#and hit not interest and still get fed the same content and blogs

[imunknowable]

Hey @staff why do the shitty screenshots from twitter accounts and “dank meme” pages that consistently shows up on my dash that steal content and recycle dead pngs, why when I block them they continue to show up on my dash? I’ve blocked these “best of (blank)” accounts and the same ones continue to get promoted on my main dashboard. Wtf. If I wanted to see twitter screenshots I’d just go onto twitter thanks.

[m0e-ru]

eight months in somebody actually asked me abt visualive instead of me immediately annoying ppl about it without former notice. I might actually write properly for once 😳😳😳

OK OK!!!!! In this essay I will.... I will.... Visualive Adachi.... Visu/BURSTS INTO TEARS/

OKAY OKAY for real I just care Visualive so much (as someone who can’t fully understand Japanese AHAHA)

First I’ll add some foundation about what Visualive really is, then I talk abt Adachi in the latter parts of it because this is technically the first time I’m properly talking about this hehe 🐿

T....table of contents???

Visualive

Visualive the Evolution

Masami Itou

Visualive Adachi

Visualive the Evolution Adachi

Terms and Legend

VL - Visualive

VLE - Visualive the Evolution

stage - shortened for “stageplay”

面白い - omoshiroi (it’s just that specific)

Yuuya - VL Hero name

Hayato - VLE Hero name

Baba - Hero

Masami - Adachi

Taniguchi - Dojima

Saotome - Daisuke

Mamiya - Izanami

I add honorifics but sometimes I forget the hyphen intentionally or unintentionally I’m sorry if it makes it hard to read lol

all links have automatic timestamps for easy viewing. i mean. i hope the timestamps work

VISUALIVE “Persona 4.” A stage adaptation of SMT: Persona 4 by Atlus. It adapts the first part of the story, from the hero’s arrival to after recovering Mitsuo Kubo from the TV world. It also ends on a cliff hanger, showing a teaser of Shadow Naoto being projected on the screen.

It takes up a speedy recapitulation of the hero’s spring life, before slowing down and showing in depth his school life in summer. A day before Morooka-sensei’s death, there is a little skit with Kou, Daisuke and Adachi. The hero walks into the conversation before the two other boys leaving, and Morooka-sensei walking in on the student and detective. The next day follow’s the teacher’s death and the Investigation Team (IT) begin investigating their new lead.

From the words “visual” and “alive,” the niche of this stage was meant to be the fusion of live acting and visual digital projections. All seen from the stageplay with the colorful cast of actors and CG animations being projected on the screen. This offers an opportunity for characters to summon their personas, perform cool visual effects, change the backdrop, or even confront their own Shadows.

Performed in Sunshine Theater from the 15th to the 20th of March 2012. The screenplay was written and directed by Shintaro Asanuma from the theatrical group “bpm.” The video production produced by Shutaro Oku, a film director and visual planner. He later takes over as director for VISUALIVE THE EVOLUTION, the sequel stage. The stage music was produced by Shunsuke Wada, with a special show exclusive vocal track sung by Shihoko Hirata.

On this note, I haven’t seen any sort of original soundtrack released for any of the stages and I’m SO SAD. The last song in Mitsuo’s boss fight was such a BANGER and literally EVERYTHING ELSE Marvelous, Wadasan please take my MONEY

Regarding the cast, there were some special accommodations for Teddie, Rise, and Nanako, all of which did not have live actors at the time. During the casting, actors for the three characters could not be found or simply left the directors unsatisfied they couldn’t cast anybody. An exception for Rise, who was able to have a live actor in the sequel stage. It has been stated that there weren’t any “pretty boy” actors that fit the “Teddie Criteria.” While there weren’t any child actors that were believed to portray Nanako well.

Teddie was only ever seen in his bear costume while Rise was busy talking through a call, all voiced by their video game cast. Nanako has never appeared on stage, only being scarcely mentioned in the script. Again, this is different in the sequel stage where her role was extremely important and was shown as a screen projection.

VISUALIVE “Persona 4” THE EVOLUTION. A sequel stage. Beginning abruptly in the middle of Shadow Naoto’s boss fight, the story continues from there until the “true end” of the game’s original story. *Certain characters are introduced while others have been reintroduced. And on a personal note, when it’s all comedic in the beginning, it’s all for what’s coming right after.

I don’t know if I’m salty or just find it really funny AHAHA I might go talk abt it some other day with more context ehehe

Performed in The Galaxy Theater from the 3rd to the 9th of October 2012, only a few months after the PSVITA Persona 4 Golden release, which is July 2012. The screenplay was now written by Jun Kumagi while directed by Shutaro Oku. And music production finally taken over by Shoji Meguro himself.

---

HAHAHA this is starting to look like a wiki page. moving on. I might start rambling rn

(warning LONG !!!! aaa,,)

My thoughts on the stage adaptations. For the first Visualive (VL) I believe it’s pretty close to canon! I enjoy the characterization and how much love and care was present when handling the entire production.

Actors were busy playing the game itself, wherein a PS2 was present in the practice room. Along with magazines and game guides explaining the game’s story and the characters itself. Actors performing together and even improv acting together to get a grasp of their characters. All of them knowing well of Persona 4 as a well loved game, delicately handling their characters and hopefully performing them right while making the audience happy.

The staff taking care of each other while the director and video producer, Asanuma-san and Oku-san, working together well to make their vision into a reality.

The same thing happened with VL the Evolution (VLE) and literally every other good stage. Except... I feel the script kinda got out of hand with too much liberty where it feels a bit more disconnected from canon. But! It makes up for it in its content, whether comedic or (INCREDIBLY) dramatic! It’s great as its own story at that point. So in this case, I like to take the first VL and get to connect it canon, while I don’t know what the hell happened in VLE to the point I’ll just enjoy it as its own content.

These opinions deserve its own essay, post whatever bc I have SO much to say abt this. ANYWAY. VL ADACHI

---

Tohru Adachi is portrayed by Masami Itou (伊藤マサミ), a screenplay writer, director and an stage actor himself. He does have a single character voice role along with a fellow troupe member in the same franchise, but mostly works as the former three. He is part of Asanuma-san’s entertainment group “bpm.” On a similar note, Masashi Taniguchi, Dojima’s actor, was also part of their group from 2011 to 2016, which may explain their good synergy as the boss and the bumbling fool dynamic. I mean, somebody’s gotta get hit in the head every few skits.

With Masami-san being an important part of the cast, he doesn’t appear as often as Taniguchi-san in backstage content like the VL bonus disk or the official blog. Mentioned in his own personal blog, he had been busy with his roles as assistant director (I am assuming also for VL).

Also fun to note, because his role is mainly comic relief, he has been using his liberty to change up the material almost everyday making each performance exciting. This also leaves some other actors jealous of his freedom in his role, such as Saotome-san, Daisuke’s actor.

---

VL Adachi really has a... how do I say this? an adorable speech pattern (THE SAME SPEECH PATTERN THAT DROVE ME MAD TRYING TO DECIPHER I THOUGHT YOU WERE A CITY BOY OSSU OSSU MY ASS /shakes you violently/). Overall, he really fits the loose lipped bumbling fool, and his accent really makes him seem more casual and invested. What I’m saying is... VL Adachi either actually has genuine empathy or he actually has more energy to fake it (compared to some other edgelord. i mean you saw my p4ga analysis. I’m sick of him lol ahaha).

One of my favorite ways to explain this (OTHER THAN CHAIR CAR ADVENTURE MY BELOVED WE’LL GET TO THAT LATER) is the rice field scene with him and Dojima. It’s overanalyzation time 🎉

(43:04)

While investigating, Adachi whines about being tired while Dojima smacks him in the head. In this case, it’s established that Adachi doesn’t want to be there, yes? It’s the country, it’s hot and it smells like green.

"Ah... Dojima-san..! Why don't we take a break? (...) There really is nothing out here... Is the criminal still even here at all? (...) I wonder if I've passed being a rookie yet. Haha, but this city doesn't even have convenient transportation. I can't go to leisure lands (recreation, amusement parks, arcades, ect.) and head home at all."

Adachi then tries to tell Dojima a story. “when I got to this city after being newly assigned, I met an interesting guy (...) Yeah, I remember that the cherry blossoms haven't bloomed yet. So, I was driving my car and got near the station and--” Dojima gets a phone call.

Adachi politely puts his hands down waiting for his boss to finish so he can finish the story. Again and again, Adachi attempts to talk to Dojima about a story he’s so persistent trying to tell someone about. It was so 面白い that he would find someone to talk to about it. Even being polite and patient enough to wait for a chance to speak. He even gets fed up with it and blows up in front of his boss, clearly irritated he’s not given a chance to talk.

Sure, it could be Adachi feeling fed up like a normal person where someone agreed he to listen to him, before being constantly ignored. Or Adachi trying to be a more annoying whiny brat, depending on where you look at it.

If the story wasn’t too “interesting” to Adachi, he would’ve just brushed it off and stopped talking to Dojima entirely, or start up new small talk, or even complain some more. But no, he had a story he wanted to voice out so bad that he got irritated that the one person in the vicinity couldn’t listen to him.

Only after Dojima told him to continue their investigation elsewhere did Adachi finally stop and focus on something else. Maybe that story was for another day, or maybe it was never meant to be told.

What if it was just original (game) Adachi? He’d find a way to squirrel out of the investigation as usual, or push Dojima to “investigate” elsewhere. “Hey boss, don’t you think it’s hot? Why don’t we go elsewhere? We’ve seen this place too many times to count and I doubt anything new’ll turn up. How about we take a break at Junes, y’know? Where it’s cool? C’mon boss,” something like that.

og Adachi is just really annoying and silly to me. Some grown man thinking he can freeload because he never gets anything out of putting in more energy and effort? I don’t care how tall he is, I will smack him in the head.

Yeah VL Adachi whines, too, but at least it doesn’t look like he’s going to escape and waste his time somewhere else. He just sucks it up stops trying to leave the situation.

Or maybe I’m getting this all wrong and VL is exactly the same and my rage just gets dampened because of Masamisan’s execution of character hmm...

SO. What was his story about anyway? The one he really wanted to share to Dojima?

I mean... it’s obvious enough

First day in town? Spring? Actually mentioned driving a car when literally out of every single persona 4 media at the time was there not a SINGLE mention of Adachi having a car OTHER THAN the same stageplay it’s being mentioned in?

A story, from somewhere around uhh four? five months ago? was something that he remembered so dearly and was willing to share despite it obviously embarrassing him even if he puts the blame on a certain somebody in the same story?

Or maybe it’s because he really had nothing to talk about ever since he realized all his stories from the city weren’t actually that funny or interesting in the first place.

BUT then that would mean out of all the things he could talk about—more whining, complaining, complimenting, small talk—he insisted about talking about this story in particular.

Okay, look. I’m just. Just. As someone who talks too much, of course I have things I actually want people to hear out of all the bullshit that comes out of my mouth. And if the thing I actually want people to listen to doesn’t even get heard, I’d go mad.

Sure, Adachi’d be fine when his complaints or intentionally unfunny jokes get brushed off. But a story of a guy that he thought was so funny, interesting, 面白い gets ignored, he really blew up, even just for a split second, maybe.

And ALL the things that happened in that story—on his first day in Inaba! His car got dented, he had to deal with a weirdo dumbass employee that knew zero personal space, yelled in his ear, who didn’t know how to do their job, got his station reputation messed up on the first day, got his ass grabbed, got (unintentionally?) mocked for his lame stories, and got his car dented for the SECOND time. Probably MORE

And he STILL wanted to talk about it /punches through concrete wall/

yes I’m overthinking about this of course i am

This little tidbit of VL Adachi kinda makes me go insane sometimes—his entire characterization in VL in particular. It was really refreshing to see and how they included both of his characters in it, his facade and how irritated he is of a lot of things underneath. And how flexible his character is immediately working with other characters when there’s sudden improv to balance the situation. Like him and Dojima, Morooka, the attendant, or even Yuuya (hero) himself.

I’ll take Taniguchi-san’s messing around in the VL bonus backstage disc in place of Masami-san being so busy he couldn’t appear in it as often as other characters.

For stagetime that lasted for fifteen minutes or less, my appreciation for VL Adachi, even if he was just comic relief, really rocketed. I say VL, bc Adachi the edgelord he’s supposed to be in literally every other media is something I analyze separately.

I haven’t even gotten to VLE oh my GODDDDD

Like I said, I don’t really regard VLE close to canon but as something to be appreciated for what it is by itself. But the way Adachi was characterized there, in or out of character, still struck me.

---

Yes, there was his strange fan-agreed-canon which is,,, now canon obsession with cabbages (not that that’s a bad thing lmao). There was also him being a lot more jumpy and intimate in a clowny way, patting people on the shoulder or even downright hugging them just to mess around. Even FORGETTING who the same goddam loser who grabbed his ass almost a year ago is. But like, can’t blame him they literally changed their actor (and screenplay writer) AHAHAHA

ha... no more comedy, only dorky sword fights now

(speaking of sword fights I think it’s a fun thought how Mamiya-san [Izanami, also one of the youngest in the cast] admitted it was his first time doing sword fight choreography and even thanked Masami-san and other staff members for guiding him)

One thing unintentionally in character was Adachi accidentally nabbing the sushi overdosed in wasabi. Masami-san didn’t actually account for a joke sushi and didn’t immediately eat it—until Taniguchi-san (who also made Dojima go off his shits compared to VL) jokingly yelled at him and even riled up the audience for him to eat it. He even went off stage to get water just for him to eat the goddam sushi.

And Masami-san did! (kinda choked, but he’s fine).

Continuing from the same scene, while being overly giddy about sushi dinner (and I mean overly--he was singing about it while hopping to the Dojima residence), he tried to remind the two, Dojima and Hayato (hero), that Nanako was sleeping. Probably where she was sick if the scene was translated from the game.

(30:07)

And... the dramatic parts of VLE

Adachi was the one who reported to the IT that Dojima was chasing Namatame in the rain. While Naoto was discussing Namatame’s journal entries, Adachi, as giddy as he is, took it from Naoto’s hands and reveled in the discovery of evidence so childishly(?). He even ran to Dojima when he began regaining consciousness and immediately called the nurses to help him wheel Dojima to the ER.

Then, The Hospital Scene™️, right after Nanako flatlines.

(1:02:02)

Adachi, who recently walked into the scene, immediately worries about Dojima and IT who were ALL crying. He looks down, devastated—before yelling how Dojima’s heading to Namatame’s room.

He yells in terror and the same grief at his injured boss, all while running past and even jumping over children, who fell to the ground sobbing, to get to him. He continues yelling in a pained fashion while immediately reprimanding Dojima to stop. He gets carried by the collar before being tossed to the ground at Hayato’s feet, all while being pat by the same boy.

Dojima makes his speech about how unfair it is for the ‘killer’ to be alive when his daughter isn’t. When he finally falls to his knees, Adachi rises from the ground, humbly saying he’ll do his best to take care of Dojima (or something like that I’m in tears I literally can’t do VLE’s hospital scene i h8 this). He finally starts crying along with everyone else, being pushed away again but still tries again, trying to usher his boss away from the door.

With the help of the guard in front of the door, they all disappear off stage

please... I know this scene doesn’t need that much translation because of how important this scene is in the entire story. and I know my narratives aren’t enough so just,,,, just watch it please it’s so much more than this. everyone’s acting was just spectacular

(1:08:47)

So, after the IT (YOSUKE. JUST YOSUKE. good job Mae-chan) stop themselves from k wording Namatame, it was ADACHI who reported Nanako’s miracle recovery. He ran to the same corridor where they all cried in, even panting and falling to the ground in relief trying to report the good news. Then he pats Hayato on the shoulder and says he’s going to Dojima.

With this... /slaps roof of half of VLE/ ALL of this....adachi.... adachisan.... he Cares™️..... holy shit.....

now. comparing to the game. do you even remember what og Adachi did? did he.. even do anything?????

