#And I know there's no reason for you to know much about NZ

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Hey, could you share the article about choose love and I'd also love to hear what points stood out to you in relation to what you were talking about?

I was thinking of this article (although there are shorter discussions of the issue).

Choose Love was set up with a lot of celebrity support in 2015 in response to the refugee crisis in Europe, initially Calais was a huge focus. Choose Love doesn't do anything itself at either the fundraising end or the distribution end - it operates under 'Prism' the gift fund'' to collect money and gives that money to partner organisations. And the decision to operate in that way shapes everything it does

In 2021, Choose Love announced that it would no longer fund any of its partners in Calais. The long article makes very clear that this was because the choice to use Prism gave a lever for the government to put pressure them around the sort of support being given in Calais. Choose Love withdrew funds because some of the organisations were giving out 'safety at sea' leaflets - which provided basic safety for people who were trying to cross the channel. Because these partner organisations were giving out life-saving information they lost £1 million pounds. Choose Love had built its own brand on the idea of helping refugees in Calais - and then made it clear how conditional that love was.

***********

Before I get any angry anons who think this is all about 1D - all the big organisations (including Oxfam and the Red Cross) do terrible things exactly like this (and worse). An organisation that has become big in this world - has to successfully navigate the way our society structures money and resources.

The problem is finding an alternative. Because it may seem obvious that the alternative is to find a small local organisation and give it money. However, while most organisations can distribute twice what they normally do - most organisations cannot scale up quickly to receive 10x or 100x what they would normally receive. Virality can do huge amounts of harm to small organisations. If you already have links to, or just know about somewhere, you're likely to know how to donate resources useful in a time of crisis. But if you don't, and you're suddenly paying attention at the same time everyone else, then the chances of you finding an organisation that hasn't already gone viral are incredibly slim. If you have no contacts or context the choices basically are funding a large organisation and knowing that you are supporting some terrible things, and funding a small organisation and knowing that there's a reasonable chance they may not be able to spend your money - and trying to figure out how to do so may disrupt the work they are doing.

Ultimately - I think it's worth pushing back on the idea that you can put your money in the slot and get the better world that you want. Providing money and resources can be really, really important, but no guarantee - and unless you're prepared to waste your money, your ability to do anything useful will be severely hampered

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread

Into The Labyrinth / Facing The Shadow

2&3 in a middle grade fantasy trilogy about a 12yo girl who discovers she has the ability to enter a magical world in her dreams, and has to save it from darkness

while also dealing with anxiety, bullying, and friendships in the real world

set in Wellington Aotearoa

dreamrealm worldbuilding reflects the MC’s Māori/Chinese/Irish/Scottish heritage

aspec questioning MC

[aashiqui-aashiqui]

by the way when i say other cricketers i mostly mean the english players and no offence but i do not get what people see in them…like i know theres english people on here who obviously are gonna post about their own team but like i refuse to believe those players are that interesting

[xclowniex]

from a realistic point of view, i dont see how zionism doesnt lead to non-jewish palestinian death or at least repression. if you have a state which has it enshrined in its founding documentation that it is For "Jewish People" (israel has been carefree about fucking over people they dont consider to be Jewish in the right way). two state solution doesnt even solve it since the assumption is just to have another israel and shove all the people they dont think count as jews over to palestinian state and pretend like they didnt just make an ethnostate

The reason you do not see how it doesn't lead to palestinian death is because on a fundamental level, you do not understand zionism from a jewish perspective.

Jews can and have, taken DNA tests and proved that we are descdant from cannanites who lived in Southern Levant. There is history too proving our orign from the region. A lot of jews were forced out due to various empires wanting to kill us, however some jews remained in the region.

Zionism is simply about self determination for jews as one of the indigenous peoples to the region. It does not inherently imply that palestinians are not indigenous as you can very much have two indigenous groups in a region, eg Moriori and Maori for example, both are indigenous to land which is part of New Zealand, but are two different groups.

I'm not going to say that no zionist ever wants harm to palestinians as there are, however the majority of zionists want a two state solution or a land for all solution (which is different to a one state solution of israel or palestine).

Indigenous groups do deserve self determination. This applies to all indigenous groups world wide. One indigenous group gaining self determination does not inherently harm another group of people, indigenous or not.

Ideologies can be implemented badly and not mean that the inherent concept is bad. For example, communism. No country has ever sucessfully implemented communism as they never leave the transition phase without something going wrong. Saying that zionism always hurts palestinians is like saying that communism is inherently genocidal because of China and Russia.

There are plenty of zionist solutions which does not harm palestinians which are deemed as ideal solutions by zionists, such as versions of a two state solution and land for all solutions.

Israel is also not an ethnostate. The percentage of israeli jews is almost equal to those who are New Zealand European in NZ, yet no one calls NZ an ethnostate. There are plenty of other countries whose majority population is around a similar percentage of 70% - 75% of a country and that country does not get called an ethnostate. Either, all countries with the majority ethnicity percentage above are ethnostates, or the threshold percentage needs to be higher for a country to be an ethno state, or if its only Israel who is an ethnostate and other countries with similar percentage are not, then you hold an antisemitic belief as the only jewish state should not be an exception for purely being a jewish state.

I would also like to touch on yoru usage of "non-jewish palestinian".

Whilst palestinian jews do exist (and I do know one personally), they are a very small minority of palestinians. It is illegal to be jewish in Gaza and the West Bank, so there are no rabbi's there for palestinians to convert. So I am very confused as to what you mean as there are no palestinian jews in palestine, and those that exist in the diaspora are a minority in both aspects, so whilst they deserve recognising and care, your wording is very strange and dogwhistle like. The reason I say dog whistle like, is because it is a common dog whistle for people to say that palestinians are the real jews and who we refer to as jews today are fake jews, which is obviously antisemitic.

[bcacstuff]

So what is going on with Sam and Graham? What is the discord about? I’ve seen bits and pieces of information but having a hard time putting it all together. And how is Steven Cree involved? Thanks new tumblr member!

Of course I can only guess what has gone on behind closed doors, and that's what i already did about a year ago, when Graham started to launch his booze.

All when Graham launched his booze and at the same time the Clanlands book NZ version would be released, and book events would take place in Edinburgh and London.

While before Sam always liked Graham's posts and often there would be some banter, I noticed how he stopped doing so and not tagged Graham in his posts about the Clanlands book posts. Which led to some more discussion here and here (please read those posts, as I don't see any reason to rehash it all)

Also noticeable was that they didn't record the audible together (while for both previous books they did and there was always a post or even a video about it), and even signing the books was not done together but a day apart at the same location. Their posts and promo for the book events looks like they both did it on their own way without any cooperation. Graham still liked Sam's post and commented on it, but Sam never did answer or acknowledged Graham's post. He never breathe a word about Grahams booze while I'm sure Graham would have sent him some, as Sam did in the past to Graham who did post about Sam's booze back then.

