#and there's no easy resolution

[wanderingmind867]

I feel like losing my old tablet (or having to stop using it) has made it harder for me to find new hyperfixations. That may be a bit hyperbolic, but let's go through why I feel this way:

Years ago (when I was using my old tablet), I didn't have a tumblr account. Even once I made my account, I didn't use it on that tablet. In fact (if we're going back far enough), I was probably lurking here even longer than I had the account. I think I found a lot of blogs through simply googling the topic I was interested in (and maybe sometimes adding the world tumblr to the end of my search). And it was very easy. I had like 500 bookmarks on that tablet, but I also have that on the new one. So that's a normal problem with me. Anyways, it was much simpler and easier to find things then.

But now that I have an account, I've grown sedentary. I never look up new things, I never try to find new blogs or google new things to help me find a new interest. I do none of that. And I really think that not having that old tablet anymore is a big contributor in this problem. Sure the fact that I've had an awful year or two hasn't helped (my mom dying, me approaching 20 and all that), but I seriously think the tablet thing was an important factor here.

And even though I sometimes desperately want to go back to how things used to be, it's impossible in some ways. Like I'm sure I could google tumblr blogs and find things that way, but I can't search tags without accounts nowadays. If I try to, tumblr brings up a giant screen telling me to sign up, and won't let me continue to search unless I log in.

PS: Also, let's not bring fanfiction into this yet. It's true that I sometimes struggle to focus on it (and sometimes wonder if it was easier with my old tablet), but we'll save that for a possible second post. I don't have the space to go into depth about my similar issues with fanfiction right now. But I might still tag it, because why not?

[csuitebitches]

2023 Goals for the Year

Personal growth

1. Attending one event (conferences, lectures, something educational) every month

2. Socialising and networking with crowds that help me improve my career prospects

3. Charity work on weekends

4. Reading 3 academic articles a month

Career

1. Finish the online finance course

2. Learning about the business I’m working in, in more detail

3. Complete one short term online course in different fields a month to educate myself even more

Health

1. Continuing the model workouts

2. Continuing my low carb, high protein diet because that’s really working out for me

3. A glass of water every morning

4. Alcohol only twice a month, and no smoking again

Body

1. Stick to my am:pm skincare

2. Get nails done every 20 days

3. Get waxed every month

4. Get LASIK surgery for my eyes

5. Get acne scar laser treatment

Mind

1. Meditation regularly

2. Following my spiritual routine

Miscellaneous

1. Redo my room, build a whole new wardrobe

2. Work on my traditional attire wardrobe with my stylist (I have zero taste in my culture’s traditional clothing and I’m working on that)

[existentiol]

something that pisses me off in RA is that Flanagan will occasionally hype up Pauline as this super important and prominent figure in Will’s life, even treat her as a proxy for the mother he never knew, and yet will just refuse to show it beyond the like. two or three (personal) conversations that they have in canon. I get that he was attempting to make her an important person in Will’s life but why not do that by actually making her an important person in Will’s life

[worstloki]

My issue with Thor not ‘realizing’ why Loki was acting off in Avengers 1 isn’t that Thor didn’t recognise Loki was acting unlike himself—Thor did note that—or that Thor didn’t figure out what was wrong—he did try asking—it’s more along the lines of Thor giving up, and that he accepted Loki was bad now within two days while knowing something was off when Thor himself behaved just as bad for much longer before without any specific compromising event.

[aro-culture-is]

aro culture is constantly hearing about relationships drama and being glad you never have to deal with it first hand

.

[dongshancai]

i just feel like i have to talk about this because i really love how they handled sangtae’s character. he was clearly written to be the main antagonist that’s keeping yongpil and samdal apart, and even to the point where holding onto this grudge for over 20 years sound almost unreasonable. however, i think it’s a great portrayal of grief and how it can ultimately consume you.

everyone deals with grief differently, and i saw a great post explaining how ko mija and yongpil handling the grief around sangtae made it even worse for him. the plot kept circling back to him being too stubborn to ease up on the hate that i began to wonder if they were going to be able to solve it well enough. but episode 14 delivered because while it was almost getting frustrating seeing sangtae relentlessly not listening to everyone around him, by adding the fact that due to his failing vision and memory, he’s afraid of letting go of this grief. which really ties in to the beginning of the episode between yongpil and samdal, when yongpil was saying how he’s afraid of forgetting samdal. by showing how similar yongpil and sangtae loves, makes it hard to truly hate him (even if he’s a stubborn old man) because our main character is exactly the same way.