(56:39)

NO!!! he just stood there!!!! being a bumbling fool but.... inappropriately!!! man. he didn’t act concerned enough.

adachi: /walks into a bunch of kids crying outside a hospital room/ “lmao why tf are y’all crying? did uhhh what’s her face uhhh nanako. did she d word or something? rip, I guess lol” LIKE????? CAN YOU IMPLY FASTER

and then he’s like “wgat hmm Where’s Dojima-san Heading Because That’s Not The Way To His Room 🤔” and only when he’s asked he actually mentions he’s heading to Namatame’s room and still needs to get choked by a first year for the room number like..... zero consideration

and his boss??? where his daughter he loves so much just??? di*s???? and he’s so devastated he’s doing what he can that very moment while he’s so numbed of thinking of the consequences???? And adachi goes “uhh boss that’s illegal” LIKE. BITCH. /punches through a concrete wall but harder/

---

And??? His confrontation scene??? Like, I know they mashed it up w his tv confession scene to save stagetime for other scenes BUT IT WAS SO MMBMBMBMMGN /gestures in a good way/

(1:15:56)

UM?? guy behind everything??? in a vulnerable area where he could easily get physically assaulted bc hes not in the tv world w his persona?? Trash talks women like he absolute misogynist he is??? getting yelled at by a bunch of kids and YELLING BACK IN THE SAME AGITATED MANNER even TAUNTING THEM then and there to GET HIS ASS?????

og Adachi was such a pussy he got caught and just scurried off into the TV world where he ended up having powers like...ok....scared of getting beat down by a bunch of highschoolers unless you have powers...ok....

he only taunted them to get him when he was in the tv world too.....he rlly couldn’t say shit in the real world huh... lol

(yeah yeah this shows how VLE Adachi knew abt his TV world powers which would make you think if he ever went into the tv world and came back out alive. Or he’s really just a badass who doesnt give a shit abt anyone’s opinions and CAN beat anyone’s ass. i have a separate thing abt this but bc i like to laught at vle rather than overthink its own lore i might. not. idk lol)

and ??? VLE Adachi can??? He can swordfight??? he doesn’t even NEED a gun—he even reflects bullets w his blade (but apparently he can still get slapped by a flying fan more often than any other attack). His fight choreo was just...so poggers. He’s like short villains done good—like??? he’s short compared to everyone else!!! but he makes up for it for stuffing all the energy inside him while is bursts out making him him the over energetic gremlin he is!!! go VL adachi!!!!

(am I low key making fun of Madono-san in the TUUSH stageplay I’ve seen four minutes of? maybe)

OK!!! Yes I was gushing abt Masami-san again back to Adachi.

It’s portrayed that while not being afraid to admit his crimes, he also goes out of his way to be a bastard and have the gall to get a bunch of kids to fight him, one on eight. He can use a katana, probably a narrative dark reflection of the hero, Hayato which I thought was nice—and he can fight!!! It also shows his persona, yes, but...it doesn’t make it clear if he’s overwhelmed by his Shadow like in the game, where his eyes were yellow and he was emitting a dark aura.

But it gets interesting how he sees he’s getting overwhelmed and starting to lose his edge towards a bunch of kids. He falls to the ground even banging the floor like a whiny brat while literally the IT tries to tell him to turn himself in. Again, like a brat he tells everyone to shut up—before getting incapacitated. While some of the IT rejoice, he bolts up unaccepting of his defeat—before getting hit in the stomach.

(1:23:54)

And his words from when he drops his katana, “Why..?” He grabs the foldable chair against his stomach, and with a remorseful look in his eyes, he says “I’m sorry..!”

THEN HE BACKFLIPS—then Hayato slashes him.

In a tone of disbelief, he goes “no way...” and collapses to the ground, being possessed by Ame-no-Sagiri.

Blah blah blah then Teddie rockets himself into the eyeball spy cam and then they both explode aaaaa

Teddie survives but I really don’t know where Adachi went. Not even a mention by Dojima if he turned himself in or was ever found—or I need to review VLE for the 48274827482nd time hehe

WHOO then the whole cast appears for the dance number at the end of show YAHOO

[jimimn]

HI ITS ME WHO'S NOT OVER JJK BLONDE SELFIE AND WILL NEVER BE -💫

HELLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO <33333333

HONESTLY ITS THE WAY YOH SAY SUCH NICE THINGS AND I DISAPPEAR FOR DAYS ON END BECAUSE INCONSISTENCY BLEEDS INTO EVERY CORNER OF MY LIFE FNEKALKD BUT I'M GETTING DONE WITH MY FIRST LEG OF EXAMS ON MONDAY SO YAY TO THAT!! OKAY I THINK WE'LL MOVE SLOWLY WITH BABY STEPS JUNGKOOK DROPPED SOME SELCAS JIMIN DROPPED SOME SELCAS IN THE WORDS OF THE LEGENDARY JEON JUNGKOOK ALL WE NEED NOW IS "together..BAM!" (THAT'S LITERALLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOMENTS EVER THE WAY HE SAYS IT 🤧)

YES IN THIS HOUSE WE SCREAM OVER JIMIN'S DISRESPECT HE IS THE PARAGON OF A MULTI-FACETED MAN THAT HAS US WRAPPED AROUND HIS FINGER. THE AUDACITY 😤

CHANEL X JIMIN LETS MAKE IT HAPPEN AND OMG THAT SELFIE THAT DROPPED?? SIR???? WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?? I MEAN YES BH SAID LET'S DROP SELFIES IN BULK BUT THAT ONE PICTURE OF HIM IN BLACK(GREY? I DONT KNOW FHSKKAJF) WITH THE SHIRTS UNBUTTONED!!! THEM COLLARBONES ARE FREE AND THEY'RE THRIVING IN THE OPEN IN THAT ONE. ALSO HIS LIPS ARE SO PRETTY. OH GOD LITERALLY HE HAS THAT COCKY SMIRK ON HIS FACE WHEN HE KNOWS HE DOES HOT BOY SHIT LIKE SHUT UP OK YOU CANT DO THAT JAIL FOR U NDNSLSKAJJW

SUCH A FUCKING TEASE THATS RIGHT!! EVEN STRAIGHT MEN?? BRO LIKE HOW DO YOU HAVE ALL GENDERS JUST TRIPPING OVER THEMSELVES FOR YOU IT'S INSANE AND OMG MISS SHIVI HAVE YOU SEEN THAT ONE CLIP IN WHICH JIMIN HOLDS HIS GAZE WITH THESE MEN WHO LOOK AT HIM (i think it was bon voyage?) and when they cross each other he JUST SMIRKS AND RUNS HIS HAND THROUGH HIS HAIR LIKE YEAH OK ALEXA PLAY I'M SEXY AND I KNOW IT. AND YES I'LL LISTEN TO EVERYTHING YOU HAVE TO SAY ANYTIME 💗💗

12PM KST IS THE HOLY HOUR I TELL YOU ALTHOUGH I REMEMBER WAITING THE NIGHT BEFORE BE CAME OUT WAITING FOR SOMETHING TO COME AND BH WAS JUST LIKE "yea...no" OMG THAT'S AWESOME YOUR COUSIN'S VISITING YOU

HHFJDOSO YEAH IT'S BEEN A WHILE SINCE THEY DID THE JUMP ALTHOUGHHHH I'M POSITIVE THEY'LL DO SMTH COOL LIKE THAT IN THEIR CONCERTS BECAUSE THEIR PERFORMANCE QUALITY IS JUST.. THROUGH THE ROOF IT'S CRAZY!! WHEN THE PERFORM WINGS?? LIKE HOLY SHIT NO CHOREO NO POSITIONS JUST BTS RUNNING AROUND THE STAGE MAKING THE CROWD GO FERAL I LOVE EVERY WINGS PERFORMANCE SO MUCH MY SEROTONIN LEVELS ARE ALWAYS AT A HIGH THEN. OOHH MY GODDD BS&T IS REALLY THAT BITCH!!!! WHO'S DOING IT LIKE HER TODAY NO ONE IS EXACTLY. AND NOOOO I TOTALLY GET IT WE THINK ON THE SAME WAVELENGTH THAT ACCIDENT HAS THE SAME EFFECT ON ME. IF ONLY YOU'D TOLD ME THEN IN 2016 THAT THAT ACCIDENT WAS THE START OF SO MANY I'D BE PREPARED FOR EVERYTHING THAT FOLLOWED (see: him basically stripping himself that one serendipity performance. holy shit.)

FOR REAL THO CHRISTMAS LOVE DROPPED OUT OF NOWHERE AND DO YOU REMEMBER JIMIN SAYINF uUH iM nOt wORkInG oN a SoLo SoNg aT ThE mOmEnT heHe LIKE ALL MEN DO IS LIE OK AT THIS POINT. BYE. YES TAEHYUNG DID WARN US BUT ARMYS (LIKE MYSELF) PUT THEIR CLOWN WIGS ON AND THOUGHT IT WAS KTH1 LMAO. OMG I HOPE YOU DON'T SLEEP THROUGH ANY OF THEIR UPCOMING SONG RELEASES BUT I'M SURE IT'S THE BEST FEELING TO WAKE UP TO CHECK YOUR NOTIFS AND SEE "Big Hit Labels" BECAUSE THAT'S HOW YOU KNOW IT'S GOING TO BE FIREEE. DUDE SERIOUSLY I NEED JIMIN TO GO LIVE AGAIN (although we've been well fed by namjoon for now🤧😌💗) LIKE THAT ONE YT LIVE WHERE HE SAID "O...M...G" SHUT UP STOP BEING SO CUTE I'M DHJSWLIFJWKALS

LMAO OKAY YEAH THAT'S VALID YOUR BLOG THEME IS BASICALLY ✨jimin✨ AND I LOVE THAT IT REALLY GRAVITATED ME AND YOUR URL OH MY GODDDDDDDDDDD YOUR BRAINNN 💆‍♀️💆‍♀️💆‍♀️💆‍♀️💆‍♀️

YES YES YES JIMIN IS SO PERFECT AND THE SOCK DOODLESSS 😭😭😭 oooo so when did you get into giffing? how did you start? BROOOOO YOUR URL'S ORIGIN STORY. I LOVE IT WOW YES IT'S DEFINITELY GOT THE REQUIRED ✨pazzaz✨

NOOO OMG THIS URL IS YOUR BRAND LIKE YOU'RE A LEGEND ON ARMYBLR I LOVE IT SO MUCH. BUT STILL!! IT'S YOUR CHOICE AT THE END 💖

OMG QUARANTINE DID IT'S ONE GOOD JOB AND GOT YOU INTO BANGTAN YAY. OMG YOU AND MISS LIFEGOESMON ARE FRIENDSS??? LEGENDS INTERACTING THIS IS SO COOL. LMAO THE PARADIGM SHIFT YOU MUST'VE FELT FROM LISTENING TO STAY GOLD (WHICH BTW THE MV...THE LITERAL CUTEST OH GOD THE LITTLE DOG AND JIMIN'S LITTLE SMILES DHSJAOWO) TO THEN GOING TO BST IN WHICH JIMIN IS BASICALLY STRIPPING AND JUNGKOOK IS UPSIDE DOWN LMAOOO. YES BS&T HAS EVERYONE HOOKED THE POWERRRR. YOU FALLING DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE WITH YOUR FRIEND'S ASSISTANCE OH GOD THIS IS SO CUTE 💓 EVERYTHING ABOUT THEM 🥺🥺🥺

AAAAH OKAY MY STORY ISN'T AS INTERESTING AS YOURS IS BUT IN 2016 BASICALLY ALL I KNEW OF KPOP WAS GANGNAM STYLE AND WASNT WILLING TO CUANGE THAT PERCEPTION (FOOL BEHAVIOUR I TELL YOU) AND WAS TOO BUSY OBSESSING OVER ONE DIRECTION'S REUNION AND SO ONE NIGHT (THE NIGHT BEFORE JIMIN'S BIRTHDAY 🤧🤧) I JUST STUMBLED UPON THEIR BS&T TEARS MV AND I HEARD IT AND I WAS LIKE OMG!! THIS IS THAT SUPER ADDICTIVE SONG THAT I'D HEARD SOMEWHERE AND IT JUST SPIRALLED FROM THERE I REMEMBER SEEING JIMIN AND BEING LIKE 👀👀👀👀 WHO IS HE I LIKE HIM AND JUST HIS AURA DREW ME IN SOOO MUCH AND WHEN I WAS GETTING INTO THEM I REMEMBER WRITING THEIR NAMES IN MY NOTES TO SEE IF I COULD REMEMBER 🤧 AND I STILL HAVE THAT NOTE FROM 4+ YEARS AGO 💓 AND YEAH BASICALLY SEEING THEM DO ALL THE MUSIC SHOWS AND STUFF AT THE TIME WAS SO COOOL AND MIND YOU BH DIDN'T HAVE SUBS FOR BANGTAN BOMBS THEN SO WENT ON THESE SKETCHY DAILYMOTION TYPE SITES LOOKING FOR ALL THE CONTENT I COULD CHURN OUT LMAO

AND YES!! COURTESY OF YOU I DID WATCH SOME RUN EPS!! I WATCHED THEIR CANADA ONES SPEAKING OF WHICH I LOOOVE THAT PART WHERE THEY'RE DOING THAT SONG GUESSING THING IN THE MORNING AND JIMIN SAYS "are you cold?" 🥺🥺 TO TAE AND HUGS HIM URRHRHEHSJSJSH AND I ALSO SAW THE ONES WITH THE PUPPIES GODDDDD I LOVE THE PUPPIES ONE SO MUCH LITERALLY JUNGKOOK AND HIS DOG (MIRI?) OH MY GOD THAT LIL FLUFFER AND ADAM IS MY ICON WITH HOW HE JUST DID HIS OWN THING LMAO.

BUT ANYWAY!! DO YOU HAVE A FAVE ERA?? LIKE DO YOU EVER LOOK AT THEM AND GO "Damn I wish I was a fan then" BECAUSE HONESTLY I WISH I HAD STANNED THEM IN THEIR DOPE ERA BUT I DON'T THINK I WOULD HAVE SURVIVED JIMIN THEN DHKSOWID-💫

FOR THE UMPTEENTH TIME!!!!!!! ITS OKAY!!!!!!!! I TOTALLY TOTALLY UNDERSTAND!!!!! AND YAYYYYY CONGRATS I HOPE THE FIRST LEG OF EXAMS WENT WELL <333333 AND OH MY GOD you’re gonna make me cry with the together baam goddddddd same one of my fave moments and jimin’s giggles after that 😭😭😭😭 my babies <3 :((((

that..... black suit selca....... that opened button...... like open one more dear sir who’s stopping you... just do it <33333 YEAH he totally needs to shut up with his i know im hot side it just kills me every single time 😭😭😭😭😭

LISTEN THAT BV3 MOMENT  S H O O K  ME OKAY????? THOSE GUYS LOOKED AT HIM AND HE WAS SO FUCKING SMUG ABOUT IT (AND HE SHOULD BE) AND THE WAY HE LICKED HIS LIPS AND RAN HIS HANDS THROUGH HIS HAIR????? LIKE HE KNOWS HE HAS EVERY SINGLE PERSON; NO MATTER WHAT GENDER; WRAPPED AROUND HIS LIL PINKY LIKE THAT???????

OH MY GOD ME TOO I LOVEEEEEEEEEEE THE WINGS STAGE AND WATCHING THEM HAVE SO MUCH FUN IS JUST SO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND I ALSO ABSOLUTELY LOVVVEEE THEIR ENERGY DURING THE SY TOUR MEDLEY WITH IDOL AND BAEPSAE AND FIRE AND DOPE ZSXDFGFCHGVJBHJN THEY JUST LOSE THEMSELVES IN THE CROWD AND THE MUSIC AND ITS JUST SO FUCKING SURREAL TO WATCH HOW MUCH THEY ENJOY DOING WHAT THEY DO!!!!! kinda makes me want to find that happiness and passion in whatever i do in my professional life <3 and LISTEN jimin said the break the soul commentary THAT HE COULD DO SERENDIPITY SHIRTLESS TOO. THE AUDACITY. HE SAID THAT WITH HIS WHOLE CHEST. 

