#sorry to derail a little

[ashironie]

As a high schooler, one thing that really discourages perseverance is grades. Most of us are taught we need to do it 100% right as soon as we learn it then forget it immediately after to learn the new thing. History is one of the few subjects i feel heavily encourages remembering things and that doesn’t have focus on instant correctness. I understand teachers are not given the time to walk through it so students can learn and go back to it throughout the year, and i’m not talking about them. A system that doesn’t allow for the one thing it’s built to do, learning, is a bad system.

When a deadline is coming up and i know i won’t be able to do it well in the time given, i cannot turn off the part of my brain that says i just shouldn’t try. If i know i can’t get an A or even a B in any world (even if i will get an A for C work) i instantly don’t care. I have too many other classes and too many things outside of school and too many things at home to add the stress of something that i couldn’t do well.

I personally have never used AI for any assignments, but if my friends did i wouldn’t care. In one class my teacher says we should have an hour of homework per night (it is and AP class) which means that homework would take me three times as long. Then i have Every Other Fucking Class, so three hours for one class, an hour for another, two for another, and that’s 6 hours. I do not have Six Fucking Hours. And my school is one that has minimal homework. My middle school had an hour for homework every night for one class, my AP class doesn’t even do it every night, and then the other classes and the disability multiplier, i couldn’t do the homework in the allotted time, so i didn’t. And when i did if i couldn’t knock it out easy i would be late for every other class.

I failed Math in middle school, and Now, three years later, i am in an AP math class. I can do the work, i can be smart, just not instantly.

Something I don't think we talk enough about in discussions surrounding AI is the loss of perseverance.

I have a friend who works in education and he told me about how he was working with a small group of HS students to develop a new school sports chant. This was a very daunting task for the group, in large part because many had learning disabilities related to reading and writing, so coming up with a catchy, hard-hitting, probably rhyming, poetry-esque piece of collaborative writing felt like something outside of their skill range. But it wasn't! I knew that, he knew that, and he worked damn hard to convince the kids of that too. Even if the end result was terrible (by someone else's standards), we knew they had it in them to complete the piece and feel super proud of their creation.

Fast-forward a few days and he reports back that yes they have a chant now... but it's 99% AI. It was made by Chat-GPT. Once the kids realized they could just ask the bot to do the hard thing for them - and do it "better" than they (supposedly) ever could - that's the only route they were willing to take. It was either use Chat-GPT or don't do it at all. And I was just so devastated to hear this because Jesus Christ, struggling is important. Of course most 14-18 year olds aren't going to see the merit of that, let alone understand why that process (attempting something new and challenging) is more valuable than the end result (a "good" chant), but as adults we all have a responsibility to coach them through that messy process. Except that's become damn near impossible with an Instantly Do The Thing app in everyone's pocket. Yes, AI is fucking awful because of plagiarism and misinformation and the environmental impact, but it's also keeping people - particularly young people - from developing perseverance. It's not just important that you learn to write your own stuff because of intellectual agency, but because writing is hard and it's crucial that you learn how to persevere through doing hard things.

Write a shitty poem. Write an essay where half the textual 'evidence' doesn't track. Write an awkward as fuck email with an equally embarrassing typo. Every time you do you're not just developing that particular skill, you're also learning that you did something badly and the world didn't end. You can get through things! You can get through challenging things! Not everything in life has to be perfect but you know what? You'll only improve at the challenging stuff if you do a whole lot of it badly first. The ability to say, "I didn't think I could do that but I did it anyway. It's not great, but I did it," is SO IMPORTANT for developing confidence across the board, not just in these specific tasks.

Idk I'm just really worried about kids having to grow up in a world where (for a variety of reasons beyond just AI) they're not given the chance to struggle through new and challenging things like we used to.

[charlie-ver]

Hey, you, the trans man reading this - I love you. I know there's posts like this, but I got down a bad rabbit hole last night and I think there's not enough nice posts towards trans men (:

I don't care if you've finished you transition, on won't be ever able to reach the changes you would like. I don't care if you've been on T for years, or just started, or won't be for some years, or can't or don't want to be. I do not care how you dress. I don't care if you want to be pregnant and have children one day. I don't care if you want hysterectomy and don't even want to freeze your eggs (Hell knows I am not freezing anything). I do not care if you want bottom surgery or if you love what you were born with. Because it doesn't matter and doesn't take away from your identity.

Gay trans men? You aren't just confused straight girls. You are valid in your gender AND sexuality. Straight trans men? You aren't a betrayal the moment you are no longer misgendered. You're still welcome in lgbtqia+ spaces. Because you're a part of our community. One does not lose their place the moment they are perceived and cis or cishet.

Cis men have heard it before, but they won't admit it. All this "if you like x you must be a girl" really just feels like repackaged "if you like x you must be gay". Wanna hear a secret?

