#I’ve become a boomer already

[whalefairyfandom12]

I was tagged by @ominian 💕

[Last sentence tag war! Rule: Write the last sentence you wrote and tag however many people you like to do the same!]

“The stench of death clung to Ominis’ skin, even if it was merely a phantom.”

Tagging @pandanscafanfiction 🥰

[cats-in-the-clouds]

my sister got engaged and we’re all really happy for her but my bitter rain cloud of a dad (who naturally she told last) is giving her a bit of passive aggressive grief about it despite her boyfriend being like the best man of our generation (presumably either because he’s not catholic or because my dad sees them as young dumb unemployed people who aren’t ready for marriage or because he’s mad he barely has any real love with his own wife or something). so like pray for us? i wish i knew what to do

[springfaekohaku]

Fics that I’m dying to write:

Steve In The Upside Down (so many variations)

Steve getting shot by Nancy in S1 (might also connect to Steve being dragged into the Upside Down) How Will that turn out? What are the consequences? How does this affect everyone? It was only supposed to be a warning shot…

Steve befriending a Demodog. It somehow disconnected from the Hivemind or was created as defect, hence the other monsters turn on it. But Steve saves it and in turn they both bond.

Steve has Powers (I’m already writing and continuing my first fic. But I want more different powers for him)

Steve’s powers being more physical and more practical. Maybe even adaptable and willing to change. Especially under pressure. Kinda like how El can fight off 001 in their minds and Steve can finish him off by destroying his physical body too.

Richard Harrington and Steve both flee to escape the abuse from Richard’s wife, Steve’s Mother and find themselves at Forest Hills Trailer Park. Before S1 maybe?? Eddie and Wayne notice their new neighbours and their story starts from there.

Hannibal Inspired fic but I’ve never seen the show. Only like, the premise and insane amount of Hannigram. Except, Henry/001/Vecna was stolen, taken under Brenner, a mad-man who believes that Cannibalism is the key to knowing all and the human condition. 001 was passed the torch to continue Brenner’s experiments and quest. So, he tries to find his first victim. First it was El, but then she escaped. His first attempt and failure, but he succeeds with capturing Steve. But then no matter how hard he tries, Steve never breaks, so he sets out to find a more younger impressionable youth; enter Will Byers. Steve stays and tries to keep Will alive and sane. Will they escape? Will they be brainwashed like how Brenner did to Henry? Will El find others to help them escape? Will they actually find the key from consuming human flesh? Is that Jason fucking Carver and why does he have Chrissy Cunningham and Eddie Munson tied up? Steve feels like everything is going to shit. Now he has more people to save before they become the next main course. Hehehehehe—

Steve actually being Dmitri’s son. Steve was taken as a baby and sent across to the USA, Dmitri hoping to give him a better shot at life rather than to stay in Russia. Can you imagine in S4 when Dmitri follows Hopper back to Hawkins that he’s reunified with his son?

Everyone besides Steve is a Vampire and Steve is the last werewolf. Humans have hunted down Werewolves for centuries and the numbers have dwindled down severely, right down to almost extinction. Vampires are more adaptable and find it easy to survive in plain sight. The Party and everyone in their Coven have found sanctuary in Hawkins and for years, things have been normal. But then a new scent and sunshine of a boy comes along with it (after S1) — but his timing is seemingly the worst because now he’s facing off Demodogs as a giant wolf and no one knows who he truly is unless he shifted back as a human. In S1, he missed out on the excitement but he got to know and become close to everyone. But then in S2, he is faced with the existence of The Upside Down and vein revealed that his friends and found-family are in fact Vampires. Oh and Vecna is a boomer elder-vampire. Everyone in The Party does not know ANYTHING about Werewolves and so, they learn a lot from Steve when they finally know about him and vice versa. ;))

Another Werewolf Steve AU but this time, he’s hurt, while hunting in his wolf form, he was caught in a bear trap and found by Wayne. Inspired by How To Train Your Dragon scene, Wayne was about to mercifully kill the wolf, but looked into his eyes and saw himself. So he instead took it upon himself and take the wolf back and nurse it back to health. Eddie of course has no idea what his Uncle is hiding until he finds out and freaks out. But finds himself enamoured by the wolf too. Steve is so fucked because he needs to shift back soon, his body itches and the need to be human again nawed at his entire being.

Kali introduces the Punk Culture to Steve. They have a sibling pond and Steve loves his new self. Kali dyes his hair, shaves it a little on the side/s and helps picks out clothes and everything. The whole gang also educated him of the history, iconic figures and music. Just, Punk Steve means a lot to me. You can also imagine him and El bonding about it too. “Bitching.” Eddie is head over heels. Wait, is that a bloody hanky in his pants right back pocket?

I will expand on these later and separately. But these fic ideas have been in my brain and I can’t write them out because I already have two fics to focus on. So ah, thank you for letting me get this off my mind and into the world. 💜🪻

[nothums-from-tj]

Good morning I’m getting back into PPG lately and I can not BELIEVE the lack of Boomercup content. As I’ve said before: if you want content you gotta make it yourself

I present to you headcanons that only this micro fandom will enjoy if anyone’s left/active still at all bc it is. So dead. Dead enough that I’m revealing myself for a ship my followers don’t even care about again. Combining some 2016 canon with the OG bc there are some gems, like Butters being a math genius and how her insecurities were subtly explored more

I’m also considering them like 16 or so here for sake of high school concepts

- they get closer in high school when Boomer’s had enough with being an edgelord and being associated to Him and Mojo so he goes to Butters first since it’s easier to be in the lighter grey area of morality than to try to jump from one extreme to the next (currently have a WIP going on this concept!! “tbmg” tag on my blog or chapter 1)

- he learns a bit of her past with Ace and he’s downright nauseous over what he did to her (“It was years ago. It’s not important now.” “You were five. It doesn’t matter with the whole hero and villain thing—manipulating a child like that is gross. He’s gotta be, what?—10 years older than us?” “Minimum. It’s not like he actually liked me—he just toyed with me.” “That doesn’t make it any better.”)

