#numbers make my brain go brrrrr

[merryfortune]

soooooooo close

like I was here!! when this ship qualified for the first vrains rare pair event, now look at it wow!!!!

[kissingwookiees]

hate to say this but andrastism kind of slaps.....

[zukkacore]

Ok once again for the road obligatory “basically all I do on this app is hornypost abt jaceporter” so like. If you’re new here and you’re not into that no hard feelings

[pandalavalamp]

I’m a DYMO abuser it seems

[dersitesans]

lord save me from starting YET ANOTHER BG3 playthrough to experience all the new things Larian added in Patch 6

[krisotf]

one day since i beat ffxvi im doing a little better

been half a day since i finished ffxvi (not doing well)(new game+ is fun)(you get a new difficulty)(im howling)

[likebreadandwine]

Cheesecake finished! Drink also about to be finished! Im currently between chugging alot of soda with maybe a shot or two, making a heavy cream horny potion number 10 with some irish cream or uhh drinking ice cream or something! Whatcha think?

I think these are all excellent options!! no wrong choices here

(though uhhhh drinking ice cream, for whatever reason, is the option that makes my brain go brrrrr 😵‍💫)

[thedawningofthehour]

Hi Fai, I know it‘s evil to ask you these questions bc your worldbuilder brain might go brrrrr, but if there WAS an Atlantis, I assume it would have turtle yokai? Do u think the fact that they mostly stay underwater allow some gigantism?

But my actual question; would there ONLY be underwater yokai? I mean, Gale can breathe underwater (probably? It‘s saltwater I mean, I think you mentioned it would fuck up his skin after a while in tfts?) but if they were to visit there, could Draxum use some sort of spell or air bubble to come, like in that one Bojack Horseman underwater episode? Or would he have to keep both hooves on the boat/other side of the portal, while Donnie can keep his eyes open for any billionaire submarines

(Hypothetically, apart from the fact that Draxum obviously wouldn’t ever let Gale go there alone, I mean)

Also, entirely unrelated, if the doth cast was dropped into a beach episode how would that go? Would Gale turn into a horror movie creature? I think that would make him healthy, unbothered, moisturized

(pls don’t feel obligated to give super detailed answers or any at all, I‘m just really curious about your ideas relating that)

Love!!

You're right, you are evil. 💕

That would depend on where Atlantis is in this universe. While, most likely, Plato was using Atlantis completely metaphorically and was not referring to any historical civilization in particular, there's still a number of places proposed that he could have been talking about. The very name Atlantis implies that it was located in the Atlantic, and Plato describes it as being located "in front of the mouth which you Greeks call the pillars of Hercules." (The Strait of Gibraltar-the channel in between Spain and Morocco, if you're bad at geography) Furthermore, Atlantis is also stated to be huge, Plato says it's really more of a continent, "larger than Libya and Asia together." (to my understanding, they used 'Libya' to refer to all of Africa outside of Egypt at the time)

It sounds...weirdly like he's describing the Americas. "a confederation of kings, of great and marvelous power," yeah, there were absolutely ancient American societies that grew very large and could be considered to rival kingdoms.

Except, you know, even though we know now that Africa used to be all snuggled up in between the Americas, that scale of 'used to' is measured in millions of years. Loooooong before anything resembling modern humans existed, and certainly long before we had any form of oral history we could use to pass the knowledge down. People came to the Americas the other way, from what is now Russia to Alaska, or by island-hopping the Pacific. And while Europeans absolutely did cross over to the Americas before Columbus, they mostly did this farther north. Where, you know, there was Iceland to stop at. And Greenland not too far from that. And it was a physically shorter distance from the coast of Iceland to Canada. And, important to note, this was estimated to have happened during the Viking Age, roughly a thousand years ago. Plato wrote this in 360 BCE, and claimed that Atlantis rose and fell 9000 years before his time, (though apparently he might have meant months, which would make it 750 years) I don't know much about ships but I think I can say with some certainty that absolutely no one had the technology to sail from Gibraltar across the Atlantic to hit the shores of West Virginia in, at the very latest, 1000 BCE. And even less likely that Athens would have particular beef with these people.

Of course, there's always the possibility that Plato's understanding of where Atlantis is (if there was even a historical equivalent to Atlantis at all) was misunderstood or mistranslated over the years. It's very possible that the island nation he spoke of was inside the Mediterranean-likely, even, considering the tectonic activity in many areas. We already know that Malta is merely the top part of a much greater island that has since sank below sea levels. And Greece itself is well-known for its volcanic activity-literally, it's a bunch of islands formed from the nonsense of the Aegean Sea Plate, it can't not have tons of volcanic activity. There were absolutely small island nations that exploded and were completely destroyed by Pele stretching her legs in ancient history. Hell, we have a pretty good candidate for what a Greek Atlantis might have been-

This is the island of Thera. You see that bay in the middle, with the bit in the middle not quite breaking the surface?

