#i have a feeling that most info is on reddit

[lazulisong]

urgh say a couple prayers and tell my damn twin to get their ass in gear -- im looking at 4250 as my out of pocket and that doesn't include post op expenses ٩( ᐛ )و

(it's surprisingly validating that an american insurance outfit looked at my case and agreed it was medically and/or psychologically necessary enough to cover top surgery lmao)

anyway i should not have looked that up when i was still recovering from the adrenaline but everything about this is coming together so i'm choosing to believe that the universe is moving towards this! the lawd will provide if i work hard and believe.

options that i'm looking at (since the ONE TIME i was like "why am i bringing my big TN with the top surgery insert with me, it's heavy and i want to read on my ipad" i get The Message)

setting up a payment plan with the hospital, which would involve paying a deposit and then paying monthly

seeing if i qualify for financial aid from the hospital system

juli says there might be a place that will give me a grant

overtime. so much overtime. but not enough to make myself sick.

part time work from home if i can find one or troll wework

original stories on kofi (probably pay what you want)

crowdfunding but i don't want to bet on it

fortunately oregon put a paid leave program into effect so i have options after i burn through my sick leave. i did some napkin math and i think, between my out of pocket and post surgery supplies, im looking at 5000$, but 6000$ would be a lot more comfy.

post op expenses look to include

"a really big comfy robe" - @dadvans

scar care stuff

high protein shelf stable drinks

mastectomy pillow and ice packs

food delivery and/or rideshare as needed

suitable tops (for extremely obvious reasons called "i could have probably called it a reduction and gotten it covered for back pain" i don't own any buttoned tops)

(i wish i could lie to myself about this but i am going to eating. a lot. of door dash. and riding the bus with new scars doesn't sound uh like something the group chat is going to let me get away with.)

circee flatly informed me that she Was coming for the surgery and she Was going to take care of me, so that's a load off my mind.

mom can't come up so i might see about going down south after the Drains are out? google says three weeks off work so that could be doable. (mom is kind of big mad she can't take personal charge of the Drains but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

[carrotpiss]

Hmm

[todayisafridaynight]

He can have a kiss from Daigo after therapy. Like telling a child they can't have dessert until they've eaten their dinner

Bro if you made any sort of analysis I and quite a few others would still be excited to read it. I'm always down to know your in depth thoughts about stuff. Even if it's about Mine and Daigo that's still great. Do it if you want to of course

And god I forgot to mention even CyricZ, writer of the highly beloved and detailed guides is a huge ally and he's sometimes straight up on gay shipping posts. It's crazy

mine can get a kiss from daigo only if he can go a full week without sneering at poor people or orphans <3

i've definitely thought about properly writing out an analysis before, i'm just awful at being serious for more than five seconds. plus, i just generally don't know how to start without an explicit prompt idk

[herhimthem]

KOSA ISNT BEING VOTED TODAY I REPEAT KOSA ISNT BEING VOTED TODAY!!!!

https://www.senate.gov/committees/hearings_meetings.htm

THERE ISNT ANY SENATE MEETING OR HEARING TODAY. PLEASE DO NOT PANIC. WE HAVE UNTIL AFTER MARCH 13TH.

KEEP CALLING YOUR GOVERNORS AND START ORGANIZING!!! START PROTESTING OUTSIDE BUILDINGS, START MARCHING, START FIGHTING IF YOU CAN!!!!!!! AND IF YOU CANT, START SPREADING THE WORD ABIUT THESE THINGS!!!

OH MY GOD WAIT WHAT

IS THIS TRUE?? SOMEONE PLEASE COMMENT OR REBLOG AND LET ME KNOW

────────────

Update #2 - 2/26/2024

edit in case folks don't see the reblog:

Update on this.

I looked at the website and yes, there *is* no mention of any voting on KOSA happening before or past March 13th, March 13th is where the schedule ends. I'm still not sure, so keep digging for more info.

putting the link again so others can examine

U.S. Senate: Hearings & Meetings

────────────

Update #3 - 2/27/2024

ANOTHER another update, somebody relogged this with extra info

I'm gonna start putting dates on these updates so people know what's happening when

────────────

Update #4 - 3/2/2024

So, today I was on Reddit reading about KOSA, and I found this on r/AO3

Here's the Invest in Child Safety Act, it only has five cosponsors compared to KOSA's sixty-three.. wonder why..

Anyways, I was wondering, could steering reps away from KOSA while leading them towards other and SAFER bills help? :P

If these bills really ARE safer, wouldn't it give us a better chance of KOSA not being passed if we gave our Senators and Reps examples of alternative bills they could support?

Like, instead of just saying "DON'T DO THIS!!!" We could say "DON'T DO THIS, but THIS is a better alternative that will keep everyone safe AND actually be helpful."

I have a feeling most of the Democrats supporting this bill have fallen for the "We're protecting the children!!" farse. So, let's not just tell them the problem, but offer a solution! An alternative that will ACTUALLY protect children.

I posted this as it's own thing, but I wanted to add it to this update thread so people are more likely to see it.

Please post this on other sites, on Twitter, TikTok, other Reddit pages, etc. I only ask that you cover-up my username :]

(link to the actual post)

[catboybiologist]

Hi! I'm Sierra. Time for a pinned post refresh.

