#some i will just accept arent for me and will focus on the elements i love

[bloodmoonlich]

GUTS rank after my 7th listen (1 day):

making the bed (+0)

love is embarrassing (+5)

all-american bitch (-1)

bad idea right? (-1)

vampire (-1)

ballad of a homeschooled girl (+1)

get him back! (+3)

pretty isn't pretty (-3)

the grudge (-3)

teenage dream (-1)

logical (+0)

lacy (+0)

[starwell-tarot]

hello darling!!! 🐿️🐢

hope your gloomy day still went pretty well, tell me about it!

some advice i can concentrate better on - as a mentionned yesterday it is definitly true that i like challenge and i got motivated by the idea of trying to find a way to make concentrating in class smth stimulating for my brain ofc i still need to find ways to it right but its a really charming idea to me! i also need to focus at home and get work done there to be able to concentrate better in class so its a whole process that im ready to try out with the method your proposed to me

motivation - feeding my soul, how poetic wow it is true that im very lucky to study what im studying rn and its actually stuff that are useful in life and if i dont find it interesting then maybe it can still be informations that i can share with others right? there is an enormous amount of material in every law classes so i wont be able to memorize everything but your advice made me see things differently and i actually want to try to remember most of it on the LONG TERM and not only for exams! once again it is an advice that really speaks to me and that i will think about when studying

balance - i actually LOVE lists/ plannings/ etc like writing everything i want to do for the day and packing my schedule with many different stuff like seeing many friends, doing productive stuff for school, doing my hobbies it really helps me see how i spend my time and share out the different things i do (so i dont do the same thing over and over again) and i cant believe i FORGOT about it like i actually stopped doing it and i forgot i am so grateful for this advice

relationships - my friends often complain that i dont share intimate things with them like my daily problems and all but i actually just dont see what they could do about it? anyway i still struggle with these things i'll try to question myself more often to see whats the right thing to do for everyone when im in a bad spot like you adviced

avoid stress - im really not good at dealing with negative emotions lmaooo its also gonna be a challenging point i'll try to believe as much as i can that stress is not an end its just a signal just like you said once again thank you for your works i'll try my best

self care - its so beautiful! i live in the city so im not that much in contact with nature but its true that whenever i go help my grandmother in the countryside it feels refreshing i just need more time to do so! now that i know its smth that could help me i'll keep that in mind and prioritize doing in these situations! im a taurus after all! even tho earth is only my third dominant element im an earth sign lmao

words of encouragement - everyone seems to be wrong about everything its crazy ajkdhdbnzev i really should be more humble its a problem but anyway yes even tho i think some people are stupid deep down i'll still take their opinion into consideration just in case when in fact i shouldnt with your advice i'll try to accept that sometimes peoples advices just arent for me and maybe they'll help someone but its not my case! thanks

daydreaming - yes in my experience heavy daydreaming has been because STRESS, bored in my life and obligations i have that i dont want to do the problem is that it really put me in problematic positions everything comes down to stress at the end so if i understand how to deal with my stress i wont feel the need to escape like this :/ i'll definitily think about your advice and when i notice im starting to daydream heavily ill try to ask myself why and to resolve the issue

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR READING!!!!! everything really spoke to me and ill make sure to apply it well in my life from now on i'll think about your kind words and do my best!

Hello! My gloomy day was comfy 😁

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a lengthy feedback 🖤 it means a lot and it's very helpful.

I'm also glad to hear you're enjoying the perspectives and ideas the cards gave 🤔

I went on a whim with the challenge thing and then I was like ... Wait a sec .. didn't they say they have Aries placements? It just clicked at that point. I knew i was right on the money 😂

I was so taken aback by that high priestess card. Truth be told I too had the same mentality in high school! I studied just to know things. To grow wiser as an individual. (Went to a science college (it's a high school despite the name)) So I can kinda see it! Law is very very broad of a subject and there's a lot to study. But it's also so so useful in life! I actually had some law students save my ass when I had a very bad boss at a workplace once they helped me with the contract lol So yeah i definitely think you can become very wise as a law student!

Glad I can help you get back to your lists, too! And uhm, I don't think any human is ever GOOD at dealing with negative emotions. I mean, they're meant to make us uncomfortable ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But being gentle and understanding and honest with yourself does make it better!

And I mean yes I see your point. Maybe your friends will not be able to DO anything about your problems but here's the thing. Keeping things hidden creates more stress in the human mind. It's like an extra layer. It's not just "I'm frustrated and confused" It's "I'm frustrated, confused, and keeping it to myself." If you talk to someone, it gets easier 😁 Plus, talking about what goes on inside your mind can actually put you on the spot in such a way you unconsciously organize your thoughts and find the answers yourself. (Like those scenes in movies when a character goes to rant to another one and they literally spend the entire time talking to themselves, giving themselves advice and thanking the other person although they did absolutely nothing 😂)

Literally when I was doing your reading i had "Go touch some grass, bro." In my head 😂 But yes, as an earth sign you probably could feel so much more grounded and peaceful if you interact with nature. 😁

And just wanted to remind you I answered your ask about the double interpretation tarot reading and you can send it to me anytime!

[startwithbrooklyn]

THE GREAT ND REWATCH OF 2021 / SEPTEMBER 30, 2019 // larkspur lane/the whisper box

this post is a double whammy cause they have 2 eps happen in the same day if u can believe it (thats how awful judging timelines in this show is!!)

-"hi josh..." LMAOOOOOOO

-BESS just breaking in lmaooo how many god damn times does bess just shit the bed in this show

-LOVE her frowny face at nancys closet ("my expectations are low" lmfaoooo but this would totally be me)

-"bet she meant it metaphorically" okayyy but then why did lucy say that at all? i feel like theres defo more to this story, combined with josh's cagey behavior (part of which is to get nancy to stop looking into shit d/t him and karen but still)

-"they dont accept visitors unless they're family" .....🙂

-ace "youre really good at that" to bess i fuckin love this friendship with all my heart (also love their talk at the claw mirroring nick & nancys talk in the last ep)

-also PINK AND ORANGE BESS ARE U BLIND (also 1) why tf would nancy own this and 2) where would she wear it??)

-okay wtf is vampire dip

-"boss??" see this is what i meant yesterday about nancy ruining everything for nick/george

-god DAMN she sucks at dealing with this news lmaooo that emotional competency babey + love george literally agrees to help bc she feels bad (AND nicks immediate look of "you just reprimanded me for helping her last ep and i know why youre doing this rn" lmaoooo)

-LOVE george noticing nick "shout out to jean valjean" lmaooo once again nancy would never have noticed/commented on something like that

-"get the hell out of here" was this foreshadowing for an epic dad joke for these two eps? "how do you make holy water? you boil the hell out of it" 😂😂😂😂

-so what i dont get about the whole haunting is the ball + kids' laughter but its all the emphasis on "mr roper" the adult? wtf like what kind of entity is this

-"how did you ever have a solo career??" 😂

-okay amaya's hair is gorgeous here (also "you feel like a snack" ....👀) *ahhh so the reason bess feels so off balance is bc its like a top vs a top scenario

-has anyone who's ever been to prison confirmed this is what it looks like?