That's the volcano.

It literally destroyed itself. Civilization on the island was wiped out, some people survived and came back to see what they could retrieve and bury their dead but it remained unoccupied for a few more centuries. It caused earthquakes and tsunamis that destroyed settlements in the surrounding islands and as far away as Crete, causing 'apocalyptic rainstorms' in Egypt.

This happened around 1600 BCE, so while neither dates match, considering the imprecise nature an estimate on that scale would have in Plato's time, it's very possible that he was referring to the destruction of Thera.

If a Yokai Atlantis did exist somewhere around Greece, or somewhere around Italy where there's also a lot of that nonsense, it would likely built upon a now-submerged island. Maybe even get some coral reef activity going on? 'Googles something' Okay no, apparently coral reefs aren't very common in the Mediterranean. I guess it's too cold? You don't really think of Greece or Italy being cold, but compared to the waters around the Philippines and Indonesia I guess it is. Well, the map in Wikipedia shows some coral reefs off the coast of Sicily, plus we're playing with magic here so I'm saying it could happen.

And that would be sick. Like, sooooo many possibilities for aquatic Yokai. How their city is set up, their architecture and culture. How they communicate with each other, with other Yokai.

It would be pretty unlikely for gigantism to occur there though. I know we talked in the doth comments about how the difference in gravity underwater allows animals to grow absolutely huge without putting their bodies under such immense strain, but that's only half the equation. The other half is why they would need to.

Animals don't just evolve for no reason. I mean, sometimes weird mutations do occur spontaneously and end up getting bred into the species because it isn't detrimental enough to impact their survivability, (this is actually what happened with humans and why we can be vitamin C deficient, we lost the gene that handles producing it and it just straight-up wasn't an issue until we moved out of sub-Saharan Africa because we were living in the tropics with so much vitamin C-rich foods available) but if something's not broke they don't fix it. In this scenario, in a coral reef ecosystem or neritic zone, there would be little reason for gigantism because they wouldn't need to conserve calories so much-they have plenty of food available, and they'll have plenty of food tomorrow. They might get bigger, but there would be no reason to become truly giant. Getting big might cause more issues than it's worth if the waters are shallower, (it's my understanding that the Mediterranean isn't particularly deep on average, and this Yokai settlement would be built on a seamount and would be closer to the surface anyway) and would be hard to maneuver. Plus they can upset the food chain by becoming too big and consuming too much, which would cause a collapse and kill them anyway. Just too much of a risky move for evolution to take.

(of course, we're talking about a magical world where humans can be crossed with goats and then can go on to give turtles depression, so it's not out of the question that the mutation itself can give people gigantism but let's stick to science for now)

But as cool as that is, I know that isn't what you're asking for, so let's move to the other locational option.

So. In the Atlantic, but before you hit the Americas. What's there?

Uh...not really a whole lot.

Like, there are some islands and seamounts, but nothing compared to the Pacific. Someone smarter than me can explain how that works with tectonics and why so many islands arose within the Ring of Fire, but if I go down that Wikipedia rabbit hole I'll have written a dissertation on this. Basically, the Atlantic Ocean is pretty deep, and it just kind of...stays deep. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is still on average about a thousand feet below sea level, so even the high points are barely breaking the photic zone.

And the problem is, there at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, is that there's no sunlight. And you kind of need sunlight for a viable ecosystem-like, even if you're a carnivore, what you're preying on is probably an herbivore. Even if it's not, there's an herbivore at some point in the chain-and the plants it eats needs sunlight. So down at the bottom of the sea, where no light penetrates, they have to subsist on what floats down there or go to shallower waters to eat.

A lot of deep-sea creatures live off of marine snow, which is that shit that floats down I mentioned earlier-dead things, phytoplankton, and literal shit. These guys actually tend to get smaller in the deep sea-predation is much rarer down there-to reduce the amount of food they need to sustain their bodies. And a lot of them are hermaphrodites literally just because sexing is hard and they don't have the energy to fuck around finding one of the right sex.

The guys who travel to shallow waters for food, like our friends the colossal and giant squid, they tend to exhibit gigantism because the body becomes more efficient at processing and storing food the bigger it gets.

That's what this girl was doing when she was caught. She'd come to shallow waters and was chowing down on a toothfish she'd pilfered from their line. (she was already very close to death, deep sea creatures like this are adapted for high water pressure and low temperatures and don't fare well if they swim too close to the surface) So they do have to put themselves in danger to feed, and have to eat a lot to fuel their giant body. But they only have to make this trip every couple of years or so. The rest of the time homegirl was just floating and vibing in the deep sea, not doing much of anything to conserve that last meal. Their size also makes them quite able to defend themselves, and threatening enough that most predators won't bother.

