#7 to 7 classes really does something to your mental health

[kazucee]

cee i missed u cee i missed u and kou interactions 😟🤍

@luvether our flirting is missed apparently?

I missed you so much as well solvi ♡ college is literally not holding back. I hope you're well (and I literally adore your theme as of the moment. TAKING A BITE OUT OF IT NOM) I remember being so down in the dumps because of a class and then getting on here just to see what my moots are up too and I read a couple of fics (yet to be rb'd and liked and worshipped) and it made me feel a whole lot better (yes your tsukki drabble included, THE ONE WHERE HE TAKES OFF HIS GLASSES WHEN HE KISSES YOU. I WENT INSANE) anyways sorry for the ramble TT (it's nice to come back to this comment. I wish you all the best love)

[just-a-ghost00]

Advice on manifesting your desired reality

Group 1 🌸 Group 2 🌷 Group 3 🌼

Group 1 🌸 Oh I never meant to brag ~

Shufflemancy : Rollin Limp Bizkit, The Search NF, Misery Business Paramore

Cards : King of pentacles, 3 of pentacles, 8 of pentacles

With all this emphasis put on earth related cards the major theme here is grounding. You need to ground yourself in your current reality to be able to see it clearly. Another think I’m picking up on is consistency. You may have a hard time focusing on one task at a time or being consistent in your efforts. It is really important that you deal with that. You are encouraged to work in cooperation with people around you. Isolating yourself is not the best strategy for you at the moment. You are encouraged to rely on your community and exchange with others, especially when it comes to your career. Teamwork makes the dream work. You are encouraged to study, to rely on your mentors. Their could be a masculine figure around you that can provide constructive criticism and help you improve in the areas you are wishing to work on. Standing your ground and being in your grounded masculine energy will help you manifest your desired reality. That would be true especially if you have major earth placements in your chart. I’m mainly picking up on Taurus energy. There needs to be more balance in your energy exchanges with people and situations. If you are currently spending more time and energy in one area of your life you are asked to focus on other priorities to restore the balance. Also, be confident about yourself. Spirit is saying you need to put an end to that impostor syndrom or modesty. I feel like some of you do not allow yourself to be successful because of how others would perceive you. You’re afraid that people around you will not appreciate you being more successful than them so you maintain yourself in a position that does not suit you. Your guides want to warn you that dimming your light for others won’t make them love or respect you more. It is time that you express your true power and claim your throne.

Group 2 🌷 Do whatever we want oh we don’t give a…

Shufflemancy : Stray Kids SKZ, Galaxy Kid Travis, Eye on you Wonho

Cards : ace of pentacles, Chariot, 7 of swords

You are advised to keep your projects and ideas to yourself and move swiftly forward without a sound. Take the opportunities that come your way if it feels right to do so without giving notice to anyone around you until you make it. I am getting that many of you are often times deterred from doing something that would benefit them because of the pessimism of others. There are people around you that do not have your best interest at heart. These people might not realize it or some may be very well aware of what they’re doing. Under the disguise of wanting what’s best for you, they prevent you from moving forward and manifesting your desired reality. You have to move past their illusions and one way to do that is to keep your intentions a secret. In some cultures they say that the more you talk about what you plan to do the less you’re gonna act on it. Don’t be just all talk and instead let your actions speak for you. Get going. Write that book you always had in mind. Create that online shop, go to that dance class, buy those shoes you really wanted. Don’t deprive yourself of good things. Don’t second guess yourself. You know what to do. You have what it takes. You just need to get moving. Some of you are encouraged to start a physical activity to help you deal with possible mental health issues. It is time you stop self sabotaging and also it is time that you don’t let people’s negativity rub off on you.

Group 3 🌼 You take the pain, make it feel good

Shufflemancy : Bad habits Ed Sheeran, Middle finger Bohnes, Lil psycho Kid Travis

Cards : 7 of wands, The World, 3 of wands

There were a lot of eyes on these cards in the deck that I used. So that could be a sign to work on your vision and visualization skills. If you have psychic abilities, honing them will be beneficial to you. Try to get yourself out of the daily drama of others and rise above it all. You need to gain a higher perspective of what is going on around you. If you are currently surrounded by pessimistic/toxic people and things, get yourself out of the eye of the storm. Traveling could be needed. Turn your gaze on the future, not the past. Keep your focus on your expansion. Maybe find inspiration in other cultures, in people that are very different from you or that have already gotten out of the storm and try to learn from it. Don’t get into petty fights. Don’t mingle in people’s business. If they try to grad you in it set boundaries. You are encouraged to plan and script your next steps. If you resonate with scripting as a manifestation method then definitely do that regularly. Write your daily intentions, your daily gratitude list, write your letters to the Universe. Write your desired reality on a paper and cleanse it with sage or any other purifying herb. Keep that paper with you wherever you go. Don’t put it under your pillow. You don’t want to sleep on your dreams, do you? However, you can whisper your intentions and affirmations to your water and drink that water. The good vibrations of your words will then circulate in your body.

[evidence-based-activism]

taking care of your own house isn’t “unpaid labour” it’s called being an adult which y’all seem to understand just fine when you’re shaming men but not when you’re the ones doing the work. “most jobs” are not salary. And the only hourly jobs that pay overtime are agricultural positions. Which are male dominated. So if we are talking about unpaid labour that should be at the forefront of the discussion not household chores.

Unpaid labor refers to the massive amounts of work that is necessary for society to function but does not receive direct compensation and is therefore not registered in economic indicators like GDP.

The reason this is a feminist issue is because women are responsible for a disproportionate amount of unpaid work, which results in significant negative impacts both for individual women and women as a class.

Women around the world do three times as much unpaid care work as men [1-3]. A 2020 analysis [4] found that globally, all of women's unpaid work was worth almost 11 trillion dollars. A Pew Research analysis [5] found that when considering both paid and unpaid work, American women spend 2 to 3 times as much time on unpaid work as men, which corresponds to a proportional decrease in paid work and leisure time.

This work is absolutely vital for the continual functioning of society. As mentioned in [4], in "1975, 90 percent of Icelandic women refused to cook, clean, or look after children for a day. It brought the whole nation to a standstill," which is reiterated in [3].

And why does the gender gap matter? Because women's disproportionate burden limits their personal economic stability and advancement [3, 5]. It also has substantial, negative effects on their mental health [1].

With that context, here is my answer to your ask:

---

"taking care of your own house isn’t “unpaid labour” it’s called being an adult"

Something can be both necessary and unjustly allocated. Yes, a functioning society requires people cook and clean and take care of children and elders. If it were equally divided across all sectors of society, then we may not have needed a specific term to describe the hidden – but vital – work that underlies our society.

However, in reality, women bear a disproportionate amount of this requirement. This results in gender-specific disadvantages which are most easily illustrated via the conceptualization of a specific term "unpaid work".

