#like people who choose to speak only in the language when they start learning - ive seen people do that for korean and chinese

[01mishchelle]

What I’ve learned so far about ‘manifesting’

i find it extremely idiotic how people believe that they have to do this and that to get their desire. believe me, i used to be like that too. 2-3 years ago i joined a shifting community and let me tell ya, everyone overcomplicated the basics. thats when i gave up and left.

a few weeks ago when i was in a negative, heartbroken state and was begging to have my sp back, a manifestation video came up from this user called hyler. i followed her instructions and even sammy ingram’s.

that’s also where i discovered neville goddard for the first time.

i found it quite odd that we had to do affirm all the time, and thats what i did. i still felt weird, unaccomplished. i did get results, the negatives and the positives. i kept on holding on those results as a proof my sp loved me. but deep inside i knew what i was doing was completely wrong. if they tell you to live in the end, why would i affirm 24/7 to have that desire?

+also adding this, i’ve heard about the void state everywhere in pinterest and here and let me tell ya, after the experiences i’ve had in the shifting community, i stayed the (language) fuck away from that. yes sorry for the people who do the void state, yes cool if you do it if it works for you but for me i just hate doing methods.

it didnt make sense for me. i decided to listen to myself and found out more about neville goddard and edward art.

these two gentlemen made me open my eyes for the first time. this is what ive been missing. ive missed the whole point, everyone missed the whole point.

please study edward art’s works and his i am meditation.

anyways, the whole point is that you literally don’t have to lift a finger to have that desire you want. i’ve made some notes for myself when reading edward art:

“If you lived in a world where all things are possible, and you could create anything you want, would you choose to create a situation and then worry about it? No you would not. You only do because you are identifying yourself with your Outer-man! When I start to feel afraid, or worry, or feel pressure that causes me anxiety, I realize that I AM the INNER MAN CREATING that in the WORLD OF IMAGINATION.”

“I want you to stop worrying about HOW or WHEN it is going to happen and instead FEEL secure KNOWING this 3D world reflects what your INNER SELF HAS AND IS WITHIN.”

“In order to actually lose yourself in the imaginal act, one must accept it is real and let go entirely of the outer-world.”

“One must suspend rational thinking, and just accept it is real. They will free themselves that way in their mind.”

“You cannot be afraid anymore to feel and imagine what you want.”

“When I speak of feeling I do not mean emotion, but acceptance of the fact that desire is fulfilled.”

everything is all YOU. everything comes from YOU. YOU are the reason why things are like this. there’s legit no Universe telling you what you have to do. there isn’t anyone you have to follow to have what you want. no. that isn’t the point. the point is that you have been following yourself. everything has been you all along.

so basically about having that desire in imagination….. i know that you don’t have it physically in 3D but that does not matter. the thing you desire is the FEELING. please you must be very (excuse for my language) fucking stupid if you want it in the 3D.

imagine you already have your sp in the 3D, youve done the hard work and he’s/she’s yours now. great. you don’t feel anything, do you?

why do you want to be with your sp? ask yourself that.

im probably thinking that you want to be loved, yes?

bingo, that is the exact thing you desire. YOU desire to be loved. and guess what?

you are already loved. you legit don’t have to do anything to be loved. you are already loved. and i know, how tf am i loved when i’m single?

get that ‘single’ off your vocabulary. what’s important here that the 3D does not define you. put it inside your head. repeat that. remind yourself that.

the 3D is a reflection of your 4D. the 3D wouldn’t exist if the 4D never existed. the 3D lives off of the 4D (your imagination basically)

see? don’t tire yourself out by worrying about the 3D that you cannot change. it’s all in place, you cannot change it. the only way you can change it is by changing yourself.

no i do not want you to change your sp’s behaviour (remember eiypo) i want you to change your behaviour.

how?

well, how would you act and feel if you’re dating your sp?

would you still be worrying about the 3p? would you keep on checking his status if he’s online? would you be wondering if he loves you? would you be questioning on why he hasn’t came back?

all of that is useless! you’re basically still embodying as someone who’s desiring their sp. that is not what you want.

it is easy. you wouldn’t do all of those things. you already embody as someone who is in a happy relationship with your sp. you already know that you are loved. you never have to worry about them. you never feel stressed at all. you’re happy.

that is what’s important. you don’t have to be in the same state all the time btw, if you get reminded or get extremely anxious; just STOP FOR A SECOND.

don’t start affirming or start visualizing. don’t ask yourself if you’re doing it right. what is the point????? of asking that??????

instead, all you have to do is ‘know’ you already have them. leave it be. don’t meddle with it. trust that it has already happened. spoiler: it did ;)

don’t even think about the 3D, the 3D instantly changed because you changed. there is no such thing about waiting for the 3D to conform. there is no such thing about the 3D being your slave and has to obey you (let me tell ya i was confused when i saw those affirmations) the 3D and the 4D go by hand in hand. that’s the thing here.

so yeah.

i’ve read edward art’s works (plus other ppl) like few days ago so this is all the things i’ve learned. just in few days, how crazy is that lmao.

anyways, i hope you learned something from here, i also learned some new stuff while writing this.

bye 🫡

#law of assumption #neville goddard #sp #manifesting #manifestation #edward art #i hope it helped you ehehe

[sas-afras]

7 19 20 23 36 37 40 42 46 48 50, sorry it's so many but I really like these questions!

7. favorite companions? least favorite companions?

favorite: veronica, arcade (though he doesnt feel the same) least favorite: raul, cass, boone

19. what is their motive for taking vegas?

being able to live in luxury and safety.

20. do they have a theme song?

hatef--k by the bravery

23. do they speak any languages other than english?

nope! english was hard enough for them to relearn, theyre not gonna put in the effort to learn anything else unless its Really necessary. they knew a few simple signs from when they were still learning how to talk again, but they dont use them often enough and the memory quickly fades

36. why did you create them? 

yes started out as a joke in a discord server about fucking caesar in front of the praetorian guard, i think?? im not in the server anymore so i cant run back and grab screenshots, but their creation was fully a Fuck That Old Man To Pieces kind of thing

37. do they draw, paint, play any instruments?

yes draws from time to time, usually in a middle schooler anime style. this is their self portrait

40. in conversation, are they kind? gentle? sarcastic? rude? do they speak warmly and openly with people, or are they more guarded? do they talk a lot?

this is actually a difficult question to answer considering yes is my Speech Skill Bitch, lmaoooo

so yes is very much a social chameleon, hence their skills as a diplomat for house-- whatever the other person needs to see to get on yes' side, they'll become. more often than not that defaults to being an effusive, airheaded chatterbox thats just so easy to underestimate. you know the stereotype, i dont have to go into incredible detail lol

but when they dont have an agenda theyre after, yes prefers to listen to other people talk, and chooses their words more carefully. it's... difficult for them to identify their own emotions, so when the mask comes off they seem more guarded, more quiet. theyre... softer.

42. name a random fact about your courier.

has thalassophobia (fear of the ocean, or deep dark water)

46. how do they die? how is their death received, by the mojave and by their companions?

yes dies of dehydration while trapped in the sierra madre vault, and the only person who notices is house. he mourns them in his own way, using a backup of their brain scans to create an AI replica, but deletes it after a few months. the rest of the companions have already washed their hands of them, and most simply wake up one day and realize they havent heard anything about the courier on the radio in a long, long time

48. can they cook, and if so, what do they cook? what are their favorite & least favorite foods?

nope! they get too impatient and either undercook or scorch the fuck out of anything they try to make. to be completely fair, they didnt have both the equipment to actually Cook Things and the motor control to do so safely for long

50. what’s their happiest memory?

they have a few. ive mentioned that getting their glass eye from doc mitchell is high up there, but "family dinners" with the other workers at the atomic wrangler, their first night sleeping in the lucky 38, and regaining the ability to read are all incredibly cherished memories.

#courier yes #lore time lore time #not art

[dayurno]

okay so listen. about my taylor angst kandreil au. this isn't posted anywhere? i literally only write this for my friend and then we scream about each other's writing in our whatsapp chat. also, and that might be the more pressing issue, it's entirely in german cause, you know, i am german. i only started writing in english when i started writing smut cause ew, can't do that in german, but taylor came before that so. there's that. i am sorry, i would definitely let you read it!!

ALSO thank you SOSOSOSOSO much for those new years day snippets i am going to COMBUST????? this is. so them i wanna SCREAM AND DESTROY SOMETHING preferably myself

on reputation kandrew: i just wrote an entire thing about king of my heart kandrew cause

your love is a secret i'm hoping dreaming dying to keep???

the end of all the endings, my broken bones are mending???

i totally agree on your dress agenda, i have been listening to it nonstop these past few days and this is SO kandrew. may i offer you call it what you want kandrew as well? because:

my castle crumbled over night, i brought a knife to a gunfight, they took the crown but it's alright

loves me like i'm brand new

he built a fire just to keep me warm

all the jokers dressing up as kings, they fade to nothing when i look at him

OKAY this ask got way too long already, so i am stopping now, but i think you get what i mean. my kandrew brainrot is bad, and i adore it.

(one last thing.

my reputation's never been worse so you must like me for me)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, time to learn german i guess ........... even though i am fundamentally against european languages on every aspect. "dont you speak portuguese" yes, BRAZILIAN portuguese, do not compete where u cant compare!

REPUTATION IS SOOOOOOSOOOSOOOO KANDREW ESP PRE-CANON ive been playing with the idea of a pre-canon long fic for a while now and i was just thinking abt how much reputation would Fit. i feel like it has such a slow romantic pace and has all that tension of liking someone a Lot but not it just being a very chaotic moment all around............ call it what you want specifically imo is just. LIKE IT DESCRIBES KEVINS FALL FROM GRACE SO WELL.. my castle crumbled overnight / i brought a knife to a gun fight / they took the crown but its alright? AND LIKE. AND!!! and i dont know maybe i just got issues but i have a thing about kevin praising andrew. i feel like he is a person whos as quick to scold as he is to praise (seen in: everything he does with neil) but with andrew specifically, when kevin thinks hes done good, andrew will know bc kevin isnt shy about it! so when she says shit like "my baby's fit like a daydream" its like. I DONT KNOWWW HONESTLY but something just clicks in my brain at the thought of kevin feeling that way abt andrew

also i know i know i know..... I want to wear his initial / On a chain round my neck, chain round my neck is not the most healthy thing to say about a man but. i think something i hold dearest to me is the idea that under deals and promises, after all is said and done, what andrew most wants is that the people he puts so much effort into choose to stay with him Willingly u know? not because of coercion or fear or necessity but because they really want to stay w him. and i feel like, for kandrew specifically............... isnt that the biggest thing? kevin being his because he really really really wants to be, and not bc he needs to be. (nicki minaj voice) i got issues yeah bitch i got issues

anyway hehe ahem. my apologies for the just as wordy reply

#kandrew #asks #i could write an essay abt this i fear im insane

[rigelmejo]

sometimes it is a bit frustrating how purist some language learning forums can be about their learning method being best and unquestionable, unable to find resources from more. like, i get liking a study method that works for you, we all do! i do not get shooting down resources that can and already helped someone, just because they didn’t help you personally (or you don’t like using them particularly), so it makes it hard for another person to find those resources and discourages using them in the first place.

the post (featuring some interesting links) by Strong-Philosophy-46 : https://www.reddit.com/r/Refold/comments/n09cxk/i_think_shadowing_should_be_used_in_the_early/

from all what I've read, shadowing seems to improve phonemic awareness (the ability to hear phonemes), listening comprehension and even pitch accent in Japanese. Which all seem to be the whole point of doing an only input/no output period in the beginning.

I was on the Refold reddit again (used to be massiveimmersionapproach). And someone mentioned that shadowing may have benefits earlier on in language study - compared to Refold, which does do shadowing but not until you are basically passively able to comprehend most things to all overall things in a language (so 1-2 years into study at least). Refold insists it is efficient (I would argue while it certainly is, it amounts to srs flashcards to speed up memorization and lots of comprehensible input and ambiguous input which generally will help learners at any stage improve comprehension skills). And that its goal in mind is to learn effectively.

I sort of think, to a degree, some people who do Refold appreciate the fact there’s no encouraged output early on - either they don’t like talking, practicing with people, don’t feel comfortable writing grammar until they have a much more solid foundation compared to when textbooks make you from day 1 (that last reason’s a big reason I tend to put off output until I know more grammar). Now its great to do what you prefer! Because it will get you to KEEP studying, and that’s always more effective and efficient than what makes you give up/avoid the language. So in that sense yes avoiding output until later, if you desire, is probably the more effective choice to make. 

But at the same time? Refold encourages NOT doing output sooner, even if you feel the urge and even if some Refold studiers outputted sooner, the general consensus is ‘you will mess up accent, build bad habits, sacrifice your eventual output quality’ so people tend to discourage it. By earlier I mean like 5 months, in 10 months in - not day 1 of study. So if research happened to find, that shadowing at those earlier stages of 5 months etc actually Improves long term output skills? Then that’s great! It shows Refold’s tendency to discourage output until excellent passive comprehension fluency is achieved is unnecessary, and if you desire to output sooner (and it will motivate you, since what’s most effective is always what you’ll DO versus quit), then it would be great to know shadowing is something you can do sooner! And that it may even help your goals faster!

As I mentioned, Refold still eventually encourages shadowing after you’ve reached a high level of comprehension fluency - and at that point, you still have to do all the same shadowing techniques and work (you don’t get to skip steps, though the sounds might be more familiar). So ultimately Refold does use shadowing and already knows its helpful. I do wonder though if some people feel they need to justify their desire to not output earlier as ‘its better for my skills to Wait.” When like... in some ways that sounds to me just like perhaps a textbook/classroom learner who refuses to try to read target language novels for 2 years because they haven’t learned “the skills yet” and might misinterpret the grammar of what they read or reinforce fuzzy understanding - even though no matter how long its put off, immersion in target language content will eventually have to happen and be practiced. 

Like, the unwillingness to do shadowing earlier even if it proves to be more effective - especially if the arguement is “oh well despite proof i think it will be less effective” just rings to me like people trying to avoid what they dislike. And i think its fine to avoid what one dislikes, because for an individual it IS going to be more effective always than quitting. I just also think that Reason is good enough on its Own - there is no reason to belittle other learning approaches and strategies as less effective (especially if its proven they are more effective, but even just if someone finds them useful they’re effective to the person who will do them), when your reason of ‘i prefer not to yet’ is really good enough. Its good enough.

