#THAT'S A LOT OF PLANT FOR 30 DOLLARS OK.

[savageboar]

mom: you really spent 30 dollars on aquarium plants?

me: YES

(sorry about the horrible lighting do you have any idea how hard it is to take pictures of aquariums when the lights are off for the evening.)

[jacks-tracks]

La Reforma:

Way back in the hills , deep in a valley , lies La Reforma, a very small town beside a winding river. Accessible by a rough dirt road that snakes across the cattle stripped hills, this is where the gringos don,t go. Oh they used too, when the road to the waterfalls was intact, and the cabinas there were functional, but neglect and rain have ruined the road, and the stand alone solar system failed for lack of maintenance leaving the cabinas unusable. Too bad, because the waterfall at 100 feet vertical was a wonderful sight, and the rushing stream tumbled over big boulders out of the box canyon into calm swimmable pools. The cabinas were run by volunteers from La Reforma in a bid to bring in tourist dollars, but the food was poor and the road was too bad.

My friends Jimmy(Tortuga) and Tracy were planning to take their motorcycle in to some new cabinas at La Reforma, so i took public transit(sic) to join them. Given many contradictory directions, I found the old bus station uptown and the San Pedro caminettas(collective taxis).Frequent and cheap(26 pesos) . While Puerto has expanded up into the hills, the road remains the same gully twisting paved cow trail.The steep foothill terrain has discouraged development. An optomist had marked out lots(10mby20m) on a 45 degree slope, soon to slide away. Dozen of beehives a re placed off road to catch the last of the rainy season flowering trees. 1 half hour to the crucero, where the collectivos to La Reforma wait. Well i waited in shade on a plank bench, no collectivo. A stream of tuk tuks ferried people from the village nearby to San Pedro, but approached said it was 1 hour to La Reforma, no go.A totally overloaded truck disgorged a vast load of fruit and vegetables into the stand at the corner, and in turn smaller trucks came to pack the food off for distribution to tiendas. Cabbages bigger than basketballs were tossed , leaves flapping ,into the shed, only to be shot putted in to the buyers vehicles moments later. Crates of oranges, hands of bananas, heaps of canteloupe,, piles of potatoes. I was just about to call Jimmy, when they pulled up on their motorcycle with Gaeten on his spiffy 200 alongside. They sat in the shade pulling on beers and just as they were leaving along came a collectivo truck. Not that that meant departure, we had to wait for more passengers to make the trip pay. Only got one more guy but picked up a chica en route and a peon with a Husky chain saw with a 3 foot bar(?). Biggest tree in sight was 1 foot thick. All the hills have been logged, leaving scrub, vines and cow ploughed hillsides. The corn planted in the clearcuts only grows well for a couple of years until the soil is depleted and washed away. Nice cemnt paved road for 2 K then eroded dirt track. Mud dust, dirt, very steep switchbacks with tiny streams rolling down across the dirt at intervals. Terrific (terrifying) views across the valleys to the far mountains, I was admiring the eye level tree tops until I looked down and saw that the tree were 100 feet tall, rising vertical beside the track. too steep to pull out and thus saved. the hill swere green patched with corn , mostly harvested, and jungle vines coated the roadside shrubbery. Despite this abundance of greenery, this is the edge of desert, and cactus poke out of the scrub everywhere. The driver was calm(old) and safe, but he had to carefully navigate the washouts and roadslips dropping 100's of feet vertically into the hillsides. 30 K top speed, often a low gear crawl.

La Reforma after a 1 hour bumpy ride and dropped right at the gate(40P) of Mario Lopez who has built 3 cabinas for rent at the end of the road right beside the river where the stream gushes out of a jumble of big boulders. Here i found my biker buddys, swilling beer and relaxing. The place is run by Marios family, who live in the roadside houses and cook for guests. Pati 954 123 9805. Yes there is WiFi. Cabinas are 400 pesos and food is ok. Very green and shady, dirt paths, friendly but little English. My Spanish is acceptable, and if I rehearse I can ask for most things and make simple conversation. Usually i can pick the verbs out of the replies and guess at the context.

Cabinas, here called Cabanas, are new, brick built,clean, tiled, and have cold water bathrooms and comfy beds. Secure, quiet, restful. The chicken shacks of yesterday have given way to cement and tile, the dogs a re friendly, and the people ,like most rural Mexicans, are curious and friendly if given respect. La Reforma has an elementary school, a high school, basketball court, police station and an ambulance.Pretty good for a town of 1500 spread out along the river valley.No mercado, tiny tiendas with junk food and that's all. Bring food for the cooks, fruit and treats to share .Gramma makes great rice and tortillas, and everyone hangs out in the open air kitchen area. Food is cooked on a comal , wood fired, thought there is a gas stove. Electricity, artesian water(I drank it with no ill effects), caged chickens(no rooster) a quiet discouraged parrot and a puppy. The only sound is the rumble of the river where it tumbles over 10 foot rocks into a deep swimmable pool then froths across gravel and boulders ,perhaps 20 meters wide and up to 1 meter deep downstream to the town. Odd lily like flowers sway in the shallows, white with long narrow petals, safe from goats. The poolis where the local kids walk to for afternoon swimming and fun. They are shy but friendly if spoken to. the cabinas are the only accomodation in town so gringos are a novelty.

Jimmy, as chef , cooked chicken in Panko and cornflakes, cruchy coating, tasty chicken. The chicken came a bit late out of the freezer so dinner was abit late. Next night he cooked Dorado from our fishing trip, delicious! All shared with the family, who were happy to eat so well. Breakfast were cooked by sandra the waitress, maid and friend Huevos Rancheros using the onion and green pepper I brought to share. Surprisingly the slad fixins I packed were still good and Jimmy and Tracy ate sprouts for the first time. For lunch I had boiled eggs I,d brought and grapefruit off the tree(bit dry and tangy, but good). Jimmy says the kitchen food usually tough chicken in mole sauce. Glad we brought supplys.

Rivers talk at night. this one had a voice for every rapid ripple and a bass chorus from the falls.The tone and volume is never the same. Unlike the pulsing heartbeat of beach waves, the river chats and chuckles. Other than the river it was quiet , pitch black at night and felt safe and peaceful Really feels like a different world from urban Puerto. Friendly family, safe place, nice cabinas, great cold swimming hole , an affordable getaway. My total bill for 2 nights, 400pesos per night for the cabina, breakfast 100P and miscellaneous, total900 Pesos. I,ll go again....

[eyeofnewtblog]

THE CHICKEN WAR IS REAL.

Ok, seriously the picture above is the best $30 I ever spent but also WHICH family member am I gonna blitz???

Real things that I have seen happen in the Great Chicken War:

Have helped one specific aunt set up a chicken shower curtain in multiple other houses. I know for a fact she got my grandparents to help her hang the chicken shower curtain in my own house that I refuse to take down.

Cousin H was moving, I bought dollar store stuff to turn her car into a chicken. At my wedding reception she found inch long yellow plastic chickens and put them in all of my plants. I WAS FINDING THEM SIX MONTHS LATER.

My grandma, my sweet, innocent, cancer ridden grandma…she hung chicken themed towels on every place that you could conceivably have towels. In my house. On my wedding day. She was not sorry.

Once helped my grandfather hide chicken alarm clocks set to go off at 2 am under…A LOT of beds at a family reunion.

Every Christmas present must contain one (1) real gift. The “stocking stuffers” are up to whatever that relative happens to find at thrift stores and can fit in the chosen box. (We do gift exchanges with a $25 max limit, but it has to be “cool” so you’re supposed to call who you get and be like “hey, ideas please”)

You don’t want to know what happened when Chicken Run went out on DVD. (My mom bought every single copy available in the moment, I’m not kidding, threw the entire stock in her cart…there were about 30 of us at the time - I promise everyone had the same thoughts as her because now you sign the inside cover before you sneak it over to someone else)

There were actually live chickens in my grandparents bathroom, they had to shower at the neighbors house for 3 days.

I brought 300 chicken shaped finger flingers to the last family reunion and it took us three hours to find them. They’re yellow. They stand out.

The chicken finger flingers were left out as “bait” by the kids to “lure Sasquatch into range” (one of my cousins hiked out, put the Sasquatch shoes on, hiked in from a different direction, and “took the bait” with copious footprints) so the kids actually got a SECOND Sasquatch hunt on top of the normal one.

That’s just the stuff that I remember happening, like things I was actually present for. This has been going on for 40 years and multiple generations…there is sooooo much that I don’t know.

And that’s not even getting into the actual wedding traditions. One of the cousins dresses up in a full body chicken suit and does a dance with the bride, to the chicken dance song. I’m not joking this actually happens.

We still have the original chicken that started all of this. And “she” is always the bride when we all get together for a wedding and decorate the “chicken bridal party” with the actual bridal colors.

All of this, to say…I have 20 ceramic chickens and no genuinely good ideas on how to properly deploy my ammunition.

[lunariaa]

Budget Witch Tips

From a witch on a very small budget

Many of you already know that you don’t need fancy, expensive equipment to be a witch (If you didn’t know… Hey! You don’t need fancy, expensive equipment to be a witch!), but the problem is not knowing what to do and what to use instead. I this post I will outline some tips for witches on a budget, with some more basic examples, and some specific ones I used in my own craft

The Basics

Herbs

Herbs can be bought at pretty much any grocery store, and if you get them in bags rather than the nicer containers you can save a lot! If you know enough about herbs and you don’t plan on consuming them, you could try foraging. Some plants, such as dandelion, are easier to identify

Candles

Dollar stores and thrift stores are always a good go-to, and dollar stores will have pretty much any candle you need between $1-3. However, I have noticed that a lot of people, especially those in their 30s/40s have a bunch of candles laying around that they bought a while ago but never actually used. If you’re not feeling too shy and you feel comfortable asking them for things, suggest taking one (or all) of their hands

Crystals

Funnily enough, crystals are often cheaper when they don’t come from crystal stores. Of course, some stores are the exception, but generally, I have found really inexpensive crystals in plant nurseries/greenhouses, small bookstores, and little gift shops. Of course, if none of those are options (or you simply can’t find them because they’re not that common), there’s always buying secondhand

A Little Less Basic

Trinkets

You can find so many useful trinkets, such as bells, candleholders, and mirrors at thrift stores and flea markets. On top of that, you can find other funky little things that you might want to incorporate in a non-traditional way. Personally, I have a bag of bee erasers that like to make an appearance in the spring, as well as a bunch of little animals that act as sign holders that I just think are neat

Cleansing

I am a huge fan of passive cleansing, so on top of using a cleansing spray (which you can make yourself) every so often, I frequently use an oil diffuser and a salt lamp to cleanse my space. These are probably the most expensive items on the list, however they can be significantly cheaper than buying smoke bundles, as these are one-time purchases. A small diffuser is $10-15, while a salt lamp is around the same. All you need for the oil diffuser is one bottle of oil of a cleansing herb, such as rosemary, which would likely last you at least a year, it not two

Journaling

While it’s my dream to have a special tarot journal/witchy planner, they can be quite expensive. If it’s your type of thing, try getting a basic year planner from the dollar store and customizing it. Some things you can put in are associations of the days of the week, sabbats/holidays, and moon phases. There, you can keep track of your craft, such as tarot readings, spells, and even observations. If you have a few hours, you can make a basic planner look super cool and witchy!

