#bcs there’s so many ppl in need and so many go-fund-mes

[suswous]

If you’re the kind of person to feel guilty about not giving money to go-fund-mes whose authenticity you’re unsure about, I think it’s a good idea to (if you can afford it obviously) give whatever you would give to something like the PCRF, or some other charity you trust to do good for Palestinians.

[pink-spaceturtle5]

In a fucking glorious turn of events, my weed pen is working again

[jentlemahae]

-

[henrysglock]

Hi can you plz help me to understand. My feed is mainly talking about Palestine, showing the atrocities happening, wanting Palestine to be free and I agree the Palestinian civilians should be safe and the bombings and attacks should stop. But I’m failing to see why people aren’t caring about the Israeli civilians as much? They are also being killed, many innocently at a music festival only to never return home again. But it’s like no one cares about them bc they’re they enemy! But they’re not they’re innocent people. Just like the Palestinian people are. And I kinda get the war between both but also what happened was over 70 years ago most of the people living there now weren’t there 70 years ago so why should they still be talked about as though they’re the enemy when living in Israel is all they’ve known? It shouldn’t be just swept under the rug no and I know everyone isn’t just going to stop and make up and hold hands singing songs but It’s 100% the governments problem I just don’t understand why people now are failing to sympathise with the Israeli victims? And why some Jewish people/celebs are being made out to be bad people just bc they speak up on what’s being done to their fellow Jews? Not sure if you’ve seen Brett’s ig but he’s been very vocal and if I’m honest does seem quite extreme but ppl like Noah just seem like he’s upset and worried and doesn’t want harm to come to either side but ofc he’s going to show support to Israel when he’s been there to learn more about his religion? Idk what to believe in terms of news anymore bc some seem very pro-Palestine and others pro-Israel and some switch between both every other day. It’s just all very confusing but it has made me a little sad to see not many people talking about the innocent Israelis who have lost their lives and are still in the middle of all this too… sorry if this is too much I just needed to say it to someone :/

Okay, anon, I think I know where the disconnect lies: scale.

1,400 were killed in the attack on Israel, and that’s a horrible thing. Loss of civilian life is never a good thing.

However. Over 5,000 and counting Palestinians have been killed by the Israelis just since the Hamas attack. That’s not including the 70+ consecutive years of occupation and mistreatment continued mistreatment enacted on them by the Israeli government (It’s not something that “happened 70 years ago”, anon. It has been constant). They have been and are being driven out of their homes; their lives, livelihoods, and land are being stolen out from under them. 70 years’ worth of children have been and are being murdered or left as orphans.

Here are some numbers just since 2000:

And there is no “both sides”, here. There is no “war”, Anon, because Palestine has no army, while Israel is backed by the governments of most western countries, the US army included. They have the backing of the most powerful army in the world…against a people with no army. Palestinians, anon, are defenseless. Israel is bombing their hospitals and schools. It’s an unceasing massacre. Gaza is an open-air prison. The Palestinians cannot escape the violence.

So yes, it’s deeply unfortunate that Israeli civilians were killed, and I sympathize with those who were hurt by that attack, emotionally and/or physically…but they are not victims of genocide, here.

Palestinians are.

That is why we’re more vocal about Palestine, anon. The scales aren’t even close to the same.

This isn’t even going into the fact that Hamas was founded and funded to destabilize Palestine. To quote Avner Cohen, an ex Israeli official: “Hamas, regrettably was Israel’s creation”. Meanwhile, the current PM of Israel, Netanyahu, has said “Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering hamas and transferring money to hamas. This is part of our strategy—to isolate Palestinians in gaza from Palestinians in the west bank.”

Israel’s blood is on its own hands.

[needlesandnilbogs]

Known Facts About City Spies Book 6 and Beyond

collated at the Avid Reader bookstore event/signing in Davis, CA, on 6/23/24

On future books:

City Spies book 6 is finished and in the proofreading stage. It will probably be released in February 2025, he's allowed to share the title and cover as of this week.

City Spies 6 is called "London Calling" and the cover (which I briefly saw on his phone screen) is predominantly yellow and green

Robert is the protagonist and the Mother/Clementine/Robert/Annie larger plot will be completely resolved in book 6

There will be at least 8 total city spies books, likely 10

Sherlock society 1 is coming out in September

He's going to be on a two book a year release schedule -- February city spies and September Sherlock society

On research/past books/writing

he writes the first draft then goes to the places to research them

he talks to a lot of experts -- for city spies this includes a bookseller's husband who's ex-cia and planned the mission in forbidden city for him, for Sherlock society he got to go on a Miami marine patrol police boat

the city spies books work best with three cities they go to, boat being hostage in the first paragraph of golden gate is based on kid saying plot took ages to get to Big Thing in book 1 so now every book starts with a big thing happening. The middle city is the city of adventure and city alluded to in the title.