YOU KNWO WHAT I THINK JIMIN WON’T GIVE US A HINT BEFORE DROPPING PJM1. HE’LL JUST DROP IT ONE FINE DAY OUT OF NOWHERE LIKE HE DROPPED PROMISE AND CHRISTMAS LOVE (i wasn’t here when he dropped promise but i read that on twitter sdfghjkl) AND NO PLS NO I DO N O T WANT TO SLEEP THROUGH JJK1 OR KTH1 OR PJM1 OR KSJ1 OR NAMGI MIXTAPE 3 OR HOBI MIXTAPE 2 OR ANYTHING BASICALLY YOU GET IT i had slept through dynamite cb because i had NO CLUE that they were gonna drop it at 1pm kst rather than 12 am kst. i was under the impression that since they dropped all the teaser pictures and the teaser itself as 12 am kst, the mv will drop at 12 am kst too. and I woke up like two hours after the mv dropped (which was almost noon my time) and i felt like A FUCKING FOOL AND I JUST 😭😭😭😭 NEVER WANT TO FEEL LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN 😭😭😭 

AND YES BABIE NEEDS TO COME LIVE SOON PLS I MISS HIM SO FUCKING MUCH :((((( AND HIS O...M.....G HAD MADE ME FUCKING SOBBBBBBBBBBB his yt live god he looked sooooooo fluffy with his hair and his tiny hands and his puppy eyes and soft voice im just so 😭😭😭😭😭😭

NO NONNONONONO PLEASE IM NO LEGEND DON’T SAY THAT IM EMBARRASSED im just a normal fangirl who makes okayish gifs 😭😭 and ok yes so i started giffing LONNNGGGGGG time back on a different public fan forum from my country but i never knew the right process and stuff so obviously the gifs were shitty lmao BUT ANYWAY i got into gifmaking PROPERLY this in july last year and obviously struggled a lot in the beginning because i didn’t know shit about colouring and stuff lmao but i kept practicing and even though im not perfect rn i do think that i got better. i love giffing tho. its such a nice creative outlet and whenever i gif the boys it brings me so much happiness :( <33

AND YES ASDFGHJKL ME AND HER ARE FRIENDS SINCE A VERY LONG TIME SDFGHJK LIKE LONG BEFORE BOTH OF US GOT INTO BTS SDFGHJ and ah yes the whiplash lmaooooooo and you’re right god the stay gold mv is SO FUCKING PRETTY THE COLOURS IN THAT ENTIRE MV HELLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AND JIMIN AND TAE AND JOON WITH THE DOGGO JUST EVERYTHING SDFGHJK <3333333 AND BS&T DUDE I GIFFED THE MV YESTERDAY AND IM 💀💀💀💀💀 (like i just giffed jimin from the mv but i did watch the whole thing 5647589 times <333333) AND GUESS WHAT!!!!!! I WAS A LILLY SINGH FAN (IDK IF YOU KNOW HER SHE’S A YOUTUBER) BACK IN 2016 AND PEOPLE BACK THEN HAD REQUESTED HER TO REACT TO BS&T MV AND I HAD WATCHED HER REACTION VIDEO AND (although it didn’t stick with me back then because i was a fucking fool) I DID SOMEHOW REMEMBERED THE JIN AND STATUE KISSING MOMENT AND WHEN IN 2020 I SAW THE MV AND SAW THE KISSING MOMENT MY BRAIN JUST!!!!!!!!!!! I WAS LIKE HOLY SHIT I HAVE SEEN THIS BEFORE SOMEWHERE AND THEN I REMEMBERED I HAD SEEN THIS IN THE REACTION VIDEO LMAOOOOO i wish i hadn’t been a fool and gotten into them back then :((((

AH NO OMG YOUR STORY IS SOOOOOOO CUTEEEEEEEEEE ATLEAST YOU WEREN’T A FOOL LIKE ME TO NOT GET ATTRACTED TO BS&T THE FIRST TIME OF SEEING IT!!!! I WANNA HIT MY 2016 SELF LIKE DAMN YOU YOU FOOLISH ASSHOLE AND yes omg how did y’all do the subs thing damnnnnn i can’t imagine

AND YES THE CANADA RUN EPIS ARE LOOOVVVEEEE and that vmin moment plsssssss i cry everytime 😭😭😭😭😭 it is just so soft and innocent and tae’s little smile after jimin just turns around and hugs him 😔😔😔😔 i love soulmates 😔😔😔😔 AND MIRI YES OMG EVERYONE WAS SO IMPRESSED BY THE LITTLE CUTIE AND THE WAY JUNGKOOK JUST KEPT ADORING HER THROUGHOUT MADE ME SO SO SOFTTTT and bro adam is me. i am like that. lazy and un-motivated AF. although if i were a dog and jin were to be my owner i would listen to him so well and jump on him every chance i’d get 😌😌😌

GOD YES RED HAIR DOPE ERA JIMIN 💀 BABIE BUT MAKE IT SEXY 🥵🥵 AND OMG YESDGFHG MY FAVE ERA IS HYYH. ORANGE HAIRED JIMIN. PLS. HE’S EVERYTHING. I WISH I HAD GOTTEN INTO THEM DURING THAT. LIKE THAT ERA IS ..... SOMEHOW SO FUCKING WILD AND STILL SO ASSURING AND CALMING ????? KEEPS ME ROOTED LIKE IDK HOW TO EXPLAIN DFGHJKL AND WINGS TOO DAMN I WISH I WAS HERE TO LIVE ALL THOSE AMAZING ERAS. but even though i wish i had gotten into them earlier... i think i found them when i needed them the most. I was going through a very difficult time last year and they somehow they made me feel so fucking safe and at home that the connection was instant. honestly i’ve never stanned or felt a connection with any celebrity as strong as the one i feel with bangtan. its like... they don’t know i exist but they still know EXACTLY what im feeling and what to say or do at that time to make me feel comforted. Its weird god but its true :((( SORRY I GOT EMO I JUST LOVE THEM A LOT SDFGHJKL

[tony-is-my-daddy]

The wrong place to meet

Alright so as always I'm not satisfied with this, I still think that my writing is trash and I wasn't even going to post this but like... I need to put some work into this blog and post some original content so I guess... here you are.

TW: Pseudo incest. I think that's all.

~~

Tony should've been more interested in the fact that his sister finally got married after so many years of not even being able to find herself a long lasting relationship, but honestly, he was bored. He went there only to congratulate his sister and meet the guy who finally tied her down.

But after the ceremony, everyone wanted to go and congratulate them and Tony didn't want to disturb anyone's conversation. So he figured he would wait at his table for everyone to finish talking and then go over to them.

And while he was waiting, something caught his eyes. Well, more like someone.

It was a very beautiful boy, sitting at the corner of the room by himself. He was playing with the stem of his champagne glass, checking the time on his phone every now and again. He looked just as bored as Tony. So why not be bored together?

Tony walked over to his table and sat down on a chair next to him. The guy raised his head up and looked at Tony in the eye. He was even more beautiful from up close, chestnut hair perfectly gelled back, his puppy-like honeysuckle eyes wide from the surprise.

"Sorry, am I bothering," Tony asked.

"Oh no, of course not. I was actually very bored here," the boy said, smiling shyly as he looked away from Tony. "I just wasn't expecting you out of all people to sit down right here."

"Well, I was bored too, so I thought, why not," Tony explained with a shrug.

"Tony Stark, right?"

"That would he me, yes. And you?"

"Oh I'm- I'm Peter. And honestly, sir, I'm a huge fan of you. You've been my role model my whole life, I started studying biochemistry because of you."

Tony raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Biochem, huh? Do you like it?"

"Yes, it's really cool."

"Where do you study?"

"NYU. I wanted to go to MIT but Boston is quite far away," Peter chuckled. Tony smiled at the cute sound, already liking this charming boy. He leaned back in his chair to get comfortable as they started talking about college.

Then they talked about biochemistry, Stark Industries and Tony's current projects. He learned that the boy, despite his age (he was 21, as Tony had learned), was very smart. Tony's level smart, so the conversation was very pleasant to him as well, not boring him one bit.

And Peter wasn't just smart, he was funny and honestly just so damn pretty. So after like half an hour of talking, Tony decided to risk his luck and ask Peter the question he's had in mind since he first set eye on the boy.

"Would you like to go out with me sometime, Peter," he asked as he leaned closer to the younger boy.

Peter's eyes widened, lips curling upwards into a slight smile. "Do you actually... with me? Like you really want to go on a date? With me?"

"Of course. You're a great company and you look very pretty. I'd like to buy you a coffee someday. Or dinner. Or an apartment close to your university, whatever you need." Peter threw back his head, laughing wholeheartedly, which made Tony smile even wider.

When Peter's laughter died off, he looked into Tony's eyes and leaned in without another thought to press their lips together. It was soft and sweet, and it didn't last long either because Tony pulled away quickly. Not because he didn't like it, because hell, he did and he wanted to do it again. But not here, not in front of people who probably recognize him and won't look at him nicely after seeing him make out with some young dude at his sister's wedding. So he stood up, set his champagne glass down next to Peter's on the table and pulled the boy along with him towards the bathroom. He only kissed Peter again when the door of a toilet stall locked behind them.

"What's the relocation," Peter asked between kisses.

"Well I can't really do this in front of others..." Tony kissed down the boy's jawline, down his neck until he reached his shirt collar. He loosened Peter's tie to unbutton the white shirt, kissing every inch of exposed skin that he could reach. Meanwhile, Peter was pushing down Tony's suit jacket until it hit the bathroom tiles with a quiet thud.

They found each other's lips again, starting to make out as Peter's hands slid up under Tony's shirt to feel his hot skin. Tony's hands squeezed the younger man's narrow hips, pulling him close to himself until there was no space in between them. Every touch felt so new, so unknown and thrilling, yet somehow still familiar. Tony felt like he's kissed Peter a million times before and already grew fond of the way their lips moved against each other and how their tongues danced together. But it still made him shiver from the new sensations that he had never felt this intensely before. The boy's hands roaming his chest and back felt like they belonged there, and at the same time like he was discovering something very new and very good.

They were so lost in each other they barely even noticed how someone came into the bathroom. Peter pushed him away when the man cleared his throat, snapping both of them out of the trance they were in.

They stared into each other's eyes as the guy outside did his buisness, trying not to pant too loudly and reveal themselves. And while they were stuck like that, Tony finally realized what he was doing and how much he shouldn't be doing that. This kid, he barely even knew him, they met like forty minutes ago and he doesn't even know his last name, yet they were in the bathroom, about to fucking have sex while his sister's wedding party was going on outside! Oh man, he was horrible.

When the guy outside finished his business and left, Tony gently pushed Peter away and reached down to get his suit jacket from the floor. Goddamn it, that was his newest purchase!

"What are you doing, Tony," Peter asked as Tony shrugged his jacket back on.

"Pete, we can't do this here... I know this was my idea, but I just realized that I can't... we can't have sex with you for the first time in a bathroom stall at my sister's wedding. Let's- let's go on a date and we can continue from here after that."

Peter looked a bit disappointed, but he understood it, so he started dressing back up as well. They made themselves presentable again - well mostly, Peter's hair couldn't be fixed well enough - before going outside again. Tony even gave Peter a quick kiss while they were still hid away from people's eyes.

Then, when they got back to the party, Tony's sister came over to greet him finally. She was glowing, a smile plastered on her beautiful face as she jumped into her big brother's arms.

"Tones! I didn't even know you came! Why didn't you come over to me," she asked.

"You were talking to the other guests, I didn't want to bother."

"Oh shut up, you're my big brother, you never bother! But-oh! I see you've met Peter." She walked over to Peter who was standing on Tony's side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Tony furrowed his eyebrows. "He's Richard's son."

"...Richard?"

"My husband, you dummy!"

Tony almost had a heart attack. So he didn't just almost fuck a guy at his sister's wedding, but he almost fucked his sister's newly wedded husband's son at their wedding!

Tony looked at Peter, whose lips were pressed together into a tight line, trying to mask a sneaky smile, but Tony saw right through him.

"Well I did not know that, but yes, we've talked before. Peter is a very smart kid," he answered coolly.

"He is, isn't he? I knew right away when Richard introduced us that you two would get along very well. Oh god, we're cutting the cake, excuse me!"

His sister hurried away and Tony and Peter turned towards the couple as they cut their wedding cake and fed each other. They clapped along with everyone else, but they couldn't care less about what was going on there.

"You knew all along, didn't you," Tony asked.

"Of course I did. As soon as my dad told me her last name was Stark I knew she would be a great mediator between us. But we didn't need her in the end."

"You're crazy! Your step-mother is my sister! I will not hook up with you after this!"

"Oh come on, it's not like we're related or anything. We can still go out on that date."

"Like hell we can! This will never happen again, understand? The next time I want to see you is on a Thanksgiving dinner my sister invites me to or on a Christmas card she sends to me. Understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Good."

"Could you repeat that, I didn't listen to what you were saying, the way you said it was just too sexy to handle." Tony chuckled, but quickly regained his stern look and walked away from Peter.

They didn't talk a lot after that. Tony's sister asked for a picture with both of them in it, but that was the last interaction they had before Tony left.

A week after the wedding Tony was so frustrated. He missed Peter, but at the same time he knew they couldn't be together. Still, he couldn't get his mind off the vision that was Peter and that bothered him so much.

Especially when everything was already getting on his nerves, like all the people he was surrounded by during the meeting. He couldn't even believe it hasn't been an hour yet and the clock in the room - just like time in general - had stopped, so he couldn't even check what time it was.

When he thought no one was looking, he reached into his jacket's pocket to pull his phone out and check the time, but he ended up grabbing a piece of paper instead.

xxx-xxx-xxxx

Call me!

-Peter

That sneaky little bastard probably slipped it into his pocked when they took the damn photo...

He now really pulled the phone out to check the time and saw that it was already ten minutes past the time this whole thing was supposed to end.

"Alright gentlemen, we're a little over the timeline. You know I really enjoy your company, but I have other things to attend to," Tony said as he stood up, buttoning up his suit jacket again.

"But Mr. Stark, we haven't decided about-"

"You." Tony pointed at a random man, interrupting... whoever was talking to him before. "You seem like a good guy. Whatever you want, I'm with you. Alright, we don't need me anymore so if you would excuse me..."

He walked out of the room, leaving behind the confused men. He knew Pepper will be extremely mad about this when she comes back from her vacation, but Tony couldn't care less at that moment.

He took the elevator down to the ground floor, where Happy picked him up. In the car, he pulled up the divider immediately and dialed in Peter's number. The boy picked it up after three rings.

"Hello," he heard the voice that he's been missing for a week on the other side of the line

"You're horrible, you know that," Tony said instead of greeting.

"Oh, so you found my number. Well, I'm very happy to hear from you again, how have you been, Uncle Tony?"

Tony growled. Full on fucking growled from a few words. "You don't even know what you do to me," he said quietly.

"Well then... how about you show me? I could do a lot more if you would only let me... I bet you would enjoy it."

"Fuck it, let's get dinner this weekend."

"I'm free on Saturday evening."

"I'll send a car for you around seven. And you can't tell about this to anyone, understood?"

"Yes sir. Hey could you repeat that?"

"Shut up," Tony chuckled, remembering how they ended their conversation like this at the wedding as well.

They ended up talking about a few more things until Tony got back to the tower, where they hung up the phone. And the thrilling and new yet good and familiar feeling was back, which made Tony feel happiness now, instead of guilt.

It's not like they're related or anything. They'll be fine.

[alyona11]

I am sorry if I came across as aggressive, as that was not my intent at all. It was more out of desperate frustration hitting its peak and breaking the glass castle down. I absolutely know it's not others' responsibility to cater towards my own interests, it was more of the idea that aspects of fandoms do have a tendency to hyperfocus/play favourites with their creators and leaving smaller creators to get pushed out.

And yeah, that's more of a general issue with fandoms in general tbh, especially when it comes to content creation. People tend to beg for content and then turn their nose up when they're given content but it's "not what they waaanted", pushing those smaller creators out of the picture entirely. That's why I stopped creating, it feels disingenuous to beg for content but turn around and go "oh wait not that kind lol" when you're not spoon fed what you want, y'know?

Anyways, I don't want any hard feelings with anyone. I love the Gallifrey audios with all my heart and I just really want to open things up and make it so queer/poc/smaller creators get the voices they deserve in fandom. Thank you for apologising, and I apologise as well if I had hurt you.

No offence taken, I understand your sentiment and I admit that I probably over concentrated on some points in your post and missed what you were actually trying to say. I hope however that I’ve not offended you too badly, cos I didn’t really mean too. I acted on anger and I probably shouldn’t have written that second post.  I get your discouragement with ppls’ attitude towards your creations, I’m sure it must be frustrating. But I must admit that in the fandom that small it’s just a sad reality, you have what little you can get and just...try to keep going. Imo in a fandom so small it’s much easier to find your audience because the amount of content is so tiny. My inicial frustration was caused by the fact that I faced this situation and kept going till a certain point (like rn I still love the series, but I burned out in terms of making content) cos there was stuff I wanted to see and sadly barely anyone apart from myself could give it to me. I suppose that might be more or less the same situation for you. I don’t know if I had seen your works before this argument or if we’ve talked before, but I’m sorry you haven’t met a comfortable and supporting fandom community for yourself. As for BFN thing I guess you might be generalising a bit? I was not familiar with the full meaning, but now when I got a better info, I’d say I disagree. Mb I don’t know a lot of gallifans on twitter, but most ppl you may call BFN on tumblr are actually doing some kind of content also? So it’s not like they are gaining popularity only from conventions/actors/having merch. Plus idk if there is a status difference that comes with that in a small fandom? Cos almost everybody knows/sees each other pretty closely. And even if somebody says that they’re friends with BF writer/actor, it doesn’t affect my attitude in positive or negative way. I’m just “oh cool” and go on. They don’t become authorities for me and I think it should be like that for everyone in the fandom. Famous or not, we’re still regular ppl with regular opinions. I admit it might be a huge deal in bigger fandoms, since the influence is bigger and therefore the inequality between the creators and BFN. I’m actually interested to hear what is your opinion on that matter if you care to share it. Actually I don’t think you really should worry about publically expressing your opinions in the fandom. I’ve never seen the Gallifans mobbing anybody, but correct me if I’m wrong. I’d say everybody was always pretty chill with other people’s preferences and headcanons. If it was you who sent all of these asks to ivq’s blog then I can say that I can agree with some of the points you expressed (like woobifying Narvin or calling Leela a savage). I’d just prefere we could have a calm constructive conversation from the start. But you also have to understand that some people just use the fandom as their escape island and they may not want to open up the discourse. As for my blog I much prefere sharing stuff that I love and not the stuff that I hate. And I guess I’m not alone in that. Also sorry this post is way too long.

