#stick season is just amazing

[lolongss]

i feel the visceral need to inject in to my veins all the songs that ever resonated with me. all those songs that captured do majestically how my life went is going will go. I need to carve their lyrics into my skin drink their melodies I need to become my Spotify playlist until there is nothing left to sedate myself with

[bugwolfsstuff]

Headcanoning the Stolls as sons of chthonic Hermes and Katie as a daughter of Demeter Erinys (Demeter when she was grieving Persephone and killing everything) is fun because

A. using the epithets gives ways to explore powers for non-big three kids (THEY ARE CHILDREN OF GODS WHY THE FUCK CAN THE HERMES KIDS ONLY OPEN LOCKS AND RUN 'FAST')

B. Demeter got another one of her daughters falling for a Chthonic dude and she does not like it.

[illmoraineakoi]

If the theme for AvA Season 3 is really "Your actions have consequences"...

I am genuinely curious to see what the consequences for Victim's actions will be.

Both Alan and Chosen are reaping the consequences of their actions. How is Victim going to reap his own?

How is all of this going to backfire on him?

And at what point will he realize he's gone too far, that he's made a mistake? That he's become someone he never wanted to become?

[mikimeiko]

The Bear| Season 3 (2024), Christopher Storer

[coconut530]

WHAHAHAHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTT!?!

[chasedeys]

bengals win today yes?

[shallowseeker]

mortals reach a pinnacle when they find something to live for, as they are already (constantly) dying

immortals reach a pinnacle when they find something to die for, as they are already chained to the torturous of cycle of meaningless repetition

[bluishorange]

…

[blog-of-reaction]

Final opinions. I love Kisa. Carlito is just awesome (and he looked so proud and happy for Kisa at the end) and I love him.

Seth is the best. Richie is really a tactical genius. I love them.

Kate’s character arc was great. I love her.

Scott is going off to live his best life with his friends playing in a band and only feeding on guilty people. I love him.

Freddie was great. Guy deserves some peace and quiet. I love him.

[demarogue]

Gettin' Through the Holidays Mental Health Tricks

If y'all are anything like me, this time of year is triggering AF. Here are some small, very easy grounding exercises that I was taught by my therapist, basically in order of how much I like them for this rage-inducing season. You make like them in a different order, depending on your rage-to-despair ratio.

Push a wall: literally go up to a wall and try to push it over. Really try. I promise you won't push it over, but give it your best shot. Try to hold it as long as you can, and then take a breather and assess whether you need to repeat. Why it works: This is a quick, physical expulsion of the fight-or-flight feeling. It's a bit like punching a wall, but without the potential to hurt yourself/look scary/damage things. You can even do it in front of people and say you're stretching, they'll never know (unless the wall actually falls down, but this will not happen, I assure you).

Shake like a dog: Animals shake to release stress, and you are also an animal. Setting aside time to just shake it out, as vigorously as you can, arms and legs, face, stick your tongue out, pretend you're shaking like a wet dog. You can dance instead, if that feels better, and you can do this to music, but basically the more unhinged you can be, the better. If you are in a place you can scream, scream too! Why it works: like the above, this is a release of pent-up stress and anxiety. Especially if your rage-to-woe ratio is high, some kind of physical exertion is often the best way to burn through the cortisol and adrenaline you're building up.

Bilateral Tapping: Cross your arms over your chest so that your fingertips are at your shoulders, and slowly tap, one hand at a time, back and forth, for about a minute. Breathe slowly. Why it works: This is weird as hell, but because this engages both sides of your brain, it helps override the activity of the amygdala, which is the part of your brain that Makes The Fear. If you're being literally triggered in a situation, i.e. you're having a trauma response, or reliving some family trauma, this is a good one.

Box Breathing: From a comfortable position (can really be seated, laying down or standing), inhale slowly for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, then repeat. You can do it for shorter counts or longer counts, but if you vary the counts make sure the exhale is longer than the inhale. You can close your eyes or leave them open. Why it works: This exercise helps you move from a sympathetic (activated) nervous system response to a parasympathetic (balanced) response. I do this one every day, and it's a good gateway to meditation. Especially helpful in anxious or tense situations, but I find if I'm very triggered I need one of the other ones first, or it can make anxiety worse. Breathwork is amazing but not usually as a first exercise if you're very activated, or have been activated a long time.

Ice: Lots of ways to do this one – hands in cold water for 30 seconds, ice pack on the back of your neck, dip your entire face into a bowl of ice water (this one's the most effective). Why it works: I kinda think this is hilarious, but this activates your mammalian dive reflex. It immediately slows your heart-rate, so if you are feeling your blood pressure and heart rate rising, this one is very good. The only reason this one's at the bottom of my list is because I hate being cold.

I wish you all a very get-through-the-holidays-without-hurting-yourself. Take time alone if you need it.

[fingertipsmp3]

Forgot to buy houmous

[vivalasthedas]

Only major negative I have to say about kaos at the moment, having just finished it, that show should've been two or four more episodes long and a complete single miniseries

I was honestly expecting it to be. It doesn't have five seasons and it starts to go downhill energy. It has a single solid shorter experience that can be enjoyed over and over energy.

