#multiple years of saving up and now I don't even need all the money I set aside for it and am still getting a better machine than anticipat

[failedmyturingtest]

ORDER PLACED!!!!!!

I'm finally getting my own sewing machine I-

AWRSEHDTFYGULHIOJIFTUDGYIGLFDKTAULYGIYFTDRKTUFLYGIYFLTDKRTFLYGIUFLDTKFLYG

PACKIGE

[drawing-prompt-s]

GoFundMe: Getting the kitten to the vet...

for a rabies shot, FIV testing, and a possible upper respiratory infection!

So someone sent in the last $305 I needed while I was asleep. I'm transferring it to my account now which means I'm a) shutting off the GFM as soon as the transfers process and b) taking in the kitten as soon as the money becomes available to me - so likely by Friday I'll take her in, or Saturday or Monday (they do half days Saturday, and are closed Monday).

GoFundMe Link Paypal Link

Venmo Link Cashapp Link

Multiple payment options available because I am typically asked for alternatives to GFM and PP.

$350 / $350

-------------

INFORMATION + VIDEO UNDER THE CUT!

From the GoFundMe description:

Hello!

So, unplanned, there is a new kitten in the house as of Feb. 22, 2024. (Not Jolene's, she is fixed). When at my friend's house - where I will be moving in a few months - we found out that a cat that comes to visit often is not only owned, but a mom. However, the neighbor doesn't want the kittens, so he always puts them outside and leaves them there. I could no, in my right mind, leave the kitten outside by a trashcan and under a tire in February of all months, so I brought her home.

So far I have treated her for hookworms, given her the vaccines I can do myself, and looked into getting a spay voucher from one of the local shelters. The kitten is roughly 3 months old.

However, current concerns are that she may have an upper respiratory infection (and there is always the concern that she could be FIV+). She has an inflamed eye with a regular and concerning amount of discharge and has for a few days. I have also caught her sneezing and she has started coughing on more than a few occasions. She also has a few other signs of sickness - anemia, the runs, and some blood spotted in it. If it is a URI, I need to catch it as fast as possible because I also have Jolene, my 3 year old cat. She absolutely also needs FIV testing and a rabies shot because of that, and because where we are moving there are other cats.

Jolene and the kitten have both been getting along well. The kitten loves to follow her around and Jolene acts more like the disgruntled big sister (don't let her fool you, I have caught them playing regularly - she just needs her alone adult time too).

I have already altered a bit of my projected finances and removed money from my savings to care for the kitten and help her. But there is only so far that can go as I also need to be able to afford gas, food, and furniture for the upcoming move (I'm going to start buying things soon so I can put it together and move my stuff prior to the official move date). I was trying to put off a full vet visit until sending the kitten in for a spay, but with her eye and the possibility of infection spreading to other cats, it can no longer wait.

I am shutting off this GFM as soon as I reach the goal. The vet said to budget for a little more than $300, between the base cost of a visit, FIV testing, rabies, and potential treatment for an Upper Respiratory Infection- assuming it's nothing too major. And I added a little more to what I am expecting because GFM does take a fee from donations.

If the kitten does end up being FIV+ we do have rehoming options available or I will find someone better suited to handle an FIV+ cat (either already having one of their own or a home with no pets).

I tried to take a video of the eye, but as you can imagine, a 3 month old kitten isn't the most keen on staying still, haha.

-------------

Let me add in the breakdown as well, now that I think about it:

Base cost for my vet to see a new cat (even as a pre-established client with other cats treated there): $100

FIV testing: $40

Rabies (and other vaccines I may be missing I was unable to do myself): $35 - $45

And the vet recommended budgeting about $100 for medications depending on what they find (if she still has worms, if she has other parasites due to being outside untreated, if she has a URI like the current concern is): $100

The rest is tax, the % upcharge for using a card, and to negate the fees that GFM with-drawls from each donation.

[bonny-kookoo]

Does someone older JK spoil the OC sometimes? Like surprise her with something which he considerd to be nothing it would mean so much to her?

Oh he does, ALL the time! Warnings for a bit of angst, beginnings of a panic attack but Kook handles it well

"...we can go there again, maybe before new year's if I can get a table on short notice." He simply says as he drives you both back to his place, radio playing quietly in the background.

You're still a little overwhelmed.

He does things like this a lot- expensive dinner dates in restaurants he either knows or wants to try out, randomly buying you clothes or jewelry he finds online and deems pretty, or he just changes things in his house to adjust it more towards you and your preferences. Like the pillows in his bedroom, the by now multiple pairs of thick socks for your cold feet, or the baking supplies he bought for you now stacking up in his kitchen.

It's things like that you're not used to. In the past, it has always been you who needed to adjust and do things for your partner- not the other way around. So now, you feel almost guilty whenever he does something- like a bank account draining, slowly going further and further into the negatives, red numbers piling up and making you anxious as to when he'll want it all payed back.

"Did you not like it?" He wonders, taking your silence as a sign of discomfort as he pulls up on the expressway. "You don't have to lie." He chuckles, reaching out to hold your hand.

"No, it's not that." You deny, letting him warm up your cold fingers. "It's just.. it was a little expensive, no?" You wonder, and he shrugs.

"Was it? To be honest, I don't think it was considering what we ate." He just brushes off. "I've been to steak restaurants that were a lot more expensive and half the quality. And the service was great too, so I didn't mind." Jungkook explains, and it's now that you realize once again that you and him live in quite different worlds. Or at least, used to.

For him, money isn't an issue. He's made and is making enough of it to live comfortably, he doesn't have to really worry about running out of it anytime soon, even if his company was to go bankrupt next week. And he's also got enough saved up, has invested with good tactics in mind, so it's really no wonder he doesn't see a problem in spending the amount that he does.

But you aren't used to that. You have been living paycheck to paycheck with barely anything left over at the end of the month, needing your bonus desperately as to not fall behind on any payments you have to make regularly. You've lost your apartment before, had to sleep at friend's places to get by, and even ate only at the company cafeteria to save money usually spent on groceries. All of this feels almost excessive, and you also worry.

What if Jungkook starts spending too much on you? He shouldn't fall into a habit of mindlessly throwing money out.

"What's on your mind, darling?" He wonders, lifting your hand to kiss the back of it, before he changes lanes.

"I just.." you fidget a little. Jungkook isn't a bad guy. He won't get mad. He won't scold you. You won't have to endure being lectured for the rest of the ride- you know all this, and yet again, the past haunts you and makes your breathing pick up as you begin to chew on your lip.

Suddenly, you realize he's pulling up to a gas station, parking on the side. He gets out to get something from the backseat, before he walks around the car to open the passenger door where you sit, unbuckling your seatbelt. "Here." he offers the bottle of water, having opened the cap for you. "Put your legs out like that- there we go. Breathe baby." He gently tells you, squatting down a bit to make himself look smaller. "Take your time."

You feel embarrassed. How do you explain to him that you were feeling like a kid about to confess a bad grade just now?

"We can keep it a one-in-a-month thing, maybe, if that makes you more comfortable." He proposes. "I didn't take into account that it might be overwhelming to you- I'm sorry." He apologizes, but you shake your head, looking down at your knees.

"I just.." You mumble, unsure how to really explain. "I feel.. back then, you know.." You sigh, having trouble finding the proper words. "Talking in the car makes me.. anxious." You admit. "Because you know, when you get mad.. I can't escape.." You say. "I can't get away from it."

Jungkook kindly takes the bottle away from you to put it on the backseat again, before he's back in front of you.

"Thanks for telling me. I had an idea it might be that, but I wasn't sure." Jungkook says, hands on your knees. "I promise you I'm not mad. And I'm in no position to be mad at you for having opinions or personal taste that might differs from mine. We're two different people-" He chuckles. "-of course we'll have different views on things."

"But I really liked the dinner too." You say. "I just.. I don't want you to start.. spending so much money on me to the point of, I don't know, losing sight of it." You confess. "And maybe, we should keep stuff like this a bit rare? So it doesn't become routine. I want to keep it special.." You say. "I'm not.. I don't really know much about this stuff, because I never had enough money to go to these fancy places, and get designer clothes, or plan vacations in different countries and all that. I feel.. stupid sometimes?" You spill, making him lean his head a bit to the side. "Like, what if you one day take me to a company gathering or something, and someone asks me something and I can't answer or I say something dumb-" You rant. "-or maybe you won't ever take me because I'm too young? Maybe Eve is right and I'm not really the kind of-"

"Baby, darling, stop-" He chuckles, pushing your shoulders back a bit to look at him. "-take a good breath. You're panicking." He worries a little, but tries hard to stay composed as to not make you spiral any further. "Eve is wrong. If you're okay with this, of course I'll take you to company events. Why wouldn't I show off such a beautiful women at my side? I'd never pass up a chance to make those stuck up geezers jealous." He jokes, making your crack up a little. "Let's keep the dinners to special occasions. Keep it special, like you said." He offers, holding your hands now. "And I'm also.. the fact that you worry about me makes me feel.. very special." he chuckles. "I appreciate you looking out for me."

"I always look out for you.." You mumble. "..I just don't want to overstep any lines. You know. Since you're older than me-"

"Just because I'm older doesn't automatically mean that I know everything better." He reassures you. "Our age gap has nothing to do with any sort of power balance. Please don't think you can't speak your mind just because I was born earlier than you."

"..okay." You nod, and he leans forward to peck your lips, before he closes the door for you after you pull your legs back in and buckle your seatbelt, him getting back into the driver's seat to do the same.

"You know.." he starts, as he pulls out of the gas station to continue the drive back home. "..I'm really falling in love with you." He chuckles, dimples of his cheeks showing with how hard he smiles.

"Huh?" You wonder, taken aback by the sudden confession.

"I mean it." He nods. "I really am."

"I'm glad then." You admit. "..cause I am too." You admit, making him grin before he reaches over to hold your hand again.

Knowing that he really won't ever let you go again.

[abbysimsfun]

Sims In Bloom: Generation 2 Pt. 70 (The Youngest Nesbitt Gets Married!)

It was a sunny, if chilly, autumn day in Henford-on-Bagley when Heather's youngest sister, Hazel, married Nicola Moody-McMillan, her high school sweetheart.

Incidentially, they married on Prank Day, which meant plenty of off-vibe mischief all afternoon.

Nicola's parents, Eddie and Kim, hosted the wedding at their home in the Bramblewood - a simple ceremony under a woodsy wedding arch placed beneath a tall oak in their backyard. Not far away laid the graves of Nicola's grandfathers, Ian and Derek, who had died a few years earlier in a riverboat cruise disaster.

It was a beautiful ceremony, but a cloud of dust kicked up as soon as the guests started blowing bubbles to celebrate the newlyweds! Nicola's mother, Kim, had taken the spirit of Prank Day to heart and started fights with multiple guests! "Mom!" Nicola cried. "This is a wedding, not a bar fight!" She was so embarrassed.

But her mother could not be controlled! (I was actually controlling her - it's OG Kim Goldbloom - but ignoring her to focus on the brides, and she picked three fights before I smartened up!) She started a few scuffles with unsuspecting guests, laughing uncontrollably each time she successfully executed her "pranks."

But the worst was when she jumped Hazel's dad, Neal. The successful civic designer and eco-innovator was having none of Kim's pranks, even if she was hosting their daughters' special day. He slapped her right back and man, these vibes are not it!

"Kim, my love, have some water." Finally, Eddie convinced his wife to cool off, and the guests changed into warmer attire before moving on to the food. Toddler cousins Ash and Michael, River and Cassandra's son, babbled away with each other in the backyard.

"So girls, will you both be starting work soon or enjoying married life for a while?" asked Daisy as she reached for a plate.

"We're going to enjoy being newlyweds for a few weeks, but Nicola will be a teacher's assistant at Henford Elementary when school starts up, and my internship with Mayor Varner starts soon."

"Are you going to be the mayor of Henford someday?" Uncle Karl considered the idea with pride on his face, but Hazel shook her head.

"My political goals are a bit more international," she admitted. "But for now I'm happy to stay home in Henford to get more experience."

"And they need teachers everywhere!" said Nicola with a loving smile to her new wife.

The brides saved money by asking Heather to take their wedding photos. She wasn't particularly good at photography and didn't even enjoy it, but Heather would do anything for her siblings - especially Hazel. She'd never say no to her 'friendship bracelet bestie,' and she snapped a beautiful portrait of the girls before sunset. They posed under a tree in the rock garden Hazel's mother, Daisy, had helped Nicola's grandfathers design years earlier.

"Did you want to switch sides?" asked Nicola, noting the burns on Hazel's right arm. She'd had them ever since she'd survived the Nesbitts' freak toilet fire as a child, but they'd never made confident Hazel self-conscious.

"They don't define me. If I wanted to hide them I'd have worn a long-sleeved dress."

When Heather and Conrad returned to Brindleton at the end of the night, he pulled her in for a kiss as they were enthusiastically greeted by Mayor Whiskers and Queen Cupcake. "Do you ever think about marriage?" he asked.

"I don't know. I know I love you and I'm committed to you. What difference does a piece of paper make?"

Conrad kissed her cheek. "I love you, too. I don't need a piece of paper to tell me we're a team."

They were happy. To Heather and Conrad, that's all that really mattered. ->

<- Previous Chapter | Gen 2 Start | Gen 1 Summary | Gen 1 Start

NOTE: I made all the Henford NPCs playable as soon as the game started, then made their replacements playable if and when there was story for it (like Heather's friend Dylan, who was the replacement NPC grocer until I aged her up to YA and she married Gavin Richards). Kim became the adopted daughter of Ian and Derek. Nicola and her brother both ended up looking a lot like their townie dad and not much like Kim at all, though. Ah well!

