#so would love to find some more resources for online stuff. even posts or blog articles or whatever

[trans-axolotl]

hey any sw besties know of any good resource guides or toolkits like quick and dirty sex worker toolkit but for camming/ online work? trying to build up resource library and most of the stuff I can find for online stuff hasn’t been updated since SESTA/FOSTA.

[traumasurvivors]

hi april! I just wanted to pop in and let you know that what you’re doing is something special: running all these resources and just communicating and offering help to other trauma survivors is just incredible really and I just hope you’re having a lovely day wherever you are. I reached out to your blog last year and have made sure to stay up to date on any posts or advice you share and it led me to realize I actually would like to pursue a career in psychology. I just started classes and while I’m excited to be here, I realize I’m having difficulty focusing and paying attention despite wanting to do the work. would you have any tips or other sources that might be helpful for me right now? I plan to remove most social media since it seems to be a big contributing factor in my lack of focus, but what else could work? thank you!

Hi anon!

I really struggled with staying focused in school as a result of my ADHD.

Some things that helped me were:

Finding study buddies. Finding people to do work with and study with was super motivating and helpful! Even if it was an online friend and we did our work at the same time so we felt together.

Making my study space welcoming and nice. I put pretty decor on it and made it feel mine. I put little treats in the top drawer so that I could have them as I studied. I put scented candles in I could light and just overall made it a nice aesthetic. Some people find gentle music helps them focus. (Not me personally, but I’ve heard from some people it really does!)

I’d also buy myself some stickers I loved and as I finished things, I’d get to “place” my sticker either on my notebook, binder or even laptop.

Found a routine. I don’t just mean a daily routine but a study routine. I’d make myself a nice warm cup of tea as I was about to settle in and it was the sort of thing that made homework seem relaxing and nice.

Keep track of my progress. I created an excel spreadsheet where I input all my assignments, readings, etc. and I’d mark the percentage I’d completed. I set it to be colour coded so that I felt motivated to make it get to 100% and go green.

Here’s an example.

This isn’t my own, but one I made for a friend when she saw my idea and really liked it. She also found it motivating. This was the end of semester so things were mostly 0% or 100% at this point. During the semester, she’d do things like mark 1% for completing a title page even because it felt super motivating and made it feel like progress. And then also increasing the progress percentage with each step/page/etc in an assignment. (Like if she wrote 4 pages of a 5 page essay, she might label it as 75% to keep in mind that she had one more page but also a final edit to do.) Seeing it climb really helped as she updated it along the way. She also really loved the “stars” I added every time it hit 100% in progress on something. A basic one might just have the assignment, due date and progress.

I found visually seeing my progress made me want to keep making it.

Set a timer. I recommend this for cleaning stuff but telling myself I’m only going to do work for ten minutes makes it easier to start and sometimes once I’m going, I end up on a roll and don’t want to stop.

Colour code notes. I loved getting to use different coloured pens or highlighters when I took notes. It made me more excited about it.

I’m super drained today, so I don’t have much else to add but I kind of want to write a post on this soon and compile more ideas. If anyone has sources they can add to this ask, please do!

[creature-wizard]

I can’t stop being angry, I’m so angry about everything that happened and I’ve tried to get rid of it but I can’t. It’s like it just festers over and over again and then I say something I didn’t mean to and I ruin everything. It just doesn’t stop. I’m always anxious and sad and angry, it’s like my brain is frozen in time, back in the past but also in the present. I just can’t get away from them and I’m so cruel to everyone and nobody fucking cares. I’m sorry

Hey anon, what you're describing right there sounds an awful lot like PTSD and emotional dysregulation. Those are horrible, even terrifying things to have to deal with, but that doesn't mean it has to be like this (or at least, be this severe) forever.

If there's awful people you're stuck with in real life right now, my post "I'm in a bad place and need to get out, what can I do?" has resources. It may not have all of the resources you'll ever need, but it can get you started.

And it might not be possible to get out of your current situation right now (or for awhile yet), but that doesn't mean you'll be stuck there forever. Nor does it mean there is nothing you can do. Here are some things you can do online:

Research coping strategies for depression, emotional dysregulation, and PTSD. Even if you don't have an official diagnosis, you can still research coping strategies for any condition you suspect you have, and see if they help. You can start by searching on DuckDuckGo, Tumblr, whatever. Like plug "depression coping strategy" or "PTSD coping strategy" or whatever into Tumblr's search bar; you'll find things.

Get in contact with other people who have personal experience managing and coping with these things. Follow their blogs. See what they can offer you.

Look up therapy worksheets (like this one, for example) to fill out.

Change who and what you expose yourself to online; EG, unfollow blogs that reinforce toxic beliefs (EG, "no one will like me if I don't have money") and follow blogs that help you build a healthier view (EG, "I am worthy of love no matter what.") Spend less time engaging with content that reminds you that bad things are happening, and more time engaging with content that reminds you that there is hope and goodness out there.

Associate with people who sympathize with the challenges your mental illness gives you, rather people who validate a deliberate choice to act on your unhealthiest impulses. ("Sometimes my mental illness makes it hard to act in ways I would like" and "I should try to be kind when I can" are two statements that can and should coexist.)

At all costs, avoid people who make you feel like you have to be this way forever, or that there's literally nothing you can do to manage your symptoms ever - basically, the mental health doomers.

Your depression might tell you that you can't change and nothing can ever get better for you, but depression is a big fucking liar. It fucks up your thinking and makes you inclined to believe all kinds of terrible things that aren't true.

I'm sorry you're having to deal with all of this; none of this stuff should have happened to you. But there are things to try that might help, even if you're not in an optimal situation right now.

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Hi Rebecca! I'm a recent(ish) graduated student interested in pursuing a career (or any other form of involvement) in environmental education. I was curious how you built your writing portfolio, especially writing for other sites/organizations? What first steps would recommend someone take (particularly if they're already graduated) to get into environmental education and scicomm? Thanks so much, love all your writing!!

Hi there, @misopossum! So I am a pretty atypical case. I have a BA in English, but I mainly used it for technical writing/editing (and personal journaling) for a number of years.

Most of the scicomm folks I know are either A) scientists who also have good writing and interpretation chops, or B) are science journalists who went through a formal journalism program in college/grad school. You haven't mentioned what your area of study was, but your department may have some resources to draw on if you haven't already spoken with them. Check with related departments as well, as they may have ideas too. You're a recent grad, but that doesn't mean that you can't still make use of those connections if they exist.

If you want to go a more traditional scicomm route, good places to start are The Open Notebook and the National Association of Science Writers. ScienceBites may be a good spot for you to start pitching a short article here and there to build up your portfolio, too. And this article from CrossTalk is a pretty good summary on how to get started with science writing.

Other people get involved with environmental education programs like forest schools, summer camps, and the like; some conservation nonprofits also may run these, and you can even check with state and federal parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and other governmental entities who may be in need of volunteers (or occasionally seasonal staff) for environmental ed programs.

You didn't mention where you are, but here in the PNW US there are a lot of these, especially in the Portland and Seattle areas. Depending on what your education level is you may not find the pay to be what you expected, and a lot of these programs are primarily in summertime. But if you can at least get in as a side gig, that will get some experience started.

A lot of what I do is meant for a general audience and not just specific to one locality. I do a lot of blogging online, to include articles on my website, plus some shorter form commentary on various news articles I find online that I think are worth exploring, and I have my quarterly chapbooks that let me dive deeper into various topics. These get me a pretty broad audience, beyond just my local area.