-love how ace is the only employee there when they all leave so he had to fucking close the place when he goes

-why does she take the whole file? time constraints? it'd be smarter to take pics + replace it (better sleuthing) but this place is clearly not well run anyway 😂

-so this is a pretty decent cover she invents but theres no way she would get away with it so easily for a real guard

-love how ace recognizes ryan's car (+ is able to find it by driving around)

-"my father wouldnt do anything like that" LMFAOOOOOO SIS WHY ARE U DEFENDING HIM ironically, ace is actually the best person suited to engage w ryan here d/t the car accident + connection with laura being ryans SIL. its a unique set up

-i am fascinated by the concept of priests + holy water being so effective here combined with mcginnis' beliefs and basically nondenominational ghosts/seances etc after that. the show is very clearly big on diversity but definitely steers clear from too much WASP stuff yk? wonder if other stuff from christianity works against the ghosts/demons like taking refuge in a church "holy ground" or using silver etc

-"did this start after the night of sept 10?" *this is where you get the time line for the seance if you didnt know

-this is so fucking funny when u realize that patient sal talks to is actually a ghost so sal really is psycho i guess 😂

-bitchsplain/tall jar of mayonnaise 🙏🏻😌 2gether 4ever

-how did ace get this van? also heart attack when he yells at carson (but then grins at him like a goofball lmaooo)

-"for nancys sake and yours" damn she owes ace big time for all this shit

-"what do we do for 7 minutes?" ...ummm play 7 minutes in heaven lmaooo 👀🥵

-was not expecting ace to look this sexy holding an axe but okay (*ah, its his short sleeve shirt showing his arms. usually hes a sleeves guy)

-"desperate for attention" nancy (from gomber) vs "bc she's starved for attention" patrice --> lucy (and candace also...) we know nancys detective work makes her seem like an attention seeker, but what was lucy doing to make them all think that? she was trying to hide her relationship with ryan, not expose it. unless they just mean the rumors about her?

-so is patrice hiding lucy's "truth" talking about lucy being a whore or lucy being a ghost? what is lucy's secret? did patrice guess she was pregnant or did patrice's somehow garbled mind remember tiffany trying to show patrice the video with lucy on it?

-wonder what captain thom thinks of this stand off w ace lmaooo

-"like you do?" top v top shenanigans

-how awko for carson to talk to karen again like this

-"oh no" ACE 😂

-love how amaya says "be a human" like shes kind of admitting people in rich circles typically arent (^this is an interesting focus in s2 when bess's rich family rejects her, thus making her human again, but nancy embraces her rich fam and experiences subsequent moral struggle which is predicted with the wraith)

-wonder what ryan thinks he could get from the marvins (which he cant get now lmaooo)

-this damn whisper box. so many questions. who named it the whisper box? why are the ropers' old possessions still there? who decided to build a mental hospital on top of it? and patrice! she "hid lucy's secrets" hannah gruen thinks tiffany tried to show patrice video w lucy on it, which patrice then specifically says she hid in the thin mans book. so patrice knows of the thin man? can she see him? does she know he was a ghost/supernatural? she must have a supernatural sense to know about him (unless sal told or some shit) so then when tiffany shows up w/ lucy being supernatural in it patrice hides it to protect her? is this why she is "crazy" kinda like victoria? supernatural elements or ability to sense ghosts makes her unstable? this is why lucy being a ghost/nursery rhyme that she repeats makes patrice worse/"stroke"? how did patrice even get into the whisper box to put the key in the bible and get out without getting trapped? also, her dementia --> lucidity is really fucking off, some people mildly switch like that but usually with dementia they cant even register new shit anymore

-...so did bess take the ride? 👀

-interesting how celia says "your father will be disappointed" but nothing of her own opinion. wonder how much celia truly puts up with to keep everett calm and nonhomicidal

-like george asking nick follow up questions that nancy never really would have asked

🥞🥞🥞(ep13)🥞🥞🥞

-is this bitch just eating a plain pancake with her bare hand?

-"extra case load and excessive volunteering" ugh. nancy's family here are like, gross in how "good" of people they are // unrealistic, trying to paint carson in the best light/ no way ryan could ever compare (but the reality is theyre not that good of people for lying about nancy) **and shes arrogant to think shes better than everyone else ie the only one who truly lives virtuously, thinks she can do no wrong sometimes even tho using sex to cope, breaking and entering, etc is not morally "good" stuff she still thinks she is the only one who doesnt lie and plays fair (like in the pilot she lists everyone else as a suspect but herself- obviously we know she isnt guilty but no one else does. (i mean in theory we really dont, what if nancy was an unreliable narrator and was actually guilty, that would be a hella cool show)its reactions like that where she cant understand why others like the chief suspect her

-ooooh ironic that in the Good Place carson readily agrees to pay her for helping with cases as opposed to s2 in reality

-nick's house has "problems" so why does he need a lawyer? as opposed to an interior designer, plumber, or realtor?

-in the Good Place nick and george realize they are not going to work out after one date. does this failure in the Good Place predict failure in reality, or merely an easier way of figuring out the truth? does this mean that the "opposite" of the Good Place is reality, or only an opinion of what is better? (nancy says "you all like me" as her opinion of them liking her is skewed; does this then only reflect nancys version for what is the "perfect life"?)

-why is bess a hippie??? and love how george curls her hair and wears pink lipstick here

-if this dream is so realistic then why is the one thing it cant conjure smoke? like how random

-love the locket being a key realization bc with things like jewelry you dont notice the weight of them until theyre gone

-"you all like me" in her perfect life nancy means they "like" her objectively/regardless of circumstance even though liking her is still an objective choice (like they "like" her because of other reasons instead of her working at the claw? (like how you make friends with coworkers/people at school every day but after you leave the job/graduate you never speak to them again) and her "thanks for showing up!" as if theyre not doing exactly that in reality 😐like where is she getting this shit? she sort of acknowledges in earlier eps she is hard to like/that she puts mysteries before friends, but also pushing them away to avoid danger like the previous ep "why do u show up" etc

-is it just me or does the inside of nicks "house" look like the drews'?

-nick has a dick scar lmaooooo (or more likely was hit in the balls or smth)

-love how nick + george match their anger in confronting sal 100% on the same level

-so when did ace go back to work after having such a busy day earlier?? lmaooo

-damn father shane is a creep (casting defo hired him for his voice) and how tf did he just poof + escape? and what did he request???