Creative Tips

Altars

It can be difficult to have a physical altar space, especially for closeted witches. Instead, you can try drawing an altar, or having a space in a game. For example, you can make an altar in Minecraft, which has available mods for witchy items, or other games such as Animal Crossing. If you have a deity, you can create a space for them, or play games that relate to the deity, such as a fighting game like Call of Duty for Ares, or Stardew Valley for Demeter

Deities

There are many ways you can connect to your deities that aren’t the conventional, “traditional” ways. On top of playing games that are related to the deity, you can watch videos or play sounds that connect to the deity, like ocean sounds for Poseidon or a video of a fireplace for Hestia. If you’re concerned, ask your deities if it’s ok with them. Some deities have firm boundaries and you should respect them

Divination

Fortunately for us, there are many forms of divination. Some are free, such as using a bowl of water for scrying, and some more conventional, such as tarot. Of course, you can use playing cards instead of tarot cards, make your own runes, and make a pendulum out of a necklace or earbuds, but I have a different idea. Just make your own form of divination. Use coloured pencils, pick one at random, and use the meaning associated with that colour. Write actions words on a piece of paper and pick one randomly. Intuitively flip to a part of a book and use the first word/phrase you see as a sign. Anything can be divination if you put some thought into it

Did you enjoy this? Let me know if I should make a part 2

Like what you see? Leave me a tip!

[i-dont-know-nor-care-go-away]

Master post of things to read (for life and stuff) after or before collage and advice

30 human rights (Make a post on this later maybe)

Invoking rights when arrested

What do I need to buy for a house?

How do taxes work

How do I do them

Student aid

Scholarship basics (go to the library and ask for a book of them, it helps)

Go to Walmart

Not brand name is ok, but try not to for food

Have milk, eggs, flour, baking soda (food and cleaning), and cereal at all times

5 dollar chicken from costco is a life saver

Rice, in a pot or cooker, even 5 minute is a must have

get a good lock, be safe

Get some cheap cookies or something, just something to make you happy

potatoes work alot. Skin, boil 10 to 15 minutes, blend with milk.

Diets are shams, get some carbs to get through the day hun

Youtube dad

Youtube Mom

GO TO THE LIBRARY IT HAS A LOT MORE THAN HARRY POTTER AND TWILIGHT

Google it, just try it.

toilet fixer dude

Thank letter; *Compliment It.* *thanks it was great!* , *It was so fun/useful/educational or its so useful, i use it all the time.* done

how to take a girl/ascended being of perfection/guy out for the first times or ideas for dates:

cool thing: exciting thing, football game, museum, MUTUAL INTERESTS

food; ice cream places are not pricey, and cute, or a drive through to be quick but must have some thing else Stay away from McDonalds, taco bell, and anything old and cheap looking. anything else is fair game for the first few dates. just bring a snack, like cookies or something

nice place: cute park, and chill or your house with movie, physical contact is great here, intimate moments

a date must have cool thing or nice place + food, and BOTH OF YOU ARE HAPPY

get a good pair of tennis shoes, ok? shoes need to be good

goodwill for anything

go for a walk at least every week, mental health

get a format for emails and for the work place

never say anything negative, ie rude uncle of mines story *he complains about drug addicts in the streets to coworker* *coworkers daughter died of drug abuse* / *talks to the guy doing the carpet about how doctors are demanding* * guys kid is in medical school*

talk less, smile more

to not implode I always do nice things for people I don't even like, so if I need something, They can't refuse. They hate it. Kindness means Karma and Karma's a B!tch

get a smoll plant, even a fake one. Monkey brain like leaf, make less depress.

have something to look forward to. A show every Saturday, get ice cream on Tuesdays, just something

get a cat, and train them to poop in the toilet. If you have a mess they will know it off the counter and you have to clean it up. and they rock and can be better for apartments than dogs.

eat breakfast, moron

have a granola bar in your bag

drugs WILL hurt your body, not to mention the workplace rules

look for free things. Microsoft has some free courses you can sign up with EMAIL

get a good gmail for at home, and get a device that has no workplace on it.

keep your teeth good, dental sucks and is expensive

eat some fruits

don't buy a scale for yourself, its dumb, and will only hurt you, and stub your toe every now and then

get a watch, and have it on your wrist. your phone is in your bag.

being on your phone looks bad, idk why, so avoid it

make some friends, even online

Get some formal wear, church nice to new years eve swank, and you CAN ask the dress code for a party "Hey, I was wondering, what's the type of outfit I should wear? I don't want to show up in my church clothes when everyone else is in suits! :) I can't wait! "

dating is overrated, do that fun stuff with friends (make sure it said its platonic, pleaseee)

[imfemalewarrior]

hi mx. femalewarrior! im a moderately overweight afab person (this isnt abt my struggling w femininity and identifying only somewhat and not fully--anyway) and i did exercise today! i biked a while to the store... a store in which i bought a few sweets as a prize for doing the exercise thing. i get that my depressed brain craves the glucose bc it slightly makes up for the lack of dopamine, and i do feel :) when i get a nice pastry, but i still feel bad morally! (1/2)

ik i HAVE to bribe myself to work, but it still feels yicky, y'know? like, why do the work in working some stuff off just to put it right back? it especially doesnt help that since im poor i can't do the whole fresh veggies and meats and w/e thing. its cans and what you can get from a dollar tree for me. do you have any exercises that don't feel like exercises so i don't feel as if i did a lot n "deserve" that sugary thing? i wanna lose some weight but it seems so daunting! [2/2]

(my answer) 

So, instead of having a weight goal, why not make other more sustainable goals regarding exercise? More and more research is coming out that it is habit and lifestyle/genetics that affect your health much more than weight (look at women olympic weightlifters, world’s strongest men, and open water swimmers like Lynne Cox as examples). Some example goals are: exercising a certain number of times per week, so maybe start with a goal to exercise 1 or 2 days every week, and then increasing the number based on what time you can set aside to do this. Or a goal could be “find an exercise I enjoy” and then find different exercises each week to try out to figure out what you enjoy doing (dance classes, yoga, aerobics, swimming, martial arts, jogging, walking, weightlifting, historical martial arts from various regions of the world, dagorhir/LARP/SCA, to name a few possibilities). Maybe once you find one you enjoy it will help you with getting that dopamine (I feel, I also have depression). And after you find one you enjoy you can then work on setting up exercising a few times a week. 

So basically, eating is not going to “undo” what you just did, it can help support you in doing more of it. If bike riding is what you enjoy doing, but you need more reason than only bike riding for now (like going to the store and getting something to celebrate the bike ride), then that’s ok, especially if it becomes a regular activity for you and you replenish your body with protein, vitamins and minerals from protein/plant sources (even canned/frozen! they still have things your body needs, it’s not fresh or nothing!), and drinking water. Right now it’s more important to focus on recovering your mental health and setting some sustainable goals.

Doing this is going to put demands on your body that will cause it to change in response. Many of them will demand your body develop more muscle, which weighs more (example: when I exercise regularly I gain about 20-30 pounds of muscle easily, I know this from being weighed at the doctor’s office during times when I was not physically active and times when I was physically active, other than that I don’t weight myself, I don’t own a scale, instead I just make sure I get enough nutrition and energy from my food and usually practice my dance and martial arts a few times a week). So, in other words, you’ll get hungrier, and you deserve food for that. Perhaps plan a nutritionally balanced meal to give your body the nutrition it needs to repair and recover from an exercise session in addition to the sweets you crave? 

Canned food is not necessarily evil/bad, I eat canned beans and tomatoes and frozen veggies. What COULD be bad depending on how your body processes certain vitamins/minerals is the salt/sugar content of some canned food (some sugar is not bad especially if it’s supposed to be there like in fruit and pastry, but sugar is unnecessarily added to a lot of things you wouldn’t expect, especially low/nonfat food like milk, yoghurt, etc). So when I go and I buy canned tomatoes (as an example) I check the salt content and try to get one with low or no salt (especially since I’m going to season it a whole bunch and add salt on top of whatever the manufacturer added). (Note: some people can’t process salt very well, so they need to eat more salt in order to get enough of it processed in their body, so for them a high salt diet is what’s healthy, but this is not true for everyone). Beans and legumes are also sources of protein (what your body will need to repair and build muscle for an active lifestyle) along with eggs, and eggs can be pretty cheap (I have seen them at walmart for like a dollar). 

Another option is to shop at international food stores (I do this to get a lot of rice and flour and spices for much more reasonable prices than most chain stores charge). 

I talk more about different factors in this video (it is slightly off base from your question but that’s because it’s the only video I have up right now I’m planning on more in the future). 

-FemaleWarrior 

[who-is-reign]

Hello, hi, hey

Hi I did a short writing thing- here it is!!

Everything starts with a hello, a hi, a hey. A greeting of some kind. Ours started with something else. It started with a trip, a lot of apologies, and crying. Though I feel like I should probably start at the beginning. That makes more sense anyway.

It all started on what I knew was not going to be a normal day. The day started with two pieces of toast, 3 slices of peaches, and a mug of earl grey tea. Or what I was hoping to be a mug of earl grey tea. I poured the rest of what was left of my mug into a thermos and walked out the door. 

3 stairs, take a left, 5 steps forward to the next stairwell. 10 steps down, 5 breathes, 2 stops I could have taken, 7 doors I could see. I ran to my car, even if it was only 5 feet away. 

30 minutes and a coffee stop later, I was at work. I work at a publishing firm as the executive editor. I have been there since the start of this company, Indigo Query. I helped with the name of course. Most of the books that I edited are Best Sellers right now. I can’t say I’m not proud of that. 

Today is the release date of the first book I wrote. I have babied this book for 4 years. All of the characters are complex and have their own stories. I tried to make it to where there weren’t any background characters. To where there were stories going on behind the scenes, or the main focus of the chapter. It is 1563 pages, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, 468900 words. This book is my literal child. I have had these characters since I was in 6th grade. I only started seriously writing out their story in the last 4 years. 

I just realized that you know nothing about me. Maybe that’s for the best. You’ll find out later anyway.

I walked in, went through the cafe, up the elevator, through the small library. I was there, and my book was there. On my desk, I saw a hardcover copy of my book. I almost started crying. Okay, I did start crying. That art was my choice, it was made by one of my oldest friends. I carefully picked up the book, letting my hands run over the almost woven texture of the cover, the embellished sides, and the title. Lastly, my name, small in white coloring. I turned to the copyright page and breathed in. My name is listed as the author and editor. My best friend’s listed as the cover artist. This is what I was meant to do. Write books, edit books, publish books.

I put the book down, I couldn’t read it. Not yet. I needed to meet with Leo Adams, president of the company. He is not the original president, he took over after the old president passed. I personally am not a fan of his. I think he is corrupt and doesn’t deserve the company. The only thing I can hope is that one day this company, my home, will get a better president. The only reason I stayed with this company, is because of my book. I could leave if I wanted to, other publishing companies have asked if I wanted to sign for them. 

But I have something in my eyes, something I can’t give up. I want to own Indigo Query. I want to own the thing I love more than anything. This company is my life, my livelihood. I hate seeing a man who doesn’t care about books be in charge of it. I need to save the company I have over a decade of time into. But right now, it is my time. My book is getting released.

I need to focus on that and nothing else. I need to work, that’s what I need to do. What I want doesn’t matter right now, and it won’t matter for a while. 