Otherwise known as CatboyBiologist, or @hi-sierra (my SFW blog [this one is SFW too, but less so]). This page is remaining active, but if you want to find me somewhere else, I use the same username on reddit, Instagram, co-host, and tech.lgbt. This is me:

Trans woman, PhD student in molecular biology, boymoder, shitposter, freediver, hot girl on your phone, hiker, rambler (this post included), tgirl tummy tuesday supplier and enjoyer, former femboy, bane of bioessentialist fuckwads who try to use biology to validate biogotry, flaming bisexual, 196 nanocelebrity… whatever was the first thing that brought you to my blog, I hope it’s enough to get you to stay! I post selfies, hornyposts (minors and people who are averse to that be warned), stuff about the ocean, posts about my growing sense of wanderlust, my adorable lil tortoise, tutorials for transfemmes and GNC people, rambles about science, documentation of my own transition, rambles about transness, rambles about the eroticism of programming a machine to feel arousal, rambles about nature, and random shitposts. Please send me pictures of cute animals in your life!

If you wanna support my science career and my transition, consider dropping a tip here! PhD salaries are notorious for being negotiated to be exactly the cost of living…. And then forgotten about for years as inflation drops that below minimum wage. So I’m always a little strapped for cash. Anything helps!

Links to some of my tutorials and relevant resources under the cut:

I'm tracking my transition, and some people have said they found this helpful! This spreadsheet is generally updated monthly:

Usually, I write a little journal to go with it when it updates- you can find that under the #trans journal on my blog.

If you're interested in checking out some of the things I'm trying to write, here's a post with links to individual stories I'm making:

https://www.tumblr.com/catboybiologist/741010247774306304/writing-consolidation-post?source=share

My femboy guide, written well before I started HRT, but still has relevant info:

A "boyboob" tutorial, aka how to make it look like you have cleavage in an outfit that looks better with it:

A quick and dirty guide to taking better selfies, with a specific emphasis on people who may have stopped hating their body recently due to transition:

And here's a few of my personal favorite little rambles and posts about my transness, in no particular order:

CW for transphobia on this one:

A massive shoutout to @foldingfittedsheets for this amazing art of the lil borgir holding a trans flag:

I adore this so much <3 if you want to support their art, her commissions are open and really sweet!!!!

And of course, a massive shoutout to @whalesharkcat for this lovely pixel art of my tortoise:

I still love this so much, and will continue to into the future <3

For preHRT selfies, search the femboy tag. For post HRT selfies, use the "trans selfie" tag. I've been on HRT since August of 2023, so I'm still very early in the process! Day to day, I present male, but I plan to change that around the 1 year mark.

I guess that's about it! One final note is that I've been alluding to video/podcast style things for a while now. With my aderrall prescription, I've actually put in a lot of research work that might lead to 1-4 of those, so that might actually happen in the near future! No promises of course, life always catches up to you.

And if you liked my previous pinned post better, here it is:

Anyways, if you read this far, thanks for sticking around and bbyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[amiizuki]

(a 2 weeks late repost of my comment from this Reddit post, cause I forgor)

things RWBY "teaches":

if someone lies and hides info from you – beat them up, yell at them, and then proceed to later do the exact same thing they did to someone else. except this time consider whoever tries to call you out for lying evil

if, after you run away without explanation, one of your friends decides to follow you and try to help – slap them in the face repeatedly and berate them loudly

if a person, who previously helped you and your friends multiple times without expecting much in return, is on edge and looks like they're on the verge of a panic attack – scowl at them the whole time, like they murdered your family or something (add bonus scowling and start thinking of them as pure evil, if said person also starts to call you out for betraying and lying to him earlier)

when it comes to forgiving and offering redemption – only offer it if the person in question is female; if the person is male then continue villainizing them or kill them altogether

if your overly stressed sibling is having a meltdown in front of you – scowl at them, while protecting your date from said sibling, as if they were an insane lunatic ready to kill

if you see your friend/sibling commit sudoku, once again, in front of you – watch it happen, without even attempting to stop them, and then spend some time having a group hug with your friends, before remembering about your dead friend/sibling

bonus stuff, that were said by other people in that same comment thread:

also a somewhat long addendum to the 3rd point, because rewatching the Gravity scene, to grab screenshots of Yang's face, somehow made me angrier than it did the first time I saw it:

lemme fucking tell you, that Yang did not start to scowl at Ironwood after he called RWBY out for being lying hypocrites. her angry face, in fact, appeared the moment he started talking! sure, at first it looked more like a slightly confused scowl, but a scowl nonetheless. girl even had her hands in fists already, like c'mon (at least during the moment when Ruby realizes Cinder was the one who left the chess piece, Yang's hands aren't visible in earlier shots, so I can't tell if she had them like that the whole time or not)

so this potato sack looking cunt, who supposedly had PTSD and should supposedly know how it looks and feels like, saw this overly stressed man, who ALSO has PTSD, and who just got faced with an image reminding him of one of the most traumatic events in his life, starting to freak out about the safety of his people and kingdom, and, again, overall looking like he's about to have a full on panic attack, and her gigabrain idea was to fucking SCOWL the whole time he's talking. wowww Yang, what a nice and kind thing you're doing there! I can feel soooo much sympathy coming towards this distressed general, who you actively lied to with no remorse by the way, from your ugly ass scowl. this will definitely help to deescalate the situation and calm Ironwood down, and it definitely won't make him call you out for being a lying shithead and throw your desaturated blonde ass out of the window.

oh, but I guess Ironwood isn't a cute catgirl named Blake, so he doesn't deserve anything more than an angry look from Yang. makes sense, considering Ruby isn't a cute catgirl named Blake either, and so Yang constantly forgets that she exists, only remembering Ruby when it's time to scowl at her, call whatever she's planning dumb, or when it's time to go drink boba and go shopping with her, instead of spending that time planning on how to defeat Salem who has 2 or 3 relics.