(Further, I'd point out that your statement here implies that men are failing to "be adults" by failing to perform their fair share of unpaid labor.)

"which y’all seem to understand just fine when you’re shaming men but not when you’re the ones doing the work"

See everything I wrote above. Further, note that women are doing the vast majority of this work. Men's failure to do their fair share is a reasonable basis for shame.

'“most jobs” are not salary.'

I mean, sure, in America about 56% of jobs are paid at an hourly rate according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics [6]. This is not really relevant to the matter at hand.

"And the only hourly jobs that pay overtime are agricultural positions."

I assume you mean hourly jobs that don't pay overtime. Either way, this isn't true. Anyone who is considered an "exempt" employee is not paid overtime, which can include hourly workers in some industries (e.g., railway workers, seasonal employees, etc.). And, again, this really isn't relevant to the matter at hand. The 44% of American jobs that are salaried also don't pay overtime, along with all the other carved-out exemptions for hourly employees.

"Which are male dominated"

In America, sure. Notably, however, when looking worldwide, women are "responsible for half of the world’s food production" and "60 and 80 percent" in "most developing countries" [7].

"So if we are talking about unpaid labour that should be at the forefront of the discussion not household chores."

The issues with America's labor policies are an important class issue that you are completely free to focus on. The existence of this issue, however, does not negate the widespread problem with women's unpaid labor.

And importantly, the BLS also shows that a greater proportion of female agricultural workers are unpaid (3%) compared to male agricultural workers (<1%) [8].

---

In conclusion, women are burdened with a disproportionate amount of unpaid work, which causes significant negative impact on both individual women and women as a class.

References under the cut:

Seedat, S., & Rondon, M. (2021). Women’s wellbeing and the burden of unpaid work. BMJ, n1972. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1972

Hanna, T., Meisel, C., Moyer, J., Azcona, G., Bhatt, A., & Valero, S. D. (2020.) FORECASTING TIME SPENT IN UNPAID CARE AND DOMESTIC WORK. UN Women.

Not all gaps are created equal: The true value of care work. (2022, May 25). Oxfam International. https://www.oxfam.org/en/not-all-gaps-are-created-equal-true-value-care-work

Wezerek, G., & Ghodsee, K. R. (2020, March 5). Opinion | Women’s Unpaid Labor is Worth $10,900,000,000,000. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/04/opinion/women-unpaid-labor.html

Parker, K. (2013, March 14). Chapter 6: Time in work and leisure, patterns by gender and family structure. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/03/14/chapter-6-time-in-work-and-leisure-patterns-by-gender-and-family-structure/

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2022, April). Characteristics of minimum wage workers, 2021 U.S. Department of Labor. https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2021/pdf/home.pdf

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Fact Sheet: Food Security and Gender. https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/pnadr706.pdf

Employed persons in agriculture and nonagricultural industries by age, sex, and class of worker. (2024, January 26). Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat15.htm

[qqueenofhades]

Maybe this is a controversial opinion, but its one that I've been reminded of in the few weeks since things have escalated so severely in Israel and Palestine-- I feel like the pressure for random, average individuals online to be vocally political is not only entitled and uncomfortable, but also just an example of misplaced priority.

Like, I have people on twitter right now that are flat out saying if you don't talk extensively about I/P you're truly, irredeemably evil. I've had mutuals say that silence means you're complacent in genocide, that you have blood on your hands (exact words). But it just doesn't make sense? Most of the people who I've seen being flat out harassed for being silent are teenagers who don't have money to donate, working class folks who don't have time to spare, and normal people who just don't have enough of a following online to even spread any word effectively. Of course, the ones doing the harassing are also poor/busy/not-popular, but they don't see the irony. (I've also seen them say that talking about war constantly is taking a toll on their mental health, saying they've cried, had nightmares, panic attacks, etc...but they also say that taking a mental health break from social media is "selfish" and genocidal, so.)

The whole interaction leaves me with so many questions. If stepping away from social media because politics are stressing you out (which they are known to do), are you obligated to use social media? Do you have to use twitter to be a good person? What does that say about people who can't afford a phone, or live in a country where it isn't quite possible? (Are homeless folks inherently genocidal, or is that an "obvious" exception that was never clarified because no one uses nuance anymore?) If you have to talk about world events, lest you side with the oppressor, at what point is something so catastrophic you *must* talk about it? Is there a number of lives lost that is low enough you can get away with being quiet, and a certain amount too high that you're obligated to talk about it? Is it your duty to have the news on 24/7 to make sure you don't miss anything and catch all the global disasters as they happen? How much do you have to talk about something for it to be considered "enough"? Is there a quota??

It just feels like a lot of people are acting as if people who aren't chronically online aren't 1. doing any activism, because the only important activism is social media networking (sarcasm), or 2. are inherently bad people for *not* spending 6 hours a day on their phones. Like, I had someone I thought was a friend say I was a bad person because I was trying to cut down my social media usage, because the timing was "too convenient"... as if that's a normal thing to say to someone, ever. Sorry if I went on a little bit of a rant, it wasn't my intention. I dunno, maybe it's just me; I've seen a lot of people saying this sort of stuff so maybe they are the majority. It just feels really weird to let people that are addicted to social media take charge of who online is "good" or "bad" based off their internet usage. As if we were all catholics or something. If I were to say that current takes on morality were very catholic-seeming, would you know what I mean?

As recently noted, I am myself on an embargo from answering asks related to this topic. I will make one exception because this is important. Please note that any wank in replies or reblogs will be instantly blocked (and I won't hesitate to disable reblogs if necessary). I will not be answering follow-up asks or getting drawn into Discourse. I do not want to do it and it will not be happening.

I have said it before, but it bears saying again: thinking that the only way to Do Activism is to be constantly on social media and immersing yourself in terrible things nonstop and then posting the Most Correct Opinions (and then viciously attacking anyone who is even slightly Not As Correct as you) is absolutely bullshit. If you're engaging with this content so much that it's giving you a mental breakdown or otherwise plunging you into a spiral of anxiety that you take out on other people who are just as far removed from actually doing anything about it as you: why? Do you really think that you and you alone, one random person on the Internet, are the only way anyone else is going to find out about these things? Or do you think you have to perform the Most Correct Opinions nonstop, viciously harass anyone who isn't responding in exactly the same way, and this is the sum total of what your response should be? Especially in a situation as bloody and complicated as this, dealing with reams of religious, social, cultural, and political history where the average commentator on this conflict knows only what's been fed to them by propaganda on TikTok? How the fuck is that useful or constructive for anyone, aside from perpetuating the idea that you have to be angry all the time on social media about things you essentially know nothing about? I can't see that it does.