I walked as fast as a caffeinated lesbian could without it being considered running to Leo’s office. 

“Ms. Kore, it’s fantastic to see you. And of course congrats on the book release, it looks fantastic already.” Leo’s words drawled on, a slight curve to his phrases. I hated it.

“Of course sir, I couldn’t have had this book released without you,” I replied, trying desperately to keep the ill intent out of my voice. 

What I didn’t say, was that of course, I couldn’t have had this book released without you. Even with you, there were so many issues with getting it released. Including the date getting pushed back 6 months. I could have had this book out, and sold by now. But no, he said it was too problematic. It took all of the editors, our cover designers, the VP of the company, and basically everyone to get him to allow it to be sold. 

“Though Ms. Kore, I must tell you, I really do not think this book will thrive that much. I just do not want to see you getting hurt. Take the day off, you need to.” I almost scoffed once he said that, but I really only muttered thank you and walked out of the office.

I practically ran to one of my coworker’s desks and sighed completely and utterly overdramatically. This coworker has been my friend since high school and they helped found the company. They also know about my aspiration to own  Indigo Query.

“Oliver, I can’t believe him. He literally said that he didn’t think my book would work out and that he just didn’t want me to get hurt.” I groaned and tried to not sound whiny, though I know I did.

“Babe, that is so horrid but also you are so close to literally owning this company. You are so close, and you can’t lose sight of what you have done because our boss is horrible.” I know they’re right, and I am really close, but I need a break. 

“I’m leaving for the day, Adams said I had to.” I sighed.

“Girl you have been here for less than an hour, sit down.” Oliver raised their eyebrows and practically forced me to sit at my desk.

I just rolled my eyes and got to work on a new manuscript that came in today. It wasn’t long before my eyes felt like they were going to burst from my head. 

“I’m taking a coffee and tea run. Want anything?” I closed the manuscript, my question aimed for Oliver who was holding a red pen and had a red pen tied up in their hair.

“Yes, yes, and yes please darling. You know my order anywhere.” And they were right, their order hasn’t changed since freshman year. Unlike everything else. Oliver used to be really shy, with red curly hair, they didn’t have confidence. And now they talk or flirt with everyone, have longer sunset ombre hair, and have more confidence. I’m proud of them.

I walked out of the building and to the nearest cafe. I ordered Oliver’s, which was a matcha latte with added raspberry syrup, apparently, it was amazing. Then I got a London fog earl grey tea with extra vanilla syrup.

 I noticed the cafe had a small bookstore and I walked over there after ordering. I saw something that warmed my heart, my book. I inhaled deeply in shock, already a small bookstore had my book in it. I grabbed a copy and read through some of it. My words, my characters, my world. I get now why it is such a big deal for Oliver every time they see a book they wrote. I only walked away when I heard my name getting called. I grabbed both of the cups and walked away, saying thank you many times.

Close to the door, the not so impossible happened. Someone ran into me, my tea spilled everywhere. Oliver’s drink ended up being safe somehow. 

“I am so sorry, I can’t believe myself, I’m so sorry. Deeply sorry. Let me help.” The person who ran into me sputtered out.

“Don’t be sorry it was an accident, it is okay,” I say looking at them softly.

They had hair a little bit longer than their shoulders, it was a coppery red. Their eyes were a shade of amber. That was when I realized. 

“Laurette?” I asked, stunned that this may be her.

“Yeah? Do I know-- Persephone!” Laurette hugged me and sighed. “It’s fantastic to see you!”

“Good to see you too. What are you doing these days?” 

“Oh! I’m living with Ophelia with our kid. I’m a fashion designer and she is a daycare owner. So she gets her share of kids every day. What about you?” as Ophelia spoke I could practically feel her love for her wife. 

“That is fantastic! I’m the chief editor and now an author for a publishing company called Indigo Query. My first book got released today actually. I work with Oliver Evanora.” I was filled to the brim with pride. 

“Really? Congrats! I bet the book is amazing! I’ll have to check it out sometime. Tell Oliver I said hi. ” Laurette sighed happily, “Well, it’s been great seeing you, I’m so sorry about the tea. I hope to bump into each other again.” 

I smiled and went back up to the counter to grab the tea they remade, gave them a 10 dollar tip, and left. A newfound pleasure seeped through me. I walked back to the office, careful not to spill anything. I gave Oliver their drink and went straight back to work.

4 hours later and the clock showed 5 pm, the day that I had been waiting for years to happen was over. Since I needed desperately to get home, I made Oliver give me a ride home.

“Why didn’t you drive to work? You have a car.” Oliver asked when they were in their car.

“Because I wanted to walk.” 

“It’s winter, it is dark at like 4. You can’t walk home when it’s dark. We live in a city, girl.”

I just sighed, they were right anyway. I didn’t think it through.

“Want to get food?” They asked, “Cause I am starving!”

“Nah, I’ve got to get home.”

“Ok girl, whatever you deem useful,” Oliver said, already pulling down my street.

“Thank you so much! Oh and by the way Laurette said hi.” I said as I shut the door.

  I went inside and set water on to boil. I started stirring the water clockwise and humming a distant melody. It was almost time. The water started to bubble like an ancient potion that had just been given the final ingredient. I poured the water over a mug, grabbed a tea bag, and let it seep. At this point, the stars were already out and thriving. 

After a quick 5 minutes, I grabbed my mug and walked outside into my backyard. I went directly to my shed. My shed was more of my office than a shed. It had a typewriter, my laptop, a shelf filled with different types of teas or coffee. Plants were scattered about, my desk had a big fluffy white chair pushed up to it. Everything was a pastel blue, pink, or white. It didn’t really seem like it was mine, but it was. And it’s more of a home to me than my room is. 

I sighed as I sat down on my mug, put on gardening gloves, and grabbed my spade. I went outside and started to get to work. I planted a new rose bush, I replanted my lemon tree that's growing out of their pot. I moved my ever-growing cherry tree to where they’ll get better sun. 

All of this I did while humming, or singing in some parts. I am the type of person to sing and talk to my plants. I am also the type of person to own 3 trees and more plants than I can count.

I heard a bang and I flinched, my entire body froze in place, as if any movement would cost me my life.

“Is anyone there?” I whispered, barely to where anyone could hear it.

“Hello, darling” When I heard Oliver’s voice I calmed down, “sorry to scare you babe, but you seem stressed. Thought I’d help.”

“It’s okay, Oli.” I sighed, already putting my spade and gloves away. “So, how did you plan to calm me down?”

“Stargazing with some people from high school,” Oliver replied, smiling.

“Like who?”

“Kira, Raven, Laurette, Ophelia, Lilith--” Oliver was about to continue but I cut them off.

“Okay, I get it, almost everyone. Let’s go.” I said, laughing, “Let me change first.”

Five minutes later I was in Oliver’s car wearing a star printed black layered lace dress and 4-inch heeled black boots.

“Let’s go! I wonder if they all brought their kids! Oh, I can’t wait to see Sabrina or even Litha! I miss my coven friends.” Oliver used to be in a coven at school, it broke up after our senior year.

“Where is the place we’re going anyway?” I asked, playing with my acrylics. 

“It’s only 30 minutes away, a small little cabin. Though, we are staying for a week. I took all the clothes that are yours at my house, it’s enough for 7 days. Plus they all look great.” 

“What about work?!”My yells could probably be heard by our high school friends.

“I got it covered babe, don’t worry,” Oliver said in a sing-song tone. 

“Got it covered? Um, no. My book just got released, I need to be in town.”

“Honey, your book is already almost sold out at 3 stores. I only bought one copy. Your child will be fine.” Oliver sighed as he looked at me, “You need this. More than any of us do. So, I dragged you into the countryside to look at stars and hang out with people from our high school. Don’t you want to see everyone’s kids? I’m pretty sure Ophelia and Laurette are bringing theirs.”

“Okay, fine. I do need this, don’t I?” I pulled out my phone and breathed in.

‘I need this, I need a break. 7 days hanging out with old friends will give that to me.’ I thought as I mindlessly scrolled through twitter.

Then I came across this,

‘Jdjisddsj this book came out today! I already love it! #ScarletDreams #Persephonekore’

“Holy bees, Scarlet Dreams is trending in the literature section on twitter.”

“That’s fantastic, but we’re here.” I looked up and saw a cottage with wildflowers surrounding it, two beehives sitting among the flowers, a few kids running through fields. 

We parked next to where a collection of other cars were. Immediately I was pulled into a hug by Ophelia and Laurette.  

“I missed you!” Ophelia exclaimed as she pulled away, her child pulling at her sleeve.

“I missed you guys too, it’s fantastic to see you.” 

Oliver looked at me, then to everyone and said: “Was I right? Did you need this?”.

I could practically see his fear of him making a mistake, a dark sludge crawling through him, pulling him down and towards his own Tartarus. 

“Yeah Oli, I really did. Work was starting to hurt a little.”

A group of three people left the cabin, they were all holding hands and walking right next to each other.

“Oh, hello. I’m Cassandra. I don’t remember you from high school” She said her last sentence more like an inviting question than a statement.

“Hi, I’m Persephone, I didn’t really talk to many people other than who I knew so I can’t expect you to remember me.” I ended my statement with a small laugh, trying to match her tranquillity.

“Babe, you said there wouldn’t be that many people” The person who spoke was as far behind Cassandra and they could be while still holding her hand.

“I wanted you to come, plus I didn’t that many people would show up, darling.” Cassandra's voice was somehow softer than it was before, it seemed as soft as flower petals blooming out to show a beautiful rose. 

Or rather the sun urging a rose to show it’s own beauty. Cassandra’s red hair had so much volume it seemed to live on its own, like a red fox laid over her shoulder. She was wearing a vintage lace dress that was white with roses on it, you could tell a petticoat was hiding beneath the layers of the dress from how it poofed out. Her cheeks were a rosy red, and her eyes had pink eyeshadow flowing out from them. Her eyeliner wings were sharp enough to stab, and honestly, I wanted her to stab me with them.

As soon as I realized what I was thinking I felt guilty, though I wasn’t sure why.

A voice snapped me out of my thoughts, “Hi, I’m Jade!” said the other person next to Cassandra.

Her hair was a really big fluffy black braid, purple threaded itself through the braid, and blue and green followed. The braid went to her lower back and was tied with what I thought was a gold string. A black mini dress hugged her sides. A light pink fluffy jacket was partially zipped and fell off her shoulders.  The dress went to her lower thighs, then a few inches down my eyes trailed down to her light pink knee-high boots. 

“Take a picture and it will last longer darling,” Jade said, the tone of her voice playful yet held enough flirtiness to send shivers up my spine and turn my face red. 

“Darling, let's not immediately start to flirt with the new girl. Let’s not kill her on the first day here.” Cassandra spoke, her tone matching Jade’s.

The one who has stayed behind Cassandra the entire time stepped forward, appearing to gain confidence from my embarrassment. 

“Why not? She may hold up longer than I did.” They said, their voice was soft yet firm. It held together like a cactus in heavy wind, trying to keep its grip. I felt like that’s the type of person they were, a cactus. Harsh on the outside with spikes and a few flowers to lure you in, but held water and healing on the inside.

