#like i expect the person spouting it to Get It but it's sort of turned into a general fun young person catch phrase

[shinesurge]

don't get me wrong i'm happy we're sort of overcorrecting because any kind of acknowledgement that christianity is fucked up Helps but it's odd how many people have made "i'm gonna destroy god he's a motherfucker i have A Problem With God" their whole thing and when you try to discuss religious trauma they're like Um :/ that's a lot

[jjkamochoso]

Hey Jealousy

Angst, Fluff

Gen Narumi x gn!reader

Request from Wattpad: Gen gets jealous when Soshiro flirts with his crush!; takes place during Chapter 57 :)

Warnings: none

“What’s the big deal? It’s just Third Division.”

You didn’t realize how much of an impact your words had made on your comrades in the First Division until you noticed it had gone completely quiet around you as everyone stared at you in shock.

“Huh? Just Third Division? Don’t ya know they’re our biggest enemies?” Gen Narumi asked you in disbelief.

“Shouldn’t our biggest enemies be the kaiju? If we’re all working to eliminate them, should we really have a rivalry?” you wondered. Your soldiers couldn’t speak a word; they weren’t expecting to hear their beloved platoon leader spout such nonsense!

“It’s because you haven’t met them yet,” Gen told you, slapping a hand to your back. “Once you have the displeasure of talking to the Third Division, you’ll understand why we hate them.”

Well, here you were, standing before some members of the Third Division, and you still couldn’t grasp the hatred between the two Tokyo factions. Gen had invited you along to “greet” (confront) them as they entered your base and as you eyed them from your spot next to Gen, you waited to see what the fuss was all about.

“Hoshina!” Gen yelled, stepping up to the Third Division’s vice captain. “Who the hell gave you permission to step into my territory, ay?”

Soshiro looked completely unfazed. “My oh my, what a grand welcome for Captain Narumi to personally greet us.”

The vice captain turned his attention to you, his eyes looking you up and down before smiling coyly.

“And who might you be?” he asked. “I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting you before. I certainly would’ve remembered a stunning face like yours.”

You felt your whole body warm at his obvious flirtation. Gen immediately tensed up beside you, stepping forward once more and slightly shielding your body from Soshiro’s view.

“Who they are is none of your business,” Gen growled, pointing an accusatory finger at a smirking Soshiro. “I suggest you get out of here or I won’t hesitate to throw you out. Personally.”

“I have received permission from the higher ups in the main branch, so don’t mind us,” Soshiro explained.

“Nope, no go. This base is off limits for folks with bowl cuts or fox eyes and you fit under both of those.”

“Oh? Could it be that you’re still holdin’ a grudge?” Soshiro suggested, a playful tone in his voice. “You’re still angry that I beat you in the subjugation exercise ranking for the small monster category?”

Gen fell to his knees in dismay at the reminder of his failure. As you went to comfort him, Soshiro took note of your ranking plastered on your jacket and the worry that was present in your expression as you helped Gen back to his feet. You were treating the captain with more tenderness than expected from a platoon leader to their superior, and vice versa with Gen protecting you with a fervor Soshiro had never witnessed from the childish First Division member, all of which strongly suggested you two harbored some sort of romantic feelings for one another. The violet haired man giggled to himself, knowing his latest way of getting under Gen’s skin was sure to work.

“So, my lovely platoon leader,” Soshiro said, capturing your attention, “what else do you do in your free time besides being this good looking?”

Not used to being so brazenly hit on, you cleared your throat as you struggled to maintain your composure and release the words that were stuck on your tongue.

“Uh, you know, a little bit of this and that. Watch movies, walk around town. That sort of thing.”

“I see. Real date night stuff, yeah?”

“I guess so,” you squeaked, your voice barely heard over the quarreling between the division members next to you.

“Do you have any plans later? Maybe you could give me the grand tour of the base?” Soshiro asked you, flashing his signature fanged grin as he leaned in closer to you. Your heart began racing, unsure of what to say. Vice Captain Hoshina was smiling at you like the Cheshire Cat while Gen was glaring daggers at him.

“I-well, I… don’t know what I’m doing later but-”

“Keep at it, you guys!” Gen interrupted you loudly as he encouraged your comrades to continue their bickering with the other division. “The only record Hoshina broke was the small monsters! Aside from that, I hold the rest of the titles!”

“Gen, wait! I don’t think that’s true!” you warned, but it was too late. Soshiro had already heard him clearly and was gearing up to release the final blow to Gen’s ego.

“Doesn’t Captain Ashiro hold the title for the sniper category?”

Down Gen went, hitting the ground with a thump and splaying out in his defeat. You were about to help him up again when someone gently tapped their finger on your shoulder.

Soshiro was practically batting his eyelashes at you. “Will I ever get a name to go along with such a lovely person?”

“L/n. Y/n L/n,” you answered, looking away shyly. Gen had finally stood back up, fueled by his distaste for Soshiro that was only increasing the more he heard him speak to you. When he spied Soshiro’s hand gripping yours, about to bring it to his lips, that’s when any shred of respect for the man permanently left his body. Seeing red, he marched over to you and forcibly removed Soshiro’s grip on your fingers and then swatted his hand away, leaving Soshiro unsuccessfully hiding his rambunctious laughter.

“I’ve really struck a nerve there!” Soshiro exclaimed, wiping tears from his eyes as he fought to catch his breath between cackles. “I’ve never seen you this worked up! Is someone jealous?”

Gen bared his teeth in anger. “Shut up! I don’t like you! Get out of here imme-”

You were about to ask Gen what the hell his problem was, but you never got the chance, seeing as Vice Captain Hasegawa had shown up and hit Gen over the head with a fan, telling him to be quiet. Hasegawa led Soshiro away to the meeting, the cheeky vice captain not leaving without shooting you a wink. Gen quickly followed suit and you had to wait until their meeting was over to try to get to the bottom of what was going on.

You raced to Gen’s room later that night, itching to find out what had gotten into him earlier that morning. You knocked on the door but heard no answer, prompting you to knock louder and incessantly.

“I know you’re in there.”

“I’m not here.”

You rolled your eyes. “Let me in, Narumi.”

You heard footsteps near the door and he barely opened it, peeking his head out and scowling at you.

“Oh, it’s just Narumi now? Ouch.”

“Mind explaining to me what you were doing this morning?” you asked, crossing your arms.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he said, faking ignorance.

“The whole thing with Hoshina! He was just being nice.”

Gen’s jaw dropped and his eyes widened. “Being nice. Being nice? That’s what you call that?! That guy is… is… he’s a menace! A loser! You wanted me to stand by and do nothing?”

“Yes!” you scoffed. “God forbid someone flirts with me. Is it so bad that he thought I was cute? Is it wrong that I liked the attention that I’ve been missing for so long?”

“You like him?” Gen asked incredulously, his hair flopping around.

“I never said I liked him! I said I liked the attention.”

“You know what, I’m sure Hoshina’s still on base somewhere,” he grumbled. “You can go find him and live your happy little lives together. Just leave me out of it.”

Gen shut the door in your face, leaving you alone in the hallway with your racing thoughts. What was wrong with him? He had always been someone you could count on in any situation and was the person you trusted the most. You had always been his confidant, being able to talk to you about anything—why was he shutting you out completely right now? Why was recieving a tiny amount of affection from another man bothering him so much?

“Gen, please talk to me,” you pleaded through the door. “I don’t want you to be upset with me when I don’t even know what I did.”

No response.

“We’re having this conversation eventually so it’s best if we get it over with now.”

Silence.

“I thought we were friends,” you started to say, but stopped when the door flew open.

“I don’t want to be friends with you, y/n!” he blurted, his face contorted with distress. “I can’t! I can’t do it anymore!”

You were absolutely taken aback. “What? Why?”

“What happens when another guy comes around and you do like him, huh? What am I supposed to do then?”

Gen was running his fingers through his hair nervously and you still had no clue what he was talking about.

“You’re not making any sense-”

“I like you, okay?” he confessed. “I have for so long now. I hate the thought of you being with someone else other than me. It’s pathetic, I know.”

You were at a complete loss for words, not at all expecting that to be the reason for his odd behavior.

“It’s not pathetic at all,” you said quietly. “That whole time Hoshina was saying those things… I was wishing it was you instead.”

Now it was Gen’s turn to be stunned. “Wait, then why did you get mad at me for pulling you away from him?”

“Because I thought I’d never have a chance with you. I figured maybe I could get over my feelings for you if I found someone else. Convinced myself I liked them.” You inhaled deeply. “But I know there’s no one else for me and there never will be. You’re the only person I could possibly want.”

Gen breathed out a sigh of relief. “I feel the same about you.”

You couldn’t help your giddy smile that arose as you studied the handsome man in front of you.

“Now that we got our first fight out of the way, how about we try the whole kiss-and-make-up thing?” you asked, biting your lower lip in anticipation. Gen took you by the waist and pulled you inside his room, closing the door with his foot.

“We can definitely do that,” he murmured with a grin, leaning into you.

[slasherhaven]

Billy Lenz wanting yet struggling to be intimate with his S/O because he’s got it hammered into his head that even his most basic desires are filthy? Where he spouts in detail what he’d do over the phone yet can’t bring himself to do anything in reality because he believes he’s gross and doesn’t deserve it and is afraid he’d just hurt his S/O in the process.

Thank you for your time, I love your stories, and congrats!!

Ya'll mind if I just drop in?

Was in the mood to make Billy wet and pathetic soooo it turned out softer than I originally planned.

CW: Panic attack, Self-harm (hair pulling, scratching, skin picking), sexual elements (no nsfw), illusion to past child abuse.

Billy Lenz Thinks he's Bad:

Billy hadn't been exactly what you were expecting when you first met him face to face. He had been vulgar over the phone, telling you about his cock and all the things he wanted to do to you before you even learnt his name. You had expected him to be the exact same pervert in person, not that you would have complained about that.

Instead, he had been hesitant to get closer than a couple of feet from you. He was flighty, always ready to duck and run at the slightest thing. The first time you had touched his shoulder, he had jumped away with wide eyes like he was assessing whether you were a threat or not.

