#DONT RISK GETTING IN MUCH TROUBLE WITH THE LAW

[m0nsterqzzz]

alr ima rant and it's genuinely gonna make me sound crazy.

so when i was 13, my mom told me if i got in one more fight, she'd throw me out on the streets. (she uses that a lot. don't ask) anyway, me being me, i said, "DO IT! I DARE YOU!".

that night, i came up with a plan.

this is my thought process at 13:

pack a big but not to big bag with clothes and other necessities. If i leave at like 2am, I'll be far gone by the time anyone notices.

we lived in a small town, and i knew a lot of people, which meant I knew several highschoolers willing to sell me burner phones for cheap. I will get only important numbers. as much as it hurts, my siblings aren't part of that. destroy my old phone because they easily track that.

we have a Amtrak 25 minutes away. I'll bike there. I'm athletic, so i can get there fast and not be too tired. It doesn't cost extra to take my bike on, so I'll take that with me.

A ticket cost about 50 dollars just to get on the train according to my cousin, and it's possible to get one just to get on and then ride it until i run out of money.

you need verification of identity to get on, so show them your military id. thats government verification. They'll ask questions about your age, but unlike the airport, they allow people over 13 to get on without parents.

so thats that. I'll set aside a certain amount of money, and once I'm out of that, I'll get off the train. Hopefully I'll be a bit away.

im trans (known since i was 11) so i would just go by my boy name (current name) CJ and tell everyone I was a boy. I'd cute my hair, and everyone will know me as CJ. it'll be harder for people in my old life to find me.

Homeless shelters ask for verification and won't give you help if you don't tell them your info or your parents info, so they can't help.

a hotel is the same way, but a motel is a lot less stern.

my druggie aunt used to stay at this trashy cheap one near the freeway, and according to my mom, it was about 35 a night. That's at least a few nights I can stay, and during those times, I'll find work.

Obviously, since I'm young, nobody will hire me, epically without parents around.

So a babysitter, gardener, or pet sitter is the choice. One of those. I have two dogs at home (this was the hardest part of the plan. i didn't wanna leave them, but you cant bring dogs that aren't service animals onto the train and i couldn't even pretend they were) so I'm good with dogs, and I'm just naturally good with kids.

though it's unknow, these actually pay quite a lot. About enough to pay for one night at the motel after every job and food from dollar tree. no need to be fancy.

I may have to spend a few nights on the street, but I will sit in a 24 hour Dennys until they kick me out and then I'll sleep outside it. There is always people in that, so they can probably protect me. If not, I've been taking karate since I was 3. I can defend myself, and truly just pray all goes well.

a few years later, I'll be 16, and it'll be easier to get a better job to afford a better life (probably a little hard because of no school but it's fine). I'll still live in the motel, but at least I won't be surviving off scraps and garbage. At that point, I may have sold my bike for extra money. if not, that's how I'll get around.

then, at 18, I'll have been saving up money for a few years and will probably have enough to splurge on a fancier motel thats less dangerous. By then, people will have hopefully stopped looking for me, and I can live in peace.

Me now:

and did you think about taxes kid?

so in conclusion, I know we all had a time when we walked down the street with a suitcase and stuffed animal and said we were running away. this was mine.

[mammalsofaction]

Any ideas on how Hamster and Diogee would be like if were human like Perry?

Well theyd be fat. And i do not mean this in a derogatory way they're literally designed as either broad or straight up chubby, so its imperative we jot that down.

DIOGEE.

Its a little easier for Diogee; canonically, he later becomes an OWCA agent. I prefer to imagine that Agent codename D.O.G is a specialized live-in government agent assigned both to protect the Murphy's and also to reduce the impact of Murphy's Law to their surrounding neighbours. Its not a secret; they all know who he is, what he does and what he's for. Think something like a bodyguard.

Even cuter to imagine that D.O.G was there since the government was aware Bridgette was pregnant with a boy. So he was there for the Murphy's ever since Milo was a baby. Canonically there were other pets before, so probably in a human AU D.O.G had predecessors. Some of them might still be alive even. (All agents assigned to the Murphy's probably had specialized disaster aversion training and is made fully aware the risks of the job, dw) They started calling him Diogee bc baby Milo saw his codename in the files and insisted to spell the letters out bc the agent isnt an actual dog, silly. So hes Diogee instead. Perry canonically has a lot of respect for Diogee!

I imagine Diogee to be quite young, younger than Martin and Bridgette. Maybe in his 30s now that Milo is 14. But VERY capable and VERY protective, especially of Milo. He has a very chill demeanor, even when he's on the hunt to save Milo's new misadventure, but his endurance, persistance, quick thinking and jack of all skills are bar none. Light blonde hair, and the sweetest smile. Very approachable, but he does exude the vibe of a cop in casual clothes.

HAMSTER

Ok, this is a little harder. For some reason I can't imagine him as an actual Grant or Gomez... But a close family friend maybe. He's got a wizened vibe.... But i dont wanna make it too old bc he's close to the kids so i dont wanna make it weird. He also gives unemployed vibes.

Maybe he's a college age neighbour who helped babysit Kevin and Gretel for years? Both Dave and Carolina work full time, after all. And Carolina works in health care. Hamster technically does have a job, maybe making websites or video games, but a lot of that is remote. He moved into the neighbourhood back when he still worked for the pet shop in town before swearing off retail.

On the day they got powers he was driving the kids into the first day of school just to wave them off. When it happened he's....honestly he's not happy about the added responsibility. Hes not happy about Gretel with super powers either, Kevin's a little older so it wouldve been MARGINALLY better. But come on man. THE 8 YEAR OLD? He has no respect for those aliens.

Still. At least with his own powers he can make sure the kids dont get into too much trouble. Bringing Fred in was Kevin's idea but Hamster wholeheartedly agreed. Now that i think about it "Hamster" is a weird name but it mightve been Gretel's idea bc "he looks like if a hamster was a person." Bc Gretel isnt exactly the tactful type. She was 5. His real name might be something like Jake or something lame. The kids dont know what it is and at this point Hamster suspects they think his name is actually Hamster. Which is hilarious so whatever.

Dark brown hair, chubby build, frequently seen wearing tee shirts and cargos and flip flops but he cleans up nice when the situation calls for it. Hasnt ever smoked or done drugs or weed despite what most of their neighbours assume at first glance. Well he doesn't do weed anymore, anyway. He does NOT let the kids try any of these substances btw.

The kids view him as this older cousin. I think hes probably...? Half latino, which is why Carolina is so fond of him. Great with kids.

[phantombluego]

Once again i rise! Time for headcanons and ideas rambles!

Since tje new hades 2 update i played all day so some hades au gonna be in here

[Normal]

Amphinomus watching Telemachus get mad at him when he was a kid and apoligize with a toy and feel bad about it cause he made his little brother sad! Now in the time when all the suitors came in amd he became one Telemachus was only mad at him but would never speak a word to him except a polite hello or a yes/no. Amphinomus knowing he cant save this with a toy and watching Telemachus become as cold and stoic as his mom overtime looking at the toy he bought years ago but never gave to him for reasons like no time and then he was a suitor

[Hades]

I imagine the line of death is really long and that some ppl get through faster. Telemachus was ome of those ppl and became a servant at the house of Hades keeping guard of Zagreus bedroom (like how he did with Penelope) and wjen the suitors finally arrive Telemachus is just glaring at them the entire time. He would see Amphinomus and just scoff while Amphinomus would try and talk to him to catch up and see how he is doing but its akward like

Amphi: so.. how is life

Telemachus: *raises an eyebrow* non existent??