But I really got my start as a nature writer several years ago by writing pieces for the nonprofit Friends of Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, from Facebook posts to 2-3 minute radio segments for their Willapa Nature Notes segment on our local public radio station. I've also helped with other scicomm efforts they've run, from our 4th grade environmental education program in local schools, to giving talks and tours at our annual Wings Over Willapa birding and nature festival. And later this track record helped me get in as a regular columnist with the Coast Weekend paper (and occasionally a longer piece for related publications.) These are all incredibly local to where I am in the Columbia-Pacific region, but they've been good experience and they've helped me get my footing in my local community, which has helped me to facilitate other regional efforts like my independent guided tours.

I think the best choice I made overall was teaching non-credit community education classes through various community colleges, as well as municipal parks and recreation departments and libraries. It's a great way to connect with people who aren't pursuing a degree, but just learning for the fun of it. You do need some credentials of some sort, but expertise counts if you can show that you know your stuff--for example, the people teaching art classes don't all have art degrees, but they may have X number of decades' experience in their art medium. I don't have a degree in the natural sciences because my math skills are terrible, but I am a certified Oregon Master Naturalist and I also have a lifetime of experience of exploring nature and learning how to identify the living beings around me. It doesn't pay a lot, but it's a lot of fun and I get to meet a lot of new students every semester.

Be aware that people like me who take a more unorthodox route usually end up doing like eight different things for a living, rather than having one (1) career path. If you are going to do more of a "professional potpourri" like I am, you're going to need to seek out multiple niches, and perhaps create a few yourself. You're likely going to be very busy, and there's not going to be a lot of payoff immediately (as opposed to a regular job, where you start at a particular rate immediately and hopefully gets raises as things go along.)

On the bright side, having multiple professional directions means that if one of them isn't really active, I can often put more time toward another to make up for it. For example, I'd like to expand to writing for more varied venues that aren't just based in the PNW; it's just a matter of making the time to prep some cold pitches to publications and websites. This time of year I'm really busy with the tours business, so writing tends to be emphasized more in the off season. And either way you slice it, I'm still very much in the "building" process.

Aaaaanyway. That is my very long, rambling answer to your question. Please feel free to let me know if I can clarify anything for you, or if you have further questions.

[duckprintspress]

For This Week's Blog Post: We Need YOU!

One of our long-term projects at Duck Prints Press - something we've been working on on-and-off for a while but haven't made public yet - is a Fandom Lexicon. There are a lot of websites and blog posts that include parts of a list of fandom-specific language, but we've not been able to find just a simple glossary, so we decided to put one together. (We're not saying such websites don't exist...they surely do...but we also wanted to do our own!)

There are many challenges in making such a list (one of the most obvious being what to include - how general a term is "too" general for inclusion?) but we've been doing our best, casting a wide net, and picking the collective brains of people involved in the Press.

And...we've basically exhausted our own knowledge/memories/ideas, which is where you, yes YOU, come in!

We want your terminology! What are fandom words you've encountered and said "wait, what does that mean?" What's old fandom slang you used to use that you don't see anymore and know that some newbie would be confused by? What are words you wish you could have found on a list when you first joined fandom?

We've already put together a list of 222 general fandom terms and abbreviations (some definitely "fandom specific," others more "internet general slang") and 29 fandom-specific abbreviations (this list is, obviously, much more nascent). You can see the entire list here. (note: there is citrusy terminology on this list, both literally the citrus scale is on there, but also things like A/B/O, BDSM, etc. - it's a lexicon, after all.)

Currently, we are looking for:

general fandom terms/online terms that would be confusing to people out of context; and

over-arching fandom abbreviations (e.g., MCYT = Minecraft Youtuber, but we don't want every single abbreviation for every sub-part of the fandom - just the level that if someone saw the abbreviation "in the wild" they'd have at least some frame of reference).

Long term, we'd love to do fandom-specific lexicons as well (NOT wikis, mind you, literally just "this abbreviation often means this" with links to resources that can give more information) but that's a much larger project that would require recruiting people with enough fandom-specific knowledge for each fandom, and is not our current aim, so please don't send us stuff like that.

Have you been in fandom a long time? Do you just HATE when people use the word "drabble" wrong? Have you got a list of words you wish fandom still used, or a list of newer terms you regularly look at and go "wait wtf does THAT one mean?"? Send us your words, so we can incorporate them into our list!

You can add a comment! Put your words in a reply! Add your words to the tags! Drop us an ask! However you feel like sending the words our way, go for it.

You can see everything currently on our list HERE. (reminder: lemon text at this link)

Or, here's our current ones (as of July 24th, 2022) under a read more. No definitions yet - we're not even at that stage, we're still gathering words! (And a third reminder: yes there are lemony fresh words below the read-more. No pictures or definitions but just. The words themselves.)

(read more)

General Fandom Terms (some of which are more just general internet lingo, it's a difficult line to draw - many of these have more notes in the linked gdoc so we definitely recommend you go there instead of relying solely on this list):

[Person’s] A+ Parenting

A/B/O

A/N

AITA

Alpha

Alpha Reader

Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics

AN

Angst

Anon

Anti

Anti-anti

AO3

AU

Avatar

AYRT

Baihe

Bashing

BB

BDSM

Beta

Beta Reader

BF

Big Bang

Bingo

Bird App

BL

Blorbo

BNF

Bottom

Britpick

BroTP

C&C

Camp NaNo

Canon

Canon Compliant

Canon Divergent

Canon Insert

Carrd

Casefic

Cisswap

Citrus

Citrus Scale

CNTW

Coda

Concrit

Consentacles

Cosplay

CP

Crack

Crackship

Crossover

CW

DA

Danmei

Dead Dove

DL:DR

DNI

DNW

DP

Drabble

Dubcon

DW

Eeby Deeby

Fanart

Fanfic

Fanfiction

Fanon

Fanzine

Fave

Femslash

Fest

FF.net

Fic

Ficlet

Filk

Fix-it

Flame

Fluff

Fujo

Fujoshi

Fusion

Gary Stu

Gen

Genderbend

Genderswap

GF

GIF

Glomp

Glub Shitto

Gong

Grapefruit

H/C

H/NC

HC

HEA

Headcanon

Hentai

HFN

Himbo

Horse Plinko

Incorrect [thing] Quotes

IRC

Isekai

Jossed

JPG

Jump the Shark

Kink Meme

Kink Tomato

Kripked

Lemon

Lik the bred

Lime

LJ

LRT

Lurker

Mary Sue

MC

MCD

Meme

Meta

MFL

Miette

Mini-Bang

ML

Monoshipper

Multishipper

NaNo or NaNoWriMo

Noncon

NoRomos

NoTP

NTA

OC

OFC

OG

OMC

Omega

OMG They Were Roommates

OP

Orange

OT3

Otaku

OTP

OTW

p4p

pfp

Plinko Horse

Plot bunny

Podfic

Polyshipper

Poor Little Meow Meow

Pro-shipper

PSA

PWP

QRT

Queerbaiting

Ravatar

RB

Reader Insert

Reblog

Remix

Repost

Reverse Bang

RPF

RPS

RT

Rule 63

S (followed by a number)

Schmoop

Scrunkly

Secret Masters

Self-insert

Selfcest

Seme

Sex Pollen

Ship

Shitpost

Shou

Slash

Smushname

Smut

Sockpuppet

Songfic

SPAG

Squee

Squick

Stan

Superhell

t4t

TBR

TERF

There Was Only One Bed

Tinhat

TL:DR

Top

TPTB

Troll

Trope

TVTropes

TW

Twincest

Uke

UST

WAFF

Wank

Whump

Wiki

WIP

Woobie/woobify

Wuxia

Xianxia

Y/N

Yaoi

Yeet

YKINMKATO

YMMV

YT

Zine

Our (VERY Preliminary) List of General/Overarching Fandom Abbreviations:

AD&D or D&D

ATLA

B5

BNHA

CQL

DMBJ

GDC

HNK

HOB

HP

JJK

JK or JKR

LoTR

MCU

MCYT

MDZS

MXTX

OFMD

OP

SNK

SPN

ST

ST: DS9

ST: TNG

SVSSS

SW

SW: TFA

TGCF

TLTR

[audreydoeskaren]

Thank you for posting a review on the book Evolution & Revolution Chinese Dress 1700s - 1990s. It’s so disappointing how the book potentially could’ve been good. What are your favorite books on Chinese fashion history?