[cleolinda]

The happenings, Tumblr edition

Obviously I am not happy about the prospect of Tumblr going into sunset "guess we'll just let it die" mode (or possibly "Let's sell it to fuck knows who!!"), if that is indeed what is happening. My clinical anxiety needs a lot of things. This is not one of them.

I've been using Tumblr as my primary hangout for pretty much exactly a year now. I am tired of watching platforms enshittify and crumble. Why does this keep happening to us. I am weary.

At the same time, yeah, Twitter is dogshit now, but a year after it got taken over, it is there still. There were some problems on Reddit, but it's thoroughly still there. There was time to figure out some migration for all the good it did.

I worked on essay-type posts and recaps all this year to figure out approximately how many spoons I have and how much I can expect to post a month, before I actually got the Patreon running in October. A solid 1-2 Long Posts a month, it seems like, and maybe more frequently if I do shorter posts. And Tumblr has great opportunities to just keep reblogging and sharing things, sometimes adding comments, so I feel like I'm active even when I'm stuck trying to finish a post of my own.

So now, fuck me, I guess

So I have the Patreon as a way to say, hey, I'm here no matter what else happens, sign up for the ~*free*~ weekend linkspam/check-in, here's what I posted wherever this week, I'll put up some early or extra stuff if you'd like to upgrade to a fancy tier someday. It is truly most important to me for people to just know where I am; you don't have to commit to the $1 or $5 tiers.

But I also want a way to post my writing publicly, so people can, you know, see it. So I'm gonna start mirroring my own longer posts on Dreamwidth, I guess. That's the place I know to go back to.

Hopefully Dreamwidth does not go also down in flames!!!!

I've started archiving some of my work (also from LJ and Twitter) as PDFs in Dropbox. Mostly as a safeguard for myself, but I'll make it a public link on the Patreon.

I would really like to keep up with where people are going, what sites people are going to try to migrate to next, and I'll pass that info on as I get it.

All that said, I think most of us will stay on Tumblr as long as we can, if only for the very unique shoot-the-shit culture it has. Like, people aren't leaving it so much as preparing for the future.

[decolonize-the-everything]

So we all know that Tik tok is bad and steals info, right?

Right okay.

And I became so normalized to like yeah I have no privacy online no big deal.

So when I saw one of my mutuals from here show up on my list of friends to follow on tik tok I didn't think much of it.

Today though I decided to figure out like how insidious it is. Cuz the people showing up as friends... I don't dm them, I'm not regularly reblogging from them or anything. We're just mutuals.

And tik tok picked that up. I follow thousands of people and thousands follow me. So... How insane is their data collection?

I stumbled onto this article which answered my question.

It's about this guy who reverse engineers apps explaining what he found when he reverse engineered tik tok. Obligatory disclaimer: this article is two years old However still fairly accurate as tik tok hasn't changed that much.

He explained all this in a reddit thread so I'll share the screenshots from the article

“TikTok might not meet the exact criteria to be called “Malware”, but it’s definitely nefarious and (in my humble opinion) outright evil,” Bangorlol said. “There’s a reason governments are banning it. Don’t use the app. Don’t let your children use it. Tell your friends to stop using it. It offers you nothing but a quick source of entertainment that you can get elsewhere without handing your data over to the Chinese government. You are directly putting yourself and those on your network (work and home) at risk.”

And like yeah that's really invasive right. But like no they aren't just looking at follower counts and app usage from other apps. They see Actual real data on them. How else would they know which of my followers interact with me most out of the thousands of followers I have?

And how much info are they getting from the data they sift through?

How many of you don't have tik tok but still have your name, age, and some traits, maybe a DNI in your bio? How many of my followers don't have tik tok, but now tik tok has access to you through my Tumblr? How's that make you feel? Is tik tok taking the interests of people I follow into consideration when it's figuring out what videos to show me?

Are they looking at Your interests to help zero in on mine?

°•°•°•°•°

If you like my posts consider leaving a tip

[lago-morpha]

It’s possible to diy ftm hrt???

yeah dude. you can do this all on your phone too though it is less secure to use tor on one. keep in mind it's not really the most anonymous thing to send people paypal money for crypto or use tor on your phone but the police could not give less of a shit about people buying steroids or drugs in general for personal use. if you're not selling or buying distribution amounts they doooon't care

all you have to do is download tor (google it and click the first result or use the play store)

go on tor.taxi and pick a market, open the market link in tor [I use incognito]

get a crypto wallet [I used cake wallet]

buy bitcoin/monero/whatever with a P2P market, basically crypto version of reddit marketplaces [I used localmonero and sent paypal money in exchange for monero, make sure to follow the directions the market gives you, like not sending any money unless it says it's ok, you can always cancel if you feel like you're getting scammed and make sure to pick someone with lots of reviews]

send the crypto into your wallet on the market, wait

look up testosterone and make sure that it is shipping DOMESTICALLY. don't bother with customs. keep in mind 10ml = ten doses, if you're like me and take 2[50]mg biweekly. it'll be twenty if you take it every week.

place order! just fill out your shipping info and pay lol

it's pretty simple, remember to log in and release the money once your package arrives! [go to your orders and click the button that says release funds]. the other person is waiting on their money and it's helpful to release it as soon as you get what you ordered.