-love bess's white hair bow here 😌+ her jacket, whole outfit on point as usual

-like how bess is right that nancy has to find her way out but thats kind of a nonstarter for a room full of panicked people wanting to help

-in the Good Place theres no bad blood between drews + hudsons bc nancy is really theirs

-"the only one who has the key is you" in the Good Place nancy has the key (smaller picture, to finding out what happened to lucy but bigger picture, post-reveal) but ryan has the clues nancy needs- following the Good Place's mirroring, this just means that in reality ryan will either be completely useless or an active hindrance (but you KNOW this is a dream bc in what universe would ryan remember clues like that 😂)

-so in a perfect universe ryan acknowledges his family's "criminal empire" as opposed to reality where he only makes under cover jabs about disengaging with being an "entitled corrupt legacy criminal" ie finding the bonny scot relics but does nothing about them, etc

-"strippers" 😂

-okay what is nancys obsession w her beanie?? bc her mom made it? "wear beanies do crimes?" idk

-making the call: nancy -unable to make up for lost time/both her mothers had to find out/suffer alone / in the Good Place nancy was able to be with kate while she called, and in reality she had carson; somethig about seeing the mother looking to the daughter for strength in the Good Place instead of the reverse (which is what reality sounded like, kate being strong for nancy through the illness despite the struggle)

-concept: nancy & nick "let's wait out the storm"

-"i believe that you believe it" nick in the Good Place + owen in reality both trust nancy when she says she's seen things (owen's is the teeth) but nick in reality (and not really knowing details) doesnt think much of their "moment" bc it wasnt real (so she had to leave the Good Place to save carson- but if she had known then he wasnt her real dad, would she have stayed to be w nick?)

-stranger - suede james 💙👌🏻

-"really anxious as a kid" v telling bc of her desire to know everything to remain in control of situations like she always does now

-"the medicine or the metaphysics?"/"you cannot beat supernatural with science"

-i love nancy playing with her pinky while saying goodbye 🥺

-"always seek out the truth even if it hurts" this is straight irony bc kate never told nancy anything. like does that include the truth about nancys parentage? they taught her to seek out the truth, but who taught her that the truth is the only thing to live by? ie things dont count anymore like carson and kate straight up raising her is tossed out bc she finds out its not "the truth" like all that work/stress to protect carson + she just drops him? with kate maybe shes just upset thst she spent all that time mourning for someone who lied. and would she do the same to ryan if needed? probably

-bess and ace head tilt 💙

-like how for all the time she spent there nancy only has a subconscious memory of blue curtains

-YESSSSS i LOVEthese beautiful overhead shots of hannah's hands. so out of character for the show lmao but so gorgeous

-i feel like future eps/grand future will be nancy going through the lock boxes to help people who asked hannah for help

-the video is officially dated Aug 22, 2019

-soooooo in the first ep nancy breaks into the hudsons house and finds tiffanys secret drawer w the nail polish and finds the amulet with a note that says "for your protection HG" yet on this video tiffany says she talked to a medium who gave her the amulet sooooo am i just confused? HG is hannah gruen obvi so is the address for the medium what hannah gave her? or was the address on the amulet which nancy dissolved in salt water to see? so how would tiffany know where to go? its chicken and the egg which came first hannah or the medium?

and lastly:

i close these two eps with a thought that everything in this show is sealed in death. all the lies, the imagery, the fake constructs people put up to get by all crumple the second someone dies- all the secrets come clean just like these doors have been unsealed.

[shruggingcutely]

Random thoughts on 7th Dragon - the economy sucks

I assume nobody follows me for my video game opinions, but hey, I recently found out all the 7th Dragon games that weren’t released in the West (i.e. three out of four) had complete English fan translations, so I decided to go on a journey through the series. I’m about a third into the original 7th Dragon right now.

7th Dragon, if you don’t know, which isn’t too unlikely, is a series of RPGs that started on the NDS when the creator of Etrian Odyssey set out to take his modern take on Wizardry and apply it to the formula of Dragon Quest (which, incidentally, was also inspired by Wizardry – it was, as they say, big in Japan). The dragon apocalypse hits your fantasy world with adorable character designs by Mota, followed by two sequels on the PSP where you fight contemporary/sci-fi dragons not by Mota, and finally the last part of the series, on 3DS, gives you both settings and wraps up the whole thing and somehow was the only part that made it to the West.

The parallels to EO are immediately obvious, as you create a guild and a party of four, complete with front and back row, out of classes that seem a little familiar. The fighter has similar moves as EO’s landsknecht, same for the knight and EO’s protector, etc. Ailments are similar, but binds didn’t make it here. You quickly feel at home, even as it changes up the structure of the game and adds some new combat mechanics.

Fighting dragons is about as fun as you’d expect coming from EO… which is to say a lot, if you enjoyed EO at all. The game gives you so many tools to reduce incoming damage, heal damage, dish out damage, and one I find particularly interesting is the reactive skills. First off, there’s simple parry-style attacks. If your samurai uses the skill corresponding to the right kind of attack the enemy does, they will avoid all damage and retaliate. Then there are skills that trigger counter attacks for several rounds: let your mage put a shock veil on your knight and the enemy will eat lighting every time they dare attack them. Finally, the game’s React skills give you an additional turn when certain requirements are met in the next five rounds. Your healer gets a free turn when a party member dies? Yup. Your rogue gets one on successful counters? Yes. Your princess gets one if a party member gets a turn from their own React skill? Heck yeah. You can do some stuff that is both very gimmicky and very powerful with this, and supposedly the sequels explore these kinds of skills more, so I’m excited.

The game’s structure, however, introduces some problems, some of which are… odd. To accept a quest you have to find an NPC who has one, then accept it at the guild house’s quest board, talk to the NPC again to find out what they want, do the quest, talk to them again, and finally collect your reward at the quest board. These unnecessary steps seem just a little tedious at first, until you get to parts of the game where an NPC in a village without guild house requires your services and you get to go on a long trek to the next big city. And talking to the NPC is the only way to find out what they want, so you better not forget.

One of the game’s big conceits is its dragon counter. There are 666 dragons for you to kill, who, like EO’s infamous FOEs, are powerful enemies that walk around dungeons and join nearby battles, and they are bullies who spread deadly flowers all over the world. These flowers hurt your party as you walk over them and, to make matters worse, increase prices in stores significantly as they presumably cut off trade routes and endanger foragers. Add to this the high random encounter rate that interrupts you every couple of steps and slaying dragons to save humanity feels less like an adventure and more like a job. You do have to pitch your services to several governments. Even in your fantasy RPG, the gig economy.

As Aevee Bee says in her piece on pacing and level design in Bravely Default and Etrian Odyssey about the latter, “And you’re not bored yet, because you run out of resources before you can be, so you really, really want to take that step, explore more, see how much you can push yourself, even though maybe you shouldn’t…see how powerful it is to tempt players into making the wrong choice?” 7th Dragon likes you running out of resources very much. Every map of a dungeon contains 5+ dragons, who, unlike FOEs, aren’t always avoidable and often come in groups that will gang up on you. This means even if you immediately and successfully escape every single one of the numerous random encounters, you can’t take much more than a handful of dragons before you need to heal. Where do you heal? Towns, usually. And thus you make five trips in a row from the city to the dungeon to get rid of as many dragons as you can while getting interrupted by random encounters constantly. This is the first time in an RPG like this where I fled all the time and only fought the dragons I absolutely had to so I could progress. When your level is high enough they barely give any XP, either, which turns it into a high risk, low reward situation, so I kept them around for leveling weaker characters. It’s not like they’re bothering anyone like this anyway.