You had come a long way since, Billy welcomed your touch now. Loved cuddling with you and holding your hands and when you played with his hair. You had even got in a few kisses, though surprisingly chaste.

Surprisingly, despite still be shy in person, he was feral over the phone. He still said the foulest things to you, made all sorts of promises, and made the most pathetic little sounds when you returned his efforts.

You hadn't gotten much explanation for his strict division of himself until one quiet evening. All the curtains were drawn and there was an old rom-com on the Tv, something the two of you could watch with ease, but mostly ignore as you cuddled up together.

About twenty minutes into the film, Billy had started nuzzling against your neck sweetly, like he just wanted to be closer to you. You had ran your fingers through his hair, gently scratching his scalp, and he had hummed happily against your skin.

When he had lifted his face, eyes all soft and vulnerable because he knew he was safe, you had stolen a quick kiss. Short and sweet, chaste.

It had been Billy who lent back in for more and it had been Billy who poked his tongue out to lick at your lips. You let him in, of course, unable and unwilling to refuse him. It had been him who had pushed closer, kisses becoming sloppy and hands beginning to roam.

You hummed into his mouth, letting him push closer until you were reclining against the arm of the couch while Billy nearly laying on top of you.

The way he kissed and the way he touched, it was all so needy, so desperate. The way he nipped and licked at your lips and teeth, or the way he grasped at your clothes or the softness of your stomach and hips. Finally, he was letting himself go, letting himself loose on you.

At least, he had been, all until his hips had jolted forward of their own accord. You felt his hardness press against your thigh and then everything was gone, all the warmth radiating off of Billy's body was absent in the blink of an eye.

Blinking yourself back into awareness, confused as to what had just happened. You pushed yourself up on your hands, frowning when you saw Billy curled up on the other end of the couch.

He had pulled his knees up to his chest, holding himself as tight as possible, curling his fingers in his hair and tugging as he muttered into his worn jeans.

"Billy?" you shifted closer, getting up on your knees, but paused immediately when Billy flinched and curled up even tighter.

You settled down on your knees, hands in your lap, as to not spook him by getting any closer. He clearly needed his space right now.

"Billy, are you alright?" you asked gently, the sound of the Tv turning into a drone somewhere else in the room.

Billy shook his head, fingers curling tighter in his hair, tugging from the roots.

"It's alright, Billy, everything's alright-"

"No!"

You fell silent, chest aching, unable to hear what Billy was frantically muttering to himself. He never raised his voice at you like that, and he sounded so distraught.

"No? Why? What's wrong?"

"Bad..." Billy muttered, pressing his face harder against his knees. "Bad Billy."

You frowned to yourself. You knew Billy could be hard on himself, he had dropped a glass early on in your relationship and he had scrambled to clean up. Chastising himself, apologising, hands bleeding from clumsily picking up the shattered glass. But those moments usually made some sort of sense, you weren't sure what had set him of this time.

"You didn't do anything wrong," you tried to reassure him without sounding too confused, you didn't want him to feel judged.

"Naughty. Dirty," Billy spat, changing his tone like he was imitating somebody else speaking. Like he was repeating something he had heard somebody else say. "Billy's wrong."

"Billy, there is nothing wrong with you, nothing wrong with what we were doing."

Billy violently shook his head, surely pulling more on his hair. "Billy's bad! Billy's dirty!"

It was clear that you weren't getting anywhere with this, you needed to break him out of wherever he was in his head right now. "Alright, Billy. Look at me, please look at me."

Your voice was soft and warm, encouraging to peer at you over his knees.

"There you go," you smiled, wanting him to see that you weren't upset with him. "I promise that you did nothing wrong. You don't have to be scared of anything and you don't need to hurt yourself."

His eyes were big and wet, his lip quivering. "...but I'm dirty..."

Billy was still tugging at his hair, something he had a bad habit of doing when his head was getting too loud. He had a few little habits like that when he got anxious, like scratching himself or picking at his fingernails until they bleed.

"C'mon, give me your hands, that can't feel good," you cooed, holding your hands out in front of you.

He eyed them at first and when he felt certain that they weren't going to lash out at him, Billy released his hair and put his shaky hands in yours.

"It's alright, we don't have to do anymore," you promised. "Forget about being bad or good, just tell me...did what we were doing feel good?"

Despite looks properly ashamed of himself, Billy nodded. Good, that was a good start.

"Good. It felt good for me too," you told him. He seemed to relax a little, but he still seemed confused.

"But-"

"There's nothing wrong or dirty about it, okay? Those desires are perfectly normal, I feel them too," you insisted before he could spiral again.

"You do?" he asked shyly, almost as if surprised, as if you hadn't reciprocated every advance he made.

"Of course I do. And I feel them for you," you couldn't help but smile despite the ache in your chest when you managed to make Billy blush. He could be so adorable.

Now that he seemed a little more at ease, you decide to dig a little deeper. "You know all those things you say on the phone?" you asked carefully.

You felt his hold on your hands tighten nervously. "Dirty, filthy things," Billy chastised himself.

"...maybe, some might think that," you couldn't really deny that, but you wished you could explain that it wasn't always a bad thing. "But I say those things back, right?"

Billy nodded, he loved all your filthy, nasty words when he called.

"I am bad and dirty?"

Billy seemed to take a moment to think before shaking his head, his brow furrowing as he knew this contradicted his own chastising.

"I like all the things you say, and even if they are a little dirty, they make me feel good," you admitted, stroking your thumbs over the back of his hands in a soothing manner.

"...make me feel good too," Billy confessed quietly, a step in the right direction.

"Good," you smiled, feeling so proud of him. "There's nothing wrong with you, Billy. I don't know who told you that but they were wrong, you don't have to be afraid with me, alright?"

You had picked up enough fleeting comments and murmurs to put some of the pieces together and come up with your own theories but Billy never talked about his past. No further back than the previous residents of the house anyway, definitely not his childhood.

Billy nodded, his shoulders finally coming down from his shoulders and his legs falling away from his chest.

"Maybe we can practise talking about those desires another time, face to face, and you can see that it's perfectly safe and good," you suggested, thinking it might be a good exercise for the two of you.

Billy didn't seem fully convinced though, still looking unsure, like it might be a trap.

"We'll do it together. You trust me, yeah?"

"'course," Billy nodded eagerly.

His hands squeezed yours almost rhythmically. You knew what he needed.

"Cuddle?"

Billy nodded even more eagerly before practically throwing himself into your arms. As he buried his face against your shoulder, thankful to have you, you wrapped your arms around him and stroked soothing circles against his back.

[wirewitchviolet]

How a Computer Works - Part 1 (Components)

I am about to teach you on a real fundamental, connecting up electronic components level, how a computer actually works. Before I get into the meat of this though (you can just skip down below the fold if you don't care), here's the reasons I'm sitting doing so in this format:

Like a decade or two ago, companies Facebook pushed this whole "pivot to video" idea on the whole internet with some completely faked data, convincing everyone that everything had to be a video, and we need to start pushing back against that. Especially for stuff like complex explanations of things or instructions, it's much more efficient to just explain things clearly in text, maybe with some visual aids, so people can easily search, scan, and skip around between sections. It's also a hell of a lot easier to host things long term, and you can even print out a text based explainer and not need a computer to read it, keep it on a desk, highlight it, etc.

People are so clueless about how computers actually work that they start really thinking like it's all magical. Even programmers. Aside from how proper knowledge lets you get more out of them, this leads to people spouting off total nonsense about "teaching sand to think" or "everything is just 1s and 0s" or "this 'AI' a con artist who was trying to sell me NFTs a month ago probably really is an amazing creative thinking machine that can do everything he says!"

We used to have this cultural value going where it was expected that if you owned something and used it day to day, you'd have enough basic knowledge of how it worked that if it stopped working you could open it up, see what was wrong, and maybe fix it on your own, or maybe even put one together again from scratch, and that's obviously worth bringing back.

I'm personally working on a totally bonkers DIY project and I'd like to hype up like-minded people for when it gets farther along.

So all that said, have a standard reminder that I am completely reliant on Patreon donations to survive, keep updating this blog, and ideally start getting some PCBs and chips and a nice oscilloscope to get that mystery project off the ground.

Electricity probably doesn't work like how you were taught (and my explanation shouldn't be trusted too far either).

I remember, growing up, hearing all sorts of things about electricity having this sort of magical ability to always find the shortest possible path to where it needs to get, flowing like water, and a bunch of other things that are kind of useful for explaining how a Faraday cage or a lightning rod works, and not conflicting with how simple electronics will have a battery and then a single line of wire going through like a switch and a light bulb or whatever back to the other end of the battery.

If you had this idea drilled into your head hard enough, you might end up thinking that if we have a wire hooked to the negative end of a battery stretching off to the east, and another wire stretching off to the east from the positive end, and we bridge between the two in several places with an LED or something soldered to both ends, only the westernmost one is going to light up, because hey, the shortest path is the one that turns off as quickly as possible to connect to the other side, right? Well turns out no, all three are going to light up, because that "shortest path" thing is a total misunderstanding.

Here's how it actually works, roughly. If you took basic high school chemistry, you learned about how the periodic table is set up, right? A given atom, normally, has whatever number of protons in the core, and the same number of electrons, whipping all over around it, being attracted to those protons but repelled by each other, and there's particular counts of electrons which are super chill with that arrangement so we put those elements in the same column as each other, and then as you count up from those, you get the elements between those either have some electrons that don't fit all tight packed in the tight orbit and just kinda hang out all wide and lonely and "want to" buddy up with another atom that has more room, up to the half full column that can kinda go either way, then as we approach the next happy number they "want to" have a little more company to get right to that cozy tight packed number, and when you have "extra" electrons and "missing" electrons other atoms kinda cozy up and share so they hit those good noble gas counts.

