#I've memorized basically every language

[braininatankwithalaptop]

Fun fact about chants of sennaar,

If you replay the game on language settings that you don't speak you unlock translation puzzles 2.0

[phantomrose96]

Hey not to go all "tumblr is a professional networking site" on you, but how did you get to work for Microsoft??? I'm a recent grad and I'm being eviscerated out here trying to apply for industry jobs & your liveblogging about your job sounds so much less evil than Data Entry IT Job #43461

This place is basically LinkedIn to me.

I'm gonna start by saying I am so so very sorry you're a recent grad in the year 2024... Tech job market is complete ass right now and it is not just you. I started fulltime in 2018, and for 2018-2022 it was completely normal to see a yearly outflow of people hopping to new jobs and a yearly inflow of new hires. Then sometime around late-spring/early-summer of 2022 Wallstreet sneezed the word "recession" and every tech company simultaneously shit themselves.

Tons of layoffs happened, meaning you're competing not just with new grads but with thousands of experienced workers who got shafted by their company. My org squeaked by with a small amount of layoffs (3 people among ~100), but it also means we have not hired anyone new since mid-2022. And where I used to see maybe 4-8 people yearly leave in order to hop to a new job, I think I've seen 1 person do that in the whole last year and a half.

All this to say it's rough and I can't just say "send applications and believe in yourself :)".

I have done interviews though. (I'm not involved in resume screening though, just the interviews of candidates who made it past the screening phase.) So I have at least some relevant advice, as well as second-hand knowledge from other people I know who've had to hop jobs or get hired recently.

If you have friends already in industry who you feel comfortable asking, reach out to them. Most companies have a recommendation process where a current employee fills out a little form that says "yeah I'd recommend such-and-such for this job." These do seem to carry weight, since it's coming from a trusted internal person and isn't just one of the hundreds of cold-call applications they've received.

A lot of tech companies--whether for truly well-intentioned reasons or to just check a checkbox--are on the lookout for increasing employee diversity. If you happen to have anything like, for example, "member of my college Latino society", it's worth including on your resume among your technical skills and technical projects.

I would add "you're probably gonna have to send a lot of applications" as a bullet point but I'm sure you're already doing that. But here it is as a bullet point anyway.

(This is kind of a guess, since it's part of the resume screening) but if you can dedicate some time to getting at least passingly familiar with popular tech/stacks for the positions you're looking into, try doing that in your free time so you can list it on your resume. Even better if you make a project you can point to. Like if you're aiming for webdev, get familiar with React and probably NodeJS. On top of being comfortable in one of the all-purpose languages like C(++) or Java or Python.

If you get to the interview phase - a company that is good to work for WILL care that you're someone who's good to work with. A tech-genius who's a coworker-hating egotistical snob is a nuisance at best and a liability at worst for companies with even a half-decent culture. When I do interviews, "Is this someone who's a good culture fit?" is as important as the technical skills. You'll want to show you'll be a perfectly pleasant, helpful, collaborative coworker. If the company DOESN'T care about that... bullet dodged.

For the technical questions, I care more about the thought process than I do the right answer, especially for entry-level. If you show a capacity for asking good, insightful clarifying questions, an ability to break down the problem, explain your thought process, and backtrack&alter your approach upon realizing something won't work, that's all more important than just being able to spit out a memorized leetcode answer. (I kinda hate leetcode for this reason, and therefore I only ask homebrewed questions, because I don't want the technical portion to hinge at all on whether someone managed to memorize the first 47 pages of leetcode problems). For a new hire, the most important impression you can give me is that you have a technical grasp and that you're capable of learning. Because a new hire isn't going to be an expert in anything, but they're someone who's capable of learning the ropes.

That's everything I have off the top of my head. Good luck anon. I'm very sorry you were born during a specific range of years that made you a new grad in 2024 and I hope it gets better.

[thinkingofausername]

so basically i've fallen into the spencer reid rabbit hole and i've read his fandom wiki page and here are some things which stood out to me:

he graduated high school at 12

he fears his mother's schizophrenia will be passed onto him

he was bullied as a kid (he was tied naked to a goalpost once)

he writes letters to his institutionalized mother every single day

he has eidetic memory (he can memorize an exceeding amount of information in detail but only if acquired visually)

he can read 20 000 words per minute (the average is 200-300)

he's a technophobe and a germaphobe

he has PhDs in math, chemistry and engineering

he doesn't like to be touched by strangers

he failed his gun qualifications

he has nightmares

he was kidnapped

he can do magic tricks really well

he was tortured by a serial killer who forcibly injected him with Dilaudid which resulted in addiction; he died and had to be revived during the torture

he says he works best under intense terror

his father left him when he was young

he was shot in the leg

he suffered intense migraines and hallucinations

he considered relapsing after Prentiss faked her death

he was shot in the neck and while he was in the hospital a man tried killing him by injecting carbenicillin in his iv

he's Morgan's son's godfather

he was nearly transferred to a maximum-security Mexican prison; he was sent to Millburn Correctional Facility instead

he was beaten multiple times while in prison; he was almost killed

he was drugged and made to believe he killed a person

he stabbed himself in the leg and pinned it on an inmate so he would be put in solitary confinement for his own safety

he became violent after prison (he attempted to strangle a pregnant woman who was lying about him being the father)

he was kidnapped by a cult and beaten; he felt peace when he was about to be killed

he was held hostage

he sustained brain injury during an explosion (intracranial bleeding, hallucinations, seizures)

he joined the BAU at 22

he went to the FBI academy but he struggled with anything not book related

he has a BA in philosophy

he has expert knowledge in forensic anthropology

he has an IQ of 187

he's an expert on historical serial killers, statistics, geographic profiling, body language

he went to public school in Las Vegas

he's an avid Star Trek, Star Wars and Doctor Who fan; he likes soap operas

he drinks a lot of coffee

he can't use chopsticks

he won 2 000 in a casino but he let a hooker keep his winnings

he's killed 8 people

he's afraid of the dark; he loves Halloween; he doesn't like the beach

he can play piano really well

he's banned from multiple casinos

he has eye cataract; he can speak Korean; he hates hospitals

he wears mismatched socks

his mother called him Crash because he bumped into things

he was supposed to be bisexual but the production dropped it

[mochayoubi]

hello!! how are you? i'm reaching out to you because you're the one i keep seeing my dashboard that's related to japanese learning.

i wanted to ask: how do you suggest a beginner should start studying? like, they're N5, and they know hiragana and katakana, but do not know how to move forward from there because it scares them? (it's me, btw, hi hello how are you how are the kids)

thank you so much!! have a good day!!

omg hi!!! im doing ok (im sick rn but it's fine lol) thanks sm for the ask! :3

i think the best thing you can do for yourself is follow your curiosity! at the early stages of learning curiosity will take you much farther than trying to set hard deadlines for yourself - especially when it sounds like moving forward is a bit intimidating at the moment.

so, i'm going to list out things that might be worth checking out. it takes a while for people to figure out what works for them, and since you mentioned you already know hiragana/katakana you're primed to get out there and really explore your options! embrace the feeling of possibility rather than the fear of the unknown :D i say this bc if you get too caught up in making the "right" choice it might just make learning too stressful to want to continue

anyway here's some things that beginners commonly go for when continuing with japanese learning (under the readmore)

find a textbook and work through it there's a bunch out there, I know Genki I is probably the most well-known, but i'm also familiar with Tobira I, Yookoso, and Minna no Nihongo. textbooks are nice because they're literally designed for learners and offer structure to what order you learn kanji, grammar, etc. and come with lots of practice questions. the difficult part is self-teaching through them since they tend to assume youre also using it with a teacher who can correct you and give advice. however they're still pretty good as references imo! if you google "[textbook name] pdf" they're pretty likely to come up

find an app you can use daily there are also a lot of these, and many of them are designed to be used daily so you can better enforce the habit of studying japanese every day. these tend to be simpler and gamefied to make it more appealing and easier to pick up as well. i would just stay away from duolingo as i've heard their japanese curriculum is bad. some other ones i've heard are helpful are Renshuu and Human Japanese.

find an online guide and follow it by "online guide" i mean websites people have compiled of their own guides to learning japanese, such as Tae Kim. these are more accessible and unlike textbooks tend to assume that you are self-studying, so it's easier to follow independently, but usually don't have any practice questions or ways to test yourself. still good as a reference. you can also check out this website that specifies their philosophy on what makes effective japanese learning and what steps to take as a beginner (imo it's very. long. and winds on for a while. but people have said it helps!)