My starting party didn’t exactly help matters, though. I quickly decided to go with the princess and knight combo, because I love the princess’ role as a buffer with ailments and heals. This is the class I take in every EO game. The knight not only reduces damage to the party a lot, they also deal good damage and have a hard synergy combo with the princess: the skill that declares an enemy wanted does nothing at all, unless you have a knight with the skill that attacks wanted enemies for high damage. The princess’ downside as main healer is twofold: she has no skills to remove ailments from the party and as every EO player knows ailments are very deadly, and she has no revive. Both of these can be compensated for with items, but because these aren’t available early on, I decided to pick a healer as well, which let me focus less on making either of them a pure healer. Result: ehhh, they often end up with turns where they can do nothing of consequence, so I decided to train up either a samurai or a fighter to switch in. With my fourth party member being a mage with three elements, this party suddenly has very good damage. I still haven’t found revive items in shops, though, so my… fighter, most likely, still has some dragons to eat before that. We’ll see how that goes.

By the way, changing your party? Only possible in a single one of the towns. Hope you enjoy traveling.

[coralflower-ao3]

my dark sides theory / interpretation (and a prediction!)

(spoilers for my novel!)

the core of my theory: each light side has a corresponding dark side. these light/dark pairs are not necessarily opposites or enemies, though. they are actually very similar to each other. the point of the pairing is to say that the two can work together well. patton's is virgil and roman's is deceit. why?

anxiety often takes the form of making you take up as little space as possible. it can tell you that you dont deserve to have good things happen to you, and if its strong enough, it can cause morality to be maladaptive by convincing you that you should put yourself aside for the sake of other because you arent important enough.

on the flip side, virgil and pattons friendship is probably the strongest friendship portrayed in the entire show. patton made steps towards accepting virgil when the others werent willing to, and thats something i cant see him doing for deceit (patton has said multiple times that lying is bad and wrong)

which brings us to roman and deceit. weve already seen how deceit can manipulate roman. weve also seen them get along, with banter that both seemed to truly enjoy. i think that, working together, roman and deceit (creativity and self-preservation) could do some really cool stuff. romans struggles with thomas's dreams have been a recurring theme throughout the show, and i think hed be more open to practical advice from someone he relates to than from logan. deceit would give advice because they want thomas's dreams to happen, whereas logan gives advice because he believes he is right, and that rubs roman the wrong way.

i think the next dark side to be introduced will be someone who can work well with logan, but before i get to that, theres another element to my interpretation: type-based weaknesses.

well, not really, but it might help to think of it that way.

roman is weak to virgil. i think any writer knows what anxiety can do to your creativity. i also think that logan is weak to deceit; you cant make informed decisions without all the facts, and deceit was able to keep logan at bay for all of selfishness vs selflessness. virgil is weak to logan, because calm, logical thought is the first step towards breaking the cycle of anxiety, and logan is especially good at sorting through virgil's input to find the things that truly need to be worried about.

if youve been making a diagram the way i did when i first came up with this theory, youll notice that just leaves pattons weakness, whose weakness will be roman. so whats a trait that could harm the things patton represents, a trait that could be countered by roman?

i had a few ideas, but in my novel i went with apathy because he seemed interesting and he fit pretty well as a mirror to patton representing feelings. i considered sleep, but sleep seems more like a brain function to me (which inspired my other five OCs, read my novel i cant believe i actually wrote a novel)

anyway, apathy makes it impossible to act morally. if you dont care, you wont do the right thing. at the same time, apathy feels very similar to boredom, which roman is very good at countering. hes also just good at stirring up emotion-- theres a reason he was the most popular side for the first few years running.

so can apathy and logic work well together? the answer is yes. theres this legendary skill called compartmentalisation. i suck at it. it means you can decide what feelings to focus on (to care about) at any given moment, in order to deal with them effectively. with the ability to momentarily put aside feelings that cant be faced while thomas is trying to sleep, work, eat, hang out with friends, or anything, logan could make great strides in his mission to help thomas become more healthy.

or apathy could convince logan that he is always right, and that since the others didnt listen to him a few times, he shouldnt care about them. honestly, it seems like logan is being set up to have his resentment turned on the others, which scares me because i didnt predict it in my fic.

thats right, i came up with this whole theory in november of 2018 as i wrote my nanowrimo, before selfishness vs selflessness came out. im very shocked that so many things lined up. please read my fic. i literally have an oc who is the embodiment of gay pride. i have a character who speaks in rhymes because he thinks its fun and he wants to name himself a cuss word. remy can put the other sides to sleep by kissing them. deceit can only speak the truth when theyre in pain. at least ten thousand words are from the point of view of a blind character and i did so much research. please read it.

[gamerszone2019-blog]

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Directors Aren't Sure Why The Series Is Popular In The West

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/fire-emblem-three-houses-directors-arent-sure-why-the-series-is-popular-in-the-west/

Fire Emblem: Three Houses Directors Aren't Sure Why The Series Is Popular In The West

“I don’t know.” I’m on the phone with Toshiyuki Kusakihara, one of the directors of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Shadows of Valentia, and an art director on many others. And that’s what he tells me through a translator when I ask what he thinks is the reason the series has suddenly skyrocketed in Western success over the last decade. It’s a pretty amusing answer. “I actually don’t know why it’s been so accepted by so many people all over the world.”

Nintendo’s turn-based strategy RPG franchise has been popular with Japanese audiences ever since its inception in 1990, but outside of Japan, few had ever heard about it until two anime swordsmen named Marth and Roy made an appearance in Super Smash Bros. Melee. Following Melee’s release in 2001, a number of Fire Emblem games made their way to the West on GameCube, DS, and Wii. But it wasn’t until 2013, when Awakening released on the 3DS, that Fire Emblem actually exploded in international popularity, an occurrence that reportedly saved the series from imminent cancellation.

Lucina and Chrom, Fire Emblem Awakening (2013) for Nintendo 3DS

Maybe it was just the rapidly growing install base of the 3DS; the handheld was beginning to really hit its stride after a poor launch, and the new 3DS XL had recently gone on sale. Maybe it was a renewed interest in tactical strategy games; Firaxis’ excellent reboot of XCOM, Enemy Unknown, had also been a recent and popular release. But Kusakihara genuinely couldn’t point to anything remotely definitive. “We don’t have the confidence to say: ‘Oh! As long as we keep doing this thing, then the game will be popular!’ There’s nothing like that.”

Since Awakening, the development team at Intelligent Systems has pulled Fire Emblem in a couple of interesting new directions. First was the ambitious Fates for 3DS, a title that was divided into three separate products. Then came Shadows of Valentia, a remake of the second-ever Fire Emblem game from 1992, which stood out for its notable tweaks to the strategy combat mechanics and featured third-person dungeon exploration, of all things. There was Fire Emblem Heroes, which refashioned the tactical battles to suit a surprisingly good bite-sized mobile game with an all-star cast. Now, Three Houses has been released for the Switch, and its narrative flow revolves around a yearly calendar schedule, coupled with a military academy where your protagonist is a professor and your class of students are your troops.

“We don’t have the confidence to say: ‘Oh! As long as we keep doing this thing, then the game will be popular!’ There’s nothing like that.”

When Three Houses was officially revealed, I (and I assume many others) saw the academy component and instantly made the connection to another Japanese RPG which saw an enormous spike in popularity–the Shin Megami Tensei spin-off, Persona. Persona games always revolve around students in high school across the course of a year, so naturally, I assumed that the Fire Emblem development team looked at Persona’s incredible success and attempted to tap into that formula. Of course, like the foolish Westerner I am, I was wrong.