This is just mostly ramble and writing what came up in my brain and playing to much hades

[Modern continuation from Tele moving to his fav aunt and uncle also cause i adore Helen and Menelaus my parents fr]

Helen would baby and spoil Telemachus when he arrived cause she was so reminded of Ody and Penelope causw in my hc he looks exactly like both with their mixed colors. He would also meet Peisistratus there and get a good very close best friend (and lover) and get good male influence in his life for once (also from Menelaus ofc). Penelope visits a lot ofc cause how would she go without seeing her son every week wjen she's gone Ctimine is in charge. When he goes back to Ithica for a bit Amphinomus tries talking to him but he is always with Peisis and Telemachus became a pro at avoding him somehow. Helen and Menelaus taught him how to fighr so when Antinous or Eurymachus tries to bully him he fights back for once. Basically like that 1 scene in spyxfamily where Anya punches damian but with Tele and Eurymachus.

[More mordern au but before depression]

Telemachus is really good at all kinds of games but any type of horror games is his specialty. Phasmophobia is his fav just cause he can make Antinous and Eurymachus die in game but act clueless about it. He has an alt acc to play with them. His main acc has atleast a 150+ hours on that game. He seems innocent but he is a little shit at heart just like his dad <3

[More Teleneo stuff but with neo as a guard dog again cause that seems hilarious to me]

Telemachus had to stop Neo from killing suitors multiple times cause he aint risking to break the laws of hospitality. Neo only listens to Telemachus especially when a convo is happening and someone asks him a question but ignores them the whole time but when Tele asks he gets a reply immediatly.

"Neo.. you killed that guy :(

Its not that i care that you killed a suitor but i dont want you to get in trouble"

Also random but Amphinomus would be a girl dad and he needs a wife and daughter actually and make telemachus babysit from time to time (sadly Telemachus would teach her how to lie)

WOO MORE!1 Also hell yeah Hades 2, I’ve been addicted to it the past few days that I haven’t done work or art HAHA

(I got so distracted talking abt FNAF through writing this I forgot whoops)

Aw, starting with the angst already man, catching me off guard LMAO. That’s so sweet that he’d get him a little toy for apologies, then eventually they never got to him </3 man that hurts, they’re so tragic save them fr

Omgs I totally fw the idea of Telemachus working for the House of Hades, poor him having to deal with the suitors passing though HAHA. I fear he’d get mocked for simply doing his job, cause imagine having all 108 (107 minus Amphi) dying and after dealing with them in life, bro now has them in death too. He’d be so sick of it all

Anyway, Tele ignoring Amphi after the guy tries some catch up talk is sad, he fr still holding that grudge after it all. I can picture some side quest in the game to help them be friends again, similar to the reconnecting side quests with Achilles/Patroclus and Orpheus/Eurydice, that’d be so fun to play through ngl

More aunt and uncle hell yeah!! Tele being a mix of his parents is so real, I always pictured him looking more like Penelope but acting exactly like Odysseus, he’s just cutie. His and Peis relationship too <3 argh I love them so much, one of the best ships for Telemachus, light of his life (or something like that) for a reason, the cuties. Poor Amphi once again getting completely ignored lol, cannot catch a break

Also being taught how to fight by Menelaus is so perfect, esp when it’s against his bullies (anti and Eury the childish mockery duo for sure). Tele totally would fight Eury more for sure, cause he’s more around his height, tried to take on Antinous once and got picked up by the back of his shirt LMAO

Also the horror game thing is amazing for Tele, he’d be such a nerd and expert on all the details. Also bullying back at Eury and Anti on it is so funny HAHAH

Also hell yeah, more guard dog Neoptolemus, he’s so perfect for it honestly. They’re so funny as a duo, especially if Neo was ever around the suitor, he’d be foaming at the mouth for a fight the second someone made a bad comment. Then Tel tryna to hold him back but totally internally supporting and wanting to do the same <3 I love them sm sigh

ALSO (I say also too much I swear) GIRL DAD AMPHI!! That’d totally be canon he is for sure a girl dad. Daughter and a bunch of pets, that’s him

[freyjuseggr]

in my personal (American) experience, any "small business" big enough to have employees but small enough to not have to listen to labor laws (under 50 employees) is run by fucking ghouls who are actively anti-employee rights and who vote that way. if it's like, one person on etsy or at the farmers market selling their goods that's one thing but anyone who makes themselves a boss can and should be stolen from. infinite growth is the ideology of a cancer cell etc etc, if they love their product so much and don't want it to get stolen they should sell online if i'm being honest!

okay so im a bit short on time so at risk of coming across as, somewhat defensive, im going to directly quote an example from my life rather than try to pretend im not doing that, this isnt defensiveness though, im simply trying to understand.

1 it has not been my experience that size of a company has any correlation with being able to ignore labor laws, and in fact the larger the company is, the more likely they would be to know exactly what laws they could break and bend to avoid getting in legal trouble because they can afford a legal team. and also the risk of bringing up any kind of issue is much higher for an employee of a large corp, but maybe thats just me living in right to work states

2 my friend owns a business. the business model is directly based on providing a space for community. he owns a game "store" that is like 90% space to come in and play games. the LLC has 3 employees, of which he technically is one. he gets a salary from the LLC and it is not a lot. he already has a profit plan in place wherein a percentage goes back into the business to make it better and more functional for its purpose, and is going to start in the next year or so (he only just started this, and wasnt expecting to have hired anyone else yet) to have an employee profit sharing program where the remainder of profits from the LLC get split equally between employees.

i think the "infinite growth" here is primarily geared toward providing a service within the community, a space to exist in. do you extend this same attitude toward a bar? or coffee shop?

i know that this is a specific example for a general question, so i will add some more general stuff, but just a bit bc i gotta get to work. where should one sell things online? you mentioned etsy, should etsy, ebay, or amazon be getting a share of profits from online sales, why? what about a website where you pay for your own domain name? why is the online model better than having a brick and mortar storefront? because people who dont care are able to steal from it? why are we encouraging punishing the people who are significantly more likely to be affected by theft than corporations actively making our lives hell?

and also, to add, i know of a small business owner in my hometown, hes an ass and everyone hates him, and he owns a restaurant that is very successful. you cant steal from it, and its working out well for him. and hes well known for voting dem and also being the biggest ass. so i know they exist, but i still dont see how even if you could that stealing from him would count as direct action. you arent helping anyone really

[ha-youwish]

could you tell me more about the postcanon p5 and p3 wip? 👀

ask game

this au is an excuse to make characters not a fucking cops and also make my own persona 6 (a rite of passage for any persona fic writer)

so basically, i think the phantom thieves polycule should get back together and then be recruited by mitsuru to join the new shadow ops. the shadow ops now are a private investigative agency apart from the police so they can get around some red tape that made it hard to do things like, say, get akira out of being questioned and beat the shit out of by the police.

so yeah now the phantom thieves are adults, akira was able to convince sojiro to let him run the cafe a few days a week. he does online classes and can't resist digging up dirt on shitty authorities and being like hey futaba check this out, mona helps him out with that. futaba is also doing online schooling and gets money from a mysterious source......

ann is doing modeling oversees at the time of the start of this, ryuji is in between track seasons and spends way too much time in leblanc (gayass), yusuke sells his art and also spends too much time in leblanc (gayass pt2), haru and makoto are on their honeymoon doing their thing in sapporo (makoto is becoming disillusioned with police work, haru has opened up her first cafe there and runs it).

basically mitsuru approaches akira and is like hey we want to make things better but laws suck but also we dont want to risk corruption can the PT be on an unofficial team for the shadow ops while also being allowed to do their own thing. by the time they accept a new cognitive world pops up on their radar, and thats where the ocs come in and things get complicated in a way i dont have energy to explain sorry.

so here read this also fuck cops

One day things will get better, has been the mantra that Makoto has been chanting since she was assigned to Sapporo. That, and, these things take time. 

Her goal to become a police commissioner took a bit of a turn the more she went through college. But she was here now, working with the investigations unit at the Sapporo Police Department. 