Just to emphasize, I’ve seen the exact opposite - traditional learners claiming ‘refold’ is ineffective and should be avoided and it ‘slows’ progress and is inefficient and a waste of time. I really do think those kinds of discouragements just keep learners who might learn or simply prefer to study DIFFERENT from you from finding wonderful ideas/materials/resources that may suit them much better, simply because a person would rather shoot down offering more resources rather than just say “well that’s useful to someone, but for me I hated doing it so I do it this way since it works better for me/I can stay motivated.” 

When I started studying chinese, I looked up lots of “how to read chinese” articles and forum posts. Since I wanted to read asap. I found some good advice. I also found a lot of angry posts. There were some people on chinese learner forums who insisted one must learn up to HSK 6 vocabulary (some were huge proponents of using anki, some hated anki - i relate to the can’t do flashcards crowd lol). And then even after that, start with graded readers, learn 3000+ hanzi before being able to tackle target language novels made for natives with a dictionary. Its pretty clear from what I describe, they probably had a personal preference for little ambiguity when engaging with chinese (too much incomprehensible input would cause them to want to quit/burn out and that’s perfectly understandable since most people generally don’t like tolerating under 95-98% comprehension). 

They were very opposite of the Refold method’s idea of immersing in content from day 1, so huge amount of ambiguity for many months. Well these people on this forum really insisted reading in chinese even with a dictionary was an insurmountable task without years of study. I obviously ended up not following their preference. But they didn’t talk about it like “oh I dislike ambiguity so I prefer to prepare this much to make the material tolerable to immerse with” they instead talked about it like “doing it any other way is hopeless and will result in needing to do this anyway.”

I ended up following the advice of people who wanted to learn like I like learning - I found examples of people who did it more like I would, knew they succeeded so I’d have some success, and copied them. There really are all kinds of methods for different people and needs/wants. I read an article of a guy who read some radical basics (me too), learned 2000 common words in memrise with a linked deck (I did it too it took 2 months, but I spread it out over 4 months of a month on then a break then another month on). Then they said they just started reading, with a dictionary, learning more words from there. I did that too - it worked for me too. I also knew from prior japanese study I needed hanzi learning help so i read a reference for maybe 500 hanzi during those months. I knew from french prior study I did better reading a grammar summary ahead of reading, so I did that too (before the common words, it took 2 weeks). I did NOT end up having to wait for years, to learn up to HSK 6, to start reading with a dictionary (my initial goal). It took about 8-10 months for the grammar to click enough that vocab lookup became the only issue, and one month burst studying about 500 more hanzi in a Hanzi Mnemonic Anki deck to quickly learn some hanzi I was running into in reading and just wanted to remember easier. So about a year in, I could move to just reading for enjoyment and looking up words with a dictionary without new hanzi frustrating me (learning them the same as words now just looking them up) and without grammar confusing me. So that base goal, that some people’s experiences learning up to HSK 6 I read - they could not even tackle some graded readers by HSK 6. 

I think part of what held back their progress there was just... not wanting to immerse and insisting it would be ‘too hard’ to try sooner. While its fine if it kept them studying, for people like me who need to engage right away? It could’ve been discouraging and caused some people to feel less motivated if they happened to be setting up such expectations. I still don’t know a lot of HSK 6 words, and about 2/3 maybe of HSK 5 words? After HSK 4 the common 2000 words I studied didn’t match up as much to HSK, and also I started picking up words mainly in my reading and shows so now what words I know is much more related to the genres I engage with.  I’ve read some stats that The Little Prince has a low unique word count but about 50% of the words aren’t in HSK - so if you learned only from HSK without outside sources, its still not necessarily 98% comprehensible. Whatever smattering I learned from must have shared more words than 50% (though not 98% either I don’t think - not quite that easy). 

My point is just like... yeah I am aware the lack of listening i did in french held me back, the lack of shadowing/producing in chinese is now my weaker area. I know i avoid them more because i’m less interested and mainly just would not be as motivated to write a journal/talk regularly right now as i am in other things. But i also think if people learn differently? Things may work better for them, we all have different preferences. Anything useful, that might get someone To study, I think is worthwhile to share. 

#article #april #refold #mia #yeah i ran into some wild takes on chinese language learner forms #massive immersion approach is usually pretty chill because its flexible #but certain things i think relate to a lot of ppl who do it not liking the output skill work as much #which like. its fine. but also there's other studiers out there who love output and its how they get so good! #like people who choose to speak only in the language when they start learning - ive seen people do that for korean and chinese #and it worked well for them though id n #Neverrrrr wnat to do it personally #but them sharing what they did could help someone who learns/appreciates those activitities the same way a

[liriostigre]

hey! I wanted to ask what your favorite poetry books are? I have a few but I want to read new and interesting stuff, and I trust your taste :D

hiii ♡

tbh i only started reading poetry collections like,, last year. i'm subscribed to poetryfoundation's newsletter (poem of the day) so i usually just read random poems

anyway, i'm not sure my recs could be considered new (cause i'm gonna start with Mary Oliver ♡) but feel free to message me if you want to know the themes, style, feeling (vibes, if you will) or anything you want to know about these collections. for now, i'm linking my favorite poems in each collection, i hope this helps you choose! ♡

here you go:

Dream Work —Mary Oliver (“Wild Geese.” “Dogfish.”)

Red Bird —Mary Oliver (“Summer Morning.” “Love Sorrow.”)

Blue Horses —Mary Oliver (“To Be Human Is to Sing Your Own Song.” “Loneliness.” “Little Crazy Love Song.”)

The Wild Iris —Louise Glück (“Sunset.” “Retreating Light.”)

Haruko/Love Poems —June Jordan (“On a New Year’s Eve.” “Mendocino Memory.” “Toward a City That Sings.” *under the cut)

Extracting the Stone of Madness —Alejandra Pizarnik (“Primitive Eyes.” “Summer Goodbyes.” *under the cut)

Ariel —Sylvia Plath (“Tulips.” “The Rival.”)

Prelude to Bruise —Saeed Jones (“Postapocalyptic Heartbeat.” *under the cut)

Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth —Alice Walker (“Coming Back from Seeing Your People.” *under the cut)

I Must Be Living Twice —Eileen Myles (“Edward the Confessor.” *under the cut)

Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth —Warsan Shire (“Conversations About Home (at the Deportation Centre.”)

The Black Unicorn —Audre Lorde (“Hanging Fire.” “Sister Outsider.”)

Bright Dead Things —Ada Limón (“The Riveter.” “Glow.”)

Night Sky With Exit Wounds —Ocean Vuong (“Thanksgiving 2006.” “Logophobia.”)

Postcolonial Love Poem —Natalie Diaz (“Manhattan Is a Lenape Word.”)

Crush —Richard Siken (“Litany in Which Certain Things Are Crossed Out.”)

Once —Alice Walker (“So We've Come at Last to Freud.”)

“Toward a City That Sings” by June Jordan

Into the topaz the crystalline signals of Manhattan the nightplane lowers my body scintillate with longing to lie positive beside the electric waters of your flesh and I will never tell you the meaning of this poem: Just say, ‘She wrote it and I recognize the reference.’ Please let it go at that. Although it is all the willingness you lend the world as when you picked it up the garbage scattering the cool formalities of Madison Avenue after midnight (where we walked for miles as though we knew the woods well enough to ignore the darkness) although it is all the willingness you lend the world that makes me want to clean up everything in sight (myself included)

for your possible discovery

“Primitive Eyes” by Alejandra Pizarnik

Where fear neither speaks in stories or poems, nor gives shape to terrors or triumphs.

My name, my pronoun — a grey void.

I’m familiar with the full range of fear. I know what it’s like to start singing and to set off slowly through the narrow mountain pass that leads back to the stranger in me, to my own emigrant.

I write to ward off fear and the clawing wind that lodges in my throat.

And in the morning, when you are afraid of finding yourself dead (of there being no more images): the silence of compression, the silence of existence itself. This is how the years fly by. This is how we lost that beautiful animal happiness.

“Summer Goodbyes” by Alejandra Pizarnik

The soft rumor of spreading weeds. The sound of things ruined by the wind. They come to me as if I were the heart of all that exists. I would like to be dead, and also to go inside another heart.

“Postapocalyptic Heartbeat” by Saeed Jones

I. Drugged, I dreamed you a plume of ash, great rush of wrecked air through the towns of my stupor. And when the ocean in your blood went toxic, I thought fire was what we needed: serrated light through the skin, grenade in the chest—pulled linchpin. I saw us breathing on the other side of after. But a blackout is not night; orange-bottled dreams are not sleep. II. I was a cross-legged boy in the third lifetime, empire of blocks in my lap while you walked through the door of your silence, hunting knife in one hand, flask in the other. I waited for you until I forgot to breathe, my want turning me colors only tongues of amaryllis could answer for. It owned me, that hunger, tendriled its way into my name for you. III. In a city made of rain each door, a silence; each lock, a mouth, I walked daily through the spit-slick streets, harbingers on my hands in henna: there will be no after Black-and-blue-garbed strangers, they called me Cassandra. (I had such a body then.) Umbrellas in hand, they listened while they unlistened. there will be no no. after

the world will end no.

you are the reason it no. ends

you no. IV. I didn’t exactly mean to survive myself. Half this life I’ve spent falling out of fourth-story windows. Pigeons for hair, wind for feet. Sometimes I sing “Stormy Weather” on the way down. Today, “Strange Fruit.” Each time, strangers find me drawing my own chalk outline on the sidewalk, cursing with a mouth full of iron, furious at my pulse. V. After ruin, after shards of glass like misplaced stars, after dredge, after the black bite of frost:        you are the after, you are the first hour in a life without clocks; the name of whatever falls from the clouds now is you (it is not rain), a song in a dead language, an unlit earth, a coast broken— how was I to know every word was your name?

“Coming Back from Seeing Your People” by Alice Walker

Coming back From seeing your people You were So wonderfully Full Of yourself.

But now You have supped With vampires They have fed Feasted On you.

They arise Bright-eyed Fit.

You alone have lost Not only Your sleep But also Your glow The luster of Affection Heart welcome Your people Sent home With you.

Beloved You must learn To walk alone To hold The precious Silence To bring home And keep the precious Little That is left Of yourself.

“Edward the Confessor” by Eileen Myles

I have a confession to make I wish there were some role in society I could fulfill I could be a confessor I have a confession to make I have this way when I step into the bakery on 2nd Ave. of wanting to be the only really nice person in the store so the harried sales woman with several toned hair will like me. I do this in all kinds of stores, coffee shops xerox shops, everywhere I go. And invariably I leave my keys, xeroxing, my coffee from the last place I am being so nice. I try so hard to make a great impression on these neutral strangers right down to the perfect warm smile I get entirely lost and stagger back out onto the street, bereft of something major. It’s really leaning too hard on the everyday. My mother was the kind of woman who dragging us into stores always seemed to charm the pants off the cashier. She was such a great person, so human though at home she was such a bitch, I mean really distant. I imitate her and I don’t do it well. She didn’t leave her wallet or us in a store. I’m just a pale imitation it is simply not my style to open the hearts of strangers to my true personhood. I hope you accept this tiny confession of what I am currently going through. And if you are experiencing something of a similar nature tell someone, not me, but tell someone. It’s the new human program to be in. It would be nice for at least these final moments if we could sigh with the relief of being in the same program with all the other humans whispering in school. I can’t quite locate the terror, but I am trying to be my mother or Edward the Confessor smiling down on you with up-praying hands. I am looking down at the tips of my boots as I step across the balcony of the church excited to be allowed to say these things. Outside my church is a relationship. On 11th street this guy and this woman are selling the woman so they can get more dope. All their things are there, rags and loaves of bread and make-up. And there was— this was incredible. Two men lying by the door of the church giving each other blow-jobs. They were sort of street guys, one black one white. I said hey you can’t do that here. They jumped up, one spit come out of his mouth. If you don’t get out of here I’ll call the cops. Don’t call the cops we’ll go, we’ll leave. That was a shock. That was more than I expected to see in a day. Something about seeing the guy spit come out of his mouth. He didn’t have to do that. I guess I scared him. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was scared too.

#btw!!!! i'm sorry!!! SO SORRY it took me weeks to reply 🤕 #hope you're having good days <3 #💌

[ice-emperor-zane]

3. 11. 14. 23. 24. 28. 30. 37. 38. 44. 46. 47. 48. 53.

*virtually boops* feel free to choose your favs!:D (since,, yk, that’s a Lot of asks- 😂💛)

ty! ok but have you considered that idk how to make a decision so im gonna do them all 🤪🥺

3. Do you drink the milk out of the bowl after the cereal is gone?

Definitely lmao, especially if its like coco pops or something like that, free choccy milk

11. Ever broken a bone?

yeah a couple times! Ive actually broken bones more than once at my old school and became known as the mf who can and will find any safety hazard, the first time was when i was first looking round the school before i’d even started there, at least i made an intresting first impression 😌

14. Do you send 1 long text or separate your thoughts into single texts?

I used to always send one big text and i probably prefered that but then people started replying like ‘im not reading all that it looks like an essay’ so im tryna do many small texts more

23. Are you on other Social Media? If yes, which is your favourite?

Tumblr only babeyyy!!! Sure i have others like instagram/twitter/discord n all but this is the only one i really actually use 😳

28. What was the last thing you Googled?

‘meme where what if there was two guys on the moon and one killed the other with a rock would that be fucked up or what’ for funny image purposes

30. Last song you listened to?

currently listening to lord its a feeling by london grammar cuz my dads put on speaker lol

37. How would you describe your sense of humour?

personally I think its poggers but everyone irl says that i dont seem to have a sense of humour so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

38. Do you collect anything?

Not intentionally but yknow those little plastic rings kids have, ive got so many and Where Are They Coming From?

44. What are the top 5 tags in your Blog?

they’re all ninjago related lol, surprising that Jays at the top tho

46. Coffee or tea?

Both, i probably prefer the taste of tea but i also have a caffeine addiction and coffee has more of it so like 🤪

47. Do you like Amusement Park rides?

i think so? Idk its been years since ive been on one tbh, and last time i went to a theme park they hadnt cleaned up some puke from the person before me that was on my seat, so that was a little gross, at least it was a good indication that the ride was an exiting one?