He did not get to physically go to Russia or China or Egypt but he did go to Venice after first draft of mission manhattan, went to every location in the book, then used pictures he took there

Washington he got a friend to show him the abandoned spots very unsafely, including embassy row and the empty Iranian embassy which fascinated him

He walked around Iranian embassy and the United Kingdom and Brazil embassies are actually across from it, the security didn't like him taking those pictures as much but it inspired him

If he could choose one song that best represents mission manhattan/city spies: We are family

when he writes a series he's trying to answer a single question and the books are all different variants on the answer. For city spies it's "what is a family"

he puts his life into the books, especially with a parent being missing and trying to find that connection

Middle grade advice: Write from the pain of when you're thirteen

"As a consumer of art we still believe in magic, but there is no magic […] we're faking the magic, it's just sweat. You forget what they're doing is sweat too."

he and his writing friends all feel like imposters. He talks to ppl who've won newberries and still feel like imposters and then they finally have little clicks that say maybe they can do this, like when his publisher said maybe he didn't need blurbs on his books anymore

Research is for accuracy and he hates being wrong and sometimes he hand waves but it gives him inspiration

real life is better than fiction

On Clementine, Mother, their kids:

book 6 resolves all the issues with clemmie and mother and the kids but not all the series's problems

"In the end as I wrote Clementine I wasn't sure how she was going to end up," he "wrestled writing her every time"

"Clementine is a puzzle" kat says, based on a thing a fan said

Good or bad, accidental or not, Clementine is the most interesting character bc you don't know what side she's on

On public libraries and independent bookstores:

About the nypl: "it's the most fascinating thing to me, this library. It's the Vatican of American books."

There aren't easy answers to the problem of cutting funding for libraries, there's a reason independent bookstores and libraries are valuable and it's bc this type of event matters and they have so many services

"Public libraries are one of the greatest things, as far as altruism, our society has ever created"

When it becomes an issue of books being banned it's not good, it's not okay

These are important issues and it's not simple but access to books written by "not just middle aged white guys like me" is really important

what gets lost is book recs and new authors

"the power we have in the exchange of ideas is valuable"

it's stuff that's been sitting there for a while and failed miserably and then gets popular, libraries and independent bookstores are part of that

TikTok is the single largest driving force in youth literature and it may not exist in a year

On the potential City Spies movie:

MGM studios bought the right to city spies film series before they were bought by Amazon

This happened because there's a Guatemalan woman who's the head of development at mgm, and she has twelve year old twin brothers who are reading city spies, she hears the story and says that sounds like a movie, reads the first page and is hooked, reached out and acquired the rights and then he heard nothing for ages

Amazon bought mgm and he thought it was done but they liked city spies, they hired a producer and then writers strike blocked any development but they now have a writer

He's staying out of the writing process, his background in film is making a lot of connections but also means he knows to stay out of it (though if he's asked he'd be enthusiastic to help)

he gets on set one day and gets two tickets to premiere

Movie in theaters not tv show

doesn't really believe it will happen yet because spy school was gonna be a movie then it wasn't

"I would wait to start worrying about following it till later", he doesn't talk about it really even to friends

MGM made an announcement to variety and so everyone found out

He and his wife hope it will happen (cause it's cutting down time till she can retire), she's his health insurance and it's why it seems a lot of writers end up married to teachers and have insurance through them

tagging @fishyupmywishy also

[saetoru]

I just read your post about Ai and can I just share that I work in archeology and I'm absolutely terrified of the way AI is becoming normalized within research. The University I work for recently granted our department a large budget for this research project, and instead of hiring new people, or taking even taking in undergrad students as assistant researchers, my superiors have been using ChatGPT. It's absolutely insane to me that it is being recommended for us to use it to create surveys and organize our collected data. we are even being told to use it if we're having trouble writing the summary reports that help us continue getting funding.

I use it almost everyday, and it is not 100% accurate. Its actually wrong a lot of the time when you're using it to do more advanced math so it's very worrisome that it's being used for quantitative research. it is so easy for things to be wrong and no one to even notice.

YES ITS SO SCARY !!! im in healthcare management and the company i’m working with is a supplier for hospitals and the way they use chat gpt to compare pricing and break down data and even just write emails for summaries is so scary because the calculations aren’t always correct and they admit that !! and they still use it !! means for breaking down data aren’t always the most effective. and it’s especially scary bc my friend who is a pharm tech has been consistently complaining that more and more drugs have become hard to order in larger quantities and they are having loads of shortages. they’ve had to limit how much they can give at a time significantly in a few pharmacies in my area and it’s like. if you chat gpt things like calculating when it comes to supplying things for the healthcare industry, you heavily risk accidentally miscalculating how you split things up or wtv the case may be and already scarce items will be even more scarce. it’s just a very very nauseating thing to hear — and young ppl especially !! the company i’m working with has also cut back so many interning spots with data analytics bc they rely on ai to do it !! there are so many young individuals that are slowly being robbed of experience they desperately need to build their careers and the economy isn’t exactly helping with the case either, and :,) it’s just. a rly rly big area for concern bc there seems to be no regulation whatsoever and i can’t wrap my head around it.