NOTE 2: Is Hazel wearing the same wedding dress as Holly in a slightly different poorly-rendering shade of white? Yes and I noticed it when writing this post. 🙃

NOTE 3: I'm not going for torture with the 'we don't need a piece of paper' thing, but the Gen 2 rules say Heather isn't supposed to get married! I already broke the rule that Gen 2 was supposed to hate the idea of relationships and only ever fail at them in addition to never marrying, but I don't know if I should go all in on breaking every rule. I'm hoping with their soulmate status it won't lead to anyone up and marrying someone else if I rotate for a day or two.

[reikunrei]

feeling incredibly averse to posting this but i'm just gonna drop my kofi link here in case anyone wants to help me get out of my increasingly shitty situation living with my parents

more info below ig

after having given my parents nearly $100k over the last four years, i'd love to be able to actually leave. my future job situation is still up in the air (i've submitted for about a dozen positions and the only one i've heard back from and interviewed for hasn't gotten back to me yet), and i haven't been able to build up any savings because, again, i was (and still am) helping my family afford rent and bills, and probably the taxes my parents are behind on, but if i think about that, i'll get too angry. no joke, i've given my family, at the bare minimum, 85% of my income over the last 4 years. the rest of it has gone toward medical stuff and, now, my car

at this point, with the combo of my mom refusing to lower her standards and my dad's seeming refusal to hunt for a new full time job, i don't see how they won't continue to bleed me dry. my dad even has a bad habit of taking money out of my old savings account that he's a joint owner on or whatever from when i got it set up when i was 16, even when i stopped actively putting money in it, so now any time it gets its automated $1 transfer from my checking account, he'll just take that $1 without consulting me. i'm not exaggerating, even if it has $1-2 in it, it'll be gone within a week

i've even put off starting on testosterone because of this. i wanted to start it like 3 years ago, but kept putting it off because of money issues and wanting to save as much as possible. i got really close to actually starting it this year, but because of how messy everything is, i put it off again bc having one more thing on my plate, especially when my parents are already weird about me being trans, was not something i wanted to deal with

not to mention, we're still currently not living under a lease in our house that we're, as far as i'm aware, still tens of thousands of dollars behind in rent on (again, my dad refuses to disclose our financial position honestly with any of us) and it's developed many, many issues bc the landlord, even before we were behind on rent, is shit and refuses to actually fix anything. and my dad loves to just ignore things unless we beg him to do something

i'd love to be on my own (in the, much more affordable, midwest) by the end of summer. i by no means want to rely on donations and i have other avenues i'm working with to make money (i still have my current full time job, but i'm going through my old belongings and selling a lot online), but i'll take any help i can get atp because i'm truly at my wits end. i'd start doing art commissions again if i could, but doing that from 2020-2022, partially on top of my full time job, absolutely wrecked my right hand and i'm still in enough pain that i can't make it a regular activity

idk how much else there is to say. there's more i could say but... i don't really wanna air all my dirty laundry here. i'm miserable in so many ways and it's just become increasingly clear that my dad expects me to constantly cover his ass. my younger brother gives money too, but he manages to go on big cross-country and overseas trips with friends, so i think i've been stuck with the burden of giving the most money. there's so many more things going on in the world rn and everyone is stretched thin so i don't expect much, or anything, but. idk. might as well throw it out there, right?

i’ve also since taken down the gfm i set up last year when we got our first eviction notice bc, while we still need the money, i don’t feel right keeping it up for multiple reasons, including “i don’t want to give any of that money to my family” and it feels too… serious to keep it up when i could just throw out my kofi instead

i just want to make sure i have some sort of safety net to catch me if i move before anything job-wise is finalized. i need to be able to afford a place to live for at least a month so i can job-search while physically being in the area i wanna move to, which would ultimately make it easier for me to find a job at all. i'm working on being more firm with giving less money so i can actually have the means to move and be safe and comfortable, but... that never lasts long in this house

anyway. that's it, i guess. thanks for reading

[chaoticneutralgood2627]

Advice to College Students (From someone who's trying to apply for a master's program)

Note that these are in no particular order and from my own particular experience. I will add if I think of more.

TAKE NOTES ON EVERYTHING, ESPECIALLY IF YOU FIND IT COOL: your brain will tell you 'I'll remember that fact, it's so neat!' Your brain is a BITCH. You will not remember SHIT. Take ALL the notes. If you can record your classes, even better!

Write down who your professors are for each class. Make a big document. All the years. Write them. Write down their vibes and if you like them. Write down what sort of assignments they gave. Because I'm over here trying desperately to remember which professors I had multiple classes with so I can beg them for recommendations.

Save your assignments. Even if they're horribly cringey. You can use this to gauge how far you've come. I know it hurts your soul. I have fanfic from when I was 12. Do it anyway.

When they tell you the grad school shit, pay attention. Even if you don't plan to go back to school. Because I didn't listen and now I have changed my mind and I have no recollection of that section of school.

Networking. Gather contacts from your classmates. If for no other reason than because you think they're intimidating and you don't want your LinkedIn to look depressing. They're probably just as intimidated by you. And if not, you can pretend they are.

College is not high school. Next to no one has friends at first. Everyone is a disaster. Talk to people. You might not find Your People in your first friend group. That's fine. There are people there somewhere that can make life less awful. The worst they can say is no, you can't be friends with us (and most people aren't that bitchy). The universe is big and no one is judging you harder than you are.

It's not that friends Can't Live Together, it's that people have different organization styles and needs for survival and sometimes those Do Not Mesh. If you're going to live with someone, make sure that you have talked about things.

Everything can go on a resume if you word it right. Editing a friend's paper? Congrats, you have editing and tutoring experience. Playing DND on weekends? Cooperation and teambuilding to work towards a common goal, sometimes in the face of creative differences (your friends want to Fight Everything and you want to Stay Alive (or reversed)). EVERYTHING CAN GO ON A RESUME.

There are so many resources on campus. Use them, for the love of god because then you're going to be an adultier adult and realize that there is not a med center right across the campus.

Find what motivates you. Mine is spite, I am applying to grad school to get out of retail and to spite 2 specific supervisors. Cling to that when you want to drop out and quit.

There is not a specific route to take in college. Or out of college. Listen to yourself rather than everyone's advice (I am aware that this is ironic to be on an advice post).

If you think you can wake up at 9 after like 4 hours of sleep, that is the devil talking to you. Go to bed.

On the same note. I am aware that you woke up at like 5 for high school. You will not want to exist before noon. 8 am classes are not illegal, but they should be.

Take care of yourself. You're paying a shit ton of money to be there, you can take an hour to eat the food. Plus, if you take care of yourself, then you will work better.

There will be weird shit happening all over. Just roll with it. Unless it's hurting someone or has the potential to hurt someone (my one friend got stalked).

You are not required to stay somewhere social if it's creeping you the fuck out or if you aren't comfy. I think I went to a single party in my entire college life and I hid in the corner with their illegal kitten the whole time.

Speaking of illegal kittens. If you know someone has an illegal kitten, no the fuck you do not. There probably will be at least one. And you do not know about it.

[turtlesandfrogs]

So, here's the problem: the longer I work in gardening and landscaping, the more I care about the ecological impacts of native plants, and the less I care about aesthetics. Which is a problem, when most clients' primary concern is that their yard looks nice. Which, fair, I just don't care as much about it as they do and I feel like I could be making a bigger impact than I currently am.

So I'm thinking of quitting this job and going one of two entirely different directions, and for some reason it's rather hard to choose.

Option A is starting my own native plant nursery, which would focus on small (4 inch and gallon pot sized) native plants, with a focus on plants that are most important for native pollinators (especially those that are endangered or threatened where I am). There's some competition, but mostly at selling-to-landscapers level and not retail, and I'd want to focus on retail sales.

Option B is to get a job with the state doing some kind of ecological restoration work. The problem with that is my bachelor's degree is over a decade old and I don't actually have the kind of experience to put on my resume that would likely convince them that I can do the work (unless a combination of teaching and being self-employed as a gardener that helps people incorporate native plants and removes invasive species counts, which maybe?). So I'd probably have to take a lower level job and one that's further away to get in, and then work my way up.

Option A has the upsides of: completely setting my own schedule, getting to work with plants most of the time, getting to work with my partner, flexibility to decide I want to start teaching classes again or something. It has the down sides of having to do taxes multiple times per year, and not being guaranteed to work, and either needing to take out a business loan to get started or work at a day job to fund starting it up. Also if it fails I'll have to get another job without have professional references again, which yikes.

Option B has the upside of once you're in state work, it's way easier to get other state jobs so if I burn out of one job, I can hop to another relatively easily, will almost certainly make more money, comes with health insurance and retirement savings, and is likely the more stable option. On the down side, it would mean working 40 hours a week without getting to pick my schedule and it would be harder to take time off than it is now, I'll have to work my way up to a comfortable salary, and there's a lot less autonomy than when self employed. But I'll also have professional references out the wazoo, so finding new jobs should be easier?

One of the things that concerns me is I have ADHD and up until teaching, the longest I ever stayed in one job was almost 2 years. I taught for 4 years, then was self-employed as a gardener for 4 years, and now I've worked for this landscaping company for just over a year (and am grumpy about a) not making much money and b) aesthetics and only providing services to people who can afford us, rather than say, improving the environment for everyone). So I'm actually kinda afraid that if I started the native plant nursery, I would get sick of it after less than 5 years and be starting from scratch again. Whereas with a state job, I can pop over to a new job fairly easily. On the other hand, maybe I'm just doubting myself too much because all of those other jobs were actually really bad matches for me.

Anyway, my brain is going in circles over this. I mean, really, part of me thinks I should stay at this job even though it doesn't pay much compared to what I could make elsewhere (I have learned a lot though, which can be transfered to other jobs) just because it's so low stress compared to any other job I've had in the last decade & because the people are great and the work isn't bad. It just galls me that occasionally clients have ideas that I strongly disagree with, like cutting down a very nice magnolia tree because "it's too big" and I just have to do it because I'm an employee now. Ugh.

[ittybittykittyfingers]

Winter Clothing Tips

I wanted to make a friendly and detailed list of stuff I've learned from living in a cold climate.

(Note that I do not have vegan-friendly options- suggestions with links to a vegan product's efficacy are welcome)

This stuff is common knowledge where I live but it occurred to me that it might be useful to someone if I laid it all out. I'll be updating this list if I think of more.

I absolutely adore winter and want to help you love it too! Cheers! List below.

• “Cotton kills!" You see, when cotton gets wet, it will suck warmth from your body and freeze on your skin surprisingly easily. Use wool in place of cotton because when wool gets wet, it will still insulate you.

• Know how to layer! Counterintuitively, having layers of thinner, high-quality materials is less bulky than having a single jacket or pair of gloves/socks. Plus, it has the added bonus of being able to be taken off and switched around according to your needs.

1. Base layer - this is the layer that touches your skin. You want this layer to be light, flexible, and moderately form-fitting. This layer's job is to be moisture-wicking. Sweat evaporates, even under layers, so you want something that will move it away so you don't feel the cooling effect. You also just don't want moisture on your skin. Real silk is recommended.

2. Mid layer - this layer can actually be as many layers as you want. I rarely need anything more than a knit merino wool sweater, but accommodate yourself. This layer does the brunt of the work of keeping you warm. Real, non-blended wool is recommended, but really any wool will be miles better than most anything else.

• make it a priority to keep your center warm. Many people choose a vest as a mid-layer as it keeps bulk off of your arms and keeps your middle toasty.

3. Shell - this layer keeps the warmth in and the elements out. Many people go for waterproof shells so they can be worn all year (i.e. rain jacket). Shells have little to no insulation and usually have a hood. You want the shell big enough to always cover your underlayers, but not so big that it bunches up. I don't have a material to recommend here since anything truly waterproof and tough enough to resist puncture will do. It can actually get hot under there so consider whether you might want a ventilation hole for your arm pits. There are plenty of options. Know that any shell which says it's both breathable and waterproof is lying (unless it's a super fancy item, like $300 fancy). Sometimes, a water resistant material will be better for you than a waterproof one. It depends.

• socks, socks, socks! A pair of silk foot liners paired with a good pair of wool socks will keep you comfy all day. Make sure your winter shoes/boots are a bit too big to accommodate the extra space that multiple socks take up. Make sure your socks are taller than the top of your boots. You want the socks sticking out from the top. I like to layer my foot liners the highest, then the wool socks a bit lower, than the top of my boot lower than that. You can always fold the top of socks to make them a comfortable height. (Pro-tip: do not use ankle socks! They will bunch up)

• The above logic should be used for gloves too. You'll want to make sure your shell gloves are waterproof but thin enough that you are able to use your hands. Again, the name of the game is staying dry.

• Waterproof, non-slip boots are a must. You don't need to get fluffy or insulated boots if you use my sock tips. This saves money too because now you have boots to wear all year instead of just winter boots. I'm a fan of Gore-Tex with Vibram soles.

• If you do a lot of walking on pavement and such, get a pair of crampons! There are tons to choose from. They're awesome. They'll have you confidently walking around a frozen driveway with ease. Crampons are these rubber and metal things you strap to the bottom of your boot. They often use either spikes (only recommended for seriously rough terrain) or coils that lay horizontally under your foot to increase traction.

• Speaking of footwear accessories, consider getting waterproof gators. Common wisdom is to tuck pants into your waterproof boots to keep them dry. Sometimes, especially if the snow is deep enough, snow will get trapped at the top of your boots where your pants are tucked in anyway and it'll start dripping into your boots. Gators fix this issue. They're these... they're like shin guards that go all the way around your ankle and up to your knee. They cover the area where your pants meet the boots and will completely prevent snow from getting in. (Pro-tip: if you get ones that are also puncture resistant, they can be used in nice weather too to prevent ticks and protect against snake bites. They're perfect for tall grass. I use mine all year.)

