#im sorry if the links dont work

[skcirthinq]

Soooooooo I may have gotten invested in tangledinink's (@tangledinink ) 'Im Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now?' And like_theletter started a fic based off of this series, and taking inspiration from alicat54c's 'Empathy is Learned' series.

Anyways, here's some scenes from Scotch Gambit, by like_theletter (@liketheletter-l ), using tangledinink's human designs of the Rise of the TMNT boys.

Featuring:

Mikey unleashing youngest sibling demonic energy. (sketch 1)

Raph's counter to that. (sketch 2)

Leo getting parental praise being enough to break through the chess hyper-fixation. (sketch 3)

Leo smugly trying to manipulate Donnie into playing chess. (sketches 4 & 5)

#rottmnt #did i tag everything correctly? who knows. not me. #but really all of these works ive hopefully linked to are a lot of fun and i recommend them if youre into rise. #sorry that the sketches are messy and some of the resolution is bad. if i dont post it now im gonna forget! #i didnt tag alicat54c bc i didnt want to bother them since like. their story isnt necessarily being shown here? but like. i have read it! #its very good! totally different premise from the other two stories tho

[scorchedcandy]

TES Secret Santa 2023 Begins!

Thank you all for joining! I just sent out all of the information to all of you Secret Santas out there.

Reminder that your rolling deadline is December 25th - January 1st!

When you post your gift, be sure to tag #TESSecretSanta2023 so I can reblog it! If the deadline is approaching and you can't meet it on time or at all, make sure you let me know as soon as possible so I can make your recipient aware and/or assign a backup Secret Santa!

Have fun and don't overwork yourselves! As always, feel free to drop an ask with any questions, comments, concerns, or fun facts!

Note: if you haven't received yours, I may have been nerfed for DMing too many people haha I'm gonna figure it out ig

#i would say dm me but i think tumblr stole my dms after i messaged all of you lol oops #middle of the night drop #just like mr santa himself #also im participating too! #dont worry about me knowing #i guarantee i will forget who has who (without my sheet) 2 seconds after this is sent #put my teacher training to good use (random spin wheel site) #save me random spin wheel #later than i wanted to get this out sorry #i was gonna make like flyers with the info but it just wouldnt have worked with links and really long answers #so i scrapped that lol #TESSecretSanta2023 #tes

[nxctern]

trying to find a way to doodle faster/be more productive without completely obliterating my joints

Right now I'm doing csp on the ipad (using it as a second monitor with sidecar)+using a joycon and a pirated software to use shortcuts w my left hand

Not super used to it yet but i think it'll help me a bit

#wip #i think i'll end up landing in a more painterly style #if i havent gotten back to u w a commish i'll most likely do a fully rendered painting instead of a lined work for the delay+bc u deserve i #thank u for ur support and patience #ive been getting a bit of followers from the sdv doodles i posted. hi sorry i post once a year i have. many issues oops but im trying #if u wanna support me check out me links <3 commish are sort of always open if you dont mind a bit of a long wait lol

[deepperplexity]

Any help would be beyond appreciated ♥️

After I made this goal a few weeks ago things changed for the worse again. Today (Monday, 11th December 2023) I got hit with a bill double the size I expected from my accountant (1.100usd). I'm at my wits end with my all-time dream and life-passion turned giant goal I've been working endlessly to reach.

GET MY FREE BOOK:

If you'd like to help me without spending a cent and get a free book please join my OW author newsletter HERE and leave a review on Amazon/Goodreads of my book after you've read it; which you get for free when joining (you can unsubscribe after downloading the book if you don't want my newsletters!) ♥️

If you enjoy my writing, of any kind, please consider sharing this or checking out my books - ask your library to get one or more of them (available world wide) if you would like to support but it's not in your budget - times are hard AF and I fully understand that ♥️

Thank you for reading, here's a cuddly hug if you want one 🫂 and a thank you ♥️

#feels like im drowning and i dont know what to do when im working as hard as i can #i hate asking for help - but im working on it - and its feels like the walls are closing in on me and im suffocating #not expecting anything - im grateful for everything and a reblog could help someone find my books that they may love #sorry for interrupting your dash scrolling with this Kofi post - do not feel bad for ignoring it if you dont want to reblog! #ko fi support #kofi #ko fi link

[parcoeurs]

top 5 piarles moments <333

sez thank you as always for this incredible question that i could frankly talk about for hours. i tried narrowing it down to 5 and it was simply impossible i ended up with like 13. SO i'm going to do top 5 from this season alone i hope that's okay ily <3

1. #INVESTIGATE MONTREAL

This was so. this was a moment. this was unbelievable. I forgot it started with charles and pierre's parents outside the alphatauri hospitality :(

and then it actually all rapidly went downhill from there. not one but TWO date nights

crucially both date nights included the white ferrari. iconic. frank ocean literally manifested this for them. he knew EXACTLY what he was doing.

AND THEN ... IT HAPPENED. midnight montreal time pierre gasly exhibited such freak behaviour that charles was forced to film it and post it on his instagram story. the wearing of the 16(!!!) ferrari hat :(

cant believe i experienced this live. i will never forget it. also i need to know if that lady in the red blazer in the back was filming them too and if yes LEAK THE FOOTAGE MA'AM.

and actually what's truly insane is that it doesnt stop there.

charles thought that this was a normal thing to say???

and finally. up until this point pierre had been posting a photo dump for every race weekend and this is STILL one of only two he didnt post for. and on the other i think he dnf'd and just had a miserable race. SOOOO WHATS GOING ON HERE. nothing to say except investigate montreal.