It… wasn’t what it seemed when she first joined. As the newbie, she’d been mostly shadowing under her boss so far, contributing to maybe one or two cases for a year. But it was fine, these things took time. She could change the system, but she just had to be patient. 

It was a little hard to be patient, though, when her boss treated her like she was his personal servant. 

Makoto filled up the coffee mug for the third time this evening, trying to suppress the scowl on her face. One of her colleagues in the unit, a nice man named Nagaki, walked in the room. 

She remembered the conversation they had the other day, when she intervened with one of the officers in an interrogation room. Makoto had gotten in more trouble than the officer who was about to get violent, and the situation had shaken her. 

Nagaki had kindly come up to her after the incident and told her she did a good thing. “But,” he said quietly, “Good things aren’t appreciated around here. Not without status.”

“Can I be honest with you?” She had said, still reeling from her reprimand. “I joined the police to change things. My dad was an officer, he was kind, and I was hoping to make the system more like him.”

“It’s a good goal to have, but it’s not going to happen if you’re here.” He scoffed, bitter. “Either quit or get fired.”

He’d walked off after that, ending the conversation before she could ask. But his words have been rattling in her head ever since. She couldn’t believe it. He’d been in this line of work far longer than her, but she felt she was different. She had to be different if things were going to change. 

One day things will get better, but why did it feel like things were only getting worse? 

[cannabistravelguides]

Buy Weed Online In Cairo, Egypt

Cannabis Travel Guide

Smoking Tolerance Level

[1= very illegal 5=virtually legal]: 3

Marijuana Laws & Legislation for Cairo

In Egypt, marijuana is illegal, and the country enforces harsh penalties for both recreational and medical use. Cannabis laws in Egypt are very strict, and marijuana possession is considered a serious crime, carrying severe consequences, including imprisonment. The Egyptian government has not shown any inclination toward cannabis reform, and both marijuana decriminalization and medical cannabis legalization remain off the table. Cannabis cultivation is also illegal, and the authorities crack down on marijuana-related offenses. Marijuana trafficking can result in long prison sentences, and the country continues to maintain a zero-tolerance policy toward marijuana use and cannabis-related crimes.

Please note that marijuana laws are subject to change. For the most current information, consult your countries official resources or legal counsel.

Law Enforcement

From place to place it varies but generally the police are ignorant and don’t place a priority they are sensitive to marijuana as being criminal as culturally its somewhat acceptable and has the highest majority of pot heads in the arab world. Though still take caution and dont place yourself in situations of needless risk.

another reporter added :”Local cops wont bother you, but as soon as you see clean white uniforms, sunglasses, and walkie talkies stay cool, these are the officers and are not so leniant. Security guards in Hotels and such are unable to do anything so dont worry about them. They may complain but wont get you arrested, unless trouble is started. “

Where to buy marijuana in Egypt:

Like the rest of the middle east theres no seedy downtown alley or central park where dealers come up to you, though unlike the rest of the middle east asking someone usually yields good results, start some friendly chit chat with the locals and ask them to set you up, it should be fairly easy but be careful who you ask as some people are religious and will be offended. Taxi Drivers, Tour Guides, (occasionally the police!) waiters , coffee shop staff and normal people sipping tea will be more than happy to set you up, egyptian people are extremely friendly and likable and will leap at the chance to have a conversation with a foriegner( dont be scared there not try to hustle you, there genuinely friendly, its not uncommon to get invited for lunch and to spend time with thier families!), just make sure you dont ask middle class people or women or religious scholars that wont yield anything. Marijuana there is a drug for the poor, alcohol is seen as pre stigious and classy and notably unaffordble to the normal egyptian. though egypt in general is pretty easy to score in, take in mind egyptians think that all tourists are loaded with money and willl try their best to make u part with as much money as you can.

another reporter added: “It’s easy to find weed or hash anywhere in Cairo but be cautious. Many-a-times have I gone to buy an irsh or 3 grams of hash, and come with amphetimines and other additives such as Ping spray, coffee, henna, camel shit, etc. Look for hash that is lighter brown and softer, prefferably maleable. Ask local taxi-drivers if no religious prayers are being blasted through the speakers, or see any religious symbols in the taxi. Waiters in shisha cafes (hookah/water pipe cafes) depending on the area and quality of establishment will be able to hook you up. When in Cairo, go to Road 9 in Maadi, there is a hookah place near the Metro Station without a name or building. There are chairs outside around white tables, ask the waiter to take in order (english is fine anywhere in Maadi) ask for some Sheesha and tea or whatever you may want, when the waiter returns with your stuff ask him for something special or something “else” to smoke, dont be hesitant to wink. “

Egypt marijuana prices:

Prices Vary greatly depending on your nationality, whites will be charged a fortune for whats relatively cheap! arabs blacks and brown colored people can expect to pay less yet still ripped off. Bargain it down and remeber in general its cheap and you should pay no more than 5USD for 10 grams of good stuff. Also bring a bit of cheap liqour with you this can easily be traded for a good pile of marijuana , by doing this you avoid the pitfalls of being overcharged, and you get an excellent deal seeing as how u get more than the bottles worth in marijuana.

another reporter added: “Regular Hash-100LE an irsh (coin) – 3 grams.

Better quality(i.e. morrocan, lebanese…)-120-150 an irsh- 3 grams

Weed- 20LE for “a paper” 1/4 o

Be careful about the weed as well, its not uncommon to have additives in it either. If weed is what you desire, don’t expect much. Ask for sudanese or morrocan even afghani. “

Brands:

Maroc Hash including red blonde and honey, as well as oil, Sudanese Bongo, Lebanese Red and Blonde. And the local sinai weed though thats getting considerably hard to find nowadays.

another reporter added: “Egyptian hash-hard, dark color.

Lebanese Blonde-light golden brown, softer

Buscuit Hash “biscoota”-soft light brown

Morrocan Black- black, clay-like.

Aim for light brown and soft most of the time unless dark and soft. Look for any imperfections in the middle of the peice after you break it. Look for color splotches, any foreign matter other than tricromes. If anything seems foreign DENY DENY DENY.

More Information

[mediaevalmusereads]

Hester. By Laurie Lico Albanese. St. Martin's, 2022.

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Genre: historical fiction

Series: N/A

Summary: Isobel Gamble is a young seamstress carrying generations of secrets when she sets sail from Scotland in the early 1800s with her husband, Edward. An apothecary who has fallen under the spell of opium, his pile of debts have forced them to flee Edinburgh for a fresh start in the New World. But only days after they've arrived in Salem, Edward abruptly joins a departing ship as a medic––leaving Isobel penniless and alone in a strange country, forced to make her way by any means possible.

When she meets a young Nathaniel Hawthorne, the two are instantly drawn to each other: he is a man haunted by his ancestors, who sent innocent women to the gallows––while she is an unusually gifted needleworker, troubled by her own strange talents. As the weeks pass and Edward's safe return grows increasingly unlikely, Nathaniel and Isobel grow closer and closer. Together, they are a muse and a dark storyteller; the enchanter and the enchanted. But which is which?

***Full review below.***

CONTENT WARNINGS: rape, drug addiction, violence, adultery

OVERVIEW: I'm perhaps one of 3 people I know who actually adores The Scarlet Letter, so I figured I'd give this book a go. I'm not usually a fan of reimagining famous authors' lives as a 1-to-1 correspondence with their works, but I took a risk. Unfortunately, I don't think this book came together in a way that was either narratively satisfying or created productive dialogue with the original novel. Thus, it gets a middling rating from me.

WRITING: Albanese's prose is overall just fine. It flows well and is very clear, and the tone makes it feel a bit more elevated that your run-of-the-mill straightforward voice. I don't think there's anything technically wrong with it.

