#gotta. keep refreshing the election results

[lesbianusahana]

Do not be fooled… although I made a big post to try and cheer people up from the Election Scaries I have silently been freaking the hell out. Should the inevitable happen I will [PUT ON THE BIGGEST TALENT SHOW THIS TOWN’S EVER SEEN]

[twstheadcanons]

Any hcs for pomefiore, like how its students interact socially. Or hcs on the etiquette lessons?

this is long

·         I stand by what I said about Savanaclaw – Night Raven College has a bunch of stupid high school boys in its student body.  Being in Pomefiore does not erase your dumb high school energy.  It is just redirected.  As the oldest dorm, Pomefiore has some antiquated decour, and its own pride in maintaining them, including its gratuitous amount of candles strewn about.  Are the candlelit flames real?  Yes.  Can students touch them and light them themselves? Absolutely not.  They’re enchanted to light up and extinguish on their own. Vil’s seen firsthand how hotheaded and confrontational Pomefiore students can be.  He finds enchanted candles reasonable.  

·         There’s a garden in the back of the dorm building.  As the dorm known for its prowess in poisons and potions, it’s important for Pomefiore students to be able to identify specific types of flora commonly used in formulas, alongside their potential benefits and dangers.

·         Gardening can be grueling, especially when dealing with tricky, difficult flora. Vil has extensive instructions under his belt when it comes to making sure all students do their part (there is no avoiding gardening duty).  As such, alongside gardening itself, he’s put a lot of time and effort researching and specialising methods to minimise/mitigate the amount of mess and physical involved – and that’s without cutting corners.  Every new year brings in new students with their own personal strengths, so he has to make sure no stone goes unturned.

·         That said, absolutely no one shares gardening gloves.  Crowley is crying at the expenses of just damn gardening gloves but Vil is Not going to budge.

·         Of course, the apple trees are ones Pomefiore plants as well.  It’s their signature after all.  Rook hawk eyes both the trees’ growth and makes sure no one’s snagging them beforehand.  Ever since Epel enrolled, he’s lowkey more instructive of the process whenever Vil’s not around.  He’s also got his own shortcuts and tricks for general gardening.  Having a more hands-on approach since birth, it comes naturally to him.

·         Like, no offence, but the Pomefiore apples are not as good as the ones the Felmiers grow.

·         Epel is constantly on the verge of going apeshit when something he KNOWS he’s good at and knows his shit about is getting nitpicked, so for Vil’s safety I am making the executive decision that Vil’s noticed Epel sometimes taking charge in helping other students and just lets Epel do his own thing when it comes to helping out with Pomefiore’s plants and apples.

·         Honestly, having the two different approaches work in Pomefiore’s favour.  Some students need/want more structure and guidance, making Vil a better option.  Others benefit from Epel’s self-assured, informal approach since it makes it seem less daunting for beginners.

·         Rook likes to indulge himself when it comes to apples.  By that I mean he likes to ‘help’ students ‘slice’ their apples by doing the classic arrow-through-the-apple thing.  A lot of students think it’s actually pretty awesome.  

·         Right up until Rook asks for a volunteer to have the apple on their head.

·         The science club actually has its fair share of Pomefiore students apart from Rook.  Some are simply following the example of a generally respected vice-leader, whilst other took it for their own interests.

·         The same goes for film appreciation.   While small and mostly Pomefiore students under Vil’s lead, it’s a close circle of students working together.

·         The ballroom, like gardening, requires its own care and maintenance.  Keeping floors, windows, and mirrors clean.  This actually goes for the entire dorm, but the ballroom hosts a lot of Pomefiore’s recreational and group events (makes for a good place for film appreciation rehearsals).

·         Another reason it’s important to keep the dorm itself clean overall: absolutely no one wants perfume and cologne just lingering in furniture.  That is not the life anyone wants.  Ever.

·         This is something Rook’s especially quick to get on others’ cases about (in his own Rook Hunt way that is).  He’s a hunter, so he doesn’t want to risk even the most wonderful of scents blowing his cover.

·         Speaking of Rook, if you’re familiar with French in Pomefiore, but don’t use it often.  You Do Now for the sake of your fellow dormmates that want to know what the hell Rook is saying.

·         Students in Pomefiore tend to grow up into more hands-on careers.  Of course, there’s the ones in professions like show business, fashion, and cosmetology, but other common careers they gravitate to are generally science or fine arts related.

·         If you know what’s good for you, and you’re interested in fashion, start learning about the ethical issues and dangers of fast fashion ASAP.  As someone surrounded by aesthetics and designs, Vil knows his shit and idealistic views that overlook the shady business practises of even big-name groups get under his skin fast.  In general, as passionate as he is in his line of work, Vil’s still disillusioned to the glitz and glamour of it, which is why he takes such an aggressive stance on his own management.

·         Since first years share four students in one dorm room, Epel’s roommates will never escape the apple smell.  It’s gone from charming, to a bit sickening, to being plain desentisised to the scent. While all three are kind of over having an apple or apple juice every time Epel’s family sends them, they’ll happily accept them from time to time.  The apple juice especially is popular since it makes for a refreshing change from water.

·         Makeup brand debates.  They’re a thing.  Vil mostly thinks they’re dumb on a surface level since people just gravitate to what works for them and is within their budget but if you ask he’s got dirt on which brands have the worst practises that don’t need Anyone’s money.

·         Considering his ‘villain’ typecasting the guy has no fear using his platform to be outspoken on those types of issues which is why a lot of Pomefiore students end up actually respecting him outside his acting and modeling career.

·         For the record, it’s not like Epel’s the only student from a rural background in Pomefiore. There are plenty of others, it’s just that they didn’t literally get into a fight with a dorm leader during the opening ceremony.

·         The way he acts with Epel early on, however, does leave a rather unflattering impression on said rural students.  Epel doesn’t really keep his background a secret, so it’s easy to hear Vil scold Epel’s informal, direct way of speaking as him disliking the actual accents a country person may have.  So like. Vil’s gotta work on clearing that up with them, lol.

·         This is a “Vil’s done a good number of things wrong” zone regardless of his background and actual intent and also a “Pomefiore isn’t only about beauty but considering the way its students act and speak in general Uhhhhh” so as focused as Vil is on image and Pomefiore on seeming ‘proper’ I am Forcing him to reevaluate his approach to educating less experienced students on westernised and Eurocentric etiquette expectations.   You’re going to have students with staunchly different mannerisms and ideas of etiquette that do not affect their work ethic whatsoever sweetie.  

·         In a similar vein, older Pomefiore students that happen to be beastfolk (I’d like to imagine the Mirror of Darkness doesn’t magically toss Savanaclaw into some unholy ‘this is the beastfolk ghetto’ hell.  Do not burst my bubble I won’t listen) usually end up being tightknit with first years.  Honestly how else are first-years going to survive Rook Hunt being their vice-leader.

Vil also takes his own measures to minimise how up in their business Rook gets with Pomefiore’s own beastfolk.  

Being a detail-oriented dorm, Pomefiore has the most amount of students experienced in hands-on work and crafts.  If the individual students get along, Savanaclaw and Pomefiore students can get a lot done when they put their minds to it.

“Absolutely Beautiful” blasting from the ballroom at 5am so the less morning-inclined can wake up properly for the next three weeks.

·         Look Vil and Rook have particularly polarising personalities you cannot expect the entire dorm to worship them nor their way of doing things.

·         Master Chef, although a small elective, also has its fair share of Pomefiore students.  Something about a practical skills class appeals to them, and it actually makes for relaxing classwork.  

·         First dorm that sorts out people’s allergies.  If you think it’s excessive Pomefiore has forms prepared for new students to fill out regarding any extenuating circumstances and conditions think again. No health accidents happening in this dorm.

·         Mentions of students struggling tend to result in other students helping each other out. Study groups are pretty encouraged within the dorm if it works out for the people involved.  The lounge aside, the ballroom’s surprisingly popular for study groups when it’s not in-use for anything else.

[bylightofdawn]

So my attempt to deal with midterm election anxiety today has been to just....not look at my phone all day long and I spent my morning/lunch break working on the LED set up for my display case.

I'm delighted to say that there are plug and play options so I did NOT have to learn how to solder to accomplish this. It's not the best, but for a first attempt at doing any kind of electrical lighting/wiring I will take the W and call it good enough.

I ended up prolly spending just as much between the various supplies than what I would have spent to buy a pre-built kit but I knew I wanted to have a diffuser for the lights rather than just have LED strips. So that required me doing it piecemeal instead sadly.

I think all in all I spent around 50 bucks or so so it's not the worst thing I've spent my money on in the past two months and I gotta say I do love the idea of doing additional mood lighting in my room. Sadly it's not quite bright enough to replace my standing lamp which has a LED lightbulb and I'd been toying with the idea of moving it across my room or something but now I think it's going to have to stay where it's at because it's just not quite bright enough to do the trick. I could buy a second set of LED strips and put them in like I've seen people do and maybe I will do that down the line so I can have multi-directional lighting options at different colors but for now, it'll do, pig.

I opted for a RGB set so I can do different colors. Sadly, since it's all on the same circuit, I cannot do like...different colors per shelf. I could I think if I did multiple circuits and did some splitters and did more technical shit than my brain can wrap it's head around but lawl the creepy red is definitely a mood. I also think I might be able to download an app to do custom colors than just rely upon the remote I got but I'll explore that later.

Though can I say just how amazing my Robert Eickholt paperweight looks in this lighting? I inherited this for my grandmother and it’s about the only thing of hers outside of her wedding ring that I’ve ever wanted and I finally got it a couple of years ago and it just…looks so awesome in this lighting. The dichroic glass scattered inside of the dome is just so beautiful. It’s a piece called The Silver Veil and it’s just the perfect name for this piece of art.

Also, Cody’s helmet refracted in it is HILARIOUS. But that’s neither here nor there

I'm lowkey bummed even with the diffuser you can see the LED's super strongly in the reflection on the glass. I don't know if I could try and disperse it further by maybe putting strips of parchment paper maybe inside the diffuser? But then I'm like ehhhh is that a fire hazard? I'm sure reddit has a tutorial somewhere on how to accomplish what I want but I cannot be arsed to look into it any further tonight.

I am going to just accept my tired sense of accomplishment, count it as a win and try and find a fresh distraction to keep me from obsessively driving myself crazy refreshing election results pages. As I feared...Texas is just a sea of fucking red. We're still fucking stuck with Greg Abbott as governor unless the Dem's can magically regain a shit-ton of ground in the next 24 hours and my stomach is in fucking knots over the whole state of the future in my country.

I'm so fucking drained from this election and dealing with constant attack ads from both sides. I literally told a bot to fuck off when they texted me an attack ad on behalf of Ken Paxton who is a fucking clown and how the fuck is that man even still in office after the sheer level of fuckery he's gotten into this year.

Ugh I need another distraction because my thoughts are definitely taking a bad spiral into full on anxiety mode. Sorry for whinging about politics, I know everyone is just fucking over it at this point. But eh, it's my blog and I will word vomit all over it if I so choose.