and besides the professional aspect, there’s also the social aspect you have to consider. ai generated images are becoming more and more accurate and we’re living in a time where we can start to make anyone’s voice and faces be generated to say / look however we want. there are so many dangers to that i don’t even think i need to go into but from every standpoint all ai screams to me is a way to make life more and more miserable instead of efficient :,)

[daaedoodles]

I rly like '24 for the obvious reasons but also cuz it humanized everyone more. Regina's villain origin story was worse imo but when she fell on stage I couldnt help but thinking shes just a GIRL. Shes just a girl who hates her body, ate shit in front of the whole school, basically has her bare ass out and is getting photographed and filmed to be posted online and get HUMILIATED. Idk if this was said in the social media scene of the movie or if i made it up in my head bc im gen z and I know the internet but in my head I was like yeah shes a fucking cunt but she didn't deserve 💀 threats cuz ppl be throwing 💀 threats at ANYTHING 😭😭😭

ME TOO. i watched a review and they said that the only characters that were humanized were the plastics and they were actually so right?? the other teenagers in the school just were like crazy social media assholes and none of them had a redeeming moment so i think i ended up feeling bad for regina and hating them instead like the shit they were saying and doing was vile and she got fucking dragged on social media when, honestly, that wouldn’t happen IRL you’d get cancelled for making fun of someone like that.

EXACTLY. she’s just a girl and honestly regina isn’t even that mean? in 24’ people just seem more like they’re scared of her because she’s hot and has power and followers and influence because of that and COULD potentially destroy you. she’s grumpy with people and she gets rude with gretchen and karen, but we never see her being mean to anyone else? but even still there’s genuine moments like when she’s asking how many calories are in the chobani where she’s picking her nails and you can tell she’s nervous and she actually almost seems kind of nice like that and you can’t help but think how much of the mean girl persona is just regina projecting her insecurities on everyone else. like she rules the school, but how much of that confidence is because she doesn’t ever want to be bullied and ostracized like janis was/she made janis — and then ended up having the same thing happen to her in the most cruel way possible?

the kalteen bars, oh my god. janis doing this was just evil because she would’ve known about regina’s insecurities. doubt regina would ever let anyone else in the school know and then, the cherry on top, janis told the school she did it on PURPOSE to mess with her life and exposed that to everyone

and the fuckign death threats… i was honestly like wtf? like the north shore high student body actually needs to get hit by a bus cause they suck somehow even worse than regina 😭

the fake ass go fund mes and leaving presents at her door but never actually visiting her is so something that would happen irl. i just imagine she’s basically completely alone and keeps hearing from her mom and has seen some of the shit people said on social media when she was recovering from her injuries and that’s why she changes and realizes she needs to be better

[sovonight]

hi sovo ;u; I hope it's okay if I ask you a shop question! So um, I'm lower on money than I've ever been and I'm too burnt out to do commissions for ppl due to personal stuff, but I feel like... if I made one charm or one sticker for a particularly huge fandom/movie that's out right now, and if I put it up as preorder and sold at least 20 keychains then I'd be able to pay my bills this month. but I've never sold physical merch before and I'm a little nervous to try it haha :'D

Would you recommend I try making an Etsy since it seems to have a large enough audience, or do you think I should try making my own website/shop? I'm definitely not ready to consistently sell things as a steady job yet, I thought I'd try literally just one single keychain or one sticker sheet (I already learned how to make those, thankfully) in order to pay my rent this month bc I've only got about a hundred dollars to my name sdflkfssdf;; and if it goes well then maybe I can try it again.

I'm also not quite sure how to price things? if I made a 3.5 inch acrylic charm with the little star shaped keychains like from Vograce, do people normally price those at $15 when they sell them? should I also account for shipping? I've also umm never shipped merch before and I'm so worried about somehow messing it up sldfjsf like I don't know what kind of envelopes I have to get or if I should even use my own address bc I'm so nervous about my personal info being out there, but I don't know if it's worth paying for a PO box if I'm so low on money already. if you have any tips on anything whatsoever, I would appreciate any feedback if you're not busy. But if you don't want to answer please don't worry about it ;u; anyway thank you so much for reading this I really appreciate you! ❤

no prob! here are my thoughts:

pros/cons of etsy:

apparently if you're new to selling on etsy, there's a probationary period where etsy withholds your profits for 3 months. i don't know anything about it personally since it started in 2020, but it seems that funds are only released when your shipped orders are scanned at the post office. i think i also remember hearing about other cases where payments aren't released at all for 3 months--and etsy customer service has a reputation of being difficult to get a hold of if you have a problem as a seller, so if etsy made a mistake with your shop, it may take even more months to resolve. since you have preorders in mind, i would hold off on etsy unless you can pay out of pocket.

etsy can drive traffic towards your listing for you (if you choose the right keywords--it's more difficult to be discovered just randomly if you don't).

they have high fees (for a $15 charm they'd take $1.88 in fees, which is 12.5%).

people may be cautious to buy from a shop that has no reviews yet, but many customers are protected by etsy's purchase protection and can be refunded at no cost to you if their order gets lost in the mail (provided that you ship with a tracking number and meet other criteria).

