#but everything so far has been amazing

[empyreanwritings]

February Book Review

Beach Read - Emily Henry: Remember when I said Book Lovers was my favorite Emily Henry book? I was a fool. A buffoon who had no idea what was around the corner. This book felt right - like an absolute amazing book to start February off with. I laughed out so so many times and felt my stomach clench just as much. If you are a writer with a complicated relationship with love, this book is absolutely for you. I already wish I could reread it for the first time again. Overall rating: 100/10

In the Name of Salomé - Julia Alvarez: This was an amazing story about a mother and daughter. Each chapter alternated between their points of view and while the mother's story progressed, the daughter's story was told backwards. There was a lot of commentary on bisexuality/homosexuality, feeling misplaced, and familial bonds through issues. Highly recommend it for someone who wants something a little more than just fluff. Overall rating: 10/10

Mansfield Park - Jane Austen: Apparently there was controversy amongst the people who loved Jane Austen bc Fanny Price was a "boring heroine." To be fair, she was a little righteous but she grew up in less than ideal conditions when it came to verbal and mental abuse. The controversy should have been over the fact that the book itself was just boring. I know this is a classic but I literally could not care less about any of the characters or their motivations and the story dragged on way too long, which disappointed me bc I loved the last few books I had to read for this class. Overall rating: 4/10

The History of Mary Prince - A West Indian Slave Narrative: Obviously this is someone's life, so I'm not going to give a rating, but I do highly recommend this read. Some parts were hard to read, but the point of this story isn't to make you comfortable - it's to make you see things clearly. The only thing that truly sucks is knowing that this was heavily edited by a white man who wanted to make it more "digestable."

Jane Austen - Carol Shields: This biography was a really interesting one bc it almost felt like a story. The author clearly loved Jane Austen and wanted to share the story of her life in a way that might not have been done before. I respect it a lot bc she wasn't afraid to point out that some of her beliefs were just assumptions based on what others knew. If you're into Jane Austen, you'll like this book about her past.

[fluentisonus]

working in a factory has you thinking so much about the insane chain of labor & transport that goes into making literally anything

[undeadsourpatchkid]

getting ready to clock in for a double (liking every nosferatu 2024 fanart i see on this website)

[the-kipsabian]

seeing sonic 3 today!!

[guinevereslancelot]

my cooking advice is use more butter

[itsalwaysdark]

like i wouldnt mind like. Not having new linear games post 5 its judt that sims 4 wasnt even supposed to Be The Sims 4 it was a last minute pivot and the base code is so outdated and was broken On launch so like. i just wish we could have the final actual sims game be like. one that was always intented to be a major sims release AND be intended to be so long term . yk

[queer-vampire]

i haven't written actual content in over a year now and the past couple of nights i finally go back into it and oh MAN i miss it dude!!!!! ive been writing in a "journal entry" style (writing a journal entry as the characters POV) and MAN it helps to transition back into heavy content writing

[chaos-coming]

Training camp with the japanese masters is going great so far, i've learned so much and it's been great to connect/reconnect with people and share knowledge. Some of the funnier highlights include:

The city closing the literal entire road to the venue going southbound causing everyone to be massively late the first morning

The old white dude who asked me where im originally from when i introduced myself

One of the masters laughing and poking me in the stomach, calling me muscle man

Making friends with a nice kid from the florida dojo

One of the masters demonstrating a groin strike on me, and the half second hesitation when he wondered if he missed bc it didnt hit anything (sometimes being trans is just plain hilarious)

And to top it off, the severe hest exhaustion i gave myself last night bc i didnt drink enough water and didnt notice that i'd stopped sweating

Part 2 starts tomorrow lets gooooo

[ariaofsorrows]

whoever said that bloodstained was a really really difficult game, even for a castlevania player, i’m going to use your bones for broth and slow cook your flesh

[hughhcney]

I’m loving this season of it’s always sunny so much like it’s been so good so far I can’t wait for the rest

[psalmsofpsychosis]

me sitting here rocking back and forth like a catatonic disastrous lab experiment as i open Gotham 3x07 before i even got my breakfast like "nothing happens to Nygma and Pinguin nothing happens to Nygma and Pinguin they're fine they're okay i'm fine everything is good—"

[sorcerous-caress]

Astarion is like everywhere in this fandom - Shadowheart anon

He really is. I usually have to wait an hour or two before a new post gets even one note.