[gumnut-logic]

V. T. Green (Part 3)

Title: V. T. Green

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

Author: Gumnut

1 - 5 Sep 2019

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: “Did you discover this, Brains?” He frowned. There was something familiar about this. Maybe they had discussed it recently.

“Oh, no, this is V. T. Green. The man is brilliant.”

Word count: 3174

Spoilers & warnings: None.

Timeline: Standalone

Author’s note: I has a lurgy. This is being typed as I cough my brain silly. Very annoying. Nutty hates being sick. Sick of being sick. I hope my writing does not suffer because of it (though last time I had a lurgy I wrote Prank War, so you never know what might happen :D )

This is one that I have been meaning to write for some time. I hope you enjoy it :D Many thanks to both @scribbles97 and @vegetacide for all their wonderful help with this.

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

Scott eyed his eldest brother as he slunk into the kitchen. A little pale, the man had finally made it out of his uniform into jeans with his usual red flannel draped over a bare chest. By the way he was moving, Scott could tell he hadn’t taken his painkillers.

A sigh. “I know you hate the pills, Virg, but you can’t tell me you prefer to be in pain.”

“I prefer to be able to think.”

“Pain hampers healing.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Scott’s lips thinned. “Pills or Grandma. Your choice.” Sometimes the big guns were necessary.

“Scott...”

“Hey, if our roles were reversed, what would you do?”

The glare wilted along with his brother’s shoulders. That prompted a grimace and tensed up Scott’s shoulders in turn. Goddamnit, Virg. He stood up from where he was seated at the breakfast bar and striding across to his brother, gently steered the man to a seat at the table. “Sit down and stay put.”

That prompted another glare, but Scott ignored it, darting up the stairs and beyond into the residential levels and Virgil’s room. Sure enough, the bottle sat beside his bed, seal still intact. A grab and a jog back down to the kitchen...

...and Virgil had his head buried in the refrigerator.

He dumped the pills on the bench. “I thought I told you to sit.”

“I’m hungry.”

“Sit down and I will get you some dinner.”

“I can make my own dinner. I can at least do that.”

“Virgil-“

“I’m fine, Scott, just leave it.” A pair of frowning brown eyes glared at him over the fridge door.

Scott mirrored that frown. You want stubborn, just try me.

Virgil must have seen it in his expression, because the glare intensified.

“Sit down, Virgil.”

“Is that an order, Commander.”

“If necessary.”

The butter was yanked out of the refrigerator and thrown onto the counter with a loud clatter. The bread joined it and tumbled as it hit the laminate. A jar followed that would have fallen on the floor and smashed if Scott didn’t reach out and catch it. “What the hell? What’s wrong with you?”

“Just making myself some dinner.”

“Sit down!”

“I am fully capable of making myself dinner!”

“Sit down!”

“Scott-“

“Damn it, Virgil, if you don’t sit down, I will make you sit down.”

That arched an eyebrow. “You could try.”

“Either you sit down and stop being stupid, or I’ll get Grandma in here and you can discuss it with her.”

A plate hit the stone flags and smashed, clinking shards scattering across the floor.

Scott jumped. Virgil stared at him for a solid moment before crouching down and picking up pieces of crockery.

Scott didn’t miss the flinch of pain the movement caused.

For god’s sake. “Virgil-“

“Leave it, Scott, just leave it.”

There was something in his brother’s voice, something hurt.

“V-“

“For Christ’s sake, what do I have to say to you? Just leave me the hell alone!” Broken crockery was shoved into the kitchen bin. Virgil grabbed a broom and swept up the mess one-handed without saying another word. The butter, bread and jar of spread were thrown back into the refrigerator and without a glance back, his brother hit the stairs and left.

Scott stared after him.

The bottle of pills sat alone on the bench.

-o-o-o-

“J-John, have you heard of V. T. Green?”

The astronaut turned around at Brains’ voice, the expected hologram flickering into being. “Good evening, Brains.” A hand reached out and shifted two situations to Resolved. A flick of his wrist and another landed in Not Required. “Who is V. T. Green?”

The engineer sighed. “I thought that at least y-you would know him. The m-man is a b-brilliant engineer.”

“Sounds more like Virgil’s wheelhouse.” He flicked a finger at the tropical low growing in strength just north of Western Australia and flagged it for more regular monitoring.

“Virgil h-hasn’t heard of him either. Wh-Which I find strange. I h-have been following Green’s b-blog for s-some time and I b-believe his w-work could be very useful for International Rescue.”

Now that gave him pause. John couldn’t recall Brains ever saying such a thing about any other scientist...well, except Moffie and that was for a completely different reason. “That’s high praise coming from you.”

“He d-deserves it. Have a look at this polymer.”

A series of equations appeared at John’s elbow. A glance soon became a frown of concentration. “Am I reading this correctly? Self healing?”

“Y-Yes. It w-would be invaluable for the Thunderbirds.”

A pause. “So, you want to contact this guy? Have you spoken to Scott? Kayo?”

The engineer tilted his head to one side. “I h-have attempted to gather some inform-mation, b-but haven’t had much success. I w-was hoping you m-might have b-better luck?”

John turned and eyed his friend. “You want me to run a check on him?” In other words, hack his blog and find out as much as possible.

“So I can g-go to Scott with enough d-detail to reassure him.”

Now that was a point. Scott was notoriously paranoid when it came to IR’s security. As bad, if not worse than Kayo. Brains was right to build a solid case.

“I can do. How much information do you need?”

“W-Whatever you can find.”

“FAB.”

“Thank you, John.”

“Not a problem.”

His hologram blinked out.

-o-o-o-

Scott couldn’t help himself. He followed his brother up the stairs to his room. What the hell was wrong with Virgil? It was so unlike him to get so angry with so little provocation.

Debrief had been nasty. Alan was defiant and angry and hurt. Without Virgil there to balance the scales, things had gotten out of hand quickly, the whole meeting devolving into a shouting match. Even John had started yelling.

Alan had stormed off, Gordon chasing after him.

Scott had been so angry. Virgil’s life had been endangered and all for a battle of wills. Grandma’s hand on his arm and her soft voice had snapped him out of it.

Damn.

He hated it when his brothers were injured. It wasn’t major, Virgil’s injury would heal, but still, all because Alan did something stupid.

He stood outside his brother’s closed door for a full two minutes before he raised his hand to knock.

“Scott? We have a situation.” John’s voice was soft.

He let his arm drop.

He would have to speak to Virgil later.

Apparently.

-o-o-o-

It took him another three hours, part of which involved sending Scott out to pluck yet another climber off the side of a mountain, before John had a chance to focus on the task Brains had requested.

The site itself appeared simple. Admittedly, John was a little distracted at first by its content. Brains was correct. The author definitely was someone to be admired. Admittedly, John’s knowledge of engineering wasn’t as extensive as Brains or Virgil’s but there were definitely some very elegant solutions presented on the site. A glance at the source code, a dig for the originating IP address and John easily found the site’s host in Silicon Valley, California. He launched a data miner and pulled the site logs searching for IPs that had accessed the site for publishing in an attempt to locate the author.

That’s when he hit a snag. According to the logs, each post had been created and posted from a different address. Sure, this was possible with an IP cloak, but it shouldn’t be possible to avoid his hack of that cloak.

He tracked one address through China to Russia and back out again to Spain, of all places, before he lost it at an exchange in Portugal. Another fed through Indonesia, six different servers in Japan, only to jump to a commercial satellite and claim it came from the Moon. John followed six more addresses before he discovered the layered encryption and the redirection code hidden under it.

“Oh, he’s good. Very good.” The logs themselves had been encoded to redirect the very same kind of hack John was attempting.

It took him another half hour to break the code that kept trying to lead him off on a wild goose chase.

And another hour to trace the server path through half the planet and then some - it did actually go via the moon, using some ancient tech not destroyed by the meteor shower that took out Moonbase Alpha.

By the time he finally tracked down the origin of the posts, John was beyond impressed.

When he discovered the identity of V. T. Green, he understood why.

It was so obvious, he should have known.

-o-o-o-

Dear V.T. Green. I represent a good company...

Hey, V.T. I am totally loving your stuff. You should go into business...

Doctor Green. Our university is very interested in gaining your services...

Sir, I need your help...

That last one caught his attention initially, but it devolved into a blatant scam two paragraphs in. It left him depressed.

He let his tablet fall onto his desk and his head into his one working hand. He had no idea what to do about all the requests for his assistance. Six different universities plus three other thought centres had replied, all ever so complimentary of his intellect. One laugh had been the fact that the Denver School of Advanced Technology was one of them. The bonus had been the admirer was a lecturer who had hated his guts.

Part of him wanted to reply and rub his face in it.

The tablet pinged again and Virgil was tempted to chuck the whole thing in the trash.

Message from Dr HH.

Virgil stared at it for a good minute before he inevitably touched the screen to open it.

Dear Doctor Green.

Why did half of them think he was a doctor? He had never claimed to be.

I have written you before, but I do not trust the vagaries of the internet and I feel the need to make sure you receive my request.

Virgil sighed. He was going to have to say something soon. This was unfair to Brains.

The letter went on to reiterate Brains’ suggestions regarding the polymer and reinforce the impression that they would be able to save lives.

Save lives.

It was what he did. And yes, that polymer could do that, as part of the Thunderbirds, but also if he released the rights to the design. Space and underwater habitats sorely needed the tech.

Of course, he had yet to run tests. Nothing practical had been experimented. It could all be a big hype over a big failure.

Another sigh and he closed his eyes. He hadn’t eaten, but he wasn’t hungry any more. His shoulder and arm hated him and his pills were down in the kitchen. To reach them, he would have to navigate the house and hope he didn’t run into any family members. He just didn’t feel like...explaining himself.

Perhaps he could crawl back into bed and find sleep again.

He stood up...and the emergency alarm cut off everything.

His response was reflex and he was out the door before processing another thought. He hit the elevator before he remembered he was off rescues, the car carrying him down to the comms room and dumping him there.

Damn.

But to be honest he really couldn’t not find out what was going on. He had a need to know where his brothers might be sent, no matter how it grated that he couldn’t go with them.

So, with some reluctance, he slunk around the corner into the comms room, forcing a positive gait across to the lounge where he parked himself, spine straight.

Gordon eyed him from across the other side of the circle, an eyebrow arching. Scott rose from behind their father’s desk and jogged down the steps and sat next to Virgil.

Virgil blinked. A flash of blue, a frown and thinned lips greeted him.

Damn. That would have to be fixed sooner rather than later.

Alan was the last to arrive, darting in from the kitchen and sitting beside Gordon. His eyes tracked across Virgil, but didn’t acknowledge him.

Out the corner of his eye, he saw Grandma frown.

“What’s the situation, John?”

“This is a big one. Remember the Grand Sequoia Dam?”

“A little hard to forget.”

“They are reporting fractures in the dam wall and they are claiming it has to do with our hasty repairs last time.”

“What?” Virgil shot to his feet. “I checked and double checked the seal. I even went back and conducted stress testing. There is no way that dam wall could be failing because of our repairs. The nanocrete is stronger than the entire wall itself.”

John stared at him a moment before continuing. “Whatever the cause, they are claiming the wall is failing. An evac order has gone out to the town below, but they are concerned there will not be enough time. They’ve called us, and Virgil in particular, to assist.”

A frown and Virgil was pulling up scans and diagrams of the dam. Their assessment was correct. The wall was failing. A frown. It shouldn’t be. The volume of water currently pressing on it simply didn’t have the energy to create the situation. A flick of his hand and he spun the view. For this to happen there needed to be pressure from this angle with a much higher amplitude.

“Virgil is injured.” It was Grandma who broached the obvious.

“I’m going.”

That sprouted a whole array of glares.

He straightened where he stood. “I need to know what is causing this.”

“You can do that from here.” Of course, Scott would object.

“No, I prefer to be onsite.”

“You’re injured.”

“No kidding. I will ride in Two with Gordon.” He didn’t miss the sudden widening of Gordon’s eyes at that comment. “Nothing energetic.” Scott was still glaring. “There are some things that have to be seen in person.”

Scott’s lips thinned. He was pedantic about injured brothers, as was Virgil, but there was something about the situation, something odd, and it was Virgil’s reputation at stake here. Due to the use of the nanocrete, a proprietary substance unique to IR, he had signed off the safety on the dam, and it was safe.

But not now.

“I’m going.”

Brains, who had been quiet up to this point, rose slowly from where he sat. “I agree with Virgil.”

“Brains...” Grandma was admonishing.

“This shouldn’t b-be happening.” He pointed at the crack in the dam. “The structure is d-designed to w-withstand strain far b-beyond what it is currently under. The n-nanocrete cannot be responsible, yet they are accusing us. Why?”

Scott stared at Brains. “You think this is targeted?”

“It is possible.”

“The Hood?”

“Unknown, but I do think we n-need Virgil onsite for this. He has the civil knowledge n-needed.”

“Why can’t you go?” Alan piped up, still not paying any attention to Virgil.

Brains blinked and frowned at the young astronaut. “Y-you are aware that V-Virgil is the more qualified engineer in this instance?”

“What?”

It was Gordon who rounded on his little brother. “You been living under a rock, bro? Virg is the man when it comes to this stuff. You know that.”

Blue eyes frowned. “I just thought Brains could go since Virgil is injured.”

“I could, b-but Virgil’s knowledge is greater.”

Finally, Alan turned to him, but Virgil no longer had the time. “We need to get moving, that dam is not going to hold much longer.”

Scott shot to his feet. “Thunderbirds are go.”

-o-o-o-

It was odd going out on a rescue in Two, but not flying her. Virgil’s arm was still in a sling and strapped up, curled against his chest. Brains had made sure it was secure after helping him into his uniform. It hurt, but it was necessary.

The co-pilot’s seat had just a slightly different view.

Gordon launched her just as smoothly as Virgil would have. Alan sat quiet behind the both of them. As soon as they were airborne and stable, the young astronaut excused himself, muttering something about seeing to the pods.

The moment he was gone, Gordon didn’t waste any time poking the bear.

“What’s with you and Alan?”

“Nothing.” He really didn’t want to go into it.

The eyebrow arched at him was so similar to what Virgil would have done if their roles had been reversed, he almost smiled.

“Sounds like a pile of horse dung, but I’ll let you go with it.”

Virgil turned and stared at his brother.

Gordon didn’t react. “You know you scared the shit out of him, don’t you?”

“What?”

“He screwed up and his big brother got hurt.” Gordon flicked his gaze between the instruments and Virgil. “Scott reamed him out big time at debrief. You weren’t there and he really let rip.”

“Shit.” It came out under his breath.

“John lassoed him instead, but he didn’t respond as fast as you would have. Alan was kicking himself before that. By the time Scott had finished with him, he was on the verge of never going out on a rescue ever again.”

“He made a mistake. We all make mistakes.”

“He made a dick move, Virg. He didn’t listen to you or Scott and thought he knew better.” A snort. “I should know. Been there, done that, learnt the hard way.” A smirk. “First rule of International Rescue: If Virgil says it is, it is.” The smirk became a grin. “And woe be he who thinks otherwise.”

“Gordon...”

“I’m not kidding.” And the grin vanished, replaced by genuine honesty. “You know what you are talking about. You’re good at what you do.” A glance back at his flight path. “He should have listened to you.”

Virgil stared at his little brother. It took him a moment to gather himself. “Thank you, Gordon.”

The aquanaut shrugged. “Eh, I learnt the hard way, but I learnt. Anyway, you should probably talk to Alan.”

Virgil shifted in his seat and his shoulder complained loudly. He stared down at his feet. “Yeah, I should.”

