#i love maps and charts etc

[nedlittle]

hello besties and worsties i require your assistance

i'm trying to read at least one book from all 197-ish countries over the course of a few years and need RECOMMENDATIONS! any type of book is accepted, though i lean mainly towards historical fiction, literary fiction, and classics.

the book doesn't have to take place in that country but would be preferred! my only requirement is that the author be from said country, either living there/spending most of their life there or through diaspora (i.e. it felt wrong to exclude clarice lispector for brazil but i'm also reading a book by an afro-brazilian author)

starting with europe, here's my map thus far!

countries i've already read from are orange and countries on my tbr for are green. i'm still looking for books from the following countries: andorra, cyprus, czechia, kosovo, latvia, lithuania, liechtenstein, luxembourg, malta, portugal, san marino, slovakia, slovenia, and switzerland.

if you have a book for a country i've already filled in, feel free to rec it anyway! the only countries i'm not actively seeking recs for (bc i've read several books/have several on my tbr) are the uk, norway, denmark, russia, and ukraine

[mamawasatesttube]

someone sent me an ask about timkon love square au stuff and i, dingus that i am, accidentally deleted it instead of answering 😭 i forgot who sent it BUT hopefully they will see this post. because yes! i think it's very fun if they manage to get into a true ridiculous love square situation between themselves and their hero identities. i have created a chart to illustrate:

the thing that fascinates me about kon and secret identities is that while tim is great at compartmentalizing and separating "tim drake" from "robin" or "red robin" (to a frankly kind of concerning degree? tim are you fucking good?), kon is... not. conner kent comes later, after kon-el. he's a hero first, and only starts to learn how to be a regular person after that. this is in direct contrast to tim, who is by all counts a mostly normal kid before he becomes robin, and has to learn to be a hero.

for kon, secret identities are therefore tied directly to trust. he doesn't have a secret to protect for a long time! and when he finds out that superman does have a secret identity, it kinda blows him away. he's shocked that superman isn't just superman all the time. before he even learns that, he expresses that it's nice in smallville, that it must be nice to have a place to "fall off the map" (superman '87 #155). when he does learn superman's identity, he's upset that superman never told him, not because he feels like he's entitled to that information but because he feels like he's failed to be someone superman would trust with it (superboy '84 #70). to me, that feeling is the crux of why he's so upset about tim not sharing his identity in yj98: everyone else in the group has deemed him worthy, like cissie and cassie and bart. so what has he done to tim, that tim won't tell him or any of them? (and like, he's 15-16, he's not grasping the whole picture, sure. but it's not just coming from a place of entitlement, is my point. it's about trust and feeling unvalued.)

BUT in an au where the supers are more closed off from the rest of the world or something, where literally anyone but karl kesel got to control kon's narrative, kon would have a secret identity earlier on, because he'd end up at the kents' way sooner, etc. so suddenly he has to grapple with a whole new set of feelings: that superman has trusted him with his biggest secret, and brought him into the family as part of it, and he can't let superman down. so he has to learn to make those distinctions, to accept that people can trust him and he can trust them and that's why they don't share their identities with each other until circumstances dictate it's actually a good time.

so. let's say tim somehow ends up in smallville for a bit, has absolutely NO idea that the superfam even have secret identities, and kon's going aaaa!!! aaaaaa!!! why is red robin here!!!! ma whatever you do DON'T look at him!!!! and meanwhile tim's going oh god i think i'm bisexual but i didn't know that that means i might like TWO boys?!?!? oh god. oh fuck. (he may be stupid.)

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Someone New 8

No tag lists. Do not send asks or DMs about updates. Review my pinned post for guidelines, masterlist, etc.

Warnings: this fic will include angst, pining, romcom tropes, and some darker elements later in the series. Some triggers may not be specifically tagged. My warnings are not exhaustive, enter at your own risk.

This fic will contain explicit content. 18+ only. Your media consumption is your own responsibility. Warnings have been given. DO NOT PROCEED if these matters upset you.

Summary: You've had a crush on your best friend for years, but you're slapped in the face with reality when he takes things to the next level with his girlfriend.

Characters: Steve Rogers, Thor

Note: nice to see ya again!

As per usual, I humbly request your thoughts! Reblogs are always appreciated and welcomed, not only do I see them easier but it lets other people see my work. I will do my best to answer all I can. I’m trying to get better at keeping up so thanks everyone for staying with me.

Your feedback will help in this and future works (and WiPs, I haven’t forgotten those!) Please do not just put ‘more’. I will block you.

I love you all immensely. Take care. 💖

Thor makes himself as permanent as the layers of sediment. Whether you’re in the dirt or looking over the charts and maps, making notes or sorting through your findings, he appears. Knowing he’ll be there keeps you coming yourself. Despite the short nights and long drives, thinking of him finding an empty site deters you from a day off, even against Sam’s pleas. 

The night before was filled with similar chiding from your friend. Sam is as persistent as ever. He always has a new account of his antics with Bucky and never forgets to tell you to take a break. You can’t stop though. You know if you do, you’ll have to think about everything you’re denying. 

The time away has given you time to breathe but it’s suffocated you in new ways. Along with that weight on your chest that has a name, there’s another you can’t quite understand. The one that sees you spending your spare hours alone and your working hours longing for anything but. You’re desperate to get out but terrified of the very same. 

When he arrives that day, you’re ready to give up. The tension in the air is giving you a headache and the dampness makes your skin feel sticky. You just feel gross. 

“Ah, I didn’t think you’d brave the weather today,” he muses as Thunder hops around his feet. You don’t look up, in a mood as grim as the sky. “You’d do well to stay in tomorrow. Trust me.” 

He’s always right about the weather. It must be the familiarity and yet it’s almost eerie how accurate he is. You might take his advice. You don’t like being wet and you’re starting to go cross-eyed from the hours and hours of concentration. 

Thunder yipes as you use your gloves to brush away clumps of dirt. Thor’s footsteps mulch patches of grass that sparsely carpet the dirt. He hums as his shadows looms in your peripheral. 

“Yes, my darling, I believe you’ve found the perfect spot,” he praises. 

You look over curiously. What is he talking about? You only notice then that he has more than the tiny dog with him. He has a basket on his elbow and a blanket under his arm. You sit up and watch him place down the former and shake out the latter.  

He spreads the blanket over the dirt and Thunder jumps onto it, rolling around on the fabric, digging her nose into the patched quilt as she wiggles across it. You clap off your hands and watch him as he gets down to his knees and flips open one side of the basket. He lays out several containers and two thermos’; one is the very same he brought you tea in.  