2. SINGAPORE DATEEEE

my theory is that this was the celebration dinner after pierre officially signed with alpine. they both look so fucking GOOD thank you pierre for choosing a position and photo in which charles tits look like That. he knew what he was doing!! as pierre said: good food

3. bahrain gp :( what a start to the season. we were all FOOLS

anyways pierre loves charles that's about it. he's truly so happy for his bff it makes me ill!!!

tummy touch to congratulate him on pole

followed by the return of calamar!!!! and charlito

4. pierre telling charles he should've come to tulum so he could've had a threesome with him and ilies... or something along those lines :)

charles cycling up to say hi and then immediately getting shy when pierre wraps his hand around his neck/shoulder. giggling a little. hes so cute i could cry this is THEE dynamic i fear.

5. okay and I KNOW for the last one i could choose a bunch of drivers parade moments but. if u know me. open your eyes people thats all i'll say !

#usersez #asks #this took so long CGKGJHGDHL #if the links dont work dont tell me im sorry #1016

[good-beans]

Well, Milgramblrgram, you have spoken! This is what you wanted, wasn't it?

I've doled out my judgement on Nott, Kyanako, and Waivy! You can rest easy knowing that I took care of everything 😌 And I do believe there was something else that you all voted in favor of, hm...?

You are very welcome, Wardens! I look forward to continuing to be a team 🐺

#milgram #beans' kotoko arc >:3 #putting this here so i dont crosspost a million things on my blogs #im sorry atlas faye and mug :( only three attacks for this trial but im going to reach out about requests for you guys!! #ill have to ask your favorite characters to work with (and do something non-milgram for you faye adfsd) #i was told t1 milgramblrgram may end soon and with school picking up i wanted to post these before things got too hectic #but i promise i didnt forget ya >:3 #hmmm i think linking a post will skip over the readmore - sorry for the slutty fuuta jumpscare oops #also LMAO if there is any reason i was voted innocent its because i really cant write angst 😂 i hope you guys enjoy the drabbles -- i have #no idea if theyre gonna hit or not... i really do struggle with sad ending angst #though if they DO land -- dont worry about getting your revenge on me because writing them already made me unbearably sad 😭😭😭😭😭😭 #rose writes! #my art #milgramblrgram

[sergeifyodorov]

oh dear i forgot to edit the word bitches out of piece of sample JOURNALISTIC writing for a REAL HUMAN JOB APPLICATION. it's fine i wasn't gonna get it anyway we're all chill here.

#i also linked them to this blog on my resume so i think i was doomed from the start. learning how to knit BACK ON #that being said if you work there and you're reading this. sorry about that. hiiiiiiii. im a very employable nice young man dont scroll dow

[kaeyapilled]

what do you think about the kaeya = caribert theory? i saw some people use it as an 'explanation why his skin is dark' like. oh he used to be a Monster and the skin is a remnant of it :) and it pissed me off so bad. i need to know what other people think about it

its honestly not a theory im super fond of i think its a little stupid no offense. i dont think it makes a lot of sense? to go super in depth i'd have to take another look at the caribert quest (and maybe read up on the khaenri'ah lore we have so far again) but i kinda feel like it establishes pretty firmly that kaeya couldnt be caribert. descended from that branch of the family maybe (though im more fond of the theory that kaeya is descended from the branch of alberichs that were actually being regents, something that chlothar wasnt involved in because he distanced himself from the rest of the family to look after his son) (makes sense that kaeya would know more about the alberichs being the regents in khaenri'ah than he knows about an alberich being the founder of the abyss order) (theres a post about it i reblogged it some time ago and it hasn't left my mind since) but like.. him actively being caribert? sounds.. honestly really dumb to me.. don't ask me how kaeya isnt (or at least doesn't seem to be) affected by any curse, be it monsterification or immortality, but i just feel like that isnt the explanation. the actual explanation could be related to the events in caribert though.. cant wait for them to tell us what it actually is lol. on the off chance that this fucking theory is true then ill just bite my tongue i guess but i know im right. ok now moving on to the elephant in the room. what kind of take even is thatttttt "thats why his skin is dark"what is bro talking about🔥🔥‼️ if i read that with my own two eyes id block a person SO fast. why would you say that and treat it as serious evidence and backing for your theory. thats just. racism basically. what. anyways kaeya whos half from sumeru supremacy

