#so it can continue improving

[azolitmin]

most of my HnK arts from recent at the top and older ones at the bottom!

been drawing fanart for this series since 2018 holy shit

[caricarnations]

Imo I don’t like Ociel and Lizzie romantically, but I love their overall dynamic and what makes me sad is that I think lizzie genuinely likes Ociel’s personality, even if she doesn’t realize it yet.

I watched this show called Behind Her Eyes. One of the main characters is the wife and the husband. I forgot their names so let’s call them that for convenience sake, now moving on[spoilers] The start of the story shows that their marriage is crumbling. You can immediately tell that they have zero chemistry, zero love on the husband’s side, yet the flashbacks show that they were happy together and very much in love. The plot twist is that the wife’s body was actually hijacked by her best friend, so in the present, the friend was pretending to be the wife all along so he could have the husband all to himself. The reason the husband straight up hates his wife now, was not because his feelings changed, but because it’s LITERALLY not his wife anymore, even if he never realized it.

I find myself comparing it to Ociel and Lizzie's dynamic, and how is it not quite the case for them? They do have their strained moments when Ociel’s having his so-called memory problems, but for the most part, Ociel and Lizzie actually get along. They are actually bonding and having memories together.

Not to mention they both love cute things. It’s implied that Ociel confides to her about his new ideas for Funtom. Lizzie even treasured his bitter rabbit, the rabbit that represents Ociel’s true self. Which is why it hurts even more when she abandoned it later.

Lizzie must have spent a lot of time thinking about Ociel’s feelings, because she notices things about him that most people don’t. Everyone else was wondering why he would impersonate his brother, yet only she was able to empathize with Ociel and understand why he lied to her.

That’s why their relationship makes me sad. I think Ociel and Lizzie are actually compatible in some ways. They were just never given the chance to bond normally. If things were different, would they work out romantically? who knows, maybe not, but as friends? as a family? absolute yes for me. It’s been several years so I hope we see Lizzie again. I want to see how she’s processing all of this. I don’t expect her to forgive Ociel that easily after what he did, but the story spent a long time making us care for their relationship, so I will be very sad if none of that meant anything.

[fatedroses]

Two tanks without their emotional support healers.

[astriiformes]

One thing that becomes a little funny if you're thinking about the ways a trans reading of Marty interacts with canon is the fact that Doc is definitely guilty of some frustrating attitudes towards women over the course of the movies (particularly Part II), suggesting that he has so fully accepted the idea that Marty is a boy that he considers him exempt. Gender-affirming, trans-inclusive sexism.

[starflungwaddledee]

Have you noticed that Red Butterfly is keep following you?

And no, most of the butterflies don't follow anyone but scents of nectar.

starstruck regained +5 points of emotional health! she remembered this is meant to be an adventure, and looks forward to seeing some exciting things! just not this particular butterfly, it seems.

<< prev || [masterpost] || next >> additional ask by @maybeher0

[anghraine]

ajk;dfjk;ad So, I was grabbing some screenshots from "I, Mudd" for another rambling post, as one does. But in the process, I noticed yet another little moment I'd missed before.

At the end, the whole main crew is having a great time smirking at Mudd after their community theatre production as they abandon him to his largely self-inflicted fate (fair). Kirk is the ringleader but they're all up to their ears in it. But the others mostly just laugh; only two of them do the bitchy little hand waves as they leave—Kirk and Uhura.

It's extremely in character for them but I'm still astounded that I never culturally osmosed how great their controlled yet chaotic bisexual trickster brotp energy is. It's a fantastic episode for their rapport in general, too:

(TFW you and your friend/boss are fantastic at being dishonest and causing problems, and you're having a great time with both)

[cake-emu]

seen ppl on Twitter all "Carla doesn't cook but here she is chopping veggies for Lisa" and I will not be hearing this, no no no, Carla does cook, she's just frequently bad at it, and what I find so mind-bendingly endearing about that is that she doesn't let that stop her. she always keeps trying at it (except on Christmas Day), and sod what anyone says about it

[depressedhatakekakashi]

People can’t understand how sensei’s work in the naruto fandom and it’s so frustrating

Like if you look at any other anime you will see that the main character how multipule sensei’s, not because any past sensei is bad but because what they could teach them is limited

Iruka is there to teach Naruto he’s allowed to be loved and cared for

Kakashi taught Naruto the basics and the teamwork and connection he needed

Jiraiya helped Naruto improve his skills and protected him during a dangerous tume when the akatsuki was hunting him and he could not yet defend himself

