. I just loved it. Specifically, I adored Ye Wenjie. It has been a while since a female character grabbed me by the throat the way she did (which is strange, because this book is so weird toward women), and she's probably the reason I won't read the other books in the trilogy. As far as I'm concerned, that story was her story, and I'm very glad I read it.

Next up on the list would be the first volume of Vernom Subutext, which I wasn't sure I wanted to read because I didn't like the way many men reviewed it (rather silly, I know). But a friend of mine had just finished it and so I asked to borrow it and what can I say ? It's fucking good ! Those men were weird about it though. (I'm obviously planning on reading the rest of it, just wainting to see my friend again)

And finally I am obligated to put Pillars of Eternity on that list, for the simple reason that I played *cough* nearly a thousand hours of it in a few months ? *cough*. Honnestly I'm not sure what happened here, I do tend to need to explore every nook and crannies and several different dialogue choices and fighting strategies before letting go of that kind of games, but even for me that is kind of too much, especially since I don't think the game is that rich thematically. I think I just need to find either a d&d party or a job. You know, whatever comes first.

So yeah ! other things could be on that list, but I think it's the most accurate one. smooch.

#and - long story short - that's why I had to walk away from my Funk baaand #ask game

[sunflower-swan]

Not fandom related. TW for Covid content. I just need to put this out there.

...

...

...

One year ago this week...

Wednesday, March 11, 2020: My HS Choir sang the national anthem at the opening game of the state basketball tournament. We had lunch on Mass Street. My Mom came to see me and have lunch together. Dad was busy with farm stuff. My kids were excited to meet my Mom. On our way home we visited the capital building because they had never seen it before.

Thursday, March 12, 2020: HS Music trip to St. Louis cancelled. We were supposed to leave in a week. The kids had been fundraising for a year. We still haven't taken this trip. I'm hopeful for next year.

Friday, March 13, 2020: All of my groups had fantastic rehearsals. We were on the right path to having another great contest season. I told my kids I would see them Monday. We had four more days until Spring Break.

Sunday, March 15, 2020, around 5pm: Schools in my state shutdown until further notice.

Sunday, March 15, 2020, around 5:15pm: Calls and texts from crying and hysterical seniors who just lost all of their lasts. Who had been practicing their solos for months because this was going to be the year they received top marks at state music. Who had their final day with their band and/or choir family and they didn't know it at the time.

And then...

November 2020: A staff member tests positive. I was sitting next to them in a meeting the day before. We were both wearing masks and socially distanced. I was not quarantined.

Also November 2020: Three of my students test positive. I sit next to one of them during band rehearsal the day before. We were socially distanced and I'm not quarantined.

Still November 2020: My BIL tests positive. Sister and kids are quarantined. Family Thanksgiving is cancelled. We'll get together for Christmas.

Day after Thanksgiving 2020: My Uncle calls me to say he was in the hospital a few weeks ago for Covid. My Uncle never calls me. I probably hadn't talked to him in... A year? It was nice to talk to him but apparently thinking you're going to die changes a person.

A week before Christmas 2020: My Dad and his parents admitted to the hospital for Covid. My Dad and Grandma come home. My Grandpa does not... He passes away on New Years Eve. We did not have family Christmas.

Two weeks ago: We made an impromptu visit to see my family. It did not suck as much as I expected it to, to be at my grandparents house. It was the first time had seen them in person in four months. My Grandma is having surgery to remove her thyroid soon. When she was in the hospital for Covid the doctors found early stage cancer.

It has been a real turd of a year for everyone. For educators I feel like it has had an extra special suck. In my classroom (band & choir), kids are literally projecting their breath forcefully into the air. Kinda scary in an environment where kids are often unknown carriers of a dangerous virus that is transmitted through droplets expelled from one's mouth.

