#day one on the program and I Know Now. I cannot do it for Various Reasons

[casiavium]

Everyone on the program: omg cool mummies!!!

Me, literally holding back tears: they are so far from home. Are their souls scared? Has anyone even offered them bread in the afterlife?

[thatdisasterauthor]

I am so fucking exhausted right now. I really felt like I was starting to get my feet under me over the summer, and now I'm back to barely keeping my head above water, and I'm just so done with this bullshit.

I start my full time dispatcher job in maybe Marchish, but the permanent pay fix didn't go through so we've got another year or two of regular pay plus a retention bonus, then my pay might get slashed by 30-50% because I highly doubt the incoming administration is going to be any more favorable to wildland firefighting than the current one.

And I don't even know how the hell I'm going to make it to Marchish without dipping into my top surgery fund because $164/week in unemployment is a fucking joke. I would've been better off if they'd just never taken the damn unemployment taxes out of my paycheck in the first fucking place.

And top surgery! My original date for it passed the other day and it hit me like a fucking truck. I've been so damn uncomfortable ever since and I just want to rip the damn things off. But I have no fucking clue how I'm going to afford it now.

And then there's my books. If the tariffs get passed my main method of publishing, the one that brings me the most income, is down the drain because there's no way I can afford to work with my printer in China if there's a fucking 100% tariff, and there literally aren't ANY printers in the US that offer all the features I need. (And if they claim they do, they're usually just a middle man for working with a Chinese company anyway.) I can still publish in other ways, but it won't get me as much money.

And having a literary agent has honestly been a bit of a clusterfuck for various reasons I'm not going to get into, so any sort of traditional deal is seemingly more and more off the table.

And I gave my dad an ultimatum after the election that I was deeply dissapointed in the fact that he voted for Trump AGAIN, and that if he wasn't willing to work on his racism and other issues I needed to take a step back from having a relationship with him. He never replied and hasn't talked to me since. Haven't spoken to my mother in years. Which just leaves me and my little sister, so I've really got no support network to speak of.

And then there's applying to a PhD, which I want to do so, so badly, but I just can't fathom how I could do that and afford it. The program I'm aiming for is paid, but not even close to enough to support the cost of living where it is, let alone the cost of moving over there.

And I think I need to finally pursue a formal ADHD diagnosis so I can get meds, but I can't do that until I start my new job and get health insurance. And, honestly, I'm really wary of getting a formal diagnosis anyway with the incoming administration. It just feels like something I don't know if I want on paper with all the crap they're trying to pull. But I cannot keep rawdogging this shit without meds.

And you know what? I'm fucking tired of being single. I'm tired of fighting this shit alone. But as an ace, autistic, queer person in a very conservative area (and the fact I can't afford to go out and DO anything) meeting someone is pretty out of the cards, given I have no interest in long distance relationships.

Just.

Ugh. So fucking tired.

I'll make it through, I always do, but man, I am tired of it constantly being a battle.

[diminuel]

Whining about university for a moment, maybe someone has advice for me. I'm oversharing my anxiety (and I know I am being ridiculous) a bit under the cut.

As part of my PhD program (which I have not yet signed up for, adding more stress) I'm supposed to get 18 credits with courses picked from different categories. I technically have two things on my list for tomorrow that I can use towards these credits, next with continuation of Danish classes on Wednesday and another block seminar happening later in the semester.

And I... don't want to go. I don't want to go tomorrow. I just don't want to go.

(Various reasons, some more shameful. My supervisor is doing the seminar and since I haven't answered one of her emails yet I cannot look her in the eyes until I have. And less insane/ shameful:)

It starts at 10 and I usually have to work until at least 10 and maybe I could have arranged something but I can't take the day off because someone else is on holiday and I didn't know until the weekened, so I'm going to miss the first sessions. And, well... I'm stressed about this too and now I don't want to go.

It would be good to take this class because it's a research seminar and I don't know if there'll be another one next semester (I suppose there will be, there has also been one last semester and the semester before, but I don't know!).

But... *points at the above*

I could only go for the lecture but one way to uni is 45 minutes and the lecture takes 45 minutes. Also, again, work.

Help. Do I just do a "focusing on actually doing research and writing" semester which I should have done last semester but was too preoccupied with the aftermath of getting sick and surgery and falling into paralyzing inactivity?

(I know there's a knot in my brain that I can't undo. And that has been there since January. I should get to therapy again and I'm working on it. The only thing getting in my way is that I had someone scan something for me and I don't know where the document is. It's simple as that. An unnecessary road block that has been there for almost two months. It's ridiculous. Is that the autism or am I just stupid? Maybe both.)

[tranquilpetrichor]

the formula for late nights

cast: gunwook (zb1) x gn biochem major!reader

wc: 722

genre: college!au

warnings: food, mentions of yn drinking sometimes to deal with stress, descriptions of food, academic pressure

a/n: eris try to make a story where yn isn't slightly unhinged challenge failed. also the two could be interpreted as having a crush on one another. now that my finals are over, hopefully i can post more

sitting on an armchair in your suite, you sigh with relief as you finish your chemistry homework. you place the little pencil back into the iPad and shut the case. the device goes back into your bag, where you hope you won't have to see it until tomorrow's class.

you're glad that you've finished your homework for the day because you're sure as hell that you cannot handle doing another problem (no more stoichiometry, please!).

your friend, park gunwook, steps into the common room of your suite and greets you. he's been over for a while, but he was busy helping someone else in the suite with math homework and hasn't bothered you since.

he'd wondered if anyone would even ask for his tutoring help, but you assured him that there would always be someone agonizing over math. hm, maybe you should try it one day (if only you had the time)..

he glances at your packed bag. "so, you're finally done suffering through chem?"

you groan, stretching your muscles. holy shit, you worked for about an hour without getting up?

"i guess. for now, at least."

he chuckles and walks over to your snack cabinets. "for now."

you're not even tall enough to reach some of the shelves on the upper cabinets without the usage of a step stool, yet he has the audacity to steal food from there sometimes.

seemingly changing his mind, he walks to the freezer instead, opening the door to peek inside. you don't bother to ask what he's looking for because you already know.

"i can say goodbye to my chocolate ice cream," you mutter.

he protests. "what? it's good. and it's not my fault we like the same flavor."

perks of having a friend with way too much of a similar taste in food, you suppose.

"i guess we could share? we do have a lot."

not even thirty seconds later, two small bowls, two spoons, and an ice cream scoop are out, the latter item present because you never want to try scooping out ice cream with a regular spoon again.

there also happens to be brownies in the fridge that another friend of yours named jiwoo brought over yesterday.

"take them," she had said, "i won't finish them all anyways."

of course you took them, because who are you to say no to offerings of food?

you find the container and give it to gunwook, who's sitting on the couch across from the tv. there's six brownies left, but you'll probably save some for later.

"oh, we forgot drinks." gunwook says. he stares at you as your lips curve into a knowing smile. "no, y/n, not the alcoholic kind. we are not asking our neighbors for soju today."

you pretend to be disappointed and laugh. "don't worry, you know i only allow myself to drink in the dorms during weekends. it's only thursday. and it's an every-other-week type of thing."

(is it from stress built up through the week? perhaps. did you choose the life of a biochem major willingly? yes, so maybe this is your fault.)

gunwook looks for some chocolate milk instead and rolls his eyes.

"not the best habit, but at least you're more responsible than some other people we know."

you shudder. having to be the parent of the group along with gunwook and help drunk friends home from frat parties is a terrible experience, but you digress. tonight is a time for staying in, occupying the couch, and sharing treats.

he calls out to you. "do you want to watch tv?"

without a second thought, you perk up and join him on the couch. he's already unfolded the blue blanket that sits there, and drapes it over both of you.

"what show?"

he's surfing through the various programs on his tv, and you seem to sink a little further into the couch.

"how about the last of us?"

you nod. "i haven't even started it yet."

(you're known in the friend group for saying "i'll watch [insert show]" and never doing it.)

he smiles and navigates over to hbo max on the screen with your remote. "i think a little brain break is well-deserved."

"couldn't agree more."

with that, you allow yourself and gunwook the luxury of another late night spent in good company with each other.

[mejcinta]

i am obssesed with the analysis you did on aegon and aemond and their views on marriage

How would you imagine heleana’s view to marriage? How do you think aegon qnd heleana had reacted to betrothal at family dinner table?

I think the answer to this lies in how Helaena and Aegon have turned out years later.