What's happening to the Gazans right now is no qualification or equivocation, a genocide. It should rightfully be opposed and called what it is. But unfortunately, I have spent too much time around Western Online Leftists to believe they actually care a whit about stopping genocide as a fundamental principle, and only want to be seen to loudly care about what their Ideology has told them to care about. If it means hand-waving aside genocide and atrocities when committed by their preferred polities, so be it. Why haven't these same people been wall-to-wall up in arms about what Russia has been doing in Ukraine, or for God's sake Syria for the past ten years, if they're really concerned about the rights of innocent Muslim civilians attacked by a far-right imperialist power? Why not the Uighurs in China? Why not [insert the blank] of all the terrible things happening in the world as a result of far-right fascist genocidal imperialism? Why only this conflict? Why now? Why does it involve so much excusing of terrorism as long as it's committed for the Right Ideology? Why are some of the most loudly pro-Palestinian accounts on here also the most rabidly pro-Russian? How does that make sense? To put it bluntly, those genocides are being committed by nation-states that Online Leftists like for being "anti-Western," and therefore their activities are actually fine and should even need to be defended.

My point is not to say that what's happening to the Palestinians is not bad. It is. It is awful and inexcusable. However, I seriously doubt the motives and morality of those who are being the loudest about screaming on social media and attacking everyone else for not instantly repeating their views. I seriously doubt that the Online Left actually opposes genocide and accelerationism as fundamental principles, because they proudly demonstrate every day that they don't. Until those vast factors can be dismantled and shown for what they are, and this can be placed into its larger context, I don't buy it and I don't believe this wall-to-wall social media outrage factory is actually aimed at helping the Gazans or anyone else suffering the most as a result of this. It is just to show that they can be counted on to Perform Outrage and harass anyone else who doesn't do the same, and that does nothing for anyone whatsoever.

[khywren]

4, 7, 10, 23, 29 for Ysera 😍

thanks so much for these, my friend! from this post. 4: what song describes your OC and their partner/love interest?

ooh! i'm slowly building a playlist for these two, so i can share another song from that~ i really like "my demons" by starset for them!

7: vice-versa! if your OC is in the modern day, what fantasy class would they be? would they be a different race?

i think (since this one is related to question 6) the idea was to see what profession she would be in the modern world? (if this isn't actually what you'd intended lmk and i'll answer this again!!) this one is interesting to think about… she's a bit of a loner and socially awkward, so i can't see her in any sort of customer service job or a role where she'd have to interact with people a lot. but i also cannot see her going the route of an academic and doing something fancy, so she'd probably end up doing something like graphic design, art or writing, where she can kinda do her own thing and set her own schedule.

10: how does your OC handle their mental health? do they take care of themselves?

hahaha… oh. oh no. yeah, she's definitely the type to bury stuff and try to ignore it as long as she can until it gets worse and worse and becomes significantly more of a problem than it was to begin with. she's slowly getting better at prioritizing herself, but that's mainly because Astarion will fuss over her if she doesn't and that makes her feel guilty.

23: is your OC reliable? can i call them up at two in the morning if i have a flat tire?

she will be there immediately! bad breakup? she's coming over with snacks and movies. you could probably convince her to fight your ex for you if you really wanted. medical emergency? you bet she's gonna drive you straight to the ER and wait the 500 hours it takes to finally see a doctor. once you earn her friendship she is fiercely loyal.

29: imagine a mood board for your OC! what's on it? (Make it if you want!)

these are always fun!

[study-core-101]

Hii your blog is so inspiring and helpful ❤

I don't know if you already posted about this but I want advice :D

I'm studying the equivalent to High School in my country (two years only) and I'm trying to strive more. Lately I have realised that I never have free time. I spend the afternoons studying, then I have dinner with my parents, watch something on TV, go to sleep and at those hours I'm so tired that I don't have the energy to do anything else I enjoy. Meanwhile, I see my friends and others at my class going out, going to extracurriculars, getting things done faster...

I've always had the feeling that I only do the things I like during summer break.

I can't help but wonder how am I gonna do when I'm in collage (if I actually get there)!

I would like to ask you if you had any advice, or tips about managing time etc

Pd: sorry if this was too long, personal or if I made any gramatical mistakes lol

Hii, sorry it took me so long to answer! From what I heard, it sounds like so kind of burnout. I'm no expert on this topic, so I'm going to leave the links of the sources just in case! (x) (x)

One of main components it's exhaustation. Feeling tired all the time and having no energy. Not only it impacts the mental and physicial health, but the perfomance. This usually stems of being always "on", overwork culture/mentality, pressure (whether internal or external) and the dislike of the tasks. What I recommend is:

Actually rest. Do activities that make mentally rest or dont do any activity, just take some time for yourself. Listen to your favourite music, take a bath, do some breathing exercise. Relax. Here are some more mental rest activities.

Dont beat yourself for resting. A lot of times, we "rest" but it isnt actually rest, because instead of focusing on yourself you are worrying about not doing anything productive 24/7. That looks like rest, but it isnt, it is just more tiring. All the toxic productivity mentality has to go.

Schedule time to do nothing. Establish clear moments for resting.

Take breaks.

Prioritaze tasks. Yes, we all want to have everything done perfectly and complete, but sometimes that is just impossible. The best way to classify them in order is 1) urgent and important; 2) not urgent but important; 3) urgent but no important; and 4) not urgent not important.

Have a good sleep schedule.

Drink water and eat all your meals

Find a hobbie or something you are passionate or at least midly interested on. Something that fills you with joy and seek to. At the beggining it will feel like a waste of time, but once you find something, well, let's just say, try it.

Another thing is the mindset. Negative thinking is unmotivating and tiring. Switching to a more possitive mentality does wonders.There are a lot of ways to reframe negative thoughts, I'm not familiar with most of them so I cant really explain, but here is an article that explains on detail how to do it.

Even though exhaustation and mentality are key to feeling burn out, inefficiency also has an important role. There are millions of study methods, but not a single one works for every person. Maybe you use a "good" study technique, but it isnt the right one for you. I'd recommend trying new ways of studying you havent tried before, see if at least one works for you. I'm going to honest with you, I dont know a lot of methods, since i found the one that works with me I havent tried new ways, here is a list of study methods with explanations that I'm using to draft future posts. Here are the links for the posts are posted about blurting, feynman and pq4r, if any of those sound helpful.

SELF CARE!!!!! Self-care is so important. It's been a common theme in this post, but I will repeat it once more, take care of yourself.

If these are also helpful, I'll leave the links for previous posts about motivation to start, motivation in general, and a reward system for motivation. Not all the tips in those posts will work, actually, some of them may contradict with what I just said, but I posted them with a different situation in mind. Take the tips that will help you and ignore the ones you think will just make it worse.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[lovley-goddess-345]

I need to tell you something that I have been accused of. Yes, I know the allegations are serious, but you don’t know the whole story; so allow me to explain what I can and clear my name once and for all, even if you don't believe me. Basically to start, I never actually forced any minors into nsfw servers that’s simply untrue furthermore, Rose and I are both born in 06 her birthday is in December and mine in February. I don't understand why being friends is wrong. We could've been in the same class if we went to school together. I'd also like to clarify just because I dreamed about her doesn't automatically make it a sex dream. In fact immediately thinking of that could be something you should talk to somebody about as it's not healthy to immediately jump to sex.