• Scarves are often overlooked but they can make a huge difference. You'll want to find a way to tie them that is comfortable for you. There are plenty of guides on the internet for that. I've found that extra long scarves tend to be the most useful. I like to stuff the ends of them into my layers for extra coverage wherever I need it. Plus, it's easier to tie long scarves.

• Get a good hat that also has ear flaps. I like ones that have space above my head so that a warm air pocket forms, keeping my head comfy. Or you could get a pair of earmuffs that go around the back of your head to pair with your hat. You can use the hood of your shell to protect your hat if you need to, so focus on comfort and warmth for the hat rather than it being waterproof or especially durable. I tend to like alpaca wool for hats.

• Sunglasses can make a difference since blinding light glares off of the snow.

• Before you go out in the snow, put one of those foldable clothes drying racks in your bathtub. Leave a watertight bin by the door you'll be coming in from. Lay a towel at the door if you don't have a good/big enough doormat. You'll be dripping water and littering the floor with snow and ice when you come back inside. Wipe off/ shake off as much snow from your person and knock your boots on the lip of the doorframe before coming inside (this logic works for cars too). Put your wet clothes in the bin. Change into whatever you need to. Bring the bin with you to the bathroom and hang up your articles on the clothes rack to dry. You can keep your boots in there too, just make sure the clothes aren't going to drip into the boots. If you want to get fancy, you can buy a cheap boot dryer to keep in the bathroom.

• Once you get inside after being out in the cold, remove your jacket immediately. It'll take you longer to warm up inside if you keep wearing your outdoor clothes.

• Quick buying tip- if you end up visiting somewhere that's cold a lot, be sure to check out a wealthy location's Goodwill and thrift stores. I've found amazing brands like Patagonia, Kool, and Spider there for cheap!

• TL;DR If there's any one thing I would want to impress upon you, it's that materials matter. You could be wearing 4 cotton sweatshirts and still be cold or you could wear one marino wool sweater with a rain coat and be toasty and comfy.

[meirimerens]

how do i save money as a college student? there are cafes at every corner luring me in with coffee and food. cooking in a dormitory kitchen can be stressful (there are other people there sometimes), i generally don't enjoy the process of cooking, and the ouroboros of dirtying and washing the dishes is exhausting. i've moved to making coffee at home (grinding the rocally loasted beans), but still sometimes buy takeout coffee during classes to lift my mood 'cause education is eating my soul alive.

i will likely not have the bestest of tips because 1) my living situation is different from yours and i can tell you not dealing with dormitory kitchen nightmares actually helps a lot 2) i'm gonna be saying stuff you will not like. but you might have to hear it regardless.

full disclaimer as far as "saving money": i have worked fulltime all summer and was living at my parents' at the time, who would legitimately look at me with horrified eyes if i implied i wanted to pay a rent in my own house. i also am currently working (part-time) and, due to my low income, i qualify for multiple types of government aid. a tip: if there is anything like that in your country just apply apply take em take em all. even if it ain't much just take it. i also live very close to some of the cheapest supermarket chains in my country, which might not be the case for you.

now here are tips, including things you won't like hearing:

you're just gonna have to be neutral towards cooking. you don't even have to like it. just be neutral. you're also gonna have to be neutral about doing the dishes. is it sisyphian in nature? yes. is it a normal part of being an adult? also yes. you're not always gonna have mommy to do your dishes for you. partners and friends are not dishwashing machines. in the same way you have to become neutral with being alone like in your life in general for your own peace of mind, you have to become neutral with cooking and cleaning.

plan your meals for the week and ONLY GO SHOPPING FOR WHAT YOU HAVE PLANNED. this video got me on that grind and this is how i'm handling food way better this year than i was the first time i was on my own. you might have to stock up on "essentials" (at least a cooking oil such as olive or canola, salt, pepper, some spices that you can fw with, depending on the cuisines you fw some soy sauce,...). if you go shopping without a set bunch of ideas, your food will go bad before you eat it. or you'll try to eat it by making shit up and you will be disappointed and it will put you off from cooking.

related to above: look up low-effort recipes. look up shit like "student meals" "one pot meal", "easy lunch", stuff of the sort. save them their dedicated youtube playlist. and then do them. do a one-pot recipe, eat in the pot, have leftovers, that you keep in the pot, cover it with film, put in fridge, and eat the rest, from the pot, another day. less cleaning up.

speaking of cleaning up: check out this video. it will not make washing dishes any more enjoyable like you won't yippiiii kick your feet in glee but it might at least make it suck a little less.

get on what my dad calls "cuisine de célibataire" or "bachelor's [maidenless] cooking". it's bullshit meals that you can whip out quickly. typically in my case it's recipes i found online that i lower the effort for even more. doesn't have to be cute doesn't have to be fancy it needs to be nourishing and good enough that you'll want to eat it.

also kinda sucks if you're a meat eater and goddamn i could go for a marinated chicken breast rn but lower your meat consumption if it's not already done. the world is so beautiful these days that you can find plenty of vegetarian or even vegan meals that don't suck. i really like pickup limes' recipes. her cherry tomato orzo recipe entered my regular rotation, sometimes i swap out the orzo for pasta, or the cherry tomatoes for normal tomatoes, or i make it soupy, whatever. make sure you still get protein because otherwise your brain and body will hate you like for real for real, but thankfully chickpeas and lentils can be very versatile & also tasty & pretty cheap.

leftovers. always do more than you think you'll need. if you want to cook for 2 meals, actually make a portion for 3.

now this is a part that just sucks. won't even lie to you. just sucks. to quote marx "The less you eat, drink, buy books, go to the theatre or to balls, or to the pub, and the less you think, love, theorize, sing, paint, fence, etc., the more you will be able to save and the greater will become your treasure which neither moth nor rust will corrupt—your capital. The less you are, the less you express your life, the more you have, the greater is your alienated life and the greater is the saving of your alienated being." the one way to save money in this world is to deprive yourself of stuff. means not buying clothes you would like but don't necessarily need. not getting little treats as often as you're used to. it just sucks. won't lie.

related to above and to little treat : make of the treat more a Reproducible Vibe than something you systematically buy. my little treat is a biweekly (as in one every fortnight) boba tea (the cheapest they have on the menu). but between these, i still must have a treat to keep myself from going nuts. this i do by making a tea of mine, from my stash that i would have regardless, and make it a little bit fancier. sweeter than i usually have it in the morning. and with a little cookie. i buy the pack of cookies regardless because i will snack on it over the span of the week/the two weeks it takes me to finish, but it is the combination of sweet tea + cookie dipped in the tea (very important) that constitute The Treat. The Treat for me can also be lying down in the middle of the day with my glasses off.

resist the temptation. even if it fucking sucks so so bad and i'm aware of it. but if you try to save money, you won't do it by spending it on stuff.

tried to word it in a way that doesn't make it sound kinda erotic and failed but basically the harder you resist the temptation the better it feels when you give in some days if not a week or weeks after the first desire crept upon you. makes it special 💋 or so help me god

on god it's gonna be okay in the end and if it's not okay it's not the end. AFFIRM!!!!!

[fountainpenguin]

Riddle watches New Wish - Post #26

The Battle of Big Wand... Spoiler-free and jumpin' in!

Season finale! I'm excited for this one!

I'm gonna give my very first prediction before moving on from the title screen: Dale is going to learn about Fairy World because he finds the notes Cosmo and Wanda left on his stuff during Dev's birthday.

I'd prefer he learn about Fairy World from Crocker because I thought leaving your enemy notes that outs you as a fairy and tells him all your secrets including the Big Wand as a power source is... out of character and cheap.

Me now realizing I've been acting under the assumption Dev scribbled the notes out very badly and Dale will find them, but I guess it's possible Dev could've erased them thoroughly and they were only there for audience benefit. That's... certainly one of the ways to info-dump ever.

For all I know, Dale might not even be in this episode, though I assume the notes were there for a reason. Also, Dale has definitely been set up as keeping tabs on Hazel and we're probably going to hit a major point of Dev's daddy issues arc.

Tentative prediction... Dev is put in a situation where he can only save either his dad or Hazel (maybe not save them, but assist them or betray the other) and he's going to return to being Hazel's friend at the expense of his relationship with his dad. Let's find out!

Here we go!!

Holy flippin' what on EARTH, Hazel has made more wishes in 1 season with a regular timestream than Timmy did in 8 seasons after freezing it for 50 years.

GIRL, ARE YOU OKAY??

Me when those numbers were counting up: Wanda stop Wanda stop Wanda stop- HAZEL?!?

What the fffliiiip...

Is she going to Wishing Well?? I feel like she might need to. I have to assume that's not the direction we're going, but... ???

Wishing Well's whole thing is that godkids get sent there if they become too reliant on wishing, so they can practice doing things for themselves. I don't think Hazel's too reliant, but I'm really caught off guard. That's a heckuva thing to drop on us with no foreshadowing whatsoever. Not long ago, she hit her 100th wish, right?

That said... I'm willing to let this slide. In "Lost and Founder's Day," Hazel happily wished for good things to come to other kids. 4.5 months later ("Operation: Birthday Takeback"), Cosmo and Wanda confirm Hazel "can" wish for other kids, and I assume she probably has been.

I would've liked to see that onscreen if that's true, though. It's not really been a thing.

- I think I understand why Dale's obsessed with Hazel losing him money by granting people happiness for the price of free now. -> Dale, you should've told me! I would've been shocked and concerned right there with you. She's robbing you blind! This whole city is robbing you blind! -> Unpopular opinion, but if Hazel has secretly made 1 million wishes by somehow not making people lose money when they buy Dimmadome products... first of all, that would be hilarious, and secondly, I think Dale would be justified in saying "hey. wtf." - No, no… please continue. I think we should definitely mess with the guy who has trauma about having no control over his life and lived 7 years being unable to get himself out of it. We should totally destroy his ability to make progress after engaging in hard work and consistent action. I wanna see where they're going with this. - what if Dale isn't the antagonist and the real antagonist is Fairy World stressed that Hazel's draining the Big Wand's power?

[cnt'd - 6,600 words below the cut, so buckle up...]

I guess a few episodes ago, Father Time also said she ruptured the space-time continuum, but...

Oh, I'm so nervous. Girl, if you're at 1 mill, all your wishes are up for review now. Timmy sends his blessings.

Please say that's where this is going. They're not gonna reference "Timmy's Secret Wish" multiple times this season and then NOT follow that episode's canon for "standard procedure at 1 million wishes," right?

I'm stunned and wary, but let's see where we're going with this.

??? Okay, but... I'm pretty sure the only time Hazel truly wished for other people's benefit without including herself in an "unlimited pudding for everyone because Dev is hoarding it all and me and my friends want some" way was during "Lost and Founder's Day." She made wishes for random folks she walked past to have a more enjoyable time when she saw Dale's O-pairs trying to upsell them. It really ticked Dale off, and if he's been stalking her for 5 months...

... then I HAVE to assume that when she's not onscreen, Hazel's still wishing for other people in a way that either cuts into Dimmadome profits directly or stops Dale from upselling in a way that upsets him. Even the O-pairs were having mental breakdowns and beating themselves up about their failures, which just says a million things about the guy who programmed them... presumably Dale.

If she's made 1 million wishes when Timmy required 52 years to hit that number AND Dale became obsessed with stalking her and trying to figure out what she was doing, she's almost certainly wishing for the people around her- It's not like we've seen her with a closet of toys or having a montage of travel adventures. I don't think she's even left Dimmadelphia except to go to Fairy World.

She's 100% wishing up Dimmadome products in bulk without them paying for it. Or at the very least, she's doing something that is wrecking the Dimmadome business, and Dale is really confused and annoyed about it.

I went back to "Operation: Birthday Takeback" and Wanda outright says Hazel is wishing for other people and that led them to stop buying things. So... not necessarily wishing up Dimmadome products, but definitely distracting people from wanting to purchase Dimmadome stuff.

^ Dale tracking his profits, 100% aware this massive crash correlates with Hazel messing around. He's very confused. I don't support grown men stalking little girls, but I respect how hard he's working to keep his business thriving. Look at his notes!! He's working so hard!

Like ?? As far as we know, Dale doesn't know she has fairies and he's not chasing after magic (unless that's what this finale is about). What on EARTH is she doing with 1 million wishes that's getting him this hyperfixated??

It's not like Hazel and the other kids can afford the expensive tech products I'm certain Dale sells, seeing as he's a tech mogul with talking drones that have arms, and seeing as back during "Stanky Danky," he was advertising products kids aren't really interested in (He bragged Dimmadome Global sells "rugs, plugs, and coffee mugs" plus doormats). She's gotta be wishing for adults too.

Am I reading this right? I don't think she's doing anything wrong - she's 10 and is allowed to wish for stuff and there are no rules against wishing for other people - but she's absolutely wrecking the Dimmadomes.

1 million wishes........ hoooo boy.