etsy will strongly recommend that you offer free shipping; ignore them. i don't think i've ever bought fanmerch with free shipping in my life, and their advice isn't geared towards sellers like us.

preorders don't work very well with etsy's system--iirc you're not supposed to do them (even though people still do, of course) but the main reason i remember is that the max processing time etsy lets you set per product (as in, the time between the customer purchasing the listing and you shipping it out) is 6 weeks. that means that the time you allow for customers to place their preorders, the time it takes for you to order and receive the merch, and the time it takes for you to ship out orders, all need to add up a max of 6 weeks, which was personally a difficult timeline for me to meet when making keychains. ofc, it's possible to extend the processing time, but going over the processing time may make it possible for customers to leave reviews/open cases early before you're even ready to ship out their orders, which could affect the reputation of your shop.

pros/cons of not etsy:

if you're not going with etsy, i've heard people recommend bigcartel, since it doesn't require a subscription like shopify or other places do. bigcartel's free plan is limited, but it should work for what you're looking for. another alternative might be ko-fi--i've heard that ko-fi shops aren't ideal for shipping out a large amount of orders, but since you're targeting just 20 i think it should be manageable.

ofc, you'll have to drive all your traffic yourself, so consider if you have enough of a following in your target fandom, or how you should go about getting your post noticed by your target fandom.

unlike etsy, shipping isn't auto-calculated, so i'd probably set a flat rate (in the US i'd expect $5). flat rates might make calculating your taxes just a little bit more complicated; in california at least, you have to pay taxes on the difference between the shipping you charge your customers and the shipping you actually pay to the post office, so iirc you either refund the extra shipping to the customer or hand it all over in taxes.

pricing:

yes, the standard price for ~3" acrylic keychains is $15, though i've also seen people go up to $16 or $17, especially on etsy where the fees are high.

shipping should be a separate cost, either auto-calculated for you (if you're on etsy/shopify) or a flat rate that you set based on shipping rates for your country, so in the end a customer might pay $15 + $5 = $20 in total.

unless most of your prospective customers are international, i'd recommend against shipping internationally to avoid dealing with customs forms, especially since you already have a lot of info to take in.

you can ship everything in a regular bubble mailer, though if you're just shipping stickers not keychains, a flat envelope should work fine. when shipping packages, you'll need to know the weight of each package, but you can just go by an estimate. a 3" acrylic keychain weighs about 1 oz (it weighs less than that, but they don't accept decimals) so i just multiply based on how many keychains are in an order. for usps at least, shipping is the same rate up until 10 oz iirc, so you don't need to weigh it super accurately. you could also always just go into the post office and have them weigh and label everything for you.

po box:

if regular PO box rates in your area are too high, you can also consider using a virtual po box; they go for about $10 per month at their most basic plans. if you're not expecting to get any mail redirected back to you, you should be able to just buy a month's subscription when you're ready to ship things out.

words of caution:

you probably already know this, but large fandoms can often be oversaturated by merch, so just choosing a large fandom might not be enough to guarantee a sale--you might have to stand out by, say, choosing a character who's in demand but doesn't have much fanmerch, having a funny meme concept, or having such a unique/attractive style that people can't help but want your fanmerch in particular. if you haven't already, i'd recommend looking around the market and seeing what's out there and decide why a buyer should choose your merch over anyone else's. though honestly, depending on your fandom, it could also not be this serious and not warrant much research--it all depends!

even if the preorder process works out and you get the funds to place the order, the manufacturer could always mess up on your order, which could lead to delays in your fulfillment and at worst, more expenses if you need to pay to get them remade. if it's easier to get sticker sheets made (like if you make them yourself/locally instead of ordering from overseas) they might be a safer choice of merch to make. ofc, i don't generally see sticker sheets up for preorder so you'd probably have to order them out of pocket and hope they sell, and you'll probably have to sell more of them than you would of keychains to get the same amount of profit. i don't know the whole situation, so i can't say anything definite about the risks/rewards between choosing to sell keychains and choosing to sell stickers.

[genderjester]

Some ppl love to fearmonger that omg universal healthcare will mean u have to wait ages for doctor's appointments and the quality will be shit and u wont be able to choose your healthcare provider which is so funny to me bc like. Why the fuck would that be true.

I live in germany and have the like. State health insurance not the fancy private one. And on friday i called my gp to ask for an appointment and they were able to squeeze me in on the same day bc it was urgent. And even if it hadnt worked out same day they probably wouldve given me an appointment by next week latest. And if they had been fully booked? I couldve called basically every other gp in the area to see if any of them could squeeze me in bc i dont have a network i need to stick to or whatever. The only doctors you need referrals for are the specialists but not even all of them. Many of them u can also just call up and ask. My mom once got a next day appointment at the ophtalmologist bc her symptoms needed to be checked urgently (it turned out to be fine dont worry)

And like some of this is city privilege but it's not like a private healthcare system would solve the lack of health infrastructure in rural communities either like 😭

The only reason some state funded/universal healthcare systems go to shit is bc people in power underfund them to death, not bc it's inherently worse than private. In fact, well maintained and well funded universal healthcare is ideal imo. I really fucking enjoy not having to worry about surprise bills at the doctors office and think that should be the standard around the world.