There was silence in the cockpit for a bit. Virgil was caught up in what he should say to his littlest brother and Gordon quietly eyeing him.

The silence was obviously too much for Gordon. “So, who is this V. T. Green Brains keeps raving about?”

Virgil flinched; the question completely unexpected.

Gordon frowned at him. “What? What do you know about him?”

“Nothing.”

An amber blink. “Bullshit, Virg, you’re looking guilty as. What do you know? Scott said Brains was interested in inviting the guy to the island.”

Virgil’s head shot up and his shoulder screamed at him. Ow.

Gordon’s frown tried to cleave his face in half. “What the hell, Virgil? If you know something, why haven’t you said anything? Brains is going nuts trying to find this...guy.” And Gordon was staring at him in shock. “Oh my god.”

Virgil glared at him. “What?”

“It’s you.”

-o-o-o-

End Part Three

Part Four

[cosmicmoved]

INTRODUCING SHO! about a week ago, i made this post about an idea for a new oc ( you can go ahead and read that too, if you want, just in case i miss something in this post) and i’m gonna be working on officially adding him to the blog! he’s on the muse page now but i haven’t finished writing up his stats so that’ll come a little later lmao,,,anyway, this post will serve as a little intro/primer post for Sho! it probably won’t be super detailed on the backstory front because i want to write it up properly but it should let you know what you need to know! (and maybe what you don’t need to know too bc some of these facts will be p useless lmaooo)

FIRST OFF! i want to reiterate that sho’s essentially a spin-off character to rika’s canon. he’s connected to rika through her co-worker (and the nephew of the woman who owns the shop where she works), hayato. sho and hayato studied under the same mentor when they were teens and are both from similar witching families (if you ignore the part where hayato’s dad is a tv illusionist & minor star lmao). hayato was kind of a prodigy genius type whereas sho was a slacker but they got on surprisingly well. rika and sho HAVE met but they don’t know each other that well and rika’s really not sure what she thinks of sho because he’s...the human embodiment of the winky kiss emoji ( 😘 that one).

you can find some basic info about sho under the cut! i might have forgotten something important so i’ll probably make more posts in the future but i got fed up writing this so it’ll have to do for now ):<

his full name is tsukidate sho ( 月館祥 ) and he doesn’t go by any nicknames since sho is already short and easy enough on its own. he was born 8th july, 1994 in kawagoe, saitama, and currently lives in shibuya, tokyo.

specifically, he lives in his office in kabukicho, tokyo’s entertainment district. since the service he offers is a little niche and maybe even a little frowned upon, he feels a little more at home there. if nothing else, he’s not going to draw much attention to himself by doing weird shit in the middle of kabukicho.

if you didn’t read the post linked above, it’s worth explaining what this service is. fuck, it’s worth explaining either way. sho is a ‘Witch Detective’. this is a title he mostly made up himself and it’s not exactly a real profession but the long and short of it is that he functions as a private investigator who works on cases dealing with magic and and the occult.

sho is a witch himself, hence the title, but he isn’t very closely involved with the broader witching community. i’ll get into his family history later (like i said before, i’m thinking something to do with divination and curses & i might draw inspo from onmyoudou? like not exactly that bc it’s not quite fantastical enough but that’s why i said inspo) but sho isn’t personally very interested in the exclusivity most commonly associated with the community and the fact that he offers his services to regular humans and witches alike is a point of contention.

although he’s based in tokyo, he’s willing to travel just about anywhere in the world for a job so long as the client is willing to pay for his travel and accommodation. now, you might think this means he only offers his services to the wealthy but he’s usually willing to take on a few cases at once so, if he already happens to be in your country and you want his help, he’s willing to help. (from a writing standpoint, this means that locations in threads aren’t a HUGE logistic concern because he could be anywhere at any time)

sho has little faith in the judicial system and he doesn’t like the police. to be honest, he’s not even that interested in serving justice. although he calls himself a detective, his work is mostly based around helping people solve mysteries or find things. essentially, he loves a good mystery and he’s a nosy bastard. BUT he also has the skills to justify sticking his nose in other people’s business.

the cases he handles vary from kind of silly to pretty fucking grim. he does tend to screen things first, just to ensure he’s not stuck chasing up things that aren’t going to go anywhere and he’s extra picky with cases from regular people for that reason. he tends to charge all cases the same though and it won’t cost someone more to ask him to help with something on the grizzlier side. honestly, he loves a challenge.

he’s a huge flirt. he doesn’t really hit on people so to speak, mostly because he’s not actually hoping the flirting will get him anywhere, but he likes attention so...y’know. winks more often than any normal person should. he’s not a perv bc that’s just not...funny or interesting to me ASDFGFD

he gets REALLY into the cases he’s solving if they’re interesting enough so, uhhhhh, be prepared for him to dump everything he hunts on you. he’s actually GOOD at his job and solving cases but he also tends to get carried away with his imagination so it might be a while before he reels himself in and gets focused on the actual point /:

he doesn’t like to shut up. he likes the sound of his own voice. also has no patience. has a clause in his contract for when people hire him that says that, if you find him annoying, you’re just going to have to get over it.

i’ll get into the full backstory at a later date but i want to add that, when sho was about 14 or 15, his best friend went missing. this is the one case he can’t seem to solve and it haunts him to no end because he was the last person to see his friend. one second he was there. the next, he was gone. but three hours of lost memory passed by in that second, leaving a confused gap in sho’s recollection of the event. sho is one of the only people who even believes his friend his still alive. he’s not sure why he believes so strongly that this is the case but there’s a gut feeling. something he can’t place.

and that’s kind of way he does the work he does. there’s something cathartic about helping people find the answers they need when you can’t find your own. he knows what it’s like to have nobody to turn to and, if he can help others find closure, that’s better than nothing. eases the survivor’s guilt a little bit.

[i-love-my-exhoes]

Camera binds are colour blind

FBI agent watching me!au

Sehun x reader

1.7K words

part one (this is going to have two parts)

“I can’t believe she’s on that dumb site again!” Sehun’s voice echoed through the room, his eyes wide in disbelief and his voice raised in exhasperation. “come on sehunnie~ it can’t be that bad” his coworker, Chanyeol, said as he gazed down at his computer seeing the dumb shit his assignment was pulling “at least you didn’t get assigned to some YouTuber wannabe. All Baekhyun does is search things like how to get fans, or how to seduce girls, and then correct himself into non-binairy terms. Besides, she’s your first assignement, there’s no way they gave you someone bad”.

It’s true that your Sehun’s first assignment. The boy fresh from fed school got appointed to you after you searched “how to make something da bomb”. Any idiot could see that you didn’t mean an actual bomb but of course the FBI couldn’t just let you off the hook. So now Sehun was forced to watch you scroll through tumblr like your life depended on it.

“S-she just opened tumblr, on her phone... but it’s still open on her computer? and she’s still in front of it?” He stuttered out when you pulled out your phone, bored by Tumblr, only to open the same dumb app on your phone. 

Chanyeol rolled his chair up behind Sehun’s computer, his eyes widening when he saw Sehun’s words were true “wow, that’s some dedication she got there. What is she even doing on tumblr? she one of those aesthetic, hipster, schoolshit blogs?”.

“Worse...she runs a meme blog”

Silence reigned in the room apart from the frantic typing of one of their colleages, Sehun heard from Jongin that Jongdae had been chatting with his assignment so he wasn’t very surprised at the other man’s agressive typing. another heartbeat of silence passed between the two men before the taller fell to his knees before Sehun. “YOU HAVE TO SWITCH WITH ME!!!” Chanyeol shouted, disturbing everyone in the room, Minseok even threw an ice-cube to shut him up but he missed.

After the commotion had died down, Sehun scoffed at the tall man that was still kneeled before him. “Wy would I even trade with you? You’ve been complaining about Baekhyun for days, why would I take him?” he asked,one eyebrow raised in skepticism. Chanyeol gave Sehun puppy dog eyes and begged once again. “you don’t understand Sehun, SHE’S MY SOULMATE!” this time, minseok’s ice-cube did hit it’s target.

“I can’t believe you’re on that dumb site again!” your roommate, Jongin, shouted at you. “you were supposed to do the dishes today (y/n)! I swear to god Tumblr is ruining your life” He said taking a quick look at you, scrolling mindlessly through the site, before continuing with a grumble “or well whatever ‘life’ you had in the first place”. You laughed at that “You can’t ruin what you don’t have my man”. He just rolled his eyes, turning on the faucet and putting the dishes in the sink. “by the way, don’t you have class in like five minutes?”

Your head shot up at that, looking towards the clock eyes wide in panic. You hadn’t been late for class in years, being punctual was important in your eyes so being late wasn’t a daily occasion for you. You relaxed when you saw the time, taking a pillow off the couch and chucking it against your roomie’s head. “you dick, you know that class doesn’t start till five”. He turned around and grinned at you. “maybe if you do our dishes next time I won’t bother you like this“.

“sometimes I wonder why I ever thought it was a good idea to move in with you” your grumble reached Jongin, who in turn splashed you with some dirty dish-water. “because you love me... and because you think I have a nice ass” he replied, throwing you a wink. That boy got way too flirtatious sometimes, even though he got shy fairly quickly too. Almost as if he had two different personalities.

Sehun’s mouth was pulled into a straight line. He always complained about you but was never really annoyed by your antics, that was until he saw you being with Jongin. His mood confused him more than anything, he didn’t see a reason for him to be grumpy but he knew he was. And so did everyone in the building. Chanyeol was quivering in the dark aura that surrounded Sehun’s computer and Minseok kept glancing back and forth nervously, also effected by Sehun’s gloomy mood. Jongdae was the only one that seemed completely unfazed, striding right up to his younger colleague.

“ what’s with the long face buddy?” he spoke, ignoring the glare Sehun sent him and the warning glances he got from the others. “I was born with this face Jongdae, do you have a problem with it?” Dae just remained unshaken, laughing off Sehun’s reply. “does it by any chance have anything to do with your assignment?”. Silence spread throughout their department (apart from Chanyeol’s shocked gasp). Everyone knew that no one was supposed to feel anything towards their assignments, no admiration, no pity, and most of all no interest.

Sehun’s eyes were fierce as he sent Jongdae a murderous glare. “I do not know what you are implying Jongdae, but what you just said reminds me of something. Who have you been chatting with so much recently? You always seem to be busy with them” He knew he shouldn’t have said that but Jongdae had crossed the line, he deserved it. The tension between the two was palpable. Jongdae’s kitten smile had finally dropped of his face, replaced by a frown.

He was about to reply when Minseok cleared his throat. Neither of the two had noticed their senior walking up to them, too busy with each other, but now that he was there they could feel his menacing aura. “let’s not go around baselessly accusing each other of things now, okay?” the smile on his face was so fake that it scared even Sehun. “y-yeah, you’re right. Haha, oops how silly of me. I’ll just go eat my lunch now” Jongdae stuttered, trying to walk away but Minseok cleared his throat once again. “I believe your break ended five minutes ago, just get back to work.” The boy let out a bunch of whines but to everyone’s, but mostly Sehun’s, relief he did get back to work.

You were hurrying to your class, not even close to being late but stressed anyway, checking your phone once again just to make sure you actually did have class. You had stood in front of an empty lecture hall one too many times too not have developed the habit to check twice. You noticed that an app had been opened, something you don’t necessarily remember doing, but brushed it off since it wouldn’t be the first time you had absent-minded opened an app.

Once you got to class, sitting way at the back because only a few others had arrived yet, you opened you laptop. noticing that the app you had been using for your projects had been opened. This was weird because you thought that the last project you had to hand in this year had already been finished, but looking at the app now you noticed that you had apparently changed it in the past hour. You would have considered this, had your laptop battery not been dead since last night. You had only just started charging it so how could you have worked on your project? Unless someone had hacked you, but why would they change your project?

Deciding to check the project to make sure whoever hacked you didn’t mess it up you opened the file. Only to be met with your own work. “nothing’s different about this” you mumbled to yourself as you scrolled.

“NOTHING DIFFERENT? I have not worked on this for an hour, risking my exposure, just for her to think she did all of this herself!” Sehun looked at you through the webcam disapprovingly, barely dodging the ice-cube Minseok had scooped up from his empty soda cup.

You hummed, looking over the last two pages again. “well I sure as hell didn’t write that” you concluded as you looked over the pretentious usage of words. Somewhere in the two pages that hadn’t been added by you stood a picture of a model, one of the colours used was described as ‘blood orange’ even though it was obviously just red. You rolled your eyes, the content that the hacker had added was good but why would you call red ‘blood orange’ if you’re not just being pretentious?

“oh she did not just roll her eyes at me, I’m the one that rolls their eyes in this relationship” Sehun murmured to himself, wary of Minseok’s ice cold punishment for being too loud. “why would she eve-” he didn’t get to finish his sentence before you had started altering the piece of text he had written for you. “Why on earth would she call that red? is she colour blind, oh I am not having this”

He started furiously typing.

Your eyes widened as the word ‘red’ spontaneously changed back into ‘blood orange’. Was whoever was hacking you really bold enough to just hack your project back into what they made of it while you were fixing it? You stretched your hands in front of you, preparing, before starting to change it back, but before you had even typed the word your hacker had started typing again as well. This went on for a while, the both of you aggressively slamming your fingers on the keyboard trying to get the words to go your way, Before al of a sudden the both of you were typing on a new page and the words written weren’t just ‘red’ and ‘blood orange’ anymore. Instead the page just read.

“I’m with the FBI, stop changing it into ‘red’ it’s obviously blood orange”

Alrighty I’m ending this here so I can actually post something for once in my life. I have like 6 WIPs right now, which is a lot for me, and I’m very busy with school so I feel like if I don't post this part now it might take me a very long time before I can post this. I’m sorry for anyone who read that and expected it to be good.

[shirotanis]

ok so i was looking forward to doing this and i’m glad it is done eventually ! to make long words short, i recently hit a great follower goal and the number keeps increasing and i’m ??? bc its weird but i’m thankful to everyone following me nonetheless💕💕💕 i’ve had this blog for a month and something but i’ve met a lot of wonderful people whom i grew to love and care for!!!!! some i havent interacted as much as others but i hope to get to know you all in the near future 💖💖💖  

if your url is bold go take a look at the very end where it says ‘read more’ bc there’s a few words for you 💖💕💞💓💖💓💞💓

also i’m pretty sure i have more mutuals but they are sideblogs and idk whats their main to check if they follow me or not but pls know that i didnt forget or that i didnt want to include you!!!!