Helaena is busy overseeing her children's needs, spending time with them and shaming Aegon in public for not being an attentive husband.

Meanwhile, Aegon is a drunk and neck deep in various perversions. Moaning and complaining about never being enough while doing jack shit to be 'Kenough' 🙄

I've always said that Helaena is basically Mini Alicent. Programmed by her mother through years of proximity beside her, being sheltered and protected and brought up in the ways of the Seven. She spends a lot of time in Alicent's room with her babies and speaks of the realities of life with such wisdom and kindness and insight. She cannot afford vanity and has no room for folly and expects the same of others. She is also gifted with dreams she doesn't understand and is sort of afflicted with them as a result. I think that would pull her more into religion to try to understand herself.

I expect that when it was announced she would marry Aegon, she felt prepared for what was to come. After all she was well prepared by Alicent in many aspects for marriage.

However, Aegon's constant rebellion and indifference brings challenges that she may not have anticipated. She is ignored. He is infrequent. None of Alicent's tales of marriage seem true now. Life is becoming harder and her dreams are intensifying.

I think that's why she seems more erratic and upset in ep 9. Aegon's unfaithfulness has reached a new low and an intense prophetic dream concerning the beginning of the Dance (i e Rhaenys and Meleys at the coronation her family had staged after orchestrating a coup) had hit her hard.

I'm flying off the tangent here, I know, but what I mean to say is Helaena is loyal and dutiful just like her mother, but her loyalty and dutifulness doesn't come without it's hurdles and this may or may not affect how she relates to some of her family members, especially Alicent.

Aegon raged about his marriage and duties from day 1 but funny enough when time comes when he's required to step up, he does. He bedded Helaena and gave her heirs to the throne. And he will soon take more dutiful steps after Blood and Cheese to become the King all wanted or feared he could be.

I'd say both Helaena and Aegon are duty bound, but react differently to the shackles. One complies and plays nice even through the pain (like Alicent did) while the other rebels, questions and challenges...only in the end to do what is expected of them.

So they both do value duty, but have different mindsets about it. Aegon's is more warped, and he needs constant motivation to get through with it. Be it alcohol, be it a threat against his family.

Helaena is more natural and 'live and let live' about the situations she's put in. She readily adapts and gives selflessly, even if she is met with difficulty.

[bobokitty]

Just saw your latest post about how much you really like to talk about animation pipelines, I also noticed you said pipelines, with an s. Could you elaborate on that, is there multiple?

Also also could you talk about animation pipelines look like? I’m sure you wouldn’t be able to capture the entirety and it’s nuances/complexities in just a singular post (would absolutely love to see you do that tho) but like also just really interested to see what that’s like and if people outside of the pipeline usually have any misconceptions about it

(Hope that made sense 😭 activated me like a sleeper agent when I saw that post because I’m super interested in hearing this stuff LOL)

OH HO HO!!!!! PIPELINES, YES, WITH A S!!

I did a talk last month about that that was supposedly recorded, but I absolutely hate hearing the sound of my voice ahaha. So! Every studio has a different pipeline variation, and within those studios, the shows and projects have their own variations. I'm still kind of new in the industry. October will be my third anniversary. However, I love finding out how things work (I used to work in tech before making a whole career/life switcheroo)~

Here's a pipeline that I made with my personal experience on a show:

And here is one based off the book, Producing Animation:

Each of these boxes requires a team of people, size of course depending on project scale and budget. As part of the production admin (production assistant tho in name only ahahaha I am again someone who sticks their nose into things and work directly with leads and directors), you have to be those lines connecting all the boxes and make sure everyone gets what they need. In the one I made, you'll notice how there is a loop happening in various parts. Pre-pro (pre production) is what gets done before animation. Script, storyboard, character/prop design, and backgrounds. (Interestingly enough, this is not the same for every production! Boutique deals with a lot of short term projects, like ads, music videos, pitch work. Various studios make their bread and butter this way. It's short term work and sometimes you get clients who will pay a lot for like some weird passion project. Think like, The Line, or what Cartoon Saloon does between movies. Anywho! Sometimes things like backgrounds won't get done until it's time for animation!) Anywho! In pre pro, character designs are influencing storyboards which are then influencing design and what sheets need to be made and backgrounds are being made which then set what the board artists can work in but then board artists want to change location angles and suddenly next thing you know, Producers have nuked an entire sequence and all of that work is cut ahaha. You even have editors going in and adding their own touch to the boards, adding in audio recordings and temp sound effects and music to try and get the feel, etc.

Oh god this is a lot of text on my phone and I haven't even scratched the surface LOL!! Point is, there is a lot of back and forth happening. Animation on a larger scale IS a group project. Miss on that production staff glue and oh boy. You will get....something in the end, but it will not be....... I've seen some disasters ahahaha. You got what you got and things could have been avoided. (And sometimes a team can be the best team and then you got these producers who have no idea how animation works but alas they are footing the bill and what can you do????)

...I 100% cannot capture this in a single post lol! I can barely cover it in an hour lecture. We haven't even mentioned spreadsheets and other programs (I have yet to try ftrack or shotgrid but I would love to get my hands on them and see how they work in a production; they also include file management which right now I do manually). Ehehehehe it's fun~~ Every day is something new~ Oh man I want to see what it's like with live action as well! It has to be a completely different beast!!! One day~~

[shatcey]

Introductions

No one has ever asked me, but I feel kind of bad that I haven't done this before. I've been here for almost a year and haven't introduced myself. It's not very decent of me.

Since when do you care how decent you look?

Well… I need to do it every once in a while to at least pretend to be a normal person (I hate pink, but have no choice… Yoichi - orange)

You missed this chance a long time ago…

(damn it, he's right, but I'll continue trying)

So… My name is Irina. Actually, I really like my name. It is of Greek origin and means peace, tranquility. And this doesn't mean I am a calm person (which is true, but not quite), it means that I can and love create a fun and peaceful atmosphere around myself.

You still have a long way to go to reach my level...

That is... true...

English is not my first language, which is pretty obvious. I never learn it with teachers, I've picked up something here and there, so my writing style is probably sounds very strange for native speakers. I'm sorry about that. But I don't use English on daily basis, I don't need it for work or for my personal life. And for a person who doesn't really need it, I think I know more than enough. If suddenly (life is extremely unpredictable) I'll find myself in a position where I need to know more, I will learn more. I'm not against studying, moreover, if I don't learn something new, I feel like I'm drowning… You know that feeling, right?

I'm a mathematician by profession, so logic is the basis of my mindset. I get very annoyed if I don't see logic somewhere. And yes, I understand that the fact that I don't see it doesn't mean it's not there… We all think differently, and it's not easy to understand everyone… But I'm trying.

I have been interested in many areas in my life. I (how very immodestly of me) consider myself a Renaissance man. I've always wanted to know a little bit about everything. At various times in my life, I've been interested in programming, philosophy, phsycology, archeology, various kinds of art (that's how I realized that I had no talent at all), photography, writing, foreign languages and culture, azotericism and acculturism, and many more I cannot even remember. Some of them stayed with me for years, and to some I lost interest almost immediately. For example, as a child I was very interested in Spanish (I watched too many soap operas), but it was too long ago, and if I recall a few words, it will be a lot. About 10 years ago, I was obsessed with Ireland (I know Ireland and England have a lot in common, but I was only obsessed with Ireland, have no idea why), and since then I have started practicing English every day. And most recently (2 years ago) I was obsessed with Korea, I even started learning the language, but….. Ikemen games eat up all my time, so it's on pause for now. But I continue to love their cuisine (and eat it on daily basis) and enjoy their music (again, every day).

You forgot about acting

The fact that I love theater doesn't mean I wanted to become an actress

Nonetheless you're pretty good at acting.

I wonder who I learned this from?..

(smiles)

So everything that has ever interested me is reflected in my posts one way or another. They're not just about the characters I like or the lore of the games, they always have something more… from reality.

And the last thing… which I probably should have started with… I, like my beloved boys Yoichi, Keiji and Alfons, don't like sad and depressing things. It doesn't mean that I don't know about them or don't think about them. Life is already too difficult, and I don't see the point in adding more dark colors. That is why I try to find something bright, fun, exciting and share it with you. So don't take my posts too seriously, it's about entertainment and for amusement.