[vaingloriosa]

as far as i know bryan dmed some underage connor nsfw ccs on tiktok (you probably know the genre) asking them not to post explicit things about connor. not sure what the nature of these messages were but the kids posted publicly in a panic after talking about how they were doing bad things and how sorry they were

rather than address things such as this publicly he is known for dming fans (at least i've seen him do it on a handful of occasions and know ppl he has messaged) to ask them to be quiet about certain things and not engage with certain people in the fandom

so it's basically a power play bc he knows he holds this status with the cult following he has with his fans (many of them underage) and he will use it to his advantage like that to get them to do what he wants

i've actually never seen anyone else be critical of them so it is so relieving to see you and the other anon. i really wonder who this top donor is. they used to have another one, not sure if she is still in the streams since she quit the fandom but she probably donated tens of thousands of dollars to them. she was your typical white karen and had a total meltdown over "losing her power" in the fandom before quitting, but she was very beloved to them and would tell bryan/his mod team abt accounts she didn't like or felt threatened by, someone standing up to her was what caused her meltdown and subsequently quitting. not surprised if she is still donating to them or if history repeats itself and they gained another wealthy worshipper

i would go off anon but i am personally familiar with how these people are behind their wholesome unproblematic facade and worry for my safety, honestly it is so relieving just to talk about this since i have been carrying it for so long 😭 have been seeing them on my feed way too much recently with the baby, the way people go crazy for heterosexuality is insane. i feel so sorry for their child and wish they would just shut up, drop this whole connor thing and move on with their lives. but i guess bc of wealthy white women like the other anon said it must be lucrative. goes to funding their million dollar properties on occupied land i guess!

yeah, he could’ve gone about that situation in a way different matter. I get trying to settle something privately if it was personal but if it was about not posting explicit things of his character, especially from underaged fans (which I agree, they shouldn’t be doing that), he should’ve addressed it publicly and not per person. a whole lot of labor and for what…

oughhh I’ve heard abt that infamous discord and priv chats which is mind boggling bc imagine creating a cult like environment for toxic positivity. a whistleblower told me about how some fans discussed the transphobia and homophobia in their daily lives on the discord and they were told by mods to stop being so “negative” and got threatened with being banned if they ever brought those topics up again. bryan gets his mods or whatever to do his dirty work and boy do they take their role to a whole other level 😭 also i don’t remember who also told me this but when someone on stream tried to correct bryan, he got really defensive and just laughed the person off. really wish i could find the message again bc i know it was something trivial but it was like a genuine criticism. if I find it, ilyk.

also insanity…why give your money to people that absolutely do not need it loll. this is from the same whistleblower and it broke my heart. the way bryan dechart encouraged this behavior is sickening.

awwweee im glad I could be a breathe of fresh air for youuuuu. absolutely vile that the repercussions of speaking out against the decharts could possibly mean a pack of wild dogs being sent to your location. what kind of community is that?! you can unload anytime, amigo, you’re safe here 🫶🏽 I applaud your bravery!! it took a lot of courage to even speak up about these concerns.

influencers who exploit their children are the scum of the earth and I hope these two don’t go down the route of using their own child for content 😐 if there is a baby cam on their stream, we are so cooked as a society I’m not even fucking kidding. every child should be shielded from the millions of eyes of the internet. we don’t need to see that! that’s between you and your partner (if there is one) and this goes for everyone tbh. like please protect your children from prying eyes…

anyways

[siodium]

a while ago i heard that nintendo was gonna discontinue their 2ds/3ds support and eshop service soooo i decided to mod my 3ds!! and i was successful!!! now i have access to the entire library of 3ds games and more if you include nds and other emulator games heheh (☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞

and the best part of all......... cUSTOM THEMES!!! ✨

i also took advantage of the acnl save editor and made marshal a resident in my town!!! yESS finally childhood dream fulfilled!!!

honestly i'm just rly glad that my 3ds still works (only the charger ded but i managed to get a third party replacement) bc i haven't touched it in yEARS. it sucks that you can't buy one in the shop anymore. i'm actually tempted to grab another set (the pikachu 2ds tho 👀) from ebay or something before they are completely wiped from the market but eh i'll think about it a little more. i can only hope that my 3ds lives a long life bc there are so many 3ds exclusive games that i wanna play.

recently i had the most random urge to play zero escape: 999 and i found an online emulator for it bUT THE FEELING JUST WASN'T RIGHT.......

and cooking mama games??? sometimes i just wanna go for a nostalgia run but idk how those games will work without a touchscreen and stylus.

since i can now get any digital game i want, i decided to sell off almost my entire physical 3ds and nds game collection to free up storage space and recoup some money to fund other things. of course, i backed up all my save files from my physical cartridges beforehand and made sure they were properly transferred to the games that i'd downloaded digitally. the only games i kept were persona q2 (part of my p5 collection and also the very last 3ds game i got) and lux-pain (kinda rare?? and i like the artbook that came with it).