#: 

@4fnc // @4zammy 

a-g:

@cryogonal-jonghyun // @daypjh // @dojooned // @dojooon // @dowoonhtml // @from-roses-to-dojoon // 

h-j:

@howcaniwait // @ijustcantlie // @iwooseong // @jaeheyong //

k-r:

@lipstick-chathao // @mirinae-x // @rxsewoosung

s-z:

@saekkisongarak // @sangdoldol // @savageday6 // @shelovesjinyoung // @smolpil // @softwoonie // @tasteless-ratatouille // @tennisanon // @thedarksideofthewoon // @thedaysix // @ttherose // @theroseofficial // @wattela // @wonpixel // @woosung-is-my-aesthetic // @woosungs-blackrose // @woosammv // @younghyuuns // @youngks-smile 

@4fnc: oK GIA MY LOVE!!!!! i have sO much to say about you my best absolute perfect !!!! ok first of all we’ve been friends for like, 3 years??? this is the longest friendship i’ve had and it started out so weird like? i was a bts blog and you were an exo blog aND THEN I BECAME AN EXO BLOG AND YOU BECAME A BTS BLOG but over the years, we grew to stan other groups, i parkoured more than you and i admit ;;;;;;  ok but i still remember your most legendary post “my mom bought me cock heck yea - wAIT NO I MEANT COKE NOT COCK WHY WOULD MY MOM BUY ME COCK” and i’ll never let it die. you are such a beautiful person inside out i would have never thought i deserve you but !!! we’ve been together for so long and i hope we meet someday bc honestly? i wanna h*g you so much its a lil gross but,,, you mean so much to me honestly ok i’ll stop now i didnt even say everything i wanted to but i’ll keep that for another time ;)) i love our late night conversations about ??? whatever from memes to long appreciation hours about our faves to personal stuff its just so exhilarating to talk to you ily always gia 💞💞💞💞

@daypjh: oh oh oh my heart is turning into a puddle of joeliness rn thats how soft i am for you :(((((( honestly we have been talking for a few days but i feel like we’ve been friends for years??? when we started talking i was taken aback bc 1) shIT jo noticed me ok gotta act cool 2) it was So comfortable and So smooth and i had so much fun my fist conversations with people tend to be a little awkward and i’m always anxious but with you ??? i was so chill for some reason!!!! also you are the purest jae stan? the softest of them all and i know how much he means to you but you are a lil ho for the rest of day6 too i’m laughing you go all out with your trashiness;; i would have never thought i’d find someone with whom i share so many interests but here we are!! i’m so happy we started talking because i realised i was missing out on some gr8 stuff 👌👌 you are so funny our conversations never fail to make me smile whenever i feel down…i still wanna get to know you more tho but on another note i hope you stay happy !!!!! you deserve everything good i love you pls remember💓💞💓  

@howcaniwait: my fave charcoal 💞 i know we havent interacted that much but i consider you a friend, more than a mutual. you are so cute and funny too also youre so talented when it come to photography like ?? pure goals not even exaggerating!!! you love bri and sammy so much it makes my heart jump a lil :’’’) you also helped me with that friend issue when you didnt have to and i’m still thankful bc it helped me~ btw the way you interact with every single follower of yours is such goals yall like family asdjgldhs cute ;-; lets get to know each other more soon💖💖💖  

also a meme that is a very relative

@ijustcantlie: alice!!!!!!!! one of my fave blackroses 💓💓 i don’t have a lot to say about you bc i don’t know you well yet bUt i want to!!!! anyways your edits are so great they always leave me speechless i wish i had them skills tbh :

@rxsewoosung: hello dora 💕💕💕 in actuallity, he have exchanged a few asks only and thats about it but (though i wish we talk more one day)!!! you are so cute tbh i havent seen you around in a while but that’s bc the rose is kind of dead atm but as i was stalking your blog i realised how adorable you are!!!!you love the boys dearly and i cannot express how happy that makes me also you say i’m your fave woosung stan and that my blog contains a+++ content but same goes for you ;) woosung would be so happy to know such a nice person likes him so much plus your gifs are most pretty in my opinion i aspire to be like you💕 

@thedaysix: MY FAVE DAY6 BLOG HANDS DOWN!!!! bethany ily so much not to be that person but i would have never thought YOU out of ALL day6 blogs would follow me i probably cried a lil on the inside when i saw you had followed me and liked some of my stuff as well askflghlsd ok so basically i have said it before i think but i love and appreciate you so much ik i’m repeating myself lol but you are one of the funniest ppl i follow and your tags are the cutest shit they make me xtra soft 😭😭😭 btw callie is the cutest cat i wish i could cuddle the floof sighs 💓💓

@ttherose: The Blackrose Mom aka Olivia 💞💞💞 I can’t express my appreciation enough tbh ??? without you i doubt we’d exist on tumblr and i’m not even joking!!! i used to be intimidated by you because you are the mvp of the fandom but talking to you in the group chat i???wow you are so interesting and hilarious plus i love how you ALWAYS do your best to update us with everything the rose related and make memes at the same time i’m laughing thats the definition of dedication so i wanna say a big thank you for your hard work bc other fandoms lack what we have (a mom; i mean you) 💞

@woosung-is-my-aesthetic: OH HI FAKE SNAKE JANA oops i mean uuugggh lettuce :))) tbh i thought you were one of those chill stans when i followed you but karma is a bitch i guess bc you are pretty wildt and i like em wildt ;)))) oK I THINK you are one of the most precious ppl i wanna protect with all my heart :(( i love every single meme you send and everything you say is hilarious in one way or another also ??? you are a little trashy prince for shinee and you know i love that about you plus i appreciate the mysme dose on my dash thanks to you my trashy ass wants to download the game for the 4th time :/ one thing i love about you is the mom mode you always like “whO DO I NEED TO FIGHT WHO HURT YOU MY CHILDREN” and that makes my heart blast into outer space and make a colony on mars askflghslahs i’m 2 soft 4 you always thanks for all the help i appreciate it, really!!! and no matter what you do or say i’ll never consider you ‘dark’ you are a lil kitty in need of affection uwu 💖💖 and i’ll only eat pineapple pizza for you but i know i’ll regret it :

@woosammv: 🗣️🗣️🗣️ THE CUTEST BROSE 🗣️🗣️🗣️ julia…you is that one person who is above the rest… like all the other normies are trash for the rose but you are the landfill and that makes you special aslgjhhlshaldhs ok but honestly you are such a great person, always making flawless gifs and keeping the fandom well fed sadly i dont have a lot to say bc we havent really talked but i hope we do soon but just so you know, ily and your blog  💕💕💕

[blogfuturepress]

Brave New Communication

Armando Levy

If you are reading this, on this blog, you certainly know that the world of communication has changed a lot. And this directly impacts your life, your business, your job, your education and your relationship with your family and society.

Yes or No?

The old media such as newspaper, radio, magazine and TV are facing extinction due to a total disconnection with the new generations and also due to their high degree of negativity and manipulative approach. Few people choose to be informed only through these dinosaurs. Just know that 10 years ago the age group of readers of a traditional brazilian printed newspaper, Estadão, was 55 years old. In fact, people over 55 years old are no longer a market for practically all the products and services on sale these days, except for health plans, medicines, food and wine.

There is a whole world that offers truer, more relevant, more meaningful information on social networks, blogs, videos and applications like Telegram and WhatsApp, in addition to Tik Tok and Kwai.

McLuhan

In the 60s, an era of marked transformations, especially in customs, Marshall McLuhan gave us an interesting and still little understood concept: “the medium is the message”.

Here's McLuhan in an interview he gave to a TV channel in the 60s. But wait a minute! You've seen this image, haven't you? Where have you seen something like this recently?

You will remember!

McLuhan stated in 1964 that the media (newspaper, radio, magazine, TV, social networks) do not only serve as systems through which messages "pass". Pay attention now! According to him, each media has its own intrinsic characteristics, which lead to specific effects. A newspaper is a newspaper and its way of giving information is typical of the media. Thus, any transformation of the media (printed to digital, for instance), especially due to new technologies, is more decisive than a change in content.

Amazing, isn't it?

Reality is showing that McLuhan hit the target.

Let's think about this statement better. According to McLuhan, the “newspaper” has its own dynamics and promotes certain effects. How? Now, in the “newspaper” environment, everything, literally everything, from the text to the photo, goes through journalists, photographers and editors. They are responsible for “editing” what you read. You see the world through the eyes, ears, noses and mouths of journalists. You don't see the world directly. They work like a filter and tell you, at all times, what is important and what is not important, what is “true” and what is not true.

Furthermore, the “newspaper” medium does not allow for a direct interaction between the media and the reader such as a comment, that says whether that headline, that text or that photo actually translates the reality understood by the reader. For example: imagine a newspaper that says that life in the United States is becoming chaotic and there is no way for the reader to question this article saying that this is not true. Even if the reader makes a call to the newspaper, sends an e-mail or a letter, this counterinformation will only be published if the newspaper wants to.

When you get fed up with the newspaper's lies, you change the newspaper or stop reading this information medium. Or change the channel. Or switch radio stations.

The same goes for other traditional media such as magazines, radio and TV. The control of information, of what is published or broadcasted, is in the hands of a group of enlightened people called “journalists”. Understood?

Following the trail opened by McLuhan, what do we see today? Social communication gained a much broader scope. Videos, blogs, social networks, direct communication applications (Telegram), databases, text banks, a vast, fragmented and dynamic world, where communication has a multidirectional and interactive flow, light years ahead of the sameness provided by the informational dinosaurs.

It is no longer the journalist who says what is true. Reactions, denials, even what is news or not, are increasingly being determined by ordinary people, who have a cell phone or computer, who can record a video and post it on a social network or app of messages.

Imagine a blogger who, nowadays, dares to claim that “communism” is a “more humane” type of government than capitalism. His claims will soon be questioned by a legion of readers who will point out, among other things, the millions and millions of deaths caused by a regime that tries to kill individuality and imprison people under the command of an elite of enlightened people.

Like journalists.

The new communication we are experiencing has a unique characteristic. It is based on information and education. The old propaganda, which tried to push products, services, politicians and ideologies through sugary ads, no longer made sense. Today, people are looking for information and education most of the time. It isn't coincidence that most searches on YouTube, for example, start with the phrase: “How to…”.

People want to know, learn, experience, question, doubt, clarify. And, in that sense, there is nothing better in the world than the new and emerging new media, videos, blogs, social networks and virtual classes.

If in the past an ad in a newspaper was all that companies could do to sell their product or service in a rational or emotional way, today there is a vast world of options available to companies for that same purpose. Therefore, companies increasingly need to think of communication as a constant process of interaction, learning, knowledge and information exchange. Something that is only possible to build when we see communication through new lenses, new professionals, new ideas.

Remember the image above, of McLuhan in front of the TVs?

Check it out! Here's where we saw this image recently.

Makes sense, doesn't it? TV, in the past, sought to create a certain “matrix” of thought, determining what was important and what we should value or not. TV aspired to create a world for us, where we felt at home, comfortable, ready to buy the things it pushed in advertisements. TVs, radios, newspapers and magazines had a monopoly on the truth.

That, luckily, is over!

Thanks to NEO, thanks to new media, the matrix empire is crumbling, falling apart, rotting in plain sight. And if companies don't learn to use these new communication models, they will disappear along with the dinosaurs that are still struggling to survive in a world where they're no longer needed.

[noxperditus]

So, a little while ago Zarkon’s blog hit 200 followers...unfortunately I was sick as all hell and I couldn’t do much besides sleep and be miserable. So we’re a little late on the milestone, but hey! Any excuse to share some love.

LOYALISTS -

-Those who have proven their allegiance//Friends & fun people, in no particular order

@paterfamileo - Tali, holy crap. You are one of the people who has most affected my portrayal of Zarkon. From silly things like his (anti-)social drinking problem to the true depths of his possessive type of affection, your input has really helped me shape the muse. And your Alfor? He is perfection, I love him so much. Beyond Voltron, we’re into so many of the same things - from HZD to LoZ, I have so much fun talking to you about every little thing. I feel lucky that I can call you a friend.

@ograndsovereign - Devil, I’m gonna eat your delicious brain. You have NO IDEA how hyped I was when we started talking about Zarkon. I was practically vibrating in my chewed-up computer chair just... SUPER hype to talk about Zarkon with someone else who adores him. I love the differences and similarities between our Zarkons - and I still have that babby Zarkon starter in my drafts! - and our headcanons. We’ve talked about silly things and salted enough to season like a thousand pounds of steak. I love the way you write, and I love hearing your thoughts on the Galra. You’re also a very patient and understanding person, at least in my experience. I’m glad we met. Next on the docket for myself; downloading Warframe.

@bladechosen & @leaderchosen / @starchosen - Ari and Seka! Putting you two in the same paragraph since you’re like, inseparable entities in my mind. You two were some of the first to engage and plot with me on this blog, and I’m super happy you did. You’re both sweethearts, and I love the way you portray Keith and Shiro - and though it’s slowed down over the holiday season, I’m grateful you offered to help with the event I had planned. It’s still gonna happen if you’re still up to it, but there’s no rush on anyone. Ya’ll are also angst connoisseurs after my own heart. We haven’t plotted or talked that much recently, and that’s partly my fault for falling off the face of the earth. When you guys are feeling up it, I’d love to get back into things with you. Maybe a Discord group chat would be easier than separate tumblr chats?

@neurotiickind / @willowedpaladin / @terraveined / like a million other blogs - ALLY. Ally, you are a fucking gift unto this world. You’re hilarious and sweet and so easy to talk to. You were the first person to interact with me on this blog, and I’ve always been super grateful for that. I’m pretty sure I said it before in an ask, but you really helped me get comfortable in the VLD community. And holy shit, every muse you play you play them so well?? Hunk is the one I’ve interacted with most, and he’s such a cinnamon roll - but you know to let him have faults, and how to balance out his character. I love the way you write him, and I love his interactions with Zarkon - both crack and serious rp. The crack gives me life though, ngl.

@two-paladins - Ah yes, the culprit behind me developing a love for Zarkon/Trigel, both platonic and romantic. Dude, I was so hyped to see an active Trigel, and I LOVE plotting with you. And then you added Blaytz to your muse roster, because you were fucking sent from the heavens to bless us with that good OG Paladin content. Our first thread (which I have in my drafts, sorry for all the wait) was instrumental in developing the depth of Zarkon’s devotion to his Paladins. I just... I’m super glad we got to meet, man.

@voidborneleones / @devourer-heir - And here we have the other person who has most affected Zarkon’s development. Your take on the Lions is so deliciously creepy - I love how similar Black and Zarkon are in their obsession with and devotion to each other. We’ve made so many cool AUs, everything from Black returning to Zarkon’s side to the Voidtouched AU where she takes him as a child. I just love all the creepy, unsettling places we can go with them. And when we talk about them... gosh, it just sends chills up my spine.

@lionessofthestars - I was hella surprised when you followed me. Looking through your blog like, how did this quality writer find me?? You haven’t been as active recently, and I hope you’re doing okay. I loved talking and plotting with you, and I love how sassy your Blion is. It makes me smile to think of Blion climbing up onto Zarkon for mandatory cuddle times - and man, the pain she must feel seeing what he is now. There’s so much to explore with these two.

@viridisborne / @solumperditus - I mean, do I even have to say anything? You’re my best friend, and I wouldn’t be where I am today if you hadn’t reached out to check on me - at the time a total stranger - several years ago. We’ve been through a lot since, and you’ve helped me become a better person. I’ve never felt more at home and safe than I did those weeks I spent at your place.

@freedomsought - King! I see you haven’t been too active of late, so gonna assume hiatus. Hope you’re doing okay! I had a lot of fun chatting with you in IM, everything from plot to salt to stupid silly shit. I just...such a quality Shiro. I can’t wait to see our muses beat the shit out of each other some more.

@grievousdivinity - I don’t know if you want your identity revealed, so I’m just gonna tag you on this blog. We haven’t done much IC, which is totally fine - no rush. But with your writing skill, I have total faith that you could write a killer Haggar. OOC is a different story, however. I really enjoy talking to you on discord, and now that I’m done dropping off the face of the earth I look forward to talking more~

@v-oidheart / @leaderwarrior - We ship a lot of the same terrible things. Delicious sin. It’s wonderful. Ship stuff aside, I love roleplaying with you. Your responses are always so well thought out and written, with insight into how your characters are thinking. I’m hype to get the event done and kick off the connecting AU - ‘cause playing Shiro and Kolivan opposite evil Zarkon is great, but man would I love to see how they react to a Paladin Zarkon. Particularly Kolivan.

@goofbcll & @galra-druid - Putting you two together because y’all were so kind enough to include me in a verse! You both fed my need for that unholy dark content. Like seriously, give me all of the corrupted Paladin plots. I’m already rubbing my tiny evil hands together at the thought of all the chaos a corrupted Hunk can bring. Ash, your OC is super cute and super creepy, and I love how she internally freaks out around her God-Emperor. And goofbcll (can’t recall your mun name, sorry!) I love how you write Hunk’s internal struggle. He is corrupted, but pieces of him remain deep down.

@suppressicn & @indcmiitable / @warbcund & @lifebcund - You two were some of the first to actively interact with me and Zarkon, and it was hella fun. I still have one thread in my drafts (because Zarkon is an uncooperative prick.) Ya’ll are also super sweet - you’ve checked in on me a few times when I wasn’t doing so hot, and it was very much appreciated. You two were hella fun to have on stream too - I hope you join the next time I host a movie night!

@depthsbled - So we haven’t talked too much, but I just wanted you to know that our thread (which like most is...sitting in my drafts) is one of my favourites. Lance doesn’t even know it but he is hurting Zarkon so much and it’s beautiful. I love the way you write Lance - I can hear his voice in the dialogue.

CHAMPIONS - 

-Those who have left an impact//Interaction has been minimal, but very much enjoyed!

 @iincendixm - @vrepit-sa - @beryllion - @haxuss - @cruxsought - @princesaleonaa - @silentconfliction - @galacticdemon - @pinkformourning - @rahbarii - @compassionateretainer - @intelsought - @takashi-s-g / @kings-virtue - @the-lost-lieutenant - @conqueror-heir - @iustuseo - @lnstinctive - @starredsouls - @officialmemekinglotor - @wxterbonded

SOLDIERS - 

-Those I have seen from afar//We haven’t interacted or spoken yet (or if so, very little) but I am interested in interaction should you ever wish it!

@ambiinchious - @blazerought - @battlethought - @invitoduce - @princepsstella - @el-tira-dor - @kogane - @astriium - @stasismort - @exiiledbrat - @impxriium - @exiledprincelotor - @inspireloyalty - @crueldiplomacy - @marksmcn - @galrheir - @luneleia

Alright, I think that’s everyone. Just to be clear, if you haven’t been listed it does not mean I do not want to interact! The people listed above are people I get along with, or people who have writing styles I find interesting and/or play characters I would love to interact with - and they play them in a way that sticks out in my mind.

