#and still is inclined by nature to a supportive role- she has no great aspirations on leadership or power itself but in how she can help

[pocketramblr]

Upon seeing the post about second as iida my first thought was and third can be uraraka then I noticed you had the same idea in the tags

Great minds think alike I just think that's what she deserves,,,trio holders to the original trio babeyyy

[rebellionbeach]

The Usami brothers and whole family as a whole are really interesting characters.  Due mostly by the fact of how different Haruhiko and Akihiko are yet similar in many ways as well.  Let’s start with rabbit boy.

Not only is this man extremely sexy but he’s also one of the most popular novelists in Japan believe it or not (not in real life guys)  Akihiko is the presumably biological son of Natsuko and Fuyuhiko and younger brother of Haruhiko Usami.  Growing up, he had always yearned for the attention of his parents, wanting to impress them and make them happy.  Haruhiko had actually been introduced to the Usami household at the age of 12 so Akihiko was 10 at the time and significant development seemed to grow from this change.  As shown from volume 21, everyone had been cheering Akihiko on as the legitimate heir of the Usami family meaning to take over the family business however he had never gotten this support from his parents before.  As a young child he had believed that if he just tried harder and became good at everything, then his parents would finally recognize him.  However, this wasn’t the case unfortunately as shown in the same volume once a young Akihiko came home from school gaining full marks on a test, eager to show his father when he caught him telling Haruhiko that he truly intended to make him the heir of the family business.  This impact was further felt once his mother, who had also witnessed this, declared that she should have never bore Fuyuhiko’s child which in the eyes of a young child must have been completely shattering.  An important seed was planted however and I believe that it was at this moment that Akihiko had started to evolve into the person he is today.  He poured all his emotion, pain, loss, suffering into his notebooks, his stories, proclaiming it to be his entire world.  Overtime we see that Akihiko grows to be very adept at the talent, being one of the top-selling authors from debut which occurred while still in high school and becoming a full-fledged novelist.  Doing this, he completely rejected his family and any connections he might have had to take over the business.  

Looking as Akihiko today it is very clear the type of individual he is, independent and self-serving, he’s his own boss and does only the things he wants to do.  From the first episode of season 2 we see this as there is a key event that takes place between the two Usami brothers in which a confrontation between two escalates into a full-out argument over Akihiko coming back to, as I assume, take over the lead of the Usami company and or serve there.  I will note later on Haruhiko’s tone and content of his language but it’s Akihiko’s response which truly stuck out to me as he stated that he had no inclination of going back to that house and if that Haruhiko truly didn’t like being there then why doesn’t he just leave as well.

This point may seem entirely irrelevant but I actually believe it highlights an essential part of Akihiko’s character that not only serves as his strength but also a blind spot in that of his independence.  Akihiko is the type of person who is able to do the things he’d like to do and encourages the people he cares about, basically Misaki, to do the same such as in episode 2 of season 3 where he is actually the one who encourages Misaki to enter into Marukawa after Misaki dismisses those thoughts as just a fantasy.  This is a thing for his relationship with Misaki as he allows the man a different perspective and in a way allows him, or at least encourages him, to be more selfish.  However this can also be seen as a flaw of his character as it can be interpreted that the only reason he has this lax and independent personality in the first place is because of his more well-off family and the fact that he’d had connections from the start.  In all honestly though, this part of Usagi-san’s personality is one of the main reasons why I actually enjoy his character, along with his thoughtful nature, as I believe that it’s a pretty unique and well-suited trait.

Let’s get into Harry Potter or the eldest brother of the Usami residence, Haruhiko.  Haruhiko isn’t Akihiko’s direct brother as stated before but rather a product of an affair that Fuyuhiko had with his mother.  For the first 12 years of his life, Haruhiko had actually been raised by his single-mother whom he loved very much.  During these times he had been seen to be much more happy despite living in poorer circumstances.  This is a large aspect that is pretty big onto why he is the way he is today.  After his mother tragically passing on, Fuyuhiko took him into to live in the Usami residence.  Now this in itself is absolutely devastating, living with a father-figure that had never truly been there for you with a new mother-in-law that despises your every existence because you’re the proof of the infidelities of her marriage and a new younger brother who seemed lifeless from the rest of this.  Top it all off with the devastation from losing the only person you truly loved and was there for you and damn I’m surprised that Haruhiko didn’t full out lose it.  

Now going back to the scene originally discussed with Akihiko’s backstory, let us switch perspective onto Haruhiko during this situation.  Your new dad just stated that the person he had truly loved in his lifetime was your dead mother and that he intended to make you, a 12 year old child, the heir of their family company that you had just learned about.  Not only this but everyone around you is your enemy as shown through all the people cheering on Akihiko to become the true heir and saying that Haruhiko stole his position.  There is basically no one there to support you, similar to Akihiko, and unlike Akihiko he actually was not used to this new circumstance making the situation even worse. 

I’d like to discuss the scene stated before during episode 1 of season 2.  Here, Haruhiko is visibly angry as Akihiko’s lack of care for his role in the Usami residence.  This is something we’ve never actually gotten to see ever since with Haruhiko barely showing any emotion at all.  However, if you take in the full context of his upbringing and circumstance to that point, you can see a fuller picture of what the man has gone through to become the stoic chosen one we know today.  Akihiko, after being hoisted by Isaka to finally start publishing his works, his entire being, finally achieved success independent from the Usami residence, marking himself finally as an individual allowing him to finally see that he only needs himself.  I think this is what caused Akihiko to cut most connection from his family, despite the occasional visits, and totally puts himself away from the idea of succeeding and become the heir of his family’s company.  This leaves Haruhiko with the burden of shouldering the entire Usami company’s future, something he never truly wanted to today with architecture being his main priority.  What he see’s in Akihiko is this lazy, selfish person who only thinks of himself, abandoning all his familial duties to a brother whom he barely batted an eye to during childhood.  This is what he hates in Akihiko, but also envies.  A very interesting point that season 2 makes with the connection between the Usami brothers is the inherent jealously Haruhiko feels toward Akihiko, with him trying to steal things from him during their upbringing together according to Akihiko.  Even Misaki finally has this revelation during episode 8 I believe when he was distracting him from Kaoruko.  I think his jealously mainly stems from the fact that Akihiko got his independence while Haruhiko is still confined to the Usami gates.  With all of Akihiko’s absent-minded behavior and to quote Haruhiko, “having the eyes of a dead fish”, Akihiko in the end still achieved that sense of independence that Haruhiko could only dream about having.  Add onto the fact that everyone around you hates that you got this position, lobbying for your younger half-brother who barely gives in the effort to succeed you, then baby that’s a recipe for childhood resentment if I’ve ever seen one.  

So what does this all mean, well nothing since this is an over-analysis on a yaoi manga but in a reality I think it comes to show the clear dynamic Haruhiko and Akihiko have on one another.  In recent chapters it is shown that Haruhiko is more and more aspiring in his own pursuits in architecture, even accepting his position as lead of the Usami household and accepting the fact that he’ll never get Misaki, wanting to stay as his ally instead (which is a lot more than I can say for a CERTAIN manga author).

I love Haruhiko AND Akihiko, they both are really great characters and I’d think it would be nice if in the future they could perhaps reconcile their relationship and kind of start to get along.  The Usami household fucked up a lot of kids but they are still going strong and who knows, maybe Haruhiko might get a lover in the future (AKA Todo)

Thank you and now I implore you to go listen to Nelson’s After the Rain album, 10/10 made me cry.

[sepublic]

If the characters of The Owl House had JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Stands, who would have which Stand? (Note: It can be from any part in the series, not just Part 3)

First off, I just want to say- THANK YOU, because The Owl House and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, two of my favorite things ever, in one ask? And I get to ANALYZE the two? This is a dream come true…!

I love Stands, not only for their unique designs and crazy abilities that can get weirdly specific, but also because they’re essentially a reflection of one’s soul, so they’re a great glimpse into a character’s personality! As someone who loves the characters from The Owl House, this is naturally a fun way to explore their psyche by assigning a Stand most compatible with them, White Snake-style!

I should preface that for this ask, I’m going to be using Stands from Parts 1-6. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet read Steel Ball Run, nor Jojolion; I plan to, and maybe on another day I’ll revisit this ask with updated information- Assuming that any of the new Stands I encounter and know about fit the characters more than the ones already assigned to them.

But with that out of the way… Here’s a list of characters and the Stands I’ve assigned to them- For fun, I’ve even gone over some minor named characters (although Bellows and Kikimora were left out due to there being too little to work with)! Some characters will have multiple Stands, if only because I couldn’t decide between some, or I felt like there were others worth considering. Lengthy explanations for my reasoning will be underneath the cut, as well as alternate Stand possibilities, even for those who I’ve already made a decision on!

(I’m going for best fits, not perfect ones)

Luz- The Cure

Eda- Sticky Fingers

King- Wheel of Fortune/Bad Company/Harvest/Little Feet/Weather Report

Hooty- Horus

Owlbert- Anubis/Stray Cat/Sex Pistols/Aerosmith

Willow- Strength

Gus- Hierophant Green/Emperor

Amity- Spice Girl

Lilith- Magician’s Red

Emira- Joy Division

Edric- Khnum

Boscha- Goo Goo Dolls

Mattholomule- The Lock

Bump- The Grateful Dead

Wrath- Bastet

Adegast- Judgement

Tibbles- Marilyn Manson

Bat Queen- Atom Heart Father

Starting off is Luz, the main character and personal favorite of mine! She was REALLY difficult to figure out… I considered multiple options for her, such as Crazy Diamond, Gold Experience, Heaven’s Door, Bohemian Rhapsody, etc. Ultimately however, I decided to go for a rather obscure Stand, one from the light novel Golden Heart, Golden Ring- The Cure. To put it simply, The Cure, well… Cures people by absorbing wounds and injuries, becoming bigger before eventually dissipating the accumulated hurt. I feel like this reflects greatly Luz’s very kind, almost healing nature- She helps provide Eda with a greater sense of found family, she helps ‘fix’ Willow’s situation and self-esteem, as well as Amity’s own insecurity and loneliness, etc. Not only that, but Luz also has a lot of thematic similarities with The Cure’s user, Coniglio- Coniglio is heavily associated with Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

The character of Alice is led into a new, magical world by a small creature she later befriends, and gets into trouble with the local law- Just like Luz. Coniglio herself was ostracized when she was younger, being called a Witch, which fits Luz’s initial loneliness, and of course her eventual aspirations. Coniglio is an inexperienced Stand User when we meet her, just as Luz is still learning magic. Finally, Coniglio learns to control and tame her stand, which takes the form of a rabbit- Luz is associated with small animal sidekicks, such as King or Owlbert. However, The Cure can also turn into a more monstrous form and become berserk, which in its own way mirrors Luz’s relationship with Eda, and how she has to calm her mentor and revert her back the way Coniglio did.

For a more canon option, there’s also The Sun. We don’t really know anything about is user, Arabia Fats- The most we can glean is that he’s clever, but he can also rely on dumb ideas. Likewise, his Stand is incredibly powerful, but provides almost nothing to defend him. If one goes by the Tarot meaning, however, The Sun is associated with good times, with fun and optimism, all that stuff! It’s about someone who still maintains childlike wonder… and that sounds like Luz! She’s kind, bright, and in a lot of ways a ‘light’ to others’ lives, which is also supported by her name’s literal translation!

Continuing on Tarot meanings, we can also go for The Fool- It’s about being adventurous, of starting a new journey. There’s some freedom, but also a bit of carelessness, which reflects how Luz didn’t quite fully think through her actions in the beginning of Episode 1, or her plan in Episode 3. The Fool is a bit of an outsider compared to the rest of the Arcana, which fits Luz’s outsider status as a human who somehow goes Magic anyway. And like The Fool, Luz can be somewhat unpredictable and unusual, at least to those who know her- She’s kind of a cryptid to them, what with having confetti in her pockets at all times(?) and casually revealing that she knows the infamous Bat Queen.

For Eda, I chose Sticky Fingers- Someone else on Twitter mentioned it, I don’t remember who… But they analyzed a few of the Stands of Part 5, and during their analysis they discussed how Sticky Fingers is symbolic of Bruno’s ability to connect with others, making his own path to them, zipping them together, etc. Bruno Bucciarati is a mom with a found family, which I feel suits Eda’s personality. Likewise, they’re both criminals, who willingly left a prestigious organization despite their talent and the powerful role they could’ve had in the group, as a result of moral disagreements with its ideals and leader. Plus, Sticky Fingers is a term that refers to people who like to steal, and we know from Covention that Eda is a notorious pickpocket!