Hi, great that you found the review useful! To be completely honest, I haven't really read any books on Chinese fashion before I started this blog, because I mostly used online resources like museums' websites, archaeology reports and other blogs. I actually started this blog in the hopes that people might recommend me some books😅 And I only ever read about the Ming, Qing and republican era so my knowledge is very limited.

Anyway, here are some books people recommended to me that I found great, some that I'm currently reading and some I know to be objectively good:

Ming Dynasty

Q版大明衣冠图志 (2011) 董进著

A classic made by the popular fashion history blogger 撷芳主人 (real name Dong Jin), this book is the ultimate compilation of Ming Dynasty looks illustrated by the most adorable drawings. It has basically everything you need to know about Ming Dynasty garments from informal civilian fashion and theater costumes to the most formal court dress and military uniforms. My only quibble with this book is that it doesn’t specify the decade/year each look is from, giving the false impression that everything could be worn throughout the Ming Dynasty (I heard that he did specify some eras in the new version? I don’t have it so I’m not sure). You can follow the author on Weibo where he regularly posts stuff about the Ming Dynasty, or check out other books and articles written by him. Even if you don’t have the book, you could probably find images of individual entries on the internet. Unfortunately all of it is in Chinese and no English version is available :(

华夏衣冠 中国古代服饰文化 (2016) 孙机著

More of a collection of essays Sun Ji wrote on historical Chinese clothing from a variety of eras, I got it for the chapters on Ming Dynasty xiapei 霞帔 and headwear. Professional, academic language that is still easy to read, plenty of references and neatly traced line drawings of artifacts. Useful diagrams on the structure of 狄髻 diji. However if I remember correctly, Sun had some beef with Dong Jin on the terminology of parts of diji, not sure if that was ever resolved; here’s an article about that. Also only in Chinese (that I know of).

Qing Dynasty

Chinese Reverse Glass Painting 1720-1820 (2020) by Thierry Audric

This is the book form transcript of a dissertation given by the author in 2016. It's more Chinese painting than Chinese fashion but has a lot of wonderful images of 18th century export paintings (with dates even), which depicted fashion realistically. I love 18th century export art in general, they're really beautiful and unusual so I would recommend everybody to check them out. I love this because Chinese oil painting outside of a court context (and all other forms of art that were not literati painting e.g. woodblock print, lithograph, pen and ink illustration) gets very little attention from Chinese art historians. This book could be downloaded for free in pdf form the publisher Peter Lang.

A Fashionable Century: Textile Artistry and Commerce in the Late Qing (2020) by Rachel Silberstein

This book focuses on the 19th century and has some interesting insights on the impact of commercial workshops on Qing fashion, which is a welcome break from the “dragon robes” and women’s domestic work stereotyped in most literature on the Qing. It has rich descriptions of the decoration patterns and fabrics used in the 19th century, accompanied by paintings and photographs. It did kind of fall into the trap of “the late Ming continued into the early Qing” and just dismissed the 18th century altogether, which is a shame. Silberstein’s dating of several prints also appears somewhat incorrect, but it’s still a very useful analysis of the 19th century nonetheless. I read this for free on JSTOR through my university login.

Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Footbinding (2005) by Dorothy Ko

This book is absolutely epic and an undeniable classic on the subject. Ko masterfully avoids all the surface level problematic takes on footbinding and offers an extremely nuanced, extremely well researched overview on the history of footbinding in the Ming, Qing and republican eras, the reasons for its popularity and demise, with a most interesting analysis of the problems with the way people in the republican era went about the abolition of it. The book is more heavy on the social analysis side but also contains a lot of factual description of the process of footbinding, styles popular in different eras etc. I just love how she approaches the topic in the most factual and non-emotionally charged way possible, which is refreshing considering the sheer volume of literature on footbinding that is just brainless condemnation without any nuance, a lot of which also unconsciously perpetuate misogynistic ideas rather than combat them. I don’t know of a way to read this for free, I bought it from Amazon.

Every Step a Lotus (2001) by Dorothy Ko

I haven’t read this yet but apparently it works well as a supplement to Cinderella’s Sisters. Also on footbinding.

China Trade Painting 1750s to 1880s (2014) by Jack S C Lee / 中国外销画 1750s - 1880s 李世庄著

Another book on export art, focusing more on the established painters. Lee digs a bit more into the painters’ experiences and biographies, with big portions on George Chinnery and Lam Qua, but also includes plenty of portraits and scenery paintings depicting men’s clothing and the architecture of the studios at the Guangzhou factories (十三行). It’s great because the paintings included were super realistic and well made with accurate proportions and anatomy----the quality on a par with those produced by the European academies----so they contemplate conventional Chinese portraits made in the same era in showing how the clothing fits on the body. Again I bought this book second hand from Amazon.

----

I don’t know of any reliable books for republican era fashion because for some reasons most discourse on it is centered around the glorification and mystification of the cheongsam... Fortunately, due to the abundance of extant originals and photographs, books are largely not necessary for the research of republican era fashion :3

There are some other books and articles that were recommended to me but I haven’t yet read: x, x

@fouryearsofshades also made a post recently recommending books and it covers other time periods as well.

If anyone knows any other books on the Ming, Qing or republican era please tell me regardless of good or bad. I need to read more😅

[littlefireofhestia]

hi! i'm sage and i was going through the "hestia devotee" tag and found a post of yours that said you were open for questions about her. i don't know how old that post is or if you're still taking questions, you can ignore this if you're not, but since i'm here i wanted to talk/ask about something.

i'm a baby witch (like the babiest of babies, almost a new born) and most of my experience is through reading and watching since i don't currently have time or resources to do any practice other than lighting incenses or candles or working with crystals. and i definitely don't know any form of divination, like tarot or pendulum, that would allow me to do actual deity work and properly communicate with them.

the thing is, i've researched deities from multiple pantheons multiple times, mostly out of curiosity, but the moment i came across a prayer to hestia my heart skipped a beat and i immediately felt a kind of comfort. it could have been nothing, but i still researched all i could about her and just. i've never felt this drawn to a deity before, much less felt a pull to actually worship one. but i feel very much that way about her.

i looked up ways to honour her and i'm genuinely shocked at how happy it's been making me. i'm finding joy in domestic activities i used to loathe, like washing the dishes or helping with house cleaning. i tried baking a cake all by myself for the first time and lit an orange candle for her while doing it. it turned out absolutely delicious, i discovered i actually really enjoy baking and even started my own cook notebook with some of my grandma's old recipes. i make a point to always tie my hair back when i'm doing something that makes me think of her or in her honour, like making tea or baking or making dinner for my family or cleaning, because i saw people talking about how she appreciates veiling but i don't know how to do it so i just tie my hair in a bun instead of putting on a scarf. and i used to hate tying my hair, but now i feel very good about it!

i've always struggled with feeling connected to religion and never really understood how that could bring peace to someone, but i haven't felt this grounded or loving towards my family and pets or in peace with myself as much as i have since i started doing things as acts of devotion to hestia.

now, on to the actual problem: i'm scared it's all in my head. i'm worried i'm not enough of a witch to worship a deity yet, since i'm still trying to learn ways of communication and can't directly ask her if she's with me. i'm scared that the little things i'm doing aren't enough and the comfort and faith i feel while doing them are my imagination and not actually her watching over me and appreciating my effort.

anyways, i'm really sorry for dumping these worries on you but i didn't see many hestia related blogs and i really needed to ask someone about this. is what i'm doing enough of a worship right now? do you have any tips on how to worship her better? thank you!