48. What is your used most emoji?

😳 rn, but it always swaps between that and 🤪🥺😌👍

53. How many languages do you speak?

Just English and like the tiniest bit of spanish n french from school, been trying to learn japanese too from duolingo (not for weeb reasons i promise), funny u mention it cuz it was today that i had an 87 days duolingo streak die 🤪

So, once again ty!!

[luimagines]

(Verisimilitude- OKAY thats just redundant let's shorten it to Veri Anon) Honestly I was just super impressed with the fact you even have a schedule up for this and stuff, you're an amazing writer haha! I love the way you make characters seem... Human? Like I said before they sound modern but that also brings up the benefit of easily humanising them, I've never seen someone do it so effectively haha (ESPECIALLY FOUR HOLY SCHMOLY IVE BECOME A HUGE FOUR SIMP HELP HELP) I am super sorry if that English comment upset you in any way though!! I personally really enjoy the language but I'm sorry if you've encountered any bad feelings related to it... If you'd like to speak on it that's okay!! You should be given a space to bring out the feels!! Remember to stay hydrated too !

I just made a bunch of prompts in one day and managed to get a week ahead at first and ... didn't stop for a while.

So I'm pretty ahead now!

And thank you! It's not always easy to make a character relatable, or someone you might meet in real life, but I've been trying my best.

And as for the English comment I was never upset with you, don't take it that.

Like I said there's a story there, so I'll put it under the cut for one else who wants to read it. Truthfully I hadn't thought about it in years so when I read your comment I was thrown back nearly a decade.

I was in a bit of funk for the next few hours.

SO

Story Time.

Ok so context..

I've been bilingual my whole life.

My father is American while my mom is Costa Rican.

She moved up here with him and things happened and she got stuck while my dad moved away back to Costa Rica. He's not in the picture nor is he important to the story.

For a little more context, I don't look my mom. I'm white. My brother and I take after our father, unfortunately.

But anyway, my mother side of the family only speaks Spanish.

So, when we finally get to see them for the first time in ten years. The first time I'm meeting them when I'll be able to remember them and the first time they're meeting my brother in person and vice versa. My brother does not speak Spanish but we've been working on it.

And while we were visiting, apparently some guy who my grandma and aunt loved to have around visited almost everyday.

But my mom doesn't know this guy and neither do we, but since we're just staying there for a while it's like, whatever right? It's their house and we don't have a lot of time here to begin with so we'll bare with it.

He was annoying.

But again, it's whatever right?

Now, one day, my aunt wants to give me highlights in my hair. She was a stylist before she retired and I was wiling because, why not?

They looked great by the way when we were done.

But I'm sitting by the kitchen table while my aunt gets to work and gets everything ready and in comes the guy.

He gets into a conversation with my mom.

Apparently he's traveled around the world or something like that (I don't remember what for or if he just could, he apparently knows like seven languages).

Anyway, I don't know exactly what he was thinking but he starts complaining about the US and Americans in general and who we're all this, that and the other thing. And I guess he went off because he knew we came from the States? Like oh this woman would know what I'm talking about and since we're both Costa Ricans she'll agree or something?

My mom did not agree.

He says he visited.

My mom tells him she's been living there for sixteen years at this point.

And the people here are not what he's describing.

She says she's sorry if he's had a bad experience in the short time he was there but he's still wrong. It's not everyone.

They got back and forth for a bit and my mom is trying to be as respectful as she can because again, she doesn't know him and this is her mother's house and her mother likes him. Gotta play it cool. We're not there to make enemies.

Now, I'm right there.

Like three or four feet away. Barely over a meter of distance away.

It's a small house.

And he's not being really quiet either.

I'm not exactly hidden away either. He even makes eye contact with me a few times, because I'm not trying to hide the fact that I'm listening in.

And I'm already hurt a bit, because I know I'm included in every "every American' generalization he's made.

This guy gets the memo that my mom isn't going to agree any time soon.

So he somewhat changes the topic.

And instead starts talking about the language instead of the people.

English is dull.

English is boring.

English is too simple.

Every word is one syllable.

English, because of this lack of complexity, is barbaric and stupid.

It's a stupid language.

Compared to Greek, French, German, Spanish- why the hell would you choose to speak English?

He's not talking to me though.

He's talking to my mom.

To my mom's credit, she defends what she can and doesn't back down from this guy.

She may not know him, but she's definitely not scared of him.

I bet she speaks better English than him anyway. But-

I'm right there.

I'm twelve years old.

It's not like I chose to be American or that I chose to speak English as my first language.

I'm listening to all of this.

Because I'm getting my hair done only a meter away. I can't move.

I don't remember everything that he said word for word, but I felt horrible.

I remember I had tears run down my face but I was quite and I didn't move so I don't think anyone really noticed.

My aunt is there too, doing my hair, but she also likes this guy and she's only ever visited the states and she doesn't speak English. She has no way to refute his claims.

And what could I say?

What's going to get this grown man to stop?

That day, I guess my mom scared him with how much she wasn't believing him and how much she questioned everything he was saying. Because it was more than just that but I was gone by then.

They talked for a long time.

Debated is a better word than talked I guess.

Whatever the case, he didn't visit everyday after that.

My mom and I felt better after that.

We move on and that's that.

I don't think he knew I could understand him

I suppose he took one look at me and thought I only spoke English- he wouldn't be the first person from there to make that assumption.

Which is fair. I'm white. I don't look my mom. I look like I'm not from there. I look American.

But I could and I did.

I suppose it was something I internalized.

Because English is simple.

It's supposed to be a spoken language.

It only gets complicated when you have to put in paper. Reading and writing it is hard and there are some words that I know I'm never going to spell right on the first try even if I lived for ten thousand years.

I never it considered it beautiful and even less from others who have it as a second or third or forth language. Only that it... just.... exists. And they more less have to learn it with how the system works. Whether it be racism or capitalism or any other isms that have put this on them.

Because why would they do so willingly?

I don't know if I would have considered it to be anything else if you never said anything.

So I wanted to thank you.

Thank you.

#pinky replies #pinky speaks #Another thing that bugs be is how American are always the but of the joke #and I get it #We're not the more intellectual people #we're not that smart #I'm a victim to it as well #I'll laugh along #because it's deserved and I know that's how it is #I don't offended easily either #so like yeah #that's us #we're dumb #wow we're so dumb #But what I see more often than not is when we try to poke back for little things #we're suddenly attacked with things that actually hurt #why can't we get it on the fun? #why is it only funny when it's at our expense? #why do we have to put up with it but others (usually Europeans) get to say something and we lose anywyay #I don't get it #but I'll laugh along #and smile and bare it #because I'm American #I'm not that smart #What would I know? #But don't my inbox telling me anything else #I know #Just venting #this probably shouldn't be on *this* blog #but oh well

[harry-leroy]

OK. I've got to ask--Henry VI? I think you're the first person I've met who claims those as their favorite Shakespeare. I'll admit that I've read and seen a fair bit of Shakespeare, but I'm not familiar with them at all. What's the appeal? Why do you love them? Sell them to me. ;)

Oh boy, here we go :))))) (Thank you for giving me permission to scream - I also think I’m the only person I’ve ever met who has those as their favorite Shakespeare plays). Also, as we’ve talked opera - I think these plays could make a great Wagnerian style opera cycle. 

First off, little disclaimer: I’m not a medievalist, so I can’t say that I’ve definitely got the best interpretation of the Wars of the Roses and the history that the H6 cycle covers. I know I do not - so you may read these plays and have totally different interpretations, and that’s great! This will kind of be how I came to love the plays and why they were (and still are) exciting for me to read. 

I will admit, these plays are a bit of a minefield (as my Shakespeare professor said during a lecture on the histories and I don’t think I’ll ever forget that descriptor). Some of these scenes are not as well written, and many of them are almost irrelevant to telling a tight-knit story, so things get cut. Sometimes 1H6 is just cut entirely from productions, and I might venture to say that it is probably the least performed Shakespeare play. We get lines like “O, were mine eyeballs into bullets turn’d, / That I in a rage might shoot them at your faces” (1H6.4.4.79-80), which I might say is nearly on par with “a little touch of Harry in the night” from Henry V. But despite the unevenness, there is so much from these plays that are meaningful, heartbreaking, and that continue to fascinate me. There’s so much about power and leadership that we can learn from these plays - and perhaps that’s why I took an interest in 1990s British politics because there are actually some very interesting similarities happening - but also a lot we can learn about empathy, hope, and love. 

These plays have a lot of fascinating key players - it would honestly be a privilege to play any of them - and most (if not all) of these key players have some claim to power, just in the family lines they were born into. And this conflict is one that’s been building up since Richard II. With the Wars of the Roses we have a man who is unwilling, and sometimes unable to lead because of various circumstances, some of which having to do with his mental health, which was generally poor, and some of which have to do with the various times he was dethroned, captured, etc. - and I say unable for lack of a better word. Essentially, politics in these plays are caving in, and at a very rapid pace. There’s a hole at the center of government and people are ambitious to fill it. We also have a lot of people who could potentially fill that role, people who on principle, have a lot of political enemies. The nobles in these plays are having to assure that they themselves are in power or that their ally is in power, otherwise it is their livelihood at stake. 

We have Henry VI, who was made king at nine months old after the untimely death of his father, the famous Henry V, and basically has people swarming him since birth claiming that they’re working in his best interest. He’s a bit of a self-preservationist to start, but by the end we see a man completely transformed by the horrors of war and ruthless politics. I also think he might be the only Shakespeare character who gets his entire life played out on stage. We see him at every stage of his life, which makes his descent all the more bitter. (One cannot help but see the broken man he is at forty-nine and be forced to remember the spritely, kind boy he was at ten). He’s a man who clings closely to God in an environment where God seems to be absent. He desires peace, if nothing else, and he wants to achieve this by talking things through. He’s an excellent orator (one only needs to look at the “Ay Margaret; my heart is drown’d with grief” monologue from 2H6, but there are countless other examples), but there’s a point where even he realizes that his talking will achieve nothing, and his alternative is heartbreaking. 

We have his wife, Queen Margaret, otherwise known as Margaret of Anjou, or the “she-wolf of France”. I advertise her as “if you like Lady Macbeth, you’ll love Margaret of Anjou”. Sometimes Shakespeare can portray her as wanting power for herself, but I genuinely think she wanted a good life for her husband and her child, otherwise the alternative is begging at her uncle’s feet for protection in France (her uncle was Charles VII of France) while separated from her husband, having her or a member of her immediate family be killed, or worse. I think it’s important to remember with Margaret that historically she came from a family where women took power if their husbands were unable to. Her assumption of power in these plays is something that’s natural to her, even if it’s not reflected very well in Shakespeare’s language. You also see some fantastically thrilling monologues from Margaret as well, especially her molehill speech (one of two molehill speeches in 3H6, totally different in nature - the other one is from a heartbroken and forlorn Henry after the Battle of Towton) - Margaret’s monologue has got the energy of a hungry cat holding a mouse by the tail. 

Also Henry and Margaret have a fascinating relationship. Because they’re so different in how they resolve conflicts, they grow somewhat disenchanted with each other at times, and can actually be mean to one another, despite their love. My favorite scene might be at the start of 3H6, where Margaret has come in with their seven year old son, Edward, and starts berating Henry for giving the line of succession to the Yorkists. What strikes me there is that we have a little boy having to choose between staying with his mom, or going with his dad - it’s something very domestic, and I think the emotional accessibility of that scene is what makes it memorable. It’s not about politics for me at that moment, it’s about a boy having to choose between his very estranged parents. Here’s a little taste from 1.1. in 3H6 - lines 255-261: 

QUEEN MARGARET: Come son, let’s away. / Our army is ready; come, we’ll after them. 

KING HENRY: Stay, gentle Margaret, and hear me speak. 

QUEEN MARGARET: Thou hast spoke too much already. Get thee gone. 

KING HENRY: Gentle son Edward, thou wilt stay with me? 

QUEEN MARGARET: Ay, to be murdered by his enemies. 

We also have Richard, Duke of York, who is Henry’s cousin and leader of the Yorkist faction. If you’re at all familiar with 1990s British politics, as I have grown close to over the past month, York reminds me very much of Michael Heseltine (filthy rich and constantly vying for power) - and I would love to stage some kind of modern H6 cycle production just so I could make that connection. York’s father is one of the three traitors executed by Henry V at the start of H5, leaving him an orphan at four years old (historically). He is also Aumerle’s (from R2) nephew, and so when Aumerle dies at the Battle of Agincourt, little four year old Richard inherits both his father’s money and titles, and his uncle’s money and titles, making him the second richest nobleman in England behind the King. All this information is historical and doesn’t really show up in the play, but I think that kind of background would give a man some entitlement. He’s also next in line for the throne if something were to happen to Henry (until Henry has a son), so he feels it is his duty as heir to the throne to protect Henry (or in better words, he feels that he should be running the show) - Margaret feels that it is her duty to protect Henry as she is his wife and mother of Edward of Westminster, the Lancastrian heir, and so you can see where these two are going to disagree. 

More fascinating are York’s sons, Edward, George, and Richard. Edward is this (for lack of better words) “hip” eighteen year old who comes and shreds things up at the Battle of Towton - becoming Edward IV in the process and chasing Henry off the throne. He is incredibly problematic, but I might venture to say that he’s the least problematic of the trio of York brothers. George of Clarence is (also for lack of better words) “a hot mess” and feels entitled to power, even though he may not readily give his motivations for it. I think he just wants it, and so he actually ends up switching sides mid-3H6 because he would actually be in a better position in government with those new allies. And finally, we have Richard of Gloucester (future Richard III), and in 3H6, you just get to see him sparkle. It puzzles me a bit how people can just jump into Richard III without getting any of the lead up that Shakespeare gave in the H6 cycle, and I think 3H6 is the perfect play to see that. I think it clears up a lot of his motivation, which Shakespeare didn’t get perfectly either, because there are some ableist things going on with these plays. He’s just as bloodthirsty, just as cynical, but in this play, he wins out the day. 