“I thought you could use a nice lunch before the weather turns,” he stands and nears the fence, “summer doesn’t last long here. You may as well enjoy it.” 

“Lunch?” You utter. 

“Brunch?” He suggest coyly. “Surely you can take a break. You are only human, you need to eat.” 

“You...” you lean to see around him, “you brought me lunch?” 

“I know it isn’t the most elaborate picnic but I thought it might be a pleasant surprise. I must confess I’ve been rather bored these days,” he admits, “so?” 

“Thor, that’s so... sweet,” you frown, “but...” 

“Work, work, work. Surely they can’t expect you to work yourself to the bone, pardon the pun,” he insists, “it will only be a bit.” 

“Yes, but...” you leave the sentence to hang. You don’t have a good excuse. You don’t know. It just makes you nervous. It’s a whole lot of effort for just you.  

“Oh, I don’t mind if you would rather stay over there. Only mean more for, eh, Thunder?” He asks the canine tramping around the blanket. “More than happy to sit here and enjoy my jelly cookies and hot coffee. 

“Coffee?” Your brows raise. 

“Freshly brewed. Promise, There’s nothing pickled. Though I don’t mind a nice herring,” he grins. 

Thunder bounces over and barks at you. She stands on her hind legs as she paws at the barrier between you. Now, how can you deny her? 

You stand and shed your gloves. You carry them over to the table beneath the tent and grab a wet wipe from the back. You come back under the open sky as you wipe your hands. 

“Sorry about all the dirt,” you scoff as you cross the dirt. 

“I don’t mind,” he assures you. He pulls apart the panels of the fence to let you through. It isn’t something you could ever forget but you can’t help but be stricken again by his sheer size. 

You bend to pet Thunder as she gets between your feet. She licks your fingers and you giggle. She’s cute. 

“Go on, pick her up,” Thor goads, “she loves it.” 

You scoop up the dog and stand. She squirms as she wags her tail incessantly. She swipes your chin with her tongue and you scrunch up your face. You carry her to the blanket and look over the spread. A leafy salad, pasta salad, sandwiches, cookies... There’s so much. Your protein bars and peanut butter and jelly can’t compare. 

“Oh gosh, this... a lot.” 

“Is it? Isn’t too much. We’re friends, yes?” 

“Friends?” You face him as you pet Thunder’s soft head. 

“Perhaps it is rather one-sided. You are obligated to be here, I just sort of haunt this place,” he chuckles. 

“No, no, friends,” you smile, “that sounds about right.” 

You turn away and lower yourself onto the blanket, sure to keep your boots off of it, as you hide your face. There’s a tinge of disappointment. You hear a far off echo in your head. How many times did Steve say the same; we’re friends, just friends, you’re such a good friend. Well, that’s all this is. No need to be so sensitive. 

“Do you ever take time off?” He asks as he gets to his knees. 

You look at him as you put Thunder down. He barely keeps her from chomping down on a rye crust. He lifts her easily and she kicks her legs. 

“Eh, you beast,” he points a finger at her snout, “be good.” 

He sets her back on her paws and she obeys. He tells her to sit and she does so. Her eyes continue to hungrily rove over the food. How can he resist them? 

“Like you said, the weather won’t last. Should get done what I can before the ground gets cold.” 

“Ah, yes, that is a concern,” he tuts, “how would you deal with that?” 

“Heat lamps, tiger torch... jackhammer if I really need but I’d have to put in a request for that...” you hadn’t thought too much into the inevitability of winter.  

“Ah, that’s...” he smirks, “I’m sorry but the idea of you with a jackhammer,” he snorts. 

“Hey,” you pout. 

“It isn’t to be mean but... you’re so gentle. When you dig, you’re so delicate about it.” 

“Am I?” You wonder. 

“Mm, is it a bit weird to say so?” He wonders aloud. “Yes, you are very precise, very cautious.” He takes out a set of plates and offers you one, “please, help yourself.” 

“It must be boring watching. Really, I’m the one digging and it gets dull,” you accept and pluck out one of the sandwiches. Salmon, you think. 

“You make it interesting,” he muses. “You talk to the bones.” 

“I talk to the bones?” You repeat, “what?” 

“Yes, I suppose you’re not aware of it. But your lips move when you’re focused. As if you’re chatting up the dirt,” he chuckles, “sometimes a few words do slip out.” 

“They do?” You blanch before you can help yourself to the salad. 

“You don’t say much. Usually something about the dishes, I’m not too sure.” 

“You never mentioned,” you look away shyly. 

“It’s... cute,” he shrugs. 

“You mean crazy,” you shake your head. 

“I say what I mean,” he counters. “No use in not. We can’t be happy if we’re not honest, not least of all with ourselves.” 

You’re quiet as you turn your attention to your plate. His words feel sharp despite his placid tone. You know it’s only because they’re true, especially for you. If you’d just accepted everything sooner, if you hadn’t been so dumb, if you hadn’t been so emotional, it would never have gotten so bad. No, if you’d just been honest. 

“I hope... I hope that didn’t come off wrong,” he says. 

“No, no, I’m... this all looks so good and I’m starving,” you assure him as you sit back with your plate. “Thank you again. This is... great.” 

“Well, I was thinking, you must miss your friends. I might be a paltry substitute but I thought i might fill that gap, even just for an hour.” 

“It’s really...” your eyes tingle but you push away the tinge of sadness, “it’s really nice.” 

“So tell me,” he scoops up salad onto his plate, “tell me about home.” 

“I...” you begin, surprised by the prompt. “It’s just home. New York. It’s busy and loud. Not like here.” 

“No, not that. Your friends. I want to know all about them. If I’m ever going to come up standards, I’ve got to know the competition.” 

You laugh. He speaks as if he needs to impress you. It’s nice to be somewhere where no one knows you’re not that special. You take a bite of the sandwich and chew, thinking out your question.  

You swallow, “well, my friend Sam, he calls every night to bitch at me. He’s great. Supportive but pushy. He likes to terrorise Bucky. He’s the strong and silent type, you know? Grumpy to boot but they’re... they’re awesome.” You smile without thinking, “before I left, they took me to this cocktail bar...” you blow out between your lips and roll your eyes, “real girly stuff.” 

“Ooh, cocktails. I’ve been known to indulge. I love finding new recipes.” 

“Really?” 

“Oh, yes, I love the sweet ones. I’ve only just perfected my blueberry basil concoction. I’m afraid I can’t share the secret ingredient unfortunately.” 

“Blueberry?” You ponder the flavour, “sounds yummy.” 

“Perhaps one day you can try it,” he suggest. 

“Maybe,” you say evasively. “Anyway, yeah, Sam and Bucky are... characters.” 