download and use anki anki is an app (both phone and pc) that uses flashcards and that many learners use to retain vocab. their site has decks other people have created, and you can find decks of "core vocab" for example which has flashcards of common japanese vocab. you can also create your own flashcards of words you encounter in the wild to help practice them even after you've read it. i think anki is super useful, but i would probably suggest using it once you have more of a grasp on basic japanese concepts or else you'll just be rote-memorizing things that don't make sense to you yet. but i'm putting it here in case this appeals to you!

take a class or find an online tutor now this one will most likely cost you money, but it offers the most structure and guidance possible which can be extremely helpful starting out since you're able to ask questions and get feedback. you can look into nearby universities who might offer japanese classes, or you can try one of the many language-learning tutor websites out there. i've had some decent success with italki, and there's also JOI (japanese online institute) that i've heard is very helpful too.

watch japanese-learning videos these can be nice bc you can actually hear the japanese and how it's supposed to sound, and it's typically lower effort and easier to get into than actively starting a textbook or class. miku real japanese, japarrot, and 日本語の森 are channels i've watched before and like, but there's plenty others out there too. i'd just steer away from clickbait-y looking ones like "i learned japanese in 30 days and here's how!!" since they tend to not be that helpful.

read simple stories in japanese reading in japanese tends to be the most intimidating step for people, but there's sites that have stories made for beginners that are easy to follow and only use hiragana/katakana. my go-to for my students is usually tadoku since the stories are short, organized by level, and very beginner friendly. a while ago someone showed me natively which lets you look up japanese books, also by level. if you want some good beginner manga, yotsuba and teasing master takagi-san are what i've recommended before

misc. things you can try!

watch anime but intentionally - try to actively listen and pick up on words they say. a long time ago i used animelon, which puts japanese subtitles that you can adjust to show hiragana only

look up jlpt n5/n4 specific materials. they're geared for an exam so it might not be the most natural feeling, but they do tend to be convenient for lists of vocab and grammar. this website has some helpful resources for that

add an extension on your browser that will let you hover over japanese words and see its definition. i use firefox and have 10ten reader to do this, but rikaikun and yomichan are also similar extensions

when you learn the japanese word for something in your house, put a sticky note on it that has the japanse word. like, for "table" you can put a note on it that says 「テーブル」. i heard this can help with retention (i haven't done it myself tbf)

EDIT: ohh i can't believe i forgot this. but join a japanese-learning community! there's discord servers out there, and if you have a friend willing to study with you you can ask them to be your accountability buddy.

anyway, i know that was a lot but i hope that gives you some direction on where you'd like to go next in your japanese learning journey! ^_^ and again, absolutely no pressure to do all of these. the most important thing is letting curiosity be your guide and fostering a positive relationship with learning japanese rather than being afraid. if i can help out some more lmk!!

[beatingdrumspouringwine]

Hi there! I've recently taken more of an interest in Hellenism, but I don't at all know where to start. I've never really been religious before, only really knowing the basics of Christianity. I did see you created a post of advice for beginner Hellenists, but I was wondering, if it's not too much trouble, if you had any additional information for someone like me who's just starting out.

Hello anon! Sorry for how long it took to write this up, I definitely went a little bit wild on this one :)

First off, welcome to Hellenic Polytheism! It's definitely a wild ride, but depending on what sect of Christianity you come from, it's not completely and totally foreign.

Starting off with a list of some websites, general resources, and accounts that I have found helpful:

theoi.com

Apostolos Athanassakis translations of the Orphic and Homeric Hymns

Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship by Labrys

Hellenion.org

@khaire-traveler's Subtle Worship Master List

@thegrapeandthefig's Wordpress

And now breaking them all down, because I love when people justify their choices to me :)

theoi.com The nice thing about this website is that it's about as much information about the Gods as you can possibly want in one place. Not only does it seemingly have just about every possible deity in the Greek pantheon, but it has an incredibly good collection of historical references, family trees, and even artwork from ancient Greece.

Apostolos Athanassakis translations While theoi.com is good, I'm not the biggest fan of the version of the translations that they use for the Orphic and Homeric Hymns - they're a bit too "translated" for me. This meaning that the translations in question don't sit too close to the original text, and in my opinion, if you're trying to understand a deity through some ancient work, you want to get the closest translation to the original, even if that means sacrificing some of the flowery language. And Athanassakis' translations are some of my favorite for those "close translation" hymns. You can find his work on the Internet Archives.

Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship I think this is one of those staples that every Hellenic Polytheist should take a look at at least once. It's pretty dry, but within it, there are plenty of rituals and general information on Hellenism as a religion. I don't use most of the rituals in it, but even still, I keep a copy on hand for the future when I'm able to practice more freely.

Hellenion.org This is a pretty good resource for more modern Hellenic Polytheist prayers, as well as rituals. This is a more heavy reconstructionist lean (which focuses on an accurate recreation of Hellenic Polytheism, as opposed to revivalism, which focuses on recreating it for the modern day), but still incredibly helpful, and a bit easier to understand than Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship.

@khaire-traveler's subtle worship masterlist Honestly, if a resource like this existed when I was first starting out, I would be light years ahead of where I am now. Stag has managed to fit just about every idea you'd need to get started with worship/offerings into an easy-to-digest format, and I find myself going back to it time and time again when I start incorporating a new deity into my practice.

@thegrapeandthefig's Wordpress I don't even think I could summarize how amazing Aurora is into one little paragraph. There's everything on her Wordpress from historical offerings, to modern festivals, to dissections of various ancient customs. One of the things which has helped me the most from her blog has been her Attic calendar, which shows the schedule of the various religious observations throughout the year (and there are a lot).

Finally, a few extra words of advice that I might not have included in my original post that you mentioned in the ask:

Try to have one prayer memorized for each deity, if you're easily able to memorize things. Chances are, after about a year or so, you'll probably have a prayer or two that you really like and will have memorized because you've said it enough (I definitely have my fair share). And there's definitely something nice about finding yourself in a situation that reminds you of your deity and being able to just rattle off a prayer.

Try to avoid TikTok for your spiritual knowledge. But, if you want to add a bit of Hellenic flair to your FYP, I'd recommend Bria Melitta and hesiodic (who's also on here and maybe on TikTok as well [I might be wrong, haven't been on TikTok in a hot minute] under the name @olympianbutch). Both of these creators are really good, and I especially love Dagan for his devotion to Zeus, who often gets a bad rap from new practitioners because of behavior attributed to Him in myths.

Other than the resources I mentioned, some good stuff for casual reading would be: the Iliad and the Odyssey, any ancient Greek plays (I'd recommend starting with Aristophanes, if the tragedies are a bit too heavy), and Hesiod's Theogony.

And that's about all I can possibly think of throwing at you right now! I hope this came in handy, and as always, if you have more questions, please feel free to drop more in my ask box :) I'm always more than happy to answer questions and help to the best of my ability!

[less-dev]

We're making a Starbound/Terraria inspired space sandbox game!

We're making a 2D sandbox game similar to Starbound! Or uh, terraria in space.

#nodev contains shitposting

#planetarium contains dev progress

Specifics under the cut

Who are you?

Aspen - Project Lead, Programmer, Pixel artist, Sound Designer.

Hey! I'm Aspen, I've been programming and making games for many many years in basically every engine there is... But never felt the drive to finish one, until now! I consider myself very experienced in the engine we're using (Gamemaker Studio 2.5) and have confidence we'll be able to make this game a reality. I also run the Tumblr account, so assume it's me behind the wheel as a default. Thank you for checking the game out!

Alec - Concept artist, Character Designer

H a l l o I'm Alec, I like writing and drawing and painting and designing shiiiiiiiit. I adore world building and have frequent bursts of creative possession in which I conceive and birth the greatest ideas and concepts in a mere moment. Otherwise, I can be a total dumbass and completely useless. I'm good at colours 👌 I have been a 85% a home-brew DM for about 2 years now and that is the greatest proof of my ADHD-given God powers of creativity. Slay.

What a cool guy!

Design pillars

Immersion. Above all else, I would like roleplay (casual or serious) to be natural and well supported. I would like players to find engaging with the world, and it's characters to be very personal.

Innovation. Tropes such as "You spawn in a green forest and can walk left or right" will be actively avoided. Biomes will have generation that presents more unique movement opportunities. Such as geysers in rock pools launching players high up, or giant twisting vines that hold up chunks of land to hop between.