So, to me it all looks like it has a lot to do with Graham launching his booze, and perhaps (but I can only speculate) about that, the way Graham sort of combined it with the launch of the books. Graham did some events on his own as well in Edinburgh around the book events. They did the events together, but people started noticing that something was off between them. Curiously no mention about any of their booze. (while in the past Sam's whisky was always mentioned)

Another thing I noticed was how Graham started to collaborate with the Bourbon with Friends podcast guys. They are the ones that maintain the IG account and marketing (in a more professional way than Sam's marketing imo). In the past these guys had an interview with Sam about his whisky, and tried hard to get involved in his business, which Sam never agreed to. Since they are involved with Graham's brand, Sam unfollowed them (already before he started to unfollow many accounts recently)

What Cree has to do with it, I don't know. I was a bit surprised myself how he 'dished' Graham last weekend to be honest. Cree has always been Sam's friend, so much I know. And for sure they talk about things. But I can't tell you if it had anything to do with Sam's 'distance' from Graham

His 'rant' was about a project Graham asked financial support for and received much from the OL fandom. The project never saw the light and the money was never returned to the ones that donated. It still is there:

You can read the comments of which the last ones aren't that mild on the link

[sixth-light]

(tws ahead: discussion of food, diets and diet culture, eating disorders, calorie counts, and fatphobia in the context of pregnancy)

Truly one of the most bizarre things about being pregnant has been the official advice around food. Food and eating is difficult enough already when you're pregnant - there's excellent scientific evidence that it's advisable to moderate your caffeine intake and avoid alcohol, and an entire laundry list of stuff you're supposed to avoid for food safety/food poisoning risk reasons. (I am a nerd and I read the last scientific review of the linked advice from the NZ Ministry of Health, so I can say with confidence it's also pretty well supported.) Personally, I am largely indifferent to going without alcohol, but after half a year or so my brie cravings are getting pretty intense. That's going to be even tougher for people with food restriction issues. And then there's the potential nutrient deficiencies that come when a baby is sucking up all your available iron, calcium, etcetera.

But on top of all this...a couple of things are also true:

later pregnancy and breastfeeding require a higher calorie intake because you're, uh, feeding an entire baby with your body and those calories have to come from somewhere

healthy pregnancy also requires weight gain because of the aforementioned 'growing an entire person' thing

Western Anglophone society absolutely loses its goddamn mind at the thought of telling women (and other pregnant people, but they are clearly not thinking that far) that it's okay for them to eat more than normal, let alone gain weight

So there's reams and reams of official advice which has like one line saying "maybe don't diet when you're pregnant" quickly followed by "but it's OK! you can diet afterwards! you'll lose lots of weight when you breastfeed!" and then like. eight paragraphs on how while technically, they suppose you need some extra calories during some of your pregnancy, it is DEEPLY IMPORTANT that those calories only come from the most healthy and boring possible foods, because otherwise you might gain too much weight which is the worst possible thing that could happen. Try carrot sticks! Fat-free yoghurt! Dry toast! I have literally seen advice suggesting the extra calories you need can be gained from a "small snack". Maybe an apple. (Most of the estimates I've seen about extra calorie needs in later pregnancy are in the range of 3-400 extra calories a day. That apple would have to be the size of your head.) This is all followed up with dire warnings about gestational diabetes, which is lurking in the wings waiting for any pregnant person who dares use it as justification for eating that extra biscuit. There is clearly a really deep-seated belief at play that if you give them - us - an excuse to eat more we will gorge ourselves on, IDK, chips and ice cream, because the only thing holding us back from obesity is the constant reminder that gaining weight is BAD and that eating too much food is BAD (even though the reality is that weight gain and higher caloric needs are part of a healthy pregnancy). This reality has to be held at arms' length and hemmed in with restrictions and cautions lest all hell break loose. You are very literally advised to calculate your BMI, weigh yourself regularly, and have a target weight gain - i.e. implicitly to restrict your food intake if your weight gain is higher - which I'm sure is just chill and fabulous for people with a history or present of eating disorders.

(The cherry on top of this is that it's normal for pregnant people to have suppressed appetites in late pregnancy despite needing more food because, again, there is an entire baby in there squashing their organs. Add in all those foods that you can't eat, and it can actually be somewhat challenging to eat enough.)

The bit that haunts me is that we know that caloric restriction during pregnancy makes children more likely to have higher weights later on, and you know who is most targeted with this diet-but-don't-diet-but-actually-kinda-do rhetoric? Fat people, who are advised to gain at absolute most about the weight of a healthy full-term baby + amniotic fluid/placenta/etc - and that it's fine if they gain much less weight than that, barely more than the weight of a healthy baby, which would actually equate to total weight loss. During pregnancy. It feels like there could be a lot of self-fulfilling prophecy going on here vis a vis fat parents having fat kids. which is now sometimes characterised as a form of child abuse. FUN.

Anyway, I am sure I'm not the only person to have made these observations (and if you know good writing on this topic I'd love to be linked to it, because I'm way too chicken to try Googling) but man. As I said at the start: the level at which fatphobia and diet culture are institutionalised during pregnancy, to the detriment of actual health, is wild.

(For my money, sane advice would be 'healthy eating advice is the same during pregnancy as it is other times except for the specific foods you should avoid because of increased food poisoning risk, and you need to eat a bit more in later pregnancy. The end.')

[ellaandtheocean]

STOP THE NZ GOVERNMENT'S WAR ON NATURE

Just when you thought they'd hit rock bottom, the National/Act/NZ First coalition government keeps digging. The fast-track approvals bill was released last month and forms the latest part of the government's war on nature. This would allow major infrastructure and industry projects such as mining, road construction and large-scale aquaculture to be fast-tracked if they are considered to be regionally or nationally significant. While I completely agree that the current Resource Management Act consenting process is not fit for purpose, its regulations are stringent for a reason - to protect our climate, our indigenous biodiversity and our whenua. We need development in New Zealand to be sustainable, and to focus more on nature-based solutions. This legislation is taking our country in the wrong direction. It's not the fast-track it's the wrong track!

Lack of consideration for environmental damage: This project requires the economic benefits of a project to be considered above all else. In the midst of intersecting climate and biodiversity crises, we should prioritize protecting the habitats we have left and supporting efforts to restore ecosystems.