Suffice it to say, if I follow you it’s because I want to try interacting.

So, thanks for 200+ everyone! See you at the next milestone~

[bgarlich4]

‘Great Minds Realllly Do                Think   Alike’                      ☯️   ☯️   ☯️   ☯️

Unit 3 Discussion 1

Potential Benefits of Social Media

Britney Garlich

10/27/2020

“Great Minds Really Do Think Alike”

How Social Media Helps Us Feel Connected

The internet unarguably changed the way that nearly all of us do things. Regardless of one's age, demographic, or social statuses; and, sometimes without choice, people have modified their daily lives in ways that they may not even realize anymore due to the ever-changing technological world we live in. This does come with many, many benefits. But it also can contain potential harm if not utilized properly. Social media was intended for a way that people could connect, keep in touch, feel like a part of something, and to communicate about their life while seeing others. This is a great thing when we can feel connected, especially in a time like the present where a pandemic has sadly limited many of us seeing out loved ones. People and users on Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram, etc., all include ways to pair up with people similar, or be more likely to be given advertisements according to your ‘footprint.’ The advancing so rapidly is what various different social media companies can't necessarily keep up with. Good for us, and bad for us as users trying to keep up. “Instagram is the latest social media network to decide that it wants to change its feed to an algorithm-based one. In a blog post, they said that since the user base had grown by so much it was getting harder and harder to keep up with the posts from their favorite followers. It’s why they have decided to base what you see on your newsfeed on relevancy, as opposed to anything else. Rather than hiding posts, like on Facebook, businesses are not going to take as much of a hit because all posts will still be visible, but they will always come behind posts that are considered to be the most relevant.” (Agrawl, 2016.). Again, this can be a wonderful thing, but it can lead some people to using this as a way to keep people out, or segregate. I titled this blog, ‘great minds really do think alike,’ because I thought it was a good play on words describing how that insinuates people and their compadres can be led to find one another throughout common interests.

Homophily and Social Media; The good, the bad, and the everything else

While I say this alikeness, bonding is a general benefit, it does have some shortcomings as far as online information and its credentials can be deceiving. “Back in 2016, Instagram stopped using a reverse-chronological feed. Since then, the posts in each user’s feed on the platform has been ordered according to the Instagram algorithm’s ranking signals. According to the Instagram Help Center: “Instagram’s technology uses different ways, or signals, to determine the order of posts in your feed. These signals are used to help determine how your feed is ordered, and may include:

“Likelihood you’ll be interested in the content.

“Date the post was shared.

“Previous interactions with the person posting.”

This has a profound impact on influencers – as well as the marketers who are trying to identify the right influencers, find the right engagement tactics, and measure the performance of their programs” (Jarboe, 2020.) The psych behind this could lead a person, say in a cult like group, or political group so fed up, that this becomes a platform for serious and dangerous threats. While a mafia organization is quite farfetched, this way of breaking into groups can lead the ones not included to have a lower self-esteem, or worth. It is very easy to be a different person when communicating behind a screen. We have all learned to put a certain level of trust into this as we are all aware of the obvious risks. Homophily can be applied to several different things, included love and drug use as we read this week, but when applicable in the world of social media; it becomes as complex as every single group people can think of. After a person votes, or follows a political page of one side or the other; this will lead to great resources able to be found throughout the advertisements that your new algorithm has assigned. That’s very helpful to be able to find people with your same values, beliefs, and thoughts, especially for the utilization of a friend base or even a dating opportunity.  

The Social Media Algorithms that Impact, benefit from and Encourage Homophily

As I mentioned above, the internet in its entirety is the best invention we have ever had; besides the original wheel, etc. It is difficult to keep up and feel like your information is somewhat safe. “Social media algorithms are what all social media platforms run on these days. They have led to a lot of changes to social media, and not always desired ones. If you are going to take advantage of social media for business purposes, it’s vital that you understand what algorithms mean for you.” (Agrawl, 2016.).  But we use these websites and internet services for essentially everything. Siri can buy my entire winter wardrobe with direction. Closer to robots I feel we are getting. The algorithms now have convinced people that they are being listened to, and sometimes with speakers and Alexa; we very well could be. So, this helps in the way that it adds to homophily and finds people with common interests, or internet search's faster, etc. But the impact can lead people to only thinking one way, with people surrounding them also only think that way. It could have potential for violent situations, and to absolute scariest, real life situations. I think the social media platforms do take every chance they are given to encourage a ‘web world’ where everyone gets alone, and one that makes everyone else want to use it or deem it the best. The idea of social media will most likely always fulfill its intended goal of keeping people in communication, but the advancements we live with have helped this even further. Whether we use it for all of its good, or we hear about the bad impacts, it is scary, and so brilliant to know we can find people just like ourselves. I encourage this. I think everyone should join groups of their liking and do what helps them.  

Sources Cited

Agrawl, A.J. (2016, April 20.). What Do Social Media Algorithms Mean for Me? Retrieved on November 1, 2020 from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajagrawal/2016/04/20/what-do-social-media-algorithms-mean-for-you/?sh=63869099a515

Jarboe, Gregg. (2020, September 17.). How Do Social Media Algorithm’s Work? Retrieved on November 1, 2020 from https://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-social-media-algorithms-work/380642/#close

[a-burning-consuming-fire]

I guess I don't have much of an emotional attachment to this site anymore and I'm not a popular blog so I'm not overly concerned. I'm also not super active on social media like Twitter so I doubt anyone would go out of their way to seek me out if I'm not on Tumblr anymore lol If my blog is deleted for some reason, I will be disappointed, but I don't think I have anything worth backing up. I'll probably just make another account and keep reblogging the same fandom crap until I find another interest.

I know people that are younger and really have only ever used Tumblr or those that have large following and make a lot of original content are the main ones concerned. Probably a lot of fandom blogs getting flagged too, not just 'adult' blogs.

I don't think this post is implying those feelings aren't valid though.. I get it's a touchy subject for some but no need to put words in OP's mouth.

I think the point of this post is us old fandom folks have seen the rise and fall of many social media regimes. They all come and go eventually. Especially with big changes like this. But it's not the end. There will be life after Tumblr. Some other site will rise in it's place. Like Ao3 came about after the mess with FF.net. Like Facebook came about after Myspace. It happens. Out of the ashes, some other social site will rise up.

Tumblr won't go anywhere. It will change, no doubt, but a lot of us will probably still be here.

And still, a lot of people will leave, things will get messy, blogs will be deleted, there will be confusion and debate of what's "adult" as they implement the new rules. People will get fed up.

It's textbook though. It's happened on every big site at some point when they hit peak popularity and become more concerned with making money and being profitable and less concerned with supporting consumers and sticking with what works.

Look up pretty much any major social media site of the past; pretty much this exact same thing happens every time - Site gets popular, site starts implementing stricter rules, people protest, protest doesn't work, people scatter, site slowly becomes less active, people move on. Same thing every time.

But I understand big blogs with lots of popularity and followers being concerned. Also a lot of people use this site as their main connection to fandoms/friends and spend a lot of time here. A lot of people really only have Tumblr as their main social network for posting their original content and will probably be devastated by some of the changes. Really unfortunate and I'll be sad to see them go because there are some amazing artists, graphic designers etc..on here.

However; I feel like I'm too old to get worked up over this so I'll just be riding the wave until the end lol

u can tell who the ancients of tumblr are bc they’re the ones not posting anything abt where to find them if this site collapses…we know this site isnt going anywhere….the apocalypse couldnt stop this garbage…..it has the cybernetic code of a cockroach

[exploringsocialinformatics]

Blog #4: I Didn’t Enjoy Siding With Apple In An Argument But Here We Are

I wrote this based on information from the article Feds Can’t Force You To Unlock Your Phone With Finger or Face, Judge Rules by Thomas Brewster because I was really interested in the story about Apple and the FBI after the San Bernardino shooting and wanted to explore that connection.

The story of Apple refusing to give the FBI access to the phone belonging to the man who committed the 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino—more specifically, refusing to give them a backdoor method that would allow them to access any locked iPhone—is one of the most interesting stories that hits the intersection of privacy and technology in recent years. It’s an extreme example that poses the question: at what point is law enforcement allowed to compromise our constitutionally promised right to privacy? If there was ever a compelling reason to break into a phone, collecting evidence about a mass shooting would surely be one of them.  

Apple ultimately refused to comply with the FBI’s request; Tim Cook said in his statement, “In the wrong hands, this software—which does not exist today—would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession,” and, indicating the intense pressure they’d received,  “We can find no precedent for an American company being forced to expose its customers to a greater risk of attack” (Kahney 2019).

Apple ultimately made a difficult decision that they received extensive criticism for to make an important point: giving the FBI the ability to access every iPhone could easily lead to huge violations of privacy on their part, if not even worse actions on other groups who might get their hands on it illegally. This very specific example sets up what I want to do today, which is how these kinds of issues could potentially impact anybody that uses a mobile device and why it’s important that we have strong, clear laws in place that prevent abuse by law enforcement.

The crux of these issues goes back to the fourth and fifth amendments, which protect our right to privacy and against self-incrimination, respectively and amongst many other rights. Both come into play when considering this, as most of the current legislation is focused on phones as containing potential incriminating access.

I went down such a rabbit hole of court decisions while I was researching this because there’s been a lot of rulings about this from lower courts up to the Supreme Court in the last decade specifically, which makes sense: technology has been rapidly growing and changing and legislators are clearly and reasonably struggling to catch up. Here are some of the main players when it comes to Supreme Court legislation related to technology:

·       Riley vs. California (2014) – The warrantless search and seizure of digital contents of a cellphone is unconstitutional.

·       Carpenter vs. United States (2018) – Accessing historical records containing the physical locations of cellphones is unconstitutional.

·       Katz vs. United States – Extends Fourth Amendment protection beyond the traditional confines of citizens’ homes and property—emphasized the need for a “reasonable expectation of privacy.”

The cases that have made it to the Supreme Court have set a fairly strong precedent for protecting the Fourth Amendment rights of citizens when it comes to their phones and they’ve done so in a way that essentially treats mobile phones as a physical structure that contains property, just like a house. Katz vs. United States, having been established in 1967 and originally connected to wiretapping, is notoriously difficult to apply but it’s still a strong foundation.

The real thing that’s up in the air and that needs to be discussed more thoroughly is the Fifth Amendment—namely, whether or not law enforcement can force you to turn over a password to your device or to use your face or fingerprint to get into your device via biometrics. The Supreme Court hasn’t heard arguments over this yet but it’s becoming a more and more common issue in lower courts, with significant decisions being made as recently as November 2019, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the Fifth Amendment prevents people from being forced to turn over their passwords (Commonwealth vs. Davis) and January 2019, when a judge in California ruled that police officers can’t force people to use biometrics on their phone to open them (Brewster). These are particularly notable because they continue to apply regardless of whether or not a warrant exists because the judges are attempting to make a case that exposing whatever is on your device is the same thing as incriminating yourself with testimony.

The most compelling argument to me is the possibility of this power being abused. If the Supreme Court never hears cases like this and makes definite decisions on what law enforcement can and can’t do, then the limited power of the lower courts is—well, limited. Without a standard, we could be facing the potential for things like police fishing for other potential crimes based off the contents of a phone (Schuppe 2019), using content on phones out of context, increased abilities to manufacture evidence (McLaughlin 2016) and the possibility of police sharing information taken from phones with other law enforcement related to activities for which they’ve not yet received a warrant (Kerr 2017). There’s enough evidence out there of law enforcement attempting to work outside the bounds of the law (for instance, the FBI ended up hiring a professional hacker to get into the San Bernardino shooter’s phone, circumventing Apple’s choice [Nakashima 2016]) that it’s increasingly obvious that the lines need to be much clearer.

I can see how the San Bernardino attack is more than enough evidence for people who think that law enforcement should have more access to evidence that might be found on people’s phones. Similarly, issues with child pornography and other kinds of exploitation infinitely complicates this. When it comes down to it, though, we’re faced as a nation with a broader version of Apple’s conflict: do we potentially sacrifice privacy as a whole because of the actions of a few? The crimes we’re talking about absolutely make this a conversation and in an ideal world it would be possible to create a system in which particular crimes can exist within a particular set of parameters that allows for easier justice without threatening the rights of others. Our world is less than ideal, though, and these large swathes of moral gray need to exist within constitutionally protected black and white that treats every citizen the same.

The Supreme Court needs to acknowledge the cases that are being made by judges all across the country and make their decision on exactly how acquiring information on cellphones pertains to the Fifth Amendment so we can begin to create structures that protect our constitutional right to privacy and prevent overreach by law enforcement. 

Resources: 

Brewster, Thomas. (2019, January 14). Feds Can’t Force You To Unlock Your iPhone With Finger Or Face, Judge Rules. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2019/01/14/feds-cant-force-you-to-unlock-your-iphone-with-finger-or-face-judge-rules/#13e4480542b7

Kahney, Leander. (2019, April 16). The FBI Wanted a Back Door to the iPhone. Tim Cook Said No. Retrieved from https://www.wired.com/story/the-time-tim-cook-stood-his-ground-against-fbi/

Kerr, O. (2017, February 21). Analysis | The police can't just share the contents of a seized iPhone with other agencies, court rules. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2017/02/21/the-police-cant-just-share-the-contents-of-a-seized-iphone-with-other-agencies-court-rules/

McLaughlin, Jenna. (2016, May 5). FBI Told Cops to Recreate Evidence From Secret Cell-Phone Trackers. Retrieved from: https://theintercept.com/2016/05/05/fbi-told-cops-to-recreate-evidence-from-secret-cell-phone-trackers/

Nakashima, E. (2016, April 12). FBI paid professional hackers one-time fee to crack San Bernardino iPhone. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbi-paid-professional-hackers-one-time-fee-to-crack-san-bernardino-iphone/2016/04/12/5397814a-00de-11e6-9d36-33d198ea26c5_story.html

Schuppe, Jon. (2019, June 7). Give Up Your Password or Go To Jail: Police Push Legal Boundaries To Get Into Cellphones. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/give-your-password-or-go-jail-police-push-legal-boundaries-n1014266

[richmckeating-blog]

Mckeating Ultra

My latest adventure started a few months ago when I texted my client who had just completed the London Marathon.

How did you get on? I asked hoping to simultaneously offer my congratulations whilst secretly re affirming my ego with the knowledge that my Marathon time was better.

Then they hit me with it, 3:41. They had beaten my time by ten minutes!

I have only ever completed one marathon, the New York, back in 2003 just a few months after getting back from Iraq I needed something to sink my teeth into and to help me get some normality back into my life.

To be honest, I know I didn’t really get an awesome time, like many people I was just happy to have completed the event, I think I even walked parts of it, but now I’m at a stage in my life where I’m wondering what my potential might be if I really applied myself and as I’m 38 years old, I feel as though it’s now or never.

So, I decided to come out of retirement and try to beat my last time, not for any ego driven vanity purpose of beating my client you understand, but solely to impart some life wisdom and help everybody realise that I’m the best 😊

I went to work searching the internet for Marathon events, the London Marathon can be hard to get into, and doing an event in my hometown of Hull didn’t excite me much, I searched and searched and that’s when I came across it.

The more I read, the more excited I got, and scared at the same time just at the thought of it, whether to enter or not went back and forth through my mind like some kind of decision ping pong game for a couple of days, before I decided to just go ahead and enter.

And that’s why I’m now training for my first ever ultra.

I’m still a newbie to this world so let me share what I’ve learned so far, an ultra-run is anything longer than a traditional marathon, there are Ultra’s across the UK and around the World of varying distance from 40 miles to upwards of a hundred which take place in varied environments under a wide range of conditions.

The Ultra I’ve entered is the Hardwolds 80, an eighty mile route across the Yorkshire Wolds way starting at the Humber Bridge and ending in Filey.

The event takes place on the morning of Saturday the 23rd November and I’ll have 24 hours to complete the whole route from start to finish.

I’ll be running this event to help raise funds for two charities very close and dear to my heart.

Royal Marines Charity

The corps family is in constant need of looking after, since I left in 2004 many of my good friends have either been killed in action or have chosen to end their lives, I’ll go further into this at some point in a future article but for now I just want to acknowledge thanks that there is an organization who can help support my band of brothers with mental health services and provide help to the families of those who have served.

They provide rehab to those injured, financial assistance to those in need and are constantly there for any serving or non-serving member of the corps.

Once a Marine, always a Marine.

