#im just super normal about the way he talks like he's some mythical being

[flaskmop]

currently halfway through the senna versus prost book. who was gonna warn me that formula one history is rich with practically iliadic stories of trust and betrayal. and within those stories there are PARALLELS???

like villeneuve and pironi at imola?? and prost's recount of it and acknowledgement of how he (in hindsight) recognised that same "disgust" and "hatred" of villeneuve for pironi from when he and senna fought.

[mikka-minns]

Vietnamese mythology is diverse and has many gods, some belong to religions too but here are the Mainstream ones that are told in Myths and ones I know a lot about as a Kid:

_The 2 Creation Gods, the Sea Dragon God and Mountain Fairy, who had 100 children who became the Vietnamese people and technically that's how Vietnam was founded, basically they gave birth to this country mythologically

_The Mountain God who fought with the Water God over a Human Princess for becoming her husband, he's a Himbo, the Hero of the story, well that's it, there isn't much on him I can cover but I'm really cool with him, oh yeah he also owns a huge Mountain Range here, which is called the Ancestor of all Mountains in Vietnam

_The mentioned Water God, a really cool villain, I like him, he's the OG Romance Sad Boy cause he didn't win in that Bride dispute hence he still loves the Human Princess, VERY petty ass bitch if you ask me, well he did almost drown this whole country in the Sea back in the Bride dispute so yeah, who says you can't be both sad and also a bitch? Well I mean I like him but I can't forget this Guy can drown the country cause he didn't get the Girl, still love him though, he's so Babygirl, reminds me of me

_Super cool Heavenly King God of War, he's a National Idol no joke, he's literally the Youth Spirit Symbol here, the Youth sport festivals have his name in it too, he also represents the National Spirit of Protection against Invaders because he's very well known for appearing at the time the Country was ravaged by wars and invaders, got a sick ass Iron Horse that can breath Fire, he uses bamboos as his weapon which is a huge cultural symbol here. He's a Youth Spirit cuz his human age is 3 years old, he's similar to Nezha in a way, they have vastly different tales and personalities ofc. He's also known for being a giant so I think he's physically bigger than the last two gods I mentioned, oh yeah he's WAY MORE OF A BIG SHOT THAN THE LAST TWO, cuz we have statues of him all over the country, I have one at my place too, as well as streets named after him, I mean he and the Mountain God belong to the 4 Immortals, 4 major gods in Vietnamese religions, ofc that Mountain God also has his own temples too (Well I have never seen the Mountain God statue before but considering how ancient he is and how he's very important in the Vietnamese religion, I think he's just as well loved)

_The Marriage God, who's also one of the 4 Immortals and he's Himbo no.2, he and the Mountain God actually married human princesses of the same family so yeah THAT'S SOMETHING HERE, apparently Humans and Gods can just get married and everyone is super cool with it in Vietnam as opposed to how it's mainly forbidden in Chinese myths. Where's my God husband?!!! Maybe it's because I'm just a normal gal, not a Princess so yeah ༎ຶ⁠‿⁠༎ຶ, even though I don't think ranks matter that much, Gods can love anyone they want. Btw he's actually interesting in that he's a Male God and the God of Marriage, I usually think that normally Goddesses are responsible for Marriage but who say a God can't be a God of Marriage

Oh yeah the 4 Immortals are also embodiments of the conceptual values of Vietnamese culture.

The last of the 4 Immortals I didn't talk much of is a Heavenly Princess or a Mother Goddess, she's the only Goddess of the 4 Immortals, she was more recently considered a member of the 4 Immortals as the other three male gods have been there since Ancient times and she was also said to be an actual historical figure too, I'm not very familiar with her since I only talked about Mythical Gods I've been familiar with since I was a kid

These realy are intresting!

And i can see some similarities with mythologies from others countries and cultures(tho mostly all of them do overlap at some point. Seems even myths have cliches)

Im genuenly suprised no one has done anything with it, there's a lot of material

Sidenote: i do think gods not being allowed to marry outside of thier kind is mainly a Chinese thing because in all the other myths that i know gods make kids to animals even😭

[stilitana]

so i listened to this embarassingly quickly but let’s chalk that up to the self-isolation/working from home and leave it at that

wolf 359 reactions under the cut (spoilers):

firstly, that soundtrack was so good and i’ll be listening to those piano pieces forever

this show demonstrated the eternal power of the agatha christie principle: gather a ragtag cast of characters who’ve all got beef with each other, and trap them in a small space together. cue the instant tension and inevitable weighty revelations.

i adore that amid all the drama/action, there were so many moments when the writers let the narrative breathe a little and just allowed the characters to talk to each other, and play games with one another. the word games were delicious. these were often moments of levity and good character building, but they also all moved relationships forward or revealed something new, so don’t ever let anybody say that having chill little funny moments is useless narrative fluff. these were the best moments.

empty man cometh might be my favorite. am i alone now? and memoria were also just...so good. a lot of the mini-episodes were excellent as well, especially all the character ones. variations on a theme might be my favorite of the shorts.

normally i’m impatient and skip anything i perceive as extraneous to the central narrative, and come back to it later--im so glad i didn’t, the live episode was hilarious. ashamed that i even tried to skip change of mind because i was so impatient to see what was happening, but i felt too bad so not even five minutes into the next ep, i went back and listened to it, and that was the right move...it was so good.

every single character was fantastic. every single one. they were all complex--even the less central characters had at least a moment or two where they struck a different note, showed another side of themselves. kepler was the stand out on this front for me. i didn’t care at all about the si-5 crew when they first came in--i was actually annoyed and expected to hate them all, which is a risk you run when you introduce a bunch of new, influential characters so late in a story. they made it work so well. first i came around to maxwell, then jacobi, and finally (tbh it was his swan song) i was like, okay, kepler was a great character. they made him sympathetic without trying to retcon anything to force me to pity him or think he’d been good all along or anything. cutter and pryce were less human, so their redeeming qualities came more from being interesting. i think the voice acting plays a lot into this--cutter just on paper wouldn’t be half as fun

really impressed with how this same thing played out with lovelace--she went from this sort of mythic, predeceased character, to an antagonist, and finally to being such a central character to the crew that you could hardly imagine them without her. poor writing could have easily made her kind of character unlikable. i think characters like her often get short-changed and written as one-note action hero types who crash in and upend the narrative just to give the plot steam and provide friction. instead, she’s as fully fleshed out as the main characters, and seamlessly becomes one of them.

rip plant monster...i loved you :,(

so, the antagonists were multifaceted, and so were the protags. this could have also easily been sloppy. with eiffel especially, lazy writing would have made the reveal of his backstory super cheap, out of left field, and made you feel like you never knew him at all and leave you unable to reconnect. instead of going the route where the writer for some reason thinks they have to make their plucky protag gritty, the reveal of eiffel’s backstory doesn’t change him at all--and why should it? it’s his backstory--it already happened. instead, it only forces him and minkowski to have conversations they probably needed to have anyway, and fleshes out the reason he’s even there in the first place. on this note, it’s not ultimately his backstory that eiffel has to confront within the story as a major flaw--the backstory was a mistake in the past he’s been dealing with for years by the time we meet him. i love what they chose to do instead so much more: what he had to deal with was his current, present day behavior--how he effortlessly disrespects and belittles the people closest to him without even trying. the key there is, without trying--he has to make a decision to start. (”that’s the thing about you, eiffel--you try. you try really, really hard, and then--you stop trying” that was such a good interaction...god.) i could go on and on about how this was such a satisfying tack to take but i’m trying to cut it down. glib bastards like eiffel are so often a sort of male wish-fulfillment character where they get to say whatever the fuck they want without consequence, be lazy, be careless, and still come out on top, and still seem lovable, because hey, he’s funny. eiffel doesn’t get off that easily, and he’s a much better character for it, and so are all the others, for actually demanding better for themselves, because they know they deserve it, and because they all actually care about each other, so when they confront him, he doesn’t just shrug it off--he tries. (it takes him a minute. but he tries.)