“They sound like it. How’d you meet?” 

“Oh, it’s boring. What about you?” 

“It’s not my turn,” he deflects, “tell me.” 

You don’t know why he cares. It’s as confounding as everything else about him. You still don’t get why he’s here watching you sit in the dirt. It sounds as grueling as watching a golfing tournament, in your opinion. Yet here he is, a man who looks like that, staring at you in your mud-stained khakis. 

“College. We met through a mutual friend,” you explain vaguely. 

“Ah, so you’ve been friends for some time. Yes, I see, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do,” he hums thoughtfully as he toys with the braid that hangs loose by his face, the rest of his hair twisted back as always. 

“Steve,” you say without thinking, your eyes drifting off into the distance, “he was my best friend. We met in art history. We spent almost every day together. Studying, whatever. He was more of a partier than me but... fifteen years, more than, and we saw each other...” You choke on your words and scoff darkly, “sorry, that’s... I’m homesick, I think.” 

You bat away the glaze in your eyes and focus on your food. You take a few bites as he sits quietly. Thunder stands up cautiously and crosses the blanket. She settles against your leg, leaning her head on your thigh. It’s comforting. 

“Yes, I think I would be very homesick as well. I lived in the city for a while but mother and father, they need me. And I love this mountain. It’s home. There was nothing in Oslo for me. I can work from here.” 

“Work? What exactly do you do?” You ask, happy to divert from your own painful past. “Oo, are you like a farmer? Or a shepherd. There must be sheep up here or something.” 

He laughs, “there are some sheep, yes, but those are protected by the government. We’ve not much of a choice where they settle. No, I’m not so savvy as all that.” 

“Hm, you... oh, what could do you here?” You look around, “on a mountain... oh, tours? Do you give tours?” 

He laughs, “it’s not a bad idea, but no. I’m a business owner.” 

“A business. You must sell fitness or something.” 

“Must I?” He narrows his eyes, “and what else do you assume about me?” 

“Oh, it’s only you’re so...” you cringe as you eke out the word, “big?” 

“Genetics,” he affirms, “not that but close, in a matter of looking at it. You recall that tea I brought you, with the cloudberry?” 

“Uh, yeah, it was sweet. Yummy.” 

“I’m happy you enjoyed it,” he smiles proudly, “I make superblends. All Nordic ingredients. There is a demand for wellness and organic products. I found the right niche and I’ve not done too badly.” 

“Must not if you can live all the way up here,” you remark. 

“Yes, but... it’s a reason I moved back. Business is a lonely venture. Now I’ve got it all figured out, I have my managers and my business plan, I break even, I realise how much I put to the side,” he mulls his sandwich and takes a glum bite. It’s the first time you’ve seen him anything but bright and beaming, “I feel like I’ve fallen behind. Like I’m playing catch up.” 

His words sink in and storm inside of you. You crunch on the crisp lettuce and gulp. You wipe your mouth with a napkin and clear your throat. 

“I know exactly what you mean,” you say breathily. 

“Do you? You’re out here, on an adventure all you’re own, how brave,” his voice is wistful and his gray blue eyes reminds you of the clouds above. 

“Yes, I know,” you say, “better than you. Trust me.” 

You smile, a bittersweet tug in your cheeks, and he stares back at you. Your eyes cling to each other and you feel as if the world is moving around you. He smiles and a glimmer of something unfurls in your chest. You make yourself look away. 

“Well,” you push the salad around your plate, “what about you? You must have friends, aside from the girl in the dirt.” 

He hums and scrapes up a bite of the pasta salad. He takes his time chewing before he answers. You scratch Thunder’s nose as she sniffs at your plate. 

“Yes, if you ever come to sample my cocktails, you might meet a few,” he coaxes, “I think you’d get along. Hogan and Vol, and Fandy. All good company. Sif’s not around so often when my brother’s around but he’s as fleeting as the sun.” He tuts, “I would call Loki a friend as well but he does scowl at the very thought.” 

“Loki?” 

“My brother of course,” he explains with , “yes, he is quite the dour one. He might get along with that Bucky.” 

[harmoonix]

♥️ Learn how to love every SINGLE placement in your birth/natal chart (tips and list) ♥️

°💮°💮°💮°💮°💮°💮°💮°💮°💮°💮°💮°💮°💮

♥️ First, let's start with the definition of your birth chart, your birth chart or your astrological natal chart is supposed and meant to show your whole life stages, your destiny, challenges good and bad things, your cosmic journey!! Is like a map and you learn to discover yourself more and more with every placement you have!!♥️

Is heavily used by people who believe or have their own beliefs in astrology and spirituality, it was also used by most of our ancestors back in the times where it wasn't crazy to believe in astrology!!

Tips of how to learn to love every single placement/aspect in your natal/birth chart:

Try to start and read about placements in your natal chart, try to take it on stages, first start to read about your sun sign, the sun placement,the house of your sun sign then move into next planet as you wish or you like, just try to like not get dizzy and to do in order

Always think that even though birth charts can show or indicate some "challenges" or difficulties those hardships are for your own great good, so is not like some bad things happen to you and those bad things will stay in your life forever...NO don't think it that way, think as they will learn you something and you will learn something from them and then those things will go away!

Every sign is beautiful in their own way, yes there is some astro-beauty thing going on tumblr where some placements in your natal chart can indicate some specific things about your beauty and appearance, but is very important to not feel like you are not included!! No Venus sign is better or more beautiful than the OTHER!! All Venus signs are pretty in their own ways!! Just because someone has their Venus in Scorpio or Libra and you don't, that doesn't MAKE YOU less beautiful or less appreciated

Try to not always read negative things about your placements, yes is good sometimes to read about the dark side of some of your placements but if you constantly read negative things about your placements you can start to hate them because of the generalization in some aspects/placements in your natal chart based on some astrologers observations

Not every astrologer on this app is gonna describe placements or aspects in positive ways, for real some of them really just like to get into the dark or bad side from the start and you'll feel like your placements are bad and that is not good!! You can get depressed too just from the vibe of the post 😵

DON'T listen to generalizations!!! Some people may get hurt or jealous/envy whatever on some placements/aspects etc..and I don't see where this may come from because even if jealousy is a natural human feeling it still doesn't make sense because every chart is beautiful and amazing in their own ways! As I said some people may get hurt and start to generalize a single placement in that chart and from that thing, stereotypes rise up and bring confusion and negativity

Try to find people who you can share the same placements/aspects with, for example I'm lucky enough to have people in my life who happens to study/read about those natal charts and it happens for us to share the same placements in our birth charts and we start to talk about like the pro and contra on that specific placement and at the end of the day is just us trying to discover more about ourselves and liking that placement more and more

Be always open to hearing/reading new things about your placements, is that type of excitement who makes you happy to have that specific placement or aspect in your birth chart and you can feel happy at the end of the day, try and do it like me... I have Saturn in the 7th house in almost all my charts (not my natal chart one though) at first I thought is a bad placement but after I read more and more about it, it makes you to realize is not a bad placement at all and is just the generalization who made it to be in the way it is now in the media/online

♥️ If you think or feel bad about your placements from reading some astro observations on this app, you can always search them on google/safari or whatever searching site you use, there are so many sites out there who talk about placements and aspects in the online!! Sometimes you need to be careful to not fell in a trap while reading about it ♥️

If you have read about the Sidereal or Vedic and even Draconic chart those can apply as well to this post !!