I'm sure real experts want to scream at me for both that and this, but this is basically how electricity works. You have a big pile of something at the "positive" end that's "missing electrons" (for the above reason or maybe actually ionized so they really aren't there), and a "negative" end that's got spares. Then you make wires out of stuff from those middle of the road elements that have awkward electron counts and don't mind buddying up (and also high melting points and some other handy qualities) and you hook those in there. And the electron clouds on all the atoms in the wire get kinda pulled towards the positive side because there's more room over there, but if they full on leave their nucleus needs more electron pals, so yeah neighbors get pulled over, and the whole wire connected to the positive bit ends up with a positive charge to it, and the whole wire on the negative bit is negatively charged, and so yeah, anywhere you bridge the gap between the two, the electrons are pretty stoked about balancing out these two big awkward compromises and they'll start conga lining over to balance things out, and while they're at it they'll light up lights or shake speakers or spin motors or activate electromagnets or whatever other rad things you've worked out how to make happen with a live electric current.

Insulators, Resistors, Waves, and Capacitors

Oh and we typically surround these wires made of things that are super happy about sharing electrons around with materials that are very much "I'm good, thanks," but this isn't an all or nothing system and there's stuff you can connect between the positive and negative ends of things that still pass the current along, but only so much so fast. We use those to make resistors, and those are handy because sometimes you don't want to put all the juice you have through something because it would damage it, and having a resistor anywhere along a path you're putting current through puts a cap on that flow, and also sometimes you might want a wire connected to positive or negative with a really strong resistor so it'll have SOME sort of default charge, but if we get a free(r) flowing connection attached to that wire somewhere else that opens sometimes, screw that little trickle going one way, we're leaning everyone the other way for now.

The other thing with electricity is is that the flow here isn't a basic yes/no thing. How enthusiastically those electrons are getting pulled depends on the difference in charge at the positive and negative ends, and also if you're running super long wires then even if they conduct real good, having all that space to spread along is going to kinda slow things to a trickle, AND the whole thing is kinda going to have some inherent bounciness to it both because we're dealing with electrons whipping and spinning all over and because, since it's a property that's actually useful for a lot of things we do with electricity, the power coming out of the wall has this intentional wobbly nature because we've actually got this ridiculous spinny thing going on that's constantly flip flopping which prong of the socket is positive and which is negative and point is we get these sine waves of strength by default, and they kinda flop over if we're going really far.

Of course there's also a lot of times when you really want to not have your current flow flickering on and off all the time, but hey fortunately one of the first neat little electronic components we ever worked out are capacitors... and look, I'm going to be straight with you. I don't really get capacitors, but the basic idea is you've got two wires that go to big wide plates, and between those you have something that doesn't conduct the electricity normally, but they're so close the electromagnetic fields are like vibing, and then if you disconnect them from the flow they were almost conducting and/or they get charged to their limit, they just can't deal with being so charged up and they'll bridge their own gap and let it out. So basically you give them electricity to hold onto for a bit then pass along, and various sizes of them are super handy if you want to have a delay between throwing a switch and having things start doing their thing, or keeping stuff going after you break a connection, or you make a little branching path where one branch connects all regular and the other goes through a capacitor, and the electricity which is coming in in little pulses effectively comes out as a relatively steady stream because every time it'd cut out the capacity lets its charge go.

We don't just have switches, we have potentiometers.

OK, so... all of the above is just sort of about having a current and maybe worrying about how strong it is, but other than explaining how you can just kinda have main power rails running all over, and just hook stuff across them all willy-nilly rather than being forced to put everything in one big line, but still, all you can do with that is turn the whole thing on and off by breaking the circuit. Incidentally, switches, buttons, keys, and anything else you use to control the behavior of any electronic device really are just physically touching loose wires together or pulling them apart... well wait no, not all, this is a good bit to know.

None of this is actually pass/fail, really, there's wave amplitudes and how big a difference we have between the all. So when you have like, a volume knob, that's a potentiometer, which is a simple little thing where you've got your wire, it's going through a resistor, and then we have another wire we're scraping back and forth along the resistor, using a knob, usually, and the idea is the current only has to go through X percent of the resistor to get to the wire you're moving, which proportionately reduces the resistance. So you have like a 20 volt current, you've got a resistor that'll drop that down to 5 or so, but then you move this other wire down along and you've got this whole dynamic range and you can fine tune it to 15 or 10 or whatever coming down that wire. And what's nice about this again, what's actually coming down the wire is this wobbily wave of current, it's not really just "on" or "off, and as you add resistance, the wobble stays the same, it's just the peaks and valleys get closer to being just flat. Which is great if you're making, say, a knob to control volume, or brightness, or anything you want variable intensity in really.

Hey hey, it's a relay!

Again, a lot of the earliest stuff people did with electronics was really dependent on that analog wobbly waveform angle. Particularly for reproducing sound, and particularly the signals of a telegraph. Those had to travel down wires for absurd distances, and as previously stated, when you do that the signal is going to eventually decay to nothing. But then someone came up with this really basic idea where every so often along those super long wires, you set something up that takes the old signal and uses it to start a new one. They called them relays, because you know, it's like a relay race.

If you know how an electromagnet works (something about the field generated when you coil a bunch of copper wire around an iron core and run an electric current through it), a relay is super simple. You've got an electromagnet in the first circuit you're running, presumably right by where it's going to hit the big charged endpoint, and that magnetically pulls a tab of metal that's acting as a switch on a new circuit. As long as you've got enough juice left to activate the magnet, you slam that switch and voom you've got all the voltage you can generate on the new line.

Relays don't get used too much in other stuff, being unpopular at the time for not being all analog and wobbily (slamming that switch back and forth IS going to be a very binary on or off sorta thing), and they make this loud clacking noise that's actually just super cool to hear in devices that do use them (pinball machines are one of the main surviving use cases I believe) but could be annoying in some cases. What's also neat is that they're a logical AND gate. That is, if you have current flowing into the magnet, AND you have current flowing into the new wire up to the switch, you have it flowing out through the far side of the switch, but if either of those isn't true, nothing happens. Logic gates, to get ahead of myself a bit, are kinda the whole thing with computers, but we still need the rest of them. So for these purposes, relays re only neat if it's the most power and space efficient AND gate you have access to.

Oh and come to think of it, there's no reason we need to have that magnet closing the circuit when it's doing its thing. We could have it closed by default and yank it open by the magnet. Hey, now we're inverting whatever we're getting on the first wire! Neat!

Relay computers clack too loud! Gimme vacuum tubes!

So... let's take a look at the other main thing people used electricity for before coming up with the whole computer thing, our old friend the light bulb! Now I already touched a bit on the whole wacky alternating current thing, and I think this is actually one of the cases that eventually lead to it being adopted so widely, but the earliest light bulbs tended to just use normal direct current, where again, you've got the positive end and the negative end, and we just take a little filament of whatever we have handy that glows when you run enough of a current through it, and we put that in a big glass bulb and pump out all the air we can, because if we don't, the oxygen in there is probably going to change that from glowing a bit to straight up catching on fire and burning immediately.

But, we have a new weird little problem, because of the physics behind that glowing. Making something hot, on a molecular level, is just kinda adding energy to the system so everything jitters around more violently, and if you get something hot enough that it glows, you're getting it all twitchy enough for tinier particles to just fly the hell off it. Specifically photons, that's the light bit, but also hey, remember, electrons are just kinda free moving and whipping all over looking for their naked proton pals... and hey, inside this big glass bulb, we've got that other end of the wire with the more positive charge to it. Why bother wandering up this whole coily filament when we're in a vacuum and there's nothing to get in the way if we just leap straight over that gap? So... they do that, and they're coming in fast and on elliptical approaches and all, so a bunch of electrons overshoot and smack into the glass on the far side, and now one side of every light bulb is getting all gross and burnt from that and turning all brown and we can't have that.

So again, part of the fix is we switched to alternating current so it's at least splitting those wild jumps up to either side, but before that, someone tried to solve this by just... kinda putting a backboard in there. Stick a big metal plate on the end of another wire in the bulb connected to a positive charge, and now OK, all those maverick electrons smack into here and aren't messing up the glass, but also hey, this is a neat little thing. Those electrons are making that hop because they're all hot and bothered. If we're not heating up the plate they're jumping to, and there's no real reason we'd want to, then if we had a negative signal over on that side... nothing would happen. Electrons aren't getting all antsy and jumping back.

So now we have a diode! The name comes because we have two (di-) electrodes (-ode) we care about in the bulb (we're just kind of ignoring the negative one), and it's a one way street for our circuit. That's useful for a lot of stuff, like not having electricity flow backwards through complex systems and mess things up, converting AC to DC (when it flips, current won't flow through the diode so we lop off the bottom of the wave, and hey, we can do that thing with capacitors to release their current during those cutoffs, and if we're clever we can get a pretty steady high).

More electrodes! More electrodes!

So a bit after someone worked out this whole vacuum tube diode thing, someone went hey, what if it was a triode? So, let's stick another electrode in there, and this one just kinda curves around in the middle, just kinda making a grate or a mesh grid, between our hot always flowing filament and that catch plate we're keeping positively charged when it's doing stuff. Well this works in a neat way. If there's a negative charge on it, it's going to be pushing back on those electrons jumping over, and if there's a positive charge on it, it's going to help pull those electrons over (it's all thin, so they're going to shoot right past it, especially if there's way more of a positive charge over on the plate... and here's the super cool part- This is an analog thing. If we have a relatively big negative charge, it's going to repel everything, if it's a relatively big positive, it's going to pull a ton across, if it's right in the middle, it's like it wasn't even in there, and you can have tiny charges for all the gradients in between.

We don't need a huge charge for any of this though, because we're just helping or hindering the big jump from the high voltage stuff, and huh, weren't we doing this whole weak current controlling a strong current thing before with the relay? We were! And this is doing the same thing! Except now we're doing it all analog style, not slapping switch with a magnet, and we can make those wavy currents peak higher or lower and cool, now we can have phone lines boost over long distances too, and make volume knobs, and all that good stuff.