In August, when I found out my school was going completely in person with no mask requirement, I did some serious soul searching for a couple of days. In the end, I took the gamble that if I got sick, odds where good that I would feel lousy for a week or two but ultimately be ok. If I wasn't at school, then my kids would not be able to play their instruments or sing, and what's the point in being in music if you can't do those things?

I still feel like that was an unfair choice I was forced to make. The choice between my future health and my students education. For many kids, their elective classes get them out of bed and at school every day. A couple of teachers chose to teach remotely. I'm glad they had that option. The way I looked at it, if I wanted my program to survive beyond this year, and I did, then I had to be at school.

Not gonna lie, that first month of school was rough on me. I hadn't been around anyone other than close family in about six months. I went to the store a couple times with my husband early in the spring. Apparently I don't hide my fear as well as I think I do because we got home and he said that he wouldn't make me do that again. And he hasn't, bless him.

Except... Our weekly trips to the store were fun. We don't really go out so that was our time together outside of home. And we lost that. He still does the shopping on his own. It's the only time he leaves the house other than when we walk the dogs in the evening. (His job allows him to work from home.)

Which brings us to today. I got my second Covid shot on Friday. Saturday I spent the day in bed. I didn't feel "bad" I was just too exhausted to do anything. Yesterday I felt better but still kinda tired. I don't like needles or shots, and the thought of receiving an emergency vaccine really scared the hell out of me.

Teachers in my state were part of group two, right after senior citizens and health care workers, to have the chance at the vaccine. Some of my colleagues chose to opt out. In the end I decided to get it because my Grandpa couldn't. He was gone before it was an option.

And then my Dad sends me this picture this morning:

I was probably about six years old here. And that's my Grandpa helping me ride a bike.

Tell your loved ones you love them every chance you get. Don't take a single second for granted.

...

This ended up way longer than I expected it to be. When I started it was just going to be what happened a year ago. And then it sorta snowballed into everything from the past year. If you've made it this far, well, congratulations I guess. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

#covid 19 #covid tw #covid vaccine #personal

[iamlailanie]

It's been a year but still...

Hi! It's been a while :) I guess It's been 2 years since I wrote my first blog. A lot of things have happened these past few years. There have been ups and MANY downs but it has taught us a lot in life especially we're in the middle of a worldwide global pandemic.

In terms of Pandemic:

It's already been a year when the quarantine imposed in Philippines. I never thought that these things will last longer than much as I expected. Covid-19 is surely a no joke. I remembered when we're still in the middle of reporting in our class, I am the last reporter which I am preparing my lines, practicing my tone and how should I deliver it. Then someone knocks the door, It was the guard reminding us that our class is dismissed due to circulating virus as Mayor Isko stated. Our professor agreed but after we finish the report. So I start reporting (which I know no one's listening) preparing their bags to leave lol. I'm a bit relief because I don't get questioned since our mind (our prof included) focuses on 1 week vacation. SIKE!

After we leave the class, We're actually excited obviously it's a 1 week suspension, We even plan to go somewhere, We even plan to go outing, swim and hike. But it never happened obviously, since the virus is circulating all over the news. We got scared ofc. After I went to dorm, I packed some of my things which we thought that it's just 1 week suspension. When I got home, the news said that the govt will continue the lockdown for another 1 month. Then goes another month, so on & so forth. GCQ, ECQ, MECQ, MGCQ, BBQ lmao. Unfortunately, a year had passed, Philippines is still not covid-free and still in ECQ.

I know all of us are struggling hard in different ways, Covid-19 isn't something that we should underestimate. It not just attacking our physical health but it attacks our mental health, emotional even financial either. Companies, food restaurants, schools, businesses, economy are also struggling and most of them are still haven't recovered from the bankruptcy. It's heartbreaking to see when people lost their jobs especially jeepney drivers begging for foods. Sometimes, I get really sad whenever I sleep comfortably and realizing that someone out there, begging and asking for help, dying, depressed, even some committing suicide. Some lost their love-ones, some are praying they can live more, some are wishing they could go back home, some are grasping for air.