I do think, however, that there were some missed opportunities. For one, Albanese gives her protagonist synesthesia, but she doesn't do much with her prose to make the synesthesia feel otherworldly. She describes letters or sounds in fairly blunt terms, and I think pushing the description to something more poetic would have helped make Isobel's "colors" feel more magical.

I also think Albanese could have done more to make this novel feel more tied to its setting. Hawthorne is known for writing about New England, and Albanese's novel was lacking a distinctly New England atmosphere.

PLOT: The plot of this book imagines a real-life inspiration for Hester Prynne from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Isobel Gamble is a seamstress in Salem whose husband has gone to sea. Alone, Isobel struggles to support herself financially and falls in love with a young writer named Nat, who may or may not have a darkness to him.

The narrative was a bit of a mess, in my opinion, mostly because it tried to do a lot. There was the thread (heh) about Isobel's economic situation, the romance with Nat, and also, in the background, a narrative about escaped slaves. None of these seemed to thematically compliment one another, and all were devoid of tension or suspense. It was difficult, for example, to care about Isobel's sewing projects because they dont really build on one another towards her goal.

The thread about slavery is also difficult because it feels like Albanese is injecting a white woman's story into that of escaped slaves. While I did appreciate that this book didn't just feature white characters, I'm not sure whether getting Isobel involved in the escaped slaves network was a good idea. It centers a white character when it should center Black ones. I think something interesting could have been done, however; since The Scarlet Letter is so concerned with the hypocrisy of Puritan society, I think delving into the hypocrisy of Salem society (which has laws against slavery but still treats Black folks as subhuman) would have been a nice parallel. It also would have opened up more interesting conversations about the rich families in Salem who previously made money in the slave trade and whether it is ethical Isobel to work for them. There are hints at those types of conversations, but Albanese breezes past them way too quickly and doesn't really grapple with the ideas conplexly.

I'm also not convinced the witchcraft angle melded with the themes of the other narrative threads, and the various chapters which are mini-flashbacks to the lives of witches past are not sustained enough to be interesting. The accounts of the past dont really comment on the events of Isobel's present so they felt inserted for witchy flavor or for a feminist message, but when the book tries to end on a note about strong women, it feels like that isn't quite earned.

CHARACTERS: Isobel, our narrator and protagonist, is fine, but I personally didn't find her interesting. While I liked that she was a seamstress, the witch angle, the synesthesia, and the way she inserted herself into a Black narrative (while also somehow being incredibly unobservant and naive about slavery) were all uncohesive.

Nat, Albanese's rendering of Nathaniel Hawthorne, was dull. His shame from his family's past seems to flip to a fierce desire to hang onto that name with little exploration, and the romance with Isobel felt superficial. I didn't understand what the two saw in each other and the themes of the romance didn't quite line up with the themes of the rest of the book or The Scarlet Letter. Isobel claims she falls for Nat because he treats her as someone who matters, but that reasoning clashes with the fact that Captain Darling (the captain who saw Isobel from Scotland to Salem) is utterly devoted and kind to Isobel.

Speaking of the captain, Darling was the character I liked most because of his kindness. Other side characters were fine, but Isobel never really felt tethered to any of them. When one character dies, it didn't feel very impactful, and none of them were used in ways that really furthered any of the themes.

Im not sure how I feel about Isobel's husband, Edward, who is the "real life" Chillingworth. He seems kind enough at first before his injury, and his subsequent drug addiction is quite sad. This book doesn't have any sympathy for him, though, and to really seal the deal, Albanese turns him into an opportunist who will sell out escaped slaves for the money. There's not really any grappling with the effects of addiction, so it felt like it was an easy way to set Edward on the path to irredeemability. But I don't know.

TL;DR: Hester felt like a novel that didn't quite know what kind of story it wanted to tell, nor did it think too much about how it relates to The Scarlet Letter beyond the superficial elements.

[fantasyghetto]

Pregnancy

WARNING, ALOT OF STATISTICS! Mention of teen pregnancy and abuse of children.

10% of the adult females dont have kids, so 90% do.

((55% of the women had a baby by 18.

75% of women have a baby at ages 18 and 19.))

The average woman has 2 kids by 20.

The average woman has 6 kids by 30.

The average woman has 8 kids by 40.

Since the majority of women are 20 to 30, the average family size is 4 kids.

15% have 1 child.

25% have 2 to 3

35% have 4 to 6

10% have 7 to 10

5% have 10+, usually 12 kids in total.

FAMILY STRUCTURE

About 50% of families are fatherless.

(13% deadbeats, 13% deadbeats but her family helps, 13% dead BD, 13% Dead BD but her family helps)

20% paternal family helps.

10% Coparents only.

5% Stepdad only

3% - 5% Coparent and Step

3% - 5% Adopted/raised by cult

Now there are paternity shows for people in the Underbelly to see who fathered what child, but that's usually for the paternal family to get a new worker, not really about responsibility and love.

Fathers in the Underbelly dont have much, so child support isnt a thing. Most fathers only stay around if they like the baby mama enough. It's seen that children are primarily women's responsibility.

And I just came up that 1 in 3 teen girls actually graduate highschool.

15% never engaged in sex.

10% Avoided pregnancy

5% miscarried

3% Only had 1 child before graduating.

Teen Pregnancy Rates:

30% have 1 child.

20% have 2–3 kids.

5% have 4+ kids (usually from extreme poverty or forced work).

10% ||miscarry or lose the baby due to poor health, violence, or overwork.||

Now for the 35% who have no kids:

15% are abstinent

20% use natural family planning successfully (or just infertile)

⸻

So I think I wrote enough for the family unit. Though I will be writing stereotypical family units:

Oldest Daughter - The other mother

Oldest Son - The man of the house

Middle Daughters - Run off with the older crowd, most likely to have kids first.

Middle Sons - Trying to get his own money by getting in trouble with the law, stealing, betting, side-hustles, etc

Youngest Kids - The most likely the ones who'll help the family 'make it'.

Not every family is this bad. Usually the bigger ones are because they typically have irresponsible mothers, ESPECIALLY the hookers. 

Now, there IS. a dark path: ||Selling kids off for more money and less mouths to feed.||

Here’s why women in the Underbelly keep having kids, even when they’re broke, exhausted, and don’t have access to birth control:

⸻

1. Sex is Still the Only Escape

• Pleasure is one of the only free joys left.

• In a world with violence, hunger, and death around the corner, sex is cheap, comforting, and everywhere.

• Even if they don’t want more kids, the moment of distraction is worth the risk.

⸻

2. No Birth Control = No Options

• Birth control is rare, expensive, or culturally frowned upon (especially if Luna’s cult is weird about reproduction).

• Even if a woman wants to stop having kids, she literally can’t prevent it—short of abstinence, which is unrealistic in an environment where:

• She’s a sex worker,

• She has a boyfriend ||with a temper||,

• Or she’s been conditioned ||to believe saying “no” isn’t an option.||

⸻

3. Fatalism

• A lot of people in the Underbelly believe:

“The world is trash, it’s always been trash, and it’ll always be trash.”

• So why plan for a future that won’t exist?

• If a baby comes, it comes. You deal with it.

That’s just life.

⸻

4. Babies = Value

• Kids might be:

• Extra labor,

• A shot at emotional support,

• A way to hold onto a man,

• Some moms see each kid as a new chance to “do it right.”

⸻

5. Everybody Else Has Kids Too

• Having 3–6 kids isn’t unusual in the Underbelly—it’s expected.

• If everyone around you’s doing it, it’s not even questioned.

• A woman with “only one kid” might even get judged or assumed to be infertile.

⸻

6. Trauma Loops

• Some moms were used to being neglected growing up.

• They recreate the chaos because that’s all they know.

• Or they’re just too numb or tired to care anymore.

⸻

7. Coercion & Abuse

• Some pregnancies happen through manipulation or flat-out assault.