Lack of regulation against negative human health impacts: Even if you're not a nature lover like me, we can probably all agree that exposure to carcinogenic chemicals and other toxins, dangerous pollution in outdoor recreation areas such as rivers and beaches, and air pollution are things that no New Zealander wants. This bill does not exclude projects and activities that will have a negative impact on human health.

Lack of transparency: There are already many projects earmarked for fast tracking under Schedule 2A of this bill, but this list has not been published, meaning a fast-tracked project could be coming to a place near you soon, and you'd have no idea until after the bill has passed. Details about the process for project selection and review are scarce.

Undemocratic: Rather than going through the full submission process, projects are sent straight to a panel to be reviewed. This means that local people and conservation groups won't get to have their say on projects that will directly affect them and the work they do. This is a blatant overreach of central government into local affairs, from a government who criticized Three Waters because they thought it took too much decision-making ability away from the regions.

Risks of corruption and conflict of interest: The expert panels do not get the final say of which projects are approved; they can be overridden by any of these three ministers: Simeon Brown (Minister for Energy and Transport), Chris Bishop (Minister for Infrastructure) and Shane Jones (Minister for Oceans & Fisheries, Resources and Regional Development). Having one person make these calls presents a much greater risk of conflicts of interest occurring (and let's be honest, this is quite a risk).

Submissions on this bill are open until April 19th, and there are templates online you can use to make a submission if you're pressed for time. My favourites are from the Forest & Bird (the organization I volunteer with) and the Environmental Defence Society (linked below). You can also write to your local MP and let them know you DO NOT support this bill.

More information and submission templates:

STOP the War on Nature | Forest and Bird

Make a submission on the Fast-track Approvals Bill using EDS’s template | EDS

[genericpuff]

no but listen, rachel has truly embodied herself as persephone because she's constantly trying to "distance herself" from her past as a medical fetish artist but then keeps the name that's affiliated with her medical fetish art-

Like, I can't believe I never noticed it before tbh, but that was the thought that hit me while I was explaining to someone on reddit what the name "used bandaid" meant and why it was weird that Rachel is STILL using it on her print cover books, even now when she just recently set up a new Facebook account with her REAL NAME and not the used_bandaid penname (I feel like this is an attempt to "legitimize" herself in the industry but idk).

But that leads me into talking about how she keeps lying about LO being her first webcomic project and that really pisses me off. And yes, this is related to the used_bandaid thing, just bear with me here.

A lot of my contempt for this is for reasons that go beyond her, I just hate the notion that people should succeed on their "first try" and that's an idea that's often sold by people like Rachel who spin these grandiose stories of how they were just "trying it out" and suddenly wham! Fame and fortune! You can achieve all this and more if you just xyz!

Literally, in every interview I've found over the past couple years, she always heavily implies that LO was her "first attempt", that she had never used Webtoons prior to LO, and that she was just "dipping her toes" into the medium. None of this is true, she's literally been drawing webcomics since the early 2000's (possibly earlier but the earliest documentation we can find is of The Doctor Pepper Show), LO wasn't even her first webcomic on the Webtoons platform (that goes to The Doctor Foxglove Show which she ended up dumping a chapter in to work on LO almost immediately after starting it on Tumblr) and as much as she'll claim she "couldn't pay anyone to look at her work", she had landed a number of gigs that got her work out there, had been printed in anthology collections, and IIRC she had even won some small local NZ awards for her comics prior to LO. Shit, there was a local beer brand that had her art on its labelling.

But it really feels like she's trying her damn hardest to hide all that, never mentioning or implying that she did anything prior to LO, that she was just a "struggling graphic artist working in retail" until LO happened.

So why keep the penname that's directly affiliated with that past identity ??

It boggles my mind, honestly, especially considering she had gone by MULTIPLE usernames back then, some of which were actually pretty sane that she could have used instead (such as Rach Alex, which she uses in her FB groups, and Rachel Royale).

I wouldn't blame her if she was trying to hide her old medical fetish stuff, whether she didn't want it affiliated with her new LO branding or if she's just embarrassed by it, I can totally empathize with that because god knows I wouldn't be all that proud to show off the cringy shit I got up to during my early days on the Internet. But if she IS embarrassed by it, you'd think the last thing she'd want to keep is the name that's directly affiliated with the thing she's embarrassed by. Almost like a certain pink protagonist who goes by the name she earned after doing the thing she doesn't want to talk about.

But if she ISN'T embarrassed by it, then why lie?

Why paint this picture that LO was a one hit wonder, that she lived on "struggle street" until she found fame and fortune on Webtoons?

Oh right. Because it's a better story.

Because it's way more romantic to be some struggling indie darling who "came from nothing" and achieved fame through one big idea. Because it looks good for the platform who's trying to attract people to their app and website on the promise that you, too, can be a success story simply because you followed the exact same perceived steps that you saw another person follow and advertise.

If you can't tell from my tone, I really fucking hate this kind of disingenuous wish fulfillment advertising. It's manipulative, it's cruel, and it sets people up with expectations far beyond their scope of reaching, both due to the luck and "being in the right place at the right time" involved at best (which is a HUGE factor in stories like these that people never talk about), or through joy-killing comparison at worst when you don't achieve worldwide fame on your first try and wonder why everyone else did (spoiler: they didn't, they just want you to think that because it makes for better headlines and it gets you using whatever product they're affiliated with.)

If Rachel doesn't want to be tied down to her past, that's fine. But it's incredibly irresponsible and flat out cruel to lie about that past existing at all because it sets a horrible precedent to those who look up to her and want what she has.

And I say all that because I've seen what happens to the people starting out who admire these creators who painted the picture that they were just successful right off the bat. It's not a fun headspace to be in, it's robbed many creators like myself and others of their joy in creating, and it's really all just a ploy to get you to spend time and money and energy on a stupid corporate phone app that profits off your emotional investment and labor. Don't fall for it. Pretending like the Act of Wrath didn't happen doesn't remove it from history.

Anyways, I was gonna leave it at that, but then I ended up doing another rabbithole deep dive through her Wayback Machine and found album art she had illustrated for NZ band PorcelainToy. Enjoy this piece of her "dark era" art that still exists without needing to use the Wayback Machine.