- I just !! wish we were seeing this onscreen?? Even though Wanda claims in the birthday episode that Hazel's been wishing for other people, I've not gotten that impression outside the 3 wishes we saw her make in "Lost and Founder's Day" (new ice cream after dropping one, faster-moving line, bouncier bounce house)... Things that shouldn't be costing Dale money. -> Maybe he's just annoyed he can't upsell, but ?? none of the kids expressed interest when his O-pairs tried to upsell them. One of them looked bored out of their mind. - I personally would've liked glimpses of Dale working on this stuff since we used to get peeks into Crocker's life regularly, especially since I assume he's the big antagonist for this episode and has run off to Fairy World to take over... I would've liked to be there when he discovers the notes on his board. Maybe we'll get a flashback about it? - I feel like I missed a bunch of context and I'm having to do a very deep read that I would not be doing if I weren't intentionally pausing and theorizing. -> I'd really have benefitted from a Dale-centric episode akin to "Transparents" from the OG series' Season 1: similar vibes to Crocker having a suspicion, showing us how people make fun of him to his face, and taking steps to prove his theories (i.e. Crocker shocked that Timmy brought a dinosaur to show and tell). -> So... something like Dale wanting to scour the whole city with the O-pairs - or stalk Hazel specifically - but having to come up with a creative excuse to hide his intentions. Like him deliberately sending Dev to school with a hidden camera and we keep cutting back to Dale watching the footage at home, or inviting Hazel's family to dinner (maybe through a connection with Hazel's dad studying mystical things; he could say he wanted to show him something or fund his research). -> You're a super rich man and you tell that parascientist that you believe in him and want to fund his research? I think he'd bend over backwards to please you. -> That said, I've enjoyed seeing lots of Hazel episodes. We've gotten important friend and family bonding that I wouldn't want to lose, and we'll probably get some flashbacks that show how we got here. Just... I would've enjoyed building tension over time.

Okay, unpause...

... Hm. So, you're telling me Timmy gets in huge trouble because he secretly froze time 50 years ago, but Hazel gets handed a rule-free wish and none of the Big Fellas are here to supervise...

She's already manipulated time twice without this. If she also wished for time to freeze for 50 years, but it was on a rule-free wish, would anyone bat an eye? Like, could anyone stop her?

I don't love this, but again, let's see where we're goin' with it. I think I know why Hazel and Dev are fighting in the title card. He's gonna want her wish for his dad's love, I assume.

I'm still unclear on why that wasn't one of his wishes when he had Irep.

Wait a sec... He freaked out that Hazel "wished for them to be friends” (his interpretation). He probably genuinely does not want to wish for his dad's love, because it would be "fake."

Now I'm really confused. Timmy had to get his 1 million wishes reviewed and defend the most questionable ones in court. Was that just... something they only did for Timmy because of his history of collateral damage, which is made very clear in the episode, and everyone lied to him that review was standard procedure? lol.

Oh boy. I'm not sure I'm gonna like this... I've not made a real attempt to let New Wish stand for itself as a separate thing from the OG series (I'm too familiar with the show to pretend I don't use it as a baseline to study this one), but maybe I'll have to try and ignore the fact that we're in blatant canon violation. Despite knowing "Secret Wish" is canon in this spin-off.

Is Hazel going to be super anxious about having a rule-free wish? Is that what the recent set-up of anxiety in these last few episodes was for?

lol, I just realized that (unless this rule-free wish comes in the form of a muffin) Hazel's now put herself in a situation where she's not going to be able to wish for the entire rest of this finale unless she's willing with her rule-free wish. That would be really clever.

I said I expected Dev to turn from his dad to Hazel, but I can also see Hazel using her rule-free wish to save Dev from falling to his death or something.

?? I am SO CONFUSED. If they want to do a rule-free plot - and if they don't follow standard protocol for 1 million wishes - why didn't they just do a fairyversary plot? She should be WAY closer to hitting her 1-year anniversary of godparents than to a million wishes.

Rule-free wishes are canon for the 1-year anniversary, and "Abra-castrophe" is probably the best-known movie of the series. It would've made sense.

And she clearly hasn't hit her anniversary yet in a world where we assume that's still canon, or she'd already have rule-free wish experience, which she doesn't.

Pfft, the Big Wand drained. That's... also a way you can take away her ability to wish so this finale will be dramatic, but I liked my "oh no, if I wish for anything, I'll waste my rule-free wish" theory better :'D

Cosmo: We've gone to Fairy World with you 39 to 40 times! :) Me, who previously said I was sad we hadn't seen Hazel being delighted by Fairy World or engaging with its magic, whispering: what the fliiiiiip... This has never been indicated even slightly... why weren't we shown this?? instead, you flat-out told us Fairy World was "reserved for special occasions," which you then used photo evidence to back up your insistence that going to Fairy World was really only for times Jorgen is testing you as godparents... I'm so confused...

Did I miss some episodes? Did we jump forward in time? Is there a plot twist time travel reveal? I feel like I missed 2 or 3 whole seasons;;

- Fairy World should be a big deal. It should feel very different than the human world and be full of weird roads, magical creatures new to Hazel, purple grass, etc. - I'm sad that our only times seeing Hazel interact with Fairy World are when she and Kennueth went clothes shopping (in one store we didn't see them enter or leave, just a scene change) and when she was randomly teleporting around with Dev. Or Fairy Con, I guess, but we haven't seen her wander the streets. I'm just sad to hear she's gone so many times, so now I'll not get to see her explore. - Had my hopes up for something akin to "Big Wanda" or "Odd Squad" or "Timmy TV" :'D Or even just "Most Wanted Wish" when Timmy goes to lunch with Mama Cosma

I just want to see New Wish's version of random reminders that Fairy World is a funky non-human society and it's fun to explore :'D

I wanna be wowed!! And I'm sad I don't get to be there when Hazel truly starts looking around. Alas...

I'm operating with the assumption that the show may get a second season (at least, it needs to be set up so it can either tie up loose ends or continue in the future). 1 million wishes is a strange thing to drop on us this early (Skipped every milestone and skipped oodles of adventures). I saw no foreshadowing or hints that they were doing any of this.

-> I could've sworn her most recent milestone was 100... Or if I'm misremembering, it can't have been more than 1000.

Hmm. I do like how Wanda's worried and Cosmo's kicking his legs.

... When I paused to write my note about not being shown this, I thought I heard a flashback ripple that would showcase Hazel's wishes. But it was not. It's just a normal scene change :')

This is a 20-minute episode; I can't treat it like a movie. They're doing their best in the allotted time and budget and I'm glad we even get a finale.

But also, I really like how "Secret Wish" makes a special effort to showcase tons of Timmy's wishes, most of which we'd seen, but a few that were made up. It gave us story context and depth that I'm itching for more of with Hazel.

- I like what I've seen with Hazel, but I feel like I just got sucker punched in a "Haha, you don't get to bond with this character or be there during these important events like finally exploring Fairy World with Cosmo and Wanda" kind of way. I feel robbed and icky. - Next you're gonna tell me she's already familiar with Juandissimo, Mama Cosma, Schnozmo, Blonda, and/or Big Daddy and I'll just sit here feeling sad, cheated, and confused. Let's hope not...

omg, we're going back to the Hocus Poconos in the finale and it's gonna be full of unwished Hazel stuff..... Is that why we don't have flashbacks yet? That'd be clever! My theory was that Lezah got sent there, and they did set her up as a rival with a very thoughtful design... so maybe.

??????? whaaaat.

hooooly, what is this...

Well, that's not Dimmadome aesthetic, so this doesn't fit my Dale theory. I don't recognize this style. It gives me Crocker vibes, but we've only seen him once.

?? The fact that Cosmo described the Big Wand as yellow and Hazel says "It's blue" when she shows up makes me think this is supposed to be Anti-Fairy aesthetic (even though their star is black), but it sure doesn't look like it...

We know, like... 4 things about Anti-Fairy World: red skies, purple roads, lots of metal, and Anti-Cosmo's castle design. This doesn't look like any of those things.

I want to think Crocker, but it can't be... He's only had one cameo. We just barely had our second Anti-Fairy reminder; this HAS to be Anti-Fairies. but... throwing out their aesthetic would be a heck of a way to introduce them :'D

If this is Anti-Fairies, I'll let it slide because they seem to have taken over Fairy World, so actually... it makes sense Anti-Cosmo's sign isn't here. Also, they wouldn't bring the sky. And I can't blame them for not lugging barbed wire out here.

Actually, this looks closer to Fairy World when it lost power in "Crocker Shocker" than to Anti-Fairy World. Which would track with the fact the Big Wand just went down.

I do like how the bridges look like lava. I think I like that better than Anti-Fairy World's purple roads.

I'm really glad to see the roads connecting different clouds up and down as that's Fairy World's signature thing; I was sad in Episode 2 that Fairy World didn't look magical or make me interested in returning.

Ironically, this might be the best showcase of the roads I remember from either series. But I miss the mountains…

Okay- I've taken some time to sit and think. I'm paused at 2:48, so I don't think I have enough clues to put the pieces together, but since it's the finale and I'm not sure if I'll be spoiler-free again if we get new episodes, I'm pulling out all my theorizing stoppers. Bear with me.

1) We know Fairy World is shut down right now. I think it's coincidence that this happened when Hazel earned her rule-free wish. I don't think anyone's plotting to take her wish, and I do think she'll use her wish to either save Dev's life or make him happy.

2) We know the Big Wand is blue (???) and the sky is gloomy. That feels like Anti-Fairy vibes despite this not being their aesthetic.

3) We know Anti-Fairy World is still a thing; Jorgen sent Irep to Anti-Fairy World when he booted him away from Dev. That implies the species are still divided.

In most of their appearances, there's a theme of Anti-Fairies being locked away. I think something happened to get them out, which plays into my next thought:

4) If this is Anti-Fairies, I lean towards this being Irep now grown-up and following through on his dream of taking over. It feels weird, because his goal in the debut of THIS series was obtaining godkids, so... I'm not sure, but I'm getting Irep vibes. Here is why.

- This feels closer to Irep's aesthetic than Anti-Cosmo's. Foop's thing has always been that he loves Anti-Fairy World the way it is, and all the creepy aesthetic that goes with it. He eats it up. - Anti-Cosmo enjoys chaos, but his whole thing is being jealous of the Fairies. He hates being locked up and seems more tolerant of Anti-Fairy World's vibes than appreciative of them. His thing is that he desperately wants Earth (so it’s really funny he said H.P. could blow it up. BFFs…) - OG series Anti-Cosmo doesn't even want to take over Fairy World; he wants a godkid. His shtick is "I will literally do anything for a godkid even if it's stupid and I make a fool of myself." And then he makes a fool of himself; it's great.

I don't think Irep is capable of taking over Fairy World by himself, even though he wants it. But I also don't think Anti-Cosmo would do this, even though (if his Anti-Fairies followed orders) he probably could.

Taking over means confronting magical people, and Anti-Cosmo doesn't, like... do that. He taunts people IF he holds a blatant advantage (like them being locked up or them being a human who can't jump and grab him), but he's also a huge coward <3 He's Mr. Buddy System. He needs his Anti-Fairies. So... He might be here, yeah! But I do get major Irep vibes. Irep's totally leading, and I don't see Anti-Cosmo's aesthetic here, so I think he's playing a small supporting role if he's here at all. - Anti-Cosmo thinks being locked in Anti-Fairy World sucks, but he also hates leaving the house, you get me?

I DO think Anti-Cosmo would be willing to help someone who helped him. And I do think he doesn't mind Anti-Fairies taking over if it keeps Fairies off his back... but ruling isn't his gig. He likes being a goofball in the field.

I think someone else who wants to take over Fairy World got the Anti-Fairies out of Anti-Fairy World, and this is Anti-Fairy aesthetic combined with someone else's. I think they've been granted freedom in exchange for their numbers and magic.

Dale has ginger hair. HE looks like the roads. Now, THAT would be funny.

oh, I'm an IDIOT! It's gotta be DEV. He went looking for Anti-Fairies at the end of "Best of Luck!"

omg, this is Irep's love for darkness and cruelty plus Dev's ginger hair aesthetic! That feels totally right. That's my final answer.

Okay, THIS IS MAKING SENSE. I've been sitting here for (no joke) an hour outlining mental notes like "Irep got flicked away by Jorgen being casual; he can't possibly take over by himself. And you'd need a ton of Anti-Fairies to pull this off, and they take orders from Anti-Cosmo... but why would Anti-Cosmo take over Fairy World? He's literally always dragged his feet about it when the idea comes up."

But if Dev let the Anti-Fairies out - thus earning Anti-Cosmo's assistance - and we know Dev's been ANGRY... Ooooh, that would answer my concerns. I'm ready for this.

Anti-Cosmo does not have the best track record with not backstabbing someone who releases his people, so I'm intrigued.

And this COULD be a way to get the godkids! Indirectly, but we just found out Anti-Fairies can now yoink godkids if Fairies quit, which is a new rule for this series!! Ohhh, I'm picking up what they're putting down (I think).

I'm here, I'm ready, I'm excited. Let's do this.

Hey, actually, before I unpause... what the flip. Up until this second, I assumed the notes Cosmo and Wanda wrote on Dale's note board were going to be found by Dale... ... but we KNOW Dev saw them. HE knows about the Big Wand. AND he has a way to get to Fairy World (Peri, and/or Irep coming back for him, and/or if he broke into Cosmo and Wanda's apartment I guess) that Dale doesn't. And he's even been here before, and he's been researching Anti-Fairies. That makes so much sense.

Final answer: I think Dev released the Anti-Fairies (bringing back Anti-Cosmo and Anti-Wanda for finale, yay!) and they're teamed up enough to blend their aesthetics, indicating a semi-equal partnership.

I think A.C., A.W., and Irep will all be here together, finally giving us family vibes for them (fingers crossed), but I think Irep will suck at being a team player. I think Anti-Cosmo will play along with Dev until he decides it would be to their benefit to backstab. Not sure what they'll do with Anti-Wanda; she might hang back =(

Maybe we'll get lucky and Anti-Wanda will be motherly towards Dev. Anti-Cosmo being fatherly would be funny.

omfg, that would be REALLY funny. Anti-Cosmo wants godkids- can you even IMAGINE the daddy issues that would resurface if Irep had to watch his dad fawn over his new friend? crying.