• Especially in a place with weak consent laws and lots of casual hookups.

⸻

8. Religion or Cult Influence

• Luna’s cult or Paraguay’s people might encourage high birth rates—especially among women with magic or desirable traits.

• Even street girls might be indoctrinated to think more babies = more blessings.

⸻

[faemen]

ace attorney??? more like really fucking gay attornies who are SO THICKHEADED i am going to kill them

why couldnt this just be a fandom thing like i thought it was before i played. why cant they just make these canon. why must we suffer so

i dont even want them to be canon cuz yknow normal reasons, i just want the fu kdingnf PINING TO STOP cuz its SO MUCH WORSE EVERY TIME

wrightworth? killed me. not bc of their cuteness or normal ship reasons, nooo instead you change your entire major for a guy you knew for 4 months when you were 9 and book a private jet cuz you thought the guy was dying and gain unnecessary feelings and have that man shine brilliantly in your eyes and share a deep dark secret with the exact same girl who just confessed her love to a guy and being great partners and trusting in each other to find the truth and enjoy biting into apples because theyre red and

klapollo? dont even get me started. once again, not because of normal ship reasons, but because they make me so infuriatingly mad. but yknow being used to getting inspected by the ladies but feeling that way for the first time with a man and calling each other cool while blushing and treating your guitars like lovers instead of smashing them on stage and singing a song about your boyfriend being the prosecutions witness and taking care your heart isnt stolen away and wiping pretty smiles off your opponents face and pulling the darkness out of him and being dazzled and literally asking him out to dinner is all normal and straight dude stuff

lanamia? girlfriends? really? i cant believe you thought that going to law school together and being both a detective and prosecution at the same time she was a defense attorney and being close enough to her you had to push her away and break contact when you got involved with a murder and dying at the hands of the man that blackmailed her and her being the first person you tried to contact when you were in trouble and being attracted to her (intellectually) could possibly mean anything not straight at all.

franmaya?? wtf are you on about??? wdym you saw acts of lesbianisms when two women admire each others strengths for being so strong in her own way in the exact same situation as herself and when theyre narrative foils and when one of them avoids whipping the other despite not doing this for pretty much anyone else and when she spends all night on a freezing cold mountain doing something extremely difficult to make sure the other is okay and out as soon as possible?

faraskye? HA dont make me laugh. why are you even telling me about how theyre literally a detective and thief which fits the trope perfectly and about how they investigate together and about how they worry about each other and how they both have big dreams about their careers in the future which theyre super passionate about and have entirely planned until something comes in their way?? this is all heterosexual behaviour???

blackmadhi? you mean having opposite designs that are black + edgy and white + holy while having the complete opposite personalities to their outfits and calling each other sad monk and reverse panda while fiercely going off against each other because neither of them can bear to lose and putting up facades to keep others away from their true selves but still caring about their younger siblings and doing anything for their sakes? yeah i dont see it.

junithena? youve got to be kidding. playing together in the woods as children and growing up to still remember each other even when others dont approve and being determined to help her find her true self and being worried that shes anxious while remembering what happens when she does even though its been years and getting mad at anyone who bothers her and sobbing because she gave you an orange and promising to defend her no matter what and taking a risk so that she doesnt get in trouble in court and calling each other nicknames and getting jealous that two people are fighting over her love while calling her a bunch of compliments and being supportive but sad when she gets a crush on a guy for some weird forking reason doesnt mean anything at all.

asoryuu????? whaaaat??? cant believe you ever thought that being certified besties and taking a huge risk so that said bestie wouldnt lose their dream and calling each others partners like every line and that thinking hes the pride and joy of your university and not sleeping in the same bed so you can go into the closet and teasing each other while still showing your unbreakable bond is homosexual activity.

tldr: theyre straight /s and i hate them

[starlitangels]

here are some of mine!

-marie is 1000% besties with all the mates. (including sam) they gossip abt the pack and sam will complain abt the latest stunt vincent pulled (marie definently tells them embarrassing stories from when the wolves were teens)

-fl has trouble focusing sometimes (same bestie) and just needs someone in the room in case they get off task

-ash sometimes shows up to babe's work unannounced. he'll text them to see if they're busy and if they arent he'll respond like 10 minutes later with "cool, can you let me in? :)"

-david and angel make lunches for each other every other week

-the clan has game nights (dont ever try to get any of them to play twister again..)

-damien and hux have an unspoken thing where they just.. take each other's jackets. like all the time. the rest of the friend group has noticed but it's cute so they dont say anything. (fl and gav definitely talk abt it in private tho)

-sweetheart can take david in a fight (barely)

-lovely collects rocks and vincent lowkey feeds into it (they both love coming up with names for them)

-geordi lives in converse

-smartass was that kid who never spoke except that one time they talked back to a teacher and got written up (teacher lowkey deserved it but u didnt hear that from me)

OMG!

Marie being Mama Wolf to the mates and Sam (even though Sam, really, is not that much younger than her. He was turned at like 30 and Marie is like, "still my new son-in-law") is amazing. I'm just thinking they have a group chat where Marie is always like "Hey I made too much pasta, who wants some?" Or just randomly drops recipes in it and then twenty minutes later a photo of Milo as an eight-year-old, tangled up in some prank Asher pulled while Baby Asher is seen cackling in the background

FL, FL, same bestie. I can focus on certain things alone, but oftentimes but I need someone there to keep me on track.

Ash is a mood. My husband turns up at my clinic for lunch unannounced sometimes and it's very sweet and I think it makes Babe's day more often than not XD

Awww! Davey and Angel making each other's lunches! That's so cute!

OMG never let vampires play Twister. William wins at Monopoly every time but Sam kills it at Risk. And don't get me started on the idea of when Bright Eyes is the traitor in Betrayal At House On The Hill—no one survives

Hux and Damien stealing each other's jackets is 10/10. Huxley's is too big on Damien and Damien's barely fits on Huxley's arms and shoulders XD

I feel like Sweetheart beating David in a fight is conditional and they have, like, a 50/50 shot of actually beating him and only if they play their cards right. Once they figure that play out, though, they can beat him fairly consistently

Lovely is a mood. I was a rock collector kid. I still am. I still have a very vivid memory of my best friend picking up my backpack and being like, "What is in there? Rocks!?" And me promptly reaching into the backpack and pulling out a couple rocks like, "Yeah."

Geordi 🤝 Me      Converse I love Converse so much and, tbh, that really vibes with Geordi. I love it.

Love that Smartass didn't talk back to anyone growing up and then worked for Aaron and had 0 problems arguing with him with 0 respect for him as their boss XD

I love these! So much fun!

[kung-fu-headcanons]

Hi! Can I ask some Tai Lung headcanons like.. what is it like to being friends with him?

love your blog (- 3 -)❤️

Ayeee (to both the prompt and the compliment)

You will always have a blast hanging out with him. Will you get into legal trouble? Maybe. Would it be worth the trip to Chorh Gom prison, though? Frick yeah it would.

I'm just kidding- I was exaggerating. But seriously tho, some of the things he does makes you question if it's allowed within the law.

Y/N: And what do we do when we see trouble?

Everyone: Drag Tai Lung in the opposite direction.

Y/N: Good!

Tai Lung: Yea- HEY!!!

He pushes you if you're unable to keep up with him, "COME ON HURRY UP, WE DONT HAVE ALL DAY", eventually he just picks you up and carries you around if you're still taking too long, or flat out just yeets you (he's careful to not hurt you tho; he's not THAT reckless)

Do not EVER make bets with him. JUST DON'T. He'll do even stupider things than usual.

Speaking of which, in this friendship, no matter how immature you are, believe me when I say Tai Lung somehow can be even more immature. You're stuck being the responsible friend no matter what. You may be chaotic, but he's more chaotic.

He's definitely going to teach you how to defend yourself, at the very least, before making you learn how to fight.