However, despite of these circumstances , I hope that we don't stop having faith in God. He makes miracles everyday. We may not see the way how He moves, but you see, we're still living and fighting. Isn't that a blessing itself? God will give you the strength you need to hold on. Repeat after me:

At my lowest: God is my hope.

At my darkest: God is my light.

At my weakest: God is my strength.

At my saddest: God is my comforter.

Verses you can hold on:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

In terms of my dental course: (update)

Currently, I am now in 3rd year, 2nd semester and still struggling as usual. I may say every subject is a challenge. It's quite difficult especially we're in online class. There's PROs and CONs regarding bout having online class as a student. Since I'm not yet a clinician, there would be a lot of pro's here.

Let's start with a Cons, As a dental student, Face to face is clearly a must but since Covid, we have to prioritize first our health safety.

1. There's a lot of distractions. You can't focus that much. It's either you have unstable connection or you use too much gadgets since you're not in the room. No one's watching. No one can stop you using your phones even you're in the middle of discussion. It's either you are in Tiktok, scrolling your newsfeed, playing games even watching movies, etc. Yes. You're listening but your presence of mind aren't there. (I'm attacking myself too)

2. As a dentistry student, ofc we have to bought dental materials, since I'm in Taguig, there's no dental shop near here, it's either we have to travel to Maynila, or order online which is really hella expensive. Two things test you there, Budget and Patience.

3. Practicals. Hands on. I don't need to further explain. No doctors, professors, friends can help you. You only have yourself. They can only guide you. (except if you have your parents/relatives that can teach and help you with the techniques which sadly I don't have). My parents help me in diff way, they're just there supporting me emotional and financial but not in practicals. There's only me, myself and I. Google, YouTube, Ebooks, Recorded lessons, even ppt slides will be your best friend.

4. You can't see your classmates and friends. I remembered every after exam, we hangout. We ate, sharing how hard our exam is. You have the peer support system.

5. Radiation. Always in your computer can give an headache so I bought an Eyewear to protect my eyes atleast from these radiation.

6. Teaches you to be lazy. IF only you are not taking seriously your studies. But in my case, In face to face, back then, I am diligently taking notes every discussion but now, just taking screenshot and printing the slides in one click.

7. And of course, You have no money.

On the other hand, Pros are:

1. You can sleep anytime. Just turn off your cam, then get your pillow, Zzzzz. Unless, your prof calls you for recitation.

2. You don't have to ligo. You can save water. Just brush your hair and then you can go to class. Walang makakaamoy. Tipid din sa damit lol.

3. You can procrastinate. I hate to admit but it's me.

4. You don't have to walk. After you wake up, you just have to sit and then open your computer or phone then you're in.

5. You can cheat. Not advisable but yes. If you want to pass without learning, you cheat. But if you wanna learn, you shouldn't.

7. You always have your "me time".

8. You can eat anytime.

9. You don't have to go to dorm, more quality time in your family.

10. You can leave class easily.

Therefore, I firmly believe that you never stop learning. You learn something new everyday. It's funny we never noticed. It's funny to think that the world is having problem with these pandemic while my problem is how to pass my subject. Haha

I may say, Dentistry is really really hard than much as I expected. Each steps are hard, sometimes, out of nowhere, I ask myself why am I even here? Why did I chose this again? Why do I keep trying? Is this really my calling? Ofc I admit all of that, There's a lot of what ifs. But to think in diff point of view, What if I never give up? What if I'll make it? What if I can? You see. It's the way you think. You're perception in life is what molds you. You can be a dentist if you think you can. You can be an engineer if you think you can. You can even be the next president if you want to. Everybody starts in having perception then next, execution.

I may not be smartest one, but no matter how smart or how beautiful you are, those things aren't valuable if you don't let God use you. Remember, when you feel inferiority, insecurity and self doubts creep into your heart, Ask God helps you to see yourselves the way He does.