These are just a few of the main characters. We’ve also got Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (known to history as “The Kingmaker”), who is this incredibly powerful nobleman who is wicked skilled in battle and seems to have a lot of luck in that area (until he doesn’t). We’ve got Clifford, who is just as bloodthirsty as Richard III (if not more so). We’ve also got Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester - Henry’s uncle and quite unpopular with his fellow noblemen, and Eleanor Cobham, his wife who gets caught in the act of witchcraft. (Talk to my lovely friend @nuingiliath if you want to hear about Humphrey or Eleanor). Joan of Arc also makes an appearance in 1H6, and often she’s the only reason that 1H6 gets performed. 

There are so many ways to latch onto this cycle, and it can be for the huge arcs that these characters go on, or it can be for the very small reasons, like in the first scene of 3H6, like I mentioned earlier. It’s very much akin to Titus Andronicus in the language (I did a bit of research a while ago about the use of animal-focused language in Shakespeare’s plays, and the H6 cycle and Titus Andronicus lead the charts just in terms of frequency of people being referred to metaphorically as animals- they’re also chronological neighbors, all written very early in Shakespeare’s career). Also, these plays held a huge amount of weight at the time they were written - the effects of the Wars of the Roses were still pressing over the political climate of the 1590s. 

I think these plays are great to read just in being able to contextualize the histories as a whole - you get to know how things fared after Henry V (spoiler: not well), and you also get the lead up to Richard III. The ghosts in Richard’s dream make sense after reading the H6 cycle - because those ghosts lived in the H6 cycle, and (spoiler: Richard wronged them in the H6 cycle). They were also the first of Shakespeare’s history plays, so you read subsequent histories plays that make subtle references to the H6 cycle, and I think you can take so much more out of the rest of the histories plays once you’ve read these. 

I hope this was a little informative, and perhaps persuaded you to check them out! 

Productions I recommend (you can click on the bold titles and it’ll take you to where you can access these productions): 

Shakespeare’s Globe at Barnet (2013) // Graham Butler (Henry VI), Mary Doherty (Margaret of Anjou), Brendan O’Hea (Richard, Duke of York), Simon Harrison (Richard of Gloucester) - filmed at Barnet, location of the Battle of Barnet, where Warwick was killed in 1471. 

ESC Production (1990) // Paul Brennen (Henry VI), June Watson (Margaret of Anjou), Barry Stanton (Richard, Duke of York), Andrew Jarvis (Richard of Gloucester) - a more modern production, one cast put together all seven major Plantagenet history plays (1H6 and 2H6 are combined into one play - a normal practice). Sometimes this footage can be a bit fuzzy, but I loved this production. 

The Hollow Crown Season 2 // Tom Sturridge (Henry VI), Sophie Okonedo (Margaret of Anjou), Adrian Dunbar (Richard, Duke of York), Benedict Cumberbatch (Richard of Gloucester) - done in a film-like style, also with some pretty big name actors as you can see. Season 1 stars Ben Whishaw as Richard II, Jeremy Irons as Henry IV, Simon Russell Beale as Falstaff, and Tom Hiddleston as Hal/Henry V. (also available on iTunes) 

RSC Wars of the Roses (1965) // David Warner (Henry VI), Peggy Ashcroft (Margaret of Anjou), Donald Sinden (Richard, Duke of York), Ian Holm (Richard of Gloucester) - black and white film, done in parts on YouTube. 

BBC Henry VI Plays (1983) // Peter Benson (Henry VI), Julia Foster (Margaret of Anjou), Bernard Hill (Richard, Duke of York), Ron Cook (Richard of Gloucester) - features my favorite filmed performance of Edward IV (played by Brian Protheroe), and my favorite filmed performance of Warwick (played by Mark Wing-Davey). 

Also if you ever get to see Rosa Joshi’s production of an all female H6 cycle... *like every time I see photos my immediate reaction is *heart eyes* I haven’t seen it yet, but my amazing friend and fellow Shakespearean @princess-of-france has - I’m sure she’d love to talk more about it sometime! I’ll leave a picture I found on the internet... 

Also tagging @suits-of-woe because we could cry about these plays all day. 

#thank you for this! #i'm not putting it under a cut because my tumblr has been weird with that function lately #so instead i will tag it #long post #henry vi #h6 cycle #shakespeare #shakespeare's histories #the histories #1H6 #2H6 #3H6 #also friends add on! #we have a neat little histories fandom on here #add the reasons h6 is a lovely thing and should be advertised more #i'd love to hear your thoughts #this is very general #i love the character of henry vi in particular #but all of them are fascinating #also there's a point in 2H6 where henry is so overcome with shock and grief that he just faints #like same but poor bby #that's my favorite moment in the whole cycle actually #there's some switch that goes off in him after that #i just love these plays ahhh #theatre #shakespeare discussion #the wars of the roses #vera-dauriac

[donaeis]

simmer - get to know

by @cupcakegnome​

i was tagged by the amazing @whyhellosims​ and couldn’t pass up on this awesome opportunity to allow yall to get to know me a bit better! 💖

your name: I went on discord a few years ago for some sims help and just named my account Figaro after my favorite horse without really thinking about it... then I actually got hooked on discord and my friends started calling me Fig, so... fig it is! here’s the real fig, though, for those who are interested:

hes more amazing than i could ever dream to be.

languages you speak: dutch, english, german (i'm gonna go as far as to say dutch and german are mutually intelligible, and tho this gives a bit less of an incentive to actually learn german when germans will understand ur dutch just fine, it also makes learning german significantly easier). I tried to learn greek but even after years and years i just couldnt get past the alphabet LOL. the only greek I know are the bits and pieces I learned from my time spent there, but id have 0 idea how to actually spell that stuff out.

are you a mermaid: if only!! i do feel a very strong connection to water, though—my dad built his own sailing boat and traveled the world with it, and during his travels me and my sis been visiting a lot, living on his boat with him while we did

your play style: so, so story-driven... even when I tell myself I just wanna play the game without a story for once I end up with one by the end of my play session anyway.

your selfsim picture:

stories or gameplay, builds, lookbooks, edits or cc: I do stories most of all, but also like regular gameplay, my stories will for a very large part be game-driven, and from time to time ill post some builds. ive done a lookbook too. basically the only thing that wont have too much of a focus on my blog, despite my using it, is cc

your favorite age state: YA

your favorite season: winter

your favorite holiday: talk like a pirate day!

how was your day: actually absolutely terrible LOL. hungover, lost my temper on both a customer as well as a coworker... at least i got through it. 😂

your favorite career: admittedly, I rarely actually play careers cause my sims are way too busy or too dumb to actually be able to go there. if I had to choose any, though... I might actually go with the military

your favorite aspiration: the one that the most of my sims have completed is Friend of the World, cause I like for my sims to be sociable so it doesnt take too much effort to complete it anyway, and the reward of relationships never decaying is great

your favorite EP, SP or GP: vampires will always hold a special place in my heart, but I also absolutely love strangerville! if I had to choose any one favorite, id go with that one.

how old is your simblr: I posted some stuff in march last year but havent been active since, like, november? december? something like that

have you woohooed: yes

your favorite skill: charisma, cause theyll develop it automatically as I play

the size of your mods folder: 2.77 GB

your 3 favorite mods: mc command center, npc control, and personality please (links) are the three mods i absolutely couldn’t play without

your interests (other than sims): writing, dancing, creating (i love things like character creation), horse riding & anything involving animals, really.

your favorite sim (picture if possible): this is actually incredibly difficult for me cause im not sure i have 1 favorite. a lot of sims of mine will always hold a special place in my heart. my favorite sim to play fluctuates a lot... but god, if i had to choose any favorite sim whom i really completely made through sims and who was not a non-sims character already precious to me turned into a sims character.... itd probably be tika. hes an asshole but man, do i just love him and especially his story.

which Sims games you have played (including mobile games): the sims 1, 2 and 4

propose a crazy scheme: the sims community actually coming up with some GOOD sims 4 qualities for once 

best part of simblr: the amazing people I got to meet on here!

worst part of simblr: hmm... though i feel its much much less toxic than places like youtube or even the official forums, there is still some negativity here sometimes

what other games you play: im kind of a noob with other games, honestly. I used to play a whooole bunch of horse-related games (am a total horse girl), and I played the battle for middle earth (also looove me some LOTR). used to go to my childhood best friend's house to steal her brother's xbox and play gta iv on it, and I bought gta v for myself but sadly, I suck too bad at games to actually progress any with it

other websites or accounts (origin, twitter etc..): im on wordpress (here). i also mod a sims-based, lgbtq+ discord server called simsclub 

are you single: very happily so, yes.

im tagging @wesunnysimmer​, @nyteroseshadowthorn​, @amuhav​, @chaosxsims​, @silverspringsimmer​, @polishsimmersblog​ and well, uh... basically anyone that wants to do this! feel absolutely free to ignore this if you dont want to. 

#simmer - get to know #non-sims but also not really

[tellywoodtrash]

Sanjivani - Weeks 7 + 8

Overall Plot

Sid and Ishani are about 10 minutes away from hardcore Love. And literally every single person knows and is rooting for it (including the security guards at Sanjivani/Ishani’s apartment complex!!!!!), except the two idiots themselves. Shashank is still dealing with the fallout of the thing with Juhi and the admin issues stemming from their unresolved issues, but small mercies, his relationship with Anjali seems to be looking up. Nurse Philo's daughter Jessica has been admitted mere days before her wedding and found to have a terminal illness and it's heartbreaking as fuck.

The Medical Stuff

Lol, does Ishani's "sickness" count? She's pretty convinced that she's dying of something serious, the way she was charting her symptoms and kept getting diagnostic test after diagnostic test, so I think it should. Glad she's finally gotten a diagnosis and the prognosis looks promising! Other than that, Nandini got operated on successfully by the Shashank-Juhi team, and the only active case we have is Jessica's Stage IV cancer. But I think that's going to focus more on the emotional side of things (getting her the dream wedding she wants), since it's at such an advanced stage that it wouldn't respond to treatment anyway.

The Acting

Thank the lord above, they have started giving Surbhi comedy to do, which is where she really shines as an actor. Namit is most excellent at heart eyes, and his crying has improved from the first few weeks; dialogue delivery still needs to be more polished though. Jason and Kunal are being used effectively by giving them hilarious, snarky scenes while they drill some sense into Ishani/Sid. Robin is still pretty much in the background other than to pop up and deliver the occasional wisecrack. Very sad to see Rashmi go, she'd really won my heart as Asha. The seniors got to ease up on the angsty scenes these weeks and I'm grateful for that; it's nice to see them loosen up a bit and smile and joke around. Special mention to Vedika Bhandari as Jessica, who's just ridiculously adorable and sooooooo likable, that I already am having trouble at the thought of letting her character go.

The Characters

Sid: MY DUDES, I DID NOT EXPECT TO FALL THIS HARD FOR SIDDHANT FUCKING MATHUR, BUT WELP, HERE WE ARE. I honestly cannot believe that this boy exists on Tellywood. Where to even start with him in these two weeks? How much younger than his years he seems when he was imploring his mom to stay to meet Shashank; his heart eyes when he wakes up to see Ishani first thing next morning (after waiting to see her the whole night!!!); his bashfulness at all the love he's getting from the whole hospital staff; his good-natured humoring of Ishani's weird behaviour... He's just so unassuming and Soft. I can't really recall seeing this lovable a male lead in tellywood in forever (all I can think of is Hussain K. characters in the early 2000s, in Krishna Arjun and Kumkum and all.) But by no means is Sid a pushover who tolerates any kind of BS. He rightfully rips Rishabh to shreds when he tries to discredit his relationship with Ishani, and understandably calls Ishani out on her nonsense when she's evading her duties, but in a decent way. There is some against-the-wall-caging (because Tellywood), but in a non-threatening manner; he maintains an appropriate distance, does not touch her, and while he does talk in a raised voice due to frustration, never does it veer into yelling that feels dangerous, and he repeatedly asks her if he said or did anything that's making her uncomfortable to be around him. I found it a little strange that he was so vehemently in denial of his feelings for Ishani in last week's episodes, because he seemed to readily accept after his conversation with Guddu Mama (“Halwa banaa ke leke jaaoon? Usko achcha lagega?" with the most hopeful smile; calling Ishani a "bohut hi pyaari si princess" to her face and specifying that he specifically made the halwa for her "pyaaaaar se", being open to the idea of marrying Ishani when Nurse Philo/Jessica jokingly suggest it....) but I guess it would be pretty incongruous for him to instantly fall hard for Ishani AND recognize it, with his past as a "player". So I like that they brought in one of his flings to contrast how different his feelings for Ishani are compared to the other girls he's dated; and subsequently how he's processing his many emotions about the situation. Most of all, I love that his feelings for Ishani don't hamper him from doing his job right; instead they just make him more sensitive to understanding her and making her feel good in any capacity that he can. He came all the way over to her house to apologize for making her cry, AND MADE HER PARATHAS!!!!!!! He slept over, but respectfully all scooched up on her tiny couch! What a goddamn Good Boi. Also, him crying over Jessica's diagnosis? Heart-fucking-breaking. We should all be so lucky to find a doctor who cares about his patients THIS much.

Ishani (or lol as Guddu Mama calls her, "Pareshaani"): I really was expecting the absolute worst with this "Ishani has Loveria" track. And it did not start out well; almost 3 whole episodes were just her puerile lovesick imagination waale music videos and that goddamn CGI titli and I was just like jfc whyyyyyyyyyy. BUT THEN!!!!!!! They finally started showing us the funny side of Ishani, and it's succeeded in making the character lovably kooky, instead of just unpleasant to be around. Her panic attack in the bathroom where she legit thinks she's having a stroke and tries to literally shake off the crush, making all the first year residents repeatedly do ECGs on her, her awkwardness around Sid, the rant where she bemoans falling in love with Sid of all people, her child-like crying to Asha when Sid finally gives her a dressing down for acting idiotic ("Mujhe ITNA daanta! ITNAAAA! Aur unprofessional bhi bola! *violently stabbing finger in the air* UNPROFESSIONAL!!!!!!!!"); all of it was just hilarious as fuck. We're finally seeing the endearing side of Ishani's addled personality. I'm also very glad she got the much-required wakeup call from Sid/Asha, that she's being very unprofessional by running away from her duties, and hopefully from here on, she'll be learn to focus on her job, even with Sid's distracting presence. She's also made quite a bit of progress when it comes to her germophobia; but realistically: it's only with Sid (and Asha) - the two people she's really close to; she's still seen being touch-averse with the rest, but slowly getting better; letting children touch her, offering to shake hands with Jessica and Jignesh, etc.