hera broke my heart a million times i love her so much. she had so many complex inner conflicts that weren’t just boiled down to some dumbass bs like “boo hoo am i human.” her personhood is a given for the sorts of conflicts she has, as far as feeling inadequate, feeling unappreciated, like an imposter or a less-valued member of the crew. her and minkowski arguing was excellent and allowed them both a chance to be childish because hey, eiffel shouldn’t have the monopoly on that.

death was a serious thing. human life was highly valued, and its loss was never made light of. not even for antagonists (kepler, hilbert) or, in the most extreme case, pryce, who eiffel chose to make a sacrifice to defeat rather than just kill her, the one principle aside from doing as little work as possible he stood his ground on the entire story. team what’s wrong with handcuffs indeed...i just really loved that the main lead was a pacifist and that this line of thinking held sway in the narrative. it was really refreshing (i don’t think it should be--there’s just a lot of bad writing out there especially when things edge into the action genre) to see this stance on nonviolent conflict resolution wherever possible, because yeah, most people have a really hard time ending another person’s life...no shit. minkowski makes that call and deals with the fallout for the rest of the show--she’s not done dealing with it by the end, it’s going to be something she takes with her. sometimes eiffel’s passivity was depicted as a weakness, but he ultimately did diffuse a lot of situations and gave other characters the space to consider their options. i do think that sometimes the narrative’s insistence on eiffel’s dual pacifism/incompetence shifted the burden of action onto minkowski and lovelace and i’m not sure how i feel about that. i think where i’d have to look is comparing how pryce and cutter are dealt with--yeah, im willing to buy that minkowski wasn’t willing to trade all of her memories so that she wouldn’t have to kill cutter. but was she the one who had to have a body count as a conscious narrative choice, or were we just determined to maintain eiffel’s status as the sort of goofy, “innocent” one? or was that something minkowski was determined to preserve--because that’d be really sad and complicated and say way more about her than it would about him.

dear listeners. i loved everything about the dear listeners. it was everything i ever wanted from aliens trope-wise.

didn’t really get the total significance of surrogates or decima virus. those were the only two things that felt sort of hasty because the stakes suddenly went from “the lives on this space station” to “life on earth as we know it.” but apocalypse averted so whatever, the aliens just want music

i am conflicted about the fucking. amnesia. memory was SO important throughout, and questions of identity and personhood, and this is the only reason that amnesia ending didn’t enrage me. if i think about it more i’m sure there will be a lot to unpack with what’s being implied here

this has gotten REALLY long so im going to stop now and finish mindlessly entering data into excel. in short: i loved it 

[trinity-xp]

Who are some of your Favorite people here on Tumblr ?

Hohohohhooh this will be a long post

@paimania : First up is Pai. For starters she’s like, the nICEST PERSON IN THE WORLD- she’s so fun to talk to and everytime we chat is just a blast! Even though it’s short because suck at keeping a conversation going LMFAO- I’ve known Pai for like... 2 years now, and I can say that she’s just an amazing friend to have, I remeber when she proposed the idea of a collaboration between her AU and my OCs, best moment of my social media life, it really changed everything for me. Thank you Pai

@jordanthecat11 : Jordy is just a big mush of sweETNESS, literally she’s just AMAZING- I met her through Pai since she was Pai’s main contributor to BATMC. It was awkward at first, but as we got to know eachother I say from my point of view I got really comfortable talking with her! Not only that she is like...so caring. So. Very. Caring. There will be times where I’m not feeling to well, and she takes the time to send me a message on discord to check up on me. I look up to her a lot, she so talented and creative and just overall the kind of friend you want to have. ❤️

@ros-doodles : Ros was the third person I met on tumblr. And the first person (besides Pai and Jordy) to interact with one of my OCs, Raziel. At first I got a wave of anxiety mainly because long before I actually existed on my tumblr acc, I would look at her art and be really inspired. She was an artist I really looked up to and I was so shocked when she commented on one of my posts saying she wanted to interact with Raziel. Not only that we started to talk on discord and..can I just say she is the most understanding person ever? Like really this girl is so gentle, sweet, soft, and just a precious bean who I will protect forever. I think the one flaw that she has tho is that she won’t admit sheS A FUCKING GOOD PERSON. Because she’s stubborn as hell and I need to smack some loving sense into her every now and then.

@wushfo : Fourth person I met on tumblr, gotta day this girl is weird.

..weirdly amAZING- SHES FUNNY AS HELL! She makes me smile and laugh so much! First time we met I was super shy and shocked that she actually started talking to me. I remember our first rp together, it was the thing that got me into rping in the first place. She messages me whenever she can to brighten my day, even if I’m upset, and hands me advice when I need it. She’s just an amazing person to be around and i love each and every one of her OCs to bits, love you BICH-

@sibuhleen : At first me and Sib didn’t know eachother too well mainly because I only knew her through Pai, it wasn’t until we did an art trade when we started to talk more often! I have to say, SHOW THIS GIRL SOLE LOVE AND RESPECT BECAUSE SHES SO GODDAMN AWESOME! Literally, she may not think it but she’s so fun to be around. I love her very much, and I don’t get to talk to her as often because I don’t want to bother her, she has a life outside of tumblr after all! It makes me feel so warm inside knowing that she likes my OCs just as much as I love hers, and whenever we talk it always brings a smile to my face. And sib you may or may not read this, but I will always be here if you need to talk❤️ love you gurl!!

@mythical-things : I met Myth last May, and it’s been one of the greatest things thats ever happened to me. She’s truly just...an amazing girl whos gifted with so much talent. She’s one of the people I really look up to when it comes to art. Each of her OCs and stories are unique, and I strive to become a better artist like her! AlsO-- I like rLLY LOVE ALL THE ART CHAINS WE DO!! its so fun to bring the stories we've come up with to life, and seeing it all pay off is just amazing. IM happy that you enjoy the shit that we do, and I just wanna say to sTOP BEING A HYPOCRITE SOMETIMES. Also, She works really hard in what she does and I’m proud and happy to call he one of my best friends. Lately she’s been feeling a bit down, but that’s ok, I’m here for you Myth! I send my everlasting love ❤️ I love all the times we talk and ramble and rp, the stories we come up with are so much fun to mess around with (aswell as the shitposts-) and i just ant you to know how much you make me happy💕💕

@jsweetsdraws : The Meme to describe Me and Jess is “I’ve only known Jess for a month, but if anything were to happen to her I’d kill everyone in this room, and then myself,” because I WOULD. LIKE HOLY SHIT THIS GIRL IS A BEACON OF SUNSHINE! She works so hard, despite some things that she’s been through. I love all of her OCs and artwork, her style is just so niCE lookin ;) not only that she’s so sweet and funny, and I love staying up for hours with her talking about stories and OC interactions, it really makes my schooldays a lot better than how they are ❤️❤️ and if anyone screws with her I wiLL FITE THEM. BAK OFF BITCHES IM HER PROTECTOR!