Humber Rescue

I have been a volunteer at Humber Rescue for just over a year now, we are an independent lifeboat station staffed entirely by volunteers and we respond to call outs 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

The crew at Humber Rescue give up work, family and leisure time to be available to those in trouble at sea, in the short time I have been there I’ve seen crew members called out at three in the morning to literally save the life of someone in the water, only to go home and get ready for work in a few hours.

Not all heroes wear capes, it’s a pleasure to work alongside these guys.

Please Donate!

This is my donation page

I’ve set the fundraising bar quite low to start with, soon as I smash this target (hopefully soon) I’ll raise it again and shall endeavour to raise as much money as I can for these two worthwhile causes.

In exchange for donations I’m going to regularly blog with details of my journey as an amateur runner preparing for my first ultra-run, I’ll go into research and methods on mindset, nutrition and training and will provide valuable content for anybody interested in running and wanting to up their game or just anybody who wants to gaze into the working process of the kind of masochism one has to resort to in order to get to this level.

I’ll start briefly here in this article, and in future content I’ll cover these in more depth as I work through these tasks and begin to learn more and understand further.

Ultra-Mindset

Aside from running itself, I have two competing mental models regarding the Hardwolds 80 which I’m having to work with and overcome.

The first is just fear.

Fear that I’ll not be fit enough, that I’ll fail to complete it and look like an idiot after having spent months training for it and blogging about it and trying to raise money for good causes.

Fear of injury, fear of the pain, fear of getting lost on the route (that would be so me) and fear of not having enough mentally to cope with this and just quitting.

The second mindset I’m having to work against is unrealistic ambition, the guy who won last year ran the event in twelve hours and twenty-three minutes, the next competitor came in at thirteen hours and seven minutes.

I’ve worked out the mile splits, read the blogs of some people who took part (seem like really nice guys) and although this is the first ever ultra I’m going to run part of my brain is imagining me winning the thing and getting first place in a course breaking time.

Yeh, that’s really going on inside my mind.

So staying grounded for a moment, between my fears of just being able to complete the thing and my ambition to smash it and achieve fame, I believe a more realistic ambition should be to work with the goal of just completing this thing, most ultra-runners, especially beginners, go out the blocks too quick, tire out and finish way out of their expected times because they misjudged pacing.

Then of course there is the mindset needed whilst running, to mentally go out and do a ½ marathon on your lunchbreak because you know you need to clock up some millage volume for that week.

Every run I come face to face with my own insecurities.

Hello darkness my old friend.

Why not slow down Rich? Why not just run a few miles less today, your so busy and you have so much to do, you can always run further tomorrow to make up for it.

The conversations start in the mind, with perfectly justifiable sweet honey excuses being drip fed into my ear lobes.

Each run I must work against this, to acknowledge the thoughts, but to ignore them and carry on pushing it anyway.

When you run away from pain you’ll just get more pain, when you run towards it things seem to get easier.

In future articles I’ll expand on this in a lot more detail, because mindset is probably the biggest limiting factor to success and without mastering this aspect all the hard work around training and diet is wasted.

Ultra-Training

At the time of writing I have twenty weeks until the event, I’m now ready to start with some serious training, for the last six weeks I’ve been working on the basics.

This is just getting miles in, I’ve tried to clock in at least thirty miles a week, building up to 40 miles per week, and now I’m on 50 miles a week, some short five to six-mile runs, some fifteen milers when I’ve had time.

Each run will usually have one of the following purposes

Hills

The Wolds way has a fair number of hills along the route, many ultra- runners choose to walk the hills and run everything else, I’m not sure where I sit with this yet but for now I want to build up some tolerance to the hills and get my legs as best prepared as I can. Fortunately for me there are some big hills near my little private training studio in North Ferriby, so I’ve had plenty of opportunity to run up steep hills in the middle of a hot July afternoon like a madman.

Endurance

On many of my runs I’ve simply tried to get used to running for time, sometimes this has involved running twice a day, and on the few occasions where I’ve had a few hours spare this has just meant plodding along to get miles under the feet without pushing myself too hard.

Speed

I have two speed type sessions I’ve been working on, the first is pure hell, it’s literally the worst training I’ve done since leaving he marines, to the point where I feel nauseous and start regretting my life choices.

Hill Sprints, 5 x 3 minutes

I find a big hill, and I sprint hard up at it for three whole minutes, about 30 seconds in the pain really kicks in, I then have to keep pushing and tolerating that pain for the remaining duration, it’s hellish and at the same time kind of Euphoric, every part of my body hurts, my need for oxygen begins to vastly outweigh my ability to breath and I find my face contorted in agony trying to suck in big gulps of air.

Then I walk down the hill to recover and repeat the process again until I’ve done five total sprints. It’s hell, I hate it, but damn it makes me faster on my other runs.

Short sprints 15 x 15 seconds

This is a much more pleasant session, I find a nice flat field, warm up with lots of drills around running, plenty of hopping, moving the body around in various ways to help the individual joints react best to ground contact, and then when I’m ready it’s a 15 second sprint full out, followed by 45 seconds rest, and repeat. It’s short and sharp but effective and being able to access those gears helps me enormously when I’m trying to find a pace I can reasonably keep up for miles upon miles.

This is the kind of pace I have going on right now, current goal is to get a half marathon in under 90 minutes, hoping to achieve this in the next few weeks.

  Ultra-Nutrition

Starting weight was 87kg, which means I’m currently carrying a few kgs too many to get my best times out, so diet’s had to play a significant part in my training not just to get the most out of my running but to help lose a few lbs at the same time.

Initially I just tried some simple calorie lowering techniques, big salad before dinner, pint glass of water with meals to help fill the stomach etc.

Guess what? Didn’t work ☹

Turns out I just have a massive greedy appetite, I just like food, lots of it, and I’ll keep eating past the point of being full.

For some people eating with moderate calorie tricks like the ones above can work wonders, but it just doesn’t do it for me.

After weeks of expending thousands more calories per week through the sheer number of additional steps I’ve been carrying out I still weighed the same.

So I’ve had to count calories, which sucks, but on the plus side I have lost 3.5kg (1/2 stone) and I still get to enjoy chocolate and a few beers without having to feel too restrictive. For me it’s important to lose weight at a steady pace, if I cut calories too low my performance will suffer on my runs and I won’t have enough resources to recover properly.

My nutrition for running is another matter entirely, now the basic training phase is over I’ve started turning my attention to carbohydrate periodization, where I alter the amount of carbs I consume based on the amount of training I’m doing that day. There is some cool science around this subject which I’ll go into in future articles.

My weight goal is to get under 80kg at least, that’s still heavy for an ulta-runner, but it’ll be a significant improvement on the extra weight I’ve been lugging about during these runs!

Summary

So this is the start of my journey, I’ll hope you’ll join me for future articles where I explore different aspects of running and ultra- running, and try to give more tips that I hope readers may find useful.

This started out as an intention to try and beat my previous Marathon time ( and my clients), however it’s took on a new form now, It’s turned into a challenge to bite my arse from a training slumber and get me working hard at achieving my best at something I’ve never done before.

once again, this is my donation please, if you find this article useful, please spare what you can, it is as always much appreciated.

This is my donation page

In future articles I’ll be delving much deeper into running training, nutrition for performance and the importance of getting the right mindset, including how I came to know the Hill Wizzard and Old man wolds (they’re both horrible)

BTW- The client who beat my time?

None other than Neil Hudgell, chairman of Super League Rugby Club Hull Kingston Rovers. He works hard in the gym with me three times a week and outside of the gym runs regularly and keeps challenging himself to do better. Years ago Neil got me back into running, since then we’ve ran a few half marathons together and to be fair, this guy can really put in some pace!

If you’d like to receive regular updates to my articles and get subscriber only content including videos, recipes, extras etc then sign up on the link below.

http://eepurl.com/ds_ygj

[imapinkflamingo]

and this is why I do what I do!!!

If you have watched the 65th Miss Universe Competition that was held in my home country last January 2017, you probably heard the questions that was asked to Miss Philippines-

What is the most significant change you've seen in the world in the last 10 years?

Her answer isn’t bad at all but in my own opinion, she probably can do better, but then, who I am to judge her, I probably won’t even manage to enter the screening of Binibining Pilipinas let alone represent Philippines in this prestigious event. So to Maxine, who did all the best she can to bag the crown, I salute you.

But after the pageant, and Ms. France was crowned as the New Miss Universe, that questions made me think “What is the most significant change I've seen in the world in the last 10 years”, and if I were to ask the same question as she had, I probably answer like this:

The most significant change I’ve seen in the world in the last 10 years is how technology advances drastically that it becomes an integral part of our daily lives. Because of technology we have awaken the storyteller, the voices, and the ideas that is living inside of us. Technology became a very powerful tool that can be compared to MJOLNIR the hammer of Thor in the movie Thor or the fish hook of Maui in Disney’s Moana.

From what I’ve read in one of the blogs I usually visits, we’re all born storytellers and I couldn’t agree more on that. It's part of the species. We spend most of our lives, wittingly or unwittingly, telling stories. In fact, it’s not something we have to learn, it’s something we do, day in and day out, every day. It’s something that we are able to do at the age of two.

Jerome Bruner has documented how little children at this age, as soon as they can start to talk, show that they understand the stories that their families tell them, and they start to tell their own stories, and in particular start to tell stories to themselves as part of their first efforts to make sense of their lives.

It happens so easily and so spontaneously and so pervasively that some scientists believe that storytelling is hard-wired into our brains.

If you know me personally, some say that I’m quiet, reserved, monosyllabic, never saying a word at the dinner table, never regaling with stories. So what I am doing, bothering to come out with a story about people being storytellers.

To answer that question, let me tell you another story. My story.

For the last 26 years, I’ve been trying hard to find my place, on why I do what I do. I have tried numerous ways, tests to find and come out with that one special thing people call passion, I thought it was art, but it’s actually just a part of a bigger picture. Just one part.

I’ve tried almost everything and anything that I can get my hands on, building business, finding jobs but nothings fulfills me.

As the saying goes, you can do anything, but you can’t do everything. Nothing satisfies me that it’s affecting not only me mentally and emotionally but everything, people, relationship that involves me. Well just a heads up, this is not a how to overcome story or success story, it’s just a story, my story.

I get so fed up that living becomes a chore. A very boring chore and how badly I pray to anyone to show me the end of this dark tunnel. But then after giving some thought, I came to realize that this is my story and it depends on me on how to write it, in what genre will I be basing it. Be it e a dramatic one, a thriller, a comedy, a horror, it all depends on me.

And so I drag my sorry ass, and force myself to try once more. I wanted to change my story and not just remain in this single page that I keep re-writing. We all have that desire to change our own story for the good. We all keep writing our stories everyday and believing that it will someday not long from now will lead to a better one, a happy extraordinary story to tell our next generation someday.

Well, I do hope that myself and that becomes a driving force for me to find my why, which I don’t know yet until I happen to stumble on Brad Hussey’s blog. The thing is, when I’m in trouble or in doubt, I don’t usually like talking about it to anybody, I keep it all to myself and the internet becomes my only confidante. What I do is, I google everything I want to know and from the robust solutions google offers, I search the most interesting story that I can find, and most of the time, google never fails me. That’s why it became my habit that when people ask me something I always answer: Igoogle na yan, meaning why not try google to search for it.

One of the many reasons why I consider myself blessed to live in this century cause if I were born on the latter year imagine what would I do every time I have a questions in mind, I probably be living in a library or a bookstore by then.

So back to my story, given that I don’t have much choice left, I decided to try a trending career that everybody seems to adore and praises. Become a Web/Graphic Designer. Sure, that shouldn’t be a problem, after all I’m a Computer Science Student in College, that should be easy peasy, So I set a new goal, to become a web designer and have my so called FREEDOM. That was last September 2016 but why is that up until now I didn’t manage to become one and I still don’t have any website that has my name on it.

I don’t even know why, I’m as puzzled as you, as soon as I decided that I wanted t be a Web Designer, I Immediately purchase courses online teaching the quickest way on how to design a website, read numerous books recommend by almost everybody, and boy, I was drowning in information. But I can’t seem to finish what I started, and I get tired and just drop the whole thing then in an instant I shifted to a career that I thought would suit be better.

A wedding card designer, up until I realized recently that I’m not really good with “physical product”. So what’s left of me, back into web designing just to kill time and hopefully earn some extra income.

As a habit, while opening 30-40 tabs of different sites on how to become a web designer, and downloaded countless free-ebooks detailing how can I be a successful Free Lancer, I remember Brad Hussey’s blog, I have always admired that guy because he was able to build a company and work for himself. And you can feel his passion towards what he is doing, just go ahead and check out his courses in Udemy. You will never regret. It’s a really good investment for your hard earned money. So yeah, I reread the entire content of his site, and at that instant I was fascinated and captivated once more by his beautiful, very wonderful story, about his life, his family, his wife and kids, his vacations, about everything that he does, and I tell to myself, this man is living at his dream life, his living life to the fullest. And honestly my heart aches realizing that I can have a totally different lifestyle if I can only find my passion. What I don’t know that time is that I’m actually having the wrong question.

Then I remember that somewhere in my file I have saved his free-eBook on freelancing, a 68page book, The Seven Step Free-Lancing Roadmap: How To Build Your Freelance Business When You Have No Idea Where To Start, and is it a coincidence or maybe just the universe trying to remind to slow down cause I already have my answer.

So here we goes, I open the book and guess what it ask me to do on his Step 1: Define your Why. His explanation seems to hit hard on me, but I feel like there’s more that I want to know, the good thing is on the last part of the 1st Step he gave a link to watch Simon Sinek's Ted Talk, called "How great leaders inspire action”.

Nothing to lose, I quickly head to the link and downloaded it in my mobile phone. So after downloading and listening to it while on my way home, I feel “enlighten” that I literally utter the word “and that’s it, that’s what I’m missing all this years, “that is why I can’t find it, cause I don’t know what is my WHY?...

I didn’t know my WHY. Why do I do what I do?

And in that instant, answers came flooding, reflection after reflection

“Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever”.

Then I look back, why did I took Computer Science when I was in College, why I love to browse and search information online, why I love the website so much, why I love to read blogs and such, why I can stay in social media for hours. Why I love to write and put my opinion in my blog. It’s because I am a storyteller and at the same I am also a story listener.

We all have our own stories that we love to tell the world. Just look into facebook for an instance and you can see the countless post of individual people going on and on about their daily lives. We are all story tellers.

We all want the world to know our stories, that’s why the blogging industry is booming cause everybody wants to have a say at something. Everybody wants to be involve at something. And what better ways to tell this stories than to take advantage of the technology that is accessible to everybody at any given time anywhere in the world. See, that is the power of today’s technology, it create bridges and remove boundaries.

With the advance technology that we have, any information can be easily access to any devices, ipads mobile, as long as you have the connection. The gap of doubts and questions that we are embarrassed to ask others and keep hidden to ourselves can be easily verify and answer with just a single search in google or yahoo.

But with this privilege comes a heavy responsibility that most of us maybe don’t know, forgotten and usually ignored.

I remember an incident just last year that in my opinion describe this very situation, where one of my schoolmate in highschool was being attacked by a random individual who clearly don’t know his place when he said those harsh words to her. But hooray, my schoolmate backfired with a very witty response that in my opinion, doesn’t only applies to that individual but we should take a good look and learn from it

“I was trained by the University of the Philippines to pursue honor before excellence, to check my facts before sharing, to make sure that I understand the underlying meaning behind these words before I react, and If I don’t understand to ask questions”. Suzie F. Abela

Sometimes we can’t guarantee the credibility and "trueness" of the information that we found in search engines. But instead of checking facts, we blindly absorb or follow what they tell us, what to buy, to eat, what to watch, without even asking ourselves why do we need to. Just because it’s the current trend we tend to ignore the obvious facts underlying. We see bashing/ arguments everywhere and believe what we first read without knowing both sides. And it’s not technologies shortfall which we always used as a shield.

And that is why I choose web development and designing; I want to make a difference on how my story, your story, our stories will be share online. I have never been this eager to listen to your heart warming and delightful stories and make a way on how to share it responsibly so others will learn and be delighted in your success.

So why I do I do what I do? Because I am both a storyteller and a story listener. And I make it my goal to deliver reputable, reliable and accessible stories that can inspire and improve other’s daily lives. I want to create a haven where a storyteller and a story listener like myself can interact harmoniously.

To sum it up, let me borrow the iconic passage that makes Philippines shines once more. Sharing beautiful stories confidently with a heart, that’s why I create and develop websites.

(sorry for all the grammatical errors, I just need to write down my thoughts without filters so I can be at ease.. hahahaha)