- Boomer does all the cheesy pet names when they start dating especially bc he knows it bothers her (she likes it a little, not that she’ll ever tell him that)

- Boomer also once started picking up chess or checkers after having enough of his brothers picking on him so he started learning something to be “smart” so he challenged Buttercup to a match assuming she’d be at or around his skill level

- that said, in actuality she started picking it up years ago out of sheer competitiveness with her kind-of-constant sibling feud with Blossom, eventually coming close enough to stump her for a moment or two more often than not just not quite enough to beat her; he learned this the hard way when she beat him so hard at it he sat in stunned silence for 10 minutes trying to figure out what hit him, then demanded to see a match between her and Blossom

- he thinks it’s kind of really funny how much of a sore loser she is and how differently she behaves from when they were kids, so like instead of screaming and yelling and demanding a rematch like when they were young she’d simply flip the table over or chuck the console remote or whatever at the wall and walk away wordlessly to chill out and the suddenness usually makes him laugh really hard once the initial shock wears off

- Butters’ love language is quality time and physical touch, which it takes a few months or so for Boomer to learn when she starts hanging out with him like all the time and play fights him (light punches, kicks his ankle when they’re sitting next to each other, a soft kick to his shin when she scolds him for something, will sneak up behind him to jump on his back just to startle him, etc) and as they become like inseparable the insults are always paired with smirks and shining eyes and so many more excuses for touching and play fighting

- Boomer’s love language is words of affirmation and acts of service which drives Buttercup insane bc she doesn’t know how to handle either of them, words of affirmation are always combated with insults and she’ll dodge them when and where possible bc “how dare he accidentally pick an insecurity of mine to comment on and make me feel like I don’t deserve to downgrade myself like that” so she’ll look away and shoot the insult to not be vulnerable Or something that she does feel good about and be like “duh?????? I know that already” then neither really know what to do from there; acts of service Buttercup will turn into a competition or see as an insult at first as if she can’t do it herself so when they start dating her sisters have to hold her back sometimes to let her bf do something nice for her and she started understanding by then

- Buttercup is the definition of no rizz and it’s so painfully funny for everyone around her

- “Okay, Boomer.” “I hate you.” “No you don’t.” “Yes I do.” “Prove it.” “Are you asking me to fight you?” “Maybe.” = Buttercup, flirting

- as cliché as it is for these two, she does call him Pretty Boy—originally trying to insult him which he never took it as such anyway, then as a nickname/pet name

- Buttercup is very much a morning cuddler and Boomer never wants to let her go when they wake up together

- after 3 months into just their friendship alone there is no longer such a thing as Buttercup’s hoodies and Boomer’s hoodies, it becomes one collection to the point that later on when dating they’d get each other matching hoodies and both would still end up at one place after losing track of who has what

- Brick and Buttercup have the same advanced/honors math class and it drives Blossom insane that her sister and her counterpart are the math geniuses and she’s not; Brick also tries to play wingman for Boomer and Butters after partnering up with her for some project in said math class

- when the other brothers find out Boomer’s trying to change sides and it means having less interaction/association to their dads they also ask Buttercup to “tutor” them and it makes Boomer jealous to no end (she only has eyes for him though)

- he’s always the first person she contacts after a fight with either Butch or Blossom so she can rant and blow up and then, after arguing with Blossom particularly, he’s always the shoulder she cries on and the first hug she looks for

- both have to learn how to communicate openly and set firm boundaries so they both have to ask the other Puffs to help them with it to prevent arguing and Boomer is so much better at it than Buttercup, who will more often than not still get defensive and Boomer has to set that they need to walk away from the situation so they can chill and then talk and she’s always super pouty abt it but still follows through bc she hates fighting with him

I’ll likely add more later Or if anyone else has any to add on please do <3

[ssa-dado]

hiiii hope you're goooood. I'm so in love with your incredible Symposium series!! I just wondered if you ever considered putting it on ao3?

It's obviously your decision how/where you post anyway but just curious because well frankly, I'd love to put it on my kindle to read/re-read it and if I'm reading a new chapter, my tumblr app closes and I have to find my place again haha sorry to ask and I hope you don't feel pressured by this - it's honestly just curiosity.

I'm normally late to the fandoms and only seem to join them months/years later but I'm so grateful I'm here to same time as Symposium ❤️ being able to see the excitement from your teasers, moodboards, timeline and then the new chapters make me feel so included in this Hotch world so thank you so much for writing. I love seeing your passion for Hotch and especially for writing, it makes me so grateful to be one of your readers here for the journey with you ❤️

Thank you!! xx

Hi gorgeous!!! Sorry for letting you wait so long!!!!!

Premise: this is me - an absolute boomer in spirit, and yes, I’m cringing at myself for being so ignorant. And sorry for using the smaller font, but this is going to be a lenghty one.

First of all, WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WANT TO RE-READ THE SHIT I POST?????? WHAAAAAAT? HOW. WHY? But seriously, thank you for even saying that, I'll be crying for 10 minutes straight because of it.

Alright, straight to the juicy part. I’ve always been someone who rambles - it's who I am at my core - and that shows in how I write (I'm thesis, antithesis but without the synthesis... ok that was the worst joke I've ever made in my life).

I chose from the start to lean into fewer chapters but make them more substantial, rather than splitting things into double or even triple the number of chapters with fewer words per part (I mean, let’s be real, as much as I love a good slow burn, even I’d feel embarrassed to hit chapter 40 without so much as an “on-screen” kiss). It’s not the most user-friendly choice, I know.

The reason I waited so long to post on AO3 is, well… I’ve been hesitant maily because I’ve never used it before. I’ve also read about some really awful experiences people have had on that platform, especially with reader-writer interactions, and it honestly scares me. Tumblr feels like a safe space, filled with amazing, supportive people, and I never want to jeopardize that.

Navigating AO3’s tagging culture feels overwhelming, and as a people-pleaser, the thought of messing up or disappointing someone genuinely stresses me out. I already struggle with knowing if a chapter has enough fluff to warrant the tag or if the angst is really angsty enough to qualify. It's just feels like too much...

But I hear you about the tracking issue, and I want to help. What if I start breaking down the chapters into smaller parts? For example, a longer chapter like c.11 (which I think is around 8k words?) could become 11.1, 11.2, and so on?! That way, it’s easier for you to find your place without getting lost in the length.

And if your Tumblr continues to crash, I post them on Wattpad. I know my way around that platform - it’s familiar, less stressful for me, and I’d feel more confident posting there than on AO3 for now.

