#'come to this work event we'll feed you!!' for me always just means 'pack a PB&honey sandwich bc god knows it's the only thing that'll last

[anonprotagging]

hahh........ one thing about being celiac (and having unusual allergies in general) is just,,,,, no one thinks about it when they bring food to share with other people and it always gets really awkward

like this happens all the time with my work, classes, etc, even if I've mentioned it several times,,,, so then I always feel like a dick because I have to be like "oh you brought that for me...... I can't eat it but it looks amazing and I appreciate the thought!! 🥲"

and then I also feel left out because everyone else is sharing a meal and I'm in the corner with maybe a water and multiple people are like "hey!! why don't you have some food, you want me to get you a plate? :)" and then I feel like even more of a jerk because I'm having to reject everyone for that even though I know it's literally not my fault and no one would care if it were like, a peanut or seafood allergy 😭😭😭

[mint-yooxgi]

Rover was fantastic! The story building, pacing, technicalities and sheer work that went into it- bravo!

It definitely was NOT my type of story but I couldn't help but get roped in. It took me about 20 minutes to read but if feels like I just watched a two hour film! You said this was made to make us feel things, and feel things I did!

First of all, Jongin was such a shitty man. I don’t care whatever justifications there were, he did NOT belong with reader. There were many microdetails (that Kai picked up on throughout the entire piece) that showed how severly neglected reader was. My heart broke during the lovemaking scene because that was ALL for Jongin. She wanted all of that but only from Jongin. She really had the wool pulled over her eyes and coming from such a damaged home, she deserved better!

Kai wasn't faultless either. I expected he didn't truly love reader but I'll get into that later. From the time it mentioned he used other women to ease his pain, it had me going hmmm. Kai did love her deeply, but more as an idea or possession. As reader said, he wanted to own her. Of course he would, he's never had anything of his own! He loved her 'first' as he said. He should know that first doesn’t matter when it comes to love. Unfortunately for reader, who loved her first and who loved her best, who loved her at all, these still were not pure love. It was a selfish love that served Jongin and Kai and their sick inferiority complexes. Reader truly loved Jongin though, ohhhh my heart aches for her. The tenderness and forgiveness, she was such a rock and safe place- one that was taken for granted and used time and time again, a pawn in a game between brothers.

What a ride! Thank you soooo much for a whopping 25k whole ass movie hahah. I followed for the yandere!yeosang but this pulled me in and had me cursing madly at my screen almost the entire time. Reader is my sunshine and Jongin and Kai can go fuck themselves 🤬. Fantastic story telling and AMAZING plot set up. From the mission to all the happenings inbetween. The amount of details packed in this story was jaw dropping. I'm in awe! Also the thriller/horror elements were great. I liked the perspective you used, letting the reader know that Jongin was NOT Jongin and having to watch reader be fooled. Also, the part about the rings, when reader sounds Kai out and makes him admit that he killed his brother. And the part where she says their trademark line and Kai says the sun has already risen. Genius! I like that you had Kai be crazy in the end and didn't have the reader feed into his delusions that he's a savior of sorts or a 'better man'. A mad who loved her wouldn't have pointed a gun at her, he wouldn't put his love before her life. Absolutely AMAZING! thank you for writing and sharing it!

Oh my goodness! Thank you so very much for such a lovely message!! I remember seeing it come in last night before I went to sleep and it made my entire evening - I couldn't stop giggling and kicking my feet like a cricket beneath my sheets hehehe

First of all, thank you so much for reading even though it wasn't your type of story!! The fact that you even gave it a chance, and then sent me this lovely ask about it afterwards means the world to me!

Oh yeah, Jongin was definitely not a good person. Neither was Kai, nor OC a lot of the times. Just unhealthy dynamics all around honestly! And yes!!! Exactly!!! OC always wanted that 'lovey-dovey romantic talk' but Jongin would never give it to her. It's part of what makes the events in this story such a tragedy, because now we'll never know if Jongin was even capable of giving that to the OC. Oc truly did deserve better!

I absolutely adore your observations on Kai and Jongin's relationship dynamics with the OC and how they had a selfish, self-fulfilling love of her. I'm literally smiling rereading everything you have to say, and I enjoy how you were able to pick up on the subtle things I write into the story!! Thank you so much!!

I cannot thank you enough for leaving such wonderful feedback for me, it truly means a lot that you enjoyed the story!! I really do appreciate it so much!! I hope to continue producing stories like this in the future which are just as captivating and thought-provoking as this one.

Until then, happy reading!! 🥰

[sagebodisattva]

Severe Condemnation of Mediocrity

Yeah, it's a shame to have to say this, but somebody's got to do it. Not only for your own good, but also just to go on record as someone in the masses that finally said what needed to be said, concerning the pervasive permeation of rampant vapidity that has saturated the human consciousness. So, you know, the ole roll up the sleeves dirty job requirement thing.