I knew my face was painted a shade that countered everything around me and the dress that now seemed to hug me instead of flow around me. Like the petals of a tulip instead of an orchid. My heart sped up and I felt frail, yet held stable by these people who I had only met what seemed hours ago but what I knew was minutes, or even seconds that had just been drawn out to a century. 

Then coughing erupted into my thoughts as Oliver shimmed their way in between me and the group, “Let’s go inside, I need warmth.”

“It’s not even cold” I sighed.

“Whatever,” They said as they already started towards the cottage.

As soon as people realized that Oliver had started to walk away, people hurried to follow them. That was Oliver for ya, they could sure direct a crowd.

[powerfultulips]

weird asks?

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?

coffee mugs

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?

chocolate bars!

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?

both?

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?

probably something along the lines of “weird, but brilliant. also really small and tiny”

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?

plastic cups

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?

ideally, grunge

7. earbuds or headphones?

headphones all the way babey

8. movies or tv shows?

not really a big fan of either

9. favorite smell in the summer?

um, like campfires and stuff

10. game you were best at in p.e.?

didn’t really have p.e. in school, but i always liked kickball and dodgeball

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?

just a spoonful of peanut butter, along with my meds

12. name of your favorite playlist?

either “h” or “oliver!”

13. lanyard or key ring?

key ring i guess

14. favorite non-chocolate candy?

smarties?

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?

hamlet, probably. if you’re looking for a novel, a prayer for owen meany.

16. most comfortable position to sit in?

the comfy one

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?

i have these shitty dad shoes (air monarchs) that i wear a lot. mostly because i keep them tied, and i often don’t feel like tying another pair of shoes when i go out. so they’re basically slip-ons

18. ideal weather?

70 degrees, mostly cloudy, maybe a light rain, or a soft breeze

19. sleeping position?

i usually sleep on my right side, but sometimes i roll over to my left

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?

depends what i’m writing, but i like notebooks and my laptop

21. obsession from childhood?

quite a few. gas stations, legos, baseball, phineas and ferb

22. role model?

not sure i have one, i look up to all of my friends in different ways

23. strange habits?

i chew on my knuckles a lot, it’s a nervous stim i’ve had since i was young. dunno if i have any others

24. favorite crystal?

um.... the pretty ones

25. first song you remember hearing?

i have no fuckin idea my guy. maybe 99 luftballons

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?

exist in an air-conditioned room

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather?

put a hoodie on and go for a walk

28. five songs to describe you?

“your heart is a muscle the size of your fist” by ramshackle glory; “after you” by good morning; “dip you in honey” by the wombats; “i’m against the government” by defiance, ohio; “new loved ones” by toro y moi

29. best way to bond with you?

probably helping me out when i’m in a bad situation

30. places that you find sacred?

dunno that there are any, really

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?

karkat t-shirt, black jeans (that unfortunately don’t fit me anymore), probably some cute socks

32. top five favorite vines?

hang on i have a list. mychael with a B, this bitch empty YEET, the AA-AAA-AAAA battery one, bbq sauce on my titties, and “is that allowed?”

33. most used phrase in your phone?

i. what does that mean

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head?

none, fuck capitalism

35. average time you fall asleep?

probably like 2am

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing?

i. have no idea

37. suitcase or duffel bag?

suited case

38. lemonade or tea?

tea

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie?

pieeee

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?

one time a teacher set a dollar bill on fire, i think. i wasn’t there. also a bat got into the bathroom once or twice

41. last person you texted?

my sweet, precious baby boy @literally-an-envelope

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?

p a n t

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

hoodie!!!!

44. favorite scent for soap?

vaniwwa

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?

sci-fi perhaps?

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?

i usually sleep in a tshirt and pj pants

47. favorite type of cheese?

pepperjack probably. i had a dream about gouda last night, though

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be?

a blackberry. idk

49. what saying or quote do you live by?

“All people are good for something. The important thing is finding what.” (Tom, MLB Power Pros 2008)

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?

fuck if i know dude

51. current stresses?

is “everything” an answer

52. favorite font?

helvetica

53. what is the current state of your hands?

slightly sweaty

54. what did you learn from your first job?

sprite with grenadine.... tasty

55. favorite fairy tale?

idk bro

56. favorite tradition?

my family usually goes to chuck e cheese on new years eve. its fun

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome?

bold of you to assume i’ve overcome anything

58. four talents you’re proud of having?

writing, singing, pitching (baseball), and punting (football)

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

y’know, like nya?

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be?

slice-of-life, or a sports anime

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?

shrugs

62. seven characters you relate to?

are these all gonna be homestuck characters? probably. karkat, tavros, kanaya, dave, john/june, jade, and kankri. ok those are just my favourites but fuck you

63. five songs that would play in your club?

i’d probably have a really chill “club” that just played like, indie music from bands i like

64. favorite website from your childhood?

poptropica

65. any permanent scars?

yeah i have a few, although they’re fading and healing, idk if they will be on my skin forever.

66. favorite flower(s)?

i like tulips

67. good luck charms?

stuffed animals

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried?

black liquorice

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned?

fun fact! why do they call it oven when you of in the cold food of out hot eat the food

70. left or right handed?

right, but i swing left

71. least favorite pattern?

idk

72. worst subject?

like in school? physics

73. favorite weird flavor combo?

shrugs aggressively

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?

like 5

75. when did you lose your first tooth?

i have no clue

76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)?

probably fries

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?

shrug

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store?

neither?

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?

school id, i think

80. earth tones or jewel tones?

jewel tones

81. fireflies or lightning bugs?

ain’t those the same thing

82. pc or console?

i guess i prefer console, but most of my games are on my laptop

83. writing or drawing?

writing

84. podcasts or talk radio?

podcasts, i guess?

84. barbie or polly pocket?

shrugs

85. fairy tales or mythology?

mythology?

86. cookies or cupcakes?

cookies !

87. your greatest fear?

losing my loved ones

88. your greatest wish?

am i allowed to say “to be dead”

89. who would you put before everyone else?

my fiancé, for sure

90. luckiest mistake?

i.... don’t know

91. boxes or bags?

🅱️oxen

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights?

sunlight!!

93. nicknames?

yeah

94. favorite season?

spring

95. favorite app on your phone?

tumblr, or discord

96. desktop background?

something from homestuck. it’s terezi

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?

four (mine, dad, mom, fiancé)

98. favorite historical era?

i don’t know that i have one

[templarhalo]

Templarhalo reviews Birds of Prey. (It’s pretty fantabulous)

HERE BE SPOILERS YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Ok without this movie, I would have not been a Cassandra Cain fan.  I would have not four, yes four ongoing fics with her as the main character.  I would not be emotionally and financially invested in the DC cinematic universe or the comics side of things. 

Which baffles me because this movie is perfect in almost every aspect,...   Except how they treated Cassandra Cain.   Which  is a fucking shame because her actress is perfect, her chemistry and relationship with Harley is perfect, and the idea of Cass growing up as this pickpocket foster kid, taken in by Harley is unconventional, but I fucking love it. 

Here’s a brief summary. After breaking up with the Joker  Harley Quinn has to make her own way as the strong, badass, indepent woman we all know she is, while dealing with the fact that without Mistah J’s  fell reputation as his significant other to shield her, a lot of people want her raped, tortured, killed and left for the crows…  Not necessarily in that order.    

To get these people off her back and save her own skin, from one of them, the infamous Black Mask. Harley agrees to recover the Bertinelli Diamond, a diamond encoded with the info for a source of 30 million dollars, Black Mask needs to fiance his take over of Gotham. Which was pickpocketed from one of his associates by our Lady and savior Cass.   

The problem is, Cass kind of ate it( (I shit you not) and Black Mask’s guys would rather cut it out of her than wait for the poor kid to take a dump   Not to mention Detective tReene Montoya (played by her Gotham Actress, which would have been a nice bit of world building if Gotham was actually in the movie continuity) building a case against Black Mask, with the aid of Black Canary   Plus Huntress is indirectly gunning for him and Harley in her own quest for revenge.   All these plot points converge into  a very satisfying climax and fight scene with a somewhat  emotionally satisfying ending. 

From  a technical standpoint this film is a spectacle.   Gotham in the day is colorful but rundown, with markets, suave evil bad guy clubs, dilapidated Chinese restaurants and abandoned amusement parks.   The fight scenes are AMAZING  with a wonderful tension and energy that makes them incredibly visualising satisfying.  Everything flows, the ladies move with an enthralling  grace that makes them breaking bones, crushing legs,and tearing through people visceral and heartstopping.  (And arousing. Like goddamn Jurnee Smollett-Bell could kill me with her legs and I’d thank her)

The problem, is none of this applies to  Cass, and this is the films major flaw besides how short it is. (One hour and forty five minutes).  If you had problems with how Harley was handled in Suicide Squad, the movie fixes it.  Black Canary gets a short but satisfying emotional arc that feels natural. She goes from a cynical, lethargic woman, content to be Black Masks “Little Bird”; A singer at his club, driver and symbol of his power/dominance over other women until her own conscience kicks in at Harley and Cass’ predicament.  Huntress also has a short but satisfying arc in which she gets her vengeance on the people who murdered her family and clearly finds a new one to fill the hole in her life, in the form of the Birds.  Reene and her portrayal is a love letter to the 80s cop/hard boiled detectives, a pure, simultaneously complicated/uncomplicated woman seeking to do good for Gotham.       

But Cass… Doesn’t feel like Cass and is criminally underutilized except as a walking mcguffin by dint of eating the Mcguffin.   She’s introduced to us a snarky tween, stuck in a cycle of shitty foster homes and a pickpocket to get by.  And that’s it.  T

here are moments where you think she'll get a cool fight scene.  Moments where you think she’ll have an emotional heart to heart with Harley,   moments where you think…she’ll do something besides run from the bad guys and get saved by the Birds of Prey/Her four moms. 

 In the end she drives into the sunset with Harley and Bruce the Hyena, but it doesn’t feel earned, satisfying as the scene is.  There is nothing implying or hinting she’s the daughter of two of the deadliest assassins in the DC universe, nothing about her running away from David Cain, nothing on her learning disabilities/selective mutism  and NOTHING, setting her up to be adopted by Batman and become Batgirl 

And this is a fucking shame, because Ella Jay Basco has a real chemistry with Margert and the rest of the cast.  She’s adorable, funny, snarky and wonderful as Cass. She brings energy and spunk and I would cut off my left hand, to see her act as Cassandra Cain, not this  generic punk kid with the name.

And I feel like this is  a HUGE problem because the movie sets up this Mother/daughter relationship, with Cass being Harley’s motivation to be a better person.  She goes from willing to hand her over to Black Mask to taking the kid under her wing.   Cass is the glue that bands the Birds of Prey together.   These lovely, dangerous, women coming together to keep a little girl safe,  doesn’t feel as emotionally satisfying as it should because Cass isn’t Cass.

While I will praise the movie for Harley’s arc of seeking her own emancipation and agency outside her abusive relationships and life of crime,  I feel like Harley’s arc should have been a question of redemption.    Cassandra’s motivation to become Batgirl was her refusal to kill again.  (Hey WB remember how in Batman Begins Bruce refused to kill a man because “I will not be an executioner.”)  

Here Cass is fine with killing. She chucks a bomb at some goons chasing her and  she kills Black Mask with a grenade in the end.

Yeah… Cass “I refuse to kill because my dad made me kill an innocent man at eight years old and killing is wrong” kills people.  