Let our Delays, disappointments, fear, anger turns to breakthrough, patience, willingness and love. Repeat after me:

In God's Time. I will be.

We never know when will this end, God only knows. We just have to be strong and ask God to have MORE faith on Him.

Verse to hold on:

“If you can believe, all things are possible to HIM who believes.” Mark 9:23

More of Him, Less of Me.

I know it's been a year but still... God is by my side.

#dental #pandemic #covid 19 #online classroom

[muggle-writes]

Rules: Answer 21 questions and then tag 21 people who you want to get to know better.

tagged by @elizabethsyson

Nickname: Muggle is my nickname, but when I went by Muggle in person for more than a month at a time, it naturally got abbreviated, usually to Mugz

Zodiac: Aquarius

Last movie I saw: into the spiderverse (same answer as last time. I don't watch that many movies tbh except around Christmas. unless YouTube counts in which case... music of some sort? idk links for the next answer)

Favorite musician: changes by the day. I've kinda been in an acapella and/or folk music mood recently so the Maccabeats and Peter Hollens are in my YouTube and Spotify history a lot recently. also I'm eternally in awe of Forte Handbell Quartet (eta a longer video; i recommend skipping to the techno piece or the Jurassic Park theme)

Last thing I googled: "vine why are you buying clothes at the soup store" (my wife hasn't seen it; also i can't find the vine because apparently it's a much bigger meme than I realized). before that it was "chgrp not root" because work and group permissions are useful when they work

Song stuck in my head: well for most of the day when I haven't been actively listening to something, it's been the Pokemon RSE route-walking music. (but that somehow happens frequently when I'm in the no-music-no-internet room at work, as I was for most of the day, and I don't know how I accidentally trained my brain to make that connection). right now, surprisingly, I don't have any background music playing in my head. I think it's because the humidifier provides just enough white noise that my brain doesn't feel the need to provide its own

Other blogs: my main is @muggle-the-hat and I'm a mod on @why-do-neurotypicals but we've gotten one ask ever so that blog has been dormant for a while. I have a bunch of other sideblogs, but they're all small and I use different screen names on each of them (enby life: no idea which name suits me best so I may as well try them out) so i feel like it would just confuse things to link them.

Following: blogs matching all the themes of my sideblogs, (including this one, which is writeblr), korean langblr, jumblr, assorted fandom blogs, authors of my more favorite fanfictions (some overlap with other categories), and irl friends and acquaintances (including one fandom blog turned irl friend)

Do I get asks: on my main if at all, which isn't really surprising because i have hundreds of followers there and maybe 60 followers combined among the rest. but I get asks far less often than I reblog ask memes so... I'm always happy to get more. I do get tagged in ask games more on this one, but writeblr is actually vaguely organized about tag lists so that makes sense. also I used to get tagged a bunch on my main and I rarely could find the posts again to follow up when I had time to answer.

What I’m Wearing: pajamas. staying warm and cozy

Lucky number: I don't remember what I said last time, but I like a lot of numbers. 64 is a good number. recently I've been debugging software in which 0x3E is my lucky status number and 0x0E taunts me. (um, decimal 62 and 14). Also my other favorite number i can't share until it's no longer the combination to the lock to the Secret Room. (or realistically never because opsec and i shouldn't make public the types of parents we use for that combination lock), honestly I aim to be like.... ah, I'm sure the anecdote involves G.H. Hardy but i don't remember on which side. anyway one mathematician remarked to another about how the id number of the taxi he rode in was sadly uninteresting, and the one I aspire to be like, argued "what are you talking about, this number is interesting because ______" and I'd like to be able to do that for any arbitrary number thrown at me. (hi yes math is good, history is hard, math history is interesting yet i still forget the people even if i remember the math. except when things are named after people, but that tends to be, like, Euler and LaGrange and other people who did lots of cool science things so i remember the methods and the names of the methods separately which never helps)