I hope this helps anon

[ly0nstea]

Some books and other resources in and about Irish

Roinnt leabhair agus achmhainn eile i agus faoi Ghaeilge

Honourable mentions to focloir and teanglann but you cant learn a language from a dictionary, its like trying to cook a meal from the menu. They're great for finding words as well as conjugating and altering words into the different cases.

GRAIMÉAR GAEILGE na mBRÁITHRE CRÍOSTAÍ le Liam A. Ó hAnluain: An irish grammar book, very comprehensive but it is written entirely in irish

Gramadach na Gaeilge: AN CAIGHDEÁN OIFIGIÚIL: The official grammar standard for Irish published by the Irish government, again written exclusively in irish.

Daltaí na Gaeilge: Some good lessons on irish grammer, proverbs, and other parts of language, also has info on classes in America, Canada, and other countries

Goodreads list of top rated irish language novels

TG4Player which has irish language tv and movies

You can also search youtube for irish language short films, and youtubers, youtubers would be a good way to pick up on everyday/conversational irish if you arent able to speak to people in real life, seeing as it wont be as formal as most online resources or films. You can also look for other media like tumblr, or tiktok, personally I love Úna-Minh on tiktok (she translated Among Us and got it officially implemented, and iirc she's written a biography in irish, and has even more irish resources than I could ever list, go check her out!! She also has a youtube, instagram and twitch account if you prefer those. She's definetly been an significant help to my turas as Gaeilge.

Easons and books.ie have good irish and irish language books, as well as being irish brands you can support (including dracula in irish for 10 euro + shipping???) Along with kennys.ie and litríocht

Also, writing irish is a great way to force yourself to learn, be it journalling, fiction, or just notes in irish. Talk to people online in irish too, social media posts, chatting in chatrooms, discords, reddit, etc., anythign to practice. That's the key to any language, consistent practice.

This is just a starter, feel free to add resources in rbs if you have any you feel are worth seeing!

Go raibh míle maith agat as léamh!!1

ALSO WATCH AIFRIC ITS FUCKING AMAZING YOU CAN FIND IT FREE ONLINE

[elementalalien27]