(just to note, this beautiful lady was estimated to be about 10 meters long when they pulled her up-33 feet in freedom units. And her beak was significantly smaller than the beaks we've found before, implying that she wasn't even fully grown. These things are massive)

So how would that translate to deep-sea Yokai? Well, I think it would be really hard for intelligent Yokai to exist down there at all. Not to say it can't happen, but our big brains are very resource-intensive. Like, that's the whole reason we eat meat while other apes are mostly herbivores, our big brains needed more energy. (generally herbivores, they eat insects and will eat small game if they can get their hands on it, but that's true for most herbivores) And the combination of needing more fuel for our big brains and having the capacity to be bored would greatly interfere with the 'just vibing' method of survival and force them to be more active-which would require more calories, and thus the problem snowballs. They'd probably be blind, since there's no light down there. They also probably wouldn't be nearly as active as the Yokai we see, since moving their giant bodies and doing things and socializing would take so much energy.

Unless they can get their energy from like, geothermal heat or something? That might work. We're talking about magical creatures after all, it has to make sense but that doesn't mean it has to be realistic.

But generally, for deep-sea giant Yokai to work, they'd need to be migratory and return to shallower waters quite frequently to eat, which begs the question of why they don't just stay in those shallower waters and stop being so giant since they're already there all the time.

Or maybe they just have their own little greenhouses at the top of their city like these dudes:

[azurine-cryptid]

hello scpblr i have risen from the void to bring thee my own personal Shaw interpretation/headcanon

Jack was either placed indefinitely in the freezer or they found a way to actually terminate him.

So firstly, I have yet to figure out how in the fuck this guy got in possession of scp-963-2, suggestions welcome

secondly, I decided to spice it up for -2 to make it work a lil differently so: When the host of SCP-963-2 is injured, fatally or otherwise it will heal the wound, now this has its limits, if most or all the body is destroyed beyond repair, it'll trap the hosts soul inside and basically stay there until another viable host touches the amulet, forcing the hosts soul into the body, replacing it. This makes the host effectively immortal. Now while the soul does get replaced, memories from the new host will still be there, over time with growing number of bodies this would become a problem as the human mind can only hold on to so many memories.

As of now Shaw has yet to experience this, he's been immortal for only a couple months and id enjoying the high of never dying, he's done pretty good at keeping his body intact and functioning.

Shaw is just some guy who likes red sunglasses, 70's fashion, and indie pop. He's so girlypop I love him<3 he's making my brain go brrrrr

[drinker-of-paint]

Just some thoughts from listening to the first 2 eps for the Magnus protocol because brain go brrrrr

(Except I'm an idiot so any theories I have will be batshit and based on very little)

So for character alignments heres what I'm getting vibes wise

Alice: vast or spiral, haven'tquite pinned down which, maybe I'm biased but I'm leaning towards vast

Sam: eye?

Gwen: definitely eye and I weirdly like her

Colin: really not sure vaguely eye from something I cant place but mans definitely got some shit going on

And the many thoughts I felt the overwhelming need to spam In the comments if anyone's interested:

-Why do I feel like him ticking that response box is gonna be a whole thing

Tbh I'm here listening to literally everything they say being like "hm that sounds like foreshadowing" so I'm just gonna tell my brain to fuckin unclench and enjoy the ride

-Ok brain wont unclench and chill but hearing the readout im reminded I had a thought a while ago about the episode in tma with the numbers station and how when martin read the numbers out it reminded me of the voice he does when he impersonates Jon so like....

this is pretty baseless and I might look batshit crazy if this is nothing (I am feral and an idiot) but my original thought was some weird time fuckery of post 200 version of Jon subconsciously trying send a message out, but now I'm wondering If whatever amount of sentience they have their computer versions are trying to reach out

I mean obviously but if they start reading out numbers my brain is going to start making a noise like a struggling computers ventilation fan

-We thinking that the bits that sound like it's being played through a security camera are some eye avatar watching em? (Had to stop myself saying Jon because my brainrot is making me think wishfully but if our lads are only talking through technology it's not too far a shot right?)

-Haha red canary in the mine shaft

-Also "badgrav" sounds like a vast avatars username

-Really enjoyed the reddit forum one. I think ik really gonna like the less strict format for the not statements. Incidents? Is that what they're called?

-Ok fuck just call out my drawing process

Hyperfixate

Be proud

Go to bed

Wake up

Hate it

Make 100 edits

Concern those around me

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Ok so I did my selection of albums and that post blew up as much as any of my posts do so now everyone I live with wants me to review their favorite albums. Since I'm a benevolent overlord I have acquiesced and so here are ten albums that my husband Felix wants you all to listen to as reviewed by me.