And as you've noticed, I'm pretty crazy. I communicate with the characters all the time. No, they're talking to me… that's even crazier…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

🔝 𝕊𝕋𝔸ℝ𝕋 ℙ𝔸𝔾𝔼 🔝

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[evergreenssystem]

It kind of bothers us to see people treat those who insist OSDID is a trauma disorder as "terfs" or to see those who insist it is not as naysayers because, and we mean this as honestly and as kindly as possible, no one fucking cares about this sort of discourse in real life.

I don't mean that medically or professionally people don't care, but rather that a diagnosis exists so that someone can receive the help and resources they need, and the only reason they would need those is if they were struggling. Many self-proclaimed endogenic systems insist they do not have trauma, therefore have no need for a diagnosis or resources given to those with severe trauma.

As a community, we know science, especially mental science, has ethics it is required to follow, which is why to test exactly how, why, and what is needed to form a dissociative disorder is unethical. That being said, there are plenty of RAMCOA/programmed systems who will sit and tell you and while there aren't papers posted on it, it is widely known, especially in Christian nationalist and human trafficking organizations, how to induce OSDID and various (mostly cluster B) personality disorders.

Hell, even someone who has never done the research but wants to start a cult can just make a system (in our experience)

Now, if we are to look at OSDID as a complex disorder stemming from PTSD (post traumatic Stress disorder), then the idea that being "mixed origin" due to experiencing stress makes no sense. Stress is inherently traumatic, though in varying amounts for different people. Autistics tend to have lower stress thresholds.

Also, many people devalue their trauma. They act like because it wasn't dramatic or fancy enough, that because it wasn't a cult or witnessing a body, it isn't "enough." This couldn't be further from the truth.

A list of things that could cause any number of traumagenic disorders:

Spanking

Employing the false parenting method of leaving a child to cry in their crib so that they will "learn." (they are incapable of such, as they are a child)

Forcing a child to spend long, unwilling periods of time by themselves

Forcing a child to sit in silence puncuated by meditative or "worship" procedures as a punishment (the Mormon church does this often)

Having an inconsistent and often negative view on a child's consistent actions (being kind one day and miserable the next etc etc)

Repeated bullying

Emotional and/or physical abuse from a person in power of the child (parents, teachers, lawmakers, other students)

Gaslighting

Enforcing body dysmorphia

A child growing up in a home where the parents hate each other and do not try to hide it or do anything about it

Religious abuse/harassment (things along the line of "if you don't follow our very vague and impossible idea of perfection, you will burn or suffer forever")

Medical neglect

Emotional neglect

Physical neglect

Sexual harrassment

Sexual assault

Rape/CSA/CSEM

Torture

Witnessing death

Cannibalism

Being forced to engage in and/or cover up a murder

Literally anything cults do

There is no precedent for how severe the trauma has to be as long as it is trauma and repeated. You will notice how a good portion of these are usually started in infancy, before memories may even form. This is often why many systems don't remember or cannot access those memories. No matter what type of amnesia, if the brain was never able to remember its trauma from the metaphorical get-go, it is unlikely it would gain the ability to do so.

If you experience plurality or dissociation, speaking to an informed trauma specialist, or even a close friend who may deal with the same thing and is educated about what is going on may help. Personally, I don't care if someone identifies as endogenic or multigenic or whatever label people come up with to excuse their trauma. One of the symptoms of this disorder is denial. I don't even encourage trying to find out the specifics of one's trauma without a strong support system. I do think self-diagnosis is a valuable tool, but like any form of diagnosis, it is designed to figure out what the problem is, so that it can be easier to manage. I also think it's unfair to call those who believe the current research on the disorder "TERFs" or "sysmeds," as being trans has no link to childhood trauma or any significant research to back up what "causes" it.

For context, the gender dysphoria argument was created sometime in the early stages of trans medicine so that doctors could determine which patients would do anything for SRS/HRT, so that they could make their prices unreasonable.

[ossidae-passeridae]

🛒🎶🛠🏆 and ✨✨ i saw you dodging the other one >:(

Oh yeah mid here with the technical questions this'll be a fun one :3

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

*cracks knuckles* alright everyone settle in we're gonna be here a while.

Themes: loss of control, the interplay between fear and desire, situations which cannot be borne but must be, love as a partial deconstruction/destruction of the self, fear as a vehicle for self destruction, pain as catharsis, alienation from one's own body/status/existence... The strength of community working together?

Feels: Catharsis. It's all about catharsis in my works, all the other feels are simply vehicles to get us there.

Scenes: Standing over a sink full of blood and teeth (I literally have two WIPs with this right now), being trapped in a room with no way to escape, spiraling so far into one's mind that the physical world ceases to exist... My scenes tend towards night, and grime, and dim lighting, and the reflection of neon lights in puddled water on the pavement.

Imagery: water, the ocean, black holes, the vastness of empty space, sucking darkness, water drip drip dripping as a metaphor for slow decay, opulence as alienation. Food as a metaphor for love. Also that.

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

This is highly dependent on what I'm writing! Sometimes it's integral I listen to music, other times I must have Total Silence(tm). Some fics I've written listening to one song on repeat include:

Pretty Waste (WIP): same titled song by Bones UK

broken pieces of the day: Delirium Tremens (Falling Down a Hole.) by A Burning Century

Rōnin: which continues to be written while listening to the same-titled album by Zack Hemsey

Overall I write a lot listening to She Wants Revenge and Crüxshadows, which I think tells you a lot about me!

Six Months in a Leaky Boat was written in a furious haze, and I'm sure that I did listen to a lot of music throughout it (there's no way I'd be able to put together the musical interludes otherwise), but I cannot for the life of me remember any specifics.

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

This one depends a bit on the scope of the work. For most things, I use gdocs because I swap between devices as my brain throws various hissy fits. For longer and more invested works which requires pages of planning and worldbuilding, I prefer Scrivener.

For gdocs, I also use a plugin called Draftback, which lets me look over my document edit history (with graphs!). I find that I can use these to pick out when I'm floundering on a fic and need new eyes on them - my graphs go from nice straight lines to horrible spotty messes.

🏆 What’s your most popular fic?

Hands down it's gotta be 'sometimes the feeling is right' ahahaha. What can I say, everyone loves medical accuracy bordering on medfet I guess??? It's my most viewed, most kudosed, and most bookmarked work!

Eternal thanks to @canonical-transformation who betaed it for me when I was yelling into a pillow about it not working with me 💖💖💖 You are, in fact, the best

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

*loudly grumbles*

dae's writing is almost as cool as mid and aspires to their level of excellence 😤 HAPPY NOW

[fancoloredglasses]

Once More With Feeling (Better than Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark)

[All images are owned by 20th Century Fox Disney and Mutant Enemy Productions. Please don't sue, bite, or stake me]

(Thanks to Samantha Graff for all video clips)

Joss Whedon wanted to do a musical episode for Buffy since its inception, but it wasn’t until Season 6 that this would become reality.

None of the actors had much experience with singing or dancing (though Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Dawn, had ballet training and Anthony Stewart Head, who played Giles, was in a band), and the episode’s musical/dance scenes (19 hours of singing and 17 hours of dancing!) were shot at the same time as four other episodes, making it one of the more grueling episodes to film.

The actors really didn’t want to do it. Sarah Michelle Gellar protested until Whedon suggested asking Jewel to dub in her songs (there was no way Gellar wanted to have someone else sing what would be a key moment in the season!) Trachtenberg and Alyson Hannigan wanted their singing to be minimized (Whedon agreed, giving Dawn a ballet number…and Willow has a bit in one song stating “I think this line’s mostly filler”)

I will note that, due to Tumblr’s restrictions, I can only include so many videos of the songs. Any I cannot include I will provide links for the curious.

Enough background, on to the show…which starts with (as all but the earliest episodes do) with…

PREVIOUSLY ON…

At the end of Season 5, Buffy sacrificed herself to save Dawn (wait, does that mean there are now THREE Slayers running around?) Willow used a spell to bring her back, thinking she was trapped in Hell (SPOILER: she went the other way) Since her return, she’s been pretty much sleepwalking through her days.

Tara and Willow had a fight about Willow’s irresponsible use of her magic, so Willow cast a forget spell on Tara (doesn’t that prove her point?), with a sprig of a plant known as Lethe’s bramble as a focus.

Xander and Anya have gotten engaged, but Xander’s still having issues getting past the fact that Anya used to be a demon.

Dawn, mostly in an attempt for attention, has begun stealing from various shops around Sunnydale, including the Magic Box (the shop the Scooby Gang uses as a base of operations).

