#sorry if something sounds ooc

[askthekeiths]

☕+Herbs!

Herbs? I'd love to talk about herbs! I'll tell you about an herb I've been cultivating for use in the palace lately. It's called horehound. It looks like this:

Horehound is a member of the mint family. A perennial plant, horehound grows in abundance and looks a lot like its sister, mint. It's covered in tiny hairs, and the leaves of this plant have a cloudy or hoary appearance, giving it its name.

For centuries, horehound has been valued for its ability to treat cough and remove excess phlegm.

Horehound is an anti-inflammatory herb. Those suffering from arthritis may find relief from painful, inflamed joints when using horehound. The anti-inflammatory effect even extends itself to improving circulation by reducing inflammation of the blood vessels.

This greatly benefits the whole body, making it easier for blood and oxygen to get to all organs and greatly reducing the pressure placed on the heart. When pressure is taken off the heart, instances of strokes, heart attacks, and heart disease are greatly reduced.

Horehound may also reduce inflammation in the respiratory system and therefore help soothe sore throats and irritation.

There has been some indication that white horehound extract may help to reduce levels of LDL cholesterol. LDL cholesterol is cholesterol that clogs the arteries with plaque and often leads to the development of atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and strokes.

Horehound is also considered to be an antispasmodic, meaning it helps to alleviate cramps and spasms. By drinking a tea made of horehound leaves, you can relax the nervous system and body, greatly reducing spasms.

Horehound’s antispasmodic abilities also lends itself to alleviating menstrual cramps. Horehound may not only help soothe cramps, but it also may help to get hormones under control and improve mood.

Some research indicates that horehound may help reduce blood sugar levels. Horehound helps the body handle sugar by improving the body’s response to it, as opposed to going haywire when large doses of sugar are consumed. This can help diabetics get a better handle on their glucose levels.

Horehound is considered a medicinal plant due largely in part to its many healing compounds, such as its antimicrobial and antibiotic properties. These properties help protect the body and help your immune system fend off illness and disease.

The antiseptic properties contained in horehound are why it’s commonly used in toothpastes and mouthwashes currently on the market.

Yet another benefit of horehound is that it has the ability to induce sweating, helping the body to eliminate toxins, as well as excess sweat, fat, and water. Horehound’s ability to facilitate sweating is also an effective way to help break a fever and cool the body down.

The flavor of horehound is described as having a menthol and minty taste, often used to flavor cough drops and syrup. Horehound is available on the market as capsules, tea, cut leaves, liquid extract, and candy.

Horehound can also be made into an extract, infusion, syrup, or tincture. When combined with other herbs such as ginger root, marshmallow root, and licorice root, horehound can make an effective cough syrup.

...

...Sorry. I've been rambling on for quite a while, haven't I? It's a really useful herb that I don't think a lot of people know about, unlike mint or sage.

Um, I hope I gave you some useful information in all that...

Source

Tags: @mxrmaid-poet @veryinactice @rou-luxe @5mary5 @welp-back-on-my-bs @keithsandwich @lostsnowflake3 @a11-mynames-r-taken @sh0jun @floydsteeth

[54prowl]

your self-insert isn't allowed to have melancholy, you stole that from jane austen

[gastersans]

Hey guys!

I’m sorry I haven’t been around much lately. It’s not fair to people I care very much about to be silent! The long story short is that life hits you very fast and all at once sometimes on many levels, and my unfortunate tendency in hectic mode is to shut out and focus on just getting to the next day. It’s no excuse, of course, but I do hope you understand—and I hope you all are hanging in there as well.

I’m not sure when I can return to writing again, but I hope to. It always seems like I’m waiting to have some time and energy, but I think I’m just going to have to intentionally build a block for the creative things important to me among everything. Even if I’m not publishing anything, I am always thinking about it in one part of my mind. I love those stories, and I’m so glad to share them with you.

Thank you to anyone who was checking in! I love you all always, even if I don’t have the words to reply—and I’m always going to try to better show that.

Tl;dr below the cut: details of life been going on.

:read more:

Thanks for being curious! I’ll try to be as brief as I can, but I have traditionally failed at every attempt at that in these posts. To be honest, the past year or two has been a bit of a blur, so I’ll just talk in generalities rather than a specific timeline.