- If you have any thoughts or suggestions to add, feel free to write it in the comments and I will add them in this post ♥️♥️♥️ with all the love, bless you all ♥️

H a r m o o n i x ♥️♥️♥️♥️

[writers-potion]

so ive seen quite a few different character profile templates but i was wondering if you knew of anything similar to those to help us organize the key relationships in our writing?

Organizing Character Relationships

Create a Character Relationship Chart

There are two main methods I use. For a story with a relatively smaller cast, I draw a kind of mindmap or family tree type diagram with my main character in the middle. All the other characters will be a web of relationships surrounding the main character:

made with Excalidraw

Vary the size of the character profile according to importance

Color-code the relationship type (family, friend, acquaintance)

Use different types of lines to denote different kind of relationships

Make use of icons (like a star) to mark people who belong to the same organization/school, etc.

You can use a group of people as one entity

Make it intuitive!

For stories where the cast list is long, or where all the side characters basically know each other (such as in a classroom setting where pretty much everyone knows everyone), I use a table format:

The table is two-way. Below the gray area is what the column character thinks about the row character, and above the table denotes what the column character thinks about the corresponding row character.

Color code important relationships

Use different types of font for love, hate, mutual rivalry, etc.

You can choose to insert intuitive icons instead of text!

Mapping out Character Development

The last step is to bring in the element of time between the characters, because their relationship is going to change/evolve over time.

You can just make a different bullet point for different stages of their relationship.

You can make two of the character relationship chart: one for the beginning and one for the end.

Or, you can denote to using relationship tropes, i.e. friends-to-enemies, friends-to-lovers, enemies-to-lovers, etc.

Hope this helps :)

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

[ranticore]

well i'm having fun with gradients

i made this greyscale reference kobold so i could mess around with different skin colours. oh god i love charts so much i love making charts. none of this is useful i just love a reference image

kobolds live exclusively in caves and come in two biotypes, a 'warm' type and a 'cold' type. these are always mutually exclusive; you won't find mixed groups. this is because cold types (which also have full hair coats; the above are all warm types) start to appear in a population when the cave they live in has no heat source/dragon. the cold type population is essentially a resting stage & all female, living harsh lives with low production until a dragon returns to the cave. then, the cold type will give rise to a warm population which is mixed sex and highly productive & energetic. so a population of only a few dozen cold types will experience a significant baby boom and rapid population expansion in the months immediately following the settling of a new dragon into their cave.

the warm types (pictured) still venture outside the radius of warm atmosphere generated by the dragon and they have only rudimentary material technology (highly dependent on the other cave fauna & exploitable resources), so warmth is retained not by heavy clothing but by selectively altering blood flow & tissue composition in areas of the body likely to lose a lot of warmth such as the hands/feet/tail/etc, making these areas almost ectothermic and capable of retaining normal cell function in hypothermic conditions. this habit also has the side effect of altering the pigment in the skin, so that a kobold's skin colour is a heat map of its own body. the colours themselves are hereditary and eclectic. most would-be predators in the cave are blind anyway so blending in isn't a top priority. the dominant colours will fluctuate naturally depending on external conditions and are in an ever-shifting state. a dead kobold turns a solid cold phase colour (the end right on the gradient).

when the dragon leaves/dies/etc, the warm population dies with it, replaced again by cold types whose entire body surface would just be solid coloured cold phase. thus cultural canon among most colonies is that men are temporary blips in the general timeline of a colony, as few caves are large enough to contain a fully grown dragon, and therefore a young dragon that settles will usually outgrow it and leave. caves large enough for mature dragons often support very advanced warm type colonies which have been developing for decades if not longer.

[aceptical]

Honestly I would love a Splatoon game geared at a 13+ / older audience- or even one still aimed at the same audience that really addresses the topics it brings up.

Splatoon covers darker / more mature topics. Child soldiers shooting each other, invading the land of another species for profit, suppressing another species for over a literal century, how extreme fame affects people, being ostracized / “found out” for being different, being terrified of change, etc. but it never really covers them.

They are there: especially when you look into things like the sunken scrolls or resources outside of the game, but that’s kind of it. And that’s fine!! You don’t have to address them more obviously if you don’t want to. It’s a kids game first and foremost (and even if that isn’t really a great excuse, whatever).

But I would love a game that delves more into these topics, or just getting into these characters heads more. Using outside information and reasoning stuff, we can analyze basically every character well, but we never really see any confirmation in the game for most of it. We know from the relationship chart and the squid sisters stories and whatnot that Callie willingly went to the Octarians, likely due to the pressure of fame and being on her own, but this is never really explored in the game which sucks because there’s so much potential there! Comments on how fame affects people, escapism, and Callie’s, essentially inability, to be alone (since she’s able to step back into the spotlight again once she has Marie with her, both with the squid sisters performances obv but also the news/map announcement thing). And I get that that’s not the story they were trying to tell, but it would be so nice to have a game that delves into this stuff rather than leaving it off to the side where most of the playerbase probably doesn’t know about it.

Splatoon has a really big problem with exploring character’s darker parts of them / adding complexity to characters. Take Callie again: hypnosis cannot make you do anything that you don’t want to do, so hypno Callie’s personality was still Callie, just those darker parts. And that’s just- kind of ignored, past a few one liners (deep cut’s introduction scene.) Then the same exact thing happens with Marina, except we don’t even get to delve into it as much because it is literal brainwashing or mind control or something where she very obviously has her free will taken away. Which sucks!! Because it would have been so interesting to delve into that desperation that comes with wanting things to stay the same, unintentionally hurting the people you’re trying to help / protect, all of that kind of stuff, and then it’s just shrugged off for the rest of the DLC. Which, again, it’s fine that they didn’t want to tell that story: but it’s still missed potential regarding Marina.