*head meet desk*

Sucide Squad, set up Harley and the squad, for an unconventional redemption arc, spite motivated it may be, yet Harley despite her line to Cass “You make me want to  be a less terrible person”  isn’t seeking to make amends for what she did as the Joker’s henchman.  (Like being an accomplice to Jason Todd’s murder).   

.Cass pickpots and steals to survive, because she’s a kid with no family passed from foster home to foster home, Harley steals because she can, steal a truck to blow up a chemical plant because she can.  Kills because she can.   (granted she does use an M79 grenade launcher with bean bag shells for one scene but besides that.) 

I like the idea of Harley taking Cass under her wing, its an unconventional but fresh idea, but it doesn’t feel entirely satisfying, and Cass not being Cass, not having an arc beyond “Go along with Harley as her apprentice” really undermines the excellent themes and message the movie is trying to convey.

Now maybe in the Suicide Squad reboot with James Gunn or a future DC film , Cass is going to leave Harley because that life of crime and killing doesn’t suit her and she realizes she’s trying to be something she’s not and I’m just being overly critical, but I still feel like “Harley and Cass seeking redemption and moving past their abusers together”  should have been where this movie left off, and it baffles me that it doesn’t from a narrative perspective.

Anway the overall themes and message of Birds of Prey are represented in Evan Mcregor’s Black Mask, a walking talking example of repressive toxic masculinity and misogyny.   A flamboyant, all but stated to  be a repressed Bi, crime lord seeking to take control of Gotham, Black Mask moves with confidence in his loud suits, and charming quirkiness,   He’s cruel, sadistic and repulsive  His mannerisms ooz terror,and insanity. He moves like a love child between Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix’s take on the Joker, Gaston from Beauty and the Beast and Joffery Baratheon from Game of Thrones.   He’s a control freak, trying to  be a badass. 

 One minute he’s the Godfather, the next he’s a brat.  He views Harley as nothing without the Joker, telling her that she needs him to protect her.   He enjoys asserting his dominance over Harley during her brief capture by having his men beat her while he eats popcorn.  He objectifies Black Canary for her singing voice and beauty..   

Black Mask asserts his power and authority over the underworld by  his control over women.  In one  frightening scene, he believes one of the women at his club is laughing at him for his failure to capture Cass, so he orders her  to stand on a table, then for her boyfriend to rip open her dress with a knife because he finds it ugly.

In summary he represents the patriarchy.  He represents sexist, abusive men.   He’s a representation of social norms and ideals that are repressive and disgusting, and rob women of their agency, and self-worth. He represents the use of violence, not for noble reasons, but as a means to control women and lash out at those that defy him and supposedly wronged him .

Furthering this line of thought are  the costumes. Black Canary’s costumes represent the amount of control, Black Mask has in her life.  When we first see her, Dinah is wearing a long black netted evening gown that accents her legs as she sings “It’s a Man’s Man’s World”. Later she wears  a blue tank top and gold, tightfitting pants clearly meant to draw our gaze to her ass and thighs. When she’s Black Mask’s driver, she’s wearing a Bra/crop top that bares her midriff under a short blue blaze, but when she decides she’s going to defy him, she wears a yellow tank top and jeans with  a gold belt.

Harley’s costumes are as eclectic as she is, with her DIY caution tape shawl, stamped tops and cut up shorts.  Huntress’s outfits are all black leather and punkish athletic wear, utilitarian and elegant in their simplicity while Reene wears  a  “I shave my balls for this” t-shirt reflecting her uncouth, blunt demeanor, as well as button down  dress shirts and slacks for the climactic asskicking montage .  

Cass is a kid,who clearly doesn’t have the funds for super nice clothes. She;s running around in ratty shorts and a worn out hoody with  a red windbreaker, with an orange bandanna askew on her head.  At the end, when she rides off with Harley, she copying Harley’s style.

Speaking of costumes, one thing I appreciate is that instead of the male gaze and sexualisation, we get what I like to call “passive fan service”  What I mean is that instead of tracking shots on Harley’s ass or boob shoots, like in Suicide Squad  the camera just lets these women’s beauty do the talking. 

 Huntress is wearing a sports bra and tactical pants for the climax, but the camera doesn’t linger on her boobs.  A primary example of this is a lot of Padme’s scenes in Episodes II and III of Star Wars.  Lucas knows Natalie Portman is a gorgeous woman and he doesn’t need to remind us by deliberate camera shots.  He lets Natalie herself and Trisha Biggar’s excellent costumes do it for us. 

Also one thing I really… really liked was how in the big penultimate fight, Harley actually passes Dinah a hair tie so she can get her hair out of the way. So for like a minute, she’s beating the ever loving fuck out of goons with her legs as she ties up her hair.  A very nice case of reality ensures.

In conclusion Birds of Prey is another notch in the belt for the DC cinematic universe, a solid, fun film with  an excellent cast with clear chemistry, hampered by character derailment that undermines its sorely needed themes and message it's trying to convey.   The plot is  fast paced, but doesn't feel rushed even though it’s only a little over an hour long.  It’s uncompromisingly  bold, bloody and hilarious. The lack of a proper post credits scene is somewhat annoying and I'm very disappointed how Cass was handled , but this is by no means a terrible film. 

Overall I give it a 8.9 out of 10.  Highly recommend you go see it. Drag your friends, smuggle in as much candy and drinks as you can.  Buy it when it comes out on DVD.   If you’re a Cass fan, reread the Puckett run or pick up her new graphic novel Shadow of the Batgirl to wash out the bittersweet taste this will give you.  Speaking of Kelley Puckett, he was actually listed in the “Special thanks to…”  in the credits, which i’m sure many will appreciate.

These following posts and thoughts on the film I recommend.

https://dcwomenofcolor.tumblr.com/post/190693985900/how-would-you-fix-bop-cass

https://wits-writing.tumblr.com/post/190718974642/birds-of-prey-movie-review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YeFJjoQoec

[elsa-agdardottir]

QUARANTINE QUESTIONS

Tagged by @beingpassionateabout

1. Are you staying home from work/school?

Ya

2. If you’re staying home, who’s there with you?

My soul and my spirits. Elsa cushion, chocolate bunnies, and best bread spread

3. Do you have pets to keep you company?

I have a plant instead, my lavender. Her name is Lavande Loveboobs.

4. Who do you miss the most?

Ma flamme jumelle

5. When was the last time you left your home?

Last Saturday, before that I hadn’t left home for 12 days :x

6. What was the last thing you bought?

I bought a pack of soap and two candles together

7. Is quarantine driving you insane or are you finally relaxed?

I like to work from home and stay at home, so it is fine

8. Are you a homebody?

Yea

9. What movies have you watched recently? What shows are you watching?

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World! It is REALLY good! I am going to watch The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall, which is temporarily on Youtube for 24 hours (if you are in the U.K.) or 48 hours (for the rest of the world) half a day later.

Oh ya, I have watched a lot of interesting Youtube programs, including one about BlackRock, an investment corporation that controls TRILLIONS of dollars, equivalent to two times of the GDP of France. That program talks about how this corporation interferes with the stock markets and the governments around the world (mentioned USA, France, Germany, Mexico), and how it potentially illegally used the knowledge they got from the European Central Bank to buy the formerly-public assets that the Greek government was selling at the RIGHT time. It is super dark, but something that the more people are aware of this, the better! Unfortunately, that program was produced by a Franco-German channel called Arte, so it may only be available in French and German. But you can read about BlackRock in this English article: (x). Or if you understand French or want to see if you can tolerate auto-translated French into English, you can watch the program here: (x).

10. An event that you were looking forward to that got cancelled?

Nothing

11. What’s the worst thing that you’ve had to cancel?

Is there anything? Um, ok, I did think about returning to a restaurant to retry their winter menu before it got changed to their summer menu. But then, the government ordered all the restaurants to close. So ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

12. What’s the best thing you’ve had to cancel?

Nothing <- apparently I have no social life LOL Some things I like have moved online, which may be better for me, as I may not always want to leave home :x

13. Do you have any new hobbies?

I already have too many hobbies

14. What are you out of?

Time? I have been sleeping a lot, and doing a lot of self-healing. In addition, I have to work. As a result, even though I am always at home, I don’t have a lot of time to do random stuffs, like painting the Elsa figure that I got from the Frozen II Magazine.

15. What music are you listening to?

The mechanical sound coming from my boiler

16. What are you reading?

This

17. What are you doing for self-care?

Energy healing, cleaning my flat

18. Are you exercising?

Push-ups, sit-ups, planking

19. How’s your toilet paper supply?

I actually bought A LOT last year, like 50 rolls, wayyyyy before covid-19 happened! Now I still have about 30 rolls.

20. Have you made any changes to your hair during quarantine?

No. My hair is beautiful, why change

Let me tag @the-awkward-feistypants, @super-mam-te-moc

[newluddite]

If I Were Emperor #3

Its been a long time since I decided to solve all the world problems by executive decree.  Here goes another.

If I were emperor I would have all the online social media and discussion systems subject to the same rules as physical publishers.  Magazines and newspapers can be sued for libel and spreading falsehoods.  They can be fined for false advertising. Executives can be fined and imprisoned.  Why do Facebook and all the others claim immunity from that?

They say that they are not the authors, just a public platform.  The counter to that is these stories would be impossible to spread without the platform. They promote it.  They charge advertisers to display.  The only real difference is that rather than appearing on a sheet of paper the information appears on a screen.  They are publishers. They pay some of these authors. People have died because of their business model.

So the next mass murderer who was encouraged by Redit or 4chan “content” would get the owners of those platforms charged as co-conspirators.  The next suicide from cyber bullying would have massive fines on Facebook or Insta-shit slam those platforms down.  Stupid policy statements about caring would be unnecessary as they write bigger and bigger cheques.

Finally I would prohibit absolutely data mining of personal information. Website cookies would all expire in 30 days.  User history on all websites would also expire in 90 days.  Retention of any such information would be a felony.  Selling such data or buying it would be more serious that opium trafficking.

On other data linked policies, I would make phone number spoofing a felony.  Offering the service, or offering the tools to make it work would be a crime.  Spoofing is exploiting a feature of modern phone systems.  The original idea was so that people on the road or working from home could appear to be at the office for a more professional corporate image.

The real effect is to facilitate crime.  That is how those scammers appear to be calling from a local number but are really from Pakistan or China.  Telecom companies say they cannot do anything.  That is a lie.  The fact that such phone calls are originating from a know location that is different from its apparent location can be detected. If they did not know the origin a two way conversation would be impossible.  One phone company in the US will block all spoofed calls for a small fee.

This is the method used for Swatting people.  Recently some jerk was convicted for sending a police swat team to a house after pretending to be a hostage taker at that home.  A person died.  The jerk was convicted of low grade murder.  Making it impossible would save lives.  Bloody obvious.  Reduce fraud crime, save lives.

I would outlaw self driving cars.  Driver aids that can protect people are fine.  I may relent if the executives who sold them would pay millions of dollars from their personal funds (not corporate) for every single death or serious injury.  Elon’s fines would be racking up already.

I would also outlaw machine guns and assault type weapons in non-military possession.  If movie or TV production needed them a military Amory would supply them and supervise the use.  Any crime committed with a firearm would triple the length of the sentence or time to parole.

I would give the billionaires who sent money to tax havens 90 days to repatriate it under an amnesty against formal charges.  After that prison if they did not.  Maybe like they did in Saudi Arabia when then locked a hundred Sheiks in a luxury hotel until they paid up. Standards are standards don't you know.

Since China is to blame for most of Greenhouse gas emissions I would require them to stop.  Just stop.  Not reduce, stop.  They would have to plant a lot of trees and do really good carbon capture, but it is possible.  I have said elsewhere that if Europe and North America stopped CO2 all together China has already swamped that quantity with the CO2 increases in the past 20 years.  If China does not stop global warming will not stop.

OK that is enough.

[pixieungerstories]

Housemates - 1

I’m going to be running a promotion about these guys on Patreon and if nothing else, go check out the inspiration board that goes with this chapter.  If I try to post it, Tumblr doesn’t let my post go up.  This is the current $1+ novel, it releases one new chapter a week, but I have two other novels running just now too.  

WANTED:

Housekeeper wanted for a species diverse household.  Duties include planning, shopping for, preparing and cleaning up after the evening meal as well as light housekeeping in common areas only.  Payment includes: room and board and as a small salary.  Perfect for a student attending Local University.   Campus is just a short walk out the front door and across Hyde Park.  Residents would provide a security escort to and from evening classes, if required. Contact Bazur at 555-2972 for more information.

“How are you going to get this past your mom?” Jenn demanded.

Vinny sighed, put down her coffee and leaned back in her chair.  They were in the coffee shop in the student union building.  It was nice.  Its was summer, so the fireplace wasn’t running, but the coffee was better than at the Starbucks across the street.  She stared at the vaulted ceiling and carded her fingers through her long, chestnut brown hair.  Then she sat up, put on her professional face and said, “It’s simple logistics.  Chem 403 requires a night lab.  It runs from 7:30 until 10:30.  While the busses as still technically running, it is down to slow service so-”

“It’s going to take you two hours to get home.” Jenn finished.

Vinny nodded, “I can’t even get on the bus until almost eleven.  Plus I have a transfer in a bad part of downtown at 11:30 where I have to wait twenty minutes for the next bus to come.  Then I don’t get home until 1:00am and I have to be back at The U for Math 476 at 8am.  I can’t afford a car.  Hell, I can’t afford school if I lose my scholarship.  I certainly can’t afford to get a place closer to campus.  This is perfect.”

“Depending on how much house work there is.” Jenn pointed out. “Some people are total slobs.”

Vinny nodded.  “But I won’t know that until I go for an interview and find out.”

“Assuming you get an interview.”  Jenn looked hard at her friend.  “You already applied, didn’t you?”

Vinny gave a head wiggle/shoulder shrug and grinned a tight lipped smile.

Jenn pushed her glasses further up her freckle covered nose as grinned back.  “Have you told your mom?”

Vinny’s smile faded.  “There isn’t any point.  If I don’t get the job or the house is a disaster, or if the people are creepy, then I just don’t say anything and we… try to come up with a different plan.    Fall term doesn’t start for two months, so if it doesn’t work out, I have a little time.”

Jenn nodded, slowly.  “That’s fair.  But what happens if you turn up for your interview and it’s a pack of werewolves and they eat you?”

Vinny gasped, “Jenn that is so speciesist!”

Jenn shook her head, “OK, then, what if you turn up and it’s a bunch of human men who are rapists and ax murderers?  The point is, how are you going to be safe?”

Vinny’s grin turned conspiratorial, “You could come with me to the interview.  That way you would know where I was and could call the cops if I’m not out in twenty minutes.  Or if you hear screaming.”

Jenn narrowed her eyes. “When is the interview?”

Vinny looked at the clock, “In about an hour.  But it is just across the park so we have time to finish our coffees.”

“Vinny!”

“Look, I already walked past the place.  It’s one of those big houses on University boulevard.  The really pricey one’s facing the park.  The is even a park bench basically right across the street from it.  “I’ll buy you a fritter and a tea to go and you can hang out and snapchat how you are a good friend while I have my interview.  It’ll be fine.”

“Ugh.  Fine.”

—-

It was an imposing three story, red brick manor.  It was across the street from the park, which meant it must have million dollar views.  Plus the university area was pricier to start with.  The whole building was intimidating.

Jenn whistled, “Well, you know whoever lives there can afford to hire a maid.”

Vinny nodded.  She took a deep breath.  “Wish me luck!” she said, before striding confidently across the street and ringing the doorbell.

The man who answered the door was somewhere over six feet tall.  The way he filler out his jeans and t-shirt suggested he had a serious gym habit.  He was also a gargoyle.  His skin was a light cement grey and he was taking the phrase chiselled features to a whole new level.

Vinny blinked, but recovered quickly, “Are you Mr Bazur?  I’m Vinny.  I’m here for my interview.”  She held out her hand.

He hesitated, then carefully shook it.  His skin was more leathery than Vinny was expecting.  She also knew that gargoyles, by preference don’t wear clothing.  There was no need.  Their hide was impervious to the elements.  He was dressed for her comfort, not his.  That was something to think about.

“Come in.  I’ll show you around first, then if you have any questions, we can go from there.”

Vinny nodded and stepped into an entryway that was like something out of an old Hollywood movie.  There was patterned carpet, a good sized foyer with a circle table, then a grand wooden staircase leading up towards a landing with a big bay window.  There was wainscotting.  There was decorative pillars.  None of it was new, it looked like a well cared for antique.  The took the doorway to the right.  “This is the dining room.  We actually eat here. There are six of us, you would be number seven.”

To the left of that was a set of pocket doors that opened to a pantry with a sink that they walked through to the kitchen.  It was, old but clean.  There was a gas range and a farmhouse sink with a built in porcelain drainboard.  “The job includes planning and cooking supper.  We are on our own for other meals.”

“Any special diets?”

Baruz froze.  “Tristan is a vegetarian, Derick is … not.  They are both raw foodies, so they will give you a list when you are grocery shopping.  Other than that, they will take care of themselves.  As for the rest of us, you cook, we will eat.”

“Tell me about Tristan and Derick.”

Bazur sighed.  “Tristan is a minotaur, Derick is a werewolf.”

Vinny nodded slowly.  “Are there any humans in this house at all?”

“You would be the first.”

“Oh.”  She thought about that.  “What is the grocery budget like?”

“$1000 a week, which sounds like lots, but we are big eaters.”

“What are you expecting the workload to be like?  The ad said it would be a good job for a student, but you are already talking about an hour and a half a day to prepare food, and wash up afterwards.”

“We have a rotation for dishes.”

Vinny frowned.  “And does that work?  Because I don’t want to be ready to start supper and find out I have to either chase down whoever didn’t clean up or wash them myself before I start the next meal.”

“I am expecting the workload to be about two and a half to three hours a day.  If we are more work than that, we will have a meeting and you can share a list of chores that you need us to do.  We all do our own laundry.  Housekeeping would be cleaning the bathrooms, vacuuming and washing the floors, dusting, and organizing dinner.”

“Ok.  Tidying where?”

“The common areas.” Bazur replied.  “We are each responsible for our own rooms.”

“And I get a room in the house?”

“You get half the third floor.  There is a private bathroom up there.  It would be yours exclusively.”

Vinny thought about that.  “Let’s see the rest of the house.”

The kitchen opened on to the back entry way, which  had a door on each side.  The first opened onto a beautiful backyard.  “Tristan is in charge of landscaping.”

Heading back inside, Bazur pointed to the opposite door, “That goes to the basement.  It isn’t finished.  You don’t have to worry about that, but I will show it to you if you want.”

“Maybe next time.”

The last door opened into a TV room. There were three large couches, a HUGE TV and a collections of gaming systems.  The coffee table was clean, but there were drink rings.

“How long did it take you to clean before the interview?”

Bazur coughed. “A while.  But everyone is responsible for their own mess, you just need to vacuum around it.”

The next room has a fireplace, a set of french doors leading outside, one of which had been modified to include a doggie door.  It also had a futon and a dresser.  “This is Derick’s room.  He’s the only one of us who lives on the main floor.  He’s a werewolf.”

“The raw foodie who isn’t the vegetarian?” Vinny suggested.  Bazur nodded and kept moving.

The last corner of the house had a library/ music room, complete with a grand piano.  “We don’t really use this room, except to walk through to the TV room.  You don’t have to worry about it.  Want to see upstairs?”

Vinny nodded.  As they climbed the stairs, Bazur explained, “You don’t have to do anything with any of the bed rooms, so this floor is just vacuuming the hallways.”  He opened the first door to show a room with a bunch of plants, a display case full of trophies, and a mattress of on the floor.  “This is Tristan’s room.  He was a professional on the rodeo circuit.”

Vinny felt her eyebrows go up.  “Wow… um…. Not many people would admit to that.”

Bazur shrugged.  “You would find out anyway, if you google his name.”

Vinny wondered how she would explain to her mom that one of the guys was a minotaur retired from the rodeo circuit when that was basically code for bull riding porn.

Bazur continued.  “He doesn’t really like to talk about it.  He’s a little shy.”  Vinny choked at that.  “So if you don’t bring it up, he won’t either,” Bazur continued, ignoring Vinny’s faux pas.

“Right!  Next room is Dren’s.  He’s gelatinous.”  Again, no bed, this time it was a clawfoot bathtub that didn’t appear to be connected to anything.  There was a wooden chair.  Everything was hard surfaces, including the exposed floorboards.  

Bazur closed the door and opened the next one. This was even more empty, it looked like something out of a haunted house.  There were spiderwebs everywhere.  “Thea is a Drider.”

The following room was the most normal looking.  No dresser, but a desk and chair.  An armchair near the window with a floor lamp for when it was dark.  There were a stack of books on a side table next to the chair.  And a lovely, antique wooden bed with a patchwork quilt.  Bazur looked around, “Oh!  Sorry, Kevin.  I didn’t know you were home!  This is Vinny.  She’s interviewing for the housekeeping job.”

Vinny looked around the room and didn’t see anyone.  “Um, hi?”  There wasn’t any response.

“Sorry, Kevin doesn’t always have the best manners.”  Bazur closed the door.

Vinny whispered, “Bogeyman, right?  He was under the bed?”

Bazur made a face like he was trying not to laugh.  “Mimic.  He was the bed.”

“Oh.”  Vinny felt like her brain had shorted out and she was running on autopilot.  She barely registered the next room being a large bathroom that was probably a converted bedroom. It had a floor drain, a huge tub and a walk in shower.

The last bedroom was on the other side of the staircase from Tristan’s room was also a corner room facing out to the back yard.  This one had been decorated in military memorabilia. “This is Kogan’s room.  He’s a semi retired Marine.  He works for a security firm.”

Vinny nodded, and waited.

Bazur sighed.  “He’s an orc.”

Vinny considered all of this.  “So… six men living in one building.  How much porn had to get taken down/put away before I arrived?”

Two doors down, Kevin burst out laughing.  Bazur looked uncomfortable.  “Some.  But everyone keeps it in their own rooms.”

“Only one bathroom so far.  How does that work?”

“Um… there is another one on the main floor that we skipped.”

“That bad?”

“No! Not too messy.  It’s just, um, where we hid the porn.”

“Ah.”  Vinny was quiet for a moment while she tried to digest all of that.  Bazur was looking nervous.  “How many people have you interviewed so far?”

“Fifteen.”

“How many left before they saw their room?”