Irep's not big on backstabbing people unless they betray him first (Ex: Crocker not inviting him to his house party), so I do think if Anti-Cosmo fawned over Dev, that would snap him. lol.

I'm not expecting Anti-Cosmo to talk about wanting godkids, which is fine... This is a new show, and he's had time to form a new dynamic with his son that wasn't there in the OG series (because his son grew up in Abracatraz and Foop was upset about his parents "moving away without leaving a forwarding address again" in "Certifiable Super Sitter"), so it's not like their dynamic was great back then.

"Hey Riddle, didn't you say once the week they ditched Foop would pan out to be during free-tailed bat mating season? And hasn't that always been your headcanon'd species for them and it got way funnier when it turned out Foop's toes are canonically light-colored, just like the white bristles on free-tailed bats' feet?" Yeah. lmao.

Also, I think Dale should have a gun.

I have my fingers crossed that we are referencing "Secret Wish" for a reason... but the only thing I can think of is that the Hocus Poconos is coming back.

I'm just so surprised they'd make up new lore for a rule-free wish in a way that directly violates that episode's canon of what happens at 1 mil (considering that if people wanted to go digging for Hocus Poconos backstory after its introduction in this series, "Secret Wish" is what they'd watch) instead of using the established one with the shorter time period, unless they just didn't know the lore.

It has to be intentional. But why?

My thoughts are that they don't want a rule-free muffin bouncing around or they didn't want Hazel's muffin to be compared to the OG series... but that makes me sad because we know that was established for any godkid who keeps fairies for a year. It would be so easy... That's literally the movie they air often... It's the one people are probably most familiar with...

Hmm. Well. I'll take a breath and try to let New Wish stand on its own, but I'm just very surprised.

Plot Point Theories

... Okay, I've been thinking a little longer (next day), and now I'm REALLY nervous if this is Dev. Because if Dev's hanging around Anti-Fairies and making wishes with their powers, Peri's gonna get magical back-up.

In fact, I'm surprised he hasn't already since we haven't seen him grant a single wish for Dev in several episodes, and when he did show up, he was in his parents' house with Dev nowhere to be seen.

Also, the Big Wand is down- everyone is gonna get magical back-up, which we just learned kills you.

In the OG show it didn't kill you (and Cosmo and Wanda went through it multiple times), so if they explode and then turn out to be fine, I won't be surprised. However, they seem to be pushing the death story for this show.

Fairies leaving no bodies behind when they die was canon in the OG though, so I like that part (They left dust, and I've always headcanon'd Anti-Fairies as leaving behind smoke since Foop was born from a smoke cloud).

- I like that in this series, they clarify magical backup occurs "if you don't use magic." That was always unclear in the old one, where they used to say "if you don't grant wishes" despite the majority of Fairies not being godparents. - In 'fics, I went the route of "Well, godparents probably get a huge power boost of magic when they sync up to a godkid, hence why the creatures who are so paranoid about people hurting them are even motivated to help kids, and that's why you risk backup." - Specifically, I went a whole worldbuilding route where godparents draw energy through the Big Wand, but use godkids as a springboard to alter the world in ways they normally aren't powerful enough to do (so I like how we saw Irep messing with the flow of time when he became Dev's godparent in "Best of Luck" since that was probably the first time he was able to play with those kinds of powers in an all-encompassing way). - But if it's just magic in general, that's a completely new vibe than anything I've played with, and I like that. I'm ready to be surprised and horrified about what does or doesn't count as magic.

I think if Hazel doesn't save Dev with her rule-free wish, she's probably gonna wish someone who explodes from magical back-up back to life.

My predictions for where Dev's arc is going:

- Peri's going to get magical back-up and Dev will be some emotion like shocked, ashamed, or remorseful.

- Anti-Cosmo specifically will backstab Dev when he's "no longer needed" (Irep won't; Irep's always wanted friends. He might even stand up for Dev against Anti-Cosmo, but I'm not confident).

- If Dale shows up in this episode, he's gonna uncover Fairy World's shtick and have a meltdown that the Fairies never rescued him from 7 years of child labor.

- Dale tries to explain himself to Dev, justifying his behavior with claims that he's never "meant" to treat him poorly and all he's ever wanted is for Dev to have a better life without needing to carry the burden of trauma and the past that Dale does.

-> Big "I was going to tell you when you're older; I was trying to do the right thing for both of us" vibes

Ex: We know Dev never gets to have lemonade (presumably a trigger for Dale) & we know Dale has told Dev he "worked in a factory underneath a lemonade stand," but withheld details on Vicky (with Dev having no baseline for how Vicky could possibly know his dad). -> And Vicky only said lemonade stand, not factory, which makes me think Dale's withheld some of the details. For all I know, Dev might think his dad "worked in a factory" by choice. If he uncovers Dale's trauma (maybe by finding memories or records of the past), Dev's gonna either be annoyed his dad withheld this from him, or confused and saddened in a way they can bond over. -> Ex: Maybe Dev thinks "Vicky and my dad worked at a stand as kids and my dad went on to a factory and she's bitter." Part of me is like "Surely there's no reason to bring the lemonade up; it's not a big deal for Dev like it was to his dad," but after Vicky referenced it recently (and Dev was like "How does she know my dad?"), I suspect we might play with that someday, even if it's not in this episode (Because I can see Dev's daddy issues being a multi-season thing to maintain tension).

- Dev's going to break, lose, or throw away his shades, symbolizing that he wants to stop regressing.

-> I imagine them getting broken during a tense moment (such as Anti-Cosmo backstabbing him and smashing them under his foot) so it feels sad at the time as Dev clings to his comfort item, but he's gonna learn to let it go.

- Dev will reject his dad and stay with Hazel and/or Cosmo and Wanda, willing to put in the work to be a nicer person. Also, Peri resolves some issues he has with his parents.

-> Actually, forget that: I think Peri should get his own apartment and Dev can hang out with him there. I really want to see them try to live on their own when I don't think either of them knows how to do much to get by in the real world. I want them to confuse scream together as they try to, like... read bus routes and grocery shop.

- Dev will finally get to taste lemonade. tbh, I think if I was handed this set-up and told to find a fun way to end it... I'd have Hazel "waste" her rule-free wish because it makes her anxious, so she opts to give Dev lemonade.

-> Again, I know the lemonade's probably not a big deal to Dev, but I think it's funny. Then she no longer has to think about the anxiety the wish causes her, and he can be touched by her kindness. lmao.

In "Nectar of the Odds," Timmy's lemonade could grant wishes for anyone who drank it. Dev getting his hands on THAT would be hilarious. I'm not sure what it would add that Peri can't give him, but it would be a funny way to use magic when the Big Wand is down (because Cosmo made that lemonade with his sweat, which he still has in this episode, implication being fairies kinda ooze their extra magic). I can't imagine they would do that because it requires a big callback to the OG series and magical lemonade's not been foreshadowed, but... Dale himself is a callback to that same episode, so I write off nothing. I'm super glad Dale was brought back as Doug's son. Imagine if Dev had different parents, one of whom was Doug's child, so we had a Dimmadome child, but it wasn't Dale. - I'm glad he's here because it feels like the writers did their research. I'd miss him.

Alternate endings I don't think are likely, but they make me laugh:

- Finale doesn't 100% wrap up and instead we're setting up a longer-term relationship for Dev and the Anti-Fairies.

- Dale and Dev have a heart-to-heart and try resolving some of their issues. Dev reaches the point where he's no longer miserable (maybe through his dad being kind to him, or Dev opts to cut ties with his dad and it's a weight off, or Hazel being his friend), so he and Peri will part ways (which tbh... might be healthy for both of them).

- ?? I think I like the idea of Dev no longer counting as miserable, which should disqualify him from having a fairy, but the Council lets him move into Poof's apartment as long as Cosmo and Wanda are nearby to keep an eye on them.

- Alternatively, Dev and Peri break up because Peri realizes he wasn't ready to godparent yet. He takes time away. Thus, Dev temporarily ends up as a shared godkid with Cosmo and Wanda (an unlikely callback to the old series since a lot of people didn't like Chloe sharing fairies with Timmy, but I think it would be funny).

-> Or, Hazel decides Dev needs Cosmo and Wanda more than she does (I'm not saying she doesn't need them, but canonically most godkids don't keep their fairies for long, so it would be interesting). She lets them go so he can have them, maybe using her rule-free wish to do this.

That's not a likely way to wrap up a finale that needs to leave things open for future seasons (if any), but intriguing to think about. We never got a proper send-off for Timmy in the OG series and one of my early theories for New Wish was that Hazel might give Cosmo and Wanda to Dev in the finale, so I think it's worth mentioning.

This show really likes changing the status quo, which was uncommon in the OG series, so I like that about it and I'm interested to see what might happen.

------

Now then... I am once again writing my concerns about Anti-Fairy reboot stuff so I can look back later and see what did or didn't happen.

Basically the same thing I said in Post #10

If you don't like people talking about concerns, you can stop here and I'll pick up the liveblog in my next post <3

------

Okay, so... hm.

I'm not that picky about what they do with Anti-Cosmo. If he's now more interested in taking over Fairy World than chasing after godkids, I'll allow it. He can mix it up and it makes for a dramatic story.

Also, the chances of us getting to see his many facets are pretty low if we only get this one 20-minute episode that also has to (presumably) wrap up the Hazel-Dev conflict and some of Dev's issues towards his dad. We're not gonna have time to see much of A.C. beyond whatever he's out here doing, which seems to be evil takeover stuff. And that's okay.

But my hope is that I don't have to see Anti-Cosmo making Dev sign a contract. I really want the Pixies to keep the stuff that's theirs. I don't want their cool things to be moved to characters who are already popular.

Also, I refuse to believe the man who can't sit still for 3 seconds and whose plans look like this would have the skills or patience to write his own contract:

If there's a contract, I'll take it with grace, but I'll headcanon he's been hanging out with H.P. (which I'm not opposed to at all, so that's a win for me).

I'm glad I took the time to sleep and think about this. I'm not sure my thoughts will be correct, but I think I've made peace with the idea of Anti-Cosmo taking over Fairy World: something he's never really expressed interest in and that I associate with H.P. instead.

I said in Post #10 that I was really nervous about the possibility of Anti-Cosmo being rebooted as a suave, sassy, super calculating sexy bad boy who's now confident and all-in on taking over Fairy World... considering that in the OG series, he's an awkward nerd who hates confrontation, defers to H.P. even in his own castle, can't discipline his son, likes comic books, spins in circles, jumps on tables, throws tantrums, will wander off when he's left alone, and wants a godkid.

He DOES have smug energy and cool lines sometimes... but he's also a tantrum-throwing brat who's scared to stand up to people, and in this house, we love him for it!!

And yes, I am so nervous that I'm going to have to watch Anti-Cosmo be rebooted so he's more like H.P. - who IS the suave, sassy villain who's meticulous and in control - and then I'm going to make " :'D " faces for years as I watch the fandom gush over Anti-Cosmo turning into the cool villain H.P. always was. I'm sorry, it's selfish, but H.P. is my favorite and has been a big part of my life for the last 8 years of 'fic writing and fanart, so it would make me sad :') Also, I like Anti-Cosmo being dorky; who will I turn to for a dorky magical villain if I lose him?? The second half of this fear is... Since rebooting Anti-Cosmo into a sassy, confident villain who plans well and wants to take over Fairy World would make him basically the same as H.P., then the pixies are less likely to show up in future seasons (if any) (Alas), or worse... ... H.P. might return, but get rebooted so he's no longer one of the snarkiest characters in the whole show... No longer uses finger guns, no longer gets excited over puns, no longer kicks back to drink the canon alcohol parallel (soda) on the job, no longer wears two hats at the same time, and no longer ditches responsibility for raves :') And I'd just be very sad if I had to see his character traits stripped from him and folded into Anti-Cosmo instead, seeing as A.C. is already very popular with fans and doesn't need the boost in cool.

But... All this said, now that I've sat with my thoughts, I like this idea of Anti-Cosmo, Anti-Wanda, and Irep doing things as a family. THAT is interesting enough to me that I think I'll forgive Anti-Cosmo being confident and sassy, if that's how he's rebooted.

I think it's reasonable for A.C. to change for his family. So... as much as I'd be nervous for what it could mean for H.P., it'll be fine.

I just want Anti-Cosmo to be an awkward nerd pretending to be confident, but also he likes to run around and goof off, but he should also look at people like he's confused they kicked his puppy. Also, that scene in "When Nerds Collide" that you can pause with perfect timing and see him holding Anti-Wanda's hand lives rent-free in my head. You have to balance the smug "In your face" dance & his love for touching things & how oblivious he is to Anti-Wanda's pregnancy cravings & the fact that he shook his wife up and down 2 seconds after she gave birth & how he much he cries & the fact he throws tantrums kicking and screaming & that he once pulled Timmy towards him and then dropped him on the floor because he forgot he couldn't float. This man is a spoiled brat with the giddy energy of a Labrador and the emotional stability of tinsel. you understand...

Man. Why am I so nervous?? H.P. and A.C. both had a decent amount of episodes, and there have been so many callbacks to the OG series that I'm sure the writers studied A.C. before putting him onscreen. If for nothing else, then to get a feel for his dialogue.

If H.P.'s characterization can remain the same across several years in the OG series, he'd probably be fine if they ever came back. I'll be less bothered about Anti-Cosmo changing if H.P. doesn't become less sassy as a result, and I'm probably overthinking (though I have many questions about where Hazel's love for paperwork is going; it almost feels like they're setting up a Pixie plot)

-> Especially since about 15 months ago, there was a rumor going around that the Pixies would return "in the 2nd half of the season." It was later decided they weren't, but the possibility that they nearly did just gets me on edge.