This even affects antagonists, too: mainly Octavio. This is kind of remedied by him helping us in Splatoon 3, but it’s never really explored. He does what he does to help his people because they are literally dying from a lack of resources + power. I like the fact that the Splatoon 1 story doesn’t address this, but it could have been really interesting to see- even just a bit of this- in Splatoon 2, especially since it’s the introduction of giving the player that mentality shift from “Inklings good Octolings bad” to “Well, it’s more complicated than that.” This one is explored in the sunken scrolls a bit, but it would be nice to get a little something more regarding Octavio’s motivations (beyond just steal the Zapfish to help his people)

I really hope that, come Splatoon 4, whichever characters it focuses on (since the inkling / octoling conflict is over at this point), it really focuses on: give us more of their flaws, that complexity, and do it in game instead of through easily ignorable twitter posts.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

The Subtle British Pop Culture/Timeline In CHICKEN RUN

On occasion, I've pointed out when the original CHICKEN RUN is set.

It's often been written that CHICKEN RUN was "set in the '50s", a sort of vague descriptor of its rather dreary post-war England setting. One could assume that from the technology present in the movie, and the homages to 1950s prisoner-of-war films. The obvious ones being STALAG 17 (the number 17 is on the main hut that the chickens all plot in) and THE GREAT ESCAPE. The character Fowler was of the mascot division of the Royal Air Force during World War II. All that talk about his medals. Chocks away!

The easiest way to pinpoint when CHICKEN RUN is set, at the earliest, is knowing what the songs are.

The chickens, in a hut, dance to a cover of Joe Turner's 'Flip, Flop and Fly', Turner's original was released in 1955, an early example of a rock n' roll song. Britain certainly had rock n' roll in a pre-Beatles era, but it doesn't seem as well-known to the average American as American rockers - you know, Elvis, Little Richard, etc. - are to Brits.

Later in the film, Rocky the rooster is jamming out to 'The Wanderer' by Dion.

The song first appeared in North America in November of 1961 - both as a single and as an album track on RUNAROUND SUE (the title track another big hit for him), and if you look in the opening credits sequence, Mrs. Tweedy works with a calendar that says "November"... However, 'The Wanderer' was first released in the UK in January of 1962. And it doesn't seem like much time has passed since the opening credits and the end of the movie...

'The Wanderer' reached #10 in the UK, which was great for an American rock/pop song over there... If anything, the movie is likely set in November/December 1962, so that was plenty of time for 'The Wanderer' to climb the charts, and then be played on the radio every once in a while. Things took a little while in a pre-streaming age, ya know? *waves cane* *I'm actually not that old, nowhere near lol I just love this kinda pop culture history*

So CHICKEN RUN is still kind of a post-war/pre-Beatles England, and it's set in a secluded location inhabited by a middle-aged couple who likely wouldn't have had any idea what was going in the teen beat scene. The Beatles' 'Love Me Do', the single that really put them on the map in the UK, was released in early October of 1962. Being their first true single (not the 'My Bonnie' recording they did in Germany with Tony Sheridan), it charted at a great #17 in the UK... Which of course was nothing compared to what was to come, the strings of #1s, or at least close to that. 'Please Please Me' was the second single, released in January 1963, it hit #2 in the UK. Beatlemania pretty much becomes a thing in the UK by the middle of 1963... It would take a little while for us yanks to catch the fever...

Anyways, CHICKEN RUN is set in November/December 1962. Or maybe it's 1963, who knows, but I think it's pre-Beatlemania rural England. Yorkshire to be exact.

It's kinda funny how the Disney animated ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS shares some similarities in this regard. That film was released in January 1961, and is set in both London and rural England. Its second half during the late fall/early winter no less. The puppies arrive in October, as stated in the film, and the film ends during Christmastime. Snow everywhere, dreary atmosphere, etc.... And then you have the Tweedys in CHICKEN RUN. Mrs. Tweedy is kind of a combination of Cruella de Vil *and* Jasper. She's got the contempt for animals like Cruella, and is taller and the brains like Jasper. Horace, the shorter, pudgier one in the equation - who is onto what the animals are doing but isn't believed, is totally Mr. Tweedy.

That brings us to the recently-released CHICKEN RUN: DAWN OF THE NUGGET... The sequel swaps prisoner-of-war movies and World War II imagery for James Bond and MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. Spy movies in general.

One look at Mrs. Tweedy's high-tech new factory shows that in *spades*. But the folks at Aardman Animations did their homework, a lot of the details and background design and such, it legitimately looks like the lair of a supervillain in a '60s spy movie. Much like how Nomanisan Island does in THE INCREDIBLES, another very midcentury modern-inspired movie and franchise. There's also that charming UPA-esque cartoon on how the chickens are processed into nuggets, great stuff there. I also kind of get a bit of a Gerry Anderson vibe here, too. He was known for marionette shows - done in a process called "Supermarionation" - like THUNDERBIRDS and CAPTAIN SCARLET AND THE MYSTERONS. I assume most of the crew behind these movies grew up watching those shows.

And of course, a big indicator... Towards the end of the film, all the chickens - brainwashed by mind-control collars that make them all happy-go-lucky - are being forced up an escalator to a popcorn chicken death. In this pretty creepy sequence, they're all doing this while Cliff Richard's 'Summer Holiday' plays in the background. The bright, pastel-colored set adorned with simplistic countryside-looking hills that these chickens are brainwashed in before they are to be ground into fast food is reminiscent of vintage British and European children's programs. I was thinking of stuff like THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT and such, which was also a stop-motion production.

Oh yeah, 'Summer Holiday'. That song came out in January 1963, it was the title song for a movie that was *huge* in England when it first came out. Cliff Richard is the prime example of a pre-Beatles British pop/rock star, I feel he's almost synonymous with that period of British pop music before John, Paul, George, and Ringo showed up. So, CHICKEN RUN 2 is set *after* January 1963. Plus, Ginger and Rocky's daughter Molly needed some time to grow up a bit.

Either this was intentional or not, but it strangely adds up. It's pretty chronological, either by accident or they made sure they didn't have too many anachronisms... Other than the cartoonishly high tech of Mrs. Tweedy's Fun-Land Farms, but then again, the pie machine in the original CHICKEN RUN was kind of improbable too. But that's the fun of the CHICKEN RUN movies, so it's a staple.

And even in other Aardman works, there are fun nods to British pop culture and media. For example, in WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT, Art Garfunkel's 'Bright Eyes' can be heard on the car radio in one scene. Garfunkel is American, yes, but 'Bright Eyes' was composed and recorded for the soundtrack of the British animated classic WATERSHIP DOWN. Just in case you've never seen or even heard of that movie. WATERSHIP DOWN is about rabbits, and in the WALLACE & GROMIT movie, they're dealing with rabbits! Quite clever.