#using hoyoverse logic (desert=dark skin rainforest=white skin) he'd be half a desert dweller half khaenri'ahn #(which is silly stupid logic btw. i hate it) #its SUCH a concept though #still doesnt answer how he isnt. yknow. a hilichurl. caribert style #but we've already established that i dont have answers for you as to how kaeyas existence works. sooo yea #not to get ahead of myself though but the kaeya skin COULD be evidence of him having roots in sumeru too #even what he tells us about going to sumeru as a child too if you're willing to make a stretch #because i know that was about him wanting to go to/get as close as possible to khaenri'ah #(ough btw. i feel ill whenever i think about it for too long) #but you COULD argue that the fact hoyoverse has even brought it up recently could be hinting at something #giggles and kicks my feet. we'll see;3 #that was one hell of a tangent. sorry im a bit passionate about sumeru kaeya im realizing now #thank you for the ask!!! #about the other one you sent don't worry you didn't come off as rude! it's literally ok #you def arent alone in thinking that is fucking insane bc it is. hope that helps #the moment the caribert quest dropped and people were like genuinely linking caribert to kaeya i was so confused #i didnt interpret it that way at all #saying that his dark skin is because he was a monster though. like ok. do you guys ever think before you speak like ever #askpilled #kaeyaposting #kaeya alberich

[nevarroes]

Maybe someone who know how to make mods could bless us with fat Gortash?👀 Just saying ...but I case someone would like to make gort nation super happy

I’m so sorry like I personally get the vision here and I do know how to mod but u will not get me to touch this…. I prefer living in my delusions😭😭

#blakemail #tbh i havent even bothered to check how unique tav works but i assume ypu still cant make unique npc models #i dont think any mod would do him justice either #u can always come 2 me for ur daily dose of fat gortash…. sorry🙏 #link it to me if someone makes it tho…. im nothing if not curious at least

[glassgob]

[Image ID: Digital illustration of Mickey Woods, Spears Taylor, and Bright Zimmerman from Blaseball. Mickey is a Puerto Rican and Turkish woman with brutal black tattoos along her arm and neck. She is smiling while drawing a line across her throat. Next to her is Bright, a young Jewish girl wearing a Penn State hoodie. She is facing forward with an indifferent expression. In between them is a chibi drawing of Spears, a jenglot holding a kris spear. In the top right corner it says “Pie or Die?” in bold, bubble letters. End ID.]

#blaseball #bright zimmerman #mickey woods #spears taylor #philly pies #sorry if theres any mistakes usually i wait to post art but im running around rn and dont have the time #again thank you stara and dasy for the brainworms ill make sure to link yalls work later

[cinnamon-grump]

If y’all know me, you know I hate asking for help…. So I’m very sorry to have to now.

I start a new (part time) job next tuesday.. but I gotta get gas to make it there before I’ll get paid. If you can help, anything at all would be so much appreciated!

Paypal

Venmo

Cashapp

It’s totally cool if you can’t/don’t want to.. sharing is of course helpful too

I can do some quick sketches / phone doodles in return, just message me and lmk if you want! I’m open to drawing most things (within reason..) here’s some recent examples, and my art tag

#help #how do u tag these..? im so sorry #donation post #is fhat the tag..? srsly pls help lol im clueless #this is far from an official commission post btw i genuinely mean just doodles right now #my hands and drawing tablet don’t work enough to do finished pieces rn #but seriously.. i hate asking for $ so know that i dont do this lightly #i have nothing left rn and im the only one in this house whose got a job for now #im trying so hard not to panic 😖 #also i feel weird putting all three links but idk what people use and i’ve had to download all 3 for different family members…

[waywardsalt]

Hi! I hope you’re doing good in life.

What do you think of a phantom hourglass remake? Tbh I don’t know how they could remake it without basically remaking it from the ground-up. It would probably play more like windwaker, which I see as a both a good and bad thing. On the one hand, if it was more like windwaker a lot more people would probably play and it would be more popular since I know the touch controls were a turn off for most people for both Spirit Tracks and Phantom hourglass. But on the other hand, remaking it to be more like windwaker would make the game lose some of it’s previous identity. Like, Phantom hourglass was so unique because of the touch controls and the puzzles you can make and solve by having two screens and touch controls. And it was so nifty and handy to be able to write notes on your map. Idk, I still would like it to be remade in general even if it ends up a basically different game, but I wouldn’t change the story or the characters, especially Linebeck. The only other change I would make is the music. Phantom hourglass had rather weak themes, mainly because they re-used the same theme for the islands and the dungeons. The only songs that were really good were the few orginal tracks made for the game, so Linebeck’s theme, Oshus’s theme, both Bellum boss battle themes and the and that music that plays when you first follow the Ghost Ship. But what would you want out of a phantom hourglass remake?

Hey, I’m doing good, and I hope you are too!

I’ve thought a bit about a possible Phantom Hourglass remake, but not too much recently. I don’t really know if I’d want one, since you’d lose a lot of what really makes it special, and you can still play it through other means. I’m personally fond of the graphics and the music- yes, even the dungeon theme has grown on me- so I don’t really want a remake too badly, especially since I fear any additions/changes they might make with story or characters in a remake. The touch controls make it, and playing it on pc recreates that feeling decently well, but I don't think it'll be just the same if you had to control it with joysticks or anything.

Not to mention, there's so much emphasis on having the two screens, too, not just for map stuff, but almost every single boss had a mechanic related to the top screen! I have no fucking clue how you'd replicate that very well on something like the switch without just fucking with the mechanics altogether.