Amount of sleep: ....depression both screws with my sleep schedule and means I always feel like I need more sleep except when I wake up at 5pm and feel like I've wasted the day. so yeah. I can never get enough sleep

Favorite food: yes (why do I have to pick a favorite?) uh, chocolate in most forms, many other sweet things, red meats (especially if served with potatoes), curry (especially if it has "too much" ginger), fresh-baked bread, chai the way my favorite local Indian restaurant makes it (spicier with just a little bit of sweet, which is the opposite of what i can get from the mocha machine at work which is wayyy sweet with a hint of spice but that inferior chai is still superior to coffee so i drink too much of it). also vegetables which I really don't eat enough of: sauteed zucchini and onions, roasted broccoli

Dream trip: dreaming requires creativity and tbh I funnel that mostly into my writing instead. I wouldn't mind going back to Korea for another visit though

Dream job: my current job is pretty good when I feel productive and when my debugging tools actually produce data maybe??? (they were not being helpful today. but i still mostly like my job.) dream job is probably this but with seniority and confidence and double the salary (while living in a similar area of the country; I wouldn't want to double my salary by moving to work for Google in California and having less available after rent than I do now)

Describe yourself as aesthetic things:

the smell of old books

the first glow of sunrise (the sunrise painting the mountains pink and gold)

a rainbow in the spray from a waterfall

the flicker of distant lightning (watching a thunderstorm fade into the distance)

this picture

Random fact: about me or about the world?

how about a combination answer: when we got our new handbell music this season, we only looked at half the pieces our first rehearsal and afterwards I tried to look up one of the pieces we hadn't gotten to on YouTube because it's got a weird time signature and I wanted to get a feel for how fast it would go and how strict the counting is...... except it turns out we're the first group to ever play the piece. it was commissioned recently but seeing my conductor's name on the page didn't tell me how new it was because he's super prolific. (the fact that it was on printer paper without the publisher's graphics should have been a giveaway but it's only the second time I've been among the first to play one of his pieces so I think I can be excused for not realizing)

Languages: mostly just English, but I took Spanish for years, so I can hold simple conversations in it. I can almost read sound out Hebrew fast enough to keep up in services, and I know some random Hebrew vocab but comparatively no grammar. and I took Korean in college, enough that I can recognize sentence structure but I can really only speak tourist-Korean, though I can sound anything out (if it's typed. handwriting is hit or miss.) in both Hebrew and Korean (and Spanish tbh but i don't often listen to Spanish music) I'm very proud when I can separate the words enough, listening to a song, to translate them without looking up the lyrics. also I tried to learn Japanese from Duolingo when it was new, but I still hadn't gotten the kana straight when it started progressing to kanji so that was a rough time and I went back to Hebrew.

tbh I "dabble" in "language learning" which really means I start a million courses on Duo and stick with none of them. with the notable exception of French, which I acknowledge is super common and probably a good idea to learn but the spelling and pronunciation seem so arbitrary I'm scared to look close enough to learn it properly, and I've never particularly considered starting the Duolingo course for French

I think I lost a few questions, because that's only 18 answers. whoops.

um... who to tag

@abluescarfonwaston if school hasn't drowned you in work yet and @copperscales I'm interested in both of your choices for lucky numbers especially.

... wow I'm blanking on other mutuals I haven't tagged recently. as usual lmk if you'd like to be edited in, or just answer the questions and tag me back, that's great too.

#tag games #i really like that 'describe yourself' question can we keep that around as a poetry prompt? #i think you also tagged me in a 'last line' tag game but i still haven't written anything #my creative energy has been (a) low and (b) directed specifically into generating matching titles for my purimgifts fics #i'll participate if i still remember by the time i'm doing 'real' writing again or you can just tag me the next time that game comes around

[umazes]

In the interest of having a civil discussion, I wanted to clear up the concerns I have about The Arcana. I think many of the people who have been raising concerns probably feel the same way and I don't want to be misunderstood as trying to attack the devs or kill the game, because this is emphatically not about that.