Asha & Aman: I'm super bummed that Rashmi is being replaced as Asha, because she was honestly so good in the role; cheerful and hilarious in most of her scenes, gentle and sensitive with Ishani, helping her out as much as she can with this inconvenient crush... It's not an easy role, with the accent and all. I hope this new actress is as competent as Rashmi, who always highlighted the humour but without making the accent the punchline; it was always the things she said and how she chooses to word it. It's an important distinction, to not make the regional background into a caricature.

Aman is Aman as usual, lol; vicariously getting kicks thanks to the shenanigans of everyone around. Also, to my surprise, Aman and Asha live together! They offer up their place for a party for Sid; when Ishani freaks out that the cake he ordered isn't Sid's favt. flavour, Aman just shrugs "Meri Asha ko butterscotch pasand hai." I still don't really know what his equation with Asha is, but whatever it is, I love it. Asha's a self-sufficient girl, but it's obvious that Aman feels really protective of her and wants to see her happy always. I really hope the new actress maintains this ambiguous chemistry with Robin too, till the writers decide what direction they wanna take this relationship in.

Dialogue of the Week: Asha [walking in on Ishani holding a sleeping Sid's hand]: Abbe! Humaare saamne toh badi "garma"phobic bani ghoomti hai, ab dekho Dr. Sid ke saath kaise touchy-wouchy ho rahi hai!!!!!!!!!!!

Rishabh: Fucking asshole. He Tried, but he's no match for the razor sharp wit of Sid, or Asha's jugaadu skills to relieve an overworked Ishani. Chal dafa ho, be! Manhoos kahinka.

Neil: He's really really enjoying Sid and Ishani's crushes on each other, taking the mick out of both of them at any given opportunity. I truly lmao-ed when he was seriously examining Ishani for an illness on her insistence and then eye-rollingly dismisses her with "Kuch nahi hua hai tumhe." Cutest snark bean.

Rahil: MY ACTUAL FAVE. Lmao, if Ishani’s got her little purple titli, then Rahil is Sid’s grownass plaid-shirt-wearing TITLA, who appears outta nowhere to serve up piping hot sass at his confused dumbassery. His acerbic, plain-speak snark seems to be the only language Sid understands (as opposed to the first years' gleeful teasing, or the good-natured ribbing of elders like Shashank and Philo and Guddu Mama), and him having to exasperatedly explain things to his boss-who-is-also-his-bff is just hilarious. I relish every single scene he appears in to the max! Also props to him for giving us the gem "same level ke ajeeb" as the OTP tag for SidIsha!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shashank: A much better fortnight for Dr. Shashank! Two of his idiot babies are very obviously in love (that scene of Ishani showing him her reports and describing the butterfly through pantomime though, lmao) and now his relationship with Anjali is defrosting (the exchange about the surgeon she was interested in and how he wants grandkids from her??? The cutest!!!!) Things still remain frosty with Juhi though, and I don't understand why he won't just address the issue and clarify things in a straightforward manner, instead of dragging it out like this and making it awkward with his COS/mentee. Anyway, good on him for getting that win on Vardhan, but I feel like he needs to stop being so damn stubborn on his issues without giving reasons. It’s not helping matters around here, personally or professionally.

Juhi: Literally the classiest female professional on TV??????? She hasn't stopped holding Shashank accountable for how he sabotaged her career, but I love that she has sorted it out enough to work with him, but also engages in minor acts of pettiness like gleefully scraping his car with hers, cheekily grinning and apologizing saying she needed to get out some of the angst before they operated on a patient together. For what it's worth, I was fully on her side during the argument with Shashank about the machines for the hospital; it sounded like a good deal, but of course, she should have had the foresight to know Vardhan would try to do some kinda fuckery. She’s right in not really trusting Shashank anymore, but needs to be a little more prudent with how she proceeds while making decisions for Sanjivani. In a way, it’s really sad how she doesn’t really have any allies at her level. Shashank was the only one she could really rely on, and he went and blew that relationship up, and now she’s kinda adrift in the organization. I hope Shashank does good by her and repairs the relationship.

Anjali: Phew, finally a good break for Anjali. I'm ecstatic. She's realized that Vardhan's manipulating her and broken free of his gaslighting nonsense. She's much smarter than both Shashank and Vardhan thought she was and yes sis, play them both!!!!!!! She got her COS post, but also isn't playing by Vardhan's rules. Ultimate winner! But does she also have some romantic feelz for V? Coz that last scene between them had very intimate vibes, from the way she walked into his office and knew where the booze was, to her pouring him a glass and casually lounging against the wall like a wife/girlfriend would. She wasn't even really fazed when he grabbed her; either she's a hella strong woman who cannot be trifled with, or she's familiar with this side of him. I really hope it's the former coz she deserves someone who's a grown up version of Sid (*cough* Atul Joshi *cough*) who's super good and healthy for her, not this deceitful fuckwad.

Vardhan: What is his deal? No honestly, does he have some kinda personal stake in saving Sanjivani from financial ruin? It seems so, with how overwrought and devastated he seemed at Shashank exposing the machine waala scam. Also, the way he manhandled Anjali? Unforgivable. Die in a fire, scum.

Rahul: Still haven't seen him but apparently he's hiding in that secret room in the luxury ward? What the everloving experimental fuck is he doing with pregnant women who look to be unable to afford medical care? Nothing ethical, that's for sure. I have a feeling this will maybe tie up to Ishani's parents waala plot, but for the meanwhile, jfc, just reveal yourself man, coz this shit is getting scary as fuck the longer you go unseen.

Overall Rating: 5/5

#sanjivani #tt reviews #sanjivani (new)

[sarinataylor]

Rushing to ask about your French philosophy AU SO FAST spill the tea or rather it being French spill the coffee and house red

oh thank GOD

right ok first off read this

so. roger has just moved into a new flat. for context he is a FRAZZLED masters student. it’s first semester and he’s ta-ing like. three classes as well? he wants to DIE. he’s doing a masters in philosophy because.... of course he is, he knows, he hates himself too. but he fucking fell in love with philosophy in undergrad and his supervisor has been grooming him since his first year and now. here he is. seriously considering a phd. 

anyway so sometimes? sometimes philosophy just makes More Sense when you’re tripping okay, it just does. if you take notes? sometimes u wake up the next morning and realise you have New Insights that haven’t already been dissected to pieces

(his undergrad thesis was 1000000% written high like. almost all of it. he got a first. by a large margin. he’s still salty that the same technique doesn’t work with biology but whatever)

ANYWAY so he’s just chillin. tripping. and then he starts to get a lil para because this is a New Enclosed Space so he’s like right shit fuck i gotta leave im gonna go to the park all is good

anyway as he leaves his neighbour is letting himself into his flat and said neighbour (john) is like “oh, hi! i’m john. you must be the new move in!”

(john is working on social interaction with his therapist at the moment. she told him that he has to introduce himself to people and that waiting for people to introduce themselves while he gives off big Do Not Fuck With Me vibes is not conducive to the creating of lasting relationships. he’s trying.)

and roger who is tripping balls responds in french, because of course he does

and john? sweet john is like. oh oh i’m sorry i don’t speak french

so roger mumbles something vaguely french sounding under his breath and makes a run for it

and anyway he hangs out at the park, writes some insightful notes about philosophy in his notes on his phone and then heads back home where OF COURSE john is leaving his apartment again and greets him with a shy ‘bonjour’ to which roger replies with ‘au revoire’ and locks himself back into his apartment because he’s a high idiot

anyway the next morning roger is like. oh fuck. im a moron. 

and he has two options. firstly: he can come clean to his nice seeming neighbour, laugh off that no he’s actually not french he was just... off his nut. or secondly: he can pretend to be french 

and roger is a fucking idiot because he decides to go with the second option. it’s not as if he’s going to be running into this guy often, after all! they’re neighbours not roommates

except. john has been told by his therapist to be more outgoing. and instead of, idk, joining a club or a sportsteam to meet new people he has decided that the french guy next door is the Perfect Candidate. he is a) not going to understand half the shit john says and b) hot as fuck

so. john signs up for french classes. because, of course he does.

and he keeps???? running into roger???? and it’s fine at first because roger knows a bit of french? like he can read it passably but he can’t converse in it. his supervisor has been trying to get him to learn french for YEARS and he’s been refusing but he knows enough/can bullshit enough for the first couple of months but then he realises, to his horror, that john seems..... to be? getting better at french. he’s clearly actually learning french

and so roger. has to learn french. it’s been three months, it’s much too late for him to. come clean now, especially now that he has the world’s biggest fucking crush on this dude like. this is clearly the only option

(his tutor is dominique. she is living for the drama.)

and so the next like. 8 months? are just the two of them. learning french. john is learning french to converse with roger who is learning french at a slightly faster pace so that john doesnt realise he doesn’t know french while also pretending to slowly learn english to keep up the facade 

it all unravels almost a year to the day it began

john enrolls in an intro to philosophy class? as an elective? and who happens to be leading his tutorial class but roger?

(”roger” is, of course, pronounced fucking horrifically because roger just..... said his name with a fucking awful french accent that first time he said hi to john in the hallway and it stuck. he couldnt undo it. it’s..... it’s so bad.)

and roger, seeing john walk in, is like. oh fuck. like. again he has two options? he can a) just. out himself and speak in english or b) teach the entire class, of english speaking students, in french

he chooses the latter. 

he gets about five minutes in until a student he’s had in the past asks why the fuck he’s speaking french in a class about greek classical philosophy

john is clearly starting to catch on so roger has to give up the ghost

“and THAT is why you should all learn french. the french philosophical school is really so important--”

john just straight up opens his laptop, unenrolls, and walks out because... he feels like an idiot? this guy has clearly just been taking the piss out of him this whole time, probably laughing it up with his friends about how stupid he is. and it’s worse for the amount of effort john put in, like. it’s horrible and unfair, and he can’t believe that he ever thought someone like that would ever be interested in him in the first place, even just as a friend. he’s so stupid

and roger is freaking out because fuck fuck fuck fuck he really fucking likes john and he’s an idiot 

(john’s therapist is mostly just confused at this point like. it seems unlikely that someone would have put in the time and effort to prank him in this elaborate manner but john’s like NOPE THIS IS PROOF THAT EVERYONE HATES ME ON SIGHT I CAN NEVER INTERACT WITH ANYONE AGAIN)

and so. john avoids the HELL out of roger who after a couple of weeks of trying to catch him just. gives up? bc yeah, he wouldn’t wanna talk to him either he’s clearly a weirdo. he doesn’t wanna be a stalking weirdo too.

anyway one day john opens his door to find some random (freddie) passed out on roger’s doorstep? bc roger went out the night before, as did freddie, but they did not coordinate their nights out and as such have ended up closer to one another’s apartments and decided to crash with one another except. neither is home. 

and freddie wakes up when john opens his door, sees him, and screeches

and john’s like. ok im gonna go goodbye

but freddie is like!!!!! oh my god oh my god you’re john

and john puts two and two together (strange man at roger’s doorstep? probably knows roger) and is like fuck. ok like yeah y’all had ur laughs i’m an idiot lets move on now i have to go

and freddie is???? you’re an idiot???? roger learned french because he had a crush on you and didn’t know how to tell you he wasn’t french after he got so high he started speaking a language he doesn’t know

and john’s like right yeah whatever

but freddie is!!!!! you’re a legend. an actual Legend you don’t even know. everyone knows about you, they’re going to freak when they find out i met you!!!! roger wouldn’t let anyone around for a year in case we gave him away!!!!! i can’t believe this oh my god, will you take a selfie with me??? like we all stalked you on fb obviously but it’s not the same as meeting u in person y’know??

and john is like. uh. no i dont know. ive never stalked anyone on facebook which has freddie like yeah. obviously. if you had you’d have rumbled roger much earlier 

and john’s like ok thanks for the reminder im an idiot. didn’t need it, but thanks

but freddie’s like dude i just think so highly of you??? i mean you just thought the blonde hottie across the hall was french and went for it y’know????? i’ve never learnt another language for a dick appointment but i appreciate craftsmanship when i see it and believe me when i say you, sir, are a god amongst men

can i shake your hand?

(brian, confused at the pub the week after the first incident: okay but. you know greek? why didn’t you just..... speak greek?roger: I DON’T KNOW BRIAN I WAS OFF MY FUCKING NUT OKAY?)

and anyway

roger’s thesis actually ends up being on 19th century french philosophy because. he knows french now

his dedication page reads[in english] to my supervisor, who i would not learn french for[in french] and john, for who i did not have to learn french for, but did anyway

#lo talks #joger hc's #headcanon ask #Anonymous

[alcorian]

Mystic Messenger asks: 1, 4, 9, 11, 12, 15, 26, 29, 31, 32, 43, 45 (yes, a lot, I know, sorry ^^;)

It’s perfectly fine~

1 :How did you discover the game?

I think I saw a bunch of 707 fanart on Pinterest over time, and eventually I just went “okay, what anime is this ‘Mystic Messenger’ anyways!?!” That was in eighth grade l I think... wow. That was like two years ago.

Anyways, I played Yoosung’s route and LOVED it and swore I’d play the entire game top to bottom (which is what I’m working on now).

4: Your favorite ending?

Ohhhhh boy. Oh boy. I actually really like Yoosung’s bad relationship ending 1. SPOILER ALERT: it’s this one:

I’m very proud of him ^^

11: What call is your favorite?

Jumin Route Day 7 (Call from 707): “You have to be careful of smartphones”. This is one where he talks about his field work as an agent. I just... really love it for some reason.

Oh, lol, I also like his call on Jaehee’s day 5 called “hey sis~~”. It’s one where he’s been crossdressing for a mission and so he got a little stuck calling MC “unnie.” It’s so funny lolol

12: Your least favorite character

I’m sorry Zen... I feel bad saying this since I’m playing his route right now, but it’s true. I appreciate him as a character and as a foil to Jumin, but he’s just not my type, and sometimes his temperament gets under my skin. I lowkey get annoyed by him constantly prying into my private life in everyone else’s routes, like he’s jealous or something...