On the other hand, Weather Report is also neat. It’s associated with a character dealing with memory loss, which fits Eda’s schtick and character a whole lot, what with not remembering who cursed her. Likewise, Weather Report (the user) has a brother, Enrico Pucci; The two used to have a more complex antagonism, although by Stone Ocean it’s a lot more straightforward. Still, this kind of complex sibling relationship also works with Eda and Lilith, and with Weather Report being a ridiculously powerful Stand (just as Eda is the strongest Witch), I feel it also works for her character, personality, and motifs.

King is the most interesting and diverse scenario for me. I’ve considered Wheel of Fortune for him; Both rely on an outside force, a pre-existing thing, in order to function. Likewise, Wheel of Fortune’s power is proportional to the user’s confidence, which fits with how King talks big about himself. Its user, ZZ, also made a big deal of talking himself up, being a lot of bark in order to build up his confidence… However, the moment things begin to fall apart, his confidence wanes and he basically runs away. His powers diminish, and he becomes all bark and no bite. This kind of sounds like King- Obviously there’s more courage to him than with ZZ, but generally speaking, the concept of a character who’s in over their head and operates a lot on building up their self-confidence, only for it to collapse as soon as things go wrong, fits with King.

On another hand, Harvest and Bad Company fit King’s whole desire to lead massive armies, and his claims of having been a King of Demons. Having a Colony Stand that acts as his personal army of loyal followers and soldiers fits almost perfectly; Bad Company is more militarized, representing King’s grandiose aspirations for power, and him becoming a Drill Sergeant in Episode 11 definitely helps this. It’s also associated with a lost childhood, which… King is kid-coded and he doesn’t seem to be necessarily missing out on anything, but the idea is still there. However, Harvest is less deadly, having a more animalistic appearance, being cuter, and having an inclination towards theft that King himself also does. Plus, King seems like the kind of person who’d use Harvest to carry himself across the sidewalk, let’s be real here!

Finally, I’m considering Weather Report as an option, if only because of the fan theory going around (which I’ve dabbled in) about King having once been the Boiling Isles Titan, or at least an ACTUAL King of Demons… Part of the theory speculates that he lost his memories, which fits into Weather Report’s arc. It’s about a hidden potential, that when rediscovered, can be outright terrifying. Little Feet also works with King’s Napoleon Complex.

King is an interesting character to assign a Stand to, in part because there’s a lot we actually don’t know about him, and the mystery surrounding him as a result. I feel like we once we learn more about King’s backstory and who he is, we may get a better idea of what Stand most fits him.

Horus was assigned to Hooty, not only because of his bird motif, but also because the Egyptian God Horus is seen as a protector, just like the Stand’s user Pet Shop, who acts as Dio’s main guard for his mansion; Likewise, Hooty is the Owl House’s primary security system, and ‘state-of-the-art’ no less. Not only that, but… To get into some heavy theorizing here, @fermented-writers-block has speculated that Hooty may or may not have connections to a hypothetical ‘Owl Deity’, of which we see a mural of in Episode 1. To put it as simply as possible, Hooty is either a manifestation of this Owl Deity’s power, OR the Owl Deity itself; And if so, then assigning Hooty a stand named after a major Egyptian God seems all the more appropriate. Additionally, Pet Shop himself has a helmet typically used to restrain birds of prey, and Hooty himself usually needs to be ‘restrained’; Either told to stop his cryptic riddles and just give straight-forward answers, or kept from tearing apart a canvas.

Also, if that one MSN article mentioning a labyrinth below the Owl House is true, then Hooty could also have Tenore Sax; It’s a Stand that manipulates the environment, and was used to make Dio’s Mansion look like a maze. It’s about control of one’s environment, which makes sense given how Hooty controls the Owl House itself. Hooty could also have Mr. President, as it’s a Stand wielded by an animal that provides a safe environment for others to live in- Befitting of Hooty’s role as the Owl House.

Owlbert is a bit weird, in that he’s already wielded by others; Still, he’s a part of the family, so I feel obligated to include him. Off the top of my head are a couple of considerations- There’s Anubis, which exists as a sword that can be wielded physically by the user and even others, outliving its user- That fits Owlbert’s capabilities and role as a Palisman to a staff! Stray Cat is also an option, because like Owlbert it’s an animal that’s born of plant-matter and associated with the air, albeit through air bubbles.

Sex Pistols is a Stand that needs care and attention, just like Owlbert, and also has its own personality. Likewise, the Sex Pistols support and enhance the ability of another, pre-existing tool, just as Owlbert enhances Eda’s magic and helps her focus it through her staff. Finally, we have Aerosmith- They’re both free-flying, but also very powerful and capable, and not to be underestimated. Like King, there are plenty of options for him that all fit in their own ways.

Willow was a fun topic, and ultimately for her, I’m gonna go with Strength. Ignoring its user, Strength is a stand that recognizes and unlocks the hidden potential of just about anything it finds, no matter how innocuous; Willow is a character who is meek and shy, but contains a hidden power and talent that is legitimately powerful. Strength is an incredibly powerful stand, upgrading a regular boat into an entire shipping freighter; Willow is able to turn a seed into an entire garden of powerful, thorny vines. They involve nurturing power and helping it grow. Plus, most depictions of the Strength Tarot Card involve a woman taming a lion- And I think that kind of works with how Willow may seem all gentle, but she controls and tames powerful plant-monsters. Also, a recent drawing by Dana seems to confirm that Willow is canonically buff, so that works too, alongside the Tarot’s additional meaning of controlling oneself, as Willow does with her anger!

There is also the minor consideration of Purple Haze, given that Willow has genuine frustration in her that can manifest as real, powerful rage. However, Purple Haze also explicitly hurts and shoves others away, which Willow doesn’t do- She’s kind and open and is already good friends with Gus by the time Luz appears. Gold Experience is also a very viable option, given its power of creating life and facilitating growth- However, I decided to go with Strength, not only because of the additional symbolism of hidden potential (which matches Willow’s initial, unrecognized talent), but also because of the symbolism of the tarot card. And also, Gold Experience is a main character Stand and already a pretty obvious option, so trying something a bit more unique seemed interesting.

Gus is another VERY hard one for me, like with King- It’s not that I don’t get his personality, it’s just that there are plenty of Stands that I feel could match him. For example, we’ve got Hierophant Green- Its user, Kakyoin, was lonely and is also an excellent student. He desired friends, which he got through the Stardust Crusaders- Similarly, Gus himself is talented but also expresses loneliness over being younger than everyone else, with part of his motivation for forming the H.A.S. to make friends and also provide support for others who’ve gone through the same experience. Likewise, Gus may not have the raw power that his other friends have, but he’s still plenty clever himself, like Kakyoin.

There’s also Emperor; The tarot meaning discusses a person who takes a leadership role, and its reverse is losing control of that leadership, as well as poor decision-making. This relates well to Gus’ conflict in Episode 9; Likewise, Emperor’s user is Hol Horse, who prefers to be Number Two and is aware of his own flaws, not desiring the spotlight. Gus himself states in Episode 6 that he knows what he’s about, not at all concerned that Luz doesn’t consider him as strong as Eda or Willow- He doesn’t particularly seek attention or glory. Gus is happy and content with being a ‘Dweebus’ and embraces it alongside his supporting role, like Hol Horse. Also, the kid wears a crown when he’s in charge of the H.A.S., and that’s something I really want to incorporate with his Stand’s symbolism!

On a lesser note, there’s also Kiss- It’s a Stand that makes doubles of things, and Gus has an affinity for Illusion spells that can create copies of him, tangible or otherwise. Dolly Dagger from Purple Haze Feedback is wielded by Vittorio, who is the child of his group, and represents him not being ready to handle a lot of the responsibility placed upon him; Just as Gus struggles with control over the H.A.S., as well as the isolation that comes from being a talented student who’s younger than the rest and not taken seriously.

King, Owlbert, and Gus are definitely a dilemma to me… There’s plenty you could assign to either of them, and I feel I’ve only scratched the surface of Gus’ potential Stands. The dude has range and potential, so it’s hard for me to decide given how my options are ultimately limited and usually specific.

For Amity, I went with Spice Girl. Spice Girl is a manifestation of Trish’s psyche, and her whole character involves putting up a hardened, mean, stoic façade in order to hide how scared and vulnerable she feels; A lot like Amity, who tends to push people away because of her loneliness- She mentions not wanting to show ‘weakness’. Like Amity, Trish learns to be strong in her own way, in a way that can still be soft, while incredibly strong and resilient; A form of kindness and personal growth that manifests literally through Spice Girl’s ability to make things soft yet virtually indestructible. Amity hasn’t quite completed her character arc, but she’s made major steps towards it by opening up to Luz and learning to be nicer. So, Spice Girl it is!

There’s also Purple Haze- Fugo and Amity are both high-performing students with a lot of pressure on them, who deal with genuine frustration over their situation. Purple Haze’s ability forces others away lest they get hurt, representing Fugo’s paranoia over his childhood trauma, and how he ends up ‘pushing’ the others away when he chooses not to go on the boat. However, Purle Haze doesn’t fit as well the way Spice Girl does, because Purple Haze represents a genuine rage and anger boiling within Fugo… Whereas Amity, while she IS frustrated, doesn’t seem to have particular fury, being more inclined towards insecurity and loneliness.

Lilith was assigned Magician’s Red. I looked into the meaning of the Magician Tarot card, and to sum it up simply, it’s about having talent and seeking out success. Our first appearance of Lilith has her making a demonstration to a bunch of young, impressionable Witches, flaunting her own talent and success, and appealing those traits to her audience, explaining that Witches who join the Emperor’s Coven are the most powerful and highest-ranking of them all. Likewise, she also has an eye for talent, nurturing the skills and abilities of Witches such as Amity. Plus, there’s also the symbolic relevance of her having a Stand with magic in its name, as well as one with a bird-like appearance; Fitting given her White Raven symbolism, and association with the Emperor’s Coven and its bird motifs. And like the user Avdol, Lilith also has a bit of a flair for flashiness.

Like Luz, Emira was tricky in that I couldn’t quite find a Stand that suited her, so I’ve gone with my next-best option; Joy Division, another very obscure Stand, from the same light novel as Luz’s assigned Stand. Joy Division switches objects around, which mirrors what Emira did to the librarian and Gary in her debut. It’s a Stand that’s perfect and ideal for her kind of mischief and clever tricks. Likewise, its user, Sogliola, has wealth, prestige, and status as a Capo in Passione- Emira herself is a member of the presumably wealthy and high-status Blight family.

As I mentioned earlier, Edric is also tricky in that I didn’t find a Stand that quite suited what personality we’ve seen from him. Ultimately, I settled on one good for mischief, Khnum- It’s a Stand that allows one to change their appearance, which fits Edric’s Illusion spells and that one spell he used to make himself look a lot more extravagant. Khnum’s user, Oingo, is also not exactly the brightest, and he’s associated with a close sibling that he’s always beside, who also has a Stand- Which can match Edric’s relationship with Emira.

I’m also considering Jail House Lock; It’s great for tricking and mentally messing with people by making them forget things and become confused, befitting Edric’s mischievous nature. Also, it making people forgetful can sort of connect to Edric being dumb in his own way, I guess- I dunno. I feel like Emira and Edric’s Stands don’t have a particularly deep connection to them individually, in part because there’s not much we’ve learned yet to differentiate the two, and the issue of finding Stands that fit, while trying to avoid repeating them for characters unless as a potential possibility. It is worth noting that Jail House Lock’s user, Miu Miu, has power and status- Another thing one can associate with the Blights.

Boscha got Goo Goo Dolls. The Stand is a reflection of the user’s possessive personality over their ‘friends’, treating them more like toys or pets to be bossed around with and told what to do. Boscha has a bossy nature, as seen with how she treats one of her friends in Episode 8, and likewise she is somewhat possessive of them- When King gets their attention, Boscha is clearly focused on getting back her control of the situation. Nothing is saying she can’t get along with King and he didn’t explicitly exclude her from the fun, but Boscha nevertheless chose to heighten the conflict. And of course, she initially meets King and wants to buy him as a pet, befitting Gwess’ desire for ‘pets’.