My concerns with how this is proceeding can be broken into 3 points

1. The pricing of the game.

I've said it before, but I don't mind paying for things. I've spent hundreds on merch and games. I've paid at least $50 to play mystic messenger, for optional content, and I haven't regretted it.

What bothers me about the pricing of this game is how absurdly different it is compared to other games, and how I have no idea why it's this expensive.

Most mobile dating sims (voltage and solmare, notably) tend to ask no more than $5 for a route. And that's not what I'm asking for, but it's a comparison worth noting, because I think of it every time I'm asked to pay the equivalent of $3 for a single choice in this game. Beyond that, it's costing $10 to buy a book, which ends up working out (as others have calculated) to somewhere in the vicinity of $500 if you want to play the full game.

I've never been asked for that much money for any game, ever, unless they also offer me an art book and something like a 3 foot tall statue. Even other dating sims priced in the hundreds offer posters or voicing or badges. Asking $500 per customer for just the game itself is ridiculous.

Here's where the "It's optional" argument comes in. It's optional, in the same sense that I can eat raw potatoes and cooking them with seasoning is optional. I can play the free game, but it's just not as good or coherent without the coin choices, and lacks all of the scenes that make the game what I want it to be.

The problem associated with just not buying premium content if you don't like the pricing is that from a statistical point of view, unless we explain WHY we don't want to pay so much for it, it can be misinterpreted. What if the executives think we don't want the content because it's bad? They can interpret it as mobile visual novels just not being profitable. "Don't like, don't buy" with no additional complaints can ensure the content just stops being available rather than altered to be affordable.

I want to pay for this game! God, I want to. If I could even buy a route for $50. If there was a discount the more coins you buy.

(There isn't. You save something like 81 cents if you buy the highest bulk tier as opposed to the same amount in small increments.)

I just can't afford to pay half a months rent to play one game that I have no guarantee of receiving the full content for, and I imagine that's true for many of us. And if it has to be this price, I'd just like to know why. It's been extremely unclear to me why it's priced so high.

2. The treatment of kickstarter backers.

I'll be brief here, because I'm not a backer myself.

It's very upsetting to me first and foremost that all backers were promised a free version of the game that is no longer available and can receive, at most, a $10 compensation or just suck it up.

"But they're refunding most of the kickstarter money and killing their game!" is an argument I have heard. And, well, yes. But the backers who bought tiers specifically for the promise of a full pc version have all lost out, unless the pledged $10 or less and did not buy anything in the mobile game.

I understand that a free mobile version was never a reward, and that makes sense. But for the people who pledged maybe $50 for the pc game, they've lost $40 and in addition will have to pay the $10 per book in order to still receive the content they were promised. It's absurd. At the very least, higher tier backers should be offered coin compensation. And the gall of allowing people to select neither refund nor waiting for the PC version indefinitely, of offering for people to just give their money away after this, is shocking.

The draw of kickstarters that I fund is that I pay for a product that isn't complete in order to receive it for a reduced price when it is complete, because that compensates what was essentially an uncertain loss to me at the time of pledging. This is a loss with no equivalent gain in sight and no overt plans for them to do anything much about it.

3. The response and treatment of feedback.

This one really gets me. Let me start off by saying that I am very, very much aware that they have no dedicated PR staff.

I had a recent interaction with the arcana Twitter after they found another user's untagged complaint. As has been standard to this point, they kindly advised us that paid content is optional, to which I have the response I gave above. Upon being asked again why they think the price is justified, this response was offered.

Ha ha! Funny joke! Apparently whoever was manning this Twitter account thought so. Except it wasn't a funny joke at all. Making a very callous and inappropriate joke of a real concern that has already negatively impacted users, after barging into an untagged complaint on a personal account, is about one of the worst responses I can think of. And nobody even asked for one at all, at the time.