The relay version of this had that cool trick though where you could flip the output. Can we still flip the output? We sure can, we just need some other toys in the mix. See we keep talking about positive charges and negative charges at the ends of our circuits, but these are relative things. I mentioned way back when how you can use resistors to throttle how much of a current we've got, so you can run two wires to that grid in the triode. One connects to a negative charge and the other positive, with resistors on both those lines, and a switch that can break the connection on the positive end. If the positive is disconnected, we've got a negative charge on the grid, since it's all we've got, but if we connect it, and the resistor to the negative end really limits flow, we're positive in the section the grid's in. And over on the side with the collecting plate, we branch off with another resistor setup so the negative charge on that side is normally the only viable connection for a positive, but when we flip the grid to positive, we're jumping across the gap in the vacuum tube, and that's a big open flow so we'll just take those electrons instead of the ones that have to squeeze through a tight resistor to get there.

That explanation is probably a bit hard to follow because I'm over here trying to explain it based on how the electrons are actually getting pulled around. In the world of electronics everyone decided to just pretend the flow is going the other way because it makes stuff easier to follow. So pretend we have magical positrons that go the other way and if they have nothing better to do they go down the path where we have all the fun stuff further down the circuit lighting lights and all that even though it's a tight squeeze through a resistor, because there's a yucky double negative in the triode and that's worse, but we have the switch rigged up to make that a nice positive go signal to the resistance free promised land with a bonus booster to cut across, so we're just gonna go that way when the grid signal's connected.

Oh and you can make other sorts of logic circuits or double up on them in a single tube if you add more grids and such, which we did for a while, but not really relevant these days.

Cool history lesson but I know there's no relays or vacuum tubes in my computer.

Right, so the above things are how we used to make computers, but they were super bulky, and you'd have to deal with how relays are super loud and kinda slow, and vacuum tubes need a big power draw and get hot. What we use instead of either of those these days are transistors. See after spending a good number of years working out all this circuit flow stuff with vacuum tubes we eventually focused on how the real important thing in all of this is how with the right materials you can make a little juncture where current flows between a positive and negative charge if a third wire going in there is also positively charged, but if it's negatively charged we're pulling over. And turns out there is a WAY more efficient way of doing that if you take a chunk of good ol' middle of the electron road silicon, and just kinda lightly paint the side of it with just the tiniest amount of positive leaning and negative leaning elements on the sides.

Really transistors don't require understanding anything new past the large number of topics already covered here, they're just more compact about it. Positive leaning bit, negative leaning bit, wildcard in the middle, like a vacuum tube. Based on the concepts of pulling electrons around from chemistry, like a circuit in general. The control wire in the middle kinda works in just a pass-fail sort of way, like a relay. They're just really nice compared to the older alternatives because they don't make noise or have moving parts to wear down, you don't have to run enough current through them for metal to start glowing and the whole room to heat up, and you can make them small. Absurdly small. Like... need an electron microscope to see them small.

And of course you can also make an inverter super tiny like that, and a diode (while you're at it you can use special materials or phosphors to make them light emitting, go LEDs!) and resistors can get pretty damn small if you just use less of a more resistant material, capacitors I think have a limit to how tiny you can get, practically, but yeah, you now know enough of the basic fundamentals of how computers work to throw some logic gates together. We've covered how a relay, triode, or transistor function as an AND gate. An OR gate is super easy, you just stick diodes on two wires so you don't have messy backflow then connect them together and lead off there. If you can get your head around wiring up an inverter (AKA NOT), hey, stick one after an AND to get a NAND, or an OR to get a NOR. You can work out XOR and XNOR from there right? Just build 4 NANDs, pass input A into gates 1 and 2, B into 2 and 3, 2's output into 1 and 3, 1 and 3's output into 4 for a XOR, use NORs instead for a XNOR. That's all of them right? So now just build a ton of those and arrange them into a computer. It's all logic and math from there.

Oh right. It's... an absurd amount of logic and math, and I can only fit so many words in a blog post. So we'll have to go all...

CONTINUED IN PART 2!

Meanwhile, again, if you can spare some cash I'd really appreciate it.

[deepdrownlamentt]

hello lola ^^ t'is i :3 may i ask for general relationship hcs w hoshiguma, texas and dusk? ty <3 glockforcer's u lovingly. get glockforcer'd NERD <3

↬ dusk, hoshiguma, and texas dating hcs

content warnings: brief mentions of drinking/alcohol

note: WELL WELL WELL. LOOK WHO WE HAVE HERE. HOW DOES REVENGE TASTE. anwyays i hope u like it ദ്ദിᐢ._.ᐢ₎ i hope u dont get pot 9 swaltered

↬ as DUSK's partner, you've earned the vaguely-coveted privilege of being one of the rare guests she'll accomodate, if not the only one. initially she may scold you for even knocking at her door despite inviting you over, but she's grown to expect your distinct way of rapping at her door, even letting out a little sigh through her nose as you step inside — you took far too long. are you trying to force her to go outside?

↬ a lot of your dates will be of the more unconventional kind, too. occasions where she leaves her room are few and far between, after all. dusk even has a tendency to call anything involving you willingly being nearby — accompanying her back after a mission, or hanging out in her (if you're lucky, even your) room — a date of some sort.

↬ of course, dusk often spouts something or other about how fortunate you are to even watch her paint, let alone spend so much time with her... but the long silences that stretch out between you, punctuated only by the sounds of your breathing, the flick of her brush against paper, the occasional frustrated sigh — stop moving. i have to get your eye right...

↬ ...well, she would be lying if she said she's anything short of fond of them.

↬ HOSHIGUMA is as steady and constant a lover as her shield is a barrier in battle. she wouldn't exactly call herself a creature of habit, but she has a tendency to go looking for you soon after she clocks out from work. her duty is to the lgd, to rhodes island — but her heart belongs to you, as cheesy as it is.

↬ she's very observant when it comes to you, too. she has a tendency to remember some of the smallest details, like how your expression shifts when you're upset or what outfit you wore on a date a few months back. she's just as dependable as she is to her coworkers, but of course, her coworkers aren't privy to the promises she makes to you between kisses, or the way she smiles as she steps into place beside you, one hand on your waist.

↬ on that note, she seems very much like an actions-speak-louder-than-words type of person. she won't be too touchy if you don't want her to be, but that doesn't stop her from offering to carry your bags every time she catches you running errands, or snickering as she helps reach for an object on an annoyingly-high shelf.

↬ one of hoshiguma's favourite things, though, is to rest her head against the crown of yours, whether it be while standing next to you, or while you're wrapped up in her arms. she'll press a kiss to your cheeks, your eyelids, the corner of your lips, the scent of alcohol light on her breath. did you miss her? she had a long day today — couldn't turn down the offer to go drinking with the rest. don't worry, though — from now until the sun rises tomorrow (and the day after that, and after that, and...) she's nothing but yours.

↬ true to the "ice queen" nickname that exusiai gave her, TEXAS isn't necessarily the type to be overly forward with her affections. that doesn't mean she forgoes them entirely, of course — she'd just very much prefer it if she didn't hear exusiai and sora cheering her on from the next room over.

↬ she seems very much like the type of person to not bring up the fact that she's in a relationship until she gets caught calling you her partner, or saying a soft, love you too when you call her while she's at work. she's pretty casual when it comes to other aspects of her relationship with you, too. she'll gladly hold your hand in public, press little kisses to your cheek, wipe away bits of food stuck to your face with her thumb, and the only change in her expression will be the hint of a smile, or the slightest tinge of a blush on her cheeks.

↬ taking you out on drives is an absolute must. it's an important part of the date routine — she'll come pick you up and let you choose the radio station from your spot in the passenger seat. even if you haven't decided on what to do yet, the sight alone of you sitting next to her, your eyes tracing the lungmen skyline as the car rumbles past, is enough for her.

↬ and — don't tell the girls, she'll say amusedly — it's nice to take a break from the sound of gunshots, and explosions, and raucous laughter sometimes. no matter what kind of trouble you might drag her into, she's confident she can pull you both out of it... and as a reward, she gets to watch how your hand shyly inches closer to hers, or feel how your breath stutters as she offers you a taste of her chocolate by pulling you into a kiss.

[rialikesbts]

Reclusive

Idol ! Jimin × reader

Masterlist

The smile on your face could not leave. You were sure your cheeks would start hurting any moment now, but you didn't care.

You just met the world wide award winning boys whom you  have been a fan of since their debut and you couldn't be happier. 

After attending their concert, you went to attend their fansign. There, you met so many wonderful fans and you enjoyed your time seeing the boys, getting their autographs and talking to them. You had so much fun! 

You were sitting at the bus stop when someone grabbed your hand. You looked towards the person to see a familiar face clad in a black hoodie and wearing a mask, but those cute small eyes gave it away. 

Before you could say anything, he put a finger on his mouth, indicating for you to be silent and pulled you towards a black shiny car, which you assumed to be his. 

You both sat down in his car. He was buckling his seat belt but you were too dumbfounded to do any sort of movement.

You were in the car with the man of your dreams.

It was like a dream come true.

Best of all ,he was the one who approached you.

You were sure there would be hidden cameras in the car .Maybe he was doing a reality tv show and this might be an episode where idol members surprised their fans.You didn't want to embarass him by saying cringy stuff and comes off as a weirdo.

"Jimin-ssi, where are you taking me?" 

"I am taking you home baby. Now, will you strap your seat belt on,or should I do it for you?" He says, suggestively. 

Now that was an answer you were totally not expecting.

Flustered at his statement, you quickly strapped the seat belt on, wondering when the crew would be showing themselves.

Jimin started driving. For a few minutes, you didn't say anything. Until you realized that he didn't ask you for directions at all. 

" Jimin-ssi, you haven't asked me for the directions to my home yet." You say, turning to him. 

"I never said I was taking you to your home, honey. We're going to our home." 

Our?! 

"Wha… what do you mean by that?!" You say, raising your voice a little bit, now nervous.

Even if he was a world known idol, he was still an unknown man. And God knows where he was taking you.And there were no crew memebrs jumping out to surprise you yet.

You were getting wary and scared.

Maybe this is not what I thought it would be ?

You knew that trying to get out of the car was a useless idea; he had already locked the doors.

So you had to resort to persuasion. 

"Please, don't do this. I just want to go home. My home." You cried out. 

You could see him clenching his jaw. You had made him angry.