I’ve also considered Bad Company for her, for a few mostly speculative reasons. To sum it up shortly, I suspect that Boscha may have a bad situation at home, where an incompetent mother is relying on Boscha for emotional support, forcing her to essentially ‘grow up’ and be the responsible one in charge. Bad Company represents a childhood that is missed out on due to an inadequate parent that the user ends up having to look after, and likewise, it involves telling others what to do; Also something Boscha likes. However, because this is mostly speculative, I’m just going to have to go for Goo Goo Dolls for now.

Mattholomule has The Lock. Initially I considered Surface, but ultimately I went with The Lock because unlike Hazamada, Mattholomule doesn’t seem to have any particular envy towards Gus nor does he want to be him, insteading having a general desire for power and drama. The Lock reflects how he tries to garner sympathy from the other members of the HAS when his plan begins to backfire on him; It’s a Stand that’s entirely reliant on others’ perception and pity/guilt for the user.

Similarly, it’s otherwise pretty powerless, which goes along with Mattholomule’s general incompetence and failure in most facets of life. The Lock is either relinquished by the user’s command, if the victim no longer feels guilty, and/or if they’re given ‘reparations’ for the ‘damage’ they received- Mattholomule is all about getting status and whatnot. Also, The Lock functions as a Lie Detector, which can make sense with how Mattholomule lies for his own personal gain.

Principal Bump has The Grateful Dead. The stand’s user, Prosciutto, is someone who takes an older and more experienced mentor role, just like Bump. Likewise, Prosciutto is willing to do harsh things to someone underneath his tutelage, but ultimately he still takes his leadership role very seriously, wants to get the job done, and genuinely has it in his best interest to see the person he apprentices unlock their hidden potential. Bump may have extreme methods such as his Trouble Detectors and even brainwashing kids in detention, but ultimately he’s genuinely invested in the future success of his students, and will even break the law for their sake and that of a human, a total stranger.

It’d seem obvious to give Wrath a stand like Jail House Lock (given its user, Miu Miu, is also a warden), but in terms of personality, I ultimately went with Bastet. Bastet is defined by creating attractions, and is associated with electromagnetism- Which itself doesn’t just pull things together, but repelsthem as well. Bastet’s user, Mariah, is attracted to Dio because of how powerful he is, among other traits. Wrath is attracted to Eda, letting his attraction override his own duties as a Warden because he thinks the two of them will make a Power Couple; Both him and Mariah want to go big, or go home! Bastet lures targets in through their curiosity, Wrath lures in Eda by having King’s Burger Queen crown… Finally, while this is never expressed by Bastet itself, the theme of magnetism also relates to repellingforces. And Wrath is clearly repelled by the abnormal, seeking to contain the deviants of society, and is easily disgusted by something as simple as a raspberry because of the potential germs it could spread.

As an alternative option, there IS Planet Waves- Its user, Viviano Westwood, is a guard at a prison. He’s a cruel, brute-force jerk whose Stand allows him to physically overpower and smash through most obstacles and foes, and he deliberately looks down on prisoners as the ‘scum’ of society, taking delight in abusing his position to torment them. These all sound a lot like Wrath, so if one feels like Bastet doesn’t adequately capture his personality, there’s always Planet Waves as an alternative.

Adegast was given Judgement, for obvious reasons- It’s a Stand that toys with a victim’s heart and plays on their desires. That’s literally what Adegast does- Plays on Luz’s desires to be deemed special, to live out her fantasy, only to cruelly tear it away at the last second and mock her for it. Both his illusions and Judgement’s clay constructs dissolve into dust. And while Judgement is physically powerful, contrasting with Adegast’s incredibly frail body, the cowardice of Cameo pairs well with Adegast’s nature.

For Tibbles, I briefly entertained Osiris and Atum, especially Osiris given its association with card games (and Tibbles is good at Hexes Hold ‘em), and the idea of gambles in general. Ultimately however, I stuck with Marilyn Manson, which operates on a similar basis of the user winning a game and utterly defeating the loser as a result. Marilyn Manson is special in that it prioritizes material wealth, aiming to reap money or anything else of similar value; Which fits into Tibbles being a greedy capitalist who acts like he owns King and takes him without either his nor Eda’s consent, just as Marilyn Manson can be used to steal a Stand Disc that was never disclosed as part of the arrangement.

Finally, the Bat Queen was given Atom Heart Father. She was another difficult person to assign a Stand to, but ultimately I decided on Yoshihiro Kira’s stand. I get that there’s irony of Atom Heart Father having a paternal name, compared to the Bat Queen’s maternal status, but just bear with me for a moment. Like the Bat Queen, Yoshihiro is a parent, but he’s one who has concern for the person he’s looking after, to the point where his attempts to protect that person can be overall detrimental to that actual person’s growth; In this case, his son Yoshikage.

The Bat Queen has taken it upon herself to look after a LOT of discarded, rejected Palismans, among them Owlbert. However, in her concern for their plight and any pain they might go through, the Bat Queen has unfortunately projected some of her views on Witches a bit; When Owlbert wants to reunite with Luz, she interferes on his behalf, believing she knows best. The Bat Queen wants to do what’s best, what’s ‘safest’ for Owlbert, but in reality she’s only hurting him in the long run. Thankfully, Owlbert is able to stand up for himself, and the Bat Queen listens to reason.

[theorynexus]

25 means we are 1/4 of the way to 100. Are we 1/4 of the way through the epilogue?  I cannot say.

This does not paint Jane in the best light. Again, she continues to come off as self-centered, and now, furthermore, seems to think that she deserves the title of President as some sort of inheritance that is naturally hers to claim-- as if it were an extension of her existence as Heiress.   This is certainly not the attitude that a president should have, given the fact that the title, President, naturally implies a representative system and a role invested with the will and trust of those who place you in that role.    (This is honestly why I am skeptical of any god taking up the role, honestly: it naturally clashes with their nature as existing beyond the populace, and the obeisance which the individuals they have brought into being on that planet seem to pay to them, to some extent or another.) It would also seem that Jane may not value her “friends” as much as one might hope she does, all things considered, based on the quotes, but maybe this just relates to the trolls, who she didn’t have much of an interaction with before the endgame of her session. This could naturally lead to her not feeling a connection with them later on, which I won’t begrudge her, if that is the case.

Here, while Jane is correct that Karkat did not engineer his campaign, the Crocker heiress makes a crucial mistake in judgment which does not bode well for her capacity to properly estimate the value and capacity of others (which is an essential political skill):     Her lack of serious interaction with Karkat (or apparent desire to, in the past, it would seem, based on the fact that she did not pursue it, regardless of their similar positions in the social order-- something which I would have thought would naturally lend itself to her interest) leads her to misunderstand his natural drive to leadership, or the great charisma which he possesses, regardless of his lack of recent desire to indulge in/make use of them.  The lack of imagination that any of the other ex-Players might be interested in running in opposition to her does not offer a good impression of her qualification, either. If she had been more aware of/concerned with that possibility, she naturally would have investigated all of them more and/or dug into their pasts for potential strengths, weaknesses, and dirty laundry.    What happened to her being an aspiring gumshoe? 

True, assuming that there is actually some sort of unified planetary government.  Perhaps there actually is, given the Gerrymandering issue related for the Consorts.  It is still oddly ambiguous as to when exactly these electoral rules/regulations were established, and I am wary of jumping to conclusions.  Regardless:  I do wonder if the emphasis, there, is meant to suggest she’s being a bit megalomaniacal?  I am not 100% sure what to make about her concerns regarding whether or not she seems to be prejudiced against trolls. Her paranoia about it could suggest that she knows people think she might be. On the other hand, it could be symptomatic of her concern over possible alienation of non-human votes. Politicians have to (or are at least supposed to, theoretically) be very careful about the way they phrase things; thus carefully considering the impressions one leaves as a result of wording is not out of the realm of reason even without an actual bigoted mindset being involved, I should think.

*raises an eyebrow at her underestimation of Dave’s frankly incredibly competent and well-developed mental faculties*    (Her analysis of their whole family having a “scheming gene” is interesting, however.) More indication that she is thinking very politically in her mindset, yes, yes~      I am in agreement with her opinion that using the term “stock” might be a bit jarring to the public conscience, considering it seems to border on racist thought, though not necessarily quite reaching that point.  Moreso, it reminds me of the archaic mindset regarding nobility being capable of breeding more capable and well-developed individuals than them masses, and thus certain families having natural advantages over others as a pure result of their family lineage. I suppose this is somewhat fitting, insofar as Jane is supposed to have a bit of an “old soul,” as far as her thoughts and language is concerned, just as Jake does.  Even so: as I said, she is right to be concerned with regards to potential public backlash, probably, considering how diverse that society is, racially. The term is probably even more loaded in their world than in ours.

This final line of self-reassurance is quite amusing. That said: I wonder why Dave has become so obsessed with such concepts of late.  While I am sure he already had a good grasp on them in general, considering his exploits during the Session, I also don’t recall him talking too terribly much about economic matters during the main course of Homestuck’s story.   I wonder if this is why Dave thinks that Jane has a poor understanding of economic issues, despite her role as a business woman.  The question then becomes: was that one-sidedness a result of Dave’s personality and Jane’s inability to address it properly, or was it a result of her actual lack of knowledge and/or competence in such issues.   There’s also the question of whether Dirk Strider could compensate for Jane’s lack of capacity, should the latter option be the case, in a similar way to how Dave intends to compensate for Karkat’s own weaknesses if said crabby troll ascends to the Presidency.    Given her personality, there may be some level of difficulty for Dirk to convince her to let him work, in this scenario, especially given she may or may not conflate business-running capacity for wider economic management skill, and thus pride herself in her potential economic manipulation/running prospects.    As such, there may be some risk of significant damage, should Jane in fact be incompetent in such matters.  Or, as Dave begrudgingly admits, maybe it’s just an issue of retaining the definition of what it means to be rich, or some such nonsense, which is at stake (at least as far as the economy is concerned). (Random thought:  Is Dave concerned with economic matters more because of the popularity of Hamilton?  Hmm.)

Oh. Well, this analysis of the leanings of the various demographics of the world is interesting. That comment regarding the Consorts is quite concerning, though. I understand that they may have limited mental capacities (hard to be certain), and they may be short-lived (I will have to check on this to be certain [update: can’t seem to find any evidence of their actual lifespan, despite their prolific breeding capacity]), this does not necessarily mean that they should be barred from representation in government.  Obviously, there are complex issues at play regarding how political rights should be dealt with when alien species are involved. These have not actually been tackled in real life, and thus there are not easy parallels to be drawn, with regards to how one should deal with the above-mentioned significant deviations this species has from humanity; however, this does not mean that they should be stripped of any sort of representative rights. I thus cannot support her attitude toward them in the slightest. Perhaps a more mild form of concern with how their voting capacities might impact her chances might have been warranted, but the way she reacted overall was not.

I am cast into a similar dilemma here. On the one hand, it is admirable for Jane to be concerned for the balance and well-being of the planet. On the other, the final sentence of this statement is absolutely reprehensible, and considering the fact that there are literal gods remaining on the planet that I am sure could potentially deal with any major danger such as the outbreak of inter-species war, there is absolutely no reason to support such a thought. I cannot support a person with this sort of mindset taking up political office-- especially when such a position is above all the species on the face of an infant planet, which could potentially spread its life to the far reaches of their new little universe.  I very much hope that if she loses, it will be a graceful defeat, and if not, that it shall be a victory which can be tempered in its impact upon the populace of the world via the meddling of the others around her.

This is a somewhat irrational fear, I would wager, considering the violent history of the trolls was a result of a rigidly-enforced social structure that came as a direct result of Lord English’s influence on the Trolls’ universe, and that of a tyrant whose intention was to maintain and expand a galactic empire-- causing the social structure of her empire’s citizens to conform to a particularly violent bent as a way of ensuring the necessary military force required for the ends mentioned above.  Jane seems to have some major lack of education in matters of political philosophy and sociology, given her incapacity to make such deductions regarding the origins and likely persistence (or lack thereof) of those traits.    Oh, and any sort of conversation with the (ex-Player) trolls or Beta Kids should have given her clear indication that before the Scratch of their universe, the trolls had a very peaceful society. Thus, any rational supposition that the trolls which populate Earth C have any sort of inclination to violence had better be backed up by clear evidence relating to the earlier history of said planet (which for 5,000 years, Jane admits has been idyllic) and/or the events that have happened in the few years that the kids+trolls have been back. Where’s the Beef?