i did not expect that some of the games would fetch over $100 in the resale market??? wHY?? when modding exists??? physical game collectors are on another level O: anyway i lowballed myself in hopes of quicker deals and i got so many messages within the first hour of listing?? and it somehow became an auction situation with ppl trying to outbid one another lmaoo that was by far the most interesting carousell experience i've ever had.

for those who are interested in modding, pls use the written guide!! sometimes video guides miss out information/steps and screwing up can mean a bricked system. or if you are my irl friend you can just ask me to do it for you ;-)))

btw the game in the third pic is fantasy life!! it's a chill sandbox rpg with very cute graphics. there's an upcoming fantasy life game that was just announced for the switch and i'm hyped!!! but first,, i need to do something about the backlog

[majoringinsarcasm]

I read IG comments again this is a sad ramble don’t read this. Sincerely if you read this and are rude I’m blocking you lol

I think ironically the most frustrating and sad thing about all those “why other countries hate Americans” posts is that

1) It points out very legitimate awful things that current day citizens Cannot Control or Change

2) The sweeping generalizations that, while anyone can have, feel very white American leaning

Don’t be me don’t read Instagram comments but I just read a bunch and so much of it was either your government sucks, which yes it does thanks bestie. Or just education stuff and how we don’t know geography or other cultures or history. Or a very unique “you call yourselves Americans despite other counties being in America you’re so entitled by claiming that title for yourself”

And maybe it’s bc I’m black. Maybe it’s bc my brain doesn’t like rules that I can’t follow the logical road to. But. That’s not our fault.

And what I mean by that is that we only know what we are taught. That’s not a full excuse to NOT CARE about other countries but as children and into adulthood schools only tell us So Much. And if you went to a lower income school you didn’t even learn as much as higher income schools. We’re in school for 12-14 years before age 18 and then it’s either Go To College to get a job or Get a Job right away. And things like learning other languages or culture studies are only useful For A Job if you’re going into that field.

Now. I would’ve loved if my school taught other languages. We had Spanish but it was the “memorize this thing” type and not actually teaching you how the language is formed. And it’s really hard to learn a New Language as an adult. (Which is why the insistence that people speak English when they move or immigrate here is so stupid). BUT I wasn’t. We didn’t have the money for that. And as you can see by current events what history WAS taught is trying to be BANNED as of now.

This sounds so very “be sad for Americans” or US citizens I guess if ppl are gonna be picky about what we were told to call ourselves without any alternative which again We Did Not Choose. But also the US isn’t just white people. And there are many people white included who HATE how things are run. How land is stolen and people silenced and killed. How our money is used without our permission to fund wars and not given to those who need it. Many of us who might be proud of individual roots aren’t proud of the country itself. But uhhhh good luck getting Money to Go anywhere else.

It’s like being tied to a chair with tape over our mouths watching as other counties talk about how we’re terrible and live under a corrupt government and we kill people and we kill ourselves. And thrashing and screaming because WE FUCKING LIVE HERE. THE AWFUL SHIT YOURE COMPLAINING ABOUT IS OUR DAILY LIVES. WE ARE THE ONES LIVING LIKE THIS WE ARE THE ONES WHO ARE TOLD ITS FINE TO KILL PPL AS LONG AS ITS THR RIGHT PEOPLE. AND THOSE WHO SPEAK OUT ARE ARRESTED OR KILLED

A man was killed in broad daylight on camera and when people marched for him and protested against police brutality they were met with More brutality! A woman was killed in her bed. A boy was killed going to work. In front of their kids. While fleeing a crime scene. Indigenous people ARE NOT GONE they are still fighting to keep their children in Native families. Like.

I get it. I fucking get it. I truly do. But YOU are seeing an entire patchwork of people under one umbrella. We are living day to day watching people we love and people we don’t know who deserve to just fucking live be utterly crushed. We are kept ignorant on purpose. The rise of AI makes “a simple google search” an entity new obstacle. We don’t control where our races go. Our public transit is not well funded our schools are not well funded. We don’t. Have. Places to be that aren’t Home or Work anymore.

Again this is not to take away from the Active Genocides going on. Or the way the US Government is complicit in many many crimes against humanity.

I’m just saying that many many of us aren’t running around shirtless praising the place. I don’t want to. Live. Thinking I’ll be stuck under awful leadership until I fucking kill myself man. You’re looking at the shitshow from across an ocean. We live here. I can’t explain the disconnect of seeing actual suppression of the truth and education and how fucked up it is and how helpless it is knowing that firing back isn’t as easy as yall make it sound. Not to say we just sit around and do nothing. But some Europeans talk about resistance and shit and it’s like they Kill Us In Public And Get Away With It Over Here.

Idk man. They’re not wrong about some points but it’s sad LIVING here and knowing information about other places is deliberately not taught or readily available. They called it brainwashing but clearly they don’t think about what that actually entails. Never learning about the color red doesn’t mean blue is the best. You’re just never given a chance to see other colors.