[sapphia]

The Right Are Engineering A Recession In NZ

tumblr isn't very good at local news, which is why i tend to get my nz politics information from elsewhere. so i can confidently tell you that aotearoa under national is totally, utterly fucked. like, not just in terms of all the social progress they plan to undo, though they do very much do plan to do all of that.

national+act+nzfirst have committed to a financial policy that makes zero fucking economic sense. you know how every time the economy is in bad shape, tories sieze the good economic opportunity to slash services or give tax cuts to the rich? imagine if that was happening for just no reason at all. there’s no crisis we’re facing this would even marginally help, but that's what nact+nzfs tax cut policy is anyway.

aotearoa is currently in a cost of living crisis, like much of the world, and our inflation is, to give it it's technical term, "sticky". This means that it's not still shooting up the graph like crazy, but it should have started to go down more by now according to predictions, but it hasn't, and is sitting at an unsustainably high level.

Inflation is bad because it eats away at the value of your money (not something you want generally) but this inflation is especially bad because it's inflation we created to ward off a recession back in 2020. NZ had the hardest and fastest lockdowns in the world, but at a huge cost -- our economy basically stopped overnight. Without goods and services being bought and sold, we would have been plunged into a financial crisis. But instead the government borrowed money to fund the wage subsidy and pay workers through the lockdowns, injecting money into and stimulating the economy.

This was a bill that was always going to come back to bite us, and for the past several years, the Labour government and the Reserve Bank had been playing a balacing game with our economy, steering us between a recession and a wage-price inflation spiral, with a recession definitely being the preferable one of the two. We actually had short soft one that we’ve come out of, exactly what Grant Robertson and Adrien Orr were aiming for.

Recessions can be small or big - inflation spirals are usually just big. We wanted to aim for a "soft" landing recession by hiking interests rates just enough to bring inflation back under control. The Reserve Bank uses it's tool - the Official Cash Rate, or the OCR, which basically sets the price of interest rates across the country, and the government also can use it's powers to create monetary policy to help the economy. A lot of the criticism Labour received before losing the election was about overspending in areas post-pandemic, as putting money into the economy through government spend by using debt to fund it genuinely causes inflation.

What a government should do during a time of inflation is remove money from the economy. For example, a right wing government would often issue an austerity policy, where the cut the amount of government spending through slashing programmes, benefits, staff, etc etc. A government could also increase taxes so people have less money to spend, could pay down government debt, could invest the money into a fund (e.g. NZ has a superannuation fund that's designed to be eventually self-funding set up by Labour that National have paused payments on when getting into government). It doesn't matter too much what, theoretically speaking -- the point is to get the money out of the economy.

What you definitely, definitely don't want to do during a period of high and sticky inflation is put more money into the economy. That would do the opposite of what you want. Labour were rightfully (at some points) criticised for their inflationary policies. So you'd think National would take their criticisms of Labour’s debt blowout and start paying it down to show how responsible they are, right? No, they’re cutting taxes for (mostly) the wealthy while offsetting this with austerity measures to make this “fiscally neutral���. They will make up for the inflationary effects of doling out money to landlords by cutting back essential government services, trying to frame it as a personnel and budget blowout (it’s not) and saying Labour mismanaged the books and we are in terrible financial shape (we are not; we have a triple A credit rating).

And further, it’s becoming increasingly hard to ignore our infrastructure crisis at nearly every level and every location. Our water systems needs billions of dollars of investment that our councils can’t afford to borrow, our rates are shooting up (and so will our rents), our ferries are old and broken down and Nicola Willis Minister of Finance just canned the “too expensive” deal that was needed to replace them — with most of the money going to into wharf upgrades that are desperately needed. There was a huge sunk cost; we’re not going to be able to to buy shit now. The ferries link the North and the South Island and are vital infrastructure; when they break down (which they did multiple times last year) it causes chaos and brings things to a standstill.

Why are they doing this? Land. It’s always about fucking land. All of National have divested in shares and have bought into land under the guise of this removing the “conflict of interest” that would exist if they had invested into specific companies. The usual alternative that solves this is a blind trust, but that’s not what most of the caucus has money in. Luxon alone sold about 12 million dollars worth of Air NZ shares and now has a property profile worth 20+ million. Oh, and he’s charging the taxpayer $50,000 a year to live in his own house. Thats 2.5 times what I get on the benefit that he’s cutting and putting sanctions on.

Nact don’t care if businesses go under and share prices crash; they’ll just sell their houses and buy stocks for cheaper. Their only concern is propping up the housing market ponzi scheme that they have all invested at the top of. This is why they’ve allowed councils to opt out of densification requirements and why they cut back the brightline test and are trying to boost the population with migrant workers; all of these things make house prices go up, make housing better for investors who make millions in untaxed capital gains.

NACT will not let the property market crash any further. Despite what they’re saying out loud, they actually want it to increase.

And they’re more than happy to wreck the economy to do it.

[nevermoorsource]

Jessica Townsend’s recent Instagram post (7/2/24):

Hello! It’s me, Jess. 😊🩷 I am unspeakably delighted to tell you that the (absolute, for sure, official!) publication dates for Silverborn: The Mystery of Morrigan Crow will be 30 April (Australia/NZ), 08 May (UK) and 24 June (US) 2025. I am even more thrilled to share these STUNNING Australia/NZ and US covers, with artwork by the forever brilliant Jim Madsen (who I think has PROPERLY outdone himself this time, just quietly). I’ll also be revealing the beautiful UK cover in the coming weeks! I can’t wait to hear what you think about all three. You may have clocked (particularly if you’ve preordered) that there have been some date changes since my last announcement here. I know April 2025 is later than you’re currently expecting, and I also know how exasperating it can be to wait so patiently for something and then find out you have to wait EVEN LONGER. For this reason, I’ve deliberately held off on announcing any further date changes on social media until now — I wanted to wait until I knew for absolute, definite, no-doubt-about-it certain that the date I told you would be THE ONE. (Although FYI, from an industry perspective my publishers are under a whole different set of pressures, meaning dates have had to be changed online and with booksellers for many sensible reasons. And of course we all VERY MUCH HOPED those dates would work out, but I’ve never felt like I could tell you another pub date myself unless I felt 100% confident I could make it happen.) I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your kindness and patience during the wait for Silverborn! It’s been a long one, partly for various life reasons but also because, frankly, she is a BEAST. In a good way! A LOT happens in this book. Silverborn launches what I’ve always thought of as Act II of Morrigan’s story, but it’s also book 4 of 9, which means there are by now a lot of threads to begin untangling, and even more to lay down for future books. I’m so, so, SO excited for you to read this part of the story next April, and in the meantime I’ve got some fun stuff for you in the coming days and months — I’ll talk some more about this in my Instagram stories imminently! Love JT xx

[cookiesupplier]

Every Rose Has Its Thorns - Part Fifty-Two

pairing: Ricky Olson x ofc x Chris 'Motionless' Cerulli

warnings/tropes: slow burn, soulmates, strangers to enemies to lovers, betrayal, angst, fluff, smut, language, online bullying, panic attacks, stalking, mental health issues, conspiracy theories.

summary: In a world where soulmates inexplicably receive a tattoo that will match that of their soulmate the moment they turn eighteen years old, being famous and covered in very visible tattoos can make finding your true soulmate a questionable fate. For everyone involved.

author’s note: So, being so close to the finishing Roses, its getting so much of my mindddd, and focus, I apologize to all my Demon Verse followers! I am still writing and it will get finished... there are plans, I promise! But I'm just going to keep updating Roses until I'm done!

To read from the beginning, check out the Masterlist Here!

If you would like to be added to this tag list please see THIS FORM

tags: @faceless-mirror @missduffsblog @tamtam-elizabeth @witchyweeb34 @tearfallpixie

@wild-child-7747 @shilohrosechicken @lacktoesandtoddlerants @blackveilomens @valiantroeagleangel

@bngurngheart @dominuslunae @collapsedglasshouses @miamore0570 @emmmm127

@sunsshinesunny @spicywhenspeaking @dontdiganothergravetoday @chick-from-nz @latenightmusiclover

@anameunmusical

“You’ve been acting weird all morning, what is with you?”

Talia glanced over at Ava as she pulled her car into the driveway, as she pulled the brake and stopped the car. Ava had, she’d been weird all morning, right down to the fact she’d insisted that she not drop her back home with Vinny but to come over to hers for more girl time. She wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon together. While that wasn’t unusual on its own, it was the fact that she was just so insistent without any reason, especially after spending the entire morning together. Usually there was a reason, sure there was just hanging out, but they still both had so much to do, Ava had even received a shipping alert while they were out. She would no doubt have more to unpack when she got home, something that would any other day have her in a tizzy, still, she insisted on coming home with Talia, it was so strange.

“Really, is it so wrong that I want to spend the afternoon with you?”

Looking at her, her eyes narrowing for a second,

“It wouldn’t be, if you hadn’t been so strange already all day, I know you, I know when you are being weird, and you are being weird.”

Climbing out of the car, it was still Ricky’s but considering they were all moving in together, he was insisting it was pretty much Talia’s now. Told her that considering how often they were on tour, her getting another car, and this one sitting here unused, it would go to waste, so this way, it would be better for everyone. They could both use it while he was home, and they also had Chris’ car as well. A two car household was perfect overall, and that was just fine by her. 

Talia shook her head before walking up towards the house with Ava following along beside her. At least they were both nice, and refreshed now, after their time at the spa. Just as they were approaching the front door, Vinny’s car was pulling up in the drive next to Rick’s, and they turned to see Vinny and Ricky both climb out of the machine. Talia smiled, watching them as she leaned her shoulder against the front stoop while they waited for them for a moment, both of them laughing about something. 

“What have you two been up to this morning?”

How could she resist asking as Ricky made his way up the path, as he made his way to her though, she didn’t resist to reach for him arms wrapped around his waist and pulling him closer to her. There was no hesitation as she pressed a quick kiss to his lips, lightly with a smile.

“Just some gaming, happily kicking Vin’s ass.”

“Oh bull, there was no way you did any ass kicking. You suck, stick to writing and videos.”

Talia glanced over to see Ava’s arms draped over Vinny’s shoulders and grinned, it was good to see them happy. Not to mention being at here the last couple of weeks had certainly taken the pressure off her mind that she might be getting in the way. No matter how much she told herself she wasn’t, that they told her she wasn’t, it always niggled at her. Had helped when she started dating herself if she was honest.

Laughing, 

“Well, since Ava is insisting on hanging out for the afternoon, if you two don’t have anything planned, you could join us?”

Smiling as Ricky’s arm squeezed around her waist a little, feeling him tug her closer.

“We’d love too.”

Heading inside, both Ricky and Talia, however, completely missed the glance between Vinny and Ava behind them as they let themselves into the house.

Ricky unlocked the front door, the first day that Talia had moved into the house, Chris had immediately gone out to get a set of keys cut for her so she wouldn’t feel like she didn’t belong there. He knew how she was, they both knew it, so it made sense that she should have a set first thing, it was her home now after all. Ricky technically still had his from when he had been living with him temporarily, Chris had never asked for them back. When he had moved back to his place, Rick had asked if he wanted them back, and Chris had just given him this look as if he was stupid. Then, Chris leaned into him, and brought his lips to his for a long, drawn out kiss.

“Don’t be an idiot, come over any time. My place is always yours.”

So, he had. He got it now. Now it was their place, for all three of them.

Leading them inside towards the living area, figuring they could probably just watch a movie, probably get something delivered for lunch while they hung out. As they made it into the house, however, it was when they made to the lounge that Ricky was surprised by multiple people.

Happy ‘BELATED’ Birthday

A few of his family, the band, the crew, a few people he didn’t know who they were until Talia let out a surprised gasp. “Jordan, Kyle!”

And then they made sense, too! Next thing he knew, Chris was wrapped around Ricky in a tight hug, and Rick sighed as Chris laughed after a moment as he pulled back, grinning.

“I couldn’t just forget it, even with everything that's happened, plus all the more reason to meet Talia’s friends, ya know?”

Shaking his head, and have another party. Chris had been wanting a reason to celebrate everything that had been happening for weeks, yet with the fact that they couldn’t really tell everyone the complete truth about their soulmate marks. It made a lot of things around their bond difficult. Here they were, Chris had found a way to celebrate just the same, even getting both their families involved, of a fashion. 

“You better have said no gifts.”

Hearing Chris laugh, he knew him.

“Don’t worry, I said no gifts, so if anyone got anything, it’s not because of me, I absolutely swear.”

With that, he gave him a simple quick kiss, and Ricky smiled against his lips. He knew Chris meant it, but it wasn’t like he could have stopped people from bringing presents, knowing half of their friends, they’d bring something. He could only hope it was something like food, rather than presents, or, well, something for the house. Most of them knew they were all moving in together after all, though, this was at minimum two houses into one, so, they didn’t need anything, at all, so anything they brought they likely had two of already. 

Still, as Ricky ended up with Chris’ arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind, he smiled, watching Talia talking excitedly with her friends that she’d missed. Rick only knew which was Kyle and Jordan from the Skype calls to ‘meet’ them with her over the past weeks. Jordan had insisted that he vet them to make sure that they were suitable, and Ricky couldn’t blame him after how shitty everything had started, he was protective. He would have been protective of Chris, too, finally meeting someone after everything that happened with his soulmate problems, if he hadn’t known exactly what was happening here.