I'll always be happy to see my specialist boy in the world, but if they reduce H.P. to the Pixie stereotype when his whole thing is that he conflicts with whatever dull and boring expectations you go in with, I'll be injured in Family Guy death pose forever. Do not do this to me… I want him back so badly :') ...

Okay. On to a 2nd post! ... Tomorrow, I think. I'm not even 3 minutes in. Haha, I'm in danger.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not having a job despite having time for it?

🍏🥝🍏🥝 <- to keep track of this when it posts,

My family really loves talking about me(20) when they think I'm not listening. I've heard them on multiple occasions say that I need a job and that I should just start working part-time while I'm going to college. The issue with that is that while other people can do both pretty decently, I dont feel like I'm capable of doing both part time and college without one of them suffering a lot because of the other.

My family is pretty financially stable, and the fees I owe never go over 900 dollars and sometimes I even make my own money off of commissions to help pay for things. I actually did have an actual job during my classes for a while filing things and remote video editing work (for the same job) but one of my family members worked with me there as my boss and I decided to quit after they decided to ask if my mom would've rather died than had me after I told him she called trans people abominations (I am trans, I'm only out to that family member and my brother). I haven't found a consistent thing to do to earn money since but I've been trying really hard to advertise my commissions since then.

The part where I feel really guilty though is the fact that I've been going to a community college for almost 3 years now (with my family supporting me money wise) and know I'm only going to come out with a one year certificate because of how fucked my schedule got in my first year. I didn't meet some prerequisites , and despite the course I wanted being a 2 year degree it was worth almost 80 credits, which felt insane as I went into it. 5 classes a term, some 5 minutes after the other, all based on pouring hours and hours into artsy projects (video, audio, 3d modelling, painting, 2d animation, ect...). I broke down within my third term after I started failing some of my classes. I was still trying for my 2 year degree up until 2023 where I decided that getting a certificate that was similar and getting a job after would probably be better for me at this point rather than spending ANOTHER 2 years struggling OR straight up giving up and dropping out with nothing.

I'm also home a lot when I'm not in class (I'm only taking 2-3 classes a term now). I do little things sometimes like take out the trash and pull dishes from out the washer and so on but it's all only when no one is home because the place where things generally need to be cleaned up is all in our very small kitchen AND the fact that I'm scared of them poking fun at me for "finally doing something for once" because it makes me feel terrible when they do. I end up chilling out in my room completing work and desperately finding work arounds for projects to only ever really need done in my room or on campus- generally anywhere that's not going to worry my grandma too much.

I've told my family that their teasing doesn't make me feel good but it just gets responded with "that's just how we show love!" when I know it doesn't have to be that way! My boyfriend teases me pretty often but the difference is that he actually listens to me when I tell him something he said didn't feel very good to me and we talk it through, and then he doesn't make that joke again or i feel better after knowing the context of it!!! A lot of my family members will bicker until another one ends up crying and it's horrible to watch how petty and bitter everyone can be.

Don't really know what else to write, AITA guys? I know I could be doing a lot more around the house instead of working but I'm scared of being touched (my aunt randomly spanked me as hard as she could one time last year) and scared of more mean comments being thrown my way. I already have a plan to leave this home and have been open about it to them, but I don't want to rush it if I don't have to and want to spend a few years saving money up so that I'm not in a horrible situation if things go awry.

What are these acronyms?

[pinksatinsashes]

The end of the year is the best time of year for us self improvement obsessed girlies because the planners are out, everyone's making vision boards and its finally time to write a nice long list of New Years Resolutions and achieve precisely nothing! Nothing!

Then the end of that year comes and we start the cycle again, making lists, checking them twice, achieving absolutely nothing, staying exactly the same and sometimes worse! How exciting! :)

When I was 16 I thought I'd have my life together at 18...lol! When I was 18 I figured I'd be totally together when I was 20. I'm 20 now...I think I've genuinely gotten worse.

But this year I am determined! I have said absolutely no more, absolutely no way is another year going to pass me by and I'm going to be stuck here in the exact same place. I NEED change.

Your 20's are meant to be the 'best years of your life'!

This is probably the easiest I'm ever going to have it! I have no children, no husband and I don't pay rent yet, if I don't do it now I will never do it..I don't want this to be my life forever.

Want to know how I'm going to make this year my year? Keep reading.

About two weeks ago I coined 2024 as the year of the Glow Up and started to meticulously plan out exactly what I wanted out of it.

My main goals for 2024 are:

To Hit My Goal Weight.

To Save Up Enough Money to Move to London.

To Be 75% of my Dream Girl

There are tons of other things I want to achieve of course, but If I don't achieve those three 2024 would genuinely have been a waste of time for me.

Now a couple years ago I would've just written those two goals down, put them on a vision board and went about my business...but Oh No, not this time.

I had a nice long think about the person I wanted to be at the end of 2024, financially stable, clear skin, goal weight, ready to move in spring 2025, closer to God, found her signature scent.

Each of these goals had a wider theme:

Routine

Fitness and Body

Food

Skincare and Hygiene

Beauty & Makeup

Hair

Clothes

God

Books & Brains

Music

Budget

I fired up Notion, created a home page that had a sub page for every month and then finally I created the Overall page, which has a sub page for every Goal Category and then I broke down each goal into lots of SMART goals. (Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-Based)

So my 'get down to my goal weight' goal became:

Fitness and Body:

[ ] Size 10 clothes or under and 140 lbs (I'm 5'9 with naturally big boobs so this is my ideal weight)

[ ] Hour Glass Figure, building up glutes and upper body

[ ] Maintain Goal Weight for at least 3 months

[ ] Able to Stair Machine for 10 minutes

[ ] Able to go on a full Run

[ ] Do at least one form of Excerise a day

[ ] At least one form of Excerise a day

[ ] Take the Dog on Daily Walks

Food:

[ ] Try 12 New Recipes

[ ] Learn How To Cook 4 Different Nigerian Recipes

[ ] Form Consistent Eating Routines

[ ] Eat out twice a month or less

[ ] Stay in a Caloric deficit until I reach my Goal Weight

See how much more specific this is?

Having my goals listed like this makes everything so much easier because I'm tackling multiple things at once. First I'm changing the majority of my goals to habits or tasks (things I can control) from outcomes (things I may not be able to control).

Now I know that if I do all of these things written out, staying in a caloric deficit and excising daily there's a 90% chance I'll reach my goal.

This is much more effective than writing an outcome with no plan on how to achieve it.

From here, I'll break the Goal Down Even Further, into monthly goals.

For example, to reach the goal weight Goal by the end of December, January may look like this:

Eat at 1500 calories a day or 10,500 calories a week (to allow for the high calorie company lunches I often attend as part of my work, I'll simply eat less on the other days

Go to the gym 4 times week,

Complete X Fitness plan

Go on one Dog walk a week

Meal Prep ever week.

Lose 10lbs

To Save enough Money to Move to London by the end of the year, January might look like this:

Prep for no Spend Months in Feb and March (stock up on skincare, budywash etc)

Meal plan every week

Sell £200 worth of clothes on Vinted to spend on Spring Wardrobe (I'm not buying any clothes unless I use the money I get from selling my current clothes)

Stick to Budget

My Goal to get Smarter and Stop Mindless Scrolling may look like this in January:

Read at least 1 book

Listen to 4 Podcast Episodes

Limit Social Media use to 1 hour a day

Write 6 Blog Posts

Watch one Documentary

Setting the tasks in this way also allows me to feel a sense of achievement, every month I'm able to tick off my goals which can increase my motivation, instead of writing down a list of things to do and forgetting about it until the end of the year. It also allows me to recognise when I'm going off track faster and adjust for the next month.

You see how this is better?

I was strategic in using notion because I knew that I could then use it not only to set out my goals, but as a home base, a setting point to house all the things I could use to achieve them.

Under each section I've also included a bunch of things to help me, the Food section for example has a list of my go to recipes, so that when I can't think of anything to eat and want to run over to the closest KFC I have something to choose from. The Hair section has a list of hairstyles I've done and the Pro's and Cons, the Skincare section has a list of the products I've tried, if I liked them and If they worked for me.

Each month has its own page with a section for each wider goal and a spot for me to have a monthly write up, detailing what works and what didn't work so I can change and approve the following month and prevent falling behind.

I'm determined to make this year my year so let me know if you'd like me to keep you updated, feel free to ask any questions or send them to my asks. Also let me know if you want my notion template, here's a little peak-

Till we speak again!

-hannah🤍

[cherrycola27]

false god

Series Warnings: Mythology!AU. Language, alcohol, drinking. Military inaccuracies. Mutual pining, unrequited love. Allusions to and eventual smut. Minors DNI. 18+. Individual chapter warnings will come as needed. Banner Credit @thedroneranger

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Chapter 7: Centuries

It's weird—having a group of friends. You've never stayed long enough with a squadron to call them your friends. But that's what the Daggers are. If you're being honest, they are more like your family.

Sure, you have friends. Minthe, Hecate, Lyla, and the rest of the band, but they don't know you like the Daggers do.

You've been in California for seven months now. You've seen the spring, the summer, and now, the fall. Even though it's October, it's still hot. You love the West Coast and being able to wear sundresses year round, but you do miss how the East Coast gets all four seasons. Part of you longs for a fall afternoon back in Virginia. Oceana is probably your favorite place that you have ever been stationed.

You miss getting cozy in an oversized sweater, seeing the leaves change, and drinking a pumpkin spice latte. If you tried to do that here, you'd have a heat stroke.

But California was nice. For once, it felt like home.

You sighed as you stretched your muscles and got out of your bed. You grabbed your phone and checked your notifications. You sighed when you saw what day was coming up.

October thirteenth.

Your absolute least favorite day of the year. At least it fell on Friday this, and Maverick just so happened to give everyone the day off. You were grateful that you would be able to spend your day away from everyone.

You'd be able to curl up with Cerberus and Hydra and read they ever growing stack of books by your bed.

After checking your phone, you strolled into the bathroom to take a shower. You let the hot water envelope you as you mentally went over your plans for the day.

Once clean, you hopped out to feed your pets and make yourself some coffee. You were flying this morning, so you should probably eat something light for breakfast.

Normally, you lived on coffee and water all day until you got home. You were always so busy, you would forget to eat. Bradley noticed this and made a habit of asking you every day, multiple times a day if possible, if you had eaten.

You try to remind him that you are not a child and can take care of yourself, and he reminds you that you aren't a plant that can use photosynthesis to make her own food, and that that iced coffee doesn't count as a meal.

You shake your head as you toast a bagel and smear it with cream cheese. You finish it and your coffee before drying your hair and styling it into your sleek military bun. Then, you get into your uniform and pack your gym bag before grabbing your water bottle, second coffee, and keys.

As you head out the door, you text Amelia and remind her that you have a long day on base and that she needs to come by after school today to walk Cerberus, and she could hang out with Cerberus Hydra until you got home.

She had been pet sitting and dog walking for you after school to earn some extra money. She had her learners permit and was saving up for a car.

You were content as you rode the elevator down to your parking deck level. And for a fleeting moment, you thought that maybe, just maybe, you wouldn't hate October thirteenth this year.

You had just made it to your car when you heard the unmistakable sound of Bradley Bradshaw cursing. "Mother fucking son of a bitch!"

"Bradley? Are you okay?" You ask him as you round the corner of your car. He is leaning up against the Bronco with an irritated look on his face.

"Angel! Oh, thank god! I was just about to text you. The Bronco has a flat, and there is no way I can change it and make it to base on time. Can I hitch a ride with you?" He pleads.

"Sure. Get in." You chuckle. Bradley breathes a sigh of relief and thanks you before grabbing his things and scurring over to your car. Even in his haste, he doesn't forget to open your door for you before throwing his things in your back seat and getting in.

"Thanks again." He says as the two of you cruise down the highway. "Anytime, Bradley. Anytime." You sigh as you tap the steering wheel.

"Did you eat breakfast?" He asks you. You don't look over at him. Your eyes stay fixed on the road in front of you, but you know he's got a teasing smirk on his face.

"Yes, Dad. I had breakfast." You roll your eyes at him. A smile curls at the corner of his mouth.

A few minutes pass before an alarm on your phone disrupts the song on the radio.

"Can you turn that off for me? I must have forgotten about it." You ask Bradley. He grabs the device but can't unlock it. "The code is one, three, two, seven." You tell him.

He quickly types it in and dismisses your alarm. You ask him to check and make sure all of them are off. He does so quickly for you before trying to pull the music back up on your phone.

Bradley doesn't mean to, but as he is swiping through your apps, he sees your calendar open with an interesting note listed for Friday. He quickly locks your phone back before casually asking, "So, do you have any plans for our day off on Friday?" Bradley doesn't miss the way your jaw quickly tightens at the mention of the day.

"Um—no. I think I'm going to start reading one of the books that I've been putting off." You say to him almost dismissively.

"We could hang out? Maybe go to the boardwalk or get dinner or something if you wanted to." Bradley says hopefully.

"I'll probably be too busy to do that. You should ask someone else from the squad I'm sure Nat or Bob would be down." You say.

"I thought you said you didn't have plans?" Bradley counters. He wonders why you are being so dodgy and why you hadn't told him or anyone what Friday was.

"I don't, but I just want to take the day off. Not do anything. Be lazy." You say aggressively. Bradley takes the hint and drops the subject. Thankfully, you are on base now. You quickly park and grab your things to go about your day. You are testing some software this morning and won't be with the rest of the Daggers. In a way, you're grateful because it gives you a chance to breathe.

Bradley quickly makes his way to a briefing room where Maverick goes over the plans for the day. Once he's finished, he dismisses everyone to get ready for their assignments.

When everyone gets to the locker room, Bradley calls for their attention.

"Did anyone know that Hades' birthday is on Friday?" He asks the group a murmur of "no's" floats across the crowd.