“‘Genealogy Of The Holy War‘ was what we directly drew inspiration from,” Kusakihara stated. “This was a game for the Super Famicom that released in 1996, and it’s the fourth in the Fire Emblem series.” It was never released in English, though a fan translation exists. “In this game, you have an Officer’s Academy where there are best friends who really develop their relationships there, and the story was centered around them. So [Three Houses] was kind of an attempt to create that kind of setting in more detail.”

Fire Emblem: Geneology of the Holy War (1996) for Super Famicom

Building beautifully aspirational lifelong relationships through an extravagantly romanticized depiction of high school life is a huge component of Three Houses. Across the course of a campaign, you’ll spend a couple of dozen hours with any number of students at the academy, sharing meals, training and fighting alongside them, getting to know each other through laughter, loss, and love. Later on, as Fire Emblem games typically unfold, you’ll go to war, and how the game’s bloody conflicts unfold and affect everyone might just change how once close friends see one another. Across the course of development, a number of different methods to help articulate this experience were explored, but the team’s natural conclusion just so happened to resemble the popular Shin Megami Tensei spin-off. “We had a lot of talks about how we could distinguish the passage of time at the monastery. If you have one year, we really want the player to feel each of those days passing and make them valuable to the player,” Kusakihara explained.

“We didn’t have a calendar at the very beginning of development. We did a lot of builds where we were trying to make systems that worked but it just wasn’t fun. So we added that and the element of activity points.” In Three Houses, a set amount of activity points, tied to your Professor Level, restricts how much one-on-one tutelage you can give students, as well as how many extracurricular activities you can perform on your days off. “[Activity points] would really focus the player on what they should do every day, whether that’s exploring or going on missions, etc.”

When Sunday rolls around in Three Houses and you don’t need to spend your day teaching your students, there are a number of valuable things you can choose to do, but you won’t have enough time to do them all. You can get your own one-on-one training sessions from fellow professors to improve your own skills, you can set off to the battlefield and fight sorties to complete side missions, you can fish, you can garden, you can sleep in and do nothing, but most importantly: You can hang out with your students and cultivate those personal relationships. Having a close-knit camaraderie in your class will provide a significant advantage on the battlefield, of course, but off the battlefield, these social links can blossom into deep friendships and sometimes the suggestion of romance, providing a wealth of insight to the backstories of the characters. Between the three different classes of students, the professors, and other academy staff, Three Houses has 35 characters with storylines that tie the majority of them together.

Professor Manuela teaches a class in Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)

Kusakihara breaks down the production of the social simulation: “There were three scenario writers from Koei Tecmo that helped out with a lot of the writing, and as you know the game is fully voiced. So we definitely had a lot of content to work on. The work took over three months and there was at least five times as much content as there was in Echoes [Shadows of Valentia] for the Japanese version.”

The involvement of Koei Tecmo (responsible for another enduring tactical strategy series, Romance Of The Three Kingdoms) in the development of Three Houses was already a known factor, but what was surprising to me is just how much of the legwork the studio was responsible for, especially because Fire Emblem is so closely associated with Intelligent Systems. Kusakihara: “With the composition of the team, I stood in as a director representing Intelligent Systems, and then we had Mr. Takeru Kanazaki working as a sound director. We had a few members helping with programming and also sound, but many members of the development team were from Koei Tecmo, so they really did a lot of the work.”

“…there was at least five times as much content as there was in Echoes.”

“I provided the world settings and the character settings and some of the systems and scenarios from the game, and we would hand this over to Koei Tecmo and then discuss further detail and develop from there.” It’s a curious revelation, if only because it invites speculation about what kind of projects the rest of Intelligent Systems might working on. It’s also interesting that Koei Tecmo, responsible for the Dynasty Warriors action series (as well as the spin-off Fire Emblem Warriors), was also heavily responsible in another Nintendo title that released a week prior to Three Houses–Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3.

Among the fresh new faces to contribute significant work to Three Houses was illustrator Chinatsu Kurahana, who served as the game’s new lead character designer. Kurahana’s previous work most notably includes designing characters for the popular Japanese romantic visual novel series, Uta no Prince-sama, a game revolving around a teenage girl’s budding relationships with a group of aspiring male pop idols.

Dating idols isn’t really that much of a far cry from the social aspect of Fire Emblem, and with the new direction of the series, Kurahana was an easy choice. “A lot of this game takes place at the Officer’s Academy and there are a lot of nobles there. So we want to kind of depict a glamorous, aristocratic society,” Kusakihara told me. “Kurahana, who we had already been in talks with, seemed like she would be a good fit, and she definitely had a big impact of the hairstyles of the characters.”

“We also wanted a bit of a refresh because we were putting this game out on the Nintendo Switch, which is a new platform and, well, we wanted a new image for the game.” Hairstyles aren’t the only huge makeover for the series, naturally. One of the biggest mechanical restylings in Three Houses is the removal of Fire Emblem’s Weapon Triangle, the rock-scissors-paper system that has been the core foundation of combat in every entry since, well, Genealogy of the Holy War.

That’s a pretty funny, serendipitous coincidence–the new Fire Emblem game, which returns to a relatively minor idea found in Genealogy of the Holy War, also completely discards that entry’s most influential and longest-lasting legacy. The reasons Kusakihara gives me are pretty understandable: “We think that the weapon triangle is somewhat of a stylized system, it isn’t really realistic,” he said. “If you have a situation where a novice axe user takes down an advanced lance user, well, that makes sense? Probably not. So, we wanted to make something that comes across as more realistic to warfare and have players develop their weapons skills individually.”

Caspar punches a monk in Fire Emblem: Three Houses (2019)

It also came down to the series’ continuing focus on its personalities, especially given Three Houses’ setting of an academy where teenage students are only just coming into their own. “We wanted to center on developing the skills for these characters, and also give them a lot more freedom in terms of how they develop. So we’re really creating a weapon system that is less restrictive than our previous games.”

That’s not to say that picking the right unit or weapon for a battle isn’t an important matter in Three Houses. There are still situations where one approach might give you a massive advantage, like using arrows against flying units. And, if one of your units becomes increasingly proficient in a certain type of weapon type or discipline, you might unlock an option to equip them with passive or active combat abilities that help give them the upper hand against other certain weapons types or disciplines–an advanced swordsman might have an “Axebreaker” ability, for example, which will increase both their avoidance and chance to hit against that weapon.

“…the weapon triangle is somewhat of a stylized system, it isn’t really realistic.”

But the new system of having the freedom to mold your combat units into whatever you like also creates some interesting social-level predicaments that might in turn ask you to rethink the long-term strategy for your troupe. During my first campaign, for example, I had Dorothea in my class. She excels in black magic and swordplay, her lifelong ambitions are to be a badass warlock, and she hates the idea of learning faith-based healing magic–it’s for weenies, after all, and she even harbors an innate learning disadvantage towards it.

