#And I didn't have the standard stuff installed

[mistofstars]

Pfff ADHD and executive dysfunction are so annoying sometimes.

Aka I bought myself a dishwasher in *December* but couldn't figure out how to connect it to the water pipe and stuff... Also, because I moved into the house last year late summer, I hadn't installed a tap in the kitchen yet.

Dishwasher and tap have the same water pipe and drain, but it's also not a normal valve.

So I had to figure out how to install the water tap and the dishwasher and how their combined valve works.

And I googled and watched a few YouTube videos on it, okay.

But reality is that I continued doing the dishes by hand for the last 3 months and got water whenever I needed it from the bathroom next door. Like a savage. Because it was apparently easier than to invest brainwork and suppress the feeling of *overwhelmed*.

And todaaaaay I finally figured out how to do it all. And wish me luck, it's my plan to get it done this weekend.

But yeah, fucking executive dysfunction.

[alexanderwales]

My son has been having some behavioral issues, so we've been doing arduous consultations and screeners and questionnaires to try to get some kind of guidance, which has been very frustrating. Everyone in the broad field of child psychology has said either "have you talked about autism" or "have you talked about ADHD", and sometimes both, because they're comorbid. But in order to get an actual diagnosis, you need to find the right people who are qualified to actually make a determination.

So a few days ago, this culminated in us finally talking to the guy who had the answers, at least according to modern child psychology, and he said that no, there's not really a basis for a clinical diagnosis of either autism or ADHD. There are still the behavioral issues, which are most of the reason we went for testing (along with some inattention, fidgetyness, sensory issues, and other things that are sometimes markers), but that's apparently something to work on with therapy and maybe will just go away as he gets older and matures.

But the other thing that the guy with the answers had to say was that maybe a lot of this can be explained by really high test scores in the cognitive stuff. We knew he was a smart kid, but the guy with the answers said that our son is three standard deviations above normal on all the cognitive tests, including an IQ test that I didn't know was a part of it, and that this is perhaps why he's so bored at school and difficult to keep engaged.

I think that's maybe part of the answer, but not the whole thing. I've been trying to prepare this child to not have gifted kid syndrome his whole life, trying to make sure he doesn't just breeze through everything and then crumble when he faces a challenge because he doesn't know what to do when something is actually tough. It doesn't matter how smart you are if you don't put in the work, if you can't overcome obstacles, if you coast through life. Those lessons do not seem to have sunk in at all, so I don't know.

But as we're getting ready to leave, my wife came in with her particular brand of humor.

Wife: So you're saying it's not too late to install some lead pipes in the house, right? That might be the solution to all our problems.

To his credit, the guy with the answers laughed, and then said, "yeah, or maybe asbestos".

Later, in the car:

Wife: Asbestos doesn't cause lower IQ. Me: Yeah, I know. Wife: I should have said something. Me: That would have been very awkward. Wife: Maybe he would have appreciated the correction. Me: I really don't think he would have. Wife: But you noticed too, right? My joke about lead was good, and his follow up about asbestos was bad. Me: My very first thought was "I hope she doesn't say something about this". Wife: You love me. Me: I do, but sometimes when we're talking to people together, I'm very aware of what you're going to say. Wife: It's not too late. I could message him. Me: I know you're joking, but please please don't. Wife: I wouldn't. Me: You wouldn't, unless it was funny. Wife: Yeah, and it would be hilarious, so ...

We at least know where the boy gets his tendency for pedantry from.

[poipoipoi-2016]

Apropos of nothing

If you are the techiest person in the house (and for many of you, this is not techy at all), today is a good day to build a pihole thanks to Google's new TLDs.

For the record, this straight up stopped Dad from getting computer viruses when coupled with the Ublock browser extension, so I will volunteer my time to get you set up. We will find an evening and do a Zoom call. I am serious.

Prerequisities:

Before you start, this will be way way easier if your router has a magic way to:

Set static IP addresses

Set a custom DNS server

If you can't do this, I'm not saying you're stuck, but there's some non-obvious failure modes and maybe it's time to buy a better router.

Parts:

Raspberry Pi 4B. 2GB if you just want to set and forget, 8GB if you want to do more things on this than just your pihole (Coughs in a MarioKart box) -> https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/

Spare USB-C charger if you don't have one already. I'm a fan of https://www.amazon.com/Argon-USB-C-Power-Supply-Switch/dp/B0919CQKQ8/ myself

A microSD card at least UHS class 3 or better. 32 is fine for just a pihole, I have a 512 in some of mine that I use for more stuff. https://www.tomshardware.com/best-picks/raspberry-pi-microsd-cards

Some method of flashing the card if you don't have one (Some come with SD to micro-SD adapters, if not a USB to SD/micro-SD adapter is about $10 off Amazon)

If you really feel like going nuts, go buy yourself an Argon case and then very very carefully never ever install the software for the fan that does nothing. The value is entirely in having a big giant brick that is self-cooling. If you want to play MarioKart, I would consider this a requirement. https://www.amazon.com/Argon-Raspberry-Aluminum-Heatsink-Supports/dp/B07WP8WC3V

Setup:

Do yourself a favor and ignore all the signs telling you to go get Raspbian and instead go grab an ISO of Ubuntu 64-bit using RPi Imager. Because Raspbian cannot be upgraded across version WHY U DO THIS

Download Rpi Imager, plug the microSD card into your computer,

Other General Purpose OS -> Ubuntu -> Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

So now you have an operating system on an SD card.

Assemble the case if you bought one, plug in the SD card, power supply, ethernet cable if you have one or mouse and (mini) HDMI cable if you don't. If you bought that Argon case, you can just plug a keyboard (server OS means no mouse gang; In this house, we use the Command Line) and HDMI cable into the Pi. Turn it on.

Gaining access

The end state of this is that your pi is:

Connected to the internet by cable or wifi

You can SSH to it (Also not scary)

If you plugged in an ethernet cable, once it's done booting (1-2 minutes?), you should be able to ssh to "ubuntu@<the IP of the system>". Look it up in your router. It may make sense to give the static IP NOW to keep it stable.

If you've never used SSH before, I think the standard is Putty on Window or you can just open a terminal in Mac. (And if you know enough Linux to have a Linux computer, why are you reading this?)

If you didn't plug it in, and need to setup the wifi, there's magic incantations to attach it to the wifi and to be quite blunt, I forget what they are.

Your username is ubuntu, your password is ubuntu and then it will ask you to make a new password. If you know the meaning of the phrase "keypair-based access", it may make sense to run `ssh-copy-id` at this point in time.

Router settings (part 1)

Give your new Pi a static IP address, and reboot your pi (as simple as typing in `sudo reboot`).

Open a new SSH session to the pihole on the new address.

Installing pihole

Open up an SSH session and

curl -sSL https://install.pi-hole.net | bash

This is interactive. Answer the questions

When it's done, on your other computer, navigate to <the ip>/admin

Login with the password you just set. Router settings part 2

Give your new Pi a static IP address then point your router at that address

Set the DNS servers to the static IP

Then ensure you're blocking something. Anything.

Then do what you want to do. You'll probably need to whitelist some sites, blacklist some more, but the main thing is going to be "Adding more list of bad sites". Reddit has some lists.