My MCR5 theory from like July when The Paper Kingdom leak happened

I wrote this when I was half asleep so PLEASE don’t take ANY of this seriously man this is the oddest thing I’ve ever wrote-

~~~

I highlighted and bolded some key information for the fellow skimmers. Also I tried to fix my grammer 4 the most part in this post bcuz this is REAL important.

Firstly, this leak is all so random. I mean, Excalibur has been posting (and I quote;) “leaks” for years now, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually had the songs and kept it for himself or (ALLEGEDLY) sold them for money. But no source seems to claim that he actually had the full tracks.

Perhaps he just had those clips he posted to lead everyone on? I’m not too sure. But, if he were to upload the full track “Witch”, he would’ve surely done it under his name, judging by how self respecting this guy seems.

Sadly I didn’t find any info on this ATTAM guy yet, so I’m completely clueless there. My bad. If you know anything about this ATTAM figure (whom I remember hearing only a bit about) that may be important to this theory, plz message me and I'll update this or post something new.

The second thing I have is with the uploader, ReasonableRadish5791. That username is quirky; it’s as if Gerard came up with it. And it’s not like Gerard doesn’t know how to use Reddit, he’s used it multiple times over the past decade for QNA and all that razzmatazz.

And I know, you’re probably like “Asher, why the fuck are you accusing this random stranger on the internet to be Gerard??”, but hear me out.

After stalking their account (I’m sorry btw), I found out that this account was made on July 1st, which was three days before the leak. Isn’t that weird?? It seems like this whole account was made on a whim with the sole purpose of uploading this unreleased / deleted track somewhere it wouldn’t get copyrighted down.

That’s so incredibly odd.. the fact that they seem to know the lyrics too drives me insane. Also, the only other things they’ve done on this account (so far) was post like two things about Hesitant Alien's unseen merch maybe two or so days before they leaked the track, I don’t even know - but then how would they have those too?? They have to have at least SOME relation to Gerard.

That means whoever this person is, is trying to seem less suspicious by having posted two things before the big leak.

That leaves me to further believe that this is one of the members; most likely Frank or Gerard.

Frank because he’s a little gremlin, that dude is literally on the FBI watchlist for Christ’s sake. And Gerard because he confirmed knows how to use Reddit and that witty username, along with the Hesitant Alien posts. Or it could be Frank going undercover as Gerard? Or perhaps them together, knowing how Frank is (I’d assume) staying over at G’s as of right now? The possibilities are endless, as of right now.

The third this is that if it actually WAS some random dude on the internet who somehow managed to get this leak in this scenario, wouldn’t they’ve cleared all this suspicion up already?? You know, like “*so and so* gave me this link and I decided to make this account and upload it bcuz I find this very interesting and Warner is really keen on taking it down on every other sharing platform so Reddit is my final hope to share this neat thing I got my hands on with all you guys” or something like that? They could’ve just done that and as I said earlier, straight up cleared things up.

But they didn’t.

We don’t know this guy. That fact interests me the most. Who is behind that screen? How do they have this access? Who truly are they??? It’s driving me absolutely insane.

And lets say this little teenage piece of emo trash’s theory is somehow correct, what would be the purpose of this leak? This is a deleted album from over a decade ago that all the band members agreed to feeling uncomfortable with the topic, and came to terms of scrapping it for good. Why bring it up again? There’s only one knowledgeable explanation; MCR5.

The band wants - no, NEEDS - to catch our attention in some way, shape, or form. What better way is that then to randomly post songs that weren’t fortunate enough to see the light of day under a secret identity? It all makes sense if you think about it.

They will - and have - successfully catch our attention with those leaks, all as a plan to suddenly (when the time is right) release new songs and most importantly, the long awaited fifth album! And following my later 2 year theory, I wouldn’t be too surprised. Though, I’m honestly shocked that all this is happening, as nothing as big as this happened in 2023. I mean, I didn’t have Tumblr at the time so idk if I missed anything (I probably did but still), but I’m almost 100% certain that this is the biggest thing that happened in the MCRmy since Foundations, Cheerleader Gerard, WWWY 2024, and (I know this isn’t that important but it’s still important) the L.S. Dunes AI drama.

But back to MCR5, all what I know right now is that Mikey is in LA and so is Frank (I dunno about Ray since he’s very private on Social media and I didn’t check yet- 😭), Mikey liked one of Bex’s videos about MCR5 on Insta, Mikey is back in the studio, Frank is presumably chilling at G’s house, Rich G clearly knows something that we don’t, and so does the drummer (I forgot his name sorryyyyy-), Frankie’s fortune cookies post, and probably some more - it’s safe to say that something is definitely up; and my Emo Senses are tingling at an all time high. All of this is heightening my suspicion, it’s kinda starting to make sense in my head.

The fact that the band hasn't yet made a message responding to the situation yet is also oddly suspicious. I kid you not, this leak may actually go into MCR history, and (assuming it's a scandal that they had nothing to do with) they don't say anything?

They would've definitely said something if this wasn't their doing, judging by all the attention it's gathering online.

Now, I don’t really consider myself a full ass MCR CONSPIRACIST, I’m not pulling up the tinfoil hats or anything - and I don’t ever plan to since I’m just doing this bcuz I’m bored - but you have to be honest with me. Something is certainly fishy. Something is happening behind the scenes, and as the secretive and cryptic dorks they are, they’re not letting us know anything. It's up to the chosen Killjoys to crack the codes.

But reminder, I could also be wrong. That ReasonableRadish5791 character could actually be some random dude just chilling on the internet. I could just be overanalysing like the little autistic geek I am. But this seems all too related to be just some random instance.. all of Excalibur’s stuff has watermarks; how is it though that this one suddenly doesn’t? Again, all too coincidental and somewhat staged to be brushed off as some random leak..

If you’re still here, thank you for listening to this little emo teen currently on summer break rant about something as stupid as MCR5 at fucking 12am. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or message me if you find out anything new.

Thank you :]

~~~

Okay here it is 😭 I am a changed person I will take this down later plz don’t hold this against me

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

am I the asshole for backing out of dm-ing for a campaign?

🤖⚡ <- so I can find it later

characters in story (fake names)

me (17m)

cory (19x)

sara (19f)

gray (21x)

I was recently invited to a DND campaign by some people I'm friends/acquaintances with on discord.

For some context, this campaign would be mostly played by first-timers, had a little under ten people, and was mostly comprised of adults. It's a cyberpunk universe extremely different from the standard dnd story, with expansive lore and worldbuilding.

Cory, a friend-of-a-friend suggested I join as I'm a creative and they were interested in seeing me participate. Shortly after I joined they expressed a want for a DM, which I offered to be. I've DM'ed twice before, but only for small groups with standard stories. I assumed that's what this would be, then I was pinged with around 10 multi page google docs, reddit posts, etc. And then around five more people joined.

I invited my friend Gray who has more experience in DND than anyone there, and they joined. Gray doesn't know the group besides Sara briefly, but was happy to participate since they liked the plot synopsis I sent them.

Gray was routinely ignored by everyone except me whenever they talked, and were often railroaded by Cory during character creation anytime they were given the time of day.

I messaged Gray apologizing for it after it happened twice, explained I wasn't close with most of them, etc. Gray was sympathetic and agreed to stay since they had faith in me DMing and the story.

Today I woke up to multiple cases of Gray being ignored. In another server I told Gray I was unsure of my DMing skills, which they understood and suggested I drop out if needbe. I agreed with this. I planned to do it in a day or two,

But this evening I was pinged by Cory suggesting we start the campaign in a week, which is something I absolutely cannot do.

I put my foot down and explained that as a junior in highschool I don't have the time or energy to read thousands of words, write a plot for a couple sessions, and organize the maps for the sessions. I apologized for promising to DM, then dropping out.

Cory was understanding, but Sara, a close friend who knows me a lot more, began saying things like "We need to find someone to DM or all hope is lost" (I am paraphrasing) which caught me off guard. I asked if I could still remain in the server since I really enjoyed the plot and Cory said "If people are okay with it."