Toshiyuki Kusakihara

But, if you’re dedicated enough, by spending a large amount of your class time to some serious one-on-one tutelage on Faith, Dorothea has the capacity to eventually uncover hidden potential. She’ll get early access to an ability that even advanced Bishops would covet, and eventually turn that learning disadvantage into a buff. There’s some contentious subtext in this example, but regardless, the system allows you to foster unique narratives for your class–it was a tough decision to give one of my favorite students (and my most effective magic user) a hard time in class for a couple of months instead of honing her strengths even further. But it was worth it.

Kusakihara doesn’t play favorites, though. Toward the end of the conversation, I tried to get the developers on the call to dish dirt on the team’s most hated students (mine’s Lorentz, he sucks). Everyone laughs: “As the director of the game, It’s almost like, you know, I am the teacher because I helped to create them. So I have to say that I love all the students.” Genki Yokota, the other director for Three Houses, representing Nintendo, was the only one who threw me a bone: “You’re supposed to be helping out the students, so it’s hard to say that I hate any of them. But outside of the students, I can say that I really like the character Shamir.” I like Shamir too, so this was a good answer.

It’s pretty common to hear stories about developers responding to audience feedback and using that data to shape future projects. Kusakihara left me with the impression that his team is on the other side of that coin. They don’t know why their game has attracted the fanbase it has in the west, so they’re just going to just keep doing what they’ve done since Awakening. Changing the structure. Reinventing foundational mechanics. Welcoming the talents of new teams and artists. “When we develop the game, we just strive to make it something beyond what people can imagine,” he said. “That might help in making it popular.”

Source : Gamesport

[giancarlonicoli]

25 Basic Life Skills That Should Be Taught in School (But Aren’t) 

Editor’s Note: I know lots of you are homeschool parents. But please accept before reading this article that many kids are sent to public schools for a wide variety of reasons. Please do not turn this into an argument about homeschooling vs. public schooling or an insult festival toward parents who send their kids to school. That’s not productive. Let’s talk about what is taught vs. what is missing. And also, keep in mind that school is the only chance that some children have to learn new ideas because their parents are either disinterested or close-minded. While most of us try to teach our children these excellent skills at home, many young people are not raised in households like ours. ~ Daisy

By Meadow Clark

Think of the vast amount of time that students spend in school. But what do they come away knowing? They are taught very few life skills, so are they really prepared for the real world?

Here’s one of the glaring problems with public school: it’s designed to waste time.

Like a Weeping Angel from Doctor Who, school can zap your life away. It wouldn’t be half bad if you were being taught something useful. Sure, reading and math are important, but the bulk of those things can be taught in much shorter periods of time than are being utilized right now. Plus, reading skills are deteriorating and math was swallowed by Common Core.

Ideally, there would be myriad forms of trustworthy education that could suit any personality. And ideally many of these skills would be taught by family and imparted by experienced people – but that’s getting harder to do.

So in the list below, think of what it would be like if schools were ideal and actually preparing people to live meaningful lives.

Without further ado, here are…

25 Life Skills That Should Be Taught In School (But Aren’t):

#1 Individual Thought

Instead of regurgitating what the teacher says and mirroring their peers, people need to think for themselves only. That means no groupthink. Most people think they are unique but are only parroting. That’s why you can figure out who they are from just two of their beliefs. A lot of people struggle with who they really are but can’t even have a thought of their own. Life shouldn’t be so monochromatic and Borg-like. Calling all real individuals.

#2 Personal Finance, Saving & Budgets

The credit card and personal finance industry should not be the ones teaching us about money. And while I think Dave Ramsey’s advice from Total Money Makeover to start an emergency fund is golden; I’d like to nominate The Index Card by Helaine Olen as the curriculum. It is by far the best, most objective personal finance advice I’ve ever gotten. Takes all the confusion away. The name is from the idea that everything you need to know about finance fits on an index card – and the book even comes with it!

#3 Health & Nutrition

No fad diets. Just self-care and nutrition. Food selection and important information about vitamins, minerals, and bio-compounds. I know they teach health in school but c’mon… And why not include gardening and food prep?

#4 Resiliency & Failing Gracefully

The world can be crushing enough, perhaps resiliency and tenacity can be emphasized instead of measuring students against failure. Failure is inevitable after all, so people should be shown how to fall and get back up again.

#5 The Art of Conversation

‘Sup! Hav U taken this class B4?

#6 Logic, Reasoning, and Public Discourse

Did you know that schools have been rapidly dropping Logic classes? It’s time to stop the Idiocracy from spreading and revive Logic! Also, it would be nice if public discourse didn’t amount to two people rabidly screaming at each other.

#7 Character

You can’t legislate morality, but young people are eager to learn character. Instead of burdening children with global warming responsibility and punishing them severely for breaking unspoken social justice mores – how about letting them have fun but fostering a sense of character. Show them they have personal control/responsibility and that there are real-world consequences for their actions. Relationship skills probably shouldn’t be taught by government-run schools but ultimately those come from a person’s character.

#8 Negotiation

In order to make it in the real world and provide for a family, negotiating is crucial. It means being firm, having a backbone and the willingness to exhibit some disagreeableness.

#9 Cooking from Scratch

It’s a seriously needed lost art! And it overlaps with health, budget and survival classes.

#10 Survival & First Aid

All forms of survival, prepping and first aid, including wilderness first aid, should be taught to everyone. Survival without tech and during disasters or live shooting events – all of it. Gardening, self-defense, and firearms overlap with this class, too. The Dangerous Book for Boys, The American Boys Handy Book,  The Field and Forest Handy Book: New Ideas for Out of Doors would be a great, fun start! Of course, The Organic Prepper makes a great curriculum – hi, homeschoolers!

#11 Speed Reading (But with Deep Comprehension)

Speed reading is not the same as skimming. Many people have been taught to skim haphazardly because of the Internet, new gadgets and pressure to multi-task. This study shows that skimming is actually not a great way to comprehend more. Speed reading removes “subvocalization” while reading, and it can be done while maintaining comprehension.

#12 Self-Defense

Both with and without firearms. It would include boundaries, situational awareness, and improvisation.

#13 Crash Course on How Government Works

People are told to go out and vote but a lot of them don’t even know much about the positions they are voting on. I wish School House Rock had kept up the government songs! “I’m just a bill…”

#14 Creativity

Our linear-thinking and tech-driven world is rapidly extinguishing right-brain thought, and that is a travesty. Our creative force needs to be ablaze at all times and should never be downgraded or snuffed out.

#15 Household & Basic Car Mechanic Repairs

Why are these skills not taught to everyone? Learn to be handy and be independent from others while putting thousands of savings toward paying down a house. A lot of people are afraid to try, but only because they weren’t taught and may be afraid to ask for help.

#16 Time Management, Focus, and Productivity

Multi-tasking is a proven fraud. In a world driven to distraction, the art of focus is priceless in the working world. Maximized time is a maximized life.

#17 How to Read Literature With Deeper Understanding

Let’s face it: high school makes a lot of people hate books. Something tells me that’s the real reason why 1984 is mandatory reading. Who actually remembers the deeper message later in life? Curriculum: The Well-Educated Mind by Susan Wise Bauer is a straight-forward, wonderful guide through the classical education most of us never got.