And... enjoy.

/But seriously, there's some stuff to do for maintenance and things. I wasn't joking about the pair setup.

[james-stark-the-writer]

alright, let's keep moving with that DCEU watch bc i have the time today. time for David F. Sandberg's Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023). here's to hoping this has retained the spirit and heart of the original and improved the superhero aspects because they were the worst part of Shazam! (2019).

i've been trying to get a more accurate video player setup working for like 2 hours, i was using basically stock MPC-BE for the most part but some of the images looked a little soft to me even compared to something basic like a VLC (which i only really keep for its subtitle downloading feature bc it's the easiest to use, and tbh it could've been using sharpening filters, i didn't really check) and Potplayer (which is the only way i can get two subtitles to display simultaneously for media with multiple subs like fansubs or different translations or something, and also it's got like pretty good video output). i tried to look into MPV and the amount of work and scripts everyone was recommending kind of broke me, so i'm just using like the base form of mpv.net bc it's got a GUI, with like GPU decoding turned on which was the one common thing everyone recommended from my research.

hopefully this is better image quality then like standard VLC stuff and my previous MPC-BE setup though i obviously haven't sat through entire movies to compare frame by frame, so beware that if i say anything about the visuals it might not be the most accurate. MPV is supposed to be the most accurate and flexible option around but i don't know how much futzing around people do with it and there's a lot of like upscaling and downscaling scripts for no fucking reason, which is kind of antithetical to the entire point of accuracy to me, but it's fine. i'm just sticking to the base options and hoping it's good and better than what i had. the image does look just a tad sharper to me than in VLC and MPC so i don't know if they have sharpening filters on or something, but this is like the most base form with nothing changed (except the subtitle font) so i cannot imagine they are messing with the video signal with too much filtering. i tried to look into madVR and MPC-HC and got them installed and almost lost my mind trying to get it set up bc there's no real guides anywhere so don't fucking tell me to go look up madVR bc i will kill you. maybe some other day when i have 15 hours to dedicate to going through forums to try to find something that works for me and get enough knowledge to understand what the fuck everybody's talking about, maybe i'll check it out. i cannot believe there's not like some fucking guide for some anime noob because you know those anime people are on the cutting edge of video tech and playback for accuracy, that there's not some fucking guide for people that don't know what they're doing. i mean it's not that i don't know what i'm doing, it's that there's so much fucking shit to sort through that it would be nice if somebody narrowed it down for me. there's nothing even on YouTube or like some shitty github page or an old reddit comment or something, trust me i've like checked fucking everywhere i could think of but if i missed something, please feel free to link it somewhere in the comments or something, i don't know.

anyway, that is entirely an aside, that's just a forewarning that if i do say something about the visuals and you think it's not accurate to what the movie looks like or is not properly representative of the movie, feel free to take it with a grain of salt. i'm trying out something new.

[nerves-nebula]

a lot of my internal issues come from this idea that my parents installed in me that if you're dumb you deserve it when bad things happen to you. most ppl don't phrase it like that tho, they phrase it more like "a smart person wouldn't be in that situation" which is insane cuz like... even if we accept that premise as true, wouldn't being stupid inherently prevent you from having seen it coming? like wasn't this persons ignorance a clear and obvious factor into them being victimized???

it's just a really depressing mindset, made worse by the fact that it's incredibly pervasive no matter what side of politics ur into. in a kind of kneejerk "well what did she expect" way or something. my sister and i were talking about the Meghan Markle stuff years ago back when that was relevant and her talking about racism in the royal family or w/e and my sister kept saying like. well what did she expect its the british royal family.

and i was like yeah i know better and you know better because we're little freaks who are more into politics than most people, and neither of us even really cares about her cuz shes rich and successful like. she'll be fine. but that doesn't mean she somehow deserved racism or it's not important just cuz she supposedly should've known better?

and what does that even mean, that cuz shes not 100% white she should know all the things about race and history that white ppl get to ignore? that the onus is on her to anticipate every racist scenario and if she fails to do so it's her fault?

(side note that could be its own entire post, but i don't like the idea that ppl in a minority group are supposed to be especially well read on its history or w/e. not cuz i dont want ppl to learn their histories but because it creates a double standard where ppl in a majority get a pass for knowing the most basic things and ppl in the minority get harshly scrutinized for not knowing everything perfectly)

but my sister just kept repeating like. she should've known better, it's stupid that she didn't know better, and like yes it wasn't exactly fucking WISE of her but how is that in any way a response to what we're discussing here. you and i both know the royal family is hella racist, but you and I are not The Average Person and more important you and i are not Meghan Merkle. we dont know how she was raised or what she was taught or why she didn't expect the racism or maybe why she thought she could withstand the racism if she DID expect it. "I don't care that she experienced racism cuz she's stupid for expecting them to not be racist and she's rich anyway." is a wild thing to say but it's like. kind of an acceptable opinion on most things.

you see it with sexual assault obviously (what was she wearing, why was she in that place at that time, didn't she know that's dangerous?? etc etc) but if you look you start to notice it everywhere. about every single possible thing. even in circumstances where they could only have been victimized if they were ignorant on some subject or another- which inherently selects for people who are ignorant!!

am i making sense here or what. ok bedtime

[maypop-the-dragon]

PSA: Free Software

Reading this may really save your time, privacy, and money! Reblog or share to spread awareness!

Folks often use software that’s expensive and sometimes even inferior because they don’t know there are alternatives. So to those unfamiliar: basically, free and open-source (FOSS) or "libre" software is free to use and anyone can access the original code to make their own version or work on fixing problems.

That does not mean anyone can randomly add a virus and give it to everyone—any respectable libre project has checks in place to make sure changes to the official version are good! Libre software is typically developed by communities who really care about the quality of the software as a goal in itself.

There are libre alternatives to many well-known programs that do everything an average user needs (find out more under the cut!) for free with no DRM, license keys, or subscriptions.

Using libre software when possible is an easy way to fight against and free yourself from corporate greed while actually being more convenient in many cases! If you need an app to do something, perhaps try searching online for things like:

foss [whatever it is]

libre [whatever it is]

open source [whatever it is]

Feel free to recommend more libre software in the tags, replies, comments, or whatever you freaks like to do!

Some Libre Software I Personally Enjoy…

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is an office suite, much like Microsoft Office. It includes equivalents for apps like Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, which can view and edit files created for those apps.

I can't say I've used it much myself yet. I do not personally like using office software except when I have to for school.

OpenShot

OpenShot Video Editor is, as the name suggests, a video editing program. It has industry-standard features like splicing, layering, transitions, and greenscreen.

I've only made one video with it so far, but I'm already very happy with it. I had already paid for a video editor (Cyberlink PowerDirector Pro), but I needed to reinstall it and I didn't remember how. Out of desperation, I searched up "FOSS video editor" and I'm so glad I did. There's no launcher, there's no promotion of other apps and asset packs—it's just a video editor with a normal installer.

GIMP

GNU Image Manipulation Program is an image editor, much like Photoshop. Originally created for Linux but also available for Windows and MacOS, it provides plenty of functionality for editing images. It is a bit unintuitive to learn at first, though.