If you want a way to be tired and have a good sleep that night? Hit up Tai Lung. He will exhaust you. That's how wild days with him gets. But it's so fun, time flies.

Shower thoughts. Things that keep you up at 3am. Really, really stupid sh/t. I feel like his humor would consist mostly of dead memes. "Humor doesn't die"

The way he greets you is either loud as f/ck and grabs the attention of everyone within 20 feet radius, or he sneaks up behind you and scares the living daylights out if you

You wanna be careful around him if he's moody. He has a bad temper, although he won't lash out as you as much as he would somebody he doesn't know well, don't take the risk. Give him some space and allow him time to cool down.

[olderthannetfic]

Living in latin america and seeing all the mostly usa & european people who dont get that in things like copyright the Most Important Factor isn't if it's illegal but if it is Enforced and if it is, if it'll get you in real trouble or you'll just get told to stop is wild?? And that Legal isn't Good or Fair or whatever

Like equating what's legal to what's "allowed" (bc you can get away with it) is weird. There's tons of bootleg shit here though, pirating stuff is commonplace, and people straight up sell disney merch (t-shirts, hoodies, etc) with no consequence, and everyone knows this is illegal! It's not suddenly more legal to make money this way just because you're in Latin America! but we also know disney doesn't perceive us as a threat and would only go after you if you were a big company trying to do this, so who cares

The Law and how it's applied not being "fair" is just a given? Of course all paid fanwork can get you in legal trouble, even if you can argue that technically it's not illegal, it's a very grey legal arena. It's on an individual level that you've got to research precedent and decide how far you're willing to risk it. Like, of course it's not fair that fanart can be profitted from a lot easier and with less potential legal issues than fic, but the people telling you straight up admitting you're doing fic commissions is a bad idea aren't being unfair or devaluing writers, they just know ips are more likely to hunt you down for it (and potentially cause the hosting site to decide they're not dealing with this bullshit and taking down unrelated fanworks)

(Also seen the "ao3 is being so mean and unfair not allowing you to profit off fic" argument which. ??? They're certain they can defend fanworks as long as they're free, and not if they're paid. I dont get how a pragmatic policy that protects all their fanworks with 99% certainity is unfair. If they tried defending paid fanwork and failed, as they'd likely would, it could cause a fuckton of legal trouble even for the free stuff??)

--

Yes. When someone asks me about the law and doesn't specify, I generally assume they're from the US because we're the worst about thinking you don't need to say... But I've also seen too many fans from elsewhere listing off US legal concepts like fair use, which don't even exist in their countries. It all depends!

And like you say, enforcement is the real issue. Offline? Online? Website mostly in English? In Spanish? Malay? Hosted on whose servers? etc. etc.

I laugh at the idea that writing is so oppressed. Do people understand just how many fandom writers go on to sell trashy romance novels? Yeah, sure, you have to do a find and replace on the names, but some of the stuff I've read on Kindle Unlimited is only that. The better stuff was original or fully rewritten, but man is there a lot where the serial numbers have barely been filed.

You know what's really not fair? I and many other people have this visceral reaction where fan art is either good enough to feel semi-pro or it's a squick. Meanwhile, writing can be anywhere on a sliding scale from awful to awesome, and if it hits our kinks we'll put up with a lot. There's no hard line of uncanny valley/squick. So, sure, you have to change the character names on that a/b/o fanfic, but as long as you do, you can sell it even if you can barely string a sentence together.

I'm not trying to be mean to newbie artists. I just have this binary on/off switch when it comes to visuals. Good Enough or... not.

I've seen at least as much wank about this double standard as about the monetization one. So really, people need to just accept that different mediums are different and get on with their lives. Writing is extremely easy to monetize as long as you do it right.

[mgsdays]

Thank u for always being so sweet and insightful with your asks!!! i love you 🥰

AnYWAYSs, I wanted to ask you a question particular to the timeline of 19days. We have about 300+ chaps of current flashbacks and present time. Do you think, little by little, we will see more present time dynamics? I know this is the SLOWEST of slow burns and I’m wondering that maybe this is how OX wanted to write; maybe they wanted to show that the past is a reflection of their current present selves? Idk im just rambling here but I think that the past connects to their future selves; it explains to us WHY ZZX and JY have that dynamic in the current time, why MGS and HT still banter, etc. i think OX shows us flashbacks from the past to let us understand how these characters really FEEL about their love interest. its a very interesting way to show character development. I think all these flashbacks are building up to something- I don’t know what but they seem really important and we still dont know HOW JY and HT left so yah thats my theory. What do you think? Another question; how do you think MGS and ZZX will realize their feelings in the future time? A lot of the OX art, as you said, shows these boys comfortably loving their partners so Im wondering as well 🤔 We even see HT and MGS with the couple rings so will we see that too?? I hope we do :(( I think it makes sense that we’ll see them as partners eventually- I mean, we have seen a lot of character development till now with only 300 chaps. Little by little, I think we’re gonna get the end product ☺️

I just hope Im alive to see it happen!

Hey love! Thank you for the message, you were so sweet 😊

I am… more pessimistic about future chapters. More than you, in either case haha

I believe we are building up to the boys leaving, but I do not believe we will see much of a future where the couples have figured things out. I’d love to be proven wrong, just to make it clear, but I don’t think so.

I love your point about the past being a reflection of their futures selves. My theory is that the past chapters serve as a way for Old Xian to give us enough info to presume what happens in the future. Kind of a ‘fill in the blanks’ kind of thing. The past chapters show us the boys’ desires and fears and they explain the motivation behind the boys’ actions. The little snippets into their lives allow us to understand a lot about the characters.

They also give Old Xian a way to write a BL without ever really going there.

Chinese censorship is strong. I don’t think we understand the extent of it from the outside. Some BL authors have been sent to jail. There’s a news story from Nov. 2020 that Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, author of the novel for The Untamed, has been sentenced to 3 years. The details of the case, if true, were not disclosed and we don’t know if they were found guilty or not. A woman who wrote a gay themed novel was sentenced to ten years, that one we know for a fact. China allegedly decided to pull The Untamed from streaming services and to halt production of shows that were being made based on BL books.

This is serious deal. Nothing even happens in those stories. The Untamed is based in a romance novel but it completely removed all explicit romance references for the show. Nothing happens it was still pulled! (after it was done! You make zero yuans by censoring a show that already exists. And yet…).

It really sounds like China is cracking down on content that goes against their morality code. Imagine you’re an artist there. Would you risk everything to make your characters date?

For Old Xian, their art is their livelihood. They make 19 days for the exposure and then use their official platforms to post ads that they draw through Mosspaca Advertising Company. If Old Xian explicitly drew the boys in relationships they’d be risking that platform and could even be putting themselves in danger. (Sometimes Old Xian draws relatively tame art and still deletes and reposts an even tamer version. Old Xian is impacted by censorship. The exposure they have doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be safe. Imagine them drawing two explicit relationships.)

TL; DR:

Or, TL;DR: HT and JY leave before the boys have enough time to figure things out. The past gives Old Xian plenty of room to write a beautiful story without crossing censorship laws, and leave us to fill in the blanks about their future.

About how I think it happens, I answered earlier today about zhanyi. For tianshan, I think they get together without Mo ever confessing, exactly. In the future Mo has been aware of He Tian’s feeling for forever. Mo knows. I’ll die on this hill. He knows. When Mo really goes through puberty, really starts experiencing desire himself, I think all of his wants unavoidably circle back to HT. Mo would be somewhat aware of his own feelings for years. 

After HT comes back, one day Mo is just so tired of the frustration, the tension between them, He Tian’s years apart, everything, that Mo just kisses He Tian.

He Tian’s surprised for five seconds. 

Then he catches up. 