“Ten.”

“What about the other five?”

“One didn’t pass the criminal record check.  Two stopped returning my calls, one actually started but was so unpleasant about the level of diversity that we had to let him go.”

Vinny was slightly surprised at the male pronoun there.

“And the other two?”

“One left after the meet and greet due to… Kevin’s lack of manners.  One started sexually harassing Tristan.”

Vinny nodded slowing.  “You keep talking about Kevin being rude.  What did he do to the one he ran off?”

“He was a chair and she sat on him.”

“Oh.”

Vinny’s mind was racing.  She wanted to know if that was an ongoing issue in the house.  And who was going to be the person who would walk her home from night classes.  And what kind of porn was hiding in the downstairs bathroom.  Although, maybe she didn’t want to know.  And she was completely torn between wanting to go home and google Tristan and never, ever wanting to know that about her prospective employer.  She realized she hadn’t said anything in long enough that she was being rude.

“Let’s go see the top floor,” she announced.

The top floor was basically the attic.  The room at the front of the house had a balcony.  It was the biggest bedroom so far.  It had been somewhat divided into zones.  There was a bookcase and a desk in an inside corner, the sleeping zone was next to a fireplace and separated from the small area with a weight bench, yoga mat and free weights.  It was Bazur’s.  

Out of his room and around the corner there was a reasonably sized bathroom that smelled faintly of bleach.  “This will be your bathroom if you take the job.  It was mine, but I’ll be sharing the main floor one.  We all agreed it wasn’t fair to … um, make you share with us.”

The last room was hers.  The ceilings were vaulted.  There were huge closets under the eves.  She had a gas fireplace, and hardwood floors and huge windows looking out over the gardens.  There were heavy velvet drapes that ran across the whole wall where the windows were looking like old fashioned theatre curtains.  She experimented pulling them closed.  They slid easily and completely darkened the room.

Bazur coughed.  “Yeah.  This room faces east, so the curtains keep you from having light in your eyes at dawn.  Also, there is a bit of a draft in the winter.  They help with that at night too.”  He pointed to the radiator.  “Hot water heat comes all the way up to here, and you can use the fireplace if you need extra heat.”

“That is an awful lot of stairs to get furniture up.”

Bazur stopped looking so dejected.  “We would all help.  It won’t be a problem,” he assured her.

Vinny went over and sat on the window sill.  “Assuming you offer me the job, what is the salary?”

“Um… We thought that at max it would be three hours a day, times, thirty days in a month, is 90 hours, approximately.   Call it $15 an hour, would be $1350 less room and board would be… oh… $500?”

Vinny swallowed.  “Is that a question?”

“It’s nearly double minimum wages,” Bazur said defensively.

Vinny nodded.  “My math is - my folks are currently covering room and board.  I have a weekend job, that gives me time to study during the week.  It doesn’t sound like I will have much time for that with this job.  My current take home is a bit more but I would need to take a cab across town to get home from my night twice a week.  Plus, whatever  you say about the idea that you will eat what I cook, you have three different diets I would need to cater to and the fridge is pretty small.  I bet I would need to shop for groceries every second day.”

“Why don’t you come for dinner on Friday?  You can meet everyone and we can talk logistics?”

Vinny sighed.  “I may be twenty three, but I also still need to convince my Italian Catholic mother that this is a good idea.”

Bazur nodded.  “Kogan can take care of that.  He’s Catholic, he’s in security so he has the stats on crime rates for women waiting for cabs and buses on campus after dark.  He’s… mature enough to put her at ease and promise to drive you to mass every Sunday if she wants.”

Vinny nodded slowly. “I don’t have a problem with Tristan’s last job but-”

“You can honestly say he is a landscaper.  Unless your mom was heavy into rodeo three years ago, she won’t know.”

Vinny considered this.  “Do you want to just cut to the chase about the salary, or are we going to dance around first?”

“Whatever do you mean?”

Vinny shook her head.  “You said $500 like it was a question, which would suggest you are willing to negotiate.  It’s close enough to $600 that we could back and forth for a while, but you have six people living here and I would bet that your target price point is everyone chipping in a hundred dollars a month not to have to cook or scrub the toilets.”

Bazur chuckled.  “Yeah.  So, six hundred a month, if you pass the meeting everyone test and if we all get the nod from meeting your mom?”

“Ok.  Just don’t let her sit on Kevin.”

[silver-grove-homesteading]

Weekly Update #5

Week of April 22, 2019

First off I want to say 97 followers. Oh my, you have no idea what it means to me to have this many people following me. I love and appreciate every single one of you.

Ok. So. This has been another productive week and I’m happy about that. I have been doing a lot of lawn mowing. Never realized how long it would take to mow nearly 2 acres when you are using a push mower. A few things that have slowed me down is, well mainly it’s been the goat pasture. Some of that grass was about knee deep and wet. So it was hard to push the mower through all that grass. And the tall grass wore the battery out quicker. About 1/4 of the goat pasture was fairly short and I breezed through it pretty quickly. I ran out of energy before the mowers battery did.

I also continued to work on my garden. Which has been super hard on my knees. I’m going to get a pair of those knee pads on the first. I did get all of my transplanting done. I do also have corn, celery, and carrots planted. We went to Salem (give or take 35 miles away) because someone in craigslist was selling 8 foot T-posts for $2 each. Local stores sell them for $6. So it was 3 for the price of one. We will be using these to put up deer fencing. Sorry to them but I’d like to keep my garden alive and away from them.

Also took a day off. Went to the coast and found geocaches. I explained in an earlier post it’s a really cool game that is like treasure hunting with a gps. My favorite little saying is “I use multi million dollar satellites to find Tupperware in the woods”. It’s fun, it’s free, for the most part you can subscribe to the premium which is like $30 a year. Some caches are premium only. Check out geocaching.com for more info.

We continued to work on the chicken coop as well. We have all the framing for the “loft” area done. We will be putting down the flooring and ramp within the next day or two hopefully. So we are nearly doubling their living space. As if they didn’t have more then enough as it. But I love them, and their coop had a lot of empty vertical space to beat use it.

Hopefully next week is just as productive. Thanks again for the follow.

[thelovelyscientist]

[Image descriptions:

First image: a timestamp, dating the original post to July 16th, 2020

Second image: tags asking "can someone explain pls i don't get it :(" ]

There's a lot of moving parts to this answer, but this primarily revolves around 4 things:

1. Chip manufacturing processes have recently shrunk the die process below 10nm (100 ängstroms). If that's all nonsense to you that's ok. The takeaway here is that computer chips, ESPECIALLY high end ones (modern GPU/desktop CPU chips) require a LOT of specialised manufacturing processes and equipment. There are around 30 factories in the entire world that have all the equipment to manufacture 20nm chips, perhaps fewer (not all of them do much <10nm). Every few years, the cutting edge process gets smaller: this results in power efficiency or clock speed gains, which means faster processors for consumers.

2. Industry experts estimate it would take around a decade to spin up a new factory from scratch in NA/EU. With respect to North America, most of the dozens of plants here have processes >100nm (10x larger than the cutting edge). Two (one in Oregon, one in Virginia) have processes below 100nm, both at an uncompetitive ~50nm. All high-end processors in the US MUST be imported as a consequence. I suspect the same is true in Europe, but I'm a dirty American; I'll only speak about what I know over here.

3. There was already a chip shortage leading into 2020. This largely went unreported in the mainstream, but EVERYONE inside the industry (myself included) knew about the shortage. Hell, I got out of chip manufacturing in 2016 (hellish crunch under a billion dollar company) and still saw the writing on the wall as the whole production process struggled with demand. Why was there a shortage? Three factors:

3a. We can't just "make more processors". The <10nm chips are fickle and challenging to engineer for. We're reaching into the territory of etching channels that consist of only dozen of atoms in width. This is even more difficult than it sounds. As a result, the yields are not great on the bleeding edge (yield is the ratio of functional chips to dead chips before they even leave the factory.

3b. Crypto (ding ding ding, Tumblr funnyman joke incoming). I *hate* crypto. I *loathe* cryptocurrencies. They offer nothing of value to virtually all consumers and are rife for exploitation, plus are environmentally devastating. The hashing calculations that underlay cryptocurrency can be run much more efficiently on GPUs (graphics cards) than on CPUs (your "normal" processor), but discussing SIMD architecture is outside the scope of what you need to know. Take it on faith from a computer engineer when I say "GPUs are faster at crypto math and you can plug several into a single motherboard, so it's more time efficient" This is also highly unusual. The vast majority of people buy at MOST one GPU per CPU (one graphics card per computer). Many PCs require no discrete GPU to function (think your mom's old laptop, not for games/rendering). The extra draw from crypto places strain on all PC parts, but disproportionately on GPUs.

3c. The Internet of Things (IoT). Starting after 2010, the market was perceived to be flush with cheap, reasonably fast chips, so we starting sticking them in every godforsaken appliance to make them smart. This perception wasn't untrue at the time, either. Since North America has dozen of plants, but none cutting edge, it's easy to source local, cheap, simple chips to add to cars and toasters and fridges. (Notice how every new car has a giant flat panel display now? I blank IoT brainrot). This leads to a manufacturing process that is "tight" at every level. If yields aren't high or production has to stop for some reason, there's not enough slack in the line to keep the supply chain from snapping. This is true of both the domestic (low end, cheap) chips and foreign (usually east asian, high end, expensive) chips. Not enough slack in the line to survive any turbulence.

4. Covid and shutdowns ravaged the ability of integrated chip manufacturing worldwide. Even when they *could* be produced, getting them on a boat to cross an ocean or on a truck has proven challenging.

---

TL;DR: add all this together: the chip production is at max capacity leading into 2020, already under strain from IoT and crypto bullshit. There's no give in case of an issue. TSMC (one of the largest manufacturers) rolls out a new 7nm process that Apple and AMD snap up for their processors. Everything is barely keeping pace, then covid hits. If the initial strain (on production, not of the disease) didn't slow down the manufacturing, then shipping slowdowns would later. Or the buildup in strain would eventually catch up as the whole industry snaps like a rubber band under pressure. Backs against the wall, crypto prices surge during the quarantine years (until very recently) driving more companies to vacuum up more chips to do more mining. The entire industry is making maxed out.

All of this shoehorns into tumblr's "Apollo dodgeball of prophecy" meme, since the market didn't "break" for most consumer PC parts until late 2020, after the post was made. I would go as far as to say, anyone posting "at least I can still buy PC parts" in 2020 wasn't paying attention to the storm roiling on the horizon.

Clear as mud?

I will add sources later when I'm at my PC.

no matter how crazy the world gets; you can always buy PC parts.

[thequeenxofhearts]

Horror House Chapter 2 | Scooby Doo Fanfic

Rated M

Chapter 2

Cleveland, Ohio

The gang stopped in a hotel in Cleveland, they still had a way to go before they reached Hancock, Michigan.

Velma had her own room, where she researched away, Shaggy and Scooby shared a room and Daphne and Fred shared. Shaggy and Scooby were watching R.E.D on the movie channel whilst they ate their snacks. Daphne was finishing brushing her teeth whilst Fred was on the phone to his mother.

“She ok?” Daphne asked as Fred ended the phone conversation. “Yeah, she’s fine. She said she’ll keep an eye on the house while we’re gone, she’s turned off the gas and the heating and she’ll water the plants in the office.” Fred smiled, “But she’s worried about us going to Michigan.”

