weepingexpertstudent

[weepingexpertstudent]

i know “go be in the Trees and your depression will be fixed” is bullshit. but honestly i think a lot of things would be a little better if we spent more time with things like dirt and small streams and leaves. when you’re inside it’s easy to forget how raw and elementally wondrous the world is. how many colors there are and types of crunches that leaves make, and how many living things. how many things have smells and how different they all are.

It’s really like, youll see a large flock of birds take flight with a FWOOM of wings exploding all at once and it’s like. this is the largest emotion I have ever felt

[weepingexpertstudent]

coffee break on my marble table☕ currently reading a book in french about a french teacher/public figure that lives in south korea and talks about her journey. my mom sent me a copy of this book because after my master’s degree i might go to korea to work! | more on my instagram: thomreads

[weepingexpertstudent]

Spotify Playlists

Music is a great way to practice your target language, I listen to music a lot when working or translating; There have been times I study new vocab and get to recognize some words thanks to music. I wanted to share with you some of the playlists I listen to. Now then, Lyrics are also a great help when learning a language, I suggest “Spotify Lyrics”, it’s free to download at syncs with Spotify;  lyrics won’t show up sometimes (It depends on how popular is the song you are playing) Download: https://github.com/fr31/spotifylyrics Spanish (Spain):

 https://open.spotify.com/user/1277540242/playlist/0SCnpfCXfOudgambwaToKb Spanish (Latinoamerica):

 https://open.spotify.com/user/filtr.pt/playlist/0e51Q4fsXBCkI1wrZfCkKs French:

 https://open.spotify.com/user/alexandrasavior_official/playlist/5fqG9yLtUHjmXEcUSrSw5Q

German: 

https://open.spotify.com/user/12147752347/playlist/5NUUIzrDVoZWbjDIrD9D5t

Japanese:

https://open.spotify.com/user/1280834311/playlist/4bhzKJQ77vmmrisepRGno5

Chinese:  https://open.spotify.com/user/1280834311/playlist/5I2now82EEnkhWONQwo6q4

That’s it for me, please feel free to add your playlists so we can share new music and practice our target languages!!  

[weepingexpertstudent]

“the ways you have learned to survive may not be the ways you wish to continue to live“

[weepingexpertstudent]

Ulla Thynell - just love ‘m

[weepingexpertstudent]

body positivity has largely failed because people started arguing for attractiveness and romantic prospects instead of respect and dignity

[weepingexpertstudent]

top ten original animes? (i want some recs for Christmas)

Cowboy bebop

Psycho pass

Avatar - The last Airbender

Avatar - The legend of Korra

Ergo Proxy

Samurai Champloo

Hamatora

K project

Jigoku Shoujo

Terror in Resonance

No idea if it’s really a top ten, but these titles are what came to mind when I saw your ask. :) 

Enjoy your holidays, Anon! ^3^

[weepingexpertstudent]

Salam. What makes you so sure that God exists? And even if God exists, what makes you so sure that the Qur'an is from God? I struggle a lot with this...

Wa alykum as-salaam,

I struggled too, so don’t worry, that’s the first thing I’d say. I talked about my own struggles (here) if you want to read, but besides those points I’d have to say that my belief in God comes from The Perfection that is The Qur’an.

The beauty of the language in The Qur’an is truly astounding, and there are little parts, like...

Let me give you an example of a Qur’anic Miracle:

The beginning of Surat Ar-Rum refers to something that doesn’t make that much sense if you’re just reading it, even in Arabic (waaaaoooowwww).

The first few ayahs go:

“Defeated have been the Byzantines

in the lands close-by; yet it is they who, notwithstanding this their defeat, shall be victorious

within a few years: [for with God rests all power of decision, first and last.*And on that day will the believers [too, have cause to] rejoice“ [30:2-4]

So, uh, what do you do with this? Allow me to explain, utilizing resources, like Muhammad Asad’s Tafsir!

So at the time, the Byzantines (Ar-Rum or the Romans) are fighting the Persians. The Romans are Christians, so they’re monotheistic, and the Persians are pagans, so they are polytheistic. The war isn’t going so well for the Romans.