Another favorite of mine is in FARMAGEDDON: A SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE. Of course, Shaun the Sheep is spun off from WALLACE & GROMIT, he appeared in the short film A CLOSE SHAVE. The second SHAUN THE SHEEP movie brings in science fiction and aliens, a real 180 from the small-scale first film. At the end of the film, the Farmer accidentally gets onto the UFO and is not on Earth anymore! Before they get him back, a song called 'Forever Autumn' can be heard playing on a radio.

'Forever Autumn' is a rewrite of a Lego commercial jingle composed by Jeff Wayne in 1969, with lyrics by Gary Osborne and Paul Vigrass. The two lyricists recorded the first version of that song in 1972 for an album called QUEUES. A couple years later, Jeff Wayne got the idea to do a musical version of H. G. Wells' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. A musical album, bringing in several mostly British talents to retell - through story and song - the British sci-fi staple. 'Forever Autumn' was covered for the album, with lead vocals sung by Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues. Of course, another British group... all for the section of the album in which the protagonist - a journalist - fears his wife had been killed in the Martian invasion. "'Cause you're not here." Which is the lyric heard in FARMAGEDDON when they realize that the Farmer went to outer space!

(It takes a special kind of skill to take such a depressing song and make it FUNNY in any context.)

Anyways, those are just a couple examples off the top of my head. Aardman's work is distinctly British, to the core. And the CHICKEN RUN movies give me a fascinating idea of when they are set, a very cartoon British '60s.

[allietaylorsversionsblog]

I see your TS seasonal charting and I raise you TS full Gregorian calendar charting:

January - reputation

Its awful and cold and dark in January, so I think we all go into hiding a little during this time. But if you’re lucky, you’ve got that person you’re in hiding with… plus NYD. Obvi Rep coded 🖤

February - TTPD

All my mornings are Mondays stuck in an endless February. Enough said. If you’re going to have a psychotic breakdown, February is the month to do it. 🖋️

March - Debut

To me Debut is pure spring. It’s youth, it’s creativity and girlhood budding like a flower, it’s innocent and naive. It’s bright clear days, but without any of the heat. 🩵

April - Speak Now

Speak Now is also spring to me, but with a little more maturity. There’s April showers here (Innocent, Back to December, Dear John) but still a world of flowers and hope (Enchanted, Ours, Sparks Fly, etc) 🪻

May - TS12

PURE THEORY but what if TS12 was the epitome of May… happiness, love, coming out of the worst times and being reminded of beautiful days again.. just a thought! It’s been awhile since a record like spring imo

June - Lover

Idc what the people say, Lover is still romantic to me, and June is personally the most romantic month to me. June is full of excitement and optimism for plans coming to life. That being said, there’s glimmer of a heat that you fear is going to be cruel… ultimate Lover vibes. 💕

July - 1989

4th of July, being in your 20’s in the city with your friends, over exposure from the sun glaring down on you, waves crashing on the shore… it’s undeniably July 🗽🌊

August - folklore

DUH!! August is warm and mystical and makes you want to frolic through a forest while you still can. 🪶

September - Fearless

Fearless is back to high school, Friday night football, the sound of lockers slamming shut, the warm summer lingering but fall promising it’s about to come. I see a lot of people put Fearless in spring but personally I think they just get confused with Debut. 📔 🏉

October - Red

The most fall that ever fell. Autumn leaves falling like pieces into place. Chai tea cookies. This is canon and doesn’t need explanation 🍁

November - Evermore

Gray November. Evermore is fall cozy with the winter frost’s bite. You wish you could hold on to the colorful beauty but there’s something frigid and bleak you can’t keep at bay. Also, a month and holiday that gets overshadowed by a domineering close by rival (cough cough) 🍂

December - Midnights

Midnights is the hardest for me to map directly but ultimately I chose December. Midnights is all about reflection so the close of the year makes sense to me, when we’re all looking back and taking stock before making any big changes and resolutions. Theres something twinkling and fun there (it’s not the reputation black out), but is still a cold winter night. ✨

[saraptor-art]

Qu'est-ce que Arlong a fait à Nami pour avoir tenté de gâcher le raid précédent ?

« What did Arlong do to Nami for trying to spoil a previous raid? »

Short answer : very probably lock her up in her room after some type of beating with a practical punishment of drawing maps. Now long answer! I absolutely hadn’t thought about it x) So now that I have, here we go : we don’t know too well what happened to Nami and how she was treated during her 8 years as an Arlong Pirate. There are a few memories mostly about her having to draw maps. She’s shown having gathered a million berry while still quite small too! I think she had to earn her freedom by working hard and showing her loyalty through her work. I think they would have been friendly with her, most of the pirates were orphans with a hard life, they remembered Koala too so they would have tried to make her feel « welcomed ». (Even if it’s super hypocritical since they are the reason she’s a orphan) BUT any misbehaving from Nami would send her back to previous steps. That would be fake maps, trying to kill Arlong, disobeying etc. However, I don’t think he was overly violent or cruel with her (he seems to find it funny that she used to try to kill him), he needed her alive and well to work. But she would have definitely spent weeks locked up in the drawing room. Whereas good behaviour would mean seing her sister, leaving the park to pirate, stuff like that. Eventually, where we are at in Sea Salt and Sun, it’s been five years and she’s gained Arlong’s trust. As long as she does her quota of charts, brings back information and attend some events, she’s free to do whatever she wants. Thanks for giving me an excuse to draw baby Nami, I love her so much, I get feels every time I reread her story!

[nerdylittleguy]

Transformers Earthspark theory - how Knockout could actually be Mr Smelt

....or ideas about it, anyway. Enjoy my observations!

So uhh here's where the neurodivergent urge to consume media and hyperfixate on it has lead me! Please, feast your eyes on my flow chart/ mind map of madness™.

I know the text is really small, if you click and zoom it could be easier to read. I did try to split the original image into quarters, hope that makes it a little easier to read. However, if anyone needs a transcript I'll do my best to sort it out, my only concern is that I have no clue how to link ideas if they're just bullet points (the idea of having a way to link ideas is what lead me to make this in this format :) )

Perhaps a bit of an explanation as to what lead to this?

A few weeks ago, I saw the Earthspark season 1 part 2 trailer and hey... Who's that?? Breakdown?? Of course, I immediately wanted to watch what existed of the series so far, and imagine my pleasant surprise when I heard Knock Out's (tfp) VA voiced a side character!