but i especially love the way they wrote samdal talking to him. it tied it up so neatly that i can’t help but be impressed. by having her say word for word what he told bu mija a long time ago, after he visited her at the temple, made it seem like it was bu mija telling him that. and i think it was something he really really needed to hear. the actor did an AMAZING job at portraying the realization that he really doesn’t hate samdal, and he was too caught up in his grief that he didn’t realize other people were suffering too. so when he ran after her and seeing yongpil standing next to her,,,, bro TEARS

i just really appreciate how they handled his character because he’s not a bad person—he’s in pain and he doesn’t realize his actions are hurting people he cares about because,, he just happened to really love his wife. and the catharsis of having samdal being the reason to free him from his grudge when he was the one that deliberately kept our main couple apart just shows the intricate relationships of these families but how, at the end of the day, they still care for each other

[lord-squiggletits]

Part of why I hate this fandom's take on Autobots vs Decepticons is ppl (mainly 'con fans honestly) who can't have any nuance of the situation whatsoever and love to write plots like "oh the humans are racist and abusive towards Cybertronians so this is how Megatron is right" no actually I don't think colonialism/imperialism and racism are justified so long as you can point the finger and say "they were the aggressors first" or "their hands are no cleaner than ours bc their society sucks too" sorry. Please come up with better sociopolitical narratives in your war story.

[tourettesdog]

DPxDC Prompt where when Jason returns to Gotham he finds himself having exceptionally bad luck.

His foot slips on the edge of rooftops, when he was sure he'd more than made the jump. He's seen by adversaries, even when he was sure he was hidden. Knives slice into his side, when he was sure he properly dodged the thrust. His wounds get infected, even when he properly cleans them.

Nothing he does seems to go right, and it feels as though the world itself is conspiring to drag him down.

This, as it turns out, is not all that far from the truth.

The Spirit of Gotham felt when Jason was torn from his grave, his body moving from the safe embrace of her soil-- from her. He was spirited away before Gotham could recover what was rightfully hers. Before she could right this wrong.

His grave lay barren for a time, and Gotham lamented failing her charge...

Yet the boy returned.

Now, while the boy still wanders her streets, heedless of the resting place she has so generously guarded, Gotham is doing everything in her power to put him back where he belongs.

[bookshelf-in-progress]

@isfjmel-phleg Well, I couldn't resist that prompt. This is extremely rough, and I reserve the right to decanonize any of this, but I had to take a stab at writing these two in this situation.

Beyond The Legend

"Tanza, what's this?" Auren called.

Tanza stormed into her house's gathering area, tossing aside the cloth she'd been wiping the dining table with. "Auren, I told you not to touch the electronics until I was rea—"

She froze.

The projection screen on the far wall was filled with the dull sparkle of a classic lumiscopic drama. The glimmers of purple and green added layers of depth to the muted colors of the image—which showed a square-jawed, golden-haired tephan man with ragged finery and a few artistically-placed smears of blood on his all-too-handsome face.

Auren was sitting on a soft chair, staring at the image. "Who is that?"

"An actor," Tanza said quickly, desperately scanning the room for the controls. If there was one drama Auren should not see…

"Naturally," Auren said, rolling his eyes. "What is his name? He seems familiar."

"Corphan Holbrith," Tanza said, then cursed her thoughtlessness. Auren might know the name. She might not be able to stop the showstream in time…

Auren's brow furrowed. "I've heard that name before. Usually accompanied by 'you're not as handsome as'."

"Well, you're not." Where on Arateph had Auren put her datapad?

"Thank you for your support, Tanza."

On the screen, Corphan Holbrith limped up a rocky mountain path, leaning heavily upon a man in an ill-fitting suit of workers' clothes.

Auren examined the image. "Do I resemble him? It's odd that its been remarked upon so often."

"He's extremely famous," Tanza said, desperately hoping to distract his attention. Why hadn't she sprung to get voice-controlled showstreams?

"For what?"

"He's been in a million lumiscopic dramas."

Behind the shelf—was that the control? Tanza dove to the floor. Just the light controls. She sprang to her feet, disgusted.

By now, Corphan Holbrith had reached a ramshackle door in the mountainside, but he was pulling away from his companion. "I must return," he said. "My people have need of me."

His companion tried to hold him back. "You must save yourself, lirishan."

Auren jumped at the word—a naming tongue title applied only to the crown prince.

The companion continued, " If Prince Auren dies, all hope is lost."

Tanza sank into a soft chair, defeated.

Auren gazed at her in open astonishment. "Is he—?"

"Prince Auren," Tanza sighed. "About thirty years ago, this role launched Holbrith's career. This drama was a sensation. Won all sorts of awards. People went crazy over it."

"Have you seen it?"

"A few times," Tanza said casually. Not in a million years would she tell Auren that she'd watched it every night for a year when she was twelve.

Auren grinned and turned back to the screen, his eyes sparkling with delight. "What's it about?"