I know already it’ll be tedious to reformat and re-edit everything (because Wattpad loves to strip all my italics and bold text whenever I try to copy-paste) but if it feels easier for you to navigate, I’m more than willing to put in the work. I just want to make it as accessible as possible for you.

Let me know what you think, and if the deal works for you.

Now, onto the second part of your message - YOU'RE A CRAZY HUMAN BEING. Symposium... a fandom? Oh no no no no no no no. That would be way too overwhelming. Just the thought of it makes me want to crawl under a blanket and never come out, I’d have a breakdown before I even opened my laptop. I barely know what I’m doing as it is HAHAHAHAH

But seriously, thank you.

I wouldn’t have half the courage or energy to sit down, fry my brain cells, and try to string together the right words, themes, philosophers to butcher, or storylines if it weren’t for you. Your interactions, your input, they mean so much more than I could ever properly put into some stupid words.

It might sound a little strange, but I genuinely remember every single account that pops up in my notifications. Whether it’s a like, a reblog, or a funny comment, I notice it all, I'm the panopticon. I’ve definitely stalked every one of you at some point (in the most wholesome way, I promise)

If I could, I’d send every single one of you 3kg of handmade pizza to even begin to express my gratitude.

Truly, thank you.

For everything.

I'm sending you the biggest hug AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[samobservessonic]

There’s a page about AoStH that gives a brief introduction to the characters in that show, but I’ve skipped over that and moved onto what is unarguably the highlight here, which is the apparent “screen shots” from an early draft of SatAM Sonic. We see the image of the Freedom Team that was already shown in an earlier issue of StC, along with a few other images from a version of the cartoon that would never come to be What’s especially interesting here is that, at this stage, they already know details about the final versions of both AoStH and SatAM. We’ll get to that in the next post, but the article talks about them both separately. However, I believe that whoever wrote this thought that these images were from SatAM, as both this page and the bit about SatAM are referred to as being from a cartoon called “Sonic the Hedgehog”, as opposed to “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog”, which they referred to as such. Having said that, on the SatAM bit, they talk specifically about characters from SatAM who were already looking different to these images. Bunnie and Boomer (the original name for Rotor) are both mentioned, instead of the Johnny Lightfoot and Joe Sushi characters shown here. “Princess Sally Acorn” is also mentioned, though she isn’t shown to look different from the Princess Acorn here But whatever the reason these images slipped out, I’m glad they included them, otherwise we might never have known about these at all. The general assumption is that they were from an earlier pitch for SatAM, based on the small animals in Sonic 1, and without Tails, so probably made prior to his introduction. Perhaps this is the evolutionary link that would lead onto the pilot episode of SatAM We already know that Sally went through a lot of design prototypes before they landed on the version used in SatAM, and that’s a bigger topic on its own, but I’m going to take a moment to talk about Princess Acorn specifically, because I don’t think she’ll come up again for me to talk about, at least not in this StC read-through. Princess Acorn is shown in every image here, even more than Sonic himself. There are two more images of her that I found on the Sonic fandom wikia, both marked as concept art, but I don’t know more about them than that. They don’t appear in StC, but I wanted to share them anyway:

The second one is particularly interesting to me, because it looks like it might’ve been from a storyboard, showing Princess Acorn reading a story to Tux Penguin. It makes me wonder if Tux was originally going to be portrayed as the “young child” character - a role that Tails would go onto fill. I know some fans talk about how Tails was more child-like in SatAM compared to later versions (but this portrayal of Tails was kind of general to western media, where “kid genius Tails” didn’t become more of a thing until after Sonic Adventure), so I do wonder if maybe to a certain extent, Tails had been swapped into Tux’s role. Maybe not, however. Since Tails was already present in the pilot, but you never know. Not only that, but Sally would go on to be called “Aunt Sally” by Tails in the show, which is perhaps a similar vibe to what they were going for with Princess Acorn and Tux here Anyway, that’s our bit of unused Sonic media speculation for today, but there is another page in this mag that I want to talk about, so I’ll include that in the next post

[prototypesteve]

“Don’t try this at home!”

So, if you’ve been following my posts, you might guess that there’s a chance I’m going to impulsively come out as aroace to my family and some remaining lifelong friends some time in 2024, and it might go well, and in the moment I might post something euphoric and, and, and.

I just want to make sure everyone knows that my situation might be different from yours, so my thing might go very differently than your thing. If you’re also thinking of coming out to a potentially “risky” group—especially your close family or close friends—please take these into consideration:

I may have a very different real-life audience.

I’m probably older than you. I’m 52 right now. Which means the friends and family I’m coming out to are going to be different, too. They’ll mostly be Generation X, and one Boomer.

I’m safe.

I’m basically independent. I can’t get thrown out by an impulsive parent, or quietly fired by a bigoted boss. If it goes badly, I’m not at risk of homelessness or anything like it.

I’m jaded, and risk-tolerant.

I’ve had some truly traumatic losses, so I’m emotionally prepared for new losses. I’ve already lost friends, very close people, and family, to emotional drift, breakups, and even death. If you haven’t had that happen yet, it can be really hard. Some of those losses messed me up for years. In some ways, I’m sure I’ve become a bit heartless towards the risk of additional loss. Like, “Been there, done that, do your worst!” If you’re new to loss, please don’t copy my impulsive and casual approach towards it.

I have genetically weird empathy.

I lack the so-called empathy gene (see notes below, I’m not making this shit up). It means I can really, really, really miss how badly I’ve fucked up a friendship, because it can be days or weeks before I realize I said something that affected someone in some level I’ve never seen before, and haven’t practiced learning how to “detect”.

I may post something about how well everyone reacted, and then have to post a correction half a year later. I haven’t had problems with it in a decade or so, but this is all higher-stakes stuff.

Footnote on the empathy gene:

I have genotype A/A on marker rs53576 in gene OXTR (position 8804371), and genotype G/G on marker rs1042778 in gene OXTR (position 8794545). OXTR as in "oxytocin receptor". In fairly large studies those two genotypes correlated with what gets super-simplified as having "no empathy" and being "callous-unemotional." I have feelings, but they work differently.

[aizenat]

I was watching this woman who does child free content on yt, and she was showing clips of a woman on tik tok who was complaining about some family vlogger influencers (because that’s somehow still a thing in 2024 apparently) on ig who went on a cruise and apparently went to have dinner after the kids went to sleep so they could have a romantic night alone. They had baby monitors and nothing actually happened, but the internet does what it always does and this girl is just moralizing about all the could be dangers that COULD have happened in a worst case scenario because god forbid people don’t live their lives with crippling anxiety constantly planning and expecting the worst thing to happen at all times (not defending the couple but girl nothing happened just shut the fuck up).