I would kill to hear some of Phantom Hourglasses tracks be orchestrated or otherwise rearranged in a higher quality. I wouldn't want any of the more notable themes altered in any way, no adding or removing of melodies and only very very small changes to the instrumentation, but I think it'd be neat to see what could be done with dungeon themes. I think a while back I had a fleeting desire to write some short tracks for each dungeon, with some ideas like mostly using instruments heard in Bellum's themes for the dungeons while each individual one gets a leading instrument unique to and reflective of the dungeon, while the Ghost Ship maybe gets a song that's a bit of a expanded version of the fog theme, while the Temple of the Ocean King could have slightly different themes the further in you got, starting with instruments more common to Oshus's theme or the great sea theme, while the further in you got the more instruments from Bellum's theme would be heard, plus some harpsichord thrown in for the hell of it.

Leave the original dungeon theme for stuff like the minor pyramids and some larger cave areas, idk. It's grown on me.

I think the only story rearranging I'd want is mayyyyybe unfridging Tetra? You could very easily shuffle some things around with her and just not damsel her for the whole game and honestly it'd still go off perfectly without a hitch. But you'd still have to deal with the World of the Ocean King being a whole other world, so either bring her and her crew in and have them as wandering ship npcs (the better idea) or just leave them out (not a good idea) but either way it's better than what they actually did. I just don't think I'd want it to switch to Tetra being a major reoccurring character tbh, the main character dynamics in PH are good as they are.

I think I like Phantom Hourglass too much as it is to really want a remake at all. I'd rather we get something like an anime adaptation. That's what I think about more. Give me animated Phantom Hourglass with some fun takes on the dungeons and fights and some fun slice of life stuff with the group between the islands what I want is a Phantom Hourglass anime

#asks #zeldanamikaze #salty talks #loz #legend of zelda #phantom hourglass #kinda just boils down to like. i kinda want it to remain untouched with nothing added or removed if that makes sense #different themes for the dungeons would be rlly cool. harpsichord for deeper ocean king temple floors bc its where you meet linebeck #also vague foreshadowing? as an aside how many other loz songs have harpsichord in it im very curious to know #also. i say i dont mind the dungeon theme while also not really minding my tinnitus so also take that in mind maybe. brain go brrrrrr #i think adding tetra in to the main crew of ph would kinda be a bit much and also maybe not add very much. fyi i have not played ww #but i feel like it'd almost be adding another ciela cuz shed support link and be more barbed and bold with a side of less morally upstandin #so i dont really think she'd being much new to the ph crew table and i wouldnt want her there in a remake cuz they might pull the #goddess blood card and i really really like how ph has fuck all to do with hyrule or any of that nonsense #sorry this took so long btw. i dont think much abt a ph remake so i dont have a lot of notes #additions? idk add more rooms to linebecks ship. let us poke around in a few areas. maybe potion storage. give link a room #let us poke around in linebeck's room when possible. put smth fun in there. pull a wilds era and give him a journal for us to check out #what they did with tetra kills me (but not too much since i dont rlly have thoughts on tetra) bc you could just remove her entirely #and the story would still work really well anyways. holy character fridging batman #idfk. give us a silly loz dating game. make linebeck an option. thats what i wanna see

[milkweedman]

[image description: an ask by @arbrehoux​ that says “Hi! I’m just getting into spinning, and I wanted to ask how to finish off the yarn once you’ve spun all you want. I’ve tried googling it, but every website I look at skips straight from the actual spinning to soaking. I’m using a drop spindle, if that’s relevant.” end image description]

soaking usually IS the way to finish yarn ! i'll give you the best step by step i can though (and for future reference, this applies to pretty much every single spinning method, so you can do this with yarns spun on a spinning wheel, a supported spindle, a drop spindle, a navajo spindle, a charkha wheel, or whatever else you might encounter. it's all yarn, so it can all be finished the same way.)

step 0: if you plan on plying your yarn, do it before finishing. you don't need to finish singles if you plan to ply them. finishing relaxes the yarn, so if you finish a singles and then ply it, it will end up being somewhat limp unless you overply it (which makes yarn less elastic and more rough) but if you spun a singles and want it to remain a singles, never to be plied, then you can certainly finish it as a singles.

step 1: remove the yarn from your spindle (or bobbin, or whatever it is on) and wrap it around something as it comes off. a niddy noddy is great for this, but not necessary. you can wrap your yarn around a big hardcover book or the back of a chair, or whatever. when taking yarn off a drop spindle, i usually just toss the spindle on the ground and let it roll around as I wind the yarn off. if you’re worried about it catching on something, put the drop spindle in a box or mixing bowl instead and let it roll around in there.

[image description: a somewhat blurry closeup of a tattooed man’s hands. in his right hand he’s holding a hardcover book. in his left he’s wrapping yarn around the book lengthwise. a red line has been drawn in to show the path of the yarn as he winds. end image description]

step 2: tie your yarn off. you can use the messy looking ends of the yarn if you wish, or another piece of yarn or string. just tie a simple knot around the hank. you want at least two knots, but if you're really worried about it tangling, you can do more. the purpose of tying your yarn off is to stop it from tangling in the next steps, to make it easier to work with when you wind it into a ball or cake later, and to keep it looking tidy.