Hi Sage! I don’t know when you sent this ask so I’m sorry if it’s been a while since you sent it and my response is late. When I read this ask for the first time I nearly cried tears of joy. Before anything I do want to say that you’re doing amazing sweetie!

I’m always open to questions about Hestia.

First off, there is no prerequisite to worshipping deities. I am admittedly not a witch and worship the gods exclusively for religious reasons and not for witchcraft. I have not learned many divination methods yet (although I have used the very handy Greek Alphabet Oracle a few times) and my rituals are still relatively basic, mostly not even occurring on an altar. But I have felt Hestia. I have been in her presence. I have received dreams from other deities and signs. None of this is required to happen to believe in or worship the theoi, but I just want to assure you that beyond doing some research to figure out who you want to pray to and how to do prayer and ritual, there are no prerequisites to worship. My first prayer to Hestia was literally me throwing a scarf over my head and talking to her in the dark with a flashlight to represent a flame. No formal structure. Didn’t even know how to correctly hold my hands yet. And still she accepted me.

The vibe you get from Hestia is very much similar to my experience. I’ve been drawn to her for YEARS but didn’t know I could worship her. But she’s always felt like home and comfort and just right for me. I never ever had a reason why she was my favorite deity before becoming pagan. She just was. My connection to Hestia has been a fact for over a decade that I just didn’t know was religious until a year and a half ago. Me wondering if I could worship her is the reason why I started researching Hellenic Polytheism in the first place. She brought me to this faith and I am so thankful to her for that.

You finding joy in domestic activities you used to hate is something I’ve discovered through Hestia too, although it’s still a journey I’m early on due to depression and physical disability and having a lot of work to do on figuring out how to make things accessible for me. I’m excited to go further for and with Hestia.

I understand the thought about it being all in your head. I had those thoughts early in my practice too. Basically, belief is a process. It takes time to switch from whatever religious thought (or lack thereof) that you grew up with to polytheism and worshipping a variety of deities or even just one deity, and from there to truly believing in them. I’ve been practicing for a year and a half and it probably took me at least nine months to truly feel secure in my faith in the theoi. Research, pray, do ritual, devote acts to the gods, think about the gods, notice the influence of the theoi in your daily life, and gradually that belief will solidify. You may or may not receive signs, which may or may not speed this process up. I promise, if you want to believe in the gods, in Hestia, it just takes time.

Also on feeling that you aren’t doing enough, the video at the bottom of this post (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odhRRYqQo8Y) might help. And I promise: you are doing enough, you are enough, just as you are.

Now as for worship tips. You are honestly doing great so far. Thinking of her while doing household chores and tasks or dedicating those tasks for her is a great way to worship her. I’d also recommend checking out her Homeric and Orphic hymns, one translation of which can be found here, and a copy of the Homeric hymns can likely be found at a local bookstore or definitely through online ordering. The Homeric hymns can also start to teach you some stuff about prayer structure, but prayer doesn’t have to be formal. Sometimes I just sit and talk to Hestia, or to any of my other deities. Tell them about my day, thank them for things in my life or the world, and sometimes asking them for things (although I find that I ask for aid much more rarely than when I prayed as the Catholic I was raised to be). I also have perpetually in progress playlists I have made for my deities, and if I want to spend some non-ritual time just focusing on a deity I’ll put on their playlist and read something religious or talk in religious discords. I actually had my most profound spiritual experience with Hestia while doing this.

Last but not least, worshipping Hestia, or any other deity, is something you have your whole life ahead of you to do. Take it at your own pace. Faith is all about the journey. The destination is irrelevant. There is no deadline or leveling up system, no authority checking your progress. As I have experienced time and time again, the gods will very much meet you where you are. A few months ago I was in a deep depression and did not do any ritual for several months. When I finally did a ritual again, I felt Hestia’s warm hand on my shoulder, as if to say “I miss you, welcome home”. I promise, Hestia will always welcome you home.

P.S. I know this ask is anonymous but Sage, feel free to message me with any additional questions about Hestia or worshipping deities in general. I’m here if you need any more help.

[a-pop-of-korean]

How did you teach yourself Korean?

I taught myself using whatever free resources I could find online! This included a lot of Talk to Me in Korean, howtostudykorean.com (although I've heard from some of y'all that htsk isn't the best resource lol), Drops, and K-pop. I would literally just read blog posts and watch YouTube videos and stuff -- I never took notes or anything like that. Honestly I prob should have taken notes just because that would have prob let me learn a little more quickly. My speaking skills are also quite lacking so I feel like doing more than just reading and listening to some stuff would have been helpful. But I never felt the need to take notes at the time because in some ways, I felt like Korean came rather easily to me in the sense that I could read a post about a grammar structure and recognize that structure outside of that post, like in a K-pop song or something. So I guess that told me I was getting it lol. But of course, Korean has always been challenging to me and it's taken me a LONG time to get where I am today :)

Once I got a little comfortable with Korean, I started watching more K-dramas and YouTube videos in Korean like makeup tutorials (rather than those meant to teach you Korean), journaling, and using the language exchange app Tandem, which certainly helps. It's the closest thing you can get to immersion without being in Korea or being surrounded by a lot of Korean speakers. I'm also currently taking an intermediate Korean class now which is super helpful and I love it!! I feel so much more comfortable with speaking and I feel really lucky that I'm able to take it :)

So that's basically where I'm at now! I started studying in like 2015/2016 (more like 2015 but I feel like I started to actually get stuff in 2016 or maybe even later), so my progress has been very gradual. I've gotten some very kind comments from some followers that say how fluent I seem which is super sweet!! But keep in mind I am still learning and am far from fluent lol. I simply use this blog to share what I know, as an English speaker who studies Korean on her own, to hopefully be some sort of help to other English self-studiers :) That was a long-winded explanation lol but thank you for asking!! 화이팅!

[everythingthemoontouches]

Hii🧡 i love your blog so much, thanks for sharing your knowledge with us😌 i was wondering if you could make some observations about my chart (only if you’re willing to tho!) (i’m also struggling to find my career path so if you can give me some inspo for that, that would be great)

Have a great day<3

Hi amelavoie

I'm guessing these are your tropical placements?

I'd suggest the divine venus and astro finesse cancer midheaven videos as they also talk about the Ic in more detail. This analysis looks at your 6th house and 10th house.

Cancer 10th house :Human resources. Nurturing. Nurse. Teaching. Mentoring. Feminine professions. Work needs to feel like family. Food. Catering. Gynecology, obstetrics. With your Pisces 6th house you enjoy some degree of flexibility and ability to be creative. Cute bakery. The HR professional who comes up with good ideas to make the employees feel at home. Increase retention rates. Make your team members feel cared for. Intuitive. You're so emotionally tuned in to the people you work with, I think you'd make for a good manager and have a unique style of work. Also, as someone with a Capricorn ic, you're lowkey looking to create that beautiful family dynamic out in the work sphere. Now honestly some people could try to fuck you over cuz you're really caring so I'd say to keep that sweet energy reserved for people who actually poor that love and effort back into you.