#18 Entrepreneurship, Career & Starting a Business in a Gig Economy

This is a crucial skill desperately needed in a changing job landscape. It could teach sales skills for all different personality types. And hey, wouldn’t it be great to cultivate what your passions are instead of being wedged into categories by those career assessments?

#19 Etiquette

Seriously. Make. This. A. Class.

#20 Social Skills

Social skills are different than etiquette and manners. It involves picking up on cues and tone, and knowing how to appropriately respond in different situations. There is dating etiquette and there is also dating social skills. These are just as important as having social awareness on the job.

#21 Study & Deep Research

Why do 12 years of school without first learning this key element?

#22 How to Selectively Make Real Friends

An elective class to win GOOD friends and influence people. Networking. Watching out for red flags in relationships. School is basically a big bullpen where you’re with the same people every day for 12 years. And they think homeschoolers aren’t “socialized”? Sheesh! Plus, social media gives the false impression of connection without much selectivity.

#23 Effective Communication & Writing

So apparently this is being taught now, but…is it really?

#24 Resume & Cover Letters

Firstly, a lot of people do not know how to craft these. And secondly, most of them are thrown into the trash or get lost in cyberspace. The soul-crushing job application process needs a serious makeover, but until that happens, people need to learn how to write an attention-grabbing human-voiced resume that gets that foot in the door.

#25 Understanding Credit Cards, Bills, Taxes, House/Car Purchases, Student Loans, Insurance

This is a much-needed course, unfortunately. This class would help students avoid predatory financial practices instead of being ushered right into them. Day 1: teacher cuts up all credit cards in a class demonstration.

Last but not least….a bonus that is only being sort of taught apparently?

GEOGRAPHY!

If people want to let their government charge trillions to lob bombs into another country, then by Jove, they’d better be able to point it out on a map… I’m being darkly facetious, but seriously, geography is important.

It may even drive a wanderlust to explore, and the government doesn’t want that. We were always at war with Eurasia!

What electives would you like to see taught in school?

I was tempted to put some other electives on the list like “Relationship Skills by Interviewing Elderly Couples” or “Why TV Sucks” but I realize that these fall outside the realm of objectivity and belong in class #1: Individual Thought.

Would you like it if schools taught some of the skills above? Which ones are your favorites? Did I leave any important skills out of the mix? Leave your nominations below!

[isaacathom]

anyway i think that basically everyone sorta supports Sofia’s idea to go fight dragons but noone actually wants HER to do it, because shes generally well liked and everyone thinks shell get wasted the moment she actually has to fight a dragon. 

and when she and Leila return from their first dragon hunt in an ambulance, it simply confirms that idea of Sofia’s naivete and the fact that her personal mission wont succeed. admittedly, this is because none of them know that the reason they had to go to hospital is because Sofia shot Leila and passed out trying to save her life, not because of anything the dragon actually did, but because of a lapse in communication partially caused by Leila’s stubborn pride.

but after that ‘failure’, despite the fact they DID kill the dragon, everyone continues to tear down their mission. all their families try and stop them from leaving again. they will anyway, because the 4 of them know exactly what happened, and they aim to fix it, by dealing with Sofia and Leila’s problems. and that time, it goes great! noone gets really badly injured, they kill the dragon successfully. maybe there’d be some emotional stuff, like Leila having to accept that she cant be the singular hero and that there are something things she simply cannot do on her own, possibly through some sequence involving like, hydra shit. idk. thatd work in a sense. like a two headed dragon would immediately challenge Leila’s attitude of doing everything herself because while she’s occupied with one head she CANT occupy the other, meaning she needs others. that sorta thing.

nevertheless, its a success, and they return triumphant to prepare for their next mission. and the naysayers are a little perturbed. on the one hand, maybe this was a fluke, but on the other hand, the 4 of them HAVE killed 2 dragons successfully, and thats more than most could say. plus, as publicity of the members of the group increases, Leila’s previous successes as a solo dragon hunter come to light. and while admittedly she hunted smaller dragons (yknow, like, dragon babies and wyverns), but her experience proves the group arent /just/ inexperienced nancies trying to make something of themselves.

so the naysayers falter, public support escalates, and stuff starts getting bigger. but of course, all that success starts getting to Cecilia, since her inability to live up to her own expectations (fuelled by her naivete and her families coddling) is getting to her. idk exactly how it goes. to compensate for failing self confidence, she starts being a real Tit (again?), its causing fractures again. shes really pissing off Arianna, whose already starting on her own bad turn which would be the 4th missions focus. gotta sort of pull them both back in. Reinforce cecilia’s talent and worth in the team. which possibly accidentally starts reinforcing Arianna’s belief in her own lack of worth and heightening her cowardice, leading to her having a lesser role in the 3rd dragon fight overall (as compared to the first, in which she landed the final blow after Leila was shot, and the second, in which she was probably pretty useful in tying down that second head)

then it goes into the 4th book. and i think thatd also be a good time to bring that Ball into it. like, the girls are doing really well, and Cecilia’s feeling really good about it following the shit in the 3rd book, so she encourages them to hold a small ‘celebration’ to commemorate their successes so far. and this immmmmeeeediately puts Arianna on edge, because shes very much ‘unladylike’ by noble standards, despite being a maruqess-level noble. so shes being put out of her element in a major way which just heightens like, anxiety and shit. then when the dragon arrives to ruin the party, she absolutely flees. cant fucking do it. so while Leila and Sofia deal with the dragon, with the aid of the castle guards (what few of them there are) and the court magician, Cecilia runs off to direct the people fleeing to safe places and to find Arianna. and itd be a culmination of their continued pettiness, like a ‘final outburst’. it wouldnt totally remove all animosity because even as Cecilia becomes a nicer person, their core personalities are clashing ones. but on this, the idea of failing to achieve and of wanting to hide from that failure, they can both connect, and Cecilia uses that to get through to Arianna and convince her to help. and itd be necessary too, because this dragons a Big Fucker, big lad, holy shit. my idea was that its the mother of one of the dragons they killed previously, possibly even the one from the 3rd book, so this dragon tracked Cecilia down and destroyed her home in revenge. that’d be the revelation at the end, too, like the girls are standing exhausted over this dragons body and Arianna mentions ‘doesnt this dragon look familiar’ and everyone just gets that anime brainwave and go ‘oh no’ and the court magician, having seen the previous kill, announces his hypothesis that this Big Fucking Dragon was the mum and they all go ‘oh no’.

but yea. like that works to me. there is a SLIGHT disconnect between the 2nd and 3rd hunts, though. the 1st hunt transitions easily into the 2nd, with them focusing on the fallout of the first mission and trying to address their failings. 3rd goes easily into the 4th because of the similar nature of Cecilia and Arianna’s hangups and responses to failure, plus the immediate tie in of the dragons mother attacking Cecilia’s home during the party. theres a slight disconnect between 2 and 3. mostly because im not sure i totally buy success causing that sort of reaction, not really. cause the idea is, in the first book, after initial COMPLETE FAILURE on Cecilia’s part, because her magic simply wasnt as powerful as she thought it was (though she really strong its just thtat hoo boy those were high expectations), she gets brought down. in order for the arc to work how i want, which is to bring her down to earth but to retain that confidence in some form, she has to have that confidence brought back, and surely the success of the group would do that? idk. that 3rd dragon hunt is just real fucking ???? whu

[thecoroutfitters]

Written by Pat Henry on The Prepper Journal.