More quality less quantity. Planets will be significantly more content-dense than Starbound, and perhaps controversially travel between them will be more difficult/expensive as well. This would encourage players to take advantage of all the resources presented on each planet, instead of hopping from one to the next. This would also encourage us throughout development to give each planet as much love as possible. Each planet should feel like a 'miniature terraria world'. Though actually achieving that is easier said than done.

Meaningful content. Procedurally generating creatures from 100 different pre-set monster parts could technically produce limitless alien creatures for players to encounter. But in both No Man's Sky and Starbound. I find this novelty to wear off quick, these creatures are not manually, meaningfully crafted and beyond an unusual appearance and some shallow gameplay changes... They do not create much of a memorable experience for the player. In my opinion, anyway. I would rather hand-craft every creature and make them all significantly unique and interesting. That's not to say procedurally generated creatures won't ever have a place in the game, but they certainly wont be as prevalent as others games.

Okay well... What's finished?

Fundamental lighting shaders akin to Starbound.

Some world generation brushes and basic commands.

A text mark-up language (heavily optimised), and game chat.

Extensive custom debugging tools

Hard and soft-loading of chunks to save on as much memory and CPU usage as possible.

Complete unloading, and compression of chunks on top of the previously mentioned system. As well as a live-saving system.

Setting, Story baseline, and conceptualization of the first 3 playable species. Each species will have a different starting planet, and immediately different playthrough.

Designs and cultures of several additional unplayable races.

Character proportion tests, sprites and sketches.

First-pass on collision functions.

Weighted Tile variance and tile connections.

CONCERNS

Multiplayer. While I have made an online multiplayer game before and it's definitely doable for this game, it would require some practice in a one-off test game to be fully confident. It would also take a LOT of time.

Modding. As far as I know gamemaker games are notoriously difficult for players to modify. Something like Unity is far easier even without mod support. Gamemaker on the other hand is difficult even if I want to design systems in favor of modders. This is kind of a problem for later, I have faith there'll be something we can do to make it work... But a cursory look says it won't be easy. I would be extremely disappointed if there was nothing we could do.

[beneathsilverstars]

Dunno if you're only interested in thinking about ISAT related sillies, but I've been thinking of Siffrin's love of plays and poetry mixed with my love of musicals! It's got a script and there's stage settings so people walk the same paths and say the same things every time, but it's still performance art! There's still a magic in every moment and potential for new meaning and change- and that's before you think of how the people times and places also inherently shape things. Do you have any thoughts about what the ISAT party + newly adopted Nille feel/think about traditional plays?

Mirabelle enjoys them as much as any other sort of media, I think! She's more concerned with genre and character than format. It's too bad you can't easily re-experience a play like you can a book, but! That just makes it all the more special to see one! She took an acting class once, and even though she was only a minor background character, being on stage made her so nervous that she messed up her only line. But! That just makes it all the more impressive how brave and talented professional actors are!!

Isabeau loves them as a visual medium. The costumes! The set! The blocking! In the past he would've just said the play was pretty, but these days he will come out of the theater gushing about the visual symbolism. Mira's like "What did you think of the plot though?" and he's like "Oh, the plot? Yeah it was great, it was really clever how they foreshadowed the fall of the prince by tearing his cloak directly through the royal insignia in act one, especially because the blow would have killed him if his servant hadn't intervened; it's just like how holding onto the throne would have led to his death, meaning his servant saved him once again by removing him from power!"

Odile's fine with them. She prefers the private experience of a book, but going out and doing something with friends is a different kind of nice! It's fun to tease everyone about their reactions afterwards. And if she cried at one too once no she didn't. :|

Bonnie likes the action! A story you can watch! Except sometimes Siffrin picks boring ones that are mostly people standing around and talking to themselves and Bonnie isn't even allowed to run around instead. So, hit or miss for them. Every couple of years the kids in Bambouche put on a play, and last time Bonnie got to be a pirate, and it was awesome even though they had to be so careful to not actually whack the other kid with their sword.

Nille likes them a lot! Plays are maybe her favorite way to be told a story; it's so direct and clear and multi-sensational, you really get to immerse yourself in it. She often does gestures and voices while telling stories herself, it just makes it easier to follow! She was so proud of Bonnie when they got to be a pirate and only actually whacked the other kid with their sword for real during practice a couple times.

Siffrin loved the escapism. Stories are so grand, and everything that happens in them is so meaningful. A play ends the same way each time you watch it, yet you're still on the edge of your seat, swept up in the world the actors have conjured! Plus, seeing a play was the best way to kill an evening, sitting somewhere safe and comfortable while getting a little more familiar with the local language and culture. They liked experiencing unique small plays! They liked seeing how a world-famous play would get translated and adapted for different countries! They liked attending the same production three nights in a row and seeing if they could catch any little differences!

Post-canon... He's definitely not going to watch the same one three nights in a row. And not any that he has basically memorized, either. And maybe not the entire thing yet, maybe he has to leave closer to the beginning than the intermission a couple times. But!! Siffrin loves plays, he remembers that about himself, and even after everything, he can't help but love the familiar. So. He's working towards being able to be himself again.

Loop would rather get crushed by the king again than step foot in a theatre~!

[rileyh20]

do you have ponyboy and dally hcs

I don't know if you meant platonically or romantically or if you just wanted the separate characters

So I went with separate characters

Lemme know if that isn't what ya wanted tho!

Ponyboy Curtis:

A pyromantic, he loves fire (Until the church shit)

Suicidal Ponyboy go burrr- (Even if it’s accidental)

Has a fucking terrifying glare, but only actually glares at people when they wake him up (His poor brothers)

Chubby Ponyboy… (Especially after the book cuz his brothers made him eat more to gain nutrients and stuff)

Should not be left alone around a stack of books (He’ll read them all in like two hours)

A really fast reader, but he reads the book over and over again to the point he basically memorizes it

Major third wheel, doesn’t matter if the ship is Jally, or Stevepop, or something else, he’s just a third wheel at heart

Definitely reads the book before he watches the movie 

Sometimes when he wants to write he just can’t, so he does other things instead, but once he’s in the zone, he’ll write for hours without hearing anything around him (He’s just like me fr)

Sarcastic and sassy af sometimes (Because I want him to be, no other reason)

He likes grandma hobbies (You know what I’m talking about, the knitting, sewing kinds of stuff, crafting thingies)

He would be the kind of person who helps you get your locker unstuck when you are either too scared to ask a strong person, or you don’t want your locker beaten into scraps when you could just ask Ponyboy

Cooks sometimes, he ain’t the best, but he isn’t terrible at it (He especially does it if Darry looks like he had a long day)

Sometimes he’s the only person able to stop Sodapop from putting food dye into the food (Especially if Darry is the one cooking)

Sorry y’all, but autistic Ponyboy is what I got for you guys 

May or may not be gender fluid (Let me live my life)

Gets the WORST FUCKING ANXIETY when someone is driving, especially if it’s someone he doens’t trust driving like Two-Bit or Sodapop 😭✋

Okay, but you can’t argue with me on the fact he’s bi coded, and also asexual cuz I want him to be

Has made a joke about Tuesday being “Twosday” (Two-Bit), and everyone just quotes it every now and then

OH ALSO, A DIFFERENT TIME HE GIVES A TERRIFYING GLARE IS WHEN SOMEONE MENTIONS HIS GREEN EYES

Religious Ponyboy… I love you religious Ponyboy

Okay, but on a different note, I think Ponyboy is religious, at least in some way

Somehow knows everyone's full government name??? And also sometimes with use maiden names depending on how angry he is 😭✋ 

Will learn other languages so he can shit talk/swear in front of the gang

You know Ponyboy has those chubby cheeks, just squish his face

I love the HC of Ponyboy being taller than Darry when he grows up, but hear me out, Ponyboy getting a random growth spurt and just somehow being very tall when he’s like 16 or something

Also, gentle giant Ponyboy, please

Dallas "Dally" Winston:

Scared of spiders

He’s also scared of dogs

Ough, I’m thinking bi tbh

Will kick children

Has a soft spot for both Ponyboy and Johnny

Will go violent if he learns someone he cares about got hurt, both emotionally and physically

Sometimes draws, but doesn’t do it that often

Sorry for not having as many for Dally! I've been neglecting my duties to make HCs 😔

[freak-attorney]

Random Ace Attorney headcanons!!! :D

Feel free to leave ur own in the notes or if u agree/disagree!!

(Also please keep in mind that I'm basing these off of the first trilogy since that it all I've played so far!)