Kakashi then came back in and helped Naruto create his own jutsu which official helped him surpass Kakashi (we see Kakashi say this)

To improve more Naruto obv needs another sensei/master, so Fukasaku comes in to teach him the Sage technique which he needs to defeat Pein

And then when it comes to Bijuu training/connection, Bee is the only one who can teach Naruto that. He’s the only Jinchuriki who 1) still has his binuu 2) has a connection with said bijuu that naruto can learn from (Gaara and Shukaku never had a similar connection). Kakashi, Jiraiya, Fukasaku, Iruka. None of them could teach Naruto about connecting with Kurema in any way close to Bee because they didn’t understand the connection between a jinchuuriki and Bijuu like Bee did

Each of Naruto’s Sensei’s serve a purpose. They help him grow in the ways he needs to grow, and actively only one is super shitty toward him at any point in time (stealing his money, telling him to stay in his sexy no jutsu form)

Instead of fighting over ‘who taught him best’ how about fandom learn the point of the story progression and Naruto’s specific needs with each sensei/master

Edit: i forgot one thing

Even after becoming the strongest shinobi in the world, Naruto still has things to learn and he goes back to learning from Kakashi

It’s Kakashi who preppared him for the day when he’ll take over as Hokage, and Iruka who is tasked with helping Naruto study to become a jonin.

So even after everything Naruto goes back to his original two sensei’s again and continues to learn from them, just not as a shinobi trying to become more powerful, but as a leader preparing to take on more responsibilities

[lunasilvis]

Currently done with grown-ups renouncing or deciding not to communicate their problems and stumbling points by avoiding the hard parts – especially when it’s replaced by exiting via easy ways out, suiting their styles and energy best.

Holy damn, I get that this modern world teaches us that nobody is entitled to our words and explanations. That we firstly should preserve ourselves, protect our own peace, before looking after another. I agree with it- until the point when it involves a bond both people are clearly invested in, repeatedly have showed up for one another in the past, for better or worse. Wouldn't trip over it if it involved casual friendships. So it crosses a line to me when it gets to the point where you know that your actions (and inactions), absence of communication and willingness to mend by talking are affecting someone else's well-being.

Yes, I get it too that life is hectic as it is - it yanks & tugs at us from all directions and drains our capacity to communicate. So many things require our attention and energy already, so I resonate too when said "communication is easier in theory".

However, it's really not cool to be left hanging mid-air, spend the remainder of your time guessing about whether or not there's any unspoken full disclosure.

It is not ok to pop up out of the blue over something ridiculous and questionable, avoid a knotty problem, then right before a specific date, back out again. To both, how is that fair? How could this ever gratify?

[fictionadventurer]

Potential July Reads

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope

Emma by Jane Austen

Pilgrim's Inn/The Herb of Grace by Elizabeth Goudge

Something involving Robin Hood (movies count)

Something involving superheroes (movies count)

[ministarfruit]

I saw them with their little hoods on and I had to draw them immediately. shady little guys

[elektroyu]

Painted spots and a foot for like an hour and a half and brain is demanding a reward now lol. It also would like to continue making art, but please... something less straining please 😂

Edit: the Setter butt in question as of right now:

[skunkes]

question for any artists who are employed full time: is the work/life (art) balance rly possible... (for You since i know it depends on the job/position/career etc)

[rigelmejo]

Something that always annoys me is the idea only 1 language learning method works. Which is not true. While it may be possible that, for a particular individual, only a few out of many study methods may work well enough for That Individual to make progress and stay motivated... that doesn't mean all the other study methods won't work for anyone else out there, or that those few methods will work for every other given person.

Obviously if you've been studying a while, then you already figured out what kinds of things work for you and don't. If you're a beginner, just wading into studying?

I would suggest you simply look for study methods that: 1. Teach you new things regularly, 2. Review and practice things you've learned, 3. Include studying things you need for your particular goals (for example if your goal is to read X book then the study materials at some point should involve reading practice and some words the book contains, if your goal is to talk about Y then the study materials should include some information about pronunciation and words you'll need to be able to say).

As you can imagine, a TON of study materials will meet these requirements. And you can study a given skill in a LOT of ways.