Seeing her so happy to see them, that, was the perfect gift, if no other. 

Chris was so happy that the party was going well, everyone was mingling and having a grand time, talking, laughing together. Excusing himself for a second from a chat for a moment, he slipped over to the tables to go grab another soda when he found Talia by the desserts and smirking at one of the ones she was picking up. Moving over to her, he nudged her gently before nodding towards Ricky with a tip of his head at the dessert, only to get a giggle from her… they had been talking about it, and it was perfect. When she nodded in agreement, he winked, now was just the time.

Walking over towards him, the small cake in Talia’s hand on one side of the guitarist, Chris swung his arm around Ricky’s shoulder on the other.

“Ricky, oh, Ricky… You know, JellyBean and I have noticed something, we both have nicknames, but you don’t. We just don’t think that’s fair of us, and don’t want you to feel left out, so-”

“Babe, I don’t feel-”

“Hold on, hold on, hear me out, we have just the one, Cupcake!”

Chris grinned as Talia shoved the little buttercream frosted cupcake into Ricky’s mouth, smearing the little icing across his lips a little bit as she shoved it in with a giggle before she kissed him with his muffled protest. He really didn’t get to say much at all, chewing quickly trying to get the small cake down to get his argument out as Chris leaned in next and planted a peck on his cheek at least.

“Come on Cupcake, you know you love it, so sweet.”

Squeezing Ricky around his shoulders, before the smaller man was trying to smack them both as they both laughed wildly as he finished choking down the cake.

“That’s it, you two are asking for it!”

By the time the party had wound down, Ricky wasn’t disappointed in any of the party at all, he’d had a fantastic time, even when the two had gotten their joke in with the cupcake. Honestly, he was curious how long that nickname would hold on for, knowing those two, knowing Chris, maybe awhile. If it ended up on the message boards though, he was going to kill him, mark his words. Maybe he should warn Talia a little about JellyBean, and Spookie, but so far, it had only been personal names, so they were probably okay when it came to their fans. 

While most of their friends had left, and they were starting to clean up, Talia came over,

“Rick, I’m about to drive Jordan and Kyle back to their hotel, I’ll see you when I get back, Chris said there is some leftover pizza for dinner, don’t eat it all on me okay?”

Chuckling as he leaned to kiss her, assuring her with the gesture that he wouldn’t ever dare, he felt stuffed enough from what he’d eaten at the party anyway. If he ate any more he’d probably explode… then again, it was pizza. No, no, they could at least wait until she got home. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Sweetheart, I’m just going to be cleaning. Drive safe. Can’t wait to see them for brunch tomorrow.”

It had been good to find out that while Chris had used the party to get them out here, they were going to be staying for a bit of a vacation, a week. So, the five of them were going out for brunch tomorrow, to take some time to enjoy a bit quieter than today had been. Ricky was really looked forward to it. 

Tonight, though, as Talia left, Ricky kept cleaning, and awhile later Chris found him in the living room,

“Did you have fun today, Cupcake?”

Smirking as he looked over at Chris, Ricky couldn’t help but roll his eyes, just a little,

“Yea, Spookie, I did.”

Chris laughed and walked his way over to him reaching for the plates and cups he was picking up in his hands and setting them down on the coffee table before reaching for his waist and pulling him close.

“You promise.. It wasn’t too much?”

Leaning up he pulled Chris down into a kiss humming against his lips happily, his lips curving into a smile at how wonderful it felt in his arms. He couldn’t think of a better way to en-

FUCK-

A fiery, searing white-hot pain ran through his entire body staring directly at his neck. His whole body jolted like he’d been taken over as a marionette, holy shit. His eyes flew open as he pulled back from Chris, looking up at his equally completely horrified face, and he knew instantly he had felt it too.

“Call 9-1-1.”

Something had happened to Talia.

Dividers by @saradika-graphics

[fandom-shitposter]

Tech logic

I appreciate that fandom doesn’t always lend itself well towards logic, emotions run high and get in the way of detached thought, but it’s overdue in this case

When Tech chose to fall he was on Eriadu, but that’s not a location under Hemlock’s control. We know this because Tarkin has a good bitch at him when he turns up late for the meeting there

Hemlock may have had Tech’s goggles in his possession later on, but it wouldn’t have been *his* people who went looking around the site of the monorail collapse, it would have been Tarkin’s

Tarkin makes it perfectly clear that he wouldn’t piss down Hemlock’s throat if his lungs were on fire, so he certainly wouldn’t have handed him anything that he thought he might have been able to gain any sort of advantage from, regardless of the condition it was in

So he gets the smashed up goggles and a ‘that was all we could salvage, such a shame. Anyway’ and gets packed off back to Tantiss

Not only does Tarkin dislike Hemlock but he couldn’t care less for the project he’s working on, he’s solely focused on his own work and considers Hemlock’s an unnecessary drain on the limited funding available

That doesn’t help to clear up where Tech is now, but he was never in Hemlock’s possession

***

But if Hemlock didn’t have Tech how come CX-2 used the same words and cadence when he talked?

For the same reason so many of the Knights of Ren background CX units had so many of Tech’s design features, with goggles, visors, and helmet shaping repeating amongst the crowd

Distraction and fan baiting, for the sadistic joy of stringing people along until the last possible moment and then spitting in your eye. To make you think that Tech is gone with zero hope of ever returning. To try to put off any fans who've shown themselves to be getting close to working it all out

But CX-2 sounded like Tech for the exact same reason Tech sounds like Tech. Because that’s the way he'd been programmed to speak. Which is also the reason Omega speaks with a space NZ accent

Just because all of the focus on reprogramming clones is put on Crosshair, the CX units, and Hunter (briefly) doesn’t mean it doesn’t go back much much further than that, back to before we ever met CF99. Hemlock is using the technology and data the Empire took from Kamino. The progress on his projects only stalls once Nala Se stops assisting him

Experimental Clone Force 99. Emphasis on the Experimental. Just because they give us a few details about one aspect of that work doesn’t mean they told us everything

Just like Hemlock juggling multiple projects on Tantiss, Nala Se was doing the same thing under Kamino, with her own female clone medical assistant by her side. And on Bora Vio before that

***

This show has taken scenes from multiple other franchises all the way back to the Clone Wars arc, but what it uses most of all is The Lord of the Rings & The Hobbit

They keep repeating an overhead circle motif – a ring or a set of concentric rings. Coming back to it more and more often the closer to the end we get. It even appears as a design on the shoulder of a street seller on Pabu in the finale

CF99 dying with Tech is the SW equivalent to the Fellowship of the Ring being broken. They’re no longer together but the quest goes on regardless. Just with a focus on some of the other characters and in a show we won't be supposed to think is related to Tech because it isn’t a clone centric show

Not only is Tech still vital to the resolution of the bigger story, but there’s still so much plot that's been set up and then left hanging, and they continued to set up new things to come back to later on right up to the finale episode so it’s clear that this story is far from over

There may not be any more clone based shows, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be shows with clones in them. Like Rebels. That wasn’t clone centric, but they were still a key part of the overall story

[planefood]

For those of you who don't know I actually live with a pilot (air nz) and we discuss a lot of things about planes when we get the time to. But he always says to me he'd much rather fly in a Boeing than an Airbus either as a pilot or a passenger

which is interesting because I hear so many people saying they'll never fly in a Boeing again due to its recent technical mishaps and company corruption and all that jazz.