Fire On Fire - The Orchard

I was polite with my choices, but my dear husband decided to open his list with a one off side project by members of Cerberus Shoal. If you don't know the sorta post rock-y sorta folk band Cerberus Shoal then understand that this album is obscure even by the standards of that band's fans. Gone are the post rock tendencies of the parent band and instead the focus is solely on new weird Americana. New weird america is a musical movement that takes American primitivist and psychedelic folk music and mashes it up into something that is inevitably either pretentious garbage or revelatory beauty. This album is the latter. The music plods along with the grace of a broken machine. The music sounds like it is rusting as it moves and the nasally vocals grind along with the hulking monstrosities that are the songs of The Orchard. The music I'm describing may not sound pleasant, but the cacophony comes together in a harmonic cohesion that does for folk music what Charles Ives did for the symphony. There are many more artists that have a similar sound to Fire On Fire, but this album has a uniquely lumbering quality that is not recreated nearly as well by most other artists in the scene.

Sweet Trip - You Will Never Know Why

You Will Never Know Why is a major departure from Sweet Trips usual sound. The glitch elements have been dialed back, although electronic sounds still populate the album, and it is basically a straightforward shoegaze album. It pulls ahead of competitors partly for the incorporation of electronic music but also for excellent vocals that capture a sterile whispiness. Plus the bass which is so bubbly and tends to rise to the top of mixes to add counterpoint melody on top of the dual vocals. As usual for the genre layering is the key to the beautiful sound. The songs will lily along as bright shimmering sounds plink into the mix and fade out only to be replaced by some other noise.

Iron & Wine - The Shepherd's Dog

While I'm still a fan of the first two Iron & Wine albums Shepherds Dog is clearly where he comes into his own as a performer. The instrumentation is punched up a bit with the occasional touch of horn or honky tonk piano to give the album a more dynamic feel. And the style has incorporated a little bit more rock edge as well. Songs like White Tooth Man help balance the album so that slower number like Resurrection Fern can really shine. Lyrically I can't tell you exactly what is going on in any given song. Sam Beam writes in little snapshots of ideas and paint an impression of a feeling rather than tell a story. I get the idea that he is rather scared of Americana though. And there is something about dog metaphors that really makes this man's brain go brrrrr. Overall I think The Shepherd's Dog is the most balanced of all the Iron & Wine albums I've heard. Successfully towing the line between folk rock and art rock.

Sufjan Stevens - Illinois

A legend among pretentious sadboys but always skirting the mainstream is Sufjan Stevens. Although he started out making indie folk his style quickly evolved and on Illinois (or Sufjan Stevens Invites You To: Come On Feel The Illinoise as the album cover says) he hit the first major stride of his career. Illinois features insanely elaborate arrangements that show a wide range of influences from minimalist composers to 70s singer songriters to show tunes. The songs all seem to be exercises in elaborate time signature and rhyme scheme or clever wordplay and in depth metaphor.

Now to address the obvious. This album is ostensibly about the state of Illinois. This is true in the same way that I said Beat The Champ was about wrestling. Some songs reflect heavily on things about the state. John Wayne Gacy Jr. Is a biography of the Illinois born serial killer, They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh! is about the abundance of ghost town in the state. Other songs make reference to the state but are a little more vague. Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!, Casimir Pulaski Day, and The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! are really just personal stories that Sufjan Stevens has decided to set in Illinois. And the stories vary from very grand high concept things to very intimate and personal. Sometimes so personal that I am dubious of how much he stretches the truth to make these songs. But whether I buy it or not the arrangements are equally grand and intimate so the mood is always well designed.

Röyksopp - Melody A.M.

Some downtempo music is meant to get you up and dancing, some downtempo is trying to evoke complex feeling in the listener. Melody A.M. is aiming for something in between. It lays down tight grooves with bubbly bass lines and drops a variety of melodic sounds overtop with elements of downtempo, trip-hop, house, disco, and ambient music all present. It hits all the points for being a driving at night all contemplative style album, but it pulls back on the moodyness and leaves you with a gentle friendly sound instead. Lullabye melodies floating over house beats. The result is just an immensely pleasant listen. Melody A.M. is effective because it does more than just play on the current trends from when it was released, it pulls bit of electronic music from decades past from Tangerine Dream to Giorgio Moroder to Vangelis there is a lot of the past buried in this record. And the resulting love of slightly corny music makes the album feel so sincere without having to be deeply intellectual.

The Mountain Goats - All Hail West Texas

During the recording of The Coroner's Gambit John Darnielle's trusty Panasonic RX-FT500 boombox shit the bed and he started working with newer technology. All Hail West Texas is the album he recorded after that busted Panasonic miraculously came back to life one day.

To listeners who got into The Mountain Goats through Tallahassee and later the lo fi production might be a little hard to take, but you will learn to love the tape hiss that is a staple of early Mountain Goats recordings. Truly it becomes it's own instrument being the only sound on the album outside of Darnielle's voice and guitar.