Well, it didn't look like Auren was spiraling into traumatic memories, so maybe Tanza could run with this.

"Your typical revolutionary alternate history," she said. "Prince Auren was saved from the brink of death by a beautiful lady rebel who fell in love with him, was rescued by royalists, then escaped into the mountains, lost his memory, became a beloved member of the community, fell in love with the rebel lady, regained his memory, then had to decide whether to choose love or royal duty."

"What did he choose?"

"He tries to claim his kingdom, of course, while staying faithful to his love, but they both have to go into hiding and wait for the right time to emerge. It's all very artistic."

On-screen, the faux Prince Auren collapsed from exhaustion, while the beautiful dark-haired lady rebel wept over him, and berated the nobleman who'd been helping him up the mountain.

"I see that," Auren said with a grin.

"We can watch something else," Tanza said, finally spotting the controls beside the window.

"Not for all the money on Arateph."

Tanza shrugged and relaxed into her seat.

She had seen the drama a few times since she was twelve, but not since she'd met the actual Auren. The false history seemed even more melodramatic now that the real history was no longer hidden. Prince Auren was heroic and romantic—a sheltered royal cast out into a harsh world, tortured by his losses and driven by virtue.

"Please tell me I don't talk like that," Auren said.

The faux Prince Auren was giving a speech that had won Holbrith his first acting award. It actually was something Tanza could imagine the real Auren saying—all about hope in adversity—but the voice sounded strange in a way it never had before.

It was a pitch-perfect imitation of the way the royal accent sounded in decaying copies of pre-revolutionary recordings, but nothing like Auren's real voice—refined and old-fashioned, but with plenty of warmth and humor.

"Not a bit," Tanza said.

"Thank all the stars."

The story continued through yet another chase scene set among soaring mountain landscapes. "They thought I was in Kepha?" Auren asked.

"It made sense at the time," Tanza said. "Your mother's family was there, and the mountains have lots of places to hide."

Auren stared at the screen a moment, processing this new information. "No wonder it took them a hundred years to find me."

The story continued through chase scenes and fights, bouts of amnesia, dramatic speeches, narrow escapes, and touching emotional moments. The story was silly, sometimes surprisingly heartwrenching—but the story she'd seen a million times felt brand-new with the real Auren sitting beside her.

Once, Corphan Holbrith's Auren had been Tanza's ideal. He was noble. Unshakeable. A bit sheltered, but with a good heart. Capable of knocking down any number of rebels and then declaring his feelings to the love of his life. Enough inner turmoil to be endlessly fascinating to a twelve year old girl.

Holbrith's Auren was by far the most flattering portrayal of the controversial prince, but he was a pale shadow when placed next to the real thing. His Auren wasn't someone who would cook a meal, chat about the little details of a history student's day, laugh over a silly melodrama, face a world a hundred years in his own future.

The last scene of the story faded out—Prince Auren gazing over the land that he swore he would one day save, before disappearing into the mountain forest—leaving only the real Prince Auren.

"So that's the life I missed out on," Auren said. "I'm almost sad I slept through it instead. The real history must be disappointing compared to the legend."

"Are you kidding?" Tanza asked.

"It's certainly less exciting," Auren said. "And I'm no Corphan Holbrith."

"No," Tanza said, turning off the projector. "Believe me, the real thing is much better."

[wanderingmind867]

I feel like losing my old tablet (or having to stop using it) has made it harder for me to find new hyperfixations. That may be a bit hyperbolic, but let's go through why I feel this way:

Years ago (when I was using my old tablet), I didn't have a tumblr account. Even once I made my account, I didn't use it on that tablet. In fact (if we're going back far enough), I was probably lurking here even longer than I had the account. I think I found a lot of blogs through simply googling the topic I was interested in (and maybe sometimes adding the world tumblr to the end of my search). And it was very easy. I had like 500 bookmarks on that tablet, but I also have that on the new one. So that's a normal problem with me. Anyways, it was much simpler and easier to find things then.

But now that I have an account, I've grown sedentary. I never look up new things, I never try to find new blogs or google new things to help me find a new interest. I do none of that. And I really think that not having that old tablet anymore is a big contributor in this problem. Sure the fact that I've had an awful year or two hasn't helped (my mom dying, me approaching 20 and all that), but I seriously think the tablet thing was an important factor here.

And even though I sometimes desperately want to go back to how things used to be, it's impossible in some ways. Like I'm sure I could google tumblr blogs and find things that way, but I can't search tags without accounts nowadays. If I try to, tumblr brings up a giant screen telling me to sign up, and won't let me continue to search unless I log in.

PS: Also, let's not bring fanfiction into this yet. It's true that I sometimes struggle to focus on it (and sometimes wonder if it was easier with my old tablet), but we'll save that for a possible second post. I don't have the space to go into depth about my similar issues with fanfiction right now. But I might still tag it, because why not?