And I had this thought I’ve been having a lot where I’m thinking this woman who I’m watching react to this girl’s tik tok (a supposed journalist lol) is wasting her time watching a girl waste her time making tik tok after tik tok moralizing about a couple she doesn’t know doing something that wasn’t the smartest but led to no issues, bitching about this couple sharing their stupid lives online.

And like I just thought to myself “why does this girl on tik tok care so much about this couple to make all these videos faking concern about these kids that are fine? Why is this YouTuber wasting her time reacting to this girl making tik toks about a family neither of them know and how they raise their kids? Why is this couple able to get enough people watching them vlog their lives that they can afford a nice cruise (and apparently make enough to afford a hypothetical nanny for the kids so they wouldn’t have to leave them alone sleeping in the rooms just for a date night, according to critics), and enough attention to get major backlash for doing something I’m sure most of our own parents did at least once or twice.”

Like truly, what does ANY of this matter? I don’t know ANY of these ppl I’m engaging with. I don’t care about family vloggers: I find them all reprehensible. I don’t care about some random white woman’s moralizing on another couple not being perfect parents like she thinks all parents should be. I don’t even understand why the child free content creator was even commenting on the drama. Like what was the point? Don’t have children so you can have date nights without worrying about kids?

Like who cares? Why are we all so obsessed with other people’s lives? People we don’t know, will never know, who will get canceled in a few years for something (if they’re lucky enough to last that long) just to do it all over again with a new influencer. That south Asian ray guy was the most popular YouTuber and and then it was pewdiepie then one of the Paul brothers then dream then Mr beast and he’s getting canceled now so it’ll be someone new this time next year.

Again and again the cycle goes and what do any of us get out of it? Are we better people for it? Are we even entertained? Why does ANY of this shit matter? Truly?

Idk how corny or eye roll inducing it is to say this but the entire internet, and most of modern media, has become a literal virtual reality matrix that we’re all acting like we have to participate in. You don’t go online, you miss all the news. Everyone from boomers to gen x to millennials to gen z to gen alpha don’t know how to connect to people without it. At my last job, my coworkers would bond over memes they’d share on fb or send each other snapchats or tik toks and constantly reference them. And because I’m not on the sites, I was literally missing out. And when I’d ask them to send things to our group chat so I could enjoy the fun, they just ignored me.

In today’s world, if you’re not plugged into the matrix, you pretty much don’t exist. It’s a red flag if ppl can’t find social media on you. YouTube commentary videos don’t even introduce players in drama because they assume you already know who they’re talking about for some reason. I’m expected to know all the latest tik tok influencers and streamers and podcasters and all the other mundane morons taking up space online. Why? Why do I need to know any of them just to keep up? Truly? Why?

Meanwhile, no one knows how our government work to organize effectively (looking at the faux “pro Palestine” ppl protesting the dnc without any fucking real plan all while ignoring that three of the most progressive and pro Palestinian representatives were up for reelection and let two of them LOSE their reelection bid, pulling more pro Palestinian voices away from congress; as well as ANYONE telling people to not vote or vote third party in November), no one seems to care that we’re living through a major environmental catastrophe, NO ONE READS, art is literally dying thanks to corporate greed, men are gearing up for a major anti feminist backlash that I’m afraid no woman under 30 is quite prepared to fight against, and no one can afford to live a happy and comfortable life.

But I have to care about stupid influencers being stupid online for stupid amounts of money because everyone is chasing a bag instead of working to make the world a better place.

I’m genuinely hitting a limit. Not in the manosphere way, but I’m seriously taking the red pill and getting the fuck out. This online world is just so bleak and miserable. I can’t deal with this shit anymore. It’s burning me out and I’m exhausted by it all. I genuinely just need out. Completely and fully. I’m so completely done.

[pomellon]

I’ve been a little vague about how Funz starts in the dtk+ dragon au, mostly cuz I do want to attempt to actually write a fic for it, but this is basically the idea I have in mind for the beginning:

Foolish has created a lush oasis in the middle of the desert, big enough that it looks more like a small jungle. The greenery has attracted other surviving dragons over the years, all of which started to look up to Foolish as a type of demi-god due to his strong magic abilities. He didn’t bond with any of them, so they started referring to themselves as his followers instead of his flight, and after a while they grew determined to find him an actual bond. They want him to be happy, but they also want him to have heirs down the line, strong dragons with his blood that would make their settlement even greater.

Foolish hasn’t bonded to anyone for years tho (for centuries, but no one knows how old he actually is at this point), despite new dragons joining the settlement frequently. So they set out to find other flights and invite them to send their best dragons to court him, offering them a safe haven in their oasis should they succeed with a bond. Foolish isn’t really into the idea, but his followers have grown a bit fanatic and he rather just go along with it then deal with them yapping at him should he refuse. 

The news of the courtship eventually reaches Bad’s flight who have been interested in scouting the oasis out for some time already, wanting to know what kind of magic could make such a place possible. They quickly come up with the idea to send someone to the courtship, but then the question becomes who?

The only dragons that have gotten their god claim are Sam, Punz, Sapnap, and Boomer, and it’s quickly decided that a dragon with magic should go since they’re desirable in many different areas. Sapnap and Boomer are almost immediately ruled out due to being too young, and while Sam is the oldest he has issues regulating his magic which defeats the purpose of sending a dragon with magic abilities. This leaves Punz.

Punz absolutely hates this plan. He’s not fond of social assignments to begin with, so flirting and schmoozing up to a random dragon he doesn't know is definitely not something he wants to do. Secondly the courting is meant to result in a pair to produce offspring and they know Foolish is a scout, meaning Punz, who’s a guardian, would be a horrible match when it comes to producing eggs. On top of that Punz’s scales are covered in a lot of knicks and battle scars and at this point in the story he’s struggling a little bit with his self image, not really seeing himself as attractive and making him even more reluctant to go.

He pretty much refuses until the others convince him that Foolish not being interested in him due to being a guardian will actually give Punz more of an opportunity to scout the place out. It takes some more convincing but eventually he agrees to go with Sam and Ant coming with him to act as support and backup if needed.