HOBBIES, JOBS AND FAVORITE THINGS DO NOT HAVE GENDER.

I like botanical gardens. I love plants. I like looking at clothing, room decor, fabric stores sometimes catch my eye. Because I am am artist, and I take inspiration from these and many more things. Plant care and gardening is not a "red flag" for a trans man in my humble and trans opinion, but it's a sign that you have love to give. And that's beautiful. Just like liking these things does not indicate that a man is gay, it does not mean that your internal identity is any different.

Do not let the world put rails on your patch to your own masculinity. And if you have to hide, that's okay. If you can only be yourself online, that's okay. Trans people will always be here. Trans men will always be here. The best thing you can do is to live as safely as you can. I know this can come off as condescending from a European who has nothing to fear personally, except violence for one month in the year, because my way of being trans isn't "obvious", but I try to take it that my safety means I can try to reassure the rest of you, while you can just focus on your own misery and don't have to be strong for anyone but yourself.

If you need a safe place to went, come to my asks. If you don't want me to post them and just read them, that's ok. You can be angry, you can vent, you can cry, do whatever you need, but, obviously, no transphobia or anything (: Special love goes out to trans men who are of the aroace spectrum, because honestly, the aroace discourse never seems to die, it's just dismissed. Reminds me of something. Hm (: I wonder.

Anyhow. Come to me to cry, for a virtual hug, for a distraction, if you'd like. Feel free to ask for art. Want me to draw your trans characters with flags? I can do that, for free, for you. Ask or dm is enough (: Art and listening is the best I can do, but I'll do my best to do it well.

I love you. You deserve to live, you deserve to be happy, and you also are wholly entitled to cry, to complain, to be sad, angry, loud, afraid. You are a human being with emotions, you deserve to feel them. Nobody can tell you what your internal identity, what your gender is. Because nobody else can know that. Only you can.

So let me repeat: It does not matter how you dress, whether you are on T, whether you want surgeries or love your body as is, whether you are skinny, fat, or muscular, what accessories and clothes you wear, how your voice sounds, how you act, how you carry yourself and what you like. The only thing that matters is how you feel. And while we're at it, yes, you may change your mind, but it still doesn't invalidate your identity in the moment. There was a time where I thought I was biromantic, but I dropped that because I wasn't, and nobody gave me shit for it. Because nobody should. Whatever you feel right now? Valid. Do you identify at a trans man but don't use he/him? Valid. Do you identify with more genders? Are you maybe a man only sometimes? Or are you more at the same time? All of that is valid, if you feel like a man in some aspect or on some part, you are one, if that's a label you want. If your gender makes more sense as a man, then yeah, you are one. Nothing else but how you feel matters.

I love you, and again, I'm here for you if you need that. I can only listen and draw a little something for you, but maybe that's enough for some. If it can help a bit, I can do it for you.

Anyone derailing this post will be blocked. I have no patience for derailers.

[shazzbaa]

I'm sorry bit I just love the idea of Poor Edward thinking he's hot shit with his creepy gifts and deranged letters, then here comes Samuel who's even more fucked up than him, looking for some homoerotic stabbing while Edward cries. Baby faced loser just cannot handle an experienced freak.

LAKSJDFLASEKJES INCREDIBLE ASK TO RECEIVE, THANK YOU

but okay listen I think they're on different freaky axes. Stalking, sending someone your skin in the mail, getting possessive and jealous enough to kidnap their baby, those are all ROMANTIC freak activities. Samuel did not get the skin and go "pff, amateur, get on my level," LIKE HE WAS PRETTY DISTURBED TO GET EDWARDS SKIN IN THE MAIL. and then Sam is not really romantically inclined, he is just SEXUALLY freaky (calling him an "experienced freak" absolutely delights me but I don't know if this is true, he DOES like homoerotic stabbing but hes still a confused and repressed Victorian gentleman) while Edward simply does not seem to be sexually inclined at all?? TBH I pretty strongly headcanon him as asexual just based on how he handles love and marriage... So they're just on different tracks.

BUT HONESTLY?? IM NOT EVEN SURE THATS THE ISSUE. gets fully sidetracked with my Poor Edward Is A Kinky Ace headcanons

Thoughts & Evidence: - pain/injury: top - he "dislikes butchery" and seems to have a flair for causing psychological terror over simple murder, but causing people real tangible pain is the one thing he truly misses in his happiest ending. - restraint/confinement: switch - hes SO fixated on the coffin thing but ALSO in That One Very Normal Silverer Option hes fine playing along when YOU restrain HIM, it's only when you threaten to murder him that he actually freaks out - control; dom/sub: bottom - this never occurred to me during the ambition but makes a lot of sense in retrospect... he wants a master to pledge himself to and he's not sure if you're going to take that slot or not so he flips back and forth between pitching himself as a loyal henchman and a sadistic tormentor as he tries to capture your affection. But the only way to actually be with him is to fully take control, to essentially tell him "new plan: i do whatever I want, and you lock yourself in this building until I get back <3" and he's SO HAPPY TO DO IT.