[allylikethecat]

Ally!!! tuesday update is phenomenal as always! i liked thw “im here every tuesday” part it was very meta of you lol (even if it wasn’t intentional) This story is incredibly angsty atm and i have no complaints. To be honest the vibe is kind of reminding me of Queer in the sense that Matty is watching a mysterious man at a bar and getting wasting at the same time i also assume he’ll keep going back to that bar to try to see this mysterious man again. all i have to say is that you’ve got my attention and i’ll be listening to noah khan so i can get the full experience (any suggestions in where to start???)

🥤

Ahh Smoothie Anon!! It's a joy as always to see you in my inbox!!

First off, thank you SO MUCH for giving my Noah / Matty fic a chance - I know that there isn't really an audience for it but WOW am I having SO MUCH FUN working on it! I was kind of going through a rut with my writing and working on this fic has fully pulled me out of it. I'm glad that you liked the "I'm here every Tuesday" line lol Fictional!Noah performed at the bar every Thursday and Sunday in the original draft, then I was reading it over and I was like WTF Ally he should OBVIOUSLY be there every TUESDAY because TUESDAY is your day lol

I'm going to be honest... I haven't actually read Queer (I am silly spicy romance / romantasy trash) so the fact that they have a similar vibe is completely accidental but I will happily take it! Let's just say that Fictional!Matty will be meeting that mysterious bar stranger sooner rather than later 👀

AH Welcome to the emotional turmoil OMG I would say Noah's most recent album Stick Season is a great place to start if you're just getting into his music. The most popular songs off that album are Stick Season, and Dial Drunk. Homesick is another popular one and my personal favorite. Other favorites would be Forever, Orange Juice, and Growing Sideways. Call Your Mom is a tear jerker and No Complains is extremely Matty coded. From Busy Head my favorites are: Young Blood, False Confidence and Mess. From I Was / I Am my favorites are Bad Luck, Godlight, Hallow and Howling. From Cape Elizabeth it would be Maine and Anyway. Live from Fenway also features the previously unreleased song Pain Is Cold Water and I am absolutely obsessed with that live album - I was at Fenway Night One and it was a religious experience. But AH Noah Kahan!! I am so obsessed with him it's not even funny. I will admit though, the song featured in the middle of the chapter is actually Something in the Orange by Zach Bryan (it came on shuffle while I was working on the chapter and it just felt right? Noah and Zach Bryan also collaborated together for Sarah's Place which is another great one!) I've been very in my folk/country era working on this fic!

Sorry for all of the rambling omg I just LOVE talking about this fic and Noah and just AH thank you so much for reading and sending me this ask and being so wonderful and supportive. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the next few chapters and also what you think about Noah's music!!

Thank you SO MUCH again!! I hope you are having a wonderful day and a fantastic rest of your week!

❤️Ally

[loumauve]

if I still wrote I sure would write a Nancy/Robin fic to Noah Kahan's Halloween. it just such a good song and it fits the-post-all-things-Upside-Down them so well

it's the

And the last that I heard you were down in New Orleans Working your days at the print I'll drink 'till I drown and I smoke 'till I'm burning Your hands are all over my scent I worry for you, you worry for me And it's fine if we know we won't change

and the

But the wreckage of you I no longer reside in The bridges have long since been burned And the ash of the home that I started the fire in It starts to return to the Earth I'm leaving this town and I'm changing my address I know that you'll come if you want It's not Halloween but the ghost you're dressed up as Sure knows how to haunt, yeah, you know how to haunt

for me.

[floral-hex]

health whining

Dilemma: breathing trouble. Still. For weeks. Another bad night where I’m afraid to go to sleep.

Options, if I go somewhere:

ER. No copay. Can go right now. Will most definitely feel shitty for presumably wasting their time and will probably be told to see ENT (ENT appointment in almost 2 weeks but issue is affecting me NOW).

Urgent care. There is a copay. I’ll have to wait 2 more hours. If equipment is needed (I dunno, endoscopy scopes. Who knows), they most definitely won’t have it. Will also probably tell me to go see ENT.

[reddpenn]

Here is a potentially silly question: how do you feel about birthstones? Do you think they fit the months (by season or astrological sign)? Do you have other stones you'd rather see as birthstones?

Okay, so, birthstones make absolutely no sense.

I mean, look at this mess. We’re doing beryl and corundum twice! I get that they get Special Different Names for their Special Different Colors, but it's just lazy. And why are we giving some months cheap, common gemstones like garnet and amethyst while the poor June birthdays have to shell out tens of thousands of dollars for FREAKING ALEXANDRITE? That’s incredibly unfair! We should be picking birthstones that are all roughly the same price. And why do some months get multiple gemstones? I’ll tell you why: because nobody can agree on an official list and every attempt to standardize this thing has just added MORE birthstones to every month.

So obviously the answer is to standardize it again, by throwing out everything and starting over. Here are our goals:

Fair pricing. You should be paying roughly the same amount regardless of what month you were born in. We’re getting rid of those ridiculous outliers like diamond and alexandrite.