Ant and Sam do their best to doll him up for the first day, covering his scars with jewellery and silk accessories. Punz still feels very out of place when he arrives at Foolish’s palace, most of the other courters being nurse or scholar class dragons that would match well with a scout. He’s the only guardian, and he can’t help but regret this plan even more, simply wishing to get it done with so he can be ignored and do his job.

This does not happen however, as Punz standing out in the crowd makes Foolish instantly zero in on him, curiosity about the guardian peeked and determined to get to know him better.

And that’s where I’m gonna leave it for now uvu

[cicada-and-pomegranate]

I feel like if 9/11 happened again, no one would really react.

I think a lot of people were horrified on 9/11 because they didn’t know things like that happened. The boomer generation is all like “never forget”, acting like it’s the greatest tragedy since the Holocaust, and acts like joking about 9/11 is paramount to joking about genocides, but they went to school every day to learn about how to hide from a nuclear bomb.

At the end of the day though, the most that 9/11 effected the lives of most people acting like 9/11 is the world’s greatest modern tragedy is that they have to take their shoes off at the airport. 9/11 had disastrous effects, of course, but not on the people most intimately obsessed with its tragedy.

There’s a 2002 episode of Arthur where a school fire is used as an analogue for 9/11. (I really wish they just used real 9/11 that would have been so fucking funny) One of the plots is about Buster feeling bad about not really caring about the fire. At the time that was a super important message for kids, because why the fuck would they care? They probably don’t even know how much 3,000 is or necessarily what death is or maybe even where New York is. It’s unrelated to them.

9/11 happened 21 years ago. It can legally drink in the US. If you actually remember the significance of what 9/11 was when it happened, you’re kind of old now. Young people either were Buster or they learned about 9/11 in history class. It’s a meme now.

I’m going to New York in about a month and I’ve already planned to take a photo of the 9/11 memorial and caption it “I forgor”. I don’t fucking care; I wasn’t alive in 2001. I think older people need to accept that 9/11 is now a historical event rather than a modern tragedy, and a historical event with a comparatively low body count.

The fact that 9/11 gripped the nation for decades after isn’t just a consequence of the place and time it happened; it was intentional. It was a terrorist attack; it was meant to be flashy, it was meant to be destructive, and it was meant to be scary. Making 9/11 out to be the worst thing ever projects Al-Qaeda’s strength.

We’ve now lived through entire months in which every day has killed more people than 9/11. Of course that’s always been true, but not from one collective, abnormal cause. When you become desensitized to death, it’s no longer tragic. One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.

The constant propaganda about 9/11 being the worst thing ever, counterintuitively, makes it seem less bad. It normalizes it to the point that it’s not the tragedy it once was. Especially when you didn’t live it because you were not yet alive.

This doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, I mean no one cares about the myriad obscure genocides which killed hundreds of thousands to millions, but 3,000 people who happened to have a statistically higher income (the Twin Towers housed financial offices and the flights that were hijacked tend to have a lot of business travelers, especially on a morning flight early in the week)? Greatest American tragedy literally ever.

I think people not caring about the faceless people who died on 9/11 and ended up getting turned in to patriotic martyrs and caring more about the faceless people who die every day because governments around the world think it’s in their best interests for them to is a good thing. It’s an inevitable part of moving forward in time; the sands of time erode all but the number of bones.

So joke about 9/11. It ends the era of “never forget”, and brings about that of the perpetual apathy that faces all historical events with the inevitable bored child in an elementary school classroom asking the teacher why he should care about dead people.

[papirouge]

I’ve stopped caring what my dad says about protesting and how he thinks it’s stupid to get arrested protesting at the universities because “your life becomes so hard after that arrest goes on your record” because the bigger picture is something he doesn’t want to see. Most boomers cannot handle that the reality of the future for us is grim without drastic fighting and change. They know they’ll be dead soon

But I can’t stop shaking at the horrors that happened in the tents of Rafah. And that now that the Israeli president is now getting called for HIS arrest, he responds by more violence. Clearly nothing will stop him unless someone like the CIA assassinates him.

No offense to you dad, but did he forget what his own generation did back in his youth?

I know Alzheimer is a bitch, but the selective memory collection of older generation and their own youth activism is very embarrassing. I actually find zoomer very tame in comparison to gen X (those who were teens during the late 90s/early 00s) and even boomer who were popping pills like there's no tomorrow, engaged in straight up satanic cults, and polylove sects in the 70s. But noooo zoomers are actually very dangerous because....*checks notes* they are protesting against a genocide.

I wouldn't trust the word of people who most likely have only a decade to live on this world. The consequences won't be the same for them.

I think I already made a post about it but I'll forever side eye the hypocrites who during c0vid were arguing how it unfair to label all the anti lockdown protestors as "far right" or "white supremacists", have no issue calling all of those protestors "hamas supporters" (hi Dr. Eli David!). The mask of many former anti lockdown freedom fighters really slipped off the moment it came to anti Zionist protests. They hopped on the side of the same oppressive power that brutalized them 4 years before... Suddenly the police was "right" to arrest & brutalize people exercising their freedom of speech because antisemitism/islamist/Hamas supporter... Those people were never about freedom, they were about to have their own way under any excuse.... They are disgusting & fake and I'd advise anyone to never take seriously any of what they say any more.

BTW, isn't it funny how no one came up with the "antichrist" accusations against Netanyahu? 🙃 this dude checks out a bunch of boxes : martyring Christians (in their own churches), hounding, mass deporting & killing anyone on its way under the premise of providing world peace.... Conservatives called Obama the anti Christ for much less....jeez I wonder whyyyyy... ah yes, white people/conservatives casual racism of being suspicious of someone sense or morality based on their skin color lol

[despoyler-blog]