[jack-katz]

ORIGINS & FAMILY:

Name: John David Katz

Nickname: Jack

Birthday: December 18th

Age: 28

Gender: Male

Place of Birth: New York, NY, USA

Places Lived Since: Washington, DC; Chicago, IL, USA; New York, NY, USA; London, UK

Current Residence: Hackney Wick, Hackney, London, UK

Nationality: American

Parents: Benjamin Katz & Mary Katz (née Doyle)

Grandparents: Eliezer Katz & Ruth Katz (née Geller); John Doyle & Niamh Doyle (née Murphy)

Aunts & Uncles: David Katz, Ava Aoun (née Katz); John Doyle, Sean Doyle, Michael Doyle

Number of Siblings: One - Daniel Katz

Relationship With Family: Jack is on very good terms with his family and especially his parents who’ve always supported him throughout his career. They’ve rarely been the type of parents to scream or shout, but they convey their disappointment in ways that can break their children’s hearts. He used to be closer to his Dad’s family because of proximity, but since moving to London it’s been easier to go back and forth to Connemara to finally really get to know his Irish grandparents and uncles.

Happiest Memory: The bow he took at the end of his first school performance.

Childhood Trauma: None, aside from some sadly expected bullying whenever he moved to a new city that was usually targeted at his lankiness, love of the arts, and Jewish heritage.

PHYSICAL:

Height: 6′0″

Weight: 160 lbs

Build: Slim, usually bordering on just plain skinny but he has been known to build up some lean muscle either for a role or because he’s made a sudden sweeping decision to get into better shape.

Hair Color: Dark Brown

Usual Hair Style: It varies depending on what stage of growth it’s at. When trimmed short, it’s fairly neat and looks good. It grows fast, though, faster than he can usually keep up with so it starts to get curly and out of control usually every couple months and he’s yet to figure out how to really get it under control. Sometimes the stars align and it looks good on its own, but most times he just wakes up with a really bad hair day and decides it’s the day to go to the barber.

Eye Color: Green

Glasses? Contacts?: No need for them currently, though his eyesight has definitely gotten a bit worse over the last couple years

Style of Dress/Typical Outfit(s): Very casual unless it’s something someone else picked out for him. A lot of graphic tee’s and old flannels and jeans that only fit properly with a belt and some pretty beat up sneakers. The belt never matches the shoes and he has two sweatshirts he tends to wear - dark navy and black so it can be hard to tell which one is which. He’s anything but a fashion icon, though at the very least he does his laundry on a decent schedule so his clothes are always clean - just not always very stylish.

Typical Style of Shoes: Sneakers about 90% of the time, hiking boots and flip-flops often when on vacation, and occasionally loafers for fancy events.

Jewellery? Tattoos? Piercings?: No tattoos or piercings. Whenever he gets a great idea for a tattoo he always seems to have a role coming up and doesn’t like to take any bodily risks around that time.

Unique Mannerisms/Physical Habits: When he gets really nervous or anxious he tends to drum his fingers on his leg or together to try to get out some of the nervous energy.

Athleticism: When it comes to genuine contact sports like rugby and American football, Jack isn’t that good. Running based sports, however, he’s not that bad at, though he only likes to play for fun. He enjoys soccer/football and actually doesn’t mind going for runs when he’s trying to get in shape. In high school he’d sometimes just show up to the soccer field during practice times and play around until the coach got mad at him for not being a real player and kicked him off the field. Theater was always his main focus in high school, anyway.

Health Problems/Illnesses: None, aside from potentially very high cholesterol in his future.

INTELLECT:

Level of Education: Most of high school completed but no diploma.

Languages Spoken: English fluently and natively, Spanish almost fluently from middle school and high school classes, and some Hebrew and Gaelic he picked up from his parents. Also bits of conversational vocabulary from a handful of languages in places he’s visited like French, Italian, German, Czech, and Japanese. He’s very, very good at picking up languages through context and immersion, but he hasn’t taken real classes or spent long enough in each places to really learn the language beyond basic conversational things.

Level of Self-Esteem: It varies from day to day but can be sadly very low during slower times in his career.

Gifts/Talents: Acting is truly a talent and one that Jack possesses as much as he tries to insist it’s really not that hard; artistic ability like drawing and painting which is less polished than acting but still a natural gift; the ability to pick up on languages very quickly; singing and dancing talent that is perhaps not absolutely outstanding but naturally good and can be improved with lessons leading up to a show.

Mathematical?: Not really, as Jack’s passions have always lied more with humanities and creative outlets.

Makes Decisions Based Mostly On Emotions, or On Logic?: Emotions, or he’d probably have his high school degree right now.

Life Philosophy: Do what makes you happy.

Religious Stance: Jack would call himself a Catholic but also considers himself a bit agnostic but never would consider himself to any point have been an atheist. He also enjoys learning about Judaism from his father and father’s family, even if he never had a bar mitzvah or went to Hebrew school. He did receive the Catholic sacraments up through Confirmation but his mother was never terribly, terribly adamant about him being brought up Catholic and she always encouraged him and his brother to explore Judaism and other religions as well. His parents, though both dedicated to their own religions, were very liberal and open as both people and parents so they encouraged a very open attitude in their sons toward religion. If Jack ever had more time and energy on his hands to really dive deep into religion and his personal beliefs, he might, but it’s not something he feels particularly inclined to do at this point in his life.

Cautious or Daring?: Daring in his creative exploits and travels, but cautious in basic day to day activities and interactions.

Most Sensitive About/Vulnerable To: Criticisms about his work.

Optimist or Pessimist?: He’s optimistic for other people and pessimistic about himself.

Extrovert or Introvert?: Introverted, bordering on ambivert.

RELATIONSHIPS:

Current Relationship Status: Single

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

Past Relationships: 

Eloise Pelletier - his first girlfriend in middle school. The relationship lasted a month, but they were each other’s first kiss and have remained friends to this day. Eloise is now an accomplished stage actress and aspiring director.

Riley Huizar - his high school girlfriend. The two started dating around homecoming his sophomore year and stayed together for about two-and-a-half years, but Riley dumped him after a series of disappointments including: he missed their second anniversary for an audition, he missed a long-planned nice dinner date to attend a stand-up show, and she learned he wasn’t going to get his diploma. It was a messy ending that came when they were both drunk at a friend’s house and the two never spoke again afterward.

Lillie Piasta - dated for two out of the three seasons Jack was on SNL. She was one of the female writers for the show who was a few years older and Jack never quite realized that the reason she never seemed older was because she was pretty immature. She dated younger men fairly consistently and people tried to warn Jack that after a couple years of the whining and tantrums from the woman who, for all her humor, had been born with a silver spoon in her mouth and been spoiled her entire life. Even though she’d been working longer than Jack she expected him to pay for everything and wanted lavish gifts that he caved to at first but stopped after realizing it was a waste when she never used or wore anything. Lillie was fired from SNL shortly before Jack chose to leave to pursue a movie career, and she wanted to move with him to London but he wasn’t ready to move in. She dumped him at the airport before he left.

Natasha Laris - dated for one year after Jack officially moved to London. Jack was a guilty pleasure fan of love at first sight stories but never quite believed it could happen. He still doesn’t think love at first sight is real, but he believes sparks at first sight are real and stronger than he ever anticipated since he met Natasha. The two met  through a friend at a fundraising party Natasha had organized on behalf of a charity she worked for. It wasn’t ultra ritzy like a lot of other fundraising galas Jack had been to or heard about, but still elegant and enjoyable. Natasha just had a way of making everything elegant and enjoyable. Jack doesn’t remember asking her out because he believes the nerves caused him to just black out for the thirty seconds it took to ask and receive a positive response. They both fell pretty hard and fast but it was over the holidays when they both had some downtime and real time off. Then life picked up again. Jack had filming commitments, Natasha had a lot on her plate helping to run a decently sized charity with hardly enough staff. They saw each other when they could, but it only got more difficult over the months to find extended time alone together unless they were away on vacation - of which they only went on two brief ones as that was all they could manage. By the next Christmas, while struggling to figure out how they were going to spend the holidays after promises to meet each other’s families, they realized it just wasn’t feasible. It wasn’t just the holidays that weren’t feasible, but being together at such a busy and overworked time in their lives. Jack has only seen her once since they broke up, a couple years later - with a boyfriend who he was told by a friend worked a 9 to 5 office job, weekends off and the opportunity to work from home, and had a set amount of vacation time to use at his own discretion. It was the only time he ever envied an office job.

Primary Reason For Being Broken Up With: Forgetfulness, not committed enough, and his schedule was too hectic.

Primary Reasons For Breaking Up With People: A hectic schedule.

Ever Cheated?: No, it’s something he doesn’t understand.

Been Cheated On: No.

Level of Sexual Experience: Experienced even if he might not seem it. He lost his virginity in high school to Riley and since then has always had a healthy, active sexual relationship with whatever girl he’s been with. Since breaking up with Natasha it’s the longest he’s ever gone without having a girlfriend, but between Riley and Lillie there was still enough time that he had a couple short flings and some one-night stands that were usually enjoyable even if not serious. He sees the benefits in fun in both long-term relationships and short flings. After Natasha he went through a lengthy dry spell of his own volition but for the last four years has mostly just had flings that last anywhere from a single night to a few weeks and are always fun. He does know in his head how many women he’s slept with but it’s not something he’d ever like to broadcast and only his closest friends who’ve known him for years know the extent of his sexual experience and exploits.

Story of First Kiss: Eloise and Jack both lied to their parents and said play practice lasted a half hour longer than it actually did so they could spend time together alone behind the school theater. For twenty-nine minutes all they did was hold hands and talk until Eloise heard her dad’s truck around the corner. Jack snuck in a quick kiss and went to sleep that night on cloud nine.

Story of Loss of Virginity: Riley’s parents were always far more trusting of Jack than he ever expected them to be and would constantly leave Riley and Jack alone together at the house while they were out at work or going out on dinner dates. Jack didn’t push Riley at all, though he was ready whenever she was. She let him know she was ready when she pulled out a whole list of things that needed to happen beforehand, as was her way with most things. She was going to see an OB-GYN that specialized in adolescent care, look into birth control and whether there were options that were safe for a sixteen year old (though she’d already done her own research and knew the pill was the best option), and regardless of whether she went on the pill or not, Jack needed to buy some condoms. Jack was so nervous about the condoms he made his friend Avi go in and buy them, mostly because he was always more confident than Jack. Despite all the strict rules and guidelines and plans in the months leading up to Jack and Riley actually having sex, the night itself was still kind of special to Jack and he quickly became even more comfortable with buying his own condoms after realizing what all the fuss was about.

A Social Person?: Not really.

Most Comfortable Around: His family and closest friends, of which there are about a handful between the USA and UK.

Oldest Friend: Toby Hartman, his best friend from NYC who lived next door to the Katz’s first apartment in the city. He’s currently a doctoral candidate at NYU who lives with Daniel Katz in the two-bedroom flat Jack owns in NYC.

How Does He Think Others Perceive Him?: Jack thinks others perceive him as having an equal number of failings as accomplishments and thus is just a mediocre human being who just happened to be in some largely broadcast shows and movies. He knows his family has high opinions but thinks the public doesn’t have a very high opinion, mostly because he only focuses on the negative reviews of his works. 

How Do Others Actually Perceive Him?: Jack Katz is an accomplished young man who maybe got lucky that he was int he right comedy club on the right night, but it wasn’t luck that he was funny enough to catch the right people’s attention. Everything since then hasn’t but just luck but has also been a testament to his talent and willingness to do whatever and move wherever for his work. Even if he’s not flashy with his money, he’s no doubt made quite a bit.

SECRETS:

Life Goals: Do work that makes him happy and that others find enjoyable, maybe even inspiring.

Dreams: Travel to every country in the world, become fluent in a new language, write a full script, direct a movie, perform in a Shakespeare play, finally learn to cook at least one decent dish, own a restaurant, and many others that come and go with the days that pass.

Greatest Fears: Forgetting a line during a live performance.

Most Ashamed Of: There were a couple jokes Jack tried out during his early days in comedy that crossed a line but thankfully never even made it to a real set. He just tried them out on his family, and their response was enough for him to hope no one ever learned of those jokes he thought up when he was younger and more inexperienced. There are also many minor mishaps that have occurred during rehearsals and conversations that, though not necessarily shameful, are very embarrassing and he tends to remember as being more extreme than they really were.