More customization potential! Nobody should be stuck with a stone they hate. We’re picking gemstones that come in multiple colors or varieties, so that everyone can choose a variant they like.

Wearability. Some birthstones are too fragile to be worn as jewelry. We need to replace them with stronger stuff.

No more duplicate gemstones. Every month gets a stone or family of stones with a unique chemical composition.

Now without further ado, I present to you:

The New And Improved List Of Birthstones With No Problems Or Flaws That Everyone Will Definitely Agree On And We Can Start Using Right Now Immediately

JANUARY: GARNET

I've got no problem with garnet. It's a fine, classic birthstone, so January can keep it. But I would like to see a little more garnet diversity. January birthdays shouldn’t be confined to just red. The garnet family of minerals contains a rainbow of different colors, like orange hessonite, green uvarovite, pink rhodolite, yellow grandite, and many more. They’re all garnet, so we should be wearing them all!

FEBRUARY: QUARTZ

The original birthstone of February was amethyst, which is… kinda boring. Super cheap and common and you only get one color? No, we can do better. February gets ALL the quartzes now. Keep wearing amethyst if you want, but also feel free to branch out into clear quartz, citrine, rose quartz, smoky quartz, rutilated quartz, tiger eye… actually, take all the agates too. If it’s quartz, it’s yours!

MARCH: SPODUMENE

March was originally aquamarine, but I’ll be giving all the beryls to May, so we need a different stone here. Let’s stick with that theme of pale pastels and go with spodumene. For an April birthday, bedeck yourself in green hiddenite, pink kunzite, or yellow triphane. Despite its subtle colors, your birthstone has some amazing fluorescence, with really cool pinks and oranges under a UV light.

APRIL: FELDSPAR

Diamond is too pricy for this list, so we’re replacing it with something less expensive and way more interesting. April will now be represented by the feldspar family. We’re talking labradorite, moonstone, amazonite, aventurine, and sunstone. While you don’t have much variety in color, your stones are full of shimmery schiller which glitters and shifts as it catches the light.

MAY: BERYL

May’s original birthstone was emerald, which is great and can stay, but we’re also adding its siblings! May is now represented by all beryls: Emerald, Aquamarine, Morganite, Bixbite, Heliodor, Goshenite, and whatever other varieties I’m forgetting to list. A bright and saturated rainbow of colors is represented here, so everyone born in May is sure to find something they like.

JUNE: ORGANIC GEMSTONES AND FOSSILS

It’s time to address the alexandrite in the room, and obviously we’re getting rid of alexandrite. A stone worth $15,000 to $70,000 a carat does not belong on the same list as friggin amethyst. Instead we’ll look at the other traditional June birthstone, pearl. The problem with pearl is that it’s a clear outlier in this list. An organic gemstone, by some definitions not even a mineral. Should we replace it? NO. We are OWNING it. All organic gemstones now belong to June. Pearl is joined here by jet, amber, coral, ivory, ammolite, petrified wood… in fact, June can have every fossil ever.

JULY: SPINEL

July was originally represented by ruby, which is a fine stone and won’t be kicked off the birthstone list - we’re just shuffling it down to September. Replacing ruby for July is spinel. (See, it’s funny because historically spinel has often been mistakenly identified as ruby! That's a little gemology humor for you.) Available in any hue you could possibly desire, spinel offers some nice color options to a month that previously only featured red. Of course if you want to keep wearing red, red spinel mimics ruby so well that you’ll barely notice the difference.

AUGUST: PERIDOT

Nope, we’re not changing this one. Peridot is the ideal gemstone and you ungrateful August whiners can die mad about it. HOW ABOUT YOU LEARN TO APPRECIATE PERFECTION

SEPTEMBER: CORUNDUM

Sapphire is a wonderful, classic stone and it deserves its spot on this list. But the corundum family has been separated for far too long, and we’re finally going to reunite them. Joining sapphire in September is its sister ruby. Between the pinks and reds of ruby and the many, many colors of sapphire, these two stones give September a nice variety of colors.

OCTOBER: TOURMALINE

Look, as gorgeous as opal is and as much as I love it, it is both way too pricy for our list and also TERRIBLE in jewelry. This stone is just too brittle to wear around from day to day and can be ruined just by getting it wet, which makes wearing your birthstone a huge hassle. We’ll kick opal out and hang on to October’s other traditional birthstone, tourmaline. Pink tourmaline may be classic, but this stone comes in plenty of other colors. Whether it’s brown dravite, watermelon elbaite, or the rare and beautiful blue indicolite, you can wear them all!

NOVEMBER: TOPAZ

November can keep topaz, but we’re not confining it to the color yellow. This stone comes in a huge variety of colors, and now they can ALL represent November. No further notes; it’s a nice, classic stone.

DECEMBER: ZIRCON

I dunno, I’ve had to come up with 12 of these, I’m burnt out. Sure, zircon, whatever.

“BUT WAIT,” you say. “Now instead of having a single color assigned to each month, almost every month is represented by almost every color, making it impossible to tell anyone’s birthstones apart and removing what made them special and recognizable as symbols!”

Well CLEARLY you didn’t read the title of this list.