Celebs : Britney Spears, Jennifer Aniston, John Mayer

Jupiter on the midheaven : respected as a mentor at your place of work. Lucky when it comes to promotions. Expansive. Ability to go very far in your chosen field. - I didn't realize I was working I was just doing stuff I liked to and the opportunity found me because of my skill.Jupiter rules your 3rd and 6th house - perhaps you write about your daily experiences and reading your articles makes people find some comfort. Wisdom. Sharing. Preaching. Conducting seminars. Self love workshops. Confidence coach or image consultant kind of webinars.

Again, with the moon in your 6th house you have to feel some level of emotional attachment to their work you do on a daily basis and the people you work with. Working with milk products. Exporting them. Could work as a vet. Maybe help them deliver babies. Online coaching programs. Super nice and care giving - be careful of how lenient you are. Pisces placements can be very accepting and have high tolerance level : must know when to put your foot down.

Law - custody battles. Nonprofits. Pro Bono work. Helping out the community. Volunteer work occassionally

Do you write short stories for children?

🌅🌙🦀6th house sun in Pisces : healing arts. Reiki. Intuitive witch doctor. Pisces is highly malleable. You have an ability to pick things up quickly.gym instructor. Nutritionist. Meditation / yoga coach. It really helps your mental state to incorporate spirituality into your work.

your 10th house ( professional authority) in the 6th house in Pisces. Gut health. Working with animals. Forming optional connections with people. You coudk even be a good counselor.

Neptune, Uranus and Mercury in the 5th house : mad creative energy. If you wrote stories I'm sure they'd be quite fresh and could actually have a disruptive influence. I see you writing children's books, stories about space, adventures and heroes who save humanity. Very imaginative creative works.

In traditional astrology venus shows how you earn wealth and since yours is right on the descendant I think you're meant to work on one with clients and build good relations with them.

Could work with addicts in rehab or correctional facilities.

Careers : caregiving, writing, recruiting, human resources, working with children / elderly, interior decorating, baked goods, food, catering, feminine care,working with animals, vet, Reiki, spa/ masseuse, some kind of feminine energy healer, psychology,working in prenatal post natal care, or selling products for babies / moms to be / new moms, acting, Booksellers, posts & telegraphs and communications department, transport, advertising, publicity, writer, author, research, hand writing experts, finger print experts and finance broker,

11th house income streams : Salesman, agent, representative, international trader, manufacturer of ink and paints, accountant, auditor, teacher, interpreter, ambassador, water supplier, textile engineer, dealer in yarn, paper, traveling agent, guide, mathematician, clerk, author, writer and related to health, medicine or nursing.

6th house themes: Teachers, statistics, astronomy, astrology, medicine, municipality, public limited concerns, stock exchange, share broker, planning commission, foreign exchange, revenue & finance department, international trade, finance, revenue department, mint, currency, mining, intelligence department.

[aspecpplarebeautiful]

hi! i hope you're doing well!! i was just wondering if you could offer some help/advice on something? i figured out i was ace-spec last year and i've been really happy vibing with the label and it's brought me a lot of joy which is great! but recently i've been wondering if i'm possibly aro-spec/grey-aro/demi-romantic and i'm not as excited about that possibility as i was when i first started thinking i could be ace. i'm not sure if this stems from internalized aro-phobia or if i'm just not aro *or* if i am aro and just don't find the same joy in it? i know several people who are unhappy in some way or another with being ace and maybe that's me with being aro? but i also don't really know where to begin when it comes to researching aro stuff so i can try to piece it out more, there seems to be a lot more info about being ace than being aro. sorry i know this is a lot to dump on you! i'm okay vibing without a label romance-wise but i would like to figure it out at some point or another, so i thought i might as well ask you. thanks for your time! 💙

Yeah, it can definitely be hard to tell at first, and there's a lot of reasons you may not be vibing with an aro-spec label. One big one I see a lot is that we live in a culture that really emphasizes that romance and a romantic relationship is the only path to feeling fulfilled and happy. And for some people discovering their aro puts that future in jeopardy (though some aros still want/enjoy romantic relationships, but many don't). And it can just take a while to process that and figure out a different path that will actually appeal to you specifically.

One way you can look at it is like a roller coaster, a lot of people love them, but some people just don't find them fun at all. They get motion sickness, or they really hate the feeling of going fast/being upside down or whatever else. And no matter how much you force yourself you're not going to make you get the same joy as people who love them. But maybe you like other rides like Ferris wheels or merry-go-rounds. Maybe you like eating cotton candy and reading a book while your friends go on the rides. Maybe you like staying home and watching movies. There's always another path and something that will appeal to you as a person. Sometimes it just takes time to find it.

So I don't know if this is you or not, but it is something I see a lot and I think it something important to keep in mind if you're questioning being aro. Instead of looking at it like a closed road, it can help to try and see it more as you forging your own way and finding the path that's best for you. And maybe that does include romance, or maybe it doesn't but the path you find will be one will appeal to you.

Other things you can do that may help you vibe might be aro media. There are more and more aro-spec characters all the time, especially in books and podcasts and you can find lists fairly easily. Personally I'm very fond of the Jughead 2015 run from Archie Comics where Jughead's written as canonically ace and heavily aro coded and I found him very relatable from an aro pov.

Following aro people or aro themed blogs on social media can help (my favourite way to find good blogs on tumblr is the search function/tag function, and the recommended blogs are usually really good), meeting other aro people. Maybe there's an aro meetup near you, or you can follow an online community or join a discord server.

For resources Arocalypse is great, and that's another online community you can lurk or participate in depending on your comfort levels. Another good one is Carnival of Aros and that's just a monthly blogging event where aros are invited to make a blog post according to a theme. And that's particularly great if you're looking for aro view points and experiences.

For info, the LGBTA Wiki and the Aromantic Wiki will be able to define anything you need defined. And Arocalypse also has a really great FAQ.

And yeah even if you're still questioning and not sure if aro-spec/gray-aro/demiromantic is right for you or not, helping move past that fear of being aro will help a lot. And make the questioning process much easier.

So hopefully this helps, if you have more questions or at any point you want help with anything, feel free to send in another ask.

All the best, Anon!

[legobiwan]

I love your blog. Also I really appreciate your thoughts on tbbf, especially when it came to Ashoka.

Out of curiosity, my boyfriend loves the black series figures, (all the figures really but specifically those) what is your experience like when shopping? Like yeah you can get nearly anything online. But sometimes that’s just not an option because scalpers and pre orders sell out in 2 seconds. How often do you find the newer figures in stores, if you do go out and look that is. Idk I thought I’d ask you because you seem like someone that would have some experience and insight on this. Because he follows stuff on Facebook and he sees people finding stuff at Walmart in more populated city areas that nowhere else ever has in stock or has even heard of. I think it’s because the staff keeps stuff put aside in the back for their friends and stuff because they know these can be worth real money. Which is so bogus because he is more of a “twinkle in your eye, I collect this figure because I like them” kinda guy. You know? Lol sorry I just hate scalpers and can very much relate because I’m very into the Pokémon cards right now and people in that fandom are RUTHLESS.

First of all, thank you for dropping by! Always happy to have a conversation on the lego-blog :D

Secondly...I am honestly not an expert on figures. (I've chanced through acquiring The Gang(tm) through Target and Barnes and Noble). Long story short, I *really* (really) try to avoid online shopping (FUCK YOU AMAZON AND SINCERELY FUCK YOU BEZOS) for any of this stuff. Best bets in my experience would be comic stores and those weird stores at malls that sell fandom stuff and a disturbing (and by disturbing, I mean, I would like to buy all of them) variety of knives.

Used toy stores are also fun to go to and can be a great resource for interesting figures, and every now and then Goodwill and its brethren come through in a pinch (I realize this is highly location-dependent).