Anyway, I started watching the series, finished it in 3 days, cried tears of happiness over Nightshade's pronouns (for those of you who say representation doesn't matter, it does. You probably just feel represented), fell in love with Megatron, etc etc. But imagine my absolute, brain-rotting madness when I couldn't find episode 7 on youtube!

Meh, like that would stop my theory brain. Using various episode summaries I found on youtube (first and foremost this one, as it was short and had good attention to detail! But if anyone has any recommendations for other good summaries feel free to let me know), I started to slowly make a mindmap. That evening I found @transformers-earthspark's blog and the where-to-watch resources... Firefly I cannot thank you enough!!! You're literally amazing!! You have no idea how happy I was to find ep 7!! You do so much, give yourself a pat on the back and a nice snack :))

Anyways, armed with my new access to ALL the earthspark episodes (1 - 10, anyway, as only they are available atm), I remade some of my mindmap, added to it, made more points. Over the last few weeks (aka less than two) I polished my mindmap, did some colour-coding, added images, links, details etc until it could apparently fit on an A3 sheet?? What??? So many ideas from silly old me??

Obviously, I don't think I'm completely right. As a matter of fact, I think I made many assumptions and links that were a very big stretch (blame this overactive imagination of mine. I keep thinking of potential plot lines and then forgetting that actually, I made them up and they're not canon). However, I hope I made a few points that will inspire someone to make their own theories, or just have fun thinking!

Apologies if this all sounds garbled or if it's difficult to understand, I am tired and I have two languages running around in my head (that I'm fluent in, I've also tried to learn 5 others. Lingual hell!!!)

Have a good day/ night and enjoy the theories!

Also a quick note and thing to add: I wrote this on Monday the 27th (I draft just about everything in my notes ok), before I woke up on Tuesday and saw the new images from the episodes, including the one with Breakdown!! AHHH!! /pos So I guess I was right about something? And I mean... Breakdown and a theme of racing in one episode? If this is a coincidence and Knockout is not chilling somewhere in the background then I don't know what to say.

[inshelliesworld]

Shellie’s Simple Lessons in Astrology:

I'm finally getting started!

My goal with these lessons is to help anyone interested to learn more about themselves by giving the basic tools and information to be able to look at their own chart and “decode” the language.

Before beginning this new endeavor, I wanted to cover a few basics about astrology’s history. And also a little bit about myself!

Astrology’s History:

Astrology is over 5000 years old. In Mesopotamia around 3000 BCE Babylonians became the first astronomers by recording and identifying the prominent constellations and their patterns. Babylonians also created the first zodiac wheel.

Constellation maps have existed far longer than maps of the world, and for centuries early civilizations used the rhythm and cycles of the Sun, Moon, & Stars to hunt, plant, harvest, migrate, and even to treat illnesses and ailments.

Astrology is a method of predicting human and earthly behavior based on the placements and movements of the sun, moon, and planets within the 12 zodiac constellations.

During the Middle Ages, astrology was a fundamental part of culture. Being practiced and studied by doctors, astronomers, and mathematicians alike. Advances in mathematics helped astrologers develop better, more accurate and sophisticated charts.

Belief in astrology began to decline as the church gained power. It was seen as superstition during the Holy Inquisition which is when Galileo Galilei was charged with heresy and was forced to renounce his astrological beliefs to save his life.

Today, the practice of astrology is seen and used as a form of entertainment. Although many societies and cultures still utilize the reading of the stars to successfully plant/harvest crops, kill weeds, plan surgeries, and ween their children from bottles & pacifiers. (More on the Farmer’s Almanac later!)

Shellie’s Herstory:

I’m self-taught! I’ve been studying astrology for nearly 30 years.

I started when I was 10 years old with my still-to-this-day-bestie. We used “The Only Astrology Book You’ll Ever Need” which we both still use today. We even taught ourselves to manually calculate full birth charts including ascendants (this was pre-Internet days!) and cast many charts for our friends over the years.

I try to find fun, simple, easy-to-digest ways to explain the complexities of astrology even when the learner has zero prior knowledge.

I try to make it a point to regularly remind everyone that no one person is all one thing and no two people are exactly the same. We are humans and are a complex amalgamation of nature and nurture. I once read something that said (save for twins born within the same minute via cesarean, etc) it would take 25,000 years for a natal chart to repeat exactly. So, safe to say everyone has their own, individual, unique birth chart!

Come learn with me! No matter how long I’ve been doing this, there are always new things to learn in this very old, very information-dense topic. So always bring questions – I don’t know everything but I love to research and learn new things!

[blpalace]

Hello, everyone!

As you may know, many of us want to create a BL library website that catalogs and lists BL novels (think a NovelUpdates but for original English BL (M/M) webnovels, novels, ebooks, graphic novels, visual novels etc.). 

Below is a projected time frame + things I think we need doing. Our aim is to get a working prototype by June 2025!

If you’re interested in the following and have time to complete the task (with at least one other person, in a team), then please contact me:

Market research (assist in researching competitor websites and defining our target audience)

Tagging system (researching and framing the ideal tagging system, e.g. elastic search like AO3 or fixed tags like NU, or nested tags etc)

Branding (development of the name of the website and logo, which will require running polls)

Marketing (we’ll love someone with artistic and/or design and/or video skills to help implement our plans!)

Less urgent but we could also start if you have time:

Website site map (developing a list of pages the website will have, related to features list)

In the future, we also need data collectors.

If you’re interested in the other tasks in the chart above (in particular, features list, wireframing, web design, web development), please contact @bafflinghaze regarding your skills–we currently have at least two team members for those tasks already, and we want a team project that works smoothly!

Note that many of these components will be released for feedback, so keep an eye on us ;P 

Join us on discord for more information/ discussion!

[mcnuggyy]

✨ Rainbow Factory TTRPG! ✨

HIII!!!! As promised here is my silly little reskin of KOB (kids on bikes/brooms)!!! :o] <3

EDIT: This post got a bit long eek!! sorry!! if you just wanna see the silly stuff I did then just check out the links! You can ignore all the other text on this post jajaja!

Mini Rule Book  ( for GMs & Players!)

PDF Version!  

Here is the document I gave all my players beforehand! This is a simplification of all the KOB rules, character creation process, and the worldbuilding for Unicopia! Please feel free to use as much or as little of it as you like for your game! It goes step by step through the character creation process and has a wide variety of examples and references. I try to be as thorough as possible but ofc I may have missed something! Please feel free to make up what i miss or shoot me a message if you're really curious jaja!

Here is a jpg of the Player Character Sheet of needed! :o]

RFTTRPG: NPC Stats & BG Characters! (For GMs!)