[image description: a closeup of the yarn on the book from the previous image. a knot has been tied around all the strands of yarn on that side. there is a red arrow pointing to the knot. end image description]

step 2.5: if you want to know your yardage or meterage, this is the time to do so. first, count how many strands you have. second, measure how many inches or centimeters it takes to span the entire length of the book (so, front, back, and the width of both the top and bottom). In this case I think it was 8 strands and 24 inches for the whole book. that means the whole yarn is 192 inches (8x24=192) and the yardage is 5.3 (192/36=5.3). same steps if it’s centimeters and meters, of course. also, if you’re thinking “wow, I have to measure whatever i’m winding my yarn on every time ? that sounds annoying”, then you’re seeing why niddy noddys are so helpful and you should get or make one. my niddy noddy takes 2 yards to span it, meaning whenever i wind yarn on, after counting it i can just multiply my result by 2 and know how many yards i have (if i have 100 strands and i know each strand spans 2 yards, that means my whole skein is 200 yards. so much simpler.)

step 3: soak your yarn. or just get it wet. i usually run my yarn under the tap for a few seconds to make sure it is fully wet, but you can also put it in a bowl with some water and make sure it's fully submerged. leave it there for a few minutes.

step 3.5: if your yarn isn't very soft and you want it to be softer, you can add conditioner (just like, the normal stuff you use for your hair) to the bowl before you put the yarn in to soak. if you're softening it this way, leave it in the bowl of water for at least an hour, or even overnight. when you take it out, rinse it briefly. this step is only necessary if you want your yarn softer.

step 4 (optional): go outside and snap your yarn like a whip a few times. this evens out twist and flicks a lot of the water off, so it will dry faster too. if your yarn has some spots that are really undertwisted or overtwisted or both, this is a good way to help reduce that and make more evenly plied.

step 5: let your yarn dry completely. in the summer i hang my yarn over the clothesline, and in the winter i usually put it over a heating vent. doesn't matter how you do it. remember that wool in particular can feel dry even when it has a fair amount of water in it, so don't grab it the second it feels dry--give it a while longer to actually dry.

you should notice that your yarn looks different now that it's dry. if it's wool, it's likely puffed up some (to varying degrees depending on the breed of animal it came from, as well as whether it was roving or a batt or a rolag or whatever else, and also depending on how you spun it. it's a cool thing to pay attention to.)

step 6: skein your yarn. pick up the hank and drape it over your thumb or hand or whatever. the vast majority of yarns will twist a little in one direction when you do this, from residual twist. some yarns will twist a lot, others only barely. note the direction that it twists in--to the left or to the right. put your other thumb at the other end of the hank, and start twisting one thumb in the opposite direction that your hank twisted in. i usually twist with one thumb until i can't easily twist it anymore, and then twist with the other thumb. your nice loop should now look kind of like a piece of rope, with your thumbs still hooked into each end.

[image description: the first image shows the yarn hooked over each thumb, with two twists in the middle. the second image shows that same yarn, which now has so much twist it looks like rope. his thumbs are still hooked into each end. end image description]

you now want to find the center point of your ‘rope’ and fold it there. your ‘rope’ should kind of snap into place, looking like a much larger version of a 2 ply yarn. it’s nice and stable like this, and can be transported or stored easily (plus it’s pretty !). the last step is to take one of the loops you had your thumb in and push it through the other loop. this stops it from unraveling.

btw: the reason we twist it the opposite direction that it wants to turn is the same reason we ply in the opposite direction that we spin. if you spin Z and ply Z your yarn isn’t going to be structurally sound, and it’ll look pretty bad, too. when it comes to skeining you’re not adding any structural stability to the actual yarn, but the looks still matter--if your Z plied yarn is twisted Z while skeining, your skein will be limp and lifeless and not very pretty. if it’s twisted S, it’ll be nice and balanced and neat looking. it’s purely an aesthetics thing, but it also only takes half a second to figure out, so why not do it ?

and you’re done ! your yarn is now finished and skeined, and you know the yardage/meterage. you can label it with all relevant info if you want (for example: 4 ounces shetland roving, 2 ply, 350 yards, light worsted weight, finished august 2022, spun on a wheel)

#sorry this isnt an ask anymore #i somehow corrupted the original post by adding images and then saving it as a draft to work on later #idk... tumblr. #anyway those pictures are from a little video i made that im now somewhat too embarassed to post #although if this doesn't make sense and seeing it in video form would be helpful lmk and ill just link it anyway #it has to be a youtube video bc its too big to post on tumblr normally even after trying to condense it so #anyway sorry this took a while to answer ! it's hard to put most fiber instructions into words #spinning #handspun yarn #drop spindle #tutorial #also im not gonna go into shrinkage bc honestly i like to pretend it isn't a thing so that it doesnt mess up my yardage measuring #but if it immediately pops off the book/niddy noddy/whatever and looks way smaller that means your yarn is definitely shorter #than the actual yardage. calculating how long it really is while still using the same tools is rly hard #so i dont bother. you can minimize shrinkage by wrapping very loosely and not pulling on the yarn or putting it #under any tension as you wind. thats what i do with yarns when i really NEED to know the actual yardage #such as for a specific project or if i want to sell it #anyway yeah !

[marcygoo]

uhh my hand slipped or something. idk. heres a critter

based on this 

#soup draws stuff #desperately hoping & praying that the embed works .ive never done it before #tell me if it doesnt i can just link the tweet without the fancy stuff #also NO IM NOT TAGGING MARCY .shes way too popular of a character and it scares me when theres people i dont know randomly finding my stuff #. sorry

[axolotlclown]

Would you happen to have some studies to back up the "more than one coffee means you're addicted" thing, please? Pretty sure I've seen that disproven as a lens to understand addiction through at all

~ 🪴

Hey! So sorry I never saw this anon. It never appeared in my notifs and I'm really bad about checking my askbox.