Everything at work changed at the organizational level. Unfortunately I can’t say much about it—for personal reasons, which I know is odd to say. My work is mixed in with family ties, justices and beliefs I advocate for, etc, so I can’t talk too much about it—but boy is that lasagna layered. That dynamic alone is both a hugely important but often very stressful to navigate in of itself.

Among the organizational change, my position drastically changed—I went from clinician to a manager of the sizeable department I worked for—and then a couple months later inherited a second, nearly double the size department to manage on top of it when my fellow manager left.

Right as my position was changing for the first time, my dad—living states away—got sick with some still undiagnosed illness. Bizarre body movements, signs of a stroke but no evidence found—not Parkinson’s, though the symptoms seem somewhere between it and a slow rolling dementia. If you’d like to read a small loving rant about my dad: My father is the most wonderful, kindest, politest, humblest human who is also a literal unrecognized hero twice over—he dedicated his entire life his two jobs. One was his role as an assistant Harbormaster—not infrequently rescuing people, lost in dark seas in the dead winter nights (among much grimmer tales)—a job which got paid pennies for, with decades-old resources and, if he was lucky, his name might be pages deep in the local paper. The second job was as a teacher in the worst school in the city next door—and he taught the “behavioral needs” kids. He was stabbed multiple times—the final time was in the stomach, shortly after he had come back from his leave after battling prostate cancer. He understood the kids were sick, or needed help. In addition to being a great teacher (I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but my dad often help walk us through homework to ensure we knew it—requested or not), my dad would take his students to different places— the beach for a wildlife lesson, or the local laser tag place just for fun they often couldn’t afford)—on his own dime. He tried to give them an education about the world and life, and not just books they had given up trying to read. Jeeze, sorry, I need to be able to do a cut under this cut. I could go on for days.

After that attack, my dad has had much random issues, landing him in the hospital and my family in crisis mode one time after another. We find (but never confirm) that the neurological attack might be from an infection in his knee—a botched or failing knee replacement (his third—standing on a choppy boat or at a chalkboard all day is murder on your knees). The infection has spread terribly. We nearly lose him. He continues to show cognitive decline. He improves. He gets pneumonia, we nearly lose him again. He comes back to us for a while. A random night a few weeks later, the mesh in his stomach from his prostate cancer a decade ago has failed and is suddenly twisted around his intestine (they guess related to the coughing/pneumonia). We nearly lose him again. He survives. He needs a knee replacement surgery now, but they don’t know if he can handle it or the risk of infection. He survives. Theyve noticed something wrong with his heart. He has heart surgery, survives. Another heart surgery, survives again. All the while continuing to cognitively decline. He’s a brilliant man—it’s heartbreaking to see, but I know he’s still in there all the while.

I know I missed some things above. As all of this is going on, I’m flying back and forth between states, trying to manage two departments that were previously handled by two incredibly competent, incredibly busy people that is now just me. The work is important, there’s pressures of family legacy involved, it’s nonprofit and clinical and complex and often dealing with very serious physical, mental health, ethical or even legal matters.

And, of course, trying to balance the normal things of life—making time for friends and family, trying to maintain (and sustain) my home, dating and now maintaining a beloved partnership… These things are also important. And then my parents were here for just the summer, so I’m trying to spend each moment I can stand to spare with them, in that horrid phase where it’s in your face of how little time may be left. And of course, there are the other things—other loved ones lost, trying to do what you can and pay attention to the important things in the world, trying to enjoy sitting holding my cat’s paw while marathoning YouTube and a phone game after a long day at work.

Again, I hope to be back to things someday. In my free time I write snippets, dream scenarios. I miss the writing—and the people—and it’s hard to find a pinhole to carve out for any time for myself. I’m trying, I’m trying, and I love you all.

Hope to talk more soon.

[earthbovndmisfit]

I've been seeing lots of takes lately with people feeling hatred towards part 2 Speedwagon for being a greedy capitalist who probably exploited people and done some shady stuff to become wealthy because there was '''no way he could have become rich just from oil money'''... thoughts?

it's so disappointing to see some bad takes about the Speedwagon Foundation being some "acshually nasty organization" and about Speedwagon supposedly becoming some heartless rich man popping up again. And like, I shouldn't even be surprised at this point considering how the average "Jojo fan" mistreats Part 1 and 2 and alllll the misinformation they love to spread about them and about some characters in particular, often bastardizing them into wildly out of character versions and pretending those fanons are canon for whatever reason (being Speedwagon one of the characters that gets bastardized like that the most), sometimes just to make Blorbo Of Their Choice look better by throwing every other character under the bus, sometimes just because people can't be bothered to pay attention to the og if there are no punching ghosts on sight (and even then, Jojo parts featuring stands get misinterpreted a lot too).

This is gonna be long, so let me start by saying that if y'all really believe that Speedwagon somehow became some nasty ass rich man, then you're completely misinformed and you (and I say "you" in general and not specifically you anon) might benefit from rereading/rewatching the source material and actually paying attention to the plot and details this time.

Like, I've seen people assuming that the Foundation only researched the stone mask and eventually stand stuff, and completely forgetting that one of the literal main goals and also one of the biggest things the Foundation does is seeking for the betterment of the planet as a whole (preserving nature, wildlife, etc) as well as for the betterment of medicine and health care, actually seeking for the best for all humankind, this in addition to all the secret branches it has for the research of supernatural phenomena like stands, stone masks, pillar men, and so on in order to prevent as many incidents with them as possible and prevent the loss of as innocent lives as possible.

Sure, the people working for those latter branches might get into deep trouble sometimes whenever some jerk with a stone mask or a stand starts some shit, but, another thing jojo fans tend to conveniently forget is that those employees are working for the secret/non-public branches of the Foundation. We as audience know about them because we are let into seeing them working as part of the narrative, however, the public in general within the story DO NOT KNOW about the existence of those branches or what they do. Pillar men, stone masks, stands and the research around them are kept in secret in order to prevent any sorts of chaos and ensuing panic, among other safety reasons.

The people working for those branches are specialized or at least have some prior knowledge on those fields they work in (you'd think it is a MUST considering they are being let in on sensitive information that could be super detrimental for the planet and for humankind if it fell in the wrong hands), meaning that those employees already know and are fully aware of the kind of stuff they're going to deal with there from the start. They weren't deceived into it, and the fact that the employees remain loyal to Speedwagon from start to end and respect and follow his will, even long after his death, denotes that there was some deep and mutual respect and appreciation there, something you can't earn through exploitation, and definitely something these people wouldn't have done had Speedwagon been the heartless tyrant rich old man some people with a lack of media literacy want to believe and make others believe he was.

If people paid just a wee bit more attention to earlier Jojo parts, they would have realized it was all spelled out from the beginning too! Speedwagon expressly states from the very start his disgust and hatred towards the rich, being the Joestars the only exception to that due to them being genuinely kind persons, unlike most other wealthy people out there. He was also implied to have been dirt poor for most of his life and was also stated to have lived in the slums at least up to PB's main timeline. There were never any indications or signs that showed that he ever betrayed those roots of his by siding with the rich against the poor over the years. Instead, he's been using his funds to make the whole world a better place for everyone, not only by improving health care and access for all people as well as the environment (which would actually show a sense of duty from him as he is counteracting whatever negative impact his oil company may have had on the planet), but also providing all the aid he can against supernatural threats.

And not just that, but he's also kept some of his connections with the crime world over the years. However, rather than using those connections for selfish goals, he makes use of them to workaround the system in cases like Lisa Lisa's, where he used all those influences he had to help her go successfully into hiding after killing the zombie that murdered George (an undercover zombie that was actually a higher up within the army and who everyone believed to be a regular human, hence their chasing after her to make her pay for that "crime" she had supposedly committed). Additionally, if you know anything about big companies and organizations, you'll know that the law is also not always there to protect regular people, and sometimes, it will cater to the more profitable goals, as well as some businessmen actively being shady af and "hindering" their rivals for their own benefit. The Speedwagon Foundation being an organization that vouches and actively works for the wellbeing of people would have probably ruffled countless feathers among those who seek for a personal gain, to say the least (think of the hijackers that tried to kidnap him, as shown in the flashback in BT, i.e). This is also where those connections he keeps with criminals come into play, as there are never any mentions about Speedwagon doing shady stuff through them nor using them to pursue some personal goal, which hints at the fact that he keeps and uses those nexus as means of protection against actual enemies. Defense rather than offense, if you will.

Also, lets not forget that Speedwagon found his reason to change his ways when he met Jonathan, and that a lot of the things the Foundation does are things Jonathan himself would have gone into had he not passed away (the archaeological research, the deep studying of the stone mask -which eventually led to the discovery of the pillar men just in time before their awakening-, all in order to prevent more incidents like the whole thing with Dio from happening, and so on). It's downright silly to think Speedwagon would even think of betraying Jonathan and his memory by using not only the second chance he received from Jojo himself, but also using the literal monument Speedwagon built to honor the deep bond and mutual affection the two had back when Jonathan was alive for some selfish goal.

And also, lets not forget how disgusted he was with Dio and every single vile thing he did to everyone. Do you really think he would want to follow a path similar to his, in which people are just another step for him to walk all over?? If so, then you sure are completely wrong about who Speedwagon really is like.

Those "he became some nasty capitalist lol", pretending that Spw became some heartless and selfish wealthy man along the way for no reason, all despite the heaps of constant evidence the canon has presented, even long after Speedwagon's passing away in the story, that shows that that was never the case only go to show that people are lazy and that paying attention to the story and the details in it is just something some Jojo fans will actively refuse to do and then will make the worst bullshit takes up about it.

Also?? People do realize that it's possible to become rich and not be some piece of shit?? Like, sure, I do agree that most wealthy people irl ARE shit and scummy af, but there will always be a few exceptions, you just don't always see them because the real kind ones don't go around telling everyone about every single kind act they do, they just put their money to good use to make their own employees lives better, or invest/donate money every chance they get to some organization of their trust and so on. Adding to this, do you all even realize people can't just throw money out of the window and that as a business person you always need to keep some capital to actually make your business thrive and so you can continue helping other people out in this case where BIG SUMS of money are being put to use in favor of actual civilians and people from all walks of life??

((Edit to add yet another Very Obvious display that Speedwagon never sided with the rich, not even in his older years: Smokey Brown! The kid is literally a mirror of Speedwagon’s own younger self in that both were criminals from the streets in a large city (London in Spw’s case, NY in Smokey’s), immersed in crime and poverty and most likely having to resort to crime as a mean to survive in a society that was even more classist (and also racist, and this can actually be seen in BT when one of the mafiosos starts spewing shit towards Smokey due to his skin color) than it is nowadays, both having no known parents or family either and having been most likely orphaned/abandoned. Had Speedwagon been this nasty ass rich man, he could have simply ignored Smokey or treated him poorly, or could have even turned him to authorities, considering Smokey’s criminal record just for the sake of “preventing him from stealing from him” or whatever. There was literally nothing Spw could benefit himself from by keeping Smokey around like he did, which is a core trait in abusive/exploitative people. However, he never did any of that. Instead, and despite the reigning classism and racism at the time, Speedwagon along with Erina always embraced Smokey from the start and basically became his godparents, never letting the kid go back to his life in the streets, providing him with everything he needed and making sure he received a proper education, which was something very few people of color (black people, specially) could receive. And yet, Speedwagon and Erina made it happen, very likely using some of Spw’s influences to allow Smokey go to the school (and eventually college too) of his choice without any stigma or trouble at all and covering all expenses for him. -end of edit-))

If this was, idk, the Metal Gear series or some other media that revolves around the topic of politics, then the whole "cRaPiTaLisM!!! >:O" thing would have some weight and be plausible as it directly impacts the main plot of the story. But here?? In Jojo's?? Where the main focus as stated by it's author himself is the strength of the human spirit overcoming obstacles in the face of actual evil??? Try harder.

And, before I get That One Type of fans yelling at me that "people don't just get rich without exploiting people in real life!!"… do you guys realize we're talking about animanga series where vampires, funky stone masks with spooky powers, pillar men, stands, people who can use some ancient sunpowered martial art, plankton that can turn into a sentient person, and so on can happen, right? And yet I don't see anyone whining that "tHaT DoEsN'T hApPeN iRl!!".

And like, if this whole claim stems from disliking Speedwagon, just say you don't like him and move the fuck on. You don't need to try to justify your disliking for him or for ANY other characters, let alone making up wildly out of character bullshit about them to try to prove to yourself and to everyone else why according to you the character is "bad". I promise you it is not a big deal to simply not vibe with a character.