I travel a pretty good bit for work. When I travel, it almost exclusively by air as it just so happens my co-workers or customers are spread all over the globe. In a perfect world I always have my EDC gear on me but when traveling, especially via plane, you have to make some concessions. When it makes sense I have basic survival gear that I pack, but my luggage has to be checked. I have flown with a firearm on multiple occasions, but what if you are unable to take any survival gear with you? What would you do if you were caught in a disaster without even your trusty survival knife?

//

In this article I want to go through some situations I personally have in my 9-5 life where I wasn’t as prepared as I know in my heart I should be, and discuss some alternatives when you are caught without your prepping supplies. When all hell breaks loose, are you doomed if you don’t have your full battle rattle on?

What should you be carrying everywhere you go?

EDC. Any prepper worth his or her salt knows that this acronym stands for Every Day Carry. This is the gear you have on your person virtually all the time. These are usually simple items like a folding knife, a flashlight, watch, Leatherman or multitool. Optionally, some people (like me) will add a concealed carry weapon to this list and maybe a compass, lighter or matches and spare cash. The items that make up your EDC are personal, should be appropriate to your daily routine and environment and vary greatly from prepper to prepper. I wrote a whole article about my EDC list some time back.

On any normal day, I have most if not all elements of my personal EDC on me when I leave my house. I have a knife in my pocket, handkerchief (only used it once to help a lady out) flashlight and lighter are housed on my keys and my concealed carry weapon. I have other elements in my work backpack and a ton of gear in my car. If I have nothing more than my car, I can probably live for a week very comfortably – assuming I couldn’t drive anywhere. If I only had my backpack and what’s on my person, that would be a little tougher, but I would have basic lifesaving tools or elements to help me improve my situation. If I only had what is in my pockets I would still be pretty much in the same boat. But when I am traveling, sometimes I don’t have any of my EDC Gear on me. It’s pretty much me betting that I will be OK.

How can you travel without any EDC gear?

I have written before about how to fly with a firearm legally and for most air travel I take, outside of work I still do fly with my firearm. I also keep a mini-go bag in my suitcase with a sawyer mini water filter, knife, fire starter, headlamp, first aid kit and mylar blanket. I have a stainless water bottle too so the basics are covered. But on most trips here recently, I don’t fly with my trusty Glock and if I am not checking bags, knives are out the window too. I can, and still do bring a small, but bright flashlight and hanky with me, but most of what I consider my must haves are left at home. Why?

Convenience.

Yes, Sheer convenience. I am admitting it now before the entire world that sometimes, it is easier to not check bags. If I am carrying my bag onto a plane, I have far fewer options on what I can bring with me but I have many more options with flights. If my flight gets cancelled and I have my bag with me, I can run to another airline. If some weather delays me mid-journey, I can take another route home, or make it to the car rental agencies before my fellow travelers. If any one of a number of hiccups happen with the airlines I don’t have to go into that important client meeting wearing the same outfit I had on yesterday. Which was designed for comfort. Not impressing clients. Convenience.

Lost luggage at Airport.

Now, many of you may be saying to yourselves: “How can Pat consider himself a prepper if he goes and leaves himself vulnerable like that for convenience” and I understand what you mean, but I look at things a little differently. Actually, major points of my philosophy evolve or change over the years. Here is what I know.

In this country, or even pretty much any country I would find myself in for business travel, if anything short of a nuclear bomb went off, I would be able to get the supplies I needed even if I wasn’t carrying them.

Obtaining survival gear in the wild

And by wild I am not talking about a jungle adventure with Bear Grylls. If that’s the place you are visiting, you better have your gear no matter what. What do I mean? OK, let me explain. Let’s say I am traveling in business to Boston, MA without any of the gear I normally carry as EDC and an EMP hits. Assuming, I would be better off with my regular EDC (and I do), where could I replace that gear quickly? Before I continue, let’s list off the basic items again:

Shelter

A means of keeping yourself warm, cool, dry

Tarp/Poncho/Jackets, Hats, Gloves, etc.

Water

A method of making water safe to drink

A container for holding water

Food

Enough calories to keep you going for the duration

Security

A means of protecting yourself from two-legged predators

The list above is only the most basic items for survival, but we can start there. Going back to Boston and an EMP hits. What is the first thing you think everyone will do?

Probably nothing.

That is your time to act. While everyone is complaining that they can’t check the weather or stocks or the latest snapchat on their phones you need to move.  As a prepper, you should be practicing situational awareness. That means a lot of different things depending on the situation you are in, but when it comes to a disaster like this where people aren’t dying immediately, your job is to act. My focus will be obtaining as many survival supplies as I can before the sheeple wake up.

In a situation like that, I would head out to the nearest store. If I was lucky enough to come across an REI or a Dick’s Sporting Goods or even a Walmart you would be all set provided you had cash with you and the store was accepting cash transactions. When I fly, I try to bring $300 in cash with me for emergencies. It won’t do everything, but it could help, especially in a situation like this. For that $300, you could easily get a knife, headlamp, tarp and just about all the other EDC basics I left at home.

But that’s too easy. What if you weren’t in Boston and couldn’t find a sporting goods store to save your life. Then what?

Head to the drug store, hardware store or grocery store but skip past the food isles, at least at first. Go to the smaller section they always have with light-bulbs and extension cords and toilet plungers. Go to the housewares section. They may not have knives, but they could have box cutters. You may be able to find tarps, but if not, trash bags connected with duct tape will keep you just as dry. If you don’t already have a backpack, you should be able to find one of those too that will fit your supplies.

The small local hardware store might be the last place people run, but a great place to find supplies.

Matches will be there too and usually so will lighter fluid. Together, if you keep the matches dry you should be able to make a fire. You will always be able to find some form of flashlight in these stores too but don’t forget to get extra batteries. Hopefully you have shoes that are comfortable to walk in.

We can’t forget food, but skip canned food and grab items that you don’t need to prepare or weigh a whole lot but still provide calories. Think energy bars or breakfast bars and be sure to check the calorie counts if you have time.

What about security? The box cutter or knife would be better than nothing, but you really have to get close in order for those to work. Man has been using clubs since the dawn of time, really, they are still being used all over the world as the post about handmade weapons demonstrates very clearly. You can find some implement and use it as a club. It isn’t what I would rather have instead of my trusty concealed Glock, but it beats (no pun intended) not having anything.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that survival can’t be distilled down to only who has the right gear because I know that many of you could survive if you were dropped naked in the middle of a jungle. Survival is about having the will to live above all else. Skills follow closely, but you can still survive if you have the right mindset. I don’t recommend leaving home without your EDC, but if you have to, or get caught on a late-night Walmart run, you usually will have options. Look for opportunities to give yourself and advantage and maybe you will find that you are much better off than you thought you were.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and stay safe!

The post What to Do If You Are Caught Without Your Prepping Supplies appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

from The Prepper Journal Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies? #SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag