#excellent skills

[oncillabrigade]

Finally read Robins!

I have a lot of thoughts, but I just want to say this panel is the funniest thing I've ever seen:

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

the fact that shakespeare was a playwright is sometimes so funny to me. just the concept of the "greatest writer of the English language" being a random 450-year-old entertainer, a 16th cent pop cultural sensation (thanks in large part to puns & dirty jokes & verbiage & a long-running appeal to commoners). and his work was made to be watched not read, but in the classroom teachers just hand us his scripts and say "that's literature"

just...imagine it's 2450 A.D. and English Lit students are regularly going into 100k debt writing postdoc theses on The Simpsons screenplays. the original animation hasn't even been preserved, it's literally just scripts and the occasional SDH subtitles.txt. they've been republished more times than the Bible

[idiosyncraticrednebula]

Hot take: I actually think men and women are meant to work together and complement each other and not like,,, dislike each other and be divisive.

[thesophistiicate]

essential soft skills for personal excellence

+ emotional intelligence: the ability to understand emotions (yours + others) with empathy and how they impact behaviour. without it you are liable to be defensive, self-centred, and experience a feeling of disconnection (from self + others).

+ resilience: how well you react when something bad happens. do you fall apart or can you navigate challenges without setting yourself back?

+ critical thinking: the ability to slow down and approach ideas with rational intelligence so that you can make thoughtful, considered decisions instead of impulsive, reactive ones.

+ adaptability: remaining flexible to the circumstances and cultivating the ability to deal with change (see also: resilience). can be more difficult if neurodivergent; they key is to be gentle + forgiving with yourself.

+ (healthy) self-discipline: doing what you need to do regardless of whether you 'feel like it' (see also: emotional intelligence, so that you're not ruled by your emotional state). remember that you can cultivate healthy discipline with gentle nurture that builds confidence over time, rather than toxic discipline that uses shame, fear, and punishment.

+ self worth: continuously building the foundational idea that you are worthy of the good life. without self worth, most attempts at self-improvement start with grandiose ideas of huge change and result in broken promises, difficulty sticking to goals, and a spiralling shame cycle.

[trekscribbles]

Sophie loves to go dancing, but she rarely goes with Nate. He takes it too seriously, and he always get involved in the dance hall politics. Plus, as technical and detail oriented as he is, he isn't really good at dancing. He can do the steps, but he doesn't understand how to let himself get swept away by the music.

The first time she asked Eliot, he laughed at her. Said there was no way he was going to spend his night off in some dusty ballroom when he could be at home relaxing. She'd shrugged it off, having anticipated his refusal, and had gone by herself, intending to find a partner when she got there.

Except when she showed up, she found Eliot dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt, his hair pulled back in a pony tail, mumbling something about not wanting her to have to go without a partner.

The next time she asked, he complained about how slippery his shoes were and how handsy Mrs. Gunderson had been during the open dance, but he picked Sophie up at 6 and dropped her off at 10 and smiled most of the time between.

A week after that, she found a flyer for a foxtrot competition slipped under her door, with the note "I'm free on Saturday" scrawled across the bottom.

(They won.)

They go several times a month now. Hardison laughs when he finds out, but Eliot says it's good exercise. Parker is very excited about their trophy but loses interest when she finds out it's plastic. Nate comes to watch sometimes, because as much as he dislikes dancing himself, he appreciates the skill involved.

(Maybe he's picking up pointers. He'll never tell.)

[idontknowwhatimdoing-13]

When Crystals is like wait Niko how do you know that I kissed Charles its definitely because Edwin and Niko were hanging out one night between episodes five and six and Edwin was like “I realized I like this boy but he just kissed the girl he likes” and Niko did the math.

Like Edwin knows two boys he could potentially like.

And Monty isn't about to be not liking Edwin or liking a girl.

And Charles makes it very obvious that he likes Crystal and also has only two girls he knows one of which is Niko herself who definitely wasn't kissing Charles.

Like Crystal it wasn't hard to figure out.

[n4tsum1-san]

the yaoqing trio ship being called the yaocule is really funny bc it's one letter away from yaoicule and they do have yaoi energy. this is what i mean btw

[happi-dreams]

the sillies the goofers the 💥💥

this is offically a hyperfixation now thank you funny bird for your essay

[fuckyeahchinesefashion]

Beauties in 1986 chinese drama Journey to the West西游记

yutujing玉兔精 jade rabbit spirit

zhizhujing蜘蛛精 spider spirit

chang'e嫦娥 moon goddess

jin bi bai mao shu jing金鼻白毛鼠精 Golden nosed white haired mouse spirit

nv er guo guo wang女儿国国王 The Queen of Women's Kingdom 

[laguzmage]

Given that Arturia doesn't seem to have a patron firearm (or at least is never depicted with one), and her plots and schemes before and through this event rely on her being able to outplan people/relied on her musical talent, I like to assume the Combat Experience None->Combat Skill Excellent in her file is because they gave her like, a practice sword or something and she was like "Hm, in a sense swordplay is an art" and immediately defeated whoever was evaluating her

[luluxa]

proud of yourself, are you, Jan? 🤭

x

[carouselunique]

Im SO SORRY, i am just bothering you at this point with the many asks, i hope u don't mind, i made some fanart of your Side Stars AU in your style, i just love it so much😭 the way u draw ponies is so inspiring, it makes me want to do something, i hope its ok, please keep with the amazing work❤️

omg NO you are not bothering me at all! I love audience participation and kind interactions it fuels the creative drive! I’m actually just saving questions until I have a good idea for a picture for them so if you don’t see answers right away it’s cause I’m planning!

And this is so good! I’m really happy my AU is inspiring you! And you did wonderfully drawing Minuette and Twilight! I especially love how big and prominent Minuette’s cutie mark is because designing that one took the most effort! Wonderful job!

[runespoor7]

hiii! for the ask game, an au where jc gets de-aged post-canon to his freshly traumatized 17 year old self? playing happy family in cloud recesses, wwx is brutally pulled out of his ‘the past is in the past’ bubble when he finds out. for extra knives, maybe wn tells him

1. I think it should be JL, and not WN, who tells WWX. JL is invested in JC (and in JC and WWX’s relationship)! WN is mostly invested in #getwreckedSLJ.

WWX doesn't really understand what JL expects of him - WWX’s heart leaped when he understood the content of JL’s letter, and his belly twisted as though he was going to be sick, but he managed to calm down enough to write a reassuring letter back to JL. (Surely that was what JL expected, right?) WWX had to sit on his own hands to keep from doing something stupid like grabbing a sword and flying off, and then he had to ask to LWJ to distract him, because it keeps buzzing, buzzing under his skin.

There's no new letter from JL. WWX forces himself to think it means everything went back to normal. And makes himself distracted (he loves his husband!) before his mind trips down the path of what if not. (JL wouldn't write then. He'd show up.)

2. There’s no second letter but JL shows up. WWX, who's been thinking that there was no reason for JL to come but if things had gone worst with JC, doesn't know what he looks like when he sees JL and doesn't really register the sound of people sliding their swords out.

“You have to come, why didn't you come! I had to leave jiujiu because you weren't coming, and I'm going to have to return to Jinlintai once I’ve brought you back, so grab your things, shibo. Oh, you don't need to take much, LP will put you up with what you need. What matters is going back so jiujiu can see you.”

JC is alive. JC is alive. Once the news break through the dull rushing sound in WWX’s ears, tension he didn't know had frozen his body seeps away.

The Jin disciple accompanying JL puts his sword away, under the misapprehension that WWX isn't ready to leave right away. LWJ says WWX’s name and presses his arm, and WWX nods fiercely. No time to waste, is there? Now JC wants him there.

3. There’s a disciple of YMJ as a welcoming committee when they fly down, or maybe two; WWX doesn't pay attention, he leaves JL and LWJ to deal with them - “hey, wait!” JL yelps, “do you even know where you’re going?”

WWX’s feet slow, stop. LP is changed. WWX isn't even sure JC left the infirmary where it once was.