The most shallow superficial individuals with the lowest intelligence concern themselves with people and gossip, the moderately shallow superficial ones with average intelligence concern themselves with places and events, but the truly wise conceptually deep ones with the highest intelligence concern themselves with concepts and ideas. I say this because sometimes people ask me:

“Sage, how come you never do videos about people or current events?”

And, I have to tell you, the reason is simple; because that kind of content is trite, shallow, superficial, air headed, mediocrity, that only appeals to the lowest common denominator; which means, of course, the majority; of which, I have absolutely no interest in appeasing, nor to whom, the appetite of which, I will not be catering to. I am here to wake people up from delusion, not to enable sleeping lemmings to get more comfortable in their delusion by serving up predictable cheesy junk food entertainment that telegraphs all its intentions, so as to be more easily consumed by lazy sedentary brains, that love to get banged over the head with sophomoric catchy unchallenging candy coated tripe, so as to mask the inner quiet desperation with some fake outward appearance of arrogant clever self satisfaction, which upholds a contrived self image as being one who is among those who fit in, and are accepted into some smug group, that imagines itself to be just so great, because it attracts so many others of the same type, of which, you can be sure, is a whole lotta people.

This is the essence of mediocrity, and it's not anything to applaud, condone, encourage or feed into. Mediocrity is the death knell of artistry and creativity, and is a omen of bloated decadence and the rapid decay of intelligence, wisdom, philosophy and mindfulness. We should be careful when maintaining standards of quality to not reward mediocrity, for this only gives it more motivation to repeat itself, which is what it's best at, for one of the great hallmarks of mediocrity is the constant rehash and regurgitation of anything that was previously popular; and in this regard, mediocrity knows no decency, or shame. It will beat a dead horse into a pulp, and then take the pulp and make it into a smoothie, and after you throw that up, it will take the vomit and incorporate it into an energy drink.

This is the degraded state of mainstream pop culture, which began it's gradual degenerative descent into insipid superficiality in 1980, and has gotten regressively worse and worse upon each passing decade. Things got so lame that, after 1999, we even lost our creativity in the clothing styles that usually reflects the particular flavor of bubblegum that represents the pop culture zeitgeist of a decade, which you would think would be the bread and butter. Have you noticed that? If you look at the 50's, 60's, 70's. 80's and 90's, each decade has it's own unique style, but does anything really come to mind when you think about 2000 to 2009? What about 2010 to today? Anything? I can't really think of anything, other then just a mish mash rehash of past styles. There's no more distinct style accompanying the decades anymore. Everything now is either just streamlined brand names and commercial logos, or a x-factor, hipster, socio-historical grab bag of random appropriation, or just the usual formal business attire. Not that I really care all that much, but it is a demonstration of the decline of creativity via the saturation and satiation of mediocrity on the masses, which dilutes, or dries up completely, the wellspring of primary source content and original expression.

And you know that the mediocrity has reached epic proportions, with the reality shows the way they are nowadays, along with all the various parades of side shows freaks, drama queens and attention whores. It's gotten so bad, that they even do FAKE reality shows now. That's right. TV is gonna go to great lengths to indulge your need for sniffing other people's dirty underwear, and providing you with a role model archetype you can identify with, so that you may properly vicariously indulge in all the attention whoring and drama pornography, even if it mean it has to stage events to appear real. Sound familiar? This is seems to be related to a theme we find present here in this reality. This gusto for lies and fakery. Much of the time you even know it's a lie, but you love it anyway. We love fake people and fake personalities, because we are not self accepting people. We hide our pure natures behind the superficial facades of luxury, plastic surgery and extravagant lifestyles. And we keep ourselves happily sedated in this shallow fluff by consuming large amounts of prescription drugs and mainstream popular culture. And, isn't it curious that the biological definition of culture is: the cultivation of bacteria, tissue cells, etc., in an artificial medium containing nutrients. Artificial. Got the drift? And so, who is the most popular bacterium of the day? All the sheep want to know.

Yes, sheep. As in, sheeple. It's always been kind of a cool way to refer to the adherents of mediocre conformity, but I always had my own little pejorative label that I liked much better than the sheeple, which has grown into a bit of a cliche. I have always called them, the Ones. I call them the ones because they are the ones that all agree, and they are also called the ones because they are all like little metaphorical number 1's, uniformly basic, all running around in giant packs of identical meaning and purpose. What are all the ones watching? What are all the ones listening to? What does the latest poll by all the ones reveal? Which contestant have all the ones voted off the show? Because, you must be like all the ones. All the ones agree on this. Don't find yourself in opposition to all the ones. All the ones might pass a new law to crush your individuality. Cause you must be like all the ones. You must be like all the ones and (X8)....

So, to appeal to all the ones must mean that you are successful, right? To be celebrated by the lowest common denominator has become the measure of greatness. When all the clones love you, you know you have achieved something magnificent. You are now a popular mainstream product of pop culture mediocrity. Congratulations! Obviously, your appeal must be a reflection of good taste, because all the ones approve of what you are doing. You are normal, non-threatening, and unchallenging to the ones sensibilities, and thereby fit for mass consumption, and other such facilities. Because you know how bubble gum logic works, if it's popular, then that must mean that it's the best. That it's better then all the alternatives. That it's top shelf, crème de la crème, right? Yeah. And that's why fast food cheeseburgers are so much better then filet mignon. This is why junk food is so much better then gourmet cuisine. Are we to believe this? Come now. It's not better, it's just cheaper. Easier. Flashier. It's mediocre. Which, at best, just means supremely average.