[riddlerosehearts]

not liveblogging my reactions to the nightmare before christmas event just because liveblogging takes so much extra time that i only like to do it for the main story. but i do have to say i saw someone on twitter complain about "idia randomly going outside without ortho Because Plot" and now that i see what they were talking about, i... think that's a good thing actually? this is like, something he NEEDS to grow into being capable of doing for his own sake and i'm glad we're seeing him actively make progress?? it's a secondhand book fair, he was probably lured there by the possibility of finding rare out of print and/or special edition manga (edit: LMAO wait he confirms this himself 5 minutes later! he says he was there looking for the first print of his favorite classic manga!) and it probably took an EXTREME amount of coaxing from ortho to get him to go by himself. also it's not like his anxiety is just gone and he's totally normal and fine without ortho now. he literally popped in like THIS and then immediately wooshed away the second another human being acknowledged his existence 😭

[fortitudina]

*OOC. ------ Please remember, I am a selective blog. I go through every blog that I get a follow from and if I cannot see evidence of interaction and writing from you in several months, I am unlikely to follow back. This also goes for starter calls that have not been followed through with. Yeah, I get that times are tough and sometimes muse is not there, but If I can see meme after meme posted, along with starter calls that people have liked, but no writing for months in response to everything? that just yells bad vibes and makes me reluctant to follow back. i am here to write. I want to write with people. I am not merely here to boost followers on blogs that are just not going to put effort in to writing with their partners. I'm sorry, but I've long been overly kind and now, I'm being kind to myself above anything else.

[ikkaku-of-heart]

@lovehungered asked: 🔥🔥 Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion.

🔥Don't post memes when you're already drowning in asks, memes, and threads. No, having more things to answer will not cure your writer's block or burnout. It's just going to make you even more anxious and overwhelmed. Anytime I see someone post about how swamped they are with memes and starters and the like but then post starter calls/more memes, I feel like being the parent who goes "we have food at home" when the kids are screaming for McDonald's. Just...guys, answer the shit you have or delete it before reblogging ten more memes. Because I won't lie, I get a lot less motivated to send stuff in when I realize that it will never get answered.

🔥As a Heart Pirate writer I do like Corazon, but I'll admit I've cooled on him over the past few years. Most of it comes from the fandom, admittedly. Especially how they act like the death of Law's parents and sister is a footnote compared to Cora's death. Also, most Cora Lives AUs make my head hurt because Rosinante being a Heart Pirate changes so much in my mind. Like, why is Law so determined to take out Joker, then? Revenge is such a major motivator for Law, and especially the fact that Law is willing to die for his memory, that Cora living...IDK, it just changes so much for his motivation.

[darabeatha]

[mechahero]

//Thinking about the last time Lambda saw himself pre conversion was when he around 12 or so, so that's probably the image of himself that's still somewhat present in his mind.

[jessicas-pi]

look, I've decided that everything george lucas was involved in is canon star wars, and everything else is basically fanfiction that I can approve of or disregard at will.

This is going to be a very important part of my life philosophy come this August.

[badboysupr]

this is entirely unrelated to anything on this blog or anything pjo but i have to declare this somewhere, so this is as good a place as any:

please, i am begging you, if you haven't played ou/ter w.ilds (wilds, not worlds: important distinction) and have the ability to, pry yourself off this hellsite and go play it

i don't mean to be pushy or annoying, but i can pretty much guarantee that if i had to choose one (1) game out of so dang many i hold dear and would recommend, that's the one. everyone should experience it

my gf and i finally beat our playthrough of it at the end of 2023, and i have legit not gone a single day since then without the game just crossing my mind, if not being wholly consumed in EmotionsTM and just staring vacantly at a wall trying to process what the crap we went through—and the fact i'd never get to experience that game again for the first time (never in my life have i wanted to forget a game as badly as this just to get to replay it blind)

it's incredible. it's messed with my head in good and bad ways. and i am confident i will never play a game that makes me feel the exact way this game has. that is all. have a wonderful day/evening/whatever (time isn't real) and i will return this blog to regularly scheduled programming now ♡

[widowshill]

gm woke up thinking about this scene

[stellarhistoria]

sighs really quietly

[fatelcved]

i worry that i'm leaning too much into fluff and whatnot lately? but it's just kind of a comfort thing, i think. and this has been the kind of month where that's needed :' )

[bcneheaded]

all i need in life is like artemis asmr of his stupid deep voice telling me shit like from that concerned meme, shit like.... the uuhhhhh “ breathe for me, that’s it. all the way in, there you go. now out, good. now again, nice and slow. you’re doing so well. ” all of my everything would be fixed immediately permanently

[hemopseudo]

.