Feel free to ask/request any other specific headcanons from me :D

Phoenix Wright

Barely passed the LSAT

Used to have panic attacks in court (is now in therapy)

Always has a hair tie for Maya

Has learned how to do Pearl's hair for her

Filipino/American

Chronically online

Finds millennial humor funny

ADHD undiagnosed

Bisexual

His hair ALWAYS has traces of gel in it

He's a dog person but loves cats

His suit is always a bit wrinkled

Survives on red bull and microwave dinners

*finger guns*

Love language is physical touch and acts of service

Falls asleep at his desk every night during a case

Needs 5+ alarms to wake up in the morning

Uses concealer to hide his eye bags

Doesn't floss

Sleeps like a starfish

Has sweat stains on several shirts

Naturally wavy hair but he straightens it

Miles Edgeworth

Always hours early to a case because he's very anxious about being late

Sometimes wishes he had a different career (outside of law) but never even considered it an option until recently

Very argumentative over silly things, eventually apologizes with a small gift or note

Love language is gift giving

Enjoys parallel play.. like he enjoys just having someone in his office while he's working even though he doesn't acknowledge them

Has good stamina from always using stairs over elevators

Can cook very well, enjoys cooking for others

Autistic (late diagnosed)

Has a collection of fidget toys that only a few people know about

Chronically OFFline

Enjoys animal crossing and other peaceful games

Has excellent hygiene

Started dying his hair grey as soon as he found one strand of grey hair

Makes a photo album for Franziska for her birthday each year

Has a blanket that he's slept with for 10+ years

Keeps every trinket that Pearl or Maya might give him

Has fresh clothes and toiletries at the office in case he sleeps there

Prefers gold over silver

Is a cat person but is okay with dogs (he thinks dogs are messy)

Has an ironing board in the wall of his office

Probably gay or somewhere on the aroace spectrum

Wears a full face of makeup to court (gatekeeps his sweat proof foundation)

Sleeps curled up in one corner of his bed

Maya Fey

Loves to do cartwheels (can't actually do a proper cartwheel)

Tries learning Japanese on DuoLingo (can't keep more than a 5 day streak)

Taught Pearl basically everything she knows

Love language is quality time

Is very good at rhythm games

Has "childish" interests like Sailor Moon, Hello Kitty, My Little Pony, etc.

Enjoys older arcade games like Galaga, Frogger, and Mappy

Wanted to be a veterinarian at some point but is a bit too squeamish for that

Is ALWAYS late even if she plans to be early

Sleeps with a night light

Has a collection of rocks that Pearl gave her growing up

Loves abstract art

Hugs very tightly

Since Mia's death her last words to anyone close to her when they separate for any amount of time is "I love you" just in case

Is naturally unorganized but started keeping a planner when she started working with Phoenix... she sometimes forgets the planner exists but she TRIES okay??

Dick Gumshoe

Love language is gift giving and acts of service for SURE

Would gladly give someone his umbrella in the rain knowing he'd get soaked

Doesn't know how to cook because he doesn't have the resources but he'd like to learn

Forgot to put water in his ramen once and almost burned his apartment down

Doesn't always shower because his water gets cut off

Smells pretty rank but Edgeworth gifts him nice body sprays sometimes

Always makes sure Edgeworth is up at a reasonable time for a case/trial even though he really doesn't need to

Always chewing gum

Dream car is a Jeep Wrangler

Demiromantic

Memorizes little details about people to give them good birthday/holiday gifts

Gets very excited about fortune cookies

Loves buffets

Gives the BEST hugs

Is scared of thunderstorms and terrified of hurricanes

Really appreciates small gifts like keychains or trinkets

Lets Maya and Pearl paint his nails

Has really large and calloused hands

Sleeps all snuggled up hugging a pillow

Used to collect magnifying glasses

Bites on his pencils/pens

Franziska Von Karma

Sapphic.

She wears press ons

Stalks the social media accounts of her clients

Sleeps in a grandma nightgown

Has two planners: one physical and one on her phone

Really wants a pet rabbit

Has so many decorative pillows on her bed and arranges them every morning

Hits people next to her when she laughs

Quietly gives gifts for holidays/birthdays without making it a big deal

Casually gives super expensive gifts

Plays Genshin

Forces Edgeworth to watch reality TV with her (Say Yes to the Dress, My Strange Addiction, ANTM, Jersey Shore)

Really likes horror movies but can't handle too much gore

Classically trained in ballet

Enjoys photography

Watches the Kentucky Derby every year

Basically raised Miles when Manfred didn't

Knows how to sew but doesn't have the time

Collects Monster High dolls

Likes dogs but LOVES cats

Finds dumb people really attractive

Needs complete silence when doing paperwork or she can't concentrate

Autistic (undiagnosed)

Doesn't plan on ever getting married

Probably one of the only characters that gets proper sleep

Prefers pleated skirts over pencil but wears them in court to look professional

Hates the texture of chiffon fabric

Always wearing a different pair of earrings

Has a couple small tattoos but covers them well

Has the sharpest eyeliner known to man

Fluent in a few languages including Mandarin Chinese, French, and Italian

That's all for now!!

[antimony-medusa]

So this fandom has a problem with trauma-dumping. We all know it. People are bad in streamers TTS, and we all cringe, and it seems like every major author has to have something in their Ao3 notes to say not to trauma dump, and last night I saw people telling tham n0phis, who is an artist and like 18 or 19, just details and jokes that you should not tell a random person on the internet. It's bad.

But Why is it bad? What's wrong about being honest about how you're feeling?

Okay, this is gonna take a while.

The basic test for "am I being weird/overfamiliar/trauma dumping" is "would you say this to a barista/cashier". Would you walk up to someone whose job is to take your money and give you coffee, while they are at work, and would you say this. This is the place that like 80% of TTS and a surprising number of anons falls down. They break the social rules, and make it awkward and terrible for everybody. But again, why is it bad to say these things to a stranger? If I think someone's hot, if I've been having tramatic things happen why shouldn't I say so?

Conversation is a game for two or more players. You have what you're actually saying in words, and you have a huge amount of information that is being communciated and things that are being assumed based on things like body language, cultural context, setting, etc. Some people find conversation very natural and keep track of all the rules easily, without thinking about it. Some people have to memorize the rules manually. I have had to memorize the rules manually. It is difficult and it sucks, but it's necessary, because the failure state of a successful conversation, what happens when you break the rules of the conversational game we're playing, is you being rude. That is all being rude is, it's breaking the rules of the conversational game. So. How do you avoid being rude?

If you boil allll the rules down to a single rule, it is "if I say this, do I know what the other person is going to say, and are they going to be comfortable with this. Am I changing the rules or setting of the conversational game we're playing." Not what I want them to say, in some imaginary world where we're best friends, but what is likely that this person who doesn't know me, and is having a causual interaction with me, is going to say. And if you have any sense that you are putting the person on the spot, or you're making them uncomfortable, if you are changing the tone of the conversation from "i am here to get you your coffee" to "things you say to a therapist", don't say it.

This is why you don't make suicide jokes in someone else's inbox, because how are you supposed to respond to that? This is why you don't bring up cancer, even if it's very on your mind, because it is rude to inflict the topic "cancer", or any other heavy thing, on someone who is not currently dealing with cancer already. (This is why it's not rude to bring up cancer at the cancer support group, because the setting has shifted and everyone here has already opted in to cancer. The barista has not opted in to cancer.) This is why you don't tell a stranger they're the cornerstone of your mental health, because again, how do you respond to that? If someone you've never seen in your life walked up and told you that, you'd be going "what the fuck, uhhhhhhhh" and then you'd be stuck between "you're welcome I guess" and "holy shit get away from me".

When you are in a causual conversation with a stranger. You throw them the ball of the conversation already knowing what they're going to say next. (In a general sense.) You say A, knowing that the normal response is B. You set them up for little interactions like "I like your hair/thanks" or "Oh what do you do for work/I work in a bakery/Oh what's your favourite thing about that". You keep that conversational ball in the air, and that's why people do things like talk about the weather, because we all already know what a conversation about the weather is like, so it's a chance for us to non-verbally communicate "politeness" and "friendliness" and "I aknowledge you as a human being and not a machine" while you have the same conversation at a bus stop you have twice a week. That is what small talk is FOR, and that's not a weakness of small talk, it's what it's designed to do.