Finally, after getting a chip in his head by a government black-ops program to curb his more violent tendencies (with pain-inducing shocks), Spike has more or less aligned himself with the Scooby Gang and fallen in love with Buffy.

Now, on with the show! If you would like to watch the episode, it’s available on Hulu or behind your favorite paywall.

(As I mentioned, there are too many numbers for me to provide clips for, so I’m going to focus mainly on what I feel are the important ones. If you feel I left out one that was vital to the plot, let me know and we can debate!)

(Yes, that was the Lethe’s bramble Tara found under her pillow in the opening scene)

Now, Buffy doesn’t normally sing her way through fights with vampires and demons, so the following morning she asks if anyone else felt like they were on Broadway the previous night.

I’ll take that as a yes.

The group starts brainstorming when Giles suddenly breaks into song.

Xander thinks it could be witches (which earns a glare from Willow and Tara), while Anya sings a power verse about it being bunnies (that Anya, always good for a chuckle. I mean, it couldn’t be bunnies, right?…right?!?!) Meanwhile, Buffy doesn’t care what’s causing it because they’ll defeat it like they always do, and the rest of the troupe gang joins in the chorus in agreement…

The gang wonders how widespread this is, so Buffy looks outside.

Definitely widespread.

Then Dawn arrives wanting to tell everyone what happened at school, but they already know. So she sees a pendant lying on the counter and pockets it.

Then Willow and Tara make an excuse to leave (they say “research”, but I’m fairly sure it’s more about “exploration”) Sure enough, once they leave, they break into song and start a TV-13+ sex scene that is quickly cut away from.

Later that evening, we see the dark side it the musical-ness of Sunnydale (c’mon, you knew it was coming) as a man starts dancing uncontrollably until he starts smoking, then combusts!

Cue commercial break!

(In case you didn’t guess, this is the Demon Of The Week. He is never named in the episode, but IMDb calls him “Sweet”, played by 3-time Tony Award winner Hinton Battle)

 We come back to commercial the next morning with Xander and Anya in bed.

So, much like a traditional musical, the victims participants occasionally sing out secrets to the audience. However, unlike a traditional musical…

...Xander and Anya are fully aware of what the other was singing when the song ends.

As they lament about their number and Giles tells them about the man who burst into flames last night, we get an aside of a woman trying to sing her way out of a parking ticket (I’ve heard of worse schemes) The three continue to discuss as we get a dance number involving street sweepers.

The conversation switches to Buffy and her disinterested approach to her Calling. That night, Buffy looks to Spike for any insight.

Meanwhile at Buffy’s, Dawn tells Tara she’s happy Tara and Willow made up after their fight about Willow's magic use a few days ago…

…which Tara doesn’t remember. With an “oh shit” expression, Tara heads over to the Magic Box, leaving Dawn alone.

After Tara leaves, Dawn puts on the pendant she took earlier and starts singing…

…but is interrupted as demonic Pinocchios kidnap her!

Cut to commercial.

We come back to Dawn waking up in the Bronze (a nightclub that for some reason teens are also allowed in) where she dances a bit with the Pinocchio demons before meeting her host…

…Sweet, who does a bit of a tap dance before singing to Dawn that he’s planning on taking her back to hell as his Queen. Then Dawn sings to him about Buffy…

…so he sends the Pinocchios to invite the Slayer to the wedding.

We then cut to the back of the Magic Box, where Buffy is training. Giles tries to talk Buffy into having a more active role in raising/disciplining Dawn (Dawn has been acting out a lot since Buffy came back from the dead for a second time)

This sparks a song from Giles about being treated like a crutch as Buffy does a training montage.

Meanwhile, Tara finds a book in the Magic Box that tells her about the Lethe’s bramble.

To say she’s hurt is a major understatement. She’s so hurt that she has a duet with Giles.

Then Spike bursts in with a Pinocchio demon and tells it to sing for them. As the music swells, it simply speaks.

Buffy starts to brainstorm about their attack plan, but…

…yeah, Dawn’s life in the balance ain’t the time to cut the cord, Giles!

Anyway, this sparks the Big Inspirational Number!

Buffy makes a proposal to Sweet: If, after the Boss Fight, they’re both still standing, then she’ll take Dawn’s place as his Queen. Now for the Climactic Power Ballad!

So now it’s out there for everyone to know, but there’s still Sweet to deal with.

Sweet prepares to leave with his bride-to-be (Dawn, not Buffy), but Dawn denies summoning him despite wearing the pendant she stole found that contained the summoning spell. But if Dawn didn’t summon Sweet, who did?

…yeah, my money was on either him or Willow. Turns out Xander wanted a musical wedding and didn’t realize what he was invoking.

Turns out Sweet isn’t as enlightened as you’d think and decides he doesn’t want Xander as a bride.

With that Sweet gives a final refrain and vanishes.

Despite Sweet’s exit (stage left), his presence is still felt as the gang sings the closing number.

Hope you enjoyed this. While not the only bonkers episode (and not even the most bonkers), it is an iconic episode that is fondly remembered by most Buffy fans.

[whathehe11]

“Hey… so gremlin_cooker in chat asks why I started a cooking account. Um… growing up my sister made most of my meals since my parents simply can’t cook for the life of them. Unfortunately for me, my sister inherited their awful cooking skills. So I’m doing this for people who were in the same position that I was back in ye olden days.”

Danny walked from one side of the table to the other. He pulled out a chair and sat on it, still looking into the camera. “Problem is I also cannot cook for the life of me. Thus, I’m learning and teaching at the same time.”

He got back up and walked over to the other of his table. He clapped. “Today, is mac’n’cheese.”

He went through the various motions, from salting the water, heating it up to a boil. He even managed to get the pasta cooked to almost al dente, perfect for sauce based pasta meals.

“Would you look at that!” He smiled. “My pasta isn’t over cooked! I think I might actually have a success tonight!”

“Ok. Now for the cheese sauce. Do I do fancy or box? Let’s look at the chat!”

He did a little spiny jump thing towards his phone where he had access to his chat.

“Wow. You guys are putting a whole lotta faith in me.”

And thus he started to work on the sauce. Mix the milk with the flower. Pour it into the pan with some shredded cheese. He let it melt before adding in the cooked pasta.

He took a bite straight from the pot (“yes I know I shouldn’t eat from the pot but I’ll be the only one eating it since Tucker and Sam don’t trust anyone who shares any genetic information with me near a kitchen.”)

“It’s good!” Had he been a puppy his tail would have been wagging and his ears would have been up. But since he was human all he did was smile big and wide with his cheeks up and his eyes all crinkly.

He started talking about how happy he was to have a new successful recipe when there was a weird slurpy sound.

“Oh no. Not again” he groaned. “Hold on a sec guys. I forgot my dad put some emergency fudge in the fridge. It has a tendency to infect the other food. I’ll be right back.” He sighed as he walked out of the view of the camera.

He was only gone for a minute or so before he came back with the Fenton anti-creep stick. “Yeah that’s right! I’m gonna beat the unliving bejesus out of you.!”

And he just kept hitting it over and over again. Somehow his pot not getting damaged.

What was once a delicious Mac’n’cheese was now a snarling (and crying when it got hit especially hard) blob.

“Damn you’re an agressive one.”

And he just kept hitting it until it broke back down into normal mac’n’cheese. He plopped it into his plate, sat down and ate.

“Despite the disruption I will have to call this a success. Till next time my friends.”

He waved and shut the stream.

COMMENT SECTION

TheAntichristWasActuallyAllMen - ‘Am I the only one seeing the macaroni moving?’ - 5 mins ago

I’maleo - Reply to TheAntichristWasActuallyAllMen - ‘nah you’re not seeing things. I didn’t know he was branching to the horror genre tho. His sense of suspense needs work but his editing is world class’ - 5 mins ago

UrghGross - ‘it looks so real. Does anyone know what program or trick he’s using to do this live?’ - 3 mins ago

Gamer_Bro - reply to UrghGross - ‘idk. Maybe it’s I’m still in beta.’ - 3 mins ago

Yummy yummy - bro he’s hitting his food. - 2 mins ago

Untroubled-Alien - dude he’s eating it anyways. Legend - 5 mins ago

khdhjdsjkKajUh - is he… CGI-Ing a screeching Mac and cheese? - 6 mins ago

Halp - is it supposed to be moving and groaning like that? - 7 mins ago

Ewww - 😀😃 what the duck

MORE COMMENTS…

Dc x Dp prompt #1

Danny open a YouTube channel teaching how to cook.