But this is Mountain Goats you are here for lyricism. John Darnielle has said that he writes songs of love and redemption for people that would never listen to his music. All Hail West Texas starts right off with one of the best examples of this. The Best Ever Death Metal Band Out Of Denton is so simple and so beautiful, and maybe the most emotionally affecting songs to feature the refrain of "hail Satan!" The album is about outcasts, toxic couples, traumatized kids. According to the cover it is "fourteen songs about seven people, two houses, a motorcycle, and a locked treatment facility for adolescent boys." The cryptic interconnectedness will drive you insane if you try to hard to figure it out so I'm sorry Felix I will not be analyzing the characters and storylines that are supposedly here. That's your job.

DJ Yoda - How To Cut And Paste Country Western Edition

You press play this album. The first thing you hear is backing beat from Fix Up, Look Sharp and then Thank God I'm A Country Boy by John Denver starts playing and then Dolly Parton's Nine To Five and then it transitions into a country version of Rapper's Delight. You are in the unhinged world of DJ Yoda who is trying to prove a point here. The point is that you can make a DJ mix out of anything if you are creative enough.

DJ Yoda is known for his use of humor and this mix is one of the more obvious instances considering that the whole concept is a bit of a joke. He puts a beat over I'll Fly Away and that is funny. He uses a sample of Johnny Cash on sesame Street. He uses a country cover of Gin And Juice. It's weird, but because Yoda is a master DJ he manages to never lose the flow, often transitioning songs by losing the beat and just playing the country music straight before dropping a beat in. He also frequently transitions between different versions of a song like Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire seamlessly turning into a reggae cover by This Kid Named Miles.

The beauty of DJ mixes is already the way they can recontextualize songs in a way that is interesting. I think it goes without saying that you will have a lot of songs recontextualized for you if you listen to this mix.

Mariya Takeuchi - Variety

There was a time when the internet became really obsessed with the song Plastic Love. This was based partially in the fact that the song is a banger but also that people were sharing the picture sleeve for her Sweetest Music single as a lesbian thirst trap. So the Tumblr City Pop era was short lived but I never forgot.

The first thing you might notice about Variety is that it's very retro. The production is a mix of Phil Spector and Motown Styles. And musically it often follows suit. But the old school rock ballad style is also met with bits of 70s adult contemporary and disco. The result is songs that sound like Ronettes tracks with a Donna Summer bass line as the backbone. Songs that sound like James Taylor started using synths. Takeuchi has a voice that perfectly melds these styles into something cohesive so that the dance music style of Plastic Love can flow into the 60s girl group sound of Honki De Only You (Let's Get Married) without missing a beat.

City Pop may have been a niche phase for westerners with an internet addiction but it was one of the most dominant musical styles of the 70s and 80 in Japan. I had strongly considered this album as a 'should have been on the list' pick. If you listen to this album because of my review and like it do seek out more city pop, the genre is a goldmine that the West has barely scraped the surface of. Hell if you like this album DM me and I will rec you more Japanese pop from the 70s and 80s.

Murder By Death - Who Will Survive, And What Will Be Left Of Them?

With a name like Who Will Survive And What Will Be Left Of Them? by Murder By Death you would probably expect this to be death metal, but nope it's a gothic country rock album. Who Will Survive tells the story of a small Mexican border town that is cursed by the devil. The meat of the album is made up of songs that describe the ways that the townsfolk respond to the curse and their inevitable demise. The theme that runs through the album is mainly how people respond to mortality. Some people try to escape the town like in Pillar Of Salt which tells a sorta Orpheus and Eurydice adjacent tale. Some people think their tough like the narrator of The Desert Is One Fire who scoffs at the people sleeping in the shelters. Others give in to despair like the suicidal narrator of Three Men Hanging.

Along with the individual stories the narrative trickles out details about the nature of the curse. We quickly learn that the dead are rising from their graves as zombies, crops start to fail, the earth becomes unworkable, at least one person either physically or mentally decays as they approach the town border. The horror themed lyricism is backed by country rock music that creates the ominous atmosphere needed with the help of an ever present cello that takes a lot of melodic duty. It's a solidly spooky album that demands multiple listens just to parse out more of the story.

Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - Rome

Danger Mouse is an interesting figure. Producer and musician interchangeably he can be found both as a featured performer, solo artist or as a producer credit nearly anywhere you look and he runs the gamut from extremely mainstream projects to the highly personal and artsy. Rome is most certainly the latter. On it Danger Mouse works with Italian composer Daniele Luppi to create a pop album inspired by the soundtracks to spaghetti westerns. In addition to Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi additional vocals and songwriting are added by Jack White and Norah Jones. White and Jones are natural fits for the slightly polished slightly lo fi sound of the album which is accomplished by recording on vintage equipment and working with musicians who had actually recorded on spaghetti westerns, notably The Good, The Bad And The Ugly.

While it has a lot of musicians and equipment used to record these classic soundtrack the music itself is a little more in the vein of traditional pop veering in the direction of spaghetti western on the instrumental tracks. This keeps the album from feeling strictly like an imitation and let's it be it's own thing.