Secret Hobbies: It might not be that secret, but Jack really enjoys video games. He’s not as good as he wishes, but they’re fun.

Crimes Committed (Was he caught? Charged?): None, aside from some truancy.

DETAILS/QUIRKS:

Night Owl or Early Bird?: Night owl

Light or Heavy Sleeper?: Heavy sleeper

Favorite Animal: Dogs

Favorite Foods: Anything greasy

Least Favorite Food: Iceberg lettuce

Favorite Book: “Audition” by Michael Shurtleff

Least Favorite Book: “The Catcher in the Rye”

Favorite Movie: Pulp Fiction

Least Favorite Movie: The Emoji Movie

Favorite Song: Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z & Alicia Keys

Favorite Sport: Soccer/football

Coffee or Tea?: Coffee

Crunchy or Smooth Peanut Butter?: Smooth

Type of Car He Drives: N/A, he’s never had a car and doesn’t have a license

Lefty or Righty?: Lefty

Favorite Color: Green

Cusser?: Yes

Smoker? Drinker? Drug User?: Smokes when he’s drinking sometimes and others he’s with have cigarettes; drinks daily, though not to excess daily; occasionally uses drugs but usually just pot

Biggest Regret: Passing up on some more serious drama roles in the past

Pets: None

[aurantia-ignis]

please do pokespe, specialshipping, and gold!

This turned out way, wayyyyyy longer than expected so I’m putting it under a cut!

PokespeFavorite character: Tie up between Red and Yellow, I think!Red is a wonderful boy; courageous, kind, intuitive. He’s got a good heart, a great head for battle, and a passion to achieve his goals with his companion Pokemon. Blaine’s words about him always struck me:”Pokemon Trainer. Someone who spends his life with, trusts, and is trusted by his Pokemon. Someone like you, Red.” He may not be a perfect child (overconfidence in his earlier chapters stick out quite a bit, and of course, they showcase his character development!), but, like Blaine, Red is everything I’d aspired to be as a Pokemon Trainer. Yellow is a lovely child with a golden heart. She represents a sort of kindness that I sometimes wish I had more of. Her battle with Lance yielded this conversation:“Pokemon aren’t tools for killing! Even this battle of yours has hurt not only humans, but Pokemon as well!”“I hate fighting… I’m truly sad when any Pokemon are injured… Even my opponent’s!” “Aren’t Pokemon your friends too!?“ Despite her pacifist nature, she’s willing to fight with all she has to protect those she cares for. She feels guilt and pain whenever she has to hurt Pokemon, but goes through it anyway, to fight for what she believes in: humans and Pokemon living in harmony together. And though she may not have the same sort of battle sense that Red does, she can still pack quite a punch, and she has a few ingenious ideas of her own, too (see the Team Rocket on the ship battle).  Least Favorite character: Pryce, I think…? His entire arc was just ridiculously melodramatic, and it didn’t make a lot of sense ^^;  5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):Red/Yellow, Green/Blue, Daisy/Bill, Gold/Silver/Crystal in a happy threesome family, Ruby/SapphireCharacter I find most attractive:It might have been N or Steven, but unfortunately, Yamamoto’s art when he was drawing those two was horrendous. ^^;; I mean, dude, noses don’t work like that! So probably Lance from the Mato era… or Red. Character I would marry:Maybe Falkner? He has a day job and he’s a good guy, and he makes gym leader! Otherwise, Steven’s very good husband material. Character I would be best friends with:Maybe Ruby? I too would like to groom my Pokemon endlessly and exclaim over how beautiful they are.A random thought:The Pokemon world is just so fantastical, there’s no way to make it realistic without having to revamp almost 70% of the entire world. ^^: Despite Pokespe seeming like a semi-realistic portrayal of it, there are way too many questions about the way things work in there that a reader still has to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy fully XD;;; An unpopular opinion:I really, really don’t much like Whitwo. :/ My canon OTP:Red/Yellow! The two of them share similar worldviews, something that I think is instrumental for building a good relationship.Red’s words in the same chapter as the Blaine one from above: “Mewtwo’s a pretty scary creature, all right. But all it knows is being held prisoner in a lab. All it knows about humans is that we’re arrogant and cruel. But what if it learns something different? What if it learns that not all humans treat other creatures badly? Find out, Blaine. Teach it.” His optimism and willingness to believe in the world is absolutely beautiful. Yellow had a similar scene in her battle with Lance. “It’s true that humans have done selfish things, taking away Pokemon’s homelands… Stripping them of their food supply… I’ve seen the results of that on my journey!”And later, with Dragonite: "Of course you feel rage toward humans. But think…. His way isn’t the answer! Humans don’t deserve death–any more than Pokemon! Humans and Pokemon can live together! I know it!”Despite knowing how terrible humans can be, both of them still believe that the rest of the world can come to understand things the way they do; that Pokemon and humans are all beings that deserve a chance to live in the same world, in peace and harmony. I love these scenes, not just for the parallels between my ship, but because they really define Red and Yellow as who they truly are. As a note, I put this under canon despite there being no official confirmations or confessions, because I think there are enough scenes (especially in the later volumes) that blatantly hint at the creators pushing them together. Although I’m not completely happy with all of them (some of the writing is way too forced, man), I’m glad that at least Kusaka seems to want them together. XD;

Non-canon OTP: Green and Blue! Although they don’t have a lot of shippy moments in canon (most of the time he’s just going TSK WHAT A NOISY WOMAN at her), I like their pair character dynamics, and the thought of their everyday life together never fails to make me laugh. XDMost bad*** character:Red! But also Ruby. The boy is very, very cool. Other than the humans, Mewtwo and Pika are pretty badass Pairing I am not a fan of:Black/White. I did enjoy the BW arc, but I felt like the two protags suffered from not enough character and relationship development. I was more inclined to ship White with N based on their writing, except of course canon moments obviously support BlackWhite more. For me, however, a few ‘romantic moments’ without any proper relationship developments don’t make me feel like shipping two characters. Bill and Daisy didn’t get any, either, but they’re supporting characters who don’t appear very much, after all. Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):GOLD. I love the boy, he was so amazing and hilarious, but the fact is, his character arc was completely screwed. Aaaaand I’m going to elaborate on this in the last section of this ask.Favourite friendship:Red and his mons. Also Yellow and her mons. Between the humans, Gold and Silver make me particularly happy, but the Kanto Four together are great too. Specialshippingwhen or if I started shipping it: I think I thought of it as a jokeship at first, when Prof Oak was thinking “Does this child have any thought in her head that isn’t connected with Red”, but I only really started seeing them as a serious ship at the end of the Yellow arc, when Kitty/Piisuke’s String Shot was connecting them wwwmy thoughts:I uh…. I think I covered this in the OTP section above HAHAHAWhat makes me happy about them:The way they’re both happy together just talking about Pokemon and loving them What makes me sad about them:The awkward forced romantic hints that popped up here and there after Mato left :Things done in fanfic that annoys me:I can’t stand it when they’re written out of character. :/ Things I look for in fanfic:Anything in-character. HAHAHAHA. I also appreciate when, despite the humans being the main focus, the Pokemon also play an active role in the story. Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: I guess I could sort of see Red going with Blue and Yellow with Green… My happily ever after for them:Yellow opens a Pokemon Sanctuary somewhere and Red takes over the Gym of that town. GoldHow I feel about this character: As I mentioned above, Gold was completely screwed up by the writers. Up until he read that letter from Professor Oak in Vol 14, he had just been fighting on his own terms. Yet suddenly, when he received a letter that he had originally hoped to contain tips on how to win an upcoming battle, he goes into an existential crisis because Professor Oak didn’t acknowledge that he has any ‘special abilities’! “What about MY abilities? There must be something! Don’t I have an ability that places me alongside the other Pokemon trainers?! TELL MEEEEEEEE!” That melodramatic panel of his silhouette is just… melodramatic. He respected Prof Oak, but not to any extreme degree. Why would he have felt so lost and denied just because a Professor he had barely met a few times didn’t know what his abilities were?To top the ridiculous off, the scene continues with them finding an extra page of the letter and going “WAIT GUESS WHAT. PROF OAK THINKS YOU’RE A BREEDER” and Gold conveniently hatches the Pichu egg at the same moment. And they fly off to fight. And then everything’s okay again? ….DID I MISS SOMETHING! *angry Timon noises* All that angst a page before would have been easily avoided if they just took every page out to begin with! And if it was solved so easily, it obviously isn’t worth angsting over! Gold could have been a great, great character, if only they hadn’t made his point of realization “YEAH I’M A BREEDER BECAUSE PROF OAK SAYS SO”. )o)All the people I ship romantically with this character: None, reallyMy non-romantic OTP for this character: I love his interactions with Silver. wwMy unpopular opinion about this character: I don’t ship him romantically with Silver or Crystal. :/ One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:PROPER. CHARACTER. DEVELOPMENT. *SOBS*My OTP: NoneMy OT3:With Silver and Crystal as a family! I love the fact that Silver camps out at his house to watch Proteam Omega. 

[themoneybuff-blog]

Why frugality is an important part of personal finance

In a recent article in The Atlantic, Joe Pinsker shared some thoughts on why many ultrarich people aren't satisfied with their wealth. There seem to be two reasons. First, people tend to ask themselves: Am I doing better than I was before? Do I have more today than I did yesterday? All the way up the income-wealth spectrum, one researcher told Pinsker, basically everyone says [they'd need] two or three times as much to be perfectly happy. It's the hedonic treadmill in action.Second, people can't help but compare themselves to others. They ask themselves: Do I have as much (or more) than the people I'm comparing myself with? Do I have more than other folks in my family? Do I have more than my friends? Do I have more than my co-workers? We measure our personal success by comparing what we have to what other people have. This is the proverbial keeping up with the Joneses. While Pinsker's article is about the ultrarich, I think these tendencies apply to nearly everyone. Even me. People in the middle class are just as inclined to hop on the hedonic treadmill. They're just as likely to compare what they have to what their friends have. The same goes for those who aren't well off. Even people in poverty get sucked into the comparison game. In fact, I'd argue that for the poor and middle class, there's an added element. Time and again, statistics show that folks with lower incomes watch tons more TV than people who earn more. (Also here and many more studies.) When you allow yourself to succumb to the other world of film and TV, you're exposed to more ideas about how people should and do live even if these ideas are baseless. (It's like The Grand Illusion by Styx: Don't be fooled by the radio, the TV, or the magazines. They show you photographs of how your life should be, but they're just someone else's fantasy.) [embedded content] The rich compare themselves to themselves and others. The poor do too but they also compare themselves to fictional characters on film and television. The bottom line seems to be that comparing your situation to anyone is likely to lead to trouble. Whether you're comparing yourself to yourself, your family, your friends, or to people in Hollywood productions, doing so leads to a desire for more. But it doesn't have to be this way. Non-Consumer Advocates Over the past few years, the early retirement movement has risen to prominence. People have figured out that they don't have to work for forty or fifty years at jobs they hate. If they manage to increase the gap between their earning and spending if they can maintain a high saving rate then then they can achieve financial independence at age fifty. Or forty. Or thirty-five. Boosting income is a very important part of this equation, of course, but it's not the only piece of the puzzle. The fundamental equation of personal finance is this: Your wealth equals what you earn minus what you spend. Your spending plays a crucial role in how quickly you're able to build wealth and/or achieve your financial goals. If you want to spend less, it's vital you resist the urge to compare yourself to others. This is one of the FIRE movement's greatest virtues. From my experience, the folks in the early retirement community have consciously opted out of the comparison game. Thanks largely to the work of Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin (authors of the classic Your Money or Your Life), financial independence is frequently framed as a life of non-consumption. Here are some sample quotes from Dominguez and Robin: If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough.How you spend your money is how you vote on what exists in the world.Americans used to be citizens'. Now we are consumers'.Consumption seems to be our favorite high, our nationally sanctioned addiction, the all-American form of substance abuse.Frugality is enjoying the virtue of getting good value for every minute of your life energy and from everything you have the use of. Dominguez and Robin helped to found the financial independence movement, and they founded it as non-consumer advocates. It helps too that Mr. Money Mustache, who has helped popularize FIRE in recent years, is also a non-consumer advocate. He's written extensively about topics like hopping off the hedonic treadmill and the virtues of frugality. Obviously, not everyone interested in early retirement wants to be thrifty. Some people want to achieve financial indendence in order to pursue lives that cost money. They want fancy houses and fancy cars. They do want to have more than the folks around them. And that's fine. Most of us, however, have come to realize that this fancy shit won't make us happy. Note: While it's great that there's no pressure to spend in FI circles, I don't want to pretend that it's without competition. In fact, there's a sort of perverse opposite pressure. Too many people want to participate in frugal shaming and financial one-upmanship, racing to see who can spend the least. This sort of bragging is just as unhealthy as competitive spending and I wish that it would stop. But at least competitive frugality helps your finances instead of hurting them. The Virtue of Frugality While the non-consumer core of the FIRE movement naturally leads followers toward frugality, frugality has very real financial benefits regardless whether you care about consumption. The less you consume, the less you have to earn to support your lifestyle.The less you consume, the less baggage you have in your life.The less you consume, the sooner you can retire. Like me, you've probably seen this math a million times. But I hope that, like me, you never tire of its beauty. Let's say you have an average job. Maybe you're a box salesman (or saleswoman). You earn $50,000 per year selling corrugated packaging to industrial clients in your hometown. If you earn $50,000 per year and you spend $50,000 per year, you have no margin. If something goes wrong you get sick, you lose your job you have no choice but to cut back because your living expenses are the same as your income. If, on the other hand, you spend only $25,000 per year, you have a buffer. If you suffer some sort of catastrophic box injury that prevents you from working for six months, you'll be better able to cope with the crisis. If you lose your job, you only have to find a job that pays $25,000 instead of a job that pays $50,000. By spending less, you give yourself more options for work. The less you consume, the less you have to earn to support your current lifestyle. And the less you consume, the sooner you can retire in the future. By maintaining an ambitious saving rate of 50 or even 70 percent in your twenties and thirties, you can retire when you're 40 years old instead of 65. This gives you forty years of freedom to do what you want with life rather than fifteen. This table demonstrates the power of profit margin, the power of frugality:

Spending less makes all financial goals easier to achieve. As Dave wrote in his guest post earlier this week, frugality buys discipline and discipline equals freedom. Depriving yourself of certain standard choices now means you don't have to lead a life of deprivation when you're older. When you choose to spend less, you're not just boosting your bottom line. You're also gaining the time and freedom that would have been required to earn that money. Thrift isn't deprivation. It's wealth. (This reminds me of Dave Ramsey's famous quote: If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.) Frugality and Me So, why am I writing about this? Why have I been thinking so much about frugality lately? After all, I'm hardly a poster boy for thrift. I am by nature a spender. This is a known issue and has been all of my life. That said, I do aspire to frugality. I admire frugal people. Because frugality is a core value of the early retirement movement, and because I spend much of my time with the FIRE crowd, their inclination toward frugality tends to act as a brake on my own spending. This is a good thing. And because many of my colleagues are non-consumer advocates, I find myself thinking about frugal alternatives (even if I don't always follow through with them). This year, in particular, I've been focused on spending less. After writing about my plans for 2019 earlier this month, I've done my best to get back to basics. Here are some examples: Kim and I are both actively trying to spend less on food. So far, we're succeeding. (Minor victory: We both wanted to eat out at our favorite bar last week. Instead, she picked up a $5 frozen pizza on her way home from work. That probably saved us forty bucks!)Both of our cars are beginning to show their age. Kim's 1997 Honda Accord has never had any major issues, but currently has a variety of minor mechanical problems. My 2004 Mini Cooper has had two major repairs in the past two years. Right now, the sunroof is leaking, which isn't good during a rainy Oregon winter. We've talked about buying a new vehicle. (And we still might.) For now, however, I bought a 1993 Toyota pickup for $1900. We've become a three-car household but those three vehicles have an average age of 21 years and an average value of $1500.After spending so much on home repairs during our first eighteen months in this house, we've been diving deep into DIY mode. This month, Kim has been painting the bedrooms. I'm repairing fences and faucets. There's still plenty that needs to be done around here, but we're going to take our time and learn how to do much of it ourselves.We're both out of shape and we know it. Our gym contracts have some time left on them, so we'll keep going for a while. Meanwhile, we've begun to set ourselves up for success here at home. We re-arranged the family room so that it's yoga-friendly. I set up an indoor bike trainer so that I have no excuse for not pedaling thirty minutes per day. We've both decided to reduce our alcohol intake.We've stopped thinking new and started thinking used. Twice this month, I've shopped at local thrift stores instead of defaulting to Amazon. I recently traded some concert tickets to my ex-wife for my old Nintendo Wii. We've been giving our used clothes and dishes to friends. Instead of meeting friends in restaurants for dinner, we're planning to meet at each other's homes. (How old fashioned!) Frugality may not a natural thing for me but I can do it. Plus, it's fun. It's fun for me to challenge myself, to look at how and why I engage in consumer behavior then to think about ways I can opt out. As I mentioned at the start of this article, even the ultrarich compare themselves to others (and to their past selves). I'm just as guilty as anyone else. I always want more. Nothing is ever enough for me. I'm not sure why this is the case but it is. It's a reality that I have to deal with. It's because of this constant craving that it's so important for me to spend time with my friends in the early retirement community. They apply peer pressure, but it's positive peer pressure. I see the frugal choices they make and I want to make similar choices. I hear how they get by with less and I want to get by with less. As you take your eyes off the false prize (of more, better, and different stuff), you put them on the real prizes: friends, family, sharing, caring, learning, meeting challenges, intimacy, rest, and being present, connected, and respected. In other words, those best things in life that are free. Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, Your Money or Your Life

Author: J.D. Roth In 2006, J.D. founded Get Rich Slowly to document his quest to get out of debt. Over time, he learned how to save and how to invest. Today, he's managed to reach early retirement! He wants to help you master your money and your life. No scams. No gimmicks. Just smart money advice to help you reach your goals. https://www.getrichslowly.org/frugality-is-an-important-part-of-personal-finance/

[andrewdburton]

Why frugality is an important part of personal finance

In a recent article in The Atlantic, Joe Pinsker shared some thoughts on why many ultrarich people aren't satisfied with their wealth.

There seem to be two reasons.

First, people tend to ask themselves: Am I doing better than I was before? Do I have more today than I did yesterday? “All the way up the income-wealth spectrum,” one researcher told Pinsker, “basically everyone says [they'd need] two or three times as much” to be perfectly happy. It's the hedonic treadmill in action.

Second, people can't help but compare themselves to others. They ask themselves: Do I have as much (or more) than the people I'm comparing myself with? Do I have more than other folks in my family? Do I have more than my friends? Do I have more than my co-workers? We measure our personal success by comparing what we have to what other people have. This is the proverbial “keeping up with the Joneses“.

While Pinsker's article is about the ultrarich, I think these tendencies apply to nearly everyone. Even me.

People in the middle class are just as inclined to hop on the hedonic treadmill. They're just as likely to compare what they have to what their friends have. The same goes for those who aren't well off. Even people in poverty get sucked into the comparison game.

In fact, I'd argue that for the poor and middle class, there's an added element. Time and again, statistics show that folks with lower incomes watch tons more TV than people who earn more. (Also here — and many more studies.) When you allow yourself to succumb to the “other world” of film and TV, you're exposed to more ideas about how people should and do live — even if these ideas are baseless. (It's like “The Grand Illusion” by Styx: “Don't be fooled by the radio, the TV, or the magazines. They show you photographs of how your life should be, but they're just someone else's fantasy.”)

The rich compare themselves to themselves and others. The poor do too but they also compare themselves to fictional characters on film and television.

The bottom line seems to be that comparing your situation to anyone is likely to lead to trouble. Whether you're comparing yourself to yourself, your family, your friends, or to people in Hollywood productions, doing so leads to a desire for more.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

Non-Consumer Advocates

Over the past few years, the early retirement movement has risen to prominence. People have figured out that they don't have to work for forty or fifty years at jobs they hate. If they manage to increase the gap between their earning and spending — if they can maintain a high saving rate — then then they can achieve financial independence at age fifty. Or forty. Or thirty-five.

Boosting income is a very important part of this equation, of course, but it's not the only piece of the puzzle. The fundamental equation of personal finance is this: Your wealth equals what you earn minus what you spend. Your spending plays a crucial role in how quickly you're able to build wealth and/or achieve your financial goals.

If you want to spend less, it's vital you resist the urge to compare yourself to others.

This is one of the FIRE movement's greatest virtues. From my experience, the folks in the early retirement community have consciously opted out of the comparison game. Thanks largely to the work of Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin (authors of the classic Your Money or Your Life), financial independence is frequently framed as a life of non-consumption.

Here are some sample quotes from Dominguez and Robin:

“If you live for having it all, what you have is never enough.”

“How you spend your money is how you vote on what exists in the world.”

“Americans used to be ‘citizens'. Now we are ‘consumers'.”

“Consumption seems to be our favorite high, our nationally sanctioned addiction, the all-American form of substance abuse.”

“Frugality is enjoying the virtue of getting good value for every minute of your life energy and from everything you have the use of.”

Dominguez and Robin helped to found the financial independence movement, and they founded it as non-consumer advocates. It helps too that Mr. Money Mustache, who has helped popularize FIRE in recent years, is also a non-consumer advocate. He's written extensively about topics like hopping off the hedonic treadmill and the virtues of frugality.

Obviously, not everyone interested in early retirement wants to be thrifty. Some people want to achieve financial indendence in order to pursue lives that cost money. They want fancy houses and fancy cars. They do want to have more than the folks around them. And that's fine.

Most of us, however, have come to realize that this fancy shit won't make us happy.

Note: While it's great that there's no pressure to spend in FI circles, I don't want to pretend that it's without competition. In fact, there's a sort of perverse opposite pressure. Too many people want to participate in frugal shaming and financial one-upmanship, racing to see who can spend the least. This sort of bragging is just as unhealthy as competitive spending and I wish that it would stop. But at least competitive frugality helps your finances instead of hurting them.

The Virtue of Frugality

While the non-consumer core of the FIRE movement naturally leads followers toward frugality, frugality has very real financial benefits regardless whether you care about consumption.

The less you consume, the less you have to earn to support your lifestyle.

The less you consume, the less baggage you have in your life.

The less you consume, the sooner you can retire.

Like me, you've probably seen this math a million times. But I hope that, like me, you never tire of its beauty.

Let's say you have an average job. Maybe you're a box salesman (or saleswoman). You earn $50,000 per year selling corrugated packaging to industrial clients in your hometown. If you earn $50,000 per year and you spend $50,000 per year, you have no “margin”. If something goes wrong — you get sick, you lose your job — you have no choice but to cut back because your living expenses are the same as your income.

If, on the other hand, you spend only $25,000 per year, you have a buffer. If you suffer some sort of catastrophic box injury that prevents you from working for six months, you'll be better able to cope with the crisis. If you lose your job, you only have to find a job that pays $25,000 instead of a job that pays $50,000. By spending less, you give yourself more options for work.

The less you consume, the less you have to earn to support your current lifestyle. And the less you consume, the sooner you can retire in the future.

By maintaining an ambitious saving rate of 50 or even 70 percent in your twenties and thirties, you can retire when you're 40 years old instead of 65. This gives you forty years of freedom to do what you want with life rather than fifteen.

This table demonstrates the power of profit margin, the power of frugality:

Spending less makes all financial goals easier to achieve. As Dave wrote in his guest post earlier this week, frugality buys discipline — and discipline equals freedom.

Depriving yourself of certain “standard” choices now means you don't have to lead a life of deprivation when you're older. When you choose to spend less, you're not just boosting your bottom line. You're also gaining the time and freedom that would have been required to earn that money. Thrift isn't deprivation. It's wealth.

(This reminds me of Dave Ramsey's famous quote: “If you will live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.”)

Frugality and Me

So, why am I writing about this? Why have I been thinking so much about frugality lately? After all, I'm hardly a poster boy for thrift. I am by nature a spender. This is a known issue and has been all of my life.

That said, I do aspire to frugality. I admire frugal people. Because frugality is a core value of the early retirement movement, and because I spend much of my time with the FIRE crowd, their inclination toward frugality tends to act as a brake on my own spending. This is a good thing. And because many of my colleagues are non-consumer advocates, I find myself thinking about frugal alternatives (even if I don't always follow through with them).

This year, in particular, I've been focused on spending less. After writing about my plans for 2019 earlier this month, I've done my best to get back to basics. Here are some examples:

Kim and I are both actively trying to spend less on food. So far, we're succeeding. (Minor victory: We both wanted to eat out at our favorite bar last week. Instead, she picked up a $5 frozen pizza on her way home from work. That probably saved us forty bucks!)