The less you know someone, the more you are operating on a conversational level where it's vital that you don't say or do anything that you don't already know what they're going to say. Because it is rude to walk up to a conversation that's operating on a level where we're just basically waving at each other and going "hey, human! I am also a human!" and trying to drag it over to the level of intimacy you have with someone who already knows you and loves you, and would help you move without being asked, because this person does not know and love you and did not sign up for that. You're walking up to someone who doesn't know you from Adam and basically throwing your arm around their shoulder and going Heyyyyyyy, I think you and I are best friends, which is just so rude. You're making it weird. You're breaking the rules of the game.

To your friends you can walk up and tell them the terrible thing, because they're your friends, and they signed up for this. You will do the same thing when the terrible thing happens to them. You can move the conversational level beyond talking about the weather, to actual bad things (and jokes that would be inappropriate to say to a stranger), because even if you don't know exactly what your friend is going to say, you know you're not making them uncomfortable, and you have a history where you know you can bring these things up. A streamer/artist/author does not have this history with you. They did not opt in to these topics. They don't know you.

Basically just think about the person on the other end of the conversation and how it feels to be them when someone tells them that if their family finds out they're a lesbian they're going to kill themselves. They don't know what to say to that. You just took the conversational ball and you threw it in their face, breaking their nose. That is not a comment you make to a stranger.

Stop trauma-dumping, stop being over-familiar with people who don't actually know you, it makes it uncomfortable for everyone. Save it for the GC.

[rigelmejo]

I read this reddit post today, The lazy way of learning a language: passive listening and reading.

Found it interesting. I love reading other's experiences studying: what they did, the progress they made.

The learner:

Did a little duolingo and never made much progress, re-studying basic stuff every so often (we've all been there ToT that's my achilles heel is re-studying the basics too much). They tried to study 1000 common words but gave up (*I can say from my own experiences though that if they only read a word list of 1000 words one or a few times, then listened/watched Spanish content with those words... then that initial study with translated definitions probably got reinforced with the Spanish content's repetition, helping them learn those common words they were primed to pick up from the initial study - I studied common vocab that way in multiple languages, even if you don't memorize, if you cram-read words with translations and then immerse in content with the words you will recognize the words quicker and remember them quicker).

Then they started listening to the audiobook of Harry Potter in Spanish, and watching Supernatural dubbed in Spanish (no word lookups while listening/watching as far as they mentioned - this part sounds very cool, as I've only done this sort of activity in the beginning study months while also looking up words often... and I am guessing that this kind of listening activity with the audiobook helped with listening skills so they didn't lag behind reading as much, while the TV show probably helped with remembering common words in the context of things going on visually).

Then they tried reading a book, by reading a book and copying a paragraph at a time into Google Translate and reading the translation and original and then moving on. (This part is fascinating because 1. it's how a bilingual text would be used to study, cool to see such study working. 2. I did the same thing in my first 8 months of Chinese study, with Silent Reading by Priest... there was no completed translation by real people so I'd read the Chinese and then go line by line with Google Translate and Baidu Translate and some other translators, and compare, and try to figure out what as many words/parts meant as I could, then move on. I read more in depth than this person did... but it also meant I only read like 15 chapters before giving up... so the lesson in retrospect - for me, anyway - is maybe just doing a once over comparison between a translation and original per paragraph is enough, if I'm not trying to be perfect).

Then they discovered ReadLang app, the kinds of apps where you can read in a target language and click translate words for definitions (many eReader apps have this feature like Kindle app, even Edge and Mozilla and Chrome have this feature, and there's language specific apps with better translations like Pleco and Readibu for Chinese). They then continued to read novels, using the ReadLang app and clicking words as they read. (I found this part really cool because: for starters, this is very much how I got to B1/lower intermediate level in French and Chinese in terms of reading skill, then the other interesting fun fact I have is that some people have used Readibu - just clicking new Chinese words while reading - to go from Beginner to able-to-read most things comfortably without word-translations. So if you like reading, a really good option for study is just: read something digitally in the target language, use some tool to conveniently easily click unknown words for the definition, and read until you get better! Keep reading until you are happy with your reading level and the amount of stuff you can read without tools! I would just add to this: if you like SRS flashcards, like Anki, then SRS study of unknown words will speed things along. And if you want to speed up how quickly you become comfortable reading without tools like word-lookup, then you'll want to practice extensively reading on a regular basis too. Extensive reading means trying to read something, regularly, without using tools to help you. It helps you remember words quicker, because you'll NEED them and can't rely on the reading word-lookup tool when you extensively read.)

[enthyrea]

hi storm hope you're well :0 here's your reminder to drink water and eat something if you haven't already!!!

can I ask about your fav macheresin headcanons??

HI CY i love you! i just had lunch <3 hope you are hydrated and well!

i have soooo many headcanons for these two idiots. its actually insane. these are disorganized sorry

my personal fav rn is like. they are so telepathically connected that even pre-relationship, if one of them is getting hit on at a bar, the other just magically appears behind them like "is this guy bothering you, baby?" and they both fall into that fake-fiancee shtick SOOO fast. they do it constantly to the point where some people actually think they are engaged.

they would have a marriage pact like "if we arent married by 30 we have to get engaged" and they're serious about it but in a bro way. then jake turns 30, they get engaged for real because ofc and then feelings start to show? after the GLOC incident jake claims to be javy's husband to get past hospital staff to see him, and the daggers are like "YALL ARE MARRIED??" and then it just devolves from there and they realize oh. yeah we actually do like each other (i have a whole riff about this that i've been thinking of writing lol)

jake's love language as acts of service <3 he memorizes the recipe for javy's favorite gumbo and makes it for his birthday/whenever javy's feeling particularly homesick !!

ALSO. i think they're very "practically married but oblivious" like they 'save money' by living together (its totally not because they feel so much more comfortable staying with the other) saving on heating bills by cuddling. platonically. of course. like literally

bob: one time i ran into them while they were at the flower gardens on valentines day. they told me it wasnt a date and they just wanted to take advantage of the free couple's package reuben: oh so they're hopeless

its to the point where their respective families actually think they're together. two of jake's sisters think he's already married to javy. javy's dad is convinced they're just long term pranking him. considering javy brings jake home for thanksgiving every year without fail, his dad is about to strangle him if he doesnt confess and or get married to this white boy TOMORROW

basically i think they're very stupid but i am obsessed with them and their frat boy energy.

(also related but post-getting together: when javy gets drunk he just starts blabbering about jake to anyone who will listen (no one wants to listen) meanwhile drunk jake is just falling over himself tryna kiss javy while javy's like "down boy! no! not in public!" (he is weak and will eventually give up and let jake smother him in kisses))

[kenobihater]

javert is WRONG: the thesis of les mis is that legality and morality aren't synonymous!

i just found the internet's most unbelieveably dogshit hottake that makes anything woobifying javert written by Die Girlies Auf Tumblr Und Twitter galaxy brained in comparison. rest is below a cut because i got Wordy in my goal of ripping this motherfucker a new one.

The point about “fault” is very important here. Following Rousseau, Hugo believes that the poor become criminals out of necessity. They “fall” (i.e., become poor) and then become morally “degraded.” Therefore, our response to crime should be “charity,” not punishment. This is a classic Romantic view that became the basis for modern liberalism. According to Rousseau, people are basically good and are corrupted by society, committing crime only out of ignorance and desperation; the solution to crime, then, is education and welfare. Christians obviously worry that this view has no place for the doctrine of original sin, and conservatives object to this view because it leaves out personal responsibility for crime.

i know this is a christian publication but the concept of original sin even factoring into criminality and criminal justice genuinely pisses me off. stop forcing your shitty worldview that everyone is popped outta the womb an evil sinner, i beg. the seperation of church and state is a vital part of democracy. also, you can believe people are shaped by society and driven to crime through desperation without taking away personal agency. those two things are not contradictory.

If I am right about the Rousseau subtext, then Javert is not necessarily a villain; he’s just a conservative, albeit a liberal caricature of a conservative. There are two good examples of a liberal bias in Les Mis. First, notice that Valjean’s position in his society is roughly analogous to an illegal immigrant in our society. When he leaves the prison, Valjean can’t get work because he doesn’t have the right papers. He’s an undocumented worker. In a scene from the musical cut from the film, a farmer allows Valjean to work for him, but then only pays him half as much as the other laborers. The farmer reasons, “You broke the law….Why should you get the same as honest men?”

i've never seen anyone, even javert fans, try and argue he isn't a villain. this is breaking new ground here, folks. it's a hell of an assertion, but it's demonstrably false. jean valjean is the main character. we root for him and wish to see him succeed. javert is hunting him for the entire narrative. thus, he is the antagonist. there may be some moral ambiguity on both their parts, but he structurally is the villain and that is a narrative fact.

next, as an american i am fucking BEGGING on my HANDS and KNEES for other americans to learn about the differing political terms for different countries and times if they are speaking about them with any supposed credibility. i'm not asking you to memorize every country's parties and political intricacies, but at least acknowledge that even if there is some overlap between 21st century american conservatism and 19th century french politics, that there is no one-to-one analogy!! modern american christian conservatism is a consequence of hundreds of years of unique geopolitics and religion stewing together, and you can say similar things about french politics of the time! you CANNOT just say shit like "javert is a liberal caricature of a conservative" without sounding like an utter clown because hugo was not an american liberal and javert is not an american conservative. now, if you were to alter your language a bit and say something like "javert is a leftist caricature of an arch-conservative," you'd sound less foolish (hugo's politics are hard to pin down but leftist is i believe the best label for him at the time of LM's publication. and to my understanding javert isn't really a fervent arch-conservative but it is at least a plausible reading bc he's a traditionalist, deeply religious cop and 19th century french arch-conservativism actually existed in 19th century france (shocker, i know!)). but that change in language would require actual intellect and effort to learn about other times, places, and worldviews on the part of the author, and judging by his ignorant politics, something tells me he's lacking that!

then there's the bit about illegal immigration. hoo BOY is this fucking stupid. jean valjean is a white, culturally catholic, working class french male citizen. he's an everyman of the time, his name and story of class struggle couldn't be more generic unless he was named john doe or jean dupont (the french equivalent) from nowheresville, france. hugo had a point here, and that is that as a member of the wretched poor, les misérables, valjean, representing a large swath of the french populace, is so removed from education and self reflection and truly living life that he's more akin to an animal or an object, that he's so beat down by the daily grind that he verges on inhuman. this is only magnified by his time in toulon. i'll stop there, but it is very important in jean valjean's story that he's impoverished, yes, but a french citizen. he is as french as the king, but treated like dirt because of his social status and criminal record. this sets up a dichotomy in the france of 1832 between the wretched poor and those with privilege, which is an important part of the novel.

the issue of "illegal immigration" both in france and america is a modern one. there was still bigotry and xenophobia, obviously, but the discourse around the intersections of border control, the nation state, and citizenship is a very modern one. to say "valjean's position in his society is roughly analogous to an illegal immigrant in our society" is ignorant. yes, both jean valjean and many undocumented immigrants are faced with similar abuses, but that does not mean it's intended by hugo to be a reading of the text or political commentary because let me restate this: 21ST CENTURY AMERICAN POLITICS DIDN'T EXIST IN 19TH CENTURY FRANCE!

also, valjean is the opposite of undocumented. he has his yellow papers, which are quite literally documents that are the root cause of the daily discrimination he faces, hence why him ripping them up is a radical act of freeing himself from the control of an unjust state. i don't even know how you miss this, it's stressed in the movie musical multiple times.

“Men like you can never change,” he tells Valjean. But Javert is not simply being prejudiced here. He knows from his own experience that it is possible for the poor to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Javert, too, was born in poverty. He is “from the gutter,” as he puts it, but he embraced law and made something of himself.

oh, of course the bootstraps ideology rears its ugly head. not even gonna waste my breath on this one other than to call it stupid and wrong. all javert made himself was a class traitor and a bootlicker, and that's honestly tragic.

Consider a second example of liberal bias. The character of Fantine is designed to elicit the viewer’s sympathy for “welfare mothers.” Fantine, a young, unwed mother in Valjean’s factory, faces persecution from her coworkers. The factory foreman expresses a conservative attitude toward charity: “At the end of the day, you get nothing for nothing.”

this part. this part was so unbelievably cruel and so far removed from the empathy that this narrative bleeds that i had to step back from writing this and take a smoke break. firstly, fantine is NOT a stand in for "welfare mothers", which is, once again, a modern conservative strawman! the welfare state did not exist in 19th century france. there was little to no support for mothers in fantine's position, and to my knowledge, none stemming from the state. hugo was writing her character to bring to light the unfairness of her position. she had a lover who left her flat out, with a child to care for and no financial support. she was ostracized, eventually fired, and resorted to survival sex work.

Fantine shouldn’t expect special treatment, but rather should take responsibility for the consequences of her own sexual license.

fuck you, john. where in the text did she ask for "special treatment". where in the text did she do ANYTHING but take responsibility for her child. she sold her hair. she sold her teeth. she sold her body. she got sick because of her living conditions. she died. all out of love for her child. also, framing children as "a consequence" is disgusting, and you should be ashamed of yourself and reflect on why you think that's an alright way to view a living, breathing, human being. if you don't wanna take my word for it, psalm 127:3 clearly states "children are a gift from the lord; they are a reward from him," so your stance is decidedly unbiblical. children aren't punishment.

Likewise, when Fantine turns to prostitution to feed her child, Javert is unmoved by excuses. Valjean’s family was starving, and Fantine’s daughter was sick, but these facts don’t excuse them for breaking the law. Theft and prostitution are wrong, and it is Javert’s duty as police officer to arrest them.

how is theft to feed a starving child immoral. how is sex work to ensure your child lives immoral. give me ONE reason aside from your and javert's religious worldviews that either of those things is wrong. "but the bread didn't belong to valjean!" and would inaction, watching his nephew die simply because a windowpane and empty pockets separated him from a piece of bread be more moral? is watching a child die when you believe you can save them the better option? the whole point of this damn book is that legality is NOT synonymous with morality. javert may have the legal high ground, but he does NOT have the moral high ground, and when he realizes this, the thesis of the book, he fucking kills himself! for an example outside the text to perhaps get it through your thick skull: slavery was legal. biblical, even! does that mean it's morally right? no!

Thus Les Mis is designed to get us to see Javert’s conservatism as cruel and to elicit sympathy for Hugo’s liberal social policies. It should be noted, however, that Les Mis is a caricature of the conservative position. Conservatives agree that we ought to treat the poor with dignity and compassion. They think that compassion programs, however, should be administered by the church instead of the state, and they think true dignity requires personal responsibility and submission to the law.

how can javert both be an exaggerated, cruel conservative caricature and be right? i'd argue he's both an accurate portrayal of the inherent cruelty and misanthropy present in the politics of the political right, and that he's decidedly wrong as proven in the text. jean valjean is a good man, despite it all, but javert couldn't see that because of his worldview and chose to relentlessly hound him until he finally realized his mistake, a realization that overcame him so strongly that his only solution in his mind was to kill himself!

and do conservatives actually agree they should treat the poor with dignity and respect? it's in the bible, sure, which christian conservatives hold as the absolute truth, but in this very article you, a christian conservative, have expressed nothing but contempt and cruelty for undocumented immigrants, for unwed mothers, for thieves and sex workers. for les misérables - the wretched poor. and why shouldn't the state handle "compassion programs" as you call them? the gov't is electable and manageable (in theory), unlike the beast of untraceable wealth and power that is the church. we don't live in a theocracy, so the only reliable way to ensure people get the help they deserve is through the state, which can actually be held accountable for these expectations (again, in theory). that's more than you can say for the church.

The fact that Les Mis contradicts evangelical theology does not mean apologists shouldn’t use it—on the contrary. We can help non-Christian fans of the musical see how the vision that draws them toward the story can only be fulfilled in Christ.

his conculsion is LAUGHABLE. personally, the "vision that drew me to the story" at age twelve was my attraction to men. i'm a flaming homosexual, you see, and a transgender one at that. the overwhelming majority of musical theater fans i've encountered are some variety of queer. at age 22, ten years later, i'm drawn to the story still partially because i find these characters attractive and magnetic, but much more so for the literary and socialist political value i find in the narrative. i'm an unrepentant leftist as well, as are literally every other les mis fan i've ever met (besides yourself, of course). i've found more fulfillment through reading les misérables than i have in my exploration of the new testament, and i'm not even done with the book yet!

i don't really know how to conclude this other to point and laugh at john and his publictaion, because somehow i stumbled upon a conservative fan of les mis and the lack of self awareness is more baffling than i could have ever imagined it being

[wherevenusholdssomeofficespace]

I've got Milo's World on the brain. I know I'm not alone in saying its such a good episode of Milo. It brilliantly highlights our main cast and how they perceive Milo and handle Murphy's Law. If there is any episode that I'd say gets across who the character's are its that one.