So this war is happening during this time. So in 613 the Persians took Damascus, in 614 they took Jerusalem, around 615-616 they take Egypt, and at the same time, the Persians are laying siege to Constantinople, the capital of the Romans. These Ayahs were revealed around 616, in the seventh year of Hijrah. Things aren’t looking good for the Romans.

Now, why is this important? Because the Muslims are cheering on the Romans, and the pagan Arabs are cheering on the Persians, because they are championing their worldview (monotheistic vs polytheistic) and the superiority of the Persians made the pagans feel superior to their Muslim counterparts.

When these ayahs came out, the Romans looked like they were about to be destroyed. So, the Muslims are cheering for their “team” and the pagans are cheering for their “team” and it’s like the Lakers/Celtics vs. Celtics/Lakers (whoever you prefer, I made this mistake in LA) and so these ayahs are like God saying:

“Hey, I know the Lakers/Celtics are losing by 3,000 points with 15 seconds to go, but the Lakers/Celtics are actually going to beat the Celtics/Lakers.”

What would you say to that?

“Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffft yeah right!”

Right?

So, you see how I put a * in the fourth ayah? Well in The Qur’an, God uses the word bid’ which is commonly referred to as “a few.” The word, in Arabic, denotes any number between three and ten, and in 622–six or seven years after The Qur’anic prediction–the tide turned for the Romans. By 624 the Roman Emperor had carried war into the Persian territory, and by 626, ten years after this ayah was revealed, the Persian armies were completely defeated by the Romans.

So, yeah, for me, it’s things like that. That sort of perfection

Now, what works for me, might not work for you. Some people do the whole “scientific proofs of za Izlam!” That doesn’t really do anything for me, mostly because I know six scientific facts and seven of them are wrong, but the reality is that your approach to belief in God has to be rooted in knowing yourself.

Why?

Because you’re the one who has to navigate that relationship with God, and I think what’s beautiful about Islam is that pathway to God is different for everyone, and even better, is that Islam provides those avenues.

Some people are really spiritual, in that, they truly feel God’s presence and connect with God on that level.

I’ll be honest with you, I’m not the type of person, to me, belief in God is rooted in knowledge and so my process was different. And the awesome part is that Islam does not have the dogmatic approach to how you attain to belief, because the pathways to God are infinite.

But I think you have to know yourself first so that you can approach God in a way that will actually make sense to you. You have the desire, it’s the reason you sent me a question. Maybe you’re confused, maybe you feel you are leaning to another direction, but the desire is there--many times we are afraid of not believing in God, but it’s really about us not believing God in the way that others people have framed it, and when those people are close to us (parents, family, etc) it can seem scary and daunting.

The reality is that you have to make that relationship and that belief make sense to you and your mindset.

Does that make sense?

[weepingexpertstudent]

“Hurry and find your path. Once you know where you are heading, you won’t be lost anymore.”

— Ashita no Ousama

[weepingexpertstudent]

“There is truth and then again there is truth. For all that the world is full of people who go around believing they’ve got you or your neighbor figured out, there really is no bottom to what is not known. The truth about us is endless. As are the lies.” - Philip Roth, The Human Stain

[weepingexpertstudent]

Haha… this.

I watch the anime endings and the thing that’s stuck with me about them is how they tend to focus on how Dazai is showing the affection and positive reinforcement to Atsushi that he’s actively denying to Akutagawa. 

And here… in the second ED, we have Dazai finally reach out and make that reassuring gesture to Akutagawa. And tellingly, Akutagawa is… he doesn’t seem sure on how to take this. Is it real? Is Dazai going to take it away again? Say that it didn’t happen, or that it wasn’t what he thought it was? 

And on Dazai’s side… I’ve seen people say that the series doesn’t show him developing as a character, but the thing there is that so much of his development is shown through subtleties, and through the ways that other people are affected by his actions and choices.

Here, we have symbolism that Dazai is accepting and admitting that he was wrong in the past, and wishes to change, and make amends. Perhaps it won’t come across in ways that most people would recognise, so it’s hard for them to see; but Dazai is someone to whom expressing emotions normally is awkward, and uncomfortable. You have to accommodate for that. Adjust how you look for those proofs of change.