His reasoning was in an Airbus a pilot can't easily disconnect from the computers if there's a computer malfunction whereas in a Boeing you can, thats why stuff like Qantas flight 72 happened (if you're freaked out by plane crashes this flight didn't crash and nobody died, but it shows what could happen if a computer malfunctions in an Airbus specifically). But it also means that it's up to the pilot to disconnect from the computers if theres a computer malfunction in a Boeing and some pilots choose not to. But its interesting hearing about the difference between the two from a pilots perspective

[crazybutgood]

ooh pick one or a few or all ( or none if you don't want to answer any of them or if there's so many it's overwhelming 😅 )

last fic you read?

last fic you read that you loved and wanna gush about? (please gush about it if u have one!)

is there a fandom you sort of faded from and then came back to and if yes is there a particular reason why you came back or did you just suddenly feel like getting into it again?

favorite drink? favorite drink that you don't get to have often (if the two are different)

what's a drink you have regularly (not necessarily your fave, could be water)

favorite snack

a food that you don't like and why and how many times have you had it

how'd you get into taskmaster?

have you watched/do you like the versions from other countries? (TM)

do you watch compilations or just the straight episode? (TM)

would you watch it in person if you had the opportunity and were easily able to go and come back? (TM)

do you have a favorite season of taskmaster?

is there any origami that you gave up on making halfway through and why? would you try again? have you?

what's the biggest origami project you've tried (objectively), whether you succeeded or not?

what's the biggest origami project you've tried (subjectively), whether you succeeded or not?

what's the smallest origami you've ever folded?

what's the most complex origami you've ever folded?

is there a fic that has a line in it that you adore (whether you can remember it word by word or just the general idea of it)

what hat style looks the weirdest

what's the weather like right now and how do you feel about that, if you feel anything at all?

if you could change the colors of a duck, would you? what would its new colours be?

Omg nonnie! 🥺 Thank you so much for taking the time to send these thoughtful questions, I really appreciate it❤️ Answers under the cut 😊

the best laid plans by @nanneramma! it's a sweet, delightful double drabble, very cleverly and wonderfully written. Longer gushy comment here

Both my favourite drink and drink I have regularly is tea! I love it sm~ I’m having it as I type this. Favourite drink that I don’t get to have often is bubble tea.

Oh hm,, I will try most foods tbh! I think sometimes it’s cos of certain foods being of too different a palate (even tho I’m chill with other foods of the same cuisine??). Like a memory that suddenly came to mind is of sushi. I’ve only tried it once, when I was 12. One of my classmates bought sushi for lunch once and offered some to me. The second I bit into it I knew I didn’t like it but she was so nice and earnestly asked how it was so I politely ate it anyway. That was years ago tho so maybe I will like it if I try now! 

Omg great question! I had come across a clip of James Acaster’s stand-up, and I loved it. I looked up some more of his clips on YouTube, including his appearances on panel shows like WILTY. Then I watched some iconic moments from Taskmaster S7 and decided to look more into it, and the rest is history. 

I have watched some tasks and some eps of Taskmaster AU and NZ! They are nice to watch but the UK one just hits different, esp re the Taskmaster himself. 

I watch both compilations and the straight episode! 

Omg I would say absolutely BUT I don’t like a lot of the food tasks ghkdjf so, yes on the condition that I knew in advance I wouldn’t have to watch any of those. 

I like many series for different reasons!! Probably recency bias + lots of rewatching of S16 has made me like it quite a bit. I think I’m more sure of the series I absolutely don’t like fkgjds,, it’s the only one that I haven’t been able to continue watching beyond a short while, and I don’t think I ever will. 

Oh gosh probably some four-legged animal. I think it was a goat, or a llama, or both. I’ve only folded a few of those (somehow managing it), and I don’t know what possessed me to try them in those moments 😅 There’s a particular folding common to them (and even some birds) that’s required to bring about the symmetry that just makes it so hard to me. That’s the reason why I much preferred to fold a unicorn, cos that tutorial split the body of it down the middle into two different models that were then slotted together to form the whole thing,, I found controlling that much easier. 

Objectively, it is probably origami comics! I wasn’t sure if it would work, mostly re the reception of its execution, given the unusual medium. I sketched and brainstormed a lot to figure out how to work best with origami for it, and I was pleasantly surprised by how things went in the end :) I tried to push even further with subsequent comics I made. 

Subjectively,, is a bit harder to answer, because I’ve tried to go big in different ways at different points and stages of learning and brainstorming depending on what type of project it was, be it solo or collab. And so I’ve felt differently about what’s been the biggest endeavour. I’ll probably say tho as I’m sitting right in front of it rn + it means a lot to me, is probably the artwork I did on my room wall. I was itching to get started but I hadn’t even formed a concrete design beyond some vague concepts, and I was really pleased when it all came together. 

Oh hm interesting question, esp cos many things can be (feasibly) downsized into smaller dimensions, so I’ve tried to make tiny versions of whatever I could when I wanted to (one fave is stars, they’re already so small, I like to see how tiny it can go, especially with random scraps of strips I find). Off the top of my head, I rmb a very smol rabbit I made (as my first try of making it) using a little square torn from the corner of a hotel room’s notepad. 

Complex origami ahh umm ok uk what I would say this round twist bowl I made. I don’t rmb if I ever posted it because I just picked the tutorial when I was trying to focus and ground myself so that was the main objective. I honestly don’t know how I managed to somehow zone in and fold it and idk if I will be able to do so as easily as the first time! I will try it again sometime soon~ 

The line “Today’s sooner” from @rockingrobin69's fic “Favourite” is often on my mind! My friend @getawayfox and I quote it at each other sometimes too.