But the single time I add him in a piece, it soars through the sky. Literally immediate notes and reblogs, his fanbase doesn't fuck around in refreshing his tag.

[moontxt]

Guys I’m so happy I got top surgery I have this picture of myself with the bandages off briefly and I keep staring at it because my chest just looks Right and I wasn’t prepared for this overwhelming feeling of joy and contentedness and idek if that’s a word but I thought this feeling of wholeness would take more time but everything just feels so perfect and right and even though I’m in pain and the healing sucks I am so glad I made this decision and so so grateful I was able to get it on such short notice and during this time

[great-and-small]

When I was in vet school I went to this one lecture that I will never forget. Various clubs would have different guest lecturers come in to talk about relevant topics and since I was in the Wildlife Disease Association club I naturally attended all the wildlife and conservation discussions. Well on this particular occasion, the speakers started off telling us they had been working on a project involving the conservation of lemurs in Madagascar. Lemurs exist only in Madagascar, and they are in real trouble; they’re considered the most endangered group of mammals on Earth. This team of veterinarians was initially assembled to address threats to lemur health and work on conservation solutions to try and save as many lemur species from extinction as possible. As they explored the most present dangers to lemurs they found that although habitat loss was the primary problem for these vulnerable animals, predation by humans was a significant cause of losses as well. The vets realized it was crucial for the hunting of lemurs by native people to stop, but of course this is not so simple a problem.

The local Malagasy people are dealing with extreme poverty and food insecurity, with nearly half of children under five years old suffering from chronic malnutrition. The local people have always subsisted on hunting wildlife for food, and as Madagascar’s wildlife population declines, the people who rely on so-called bushmeat to survive are struggling more and more. People are literally starving.

Our conservation team thought about this a lot. They had initially intended to focus efforts on education but came to understand that this is not an issue arising from a lack of knowledge. For these people it is a question of survival. It doesn’t matter how many times a foreigner tells you not to eat an animal you’ve hunted your entire life, if your child is starving you are going to do everything in your power to keep your family alive.

So the vets changed course. Rather than focus efforts on simply teaching people about lemurs, they decided to try and use veterinary medicine to reduce the underlying issue of food insecurity. They supposed that if a reliable protein source could be introduced for the people who needed it, the dependence on meat from wildlife would greatly decrease. So they got to work establishing new flocks of chickens in the most at-risk communities, and also initiated an aggressive vaccination program for Newcastle disease (an infectious illness of poultry that is of particular concern in this area). They worked with over 600 households to ensure appropriate husbandry and vaccination for every flock, and soon found these communities were being transformed by the introduction of a steady protein source. Families with a healthy flock of chickens were far less likely to hunt wild animals like lemurs, and fewer kids went hungry. Thats what we call a win-win situation.

This chicken vaccine program became just one small part of an amazing conservation outreach initiative in Madagascar that puts local people at the center of everything they do. Helping these vulnerable communities of people helps similarly vulnerable wildlife, always. If we go into a country guns-blazing with that fire for conservation in our hearts and a plan to save native animals, we simply cannot ignore the humans who live around them. Doing so is counterintuitive to creating an effective plan because whether we recognize it or not, humans and animals are inextricably linked in many ways. A true conservation success story is one that doesn’t leave needy humans in its wake, and that is why I think this particular story has stuck with me for so long.

(Source 1)

(Source 2- cool video exploring this initiative from some folks involved)

(Source 3)

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

i packed i planned i prepped i fought i stayed late i registered i auditioned i learned i led i did everything i could to be realistic

and here i am

[thehumanworldexplosionsound]

OMG yeah! The fact that they can use the same actors as the animated movie really says something about how fast they've sent it through

I know we all roast the Disney direct-to-video sequels but at least those were new stories which required some semblance of creativity on the part of the filmmakers, however half-assed they ended up being. Now they’re remaking movies that came out literally five minutes ago.