15: If you were MC and you get the same message that unknown send in the prologue for you to go at Rika's apartement would you go?

Hmmmm depends. Am I oblivious? Hell no. Blocked and ignored. But if I know the events of Mystic Messenger and know it’s Unknown? HELL YEAH BABEY COUNT ME IN

26: ¿Ray or Saeran?

Ohhhhhhhh no. Why did you have to ask me this....

I feel like answering would be detrimental to their progress of getting along.... isn’t it important to tell them that neither is better than the other...? Even if it’s not relevant to the game, I don’t want to choose one because of this...

Since they can’t see this, if I had to choose, I enjoy Ray’s company immensely. He’s babey.

29: ¿Dr. Pepper or Honey Butter Chips?

★ ★ HONEY BUTTER CHIPS BABE!!! ★ ★

31: What do you like the most about each of the 7 routes?

Yoosung: I love how innocent he is! Very my-type! I also find it amazing and heartbreaking how he went blind in one eye for my sake... god I love him

Zen: zen knows the bungeoppang vendor, ‘nuff said

Jaehee: uh duh I love interacting with my lovely wife 💛 any conversation with her makes me immensely happy!!

Jumin: I love Jumin in general. I love how interesting he is, and also how calming he is to talk to. Most don’t find his jokes funny, but I love them. Did I mention he’s so calming to talk to? Very levelheaded and rational.

707: the Mint Eye plot was very prominent in Seven’s route and I love that. I also love that Seven, like Jumin, can be easy to talk to! Just in a different way. Except when he’s upset, then I get sick of him being emotional. That sounds cold, sorry ^^;; I mean that being bombarded with harsh words and emotions over the course of a few days is exhausting. I love him, but helping him is hard on the mind....

Ray: RAY IS BABEY OH MY GOD. He brought me flowers. He made me breakfast. He’s so sweet and kind and nervous and PERFECT. His is the only route where I really fall for the romantic bits, because he’s oh-so-my type (not as much as Jumin, but he’s 50x sweeter than Jumin and that helps). I also REALLY LOVE learning more about Mint Eye, and overall... I actually enjoy that it’s more demanding. I’ve played casual story common route so many times I could actually do it in my sleep, but Another Story keeps me on my toes... it’s exhilarating and feels REAL.

V: N/A, Ive yet to play his route

32: Write a love letter to the character you like

Good morning,

Lovely Ray.

I’ve written to you today because, as you know, I’m not good at speaking and I stammer and stutter too much in person.

I’ve written to you today because I must tell you something without stumbling over my words. They are very important words.

The first of those words are rather common, but not from my lips: I love you. I love you so very much, and my love is freely given, without obligation, let, or lien. That means you don’t have to, you really shouldn’t, overwork yourself for me. You don’t have to prove anything. My love his free, Ray.

The next words are heavier. Ray, you are so much stronger than you know. Ray, you’ve been lied to about your strength. You can’t see what I see, and that’s heartbreaking, because I see a man with a heart stronger than the strongest steel. Stronger than mountains. Stronger than everything that’s tried to hurt you, and I know, so many people have tried to hurt you.

You lived through it all. You are still HERE, you are still LIVING, and you are still BEAUTIFUL. That, Ray, is true strength. Not pushing people around, but keeping yourself going. Supporting yourself is much, much harder than dragging others down with you when you fall. You’ve managed to support yourself and stay kind. It’s amazing. It’s strength.

I know you might not believe these words- and so I will, if you don’t mind, write them out as many times as I need to. I’ll leave them on your desk to read. Read them as many times as you need to, until you can love yourself freely, and you can see your own strength.

With kindness,

your lover and friend,

Jasper.

43: What do you like the most about each character?

Yoosung: again! His innocence! I love it! I also have a soft spot for exploring his issues, since NOBODY ELSE DOES.

Zen: definitely how easygoing he can be! He seems like a great person to just chill with

Jaehee: her hard work is really inspiring. So is her courage to find a new job that she loves ^^ it gives me hope for the future. I’m really glad to have a noona like Jaehee.

Jumin: his calming presence, rationality, and how easy-to-talk-to he is. I absolutely adore being in a chatroom with him alone. Plus his eccentricities make him all the more lovable~

707: this sounds typical but his jokes! He’s hilarious and always makes me laugh, and he feels so real because of it. He’s one of the characters who I could easily imagine is real. Sometimes I find myself hovering over the keyboard, wanting to send him a meme or tell him something, and then remembering that I can’t. TvT

Ray/Saeran/Unknown: Ray. Is. Babey. I love him to fucking death. I’m gonna marry him I swear to god. I love how sweet he is, how he knows flower languages, how he works so hard (although it breaks my heart), how he blushes, how he gets nervous.... everything about him is so wonderful. Aaaah so lovely. Lovely Ray. As for Unknown (Casual/Deep Story Saeran) I adore his duality, and I love his incredibly emotional story arc in the secret endings.

V: I cannot possibly hope to put into words the deep and unyielding love I hold for Kim Jihyun.

45: Recomend a good fic of mystic messenger

Transference by MariaMagica.

The world is in shock when extraterrestrials touch down in South Korea for the first time in history- but the problem is, they don’t really... do anything. That is, until Zen and Jumin start to have unusual... visitors. Soon enough, Seven initiates first contact, and the RFA is thrown into an adventure that makes them the first and only humans to go with the aliens... and leave willingly.

This story absolutely feeds my inner alien geek!! It’s so fucken good. It’s also got quite a bit of nice character development, and a great shocker at the end that made for an incredibly satisfying ending where everything clicked into place... aaaa it was great. I 100% recommend reading it!

#mystic messenger #yeah i made up that summary #its different than the one on ao3

[sgnolivia]

(low blow cause he likes to get) blown

in tradition of lit majors across the globe, olvia’s mom has a twisted sense of beauty and names her first daughter beatrice. this goes over exactly as expected and when the second daughter stumbles out of her, so overwhelmed her little lungs don’t even work, she breathes out “olivia” like shakespeare himself will reach up from the depths of hell and jumpstart the reincarnation of his character’s lungs.

i. in tradition of lit majors across the globe, olvia’s mom has a twisted sense of beauty and names her first daughter beatrice. this goes over exactly as expected and when the second daughter stumbles out of her, so overwhelmed her little lungs don’t even work, she breathes out “olivia” like shakespeare himself will reach up from the depths of hell and jumpstart the reincarnation of his character’s lungs.

olivia spends four days in the nicu because she swallowed so much blood at birth.

beatrice, a whole seven years old, isn’t allowed in to see the baby— not that she’s particularly inclined to, it’s the principal of the thing— and spends four days on her father’s mother’s couch watching the news because the tv only gets six channels and none of them are cartoons. also, grammie invested her pension into the stock market at the advisement of a scamming financial advisor so she watches the screen in the same way a born again christian stumbles to the altar for penance. beatrice watches, and learns, and starts mumbling under her breath when the numbers are red, too.

ii. when olivia turns seven and beatrice fourteen, grammie dies. she leaves behind an unpayed mortgage and a stock profile worth exactly four trips to the aquarium.

dad is grammie’s only son. mom hates this and hated grammie so the house is tense for days. olivia stays in her room mostly, playing with beatrice’s old toys and drawing little houses with four smiling people and the dog she’s always wanted.

“what would it’s name be?” beatrice asks tiredly. she doesn't really care, and olivia knows this, but the deep, resonating sound of dad yelling is starting to make the wood floors rattle.  

but olivia has no fucking idea how to name things so she says, “dog!” in a loud voice, choosing to use tone over language to express the admiration and love she would bestow upon the possibility.

“yea, dumbass, but the name,” beatrice rolls her eyes to the ceiling like she’s saying a prayer, “nevermind, you’d pick something dumb.“

there’s silence for a beat while olivia squints. her mother starts shrieking in the background.

"the dog’s name is beatrice."

iii. beatrice the dog is bought by their father when olivia turns nine. she’s tiny and adorable and will only grow to be about twelve pounds. it’s an apology for the way he’s been working late nights but olivia is nine. she doesn't give a shit if her father wasn't home for the birthday dinner or missed out on her chorus concert last week or only remembered it was her birthday because she's been leaving post-it notes on his car for three days. she has a dog.

"she can’t fucking name it beatrice!” beatrice the human is shouting.

“watch it, bee,” mom growls, leaning on the couch like a retired circus tiger.

“why not? she can be beatrice the dog and you can be beatrice the bitch,” olivia sings to break her mom's gaze, and artfully ducks beatrice’s chemistry book.

iv. beatrice the bitch is seventeen when she kills beatrice the dog. “it was an accident”, she hiccups, perched over the toilet and puking up bright pink fluid. olivia cradles beatrice the dog in her arms, straight faced and quiet. there is the urge to have a full meltdown, of course, to scream and cry and wake her dad up from where he sleeps on the couch and demand he bring little beatrice back.

but she doesn’t.

she watches beatrice the bitch— the only beatrice, now— sob and groan and heave over the toilet. the bathroom smells like white wine and vodka.

"it's okay, bee," olivia whispers, and gently lays her dog on the bathroom rug so she can run her hand up and down her sister's back the way she's been doing for her mom for years, "i know you didn't mean it."

beatrice hiccups again, "she's just so tiny and i didn't see her ollie, i didn't—"

"i know."

v. "please don't leave me," olivia whispers so quietly beatrice could pretend not to hear.

and pretend she does.

vi. olivia does well in school. better than her older sister, better than even her mother, who was the first person in her family to go to school and still has the debt to prove it.

"you could go anywhere you want," her guidance counselor is telling her while olivia looks at the magnetic sculpture on his desk, "get a scholarship to any school you want."

she thinks about how the way her sister packed only two bags and left in the middle of the night. how the apartment still smelled like birthday candles.

"i want to go to america," she murmurs.

the guidance counselor smiles the same way creepy mr.choi on the first floor does whenever olivia gets home from school. it doesn’t matter. men have been smiling at her like this her entire life.

olivia graduates at the top of her class, clutching an ivy league scholarship to harvard in her grip like the ticket it absolutely is. she waves it in front of anyone who will listen. she draws up the floor plan to her room and makes amazon wishlists with the things she wants to fill it with. they can't afford any of these things, but everyone in the neighborhood is riding the high of her pride and want to help in any way they can.

three weeks before the plane takes off, a semi runs a red light and hits the passenger side of the taxi she's riding in.

vii. second and third degree road rash, olivia learns through a haze of exhausted moaning and the frantic sound of carts slamming around the room, is just a really mild way of saying fuckfuckfuck her skin is gone!!! she knows her skin is gone, though, so not saying it out loud doesn’t really make it feel better. 

the pain is so severe she can’t cry, or speak, or do much but attempt astral-projecting her soul into a different dimension. it creates an out-of-body dichotomy. on one hand, someone has taken a cheese grater to the very fragile bits of body she has left, and on the other, she’s at the park, beatrice the puppy bringing her stick after stick after stick. olivia throws them all and watches as beatrice tries and fails to find the same one she threw.

someone abruptly pops her femur back under muscle and olivia loses her dog, promptly throws up an impressive amount of bile, and blacks out.

viii. getting crushed by an eighteen-wheeler is the easy part. 

three months in the hospital with an injury list longer than her fucking brag sheet takes her to places she’s positive she’ll never come back from. her parents alternate days because they don’t want to be in the same room as each other and their vegetable daughter. 

“you’re lucky to be alive,” the physical therapist is saying on week fifteen, when olivia relearns how to stand up, “if you were on the passenger side, you’d’ve been a goner.”

it feels like she’s got cooked pasta for bones and beef jerky for muscle. it isn’t conductive for walking the twelve feet to the bathroom. her mother isn’t here to see her cry, so she does. cries, and falls, and tries to punch the nurse who helps her up.

lucky fucking her. 

harvard rescinds the scholarship. elitism waits for no one.

ix. olivia signs her soul to the first private loan company who offers to buy. seongnam will still take her, despite the scarring and memory loss, and olivia, exhausted from living as a guest in her own fucking body, agrees.

#t; background #p; blown #solo #t; unreliable narrator

[padfootagain]

I can't believe I reached 3k followers!!! Thank you all so much!! When I started this blog, I hoped to reach 100 followers one day, and now here we are!

So to thank you all and mark the date, I'm making a little event! The theme is simple : movies!

What is it all about?

Under the cut are a list of prompts and scenes from different movies. You can choose between two different things that you would like me to write:

-        You can choose between 1 and 5 prompts along with a character and I will write a one-shot based on these prompts for the character you have chosen

-        You can choose one scene in the list and a character, and I will re-write that scene for the character you have chosen

A few rules to follow if you want to send a request.

-        If you request for the prompts :

- You can request up to 5 prompts, not more

- You can add a few details that you would like to be featured in your request if you have precise ideas

 -        If you request a scene :

- I will write a one-shot that is inspired by that scene, not the exact same scene (obviously, otherwise, where is the fun?). The idea is to get the same spirit and some references, or the same situation, but not a simple copy.

- These scenes will require me to turn AU!, so don't be surprised.

- You can request only one scene, so choose wisely ;)

- I will most likely 'erase'  the characters who were in the original scenes, so don't be surprised.

 No matter if you request for prompts or for a scene :

- You can request for any character on my masterlist, no matter if I've already written for them or not.

- I have no trouble with anons, if you're a little shy. So don't hesitate to send a request on anon if you feel more comfortable this way.

- Please, send me your request through my askbox and not in a PM. It's much easier for me to manage, and I might forget about your request if you send it to me privately. If you're shy, send an ask on anon.

- Sadly, I will probably not be able to write all the requests that are sent my way. I will write as many as I can, but I'm only human. I'm sorry if I don't get to write your request. But I invite you to send it anyway, because I might write your request! If you don't send it, then you can be sure that I won't though. Again, I'm sorry if I can't write all the requests I receive, but I usually get too many to be able to write them all.

 Requests for this event will be up for one week, which means until January 14!

Considering how well this event works, I may change that date along the way.

Thank you all again and I hope you like this event :D

Prompts :

Every prompt is a movie quote. The movie it comes from is written under the quote in italic

 1. "Was that a joke?"