(Reading is my focus lol so just for reading, a beginner might: do vocabulary study with lists or conversations with native speakers or watching shows and looking words up or listening to dialogues with a transcript like in a textbook or graded readers or a picture book with word labels in the target language or a video game with labelled objects in target language, all of those things as long as your vocabulary is improving or reading practice is happening would help you make progress). So to improve reading skill as a beginner: you could study with a textbook, a podcast with transcript, a classroom or tutor with words written down in target language (like TPRS), a video game, a TV show and a translate app on your phone, a friend you talk with (who either writes words down or you look up words you hear with a translate app), a friend you text with, srs flashcards like anki (provided there's text) etc. As long as there's new words, and/or you're practicing reading, the study method may work. If it works will come down to if you can stay motivated doing it regularly, and make sure you regularly learn some new things and review/practice things you've already studied.

So consider those things when you see people selling a study method as a product (especially when it's costing you money). Consider if it teaches you NEW things, and are those new things related to your goals, and how MUCH new stuff will it teach you before you finish it? Consider if it provides review or practice, or if you can use it's materials to review on your own making up your own method, or if you'll need to do separate review/practice.

So examples:

LingQ. Can it teach you many new words? Yes, thousands, since you can import any texts you want when you get done with their provided material (I have no idea how much their beginner material covers though in terms of words... I would hope 1000-3000 words but that can be researched). Is your goal reading? It's suited to reading, so you will practice and review often with it. Cost? I think it was $12 a month when I last had it, and the price may have increased. Is it worth it? Depends on a learner's needs. I found it was wasting my money, so I chose to use free tools like Pleco and Readibu apps - since those apps are suited for Chinese learners and have better translations, Pleco has better paid graded reader material if I was going to spend money, and both Pleco and Readibu let me import texts so I can learn thousands of new words just like LingQ but free. Now that I'm not a beginner, I often use Microsoft Edge to read chinese... since I can still click-translate words easily (all my web browsers have that tool free), and Edge's TTS voice is helpful for pronunciation and sounds quite good. I read webnovels online so Edge works well. But it's translations aren't as good as Pleco or Readibu, so if I still needed translations more I would use them. So... is LingQ a good study method? Its certainly a study method marketed to buy. Well... the method is suited to improving reading skill, at least. It costs money, which is a negative, but it does offer a lot. However: everything it does regarding reading can be done free with other apps or sites or web browsers on their own. So if paying money motivates you to read... sure. LingQ does have a few word tracking features a learner may find worth the money, keeping in mind the actual read-to-learn method can be done free without lingq. (Also... while LingQ is a valid option for improving reading, if the learners goal is speaking then it would be important to think of what study activities the learner will do OUTSIDE of LingQ to improve speaking... because I've seen how LingQ is marketed as "how to learn a language" but it's only focused on some skills. It has vocabulary and grammar in some sense, since you'll read a lot and encounter new words and structures. But it doesnt have speaking or writing practice at least last time I was on it. Those activities would need to be worked on, on your own).

You can do that kind of cost/benefit contemplating with any study method material you see being sold. Amother example: there's a beginner Mandarin course called Mandarin Blueprint. It teaches like 800 words. Thats all. It may be worthwhile for a beginner... who still needs to learn 800 common words. But if you already know a few hundred words, the benefit of the course is less, you'll need to find a new material to teach you more new stuff soon. And the price was like a few hundred for the course... which for me personally was too much to spend, when I had already learned 800 hanzi from a book that cost me 12 dollars and 2000 words from a free user made memrise deck. The course claimed to get a person speaking, competent, but anyone not a beginner would say speaking basically with 800 words is nowhere near the level of working in Chinese or just doing a lot of daily life stuff, or reading/listening to media. (Although for the motivated beginner if you're learning 800 words on your own like I was, its definitely close to the point of jumping to learn more words and start reading kids and teenager books, and watching easier shows if you're willing to look new words up). So to me... Mandarin Blueprint felt like overselling some basic beginner materials. (Again when I know several other things that teach beginner stuff either more in depth so HSK test prep classes, and college courses, or that teach beginner stuff to the same depth as Mandarin Blueprint but free).

Some study materials aren't going to act like they teach everything. I've seen chinese courses just for learning to speak tones better and general pronunciation - probably worthwhile if your goal is to improve speaking and a teacher could help improve the issues your having. But a learner needs to be aware for that course that they'll need to study vocabulary on their own, its JUST a pronunciation improvement course.

[pickaropoprocks]

Fighting battles that have ABSOLUTELY been seen before (wanting to restart my Animal Crossing New Leaf town so I can begin the game from scratch and as myself as I am now vs. not wanting to restart my town because nostalgia and I'd miss my villagers)

[chefbuck]

BAKING BAKING BAKING BAKING BAKING WITH OUR GUYS . THE GUYS EVER

🥮 baking / fall festivals (~ 800 wc)

“What are you doing?” 