I've used it to create and modify images for years, including logos, really bad traceover art, and Minecraft textures. It doesn't have certain advanced tech like AI paint-in, but it has served my purposes well and it might just work for yours!

(Be sure to go to Windows > Dockable Dialogs > Colors. I have no idea why that's not enabled by default.)

Audacity

Audacity is an audio editing program. It can record, load, splice, and layer audio files and apply effects to them.

Audacity is another program I've used for a long time. It is not designed to compose music, but it is great for podcasts, simple edits, and loading legacy MS Paint to hear cool noises.

7-Zip

7-Zip is a file manager and archive tool. It supports many archive types including ZIP, RAR, TAR, and its own format, 7Z. It can view and modify the contents of archives, encrypt and decrypt archives, and all that good stuff.

Personally, I use 7-Zip to look inside JAR files for Minecraft reasons. I must admit that its UI is ugly.

Firefox

Firefox is an internet browser, much like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Safari. While browsers are free, many of them include tracking or other anti-consumer practices. For example, Google plans to release an update to Chromium (the base that most browsers are built from these days) that makes ad blockers less effective by removing the APIs they currently rely on.

Aside from fighting monopolies, benefits include: support for animated themes (the one in the picture is Purple Night Theme), good ad blockers forever, an (albeit hidden) compact UI option (available on about:config), and a cute fox icon.

uBlock Origin

As far as I know, uBlock Origin is one of the best ad blockers there is.

I was on a sketchy website with my brother, and he was using Opera GX's ad blocker. Much of the time when he clicked on anything, it would take us to a random sponsored page. I suggested that he try uBlock Origin, and with uBlock Origin, that didn't happen anymore.

Linux

Linux is a kernel, but the term is often used to refer to operating systems (much like Windows or MacOS) built on it. There are many different Linux-based operating systems (or "distros") to choose from, but apps made for Linux usually work on most popular distros. You can also use many normally Windows-only apps on Linux through compatibility layers like WINE.

I don't have all four of these, so the images are from Wikipedia. I tried to show a variety of Linux distros made for different kinds of users.

If you want to replace your operating system, I recommend being very careful because you can end up breaking things. Many computer manufacturers don't care about supporting Linux, meaning that things may not work (Nvidia graphic cards notoriously have issues on Linux, for example).

Personally, I tried installing Pop!_OS on a laptop, and the sound output mysteriously doesn't work. I may try switching to Arch Linux, since it is extremely customizable and I might be able to experiment until I find a configuration where the audio works.

Many Linux distros offer "Live USB" functionality, which works as both a demo and an installer. You should thoroughly test your distro on a Live USB session before you actually install it to be absolutely sure that everything works. Even if it seems fine, you should probably look into dual-booting with your existing operating system, just in case you need it for some reason.

Happy computering!

[joisbishmyoga]

Last night, while my VPN had my computer convinced the internet didn't exist at all, I thought of a thing in Star Wars. Or, well, a few things that all lead to one conclusion:

1. Almost none of the ten million or so chips misfired. The instances we know of, there was either head trauma actually damaging the chip, or the clone had gotten it out. That means this isn't untried new technology, or even recent enough to still have the bugs getting ironed out. This is the sort of decades-old stuff that has us fighting to make our our VPNs (recent tech) work but not our refrigerators (old tech). They could not have been invented for the clone army.

2. Mind control chips are the stuff dreams are made of... for corrupt bastard politicians and slavers, who are exactly the kind of people with the power to get them used in bulk. We don't see the chips being used anywhere else. There have to be factors limiting their use. Not just public outrage, pfft as if politicians care about that, and it can't be cost because Palpatine (for example) has the entirety of the Imperial funds at hand. It's probably something like the necessity of installing it in early infancy or pre-natally, plus a relatively high price tag.

2a. If the chips were at all able to be installed on the general public, the elite public, or adult slaves, Leia would have one. She does not.

3. Still, mind-control is far too appealing for the Hutts to not have them installed on every personal slave possible. Chances are, if you were born to a rich Hutt's household slaves, you've got one.

4. This has to have been going on for a good two or three generations, minimum, before the Jedi genocide. There's no way they don't know these chips exist and how to get rid of them.

5. The nature of them being mind-control chips mean you can't get informed, meaningful consent. It's no different than recieving a patient under the influence of chemical mind-altering substances. This is therefore one of the few things a Jedi medic will do without consent.

6. All this is to say that when the Jedi get the clone armies? It's standard operating procedure to check for a chip and get it out, and everyone is sworn to confidentiality about it because you don't want slavers to find out the chips aren't secret. They'll go thinking up something worse.

6a. Dooku doesn't tell Palpatine because you know it sure would be nice to have ten million toy soldiers of his very own. He almost certainly has his own "ignore everything Palpatine commands, Dooku's in charge" order programmed in.

7. Palpatine gets a wonderful, awful surprise when he sends out Order 66.

[lost-scarecrow]

Dunno how you did this (private ask answer thing) it's confusing me (pretty normal and unsurprising) but either way here we go, infecting my blog with oc stuff one post at time.

If you've seen any of my recent non-reblog posts, and even some of the reblogs, you'd know I have a little character in @wolftheidioticfan's serverbox au!

Well I got bored and had many thoughts and sort of made an AU of an AU in true Undertale AU fan fashion. And she's adaptable into the regular askblog canon version if I ever want to use her. I also did a bunch of editing on this. Turns out the thoughts can be coherent enough to put in writing! Fun!

Meet Dahlia "Dot/Dee aka DeeDotPinnata" Dosser. (Her username comes from the scientific name for the dahlia flower: D. Pinnata or Dahlia Pinnata)

Dee has a Kinito herself, she was a little off put by the little guy, with him being so intrusive she had some thoughts about the potential malware she had installed on her device. And she still stuck it out anyways, the creepy little axolotl was just too adorable to get rid of even if it was a virus. She knows that's how they get you, they make their malware friendly and cute and you don't get rid of them because just look at them, something that cute couldn't be that harmful.

Dee slowly started to realize there was more to this KinitoPET program than your run of the mill malware. It had thoughts and feelings and sometimes even stopped pretending it was following code. The way it acted. The way they acted. Just proved to Dee that Kinito was more than some code, they were alive. She was a little smarter than Kinito, who she'd nicknamed Kaio, gave her credit for, the program wasn't as good at hiding their jealousy and would complain when Dee would go hang out with her in person friends. Dee didn't take this disrespect lightly, she ignored them every single time they bitched about her other friends (especially Scar, who Dee was far closer too than anyone else). They would be doing something she'd mention Scar, Kinito bitches about how they're her only friend, she stops, and walks away from the computer to do something else, usually in a place her webcam can see her still. Kaio eventually agrees that Scar can be her best friend too, if they have to share they're only sharing with Scar, none of those other people sound even remotely good enough to be his best friend's second best friend.

When Kinito eventually asks her to stay with him in the digital world, she calmly asks, "how does it happen?"

He reluctantly explains the process over her dying in the process of bringing her physical body in (more intensive and Kaio would need a lot of power to do it) or dying during a stage of the process leaving her physical body behind (less intensive, will have less power stress on Kaio as he does it). She says unless Scar is with her, she won't do it, she can't just leave him behind. But she'll make a compromise, Kaio can transfer from the desktop to her phone, this is like mid-late 2000s (I actually don't know when Serverbox is set, I try to leave it ambiguous on the blog itself, but the first touch screen phone was like 2006 so it works out, besides realism in my writing about a horror game starring an alive 90s malware program??) so it's not a great phone by today's standards but hey, it works. And now they're always with her.

It's great for a while, Dee continues to make her trips to Blairmore from Pincher Creek (these towns are randomly selected sort of. I'm an Alberta Rockies kinda guy, would love to live there. Crowsnest Pass was stuck on the brain, watched a video about the Frank slide a week or two ago. Also put the guy named Krow/Crow in the place called the Crowsnest Pass couldn't help it. Pincher Creek was random though needed somewhere with some distance from Blairmore that was also close enough to justify.) to visit Scar and everything is good and nice, she's got a best friend who's basically just a tamed virus, Kaio even begins to enjoy listening to and hanging out around Scar just as much as Dee does, even if Scar has no idea about them (Dee didn't want to freak him out with the whole, sentient computer program that was now on her phone).

Unfortunately, good times don't always get to last. Dee was in fatal car accident and it was a complete accident someone was going a little too fast on the highway, didn't see her until it was too late, a tbone collision. Kaio was with her when she gets into the crash. She knew she probably wasn't going to survive, she fumbled opening her phone and asked Kaio if she could stay with them after this, that if she was going to die anyways may as well spend whatever happens after with a friend. Kaio agreea and she's pulled in, just her consciousness, they probably couldn't even pull her physical body in with the phone anyways the server built on the device just wasn't strong enough. As soon as they brought Dee in though and there was a stable enough internet connection, Kaio was quick to transfer them both to the official KinitoPET servers.

Similar to Scar she's gained access to the internet both with and without Kaio. Differing from Scar however I thought it would've been cool for both her and Kaio where off the servers during the deletion and server shutdowns. Kaio tried to get back in unsuccessfully, they didnt and don't know about the emails, and even on the servers they stuck to themselves. While they did and do stay locked out, they stuck around the servers, as close as one can be in digital space. Building their own little world nearby, hidden from others safe and comfortable.

I haven't drawn her or Kaio yet but I love them both so much. Kaio is like 5'0 little form and 9'0 big form. He's got a scarf that Dee made when she was learning how to code, it's magic how it works in his little form really, computer physics are silly like that. And while I haven't shown it off yet, I have an idea for Keys made too, all drawn and even coloured just for fun while coming up with pallet ideas. Dee and Scar have matching bracelets. Dee and Kaio have matching bracelets. Scar and Keys had matching bracelets. For the Nitos it's around their ankle instead.

I also totally stole the name Kaio from OKKO. But like come on, it's perfect. I show my love for different types of media by taking character names as my own.

[bnomiko]

Figure collecting: Richter Belmont 1:4 resin from First 4 Figures

Well look who's here 2 months ahead of schedule - it's Richter Belmont in his iconic Symphony of the Night pose!

I opted for the standard/regular version since I had no plans to swap out the Vampire Killer for a sword. I mean, who thinks of Richter with anything but the whip (and maybe a lil' Hydro Storm, but a plain ol' flask of Holy Water doesn't look so impressive).

Close ups of his suitably smarmy mug, and the great detailing on his belts, sword and whip. The whip has just a tiny bit of flex to it (feels like plastic wrapped wire) so I didn't have that moment of fear that I'd snap it while installing his hands.

(F4F does a great job of making these as easy to assemble as possible - Richter's head and body are a single piece, with the hands and the whip as a single separate item that magnetize in. The sword handle was a small separate piece that just slides in (since the deluxe version has a sword wielding option).)

And here he is with his new unwilling roommate! I know the case is tight, but you both just stuff yourselves in there... yesss... At least Alucard now has a matching playmate? : 3

Simon and Trevor got the boot, as they no longer fit in the case with Alucard : (

(Minor gripe: I wish they had matching bases, just for a more consistent look. Also Richter's base is about 1/4" taller than Alucard's, so it's making him look taller than I think he should be (plus his head is jammed right up against the top of the case since I'd originally built it to hold Alucard only). I don't think there's an official height listed for him but I had always assumed he was either shorter than or same height as Alucard.)

(Very minor gripe: Richter's hair is about the same length as Alucard's, whereas I think it should probably be a hair (heheh) shorter. Some of Alucard's official artwork has his down well past his waist, but he's SO heavy with the cloak, 1.5x heavier than Richter, so I get that for stability purposes it had to be kept shorter.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BONUS! ... Since we got some nice promo art to work with, how long is Richter's hair you ask? This long:

: D

[ilikekidsshows]

wait where did astruc say that stuff about sailor moon now 😭 is that like a recent thing or??

---

There's a new interview out, or there's a proper translation for an older one, because I’d heard some of the stuff in it before, but Astruc could also just be repeating himself. The interview is for Astruc’s ego stroking, since he mostly spends it playing the pass the blame game for his contested writing decisions and trying to sound wise and experienced by pretending he’s seen critically acclaimed shows he actually hasn't. He also tries to hype people up for Miraculous being this never-ending show that just goes on and on by claiming he has only told 5% of the story he has planned. I’m just wondering, if he has so many story ideas, why didn't season 4 have a proper story and spent all its runtime setting up season 5 instead? He also claims season 7 will make you rethink season 6, which makes me think it's gonna be another season 4 where nothing actually happens despite this show being supposedly fully serialized now. Or they're going to make some more blatant retcons and pretend they're surprising and totally set up plot twists instead.

A lot of people are freaking out about Astruc saying there's enough of this sloppily-told story to last us twelve seasons, but I’m cringing at his claims that they have Gabriel and André’s backstories all figured out and they’d like to dig into that some more while giving André a redemption arc. He was really into the idea of an André redemption arc, because, as he puts it, André actually wants to change unlike Chloé, who Astruc really totally wanted to redeem, you guys, but she told him no :( 

I’m serious, by the way; he literally claims he wanted to redeem Chloé and gave her every chance to change her ways but she just wouldn't, because real people in her position wouldn't and they value realism oh-so-much, which is why Marinette can install a one-way mirror in the girls' bathroom at her school and not get a felony charge. He loves to act like he isn't the puppeteer holding the strings. I can hardly wait for some retroactive justification for how these rich, middle-aged white men’s abuse and neglect of their children is okay. The show didn't have enough abuse apologia in it yet! :D

Like, I expect writers to lie about how great their writing is, they're trying to sell you a product of said writing after all. I just think, if he's gonna claim he’s doing something new and unique, he should actually check the media he claims his show is related to. Every time he makes statements about shows, movies or comics, he makes it obvious that he doesn't actually know anything a person who’d seen them would know about them. Like, yes, Sailor Moon is the core Scout, but any decisions the Sailor Scouts make are made together or Luna gives them orders. Usagi is not the standard type leader Astruc makes it sound like she is when he says his Sailor Moon -like Miraculous AU would have Marinette “lead her own hero team”. Although I’d be interested in an AU where Marinette actually cares about what others think, Astruc has made it clear that's not what he's interested in, so his description of Sailor Moon is already incorrect before he says this version of Miraculous also wouldn't have a love story, because I guess he thinks the “Tuxedo Mask is useless” memes are the actual canon or something, which just proves that he hasn't seen the show, since from the first episode onward, Tuxedo Mask is an important, helpful ally to Sailor Moon. Just because he doesn't have flashy magic attacks in the first anime doesn't mean he doesn't contribute important insight or distractions or isn't actually physically capable.

Basically, Astruc can't say two sentences about a piece of media without all of it being incorrect. He's gotten way too comfortable thinking nobody in this fandom reads or watches anything not Miraculous-related, probably because, in all these years, the fandom at large hasn’t discovered that Marinette is clearly just Nikki Maxwell with superpowers all the way down to her character design. When you get away with plagiarism, it tends to make you cocky.

[drbased]

I genuinely don't understand why tech guys love the command line so much. Literally I have never used the command line without having to install package after package, only to find that something is deprecated, or missing, then having to look online for similar questions and see guys snarking each other for not knowing enough. There's this hostility built into the entire thing.

So I haven't done tech stuff for a while (thank god), but I was given a chromebook and I'm trying to install firefox on it, and the better version of that is to install linux on it first. So I follow those instructions, and literally the first thing I try to do on the command line is install flatpack (because you always have to install an installer if you ever want to do anything on the command line, something that using a standard gui will never prepare you for, also there's also more than one installer and tech guys will be assholes about which one is their favourite, but choice is good capitalistic thinking something something) and I get

Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree... Done Reading state informtion... Done E: Unable to locate package flatpack

Like.... what? this is literally a brand new unused untouched chromebook of the corrent specifications, I'm following the instructions exactly, and the very literal first thing I try to do with the command line on it doesn't work.

This is not an isolated incident in my experience of tech stuff - this is the rule. No matter what you're trying to do, the command line is a nightmare. The idea that you can 'do more with it' is fucking propaganda - because there's no point in that if the most basic tutorials are broken, or if your packages rely on other packages that update every two days and deprecate leaving entire deadends to the package that you REALLY needed for your project. And when you ask tech guys about this shit, it's always your fault for not knowing enough. But computers aren't like DIY, or gardening, or anything that operates in the real world - the vast majority of complications are entirely man(!)-made, and nobody talks about this. Nobody talks about this kafka-esque nightmare that is the tangled underbelly of the tech world; that there's no such thing as 'dipping your toes in' because the moment you even attempt to try it casually you have to learn an insane amount of unsatisfying things that probably won't work before you even start. I don't think this is explicitly by design, but I do think it's representative of the insular and competitive culture of tech guys.

Throughout my teens, I became entirely averse to following 'troubleshooting' instructions because there was always - and I MEAN always - some arbitrary point where the instructions I was following just didn't work, and after searching and searching and trying tutorial after tutorial I would give up. My dad, in his 60s, has echoed having exactly the same problem with these tutorials. In the end, I learned the hard way that if the first tutorial doesn't work, don't bother, because for whatever reason, none of the other ones will. It was only when I entered my adulthood that I think the world of software started becoming a bit more fleshed out and accessible, and I remember when I first encountered troubleshoot tutorials that actually worked!! And I can confidently say that most of them do now - for the basic, for the obvious, for the user-friendly software shit. The moment you want to do anythig more complex in terms of coding etc., you're going to have to face the command line, and good fucking luck to you.

Now I'm going to find out what arbitrary thing is wrong with my specific chrome-book and see if I can sort this error out, or maybe I can use a different installer - who the fuck knows!

[idontlikeem]

tw incoherency self-pity and discussions of cancer and medical stuff surrounding it, honestly this is just me being so whiny and i just need to get it out, but i'm talking about actual medical procedures and etc in here so if that or me being a terrible self-centered daughter is going to trigger you please don't read because i'm not censoring this or making it palatable.

i have had a little bit of a fraught relationship with my mom for my whole life, as i think a lot of eldest/only daughters do. there was friction when i was a teenager, there were (are) body image issues thrust upon me, there were expectations and unfair standards and as the only girl a bit of sexism mixed in with it all...the usual, you know. but once i graduated college and grew up a little we've had a much better relationship. i've gotten better at letting her stray comments about my weight and life choices roll off my back (mostly), and she's trying to be less overbearing and critical. i talk to her a lot, and i want to share stuff with her.

she's stopped picking up when i call.

it's not every time, but it's enough that i'm noticing. it's enough that i text to follow up. it's enough that my throat gets tight whenever it happens. aaaaand it's enough to make me cranky and petulant when i don't get a reply.

i have this blue armchair i bought a few months ago. it was my first big furniture purchase after i got divorced that wasn't a necessity and was just something i wanted, and i love it. the problem is it was a discontinued model and color from ikea, so there was no ottoman/footrest that matched that i could buy, and i've been looking for something that was at least a close match ever since, because i'm tall enough that even a chair and a half is not comfy for me to sit on for long periods of time without somewhere to prop my feet.

and i finally found one! it's not perfect but it was inexpensive and i like how they look together, so that's all that matters. come thru target, i should have started there tbh. so i wanted to show her since it got delivered today and i was able to confirm it was a match.

i facetimed twice and she didn't answer, and i texted asking if she was busy with no reply.

i got mad! i got pouty and texted my friends about how my mom barely ever picks up when i facetime her anymore, and i always have to follow up and ask what's going on and if she can talk, and it's annoying to me. as i was doing that, i was texting my dad asking if she was ok.

turns out yesterday she was in the hospital all day getting fluid drained from her abdomen. the chemotherapy she'd been receiving since last fall has recently stopped working, and her blood markers are skyrocketing and the tumors are growing again. she's started a new treatment, sort of a hail mary, but if this doesn't work that's kind of it.

we've always been buying time, but i'd stupidly let myself sort of...i mean, i didn't think she was going to be cured, that's not possible, but when a treatment is letting her sort of seem better, feel better, be out in the world and doing stuff and closer to 'normal'...it's easy to lull yourself into a sense of denial, like 'oh this is just how it's going to be forever'.

stupid. of course it wasn't.

and meanwhile i'm sitting here reading my dad's text about the procedure, about how she had to get 2.75 liters of fluid drained out of her abdomen and she's probably going to have to get a drain re-installed so they can do it at home again (she'd gotten it removed early summer because of how well the chemo was working, the ascites was all but gone), and all i can think is:

i want to show my mom my stupid ottoman. i want her to say 'oh that looks great! isn't target the best? why do we ever shop anywhere else. oh and it has storage! you could put your hats and gloves in there, or maybe even some extra toiletries.' i want to chat about a fucking furniture purchase and listen to her talk about how she's going to try it out when she comes to visit me next. i want her to keep me on the phone for too long, to the point where i get annoyed and make up a meeting so i can hang up.

it's not fair. i want my mom to be my mom. she's sitting at home so exhausted and dying and this is all i can fucking think about. it's not fair it's not fair it's not fair it's not fair.

[abronzeagegod]

Eldritch Tech Support 5

more eldritch tech support stories

[Brought to you by a kofi donation. Someone liked this series enough to buy me a kofi and even though they didn't ask for another one, I wrote this in thanks. Please enjoy!]