[gardenhotspot]

the workshop was so good 😭

[yellowjckets]

every time i see a post that’s like “go to therapy” or whatever (and i completely 100% understand the intention behind it!!) i just ... it is RIDICULOUSLY hard to get mental health help in the uk and no doubt in other places too i jst. anyway that’s my thought of the day. 

[whomst-art-thou-whomst-whomst]

Texts from the Lost Tomb, part 4

Wu Family Chat

Wu Erbai: Good evening, everyone. I have a time-sensitive issue to discuss, I will need your attention for a moment.

Wu Xie: uncle, whatever you heard, I can explain.

Wu San Xing: brother, whatever you heard, I won’t explain.

Panzi: pls hush you two:/ this sounds important

Wu Erbai: Yes, thank you Panzi. Wait. What are you doing on this chat?

Panzi: I apologize, sir, I—

Wu San Xing: fuck off posh spice if panzi leaves I leave

Wu Erbai: Yes. You are quite well-practiced at doing that.

Wang Pangzi: LMAO GET REKT

Wu Erbai: Why on earth are—you know what, it doesn’t matter. Of course you’re here. I assume Zhang Qiling is also here?

Zhang Qiling: Incorrect. I am on the roof.

Wu Erbai: …

Wu Erbai: Anyway. I would like to let you all know that there has been an incident at the warehouse. Please do not spread this around, it sounds like the issue can be contained. I am on the way there now. All is technically well, but it would be appreciated if anyone who is free to help right now could come to the warehouse. Immediately. Armed.

Wu Xie: !!! armed you say?? What kind of incident??

Zhang Qiling: Wu Xie, NO.

Wu San Xing: I can’t come I’m busy practicing leaving

Panzi: We will be there right away, sir. What is the situation?

Wu San Xing: love to see you taking charge;)

Wu Erbai: I am choosing to ignore that in favor of dealing with this lesser problem in my life. A certain box has exploded in a certain room at the warehouse, Panzi. Certain things have…emerged.

Panzi: We will be prepared, sir. ETA 20 minutes.

Wu San Xing: what would help us prepare is if you could be a little more vague pls

Wu Xie: Emerged?? So these are sentient things?? :D

Wang Pangzi: UGGHH DAMN IT I LITERALLY JUST GOT DINNER OUT OF THE OVEN FML…WELP XIAO GE COME ON DOWN WE GOTTA GO DO A THING, SOUNDS LIKE OUR IDIOT IS GONNA GET INVOLVED REGARDLESS OF OUR WISHES, BIG FUCKING SURPRISE THERE

Wu Erbai: Your eager assistance is so appreciated. Pangzi and Zhang Qiling—I’m sending you the basic access codes, Panzi already has them. Wu Xie, I would prefer for you to stay in the car and maintain a command center.

Wu Xie: uh sure I will:) of course:)

Wu Erbai: That’s two smiley faces too many for me to trust that you will listen.

Wu Xie: :(

Zhang Qiling: Wu Xie, may I speak to you privately. In the kitchen. Now.

Wang Pangzi: OH SHIT LOL WHATS THE VERSION OF BEING EXILED TO THE COUCH WHEN ONE OF YOU ALREADY SLEEPS ON THE ROOF HALF THE TIME

Wu Erbai: Not that this isn’t fascinating insight into what I’m sure is a very pleasant bosom friendship between our families, but time is of the essence here, gentlemen. I’m five minutes out from the warehouse and I’ve just been informed that the things have…spread out.

Wu San Xing: Ah thanks for clearing that up so well good thing we are going in well informed and all

Zhang Qiling: I’m not sure that you have the high ground on keeping people informed about important things.

Wu Erbai: Wonderful riposte, Zhang Qiling, or should I call you Xiao Ge?

Zhang Qiling: No.

Wang Pangzi: THE TEA IS EXCEPTIONALLY HOT THIS FINE EVENING

GOTTA GO NOW, ME AND THOSE BOSOM FRIENDS HAVE TO GET OUR GEAR.

Three hours later….

unnamed chat:

Zhang Qiling: Don’t ever do that again.

Wu San Xing: ?

Zhang Qiling: You were aware of what you were doing. Whether or not you calculated the potential danger to the rest of us, I don’t know. But don’t ever do that again.

Wu San Xing: or what tho

Zhang Qiling: I’m fond of Panzi and I don’t want to have to kill him to get to you. It would be a waste of a good man.

Wu San Xing: shit dude alright

Wu Family Chat:

Wu Erbai: Good work tonight, everyone. With the exception of a surely accidental misstep where my brother *seemed* to be bargaining for something with a tomb ghost and *accidentally* endangered all our lives, it was well-handled. You will see the funds in your accounts tomorrow.

Wu San Xing: ugh when are ppl gonna get over this already

Panzi: Thank you, sir. We will be going straight home.

Wang Pangzi: IF I SEE YOU AGAIN YOU FUCKING FUCKER

Wu Xie: calm down Pangzi we don’t even know what that tablet said

Wang Pangzi: PEOPLE WHO HAPPILY SKIP INTO COMBAT SITUATIONS WITHOUT BACKUP DONT GET A VOTE ON THIS

YOU SHOULD ALWAYS TRUST XIAOGE’S ANGRY CAT FACE

Panzi: Wu Erbai, Wu Xie, Pangzi, Xiao Ge—lovely to see all of you, even under circumstances such as tonight’s warehouse fight.