The dream she shared made me uncomfortable even though I was 18 I wasn’t very comfortable with what she was sharing. I didn’t like it that much because I’m ace and don’t really have any sexual attraction at all normally I wouldn’t mind but I just don’t like her and I never stepped forward to block contact with her like I should’ve done from the start, I am also not roleplaying with any kids and because I haven’t seen any proof I will adress that when I do see it but I will not be acting on this any further after today.

Next using narcissist like an insult is just gross just because I like kou doesn’t make me a narcissist as well this is also known as mischaracterizing which I also find disgusting, narcissistis actually struggle trying to do better for themselves so using it as a insult is very petty and immature.

And as for forcing minors into nsfw servers, after asking star and her saying no I backed off, never asked any other soul about it again I gave up on it because I didn’t need it plus I got banned for a reason, so why do I need to force people to do my bidding why should anyone do that? For petty revenge? How childish. Another thing, after posting this post I will not be joining any more 18+ servers for at least 3 months hoping that is long enough for this drama to subside if not I will address the issues later bc you know what drama causes? Gossip and you know what gossip does? It hurts everyone involved and I deeply apologize to all adults and minors for getting roped into this gossip and putting a mental toll on the body.

I will be leaving this situation once again after clearing my name but I am saying this because I care about people’s safety as a whole not just minors but a minors mental health and emotional wellbeing is Somthing everyone must consider

I also apologized to the kid who was joking and lying about her age which I do have proof of them stating that and I am sorry for saying what I said on YouTube, but with what alls going around I don’t know if most of my subs are bots or not so forgive me if I overreacted a tad too much

Another thing to mention is that roping people into this is wrong and I understand that I can’t take back what I said but I hope that all of this proves a mood point thank you for your time and goodbye for I am leaving this drama behind me once and for all

I hope this clears my name though because this is all getting old but I will say this much it after I post this and she still doesn’t stop then I will step forward and do something about it but until then everyone have a good day

@bubblespalace @diacripticcomplex @elidoesart @cryptid-pet @elvie16 @agustdeeznuts-7 @dialovers-lover-xoxo

anyone else who will reblog this please do but with this I am clearing my name and anything else that has to come up I will address it then

[atv-migrated]

lil rant about how i've been feeling as of late, a state of the union address if you will

i love being here i love my muses here. being in this fandom has always been an incredible drain on my mental health and i've had to completely abandon it multiple times because it's just not been good to me or for me. i wish i could be here 24/7 and thrive but that's just not the case and the closer we get to ho/td s2 airing the worse i know it's gonna get.

i'm gonna be so very fr and say i've never felt good enough to be here. i've always felt like respect in this fandom is earned by how well you remember the books and how much you dislike the show, immediately followed by how good your aesthetic is. and that's just not me. i've got the aesthetic thing down but that absolutely came from feeling like i had to make up for what i'm lacking. i've read the books, i listened to the audiobooks while i was painting during the pandemic but like i do not remember them and it feels fucking shitty to constantly feel like because i don't remember super specific details from the books or because my muses are generally show based that i'm not good enough or that my writing just isn't enough. i don't have the time or energy to be rereading these books and taking notes in the margins like i'm in english class. the wiki is my best friend.

and i used to just interact with show based blogs but more and more i'm finding those just don't exist and i fucking get it. the energy here is rather unwelcoming at times. trying to write here feels like taking a test a lot of the time and i'm just barely passing. i feel like im getting a C maybe at best.

honestly i'm jealous y'all can retain this amount of information about the books and i probably could if i tried, lord knows i did it for h/p and marveI movies and pj/o back in the day. but i had more time then and it didn't feel like life or death as much as it does now.

idk what i hope to get out of this i just have been having a hard time being here and writing and pretending like i feel okay with the space i take up in the fandom when i don't. i love my friends i love y'alls passion it's just a lot and its an intense experience being here and i feel like no one really ever talks about that and maybe no one's experiencing it like i am and i'm just more sensitive cause i've also had a lot of like interpersonal problems with this rpc but i had something to say thats being bugging me and i've said it. and you don't have to like it but it's how i feel.

[ixcaliber]

top ten games of the year 2024.

it's a yearly tradition though i don't have the mental capacity to write a whole thing about each entry this year. especially since i had to double up and do two lists to cover everything i loved playing this year.

so anyway click through for a quite abbreviated summary of the games i really loved this year.

Top Ten Games I Played In 2024 But They Came Out In A Different Year (Not 2024)

10. Rollerdrome - really fun roller blading arena shooter that gave some fun Tony Hawk with guns kind of vibes.

9. Portal: The Lab - everyone says vr is a game changing experience but for me the only thing that has really felt noticably more immersive is being berated by life sized GLaDOS.

8. The Tartarus Key - mysterious first person puzzle game, love the puzzles, the characters and the way the game draws you in to the deeper mysteries at play.

7. Can of Wormholes - does one of my favourite things about puzzle games where you solve puzzles on one scale only to realize that the same puzzles exist but on a much larger scale.

6. Bombrush Cyberfunk - As good as Jet Set Radio Future and in some aesthetic ways even better.

5. Mice Tea - in some ways i'm not furry enough for this game but in other ways i am subby enough to enjoy elements.

4. Cavern of Dreams - the perfect n64 collectathon platformer.

3. Alan Wake II - While I think that Control is a more fun video game to play Alan Wake II is doing some incredible things with its narrative.

2. Slay The Princess - torn between trying to evoke some of the actual feelings i have about this game and the narrative it gradually tells and just saying 'good god The Tower can do whatever she wants to me any time.'

1. Solar Ash - maybe the most moment to moment fun game I played this year, and fucking beautiful.

Top Ten Games I Played That Released This Year (2024)

10. Balatro - Extremely fun but also sort of a curse I've inflicted not just on myself but Malky as well.

9. Mouthwashing - The discomfort of playing this game is unparalleled.

8. Flock - One of the most pleasant experiences I had this year. Flying around this beautiful world adding cute little sky creatures to your flock is just a thoroughly nice time.

7. The Plucky Squire - This was the game I was maybe the most excited for based on its premise alone - go from 2d zeldaesque exploration to 3d platforming as you step in and out of the storybook the main character is from. It's a great concept the problem is (was) the pacing, constantly stopping and starting to hear some narration that gives away the answer to the puzzle you're about to solve or whatever.

Fortunately they recently added Streamlined Mode which perfectly solved the problem without hurting the comprehension of the story or diminishing the tone, and really allows the fun of the game and the strength of the mechanics to shine.

6. Still Wakes The Deep - An absolute masterclass in modern horror.

5. Another Crab's Treasure - I hate it in video games when I beat the boss and oops nope you didn't they had a second health bar. Another Crab's Treasure has a boss encounter where this happens and I cheered out loud. I think that counts for something.