You have asked a question that falls in line with a field I am very passionate about! I found some interesting articles in my school library. I'm going to go ahead and write this response, but I'm still waiting on access to a few journals. I'll have to convert those ones to PDFs as they are likely behind paywalls.

Anyway, here's my long post where I intend to rant about a lot of different barely related topics. Caffeine addiction is one of those really controversial but historically significant subjects in psychology!

So let me start off with how to read and break down a journal. It's one of those things where if you don't go to college and specifically major in a research related field, no one ever teaches you how to do it. That sucks.

So when you're looking at a journal, the first thing you want to do is background check the author. What school did they go to? What degrees do they have? (For research, they should have a Ph.D. no matter what.) What is their current place of employment?

Often companies, or other private businesses, will commission someone to do some research and fudge the results to make that company look better. We saw this recently in regards to gender affirming care. The United States House of Representatives had proposed legislation to restrict gender affirming care for transgender youth. The Republican sponsor of the bill had presented a single piece of research that he claimed was significant. The research found that transition regret rates were somewhere in the 30% range. (I don't remember exactly and I know that I could quickly look it up, but I just spent the past two hours reading addiction research. I'll find it tomorrow.) Upon looking into the author and the sponsors of this research, psychologists found that the journal the congressman presented was commissioned by a conversation therapy center in Florida. The research held obvious bias, poor peer review, and inconclusive results. The bill didn't pass. I'm not sure they even voted on it, actually.

Anyway, this is why we need to be critical of the research we read. Chocolate, wine, caffeine, gender dysphoria, and autism are notorious subjects that require more scrutiny before reading.

So, caffeine addiction. This is a subject that more than one field is interested in. Before you read an article, you need to be sure what question you are asking. Psychologists are concerned with a more scientific or factual approach. In this context, a psychologist would be researching the concrete effects of caffeine on mood, sleep, and other psychological disorders. Sociologists are more concerned with the overall social consequences of caffeine addiction. They would be asking how mood and sleep affected family, work, and personal welfare. For your question, we're going to look into the psychological aspect. Also, I'm studying psychology, not sociology, so I would feel like an idiot answering those types of questions.

This distinction matters. When I opened my school's EBSCOHost database, I simply typed in "caffeine addiction" to start. I was bombarded with sociological articles and journals about the affects of caffeine addiction on productivity at work and on mood. Strange overlap with psychology. Two problems: some of the top articles had researchers with ties to coffee companies, and all "caffeine addicts" were self-reported. For the latter, this meant that there was no standard for how much caffeine was consumed. Rather than being a concrete article about caffeine consumption, it was more of a survey of public opinion. You want to avoid those unless you specifically want to know about the public opinion. Even psychologists run surveys all the time (they're cheap and easy), but people often lie on surveys, even if they're anonymous.

So I typed in more specific key words and came up with these articles. I'll talk about some without leaving a link, but that's because I had to request the PDFs for sharing. I'll come back to this post and link them. (Let me know if the ones I do link are broken.)

Okay, so I'm going to start off with a journal that interested me, personally. This study actually observed the effects of caffeine on psychiatric patients. This is an important reminder that different drugs influence different brains. Someone with ADHD experiences caffeine differently for a neurotypical person. Caffeine is a stimulant, and ADHD medications are stimulants. Cool. What about other disorders?

Here's the Sparknotes of the study, "Caffeine intoxication was more prevalent in psychiatric patients than in healthy subjects. The amount of caffeine intake was shown to be associated positively with the severity of pathology and inversely with sleep quality."

The study goes more into depth about the different psychological disorders that different patients had. There were 401 patients participating in this study (150 healthy individuals). Overall, continuous caffeine intake showed a decline in sleep quality and a general increase in severity of other mental illnesses.

So what causes that? What is caffeine? Here's an article that looks into studies about caffeine consumption and performance, as well as what the causes of an addiction could be and what constitutes an addiction. This is one I recommend giving a read, as it helps to illuminate a common problem with researching intoxicants.

Here's the big take away: "Although caffeine is widely perceived to have beneficial psychostimulant effects, appropriately controlled studies show that its apparent beneficial effects on performance and mood are almost wholly attributed to reversal of the withdrawal effects that occur after fairly short periods of abstinence (e.g. overnight)."

In habitual coffee users, the increase of mood and performance after consumption of caffeine is caused by the removal of withdrawal symptoms. Grouchy mood and lack of coordination are symptoms of caffeine withdrawal. Where one may perceive positive reinforcement for initial consumption, for habitual consumers, withdrawal symptoms become a negative reinforcement.

So, for people that drink coffee everyday, it's less about getting the positive effects of caffeine, but rather avoiding the negative effects of withdrawal. This can be classified as an addiction. There is now a reliance on this substance.

Something this article also points out is that caffeine is not just found in coffee. It's found in chocolate and most medications these days as well. Therefore, complete stone cold abstinence from caffeine can be next to impossible, making control groups difficult to find. This leads to the varying research and controversy between psychologists.