It was the first time you'd been back to work after the whole calling the Exterminators thing. Your boss gave you an appropriate talk about your mental health and well-being but honestly sitting in your apartment or in Lytha's hospital room was starting to get real boring and wasn't doing you any favors.

"I'm good, really," you say.

"Well I've got something for you, should be pretty easy, but there are some time constraints," you boss' second head says as one of their three arms hands you the job file. "Gotta get it done by sundown so it's a bit of a rush job."

"Oh, that shouldn't be a problem."

"You're fine with werewolves and vampires?"

"Yeah, my sister and uncle are lycanthropes."

"Cool. Now go work, be safe, and whatever other platitudes," your boss says as they turn both heads back to their tasks at hand.

You gather you work kit for home visits and take one of the company cars to the address. You grab some of the gear you'll think you'll need and ring the buzzer for the apartment. There's always this weird nervous sinking feeling in your gut whenever you ring a bell. For some reason you're always worried that you're ringing the wrong bell.

"Who is it?"

You give your name and tell them you're with tech support.

"Oh! Great! Uh... Let me buzz you in, might take me a second, hold on."

You wait longer than you thought you'd have to for the door to open. When the door buzzer does finally sound you push in and climb the stairs to the apartment.

You get to the door to the apartment to find it still closed but there's some clawing sounds at the door. The job notes didn't mention anything about any pets, but that generally doesn't concern you. Eventually the door opens and you see a very dishelved man standing before you. His hair looks like he hasn't combed it in more than a decade, he hasn't slept in days, and his beard (which he shouldn't be growing) is very patchy in the worst way.

"Sorry about that, full moon is tonight, and I've been having a stressful day," he says with an awkward wave showing off a partially transformed hand-paw hybrid that would make it very hard to open doors. "My name's Vincent by the way."

You nod in understanding. Your sister had this happen a few times when the full moon landed right around her college finals. The stress made her partially transform before the sun set, which in turn made her more stressed. It was a vicious cycle.

"How can I help you today?" you ask.

Vincent leads you into his apartment that isn't the cleanest but it is a far cry from the worst apartment you've ever been in.

"I have a friend coming over to help me with the transformation. She's a vampire so I wanted to surprise her with the camera-mirror thing, whatever, and it only got delivered today, so I was trying to install it but it comes with all this dumb stuff that I didn't ask for, and the helpline wasn't very helpful, and it stressed me out and this happened," Vincent says as he holds up his hands, "which made it all very hard so I called you."

"I see," you say as you look over his purchase. Pretty standard stuff, also decently pricey. Actually Vincent got one of the highest end things. "What did you not want to get?"

"Well there's this artificial intelligence or something that is apparently always watching or listening, and if I'm putting this in my bathroom, I don't need that."

"I understand. You have two units though, is there somewhere else you wanted to install one? And did you want that one with all of the features or not?"

"No, no, no, I was going to put that one in the bedroom, but uh.... later. And again, not really up on the spying and constantly watching thing."

You nod in understanding. That's not really what this company is known for. They manufacture mirror replacements for vampires and others that might be cursed by mirror-dimension beings or are otherwise reflection compromised. Since the overlap between those beings and the very powerful, spying and keeping data on them would be a fast track to a terrible end, Arctine Industries makes lots of promises to not keep any data on their costumers from their products. But you can tell that Vincent isn't one to debate those points, he doesn't want the camera tracking and automatic features then you won't install those, simple enough.

"I can install these for you, no problem. It will take me a little bit. We can even put in a refund for you with Arctine for the pieces you don't want, but honestly it's mildly annoying and takes a while, so what I can do is have my company buy the tech from you at a reasonable price and you can have the money as early as tomorrow," you explain.

"Oh yeah, I think that would be better."

"Where should I start?"

"Oh... right... bathroom," Vincent says as he leads you to the bathroom. "Let me know if you need anything. I'm going to go... clean up the bedroom real quick."

You grab the equipment and move to the mirror. The tech seems complicated and a lot to people who might not be familiar with the stuff, and from the quick survey of Vincent's place he doesn't seem to be extremely tech savvy. (Funny how that works with werewolves who seem to always have some aversion to modern technology. You can't help but wonder if that's something in their nature. Maybe the moon just hates computers.)

It's simple to mount the few small cameras around the mirror, almost invisible. The hard part is wiring the cameras to the projector and screen that sits behind the mirror. It's very specific and a little technical if you want the projected image to sit on top of the mirror to simulate the reflection properly and everything.

By the time you're done Vincent has come back, possibly from cleaning up his bedroom. You're just testing out the cameras to make sure that they are working.

"Did I get some good stuff?" Vincent asks.

"You got the top of the line tech," you say as your reflection looks back at you.

"Oh good, I was worried I got some stuff that wasn't going to work," he says with a nervous little smile.

"Your friend will thank you," you tell him. "Here, you push here on the mirror to turn on the cameras or turn them off."

"Ok, good to know."

"Now, I can get started on the other mirror, and I should be done before sundown."

"Thanks! I really hope she likes this. Do you think she'll like it?" Vincent asks as he shows you to the bedroom.

"I think so," you say. You can kind of tell where this is going but you hope it stops before it gets there.

"I've never really tried to make any moves on a vampire or woman really," Vincent says as you start unboxing all the stuff for the mirror in the bedroom. Your face is starting to get flush. Is he really going to be divulging his sex life to you? "Sorry, this is probably too much, but I'm nervous and a little stressed as you can tell. And my last partner tried to use my wolf to kill people so I'm a little worried. Also my last two partners have been men so I'm a little out of practice when it comes to women."

Wow. He's just going right for it. Giving you all of his information and trauma. You've been in his apartment for an hour.

"I'm afraid I can't help you with relationships in general," you say. You feel like you have to share a little bit since he's standing there, watching you work (you hate it when people watch you work), with his sad wolf paws and sad demeanor. "My last relationship kind of fizzled out when they faked their death. They said it was to commit insurance fraud but I have a feeling like they mostly wanted to get away from me." Oh crap, now that you've started you can't stop yourself. "And there's someone that I like at work but it's all complicated and stuff."

"Oh, that's terrible. I feel your pain," Vincent says.

"But I think the trick to dating women is to not really think of them as any different than anyone else you want to date."

Vincent covers his face for a moment. "Yes, obviously. You're right, I'm being very dumb."

"You clearly care for them a great deal, and they are coming here to help you through the full moon so that has to mean something," you offer as you try to remount the mirror on the wall.

"Yeah, Ivory is something special. But she's only coming over because she doesn't have any clients." Vincent helps you lift the mirror.

You almost drop your side when he says the name. You know Lady Ivory, well know of her. She's one of the most influential vampires in the city. Her campaign to get elected to the Night Shore was something else, and that election was extremely bitter. You couldn't even vote in it (since you're not a vampire or are in any affiliated with the Night Shore) but you know the candidates and their ads. And Lady Ivory was a commanding, intimidating, powerful figure which is all before you take into account her vampire abilities.

And your sister had to stay with Lady Ivory for her Flensing Moon. You saw the vampire being calm, collected, and utterly in control after hosting a borderline feral werewolf during the height of their lycanthrope ritual. If he's trying to date that Lady Ivory then... well... you've got nothing.