But upon receiving that response, boy did I want a response. I've been seeing that response from them everywhere. "Send us an email". So I passed this along to some friends who do similar work and who have feedback concerns as well.

Firstly, I was told by pretty much everyone who had sent them an email that no response had been received. I brought this up in the Twitter thread, to which I received the answer that the team is small and can't respond to every email.

Well, okay, that's reasonable. Except that you DO have time to respond to every tweet, apparently.

Then send them! Throwing my feedback into some kind of void with no indication of how, if, and when they are being received is not an encouraging way to deal with customers.

Apparently, tweets are harder to pass along. Except that when I pointed out tweets can be linked and indexed in a variety of ways (it is a thought sharing platform, after all), I received the response that tweets are screenshotted and passed along as well.

Then why are we supposed to email??????

I was complaining about this confused response privately when another friend who works in customer service pointed out to me that companies tend to prefer social media over email communication anyway, because email can be treated as a legal document. This entire inability to respond to my questions promptly and honestly is making me really irritated in trying to resolve what amounts to a singular complaint that I would like to freely offer money to this game, and want to know why it's so hard.

And to be clear, I don't expect it to be resolved in a day. I don't expect the devs to work day and night to change their game. But if you are using official accounts to interact with your audience, I expect a prompt and professional reponse. I handle CSR duties daily in my job too. A simple "We will get back to you in a few days" or "This problem can't currently be resolved but we'll provide an update on how the discussion is going in a week" would suffice. Do a public update instead of responding to every email if it's too much. Walk away and respond to my tweet in twenty minutes after coming up with a better response.

If you're interacting with customers in a professional capacity, then be professional. I expect to be treated with respect and I expect to know where my feedback is going and what's being done with it, because as 85 stands the interactions I've had have been extremely underwhelming.

I'm not contacting these devs on their personal accounts and I don't want to be accused of bullying. I just don't think it's unreasonable that if I'm having a bad time trying to support this good game that I enjoy playing, I should know why.

#the arcana #i just wanted to get this off my chest

[a-momentary-equilibrium-issue]

John Terry exclusive: I haven't missed playing and the pressures around it

"I had formed a lot of records from classes from excellent managers, plus some records from managers that didn't work..."

Wembley, where JohnTerry raised six of his 15 major trophies, appeared the best spot to ask. That relevant question, reserved for individuals who are getting into a coaching profession after a significant success on the pitch.

"Have you skipped playing?"

We're searching on the pitch one hour before Chelsea face Manchester City in a Little league Cup final, the type of occasion Terry ate up.

That is a warrior defender who fights through the pain to try out. Full-kit John Terry. That is 759 golf club appearances, 78 Britain hats John Terry. Ninety-nine out of 100 says it is missed by them. That is a banker.

"Have you any idea what? I haven't. Missing the Mon to Fri, I get that, however the pressures of video games…

"It's funny because you watch video games like the Group Cup final, you want to be playing, but the stresses that surround it, and the stresses I put myself under down the road in my own job, I probably didn't enjoy, so in retrospect, I'm enjoying retirement."

He laughs when he says, "pension." That's because he's just spent ten minutes describing the last five weeks as an extremely, very long college class.

A coach with Dean Smith at Aston Villa since Oct, Terry will not supply the impression he's in work just to prolong his involvement in dressing rooms, to get the same buzz as a new player, or to keep busy.

The 38-year-old is seriously interested in learning new skills and has been since his playing times. He'd even take down notes on what he liked about his managers' periods, and what he didn't like.

Jose Mourinho, Claudio Ranieri, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink, Carlo Ancelotti, Rafael Benitez, Antonio Conte, Fabio Capello. Not really a bad - and intensely assorted - set of titles to scribble records on.