[weepingexpertstudent]

“Not all battles are fought for victory. Some are fought simply to tell the world that someone was there on the battle field.” - Ravish Kumar

[weepingexpertstudent]

“The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge” - Isaac Asimov

[weepingexpertstudent]

“Fuck me. I’m so tired of being me. Me beautiful. Me ugly. Blonde. Brunette. A million fucking fashion makeovers that only leave me trapped being me. Who I was before the accident is just a story now. Everything before now, before now, before now, is just a story I carry around. I guess that would apply to anybody in the world. What I need is a new story about who I am. What I need to do is fuck up so bad I can’t save myself.” - Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters

[weepingexpertstudent]

“A Thread of Tips” by Shelby

• #16 is missing but to find out more tips, follow her on twitter; be sure to thank her! 😁

[weepingexpertstudent]

20 popular SMUT shoujo/josei manga in Japan up until now that deserve anime adaptation (MOST HAS GOOD STORY)

Game - Suit No Sukima (both try dating bcuz they can’t feel love)

Hatsunetsu Libido (the innocence & smexiness all mixed together in this)

Ichirei Shite Kiss Shite (bow sports with angsty romance)

Himitsu No Ai-chan (come on this is very popular!!)

Mikami Sensei No Aishikata/Itoshikata (cildhood friend x teacher)

4-Gatsu No Kimi Spica (after love triangle arc ends this manga is a bliss!)

Teito Hatsukoi Shinjuu  (newlyweds life with her mysterious husband)

Kurosaki-kun No Iinari Ni Nante Naranai (Got live action. Dont give up on this manga bcuz it gets better later on, almost dropped this, glad i didn’t)

Love Phantom (every work of this mangaka never fails to hook me in)

Kekkon x Renai (the heroine is a widow, now her late husband’s younger brother propose to her, angsty romance which is very close to my heart)

Biyaku Cafe (plus this has lots of couples as main character) 

Motokare Retry by Hanaya En (the ex couples try to be a couple again )

Ano Ko No Toriko (not reading this yet but yep this is very popular in Japan)

Coffee & Vanilla (can’t stand the heroine but omg the male mc is husband material af that why i can’t bring myself to drop this)

Black Bird (DO I NEED TO EXPLAIN THIS TO YOU?)

Ousama ni Sasagu Kusuriyubi - Married couples corporate life

Hapi Mari (Let me smack you if you haven;t heard about this)

Mitsuyokon Tsukumogami no Yomegoryou (GO READ THIS NOW ASAP)

(Set in modern world, but the husband is an immortal being from other world)

the artstyle is beautiful, just trust me! Dont judge a book by its cover

Toge Ni Kuchizuke (another interesting newlyweds josei smut)

Hadashi De Bara Wo Fume (Back in my time this is extremely famous)

[weepingexpertstudent]

“I don’t think that every villain in the world actually thinks they’re being a good guy, but I do think that everybody creates a value system that justifies the actions they’re taking, and and I think there’s a difference between those two things. Not everybody believes that they’re on the side of righteousness, but everybody has a way of justifying the actions they’re taking. Not every villain has to be a misunderstood hero, and in fact I think there are a lot of instances throughout history of people who were obviously doing the wrong thing and probably had an understanding of that on some level, but had some rationale or justification for it. A lot of villains in literature and media have these weird, Thanos-esque philosophies of what it is that they’re trying to do, and I think human motivation tends to come from more primal places than that. So a lot of the villains I write can be brilliant or clever (and, in fact, probably should be), but their motivation tends to be primal. They wanna be rich, they wanna have power, they wanna live forever. There’s something deep down that is, when you break it down, not too complex. Right? If you look at the real world, the people that are doing bad stuff don’t need complex motivations. They wanna rule the world! They wanna be rich! They wanna be unafraid that other people can ever screw them over, so they screw other people over. Evil is boring. Right? I kinda believe in the banality and mundanes of evil. Evil is just selfish impulses, which at the end of the day are really easy to understand. It’s easy to understand why people do bad things. It’s like “yeah, ok, you’re selfish and scared and cruel, I get it”. Being good is complex and beautiful and hard.”

—

Brennan Lee Mulligan, when asked how to create villains for ttrpgs

(I found this quote to be really meaningful in like…life in general which is why I posted it here. When he said “evil is boring”, it felt like something clicked in me that I had known deep down but hadn’t had the words for.)