I'm honestly pretty hurt by that. To think these people were only going to allow my company if I managed the entire thing is pretty hurtful, but then again I did volunteer. The entire campaign was Cory's idea, so I'm still pretty taken aback they were expecting someone else to DM period. Gray has suggested they and I do a campaign independently which I'd love, but I still feel like I failed Gray and Sara by not delivering the dungeon master I promised.

TLDR, I offered to DM for a group I'm not very close with before realizing it was more than I could handle, and dropped out without much notice.

AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[the-sleepy-archivist]

Blocking Ads on Mobile Devices

Blocking ads on our phones is way harder than it should be so I figured I'd make some recommendations. These are not the only options out there, just the ones that I know and use.

Please note that browser-level and system-level adblocking are complementary; you'll have the best experience if you use both of them together as they each block different things in different places. If you want a basic idea of how effective your combined adblocking setup is, you can visit this website in your mobile browser.

Lastly, there is some additional advice/info under the readmore if you're curious (EDIT: updated June 2024 to add info about sideloading altered versions of social media apps that don't contain ads on Android and iOS).

Android

Browser-Level

uBlock Origin (for Firefox)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard

Blokada 5 (completely free version) OR Blokada 6 (has some newer features but they require a subscription)

iPhone/iPad

Browser-Level

AdGuard (Safari extension; free for basic browser-level blocking, requires a subscription for custom filters)

System-Level (works in all apps, not just browsers)

AdGuard (requires subscription for system-level blocking)

AdGuard DNS only (this is free and does not require the AdGuard app, BUT I would only recommend it for advanced users, as you can't easily turn it off like you can with the app. Credit to this Reddit thread for the DNS profile)

Some additional info: browser-level blocking is a browser addon or extension, like you might be used to from a desktop computer. This inspects the HTML code returned by websites and searches for patterns that identify the presence of an ad or other annoyance (popup videos, cookie agreements, etc.). System-level blocking is almost always DNS-based. Basically whenever an app asks your phone's OS to make a connection to a website that is known for serving ads, the system-level blocker replies "sorry, I don't know her 🤷‍♂️💅" and the ad doesn't get downloaded. This works in most places, not just a browser, but be warned that it might make your battery drain a little faster depending on the app/setup.

Each of those types of blocking has strengths and weaknesses. System-level DNS blocking blocks ads in all apps, but companies that own advertising networks AND the websites those ads are served on can combine their services into the same domain to render DNS blocking useless; you can’t block ads served by Facebook/Meta domains without also blocking all of Facebook and Instagram as well because they made sure their ads are served from the same domain as all the user posts you actually want to see. Similarly, browser-level blocking can recognize ads by appearance and content, regardless of what domain they’re served from, so it can block them on Instagram and Facebook. However, it needs to be able to inspect the content being loaded in order to look for ads, and there’s no way to do that in non-browser apps. That’s why using both together will get you the best results.

These limitations do mean that you can’t block ads in the Facebook or Instagram apps, unfortunately, only in the website versions of them visited in your browser. It also means ads served by meta’s/facebook’s ad network in other apps can’t be blocked either (unless you're one of the rare beasts who doesn't use facebook or instagram or threads, in which case feel free to blacklist all Meta/FB domains and watch your ads disappear 😍; I'm jealous and in awe of you lol).

One note: some apps may behave unpredictably when they can't download ads. For example, the Tumblr app has big black spaces where the ads are, and sometimes those spaces collapse as you scroll past them and it messes up scrolling for a few seconds (UPDATE: looks like the scrolling issue may have actually been a Tumblr bug that they have now fixed, at least on iOS). Still way less annoying than getting ads for Draco Malfoy seduction roleplay AI chatbots imo though. And honestly *most* apps handle this fairly gracefully, like a mobile game I play just throws error messages like "ad is not ready" and then continues like normal.

One final note: on Android, you may actually be able to find hacked versions of Meta’s apps that have the ad frameworks removed. In some cases they are a little janky (unsurprisingly, apps don’t always take kindly to having some of their innards ripped out by a third-party), and they are often out of date. BUT in return you get an Instagram app with no ads whatsoever, and some of them even add additional features like buttons for saving IG videos and photos to your phone. However, use these apps at your own risk, as there is functionally no way to validate the code that the third-parties have added or removed from the app. Example altered IG app (I have not vetted this altered app, it's just a popular option): link.

It is technically possible to install altered apps on iOS as well, but Apple makes it much, much harder to do (unless you are jailbroken, which is a whole different ballgame). I'm not going to cover sideloading or jailbreaking here because even I as a very techy person eventually grew tired of messing with it or having to pay for it. If you're interested you can read more about the different ways to do sideloading on iOS here.

[toutvatoujoursbien]

Do you ever feel like this is a little too much of an echo chamber of people feeding each other crazy ideas so much that it becomes truth? I am floored by the N/L chemistry and would love them together if that’s what they want but they have never said that and it is feeling weird. Sometimes I feel gaslighted! I read something on Reddit about fandoms in general following this same pattern and I wonder if I have turned into a tin-hatter myself by shipping them (first time I have ever followed celebs like this). I hope this doesn’t get me blocked. I am feeling a little uneasy lately (I really lead a very normal life with plenty of friends and family and I “touch grass”) but just wondering if I am alone.