"What if it was?"

"I don't like jokes!"

"I don't like you!'

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

 2. "Why, you stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking, nerf-herder!"

Star Wars : The Empire Strikes Back

 3. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

 4. "Well… my philosophy is that worrying means you suffer twice."

Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

 5. "A heart's a heavy burden."

Howl's Moving Castle

 6. "You're far away, where are you?"

"In a world that's disappearing, I'm afraid."

The Sound Of Music

 7. "No, I'm not mad. I… I'm hurt, and disappointed and… and mad."

Funny Face

 8. "I'm always gonna love you."

"I'm always gonna love you too."

La La Land

 9. "I'll just take my ego for a walk…"

An Affair To Remember

 11. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Would you like to stay forever?"

Mulan

 12. "At midnight, I'll turn into a pumpkin and drive away in my glass slipper. And that will be the end of the fairytale."

Roman Holiday

 13. "Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"

It's A Wonderful Life

 14. "Whatever crimes I commit against you, remember, I have diplomatic immunity in 46 countries. Including Puerto Rico."

The Princess Diaries : Royal Engagement

 15. "Anything can happen if you let it."

Mary Poppins

 16. "Life is suffering. It is hard. The world is cursed. But still you find reasons to keep on living."

Princess Mononoke

 17. "Everything is possible. Even the impossible."

Mary Poppins Returns

 18. "Love isn't a thinking thing. It's a feeling thing."

Playing It Cool

 19. "That is one big pile of shit."

Jurassic Park

 20. "I love you."

"I know."

Star Wars : The Empire Strikes Back.

 21. "Sadness, anger, hate… we were not allowed to express anything. So no, how do we express love?"

Dear Zindagi

 22. "Carpe Diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary."

Dead Poets Society

 23. “Always believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you will have nothing to fear.”

The Cat Returns

 24. "I'll probably lose my citizenship for that."

Mission Impossible III

 25. "Oh, don't waste my time with flattery."

"Not to seem rude, but I wasn't actually talking to you."

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

 26. "But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass."

The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers

 27. " I guess we need to register you as a lethal weapon."

Lethal Weapon

 28. "Just because it is, doesn't mean it should be."

Australia

 29. "It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

 30. "A lot of people are in love… but none can love like me, because they don't have you."

Kal Ho Naa Ho

 31. "Just follow your heart. And keep smiling."

Kiki's delivery service

 32. "That look in your eyes is a pain in my arse, you know that, right?"

Mission Impossible III

 33. "Can we take a flight back to reality, or do we have to change planes in Denver?"

The Santa Clause

 34. "Yippie-Ki-Yay, motherfucker."

Die Hard

 35. "I retire for like five minutes and it all goes to shit."

The Avengers

 36. "Would you like to know the probability of her using it against you? It's high."

"Let's get going."

"It's very high…"

Star Wars : Rogue One

 37. "I'm too old for this."

Lethal Weapon

 38. "Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it."

The Lion King

 39. "Now, think of the happiest things. It's the same as having wings."

Peter Pan

 40. "I'm in love with you."

"So what?"

"So what? So plenty! I love you! You belong to me!"

"No. People don't belong to people."

Breakfast at Tiffany's

 41. "It's called Karma. And it's pronounced 'Ha! '"

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again

 42. "Whoa, lady, I only speak two languages: English and bad English."

The Fifth Element

 43. "You were my new dream."

Tangled

 44. "Any question?"

"Yeah. Could we get a cappuccino machine in here? Cause I don't know how you call this."

Mission Impossible

 45. "I'm not used to people sticking around when things go bad."

"Welcome home."

Star Wars : Rogue One

 45. "Stop, you'll kill them!"

"That's the idea!"

The Mummy

 46. "Probably best not to tell anyone about this."

"Right, no one. I mean, I'll tell myself sometimes but don't worry, I won't believe it."

Notting Hill

 47. "Once you've met someone, you never really forget them."

Spirited Away

 48. "I hit my head on something."

"Yeah, my head!"

Balto

 49. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you okay to drive? A minute ago, you were dead."

"What are you talking about?"

"This is not going to end well."

Mission Impossible : Rogue Nation

 50. "I've got a bad feeling about this…"

Star Wars

 51. "A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference."

Winnie The Pooh

 52. "If she loves you then she will turn around and look at you... turn around... turn around!"

Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge

 53. "Can I stay for a while?"

"Stay forever."

Notting Hill

 54. "Promise me one thing: don't take me home until I'm drunk - very drunk indeed."

Breakfast at Tiffany's

 55. "This California dew is a little heavier than usual tonight."

"Really? From where I stand the sun is shining all over the place."

Singin' In The Rain

 56. "You need to stop carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders."

Spider-Man: Homecoming

 57. "Who ever said the human race was logical?"

Star Trek IV : The Voyage Home

 58. "Blow up the car."

"Oh, it's such a nice car…"

"And yet, do it."

Mission Impossible III

 59. "Why complicate things that are really quite simple?"

Mary Poppins

 60. "Who are you?"

"Your worst nightmare."

Mulan

 61. "You said 'whoopsidaisies'."

"I don't think so. No one says 'whoopsidaisies', do they? Unless they're…"

"There is no 'unless'. No one has said 'whoopsidaisies' for fifty years and even then it was only little girls with blonde ringlets."

Notting Hill

 62. "I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

The Wizard Of Oz

 63. "Are you out of your corn-fed mind?!"

Star Trek : Into Darkness

 64. "You're a good man, with a good heart. And it's hard for a good man to be king."

Black Panther

 65. "It is mine to give to whom I will. Like my heart."

The Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring

 66. "There's no place like home…"

The Wizard Of Oz

 67. "I'm with you till the end of the line"

Captain America : First Avenger

 68. "You deserve better than this. You deserve people who value you. You deserve to go somewhere where you can be proud of who you are."

The Shape Of Water

 69. "No matter how many weapons you have, no matter how great your technology might be, the world cannot live without love."

Castle In The Sky

 70. "There is nothing more reassuring than realizing that the world is crazier than you are."

Thor: The Dark World

 71. "I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone."

The Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring

 72. "I love her."

"Does she love you?"

" I don't know now. Yesterday, you weren't alive."

"Well, I apologize for not being dead in a ditch."

"I don't think I can accept your apology."

"Is that a joke?"

"Yes, yes, sort of. I'm not... I've never been very good at jokes."

Salmon Fishing In The Yemen

 73. "English, motherfucker, do you speak it?"

Pulp Fiction

 Scenes :

The links to the scenes on youtube are set in the titles of the movies, so it can be easier for you to choose. I'll re-write the scene entirely so you and the character of your choice can live it ;) It can be set either in the universe of the character you have chosen or the universe of the original scene depending on the scene you choose.

 1. Indiana Jones : Raiders Of The Lost Ark

You are so close to finding this lost treasure. Bad for you that you have fallen in a cave filled with deathly traps.

 2. Jurassic Park

You thought you would enjoy a nice weekend discovering an amazing scientific breakthrough. Now, here you are, hiding from a T-Rex and wondering how you got yourself in this situation…

 3. The Shop Around The Corner / You've Got Mail

You have a date with someone tonight, but you don't know who. All you know is that you are to meet in that café. All turns crazy when your date is actually this colleague of yours whom you hate… kinda…

 4. L'Arnacoeur

Your family engaged him/her to seduce you, so you would break your engagement with this guy they hate. Bad luck that for once, he/she falls for you too…

 5. Love Affair / An Affair To Remember / Sleepless In Seattle

It's love at first sight. But perhaps the two of you are getting ahead of yourselves. You give each other a bit of time to think, and set up to meet at the top of the Empire State Building, if in six months, you still feel the same for each other. But will you both be there?

 6. The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The only way to win this war is to earn more time. And a fight one on one with your enemy is the best way you can come up with. But who will survive the fight? Will it be enough?

 7. The Lord Of The Rings : The Fellowship Of The Ring

You are trapped in Moria. A Balrog chasing after you. This looks pretty bad… yep… that's bad…

 8. Roman Holiday

You are a princess in your country, but for one day, you have managed to escape your duties, and you are now roaming through the streets of Roma. A stranger helps you through the streets of the city and you spend a magical day…

 9. The Holiday

You have exchanged your house for the holiday with a woman in England. You expected a quiet week, but that was before you would meet the woman's brother…

 10. The Lake House

Through your mail box, you somehow receive letters from the man who used to live in your house 5 years ago. Through the letters you exchange, you slowly start to develop feelings for each other. Until one day you decide to meet, and set up a date. But he never comes. You realize that he didn't come because he had died during these five years that separated the two of you. But you may have one last chance to save him…

#event #3k #3k followers #celebration

[pokemaniacal]

Something that’s been on my mind for a bit that your professional word may be able to help with. Would you happen to know how ethnically diverse the Greek and Roman empires were?

very

next question please

…

…what, you want more?  Oh, fine, but for the record this is not the sort of thing people just “happen to know.”

Okay so I’m assuming by “Greek empire” (remember, kids: there was never a politically autonomous and unified state called “Greece” or “Hellas” until 1822) you mean Alexander’s empire (320s BC) and the Hellenistic successor kingdoms (323 BC – 31 BC), and by “Roman empire” you mean Rome starting from the time it becomes a major interregional power (say, following the second Punic War, which ended in 201 BC) rather than just Rome in the time of the Emperors.  You could spend like most of a book on each of these just corralling the data that might let us answer this question, but whatevs.

Lesson one: the ancient Greeks and Romans did not think about ethnicity in the same way as we do.  In particular, they were not super hung up on the colour of people’s skin – skin colour in ancient art is more often a signifier of gender than race, because women are expected to spend less time outside and therefore have lighter skin (which is another whole thing that we shouldn’t even get into because this is an aristocratic ideal of female beauty and of course lots of Greek and Roman women would have worked outside).  Arguably the most important signifier of ethnicity to the Greeks and Romans was actually language, with everyone who didn’t speak Greek or Latin being a “barbarian” (traditionally this word is supposed to come from the Greeks thinking that all foreign languages sounded like “bar bar bar,” although I’ve also heard a convincing argument that it comes from the Old Persian word for taxpayer, barabara, and originally signified all subjects of the Persian king).

In the modern world we have designations of ethnicity that are super broad and grow in large part out of early and long-since-debunked anthropological theory that divided humanity into three biologically distinct races, Caucasoid, Mongoloid and Negroid, and don’t really reflect a lot of important components of ethnicity.  The thing is, as the internet will happily tell you ad nauseam, race is a social construct.  Like, yes, designations of race describe real physical characteristics that arise from variation within human genetics, but the way we choose to bundle those characteristics is arbitrary, and where we choose to draw the lines is arbitrary (like, for a long time in the US, Greeks and Italians weren’t considered “white,” but today they definitely are, even though nothing changed about their genetics).  If we today were brought face to face with a bunch of ancient Greeks and Romans, we would probably be pretty comfortable with assigning a majority of them to the big pan-European tent of modern “whiteness,” but if you had asked them about it, they certainly would not have felt any kinship with the pale-skinned people of northern and western Europe from whom most English-speaking white people today are descended.  Those people were every bit as barbarian (and every bit as fair game for enslavement, for that matter) as the darker-skinned folk of the Middle East and North Africa.  Ancient Greeks and Italians also had loads of internal ethnic divisions – like, the Latins (the central Italian ethnic group to which the Romans belonged) were a different thing from the Umbrians to their east, the Etruscans to the north and the Oscans to the south.  In Greece, you had Dorians in the Peloponnese, Ionians in Attica and Asia Minor, Boeotians and Thessalians in central Greece, Epirotes in western Greece, and DON’T EVEN ASK about the Macedonians, because boyyyyyyyyy HOWDY you are NOT ready for that $#!tstorm.  The point is, race and ethnicity can be basically anything that you think makes you different from the people in another community.

So yeah, Alexander’s empire.  Alexander the Great conquered Persia, which was already the largest empire the world had ever seen at the time and incorporated dozens of ethnically distinct peoples (including many Greeks of Asia Minor, some of whom willingly fought against Alexander) through a philosophy of loose regional governance and broad religious tolerance.  Now, here’s the thing: Alexander had no idea how to run an empire of that scale.  No Greek did.  No one alive in the world did – except for the Persians.  Alexander didn’t have anything to replace the Persian systems of governance or bureaucracy, so… he didn’t.  Individual Persian governors were usually given the opportunity to swear loyalty to him and keep their posts; vacant posts were filled with Macedonians, but the hierarchy was basically untouched.  Alexander himself married a princess from Bactria (approximately what is now Afghanistan), Roxana, and had a kid with her, and encouraged other Macedonian nobles to take Persian wives as well, to help unify the empire.  Unfortunately Alexander, of course, had to go and bloody die less than two years after he’d finished conquering everything, and tradition holds that on his deathbed he told his friends that the empire should go “to the strongest,” which was an incredibly dumb thing to say and caused literally decades of war, which we are not even going to talk about because it is the most Game of Thrones bull$#!t in the history of history.  All you need to know is that when the dust settled there were basically three major Greco-Macedonian dynastic powers: the Antigonids in Greece, the Ptolemies in Egypt, and the Seleucids in Persia.