He pushes in until he has Mo pressed against a wall. Mo’s gasping, a filthy sound echoing low in the space between them, Mo’s fingers sink into He Tian’s hair for the trouble, pulling tight against He Tian’s scalp. It only spurs He Tian on, He Tian groans against Mo’s lips and presses in even harder- rest is history. Mo allows their dynamic to shift from there. 

I think the sexual part may be easier for Mo to deal with in the future than his own feelings. They stay in this kind of relationship for a long time. 

I imagine X many years into it Mo blurts out his love like it’s obvious, like they both have know about it for forever. I loved this text post. I imagine something like this, Mo says he loves He Tian while cursing He Tian out for whatever and saying a million other things. He Tian freezes in the doorway. He knew but still. Hearing it out loud makes his heart race in his chest. Mo loves him, Mo loves him, Mo loves him. He Tian would be whistling to himself the rest of the year. Mo would find it the most annoying thing ever.

(But, secretly, he’d like it. Mo would like being able to make He Tian feel this way, a warmth blossoming on Mo’s chest at the thought.)

[cannabistravelguides]

Buy Weed Online In Manila Quezon, Phillipines

Cannabis Travel Guide

Smoking Tolerance Level

[1= very illegal 5=virtually legal]: 1

Marijuana Laws & Legislation for Manila Quezon

Marijuana is illegal in the Philippines, and both recreational and medical cannabis use are prohibited as of 2025. Cannabis laws in the Philippines are strict, and marijuana possession can lead to severe legal consequences, including long prison sentences. The Philippine government has not moved toward cannabis decriminalization or medical cannabis legalization, and the country maintains a zero-tolerance policy for marijuana use. Cannabis trafficking and cultivation are treated as serious crimes, and penalties can include lengthy prison terms or even the death penalty for larger quantities. Despite discussions about the potential benefits of medical marijuana, the Philippines continues to uphold its prohibitionist stance.

Please note that marijuana laws are subject to change. For the most current information, consult your countries official resources or legal counsel.

Law Enforcement

If you get in trouble, try to get out as fast you can with the minimum number of people and pesos getting involved. Keep a few US $100 bills in your wallet (no ID, just money). The green $$$ talks if you get busted.

another report we received is: “Cops are easy to bribe, if you do it quickly, blind them with Grant and Jefferson, don’t make it reach the station becuase you will have to bribe more people. if you see a cop pretend you don’t understand, then when he tells you he’s gonna arrest you say something like: why don’t we just settle this here and save us both the trouble, say you are making a “pakiusap” and tell him you respect him as an officer. it always does good to stroke their ego before offering a bribe. Don’t show any ID and as much as possible pretend you are not a tourist”

and also: “Philippine drug laws are extremely strict, especially for foreigners!!! Bribing most cops will buy you a “Get out of jail free” card. If you ever get caught just flatter the officers about their “professionalism” and how you believe their country is “by far” the best on Earth!!! After about 3-4 minutes of that tell the officers you want to make a deal! Friends of mine have done this with no problems, but DONT let them take you back to the station! You’ll wind up having to bribe every officer and it’ll cost you around $3000 as opposed to maybe $400. I smoked daily when I was in the Philippines and I did standing transactions right in front of my condominium(Busy Metro Area), and saw “Pulisya” roughly 5 times in 3 years!!! Im also not a fool!!! If you have ANY common sense this shouldn’t be a problem!!! Dont risk 25 years in a Filipino prison(Ungodly Filth) because you think you’ll never get caught! Be discreet and cautious about your business!!!”

Where to buy marijuana in Manila:

Sagada-sagada is a haven for pot smokers, its kind of like Amsterdam because it has coffee shops and the locals are very tolerant (in fact they encourage cannabis), it’s a tourist destination for hiking trecking and other out door activites, Once you get down the bus locals may offer you anything from sensi, pollen, hash to charas. Sagada is famous for its pollen and hash. its very easy to get any cannabis products here. the police will only catch you if you smoke near the station, otherwise its okay, you can smoke in your room or better yet in the mountains while doing a treck. Sagada is about 14hrs from manila, you take a bus that goes straight to Bagiou the you take another one that goes to Sagada, the ride is pretty rough but when you get there its woth it. The locals speak impecable english.

Banawe- is home to the famous Ifugao rice terraces. It is also home to some sweet hash and weed. Although the locals are tolerant it is somewhat of a second rate Sagada. If you look like you toke kids will come up to you and offer hash.

Pasay- go to ‘o farrel street (along park ave.) and ask around for butch he’ll hook you up with a sweet 5er. that’s about 50grams of weed.

and also: “Baguio- Baguio is 6 hours from Manila by bus. Get yourself to Cubao and ask where the bus station is. Once you arrive get to “Botanical Garden” and the adjacent parks.You’ll know your in the right place because there are LOTS of horses for horseback riding everywhere, and it reeks of horseshit at the entrances!!! Tell one of the horse guys “Marijuana?”. He will ask you how much,he’ll leave and come right back,pay,and puff away!!!!!!!!!!! In Baguio never give them the money before you get the weed!!! Baguio is one of the largest manufacturers of cannabis in Asia, and its only a 5 mile town!!!!!!!!!

Malate- Find Pablo Ocampo Street, and locate Vito Cruz Cityland. Directly in front of the building, and across the street, there are a group of tricycle drivers(Yellow Tricycles). Get the attention of one of the drivers,or you might go so far as to get inside the tricycle. Once your in the tricycle he’ll probably ask you “Where to BOSS” or something to that effect. Then just tell him “Marijuana my friend?”. He will understand and probably just nod his head yes! Then you make your order. Before I found my current hydroponics dealer I did exactly this EVERYDAY!!! Once you make a good deal, get the guys cell number so you can text contact him during your next craving! Conceal your address and name!!! Your on your way to a Shitty stone, but its better than nada!!! I know my fellow Cannaseurs agree!!!!”

Marijuana Prices

It’s quite cheap in manila, they sell weed in very small bags that are good to fill a joint, we payed about 100 pesos (2 dollars) for 7 of those bags.

and a recent report added: “Kilo from $380

Qty deals will get 2 to 3 foot “stalks” unpressed. Nice, sometimes seedless, sticky, available next day., quality varies shipment to shipment.

Smaller Deals Quality may vary. Street dealers will charge $50 US for a pressed amount the size of a Marlbor Box.”

another reporter added:

“$1=Php 50

1 kilo of brick weed (yuck) Php 3000

1 kilo of unpressed stalks PHP 5000

You can buy a 5er which means Php 500 you get 3-5 unpressed stalks a “tea bag” is about Php 50

hash- php 80 a gram (sagada)

pollen- php 60 a gram (sagada)”

and also: “Baguio-15g(Midz)=P1000($20 US)

1 Kilo(Midz)=P2500($60 US)

15g(Baguio Gold)=P4000($80 US)

1 Hash joint= P10($0.60)

Malate- 1 Bag(Roughly half gram)(Regz,Street Weed)=P20($0.40 US)(I recommend u buy about 20 Bags for each person in your group to enjoy a long night of blazing)

Cebu-Pre rolled pinner joints(Coin Toss on Quality)”

Brands: Sagada sensi

Bagiou gold

Laguna weed

More Information

[zippityzap]

today i learned that there are legit people out there who think the whole "anyone under 18 is a minor" is outdated information????

like what?!?! its not, where is your proof(not askign you, asking that anon who sent that ask) that its outdated??

also im askign in anon cause i dont really want to risk said anon harrassing me

Yeah, it’s pretty nuts.

Even in places where the age of consent is lower than 18, a lot of the time it operates on a ‘Romeo and Juliet law’ sort of rule and additionally, imagery of under 18s in sexual situations are still prohibited.