I honestly can't speak to resources if you live outside of a major metropolitan area, but I'd check craigslist, reddit, and whatever big box stores you may have around. Maybe someone else reading this post will have better resources to share!

[shadowmaat]

While I do think/hope, that I've taken some strides in the recent past in regards to educating myself in regards to internalized/subconcious bias, I recall you mentioning ages ago, that you've learnt a lot about this through fiction and online interactions.

Technically I fall into a couple of "categories" as well, yet even as a neurodivergent and ace person - very white though - myself I have only recently (like 3-4 years ago maybe?) begun noticing media and cultural bias in regards to these things. Until then I kind of just ran with these, I suppose? E.g. I just accepted my old therapist telling me my asexuality and me being nonbinary was a product of my relationship with my mum and would be "cureable" through succesfull therapy. Or ofc how so many characters (nd/POC/LGBTQ/disabled...) are so often portrayed as conservative and very hurtful stereotypes.

I hope it's not irresponsible/falling right in line with the problem, that I'd be asking you, instead of seeking out several other blogs. The latter is likely for the better admittedly, but I don't know where to start and find well-written posts, from which I can honestly learn, because while there's plenty of these on tumblr, there's also plenty that are just - very understandbly - angry posts but lacking the information I might need to educate myself.

I'm planning on writing a fic including POC, disabled characters and diverse sexualities but I want to make sure, that I'll check my biases and don't produce anything hurt- or disrespectful.

So if you could recommend blogs or old posts, unless if it is too much of a bother, I'd highly appreciate it. Thank you!

I'm very flattered that you feel comfortable coming to me, and gosh, do I know that feeling of wanting to get things right and also being intimidated by trying to dig through overwhelming amounts of stuff to find what you need! I'm not sure how much help I can be since I just sort of wing it and constantly adjust as I go, but I'll do my best.

I'll start off by saying that if you want some good reading lists for books featuring various flavors of queer, @ace-artemis-fanartist has some great lists (as well as some incredible fanart of course).

This post has a simplified rundown of the different flavors on the ace spectrum.

This post gives some basic do's and don't's of writing a deaf character (which, now that I review it, means I should update some of my own stuff).

This post has a generalized list of things to watch out for while writing characters with marginalized identities.

For a more in-depth resource on writing characters of color, there's @writingwithcolor

@fixyourwritinghabits is more generalized advice, but their lovely tags page includes all the things you've asked about and a whole lot more.

I wish you the best of luck! And don't let yourself get so hung up on the fear of making mistakes that you let it stop you. Writing is a learning experience, and if you DO mess up then you can take steps to correct your misunderstandings and the next time you'll know better. Hopefully this will at least give you a few avenues to explore and use as jumping off points for more. :)

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

I love your blog(I’m nonbinary and your posts are super awesome and accepting) and I still love the Bible, but I’m thinking about converting to Islam. But my dad works for a church and I don’t think my parents would react well to me converting. Do you have any tips/ideas please and thank you?

Hey there! I love that Islam is calling to you right now; it’s a beautiful faith and I pray you receive the wisdom and help you need to discern where you’re meant to be. <3

That being said, it’s unfortunately quite possible that your parents will resist you converting. Please make your safety a priority, okay? You know your parents best and can gauge better than I can whether possible resistance would “only” be tense and uncomfortable, or actually endanger you. Please have a safety net prepared in case things do break bad -- such as a friend or someone else who’d be willing to let you crash with them for a while (if you live with your parents), some money stored up out of your parents’ reach, etc.

First things first, do you know your parents’ stance on Islam in general? A horrifying amount of Christians hold very islamophobic views, so “testing the waters” as it were by bringing up Islam in a general way with them might be a good start to see how big their reaction will be.

If your parents do hold any anti-Islam views, here are some resources you might share with them or draw from in holding conversations with them:

Debunking misconceptions about Islam

Another article with more misconceptions debunked, including stuff about Jihad and “Sharia law”

Article on how we should not blame Islam for terrorism

And here’s a website that breaks down basic facts about Islam that your parents might find helpful if they know little or nothing about the religion

____________

When and how to bring this up with your parents

Prepare for this discussion in advance -- don’t just do it spontaneously. You might want to write out what you plan to say so that if you get flustered, you’ll have it written down and you won’t forget anything.

Choose a time when your parents are relatively relaxed, in good moods, and don’t have any pressing concerns coming up that same day that they’ll have to leave the conversation to attend to. You might also want to tell them at the start of the conversation that you are about to talk about something that’s important to you, and ask them to hold off interrupting till you can get it all out.

For the first conversation with your parents, I think you should avoid that big word “converting” and stick to something like “I want to explore Islam” for now -- until you’re actually positive conversion is your aim. You can even say you’re just interested in learning about other religions to help you enrich your own faith, and Islam has been intriguing you.

It especially makes sense to hold off on the word “conversion” if you’ve yet to visit local Muslim communities, such as a nearby mosque -- before committing to Islam, you will certainly want to do that and talk to an imam or other Muslim religious leader about your desire to learn more and potentially convert to Islam. No use in freaking your parents out before you’ve taken those steps! (And if you can’t talk to an imam in person, I bet you could email local imams and have an online discussion by looking up contact info on mosque websites.)

For this first talk, focus on the similarities between Islam and Christianity. Our religions are diverse and rich and have many wonderful differences -- but your parents may feel more at ease to know what we have in common. 

Here are some links to content you may find useful for helping your parents see how Christianity and Islam connect:

We share a lot of biblical stories and figures, such as Hagar and Ishmael as this post details! We also share Adam, Abraham, angels like Gabriel, and even Jesus and Mary!

Here’s a great webpage on what Islam teaches about Jesus and Mary -- and the website its on seems great in general for you as you explore Islam more

Here’s an article on how Jesus provides a common ground for Muslims and Christians <3 

Here’s a lovely story of a Muslim family helping out a Christian one and joining into one family.....

...and a story of a Christian family doing the same for a Muslim family and becoming one!

I love those two stories because it shows how hospitality and generosity are core values for Christians and Muslims alike, and how Christians and Muslims can get together so well that they become one family. Just as your family will include both Christians and Muslims if you end up converting to Islam.

There’s also a book I hold dear to my heart that features a devout Christian who explores and finds wisdom within multiple other faiths, including Islam -- it’s Barbara Brown Taylor’s Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faiths of Others. I think you might really like it -- and maybe after a while of easing your parents into this topic, you could offer it to them as well. They might be encouraged to hear a Christian woman talk about the beauty to be found within Islam. 

You can read some passages from Holy Envy in my tag here.

Holy Envy also explores the fear of hell that is high up in a lot of Christians’ minds when it comes to non-Christians -- if your parents have been taught that only Christians go to heaven, their resistance to you converting may well involve a genuine fear for you. Holy Envy acknowledges that fear and helps Christians unpack it. 

Islam teaches that Christians go to heaven -- why shouldn’t Christians believe that Muslims go to heaven? There are a great many devoted Christians who believe that non-Christians can and do go to heaven. It might be important to your parents to explore these ideas.

(And, if worst comes to worst and they just. refuse to believe non-Christians go to heaven, you can remind them that you have been baptized (if you have been), so you should be covered there lol)

Another book I adore that’s from a Muslim perspective is Eboo Patel’s Acts of Faith -- Patel is committed to interfaith relationships and writes a lot about his time exploring Christianity and about how important interfaith relationships are for all involved. You can find passages from this book in my Acts of Faith tag.

Your parents’ initial reaction may also be negative simply because they don’t know much about the conversion process -- maybe they’ve never heard of anyone converting from Christianity to Islam, for instance.

Here’s a short TED talk titled “What I learned by converting from Christianity to Islam” that might prove helpful for them.