“We’ll be fine, Freddy. We always are.” Daphne smiled as she climbed into bed with him. “Mom knows that too, but you know what she’s like, she’s worried ever since we started doing this job.” Fred said, Daphne smiled again.

“But it does feel good though, solving cases and helping people who need us.” Fred said. “It does.” Daphne smiled.

 There was a knock on the door, Daphne climbed out of the bed to answer it, Velma was stood at the door with her laptop, Shaggy and Scooby standing behind her.

“I found something.” Velma said, stepping into the room, Shaggy closed the door behind them. “You should probably sit down.” Velma said.

 Fred sat up, Daphne sat on the bed, Scooby sat on the floor next to the armchair where Shaggy sat, and Velma sat at the desk with her laptop. “Like what did you find Velm?” Shaggy asked.

“A lot.” Velma said. “So, I searched the hotels between Duluth and Hancock and I found one hundred.”

Everyone sighed, “Then I reread the files and the night they disappeared, Jessica texted her mom at eleven o’clock at night saying they were staying at a hotel, they were supposed to be at Duluth at six o’clock. They were, according to the credit card statement, at the Wakefield gas station at four o’clock, leaving two hours to get to Duluth at six o’clock.”

Shaggy yawned, “Stay with me Shaggy.” Velma said, Shaggy nudged Scooby awake with his foot.

“So, between four and six they go missing.” Fred said. “Don’t forget the snow storm.” Daphne added. “Right, that would have increased their travel time by at least an hour, so let’s say seven o’clock.” Velma said.

“Keeping on the snow storm,” Velma said, picking up her note pad, “The storm caused interference with the cell phones, so Jessica probably texted her Angela Douglas between four and seven o’clock but the text didn’t go through, and wasn’t received by Angela Douglas, until eleven o’clock.” Velma said.

Fred and Daphne exchanged looks, “That would explain the time difference.” Fred said. “Agreed.” Velma said. “So, I searched hotels between Wakefield and Duluth, with regular vacancy, and I found seven.”

Daphne’s eyes widened, Shaggy sat up in the chair. “Then what?” He asked. “Then I found out that three other people disappeared from Michigan in the last six months; Ryan Jackson, Molly Brown and Hannah Farr. Molly and Hannah were a couple who got lost coming back from Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. I don’t know about Ryan Jackson.” Velma said.

“Maybe their disappearances are linked?” Daphne asked. “Maybe.” Velma said. “But the police report said that after the storm cleared, they drove up the road from the gas station up to Duluth and couldn’t find anything relating to the missing couple.”

“But, they did find a hotel coming out of the Wakefield, it was at the back of the file.” Velma began, “The owners of the Clifford House Bed and Breakfast said that they hadn’t seen Jessica or Harry. Police searched the property but didn’t find anything.”

“So, tomorrow we go to the gas station in Wakefield and then the hotel the police found.” Fred said. “Good idea.” Shaggy said.

 The next morning, the gang had breakfast in the café across the road, then Fred put the coordinate into the Mystery Machine’s GPS and the gang headed to Wakefield.

 After stopping a few times for food and to use the bathroom, the gang finally arrived in Wakefield. “I think that’s it up there.” Velma said, pointing to an upcoming gas station with a sign on the roof WAKEFIELD GAS AND FOOD

“Luke Alexander, one of the last people to see the couple alive, should be working in there.” Velma said.

 Fred pulled into the gas station, “We could use some gas too. Shag fill her up, Daph and I are going to see if we can find Luke Alexander and speak to him.” Fred said as he, Daphne and Shaggy climbed out of the van. Scooby was wrestling a tube of Pringles, Velma was reading over the files.

Shaggy started putting gas in the Mystery Machine and Fred and Daphne went into the store.

They walked up to the counter where a young man stood on his phone. The young man was tall and skinny with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes which remained glued to his phone. His name badge read ‘Luke’

Fred cleared his throat, “We’re paying for gas from pump number four.” He said, casually. Luke looked up from his phone and at the computer screen, “That’ll be twenty-six dollars.” He said, Fred put $30 on the counter, Luke looked up at Fred. “Hey, you’re those detectives, Fred Jones and Daphne Blake, right?” He asked. Daphne nodded. “What are you doing here?” Luke asked. “We’re investigating the recent missing persons case.” Fred said.

Daphne and Fred showed him their detective badges, “We know you were interviewed by the police after the disappearance.” Daphne said. “Yes, I was.” Luke said, “Which case are you talking about?”

“What do you mean? Were there any other missing persons cases you were interviewed for?” Fred asked. “Just Ryan Jackson, he’s my cousin.” Luke said. “I’m sorry.” Fred apologised. “It’s nothing to worry about.” Luke said.

“When did he disappear?” Daphne asked. “October thirty-firstlast year, after my Halloween party.” Luke said. “He told me he was staying at that hotel in Ironwood, Clifford House I think he said. When he left my party, he was going to stay at the hotel.”

“How far is Ironwood from here?” Daphne asked. “About twenty minutes up the road. There’s not much around it, only grassland, but there’s a diner a little further up.” Luke said. “Thank you, Luke.” Fred said. “There is someone who might be able to help you. I don’t know what his name is, but I know he lives in a caravan park, he used to work for the family who own Clifford House.” Luke said. “The caravan park is down the road, first left and straight on.”

“Thank you so much for the help.” Daphne said. “Here’s your change.” Luke said. “Keep it, thanks for the help.” Fred said. “Thanks man.” Luke said, smiling slightly. “Oh, one more thing, can we stay in the parking lot for a while?” Fred asked. “Umm…sure.” Luke said, confused, looking at the them both.

 Fred and Daphne stepped out of the store, “I realise that what I said to him sounded suggestive.” Fred said, Daphne laughed.

They return to the van and Fred moved into the parking lot next to the gas station. Velma signs into their online detective portal and brings up the missing persons files and bring up Ryan Jackson’s file.

“Yes, Luke Alexander is Ryan Jackson’s cousin and he did disappear on October thirty-first last year.” Velma said. “The missing persons report was filled out on November third, Luke was interviewed on November fifth, as he was one of the last people to see him.” Velma said.

“Everyone else at the party was drunk, I guess?” Shaggy asked, “Drunk and doing drugs.” Velma said, “There was also a drug investigation and Ryan’s disappearance was kind of put on a shelf, until all of the party goers were interviewed, it affected the case, but none of them were suspects.” Velma said.

Daphne looked at the laptop, “Luke said in his statement that Ryan wasn’t drinking at the party and he didn’t know about the drugs, but he was staying at a nearby hotel.” Daphne said.

“Like, what hotel was it?” Shaggy asked. “Clifford House.” Daphne said. Velma Google searched Clifford House. “The hotel opened thirty years ago, the owners are Thomas and Luelle Clifford, they named the house after themselves.” Velma said, in an odd voice. “So, lots people name things after themselves.” Daphne said. “That’s why its weird.” Velma said.

“They have five children.” Velma said, then, “Oh, had.”

Had?” Shaggy asked.

“One of their daughters, Beatrice, was murdered in the house nine years ago.” Velma said. “What?” Fred asked.

“It says she was murdered by a guest named Jack English. He had apparently been out drinking and returned to the hotel, when he walked up the stairs he bumped into the children and out of nowhere he threw Beatrice down the stairs.” Velma said.

“Oh my god.” Fred said. “She was only five and the fall broke her neck and spine, she died straight away.” Velma said.

“Jack English was given a life sentence.” Shaggy said, as he looked at the laptop. “Yeah, some jackass made up rumours that the Beatrice was haunting the hotel, plus it was the sight of a murder. Loads of people started visiting the hotel, but then the Clifford’s warned people that if they were only coming to the hotel to ‘find Beatrice’s ghost’ then they were asked to leave.” Velma said.

“I think we should check out the hotel.” Velma said. “No, we need to go somewhere else first. Luke said a man who used to work for the family lives in a caravan park down the road.” Daphne said. “He might be able to help us before we go to the hotel.” Fred said.

“Alright then.” Velma said, “Let’s go.”

[rosettasirens]

Enemies By Choice, Lovers by Chance: The New Leaf

CEOofLawFirm!Kuroo x fem!Reader

summary: You finally got a good job at a law firm in Tokyo, but it holds lots of secrets, with the most about the CEO, Kuroo Tetsuro, who always knows how to get on your nerves

wordcount!: 543(chapters will be longer in the future)

TW!: none(lot of creative freedom)

*♥🎲🎴🏮✂🃏💋🧧🎡🍙🍣🍓🍉🍁🌹🍀🏴‍☠️💞🖤❤💖🔳❌*

“Tokyo!” You exclaimed as you stepped off the plane. It was a bit of a chilly day, but you didn’t care. This was your chance to start your new life. After continuous persuasion from your friends, you just had to leave, knowing that if the pestering went on, you’d punch them in the face. Tokyo is a vibrant city with amazing jobs and incredibly sexy looking people. What could possibly go wrong in a place like this?

    You had no idea where to go. You were standing outside the airport like a fish out of water. People can just tell I don't belong can they,  she thought, as several people looked your way with questioning stares. It didn’t really matter, though. You were gonna have the perfect life here(cap but ok-)

    And it started in a taxi.

“Excuse me! Hey!” You yelled to a neighboring taxi. The driver gave you an annoyed look. Great, they’re one of those people, you grimaced. You hesitantly, but quickly, walked to the taxi.

    “Um, excuse me sir-”

    “Ma’am.” she responded.

Shit.

“I need a ride to the ________ Hotel, do you know where that is?” you asked. The driver simply scoffed.

“Foreigners,” she replied. “No problem, I can get you there. For 30 bucks.” You stopped. You’d think a girl with a bachelor degree in Harvard Law, intern for one of the best law firms in America, would have thirty dollars. No.

“Do you take gift cards?”

************************************************************************

    “A room on the 27th floor huh?” You sighed as she pushed her brunette hair out of her face. If this is what it means to start a life in Tokyo, so be it.

    The room was very simple, yet spacious, containing a large bathroom, a living room, a kitchen with granite countertops, and a mini fridge. What more could she ask for? “Decor…” you mutter as she reaches inside your endless boxes and suitcase. You pulled out posters of your favorite bands. While doing so, a wave of relief washed over you. I'm finally here, you thought. You began to put the posters near the wall of the bed, then placed several succulents(small fake plants) and plushies in the bedroom. She finished it off with a throw blanket and threw it somewhere in her room. She stepped back and got a full view of her room. It looked decent, like she didn't spend an hour and a half in the room. Your cat purred on your bed as you drifted off to sleep.

************************************************************************

9 P.M., and you were up on her computer looking for jobs for a law firm. All the ones you looked at were sus as hell, and you could barely find anything acceptable. She came across a law firm, ________, with a picture of a handsome young man in the advertisement. He had alluring hazel eyes with messy jet black hair. You weren’t one to judge a book by its cover, but you just HAD to apply for this firm. Two hours passed and you had only applied for THREE law firms, including _______. You closed her computer and went out like a light.

And when you woke up, only _______ had asked for an interview with you.

*♥🎲🎴🏮✂🃏💋🧧🎡🍙🍣🍓🍉🍁🌹🍀🏴‍☠️💞🖤❤💖🔳❌*

idk if this blows up in anyway i may write more-