Neal is someone who doesn't know Milo very well yet, but wants to learn more. Milo's the little brother of the girl he likes, and him and his condition are important to Sara (and informs who she is). Neal's a nice guy, if a little unaccustomed to it like everyone else is (not unlike Zack in the first few episodes), whose finding out about Murphy's Law as someone who wants to get used to it being in his life. He's going into this knowing full well it's possible to deal with, has seen what it's capable of, but whose first experience with it was largely positive.

So it's fitting that as the second newest to all this Zack shares his perspective. All things considered Zack answers the question directly just with a little embellishment. How does Milo handle Murphy's Law? He handle's it with the power of his backpack. Zack's assessment of Milo as a Wizard is pretty accurate all things considered. He says he's a Wizard "without all the wizardy stuff" and when describing him, basically just focuses on that he's got a backpack that holds everything. And by all accounts, cartoon logic is fully in play and he holds stuff that shouldn't be held in there. It is literally a bag of holding. He's not wrong. He also uses Wizardy in the sense of someone who takes a wide variety of mundane supplies to work wonders. Melissa, asserts that a Wizard without the wizard stuff, isn't really a wizard it literally is just Milo, which I think demonstrates how literal and close to reality Zack's interpretation is. Zack's just describing Milo but he's using particularly flowery language (which matches his character mind you). Sara also backs him up later on the wizardy thing, without even known about what Zack had said. While first she just shares her assessment that Milo is just a person, he's just got a condition, and a particular personality type. She finishes it up with the potential of him being magic. It's clear she's not saying that to be taken seriously. But she does acknowledge him as impressive. But Milo describes her with that same language, for doing the same kind of thing that he's doing. And she accepts the descriptor and returns it. Showing that the use of that sort of supernatural descriptions applied to him, at least coming from his family and friends, is not very othering, but rather a form of praise. He's impressive, because he does that as he is. Not because he has any sort of power.

Melissa's assessment of Milo being a robot, while untrue, does demonstrate an understanding, if exaggerated, about how Milo lives. He's familiar with things due to experience, and is able to come up with solutions due to experience (the very first episode highlights how Milo's experiences inform his solutions, when he has the route memorized because it has happened before. I also think the Llama incident). He is a bit more physically capable than the average person, due to all the near death experiences, and due to those experiences is quick to notice problems and act, which could make him seem more like a robot. But even if she thought Milo might be a robot, she doesn't seem to have every dehumanized him for that (which tracks considering she and all the kids see CIDD as a person). It's another piece of Melissa's story, from cautiously curious about Milo, to thinking he's the coolest, to wanting to help him deal with Murphy's Law, to understanding its a part of who he is… and maybe taking advantage of it as it. But despite her understanding being relatively close to reality to begin with all things considered, by the present, she immediately agrees with Bradley that thinking he was a robot was ridiculous, (and in the next episode vehemently emphasizes that he isn't a robot to Doof). She may have started with a viewpoint of seeing him as something other, but cool and worthy of friendship, but has grown to recognize him as her best friend, a kid just like her whose just as worthy as teasing too. Even her wildest ideas of who Milo is aren't far off, and she knows that understanding is wrong. She contentiously emphasizes how ridiculous everyone's stories are and tries to shut them down. Not that far off from Sara, whose brief description of Milo focused on him being like everyone else. Highlighting how well Melissa knows Milo, and understanding that rivals his family.

Bradley is the perfect character to counter Neal's genuine desire to understand Milo with a misleading story about who Milo is, describing him as a villain. I reiterates the perspective Bradley has on Milo and his role as Milo's psuedo-foil. Bradley believes that Milo's an attention hog who takes all the attention away from him. He describes Milo with the worst possible language. Villain instead of show off or attention hog. And it's not that he's wrong… technically in the sense that all Milo does is clean up the messes he caused (even if it's more complicated than that), and doesn't get punished and even gets praised for it some times. That said, I do want to be clear that it still kind sucks to be Milo to have to clean up the messes that he doesn't directly cause. And people are rude to him about it. It's just Bradley who mostly sees him at school surrounded by generally accommodating classmates and staff (and also refuses to acknowledge truth's unless it fits his viewpoint) doesn't see that. But ultimately he doesn't describe Milo to be doing anything he isn't he just phrases it in a way that makes Milo seem bad. It foils Zack's (and later Sara's) description of Milo as a wizard, not in the sense they believe him to be more than what he is but that they apply positive language to him because they see him in a positive light. It's only fitting that Sara shows up around this time to mildly put Bradley in his place. Sara who knows Murphy's Law as a force, not something tied only to Milo and whose probably spent her life causally shutting down people needlessly rude to her family. Side note: Sara knows Bradley and his personal Milo beef, but generally speaking, she along with everyone else doesn't care enough about Bradley to really take his beef with Milo seriously just, calling him petty and ignoring his feelings. Which ironically the dismissal of his importance is exactly the beef that he has with Milo being the center of attention. (Even if they're dumb… like Carla… probably says something that he got that attached to something that literally couldn't reciprocate his attention.)

Anyway too much Bradley. Mort's Mort (has his head in the clouds and is big into spirituality), who does generally like Milo. But also doesn't really have a lot to say about how he thinks he lives his life. (Though we do see him dismissing Murphy's Law to blame for things going wrong blaming a blocked chakra instead... self centered but in a positive way?) And Chad's Chad. Dramatic, easily manipulated a fan of conspiracies who does. We see Chad spend a lot of time conspiring about Mr. Drako, more than anyone in class. So it does reason that he thinks about Milo too. But, it does show that rather than actually getting to know Milo, he comes up with conspiracies and explanations not based in truth. It is especially egregious. While Chad doesn't dislike Milo, and generally sees him as a person, he's the only one to straight up get facts about how Milo lives wrong, the only one to deny the existence of Murphy's Law instead of simply taking Milo's word for it. He comes up with a conspiracy about Milo's backpack with exactly NO evidence. Something that Zack and Melissa never really questioned, and that they (and we the audience) actually do know the real story behind. Chad is like Bradley in focusing on what information fits what he wants to be true, rather than actually getting to know Milo. (Also bigfoot continues to be of dubious canonicity, never actually appears despite things like Klimpaloon and Santa existing, has an episode dedicated to him. Apparently has a cousin who lives in the tri-state area (but that's dubious for a couple reasons).

Sara doesn't really have a story about Milo. She commentates on Bradley's, dismissing him and providing some insight into Milo's genuine perspective (the idea of cleaning down). Clarifies that Milo is just an ordinary kid (like how Melissa's been shutting down all the unusual stories), and backs up Zack's description of him as a Wizard. She also demonstrates an understanding of Murphy's Law by helping him out with it herself, even if he was supposed to be helping her. To her, Milo isn't "Milo the great" or "Milo the villain" or "Milo who sees dead people", but Milo her "little bro". They're siblings who are alike where it counts. They're both wizardy. Murphy's Law, while manifesting differently in their lives, colors both of them and isn't what makes him unique, so much as how he handles it. Milo is a whole person, and at no point in her life would she have mentally broken him down into such a box, no matter how fancy the box.

It's also interesting how NONE of the stories account for the fact Murphy's Law is a genetic condition, passed from father to son, despite all of them having met Martin (except Neal). None of them account for the fact that Milo isn't alone in this. Chad doesn't bring up how Martin might also see dead people. Bradley doesn't take any time to villainize Martin, or view Martin as an example of someone who has Murphy's Law but isn't a villain. Because he doesn't deal with him. Milo's life beyond what they see, beyond what effects them, might as well not exist to them. Melissa's robot thing wouldn't make any sense but she admitted as such. And Sara just brushed of the question, and Zack was just being dramatic in answering Neal's question by likening how Milo handle's Murphy's Law to an RPG but wasn't literal.

Milo showing up in the end. Just doing his thing same as always, not as a Wizard, or Robot, or a schemer, or a exorcist. Just being himself, and impressive for who is is, not what the coolest explanation is.

Also the last viewpoint shows the most important thing that Milo is. Diogee's treat dispenser/go home orderer.

[noellesnowelle]

September Language Goals

Now that I have finished my Finnish summer course and have a break until I (hopefully soon) get accepted into the next course, I have some time where I want to focus a little bit more on Korean and also start with Swedish. Of course I still want to maintain and improve my Finnish, especially practicing how to speak freely.

As Finnish is the main language I am currently learning, I will go into more detail with my goals for each category.

Finnish

Grammar

In the summer course I learned multiple new grammar forms and I want to practice them more. I also want to clear the questions I had and mistakes I made during the exam.