This is what I used while GMing! Feel free to use these as you like! I tried to keep it simple and loose for the big characters like Hev and Trixie! And even simpler for the background characters. I didn't give the BG chars any stats as I knew I wouldn't need them for the one-shot I was running but please feel free to make your own BG chars, and stats, and all of that good stuff!

I also have a rough RF building chart for exploration! Our campaign was set inside the Rainbow Factory so it felt like a good idea to make this for my players! However please feel free to set your one-shot anywhere else in Unicopia! I hope to make a map of  the districts one day to add to the mini rule book later on! :o] You can also set it at another Happiness Factory such as the Tear Factory or Heart Factory! You could even have your unicorns visit Earth! The world is your oysta! ♡ 

Overall I tried to keep everything super simple and clear for both myself and my friends! I imagine other Factories in smaller districts would be much smaller than this but this is a rough idea of what I think most of them would sort of be like!

RFFTTRPG: One-shot Ideas & More! (For GM's)

I love love loved using the KOB system and reskinning it for my silly little world! and I love when a TTRPG gives you nice sort of rules to follow while still being super free and open in other aspects! It made it  easy for me to just come up with a simple problem/plot for my players! However I know coming up with something from scratch is also super intimidating and overwhelming! So here is the idea I did, along with some others I've thought of for fun! (and might even do in future games jejeje)

Kid on the Run!  This is super Monsters Inc inspired. Have the party over at a Factory for any reason you choose. I chose a tour/ted talk hosted by the lovely Trixie! It can also be a company party, or breaking and entering, or they already work there, etc.! Have one of the portals go haywire allowing a child to enter Unicopia! It's now up to the party to not only capture the child but return them back home safe and sound to the human world! All while keeping the child secret from the rest of unicornkind! RF: Happiness Special Forces The Counsel has decided to create a special task team in charge of going down to earth! Go undercover and stop those who cause great risk to Unicornkind! This could be stopping a huge evil corporation that is creating an excess amount of unhappiness, reducing the magic of Unicopia. Or having to go in and save multiple children in danger such as a field trip gone wrong! Or making an adult human who remembered their childhood unicorn forget about them again before things get dicey! Your players will have to keep their existence as unicorns a secret, all while saving their world, and exploring Earth as characters who may be unfamiliar with humans and their ways! Unicorn Hunters & the End of Unicopia What if unicorns biggest threat finally found out where they had been hiding all this time? and not just knew but had access to a portal? It's up to the players to stop them at all costs and save their world.  A high stakes adventure full of lore, magic, and potential unexpected allies!  The Daily Life of a Field Op/Happy Tech This is more of a slice of life concept! This would work well for smaller parties of 1-4 Players! Have your Players form teams and deal with the daily troubles a helping a kid/teen/pre-teen  as a Field op or Happy Tech! (You could even have one of your Players play one of the kids themselves!) While still balancing their social lives, self needs, etc.! A look inside what it's like for Unicopias most essential workers, their interpersonal dramas, relationships, etc. Great for those who love character centric collaboritive storytelling!

ANYWAYS!!! Sorry for the ridiculously long post </3 I just wanted to cover all my bases in case someone decides they wanna play this reskin!! If you do end up playing pleaseee let me know eeek!! very very exciting!!! <3 regardless i hope you have fun looking at all this silly stuff I did to make my friends smile and laugh :o]

You can check out our one-shot over on my Patreon yahoo!

[mimikyufriend]

Teaching Resources I Use as a Sub

I think substitute teaching is a good way to make extra money even if you don't plan on becoming a teacher, so I wanted to share some things that help me :)

Classroom Screen - I use this every time I sub (unless a smartboard isn't available for whatever reason), it has lots of little widgets for classroom management and communication

Teachers Pay Teachers - pre-made activities for students to do in case you need something extra, free and paid options

Stedi Bonus Activities - more activities, these are all free and geared toward substitutes (the main site offers paid training courses, I don't recommend them as someone who was able to do a course for free, they were very basic and not all the advice was good)

cK-12: free grade school level textbooks, useful for short, additional readings (I wouldn't trust the AI tutor thing)

Read Think Write Interactives - these are a bunch of charts that students can fill out on their computers, or you could fill one out together on a smart board based on what was learned in class

Boom Learning - more interactives, these are more focused activities rather than templates

CNN10 - daily 10 minute news clips, can be used to fill time

Class Dojo - classroom management system that uses points that can be earned or lost, this is difficult to implement from the perspective of a sub since you can't import class lists, but it may be useful to use numbers and reset points at the end of the day

most of these are unnecessary unless you're working with a very bare bones lesson plan or are subbing long term, but I can't recommend classroom screen enough

next are some useful youtube video genres worth keeping in mind (always remember to vet anything you want to show ahead of time)

multi-hour long relaxing music - good for background noise during quiet work, I don't recommend music with lyrics or recognizable instrumentals such as movie soundtracks and video game music because they may end up amping up students instead

mario run - these are like fun guided exercise videos, short ones are good for brain breaks and longer ones are good for when you have to have recess inside (some classes may not be able to handle the excitement, make volume expectations clear before starting)

animals in action - I've used like snake and spider videos as rewards for good behavior, kids love it

and lastly, some things I keep in my bag

clipboard with compartment - I keep school maps, extra paper, mental health crisis numbers, and even my resume inside and I'll clip attendance sheets and lesson plans on top of it

fidgets for students to borrow

prizes - mini erasers and stickers are popular and relatively cheap

dice, playing cards, flashcards - extra, tangible activities (the dice and playing cards are for randomly picking numbers to add subtract multiply etc.)

ok that's all bye

[aryamistwood]

Erissa's Dolls 8/3 (I need your help)

Hi! SO I've been trying to figure out WHAT is going on with Erissa's dolls. Are we supposed to find 16 every day for the daily part of the quest? Are there more locations? Etc. I am actively working with support on this as well, but haven't gotten any clarification yet on how the DAILY is meant to work and why it hasn't been clearly communicated. ANYWAY, this is where you come in.

I'm curious if we're all meant to find the same dolls on a given day. According to my chart, both Thursdays I've tested this on, the dolls have appeared in the same location. I'm going to keep testing that theory over the next few weeks, but I need someone (or a few people) too double check if your dolls are appearing in the same location as mine. SO, if you're up for it, I'd appreciate it if you could check ALL locations and make sure the ones marked with a RED X have no doll, and the ones marked GREEN O have a doll. Thank you, love you <3

If you need help finding these locations, @alanismoonstorm has a map ...or if you prefer a video, I have the locations in my update (timestamps in the comments and description)