Fun fact; in the UK creation or possession of sexual images of under 18s is illegal even if you are the minor depicted in the image and you are still under 18! It’s pretty strict, I remember in secondary school when we had sex ed there was a whole section that was basically ‘please please don’t take nudes of yourself, you’ll get in so much trouble if the police find out’

Anyway, don’t worry about being on anon, this sort of situation is the exact reason why I still keep it on

[queenevanscent]

Basic Training

This post has been sitting in my drafts for months now, during which I've come up with a few ways I wanted to write this post. This is what I've come up with.

Basic Training is the episode which made me hate Ben the most. The whole episode consisted him of being a stuck up brat only to be rewarded for it in the end.

This episode was the perfect opportunity to have Kevin in the spotlight and show how skilled and smart he is.

Gwen's presence in this episode was actually fine, there's no change needed for that.

Look, I know the shows named Ben 10 but we have seen Ben be the hero tons of times already.

And Ben being egoistic about his heroism is not something new in the franchise.

There have been episodes on the OS where Ben got a big head, yet I dont ever see anyone complaining about that.

Was is it because he was 10 that we excuse this behaviour? Nope.

15 - 16 is still pretty young and his attitude can be excused at this age as well.

My opinion? It was handled better in the OS.

There were times when Ben wasn't always the main focus.

In Lucky Girl, Ben has his ' who's your hero?' Moment.

They showed Gwen feeling jealous and hurt by the fact she wasn't noticed much.

It was realistic.

Then the epsiode proceeded to focus on Gwen , having Ben being kind of like a sub plot to the story.

Towards the end Ben compliments her.

So yeah Ben got big head, but at the same time they shifted focus so that the audience wouldn't find it annoying.

Gwen was in the spotlight for a bit, giving people a break from Ben.

Secondly  , in Be Afraid Of The Dark, Ben again is shown to be slightly stuck up, but towards the end of that episode he learns and acknowledges Gwen and Grandpa for help and understands his crime fighting is more of a team effort.

In Galactic Enforcers, we are shown there are other heros besides Ben as well.

Ben wasn't the sole focus of that episode. Yes it was about him but also about the Galactic Enforcers.

I don't think he was shown to be over confident here , but it was nice to see some other heros in the scene.

The Ben 10,000 episode focuses on how Ben was too focused on his job and the lesson at that was Ben needed to relax and have them Galactic Enforcers take the lead instead.

Again , his attitude towards everything was brought in focus but towards the end he learnt something.

I recently started watching Generator Rex and I can't help but compare Rex's character to Ben's.

Rex is also proud , rushes into things and considers himself to be a hotshot. But they also show him being down ,having trouble with his nanites and actually voice out his insecurities.

He's still the hero, still has things go his way most times but it's not annoying like Ben.

( I've only seen like 7 episodes so far so I don't know if this going to go down hil or not but so far so good)

The issue with the sequels after the OS was that Ben was the focus a bit too much.

We as the audience were rarely ever given a break from him.

Other than a few conversations here and there about his attitude,  nothing really was done about it.

Gwen should've been appreciated more for saving Kevin and Kevin should've been appreciated for stopping Aggregor.

But they weren't.

If it had been Ben , they would've made sure to show him getting some sort of recognition or trophy.

Back to the Basic Training episode.

We know he's the legendary Ben Tennyson, we know he's a hero. We didn't need another episode on it.

Instead the plot should've focused on Kevin. His skills, his abilities.

Ben would act the same but Magsiter Hulka should've put some sort of cover so Ben couldn't use the omnitrix.

Ben goes on breaking rules,  and having a hard time being a hero without the watch.

Towards the end, it should've been Kevin who cracks the case and saves Hulka. Ben is mad he can't use the omnitrix but instead uses the guns and other weapons he's learnt to use at the academy

He's not amazing at them , but it makes him realise that he is hero , watch or not, something that has been emphasised in the show. Its not impossible for him to function without the watch.

Towards the end, Ben getting a 95 was a stretch. I'm sorry , but the guy wasn't great with using weapons and without the watch I dont think he would've been able to complete that hostage excercise.

I'm thinking more like 89%.

Gwen gets 98, that's fine and Kevin gets a 100.

Hulka comes in and awards the medal (?) to Kevin, suggesting he's becoming more like his father.

( im ignoring the ret con, plus the retcon I'm assuming wasnt thought off at this point by the writers)

Ben is shown to take one of the guns back to earth, because he thinks they're cool and he wants to practice and get better at them.

The whole hostage situation makes him want to get better at making strategies.

Yes he's good at improv, but he needs to learn to properly plan as well.

It doesn't matter if he's never shown to use the gun ever again, and he's back to relying on the omnitrix.

Or maybe some time down the line, he could use the weapon, even if it for a second, to show that he is improving and getting better.

Before you say 'he's already a hero, he doesn't need to learn anything ' sorry but no.

He's 16. He may have saved the world but he still has growing up to do. Different battles are going to arise all the time.

Saying he is perfect at 16 is dumb. Saying he's perfect when he's ben 10k , it'll make some sense. He's been around for a while and is pretty experienced.

The watch is a part of him, but seeing him try to explore other options would've been a fresher idea.

Another scene that made me mad was the court (?) scene in Vreedle, Vreedle.

Ben being a hero shouldn't make him above the law.

Domstol ruling in favor of Ben just because he's the legendry Ben Tennyson was stupid.

After Ben's little monologue , and destroying Domstols desk, the judge should've just informed him that being a hero does not excuse him from following the law.

Kevin could've had his little moment doing some negotiation ( would've been nice to see how he works as con artist) and Ben could've jumped in and helped while making some good points for the argument, showing us he's not stupid.

Then having Domstol rule in their favor would've made sense.

On the way back to earth there could've been a joke about how Ben watches Judge Judy too much which is where he learnt about trials and stuff. Or maybe Gwens dad taught him a thing or two at some point.

All this doesn't mess with Ben's character all that much, he's still the hero of the show, he still has his ego but it makes him more likeable, shifts focus from his attitude, and shows us he's pretty smart and is growing into a good hero.

Ben's not a bad guy. I mean he is the hero of the show. There are tons of scenes which show he's good , like the whole sacrificing thing so the ultimates could live and all.

But little scenes here and there tend to be enough for someone , especially for someone who isn't a super hard-core Ben lover to form negative opinions on him.

Although calling him a psychopath / narc is out of line because I don't find him to be like that. His attitude was magnified by him being in the spotlight too much and writers not having a good balance in writing situations.

Ben being the main character of the show is at risk of becoming hated or less appreciated just because he's the font runner of the show.

Admit it, side characters tend to get more love most times than the main agonist of shows.

I've been watching videos on YouTube on this topic as to why this happens , and what I've come up with is that writers of shows tend to focus too much on main character. Things seem to go their way most times and this tends to get on peoples nerves, consciously or subconsciously because it's not exactly realistic.

Having shows where everything focuses on one person most times tend to backfire.

I don't mind Ben having a big head, I dont mind him making jokes and being so casual.

It's his defense mechanism to protect himself from drowning into the struggles and pressures of being a hero. But always having him be that way isn't good.

The writers should've executed it properly.

( okay this post got really long,  more than I thought it would. If you're read the whole things , congratulations on making it here lol.

I'm not going to stop anyone from replying to this because everyone has different opinions and we all have the freedom to express them.

Although I believe I've made my point and I've made sure to keep in mind all the arguments about why bashing Ben is wrong when he's not a bad guy while typing this out.

I don't think I've directed any major hate towards him , its mostly towards the writers for making the situations like that,but if you think I have you can reply to it.

I'm not gonna reply back though , because again I feel I've made my point.

Any agreements / disagreements you have with the post feel free to share because it is your right.

Any disagreements you have with other members,  as long as its related to the post you can share it.

Any issues you have personally with other members,  please keep them to your selves.

I will not tolerate bullying , harassing,  name calling and petty arguments on my post and blog page.

If this happens I will simply delete this post and re-upload it.)