4. Rise of the Golden Idol - Everything that made the previous game (Case of the Golden Idol) so good but with stronger connective tissue between the individual cases. The overall plot becomes a secondary puzzle you need to solve in between every few cases, drawing connections between the often disparate and out of order scenes you've seen to demonstrate a greater understanding of what is going on. It's great. It doesn't feel quite as innovative as the first game only because it's really refining what it does and making something wonderful.

3. Crow Country - An absolute masterclass in classic horror.

2. Astrobot - Ignore what I said about Solar Ash this was the most moment to moment fun game I played this year. Every level is fun. Every power is fun to use. Whatever you might think about the decision to make classic playstation brands into collectibles, collecting the little guys and seeing what games were chosen to feature in this game was a delight. And thats to say nothing of the fun little free updates that have been since added to this game (finally adding Croc and Gex in the most recent).

1. Ultros - is a delightful little puzzlebox of a metroidvania. Its a game with deep and interlocked systems, the extent of which does not make itself clear for quite some time, but gradually it gives you a perfect set of tools to manipulate these systems and do exactly whatever you please. It isn't what I was expecting what I went into the game and it might not be for everybody but the things it does it does spectacularly well.

[despair-to-future-arcs]

DTFA Lore Bit: Kisaragi Foundation + Divisions

Another Organization that is similar to Future Foundation but it’s target is different, while smaller the Future Foundation but a force to be reckoned with; the Kisaragi Foundation is working on restoring from the tragedy but make it so they aren’t relying on Hope’s Peak Academy and seem to have a rather rocky relationship with Future Foundation due to them wanting to re-open it, especially given Class 78-A’s killing game reveal the infamous Genocide Jack a famous serial killer that killed a total of 37 men.

Due to this both Foundations won’t be working together unless they really need to and tend to handle their own; Future Foundation goes to handle Ultimate Despair while the Kisaragi Foundation handles the Children of Utsuro/Void and Mikado Sannoji which was discovered after the Ryutaro Maki incident.

However, unlike Future Foundation which has issues of recruiting people and only selecting Ultimates; the Kisaragi Foundation hires family members of Class 79 and won’t care if you enroll into Hope’s Peak or not but it’s rule under an iron fist by the name of Tsurugi Kinjo, the former Ulimate Police Officer of Class 79 but also to make sure he doesn’t go overboard he also has Rei Mekaru, the former Ultimate Professor and Teruya Otori, the former Ultimate Merchant.

Now of course, how is the Division run and what is their goal aside from catching Void, let’s see what else they want to do.

General:

The Kisaragi Foundation has a certain set of uniforms for each Division; Tsurugi’s Division has military wear which has the Kisaragi Foundation symbol on it. Rei and Teruya’s Division is suits, dress shirts and often the members have to wear an ID card on it - proving they are members of the Kisaragi Foundation.

Speaking of the ID cards, those badges and cards have a tracking device in them and are to help keep track of its members if they get kidnapped for a killing game.

Like the other 2 Foundations; the Kisaragi Foundation also has a memory back-up device for that same reason as well if any of its members were kidnapped.

While they have a med bay and everything, they sadly don’t have a Division that helps with mental health given the doctor isn’t a psychologist and if you do get them; remember that it’s on your personal time.

Due to the nature of the tragedy; time off is very rare and you’ll need to speak with Tsurugi Kinjo about it but don’t expect him to accept it and just tell you to get back to work.

Working at the Kisaragi Foundation ranges from 7 AM to 10 PM, Teruya Otori’s Division handles payment.

There are living arrangements at the Kisaragi Foundation; where you can live by yourself or live with someone but it’s recommend that you don’t cause any noise complaints if your living with another person otherwise you’ll get 3 warnings if you live with another person and if you get a 3rd strike, you’ll be kick out and live separate.

In terms of reporting Void activity or anything that happen; all members no matter the Division they are in must report to Tsurugi Kinjo, while they can report to Rei Mekaru and Teruya Otori - Tsurugi must be inform of any activity or you’ll be punish.

While they don’t like working with Future Foundation, they will get their shipments from them and visa versa.

Check-ups are mandatory and must be done after a mission is complete.

Tsurugi Kinjo’s Division - Police/Law Enforcement:

Tsurugi’s Division is the police and law enforcement which due to seeing how Juu Kinjo had become an Ultimate Despair, Tsurugi has made it his goal to restore Japan’s law and police instead of having it rely on Hope’s Peak Academy as he believe that the reason Junko was able to get away with her crimes was due to the police be stunted by Hope’s Peak Academy.

In fact, he does remember that Hideyoshi Tamon, Head of the 9th Division at Future Foundation and a fellow police officer had informed him that he learned something but due to his death by his father - he never knew why.

Nowadays, Tsurugi runs his Division like a military, where all members are to be trained and armed to fight; learning various ways of combat which range from fire arm to hand to hand combat which is under the watch of Naoto Kobashikawa and Mai Hatano.

Tsurugi’s Division handles most of the grunt work and will often rely on Rei’s Division to gather said info and be prepare to follow the lead, however as of recent this year it seems that Tsurugi’s health has started to decline; he started to look more sickly, he can’t walk properly without a wheelchair but can stand up just fine and has to get more check-ups with Dr. Ando.

No one knows why this is happening but maybe he’s suffering from unfortunate luck…

Second in Command: Naoto Kobashikawa - Haruhiko Kobashikawa’s older brother.

Third in Command: Mai Hatano - Ayame Hatano’s parental aunt.

Captain: other members + Keisuke Iranami - Satsuki Iranami’s 7th older brother.

Other Members: Ryutaro Maki - Kiyoka Maki’s younger brother

Nobuyoshi (Noah) Higa - Mitsuhiro (Mitch) Higa’s 2nd older brother

+ Other members

Rei Mekaru’s Division - Information Gather/Education:

Rei’s Division is about finding and collecting information, ranging from finding information on Void, Utsuro or even Akane Taira - Rei’s Division is to help gather information and investigate, Rei getting her memories of Hope’s Peak Academy always remember not liking how Hope’s Peak Academy was run and wanted to restructure and fix the education and schooling system, especially as she started to realize that that most schools had gotten destroyed during the tragedy.

Now that the tragedy has started to settle down; Rei along with fellow member of Future Foundation and head of the 10th Division, Mio Yonaga have begun discussions on how to fix the education system which they believe that likely by April 1st, 2018 or the year after that, school will finally be re-open.