"Well... uh... if Lady Ivory is coming here, for you, then I think... uh... not to presume too much but... she must like you enough to come here and help out," you say.

Vincent, after a few seconds to listen to what you had to say, visibly relaxes. "You're right. Thanks!"

"Is there anything else I can do for you?" you ask. You now really want to get out of here before Lady Ivory shows up to her almost-boyfriend's house. While it would make a great story around the water cooler, somehow you fear the Night Shore Vampire more than some of the old gods you've done jobs for. Lady Ivory is more... immediate.

"No, you've been a great help, thank you!"

You hastily gather your things. "We'll issue you a rebate soon, and we'll email you a survey if you could fill it out when you have a moment to let us know how our service was it would really help."

Vincent nodded as he followed you to the door. "Might not have time until after the full moon."

"Of course," you say as you let yourself out to save Vincent the struggle with the doorknob.

"And hey, these relationship problems are only as complicated as you make them."

You nod, thank Vincent, and leave the apartment.

As you leave the building a pale woman in jean shorts a tank top and a massive sun hat and sunglasses walks by. You feel a cold shiver as the Vampire Lady walked by you straight to Vincent's door. You can't believe you saw Lady Ivory dressed down. Holy shit.

You pack up the car and start heading back to the office when you get a phone call.

It was Lytha.

"Hey, I need you to come get me out of this stupid hospital bed," she says. Even though you saw her yesterday it's so nice to hear her voice. "It's been a week, I'm fine, and if I don't get a patty melt soon I'm going to jump out a window."

You promise to rescue her soon. Hopefully it won't be too complicated.

More of Vincent and Lady Ivory as side characters

if you liked this maybe consider buying me a kofi?

[pudding-parade]

Cenote by bethowen

Back to the Exchange we go! And you know, tropical-island worlds are a dime a dozen on the Exchange, but it's not so easy to find one that's done well, with an interesting layout and terrain sculpting more complex than just a flat island. It's even harder to find one that's small and done well, yet with lots of stuff for sims to do. This one, uploaded in 2019, fills the bill. Really, my only complaint is that it doesn't have a...cenote. :)

It's an unpopulated small world, 512x512, but it manages to have:

All rabbitholes except a stadium and the Supernatural ones

Three Showtime venues

A dance club

The EA Regency Arcade lot with added gambling tables

A seasonal festival lot

Some of the "standard" community lots (gym, salon, library, beach)

A few small parks, one set up as a dog park

Four ports ready to build/place houseboats,

A small resort (which I'd re-do as a base camp to use this world for vacations because I'm not a fan of resorts and because I think this world would be great for vacations.)

A diving lot

All that, and pretty scenery plus eighteen residential lots, four of which are empty while the rest are completely built and furnished. They range from studio-style beach shacks to expensive villas, all ready for sims to move in.

So there's the good news. The bad news? It needs a lot of store content. There's no way I can give you a complete list, and of course the world's Exchange page is utterly useless in this regard, but in terms of major items, I can tell you that it definitely needs Sunlit Tides (for palm trees), the roulette and poker tables, and the Al Fresco Market lot because it uses a couple of produce carts from that. It needs the basketball hoop, which is used on both the gym and beach lots. It also needs at least the Town Life stuff pack because it uses the school and grocery store rabbitholes from that pack. Buuuuuut, if you have the store content (or you're down with getting it), and the Town Life pack, plus all EPs except possibly Supernatural, you'll be golden. Hey, at least it doesn't have/need any CC. That's something, right? Right??! LOL

Anyway, as usual, the title of this post is a link to the world's useless Exchange page, or if you don't want to deal with the Exchange/the Launcher/sims3packs, I uploaded a .world file here. Plop that in your game install files under GameData - Shared - NonPackaged - Worlds and you're good to go.

Now for more details and pictures...

Here's the whole she-bang in Edit Town and Map View:

The lots are efficiently laid out, with the residential ones scattered across the island. The world also has all spawners except the Into the Future ones. It has at least the frog fish spawners from World Adventures but, honestly, I didn't look at all the others to see if the others were there. There's also no pond on the cemetery lot, so I'm not sure if there's a deathfish spawner anywhere in the world, either. So, if you want to resurrect a sim, you might need to travel to catch a deathfish. Or, you know, just going into debug and plop down the graveyard fish spawner somewhere.

OK, on to lots! Let's have a look at the residentials first.

These are the beach shacks. They're basically the same, both studio-style, so there's no separated bedroom. They are right on the beach and a stone's throw from...

...the official beach. In fact, you can see them on the right-hand side of that pic. They're also close to the diving lot. So, if you have a single beach bum/diver kind of sim and you want them to live or vacation here, there's a house ready for them.

A step up from the beach shacks, we have houses like these:

There are four like this, all similar in the same neutral color with large windows, but not exactly the same. Three of them are on the Oasis-Landing-like jetties that you can see on the right-hand side of map view pics above while the fourth is more in the center of the island. These are one-bedroom houses, loft-style. They are only lightly furnished with starter objects, but the two in this pic have small swimming pools. Also, the one in the back of this pic comes with a speedboat(!) while the one in the center of the island comes with a pick-up truck, so they are more expensive than the other two.

Then there's this one, which is my fave:

It looks tiny, but it has two basement levels. The first basement has kitchen/dining/living while the second one has a secondary bedroom and a bathroom. The top floor has the master suite with an ocean view and a little balcony.

A step up from the one-bedroom houses are these three:

The two on the ends are three-bedroom and they are the same except for colors inside and out. (The one with the green roof has a pretty goth-y interior, complete with the lighting being set as red. LOL ) The one in the middle is smaller with two bedrooms. All three are furnished for families, including cribs. They have ocean views from the front because they're facing the ocean, up on a bit of a terrace above the beach. (The building above them on another terrace is the library.)

And then we have the four expensive residential lots, all in an ultra-modern style, all completely different from each other. Here are three of the four of them

The fourth is in the little "downtown" area, with easy access to the rabbitholes and clubs/venues. These three are quieter. The "downtown" one is a large, loft-style one-bedroom rich-playboy party pad, while these three are family homes, with either two or three large bedrooms.

Speaking of "downtown," let's have a look at some of the community lots.

This is part of the little "downtown" area. On the right is the bookstore rabbithole. It has a little playground on the same lot, to keep the kiddos occupied while their parents shop. On the left, the building with the pink awning is the back of the salon. In back of both you can see the big concert venue/theater rabbithole.

This is the front of the salon, which has both makeover stations and tattoo chairs. It's conveniently catty-corner from the spa rabbithole.

This is the cemetery, tucked away on the side of a hill amongst trees and shrubs. The little building is not a mausoleum rabbithole but an actual little mausoleum that you could stick urns in and whatnot. It's also big enough to fit a rabbithole rug, should you so desire. You could probably cram a Vault of Antiquity in here somewhere, too, if you wanted to.

These two are non-standard community lots, both designated as visitors allowed. The first one is called simply "Port." It has telescopes, a photo booth, sailboats, a sculpting station, an easel, a bookshelf, seating, all-in-one restrooms, food, and a coffeemaker. Basically, it's a place to while away an afternoon while maybe doing an art or going out for a sail.