[lunapwrites]

Elemental Readings Part 2 - Air

Here's the next elemental reading I did, this time with the correct number of cards (we are learning okay lmao)

AIR - Career and Education

This spread concerns itself with more intellectual pursuits than the home and hearth of Earth. Like, I say "career and education", but that also applies to hobbies and such: anything that makes the brain go brrrrr. And BOY, did these cards have Things To Say.

So The Moon deals with the subconscious mind, dreams and intuition. There are some more negative connotations here depending on context (secrets, the unknown, etc) but given the question asked and its placement in the "strengths and supports" section, I'm gonna go with the positive interpretation lol. Basically: I've got a lot of creative energy to work with, and that's a good thing.

With that said: the second line deals with obstacles. Ace of Wands represents inspiration, new opportunities, and potential. Three of Wands represents progress, expansion, and foresight. These are both very active, forward-moving cards! However: in between them is Four of Cups, which is... Exactly the opposite of that lol. The most charitable reading for this card within this context is that it represents rest and meditation. Less charitably, depression and ennui. Either way, it's an incredibly inward-facing card with no movement at all.

If this was in any other context, I would say this was a simple dampening of momentum (cup framed by two wands? Yeah.) But that's not the vibe I'm getting here: this reads more like scattered energies, progress coming in fits and bursts with long periods of nothing in between and most probably a loooooot of overthinking.

The last line supports this reading. It's the tools at my disposal: what I can use to move forward. (Note the straight line of Major Arcana cards. This is about to get rude.)

The World represents cycles: completion and new beginnings. The Hierophant represents institutions, whether spiritual or cultural or educational. Convention and community for the sake of higher learning. Finally: Death. Honestly not as scary as it looks. Death is not (always) an end: it is change. Transition, transformation. It is, in a word, the spring cleaning card: clear out all the old things in your life which no longer serve you and make room for the new.

We're uh. Really making some very pointed remarks about my creative process here. 💀

That's ultimately what this is about. It's very literally saying: you've got a lot of ideas, and that's great! But you need to focus your efforts and go back to putting shiny new plot bunnies in the waiting pen where they belong, because you keep starting new projects and then burning yourself out writing for them. Stop it. Finish what you're working on and then move onto the next thing. There is also some undercurrent of "your ability to work comes and goes and that's just part of your normal creative cycle: be more forgiving with yourself about that, but also you should work on getting into healthier rhythms and not this 0-100 whiplash bullshit you keep pulling. Pace yourself. Consider also taking advantage of the communities you've literally helped build. Like... You know. You compiled all these resources... Use them? Do sprints with people? Quit lurking in your own servers??? Also, declutter your workspaces, open the windows, and light a damn candle or five, you're depressing to look at.

Fucking rude.

(but also very true.)

[strinak]

so at one point I did a trio of "media consumption" challenges: read 100 books in a year, watch 500 episodes of television in a year, watch 100 movies in a year.

I did them simultaneously. I was depressed and unemployed so why not, right? fill the time.

it changed my whole attitude.

because when the goal is Big Number, you are going to watch a lot of stuff that isn't good but isn't that bad. you wouldn't rave about it but you're not mad you spent two hours on it.

and you start to see the stitches, so to speak. "the zipper's inside out (plotholes) but somebody embroidered the hell out of the pockets (two women who pass the bechdel test by dint of being Very fun to imagine dating)"

almost any show or movie, maybe by dint of how many hands are on them, has something Worth A Damn in it. knight & day is a dumb problematic romcom that uses a final act twist to give me grounds that the leads are actually weirdos into a very specific kink and actually totally in love. the other woman is a cheesy revenge comedy that was so 2014!homophobic that it circled back to "these women are bisexual and I need them to fuck about it". why are both of my examples cameron diaz movies.

one of my most-read authors writes exclusively cheesy gary-stus often in more or less nonsensically-unfolding danger. is her stuff "good"? I can't defend that position. is it fun and comforting? hell yeah. i re-read some of those books basically yearly. she may not win awards but she has a gift for making my brain go brrrrr at the right frequency to chill out and disengage from the Horrors. and sometimes that is EXACTLY what you need from media.

Instead of apologizing for liking "trashy" media, consider: what is it doing well? If you like it, if it's making you feel pleasure and interest, then it must be succeeding at something. Is it shaping a set of emotional beats that you find satisfying to watch play out? Did it craft a character you find really compelling? Is something in the styling and aesthetics speaking to you? Did it unexpectedly resonate with a mood or experience you needed to see reflected right then?

However shallow or flawed a piece of media is, if you like it, it's because of something it did well - at least well enough to affect you, on the day that you encountered it.