"Baby stop angering me by spouting nonsense. We are going home, like it or not." 

You sat for a while and then fished your bag to find your phone. However, before you could even find the device, Jimin harshly grabbed your bag and threw it out of the window. 

The car soon arrived at some luxury apartment's basement. Jimin got out and took your hand by force, dragging you towards the elevator. 

His grip was very tight,you were sure it would leave a mark, but that was the least of your worries right now. 

Jimin pulled you into his apartment after entering the passcode.He then opened a random door of his home, pushed you in and locked the door. 

"I'm sorry baby, you made me do this. Don't worry, I will let you out when you behave again." His muffled voice comes out of the door. 

Your tears started pouring down.You were alone in an unknown room, in an unknown house with a man you only knew from television. 

At least he hadn't caused any harm to you like others in these situations. 

Yeah.Thank god he hadn't done anything to you. 

You laid on the small bed in the room and fell asleep instantly as you were tired from today's event. 

Days passed. You were fed with bread and water from time to time. Nothing else. Everyday was a cycle of eating and sleeping. 

 

You had no form of entertainment.Jimin just said goodbyes and good mornings to you outside the door and never showed himself. 

Maybe this was his way of making you submit to him,which was working incredibly well because you were at your wit's end. 

Almost three weeks had passed since you were kidnapped and locked in a room. You went berserk.You longed for human contact. Craved for food other than bread and water.Wanting to wear nicer clothes than just  extra large tee shirts and pajamas. 

He opened the door finally after exactly three and half weeks. Standing at the entrance of the room you were trapped in,he asked you.

"Did you learn your lesson sweetheart?" 

You nodded furiously, tears in your eyes. You jumped at Jimin and wrapped your arms around him. 

It had been such  a long time since you hugged someone. Since you talked to someone.

And if Jimin was going to be the only one you were allowed to talk to, so be it. 

Jimin put his hands on your back, hugging you back, satisfied with your reaction. He had finally broken you. 

 He put his chin over your shoulder. 

"I'm really sorry, baby." He said. 

"It's okay. I was being a bad girl too. I'm sorry. Please don't do this to me again. I don't want to live alone anymore." 

"Don't worry angel, just be a good girl and you won't be punished." 

With that,he lays you on his bed and kisses you passionately.After hours of conversation and pecks and kisses, the both of you fall asleep in each other's arms.

And for the first time in weeks, you feel  warmth. 

[bougiebutchbinch]

HERE GOES (again) after I accidentally DELETED THE POST FIRST TIME AROUND -

anyway.

Foreman TRIES to act like the 'sensible rational man' in comparison to House's... Houseness, Chase's self-interest, and Cameron's desperate need to be the most moral person in any situation. It would be very easy to claim that the moments he slips up are because of 'House rubbing off on him' (not in the fun way) - which I think is even suggested in the ep where Foreman goes off to run his own dx department and gets fired for being too much like House.

But - NO. Do not do my babygirl such an injustice.

Foreman just SCREAMS 'guy who has carefully squashed every ounce of personality out of himself to create a worksona tailored to the expectations placed upon a doctor - and specifically at that, a Black male doctor working in a predominantly white area'. He's bland. He's inoffensive (unless he's talking about House lmao). He's kind and empathetic, in that slightly distant way of doctors (except for those episodes where he gets closer to a few patients and really shines). He's just.... a perfect carbon copy cut-out of a 'good doctor' from a textbook.

Until he joins the dx department, and is basically offered a key to the locked box of his own self. And he chooses to take that key and turn it, while clinging on to his Just A Friendly Normal Doctor persona. That's so interesting to watch!

I love that Foreman is the sort of guy who's had to work SO hard to prove himself, that he can't conceive of his own self-worth outside of being at the top. I love that he cares so much for his girlfriend that he crashes an entire double-blind experimental trial for her (WTF BUDDY). I love that he's a massive hypocrite. I love that he shows genuine professional compassion for a lot of the patients in a way that Chase.... doesn't, while Cameron gets too involved. I love that he places behind-the-scene bets on a patient's paternity, but later tells the parents with really touching sincerity that he can't adequately explain their proposed treatment so they'll understand, but they need to know that it's dangerous, it could kill their son, and they should agree to it anyway. I love that he pretends to roll his eyes at House's antics but couldn't stay away. I love that he carves out his own place in the department, and spouts vicious one-liners like "Only kind of mothering House wants involves a bullwhip, leather diapers, and a credit card". I love that he canonically has imposter syndrome and still gets the fear that he doesn't 'belong'. I love the fact that he's such a good fucking doctor that HOUSE TRUSTS HIM to spot a tumour that even House-the-genius can't see, and says 'that's good enough for me' when Foreman insists he saw it. And that if House leaves, Foreman's in charge, and that's just the way things are (and Foreman becomes more confident with this, too!) I love that he eventually gets to the point where he'll sing and dance with Chase and House after years of slowly getting to know them. I love that he KNOWS he eggs House on by acting as his Rational Stick-in-the-mud Foil, and does it anyway. I love that his personality is 100% the closest to House's out of all the ducklings, and he does his best to hide it - but becomes comfortable enough to let little peeks of chaos show.

I just think he's a very cool character okay

[hadeslegacyhephgirl]

Thief!Nico and Premed!Will

Decided 2 change doctor 2 uni student at the last minute, it fits better

This is literally shit help me comment prompts pls

~*~

Nico was a thief. 

And a good one too, from the years of pratice. 

Untill one day he was caught, sort of, and his world turned upside down and sideways. 

His target for the night was a two-story country house. He waited in the bushes until all the lights were off, waited another hour, then snuck into an open window into a kitchen.   He crouch-crept around the counter, silent as a ghost, then froze as he rounded it. 

There was a boy there, about his age, leaning over the sink, peering out of the window, blonde curls flipping slightly in the breeze. 

Nico waited, breathing quietly. 

The boy straited, turned around and stared directly at Nico. 

Celeste blue eyes found black ones and Nico nearly stopped breathing, expecting all hell to break loose. 

But somehow, it didn't. 

The boy grunted and beckoned. 

"You want a coffee?" 

Nico crinkled his nose. 

What in the actual fuck. 

The boy sighed and ran a hand down his face. 

"Well, don't just sit there, c'mon up. I ain't gonna kill you, Sunshine."  Nico bristled and stood up slowly  "I'm not that easy to kill, weirdo." 

The boy smiled, pearly white teeth flashing in the dark kitchen.  "He speaks! Thank gods. I thought you were gonna run away or stab me or something. You wan' a coffee?"  Nico crinkled his nose. 

"I literally just broke into your house and now your offering me coffee? The fuck is wrong with you?" 

"Eh, I don't think I could stop you from robbing us blind, but at least you could steal something other that’s worth it. Like coffee... and food. You look like you haven't eaten in weeks, which, dude, not healthy."  "Oh really. You a doctor or something?"  "Gonna be. Pre-med in University of Olympus. You ever go to college?"  "No. Couldn't afford it- why the hell am I telling you this?"  The boy grinned.  "I'm just the kind of person you can't help but spill your guts too. Will. Will Solace. And you are?"  Will held out a hand.  Nico looked at it.  Will laughed, throwing his head back. It was surprisingly musical. 

"It isn't poisonous, Sunshine."  Nico shook it.  "Nico."  "Cool. You Italian?"  "...yeah?"  "You wanna coffee. In fact... yes, you do, because your eyebags are fucking enormous and I don’t think your gonna last much longer. A flat white okay for ya?"  Nico blinked.   What the fuck. 

Who did this guy think he was. 

Will was already moving to the coffee machine and starting it up.  "Aren’t you scared of someone waking up?"  "Nah. It's, what, three in the morning? My family sleep pretty heavy. Moms gotta get up at four anyway to get ready for work, Kayla tends to wake up with Mom anyway and Austin, well, let's just say you can't wake Austin up before seven anyway."  The machine squeaked and started pouring out shots into the mugs Will had positioned under the spout. As it did that, Will rummaged in fridge and produced milk, then grabbed a tin of sugar from the cupboard. 

Soon there was two mugs of flat white coffee and a plate of cookies sitting on the bench. 

"'lright, dig in, c'mon. It's an insult if you refuse to eat my mom's choc-chip cookies."  Nico grabbed the coffee. He hadn't it for ages, and the sweet flavour hit his tounge in an explosion. He quickly drained it, then grabbed a cookie and bit into it. 

Will leaned on the bench, munching his own cookie. 

The stairs creaked, and Nico jumped. 

Will laughed and peered up the staircase.  "Morning Kayla. We got a visitor"  A female voice, rough from sleep, came back  "Another one? Seriously Will? When are you gonna learn it's gonna get you killed?"  "Oh, please, Percy wasn't dangerous, or Piper, for that matter. And where are they now?"  "At Olympus Uni, I know, I know. So who’s it this time?"  Kayla emerged, looked at Nico, then back at Will, then grunted. 

"'Course you didn't make any coffee for me." 

She walked to the coffee machine and set it running with another mug, then turned back to Nico, who was processing this new information. Finally, he blurted out 

"You knew Percy?"  Will laughed again, and Nico's heart did this weird jump-flip thing.  

"Yup. This ain't my first rodeo, Sunshine." 

"Oh" 

"So you wanna go out somewhere?"  "like friends or like a date?"  Kayla snorted  Will lit her lightly  "What do you want it to be?" 

Nico blinked. 

"um. I don't know."  ~*~ 

And that’s how a theif and pre-med student met  ~*~ 

Shitty ending, I know, but I couldn't keep it going. 'm tiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrrrrrrrred and I wanted 2 get it finished 

Ur welcome 

someone give me prompts

[rumble-aint-a-rumble-without-me]

Hi! Could I request the gang with a S/O who loves animals (cats, dogs, etc.) You can ignore this request if you want to! Have a good day/ night!

A/N: Thanks for the request! I love animals, I had fun with this!