@nolalistra : I don’t talk much with Nol, but god her OCS are so damn pretty. Not only that her personality is so damn pretty. I can say how much she really inspires me. The stories she created are so interesting! And honestly she’s like super chill, and super great. Like she’s the kind of person you can be open with and feel comfortable when talking with her. Normally I’m a anxious and paranoid person, but with her? Nope, I’m 200% comfortable. Love u BOI-

@alavidere : I just met Al, but I can already say that she’s like.. fuckin FANTASTIC. Literally, she’s really sweet and her personality just embodies candy and everything nice in the world. Once again, she’s another artist I will stalk for hours, her anatomy is just 😔👌 and her OCs are 👀❤️ it surprises me that she likes my shit too! Never thought that would happen bUT hERE WE ArE- Also I have no idea how she’s able to stay so committed and productive with her drawings- heck she’s running a full on webcomic by herself and idk how- teach me your ways talented beAN- AND I HOPE I CAN GET TO KNOW YOU MORE ASWELL!! >:VVV❤️❤️❤️

Also fun fact, I knew each and every one of you before you knew I existed. I remember when I was younger id scroll through your blogs and see all this good aSS artwork and id be like “these are my idols-” HAHAHA 

[la-knight]

BOOKS I (RE)READ IN 2018: FURTHERMORE BY TAHEREH MAFI

"Alice Alexis Queensmeadow, 12, rates three things most important: Mother, who wouldn’t miss her; magic and color, which seem to elude her; and Father, who always loved her. Father disappeared from Ferenwood with only a ruler, almost three years ago. But she will have to travel through the mythical, dangerous land of Furthermore, where down can be up, paper is alive, and left can be both right and very, very wrong. Her only companion is Oliver whose own magic is based in lies and deceit. Alice must first find herself—and hold fast to the magic of love in the face of loss." "Red was ruby, green was fluorescent, yellow was simply incandescent. Color was life. Color was everything. Color, you see, was the universal sign of magic." "Love, it turned out, could both hurt and heal." "Narrow-mindedness will only get you as far as Nowhere, and once you're there, you're lost forever.” "Alice was an odd girl, even for Ferenwood, where the sun occasionally rained and the colors were brighter than usual and magic was as common as a frowning parent." "Making magic is far more interesting than making sense." So I actually read this book a few months ago and then recently reread it via audio so I could remember all the details for this review. I was first introduced to Tahereh Mafi’s work through her book Shatter Me, her debut novel. Ironically, it wasn’t through any of the ways I normally hear about books - Booktube, Goodreads, my best friend, Booklr - but from my husband’s aunt. She runs - or used to run, not sure if she’s still doing it - a book review blog. And she posted a review of Shatter Me and I was like, “What a weird, interesting writing style, lemme check this out.” At this point the entire Shatter Me Trilogy plus novellas had been published and I devoured all of them (still need to review those, too). So when I heard Tahereh Mafi was writing a middle grade book, I got super excited! Especially because this was during a time when I was too stressed out to read any YA, since most of the YA I like involves having to save the world and all the stress that entails. I need to lay out some trigger warnings real quick: the main character, Alice? Her mom is incredibly abusive, both emotionally and physically. It’s treated as not such a big deal in the book, which is honestly the story’s only real flaw, but it’s bad. It took me seven tries and resorting to an audiobook (and even with a fantastic narrator, that short audiobook took me almost a month to get through) because the abuse was so bad. So:

TRIGGER WARNING: THIS BOOK CONTAINS EMOTIONAL AND PHYSICAL ABUSE OF A CHILD BY THEIR PARENT

Let’s get started, yo! First of all, the setting. OMG. See, I love tthis thing called Victorian fairy tales, which is something you can find in books like Mary Poppins - these super fantastical bits of whimsy that just warm your heart and make you grin because they’re so creative and fun. In the Mary Poppins books, you can jump into chalk drawings and go to a circus amidst the stars and make friends with a woman who sells living candy-cane horses. In Catherynne Valente’s Fairyland series, there are shadow balls and talking phonographs. And in Furthermore, there’s light raining down from the sky in literal drops, sticks of magic you use like money, and forests full of invisible berries. The way the world is put together and described, so full of color and imagination, is awesome and beautiful and I could picture it perfectly. It reminded me in all the best ways of books like The Phantom Tollbooth (one of my favorites). But I wouldn’t want to live there, because Ferenwood is full of colorism and ick. Alice, the female lead, is an albino in a world where color is important and the darker you are, the more magical you’re considered to be. So Alice gets treated like garbage. 

Also I think Alice may be autistic, but I don’t know if she’s deliberately coded autistic or if Tahereh Mafi did it by accident while trying to make Alice eccentric, but she comes across as autistic. I’ve actually begun to pay more attention to that sort of the thing in recent years, being autistic myself, and I see it a lot - authors giving their characters autistic characteristics, often without meaning to. I just touch on it here because Alice is already treated badly for being albino, but she’s also considered a freak because of the way she behaves - like an autistic preteen. And I wonder if Tahereh Mafi did that on purpose as a sort of commentary or not, because while Alice is treated badly by the people of Ferenwood for her behavior, the Narrator (who is an actual character in the story; love when that happens) always sides with Alice in this regard. The storyline is sweet and I love it. Alice tries to compete in the magical testing all the preteens do on their twelfth birthday, and so she dances. And her dancing is magical but it’s not Magical, you know? So she fails the test. Well, turns out a boy who passed the test the year before, Oliver (the brat), needs Alice’s help fulfilling a quest - rescuing Alice’s missing dad. So they go on a quest together, although Alice hates Oliver (and rightly so, he’s rude). They go to a dozen different and cool places, all of which are dangerous and all of which are different. I wish we could’ve spent more time in those places but I understand why we didn’t. The only annoying thing is there’s an origami fox on the cover but it only pops up in one of the worlds for like two pages and then it’s gone and I thought we could spend more time both in that world and with that creature since it ended up on the cover. But alas, not. I understand why - middle grade is often cursed to be short, especially if it’s the author’s first MG novel ever. Once you get big and bad like Rick Riordan you can start tossing out gihugic tomes like Son of Neptune or Blood of Olympus on the regular. Oliver’s reason for needing Alice was one I didn’t see coming, nor was her magical talent - a talent they hint at throughout the book but never explain until near the end, at the perfect moment. I thought it was an interesting commentary on how young girls perceive themselves, that Alice hates this marvelous, amazing talent she has of bringing color into the world from nothing...because she can’t use it to change how she looks. Society has trained her already, by the age of twelve, to discount something incredible about herself because she can’t use it to make herself into what society wants her to be. That’s pretty impressive for a book this short. I loved some of the more deliberate messages in the work - the thing I mentioned about society’s pressures on young girls, and also that it’s okay to tell boys to screw off if they’re mean to you, and to have hope and to look for second chances (Alice thinks she only has one chance to pass the test and believes her life is over when she fails, only to find out she can try again the next year). I love all of that, and the lyrical and whimsical quality of the prose, and the world building is so creative and also makes me a bit hungry (people eat magic in this book, among other things; I wonder what it tastes like). Now...let’s talk about the abuse. That’s my biggest issue with the book. Alice’s mother is a total bitch. And not in a cool, kickass way like the lady in the show Empire. She’s vicious, she’s cruel, and she’s abusive. Alice knows - and the Narrator confirms - that she turned bad when her husband went missing, and apparently the worry for him and the strain of raising four kids on her own is making her hard and sad, but I don’t give a shit. I was hoping Tahereh Mafi would’ve gone all Hansel and Gretel on this lady and when Alice comes home with her dad, the wife’s dead or something. She beats Alice (at one point she beat Alice for chasing a boy out of the place where she was sleeping, even though he kept staring at her in her sleeping clothes, because apparently the boy - Oliver - had the right to break into their barn at 3AM and ogle Alice???), she verbally abuses Alice, she sends her to bed regularly without dinner, is constantly criticizing, won’t hug her or kiss her, and - this one really got me, for some reason - forces her to do illegal things. Those invisible berries I mentioned? Alice can find them and bring back whole baskets because of her magical gift, and so her mom sends her out to pick them all the time. If she brings home enough, her mom smiles. If she doesn’t, her mom yells and calls her names and sometimes beats her. Guess what? Picking those berries is illegal. We don’t find this out until much later in the book, but it is. The thing I didn’t like about the berries is that Oliver, who’s thirteen, is less concerned about Alice’s mother beating her for not picking enough contraband berries and instead focuses on how her ability to find the berries in the first place means Alice has really impressive magic. NOBODY seems to care how much Alice is being abused, not even the Narrator. The Narrator sympathizes with Alice’s hurt feelings and despair over her missing Father, but it’s never objectively stated that her mom is abusing her AND SHE IS. Yeah, her mom is sooo glad to have her back after Alice almost dies on her trip with Oliver, but so what? My roommate’s mom is so abusive that my roommate’s clergy leaders, doctors, and psychological therapist all said my roommate needed to cut ties with said mom, even though my roommate’s mom has also exhibited the same kind of “oh baby I’m so sorry, I love you so much” bullshit. That’s what abusers do. So I hate Alice’s mom. She literally makes her daughter feel like if she doesn’t risk her life numerous times AND bring her father back, there is no chance her mother will ever love her. And if she pulls that stuff off (which she does), then MAYBE her mother will love her. Nuh-uh. Nope. Hate that bitch. Other than that, I really loved this book. The characters felt real (Alice is me, but without my anger), Even the ones I didn’t like were still REAL, and well-drawn. The world building and word choice is fantastic. Basically, if you can get past the evil mom, read this book. World Building: 1 star Realism: 1 star Word Choice: 1 star Plot: 1 star Characterization: 1 star - ¼ star because Oliver Newbanks is an obnoxious little creep - 1 star because the mom is AN ABUSIVE EVIL BITCH - ¼ star because NOBODY DOES ANYTHING ABOUT THAT +½ star because Alice is amazing and has a genius brain and I love her Total score: 4/5 stars Would I Buy It: Yes! I own it and loved it enough I got the sequel for Christmas (in...2017...I've been sitting on this review for months...)! Would I Recommend: yes, but with trigger warnings. Again, highly abusive evil bitch mom who somehow doesn’t die.