"Well, it is, and seeing how we have all done something cool to celebrate each other, I think we should do something for her. I don't think she's ever had a friend group like us, and it would be nice." Bradley says. Everyone agrees, and the planning begins.

They come up with the idea for a surprise party for you at the Hard Deck after the yearly dogfight football game.

All week, you can tell something is up with Bradley. He's acting weird around you. Almost shady.

You try to brush it off, but you know something is going on with him. You just can't put your finger on it.

Maybe he's finally tired of you

They always get tired of you

You leave base Thursday, still not able to shake the odd feeling he has given you all week. You head home to shower and lock yourself away for the weekend.

However, fate had other plans.

At eight a.m. sharp, there is a loud knocking at your door. You grumble and lay in bed, hoping whoever it is will go away, but they don't. You groan as you drag yourself out of bed and slip into some sweats.

You're ready to give whoever is at your door this early on your day off a piece of your mind. Hell, you might even be able to rationalize sending their soul to the Underworld.

But when you open the door, you don't find just anyone standing there. You find Bradley, who has a vase full of bright red poppies in one hand, and a box from your favorite bakery in the other hand. He has the biggest smile on his face as he shuffles in and sets everything down.

You don't even get to ask him why his is here before he turns to you and says, "Happy Birthday!" His arms as stretched wide to pull you into a hug, but as he steps towards you, you step away.

"How—how did you know it was my birthday?" You ask him. "I—I saw it on your calendar when I was turning the alarm off on your phone on Monday. I wasn't snooping, but when I went to pull your playlist back up, I accidentally tapped on it." Bradley tells you. His enthusiasm dips as he sees that you aren't exactly thrilled that he knows what today is.

"Thank you for this, Bradley, but I don't really celebrate my birthday. It's just another day." You sigh as you turn from him. You swallow thickly as you feel the tears creep up. You can't believe his did this for you.

You can't just find poppies anywhere in San Diego, so you know he had to special order them, and your favorite bakery is a forty-five minute drive one way. This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you. You're so used to spending your birthday alone that this small act has you on the verge of balling your eyes out.

You can't help it, and the tears start to fall. You let out a small sob and bury your face in the sleeves of your sweat shirt. You don't want him to see you cry as you stand with your back still to him. But Bradley hears the whimper you let out and is instantly pulling you into his arms.

"Angel, what's wrong? It's your birthday. Why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?" He asks you. His voice is dripping with concern.

"No, it's just—" You sniffle as you wipe your nose with your sleeve. "No one has ever done anything this nice for me in a very long time. I haven't had friends or partners remember my birthday, let alone do something special for me like this." You say as you gesture to the counter.

Bradley takes your face in his hands and swipes the tears from your cheeks away with his thumbs. "It sounds to me like you've not been hanging out with the right people, Angel. Now, why dont we sit down and dig into these pastries? " Bradley says in earnest.

You blink back a few tears and give him a weepy smile. "Did you get some lemon berry muffins?" You ask him hopefully.

"Of course I did. I know they are your favorite." He smiles at you.

After breakfast, Bradley tells you that the squad is getting together for a game of dogfight football. He also let's you know that he told them that it was your birthday and that they had plans to surprise you with a party at the Hard Deck, but given your reaction this morning, he didn't want to overwhelm you with that.

You appreciate that he is looking out for you.

You go get changed for football while he texts everyone to let them know that you are aware of the plan for the day. Jake tries to badger him about ruining the surprise, but when Bradley tells them about how you don't celebrate your birthday and how you were overwhelmed this morning, he immediately drops the issue.

He's sitting on your couch watching TV with Cerberus and Hydra when you come out of your room, ready for the day.

Bradley has to remind himself to breathe because even though he has seen you in a bathing suit and gym clothes, he's still taken aback by how you look in your black sports bra and electric blue running shorts.

He swallows thickly before quickly excusing himself to his car while you lock up your apartment.

You meet him at his Bronco. He's standing by the passenger door waiting for you, holding a small gift bag.

"Bradley." You say as he places it in your had. "It's not much. Just a little something." He says. You shake your head and take the bag from him. When you pull the small box out you almost cry again.

"Bradley! You shouldn't have!" You tell him as you look at the small piece of silver jewelry.

"I remember how upset you were when your flower anklet snapped and how you said you felt weird without it. So I got you a new one." He tells you.

You inhale sharply when he brings up your broken piece of jewelry. Bradley was right, it did have a flower charm on it, but not just any flower charm.

It was a narcissus flower, a daffodil, one Persephone, and grew herself before taking it to Hephaestus to have him forge it into the ankle bracelet you'd worn for centuries. It was supposed to be a physical reminder of her love, but lately you'd found that if weighed you down.

You should have taken it off decades ago, but the smallest part of you held onto the hope that she would change her mind.

But now, you didn't need that hope anymore. You had Bradley. We your old anklet broken, it was freeing, a tangible reminder that she didn't have a hold on you anymore.

You run your fingers over the silver chain and across the angel wing charm adorning it.

"Angel wings?" You ask him. "To remind you that you are one." He says.

Gods, he was so sweet

The more time you spent with Bradley, you realized that he treated you like a person, not a possession.

He didn't want to own you

He just wanted to show you he cared

Bradley stands there across from you for a moment as you admire your gift. Now would be a great time to tell him how you feel, but it isn't the right moment. This isn't what you pictured in your head when you confess your feelings for him. You want it to be perfect.

Instead, you ask him, "Care to help me put this one before we leave?" You're trying to sound flirty when you say it, and you're pretty sure it worked because next thing you know, Bradley is lifting you onto the bench seat of the Bronco and taking the anklet from your hand.

He drops to his knees on the smoothe concrete of the parking garage before carefully taking your left leg and placing it against his chest.

He gently unclasps the hook of the anklet before looping it around you. He slides it along until the wings are in the front. His fingertips ghost along your calf as his admires how the piece looks on you.

It's taking every ounce of self control he has to not place a kiss right above it. And to not trail his lips up your leg to your core until you're a moaning mess for him.

He stays there for a moment and looks up at you, grinning like a devil. "Perfect." He says. You agree with him because the view of him on his knees for you is absolutely perfect. The only way it could be any better is if your fingers were laced through his curls while his face was buried between your thighs.

"It's beautiful, Bradley. Thank you." You say as he stands up. He places a hand on your thigh to steady himself, just high enough for your breath to hitch. And he lets it linger just long enough for it to be considered more than friendly.

The drive to the beach was pleasant. You and Bradley talked, but mostly song along to a playlist he had made special for today.

He rolled to a stop at a red light and turned to you. "I never celebrated my birthday much after my mom died. I dated a few girls who tried to get me to celebrated but I wasn't a fan of it until the squad got together." He tells you, trying to be relatable.

"My last series girlfriend is the reason I don't celebrate my birthday." You confess to him.

She had ruined them for you, really

"Girlfriend?" Bradley clarifies. You can tell he's worried that he's been reading this whole situation wrong.

"Yeah. But I've had boyfriends too. I'm bisexual, Bradley." You tell him. You see his shoulders relax.

"Oh, I didn't know that. That's—cool." He says, not sure how to respond.

"I mean, I didn't really tell any of you, so how would you know. It's not really at the forefront of my mind to tell people about my sexuality unless it comes up." You say.

There is a beat of silence between the two of you. "Are you okay? I promise I'm still the same ol' Hades that I was five minutes ago." You say to him.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm sorry, I feel like I've made this weird now." Bradley shakes his head as he drives.

"You're fine, Bradley. You aren't the first person to be curious. Some people like to order one thing off the menu, and that's cool. But why would I limit myself when I could have my pick from the buffet?" You tell him. He laughs at that.

"I don't think I've ever heard some explain their sexuality with food. But it makes sense. Hate to break it to you, but I'm an order off the menu kind of guy." He says.

"You know who you are and what you like. I respect that." You tell him. And it's the truth. Just as quickly as the conversation starts, it's over. You just hope that you haven't scared Bradley off, because by the end of the day today, you're hoping to have a slice of him for dessert.

..............

"I know that you don't have the best relationship with water, but I promise that it won't ever be deeper than your ankles, and if you are getting overwhelmed, you can sit out or let me know and we can all take a break. I also told Jake that if he tries to pull any more stunts, he can kiss his perfect teeth goodbye because I'll knock every one of them down his throat." Bradley tells you as you walk towards the spot on the beach that the gang has set up.

"Happy Birthday, Hades!" Every cheers as the two of you walk up to them. Phoenix and Halo wrap you in a tight hug.

You take and drop your things on a blanket that Bob has set up before applying your sunscreen. You don't even ask Bradley to help you, he simply takes the bottle from your hands and covers your back in it.

"You need some too." You remind him. He opens his mouth to argue with you. But a stern look over the rim of your sunglasses makes him stop. He covers his chest, arms, and legs with some. You carefully smooth some over the taught muscles of his back and across his broad shoulders.

For a fleeting moment, you trail your fingers down the length of his spine, and you swear you hear his breath hitch. You hear the rest of the team calling for you, so you clear your throat he turns around.

"Don't forget your face and ears." You remind him. "Sure thing, Mom." He needles you.

"You fuss at me over breakfast, I fuss at you over sun protection. It evens out." You chuckle as you join everyone else.

Jake goes over the rules for everyone before declaring himself a captain and making you the other one. "I'll even let you pick first." He tells you like it's an honor or something.

Naturally, Bradley is your first choice. "Of course." Jake rolls his eyes. You flip him off and turn to Phoenix. You miss Jake wagging his eyebrows and making a mock kissing face at Bradley.

Jake picks Coyote first, and then you pick Phoenix.

"Hangman, I love you, bro, but I'm not tackling my girl if she gets the ball. I know where my bread is buttered." Coyote tells him. Phoenix laughs. "C'mon Javy, don't be nervous. You know I like it a little rough." Jake fakes a gag before picking Omaha to be on his team.

When all is said and done, it's you, Bradley, Phoenix, Bob, Payback, Fanboy, and Fritz on a team. Hangman, Coyote, Omaha, Halo, Harvard, and Yale make up the other.

As soon as the game gets underway, you realize just how competitive your friends can be. You knew they were like that up in the air. You just didn't expect it to be this way on land too.

After two games, the teams are tied at one with a piece. The next score wins the game and bragging rights.

Phoenix tossed you the ball as you run down the sand looking for an opening. You dodge bodies left and right, hoping for a chance to pass it to Bradley, but you can't find him, and the setting sun glares in your eyes.

You turn to look for him, but you weren't looking where you were running, and you crashed into Bradley. You grabbed his arm to steady yourself, but instead, both of you toppled over before landing on the damp sand. Your eyes met his as he hovered over you, pressing your bodies together. Before you could do something stupid, you had to remind yourself that you were on a beach surrounded by your friends.

"That's a touchdown!" Phoenix loudly proclaims, and Bradley hoists himself up before reaching put his hand to pull you to your feet. Once you're vertical again you notice that you landed in the end zone and that your team won.

After packing up, everyone breaks to head home with a promise to meet back up in two hours for a birthday celebration.

Bradley happily takes the two of you home and informs you that he will gladly be your designated driver for the night so you can really cut loose. You tell him he doesn't have to do that, but he insisted. The poor boy didn't know that you could drink every drop that Penny had in her bar and still be sober. You relent though and take him up on his offer.

Ninety minutes later, when he comes to get you, he regrets his decision.

You're dressed in a black crop top with some blue flames stitched into the hem. You had on dark jeans that were tastfully ripped up to your thighs and some black heeled boots. Even with them on Bradley was still so much taller that you.

Of course, you wore your favorite red lipstick. It was Bradley's favorite, too. He wondered what it would look like, all smudged up after he kissed your breathless.

The drive to the Hard Deck was a pleasant one, and the place was in full swing when the two of you arrived. There weren't as many people there tonight. The Daggers, Maverick, Amelia, your bandmates, and a few other people from base.

All night, you flitted around, talking and laughing, but your eyes always found their way back to Bradley, and his were always on yours.

A few hours in, you were corralled to the piano where Bradley led everyone in off-key version of "Happy Birthday."

As the song finished, you were about to peel off when he stopped you. "I have a surprise." He said as he led you back to the piano.

You stood there, waiting as he prepared himself. He played a few keys to warm up before diving in. Soon, the familiar melody of "Miracle" flooded your ears as Bradley began to sing it to you in front of everyone. He was playing your favorite song—the same one his father played for his mother.

You swallowed thickly as you war he'd his fingers dance over the keys while he played.

He really cared about you

It was nice

It felt good

Sooner than you would have liked, the song ended. And as much as you wanted to stay inside, you needed a break to process what had just happened.

You had to get out of there for a minute. You just needed some fresh air, a moment to catch your breath. Everything was becoming too much and not enough at the same time.

You thought you could keep the butterflies at bay, but seeing Bradley sitting at the piano, swathed in the glow of the neon lights from the bar, playing your favorite song, had them erupting from the cocoons you'd placed them in.

The weeks of playful flirting, witty banter, soft touches, and lingering glances had led straight to this knot in your stomach.

What had you gotten yourself into?

You leaned up against the rough exterior of the Hard Deck and fished the well-worn pack of cigarettes from your purse. You don't know why you kept these. They didn't do anything for you, but something about the act calmed you. You pulled one from the pack and conjured a small flame on your index finger and lit it.

You wrapped your cherry-colored lips around the end and took a long drag before exhaling. The scent of the burning tobacco mixed with the scotch you'd been sipping earlier and wrapped around you like a warm blanket. You were about halfway through when a voice cut through the silence of the night.

"Those things will kill you, y'know?" Bradley said as he stepped out onto the deck and into your space. He slotted himself in front of you. Trapping you between the wall and his body. His six foot one frame loomed over you, making you feel extremely small.