In regards to finding information on Utsuro, she was able to find a lot of information on the members of Void, Mikado and even Akane Taira’s past was uncover but as of late, she is starting to find information on Utsuro’s past and her only lead is a nurse that work at the hospital that Utsuro was born at; Harumi Nanami which she hopefully is able to find Utsuro’s upbringing and she’s quite close to uncovering it but seems interested Kairi Sugimoto due to her rather odd behavior as of recent…

Second in Command: Midori Yamaguichi - Kakeru Yamaguichi’s little sister

Other Members: Rika Takahashi - one of Kiyoka Maki’s best friends

Fukumi Iranami - Satsuki Iranami’s 7th older sister

Jiro Nijiue - Iroha Nijiue’s older brother

Setsuka Chiebukuro - Private Investigator hired by the Kisaragi Foundation

+ Other members

Teruya Otori’s Division - Economy/Business:

Teruya’s Division is helping with the economy, banking, accounting and business side of things which he’s the one that interacts with Future Foundation the most, especially one Biju Hakoda, a member of Future Foundation and head of the 15th Division that handles economy as well.

He helps with shutting down various businesses that are connected to Ultimate Despair, one of those being the Otori Mart which is owned by Kojiro Otori, his father. He had struggles with accepting that his father could side with Despair but knew he had to do the right thing.

Teruya does often play mediator when Tsurugi and Rei are fighting which he does try to have them work together but even he’s starting to struggle with his own mental health and has started to see a therapist, Yoruko Kabuya and hopefully he can start to work through these issues now that the tragedy has started to settle…

Second in Command: Katsuteru ‘Terry’ Higa - Mitsuhiro (Mitch) Higa’s oldest brother

Other Members: Yuzuki Ashida - one of Kiyoka Maki’s best friend

+ Other members

Other Factions:

Hikaru Ando - Kanata Inori’s Adopted Father + Head Doctor of Med Bay and often gets shipments from Seiko Kimura

Minako Tomori - Kizuna Tomori’s Mother + Receptionist

Characters that don’t work but are affiliated;

Hitaru Nijiue - Iroha Nijiue Oldest Sister

Hamato Ando - Kanata Inori’s Adopted Older Brother and Hikaru Ando’s son

Benitsuru ‘Beni’ Ando - Kanata Inori’s Adopted Little Sister and Hikaru’s Ando’s daughter

Toshiro Tomori - Kizuna Tomori’s Father and Minako Tomori’s Husband

Sachi Kisaragi - Karen Kisaragi’s Mother and parental aunt of Yamato Kisaragi

Juro Chiba - Sōshun Murasame’s Grandfather and Hope’s Peak Academy’s Class 14’s Ultimate Swimmer

Hiroyuki Nishizawa - Kiriko Nishizawa’s Little Brother

+ Other members

[bonesandthebees]

ive been both really busy and also not? hahah but ive been good!! i've been mostly working. today was crazy actually, someone walked into the vet with a bearded lizard?? that they found ?? at the local park?? someone had just abandoned their lizard there ig which was really sad but im glad someone found it and was able to help it!! also the person who found it was a vet tech themselves who used to have bearded lizards so that's good hahahah they were v prepared

our doctor unfortunately doesn't take any exotics so we had to send them to a diff vet but it was cool to see the lizard, he was very sweet and friendly EUEUUEUE

but yeah other than work? mostly just been writing which has been super nice. this is the first year im properly tackling whumptober!! normally i just. pick and choose my fav prompts LMAOO but this year im actually writing for each prompt every day and i've done all 7 days so far!! im super proud of myself rahshshs

i went to my first social dance a couple weekends ago!! that was super funn

i cannot remember if i told you, but i started doing west coast swing lessons!!! since i took a gap year of school while waiting to apply for the vet tech program, i was like "welp i need some sort of hobby that gets me out of the house" so i didnt stew in bad mental health n stuff and i decided to try dance! i'd seen vids of it on my youtube shorts a lot and it always looked so... freeing. and i thought doing something that involved physical activity would be a good idea too since exercise is good for mental health!!

and woww i love it way more than i was expecting HAHHAHASDKFJJK it's so so fun and it really does feel like flying (when you do it with an experienced lead lol, so not always but the times where it's happened i cherish v much <3) and the people?? are all so nice???? like wow i was a bit nervous when i first started but everyone is so welcoming and understanding and super fun to talk to and it's a very accepting environment of queer ppl and i just RAHSHS ITS SOOO LOVELY BEE OH MY GOSHH

but yeah!! so ive been doing that sinceee march but i had yet to go to an actual dance, i'd only done lessons bc i was really nervous lol but also bc its on the weekends and thats when i go visit my mom so its hard to find time. but i finally decided to go no matter what last time (which yeah. almost canceled bc i ended up having two other meetups that day?? it was busy) and im really glad i went it was super fun.

just hoping i can convince one of my friends to go with me one day lol

oh no I'm so sad that someone abandoned their beardie :((( thank god someone found it though and wanted to make sure it was okay. so many people would just leave it so that little guy got lucky with that at least. I love bearded dragons, one of my teachers in high school had one she named Mushu and she would let him just run around the room during class sometimes. he was adorable.

ooooo I hope you're having fun with whumptober!!! you're stronger than me I've never attempted to do all the prompts for something like that. I struggle so much already with keeping things short and I also don't do great with prompts but I admire everyone who can dedicate themselves to that. it's such good writing practice as well

oh that class sounds lovely. tbh it really shows you have a LOT of self awareness to recognize that not only do you need something to get you out of the house, but taking the steps to sign up for a class with physical activity for your mental health. that's really great and you're going to thank yourself later for putting yourself out there like that. and that sounds so much fun!!! manifesting you get one of your friends to join you one day

(also this reminds me I really need to get back in the habit of going to my yoga and other exercise classes. I fell out of it after I got back from my europe trip this summer so I need to get my ass in gear again)

[coldbrewgf]

thank you for the tag @newbromantics ☺️ i'm finally getting to this after several days omg

1. do you make your bed?

usually! not super well but i at least try to pull the covers up and fluff my pillows

2. favourite number?

11... when i was playing soccer as a child i was number 11 when i made a goal from half field and ever since then it's just been my lucky number

3. what’s your job?

i just started one (1) month ago as a program assistant in executive education. it's been a bit of a wild ride already but i feel like it's going to open some good doors for me!

4. if you could go back to school, would you?

...perhaps. i would love to expand my knowledge and maybe take another undergrad program in something that i would actually want to pursue now but also looking back on my undergrad i was somewhat miserable and maybe that had more to do with my mental health at that time but still. maybe if i could just do it slowly with a course or two at a time

5. can you parallel park?

i can but i am not efficient at it and i try to avoid it if i can. if i'm parking on the street i look for a spot where i can just pull up to the curb and not deal with all that maneuvering

6. do you think aliens are real?

i mean i think they're out there somewhere but i don't think that they're like among us or anything...

7. can you drive a manual car?

not at all, i don't even think i know anyone with a manual car to practice. i do think it's kind of a sexy skill to have though and i would like to learn eventually

8. guilty pleasure?

honestly i'm only half guilty about it but musicals. only half guilty because i know theatre kids are annoying but i also am not an annoying theatre kid, and also because i think i have at least Some Taste

9. tattoos?

i have 8! various things that i've liked and are special to me in different ways

10. favourite colour?

probably green, but i also wear a lot of blues, so one of the two!