[tribeoftrolls]

A big shout out thanks to a friend name Xu Xu! I could of NOT done this without’em as people are too dang strict about AOTC only. Like I get it, it’s so it ensures players KNOW the fight. But even though I lacked AOTC doesn’t mean I do not know the fight. We one shot Heroic Argus in one go with 3 mins to spare before Argus berserks. Argus is BARELY any different from normal, but people act like it’s the most difficult boss when all he does is hit hella harder. It’s not like I wasn’t in the ilvl to even take on Argus either. I do not know if Xu Xu has tumblr buuuut the name of the bird is totally a shout out to Xu. Thank you so much for lending a hand and finally got the mount and the achievement for it. 

Got a bit of a story below here...

Sooooo I been working on getting AOTC for months. I do not got the time or resources to create my own raid team, so all I got are pugs to join in if I got the time. After all that’s kinda the reason blizz created these ques to allow people to still be able to enjoy the game content. I learned ALL the fights, spent months gathering the gear so im at the ilvl needed for a Argus kill. But alas, people want only AOTC and yes I get it. It’s to ensure that the fight will be a 1 shot. Buuuut let’s be real here. In my experiences even people with AOTC, it does NOT guarantee that the raid will go smoothly. I rather be with people who may not have AOTC but have put the research to know all boss fights and gained the gear to take down Argus then a bunch of AOTC salty assholes.

What do I mean? Well the first group my friend helped me get in, so ALL these people got AOTC right? But as soon as the  fight starts, things are going smooth for like 1 min into the fight. I’m doing at least 2 mil dps cause I pop everything at beginning so I’m hitting as hard as possible to get Argus to 70% to get passed 1 phase. But guess what, these people with AOTC...they kept dropping blight RIGHT in the stack group. I had to keep moving out of the sudden dot of doom PLUS argus doing his extra heroic aoe move and to move again because cone of death. I avoided all the cone of deaths it was the dang blights that was causing an issue. I’m poping my defenses to survive which was going fine but these AOTC players (and me at the time did not have AOTC) kept dropping blights (like 2-3) right in the stack group. (And even if some didn’t have AOTC, still does not excuse to not know what to do with blight wheeenn normal does the same move.)

So I get blight. Now I’m already moving to get out of a blight that is dropped right in melee. So I got blight and displacer(blink) way to the back of the group as that is where blight is to be dropped. But my hp was already low due to all the damage from argus and these players sloppily dropping blights. I die because I ran outa defenses to pop and argus did his aoe move just as I dropped my blight down. It’s not the healers fault, just dps that apparently want to get everyone killed so now my dps drops because I’m dead. A few other players are dead due to the same issue (or had caused it.) So I’m just all..welp, I just know it I’m gonna get kicked because of other players messing up. But I’m watching. 

We still had plenty of people still up, they get passed 2nd phase no problem and then theres the 3rd one with the adds. And hardly ANYONE was interrupting cosmic beacon. My friend who went as a healer was getting annoyed and she being top heals, shes completely outa mana trying to save everyones ass. They managed to get passed that phase even though I saw another cosmic beacon go off. Now last phase. And guess what. The suppose all super strong aotc tanks just LEFT argus in the middle. The only thing that argus did was kept spinning around as now im trying to stay behind him and raid is yelling for tanks to move it to skull mark. Argus kills me and half the raid because of his swipe finally tanks position him to skull. But since so many kept dieing, tree was now gone and it was a complete wipe.

And yet this dumb ass raid leader kicks me out of group? When I had not done ANY of the huge mistakes, barely got a chance to do much because of other people screwing up. So my friend leaves and we can tell that group was just going to be shit. So we join another Argus group. This one was more chill, a good RL that is carefully picking and gathering to get a team set up. So I’m hoping we can one shot with this group, still feeling hopeful. 

I’ve been in bad pugs before, sometimes you get in really good ones and other times really bad ones. It’s expected when you go for pugs. But this one....THIS ONE tops the CAKE! So once again, AOTC is the ONLY way to get a one shot kill huh? Lol.

WELL, the RL gets the team all set up. We are just about ready and summoning people in when all of a sudden. This asshole DH tank name Activedh from Area 52 began dissing and just being HUGELY salty about the other tank. Just kept going on and on and on about how horrible of a tank he is and that if RL doesn’t kick the supposed “bad tank” that he wants to be kicked out. I mean this DH kept it up but in the end. This DH tank just proved to everyone in the raid how much of a HORRIBLE tank he is because this story gets better. Ohhhh does it get better. I cannot MAKE this up. So RL tell’s the DH if he doesn’t like that the other tank is staying then he can just leave. So this DH is sooooo vengeful and angry over something so stupid he does end up leaving but also PULLS ARGUS! Does the biggest dick move all because he was having a shit fest over nothing? Now this is an AOTC I’m a bad ass and I know everything kind of player cause he also done mythic or whatever. But he’s blaming this other tank name moose that he’s a bad tank. But he just had a 2 yr old tantrum over nothing and pulled the boss to get everyone killed. Yet Moose is the bad tank? Does that make ANY sense at all?

So we all die but w/e NO ONE leaves, we all stay and we just get a new tank. RL just gets a few more dps and we’re back to summoning players in. And we all didn’t know but that SAME player logged on his monk. He qued up and got invited in only to pull boss on us AGAIN and then leave. He got us good on that, I got to hand it to him there. We totally did not expect it. But RL wised up to it as he was using something as he can tell that it was the same player. It’s not that hard to find out as you can go to the armory and just see the pets etc. I do not know what is used to find out but I’m just glad we had a smart RL.

Now for someone who was boasting and giving the other tank a hard time over nothing, we didn’t even begin and he sank so low of a level to log on another character just to try to troll us and get us killed again. Like yanno what, no one got mad really. We found it hilarious that someone would stoop to such a pathetic level of a tantrum, no one left still. The RL saw he signed up again but now he’s on a warlock and we’re like WAIT don’t invite him but wait until after we beat Argus then invite him so he can see we one shot the boss. :D

So RL leaves the list up, doesn’t invite anymore. We get to fighting argus, everything was going hella smoothly. Tanks did not do bad AT all like this AOTC asshole was dictating how much moose sucked. Hardly anyone died. Only just 2 people. But no one was making mistakes, people were on it. Phase 3 I got onto an add to make sure it doesn't cosmic beacon and gone through that phase no problem. We get to last phase, module orbs are getting smacked down every time they pop up. We are all on it. We kill Argus with like 3 mins to spare on his berserk. I get my mount FINALLY thanks to Xu and being so kind to get me in.

But yanno, ONLY AOTC’S ARE THE BEST RIGHT?! YOU GET NO PROBLEMS IN AOTC ONLY’S.

And the only tid bit of the screen shots I took of the chat. Lol. Not making up this story at all. This is after we killed the boss and what raid chat began talking on lol. He never got invited back in, I figured he unlisted cause he figured it out lol. In the end we proved his dumb ass wrong and everyone in the pug raid got Argus down and that was that. 

I may have been struggling to try and get AOTC before BFA drops, to get the mount before it goes away. It ended up being an adventure and a good story that will never be forgotten. This is my sort of luck and it shows why I been struggling for so long but I got it done and it’s all thanks to Xu!

[taxesdeathtrouble]

so! about that hogwarts au

im gonna get housing/birth status (??? whats the word for that) done right off the bat

alex is a slytherin, as stated in my previous post (i’m gonna put it in the same tag: hogwarts au)

Molly is a Gryffindor, through and through. the second it was placed on her head the hat was yelling

Chase is a Hufflepuff, which i know is controversal but it boils down to boy needs a hug and people who care about him and he gets that in Hufflepuff

Nico is also a Hufflepuff and I’m right. her sisters one too but thats not my main reasoning my main reasoning is that she’s really loyal and a fucking awesome friend and she’ll go to great lengths to protect the people she loves. 

Karolina is a Gryffindor, but she was also a hatstall because she really really wanted Hufflepuff because her mother drilled it into her that it’s the only truly good house but the hat sees her potential and puts her in with the lions and she ends up ruling them all through her kindness and how willing people are to follow her

Gert is a Ravenclaw, she was a hatstall too but she really didn’t want to be Slytherin (’not that there’s anything wrong with Slytherin it’s a great house’ but it’s just not what I want’)

So Chase and Karolina are purebloods (well, chase is. karolina’s dad is secretly a mythical being but she doesn’t even know he exists so thats for another time) nico is a halfblood (me mum’s a witch. dad’s a muggle. bit of a nasty shock for him when he found out) gert is a pureblood that doesn’t know she’s a pureblood because her mother died when she was three-four and she barely remembers her- she has dreams sometimes where she’s flying on a broomstick with a dark haired woman who’s face she can’t see. the moon is bright, and they are both laughing in joy. she got adopted by the Yorkes, a well meaning muggle scientist couple who make fast friends with their new neighbors, the Hernandezes, a pair of wizards with a child of their own. when Gert is seven and starts making the flowers in the backyard grow like crazy and begins to float down the stairs every morning, Gene and Alice spill the beans that she’s probably a witch and explain about the wizarding world. they give them Neville Longbottom’s card because they’re personal friends (he and gene go to the same bookstore a lot and are kind of buddies) and he explains about the wizarding world and hogwarts and gives gert a bunch of books about their history which leads to an obsession with Hermione. Neville checks in a few times and Gert chatters nonstop and Neville is like ‘i know her, actually’ and Gert screams. anyways Molly gets adopted by the Yorkes when her parents are killed by a mysterious accident and she’s not a pureblood because her family was never obsessed with that purity bullshit but it does make her family tree kind of...........spotty, and other relatives hard to find.

now, on to the good stuff aka Plot

- the five of them meet near the beginning of first year

- gert and chase are friends first because they meet on the train

- by the way this is going to be gertchase heavy dont @ me

- so anyways they meet on the train, and gert sees this very pretty boy sitting alone in a compartment as she walks the length of the train looking for a place to sit for the trip

- and he looks really sad. this is because ten minutes before boarding the train his father had just finished a long, self righteous lecture on why he should ask the hat to be in Gryffindor because ‘that’s what house i was in and you should be like me’ which is the last thing Chase wants.

- ‘hey, mullet, mind if i sit?’ gert asks, flouncing in and plopping down without waiting for an answer, and chase, who’s never been called a mean name by a peer in his life, and certainly never by someone this pretty, is flabbergasted.

- ‘excuse me? i do not have a mullet’ by the way chase is british gert is irish the others i dont care as much but these are the ones i’m attached to because i’m writing something else where that’s their nationalities

- ‘uh, yeah you do, mate. the name’s gert.’ she sticks out her hand, and it’s covered in scribbles. chase takes it hesitantly, and says, ‘uh. my name is chase stein.’

- gert spends that entire first year trying to get him to stop acting like he’s a grandmother at tea time and talk like a normal kid because he’s literally never hung out with anyone his age before

- the way the rest of them became friends: gert decimates alex at gobstones, alex is friends with nico, nico is friends with chase because #puffsolidarity and karolina is friends with gert from like, day two of their first year when they both got detention (the story of which they will Never Tell) (they conspired together to let the frogs from the transfiguration course escape) (they got two weeks detention)

- when chase gets sorted into hufflepuff, he cries. years later, he still doesn’t know why.

- chase develops a big crush on gert in their third year, which is also around the time she decides she’s going to be an animagus (alex told her she couldn’t do it and she got so pissed at him they didn’t talk for a month but it did start her on that path so she’s not super mad anymore) 

- so for about a month she’s being secretive as hell and won’t talk, which she comes up with a variety of reasons for, ranging from ‘i’ve taken a break from talking so you all remember how funny i am’ to ‘i have a debilitating non life threatening illness so i can’t talk until the month is over even if i wanted to’

- chase totally calls bullshit, and he’s kind of upset with her because he JUST figured out he’s likes her and now she won’t even talk?

- when she finally becomes an animagus she doesn’t tell anyone because it’s technically illegal but the first thing she says to anyone is ‘hey, mullet, pass the eggs,’ to chase (because he’s thirteen and still has the mullet although she’s probably going to be calling him that even when they’re married) and he cries. she’s like ‘woah what’s wrong?!?’ and he says through tears ‘you’re (sob sob) talking to me (sob sob) again (sob sob)’ but he gets a hug out of it so the ribbing from the guys on the quidditch team is worth it

- speaking of quidditch

- oh wait right gert’s animagi form is a kitty cat which she’s pissed about because she wanted something badass but nope she’s a fluffy calico with glasses markings around the eyes (and a purple tuft when she dies her hair)

- anyways quidditch

- gert and chase are both on their respective teams, gert is a beater and chase is a chaser (haha) and later on they become captains

- nico is the announcer for the games and a common theme is her dramatically making fun of their sexual tension/basically being a couple without being a couple bullshit

- ‘oh and there goes yorkes hitting stein with the bludger again, now, we have to wonder how bad their little lovers quarrel was’ 

- in fourth year, there’s the tournament and the yule ball

- karolina gets picked to represent hogwarts, and she doesn’t win but she still ‘loved the experience!’

- she takes nico to the ball, and that’s how they get together it’s really cute

- so obviously chase was planning to ask gert to the ball

- but he gets nervous and waits too long, and he’s literally mid sentence about to ask her when this girl from Beauxbatons (abby, if you’ve read one of my previous fics) waltzes up all cool and asks Gert straight up ‘will you go to the ball with me?’

- gert looks at chase first, just for a second, then says, ‘of course!’ because she really didn’t think anyone would ask her and abby is really really pretty and nice

- so gert looks gorgeous the night of 

- she’s wearing this long, shimmery dress, and her long, dark hair is in ringlets, and chase is enamoured

- she asks his opinion first, because best friends and all

- gert: so what do you think?

chase, completely heartbroken that he’s not taking her to this dance but trying to be cool: you look nice :) 

- gert thinks hes being insincere tho and it kind of hurts her feelings

- the dance is fine until gert goes to get her and abby drinks and abby is making out with someone random and gerts heart breaks in two

- she runs out of the ballroom in tears, and chase, who’s been sitting at a table all night completely ignoring his date, to her annoyance, sees her leave. he immediately gets up and goes after her, and finds her crying her eyes out in an empty classroom

- ‘hey’ he says, sitting down next to her. ‘hi,’ she says, voice cracking, and he wraps his arms around her and she presses her face into his chest as she cries.

- and then she starts rambling. ‘so i just saw abby kissing on some other girl, and i mean, i knew this was too good to be true, but i didn’t want to believe it, you know? i was just happy someone wanted to take me, but i should’ve known when she kept calling me beautiful. liars don’t make good dates.’