All this to say that like, there's a couple of actual obstacles here, but neither of them are "erotic stabbing is too much for Edward." HE just doesn't wanna get murdered! BUT LIKE THATS PERFECTLY COMPATIBLE, SAMUEL IS ON BOARD FOR BEING THE GUY GETTING LOVINGLY MURDERED!!!!

I strongly suspect the actual obstacles here are: (a) Sam is too much of a bottom to be Poor Edward's master but also (b) Poor Edward is chemically impaired. In the whole first chunk of Light Fingers he's grabbing you constantly, easily overpowers you, and has NO PROBLEMS inflicting death as long as it's not permanent, but after the moon-milk he NEVER TOUCHES YOU AGAIN unless/until you actually consent to the wedding. THIS IS A FASCINATING DETAIL TO ME. He's clearly frustrated with you at points and trying to force your hand, and he doesn't seem to mind you getting hurt in the Nightmare-Orphanage when he's not the one doing it; can he just not bear to attack you himself????? ARE HE AND SAMUEL BOTH EQUALLY FRUSTRATED BY HIS INABILITY TO JUST FIGHT SAM

[itsthekiks]

I have had almost a decade of "weird" iron results on annual blood tests. I was referred to an oncologist right away when it first showed up, but after a few visits and tests, he said to me: well, you don't have cancer, so.... Which resulted in me waiting 5 more years before I changed cities to get a second opinion. THEN I got iv iron, which really helped me.

It also meant that when I did get cancer last year I had an oncologist who immediately referred me to the specialist for my cancer (I go to a large university based practice so I have ended up with a cancer team)

I feel very lucky to have moved to a city where there is a practice that literally publishes studies so they are willing to listen and take me seriously.

MCAS update: since starting iron treatment with the aim to get my ferritin stores over 100 for migraine prevention, I’ve finally been able to raise my protein intake.

(Hey, did you guys know that while some MCAS patients present with abnormally high levels of ferritin, low ferritin can cause mast cells to degranulate? And mast cells store and release ferritin when they degranulate, so it’s like a shitty ouroboros of self-fulfilling misery? I didn’t. No one told me, the person with a mast cell disease and chronic lifelong anemia 🙃🙃🙃)

This is a big deal for me because even after years of treatment, this time last year I was living on 7-16g of protein a day because attempting to eat more than that was priming me for an anaphylactic reaction.

As of today, after 3 months of consistent iron treatment, I’m able to eat 50-60g a day.

Progress!!! 🎉

[fluffypotatey]

That is, huh. A lot more of a thought out response then what I was going for lol. I was like “what little rat does that remind you of” “the dude spying in the castle just now” when I rhetorically said “what shadowpeach does that remind you of” and you debunked it 😭 but since we’re talking about this now

Wiki calls em “an interconnected, self-perpetuating cycle. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary and at the same time opposing forces that interact to form a dynamic system. Yin and yang transform each other: like an undertow in the ocean, every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall.” Idk about you but with Mac getting chaos powers, I figured the show might take inspo from this, what with the cycles and all too. There might be an opposite “order” power in contrast to Nines. If Pandora’s box is literal, MK is “hope” there’s a lot of other symbolism fandom likes the stereotypically portray into their ShadowPeach lol. But they have day/night too. Nobody has to think too hard to take inspo, and most shows don’t in my experience. Shout out to Ninjago and ATLA just mixing culture and language in a way that annoys people and placing it under one umbrella.

well i mean, lmk is already playing with the themes of order and chaos. except there Order was on the side of the antagonists while MK was Chaos (being the harbinger and all). we saw it with LBD and Azure and now with Nines

also, lmk’s order can be seen when it talks about Fate and Destiny and even the “story”, but in a way where they are shown as being too fixed and bureaucratic compared to the lessons being taught to MK and by MK which are “your fate (order) is your own and can only be determined by you.”

we had it with MK telling LBD “do you really think the universe cares about any of us?”

we had it when Macky told MK “if you tread the paths already carved for you, then you doom yourself into a self-fulfilling prophecy”

we have it even more explicitly in s5 from Wukong: “sometimes you need to carve your own path and fuck all the rest”

lmk is all about finding that balance between the chaos of your mind and the forced order of the world around you. our own daily ying and yang that we must balance, and that is why i don't place those themes with shadowpeach just because it takes away from the crux of the show where it’s original focus is on MK and how he changes and grow throughout the seasons

tbh i think their day/night themes with ying/yang are significantly minor. the major focus with them is the themes of betrayal and reconciliation and past haunts

[kittyfletcher]

hey, i jus wanna give a shout out to asian and latino fandom nerds, you guys arent nearly as appreciated as much as you should be, and a lot of you are the backbone of a lot of fandoms. ik im puerto rican and therefore am a little biased but i dont see brown fandom nerds get as much love, if any. thanks for reading.