If/when you do develop a relationship with a Muslim religious leader, you might invite your parents to have a conversation with them. Getting to know an “Actual Muslim” who can answer their questions might help move the religion from the abstract into the concrete, and personalize the religion for your parents. 

__________

Depending on how severe your parents’ reaction is, it might turn out to be very difficult to convert to Islam while still a dependent (if you are currently either a minor or financially dependent on them). If that’s the case, you may have to postpone your official conversion till you’re on your own -- but you can keep exploring Islam now! Visiting local communities, reading the Quran and checking out resources for folks new to Islam, practicing Muslim rituals....if you do all that now, you’ll be more ready when you are able to formally convert!

Wishing you the best, anon! Keep safe and no matter how things turn out with your parents, hang in there. It might take time and a lot of difficult conversation to get them on board. But don’t lose hope <3

[keow]

What advice would you give to someone who grew up in an atheist household but feels a vague connection to God? My family wasn't for or against any religion so I grew up indifferent but also comforted by religious memorabilia, going in churches, etc. I know that sounds wishy-washy but I'd like to explore it more but I don't know where to start and what to read to learn more, to decide what I think.

There are probably better blogs you could ask about this than mine, but I'll try my best. I’m going to answer this under the cut because it got really lengthy hehe. Also sorry this took so long to answer, I've been pretty busy!

So firstly it seems like we had really similar experiences growing up. My mom was “spiritual” and agnostic, raising me without exposure to really any religion (besides maybe Buddhism and a little bit of nondenominational Christianity—she shopped around a bit). I think this sort of background is becoming more and more common in society, so you aren’t alone.

Because of this non-religious childhood I can also tell you firsthand that there are a lot of bad things out there. For basically the entirety of my adolescence I was involved in witchcraft, paganism, and “new age” spirituality. I’m just going to tell you straight up that this is bad news. Please don’t fall for any of their bullshit. I literally worshipped and communicated with demons for years and it turned me into a horrible, evil person. Don’t fall for the “law of attraction” bullshit either, no matter how seductive it seems.

With that out of the way…

I am still in the process of converting so I can’t give you the perspective of someone who has completed that process, but I can tell you what has helped me figure out a lot of things religion-wise.

Firstly, the most important thing is to ask questions. If you do not ask questions, you cannot learn. If you do not learn, you will never know truth. So ask questions.

You say you feel drawn to churches, so I’m going to operate on the assumption that you want to know more about Christianity. If this isn’t the case then… well… ummmm well I ummummumummm Uh.

You’ve probably heard “Jesus died for your sins” before, but it’s very easy to just gloss over that because the idea is kind of pushed around our society without anyone really explaining it. Like I had no clue what that meant or how it worked before I started asking these questions.

“What are the doctrinal differences between these two religions? What about between these two branches of the same religion?” “Why is this biblical event important?” “How does the Trinity work?” “How do we know Jesus is the Messiah?” Et cetera. Any question you can think of, find out the answer to it. Catholic Answers is a pretty good place to start!

Secondly, as you’re in this “research” phase, I highly suggest immersing yourself in media that deals with religion as a whole. I listened to a lot of catholic podcasts and watched a lot of YouTube videos that explained some very important theological concepts that I didn’t quite understand. It’s not a proper education by any means but it will help you get the basics down.

Ideally, you’d be able to ask someone about this in person and get proper responses (assuming the person is knowledgeable and can explain things well). Like seriously, you should do this. Online stuff is nice but it isn’t a replacement for finding a parish and talking to someone.

I couldn’t really do this because I didn’t have access at the time when I was really becoming curious (pandemic and stuck with anti-theist parents lol), so if you’re in a similar situation, the internet is your best friend. In that stage I also followed a lot of catholic and orthodox blogs so I would be surrounded with that content as much as possible. Kind of like how if you’re trying to learn a language you need to immerse yourself in it I guess?

In my pinned post I have a lot of resources that were useful to me linked near the bottom :)

I highly suggest getting a Bible or AT LEAST downloading a good Bible app. Multiple actually. Or listen to something like the Bible in a Year podcast by Fr. Mike Schmitz. I have a study Bible with a lot of footnotes which is GREAT if you love knowing about translations, original texts, and historical context, but not as great if you just want to read the story of salvation itself.

Now you can be the most knowledgeable person on a religion, knowing all the history and all the doctrine, but if you don’t have a relationship with God it means absolutely nothing. The most important thing is to pray. You can’t have a relationship with God if you do not pray. Ask for guidance, ask for assistance in becoming more virtuous, pray for others, just talk to God about anything.

Personally I bought myself a nice rosary once I started seriously considering Catholicism and started to pray using that, but there are countless ways to pray.

The ways that work best for me are lectio divina and the rosary. I can never seem to finish novenas, but those are also nice, and listening to hymns and chant helps me connect to God a lot! ALSO learning about church history and the various saints throughout it. Again, you might be different, so just find what works for you!

LASTLY.

IT’S NOT WEIRD AT ALL TO CONVERT AS AN ADULT!!!!! Speaking for Christianity, that is. For something like Judaism it would probably be a bit stranger, especially since Judaism is so heavily linked to a specific culture and ethnicity.

Christianity however is very open to adult converts. That’s how it got started in the first place. There are countless saints who converted later in life, so please please don’t feel weird about it. The Church is probably the most friendly to converts out of all religions. Here’s an article on the Catholic conversion process for adults!

TLDR:

Ask questions, learn, pray, learn some more, pray even more, go find an RCIA program so you can get catechized and baptized. LOVE YOU <3

[iaintyourbro]

But isn't the one who forget about Zack the devs not us they were so bias toward Aerith all these years as someone who's a big fan of Zack I felt so disappointed and furious at them because Zack gave his life to Cloud and Aerith gave her life to save the planet but all I saw is his over the top guilt over Aerith heck even the op of AC had him bury her in the water where's Z ?? No where to be found it was only in the complete version , what IAM saying it not us who keep forgetting about Zack(1)

Not to mention all these years despite Tifa who ended up with him SE kept promoting A as the love interest while Tifa kept being negelating by SE so it not only Z but T too , that why I'm happy right now with their treatment to T after years of being so bias toward A and forgetting what Z done to C and T ,but I know I can't trust SE i know what they're going to do for next parts I do know one thing they are going to hype A to the last scene of her and leave T to the last as usual (2)

Hi anon.

I’ve never felt they were biased towards Aerith. Talking to Japanese fans, Tifa is by far more popular overall in Japan. Worldwide she’s had more cameo appearances. The only other FFVII character that has more than her is Cloud. When polls that are actually controlled (not bottable), Tifa is more popular. 

Google trends shows that Cloti has always been more popular - since 2004, which is the furthest back it’ll go. I don’t fully trust it since I don’t think it takes every area into account, but it is interesting to see the stark difference. 

There will always be fan service - and in the case of things like Airship Brigade (I think that’s what its called) you can have whatever couple you want. It’s for fun, but it’s not canon.

I think that’s where people can get mixed up. There’s fanon/fanservice and canon. Canon doesn’t show any type of romantic relationship between Cloud and Aerith. In fanon you can have this happen - but that’s because it’s fanon. I can also make Clack/Zakkura legit in fanon. It’s not canon. 

There’s actually more evidence for Clack/Zakkura and AerTi than there is for CA, but that’s not for this post.

I think unfortunately some antis spread a lot of false information online and they really do make it seem like its their life’s work to do this. New fans can get confused and discouraged and slowly learn what the truth is. Yesterday I saw a tweet that somebody just finally found out that Maiden Who Traveled the Planet and Dismantled weren’t actually canon resources, but had been told by people online that they were. 