There are a lot of good reasons to acknowledge this. One is about gratitude and manners: someone worked hard on that thing, and if they provided something that gave you happiness and pleasure, it's nice to honor that. Another is about breaking down the insidious habit of sorting everything into simple good/bad boxes. A piece of media, like a person, can do a lot of things wrong and a lot of things right, and the things on one side do not magically erase the other.

But the most important reason, I believe, is to get in the habit of celebrating what brings you pleasure and happiness. All your life there have been and there will be people telling you that you find joy in the wrong things, that if a particular thing makes you feel good it shows that there's something wrong with you. I reject that utterly. If a particular thing makes you feel good then there's something right, about you and about that thing. I'm not saying that pleasure is the only important thing or that every pleasure should be indulged indiscriminately. All I'm saying is that pleasure is in and of itself a good thing, and deserves notice.

[tmnt-obsessed-ace]

What do you use for writing

Google docs

I used to write solely on my phone but now Im probably gonna write majority of the time on my laptop

Mostly because its a bigger screen (better for my already fucked up eyesight) and because I have an extension on google docs called Writing Habit that lets you set word count GOALS and will tell you how far along to reaching that goal plus how many words you have written today

And oh my god its making writing so much easier? Like before it was like pulling teeth and but now I'm a writing machine. (Number going up apparently makes brain go brrrrr)

[switch]

idk if it’s the type of game you need but stardew rlly activates my brain’s optimization instincts. collecting items and trying to get as much money as i can makes my brain go brrrrr

ah yes, good old stardew, it’s the standard i hold all other farming sim games to.

that is actually pretty much how i like to play it as well! the only thing is that i heavily prefer sdv as a multiplayer game because i find it makes optimization/delegating tasks much more streamlined and enjoyable, so i unfortunately just don’t have the opportunity to play the game a lot…

in this case though, what i’m talking about wanting is more along the lines of made-up challenge runs of a game, something like fgo or smt or pokemon that’s turn based and involves number crunching and rng and repeated attempts at individual encounters you can pick up and restart quickly. sdv doesn’t quite scratch that same itch, that’s more chill and longterm.

[leafpool-loves-ashfur]

I posted 45 times in 2022

35 posts created (78%)

10 posts reblogged (22%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@firealder2005

@alollinglaughingcat

@burning-thistles-bt

@meadowfoxglen

@vadvivon

I tagged 44 of my posts in 2022

Only 2% of my posts had no tags

#warrior cats - 24 posts

#burning thistles - 24 posts

#burning thistles au - 22 posts

#warriors - 16 posts

#warriors au - 14 posts

#warriors generations - 12 posts

#warrior cats au - 12 posts

#fireheart - 9 posts

#lgbtq+ character - 9 posts

#lgbtq+ - 8 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#honestly fire is always so supportive of his sibs. oh ur dating a kittypet? cool. oh you left for shadowclan? cool. oh u want to commit murd

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

bi power couple

Firestar and Sandstorm are both bisexual in Burning Thistles! and in canon probably lol

their relationship in BT is slightly different - not filled with as much initial hatred since Firekit was clanborn, but that doesn’t mean there’s not any tension between them in the early days, considering Auntie Frostfur liked to fill Sandpaw’s ears with whispers of Firepaw’s parentage

they’re very much in that “oh my StarClan you guys are basically already mates just ask each other out!!” phase in BT currently lol

also i think it’s funny that Sandstorm is friends with Creekflower (mostly bcus she’s friends with Fireheart and Cherryfur) even tho she thinks Creek is a traitor/stupid for getting with a kittypet (also think it’s funny if Sand had a brief crush on Creek too lmao)

16 notes - Posted June 3, 2022

#4

did anyone ask for Evil Frostfur? No? Well take it bcus I’m obsessed with her.

Yes this is from @firealder2005​ and I’s Burning Thistles AU once more (I’m also obsessed with it). well, technically this event doesn’t exactly happen as seen in the video (it’s more exaggerated here, also the collar is more symbolic than a real object Frostfur got her paws on)

Thumbnail under cut

18 notes - Posted June 9, 2022

#3

gay gay homosexual gay

gosh ngl Feathercloud from @firealder2005 and I’s fic Burning Thistles is by far my favorite character to not only write but to just... his personality, his story, his hardships, his family, his lovelife... I love it all sm i swear, and he’s not even a main character even vsjfsdkfjs but my love for him makes him one <3

Featherkit is one of Runningwind and Dappletail’s canonical kits- the deaf tom-kit who ‘wandered away’, but in BT he is Runningwind and Redtail’s son with Dappletail being his surrogate mother, born alongside his sister Crickekit :)

the amount of angst and fluff i can shove into this boy is incomprehensible

20 notes - Posted May 17, 2022

#2

thems

video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MQvzd65jKY&ab_channel=LollingCatto