11. favourite type of music?

honestly my tastes range all over the place, probably most often in the indie category. lyrics matter a lot to me so regardless of the genre if the lyricism is there i'm there. a banger can entice me more than a slow song, but if i'm in the right mood a ballad can hit.

12. do you like puzzles?

yes!! nyt games is my friend and i do the new yorker crossword... if i remember i play the cinematrix... i went through a big sudoku phase a little while ago...

13. favourite childhood sport?

i played soccer as a kid, and that was kind of my only team sport, but i also did karate which i have fond memories of, and playing badminton in gym class was always my fav

14. do you talk to yourself?

not really i don't think?? maybe a little bit but not constantly

15. tea or coffee?

coffee... i mean look at my url

16. first thing you wanted to be when growing up?

a paleobotanist like ellie in jurassic park... my older brother wanted to be a paleontologist and we both loved jurassic park so i thought i had to be like ellie

17. what movies do you adore?

fav of all time is my own private idaho (1991), my others in my letterboxd top 4 are when harry met sally (1989), twin peaks: fire walk with me (1992), and before sunrise (1995)... movies from this century are like inside llewyn davis (2013), stoker (2013), and emma. (2020)

i'm tagging @intrusivethoughtsandprayers if you want to, and anyone else who does :)

[sunscreenstudies]

Iconic Things My Coding Professors Have Said (Part 13)

"i myself graduated from this course in 2020 at the height of corona, so i have a lot of experience in, uh... crying"

Prof1: "How do you evaluate your methods?"   Speaker: "how do we... evalutae our methods?"   Prof2: "they're a company, dave, they don't evaluate shit"

"Is there a laser? Ah, yes, here it is! We need more lasers in this life"

"So, what we're going to do now, is write this plain english example down in maths, do some... magic, and get the answer"

Student: "I was trying to explain how we've reclaimed the word queer"   Prof: "are you trying to be a woke-ist?"

"the church was very cautious of a woman becoming such an influencial figure... not much has changed, huh?"

Prof1: "so, as you can clearly see from the marauders map that i bought specifically for this class-"  Prof2: "you LIAR"   Prof1: "I'm sorry, what?"   Prof2: "you great big fat liar! I know you bought that map for yourself years ago!"

"coming from linguisics i felt that didn't really fit in, but it really helped my self image to do this course and- oh boy this is turning into a ted talk, isn’t it?"

Prof: "You mentioned annotating some truly horrible hate speech. Can you say something about how you maintain your mental health while doing this?"   Speaker: "oh yes, i can say a LOT of things. Number one, funny cat videos"

"so what is the problem with this approach? it's too loco... local! it's too local! although loco isn't exactly wrong..."

Prof: "Do you think that AI will be able to generate movie’s based on requests in our lifetime?"   Student: "no"   Prof: "bet"

"As someone who had a degree in computational pyscholinguistics, which no one reading my resumé understood and a title which my in-laws still can't pronounce-”

"How are you guys doing? How are your projects coming along? Does everyone think they'll get it finished in time?” *silence* “... this excitement and enthusiasm is really blowing me away, guys"

"i asked a lawyer and they say not to do it but they're very... defensive... Literally. LOL!”

Prof1: "We'll only show the top three teams’ scores on the board and the others will get their results by email"   Prof2: "Because they were so bad... i'm kidding! i'm kidding! or am i?”

"we're going to be working on the marauder's map from harry potter, are you all familiar with- wow, okay, you're all looking incredibly digusted that i ever doubted your hp knowledge, so i'm gonna take that as a yes"

Prof1: "can anyone tell me what a pickle is?"   Prof2: "... a vegetable?"   Prof1: "i was clearly asking about it in the context of machine learning, dave"

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14

[bepatientandpersistent]

Hello friends! I have been thinking for weeks about coming on here and making a "2024 goals" post. Like I did last year. But I'm not sure that I have any big goals, because I'm learning that setting big goals sometimes only sets me up for failure because I am so disappointed in myself if I don't reach them. Recently I've been setting more daily and weekly goals and it has been working well.

As always, I am trying to lose weight.. but taking a drastically different approach this time around. I posted maybe 2 months ago on here asking if anyone listened to health/weight loss podcasts because I had found one that I enjoyed and wanted to explore more. I did get a couple suggestions and plan on checking them out. I was so enamored with the one I had been listening to, Real Life Weight Loss, by Corey Little, that it was all I listened to for weeks and his beliefs, advice, and outlook really spoke to me. I ended up doing a virtual class/seminar hosted by him and loved that as well. Corey does personal weight loss/fitness coaching as well as runs a coaching group that follows the same program as his personal clients. It has a private Facebook group where clients can check in and seek help, guided by himself and a couple other coaches. After listening to his podcast for weeks and starting to see changes in myself and my habits (and losing about 12 pounds!), I joined his program.

I have been in the program for 5.5 weeks now, and I have lost 8 more pounds! They focus on changing the brain and making small, simple changes that progress as you move through the program. It is self-guided so you go at your own pace. They make it so easy that you don't even feel like you're putting in any work. The first few action items are to drink 2-3 liters of water daily, eliminate (or decrease) liquid calories, incorporate activity into your life, and take omega-3s daily. Within the first 7 or 8 lessons, he does go over his version of the recommended food groups to include in your diet, but there is absolutely no restrictions on anything. He doesn't tell us we have to track everything we eat. He doesn't tell us we can't eat carbs or fats or dairy, etc. The coaches just explain what is recommended for their program and help us learn to make better choices, as well as help us learn why we make "bad" choices when we do.

The "change your brain" aspect has been phenomenal. He emphasizes avoiding perfectionism and stopping the "bully in your brain", or negative self-talk, from convincing you that you're doing something wrong or that what you are doing will never work. He talks about the different kind of weight loss personalities there are. It's just amazing to be in a program that focuses on the mental stuff too ❤️

Here is an example of my weekly goals checklist

I love the freedom this program allows. I'm so glad I found the podcast because I think this is changing my life 😊

[pilot-posting]

Mech lore questions

(sorry if these aren't really the ones you're looking for)

-who is fighting who here? What sides in what war?

-why do mechs work like that specifically

-this will probably be answered in a mech combat sequence but what armaments do they use? How do they fight?

Good questions! Let's break some stuff down.

Who are "We?"

Emerson is a pilot for the Galligos Armaments and Superstructures Corporation, she's been working for them for 7 years since she was recruited fresh out of high school. There's a lot to unpack there, but know she only joined the pilot corp when she was 22.