Wu Xie: *hugs* <3

Wu Erbai: Panzi, San Xing—it was indeed an experience, having the two of you here. Panzi is welcome back anytime.

Two hours later…

Zhang and Wu Chat

Wu Xie: hey, you didn’t say anything to my uncle right? He’s being all weird and apologetic over text.

Zhang Qiling: You were there, you could see I did not speak to him at all during the evening.

Wu Xie: good point sorry. anyway how much trouble am I in? Bc like I know, I know, I touched the box right after you said “Wu Xie, don’t touch that box,” but in my defense it looked so interesting and it had the Zhang crest on it, I really wanted to explore it further and I didn’t realize it had a tripwire, I actually think it dates back to—

Zhang Qiling: Sometimes I worry that the Zhang family is destined to only ever bring you harm.

Wu Xie: ??????ZHANG QILING>:(

Zhang Qiling: Apologies, I’m feeling introspective this evening. It may be Pangzi’s cocktail.

Wu Xie: uh-huh. get off the goddamn roof and come hang out on the couch. No more vodka for you. I have your favorite fuzzy blanket and a book I’m reading. I know you like cuddling when I read aloud.

“Bring me harm” psshh wait til Pangzi hears about this. get down here.

Zhang Qiling: I will always come for you.

Wu Xie: see you say stuff like that and then you expect me to *not* pounce on you???

[agayconcept]

hey, i really hope this doesnt come off the wrong way but you need to take a step back and reprioritise your costs. the people in your doctors office are the biggest assholes in the world but you shouldnt be using money on legal fees to go after them if it means you cant afford your rent.

actually, those funds are kept completely seperate, and i'm not intending to use any of it on some stupid lawsuit. i am however going to have to pay legal fees to have a legal representative advocate for me and my rights with this doctors office. because i cannot just up and leave 'the biggest assholes' there just bc it's financially inconvenient. because this office has 4 referrals in progress for me, a disability application in the works, and have all my records - some of which have not been completed/updated yet. and they are deliberately dragging their feet on all of the above.

so if i 'just don't bother' as you're suggesting, i would have to leave and i'd lose all those referrals and have to start completely over with a new office- which the wait list for is over a year. i would also have to completely restart the 3-6 month process for my disability application- which is the main financial reason i struggle with rent costs! because i'm not on disability and need to be! because i keep being discriminated against even outside this drs office.

(on a less important note, i would also have to wait until they finish updating my records before i can even register with another dr bc they wont have any correct/up to date info on them)

hence why i HAVE to continue dealing with/through this office even though i desperately dont want to - which means i have to have advocation, support and legal knowlege- which comes from a legal rep / organization / charity (which only provide free advice, you do still have to pay them to Do Anything). it is NOT something i can do by myself. cool for you (genuinely, no sarcasm intended) if you're able to get your rights respected or have the privilege to simply say fuck it and walk away- i do not. many people do not.

i think you may have misunderstood my intentions and reality here - this is not a situation where the abuse has happened, its over and im out, and therefore it is not worth legal hassle after the fact. this is an Ongoing Situation where i am TRAPPED dealing with this until i can get what i need (records, referrals, disability application) that is legally owed to me and is my right, but is instead being witheld.

so your suggestion, going with that, would be to either abandon or put off any and all healthcare progress (and my human rights, nbd) to instead pay my rent....which is something that, worst case scenario, i cannot be evicted for immediately. there is a grace period, its in the lease. they have to give us x amount of time, or offer us the option to split the payment. they only have to provide/allow that one time, but i havent used it yet so this could be that one time if i have to. (hence my notes earlier mentioning that the new building management seeming nice so hopefully they wouldn't be fussy abt it and would give us some time - bc as ppl on the internet often forget: my mother pays half the rent. i am not totally on my own here on that at least.)

look, i get that you may have had good intentions, but don't come into a situation you don't know the details and nuances of, and tell someone what to do with their money- especially when they're using it to protect their basic human rights. i didnt ask for anyone's financial or legal advice - so idk why you felt it was wanted, needed, or necessary.

like. you dont know the whole situation, i have (obvi) not shared all the details w strangers on the internet. you cant play financial advisor to a random person whose life you don't understand. idk why ppl think they can/should, rly.

anyway, genuinely for anyone on here: if it bothers you that much that my financial situation is incredibly complicated & messy due to a myriad of reasons, and that my scraping / surviving by might not be in the exact same personal fashion you would choose yourself?

you can ignore it or unfollow me, thats all good n cool.

if that wasnt your intention, and it just came across that way, then apologies for being short, and i hope the above explanation clears up the reasoning as to why i do, in fact, need to do certain things that i'm doing.

(for future reference: anons like these will be blocked. the only reason this one wasnt was because i knew it could have been a misunderstanding. but if it isnt, and anyone decides to send stuff like this, welp, its time for my best friend the block button to come hang out)