Haha this question made me pause and realise I've never thought about that,, I haven’t seen many types of (weird) hats I think

The weather here all year round is the same and gross af, climate change is making the tropical weather here especially gross,, high 30s (Celsius) with 70-88% humidity :’)))

Haha omg what an interesting question XD I would say pink, cos of this video. Or resembling Lolly Adefope’s “multicoloured kidney”

[foxes-that-run]

I noticed you mentioned 17 a few times for haylor. Do you know what harrys 17black tattoo was ?

Harry got the 17Black tattoo around 14 August 2012. The Tattoo Artist, Kevin Paul, has spoken about it three times. In the video below that it was after he lost a lot of money gambling in Australia. Which did happen, they were in Australia April 2012 (2 months after turning 18 - Australia's legal gambling age). It was the same trip as the NZ girl kiss.... so a time. Niall said:

Like most of the stupid things we do, it seemed like it was a good idea at the time. We thought it was funny. We just thought, 'We're 18, this is the first time we've been able to spend a bit of money in weeks because we've been on the road. In all honesty, I didn't have a clue what was happening. I won £100, which seemed reasonable, then I stopped. I'll have to say, 'No comment' about the others. Let's just say it got a bit ugly and a lot of money was lost. A lot.  When management found out, we got a serious dressing-down.

If the number 17 is connected to 7 as Harry's number... Maybe, GQ theorised it was related to the James Bond betting method in Diamonds are Forever. I have watched that scene today and don't understand gambling well enough to know. To them Kevin Paul said:

I was tattooing Ed Sheeran and he said that his mate Harry wanted to get one. At that point, I thought it was just a normal friend, so he gave him my number in order to sort it out. I went around to one of Harry’s houses on a Sunday morning and, actually, he had completely different ideas to what we’d originally discussed.” So why 17 Black? “Basically, Harry lost money gambling – I think it was in Australia – and he lost it on 17 black. This was in the early days, the first few years of One Direction.

There is another quote from Kevin Paul, from when it was first seen, (the gambling quote is much later) here, via Sugarscape in 2012:

“They’re really personal to him – the reasons he had them done and stuff, so he doesn’t really want to announce what they are. I’m doing him a half sleeve which he doesn’t mind people knowing about. We’re doing that now, so over the next week or two I’m gonna draw that up, send him the pictures over and then I’ll go back down and start it up. One was something from his childhood, and another one was something really important in his life. There’s nothing on his collarbone, it’s at the top of the arm to begin the sleeve. I tattooed Ed Sheeran as well – who did a little locket on Harry’s hand, like a little padlock thing. They didn’t really have to stop because of the pain, it was all pretty small things really so didn’t take too long.”

17Black may either be the personal or family thing.

In the interview above he refers to tattoo on a sofa which refers to this photo of him getting the never going to dance again tattoo. The article has other propels gross infected tattoos mixed with photos of Harry’s

[avissapiens]

Jockbull Summer Week 1 (12/11/23-18/11/23) - Set A

Model used is Tsonghan Wu

1 & 2.

I don’t typically train with push ups all that often, but I picked this as my personal goal because there’s such a potent jock energy about being able to show off and crank out effortless reps of push ups. Massive high school sports star energy. But we started small. Only managed 22 on my first day. Granted it was immediately after a Push session.

The second attempt however I integrated the competitive element. I went to one of my best friends from back home, K. Total stud who i’ve always envied and idolized. I expect he’ll come up a few more times before this is over so might as well give him some designation. I asked him to make it a contest to beat his score. He hit 30 in one go. I pushed myself so fucking hard because I would not lose to him. I was gonna kick his ass. And I did. I hit 31 and then spent a good minute on the floor unable to get up. It felt so fucking good tho. Increasing by so much. Pushing and winning against my bro. It made my night. 3rd attempt i hit 32. If i keep increasing. Keep pushing. Maybe i’ll get to 100 by the end.

3.

The first step is an important milestone. Obviously as a Self-employed writer/full time student in a different country I don't have a MASSIVE collection of clothes to chuck out (you all can change that). But there are definitely a few that I already know are going to get the boot when the time comes. The reason this one was so important for me and Jockrs is because we both felt that as long as those old clothes were an option, I’d keep defaulting to them out of habit. Over-sized, drab, boring. Hiding the gainz and the new person i want to become. So the first piece I threw out was a fairly cheap ugly grey long sleeved shirt that I bought when I first moved to NZ. 6XL. Bought 3 sizes too big for me at a time when I was 3 sizes too big for me. And as I've leaned down and put on muscle, all this shirt does is wash me out and make me swim in fabric. It had to go. But I still feel indebted to it. It was a go-to piece of clothing on my worst Dysmorphia days when I felt like a fat, disgusting piece of shit. It helped me deal with the anxiety of being in a new place where I clearly didn’t look like I belonged. It helped me hide when I needed to hide. But i don’t need to hide anymore.

4.

Unfortunately I couldn't really work on this as much as I wanted. Jokers was still in exam mode so some of the shared tasks that required him were a bust. That said, I did slip a few more "dudes", "mans" and "bros" into my chatter with gym bros. And I went as far as coaching some dudes through my leg day workout. This is one I'm eager to make progress on because it's so antithetical to what I've always been. My speech has always been a weird indistinguishable hybrid. I’ve been mistaken for American, British and Canadian. I’ve had my voice described as “trans-Atlantic”, Despite coming from the Caribbean. I was always discouraged from indulging too much in dialect and slang when I was young. “Speak properly”. Combined with being fairly bookish and advanced, maybe that led to some good things in the long run. My skill with words, language and voice are unique. They’re why you all love me. But it did mean that by the time I was in secondary school I was a little alienated from my peers. I didn’t talk like them. I didn’t want to either but it was rough always being mistaken for a foreigner on soil you have never left in your life. In a sense, me picking up an even more exaggerated americanized accent is taking that full circle. Developing a bit more control over my speech to inhabit an ideal I have always longed for. Sounds cool, rite brah?

5.

Again, one restricted by Jockrs being in exam mode. I didn’t want to get too far. But we finally watched the first episode of the 2018 series. One of the rare occasions where the dub is notably better than the sub. But god. What a wild ride. 10/10. No notes. It's just pure gas. And that first episode really struck a chord with me. Something visceral about being palpably perceived as a threat. Emanating danger from you that lessers can sense in their bones. Actually being a weapon in human form. I get such a thrill from that concept. I understand why the toxic tik tok gym bro crowd latches on to this show so much. I think I will too.