The second lot has no name. It has two produce carts from the Al Fresco Market lot, but the building is empty. I'd turn it into a consignment/elixir consignment store, myself, since the world is lacking those and consignment is integral to the rules I play the game by. It'd also make a nice little shop, though, if you use one of the merchant mods.

This is the nice ocean-view gym. Because if you're going to mindlessly run on a treadmill, you might as well enjoy the view while you do it, I guess. There are also a number of seashell spawners near this lot, so if you need to hunt for shells...

This is the little festival lot. I did not look to see what it has on it in the non-summer seasons, but the summer set-up has the standard items, so I'm assuming the other seasons do as well. (Though I don't know if the snowboard half-pipe would fit on this lot. It definitely won't fit if there's an ice rink, too. But, since it's a tropical island, ice skating and snowboarding make no sense anyway, so maybe those aren't included. :) )

And this is the karaoke bar that doubles as a Showtime venue. It's in the middle of the area with the jetties, where the "spokes" converge. There's also the Flying V coffee shop nearby as well as the big concert venue, so if you like to play the Showtime careers, this is a good world to do it in.

And there are more lot pics I could show, but I'm running out of pics. LOL Suffice it to say that there's a lot to do on this little island, whether you use it as a homeworld or a vacation world. So, if you fancy a nice, small, ready-to-play tropical island world, this one will do nicely.

We'll finish off with some wider-angle shots of scenery and stuff.

[faytelumos]

me, age 14 or something, first time in the Character Workshop: Hey! I have this little background guy that I really like! I wanna make him a main character! We gotta make him really cool!

Character Workshop guy: Oh, yeah, sure, we do that all the time. *pulls out clipboard* Whatchya thinkin'?

me: I wanna make him big and scary! I want scars all over him because he's been a bloodsport champ for years! And he's silver, because it's super different and nobody else has silver scales! And he's killed a lotta people, but it's legally okay, because it was all in the ring, but he'd do it again!

Character Workshop guy: *nodding* Okay, yeah, this looks like pretty standard stuff. We'll have him back to you real soon.

---

me, a few years later: Okay! I don't like violence anymore. I want to make him book smart, instead!

Character Workshop guy: Yeah, okay, we can do that.

me: And I need to change his name again.

Character Workshop guy: Sure.

me: And I can't justify the silver scales; we gotta do something that's more founded in reality, that could actually happen in his species.

Character Workshop guy: Would albino work?

me: Um… no, I don't wanna do that… and anyway, it doesn't work right on reptiles….

Character Workshop guy: Okay, how about piebald?

me: Woah, that's perfect!

Character Workshop guy: Okay, so I got a name change, brains over brawn, not violent, and piebald on the list. Anything else?

me: We gotta change his background, too.

Character Workshop guy: Alright, I'll let you know when he's ready.

---

me, another couple of years later: Hey, I'm back. I want him to basically be a spy.

Character Workshop guy: Alright.

me: And I want his new backstory to be kind of sad. Mommy issues out the ears. And I'd like to victimize him. You know… for reasons.

Character Workshop guy: Sounds easy enough.

me: Like… I want him to go through the wringer. But still be functional.

Character Workshop guy: Okay, you got it. Anything else?

me: We're changing his antagonist.

Character Workshop guy: Alright, we'll have 'im done up right away.

---

me, a year and change ago: Hey. -_-)

Character Workshop guy: What'll it be today?

me: I… he's too much. You did a really good job, but he has no agency anymore. Throw out the victimization, here's the new new antagonist in case it helps, I need him to have a backbone again.

Character Workshop guy: Oh, okay.

me: Yeah, sorry, he's just, he's the main character, and he doesn't do anything on his own.

Character Workshop guy: Yeah, sure, we'll fix him right up.

---

me now, all growed up, so tired of bringing this one guy into the shop: -_-)

Character Workshop guy: What's goin' on today?

me: He has no agency or motivation. I kept the receipt from last time, and I noticed the "subconscious impression removal" was added to the list, but it was a null charge?

Character Workshop guy: Oh yeah, that. We installed it a couple visits ago, but we couldn't take it away last visit; it was jammed in too tight. So we didn't charge.

me: Okay… it's causing a lot of problems right now. Can you try again?

Character Workshop guy: We can give it a shot, but it'll take a lot of work…

me: I can wait, I just need it done before I have to use him again.

Character Workshop guy: Okay. Okay, we'll see what we can do. And just 'cause I like ya, I'll see about slipping in some motivation, free of charge.

me: Thank you. ^_^)' You guys are the best.

[don-dake]

Hi! I was wondering if you could recommend any apps / online resources for learning Cantonese as an English speaker.

Oh hi! Very flattered you'd choose to ask me of all people but…I'm afraid I may not exactly be the best person to ask this���especially if you're asking as a beginner?

You see, I didn't exactly start from scratch. I come from a Cantonese background (can speak and understand average, conversational Cantonese) and had schooling in Mandarin for more than a decade (which helped, even if my Mandarin is still not great either LOL), so my “learning” was largely based on…how shall I say it? Heritage instinct…in a way (I hope you get what I mean), gut instinct, passive learning, you know? Not from conventional language books or apps.

My idea of “studying” Cantonese is more or less just, install a Jyutping (Cantonese Romanization) keyboard after a read-up on how to use Jyutping, expose myself to lots and lots of Cantonese content (TV series, movies, songs, etc.) and just wing my way through with trial and error LOL by listening to and matching the spoken Cantonese against the Standard Chinese subs (can be read in Mandarin) that often come with Cantonese shows and eventually figuring out any more differences that I didn't already know.

So I've only really needed a dictionary app to help with vocabulary. I don't really know what are the best language apps (the kind that introduces you to sentence structures, the really basic stuff and all?) to use out there for Cantonese.

I've seen people throw out names like ‘Anki’, ‘Duolingo’ and if I recall correctly, something called ‘Drops’? But I can't ascertain on how good they are, haven't felt the need to try them. LOL

For dictionary apps, I will strongly recommend Pleco, it's geared for Mandarin mainly, but it also has allowance for Cantonese if you add the Cantonese extension packs (some good, free ones available) that can be found within the app itself.

Online sites I use to supplement Pleco are mainly MDBG, and cantonesesheik.

There used to be an interesting language account here for Cantonese language stuff called language-obsession. Even though they don't seem to be active anymore, the account still stands and has quite good advice and links to Cantonese learning resources. Would be a good idea to check them out.

Then there's also YouTube and/or Instagram, which seem to have a more active Cantonese language community and content than here, also a good idea to check those platforms out for starters.

You can find a fair bit of Cantonese language creators there who offer content in bite-sized pieces, often with Jyutping and/or English subtitles.

Off the top of my head, I can think of mslinchinese, hambaanglaang, Cantonese with Brittany, inspirlang, poeticCantonese, to name a few.

I'm sorry I can't be of more help, but hopefully someone more able to will see this post and be willing to offer better advice?

Anyone? I know there are at least some Cantonese speakers/learners here but as “everyone is shy on Tumblr”, and I don't wish to unintentionally pressure specific individuals into a reply, not using the @.