Bonus point : During the live, the food came to life. And he had to fight the food while chats were watching him.

[joylinda-hawks]

Continuing the threads from previous days, today I will focus on "ZZH's" trips abroad. We already know that ZZH, apart from the savings he certainly has, because he is a resourceful young man, and apart from the income his mother earns from the company she runs, has no formal opportunity to work in his profession. Due to the ruination of his reputation in CN and the ban imposed by CAPA, no one from the film/TV series or music industry will undertake to officially employ him. ZZH will not appear in Chinese TV programs or on streaming platforms. He also has no other income, especially from companies he does not own. It must be borne in mind that the fight to regain good costs, so ZZH uses his financial resources to fight for justice. And while fighting for justice, he cannot engage in shady business or have contacts with shady organizations. Let's start with the basic assumptions; a CN passport is not a "strong" passport, a visa is required for many countries, including countries in Asia. Even if a CN citizen wants to go to Hong Kong, they also need a visa. You have to pay for a visa, I won't indicate the amounts here, but in addition, every citizen leaving the country must leave a "deposit" that is returned to them upon return. I think it depends on the financial resources of the person (but that's my assumption). So "ZZH" traveling to various countries (including Europe) must have spent quite a lot of money on such trips. Another issue is whether such a person with such a reputation in CN will easily receive a visa. How can he be perceived by officials who issue visas when they see that a young actor, instead of fighting to regain his good name, is carelessly traveling around the world without any income and often leaving. It doesn't look good. So you have to think about it looking at ZZH's behavior and statements from before 13.8.2021, and the fact that he now has limited financial resources, has a case pending to regain his good name and knows that he will have to report to the police, to the prosecutor's office, he will choose to travel abroad and will even brag about them on a social media platform that is banned in his country. And even more so he appeared in public, although in an interview in January 2022 he clearly and distinctly stated that until he clears his name we will not see him in public. Especially since behind these trips and concerts are people who contributed greatly to the fact that 13.8.2021 happened. ZZH would not like to have anything to do with such people and has nothing to do with them.

[toiletology]

MATh of Toiletology

One of the best tools for ascending into 4D is the chessboard. I have played chess everyday since 2015 throughout my 11+ year journey starting in 2012. I realize more and more now how crucial it is to the ascension process. Chess develops the visual part of your brain when you start moving the pieces around in your mind and thinking moves ahead. This process of visualization is very important for developing your psychic/telepathic skills. There is a lot the chessboard teaches about the true nature of reality.

The strongest piece in chess is the QUEEN. I've said this many times in my various blog post but it is something that must be repeated over and over again. The queen crosses 7 three times. In the center of the chessboard the queen attacks 27 squares or two seven. We have 27 bones in our hands and we move the queen with our hand.

7x7 = 49 (8x8 for the 64 squares of the chessboard)

In my previous blog post I have mentioned I was born on 4/9 which fell on Easter in 2023 which happens 3x per century and the rare total solar eclipse happened 1 day prior to this on 4/8. My birthday + birth year adds up to 4+9+1984 = 1997 or 17.

My cosmic sister who has also fully ascended along with me her birthday is 8/12 (Happy birthday tomorrow SIS 4 LYFE). The next total solar eclipse happens on 8/12/2026 coincidence?

The gematria of both of our full names is also the same.

The total solar eclipse in 2017 also happened on 8/21 or 8/12 backwards. The eclipse in 2017 & 2024 created an X to mark the completion of our 11 year journey or at least signify the truth about the existence of the 11 path.

812 rearranged is 128 half of which is 64. I am quite literally half part of her. 64 is an important MATheMATical foundation of reality, namely the 64 star tetrahedrons. I will do a blog post soon focusing on just the 64 star tetrahedrons.

The queen in chess is the most powerful and strongest piece. She crosses 7 three times or 777. To escape your 3D cube reality you need the 7 (7 colors, 7 notes, 7 chakras).

The seven is the LUCK. The queen is the strongest and luckiest piece. 7+7+7 = 21 or 12 my cosmic sis is the QUEEN quite literally and figuratively. She is also a very powerful creator on the world stage, much more so than myself at the moment.

A cube has 6 sides (numbers 1-6) and 8 corners (4 on the top and bottom). The 7 is missing from the cube and your first clue.

God created reality like a game with rules, its an angelic programming language 777 to keep the demons out of heaven. No we aren't in a computer simulation, but we are in a holo-fractal light matrix. Numbers are important for how this holo-fractal matrix clock works. Your either gaining time or your clocks about to run out.

The eyes of a snake are a clue that the game/quest exist as well as the split tongue. The eyes and tongue both create the number "11." The first rule of Gods game is not to talk about it, unless of course you were the first to solve it aka myself.🏀

Which gives me certain leniencies with the Lord of the Gap. There are however certain things I cannot talk about unfortunately. You wouldn't even be able to understand me anyways until you complete your 11 year journey as it is an invisible or telepathic language. Myself and my cosmic sister can communicate instantly no matter where she is on the planet (what a jetsetter). So there is in fact something faster than the speed of light... hmmm who would of thought?

I had no idea this 11 year journey existed when I first embarked on it back in 2012 as it came like a thief in the night around Halloween. I had no idea if or when it would ever end. Or when the next battle would come or what was around the next corner. It has been an extremely stressful situation even now I still don’t really know what’s coming next only that I am more prepared and understand it better now.

I am realizing now even after the 11 years you will still be under attacked by the demons/matrix agents. Its not necessarily a bad thing, its just the way it works. It keeps you on your toes so you don't get too lackadaisical and keeps your ego in check. Its best described as a constant pressure to keep you in your diamond form, so that you don't go too far out of alignment with the FAT HER.

I had been searching almost non stop since I got out of the army at the age of 21. Then my spiritual helper first appeared when I was 28. Around 7 years non stop searching for truth for that moment to finally happen, not even counting the paranormal even I had when I was a 16. That could of also been my spiritual helper vs aliens and I sort of ignored it back then. It also took me a long time to make sense of that situation which helped prepare me for my journey.

One of my greatest gifts since I was very young was my intuition. This intuition could sense something was off or wrong with the world and I had always been obsessed with understanding the mysterious since I was very young. No one around me would ever listen to anything I was saying or noticed and it was extremely frustrating. When I was a teenager I would try to make energy balls with my hands, practiced kung fu and spent many hours on websites like the blackvault.com looking at redacted FBI documents (X-Files fan growing up). I have always been searching for the truth about the nature of reality and have gone down just about every rabbit hole. The best way for navigating the maze of information is not getting attached to any one belief system or stuck into any concrete patterns as it will trap you in a loop. Even as I got closer and closer to completing my 11 year journey I had to constantly remind myself I could be completely wrong about everything. God will keep pulling back the curtain after each subsequent test you make it through. Like NEO finally being able to see the programming of the Matrix I am now able to see exactly that. It is sort of funny but can give you a very isolating feeling causing a lot of grief and depression till you get used to it.

Its not necessarily programming per say, math is important for the functioning process of this holo-fractal clock, but we are not inside of a computer. More like a quartz clock vs a computer. Timing is very important, and if you are out of tune with the creator, your timing will be off and your world will not be as good as it can be.

Above we talked about the 49/64 relationship and the 7.

The 49th prime # = 227 one of my best friends NAS was killed on 7/22/2022 at the age of 28 which made me aware of this number.

He would train people in kung fu and the reason I started taking mantis kung fu. We shared many paranormal experiences together over the years. Two praying mantis actually visited me after his passing and strangely the previous tenants of my house had the same last name as him. There is also a town right next to me with the exact last name as him with just a different spelling. If there was ever a mystical being that left magic everywhere they stepped it was him.

NAS in the computing world = Network Attached Storage. Nas in the real world worked similar or is used by God to act as the trainers for people on this spiritual path. NAS is an acronym for how reality fundamentally works. N = Nothing, A = Anything, S = Something. Shitty people get nothing, Good people get something, Angels get anything.

The famous rapper Lil Nas X also shares the same birthday as me on 4/9. Interestingly Heath Ledger chose Maybelline #49 lipstick for their role as the Joker. I have also ran into others named NAS that have played out this protector or guardian role. Namely a police officer named NAS that said something weird to me completely out of the blue when I was in the psych ward. They said the C word is banned, which never made sense to me until now.