Anon, thank you for being brave and sending this ask. I know the past 24-ish hours have been absolutely insane in the fandom and I can understand that if anyone has a different opinion, they might be hesitant to share it (and I'm talking about BOTH sides of this "argument" right now - I know people are feeling riled up right now but everyone, please take some deep breaths). I want to make sure I'm answering your ask with thoughtfulness and sincerity, so here goes:

(Also, I started answering this ask at around 11 am EDT, so before some bombs started being revealed, IYKYK. So apologies, my brain is all over the place rn.)

I think it's totally possible to enter an "echo chamber" when it comes to fandoms and shipping. I will use myself as an example with how I was getting a lot of my info when I started in this fandom at the beginning of the year. I was really only on Twitter (cringe, I know...) and because I was interacting with one specific portion of the fandom, I had a skewed view of the whole situation. You are what your algorithm gives you on social media/what you teach it 😅 And even though I don't necessarily enjoy seeing certain things on my feed or timeline, at least for me here on Tumblr, it feels mostly less toxic.

I also think it's really understandable to feel gaslighted about the entire press tour and N/L's relationship. We watched dozens and dozens of interviews, behind-the-scenes and promos and I don't think it's a coincidence that so many in the general audience started to question whether or not they were dating. Like I keep saying, the chemistry is fucking off the charts between them. (Edit to add: I also don't think so many would have stumbled head over feet into this ship if it also wasn't for the deep and long-term friendship between them. I know that's what drew me in, for sure. There is HISTORY there.)

IMO, as much as we joke about our delulu and whatnot, I feel like as long as you're respectful and keep it to the appropriate corners of the internet, I don't think you've turned into a tin-hatter. The problem is when folks take it to their pages and/or feel entitled to individuals behaving a certain way, like an expectation is the given. Another issue I see is when projection starts to overtake para-social relationships. Lastly, I also want to emphasize that fandom/shipping is supposed to be fun and if you aren't feeling it anymore, then it's perfectly okay to take a break or move on.

Your feelings of unease are totally legitimate and you're allowed to sit in your thoughts and take time to process them!

For me personally, I'm taking the latest "photographic evidence" with grains of salt. I'm just not sure I believe a narrative other than N and JD are in the same friend group - a friend group who all attended the same festival for the most part. I'm also not sure what I think about these photos being dropped a week afterwards; the timing of all the various events over the past week is enough to raise my eyebrows, for sure.

I will also say - and this is probably an unpopular opinion - but if this rumored relationship turns out to be completely true - I will have the same issues about a power imbalance between N and JD because of their age, life experience, etc. I just have a hard time believing N, a woman near my age, would ever consider dating someone so young (and yep, aware that this is projection on my part). I just can't help but wonder that Nicola, someone we've witnessed be very private about her dating life over the last several years, has been so openly "caught" with JD without it raising my suspicions. It's at least enough to make me pause and question it all, you know? I won't get too deep into my conspiracy theories (maybe for a later post).

Anyway, I'm not sure if this has made you feel better, Anon. But I want you to know that you aren't alone. I'm always here to listen if you have any further asks 💕

[wutherwaves]

hello! may i ask for advice how to build calcharo and aalto? tysm!

ofc! as always a lot of this is STC, subjective, and i'm always open to editing in any differing information from others

this one'll be a bit long so i'll put the whole thing under a read more ^^

additionally, let me know if i should create a tag for these posts? or if i should be putting them in the main tags (wuwa tags and char tags)?

sources used:

wuthering.gg (most info) | prydwen.gg (echo set effects)

CALCHARO

BASIC NOTION - calcharo is a main DPS (eating up a lot of field time). his kit largely revolves around comboing his skill and heavy attacks (HA), though his resonance liberation also buffs his basic attacks (BA)

as a DPS, calcharo will want attack, both crits, electro damage bonus, and potentially a little energy regen

TEAMMATES - he pairs well with yinlin, whose outro skill will buff electro DMG for the next resonator by +20% for 14 sec or until swapping again

(she also buffs resonance lib. dmg but this only affects his initial burst on lib.)

he can also pair well with mortefi, as his outro buffs heavy attack damage by +38% for the same above conditional duration

-

WEAPON CHOICES

5* - Verdant Summit [CRIT DMG]. (limited - Jiyan's signature) resonance DMG (skill + lib.) up by +12%. when either is cast, HA DMG is increased by +24% up to 2x, for up to 14 seconds.

4* - choose what applies best for you out of Autumntrace [CRIT RATE] and Helios Cleaver [ATK%] -> the former buffs ATK by 10% after BA or HA, up to 3x, for up to 10 sec -> the latter buffs ATK by 3% every 2 sec over 12 sec (6x) up to 4x.

3* - Guardian Broadblade [ATK%]. BA and HA DMG is buffed by +12%

-

ECHO CHOICES

SET – 5-piece Electro (Electro DMG +10% + after HA or Resonance Skill, Electro DMG +15% x2 temporarily) (peak of +40% Electro DMG)

EVENT RECOMMENDATION – Violet-Feathered Heron [3] (see echo summon event post)

at maximum terminal level, 12 cost points can be invested into echoes over 5 slots. your ideal setup may be:

4-cost – Tempest Mephis (not to be confused with Thundering Mephis; Tempest buffs HA DMG after use)

3-costs (2) – Violet-Feathered Heron and Flautist

1-costs (2) – this one is a mixed bag, but i would personally choose Vanguard Junrock, Electro Predator, and Fission Junrock

feel free to also check out sidneymar's guide for calcharo for other opinions! (reddit with image | video)

AALTO

BASIC NOTION - aalto is a DPS (likely sub DPS) that largely utilizes creating mist on certain basic attacks (BA's) and skill. when this mist is shot through, it deals extra DMG

as a DPS, aalto wants attack, both crits, and aero DMG. however, if you desire to play him as a main DPS, you will likely need to invest in energy regen as his resonance liberation has a higher energy cost than most other characters (150 vs 125)

TEAMMATES - he may benefit from taoqi, whose outro skill buffs skill DMG +38% for 14 seconds or until swap. otherwise, he works great as a buffer for other aero characters, being the one to give an aero buff on outro!