"I usually took a pastime in that which was happening; with individual managers, there have been things I liked, and lots of things I didn't like, and just why I would get it done, why I wouldn't, and what I believe the players want and need.

"I had developed a lot of records from classes I'd seen previously from excellent managers, plus some periods from managers that didn't work and the players didn't enjoy."

This been there as well. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has regularly spoken of Sir Alex Ferguson's impact on his training style at Manchester United but is also eager to stress he's his own man.

How about Terry's training style? There appears to be no arrogance to his strategy at the moment, no "I did so this in my own career, I understand best." It's been learning from your errors.

"It forms day-by-day. Sometimes I walk in from an exercise program, and I'm disappointed in myself that, whether a moving or ownership program, it generally does not go as well as you think.

"As if you always do, as a new player and a trainer, you will have to walk in from an exercise program and say: 'How may I improve, what did I really do right, what did I really do wrong?' Very similar to a new player. Sometimes you come in and say: 'I've nailed it,' nevertheless, you have to create it down.

"It's a little like coming to school, learning constantly, and I'm just like a sponge at when. You must analyze yourself."

With that continuous examination and self-improvement, it's obvious to see why Terry was regularly at the very top. But there is undoubtedly a critical factor he'd have transformed.

"For a new player it might be excellent to drop your feet into coaching, particularly towards the trunk end of your 20s, I think it might be smart to get early on feel for this. If I'd done that, I'd have valued it a little more.

"As a new player, you arrive for training, venture out, and you will see a reference to the set-up, the small-sided pitches, tactical set-up, nevertheless, you don't think about the hour or two before that has truly gone into that, or the idea process involved with it.

"Seeing that part of it's been huge for me personally, and it's really a learning 12 months for me personally. That's what I wish to take from it."

The pension hasn't brought a more free time for Terry. That Weekend usually spent calming with family or viewing other football is currently often spent finding your way through Monday conferences, or providing materials for players to focus on themselves.

"A noticeable change is following the game, where 9 times out of 10 you have a Weekend off as a new player, and also you say: 'That's my time to change off,' nowadays that is the time where I'm viewing the prior game, taking a look at another opponent, doing videos for individuals.

"That side from it is huge for me personally, the depth and exceptional detail that switches into the conference on the Mon or Wednesday morning hours.

"You're interested in the whole group. There could be a couple of players that require speaking to on the Weekend, a person who was hurt and ensuring he's Okay, there are so many edges to it."

Terry works together with the Villa squad alongside associate supervisor Richard O'Kelly, but his insight into the side's defense is critical. Smith's viewpoint puts focus on defenders being comfortable on your golf ball.

It is the current pattern and a change in thinking which Terry played through. He remembers a period where protective training was not intensifying.

"We didn't get too much training, or collectively individually, back the 90s and early 00s. It had been just about: 'Don't obtain it from the goalkeeper, press up, go and contend, go and battle for this.'

"Now the overall game has moved in a totally different path, and teams turn to play with their defenders. Tyrone [Mings, on loan from Bournemouth] is obviously one particular player comfortable on your golf ball, and we wish all of them to be healthy.

"After the defender receives it from the goalkeeper, he really needs pictures and patterns in his mind, and the whole group must understand as well. It's about getting as high up the pitch as you possibly can from his complete, with minimal risk. That's what we want to focus on as an organization."

Terry speaks passionately in what he's learned as a trainer, and exactly how he desires to absorb more. That mixture of experience and eagerness to boost provides him every potential for success in a sector where many big-name players have dropped.

He's more than happy taking part in the role of trainer and college student, but there is undoubtedly an essential factor he misses. Typical of Terry, it is the running.

"Normally as a new player I'd run between five and seven kilometers each day, just in a standard training program, now I am not doing that!

"Now I've thought to myself that I'll follow every program we do after the players go ahead I'll do my little bit for one hour. That's all I've known! That's something you neglect, how you take care of yourself, and what you take in.