Okay, but coffee can't be as bad as alcohol or anything right? Caffeine is practically harmless! Let's take a look into an article discussing the health impacts of caffeine. (I'll provide the full text to this one tomorrow.)

In Dr. Saimaiti's article titled, "Dietary Sources, Health Benefits, and Risks of Caffeine," she explores the benefits of occasional consumption of caffeine and weighs them against habitual overconsumption of caffeine.

While occasional consumption can actually improve mood and cognitive ability, these benefits are lost with daily consumption.

Few people drink their coffee black. For those that put creamer, milk (especially oat), or straight sugar or syrups in their coffees daily, they may be overconsuming sugar. This is especially hard on an empty stomach. This is part of the reason you "crash" later in the day. The sugar raises your blood sugar. For most healthy people, this may not be the biggest deal in the world. For others, it could be a key factor in developing diabetes later in life. In general, don't drink coffee on an empty stomach. Have it with a meal. It's also easier on your liver.

Speaking of liver, what does your body do with the caffeine after you drink it? Caffeine follows the same principle as alcohol. Occasional consumption of red wine can help thin your blood and lower your hemoglobin (something that women may be more concerned about as they get older). However, daily consumption of wine can cause stress on the liver and potentially lead to dementia later in life (I say potentially because there has been a correlation, but no solid research as to why. While correlation does not always mean causation, it's important to acknowledge them in the meantime.)

Caffeine behaves in the same way. Continuous consumption of caffeine can put some real stress on your liver over time.

Caffeine is dangerous for those with cardiovascular problems. While this seems like a "duh!" point, many people don't know that they may be prone to cardiovascular issues until an event happens. This sounds like fear mongering, but it's something to take into account.

The article discusses pregnant women as well, but I would hope that's intuitive? Maybe not? If you're pregnant you should avoid intoxication in all forms.

I'll drop this quote from the conclusion of the article for now (I felt weird quoting text that you can't access yet, so I'll come back with more quotes when I can give you the PDF): "the long-term or over-consumption of caffeine can lead to addiction, insomnia, migraine, and other side effects."

The point is, caffeine consumption can be more dangerous to some than others in general, but excessive consumption with lack of knowledge can lead to long-term damage to one's health.

Okay, that study talks about a relatively small niche. Let's get broad. Let's talk about sleep and cognitive performance. (Another study I'll have the PDF for tomorrow.)

In Dr. Gottselig's article titled, "Random Number Generation During Sleep Deprivation: Effects of Caffeine on Response Maintenance and Stereotypy," she looks at the effects caffeine has on cognitive performance during sleep deprivation.

The conclusions of this research makes a very important point: "caffeine preserves simple aspects of cognitive performance during sleep deprivation, whereas caffeine may not prevent detrimental effects of sleep deprivation on some complex cognitive functions."

This article particularly found that while small cognitive functions such as motor ability improved with caffeine, complex cognitive functions such as problem solving and memory declined.

While a college student could read this and understand that pulling an all nighter and drinking 10 Red Bulls probably won't help them pass their test, there's something much more to be said about these findings.

One sleep deprived night won't kill you, and certainly drinking a cup of coffee to get you through the day won't either. But caffeine cannot prevent the damage that regular sleep deprivation does. Sleep deprivation leads to memory loss, worsening symptoms of depression/anxiety/ADHD, increased chances of developing dementia early (this one is real), and a decline in overall cognitive ability.

Rough. But it is a trap. If you have insomnia, caffeine may feel like your only choice to be somewhat functioning throughout the day. Caffeine promotes symptoms of insomnia. It's a vicious cycle if you can't afford proper treatment, and one, that I hope, that will be addressed with time.

So if you have the ability, it's better to prioritize a good night's sleep. I'll come back to this.

For now, why is caffeine addiction so controversial then? Well, it may not be for long. While there was a push to add "caffeine" to the list of diagnosable addiction in the DSM since the 1980's, the inconsistent and inconclusive research has led to a standstill. As we say with Dr. Jame's article, it is difficult to get a control group for caffeine. However, as research for alcohol and marijuana progresses, our knowledge of how to properly study intoxicants does as well.

The long-term health side effects of caffeine are still being studied as well. While this aspect isn't unique to caffeine at all (marijuana, for example, is just now getting approved for research, where before it was illegal), it's still worth acknowledging what we do know, for now at least.

So, coming back to the DSM. There's a new one coming out pretty soon. It's the talk of the town among psychologists right now. Everyone is arguing about what should be in the DSM-6. It'll be crazy when it does come out. Autism, OCD, Gender Dysphoria, Borderline Personality Disorder, and Facial Dysmorphia are just a few examples of disorders that will likely be completely recategorized.

(Unrelated, but Autism Spectrum Disorder is a big one because a lot of psychologists are arguing that it shouldn't be classified as a disorder at all. The reason being is that Autism is so common, that psychologists are theorizing that the majority of the population falls on the spectrum somewhere. Either way, the diagnosis is about to completely change because of this fact.) (Well, all of them are big ones. I could make a whole separate post about it.)

Anyway, the push to make caffeine diagnosable is becoming a promising endeavor as research continues to come out.