Galligos is a megacorporation based on Earth and it's nearest extra-solar colony of Pochimen, a colony project pushed by the south-asian expansion bloc in 2083 (a national adjournment of Korea, China, Indochina as a whole, the Philippines, and Singapore.) This bloc still exists today but it's been mostly supplanted by megacorporations in it's power structure and administrative capacity. Galligos Armaments and Superstructures, or GAS/GASC, rose to power in 2090 when the Neuf-Décennie agreement was made by a highly corrupt and lobbied UN, giving extensive power to corporate bodies, including land rights, and claims at national identity. The UN traded the world for its survival, and the technical survival of it's partner nations.

In short? Massively fucked up cyberpunk setting. The current date is 2140 or thereabout. Emerson only joined because they had good benefits, and she lives in a highly propagandized world.

Who's Galligos fighting?

Galligos is fighting a collection of separatist dissenter colonies in the outer reaches of human space. Due to having access to entire planets worth of resources, they've managed to produce their own mech variants to fight against Galligos, but they lack population, so most of their combat is done through automated combatants. Every loss of a separatist pilot is a huge setback to the frontier states, so they tend to be incredibly well trained "ace in the hole" type mechanized infantry, whereas Galligos has opted for a more expendable take on mecha. Galligos technically owns only 2 planets, Earth, which is valuable for it's technical economic value, and Pochimen, which is valuable for it's resource rich mines. What Galligos lacks in the expandable resources of the dissenter states, it makes up for in the expendability of it's highly developed and quickly reproducing populace. Mecha from the Galligos company have a tendency to be shorter, have lower caliber weaponry, and individual pilots are comparatively poorly trained, but they do have the benefit of working in Squads of 4.

What's up with the Class-X?

The Class-X is a proprietary mechanized infantry system which cooperates with the human body to create immense levels of synapse melding and interconnectivity, and also to produce energy. Why does this work? Horny sci-fi magic.

The Mech harnesses the vitamins, and amino acids in your discharge to produce energy through selective ionization, which takes those vitamins, basically macro extends their biological bondage, and produces immense amounts of energy, capable of sustaining a mech suit for a significant period of time.

This process also causes something called Synchrosis, which you'll notice isn't actually a real world. Synchrosis is a mental... condition[?] which causes the mech pilot to link minds with their vessel on a deeper level than regular halo interaction. Obviously however, Synchrosis is highly addictive and degradant to the pilots mental health.

Class is different than brand and type of Mech, a Class-I for instance is a gunnery mech, which carries a macro-scale chain gun firing 30lb rounds and standing at around 90 stories tall (The Burj Khalifa is 160 stories.) as well as an assortment of missile pods, tertiary explosives devices, and the ability to wield high powered blunt-force weapons.

Class-X mechs are the only type of mech which use "stimulated synchrocity", as it's poorly understood in the human psychological side, and also it produces mech pilots who exhibit symptoms of extreme blood-lust when not locked behind automated functions and protocols.

How BIG we talkin'?

The Falcon Class transport ship is around 20 stories tall, it can carry most basic function mechs in groups of 5 to any given location, and it could probably carry a Class-I (if it was broken into it's key components and stored as efficiently as possible.)

The average Class-X mech is around 3 stories tall, it's miniscule compared to most mechs, but because of it's powering system it can be extremely efficient in power usage. it carries nimbler weapons like shoulder mounted rocket batteries, a rocket pistol, or plasma rifles, all enough to eviscerate infantry soldiers on sight, but hardly leave a dent in mainline battle mechs. Emersons Haratora-Zed is a maintenance mech, meaning it has a nimble frame, a lot of external storage capabilities like physical hooks, thrusters mounted on the thighs used primarily for getting extra power when carrying heavier combat mechs away from battle for effectively robot on robot surgery. Most of the Haratora-Zeds functions are automated.

Random Questions

Why did the Class-I pilot try to communicate verbally with Emerson?

All pilots are equipped with automatic halo port interfacing, if your conversational AI detects incoming messages even from non-mechanized entities, it'll patch them through to you. She didn't respond because she was blitzed on narcotics mixed with synapse accelerants to get her back to Synchrosis. Remember, she's a maniac.

Why did Emerson respond when poked?

Same as before, there's a warning system for when non-mechanized but halo-equipped individuals are nearby, and, their touch on the mechs body is translated through the mech in the form of pressure actuators which interact with the pilots body glove. She reacted because, again, blitzed.

[softsky-daily]

11/8/2023

The sky has been so blue lately - or maybe it just happens to be whenever I take a picture.

Positive thing: I got to play the new Yakuza game.

I played through the tutorial stuff and the first chapter and it's pretty fun so far. I had to adjust to the combat since it's back to the original beat-em-up style as the past games, plus Kiryu is all by himself and not with a big party like Ichiban is in Yakuza 7. It does give it a much lonelier feeling, but I think it suits the story. I'm playing in Japanese so I understand like 70% of it and the other 30% I'm trying to make out through context clues, but it's enough to enjoy it. Plus I'm learning a lot of new vocab which is always a plus.

There's this new gadget system thingy where you can use gadgets in combat and the first one you get is a wire that you can wrap around enemies and fling them around with. It's very Spiderman-esque. I think you unlock more which I'm curious about seeing.

Class was a big drag today. I straight up just kept the Zoom open and only tuned in when there was a mandatory discussion happening, and I was still tired by the end. Most of the time I was chatting with classmate friends on Discord on the side. It seems like a lot of us are going through it this semester. I guess I've also realized that there is just this strong atmosphere of... I don't know what to call it. Bootstrap mentality? Like that but much more subconscious I guess. My professor was sick and she opened the call with her groggy voice apologizing that she was sick, and said something along the lines of "You know, you have your clients and all these things you have to do, and when you get sick it's hard because you need rest and at the same time, everything is going to move on without you if you fall behind."

Which like, true I guess, but it never sits well with me when someone in my field says things like that. I know we live in a society that doesn't prioritize rest at all, and that it's basically being kept together by people who do do all that work, and someone has to do it and it's often thankless and difficult, but where do we strike that balance? What kinda message do we send others about mental health when we make the choice to do that? I know the answer is that a bunch of systems need to be reworked and better funded to allow for more rest, not just for counselors but everybody, but that won't happen so easily.

I see my friends doing the same things, both those in class with me or at their jobs or whatever, and it feels so harrowing that it's this ubiquitous. Just pushing through because it feels like there is no other choice. I've been doing that forever and it literally rots you away to be like that. I know there's a special kind of person who does genuinely thrive in that kind of pressure, but I am not them, and most people I know aren't either.

Oh well. I get to play more Yakuza tomorrow, and a friend is coming over to stay for the weekend as well. I'm mostly looking forward to Friday, where I'm having an end-of-running-group-counseling celebration lunch and then later going to my friend's birthday dinner. I bought him a present I think he'll really like so I hope I'm right. Then Sunday I'm volunteering at the Japanese Festival which I think will be fun too. I'm going to need to be pretty firm about having my own rest time though, because I have practicum Monday and if I don't get rest I think I'll literally be too out of patience with everything to function.