The significance of 227 did shock me, not only because it is the 49th prime but because its numbers match the 17 perfectly!

1/7 = 0.1428571428571429 22/7 = 3.142857142857143

Watch the video above that shows the importance of the 1/7 and 22/7 with Pi 3.14 π. The ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter is approximately 22:7, or 3.14, which is known as pi, π. Interestingly the symbol for Pi also looks like a doorway.

C = π d

The 17 is key for escaping the matrix or reaching heaven/4D whatever you want to call it. 4D is basically just a dimension that runs simultaneously to the one you are used to. Its basically an augmentation or overlay. That won't start revealing itself to you till you start your 11 year journey. Read my other blog post to understand the difference between 4D and 5D. https://blog.toiletology.org/post/757589254665912320/explaining-the-difference-between-4d-and-5d

17 is the doorway and it is in the shape of a door, it is the way to escape. The numbers 1 divided by 7 makes is less important than knowing the 17 is the clue or key that this possibility exist outside of your perception.

That is the real importance of the 17, believing the door exist which requires a high level of belief when its just a figment of your imagination in the beginning. You can't walk through a door without first seeing it! G = 7

O = (15) 6

D = 4

GOD = 17, coincidence?

In Toiletology we call this number 1/7 the pirate signal. It is the signal of the Nebuchadnezzar needed to jack yourself out of the matrix. You can think of me as Morpheus and my sister Trinity. And Toiletology = Nebuchadnezzar. Toiletology is Noah's Ark.

Genesis 8:4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat (ARA/CARA, RAT/MAT).

I am born in the year of the RAT (1984) and I am the King of the Rats (obviously or you would of never known this existed, your welcome...).

The goal of Toiletology is to show you how to unlock the 17 doorway and the door = mat and my name is Matt. To escape the MATrix you need to learn to believe in the impossible as I can only show you the door, you must walk through it. I was baptized at the age of 33 in 2018.

Toiletology isn't about worshipping the messengers of God. The only thing that is important is the message and how you use that information to improve your life. God flows through all of us and we are all reflections of God and God experiencing self. So we are all equal in the eyes of God.

Toiletology's only purpose is to fix up this mess we got here on Earth and try to bring as many as we can into the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Toilet God blessed me with their ultiMATe truth but it needs to be hidden within a parody religion and be seen as a joke. God doesn't want to spoil the surprise they have for you or give away anything for free. God also likes GREAT ART and giving away the ending of a movie is LAME! God also likes to hide truth within comedy as it can easily be brushed off and not interfere too much with your FREE WILL.

Only the most serious disciples of Toiletology will be able to handle the powers locked deep within the tOILet. And only the one true Toilet God will be able to make you see the TRUTH!

Matthew 25:8 "And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out"

Toiletology will show you how to unlock your full potential and increase your LUCK in life which you will need a lot of to survive the chaos that is this world. You need a lot of protection from the one true God especially if you dare embark on the elven journey of eleven.

Hell I am not even sure anyone needs to go through that 11 year journey. I may of already done the work for y'all. I am still not 100% sure since my friend was supposedly able to feel the SLACK with only 3 weeks of training which took me 10 years on my own.

The math of Toiletology is not too convoluted or that complicated as you can see. You must understand the 49/64 relationship and the 98 degrees (49+49) 68 (sides + corners) the 7, the 17, and the 777.

This is pretty much all the numbers/math you need to comprehend to escape the black cube of Saturn (HEX/hexagon storm 6 sides). We are all in PANDORAS box and my cosmic sisters mothers name is PANDORA. And she has the Pandora tattoo on her left arm. Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Its hard to learn to fly in Never Never Land Peter Pan but it first starts with beLIEving. BeLIEf can be a tricky thing, but when you learn to beliEVE you can start to see. She is PANsexual and I am PETER PAN.

[episbep]

rehab day thirty eight

pj top I’ve been living in p much the whole time I’ve been in treatment (before all of the image peels off) and today’s quote from one of my home screen pinterest boards cos it’s very fitting

todays focus has been - radical honesty

and it’s a way that I want to continue to live and be because it’s so freeing and having faith in a higher power to guide me and trusting that I am where I am supposed to be right now doing what I’m meant to be doing and things will work out exactly how they are supposed to is so comforting and beautiful, I feel a real security in faith. I don’t know what I’m doing almost any time ever but I can find the answers that I need through meditation, prayer, fellowship meetings Buddhist teachings and the big book. That’s incredibly reassuring. Detaching from my ego and connecting to a higher power, being the best p version of myself that I am able to be by turning my will and actions over to the universe, collective consciousness and indiscriminate love. Feels amazing. Feels refreshing.

I shared in group therapy about last night, the change of perspective and renewed commitment to the program, sobriety and living a purposeful, fulfilling life. Recovery isn’t just quitting drugs, it’s working the program too.

I had a 1:1 with my counsellor who is aware of the situation between me and ☀️👶 and she’s strongly advised against it for fear that we will both relapse if things end, one of us falls off and drags the other down with them etc - she believes that the most loving thing to do would be to let him go and focus on his recovery. I believe that we can and will do this together, whether that be just as friends or if it develops to a relationship. Either way, we have a connection that I cannot deny and refuse to run from. I think the world of this man- he is beautiful, intelligent, hilarious, loving, supportive, committed to his recovery, honest about his thoughts and feelings and his presence is like pure light, I’m absolutely smitten and can speak to him about any and everything. I don’t want either of us to get hurt but we have promised that we will be honest with one another about where we’re at and how we’re feeling. I trust him. I trust myself. The majority of my 1:1 was spent debating this - but eventually we moved on to discuss extending again - there’s no more funding available to me and family can’t offer any more financial support, I am only just (as of today) out of my overdraft and can’t afford to go back into it so I’m heading home in 4 days (for real this time) and to be honest I feel ok about it, I’m looking forward to continuing on this journey and have found online addiction counselling and therapy that I am going to explore in more depth tomorrow. I’m going to go to yoga, painting classes, fellowship meeting, make new sober friends, get more involved in the Buddhist centre as I have wanted to do for so long and actually just start living again- without drugs, outside of that torturous cycle of addiction - really living. I’m going to miss life here but I will hold this experience close to my heart forever.

We had an impulsivity workshop in which we discussed various coping mechanisms and the importance of taking a step back before making decisions and really considering where they can/will take us, the consequences and impact before taking any action. Was incredibly helpful.

Saw and spoke to ☀️👶 at the end of the day, we had a big hug and another and another, he makes me feel full of light and magic. We spoke on the phone and he sent me some pictures and videos before he served up the dinner he had made for everyone (in his house, unfortunately we aren’t in the same one)

one of the counsellors came over to the house to discuss the creepy pervy man we live with and how to deal with that. He also acknowledged the romance in the air and said it’s “obvious” we have feelings for each other and has been apparent for weeks now - someone could’ve told me? I wish we’d started this journey together sooner and made the most of our time here together but everything happens for a reason whatever that may be.

Watched (most of) a horror film with the housemates then had an hour long phone call with ☀️👶 (from here on out he’s gonna be referred to as P because the emojis aren’t working for me ok cool) until my phone died mid call - called him back and had some over the phone sex lol I was so shy how do people do it sober?! watched him cum, listened to him moan and dirty talk, it was fit - now it’s gone midnight again and I’m exhausted goodnight x

[sag-dab-sar]

(I'm so so so sorry this is long but I can't seem to squeeze it down unless I wait awhile and read it again but I'm afraid migraines might prevent that so here is my brain dump)

Okay I wanted to chime in with a comment but like it got a bit long so I was going to write two comments then said fuck it and wrote a post instead

First. I realize you said it is not a "must"! So this isn't an argument just a "I want to show a perspective" sort of post, and answering the disability thing. /gen

Second, I also advocate for learning parts of the language that are relevant to practice, for examples instead of slapping the Tungusic languages' "shaman" on a spiritual practice, learn what that culture called that ritual in their language. My emphasis is usually "learn the phrases that are necessary for proper understanding" not "learn the language." Examples such as Eusebia or Kharis for Greek religion, Me and Sukkal for Sumerian religion, Norito and Jinja for Shinto etc. You might want to learn a modern language, because the ancient culture will have more resources in that particular language like a Slavic language for forms of ancient Slavic religion.