"And the multi-million dollar jets we fly for a living won't?" You shot back as you placed the cigarette between your lips.

Bradley shook his head and placed one of his large arms on the wall above your head, caging you in further. He leaned down and plucked it from your lips before putting it between his own and taking a long drag of it himself. He slowly tipped his head up and exhaled, blowing a smoke ring in the process before dropping the rest of the cigarette to the ground and stomping it out with his boot.

You looked up at him through your lashes. "'Those things will kill you, y'know?" You parrot his words back to him. A low chuckle reverberates from his chest before he looks down at you and meets your eyes.

In the dim light, you could just make out the faint traces of where your lipstick had transferred off the cigarette and onto his lips. His hand, now free from your shared cigarette, came to rest on your hip. You could feel the warmth radiating off him. His thumb skimmed the small sliver of flesh that was barely visible between the waist of your jeans and the hem of your top. He hummed appreciatively as goosebumps erupted across your skin.

You quickly look down and away, but he tucks your chin between his thumb and index finger and lifts your head up, forcing you to meet his intense gaze."What are we doing, Angel?" He asks you. "What do you mean, Bradley?" You ask back.

You know what he means

"Don't play dumb on me know. You know exactly what I mean." He tells you as he leans down. His face is inches from yours. Your gaze drifts from his eyes to his lips.

"Tell me to stop. Tell me you don't want this." His hot, smokey breath fans out as his lips are just millimeters from yours.

You're just about to lean up and close the distance when the loud sound of the back doors of the Hard Deck opening startle both of you, causing Bradley to jump back and you to straighten up off the wall.

"Hey, Ha—" Jake trails off as he looks at the scene before him. "Was I interrupting something?" He asks.

"What do you want, Bagman?" Bradley asks with an edge of irritation in his voice.

"It's time for cake." Jake says as he turns to go back inside. You and Bradley both sigh. "We aren't done here." He tells you before opening the door and gesturing for you to go in before him.

After the cake is served, the crowd starts to disperse. You find Bradley and tell him you're ready to leave. The drive home is silent but tense. The events from earlier are still playing in your mind. You'd been so close to kissing him.

You wanted him so badly

Bradley walks you to your door, but stops you before you go in.

"Angel, wait." He tells you. "Yes?" You ask him. You feel your heart racing.

"I like you. A lot. As more than a friend. And I know I screwed up a few months ago, but I feel like you like me too. And I've tried to tell you, but every time I do, something happens. So, before something else stops me, I'd like to ask you something. Can I take you on a date tomorrow? Just the two of us?" Bradley asks you. You blink at him a few times.

He shifts his weight from foot to foot as he awaits you answer.

"I like you a lot too, Bradley. And I would love to go on a date with you." You smile at him.

A wide grin spreads over his face as he pulls you in for a hug.

"I'll pick you up a six. I have the perfect idea in mind. Nothing too fancy." Bradley tells you.

"I'll see you then. Goodnight, Bradley." You say as you kiss his cheek.

"Night, Angel." He says before almost skipping down the hallway.

Taglist: @roosterscock @shanimallina87 @teacupsandtopgun @mayhemmanaged @wkndwlff @roosterforme @daggerspare-standingby @dakotakazansky @startrekfangirl2233 @hecate-steps-on-me @cassiemitchell @na-ta-sh-aa @katieshook02 @desert-fern @je-suis-prest-rachel @soulmates8 @sometimesanalice @diorrfairy @eli2447 @xoxabs88xox @djs8891 @roosters-girl @sebsxphia @rosiahills22 @dempy @callsign-magnolia @alchemxx @gretagerwigsmuse @withahappyrefrain @lt-spork @multifandomlover4life @beccaanne814 @bradshawsbaby @seitmai @kmc1989 @bcarolinablr @roosterisdaddy36 @itsdesiree86 @waywardhunter95 @hisredheadedgoddess28 @whatislovevavy @asshlyyyy @inkandarsenic @lillyrosenight @tomanybandstolove @jiminie-08 @dingochef @laracrofted

[spaghetti-academia]

advice that would have helped me in college:

Go for the decaf option. You're already drinking energy drinks. Don't give your body too much caffeine, as it might cause issues.

On the weekend, get out of bed early and go grocery shopping. Once you're done grocery shopping, go straight back home and meal prep. Wash the produce and put them in serving-sized containers. Make your lunches and dinners for the week. Get it done within the next couple of hours after you shop. Once you're done meal prepping, go back to bed and take a nap.

Unpack all of your things. Get everything out of the boxes. Go through everything that's in your dorm. Donate the things you don't need anymore. The sooner you get your dorm organized in the beginning of the year, the sooner you can get a cleaning schedule/organization system going and the less stress your environment is going to cause.

Learn which places are good to study in before 8am and after 5pm. On a college campus, usually there are plenty of buildings that you can access after 5pm, because colleges need to provide study space. However, learning which places are open before 8am is important too, because you might need to get some early morning studying in without disturbing your roommates.

Learn how to budget. You deserve to have fun and use your academic breaks the way you want. Save up your money, so that you can have spring break to yourself and you can have a solo vacation. Even if budgeting isn't a "big deal" in college, it makes for good practice.

Don't be afraid to talk to professors. They're there to help you. You're there to get an education, and their job is to provide that for you. Get your money's worth.

Be creative with the dining hall options. You can sneak in your own food and combine it with the food you have in your meal. For example, I brought in a rice cake and I used their peanut butter and bananas to make a PB Banana rice cake.

Similarly, bring containers with you to the dining hall. If you like the way they make apple sauce, then put their apple sauce in a container. Bring multiple plates and do a little meal prep. Get food to go.

This is more of a wish than a "habit," but try to establish a good boundary between school and everything else. Set rules for yourself. "If I can't complete at least two of these readings, then I won't go to the club meeting tonight."

This is advice from my own school: Every hour in class means two hours of studying/prep for the class beforehand. For example, if the class is 1 hour 35 minutes long, then that's around 3 hours of studying before the class. It doesn't have to be done all at once, but schedule accordingly.

Go to the school counselor. They may not be the best at dealing with specific mental health problems, but they can be a good place to vent without judgment.

If your professor requires you to submit written reflections of your readings, don't antogonize over it too much. "Eh, it probably sounds stupid but it meets the minimum requirements" is better than no reflection submitted.

Learn as much as you can about the resources your college provides and use as much of them as you can. Whether its health/medical, career, academic, disability accomodations, etc. get your money's worth.

If you want to read more, spending at least 15 minutes or reading at least 10 pages per day is a small amount that adds up over time. One of my regrets is not reading more of the books from the school library, since many of them were on niche subjects and were extremely interesting.

If you suspect that you have a learning disability (e.g. ADHD), research the symptoms and management techniques for them, even if you don't have the resources to get diagnosed and treated. I strongly suspect that I have Inattentive ADHD, but I couldn't seek a diagnosis while in college (or now). Learning study techniques and management strategies for people who have similar struggles would have been very helpful for me, rather than going with generic advice for people who had a more neurotypical brain.

Honor your bedtime. I know that college students like to stay up late and pull all-nighters, but my mental and physical health would have been a lot better if I made my nights as peaceful as possible and went to bed on time. Turn your night routine into a ritual. The hour or two before you go to bed should be to help you get a full night's rest. It's time for you, so be selfish and treat it like it's sacred. You deserve it.

disclaimer: this advice may or may not help you. take what works, and leave what doesn't work. it's okay if the advice given doesn't 100% apply to you.

[diaperdaddies27]

Happy Mothers Day Post/ Update

Firstly, the big question I'm sure a lot of you want to know is, am I still going 24/7? Yes. Though, I can't say I haven't had moments of fatigue just from getting in my head as of late. However, I have stuck it through and truly feel all the better for it. Have I started losing control?! Yes, and no. I definitely after six months can say I have been struggling to feel the need to hold it past just when my bladder is full. Like when my brain wants to go, I just do. I don't have the second thought I used to have, or the worry of will my diaper hold it. Because I just have naturally been letting go so much. I definitely would say my control is waning. In the next 6 months at the year mark, I definitely feel I will have experienced some true accidents. I also get a lot of questions on how I can afford diapers regularly on a budget. Having received this a few times, I have started composing a guide to how I buy diapers. I plan to publish tonight or tomorrow for all the littles looking for the info. Quick baby math for you, kiddos. If you get a pack of 10 diapers for $40. That is an average of $4 dollars a diaper. That's a lot of money for just one pamper. Especially when sometimes packs get a bad one or even two. Then you're out $4 dollars and short on supply. Now you buy 80 diapers at $220. That's an average of $2.69 a diaper. Saving you roughly about $1.31. Which adds up. I know bulk seems scary, but the savings plus the amount you get each time. Makes do this system worth while, and affordable.

Next, I want to talk about my Mama. Just today, I told her that words will never do her justice. Because to me, she is truly exceptional and one of a kind. She is a natural nurturer. Not a day passes do I feel I can't talk to her about anything. She is always looking out for me and wondering about how I am. I wake most mornings to her. Good morning, texts. Waking me into the world. She makes me feel confident and safe about my life choices to be a little. Not only that, she wants to care for me just as much as I crave to be in arms. Every day, I grow antsy waiting to be with her irl. Knowing once I am, I will never want to let go. I want to lose myself to my little side fully with her. Letting go of the bigg me and just folding into her embrace. I want to be fed baby food, given naps, diaper checks, and changes no matter the time or place, watch cartoons while babbling around my paci trying to show mama, I want to play with toys at her feet while she reads or decides she needs me to service her, I want to nurse from her multiple times daily, have a bed time, be take to the park and out places, let mamaz dress me up. I want to let go and just be her baby fresh and new. I'm so happy I introduced her to Tumblr. I know so many littles message her and ask to feel cared for. To have babysitter for a change. Sharing Mama is hard, but it makes me happy to know she is so loving to so many. It makes me love her even more. She is truly beautiful body and soul. Happy mothers Day, Mama!! @mommyposts10

[nightwingsfleas]

So this is what I have so far on the Dean Winchester character analysis it's a bit all over because I wrote it while on the bud home but I'm writing it in a notebook of mine in a more clear and organized way then gonna re type it once I get it done

Also if you guys don't mind pls add your own character analysis of your own or just things you've noticed during the series because I really don't wanna mischaracterize him and accidentally make him into a complete different person especially since Dean's whole character is literally so important to me

Also I don't want anyone to think I'm gonna excuse the bad things Dean has done to Sam, Cas, and also Jack. I wanna include the fact that he isn't that great of a person and i still wanna hold him accountable for all the bad things he has done throughout the series

How Dean Winchester is. Given the parental role and also the more “women” or ‘feminin’ role in the series and also by the fandom.

Firstly we will talk about the fact that from a very young age (four years old) when his mother died in the fire he was the one to grab Sam from his crib and ran out of the house while his father stayed back. We see this in the very first episode and was also mentioned in one of the later seasons, growing up he was given the parental role because John (the father) was to busy with ‘grieving” his dead wife to the point that he threw himself and his family into the hunter life leave Dean and Sam to grow up on the road with no real home, they stayed in dirty old motels and barely had money to live off of, you can see this by the fact that they never had Christmas and I know that’s not a very ‘big deal’ BUT the fact that Dean had to sneak off and steal from a random home to give Sam some type of Christmas and also the fact that Dean was arrested for stealing some peanut butter bread and then was sent to Sunny’s home or wayward boys. There was also hints that Dean barley ever got to eat and often have his food to Sam so he wouldn’t go hungry at night, I don’t know if it was ever actually mentioned but it was hinted in episodes where Dean would have flashbacks or it was hinted, you can also notice this with how Dean eats his food, it’s more animalistic and rushed while Sam eats more calmer and also less, that is because Sam never had to really worry because Dean always fed him but Dean never knew when his next meal was so I believe it is a trauma response. Another trauma response is also is his savior complex, in the show we often see Dean more concern for Sam then himself and and could also be a readily for his own self destructive tendencies but we’ll talk about that later- since Dean has taken care of Sam his whole life Dean took on the parental role naturally and also started to relaty on Sam to be there constantly because Sam is his only constant figure in his life much how Dean is Sam’s only constant figure as well. Why is Sam and Dean each others only constant figure even tho they both have John tho? Well that is because John wasn’t the parental figure they needed. They only could rely on each other and no one else, sure they had Bobby but they don’t show him much in their flashback so I don’t know how much of a role he had in their childhood because he only really shows up more in their adult life, I do belive Bobby was there in their childhood because we see Bobby and Dean playing catch in season 7 when Bobby dies but that’s pretty much the only scene we get with Bobby and younger Dean every other scene is when Dean is a adult, so that makes me belive even more that Sam was deans only constant and the same with Dean for Sam. Now, about the savior complex, there are multiple examples of Dean wanting to risk his life for same and wanting to ‘save’ Sam for example

•Dean welling his soul in season 1 to same Sam

• Dean wanting to save Sam from ruby and his demon blood addiction

•Dean wanting to say yes to Michel

•Dean trying to get rid of the mark of Cain

•Giving himself up to Amra

•Even giving his own childhood up for Sam

Etc (look up more of deans self scarification)

We also see Deans self destructive tendencies by the fact he pushes people away, him being a alcoholic, him hiding his own traumas and emotions resulting him to have break downs or out bursts of rage because that was what he grew up on. He never learned how to let his anger out in normal healthy ways I believe that was because of John and how he was raised because we constantly see John being abusive and taking his anger out of Dean.

Again this is super all over the place but that’s because it’s still the rough draft I’m planing on rewriting all of this to make more sense and also I still wanna add more things to this as will because There’s so much more I wanna talk about but just can’t put it in words exactly