[sskk-manifesto]

Ep 5!!!

[reikunrei]

literally so homophobic that now i have to go home 🙄 wym i can’t just hang out w james indefinitely

[divinekangaroo]

just enough to let me drown - pettiot - Peaky Blinders (TV) [Archive of Our Own]

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | ? | ?

During S6-E5, starting with Tommy meeting Diana at the narrowboat, how he gets back to Arrow, that particular Dinner, through to Tommy returning home after dropping Jack Nelson off at the train.

Tommy was running out of women who didn’t look like other women. If Lizzie found out, he’d have only redheads left to fuck in his old age.

No. No old age. Only this.

.

Diana Mitford/Tommy Shelby, Past Oswald Mosley/Tommy Shelby, Tommy Shelby/Lizzie Stark, Past Oswald Mosley/Lizzie Stark, Jack Nelson, Charles Strong, Small Heath Sex Worker | Reference to Incest, Dehumanisation, Cigarette Burns, Disassociation, Racism, Class Issues, Intrusive Thoughts, Extremely Dubious Consent, Post Rationalisation, Flashbacks, Dyfunctional Relationship, Self Harm, Oral Trauma, Trauma, Plausible Deniability, Close POV/Unreliable Narration, Horrible Dinner Parties, Prostitution, Shame, Hurt/Comfort, Eating Inedible Objects, Vomiting, Pre-Seizure Markers, Where Fascism becomes a Personally Targetted Sexual Nightmare, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Falling Off the Wagon, Unreliable Memory, Hoarding, Orgasm Control, Innuendo, Ethnic Slurs, Trying (so fucking hard!) to Communicate (emotion is the enemy of oratory!), Spiralling, Purposeful Ambiguity, Failed Love Confession/s

.

[setsunasknife]

In a non-massacre AU, Itachi would constantly catch Sasuke and Sakura in compromising positions. And Itachi ain’t no snitch so he doesn’t tell their parents but gives Sasuke a very DETAILED talk to avoid any little Uchiha’s too soon.

In your opinion, do you think it works? My opinion will be in the tags 👀

[wellnoe]

jean and charles have no secrets between them and jean and scott share an intimacy someone like you couldn’t even begin to fathom, total sharing total trust etc etc and if scott and charles ever acknowledge the secrets between them they die.

[avemstella]

Genshin 5.1 Archon Quest Spoiler

I must mention that I did in fact make a full colored (and color coded for different groups!) Khaenri'ah character chart entirely for this joke, for which I knew I would be blurring because there are massive spoilers on it pfft. One day I'll show it off, one day.

Okay, so originally I was going to have a ramble here about my current Natlan thoughts, but well...

uh, yeah haha. Hades 2 has once more consumed my time and brain (oh god the amount of video essays I have in my head for it, good lord). I'm not going to reveal how many hours I've played in this last week, it's embarrassing, but I have kind of burned through the new stuff, so I'll be back on the fic writing grind soon. Also because, despite the distraction and generally how slow its been, I'm quite excited to write it (teaser, there's a Skirkback with some vital lore! Also I just missed Skirk pfft)

Thank you everyone for your patience

[palimundo]

Buying wall decals for your bedroom because you genuinely liked them, only for the adhesive smell to hit you with a wave of nostalgia from when you were in second grade and you and your mom and newborn baby sibling got settled in the brand new house (which she bought after your dad admitted to cheating on her) and how you also got wall decals to decorate your bedroom back then.

And then you get hit with the realization that the only reason that was such a peaceful moment in your childhood wasn't just because your dad wasn't around, but because he was trying so hard to behave himself to win back your mom when he was around. And then he got her where he wanted and didn't feel like behaving anymore and made the rest of your upbringing overall unpalatable.

Me looking at the nostalgia embodiment: HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TEACH YOU THIS LESSON, OLD MAN!?

[berryblu-soda]

fully enjoyed silly guy Kabru for a full 4 seconds before i realized his way of analyzing people is exactly like my dad ToT

[oswaldddavis]

(They think the other is a idiot)

[calm-with-horses-mp4]

how do we feel abt transfem britta.. she feels so transfem coded . to me.

with the whole thing abt her not experiencing girl stuff before college (specifically going off the ep where she has to learn how to behave in the girls bathroom i.e. providing support to other women) and then im watching the episode where shes nominated for the "tranny queen" (at the tranny dance 💀💀💀) and it just like... Lines Up... 🤔🤔🤔

YES TRANSFEM BRITTA IS SO REAL! also i see jeffbritta as aro4aro t4t personally 😌