DARRY CURTIS

Every week, Darry’s telling you that you can’t bring home another animal, that he’s barely able to put food on the table for his brothers and you, the last thing he needs is another mouth to feed

But when you look at him like that, clutching whatever small, helpless animal has caught your attention this time, Darry has a hard time saying no sometimes

I firmly believe that you could convince him to leave out a dish of milk for all the neighborhood stray cats, maybe even some food

Darry loves how compassionate you are, and it shows especially through your love for the animals you find yourself involved with all the time

He comes home often to you trying to bring in a stray or a lost animal, begging him to just keep for a few days, at least until you can find it’s real home or a new place for the animal to stay

Please, for the love of god, bat your eyelashes and plead all you can, find and dog and keep it with this man, I promise you, he’s such a dog guy, I have many feelings about raising a dog with him

SODAPOP CURTIS

Sodapop thinks your affinity for animals is cute, he definitely calls you a dog or cat whisperer, really a [insert whatever animal you get along with best] whisperer

If you manage to tame some of the stray cats wandering around the DX, Sodapop will literally be so impressed, I swear, he thinks you’re the coolest thing ever

Argues with Darry sometimes because he wants to keep some of the animals you find and care for them because he just think they’re super cute

He’s the one who comes up with the names for whatever animals you find, it’s his way of being involved in your things and as someone named Sodapop, I think he’d have a few good name suggestions, don’t you?

If you’re good with horses? That’s probably why the two of you clicked to begin with and got along so well, you probably met him while he had Mickey Mouse still

Speaking of Mickey Mouse, I have a feeling he talks about him a lot with you, and I think, if you tried hard enough, you two could start spending more time out at the stables with the rodeo, being around the horses together again <3

PONYBOY CURTIS

I speak as one of them, but if you’re one of those people who have like all sorts of animal facts memorized? I can guarantee Ponyboy is going to love you

He’s got that bookish, nerdy personality, and I think if you had a new fact or something every time you saw him, I just think it would be really cute!

I either see him as that guy who absolutely loves animals, or is totally thrown off by big dogs

I can’t figure out which one I like more but I hope you all know those are the two options I’ve got in my noggin

So I think he’d be amused by your love of animals, thinking it’s just as cute as you are, and definitely part of your charm <3

I can definitely see him encountering an animal out on the town and just randomly spouting off something about them that you told him and all the greasers just turning and looking at him like ???

DALLAS WINSTON

If anything, Dallas is a dog person, which is ironic because he’s got such a catty personality, but just trust me, the cats know he’s one of them

If you befriend the stray cats in the streets, expect some comments about how Dally isn’t afraid to kick your cats if they get too close to him, which they definitely will because y’know, they’re cats

He’s an asshole, okay? You know this, I know this, he’s not the perfect person, he’s just a kid who’s had a rough life and takes it out on other people and things sometimes

That being said, Dallas won’t hurt animals. Partially because of your affinity for them, partially because he isn’t that much of an asshole, he’s only mean to people

You might even catch him fooling around with the stray cats if you’re lucky, squatting down and scratching the ones who bravely step out to face him behind the ears

He doesn’t really have an opinion about your love of animals though? That’s just the way you are, and he really kind of digs you so he just kinda has to dig the love of animals too, y’know?

JOHNNY CADE

I think Johnny would be an animal person too, he would much rather deal with animals than with other people

I think you guys would bond over that? The preference of animals? I just think it’s kind of cute, I can definitely see the two of you running into each other while you’re trying to keep up with a stray dog or something

If you work at a shelter or something, or if you have your own pet, Johnny always wants to come and hang out with you, he loves being around your animals

Let’s just say, if Johnny comes to spend some time at your house, and you have a dog or a cat or something, he takes a solid ten minutes to spend time with your pet before he even spares you a second glance

It’s not that he doesn’t love you! It’s just that he also really loves your pet and he believes that he should shower your dog/cat/whatever with love and affection before he spends time with you

He would really want to have a dog or something with you, I think. He’d treat that pup like it was a baby, spoiling it rotten

TWO-BIT MATHEWS

All I can see when I sit down and try to write this, is Two-Bit trying to flirt with you, saying he’s really great with animals, that animals really love him, and then him getting bit by whatever animals he’s messing with

Hence, leading you to take care of him, chastising him for whatever he did wrong and teaching him what he should have done all while he stares at you with hearts in his eyes

Two-Bit’s a sweetheart, and I have no doubt that animals really do love him! But sometimes, mistakes and accidents happen

Also, expect him to show up with random orphaned animals he found in the street, asking for you to help him take care of them

For example, he found a kitten in the street, just a little baby all alone in the cold world, and who else is he going to go to for help other than you?

The two of you take care of the cat, you fall for each other, Two-Bit gives the cat to his little sister and takes you out on a date, everyone ends up happy!

STEVE RANDLE

Steve has his cars, you have your animals, two things you’re both very passionate about, even if the other isn’t as into the topic!

Steve can tell you all about the parts of an engine and about paint jobs and the chrome, every single piece of the car and what it does or why it’s important; he thinks it’s cool that you’re the same way with animals

Now that doesn’t mean he’s too keen on allowing your animals into his garage, but I think he’d be okay with walking around town with you, walking whatever pet you have or looking for whatever animal has caught your attention

I think he’d be a dog person too, preferring them over cats but not disliking cats, y’know? He just thinks dogs are better to have because you can play with him

Your dog/cat/whatever animals are not allowed in his car unless it’s an absolute emergency because heaven forbid Steve get dog/cat/whatever hair all over his interior

He’ll throw such a fit and then you’ll get in a fight and it’s just easier for everyone if you don’t bring the animals along on your dates

TIM SHEPARD

If you need a place to keep an animal you’ve taken under your wing, Tim can maybe be convinced to take something in for you

You’ve gotta be the one to take care of it though, Tim’s more than fine with having you over all the time if it means that you’re the one feeding whatever animal you’ve got living in a crate in his kitchen

Tim like having you around, he likes having you in the house, and he’ll tell you so, mumbling about how the house seems happier when you’re hanging around

If anything, he’s a dog person, so he’ll be a little more lenient if you show up on his front step one day, maybe soaking wet from a storm with a little puppy shivering underneath your coat

Tim’s happy that you have your thing? That you love animals? But I don’t see him as a huge animal lover-

Not because he’s a bad person or anything, just because he’s barely taking care of his siblings sometimes, animals are just another mouth to feed that he probably won’t be able to take care of

CURLY SHEPARD

Arguably, one of the best boys for you to be with when you’ve got an animal obsession, Curly’s cool with your animals

He’ll argue with Tim till he’s blue in the face if you need a home for whatever animal you’ve found yourself with, he’s content to argue on your behalf

I can totally see him losing his mind if you find a little kitten or something, I think he doesn’t have a preference between dogs or cats, but just liking animals

Humor me for a moment and just picture Curly standing and cradling a tiny little kitten while it’s mewing in his scarred hands-

Tell me you wouldn’t fall in love with him right then and there and I’m gonna call you a big fat liar-

He really does think it cool, your love for animals and your big heart, he thinks you’re sweet, y’know? Curly just really loves it, I don’t know what else to say <3

[theinquisitxor]

May 2024 Reading Wrap Up

I read 8 books in May and fully got through all the books I wanted to read this month, which makes me happy. My enjoyment was a big up and down throughout the month, but I'm overall happy with what I finished in May. I read mostly fantasy, with 3 nonfiction. I wrapped up 1 series and read a few new releases I have been excited about.

Let's get into it!

1.The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo 4/5 stars. This was an enjoyable new historical fantasy standalone, and I'm liking her adult works quite a bit. I enjoyed the early-modern Spain setting, including all the societal upheavals that Spain was going through during this time period. This novel feels like a Leigh Bardugo book, with characters, themes, and plots that appear in her other books. In general, if you consistently like Bardugo's works, then you'll probably like this one! Adult Historical Fantasy.

2.Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny. I read this on audio, and this was an enjoyable nonfiction about the first women to raft down the Colorado River in the late 1930s. Nonfiction.

3.The Winners (Beartown 3) by Fredrik Backman, 5/5 stars. This gave me such a satisfying but emotionally devastating conclusion 😭. I knew from page 1 that things were going to hurt, but I really couldn't have asked for a better series about a small hockey town. Fiction.

4.Song of the Huntress by Lucy Holland 2/5 stars. I read Sistersong when it was released a few years ago and loved it. I was disappointed with this however, I never really connected to the plot or characters at all. I felt like our main character never went through any sort of growth, and I was bored or frustrated throughout.Shoutout for having an ace main character, but other than that I would have dnf'd this book if it wasn't for how much I deeply enjoyed Sistersong. Adult Historical fantasy

5.The Language of Trees: A Rewilding of Literature and Landscape by Katie Holton. This was a lovely collection of short essays, musings, passages, and poetry about trees and forests.

6.The Hedgewitch of Foxhall by Anna Bright, 3/5 stars. I'd been interested in this novel since the title and fantastic cover caught my attention. Young Adult is generally not my favorite genre anymore, and this definitely had a YA feel to it, a bit more than I find I enjoy anymore. The ending felt cobbled together and rushed, but I thought this novel had some good reflections and critiques on nature and society that apply well today. Young Adult Historical Fantasy

7. Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness by Edward Abbey. I can see why this is a foundational piece of North American Nature Literature, and I did enjoy my time reading it. Edward Abbey was certainly a man with opinions, and a man of this time. I thought his prose, reflections on the landscape and nature were beautiful and apt. However sometimes he will randomly spout some nonsense. I did really enjoy reading this collection of essays and he makes me want to visit this region, and to really get to know, understand, and appreciate the land. Nature Literature

8.The Witch Collector by Charissa Weaks 3/5 stars. This was my Random TBR Pick for the month of May. I'm not the biggest Fantasy Romance person, but I was willing to give this a try. This was fine. It was entertaining and I kept wanting to turn the page and find out what happens next. I didn't connect with the characters as much as I wanted to, and I did not enjoy the Insta-love that happened. The worldbuildng felt weak, but the magic system interests me. This book definitely steered in a direction I wasn't fully expecting, and I don't think I have any interested in continuing the series. It's not necessarily bad, just not my cup of tea. Adult Fantasy Romance.

that's all the books I read in May!