[rontra]

your failteacher yuri AU is so so good. what's so frustrating about persona is that it has plenty of good ideas and characters that get absolutely wasted or mishandled by the actual narrative… like these two teachers. you write them with so much more respect than the games ever did. keep it up!

so as a general rule i don't tend to respond to this Genre of comment or really even enjoy it--as far as my own personal feelings r concerned, "you do [x] better than [source]" (in whatever ways it's phrased) is Not a compliment--but in this instance i gotta say it. they fucked up so bad and it makes me so madJDBHJJNSDB

so... just this once... i'll salute you... im at least glad people like my work and r enjoying a whiff of my beloved women without atlus sabotage ✊

i've said before that p3 hermit and p5 temperance are my favorite links--p5 temperance especially i think is really tight and has an interesting foundation. the actual narrative glue holding that thing together is strong. like the THING is that i don't have to go out of my way to find interesting and compelling material here (and i certainly don't have to make it up from whole cloth or anything)

i would hate for people to have the impression that i'm spinning this all out of nothing or that i hold the source In Contempt or whatever. obviously my concept/inciting incident is zany (haha) and i've added or tweaked a lot of smaller things to better facilitate this specific AU, but this story wouldn't have nearly the legs it does without the genuinely good material they put in those links, and i wouldn't bother making it at all if i didn't seriously love those characters...

...which i guess is kinda what makes it doubly frustrating... that in both cases they've just kind of stapled on some gross stuff that adds nothing (aside from ick factor of course) and doesn't fit with the rest... when "the rest" is genuinely compelling. not only is it a bad move on its own but also it drags down the otherwise good material around itself which is always annoying, yknow... like if it was Just All Bad i would at least be FREE 😭

anyway it's whatever it's whatever . i want to draw a chapter where they talk about their Deep Baggage sooo bad. and i can be like Look. Normal Hermit. Welcome To My Twisted Mind. Or Whatever

[tillerqueendev]

"A woman of arms bearing conspicuous scars, as well as worse invisible ones." gonna start slowly dropping some info on Demigothic's playable characters, so here's Sigfrida's sprite and portrait

also, tiny process gif:

[harlymph]

me when I get a commission online 😏 Moonbound Waleska design for @liz-trix

[fjordfolk]

100% don't punish the growl and listen to your dog and your puppy is not an evil mastermind AND ALSO seeing how Melis behaved today and latey, feeling very validated in our approach to her outbursts of screaming thrashing gnashing teeth being less "sorry sorry never mind" and more "ok buddy are u sure though"

time will tell if she has another ride on the melty brain hormone train coming (Sparta didn't - but she might) but at this moment in time, Melis is a pretty tolerant, people-oriented, socially intelligent little dog who's displaying some very pleasant traits. and who has not growled or snarled or gotten near threshold in many months. at this rate our worst puppy might end up our best dog

[not-so-superheroine]

World Church responds to Conversations about D&C 116

The article from the church really covers the circumstances, but I wrote this article in February 2023, in preparation for World Conference 2023 where there was a (proposed) resolution (G-2) to remove Doctrine and Covenants 116 from the canon. I also spoke to the international Beyond the Walls congregation and did a few presentations in the mormon studies circuit. I even got an email from President Cramm asking me about the resolution, which let me know that the First Presidency had read it too (which had me shook).

D&C 116 is the revelation on Race and the Priesthood brought forth by Prophet-President Joseph Smith III in 1865.

World Church published this in response to the discussions around D&C 116.

I made the point that D&C 116 did reflect the Enduring Principles and that it was prophetic. The revelation was Inspired by God but also came through a human and, therefore, isn't perfect or inerrant. Also that we should approach the scripture as is stated in Community of Christ's statement on scripture and interpret it responsibly instead of removing it. that scripture shouldn't be "hide it away so no one can see it" because some church members find it shameful now. Removing it also doesn't honor the early Black saints who took on priesthood calls in the Reorganization and who faced discrimination and segregation in the church by white saints using this section irresponsibly.

bonus surprise: World Church is putting the other missing/removed sections back in. no more scriptural memory hole! it means a lot, to me, for the church to recognize that as a mistake. (my current D&C just has the number and is like. "section was moved to the appendix in X year and the appendix was removed in Y year" so you know something was there but would have to research to know what was actually there).

i am quite happy about this. i feel listened to, rather than spoken for like i did reading the initial resolution. and i am excited for the next edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.

[emilinqa]

i have some ppl asking me how to read the year five comics just so everyone knows you can pirate comics like exactly like you do tv and movies. get you a hefty adblocker and read those comics boy