One psychiatrist pushing for this is Ronald Griffiths. In his opinion piece, Griffiths recalls his patients experiencing caffeine withdrawal symptoms that led to a decline in the quality of life. One of his patients was diagnosed with breast cancer and needed to stop drinking coffee immediately. This patient struggled with severe withdrawal symptoms that were difficult to manage while on cancer treatment.

Griffiths explains how difficult it was to treat this patient because it wasn't something he could easily diagnose with the DSM-5, something insurance companies use to decide whether they're going to pay for care or not. Add on the bills for cancer treatment, and you rapidly have a distressing situation on your hands.

Joseph DeRupo, spokesman for the National Coffee Association in the U.S. as quoted in this article states, "What we have here is really the opinion of one scientist who is a lone voice against the accepted view of the scientific community."

Lone voice? In barely an hour I was able to find 5 credible articles, all backed by credible researchers, supporting the understanding that American society consumes too much caffeine. You can take a General Psych class in college and the textbook would spend half a chapter going over caffeine addiction and the controversial research around it. Coffee companies piss me off. And most companies use slave labor to harvest their beans and lobby to prevent legislation to prevent it. Guillotine.

Griffiths also claims that "[e]ven people who consume as little as 100 milligrams of caffeine a day—the equivalent of one small cup of coffee—can become physically dependent."

So this ask is pretty old, but I'm guessing it was in response to me saying that you should only drink one cup of a random beverage a day and the rest be water. This keeps you hydrated and helps cut out where the majority of your sugar intake is. I called it the "desert beverage" and that "coffee counts."

It really does. In the morning, one feels tired, foggy, and grouchy. "Don't talk to me until I've had my morning coffee." They would make their coffee out of habit, barely minding the taste of it—drinking to medicate the headache they've already caused.

Life is worth celebrating, and if we can find little things in our day to celebrate, we should! When coffee becomes a habit, it's just a habit. That's sad.

I worked as a barista for a while at a coffee shop that hired people with intellectual disabilities. That experience is what made me switch my major to psychology in the first place. But I saw the joys coffee could bring, and the damage it can do, too. I had a coworker who would come in and throw a tantrum if we didn't immediately stop what we were doing and make him a coffee—and again in two hours before the end of his shift. It's upsetting.

I do remember the joys, too. Our manager would show us a new niche coffee drink from a random country. We would make cubanos like they would in Haiti and talk about the different names they had in different countries around the world. It ruled.

I don't drink coffee every day anymore. But it's always a wonderful thing when I do. You don't need to have an "excuse" to drink a cup of coffee—you don't need to celebrate anything at all. Coffee, tea, wine, soda, and juice should be celebrated as they are. Drinking them out of habit destroys joy. Intentional habits create stable foundations in life. Unintentional habits create monotony and boredom.

Anyway, the sleep thing I said I'd come back to. So if you're having trouble sleeping, here's the hot tip: avoid screens 30 minutes before going to bed. That sounds easy, but how many of us scroll our phones, watch TV, or play a video game right before bed? It's not worth it.

Instead, do something away from your phone that you enjoy. I like to read, but you can draw, journal, listen to some music, practice an instrument, or write something. Doesn't matter, just don't use your phone or laptop. Set a 30 minute timer for time.

If you're still struggling to sleep, you may find meditation useful. Meditation uses techniques that make your brain send beta waves which relaxes you and is the first step to falling asleep. But! If you try to learn some meditation, you'll have to commit to practicing it every night for it to be useful. It's a skill that requires practice.

Anyway, I could make a whole separate post about evening/morning/afternoon routines as that is another one of my passions, but yeah.

TLDR; An occasional cup of coffee is actually great and wonderful, but you really shouldn't drink it every day, especially more than once a day.

PS. I love Red Bull cream sodas more than the God that created them, I swear, but I only drink maybe one or two energy drinks a year. Energy drinks will dissolve your liver faster than hydrochloric acid can. An alcoholic drinking 5 packs of beers a day will look at your liver and be impressed. Also the Panera lemonade should be illegal. That shit is CRAZY. That bitch had more caffeine than a Bang energy drink. It literally killed a man. Wild.

#anon im gonna be so incredibly transparent #before you read this #i spent four and a half hours researching and putting this together #and i still gotta add more sources tomorrow after my school send the pdfs to me #so i didnt proof read it #im tired #i hope it makes enough sense #also sorry if it sounds like i mansplained in the beginning and end #i dont know who you are or what your background is #so i tried to cover my corners as much as i could #anyway #i got a little buddhist philosophy at the end there to #as a treat for me #i hope it doesnt sound preachy #i need a nap bro #sorry for taking so long to get to your ask #i never saw it until now #BUT #i hope it worked as a good starting point if you wanted to look into more #let me know if the links are fucked and ill try to fix them #asks of dante #thoughts of dante #ill tag your little emoji bc i figured that was purposeful #🪴

[matthewsvoyage]

wessa opening each other's presents under the christmas tree after TID !

HI so I love this prompt but prompts are currently closed. BUT the good news is that I'll almost definitely be opening them again later in the month (December), so hold that thought and send it to me then!

#im sorry i dont want to overwhelm myself :( #i also have a couple of other longer holiday-related projects im working on #one is a long wessa treasure hunt fic #i can link if you want? 4 chapters are up already