In terms of ethnic makeup the Antigonid kingdom is in principle the most straightforward because they’re basically still running the same Greece that Alexander’s father had conquered.  Even then, you should bear in mind that a) most Greek cities had legal provisions for allowing foreigners to live there under certain conditions (“foreigners” often meant Greeks from other cities, but in principle could be anyone), and b) the Greeks had a lot of slaves (many of whom were, again, Greeks from other cities, because that’s fine in ancient Greek morality, but a lot of them would have come from all over the place), and even though the Greeks didn’t count slaves as “people” or consider them a real part of a city’s ethnic composition, WE SHOULD.  The Ptolemaic kingdom in Egypt seems to have had a relatively small Greco-Macedonian upper class ruling over a native Egyptian, Libyan and Nubian peasant majority.  Members of that ruling class seem to have been kind of snobbish about any mixing between the two – only the very last Ptolemaic ruler, Cleopatra VII (yes, that Cleopatra), even bothered to learn the Egyptian language.  However, the Ptolemaic rulers did make some important cultural gestures of goodwill towards the Egyptians.  They took the native title of Pharaoh, which previous foreign rulers of Egypt hadn’t, and adopted a lot of traditional Pharaonic iconography like the double crown.  They also worshipped some of the most important Egyptian gods, most notably Isis, and may have kind of… deliberately created a new Greco-Egyptian god, Serapis, by blending together Osiris and Dionysus (Serapis actually becomes super important in the Roman period and is widely worshipped even outside Egypt).  And then there’s the Seleucids, an empire that did nothing but slowly collapse from the moment it was established.  They have a rough time of it because they have the largest land area to cover and dozens of distinct ethnic groups to bring together, and it doesn’t help that they kinda keep doing the Game of Thrones thing for about two hundred fµ¢&ing years.  They often get a bad rap in history and have a reputation for oppressing the non-Greek populations of their empire, but that’s probably at least partly because some of our most important sources for the Seleucids are Jewish, and the Seleucid kings’ relationship with the Jews broke down in a fairly spectacular fashion during the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r. 175-164 BC).  It’s not clear whether that’s representative of the Seleucids’ normal relationship with their subject peoples, or a worst case scenario.  Also, the Seleucids tend to get painted as villains in the historical record by both the other Greek powers and the Romans, and never really get much of a chance to defend themselves because we don’t have Seleucid histories.  What is clear is that they inherited all the ethnic and religious diversity of the Persian Empire, and most of their rulers were half-Persian because they followed Alexander’s example by marrying into the Persian nobility.  After an initial period of conflict they also seem to have maintained cordial relations with the Mauryan Empire of India, their neighbour to the east, for several decades, and contemporary Indian sources talk about sending Buddhist missionaries into Seleucid lands, so… like, there might have been a bunch of Greek Buddhists running around the empire; that’s a thing.

Whew.  Okay, so that is a criminally brief answer to-

OH CHRIST YOU ASKED ABOUT THE ROMANS AS WELL

WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT FROM ME

Right.  Romans.  One of the major schools of thought on how the Romans were able to create such an enormous and long-lasting empire in the first place is that their openness to accepting foreigners into their community gave them an enormous manpower advantage over every other ancient Mediterranean state.  Greek politics generally operates on the level of cities; even in the age of Alexander, individual cities have quite a lot of legislative autonomy.  Citizenship is also something that works on the level of cities: you aren’t a citizen of, say, the Seleucid Empire; you’re a citizen of Antioch, or Tyre, or Babylon, or whatever.  But then the Romans happen.  The Romans are weird, because they will sometimes just declare that all the people of an allied city are now also citizens of Rome.  In the early period of Rome’s expansion in the central Mediterranean, this meant (or so the theory goes) that they could draw upon larger citizen armies and sustain more casualties than their rivals.  This is how they beat Pyrrhus, the Greek king of Epirus (r. 297-272 BC), when he invaded Italy in response to disputes between Rome and the Greek colony of Tarentum; this is how they beat Hannibal, the legendary Carthaginian general, even after he annihilated the largest army the Romans had ever fielded at Cannae during the second Punic War (218-201 BC).  Now, at this point they are basically still just bringing in Italians, which we might consider ethnically homogenous even if they didn’t, but there’s more.

Once they really start to get going, the Romans enfranchise entire provinces at a time, like when the emperor Claudius (r. AD 41-54) decided to make everyone in Gaul (modern France, more or less) a Roman citizen.  The really interesting thing about this particular decision is that we actually have a copy of the speech he made to the Senate in Rome at the time, so we can examine his rationale.  Claudius’ argument is basically that being inclusive has always been what has made Rome stronger than its rivals, going right back to their mythological past, when Romulus populated his city with disenfranchised criminals from other communities (and, uh… women that they kidnapped from the next town over).  The Romans believed that everything great about their civilisation had originally been learned or borrowed from someone else – metalworking and irrigation from the Etruscans, infantry combat from the Greeks, shipbuilding from the Carthaginians, etc – so it wasn’t a huge stretch for them to believe that all these people should eventually become part of Rome as citizens (well… the ones who weren’t killed or enslaved in the conquest, anyway – no one ever said the Romans were saints).

The reason Claudius feels he needs to justify all this to the Senate is that citizenship (rather than any of the forms of semi-citizen rights that Romans would sometimes grant to their allies) will make rich Gauls eligible to become Senators themselves, and occupy other high-level posts like provincial governorships.  The decision affects the ethnic composition of the Senate, so even though he doesn’t actually need their permission to do it, he asks as a courtesy (the emperors’ relationship with the Senate is a weird and complicated thing).  Even without being a citizen, you could actually do a great deal in the Roman government in Claudius’ time.  Many of the most important jobs in the empire were ones that had existed during the age of the Republic, when Rome was theoretically a democracy, and all of those were restricted to citizens even after they stopped being elected positions – but there was also an imperial bureaucracy that answered directly to the emperor and his aides, and he was free to choose literally anyone to fill those positions.  As a result, a lot of emperors deliberately picked slaves and former slaves for loads of senior positions, specifically because their lack of citizen rights meant that they could never be political rivals, and because they were a useful counterbalance to the power of the blue-blooded Roman aristocracy.  And, again, slaves can be from basically anywhere.  A lot of these administrative slaves were Greeks, because Greek education provided useful skills for running the imperial bureaucracy that the Romans themselves often didn’t have, but emperors could and did commission literally anyone for these positions.

Eventually the emperor Caracalla (r. AD 211-217) just decided it wasn’t worth keeping track anymore and declared that every freeborn person in the entire empire, which by that point stretched from northern England to Morocco to Romania to Jordan, was now a Roman citizen.  All of these people are now “Romans,” regardless of their language or culture or religion; the only criterion is that they not be slaves or former slaves (and even if they’re former slaves, their children will be Roman citizens).  And these people can move, in ways that were never possible before the Empire existed, because Rome is the first – and so far the last – political entity ever to unite the entire Mediterranean region, which allows them to wipe out piracy almost completely and jump-start trade and travel in ways that would never happen again for over a thousand years.  My own research on Roman glass has led me to encounter glassblowers with Syrian or Jewish names working in northern Italy – people who were probably integral to spreading the technology of glassblowing to western Europe.  The Roman army also moves people around – like, a lot.  You might enlist in your home town in Syria, then serve on Hadrian’s wall and retire in northern England – in fact, we know that this happened because we’ve found stuff like inscriptions in the Aramaic language in Roman Britain.

Also Rome had, like… a whole dynasty of African emperors one time.  Septimius Severus (r. AD 193-211) and his successors were part Italian, part Punic (of Carthaginian descent – ultimately Middle Eastern, since the Carthaginians were originally a Phoenician colony) and part Berber (native North African), and Severus grew up in what is now Tunisia.  And that wasn’t really a big deal for the Romans, 1) because Severus’ Italian ancestry made him a Roman citizen, which trumps all other signifiers of ethnicity, and 2) Rome had already had a couple of emperors of Iberian (= Spanish) descent by this point who were considered some of the best ever, and the Iberians are just as “barbarian” as the Berbers as far as Rome is concerned.  Other Roman emperors of varied ethnicities include Philip (Arabian), Diocletian (Illyrian), the three Gordians (probably Cappadocian), and Elagabalus (Syrian, and incidentally the gayest Roman of all time; like, normally I would warn you to be super cautious about using modern labels like “straight” and “gay” for Romans because they just didn’t think about sexual orientation in those terms, but I make an exception here because Elagabalus was super gay).

Oh, and just because someone will definitely bring it up if I don’t, there was a big fuss in the news a few years back because someone discovered the skeletons of what they claimed were Chinese people living in, of all places, Roman Britain.  And to me, one Chinese family in Britain in the first century AD is not particularly a dramatic stretch of plausibility (a handful of people could easily slip through the historical record and just never be mentioned), but the evidence in this particular case falls some way short of “proof.”  There’s chemical data that suggests these individuals grew up somewhere far away from Britain, which is well and good, but the thing that points specifically to China is not the isotopic analysis but a study of bone morphology, and trying to determine someone’s ethnicity on the basis of what their bones look like, on the universal scale of things that are sketchy, ranks “sketchy as all fµ¢&.”  Again, I’m happy to believe that they exist, because China (Seres in Latin) and Rome (Dà-Qín in Chinese) definitely knew about each other, and we occasionally find Roman artefacts and coins in eastern Asia, or Chinese artefacts in the eastern Roman Empire, but the specific evidence for these individuals isn’t there, in my opinion.

…that was a brief answer.  Let it stand as a warning to others.

#QandA #not pokemon

[worst--jeanist]

using sign language in facfiction

so i’ve been reading ~*fanfiction*~ again and i’ve noticed that with the popularity of d/Deaf and hard of hearing characters and headcanons, there’s also a LOT of mistakes being made. whether its from misinformation, lack of research, or simple oversight, I think it’s important to keep some things in mind.

ive got a simple list type thing below for things to consider when using sign language in fanfiction

**Big Honkin’ Disclaimer!!!*** I am not d/Deaf of hard of hearing! I’m an outsider of the community, but I’ve been taking courses in ASL and Deaf Studies for four years now, and I want to spread what I know to other people who might be interested!! Also, i’m keeping it under the cut so updates can be seen cause i’m SO cure i missed a lot!!

1.) ASL is not universal

ASL stands for American Sign Language and is primarily used by Americans, Canadians (except Quebec). Some other countries have adopted it, including many African countries, and some costal Asian countries, but it remains large exclusive to America and Canada. 

In fandom, you’re likely to come across Japanese Sign Language for Anime, British Sign Language for BBC shows, French Sign Language for some cartoons, etc. etc. Basically, what I’m saying is that if your thing takes place anywhere besides America, look up what kind of sign language they use, and I would recommend even looking up some basic signs to get yourself acquainted with it.

Note: I can’t say for certain because I absolutely do not know if it’s the case with other sign languages, but at least in American Sign Language, sentence structure is very different from it’s spoken language. In English, we might say “I went over to Clarissa’s house yesterday”, but in ASL, it would translate more directly to “Yesterday Clarissa’s house I go.” Whether or not you choose to write in this word order is up to you. Another option might be to simply sum up what they said like:

Jane asked Sarah, “What did you do yesterday?”  Sarah responded that she went to Clarissa’s house.

I, personally, find this the least jarring way to read Deaf characters in print, but that’s just me. It also could avoid a lot of missteps if you’re not familiar enough with the language, especially foreign sign languages!

2.) There are other ways to communicate with deaf and hard of hearing people.

I’ve deadass read fics where character’s S/Os will learn sign language in like. A week. And yeah some basic signs could be picked up in that time, but likely not. Instead of jumping right to “And then his husband learn sign language for him!”, maybe they started somewhere else.

Writing/texting back and forth is a SUPER COMMON AND VERY CONVENIENT way of communicating with a deaf person if you don’t like sign language. I’ve yet to stumble upon a fic where someone is writing cute notes to their S/O like c’MON THAT’S LOST POTENTIAL!!

Gestures go a long way! A lot of signs were born from common gestures, like the sign for “telephone” or “drink”. It’s entirely possible to communicate gesturally to someone without knowing a lick of sign language.

There’s... kind of a lot to say in the way of interpreters so I uuuuh. Okay, as far as fanfic is concerned, the interpreter (Note: the word is “interpreter”, not “translator”) is likely a friend or child because I don’t know who’s writing in RID certified interpreters into their slashfic. But it’s very important that the character is talking to the deaf character and not the interpreter. If that character doesn’t know that, let them learn! It’s fun to read about people knowing things!

Lip-reading and speech-reading is very very difficult and often super inaccurate!!! Especially if the character didn’t grow up deaf or hard of hearing, it’s very difficult to have a conversation with a deaf person who is lipreading. Try it for yourself, it’s SUPER difficult. Hard of hearing characters might have an easier time since residual hearing plays a big part in it but it really rustles my jimmies when deaf/hoh characters are like “haha just talk to me normally, i can read lips :)” when in reality its more like “okay so i can kinda read lips cut can you sit on the other side of me cause there’s more like and also speak slower but don’t over annunciate and also please speak up and can you talk a bit more with your hands so i can get a sense of what you’re talking about and wait im sorry what’s the context again?” followed by many many :can you repeat that?” “what was that again???” JUST BELIEVE ME it’s difficult.

Also remember that a lot of deaf people can’t speak. Also remember that some deaf people can. Also remember that some deaf people don’t “sound” deaf. That’s a whole other can of worms.

 3.) Not all sign language users are d/Deaf.

In an attempt to keep this sign language centric, I want to point out that some other people who use ASL actually might have perfectly function hearing and even speaking mouthparts! Some of these people include autistic people, especially children, people who are mute, people with speech processing disorders, and even people with audio processing disorders. And that’s only the groups of people I can come up with off the top of my head. There are all kinds of people use use sign language, gesture language, etc. in their daily lives. 

4.) Not all d/Deaf people use sign language.

A sad reality is that many many institutions don’t favor the deaf. There are adults who were born deaf and never learned sign language because they weren’t taught it in schools or because they were taught ~*oralism*~ which was heavily pioneered by Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone and husband to a deaf woman. Not entirely relevant, but interesting. Oralism is the practice of forcing speech and lip-reading onto deaf people, where classes were spent teaching deaf people to speak rather than to sign. In some oralist schools, sign language is even flat-out banned. 

A YouTuber that I really love, Jessica Kellgren-Fozard, talks about how her school would provide a BSL interpreter, but not BSL lessons while she was going deaf. And that is a sad reality. In some American school systems, deaf children simply sit through class and kind of. Hope that they get whats going on because their school won’t teach them sign language. And, just as sadly, a V A S T majority of hearing parents to deaf children simply won’t learn sign for their kids and instead enforce oralist ideals on them at home. 

5.) *blink-182 voice* All the small things

-pls stop saying you “speak” sign language. you use sign language. I know it sounds a little weird but trust me, speaking sign language sounds even more physically impossible

-hearing aids are not a cure all. Someone isn’t just suddenly hearing because they have hearing aids

-same with cochlear implants but i aint never seen that one in a fanfic. look into it tho it’s a rly interesting debate

I’m gonna be updating this as people have any questions, but i think this is some pretty basic stuff to get started with!

#fanfic #bnha #(cause i basically wrote this bc of stuff i saw in bnha fanfic lmao)