JL catches up with an annoyed, worried huff. He sounds just like JC. “Here, this way.”

4. JC looks– JC looks.

WWX’s legs give up from under him.

JC looks at him with an intense frown, features almost twisted in desperation - WWX’s name on his lips. WWX scrambles on the ground, knees banging on the polished wood, fingers feverishly untangled as he reaches for the long-lost shape of WWX’s shidi, crumpled as discarded hopes, slight as a memory.

“You– why are you here?” JC's words fall like stones on WWX’s bones before WWX can reassure himself JC’s real. “They told me you live in Gusu. You don't even look like yourself, why did you come back?”

How like JC! One thousand words to cut through WWX like one thousand blades. WWX ignores him, fists his hands in JC's robes, presses his face against JC’s thighs. He needs to feel the warmth of JC’s body, make sure he’s not a ghost, not a dream.

JC's hand on his shoulder, shaking. WWX is suddenly reminded of JC’s hands pushing him down, this same JC throttling him. It feels like the last time they touched, did JC ever touch him after that, did WWX let him?

5. “I’ll fix it – I promise, JC, I’ll make it right,” WWX breathes, recklessly, helplessly. How easy it is to fall back into these old, dizzying habits!

JC’s eyes are full of shattered distrust and cloudy hopes, like he’s been told WWX lies, like he still believes WWX first.

[nipuni]

New year's eve photos! We made beef wellington, garlic butter shrimp and mashed potato with mango and onion chutney and also prepared some mulled wine and took it with us to the street for the countdown and fireworks 🥰

[thesophistiicate]

something that's always stuck with me is from a study on popularity i once read. it concluded that the most popular people (students in a school in this case) were not the most beautiful, wealthy, intelligent etc. they were simply the people who liked the most other people. as in, those who reported a high level of fondness for others were the most well-liked by everyone else. it seems obvious but it wasn't to me at the time. this is why i think it's so important to overcome arrogance, judgement, snobbishness etc and learn how to connect with kindness. it is so much more powerful than negativity.

[femmefatalevibe]

Femme Fatale Playbook: How To Be More Charming & Charismatic

Learn To Be Comfortable In Your Own Skin: Confidence and self-awareness are two of the most magnetic traits someone can possess. Accept yourself for who you are. Don't feel ashamed of your personality, quirks, values, passions, etc. Uniqueness makes the world go round. Accepting that we're all different vs. superior/inferior to others is an important life lesson that draws others to you and makes them excited to connect with you.

Remain Interested To Become Interesting: Listen more than you speak. We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Keep (a reasonable, non-staring amount of) eye contact. Nod and smile to acknowledge that you're actively listening to the other person as they're speaking. Ask follow-up questions. Keep your mind and questions open-ended. Become fascinated with what makes other people tick.

Learn To Speak Your Truth Without Providing Unsolicited Advice: Blindly agreeing to everything someone says sounds disingenuous and makes you appear untrustworthy. Accept that a healthy person will respect your individuality, honesty, and having your own opinions based on your personal life experiences. However, there's a difference between having an incompatible view and forcing your values or desire onto another person. If someone wants your opinion, they're likely to ask you directly for advice on a situation. If you feel the need to chime in, ask for the green light before stating your take on a situation (outside of emergencies or dangerous situations, of course).

Don't Take Yourself Too Seriously: Embrace your sense of humor (appropriately). Be playful. Operating like an emotionless robot is off-putting and makes everyone feel uncomfortable (including yourself). A subtle joke or clever comment can break the ice and relieve any social tension.

Remember Small Details; Initiate Thoughtful Follow-Ups: People feel seen and heard when you remember small details about what they say – their likes, dislikes, plans for the rest of the week, a big project at work, something going on with their family, friends, pets, etc. Actively listening to your conversation partners will allow you to remember the small details about those you speak with and makes others feel more appreciated by/connected to you. Asking how someone's trip to that new city, a casual review of a hot new local restaurant, the status of a work project, or surface-level personal matter will make you memorable and, therefore, more charming and charismatic.