Third, I'm an absolute MASSIVE fan of research, LINK and LINK and LINK (small bit of redundancy on the last two but not fully). I do think it's important to fact check, and misinformation will always piss me off, I love debunking misinformation but I feel kind of bad if people deactivate because of me. I do think we need to remind ourselves how hard research can be, LINK, sometimes a practitioner has innocent ignorance they simply don't know, not willful. It becomes willful when they refuse to engage with actual facts presented to them. The younger they are the more innocent ignorance they probably have.

🔹In Regards to Disability Question

It is not only ability to learn but accessibility to learn. Many language courses emphasize Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing. If you can't do one of those then many resources become useless.

For me the main disabilities are severe fatigue from CFS and long covid (I can't sit up for a majority of the day); a TBI my aphasia apparently can kick in at random now; memory problems; and especially migraines.

I'm not saying ALL people in these examples cannot learn it but second language learning as an adult, can be significantly difficult if you fall in any of these "categories". If you can't do all of the four "aspects" of language learning it can easily lead to frustration and inaccessibility.

Any speech disorders

Any condition that has acquired different forms of aphasia (which can be a lot)

Traumatic brain injuries

Dyslexia depending on severity, especially if the language is written in a script different from their native language.

Any neurological problem that effects the memory center.

Intellectual disabilities even if they could learn their native language to some degree.

May be difficult for deaf people unless it's another sign language, this isn't true for all deaf people of course. But their is also accessibility to language learning materials, someone who uses ASL may find the most popular learning programs simply don't consider deaf learners when developing their programs.

Blind individuals often lack the resources for many languages, so it's possible but significantly more difficult. If a language learning primarily on listening/speaking thats useful but when they emphasize reading/writing with no assistive technology they kind of shut the door to access the language for blind people.

Deafblind individuals need various specific communication devices.

Actually, anyone that use Augmented and Alternate Communication, even if they only use it occasionally. There are so many disabilities/nerodivergence that use AAC

Treatments or Medications that disrupt thought processes or communication.

Many mental illnesses that disrupt communication as a symptom and its more than "execution dysfunction." For example: word salad or logorrhea. Or the nearly complete inability to learn ASL, due to severe flat affect that prevents using proper grammar when signing.

Motor disfunction that effects any part of body used to speak or sign.

Brain fog, fatigue, migraines, chronic pain. If you have any of these consistent practice may be essentially impossible you may be in bed for a week, you may have to save the brain power to do a basic household chore. Language practice takes a back seat, and before you know it you haven't practiced in a month and forgot a lot—making language learning a difficult energy consuming task that someone cannot afford to "spend" energy on.

"Verbal ability to learn their native language" we learn that at like 2 years old. The average person can learn their native language starting as a toddler. Toddlers are bombarded by a language they hear around them. Adults usually aren't, and they usually have some idea about the language before going to that area that speaks it.

Actually I have a good example, I learned Darija (and clawed out some French from the back of my brain) out of sheer necessity while living in Morocco Rabat's old walled city. I didn't know any Darija, maybe Hi and Thank You. I kind of knew the standard Arabic alphabet but almost no words. Since no one spoke English at all and as you went "deeper" into the walled city many didn't even know French I learned it out of necessity which is basically the same reason a toddler learns it. I had to take a Darija "class" while there and came extremely close to flunking, I didn't get a single good grade. Yet buying correct foods in the walled city, bartering in the souk very effectively, taxi conversations, and other things I did just fine— despite nearly flunking. I think language acquisition and language studying/learning can be two different things. Babies get acquisition long before proper education based learning. In Morocco, I got language acquisition and nearly flunked language learning. Also I know literally none of it now.....like at all. I don't even know Arabic script, I forgot it because I never used it. And in 2019 I probably could have easily relearned Arabic/Darija. But now? My memory, TBI, and exhaustion say no.

🔹I'll use me, a monolingual language lover as an example. And connect them to my religious practices so its kind of on topic with a 🔸.

First, I fall under the "cannot spend any energy on language learning" and "the consistency of learning would be too inadequate" so essentially any language isn't really feasible, but I'll mention things anyways.

I can't seem to learn Spanish no matter how hard I try due to [insert bad mental health symptoms here] and feeling like I'm failing making me want to quit because somehow it doesn't come as naturally to me as opposed to other languages. I was fluent as a kid, so its the first type of heritage language, and that makes me crave learning it, but I just... can't. I might be able to learn Spanish reading/writing, not listening/speaking. But I can't sit up with a book to do it. And even if I could, at the beginning of this month the aphasia hit so bad I couldn't read literally anything in my native language. 🔸It would be useful for the worship of Mary Our Lady of Solitude (María de la Soledad) who is mainly venerated in Spanish & Portuguese speaking countries, and Our Lady of Altagracia (La Virgen de la Altagracia) as protector and mother of Dominican people. It would also let me explore Taino history and explore Dominican Voodoo & Espiritismo, all with cultural sensitivity.

Then there is ancient Greek, which to some degree can be understood today by many Greeks. I'd still prefer to learn modern Greek because its another heritage language, second type I guess. I'd just sound silly speaking in Ancient Greek. Big issues is I NEED audio for Greek learning and my daily migraines don't care what I need. 🔸I think it would be nice to speak in my heritage language to the Greek Gods, I don't think they'd mind the modern form. But right now it seems I simply can't... thanks brain.

Again, I learn best from listening.🔸Not exactly a lot of recordings in ancient Sumerian, and I certainly cannot learn cuneiform, so I have no clue how it's pronounced.... same with Akkadian. It might be cool to say prayers in Sumerian, but I'd rather learn French or German for the Assyriologists resources, if I chose to learn for my Sumerian practice.

And while I think I'm decent at learning Japanese, my undiagnosed brain issue, memory, fatigue, and other stuff mean I can't do Kanji and its just a difficult language in general. One of my favs though.🔸It would be spectacular to learn for Shinto. But all I know is Kana and how to pronounce it, so the prayer book with Kana Romaji and English is helpful but information materials on Shinto aren't as accessible.

As I said I'm an audio learner in every which way..... but the daily migraines have decided that they don't like the activity. I think German is probably the only language I could learn with minimal audio but still learn speech (I'd probably have a distinct accent though) I am very good at German if I give it a chance. But Greek? I need allllllll the audio. And of course I have no energy to "spend" on language learning.... also modern Greek has abysmal levels of learning material compared to other languages.

.🔹.

So yeh I disagree with the "learn the language" part as @transbutchblues does in the comments. Though I believe learning at least some small parts can be necessary or valuable. And if you want serious in depth research a modern language could be a good idea. And of course I'm speaking of neo-pagan and revived polytheisms not traditions that require a second language of some kind. Also HEAVILY agree on the research, and respecting cultures even if its reading info about the modern culture in your native language

My most controversial take is that I think if youre going to be any kind of culturally based polytheist, you should a) learn the language and b) learn to do scholarly research.

I wont use the word "must", and call me a gatekeeper all you like, but there is so much misinformation out there that if you care about your practice being authentic/culturally sensitive AT ALL you need to learn how to sift through the centuries of romanticism and neopagan-speculation-sold-as-fact (looking at you, Wiccans).

Not saying your practice must be reconstructionist in nature, but if you can't tell what is supported by the data, what is conjecture, and what is outright fabrication, you are doing the material, your practice, and yourself a disservice.

[bluprinttechblogs]

Android App Crashing and Freezing, Steps to Avoid or Solve it?

Introduction

The digital revolution cannot be complete without mentioning Android devices. They are essential tools which keep us connected, informed and entertained. From our day-to-day leisure activities like listening to music, reading books, or watching movies, these devices make our lives enjoyable. However, these devices do not perfectly suit our needs whenever we use them. We note that even the best performer of these devices can sometimes come across glitches and fails that ruin the smooth experience of user interaction. Have you ever felt a sudden Android app crashing or freezing while using your Android device? Well, you do not experience these disappointing experiences alone. Undoubtedly, these problems are frustrating, but fortunately, they do not require any technical expertise and are easily fixable with some troubleshooting. After reading our article, you will be able to understand and identify the various contributions leading to the misbehaviour of your Android apps. From this, we will provide you with a step-by-step guide that will enable you to sort them out and get your mobile back on track. We will relieve you of the stresses we know you are going through and ensure that you experience a perfect work mobile that is more stable and reliable. Well, there is no need to make any more introductions and move further by beginning the talk about common crashes and freezes of your Android Apps.

 What causes App crashes and freezing?  

