carareblogsthings

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hear me out wheel

step 1: spin the wheel step 2:

i left out a LOT of characters i found way too conveniently attractive on this one. have fun

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am always obsessed when someone says to a character “call off your dog” about another character.

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Personally I think YYYY/MM/DD has a charm to it, increasing levels of specificity from right to left.

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I'm so fascinated by languages with different levels of formality built in because it immediately introduces such complex social dynamics. The social distance between people is palpable when it's built right into the language, in a way it's not really palpable in English.

So for example. I speak Spanish, and i was taught to address everyone formally unless specifically invited otherwise. People explained to me that "usted" was formal, for use with strangers, bosses, and other people you respect or are distant from, while "tú" is used most often between family and good friends.

That's pretty straightforward, but it gets interesting when you see people using "tú" as a form of address for flirting with strangers, or for picking a fight or intimidating someone. In other languages I've sometimes heard people switch to formal address with partners, friends or family to show when they are upset. That's just so interesting! You're indicating social and emotional space and hierarchy just in the words you choose to address the other person as "you"!!

Not to mention the "what form of address should I use for you...?" conversation which, idk how other people feel about it, but to me it always felt awkward as heck, like a DTR but with someone you're only just becoming comfortable with. "You can use tú with me" always felt... Weirdly intimate? Like, i am comfortable around you, i consider you a friend. Like what a vulnerable thing to say to a person. (That's probably also just a function of how i was strictly told to use formal address when i was learning. Maybe others don't feel so weird about it?)

And if you aren't going to have a conversation about it and you're just going to switch, how do you know when? If you switch too soon it might feel overly familiar and pushy but if you don't switch soon enough you might seem cold??? It's so interesting.

Anyway. As an English-speaking American (even if i can speak a bit of Spanish), i feel like i just don't have a sense for social distance and hierarchy, really, simply because there isn't really language for it in my mother tongue. The fact that others can be keenly aware of that all the time just because they have words to describe it blows my mind!

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People can’t handle ways of living that are different from theirs. They can’t even handle the thought that people who aren’t daily shower takers live among them and they haven’t even noticed.

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5 minutes of pure comedy gold

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Ikuhara's Episode Commentary: 14: "The Boys of the Black Rose"

I saw a certain horror movie when I was in middle school. There was a secret mortuary in an underground chamber, and the dead were electronically transmitted (!), still in their coffins, to the “other world,” where they were forced into slavery.

The movie’s story was utterly absurd, but the division of the world into opposite poles of “living” and “dead” felt real to me, somehow.

Our world has been spoken of in bipolar fashion for ages.

In my student days, there was a popular book that compared the “affluent” with the “non-affluent,” and sorted everything into categories called “loaded” and “broke.” It was the bubble era, and the aim of the book was probably to get a laugh by saying “They call us wealthy, but our lifestyle’s practically in the trash can!”

But for some reason, I couldn’t laugh.

Years later, the phrase “the winning side” was popular in the media. I thought it was horrid. And sure enough, people started using the opposite phrase “the losing side” as a masochistic joke. I still couldn’t laugh, though.

One day, a girl I saw on TV said, “There are only two types of people in this world: the ones who are chosen and the ones who aren’t chosen.”

That gave me a start.

“To not be chosen is to die,” said the girl.

I decided to try my hand at that.

The Black Rose arc.

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Arcane season 2 is full of great moments that were simply unearned.

Specifically right now I'm thinking about the big moment between Jayce and Viktor, where Jayce says something about Viktor not needing to fix his imperfections.

It's a great moment, and it speaks to a character arc that never really happened.

Originally, Viktor didn't feel great about his illness, sure, but it was mainly that he didn't want to die. He wasn't obsessing over perfection, he just wanted to keep living.

Then, as soon as it's shown what he's dealing with, as soon as Skye dies, he gives that up. He would rather die himself than keep exploring this dangerous technology.

Then he "dies" for the first time and gets brought back using the hexcore. At this point he's not really Viktor anymore, but at his core the Jesus Viktor isn't chasing perfection, he's just trying to help people. He's portrayed as a kind man trying to make a good place in a bad world.

He "dies" again and comes back the Machine Herald, with barely a spark of the man he once was. At this point he is chasing perfection, but it's a new pursuit, caused by his "death" at Jayce's hands. He concludes that humanity is incompatible with his goals. But at this point he's barely even Viktor.

I feel like the whole "imperfections make you beautiful" thing would have worked if Viktor's fatal flaw was dehumanizing himself in the pursuit of hypothetical perfection, but he didn't do that. He was trying to not die, and after that his transformations occurred against his will. He didn't need to be told that he was perfect just the way he was, he needed people to stop blowing him up.

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hi i'm really good at controlling my facial expression and keeping it pleasantly normal and mysterious. also one time i looked at someone and she got so startled she fell off a bridge. what was that about lmao

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WIBTA for taking advantage of my boss’ possible manic episode?

I know this already sounds bad but hear me out.

So I (30M) am the sole employee of this guy (62M) who’s honestly just a miserable boss and an even more miserable person. It sucks so bad working for him—the pay is horrendous, he’s verbally abusive, and the working conditions are awful (in the winter I literally have to stay bundled up the whole work day because he refuses to put the heat on in the office). He wouldn’t even give me holidays off if it wasn’t for the fact that there’s basically nothing to do those days because everywhere else is closed. I’m almost positive he unironically thinks poor people should die if they can’t work. His nephew (aka his only living relative and just the nicest guy) came by yesterday to invite him to Christmas dinner and he told him he’d see him in hell.

I cannot stress this enough—it’s BAD. I’d quit, but it’s been hard finding a better job and I’ve got four kids at home, including one with special needs.

Anyway, so here’s where I’m wondering if I’d be the asshole. Today was Christmas Day and he showed up at my house out of nowhere (huge red flag, I know). At first I thought he’d forgotten I had the day off and he was here to chew me out, which was worrying enough, but then his whole demeanor changed and he was super happy and excited and talking about how he was going to raise my salary. He even mentioned possibly making me a partner in the firm.

Now if that was it, I’d feel a little weird about the suddenness of it but it’d be fine. I’m not going to complain about having more money to feed my family. But then he started talking about how he wanted to pay our mortgage off. He talked about wanting to pay for our son to get the very expensive medical care that’s probably going to save his life. He mentioned at one point that he was going to be donating a huge amount of money to charity too—I knew he was rich but it staggered me. All this from a guy who doesn’t (didn’t?) even want to turn on the heat or the lights because it costs too much money.

It was such a sudden and drastic change that happened very literally overnight and now I’m kind of concerned he’s having a manic episode or something. I really, really want to accept his sudden generosity (I probably will; my wife is all for it and thinks he owes it to us), and I would love to believe that he’s truly had a sudden change of heart (an actual Christmas miracle lol) but I’m just worried about the possible consequences of accepting huge financial gifts like this from someone who I believe might be experiencing some kind of break from reality. Even if there’s nothing legally wrong with it, I’m worried about the ethics of it.

TLDR, my asshole boss might be in the middle of a mental breakdown. WIBTA if I accepted his offer to pay off my mortgage and my son’s medical expenses?

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it’s safe to say i think about this video at least four times a day, i can quote almost the whole thing from memory

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people who don't follow chess I promise this post is really funny

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never forget the universal rule of the order of things: People Will Not Read It

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We'll drink a cup of kindness yet, For auld lang syne

It's a Wonderful Life (1946) dir. Frank Capra