Fans of C/A - especially Tifa haters - will make people think that Tifa is hated by SE and everyone else. It’s just not true. SE is going to go with where the money is in most cases. Nojima and the team want to make sure their story is clear now. OG, Advent Children, and Case of Tifa are usually very misunderstood. If you put ALL of the compilation together and actually look at it as it should be looked at, all of this makes sense. 

In the case of Zack, he’s a very popular character. I think timing can cause a problem here, and I just had this argument last night. 

Dirge of Cerberus came out in 2006. 

Crisis Core - 2007

Advent Children Complete - 2009

Revised Cases in OtWtaS - 2009

People will argue since in DoC it’s not explicitly stated that Cloud and Tifa are lovers/romantically involved, that it must not have ever worked out. The devs purposely put Crisis Core out. They purposely redid parts of Advent Children and their novels because they realized people had SEVERELY misunderstood things.

Zack isn’t mentioned in DoC because at the time he was only mentioned in OG briefly and shown briefly during the Lifestream and then if you go and find the hidden/optional scene from the Shinra Mansion basement. 

The reason Tifa is called a childhood friend in things like user guides is because the big reveal on what is actually going on with Cloud is the plot twist. Why would they freely advertise that? It’s a big reveal, it’s supposed to be a surprise. In the case of DoC’s guide, they get stuck on that and the “engraved in heart” which is actually “who he’ll never forget” in the English version - either way - why would he forget her? She was killed in front of him. He tried to kill her twice.

The other thing... people really forget how much guilt Tifa has. It’s just not heavily talked about and a LOT of people haven’t read Case of Tifa. I think it was one of the best things I did because it filled in some concerns I had over Advent Children. 

So Zack isn’t forgotten - but they do keep his stuff sealed because it’s part of the ending of Remake Part 1. Zack was WRITTEN in so much for the Famitsu poll, they had to censor his name because of spoilers. He wasn’t even an option and people still got him int he top 10 - that’s how well liked he is. 

A lot of people also will flat out deny Crisis Core. I saw this just as recently as yesterday as well. It’s hard to navigate at times. I think the only way I can keep myself sane is to ONLY refer and look at canon materials. To ONLY use non-optional scenes in arguments. 

Even spin-off games like Kingdom Hearts end up showing Cloti. People said he was looking for Aerith, but he was actually looking for Sephiroth. People say Aerith was his light, but Nomura confirmed that Tifa was his light.

These two here are good to go over the KH and some other stuff. 

The Love Triangle of FFVII - LS.net

Cloud and Tifa in Kingdom Hearts - by @danseru-kun

In conclusion, the devs love Tifa too much to be neglecting her. The internet is a den of monsters. It’s like SOLDIER. It’s messy, it’s brutal, and full of lies. You can think something is more popular just by reading a biased person’s blog or going to certain websites. They’re very good at swaying you. Look at official materials, what games have been released where Cloud and Tifa have cameos, and decide for yourself on it.

I think Mobius also has a whole One True Love thing where Cloud is trying to remember something and it’s heavily implied that it’s Tifa. The little fairy thing actually is the one trying to help him with this. @silver-wield may have some more info on this. 

Hey, Silver, I think I picked a good summoning gif for you. :)

[lang-learner]

Korean Resource Masterpost

Hello language learners of the internet, more specifically, Korean learners. Some time ago I made a Korean resource masterpost, which you can find here, and I decided to make a bigger one with more things I recommend. 

Grammar

HowtostudyKorean.com - Honestly the best in my opinion. I appreciate the explanations and all the examples. A lot of Korean learners don’t like this website because it has a lot of information but if you focus on the main point, and write down the examples and try to understand why a certain grammar point is used instead of another, you will make a lot of progress.

GoBillyKorean - I still recommend this. You can click here for some of the pdfs from his lessons or go to his youtube channel where he has full lessons on grammar points. His website also has the free PDF’s. He is still doing free lessons on youtube and you can vote on what lesson you would like him to do next. 

My Korean 1 / My Korean 2 - These textbooks focus a lot on conversational Korean and vocabulary. I like the drawings and how they explain the vocabulary used in the dialogue. I don’t appreciate the romanization since I don’t think it’s necessary besides for writing Korean names in English but you can just ignore the romanization. You can also find the audios that go with the textbook.

Korean Grammar for Speaking 2 - So this is series of audio lessons that focus on spoken Korean grammar. You may find them in an app called AudioClip which is Korean and has podcasts. It is available in the app store and playstore. I believe these lessons are based on the book, which is very popular. If you can’t afford the book, I recommend checking these audio lessons out.

Talk To Me In Korean - Personally I am not a big fan but this is a good resource as well. A lot of people like it. It depends on your learning style.

Korean Grammar in Use - Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced - Personally I don’t recommend these unless you are an upper intermediate learner, then I recommend using the Intermediate and Advanced textbooks to review and see if you learn new things, new vocab and do the exercises. I feel like it is very easy to get confused about the proper usages as a beginner. 

Berkeley Online Intermediate Korean - I don’t know what to make of this website but it’s pretty neat. It has texts with audio and the grammar explanations below.  There are only 27 lessons but it’s worth checking out.

Vocabulary 

Quizlet - I love quizlet. I like making small sets of words I learned from my grammar lessons, examples I wrote down and things I heard natives use. It’s the best app in my opinion. It is both a website and an app. 

HowtostudyKorean.com - The first units have explanations and examples to the vocabulary lists which is useful and the lessons themselves use some of the vocabulary. Also some lessons are focused on difficult Korean words which is nice.

TTMIK: Word Showdown - This small pdf explains the differences between commonly used words. I recommend really it.

TTMIK: Korean Slang Expressions Volume 1 - Like the name states, Talk to me in Korean teaches you here useful slang expression

TTMIK: Korean Slang Expressions Volume 2  - Volume 2 of the previous one.

TTMIK: Everyday Korean Idiomatic Expressions  

Translator

Papago - You can find the app or just go to the website.

Listening practice 

Netlix - Since I last made my last masterpost, Netflix added a lot of Korean dramas and a lot of them are good in my opinion. 

Youtube - I won’t recommend any specific channels but you can find just about anything. Look up keywords in Korean and find youtubers that upload content that you like.

KissTVShow - You can find variety shows and dramas subbed here.

Reading 

I don’t recommend reading books until you are at a very advanced level since it requires a lot of grammar and vocabulary knowledge to understand most of it, but there are fun stuff you can read that’s easier.

HumansofSeoul - They have a tumblr and facebook page full of articles of people and their stories. They have the English translation which is super useful. I recommend this for intermediate learners.

pillon_toon - Cute mini comics in Korean on Instagram. 

illistrator_grace_j - I love their art and the story going on with the characters. which are animals.

Webtoons - This is the Naver website for webtoons. 

Conjugation

Dongsa - I can’t even express how useful this website is. You can look up a verb to see its conjugations or look up a conjugated verb to see its “dictionary” form.

★ Tengugo - I learned hangul mainly from here and really recommend it. They have mini lessons, audios of how to pronounce each character and quizzes. It works without wifi so you can practice anywhere.

Blogs / Instagram 

Yes. Instagram because you can find a lot of really useful pages that teach Korean.

mystudykorean - This blog is really nice and it has a lot of different information. The blog isn’t active as of the moment but there is useful information.

BitesizedKorean - Another tumblr blog that I like.

K2nlearner - They post Korean sentences that are used daily in conversation every 2-3 days.

Learning Korean with Bam - A native Korean speaker that uploads clips of useful sentences with audio.

Daily Korean phrase -  Like the name of the page says, they upload photos with useful phrases.

RedKim Korean - Really cute Instagram page with useful phrases.