24 notes - Posted February 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

 why did i do this to myself

yep its a Burning Thistles Friendship Map as of Chapter 101! ...well, and a few spoilers, technically, but shhhhh. they’re minor anyway lol. i made sure not to do the big spoilery ones ;)

betcha cant identify every character here lol (i feel any avid BT fan could name 31/32 of them, bcus that 32nd one is a curveball whose only been important in like... 1/101 chapters. and prob only mentioned in.... 5/101?)

anyway here’s all the names, have fun putting them to faces: Fireheart, Sandstorm, Cherryfur, Creekflower, Oliver, Airleap, Morningflower, Onewhisker, Copperleaf, Dawncloud, Grasswhisker, Silverstream, Lightningfur, Mousefur, Runningwind, Darkstripe, Longtail, Dustpelt, Ravenpaw, Barley, Runningbrook, Ashheart, Cinderfur, Tallpoppy, Mistyfoot, Graystripe, Gremlin, Brackenfur, Feathercloud, Cricketheart, Scraps.

so there are also a lot more characters in this “friend group” but i tried to only hit the major ones. but just to have the full scope here, I’m gonna list every main-main character’s friend group. this means NOT including kin, so no sibs/parents/niblings

Fireheart’s: Runningwind (BFF), Darkstripe (ex-BFF/brother-figure, still wants to be friends w/), Sandstorm (crush), Cherryfur (friend through his sis Creekflower), Graystripe (apprentice), Cinderpelt (apprentice), Brackenfur (apprentice), Oliver (through Creekflower), Mistyfoot (apprenticehood friends), Stonefur (apphood friends, not as strong as Misty’s), Cinderfur (apphood friends), Onewhisker (apphood friends)

Creekflower’s: Cherryfur (BFF), Sandstorm (frenemies through Cherryfur/Fireheart, who are both friends w/ her), Brindleface (queen friends), Runningwind (through Fireheart), Longtail (mutual hatred; through Cherryfur) Mousefur (through Sandstorm), Oliver (mates), Oliver’s kittypet friends (through Oliver)

Lightningfur’s: Silverstream (BFF), Mousefur (ex-BFF, no longer friends), Rippleclaw (supporter), Sedgecreek (Sedge has a crush on her; she hates Sedge), Beetlenose (supporter), Mallowtail (supporter), Grasswhisker (thinks Grass is annoying but also Grass is her step-mom technically), Vixenleap (supporter/through Grasswhisker), Shadepelt (supporter), Greenflower (supporter), Mistyfoot (through Silverstream) .... (really Lightningfur has no friends at this point since Silverstream’s death)

Airleap’s: Morningflower (platonically raised kits together; his first WC friend), Onewhisker (friend; One probably thinks of Airleap as his closest friend), Ashfoot (friend), Deadfoot (friend), Runningbrook (friend), Whitetail (friend), Ravenpaw (mentorly towards him), Barley (through Ravenpaw), Sandstorm (from the mission/through Fireheart; he doesn’t think they’re friends but Sand feels defensive over him bcus of what happened), Tallpoppy (same reason as Sandstorm), Cinderfur (same reason as Sand and Tall but less so)

Copperleaf’s: Dawncloud (QPR mate/BFF), Cinderfur (BFF), Ashheart (friend), Tallpoppy (friend/Dawn’s BFF), Whitethroat (through Tallpoppy), Wetfoot (through Tallpoppy), Badgerfang (son-in-law/mutual respect), Flintfang (mutual respect), Fernshade (mutual respect)

Darkstripe’s: Fireheart (ex-BFF/brother-figure, still wants to be friends w/), Runningwind (ex-friends/kinda still friends but distant), Cherryfur (mutual hatred), Longtail (apprentice), Dustpelt (apprentice), Tigerclaw (idol), Onewhisker (apphood friends that grew apart)

Feathercloud’s: Graystripe (kithood friends that grew apart), Ravenpaw (ex-mate/crush), Brackenfur (BFF/crush), Gremlin (from mission), Scraps (from mission), Barley (through Ravenpaw), other WC cats (through Ravenpaw)

Spottedleaf’s: Yellowfang (most trusted), Mudfur (sympathetic to her), Bluestar (admirance; now weakening), Brindleface (rekindling friendship), Frostfur (formerly; crush), Tigerclaw (only slightly; formerly), Whitestorm (kinda awkward friends now)

Frostfur’s: Willowpelt (formerly), Spottedleaf (formerly), Redtail (formerly), Whitestorm (formerly/strained politeness on Whitestorm’s end), Tigerclaw (reluctantly/formerly), Speckletail (BFF; starting to strain)

also everyone hates Grasswhisker and its... kinda sad. like, hello, she’s a victim... yeah she’s been really mean, but truly it’s been out of fear and desperation for Thistlestar to love her and only her just like she loveslovesloves him (why can’t he just love her? why isnt she good enough? her mind cries). like Airleap was the only one who was like “Hey wait a minute-” (and now everyone hates her bcus she was mean to Airleap... by blaming him for murder)

42 notes - Posted June 22, 2022

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