Grammar to repeat and practice:

Passiivi (in present and past forms)

Imperatiivi (I forgot to study this for the exam and was caught off guard)

Imperfekti (especially when the i replaces other vowels)

Perfekti (KPT-rules with the participles)

Pluskvamperfekti (when it is used)

Speaking

As I am lacking in practice and confidence when speaking Finnish, but I am actually understanding quite a lot already, I want to especially focus on speaking this month.

I have 14 prompts where I will select one randomly every 2 days and just speak to the best of my abilities. Then I will go through the recording and write down words I didn't know, or things that are grammatically wrong or I pronounced weird.

Additionally I want to talk to my HelloTalk pals more - actually talk and not just write.

Reading

For several months now I have had a children's book from the library that I plan on finishing this month.

I want to do a combination of reading and looking up a word here and there and writing a few pages down and analysing every word I am unfamiliar with.

I've done the writing down and analysing for the first chapter, and while it was useful, it also took a lot of time. I believe that's why I am still not very far in the book. But yesterday I read a chapter without actually looking up or writing down anything and still understood the main plot lines. So I think a mix of different techniques will be the best method to finally finish this book.

Writing

I want to focus a little more on speaking this month than writing. But if I find the time and motivation I want to try and write 2-4 little texts this month.

Now while writing this I notice that it would be useful when I write a little text at the end of each week about the prompts that I am doing for my speaking practice.

If I will actually do it? You can see it on my Finnish Blog @harakkataihaarukka (if you're interested).

Listening

I basically hear Finnish everyday without needing to do anything, so I don't have anything planned.

If I am feeling especially motivated, I can watch a few videos on the 'finnished' channel on Youtube.

Vocabulary

I want to retain the vocabulary I learned during the summer course, so I plan to do 20-30 flashcards every day.

I also need to organize the flashcards in the app... It is kind of a mess because I used different formats at the beginning of the course and in the end.

Of course I will add any new vocabulary to my flashcards over the month.

Additionally I have a few topics, for which I want to learn some specific vocabulary:

art, painting, describing pictures

insects

cats and caring for them

autumn

going to the library (and cinema)

I think I will make a weekly study plan again. I had one before but I didn't really stick to it because I didn't have specific tasks for each category. But I hope it will work better this time. That way I can also plan time for Korean and Swedish.

Now let's get to the other two languages.

Korean

My main goal this month is to learn verb conjugation and memorize more vocabulary.

I plan on doing Lesson 1-8 of Unit 1 on howtostudykorean.com this month to get a good basis. So 2 Lessons every week. I think that is doable.

I also want to start making flashcards for vocabulary. Although I have a notebook for Korean where I already wrote down some vocabulary, learning them with an app proves to be more efficiant for me.

Another thing I want to do is installing a Korean keyboard on my laptop. I know I will find it so annoying to learn, but then I can also write Korean on my laptop and not just on my phone or iPad.

Swedish

I plan to slowly start with learning Swedish this month.

Originally I wanted to wait longer because I want to focus on Finnish, but the last few days I had such a motivation and interest in learning Swedish that I need to follow that motivation.

I don't plan on studying grammar or vocabulary specifically, but I want to start with watching a lot of videos with subtitles in Swedish and focus on listening and shadowing the pronunciation.

Because, although I can already understand quite a bit when it is written Swedish (thanks to knowing German and English and then some weird language knowledge and connecting brain magic) the pronunciation is so different to the written letters and there are also a lot of sounds that I have difficulty pronouncing.

So listening to a lot of normal and specifically slow Swedish videos it is.

I am actually curious to see how fast I can pick up Swedish in general because it is so connected to German and English. And even through Finnish I will be able to connect some words because Finnish has quite a bit of Swedish loan words. I just hope it won't confuse me.

Seeing all my language goals written out like this, it seems a lot. I don't know how much I will actually be able to do, as I also don't know when I will be accepted into the next Finnish course (which will then take up a lot of time). But a month is always longer than it seems like at the beginning.

Anyways, happy language learning to everyone who is also learning one (or more languages) this month!

[sixofcrowdaydreams]

Wylan's Dsylexia in Fanfic...

Where are the fanfics that go into detail about Wylan's inability to read? Because most of what I've read so far largely erases or at least doesn't really discuss his disability...

I want to read about Wylan's experiences struggling to learn to read. His anxiety every time there's words in front of him. Repulsion towards books and his own self loathing for being intimidated by such a mundane object.

I want to read about descriptions of what he sees when he looks at text. Do words and letters float away, tangle in messy amalgamations until he can't recognize the shape of individual words, much less a single letter? Do letters or words vanish? Do his eyes simply gloss over letters and just not acknowledge them as words the same way other people look at a toddler's scribbles? Does he loath where math and science meet literacy when he calculates variables (2*y=4)? Does he have to make himself focus to even recognize the variable (and even then does that y in the example above change into an x or an n halfway through the problem and will he even notice if it does)?

Does Wylan know the alphabet? Is the alphabet always linear, when A is first and Z comes last? Or does he know in theory that A is first and Z comes last, but his reality is that all of the letters line up in whatever order they want in between? Can he recognize individual letters by themselves? Or does the shape of a single letter twist and bend unrecognizably?

Can Wylan read common sight words? Can he recognize his name in print? Can he write his name? Can he draw his name instead of writing it if he treats the letters like any other line or curve on his sketchpad?

And those are just questions for canon! What about his inability to read in a modern AU setting where basic literacy is a required skill in daily life? (if your answer is: He just uses a screen reader, so it's like he doesn't have a disability that impacts him daily at all then I'm going to punch a wall! That's such an ableist solution.)

If Wylan's in high school or college, is he in a remedial literacy class? Do his friends or peers know it's a remedial class or is it politely called some type of tutoring or private study? Does he have an official dyslexia diagnosis or does his father refuse to have him tested and teachers simply tell him to try harder? Do the teachers know and have an IEP (Individualized Learning Program) or support items for him? Or do his teachers not care because there's 30 other kids in his class alone and half the school needs an IEP, or is the teacher just an asshole? Do audiobooks of all his math/science/ music theory textbooks even exist? There's a so factors to take into considerations about his experience in a school AU and yet so rarely I've seen these questions addressed, much less explored.

I want to read about Wylan's experience with encountering moments requiring literacy that are so mundane that no one else thinks twice about them but are still obstacles to him. Like buying groceries -- he's only making purchasing decisions based on photos on the packaging because he's sure not reading the labels. Heck, any store. He doesn't know what half of the stores he passes are selling unless he can look inside their windows because he can't read the store name. Purchasing something using a card reader -- all those yes and no questions they ask. Street signs? Can he drive if he can't read road signs? Shop names? Text on clothing? Ordering food off a restaurant menu? Trying to find a TV channel/movie using a remote? Playing computer or board games?

Where's Wylan making excuses for being unable to read because he's embarrassed? Casually passing papers and books to others around him? Pretending to read? His ridiculously good memorization skills? Does he make excuses about not having glasses/contacts? Pretend not to be a native language speaker?

Where's the modern AUs where his text to speech programs malfunction? There's too much background noise to clearly hear his voice or it also picks up someone voice nearby too. Or he's in a quiet space and can't use it? No cell service or internet connection? Heaven forbid he loses earbuds/headphones or his father cruelly takes away his phone/computer or uninstalls his speech programs. The software not being able to translate messy/loopy handwriting. Where are the chat/text fics where his texts are absent of punctuation and riddled with errors he doesn't notice because the speech to text didn't translate properly and he'd have no way of knowing? Listening to every text/email/audio book is a s l o o o o w process. Where is all of the time it takes Wylan to listen to everything?

In conclusion: I want to read more about Wylan's experience with his learning disability. He is an extremely intelligent and resourceful person that finds his own strategies and adaptations. I don't want to see his his anxiety, struggle, and emotional trauma about reading erased or glossed over. I don't want to see his disability erased by never mentioning it. I don't want to see Wylan's disability erased by providing him with modern tools that "solve" his disability by making it a non-issue. Instead, I want to read about his experiences being -- maybe not more realistic -- but more authentic.

Any fanfic recommendations that dive into Wylan's experiences?

P.S. This post asked a million questions and I have my own headcanon answers to all of them. Feel free to ask! Some are based on my own experience with a learning disability. Some are based on moving to and living in a country where I can't read the main language. Being functionally illiterate as an adult is AN EXPERIENCE.

Guess it's time to be the change I want to see and start writing my own fanfic...