- ‘what? gert, you’re, um, you’re beautiful’

- ‘pfft yeah right i know you think so, sure-’

- chase holds her face in his hands in a rare moment of fourteen year old boldness and says ‘gert. you’re gorgeous’

- ‘o-oh’

- he seems to realize what he’s doing and pulls away, and they don’t talk about it after, but gert gets the beginning of a crush that day.

- so fifth year

- gert and chase don’t see each other all summer, because gert’s parents drag her and molly to america for research, which is where gert meets tandy and ty, super cool american wizards and she posts a picture with one of them on insta and Chase gets mega jealous even if he doesn’t say anything

- gert cuts and dyes her hair with tandy and molly’s help but keeps it a secret so she can surprise him

- they text more than call because chase’s voice is in the midst of dropping and he’s embarassed

- and the whole summer he’s bored as hell so he just goes to the gym every day

- and he finally gets a good hairstyle

- so that first day at the train station gert sees him and literally doesn’t recognize him

- who is this broad-shouldered, deep-voiced beauty standing beside her? and staring at her like he can’t believe what he’s seeing?

- ‘gert?’ ‘oh my god, chase? you look............so different. so what do you think? of my hair, i mean.’ her brain’s a little wonky. chase is so attractive, what the fuck

- he reaches over and winds his finger around a curl. ‘it’s really pretty.’ his voice is soft and to her ears, intimate, and oh, fuck you, hormones, this is the last type of reaction she wants to be having to this.

- she blushes really red and chase is like hmmm this is new

- that whole year there’s something different underlying everything. they spend a lot more time alone, doing homework together or going out on their broomsticks or splitting off from the group when they go to hogsmeade

- coincidentally, they both also make prefect that year, and through a lot of twisting schedules around by the kids (nico and karolina make prefect and there’s a few other interhouse relationships so gert and chase get paired up) they do patrols together

- and there’s a metric fuckton of flirting

- they also start playing dumb magic pranks on each other around this time, so often one of them will show up to breakfast with green hair or galaxy freckles

- chase did the freckles to piss her off but, oh no, she looks so cute, this isn’t fair

- fifth year is also when gert’s anxiety starts to get bad, so there are a lot of nights where she roams the castle in cat form, still kind of pissed about the tuft of purple that sticks up

- on one of these nights, chase can’t sleep. and i mean really can’t sleep. so he puts on the little device he wired up to make teachers not notice him because im lazy and cant think of anything else and heads down to him favourite alcove where he can look up at the moon and the snow falling and just think.

- gert comes across him, still in cat form, and she still hasn’t told him, or anyone, that she’s an animagus, so she considers just walking away, but then chase sees her and is picking her up and babytalking at her and oh, this is so cute, she can’t leave now

- so she settles in his lap and he starts petting her, saying, ‘you’re so soft, yes you are, pretty girl, yes you are,’ because ya know. he thinks hes talking to a cat.

- and then he just starts rambling about his issues and hes kind of maybe vaguely talking about ‘this girl’ (gert) and he doesnt say that he likes her but if you listen closely its clear, and okay, gert needs to transform back now or she’ll fall asleep, and she’s been meaning to tell chase anyways.

- so she changes back and oh, she didn’t think this through, because she’s sitting in his lap in her- oh, shit- pyjama shorts and tank top and no bra, what the fuck was she thinking?

- chase screams, and gert slaps her hand over his mouth so they don’t get caught. ‘are you done?’

- chase is wide eyed as he nods, and gert takes her hand off his mouth.

- ‘so. you’re an animagus, right?’ ‘yeah’ ‘how long?’ ‘remember that time in third year when alex said i wouldn’t be able to do it and we fought?’ ‘oh my god’

- his arm settles around her waist, fingers brushing against bare skin where her shirt has ridden up, and they’re both staring at each other and thinking ‘what if we made out right now’

- but then they hear a loud banging noise and jump to their feet, running back down the hallway. gert turns into a cat midstep, and chase whisper-shouts ‘that is SO not fair!’

- they make it back to their respective common rooms, just barely, and neither of them are able to sleep the entire night because of what almost happened between them

- at the end of the year, at the train station, they share a very long hug and promise to see each other over the summer. their friends are definitely making fun of them in the background

- near the start of sixth year they’re still doing patrols together, and one night, out of the blue, chase kisses her. they end up making out for like, an hour, then go back to their dorms smiling their asses off

- but guess what? they’re idiots. so they don’t get together right then

- they don’t actually talk about it. but every night they’re on patrol together, guess who’s ignoring their duties to make out in some dark corner? them

- but during the day they’re kind of ignoring each other and everyone is so sick of it so one day nico shoves them into the room of requirement (which she definitely found really early on in her hogwarts career- hufflepuffs are particularly good finders, after all) to force them to talk to each other and locking the door.

- they kind of just stand their awkwardly for a minute until gert is like ‘wanna make out’ and chase, being chase, says yes

- so they do that for a while, and there’s a couch in this nondescript room because story reasons, so it gets a little pg-13 up in the room of requirement if you know what i’m saying

-but chase gets hit with this wave of i wish she was my girlfriend why isn’t she my girlfriend what are we doing and stops kissing her. he’s so tempted to just dive back in, just from how she’s looking right now, but he really, really needs to say something.

- ‘look, gert, i want you to know.........i have feelings for you. there, i said it. and i’m not comfortable with just messing around when i care about you so much- mph!” 

- Gert cuts him off with a kiss. she pulls back, and says, ‘I like you too, mullet.’ and then they make out some more and when they come out of the room of requirement their entire friend group is waiting outside the door with Bertie Botts and chocolate frogs waiting to see the results and they come out holding hands and everyone starts cheering dramatically, like, ‘FINALLY, AFTER SIX YEARS, I KNOW PEACE!’

- and they all live happily ever after the end

[belphieslilcow]

ANYWAYS i found this and since uhhh i dont really get asks i thought i'd just do this all myself as cassian hehehe (side note i am exhausted)

😈: who is your favorite brother?

hrnn... :pouts: i couldn't ever choose a favorite, they're all so special to me in their own ways and i wouldn't want to make them feel bad by choosing anyone...

👻: what race are you? human?

as far as i know!! with some uhh potential angel blood in there? (i still don't get that fully)

🔮: do you possess magic?

i... think? solomon's taught me some stuff, but i don't really understand it

🖤: which of the sins do you align with?

:sigh: it's envy, of course, though other than that probably sloth lol

🪡: do you believe in fate?

in a way!! kinda?? maybe??

💜: where are you from?

the human world :)

🕷: what's your biggest fear?

HEIGHTS, like it can be SO scary when Beel picks me up cause of how tall he is :(

oh also like everyone suddenly hating me and treating me like garbage i guess...

🐈‍⬛: how long did it take you to adjust?

uhmm it was pretty quick i think, i had trouble sleeping for the first month cause i was kinda scared something would come in my room and eat me, but really i've been to public school, the demons are about on the same wavelength as them ^^

👿: who is your least favorite brother?

AGAIN I LOVE THEM ALL AHHHHHHGGHGGHH

🕸: what is your favorite magical subject?

they're all really cool!! i still don't Get It, but i like learning about them all!!

👾: do you game with levi?

of course!! me 'n leviachan were gaming since before i came to the devildom!! :3

💀: how is your relationship with belphie?

he's my sleepy baby boy!! my tired beloved!! i want to hold him and kiss him and stargaze with him an-

🦄: what is your favorite mythical creature?

dragons!!! ive always loved them!!

🔪: which brother would you stab?

uhh... mmhmmm.... eerrrrmmmm... i dont wanna hurt any of them...

♋️: what is your zodiac sign?

oh im a libra!! satan is too!! :3

🎱: have you gotten detention?

yeah... i'd say it wasn't my fault but >//<

🦷: what chapter are you on in your studies?

22!! i don't think i can go much further i need to ask the rest for help ahhh...