Both of our cars are beginning to show their age. Kim's 1997 Honda Accord has never had any major issues, but currently has a variety of minor mechanical problems. My 2004 Mini Cooper has had two major repairs in the past two years. Right now, the sunroof is leaking, which isn't good during a rainy Oregon winter. We've talked about buying a new vehicle. (And we still might.) For now, however, I bought a 1993 Toyota pickup for $1900. We've become a three-car household — but those three vehicles have an average age of 21 years and an average value of $1500.

After spending so much on home repairs during our first eighteen months in this house, we've been diving deep into DIY mode. This month, Kim has been painting the bedrooms. I'm repairing fences and faucets. There's still plenty that needs to be done around here, but we're going to take our time and learn how to do much of it ourselves.

We're both out of shape and we know it. Our gym contracts have some time left on them, so we'll keep going for a while. Meanwhile, we've begun to set ourselves up for success here at home. We re-arranged the family room so that it's yoga-friendly. I set up an indoor bike trainer so that I have no excuse for not pedaling thirty minutes per day. We've both decided to reduce our alcohol intake.

We've stopped thinking “new” and started thinking “used”. Twice this month, I've shopped at local thrift stores instead of defaulting to Amazon. I recently traded some concert tickets to my ex-wife for my old Nintendo Wii. We've been giving our used clothes and dishes to friends. Instead of meeting friends in restaurants for dinner, we're planning to meet at each other's homes. (How old fashioned!)

Frugality may not a natural thing for me but I can do it. Plus, it's fun. It's fun for me to challenge myself, to look at how and why I engage in consumer behavior — then to think about ways I can “opt out”.

As I mentioned at the start of this article, even the ultrarich compare themselves to others (and to their past selves). I'm just as guilty as anyone else. I always want more. Nothing is ever enough for me. I'm not sure why this is the case but it is. It's a reality that I have to deal with.

It's because of this constant craving that it's so important for me to spend time with my friends in the early retirement community. They apply peer pressure, but it's positive peer pressure. I see the frugal choices they make and I want to make similar choices. I hear how they get by with less and I want to get by with less.

“As you take your eyes off the false prize (of more, better, and different stuff), you put them on the real prizes: friends, family, sharing, caring, learning, meeting challenges, intimacy, rest, and being present, connected, and respected. In other words, those best things in life that are free.” — Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, Your Money or Your Life

The post Why frugality is an important part of personal finance appeared first on Get Rich Slowly.

from Finance https://www.getrichslowly.org/frugality-is-an-important-part-of-personal-finance/ via http://www.rssmix.com/

[sualkmedeiors]

Be an Inclusion Rider: Elevate Women In Tech

I will never stop doing my part to make the tech industry more welcoming for women, especially in technical roles. With all of the intense discussion surrounding the subject of equality in the workplace, this is a great time to look at five easy steps you can take right now to make a change for women in tech. At the Oscars on Sunday, March 4, Frances McDormand ended her speech with two powerful words: inclusion rider (take a second to Google it if you haven’t yet.) It is a Hollywood industry term, but anyone can be an inclusion rider—let’s explore how.

“We come in peace, but we mean business” – Janelle Monae, 2018 Grammys

1. Encourage Technical Curiosity Early and Often

I grew up preferring video games and LEGOS to dolls. I enjoyed books and puzzles over playing house (and so did our CMO!). Don’t get me wrong. I still had a super cool pink Barbie car, but in my mind, Barbie was on her way to work and then home to study. My mother encouraged prioritizing my studies over everything else, and my relatives had the wisdom to ask what I was reading just as often as they commented on my appearance. I was a 90s kid, so there were no coding classes available to me. But there were ample opportunities to problem-solve in epic video games such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Need for Speed.

If you’ve got young girls in your life, get them involved with organizations such as Girls Who Code, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, or the Anita Borg Institute for Women & Technology. These organizations are fantastic to foster growth and development. Demand for technical skills in areas such as IT (big data, NoSQL, and Apache Hadoop), design (Node.js), and research & analysis (Tableau, Python) have grown exponentially over the past several years and show no signs of slowing down. We are at the forefront of incredible breakthroughs in AI, medicine, and VR. Now is the time to support inclusive workforces to keep driving innovation and problem-solving.

2. Challenge Assumptions and Encourage Resilience

We need to carefully watch the stories we tell ourselves. Have you ever questioned whether women are more ‘naturally inclined’ towards soft skills rather than technical aptitude? Global research has overwhelmingly proven that this is patently untrue. In fact, women on average earn higher grades in high school and college.

That being said, I can relate to this limiting belief. I used to tell myself that I was terrible at math and that learning the subject was utterly hopeless. It wasn’t even gender-related, but it was a false assumption nonetheless.

However, I distinctly remember one T.A., Ryan, at UC San Diego who refused to accept this negative self-talk and treated me as any other person wanting to learn and better myself. Ryan patiently helped me practice each step and new concept until I could mirror his speed and efficiency in solving equations.

At Marketo and previous companies, I have had countless mentors that never assumed I was less competent because of my gender. Rather, they went out of their way to bring me up to speed on relevant technical concepts, openly shared their knowledge and prepared me for technical meetings so I could run them on my own. They advocated for me and gave generously of their advice, time, and experience. I can confidently say that I have had a balanced group of trusted advisors and mentors. I wish the same for women in any role—technical or otherwise.

Something I’ve learned along the way is that success in any field requires resilience. There is no such thing as an overnight success. Although it is undoubtedly easy to glamorize or gloss over a successful person’s hard work, it always includes late nights, weekends, and sheer grit from many frustrating failures and dead ends.

3. Assess Your Environment

Many tech CEOs, including our own Steve Lucas, have included diversity as one of their missions, making significant strides in balancing their executive teams and hiring across the board. For women at Marketo with C-suite aspirations, this gives us inspiration and hope, but more importantly—role models. We have put a stake in the ground and feel comfortable being vocal about our mission to drive conversations and action around diversity in the workplace.

You may not be a CEO or hiring manager, but you can still drive change by considering your current workplace.

What type of office do you work in? Are all people comfortable stepping up for a promotion, even if they only meet 10% (or none) of the criteria? Women tend to self-select out of going up for a promotion if they don’t check every box. If you know someone like this, you can encourage them to step up and make a case for their aptitude. Push them to see what you see: their potential. After all, doing things you can’t do is how you get to do them.

Do people feel comfortable negotiating from a place of problem-solving, rather than being perceived as ‘rude’ or ‘demanding’? Send them this video on negotiation. It forever changed my perspective on the subject. Then send them a copy of my favorite book on negotiating.

How are your meetings conducted? Does everyone get to say their piece, or do some people get interrupted or talked over? If it’s the latter, this article from Harvard Business Review provides interesting context and tactics on how to handle interrupting colleagues.

These are all seemingly small areas that add up to helping people grow their confidence and thrive. Learning how to observe potentially adverse workplace behaviors so you can help solve with some tactical guidance, fosters an inclusive environment.  As a bonus, your own voice will grow and get stronger.

4. Pay it Forward and Share, Share, Share

You may think that you aren’t far enough in your career to help others, or that the only people who are in a position to pay it forward are C-levels, but that simply isn’t true. Even if you’re in your first year of work out of school, you can help college and high school students prime themselves for the real world, a skill that is bizarrely relegated to dusty career centers teaching principles from 1985.

I recently had the opportunity to speak to a group of incredibly bright young women at San Francisco State University. I didn’t possibly think I’d have anything useful to say (hello imposter syndrome!), but there I was, drawing out the sales/marketing funnel and giving practical advice for evaluating job opportunities and navigating the interview process. At least two of the young women from that session have since begun to pursue technical sales roles.

You’ve also probably gathered by now that every other sentence out of my mouth is “I have a book you should read.” But I also love all types of content (blogs, essays, video, etc.) and follow a wide range of thought leaders in the MarTech space. If you are looking for similar inspiration, I highly recommend our own Jill Rowley, Marketo’s Chief Growth Advisor. I have followed Jill on social media for years, ever since I saw her speak at Oracle several years ago. She models the mindset of ‘helping’ vs. ‘selling’ and making every interaction unique and relevant—two principles that have been instrumental in building my sales career.

5. Men: All of This Pertains to You

I fully realize that some men feel uncomfortable spending time alone with a woman at work, including going to dinner, taking business trips, etc. But this is an antiquated mindset that ultimately damages a woman’s career prospects. Everyone needs a mental reset here, where we view each other as people, act as advocates, and hold each other accountable for building skill sets.

I’ve already mentioned this, but I’ll say it again, louder for the people in the back: I would not be where I am today without a balanced group of mentors and without the business trips and dinners where valuable career advice and stories are exchanged. Same goes for every senior woman I look up to.

Why?

Sheryl Sandberg and Rachel Thomas, cofounders of Lean In, said it best in a recent interview: Men’s networks are primarily male and women’s networks are primarily female. Because most men are senior leaders, it’s crucial that men offer mentorship and access to their networks to close the gender gap in leadership roles. I invite every man reading this to extend their hand to one junior woman at their company and #MentorHer. Include her in your team lunches & dinners, introduce her to your mentors, and make sure she’s at the company happy hour. Ask lots of questions about her ambitions. Then help her come up with a plan to achieve them.

Think about who you can help, in your workplace or your personal life. I guarantee that they are just within arms’ reach. All I ask is this: for every person that you help, ask them to then pay it forward to at least one person, creating a domino effect. Then leave a note in the comments with your thoughts!

The post Be an Inclusion Rider: Elevate Women In Tech appeared first on Marketo Marketing Blog - Best Practices and Thought Leadership.

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[profgandalf]

Can Humor Be Holy?

A few years ago I was disturbed by an idea presented in Milan Kundera’s Book of Laughter and Forgetting. "Laughter” he writes “belongs to the devil because laughter happens when the meaning of things is subverted."  Now I, as a Christian, want to believe--in contrast to this--that laughter is firmly in the domain of Heaven because “all good things come from Him” (James 1: 17).  (Also I love to laugh although my enjoyment of something is hardly a measure of its healthfulness. I love coffee but doubt it will be in Heaven.) Still. if you’ve read my article about “Hallowing Halloween,” you know that my central argument is that Halloween should be used by Christian to mock the claims of supernatural power claimed by Satan and his followers.

Kundera has a Point:

That all being said, I must admit Kundera’s point.  Humor functions to undermine, to tear down, to prick someone’s bubble, to reveal the weakness of a position or stance.  That’s what it does: it points to the absurd and holds it up for ridicule. “All comedy,” according to John Cleese, “is critical.”  (For an excellent exposition on this see this short video in which he is featured.) This, however, may make many of us uncomfortable. First off we know that humor has been used to destroy or at least devalue what many of us thought of as being sacrosanct.  Sexual purity, love of country, the role of the father within the family are all concepts which have been held up for ridicule in contemporary comic media.  It should be noted that these ideas do not lose support because they are intrinsically weak but because there are so many who espoused them who were less than successful.  Their foolishness gave the humor a recognition of truth. Ralph Kramden, Fred Flintstone or Peter Griffin when bellowing that he is the head of the house is all the more absurd since each represents a class of men who may claim that without fulfilling it. Furthermore in argument the rhetorical tool of mockery is recognized as profoundly effective even when there reason provides little to advance a cause.  

”Senator, Your No Jack Kennedy”

Witness the famous line “"Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."   This put-down was a remark made during the 1988 United States vice-presidential debate by Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. Lloyd Bentsen to Republican vice-presidential candidate Sen. Dan Quayle.  It was devastating and yet in no way met the actual observations Quayle was making.  

Still as noted by Wikipedia “Bentsen's comment was played and replayed by the Democrats in their subsequent television ads as an announcer intoned: "Quayle: just a heartbeat away." It proved sure-laugh fodder for comedians, and more and more editorial cartoons depicted Quayle as a child (Saturday Night Live actually used a child actor to portray Quayle in several sketches.” (”Senator, Your No Jack Kennedy”)

Isn’t it Just Mean?

Many people of faith also wonder if tearing things down fits into the life-style consecrated to holiness a life-style supposedly epitomized by love, a goal that all serious believers are supposed to be aspiring towards.  Isn’t laughter, they wonder “by its very critical nature mean?” The reader may recall Buzz Lightyear’s suspicious confusion in Toystory, when facing Woody’s laughter over him not realizing he’s not a Space Ranger, not living in a world where aliens exist. “Your mocking me aren’t you?”  He doesn’t lie it and I for one felt a little bad for him.