So, I played some Doom

Gotta be honest with ya, fine reader, I played original Doom in my wee years. Like I got to it when I was visiting my mom’s workplace whe she can’t leave me alone at house. And there it was, glorious Doom, with all that E1M1, soundtrack, which I couldn’t hear (cause there weren’t any speakers, you see), and I thought “cool, where can I get home play some Quake?” I was from household that played all Quake parts and had it installed, but no Doom, so I hadn’t touched original two parts. My intro into those parts was Doom 3 and still I have some warm feelings to that part. Years went by, I played different FPS games, also regarded Doom as standard bearer, played and had some fun with Doom 2016 and Doom Ethernal, but yeah, not the same. And friends were participating in RAMP 2023 (that’s the initiative for map creation, check it out, that’s a good shiet, you can see people’s passion and soul sometimes) and playing some Plutonia Experiment. Honestly, I’m kind of guy when something in group happening and I kinda like it - I need to try it. So, I’ve tried Plutonia (thanks to @opanasopanasovychopanasenko for help with set up with GZDoom) and I must admit - I’m in awe. I can say that is “the Dark Souls of FPS” and that can be quite accurate description, but where we would be with that? Nowhere, that’s for sure. I can say this - while playing Plutonia it’s the first time in my 23 years of gaming (I’m 26 currently) when I can hear developer’s communication though the gameplay. You see, when you play the current titles - they’re good, but they don’t have some author’s touch.  With Plutonia, proudly developed by Dario and Milo Casali, I can see the vision for what developer’s intended for me to do in some sections of the game in order not to get totally by the enemies. For example, it can be in such details when spawning archvile right in front of you, but if you know that rocket launcher will push him over the ledge - such encounter will become much easier to overcome. The level design was really intriguing - from the labyrinth with archviles to hellish levels with separate platforms and tons of secret, from hard regular levels to  secret levels with some devilish tricks (I say that I must applaud to the decision of spawning five archviles in already cleared areas, after beating 4 cyberdemons). And secrets thruought the level located like with purpose “there is a tough enemies, but here’s your reward - take it, you’ll need it” I got this cozy feeling inside me, when I played Plutonia that everything is like it should be.  Even If I got stuck on some nasty sections, I soon realized - yeah, they designed it in such way, now seek means to beat that. Anyway, can’t recommend it enough to any connoseir of oldschool FPS/boomer shooters if you haven’t tried it yet, it’s so good. Until then, keep calm and donate UAF(https://savelife.in.ua/en/ or any other UA foundation) so I can sprout such thoughts in the future.

[wolfwatching78]

Lets Talk About Pistol Start In Doom

In one of his twitch streams while developing Sigil, his first full Wad for the original Doom in two decades, John Romero briefly spoke about how he prefers to play the game on Pistol Start without Save-Scumming. Although I was familiar with these terms, it was the first time I'd heard them from the creator himself.

Basically in classic Doom, if you die you are thrown back to the start of the level with no guns. It penalises dying but as a player you can avoid this it by saving the game. This leads to a massive difference in how levels play out in their design. Not only can the player stock-pile weapons and ammo, they can also find powerful new weapons hidden in each level.

The alternative to this approach is to play Pistol Start, whereby you find what weapons you can in every stage. Most levels are constructed in such a way as to make this a viable option for the player, but it's led to a bit of a schism in how Doom levels are designed.

Sandy Peterson, who contributed to over half of Doom 2 noted he was disappointed in the first game; he felt they had not adequately accounted for the fact players were carrying their weapons over between levels:

"Most people started levels with some kind of significant equipment. However, almost all our playtesting was done starting each level with just a pistol. We made the game too easy for the average player."

It’s probably for this reason I’ve felt the levels in Doom 2 are extremely frustrating compared to the first game. Doom 2 spams enemies at you in such hordes that it almost expects you to have a constant supply of plasma gun ammo. I even prefer the much more difficult, yet fair TNT WAD which was made by fans.

The fact that each level of that WAD was designed by different authors means they were more focused in accounting for pistol start. It may even be the reason why TNT has gone on to become one of the more influential WADS over the years.

Now as for save-scumming, a term which certainly has its abrasive Gen X internet charm, I’m not going to get into the arguments for or against. A great video on the subject has been uploaded by Dean of Doom on Youtube already.

By all means people should play the way they want. I’m more interested in how it’s been accounted for in game design. Older PC shooters from the nineties, which have affectionately come to be known as boomer shooters, are praised for their difficulty and probably require it.

Recently I played through Jedi Outcast on the switch. Aside from the fact it’s cumbersome to play with a control pad, the game seemed to me to assume the player would save at every turn. This game really makes you “feel like a jedi”; since only a force wielder would have the level of precognition required to navigate it’s mean-spirited traps and far too accurate enemies. Save-scumming in this scenario just seems to be the sane way to play if you ask me.

There is no Pistol Start either; death simply reverts you to your last save, so you are encouraged to make your own checkpoint system, and this leads to the possibility you may lose all your progress in the game if you save it with a small amount of health left, for instance. It hasn’t happened to me yet, but the fear is enough to make me keep a few save files on hand at all times.

But even in games like Jedi Outcast, people will state a preference for certain levels or sections of the game they like playing through, and weapons are taken away at certain points. So it's still a key aspect to think about when looking at difficulty.

In this way, the creators of Doom using the Pistol Start system was a forward thinking idea. They may not have known the extent to which players would enjoy designing their own levels at the time of its implementation, but it certainly informed level design going forward.

It would be interesting how a hybrid system like this could work in a Souls game. Or other genres. Carrying over your weapons and inventory seems to be such a given in modern games these days, that there may be scope to design an experience around this not being the case.

In the original Doom Pistol Start was a kind of compromise born out of a time when save-points, passwords and level skips were still being ironed out into the smooth hassle free experience we expect today. That said, it might be interesting to see Pistol Start, Sword Start or even Pokemon Start make a return.

[niwatorinikki]

Dear Alex,

Although I am still within our agreed-upon timeframe of answering within 10 days, a week filled with migraines and the resulting mental fog brought me right to the edge of it. Meanwhile, you have made your way back to Ireland and I am curious to hear everything about your journey that you feel like sharing!

But because this will be my first reply here, I am first faced with the challenge of how to react to a message that’s also a bit of a letter that’s also a blogpost.

In Instagram DMs, I’m quite attached to the “reply” function, which is probably the messenger equivalent of inline responses in emails. I apply it diligently for each fragment of a conversation partner’s message—partly to stay organized, but perhaps also out of people-pleasing tendencies, ever worried about unintentionally overlooking something and making the sender feel unappreciated. Ironically, and somewhat cruelly, this perfectionist approach often backfires. In trying to craft such neat and comprehensive responses, I end up overwhelmed, delaying my reply—or sometimes forgetting to respond entirely.