-

WEAPON CHOICES

5* - Static Mist [CRIT RATE]. (only 5* pistol as of 1.0) this buffs his utility as a sub DPS for other units, as using an outro skill will buff the ATK of the party by 10% for a short while. also comes with 12.8% energy regen

4* - all have their perks! choose what suits you best out of Cadenza [ENERGY REGEN], Undying Flame [ATK%], Novaburst [ATK%], and Thunderbolt [ATK%].

3* - choose from Guardian Pistols [ATK%] or Pistols of Night [ATK%]

-

ECHO CHOICES

SET – 5-piece Aero (Aero DMG +10% + after Intro Skill, Aero DMG +30% temporarily) (peak of +40% Aero DMG)

note that, if attempting to make him largely stay on the field / main DPS, 2pc Aero / 2 pc Attack is fine, but not covered here

EVENT RECOMMENDATION – Chaserazor (may be called Carapace) [3] (see echo summon event post)

at maximum terminal level, 12 cost points can be invested into echoes over 5 slots. your ideal setup may be:

4-cost – Feilian Beringal

3-costs (2) – choose from Cyan-Feathered Heron, Hoochief, and Chaserazor (Carapace)

1-costs (2) – Whiff Whaff, Hooscamp Flinger, and Chirpuff

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

Between You and Me

A prompt from @bloodgulchblog for the phrase "Between you and me, Big guy's a little shy." Very much inspired by this art from reddit user InvalidMedia - check it out.

-

If he closed his eyes, he could inhale the morning air and listen to the trill of insects and imagine he's home. He remembers the air of Charybdis IX away from Scyllion and other loud mining towns, full of life. Down from the wharf and up the river where the water made the air damp and the vegetation softened the sound of progress. Zeta Halo's air clings to him now. A second skin, or really a third, since he feels covered in dirt, sweat, and who knows what else.

There's no sound of a river. Only the slow flowing water swirling in the retention pond before him and a handful of other marines. Too perfect to be natural. Too clear to pass up. It was a bathing day. Some stood guard while those who drew the first straws bathed in the cool morning mist. He'd have preferred to have gone later or maybe in the midday sun when it wasn't so cold. But beggars can't be choosers, a little bracing water is good for the body.

And it would help with any stray thoughts about Chief as one of their lookouts. There wasn't anything going on between them except Fernando's twisted hope that he was worth caring about Chief and that Chief would learn to care about himself. It didn't matter now. It wasn't the time.

He wasn't the only Spartan on duty, but he drew the most eyes. Fernando almost wanted to laugh. He'd never bathed under armed guard before.

He stripped quickly a few feet from the shore and made his way into the water with little complaint. He couldn't help the hiss at the cold but he dunked himself under the surface quickly and came up with his teeth chattering. A quick bath then.

Scrubbing himself with a rag from his supplies and some sand from the shore made him reminisce about camping. They had to make do. He tried not to wrinkle his nose in disgust as the water turned filthy around him. Others were having the same issue, if the loud calls and splashing were anything to go by. He scratched at his beard and waded a little further in to dunk himself in a cleaner spot.

He wasn't expecting slippery metal beneath the silt and a sudden drop. He sank beneath the surface with a yelp and flailed back up clumsily. Just in time to notice the attention he attracted.

Chief was already past the shoreline and moving towards him when Fernando resurfaced and cleared his airways.

The cool water did nothing to stop the color in his cheeks as Chief nodded at him and returned to his post.

Some other crew swam up to check on him as well and he tried waving them off, but to no avail.

"Chief's got his eye on you. Thought he was going dive in after you went down." One marine said, grinning goodnaturedly.

"I'd hope he'd take the armor off first." Another marine shot back.

"You're his pilot, right?"

"His pilot?"

"Yeah! One he calls in and brings us vehicles. You're that guy."

"Uh, yeah. That's me!" He chuckles nervously. He's incredibly aware of how he must look like a drowned rat.

"You must know him pretty well."

"I-I mean. He saved me? But he does that for everyone."

"Come on guys, leave the pilot alone. We got a few minutes left before we're out and some of you look as bad as you did before getting in."

That gets the small crowd to disperse and Fernando breathes a sigh of relief. Until he realizes there's one last hanger-on. It's some young ensign type, barely had any weapons training before it all went to hell.

"What's he like?" He nods to Chief and Fernando's heart speeds up. "He hovers around you. It's kind of funny watching marines follow him when he's always following you."

Fernando swallows. "Between you and me? Big guy's a little shy."

The ensign nods solemnly like he's being trusted with top secret info. And maybe in a way he is.

He swims off to trail after his buddies and leaves Fernando still thinking about his words. Chief stayed. He always comes back, or checks in. Even when Fernando doesn't think he's worth it.