🎵: what skills do you have?

im... a gamer? well i can draw too i guess, and write!! and i think im at least decent at cooking!!

🐃: what is your favorite devildom food?

hhn... i don't really like devildom food that much it kinda grosses me out, Barbatos's cakes are great though!! even though i can only eat about half a slice ehehehe...

☂️: do you like the eternal moon?

it's so pretty!! when i went back to the human world i never realized how much i squint normally because of the sun, so the eternal darkness is much better for me to see in

🪄: are you friends with solomon?

yeah!! we're buddies!! :) people think he's so shady but he's super nice?? he's like a weird uncle

🗝: how do you feel about the attic?

i mean, at first obviously not much, then uhh.. *that* happened in there, so i couldn't really go in there for a while, but now i love it, it's very cozy!! i can't help but feel kinda sad when im in there alone though, it makes me feel bad for belphie...

✝️: are you religious?

nope!! never was!! i was questioning that stuff since i was a little kid!! i think the aesthetic is nice though :3

🖋: what do you think of diavolo?

at first i was SO intimidated by him, like that's?? the guy who's ruling this place?? and he's gigantic?? but he's so nice and sweet really...

🔗: what are your kinks?

uhmm... w-well... i like uhhh... tentacles and i kinda have both a praise and degradation kink >//<

🤍: are you friends with simeon?

we don't really talk much but i think so!!

♠️: do you gamble like mammon?

ugh i try not to, but he says he gets good luck when im with him and i think he deserves to have those happy moments, so i go with him sometimes

🟣: will you be sad to leave the devildom?

bold of you to assume im ever leaving, but i was when i first came back to the human world, like it was so hard to just... adjust to regular life again knowing all the stuff i did now, like how are you supossed to live your normal life knowing you're the descendent of a reincarnated angel and you have pacts with 7 of the most powerful demons??

but also i got really lonely, the first week was fine!! just felt like a small vacation, but i missed them all so much... especially at night, eating dinner alone was... not fun, and trying to sleep without one of them coming into my room to check on me felt wrong

i felt really selfish about it, even though we would call and everything, and i still played online with leviachan, of course, but i really didn't feel right not being there, it felt like a genuine home

🦴: would you make a deal to come back?

if i ever had to leave again, i don't think i'd need to, it'd have to be some powerful magic to keep me away from my beloveds and them away from me

[thehenryhiggs]

bre’s big ol podcast rec list

heyyy everyone! so @bodhilukes​ asked for podcast recommendations on twitter and @czarrish​ and i immediately jumped on that. i was gonna make this list sometime this month away, and im super excited to do it! this is probably gonna get long so under the cut we go!

COMEDIES:

1. Hello From The Magic Tavern

Updates: Every Monday

Current # Of Eps: 101

General Length Of Eps: 40 mins to an hour

Synopsis: Arnie Niekamp fell through a dimensional portal at a Burger King in Chicago into the magical, fantastical land of Foon. He’s still getting a slight wifi signal from the Burger King, so he hosts a weekly podcast with his buddies Chunt (a shapeshifter who normally takes the shape of a badger) and Usidore, a wizard. They interview different creatures from Foon each week as Arnie tries to learn about Foon, while also trying to figure out how to get back home.

Notes: Okay, I have to say it. This is my favorite podcast. I love it to absolute death. It 100% got me into improv comedy and comedy podcasts, to the point where that’s pretty much all I listen to anymore. Arnie, Matt, and Adal are sweethearts and the show is so genuinely funny and interesting. Please give this one a listen.

2. The Adventure Zone

Updates: Every other Thursday

Current # Of Eps: 57

General Length Of Eps: An hour, but there are a few that are two or three.

Synopsis: The McElroys play Dungeons and Dragons. But it’s also so much more than that.

Notes: Okay you all know how much I love this podcast. I love it to death. I’m still only like halfway through it but god it’s amazing and I’m so angry I didn’t start it earlier. All of the characters are amazing and Griffin is truly such an amazing storyteller. It’s so much deeper than you would originally think, and it will make you cry like a baby. Please listen to The Adventure Zone. Holy shit.

3. CoolGames Inc 

Updates: Every Friday

Current # Of Eps: 45, with some CGI Jrs mixed in.

General Length Of Eps: An hour (CGI Jrs are 20 mins)

Synopsis: Polygon’s Nick Robinson and Griffin McElroy take listener suggestions and make video games out of them.

Notes: These are my favorite soft boys, and they are just too funny. Some of the games they come up with are genuinely good games that you’ll be upset don’t actually exist, but most of them are just silly goofs that are guaranteed to make you laugh. This podcast single-handedly got me through last semester, so shoutout to Nick and Griffin for that. You should also check out CoolGames Inc Animated!

4. Improvised Star Trek 

Updates: Every other Monday

Current # Of Eps: 157, with a BUNCH of bonus eps mixed in

General Length Of Eps: About 30 mins for regular eps, 5 mins for bonus

Synopsis: These are the voyages of the starship Sisyphus, Starfleet’s worst crew. Captain Julius Valentine Baxter and his crew, including First Officer Corbomite Hayes, Science Officer Crick Watson, Ensign Laserbear, and Chief Medical Officer Zarlene Zonaldson, just to name a few, get into way too much trouble out in the final frontier.

Notes: I started listening to this because of Matt Young from HFTMT (and because I got super into Trek), but god I fell in love with every single character. Quite a few guests from HFTMT are regulars on IST, and their shenanigans are just amazing. If you love Trek, you’ll love this.

5. Siblings Peculiar 

Updates: Infrequently

Current # Of Eps: 29

General Length Of Eps: 30 mins

Synopsis: Adam and Sarah Peculiar (pronounced Pec-U-lAr) are trying to figure out what happened to their parents, paranormal investigators that suddenly disappeared 10 years ago. They interview conspiracy theorists of all sorts as they try to gain any information they can about their parents’ whereabouts.

Notes: I started listening to this one because of Adal Rifai from HFTMT, and I’m glad I did because he and his sister are so funny together. Their conspiracy theories are so off-the-wall hilarious (there’s a whole episode about Grease being propaganda where they interview the real creator of Grease), although I will say the comedy might not be for everyone as it can veer a little into the offensive (but it’s satire and I personally love it). It’s less frequent now because Sadieh got cast in a tv show, but I still recommend listening to it!

DRAMAS:

1. Welcome to Night Vale 

Updates: Bimonthly, on the 1st and the 15th.

Current # Of Eps: 103

General Length Of Eps: 30 mins

Synopsis: Cecil hosts a radio show in the mysterious town of Night Vale, where abnormal things like Glow Clouds, angels, ominous dog parks, and floating cats are commonplace.

Notes: We’ve all listened to WTNV at this point, right? Or at least heard of it? Besides an old Fringe podcast I used to listen to back in like 2008, this was the first podcast I ever listened to. Cecil’s voice is just incredibly soothing, I find this podcast really helps when I’m super depressed, and I used to stock up on eps specifically for those times. 

2. The Black Tapes/TANIS 

Updates: they used to be weekly but they look pretty infrequent now

Current # Of Eps: TBTP has 24, TANIS has 25, both with several bonus eps mixed in

General Length Of Eps: 30-45 mins

Synopsis: TBTP is about journalists Alex and Nic investigating The Strand Institute’s Richard Strand and his various black tapes that may be evidence of the paranormal. TANIS is the spinoff, where Nic focuses more on real life conspiracy theories as he tries to find the location of the mythical TANIS.

Notes: I’m not gonna lie, I did drop both of these podcasts and I’m not sure if I will pick them back up. But the first season of both were incredible, and @czarrish introduced them to me and they really got me into podcasts. In my opinion they both declined in quality during their second seasons, but that’s just my opinion!

3. The Penumbra Podcast 

Updates: I think it’s on hiatus? But I think it was bi-weekly at one point

Current # Of Eps: 19, with bonuses mixed in

General Length Of Eps: 30-50 mins

Synopsis: The Penumbra is the grandest hotel this side of Nowhere.The series mostly follows Detective Juno Steel trying to solve mysteries, but they’re all stories you recognize told in ways you won’t expect. 