“Hm? Nothing.” 

Buck turns away from Eddie’s frown and one minute he has an egg in his hand and the next he doesn’t. 

“Hey!” 

“I need you to fix the laundry.” Eddie’s words come out fast, like they’re in a race to get to the finish line.

Now it’s Buck’s turn to frown. “The laundry? What’s wrong with the laundry?”

“It’s… loud.” 

Buck is silent for a minute and all that can be heard is the hum from the fridge and the distant effects of Chris’ video game. “The laundry… is loud.” 

Buck stares at Eddie and Eddie stares at Buck and Buck raises one eyebrow and then: 

“Yep.”

Buck turns away from the baking supplies in front of him. “Eddie, what’s going on?”

“OK, look,” Eddie moves out of the way when Buck tries to grab the egg back. “You know I love your cooking. We love your cooking. You’re a great cook, Buck.” 

Buck warms under the sincerity of his compliment. “Thank you.”

“And… Bobby loves to bake. Athena once said he could feed a small village with the amount of baking recipes he has under his belt.” 

“...Sure.”

“And you…” Eddie looks off to the side like that will help him find the right words. “You’re a great firefighter. But baking is not firefighting.” 

Buck narrows his eyebrows. “I’m quite aware of that, thanks, Eddie. What are you trying to say here?”

With a sigh, Eddie gives up his dancing around and says, “You’re shit at baking.” 

Buck lets out a small noise of protest. “I’m sh- I’m not shit at baking!” 

“Buck.” 

Buck crosses his arms over his aproned chest. He can feel the embroidered Chef Buck along his arms. “Eddie, you were the one who wanted these cupcakes.” 

“Yes, and I will gladly eat anything you make. But I think as people with medical training, it would be irresponsible to poison students and parents with those cupcakes. No matter how annoying Pam is.” 

Buck’s muscle’s itch to smile at that, but he can’t right now. He’s supposed to be mad at Eddie. Or, not mad, but irritated. 

“What, you think you can do so much better?”

Eddie shrugs. “Actually, I think I can.” 

“You can’t even cook, Eddie.” Which isn’t really true anymore because he’s been learning. He’s pretty good at the small stuff like heated sandwiches and tacos and pesto. They’re a step up from the inedible foods he would make before, but if Eddie’s going to insult Buck’s character then Buck can insult right back. 

“I can follow directions.” There’s a smug look on Eddie’s face. He thinks he’s so funny. 

Buck’s jaw drops. “Wow. Wow.” 

Eddie’s face is slowly widening into a smile and he’s moving closer, gearing up to distract Buck with a really good kiss. Buck’s familiar with it and he could just complete the gap and lean forward to meet his mean boyfriend with a kiss. Instead, Buck leans back ever so slightly, dips two fingers in his spare bowl of flour, and streaks it across Eddie’s right cheek. Eddie scrunches his face together and the look, paired with the new flour decoration, is just so cute, it makes Buck’s annoyance melt away. 

Eddie opens his eyes. “Wow. Real mature, Buck.” 

Buck grins. “Thanks.” He sidesteps Eddie towards the counter next to the fridge.

“What are you doing?” 

“Well, since you want to bake sooo bad, I’m just gonna be the Eddie for today and sit here pretty while you do your thing.” 

It works and Eddie blushes a bit until he says, “No. You’re not allowed in the kitchen until I’m done.” 

“Not allowed?” 

“I’m not giving you any chances to try and sabotage me for a measly ‘I told you so.’” 

Buck laughs. “I never thought I’d see the day where you’d kick me out of the kitchen. Fine.” He’s untying his apron and lifting it over his head before putting it on Eddie. He wraps his arms around his boyfriends waist to tie it in the back. “There, now you’re ready.” 

And it’s really not Buck’s fault his boyfriend is pretty and rosy and he loves seeing Buck across his chest, like anyone could know that that’s his. So he kisses him with the good kiss he dodged earlier, the kind with one hand on his waist and the other cupping his jaw. Eddie leans into it and there’s probably flour spreading onto Buck’s face but he doesn’t really care with the way Eddie’s hand slides up his body. Then, it lands on Buck’s chest and pushes him off him and Buck has to blink for a second. 

“Leave, saboteur,” Eddie enunciates. 

It doesn’t work towards his benefit. It just draws Buck eyes to his pinkened, wet lips and Buck’s rolling his eyes before giving one last peck.

buck's aprons that enraptured me