To curb this overwhelm, I try to have three dedicated 25-minute slots for replying to messages every day. Keeping up with digital communication is one of my biggest struggles in both my personal and professional life, and while this method isn’t perfect, it helps me keep the “unread” pile at bay, ensures that I don’t miss anything urgent and doesn’t take up too much mental space. 25 minutes to tackle as many messages as possible—personal emails, work emails, university notifications, Microsoft Teams updates. A short detour to the outdated digital mall that Facebook has become, before addressing messages on Instagram, WhatsApp, LINE.

Recently, I’ve occasionally encountered a minor dilemma with these messaging apps. As I am focused on my 25-minute challenge, when I hit “send”, a certain sequence of signs might appear: the message is marked as “seen” almost instantly, followed by the dreaded three dancing dots, indicating the recipient is already typing a reply. I myself and most people I know treat DMs like a less formal version of email—we reply a couple of hours or a day or two later. Someone even suggested recently that the polite thing to do is to wait a few minutes before responding, even if you see the notification popping up. But for some of my younger friends, and interestingly, some older ones in the Gen X or Boomer categories, DMs are a real-time chat medium, meant for immediate interaction. The other day, a friend compared my messaging behavior to that disappearing meme. For him, sending a message is a signal of availability and presence. For me, on the other hand, an instant reply feels like slipping a letter through a mailbox slot only to have the front door swing open, and now I find myself being pulled inside for a coffee while I still have 10 more letters to deliver.

I wonder if this different use of and expectations towards the medium is rooted in our different experiences growing up. My younger friends are true digital natives, they have grown up immersed in social media and pop-up notifications, accustomed to the idea of being online and available constantly. (I actually see them moving into hyperdrive with smartwatches now, there is no possible way anymore that a notification could be missed, any delay has been extinguished.) Meanwhile, friends who are older than me were socialized around the spontaneity and unpredictability of landline calls, of people simply calling for a quick or even longer chat. We, on the other hand, had both the landline experience but also grew up with the early internet of messengers and chatrooms that were a conscious commitment - I’d do my homework and then move to the family computer as a treat. It was not ubiquitous and thus not obligatory. But the age of chatrooms is over, at least for me. With screens demanding my attention all day long and having to process information constantly, I find I don’t want my conversations to be relegated to the same digital space. Now a good old landline call actually doesn’t sound half bad.

We do indeed live in a society. In my first entry I wrote about generational differences in expectations around how quickly pictures should be available, and now I'm talking about the varying expectations regarding the speed of replies. It makes me feel like an old man standing on his porch, hands on hips, lamenting the state of the world: "They don’t make ‘em like that anymore."

Shifting from questions of when to reply and back to questions of how to reply.

Your mentioning drafting analog letters in Gmail made me realize that I also do that, in addition to pre-composing digital texts like this one on paper. Basically, for anything that ought to be engaging or somewhat polished in composition and word choice, I always start with a pre-draft. I am really fond of the process of transcribing and editing, while my initial versions are always stream-of-consciousness. If I try to anticipate structure, I falter. 

Did you have a pen pal as a child? If so, do you remember how you wrote your letters and approached replying to them? I did have a couple of pen pals and I recall the adults in my life instructing me to always include some questions as it would be inconsiderate to only talk about myself and because it helps to keep the conversation going. I guess for a child such rules might be helpful—it takes time to learn that good conversations don’t always require explicit questions or inline responses; that replies can naturally emerge from things that are plainly told, not asked.

I also remember that I would write these letters in one go, without any draft. Essays in elementary school, too. I loved writing, and aside from a few minor spelling mistakes, the pages looked pristine. But the older I got, the less I could control my messy mind. In German middle and high school, essay questions are very common, and the time pressure was often overwhelming. There was no room to focus on aesthetics, and I think I pushed the absence of editing rules to its limits. Like you, I tend to think faster than I can write, and like you, my work was filled with scribbled-out sections, in addition to arrows showing where to continue reading, asterisks marking added parts, and margins crammed with extra thoughts. Somehow, my teachers let it slide and I got somewhat decent grades. Now that most of my writing is digital, this chaos of fragments is hidden in the final edit. Still, there are signs of my convoluted thinking: sentences broken up by brackets, semicolons, and dashes—just look at how I fragmented this one!

Have you ever written on Japanese manuscript paper (genkouyoushi)? It was an integral part of my weekly writing practice at Japanese language school, and I had to use it for the essays in my two university entrance exams. It remains the worst handwriting experience I ever had. As if writing in a foreign language with such a complex writing system wasn’t challenging enough, you also have to follow the strict rules of genkouyoushi. One character per square and for me, with my ever-shaky grasp on Japanese, it felt less like transcribing a fluid thought and more an exercise in endurance. How can I express my thoughts in a grammatically sound way? But now, what’s the kanji for this word, or that one? Character by character, I had to focus so intensely that I almost felt like going cross-eyed. Like that, the process is the polar opposite of my stream-of-consciousness drafting in English and German, but the result is weirdly similar—being so absorbed by the paper that everything else fades into the background.

This kind of ties into your question about how I currently listen to music. The idea of interacting with music in a passive way hits a spot, though I think that this is how I have always approached it. I wish I could be like Adi, who goes record hunting after work, then returns home with a new treasure, dims the lights in the tatami room, carefully arranges the cover next to the record player and just stays there, listening, savoring every single track. I don’t think there was ever a time when I could simply sit in a room and listen to an entire album. The most intense phase of consuming music for me was probably the mid-2000s, when I was glued to MTV and its German counterpart, VIVA—but do music videos even count as “listening” to music? For me, consuming music always had to be paired with something else. Not just anything, though. I can’t listen to music while I read, write or draw, except for some Lofi maybe. Now that I think about it, the “something else” seems to be movement: walking, running, exercising, riding the bus, train or driving a car, and, of course, dancing. 

To wrap this up, let me leave some questions, not just as a courtesy: Among your mass of images of your trip, is there one or maybe a few that stand out to you, as some kind of icon? And how do you approach selecting?

2024/11/30 - At a supermarket in Azabu I saw a Christmas tree being priced at 55.000 yen and then another one at 100.000 yen.