How does something like that sound to you? You are so stupendously average. Quite Ordinary. Unremarkable. Standard. Normal. Typical. Regular. Are these descriptors getting you horny yet? No. Popular doesn't mean better. It means mediocre. Which, from the perspective of the refined aesthetics of a creative discerning mind, means complete and utter artistic failure. You got that? Under most circumstances, with few exceptions, popularity means epic fail. Artistically, popularity isn't indicative of success, but of a failure that is obscured by a sort of ironic condescending mocking lionization. Behind all the applause and smiling faces is the secret desire to see your downfall. This is why so many artists who were lauded and celebrated and pushed to the heights of praise and attention are promptly kicked and dragged through the dirt the second they are down. The media and paparazzi just love that, don't they. Like buzzards and vultures circling a fresh corpse. That's why they celebrate you so hard when you're on the way up. It's fresh meat. A future meal. Another mediocre subject for them to rip apart and play in the innards.

You feel bad when you see this happen to someone like Marlon Brando, but not so bad when you see it happen to anyone in this new crop of snarky millennials, who knew or blew their way to the top because it was always their dream to have the lifestyle of an artist. You dig that? The lifestyle. Actual artistry is a glossed over afterthought. They don't have much talent, but talent doesn't matter if you have a really good looking superficial appearance! Don't worry about talent, we got teleprompters and auto tune for that. What we'll loosely call your so called body of work, is really just generic filler to justify the lifestyle of a pop star, which is more important and incidentally, the subject of a new reality TV show, where the lifestyle is the feature showcase of the show! And have you seen one of these shows? They are expositions that provoke misanthropy, which is why they are best avoided; for they inspire the desire for bloodsport. They make you root in favor of the media vultures, and even want to assist them, by sharpening their talons and feeding them cocaine. Give you some privacy? Please. You got what you signed up for, so don't sneer and push the photographers, lest you get thrown to the lions. Yeah. I'm in favor of bringing back the colosseum games wherein reality TV stars and their ilk must engage in gladiator battles to the death. Now that would be something to celebrate!

And speaking of celebrating, the crypto semantics of which brings us the word "celebrity", it's amazing how mediocrity, which works so little and contributes works of such little value, feels it needs to be praised and awarded on a regular basis. You know... The type of mediocrity that is so average and so propped up by nepotistic handicapped assistance that it just simply deserves to be showered by various awards granted from itself to itself!! There's nothing better in the whole wide world then mediocrity patting itself on the back and bestowing itself mediocrity awards. A reward for a job well done, right? And they call this professionalism, which is a real slap to the intelligence. More like professional mediocrity.

But do you know what the real kick to the kidneys is? If you look up the word mediocrity in the dictionary, it's lists as a related synonym: amateur. And this is a common misconception and misassociation, as, obviously most people don't understand the meaning of the word, as it's often wrongly used to indicate a meaning of one being green or unskilled or of lame creative abilities, as we have often heard it spoken in response to displays of buffoonery to "knock it off and stop acting so amateur"... amateur doesn't mean unskilled. It means someone who does something out of a love for doing it, as opposed to the professional, who does something out of a love of profit, which automatically means it just has to be better, right? Making an amateur mistake means that you haven't been thoroughly trained on how to produce to the cookie cutter standard. You aren't formula enough. You need to become more predictable, less thoughtful and cater to someone else's standards. That's funny, considering so many of the styles and techniques that come naturally to the amateur are often later adopted and replicated by the so called professionals. The amateur has heart. The professional wants money. And that's exactly why the quality of all these mainstream projects has gone so low. The motive of profit almost always necessarily equates into a decline in quality and substance. And this truth pervades all arenas of human achievement. Ask yourself, what kind of doctor would you like treating you, or operating on you, one that loved what he was doing, or one that was just doing it just because he loves the paycheck? And what kind of politician would you want representing you, one that loves and serves the people? Or one that will use the office to benefit himself and his corporate pimps? Profit is a recipe that poisons the well. But with art it's even more of a factor that will determine quality. When you are pushing out content for profit you have basically become a pimp who is prostituting an art form, which drastically cheapens everything, despite the million dollar budget, and that's really an unfortunate shame.

And it’s really all quite depressing; which is why I’m done talking about it now... but, uh, yeah it kinda had to be said and uh, I had to say to say it. It was really not really pleasant. But I, you know, had to really deconstruct it. Chop it up, and slice it the other way... into little cubes. Can’t have that. Too much. Too much facade; it has to be chopped. You know? It’s bad enough there’s a facade; but a facade on steroids? No, it has to be chopped, sorry.