My June TBR:

The Magician's Daughter by HG Parry

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh (TBR pick)

River Horse: A Voyage Across America by William Least Heat-Moon

1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed by Eric H Cline

[yeosatinyngz]

Hello!! ☺️

Happy 1 year anniversary, Lily! I hope you're doing great and that this blog will have many more birthdays. 🎉🎊

For the special, could you please write a fluffy/kinda crack Michael Kaiser (Blue Lock) x Gender Neutral Reader + prompt 13? 🙏 (Reader can't stand him). 🤭

Hello!! Thank you so much, I hope you’re having a wonderful day/night. This is my first time writing for him so I hope I was able to depict him somewhat correctly and I’m excited to finally be able to use this header I made of him.

#13: “I can’t stand you!” “Then sit down.”

Join Event ➺ Masterlist

Michael Kaiser to you was an unbearable human being to be with but in a way he was charming so you couldn’t entirely hate him. He invited you to watch a game of his saying that it’ll be a great opportunity to witness his greatness on the field in person as you have never seen him play before. It’s not like you had a particular interest in soccer/football so you never willingly went to watch a game.

Upon arriving you looked around trying to find a seat and that’s when Kaiser spotted you and waved you over. You walked over to him and he said with shock, “I can’t believe you actually came.” “Well you invited me so I would feel bad if I didn’t show up.” “Are you ready to witness the almighty Michael Kaiser?” You rolled your eyes “Yeah yeah just shut up and go group up with your team already.”

You wished that all the words he spouted out were false but he truly was amazing on the field. He was leaving the competition in complete dust and was radiating even with sweat dripping down his face. It was coming down to the last minute and Kaiser currently had possession of the ball, as expected. He was nearing the goal and that’s when you see him turn towards the audience. During those seconds he searched through the faces and his eyes landed on you and he pointed at you then shot the ball into the goal winning the game.

You wanted to scoff at his gesture saying it was cliche as hell but you couldn’t help but feel your heart flutter at it. While you were sorting out your feelings the audience around you erupted into cheers of excitement. Soon everyone slowly started leaving the stands and you made your way over to Kaiser. He was resting on a bench cooling himself down and looked up at you. “Wasn’t I great? Have you fallen in love with me yet? I wouldn’t blame you since I’m so hot.” You couldn’t help but roll your eyes. “Ew never, you’re so full of yourself.” “How can I not be when I’m blessed with good looks and talent.”

You were getting tired of his constant self ego boosting. “I can’t stand you!” “Then sit down.” He said so seriously that you almost missed the playful smirk on his lips. This jerk was messing around with you. If someone doesn’t hold you back you swear you were about to beat him up. “Ooh you wanna kiss me so bad.” “The only thing you’ll be kissing are my fists.”

While you two were bickering the rest of the team were watching you two. “Are we watching some enemies to lovers shit??” “It’s so obvious that they like each other, can we skip to the lovers part already?” They discussed between each other.

Kaiser on the other hand was having too much fun bickering with you because he just likes being annoying and you were one of the only people that he can get a reaction out of. One day he’ll have the courage to actually confess to you but for now he’ll continue being your annoying brat.

[bejaeyoung]

cool it.

there's a lot about next gen that isn't turning out how he expected. jay can come off a littl arrogant, but it's not like he believes he'd be utterly loved and embraced the moment he's in front of the camera, he knows better than anyone that is personality can be rather… difficult to accept, in lay terms. but apparently it's his intensity too, and how he goes about things in the first place. jay doesn't understand, it's a criticism he'd never heard before in his life. maybe that's why it's being dished out to him, he'd never been told to tone down when it comes to his passions at least.

safe to say, jay doesn't get it. he probably won't, for a while. but this next mission of theirs should be where jay figures it out, otherwise he'll keep suffering under a ranking he thinks he could improve. or worse, get kicked off or something. so here he is now, with @inhobe rehearsing their lines. they have a back and forth moment which he thinks is fun. jay thinks it is, anyway. he takes it like an argument of sorts, embodying the verses that he's spitting out.

maybe too much, because suddenly he's feeling hot and a bit more aggressive than he'd like to be. like there's a fire inside him being set ablaze—maybe it's because time and time again he hasn't been able to prove himself and that motivational spite he's feeling is turning into genuine frustration. should he channel that into the lyrics he's spouting? would that be 'too intense' again, like what the judges said?

there's no use to asking himself, so he asks the man he's practicing with. "so, how's that? too much? too little?" he laughs, but it sounds bitter now. "i can't exactly tell anymore. should i come off more playful… reign it in a little?" he was never one to ask for advice like this. new experiences, he supposes.

[toggle1-mrfipp]

This is just a vent post about some thoughts I have about the current Chainsaw Man arc.

I don't think it's a bad arc per say, I just think there are some obvious missteps which I think boil down to three points in particular.

Denji's Arc

To start things off, I don't actually think Denji's arc is bad, I actually like it, it builds off of how things ended with Denji at the end of Part 1. Having an arc about how Denji sees himself and his place in the world, of having him try and think about what exactly he wants out of his life, all while having other people try and further manipulate him while he has no real ability to take his life into his own hands I think is great, I think it's an interesting arc to watch. However, having one of the protagonists remain completely passive while they are beaten down with everyone telling them they are not allowed to take part in the story does not make it an engaging plot to go through, especially when the co-protagonist is (seemingly) actively engaged in their own plot off screen (we'll put a pin in that for now). Even less so when you have to go through it on a week by week basis, sometimes bi-weekly.

The Church's Presence

I really liked the set up for the Church, and how it affected certain character, and I really do like on paper how it all ended with Fami's chainsaw zombie plans, but at the same time I can't help but feel as though we sort of blitzed through its existence. In the same arc it was introduced we saw that is exploded in popularity, the effects it had on people and society, became this massive influence before it met the truth behind its purpose all in the same arc, and the only time we ever really got a good look at it was when Denji had his brief visit to it. I really feel like something that was made to be that big should have had been something more of a central focus between it being formed and Fami's ambitions were realized, just give the concept time to breathe. Which brings me to my final point

Asa's (Lack of an) Arc

When Asa joined the Church for the purpose of saving Chainsaw Man and became their poster girl she vanished from the manga for roughly three months, with only a couple of short scenes with her before we got to the recent chapter with Yoru's power boost and the 606 Sword, and during this time I had expected that her return would have meant some large change for her rather than the circumstances that she found herself in. I honestly expected that Asa should have had her own arc in the Church and how she interacted with the Church and its members and how it affected her. I've said it before, but a major part of Asa's character is wanting to be praised and loved but being to afraid of actually get close to people, so having her have a sudden following would been a conflict custom made for her, and we only ever saw a brief glimpse of it. She wants to save Chainsaw Man, but does this ever conflict with her desire for love and validation? We could have seen more of the workings of the Church, gotten more for characters like Haruka and Seigi and maybe even the Hybrids with actual introductions to the Spear and Whip Hybrids. Denji was only at the Church for five minutes and he was able to see all the red flags they had going on, from the propaganda about America firing stupid lazers at Japan to having their teenage members get married, but how does Asa, who has always tried to be a moral person, justify being a prolific member of this place when they are spouting things like that? How exactly does she interact with the Church? Asa could have had a Rise to Fame arc, occasionally spilt up by Denji constantly being cast low for contrast, before we she suffered her inevitable Fall From Grace, where all of her efforts get turned against her, which fits with how things always go against her.

To me it honestly feel like there was no real point in Asa joining the Church since I don't feel like it actually did anything for her character. She was off screen her entire time there, we barely saw her, she didn't go through any significant development, and I feel like any personal consequences she may suffer from being in the Church, such as wanting to Chainsaw Man to never have to fight devils only to end up having him fight the most powerful devil or being the reason people join the Church only to get zombified, won't really feel all that impactful because we never saw her in it. Asa could have had an A Plot that would build the Church up better with Denji's arc becoming a B Plot which I think would have made it more digestible, but instead it feels like she and Yoru could have just sat on their shared ass for the month this story took place in and nothing much would have changed for her. Even if we do get some extended flashback sequence, I feel like that should still have been something we saw in the present. In the end it feels like Asa was only in the Church just to get her from Point A in the story to Point B and nothing else behind it.

Like I said, I don't think the arc was bad, and despite my complaints I do find myself looking forward to what we get next, but at the same time I can't help but feel we ended up missing some rather obvious targets for the story.

[cryptid-artha]

I have a friend who is going through absolute hell because some unhinged kid decided to stalk them and make their life hell. From my understanding, this kid tried to initiate all sorts of inappropriate interactions, which this friend turned down cold. I'm not sure on all the context, but the friend did everything right. Turning the kid down, not shaming the kid, treating the kid like a human being. I believe there was a story-based group RP they were both involved in and some interactions between their characters? But I'm still not entirely sure on the details, just that the kid was taking completely normal stuff and forcing it into a very creepy direction. It got to the point where the friend would interact in the server, but ignore the kid, but the kid kept trying and trying to come on to this friend, even after the friend blocked them. As is perfectly normal for teens, the kid, at least this is what I think may have happened, got a crush on my friend. And of course, no adult in their right mind is going to reciprocate nor encourage such feelings, and of course the kid got rejected. The adult in question did not, in fact, have any feelings for this 13 year old child. As is normal and to be expected from an adult. What is not normal, however, is this kid turning around and making this friend's life a living hell, getting them thrown out of every single community they get involved in with unfounded allegations. Things like.... cracking a dirty joke in a public server to another person while the kid just happened to be in the same server being twisted into a targeted attack with cherry-picked and altered screenshots. A joke, mind you, more mild than the ones the kid himself cracked constantly. Things as simple as... this person has adult content art in their gallery... under an adult content filter, not shared in any public spaces. Being twisted into them showing this art to the kid simply because he found their account, lied about his age to bypass the filters, and actively sought out and viewed the adult content in their gallery. Things like the kid trying to initiate inappropriate conversations and the adult ignoring it or steering it away being twisted into the adult encouraging it and "gr/ooming" the kid. And screenshots of the kid behaving creepily being twisted into evidence that the adult was encouraging it, when the adult was actually actively disengaging and trying to ignore the kid’s advances and talk about other stuff to other people. Many of these screenshots taken after they blocked the kid because his behavior was making them very uncomfortable. Kids having crushes on adults is normal. And it is our responsibility, as adults, to not reciprocate, not encourage it, but also not shame the kid for having these normal feelings. Kid crushes are going to happen, it’s a part of growing up. It’s going to happen no matter what. I had a huge crush on one of my teachers when I was a kid, and nothing unsafe ever came from it because the teacher did not reciprocate but still treated me like a human being. 