Application crashes or freezes on the operation of an application are issues that can cause a significant deterioration in the user experience and a problem we all face every day as we use an application on an Android-based device. This problem results from various sources from enlightening the multi-centric character of mobile environments. These sources include, - Software Bugs: Bugs in codes are one of the leading reasons for apps freezing and crashing. The bugs can lead to issues that can spread across areas like the architecture of an app, memory leaks, unhandled exception errors, and other complex errors like android app development . So, let us look at: (i). Memory leaks: This is the first type of memory corruption preventing an app from deallocating the reserved memory while allocating memory. It builds up the consumption of all the available memory, making the app slow or may even not work or crash. (ii). Unhandled Exceptions: These are neither intentional nor expected anomalies in a program. These cases are not taken care of, thus leading to some circumstances where the app malfunctions or gets hanged. For example, a Null Pointer Exception is thrown by the JVM when the application attempts to refer to an object reference that does not point to any object. (iii). Logical Errors: Software bugs in the application's logic cause logical errors leading to incorrect operations. They come from assumptions by the developers, under estimations, or control flow errors. (iv). Resource Management: Incompetent use of resources like file handles, networks or database connections may result in crashes. For instance, if an app fails to close connections to a database when it is no longer in use, it may exhaust the resources of the database, using up all available connections. - Software version Incompatibility:  As the Android Operating System comes with updates now and then, some apps that are not frequently updated may run with incompatibility issues, which lead to a situation crash. A similar crashing error occurs when you use newer app versions on an older Android Operating System. The changes from updates causing incompatibility issues include; (i). API Changes: As you update your Android version, it is possible that the older API version of your app cannot run on the newer Android version. This results in the crashing or freezing of your app once you invoke these APIs. (ii). Permissions Model: Android version 6 and above protects users with changes to the permissions model. Some improper handling of runtime permission may cause the apps to crash if they try to access specific resources. (iii). UI Changes: Changes in the Android UI components and layouts may affect the application presentation of content for different apps. Failure to account for such changes can result in an app not functioning as intended. It can cause an incorrect loading of the application layout, causing the UI to freeze or crash. (iv). Hardware-Specific Changes: This is another potential way in which Android OS upgrades may impact performance through hardware-specific improvements that aim to improve performance for faster or newer hardware. Identified applications that do not suit these changes might not run efficiently or even crash on new devices released into the market. (v). Security Enhancements: New security model changes in Android upgrades can impact application compatibility. For instance, stricter security policies might constitute an app's inability to accomplish specific actions, which in turn cause crashes in case the app does not expect such scenarios. - Hardware Limitations: The hardware constraints result in applications freezing and crashing on Android devices more often than other devices on Windows or IOS software. These limitations can result from several factors, including, (i). Insufficient Random Access Memory: For your device to support the smooth running of various applications, it needs an adequate amount of RAM. When you launch an application, it allocates data and processes into your RAM. When the launched app needs to run for a while and, in the process, it lacks sufficient RAM, the chances of it crashing are high. RAM inefficiency often occurs when you install memory-demanding applications such as games or entire suites of office tools. (ii). Limited Processing Power: The processing power of your Android device originates from the Central Processing Unit. This part is essential since it deals with the executing instructions given by the respective mobile apps. Older and weaker devices with poor processors may not cope with the intensive work of the current mobile applications that require high computing power. If your device is under so many processes, it reduces the processing power, making some apps crash or freeze. It happens because the whole system cannot process the crashing app workload. (iii). Insufficient Storage Space: When you install an application, it requires enough storage allocation depending on its size. Apart from the installation space, it requires more storage for creating or managing temporary files. If you have limited internal memory on your device, the system might not have enough space to save these temporary files, and as a result, the application could crash or freeze. Moreover, insufficient internal memory can negatively affect the ability of your device to swap memory. This ability occurs when your device uses its internal memory to extend RAM capabilities. (iv). Outdated Hardware: When an app updates, it adds new features and functions. If by any chance you install them on outdated hardware, these features and functions might not be compatible with it. In the process, the apps could crash or freeze. - Malware Infection: In simple terms, malware is preventable malicious software developed to corrupt or even destroy computer systems. A regular application freezing or crashing of an application is one of the most likely signs that your device contains malware. So, how does malware affect the performance of your applications? These infections can cause applications to freeze or crash through several disruptive mechanisms, which are, (i). Resource Exhaustion: Malware hogs the system resources like CPU, memory, or disk space, thus reducing the resources available to the applications that make the systems unresponsive or misbehave. (ii). File and Data Corruption: Crashing of applications can involve damaging or removing critical files or data within an app. Without these essential files, apps on your device can freeze or crash. (iii). Interference with System Processes: Malware hinders the working operations of essential system processes or services, leading to instability in the applications that depend on such processes. (iv). Code Injection: Attackers inject viruses into functioning applications where the applications run codes they are never intended to run, thus causing the application instabilities and crashes.

How can you Solve App Crashing and Freezing on Android Devices

Solving app crashing and freezing does not need any technical expertise but following simple instructions. Here are simple guidelines to sort this issue out. You can,- Restart the Device: A familiar approach is to restart the device. It can help remove software bugs that could be forcing your app to behave abnormally. There are many ways you can restart an Android device. Here is how, - Update the App: Check if the app is running the latest version. The developers often send new updates to address errors and ensure compatibility with the latest versions of Android. You can update your app via the several methods available on your device. They are, (i). Google Play Store: One of the simplest methods many users know when updating Apps is through the Google Play Store. You can do this through the 'My apps & games' option and update the selected app through a button next to it. Moreover, you can opt for Settings to turn on the auto-update feature for all or individual apps. (ii). In-App Updates: Some apps have an in-app update feature that allows them to update. When a newer version is available for download, the feature activates, and then after, your app automatically updates. (iii). APK Files: You can independently install an app without necessarily through the Google Play Store. To set up this method, you need to allow 'Unknown sources' or 'Install unknown apps' on the device management menu so that you can install it from any source other than the Google Play Store.

- Clear App Data and Cache: Clearing the cache of your crashing application may be handy in case of temporary file corruption. If this does not solve your problem, then the Clear Data option will restore the app to its original state, and this may go a long way in solving issues which are hard to detect. To clear App Data and Cache, you can follow these steps. (i). Locate the app you want to clear the cache. (ii). Press and hold your app until the 'App Info' option appears. (ii). Tap on it to direct you to the app information panel and click on storage. To clear the app Cache, tap on clear cache, though it does not delete your app personal info or settings. To clear App data, click on clear storage. It will delete all information in the app, including your info and settings.

- Reinstall the App: Uninstalling and installing your crashing app may solve this issue if the program is improperly installed or has corrupt files. You can do this through your device app and the Google Play Store. - Free Up Storage Space: Storage capability may be an issue that makes an app crash. You should often delete unnecessary and unused applications to create more space. You should have more than 600MB of free space in your device to reduce the occurrence of this error. The Android Operating system will use this free space to run background processes of your applications, thus reducing the chances of freezing and crashing. - Check for Conflicting Apps: If you have any third-party application running on your device, it could be the source of your problem. This kind of apps can cause other apps to malfunction. To identify a third-party app on your device, boot it on safe mode. If the crashing app runs well in safe mode, consider deleting the recently installed apps. - Factory Reset: If the problem persists, this should be your final option. It is because factory resetting your Android device will erase all your phone data. Before performing this function, ensure you back up the data you need. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, APP crashing and freezing are some of the problems that are frequently to be met by Android users. Nevertheless, they are not very complex to overcome with the help of this approach. This way, users will know how to fix problems like having old software, a corrupted cache, or having low memory resources to improve the performance and efficiency of their respective devices.Updating apps and operating systems is very important since developers create patches for the application and improve the current performance. To my understanding, there are various ways of dealing with the apps and clearing the cache and data is one of the most effective ways since it educates all the temporary files that may be causing the corruption of the apps. If the problems continue, one solution that may help is to remove the application which caused the issues and install it anew.The task of rebooting the device is brief and unobtrusive but is an effective solution for different marginal software-related errors. When dealing with chronic problems, the availability of space on the device and handling of running backgrounds can eliminate congestion that causes halting of the device.In this way, users can keep the experience of an application and, in general, less problematic during its use. One of the best ways to avoid these common problems is to take regular care and precautions like proper storage and being aware of updates. In other words, being ahead of the game with devices will benefit your Android apps greatly to provide your users with a smooth experience and avoid troubles. Read the full article