Notes: Again, I’m not gonna lie, I’ve barely listened to this and I really don’t know that much about it. I had to take a lot of the synopsis from the actual one on their website. But the first two episodes were awesome, so I feel confident in recommending it. I think they might be rebooting it?? Idk, you might want to ask @czarrish for more details.

4. Alice Isn’t Dead

Updates: Season one wrapped in Jul 2016 and it’s been on hiatus ever since. edit: s2 is starting soon!

Current # Of Eps: 10

General Length Of Eps: 30 mins

Synopsis: Alice is a truck driver who’s driving across the country in search of her missing wife, who she thought had been dead but now has reason to believe otherwise.

Notes: This is from the creators of WTNV and features the voice of Jasika Nicole, who I know and love from Fringe but also does the voice of Dana on WTNV. It’s spooky but not too much so, and I’ve admittedly only listened to 3 episodes but just like Cecil, Jasika has a wonderfully soothing voice.

MISC:

1. Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Updates: Every Monday

Current # Of Eps: 148

General Length Of Eps: An hour

Synopsis: Basically what it says on the tin: two guys explain in detail everything that has happened in the X-Men universe, starting at the very beginning.

Notes: Again I haven’t listened to too much of this, but it’s really fun. I’ve loved X-Men for a while but I always get confused with all the retcons and different verses and stuff, but Jay and Miles do a wonderful job of explaining everything without making it confusing.

2. Terrace House Mafia 

Updates: Infrequently

Current # Of Eps: 14

General Length Of Eps: 10-15 mins

Synopsis: Polygon’s Nick Robinson and his roommate Chad watch Terrace House: Boys & Girls in the City and talk about it. That’s it. But it’s cute as fuck.

Notes: I absolutely love listening to these guys talk about Terrace House because they’re going through the exact same journey that I (and probably everyone) went on when I first watched it. It’s quick and super fun to listen to.

3. The Probe 

Updates: Was weekly, but s1 wrapped in November so it’s been on hiatus

Current # Of Eps: 8

General Length Of Eps: 30 mins

Synopsis: A satirical take on news podcasts, two journalists follow the election at Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School, and learn about the country’s political climate along the way. 

Notes: Again, I started listening to this because Matt Young from HFTMT produced it, but I really enjoyed it beyond that. If you like HFTMT, you’ll recognize a lot of the Chicago-based actors in The Probe. Also I wasn’t exactly sure where to put this so I just put it in MISC cuz it’s like... definitely funny and improvised but also it’s a little serious, maybe? Idk, it’s satire. And it’s great satire.

I’m also gonna include the podcasts that I’m subscribed to but I haven’t actually started listening to yet. They piqued my interest but I just haven’t gotten around to listening to them yet! So here we go: The Bright Sessions, Darkest Night, The Hilarious World of Depression, Hollywood Handbook, Homecoming, Lore, My Brother My Brother And Me, Reply All, The Room Where It’s Happening, Wolf 359, With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus.

[badbrainthoughts]

(11.11.18. 10:08 pm. in my dorm room.)

I just had my first panic attack in nearly a year.

My friend, Kat, invited me to go out for chinese with her other friends. The thing with me is that.. I’m not other-friend compatible. I, generally, am very picky and selective with whom I befriend and spend time with. Maybe that is the reason why I don’t - ever - react well to meeting my friends’ other friends. 

Anyways, we went out and they were.. fine. Two of them I already knew and had decided I wasn’t too fond of, the other two were about on the same level. Fine, call me judgmental, but there are just types of people that I just don’t want to associate with or spend my time with. As my weird ass sugar daddy-esque sorta-boyfriend puts it, some people are like robots and don’t think. Maybe the pool of people I believe to not think is larger than others. Or maybe I’m just an introverted, judgmental bitch.

The dinner went fine and all, I being my weird, quiet, stiff self around strangers and the other girls being normal and talking. Afterwards, me and my friend Kat were supposed to watch American Horror Story because I had never seen it and we were watching it from the beginning. But, of course, Kat invited another girl to join and I... well, I didn’t like that, ha. I’m dramatic. She reconfirmed the plans as we walked back into our dorm building and I told her “Actually, I’m gonna go back to my room.”

Later on, my other friend Emilia texted me and invited me to go watch a movie up in her room. I figured it was just gonna be me and her, and maybe her roommate and Kat as well. All cool, I like these people and it’s not a social gathering. But, alas, when I went there were two other people I didn’t know very well and was immediately turned off to the situation. I was in the room for a max 5 minutes before someone told me “hey, you can sit down haha” to which i responded, once again: “Actually, I’m gonna go back to my room.”

The absolute drama of it all. I swear, it wasn’t scripted.

Emilia texted me afterwards and asked me what was wrong, and I told her the truth: too many people. She then sent more texts about how she originally only invited me and Kat, but other people wanted to join along as well, and that she was sad that I left.

I responded: “sorry.”

Now that I’m looking back on it, the situation is pretty dumb, but I got overwhelmed and it was either go back to my room and cry then, or painfully endure the anxiety and break down in my room afterwards. 

But I’ve been bad recently, I haven’t been taking my meds, I’ve been stressed with schoolwork, I have no idea who I am or the type of person I want to be, I don’t know what I want to do in life, my romantic life is fucked up and I’m in love with the worst possible person for me and have some other dude who I don’t like wrapped around my finger, and I’ve been overall uneasy and out of balance.

Ah, the dude who is wrapped around my finger. He’s cute, I’ll give him that. His name is Martin. Martin. How.... unsexy. But it’s fine, he’s tall and blonde and lil chub but cute n nerdy n gummy. He’s funny and weird and nice and definitely likes me a lot. We went out for pizza two days ago and immediately afterwards he asked me out on another date. We’re going to get milkshakes. Adorable.

Last night we were messaging and somehow (this was inevitable, knowing me, but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon) I ended up calling him vanilla, and he was all “i am NOT vanilla” and I was like “Oh ur a FREAK???” which is code word for oh-you-might-be-kinky-and-im-kinky-but-im-going-to-wait-til-you-say-it-first-because-what-if-i-scare-you-away. So he’s kinky but I wasn’t expecting to discover that so soon.

Which is good, because I doubt I would function in a relationship that was entirely vanilla.

“But,” you must be wondering, “what about Mr. weird ass sugar daddy-esque sorta-boyfriend?” Well, he’s long distance, and busy with super top secret things that I would be punished - if not killed by corporate spies - for sharing. And he knows that I literally only care for him (I remind him everyday) and that this guy is just.. entertainment for me, as bad as it sounds.

I don’t know, Martin is a nice kid and I would like to be his friend but I couldn’t get in a relationship without sex and I am - as stupid as it sounds - saving my virginity (whatever that mythical thing is) for my long distance sugar daddy slash boyfriend. I am totally making the right choices here.

This raises the question - am i polyamorous? I’m not sure. The idea of having multiple partners is appealing to me but would I be willing to share my partners? Questionable. Ideally I would have 100 boyfriends and 100 girlfriends and they would all be loyal to me, but that’s NOT realistic and very, very stupid and narcissistic. I know, for Bryce (my LDR sugar daddy lol) I would be 110% okay with him being with other men, because they can offer him things that I just... can’t. Women.... if she’s older than both of us and dominate over him... then I would be okay with it. But the idea of him being with other girl subs makes me wanna die, to be honest. It’s strangely specific and a lot to ask for. And I know he’s okay with me having sex with girls, but generally I get the vibe that he’s quite possessive and doesn’t want to share. I.. personally, like it that way. But I also am open to having multiple partners. It’s very confusing and taxing for me to think of.

Anyways, I’m not quite sure how I got from having a panic attack to discussing my worries of polyamorous relationships. Either way, I’m exhausted and I’m going to lie down and imagine I’m curled up next to some strange man who lives across the country. 

(10:52 pm.)