It's the adult's responsibility to handle it in a way that is safe for the kid without making the kid feel ashamed of something they can’t help. The kid might be upset at their crush saying no, but it is safer for the kid in the long run, and the right thing to do. Which is exactly what my friend did, did not reciprocate any of the kid’s advances, at all. What is not normal, is kids twisting it around and using it to hurt innocent people. Y'all need to stop always taking the kid's side on these things and actually make sure you know the context before acting to take down somebody who is innocent and was trying to do the right thing. Some of these kids just crave the pity and attention they get from spouting these accusations. Sometimes they have untreated trauma of their own that they are taking out on innocent adults whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The kid gets pity and positive attention, and suffers no consequences... All the while, the person being accused of gr/ooming and being a creep gets their life utterly ruined, even when it is completely untrue and they have proof of it being untrue. People don’t look at their proof, they don’t actually listen to their side at all. The adult loses their friends. They can lose their job, they can even get into legal trouble. They get pushed out of every social circle they are in. They lose their ability to make money from their art because they get connected to the accusations the kid spouted and people can’t just change their art style and rebrand, because they’ll always get ratted out and canceled. Trying to face the accusations and prove them wrong is never enough, or seen as wrong. Trying to stay quiet and let it blow over doesn’t work and is seen as wrong. It always comes back to haunt them. Trying to simply distance themselves and rebrand, letting their old name die doesn’t work and is seen as wrong… they are literally stuck in a situation they are unable to get out of. Their mental health gets chipped away, because wherever they go, these accusations follow them. They can be completely untrue. Completely unfounded, with no actual proof, but people just blindly believe everything they are told and ignore the person’s proof otherwise. And that hurts innocent people. Do not be so quick to villainize and cancel somebody. There are always two sides of a story. Is there actual proof that somebody did something bad? Then yes, spread the news if you feel they are an active danger to kids online. Keep them out of your communities, especially if there are kids around. But if there's no proof... if it's just word of mouth, ignore it. Or, at the very least, ask for the other person's side of the story. Don’t just jump to conclusions from only one side of the story.

Of course, this goes without saying, don’t completely discount every kid that comes forward about inappropriate actions taken towards or around them. Make sure that kids can feel safe around you and in spaces you are a part of or moderate, but please, please actually step back and look at both sides of the story to make sure an innocent person isn’t getting caught up in all this.

[starlight-time-machine]

Week in Review

06/23/2024 – 06/29/2024

Sunday

Week 20 of missing Cipher Academy

Undead Unluck good! I had a vague hope for something like this happening, and I’m really glad that Kururu’s Unchaste powers have developed by way of Mori’s from Law of Ueki, which is to say that it seemed silly and useless at first, but with the proper strategy it can be one of the strongest forces in the roster.

SpyFam continues to be really good…Martha learning about the realities of war…I really really really hope that they get together in the present, and it isn’t just a “oh the time’s passed” kind of thing…I need Some sort of substantial romantic development in this manga.

Read The Gay Who Turned Kaiju at the library and it was…alright? I was intrigued by the visual metaphor they were going for, and the story played out about how you’d expect it to: guy whose internal struggle with being an outsider is externalized forces him to reckon with these feelings and with being othered even more, before eventually finding acceptance… I just found the writing to be fairly trite and on the nose. I guess it’s good as a “baby’s first exposure to how gay people are treated in Japanese society” story, but the homophobic teacher and bully both felt like they were just there to spout homophobic talking points and act as points of conflict rather than being actual characters (not to mention the tiredness of the bully character acting out because he was secretly gay himself…okay…). The conclusion of the story kind of embodies how I feel about the story as a whole – the mangaka’s heart was in the right place, but it was cheesy beyond belief. I guess I’m glad if this manga actually did help someone out, but at this stage in my life it’s just so beyond anything I would find personally engaging. I’ll give it a 2/10.

Also read Beautiful Darkness at the library on a random Twitter recommendation, and it was also just okay. The art was gorgeous, and I liked the subtly dark tone it had, but eventually the “oh no, horrific things are happening to these cute little creatures” shock wore off and it was just page after page of boring, disconnected violence. I don’t know, I guess it’s supposed to be like a “look at how the innocent can be corrupted” kind of deal, but when the creatures themselves barely have any conception of the morality of their actions, it just feels like I’m watching animals kill each other for survival. While gory to watch, it doesn’t particularly stir any emotions in me.

Monday

I watched most of Tsubasa Tiger and I’m really really really liking it. Sorry, Araragi, but I enjoy the show a lot more when you’re not in it. Getting things from Hanekawa’s perspective is both fascinating and gratifying in how we’re finally learning concrete details about her fucked up home life, and it’s great to see Hanekawa and Senjougahara interact because I can understand both of their perspectives, and their motivations aren’t buried under a million layers of perversion and artifice (sorry again, Araragi). The two girls are such good foils for each other, too, both having problems with accessing their own feelings but in completely opposite ways. I got to the Hanekawa’s letter scene and stopped there, as I’m going to slowly work my way through the 40 minute Hanekawa’s letter video someone kindly put together on YouTube.

Tuesday

I finally finished Kusuriya after half a year… Honestly, I kind of forgot that I never finished it lol Like I’ve mentioned before, I dislike the Outer Court arc because it’s missing all the subtle political manoeuvring that I love seeing in the Rear Palace, so I’m glad to just marathon the end of it in one go. The adaptation is as standard as ever, but I did find the scene of Maomao saving Jinshi to be a great climax, and a nice way to tie together the disparate-seeming mysteries we’d been treated to ever since Maomao left the Rear Palace. And then the season ending off with Maomao getting her parents together was also great…I love that Maomao has a complicated relationship to both of her parents, and this resolution of their arc doesn’t necessarily resolve all the issues in their family – it’s just a step towards a happier future. I do hope that Kusuriya will get another season, but for now I’m going to go back to enjoying the manga and light novel.

Wednesday

Nothing

Thursday

Nothing

Friday

Got around to watching the new Make Some Noise episode with my friend, and god it’s so good to see the Noise Boys again. The prompts were all great, and I loved how pretty much all of them devolved into group scenes rather than solos or duos. There were a lot of fantastic moments, but my favourite was definitely Josh essentially putting on a one-man play in the sneaking out of Grandma’s house prompt – the unexpected ending really put an interesting and funny cap on the whole scene.

Saturday

I played about halfway through Undertale Yellow months ago, stopped because I got bored in the Wild East section, and then never picked it up again lol I mean, for a free game, it’s very polished and I applaud the team for working for years on this passion project, but…the writing is just not that good. They have the gameplay down pat, sure, and the art is leaps and bounds beyond what Undertale was, but what made Undertale so special and memorable in the first place was the writing. The main story was understandable but still held a lot of depth and surprises, all the main characters had distinct voices and motivations, and every side character and NPC had pathos and humour injected into their scant lines… In contract, Undertale Yellow’s characters feel like they were all someone’s beloved OC being thrown into this project without thinking about how they contribute to the overall story/world, and the writing was just kind of “haha look at how silly this is” without any of the intrigue that Undertale had. It got really bad in the Wild East, when I had like ten new characters being thrown at me all at once, and they had a weirdly complicated relationship web and history with each other, but the writing just didn’t endear me to them enough to care. I was excited to get more “Undertale” content, but the few bits of fun gameplay just weren’t enough for me to power through the long conversations between people I absolutely didn’t care about. Unfortunately I’ll have to give Undertale Yellow a personal rating of 3/10.

Man…the new Monogatari season is in like a week…now I Really need to buckle down and marathon it…

[getmemymicroscope]

In the span of 24 hours, I've started - and given up on - Indian Police Force, season 3 of Arrow, Killer Soup, and A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong. What this means for me, I have no idea - I gave up on the first 3 shows first, which I chalked up to both "maybe I need a movie instead of a TV show" and "not enough comedy," but then Christmas Carol Goes Wrong (a 1-hour long comedy movie or show, depending where you look apparently) just annoyed me more than it made me laugh too. Stuck, I guess.

For some reason, after all that, I decided to turn on this movie - knowing full well that my mind seems to just not be into things right now (maybe it is jetlag, or maybe it is just me?). And, as expected - it's graphic, and crude, and way out there, psychologically speaking.

Of course, at this point, most people know about "the first rule of fight club..." and the twist that is coming regarding Tyler Durden.

But really, what stands out is just how ... weird ... this movie is. I mean, David Fincher doesn't exactly make straight-forward movies, anyways, but this one really gets odd. And when you know the twist that is coming, allowing you to watch the whole movie in a completely different light than if you didn't know, it becomes even more odd.

Like sure, maybe he's actually beating himself up and talking to himself and imagining himself watching speeches that he's actually giving. But, like, and especially in that final fight, when we see the security camera footage as well - how the hell is Durden pulling him by the collar? Like, he cannot be doing that to himself.

I'm just not sure how this would work as a "hallucinations" sort of psychological thing - split personalities, maybe more so; though, if we're being honest, it almost feels like a mix of the two, given that he's clearly seeing Durden all the time, but also given that he travels as Durden without realizing it. Also, whichever one it is - for that part of him to suddenly have that much power over so many people is crazy. And how does nobody ever point out that he's talking to himself, or something along those lines?

There is a lot to this movie - quotables, the philosophy that Pitt's character has and spouts at various points throughout, the absolute absurdity of all of our characters - that I'm just too tired to even really think about right now (jetlag?). There's no denying this is an interesting story that is well acted (also - Edward Norton just takes weird, weird roles all the time, it seems).