[isaaujulii]

This is just coming off the dome fr, but I saw some tiktok’s talking about why the vote went how it went and how gen z and gen z men especially(although i think that’s an adjacent topic, im hesitant to blame gen z men only on this shit) are not as progressive as we thought we were. And a lot of it is sort of coming from older generations but i also saw some from people around my age ( 19 btw) that were saying something similar. Basically saying we’re as bad as boomers and we might be more “open minded”, but we’re puritanical and reject anything that’s not a perfect monolith of innocence and morality. And that word really bothered me “Puritanical”, cause it brings to mind witch hunts and red scares, ya know, prosecuting of innocent people and ideas just because we don’t like them. And i’m not saying it’s not true (to a certain degree, because people are not all the same), but i resent the idea that these reactions are for no reason. I know it has been brought up many times that the internet truly ruined a generation of people i.e. gen z. But those conversations are usually are about attention spans, and bed rotting, and things like mental and physical health. I think, no I know, the internet gave us (as in the children of internet) a sort of assassination of the spirit. Now I use the word spirit not in a religious context, but to describe the sort of metaphysical connection we as humans have with each other, kinda like a trauma bond in this instance because i’m describing an experience many gen z, also gen alpha (tho i think theirs is somehow worse) have had when coming in contact with the internet. This assassination happens for example when 7 year you wants look up a picture of your favorite cartoon, and you are suddenly met with wall to wall pornographic images of some of the most vile things you’ve ever seen. It also happens when 11 year old you decided to download an app that your friends have, and you are accosted by literal pedophiles. It happens when you are 15 years old, and you decide to put a video of you doing something like idk drawing, and somebody in your comments, that you were so excited to read, tells you to kill yourself and that they hate your entire existence. And this again is just me rambling and writing down what comes to my head, but I think when people (gen z) grow up in a time when their innocence is quite literally ripped out of their hands as children, it makes a little bit of sense when they push back on radical ideas, “offensive” media, and anything that is not pure innocence and morally unambiguous. In other words, I think they’re rejecting the perversion of culture. Things like clothing being baggier, makeup being lighter, shows and tv having less sexual content. And people talk all the time about still feeling like a kid even as an adult, even beyond the usual imposter syndrome thing. It reminds me when those pre-teen girls were obsessing over some skin thing in sephora or whatnot (idk anything about the beauty space) and a lot of older teenagers and women in their twenties were saying how they use to shop at forever 21 and clare’s use to be the spot. And how young kids wear like “revealing” (i put it in quotes because obviously purity culture is at play here also) clothes and there was commentary on the appropriateness, and why young girls can’t wear regular t-shirts and jeans without it being “tight” or cropped. And i don’t have huge insight into male spaces and their experiences so im not gonna pretend i do, but i have two younger brothers, and one of them is already starting to hide his body all the time, downing protein shakes, and is becoming more and more sensitive to jokes at his expense that we use to do all the time (we use to roast each other in good fun because we know we didn’t mean it) but now it’s like a brick wall, and i don’t know how to connect anymore, i’ve resolved to sit on the sidelines till he’s ready to talk. But i can’t help but think those gym bros with the steroid muscles made him feel insecure, on top of him going through puberty. So yah loss of innocence.

[badstargateimagines]

Good morning team! It’s time I address the elephant (Daniel Jackson) in the post with us. I have received a few comments, chief among them being prev, bringing to my attention that the above cursed image of Daniel Jackson is AI generated. Being as I pride myself on keeping the art of human generated bad memes alive, I feel it’s important that I address this and explain myself. I am doing this out of my own volition because oh my fucking god dude I posted ai generated Daniel Jackson and I have to see it anytime I get a notification and I feel like a Facebook boomer rn.

Thank you prev and all the other people who brought this to my attention I love you all so much and together we can stop our favourite memers and mutuals from posting AI stuff. I will break this down piece by piece so I don’t miss anything.

Explanation

As we all know, I make these high-quality posts from my state of the art office (my toilet) in my fortified compound (my family acreage) in rural Canada with state of the art editing software (Instagram stories and occasionally affinity photo). Regrettably, due to the nature of my blog being goofy, and my goofiest thoughts occurring around 3am, this has resulted in going on google and finding pictures and images at 3am when I needed to be up at 6am. Being as I was half asleep and that Google now has AI generated images on the first page of search results now, my usually less than stringent quality control missed how fucking bizarre and unsettling that picture is. My fuck up, I will make sure it doesn’t happen again. If it does, we can all throw rotting produce at me in the village square.

Why I’m addressing this

Brother, I fucking hate AI. I’ve already lost one job (content writing) to AI, I will not have it make me lose another (being the shitty meme plug for a niche sci fi show). While AI has its place (writing cover letters to be read by another AI), I don’t think we should have let finance bros touch it with a ten foot pole. Since AI has become the hot button thing lately, with known shitty company Adobe now having AI learning from user’s Creative Cloud files, I have decided to be an old man yelling at clouds over it. AI also, for me personally, makes me extremely fucking lazy and I’m already an object at rest, so AI makes me practically catatonic. The reality of living in a future where machine learning can write fan fiction for you, is that if you don’t lose your brain, it atrophies and bounces around your head like a tumble weed. I hate to prove Aristotle right about anything, but he kinda ate with the whole knowledge and self-actualization thing.

Actions I’m taking

I will not be removing the unsettling uncanny valley Daniel Jackson because: a) if I were to edit the post and take out AI Boy, his corpse would still be dragged around in a victory lap depending on which version is reblogged, and b) it should bring you all comfort to know that this post jumpscares me anytime it comes up in my notifications. With that said, in the future, in order to limit the public humiliation that comes with accidentally posting AI bullshit, I’ll stick to home grown pictures and images from the personal archive. At the very least, I’ll use a search engine that can keep AI off my fucking lawn and in turn off of your lawn.

If I do it again

If this happens again, rest assured it’s by accident. You are always encouraged to tell me if one of my posts contains AI images. Thank you to everyone who brought this up this time because keeping AI bullshit off of our collective lawns is a team effort. I appreciate how nice everyone was in bringing this up and I love you all so so so much. Like I said, I’m addressing this formally so that there’s no ambiguity on my stance, not because I felt any sort of pressure. I think it’s important to extend people the same courtesy they extend me when something like this is brought up and take the effort to explain myself and the actions I’m taking moving forward. If you think that’s unnecessary, then I respect that, but I feel it is necessary to own up to my own fuck ups when they’re pointed out so kindly 💖🥰

Hehehe that is SO me when I hehehehe