(Side Note: My family finds this scene especially hysterical, pointing at me since apparently I periodically miss the ludicrousness I am revealing in my own behavior.) 

“Clueless Buzz” as the creators of the Toystory series call him does have his world crash down upon him and it is traumatic.  But the fact is that the befuddlement depicted is that of anyone who does not realize that he or she is being absurd. He is guilt of affectation not from hypocrisy but from ignorance.

Henry Fielding says that humor should be used to mock individuals out of affectation so that they will be better people.  But that means that the motivation of the comic must be wholesome.  What may be of some concern Buzz’s case is that the humor is not being used to improve him, but is instead being used by Woody to bring him down.  Oh sure he’s delusional and one can argue that having a true understanding of one’s self is vital for effective living (“You ARE a toy!”) But what is the real final intent of the mockery?  To put him in his place.

Keep in mind that in this scene Woody is using humor as a weapon against the toy who has replaced him in his high post in Andy’s affections as well as his room.  So does Buzz deserves this treatment because of his arrogance and self delusion?  It is interesting to note that in the film Woody finds himself cast out of Andy’s room because his own dark agenda is revealed.  And this “weaponization” is perhaps the point. 

Humor is a Weapon

Weapons are not always evil.  As a gun owner I affirm this. But they are always weapons. If gun can be used to stop evil perhaps wholesome humor, exists because some ideas deserve to be shown to be the absurdities they are. As I said in my article of Halloween, Satan’s Rebellion is a doomed farce and he knows it. But the struggle against evil requires weapons.  So, like it or not, humor is a weapon and perhaps a necessary one.

But when or how does one use a weapon?  Potentially a consciousness comedian might be like a consciousness objector.  The later asks “Can one use deadly force to do good?”  The first should wonder “Is it suitable to hold up others or things up for scorn?” Humor, it must be remembered, is a kind of force, a potentially dangerous one. It has recognized as such since ancient times.  However I affirm that it can be used in this way and still be Holy. Others may feel differently just as good people disagree with me about guns.

Weapons Must Be Used with Care

In the Stanford online Encyclopedia of Philosophy  John Morreall in his article on the “Philosophy of Humor” reminds readers that while “Aristotle considered wit a valuable part of conversation (Nicomachean Ethics 4, 8), he [also] agreed with Plato that laughter expresses scorn. 

Wit, he says in the Rhetoric (2, 12), is educated insolence. In the Nicomachean Ethics (4, 8) he warns that ‘Most people enjoy amusement and jesting more than they should … a jest is a kind of mockery, and lawgivers forbid some kinds of mockery—perhaps they ought to have forbidden some kinds of jesting.’  Morreall goes on to say “These objections to laughter and humor influenced early Christian thinkers, and through them later European culture” (”The Philosophy of Humor--Humor’s Bad Reputation.) 

This may explain why a blogger when posting an analysis of the concept of the laughing Jesus completely admits that the whole concept of a laughing Jesus is actually a “newish” concept (Check out Happy Jesus, Part 1:  ) He even goes on to quote  G.K. Chesterton

“There was some one thing that was too great for God to show us when He walked upon our earth; and I have sometimes fancied that it was His mirth.”  -G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy (1908)

Did Jesus laugh as the above opening painting suggest?  But at what?  Would he find anyone falling on a banana peel funny or would his empathy always make him go “aww” when a disciple missteped on the rocky Roman roads of the Holy Land? Did he think that watching Peter bubbling in the water as he sank under his own doubt hysterical?  I do, but did He? What about the look of incredulity of his disciples’ faces when he revealed himself as alive after stopping from the road to Emmaus?  And do you find the images of a teethy Christ which I found when looking for this article’s main painting, a bit creepy?  I confess I did.

This brings up another aspect of humor separate from the recognition of it as a powerful weapon.  

Humor is Often at Odds with Cultural Norms and Culture Shapes How We See It

Part of our discomfort of Holy Humor (and Jesus finding us funny) is that laughter has very little to do with how we traditionally view Christ.  Cultural expectations are powerful.   And understanding culture is a vital when talking about humor.

The aforementioned Kundera, for example, started life under the repressive regime of Communist Czechoslovakia, a nation at the time ruled by a system in which the authorities claimed to be good but crushed any who apposed it.  Any humorous criticism of the state would be branded as evil, a stance he personally embraced.  Thus, he is by inclination wanting to side with the rebellious.

Orthodoxy maintenance never has a sense of humor. (In another novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Kundera presents a character named  Sabina who admits to her distaste for parades, explains her feelings as being because in her Communist past children were forced to parade.  This stands in contrast to her all her western friends who love parades both official and for causes.) In The Book of Laughter and Forgetting Kundera sees the forces of Heaven as not being specifically always supporting the good but as powers which are concerned with maintaining God’s creation.  Thus, they are always by nature preserving never tearing down. Heaven keeps rules, Hell breaks them.  The trouble for us here on Earth is that we know that there are some rules which need to be broken.This is not an especially new idea

Kundera, in some ways, is articulating the ideas of the 17th century British poet William Blake who saw the active, dynamic poet organically as being rebellious in contrast to those in culture who are submissive and sedative as being Godly.  Specifically he was trying to explain why for many readers Milton in Paradise Lost is so compelling but somehow is less so in Paradise Regained:

The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it. (The Marriage of Heaven and Hell ca. 1790–93)

The trouble then comes down to the basic assumption that goodness is supposed to be non-aggressiveness, submissive, and un-confrontational, but does any of that actually describe Christ?  The answer is a resounding no. 

Humor a Weapon in A Holy War

I will concede that humor, like any weapon, can be misused.  I have seen it done so.  I will also admit that humor has been an effective tool to make me laugh at what I should not.  Sexual promiscuity is destructive and making jokes about the break down of a family’s moral structure should not be funny.  However none of that takes away from the profoundly healthful and important role holy humor has in our world.  It is a weapon against darkness.

Henry Fielding began his ground-breaking work (today called “a novel”) on a belief in the moral value of humor.  In his Preface to Joseph Andrews, part of his first great comic novel, Fielding argues for the moral importance of humor--tying it in to what he as a neo-Augustine would have considered the height of art, the classics,  He describes his work as  the “Comic Epic in Prose.”  He makes it clear that for him there is only one worthy target for humor, that of human folly in affectation:

The only source of the true Ridiculous (as it appears to me) is affectation. But tho’ it arises from one spring only, when we consider the infinite streams into which this one branches, we shall presently cease to admire at the copious field it affords to an observer. Now affectation proceeds from one of these two causes; vanity, or hypocrisy: for as vanity puts us on affecting false characters, in order to purchase applause; so hypocrisy sets us on an endeavour to avoid censure by concealing our vices under an appearance of their opposite virtues. and tho’ these two causes are often confounded, (for they require some distinguishing;) yet, as they proceed from very different motives, so they are as clearly distinct in their operations: for indeed, the affectation which arises from vanity is nearer to truth than the other; as it hath not that violent repugnancy of nature to struggle with, which that of the hypocrite hath.

And so Fielding perhaps best calls the best of what Holy Humor is.  It is a weapon that should be aimed at the folly we all carry within us.  Cleese in the above cited video mentions what he calls the most inclusive of jokes; “How Does one make God laugh?  Answer: Tell him your iron clad plans.”  CS Lewis in his epistolary novel The Screwtape Letters (which Cleese actually performed in the audio book version of) indented his “book as a fairly humorous work, Lewis's goals included both reflections on the nature of evil and an effort to create a different portrayal of the Devil than the sort normally seen in pop culture. Screwtape has practically No Sense of Humor himself, and comes across as a sort of cranky cosmic killjoy” (TV Tropes “Screwtape letters”)  Humor is a great weapon which is especially dramatized as Screwtape in a rage at being a source of entertainment to the patient’s love interest (the kind of woman who would find ME funny) turns himself into a worm.. In Christ’s hands and in ours humor should be used to laugh us out of our own folly and the diabolical forces who attempt to use it.

[questagency-blog]

The 3 key changes we’re seeing in Leadership you need to respond to

“One part Churchill, two parts Princess Diana” was how one of our clients recently described what was demanded of her as a successful leader in a modern day organization. This was certainly an intriguing mental image, but one which made sense as she went on to describe her experiences. What she said also reflected what we have learned from working with some of the UK and Europe’s largest companies who are using Heartbeat –from sectors as diverse as retail, manufacturing, technology, logistics and education – and supporting their leadership teams.

Leadership is certainly a bigger issue than ever.  Not that long ago we expected those at the top to be great managers and make sure that the processes worked and that outputs were achieved efficiently.  Top bosses were often great technicians and this reflected the nature of many organisations – we had more large scale industrial operations such as coal, steel and mass produced manufacturing in which the key issues were knowing what to do and when. Now, there are more service and knowledge based businesses in which the personality, approach and personal commitment of people have a much greater direct impact on business success and senior individuals have a key role to play in activating them.

Through Heartbeat and our work at Quest, we have spotted some big shifts in what effective leadership really looks like now. Of these, the three most pronounced changes to leadership which we’ve noticed are: the need to connect people to purpose and then engage people in it at every level, the huge impact of trust as the fuel of leadership, and the growing necessity to give people freedom within a framework.

1.     Connecting people to purpose and engage people in it at every level – it’s always been vital for anyone aspiring to leadership to have a vision and articulate it clearly so that people can understand it – that’s the ‘Churchill’ part referred to earlier. What’s more crucial now is that people need and expect to know why they are doing what they are, what’s required from them to bring it about and what’s in it for them to do so.  This means that leaders must be natural and approachable, able to listen and demonstrate a real understanding of their teams. They need to ask the right questions, be prepared for challenges and have the ability to link the company purpose with people’s day to day lives.  Most of all, they must be genuinely interested in their teams and able to connect with people at all levels to have conversations not just about the ‘what?’ but also the ‘why?’ and ‘how?’.  This is the “Princess Diana’ part mentioned above. Throughout, though, authenticity is crucial – we are all able to spot a phoney and when we do their leadership credibility takes a hard knock.

 Heartbeat has helped leaders in our client organisations establish this connection and have conversations on a larger scale by giving access to people’s feelings and comments in real time and enabling them to respond to issues while they are relevant and fresh.

 2.     The huge impact of trust – leaders have always needed to be trusted, but what seems to be changing is what that trust relates to, and the value given to it. In the past, trust in leadership was frequently about their competence and record of success, now it’s more about their personality, values and how we view the relationship we have with them.  Often we hear from teams going through transition that trust in their leaders has the biggest impact on how they view changes and respond to them.  Trust is built up over time.  Leaders are trusted if they are consistent in what they say and do and if they do what they say they will.   It’s also important that people have regular contact with leaders for trust to develop.  It’s harder to have faith in a distant figure who is seen rarely than in someone you are more familiar with – someone who has expressed emotion, discussed your issues with you and maybe even shared some of his or her own feelings. It’s the principle behind state visits of leaders – contact establishes an intimacy and trust which makes relationships between nations easier.

The challenge is that at the same time as trust is becoming ever more important, we are less and less inclined to give it. Our faith in politicians , figures of authority, professionals and experts is declining rapidly, so organizational leaders have to work harder to make connections and build links. Heartbeat has been helping our clients do this by being open to feedback – good and less good – and responding to it directly in a human way, rather than in a dry, sanitized manner months after the issue was most relevant.

 3.     Giving freedom in a framework – before, senior people often focused more on inputs – attendance, working hours, resource management, playing by the rules. Effective leaders now pay greater attention to outcomes – what their people achieve.  This is very evident, for example, when organisations shift to agile working, including hot desks, home working or multisite operations. It’s still important to work to key principles, especially as more business have regulations to which they must comply, but these are expressed as a framework, often agreed in conjunction with the team itself, which states expectations and responsibilities.  Leaders focus more on freeing people up to work within this framework.  This again means being able to connect with people, reassure them and help them see what they themselves can achieve. It needs time and effort invested in conversations, but the payback can be big as people become more collaborative, creative and innovative, all crucial sources of competitive advantage for many organisations.

If you liked these 3 points then you will LOVE our next webinar... “The future of leadership” on Wednesday 1st June 1-2pm - Places are limited, so reserve yours please email lucie@questagency.co.uk