#the first time it happened i was like. this is so bad. did my appendix burst

[bugunlikeanangel]

this is the second time ive gotten stabbing sobbing pain for no particular reason that i can track down that is immune to any typical remedies

[idkwhatimdoinghere1655]

Saudi Arabia GP 2024!

Mads' Race Recap!

Right, here we are, with another race recap. Yes, I know I said I would split these into 2, qualis and race, but I didn't. Oops. Anyway, we're going to do this in constructors again.

Red Bull - Refer to last weeks comments, I have nothing else to say really.

Ferrari - Right. Here we go. I'll start off with Charles, then I'll move onto the other fiasco. I think the overtake from Checo was inevitable in the end, the Red Bull has more pace, and Checo is great on street circuits. I didn't really see much of Lord Perceval, since he found a very comfortable spot between Checo and Oscar for the majority of the race. Very nice, brought some good points home. I like how he said in an interview (at some point after the race) that he thinks the Ferrari can have more pace later in the season. I would prefer it now, but I will wait. And fastest lap? OK my love, go for it. I saw it pop up and I thought it was a glitch on the graphics, I can't lie. He just though 'sod it, I've got space, let's go' and go, he did. Now onto my hero for the weekend. Ollie bloody Bearman that man is an absolute phenom. His first ever F1 race, some nice overtakes, did so so so well in qualis and in the race. He has gotten more points in one race than some people do in their entire career, which is quite funny IMO. Seriously though, on such short notice, he did such a brilliant job, and he is going to go far. Sad he missed out on the F2 race, and that's going to do a detriment to his points and Prema's, but he could have very well just made his career. One more thing before I move on to the other teams. Carlos. Carlos Sainz. Carlos fucking Sainz.

He drove for some reason during FP1 & 2, and I commend that, he wanted to get the job done. But, the man looked blue (the colour, not emotion). He looked so sick it was awful. Then I see the news that the poor man has already had his appendix out. I was just glad he was alright, THEN I SEE HIM AT THE TRACK?! I was just like 'Someone please put him back in bed and make him rest'. Then I see that the doctors told him to stay in bed and not go to the race. That man is a fighter, I'll give him that. And it was nice to hear from Ollie that he gave him all the tips and tricks, since it was his setup and everything like that. Hopefully, Carlos is back for Australia, but if Ollie has to drive for whatever reason, I won't be annoyed. Forza Ferrari!

McLaren - Oscar had a good race, he really tried to overtake Lewis. But, if they knew he still needed to pit anyway, why burn out the tyres and try to overtake? It would've gotten a better gap, yes, but I guess there wouldn't have been any point in just sitting back and letting him possibly gain extra time. Some good points in the bag there for them. As for Lando, I reckon if he didn't have Lewis badgering him the whole time, he would've been able to overtake Ollie for the P7, since he was lapping a whole lot faster and was on better tyres. Thankfully, Lewis actually did us a favour and kept Lando back, but Lando did a nice job. I don't know why he didn't come in under the safety car, but it didn't work out too badly for him, I guess.

Mercedes - Whatever is happening there is an absolute shit show. George stayed under the radar, just kind of driving in his big ol' empty space that he had between him, Ollie and Fernando. Lewis is really right when they have no speed in the high speed sections of the track. He did some nice defending on Oscar though, he was right to try and keep him back as much as possible, since that would have opened the space for other people to attack. All in all, Merc seriously need to sort their shit out if they want to compete for the higher places. Even then, they'll have to get through the McLarens, then the Ferrari's for those P3s that we are interchangeably giving to Charles and Carlos. Maybe P2s can be up for grabs if Checo fucks it, and maybe P1s if we get another Singapore situation.

Aston Martin - Not a bad one from Fernando, nice race from him. Instead of trying to compete with McLaren, he just let them do their own thing. He knows what he's doing. But, he was definitely in the top 3/4 for pole. Him, Charles, Max and Checo. But then he comes out bottom of the 4? He set osme mega laps, but then he just lost it. The Aston does that a lot. Lance was setting some lovely Q2 laps, but then it was like the car just said 'nah mate, I'm clocking out'. And, back to Lance. He just needed to be a little more careful. It was funny to hear his radio message, I'll admit, and I think his bringing out of the safety car definitely helped some of the others out a lot. Was I surprised though... no. Fernando nearly did the same thing, so did Oscar, but they were just a little lighter on it. Aston really has fallen, though.

Haas - Right, I'm officially a Haas girl Kevin Magnussen I absolutely fucking love you man. Matt & Tommy from P1 called it the Haasterplan. I completely agree. If Ollie wasn't driving, I would've given Kevin driver of the day. No, I would've given him driver of the year. After that first 10 second pen, he just said 'fuck it, I'm off' and just started going for it. Contact with Alex? Fine. Track limits? What are they? Do you want to absolutely send it into turn 1 again? Is that even a question? I bloody loved it. He just backed up all of those people from P11 and just let them suffer. He even ended up P12, even with the 20 seconds worth of penalties. Bloody lovely. I loved Kevin's radio just kept on going 'yeah, great one, keep it up'. Haas have found their new strategy.

Williams - Erm... not much to say? Mediocre qualis, Alex can get through to Q3 on a good day. Logan was out in Q1, this time it wasn't the steering wheel's fault. And... yeah. Wish I could say more, but I can't, really. Sorry.

VCARB/RB/REDBULLSHITTYEDITION - Daniel. Daniel Daniel Daniel. What is going on with you? I check the leaderboard, and I just see him chilling at the back. I don't even know what's going on there. And Yuki fell victim to the Kevin Magnussen Train of Terror. I honestly thought these guys were going to be your P11s-P14s, maybe with a few 10s and 9s sprinkled in there. But, I guess we have to put up with 15 and 16.

Kick Sauber - Right Valtteri really doesn't give a shit. He is quite happy just to toddle along at the back, as you do, in his little highlighter car. Good on him. I just felt bad for Zhou, I can't lie. He kinda just got stuck at the back and there was nothing he could do since the poor guy couldn't even set a quali time because his car was fucked.

Alpine - Jesus love of the lord above someone save these people. Pierre didn't even start the race, they had shit qualifying, and they have become the laughing stock of Formula 1. Estie was kind of just left to die, I guess. My delusional ass blames Pierre for a bad Charles start since his tyres were colder because he was faffing around at the back. Bullshit, I know.

[vinegar-rights]

thoughts on my version of little shop of horrors: seymours mother :p (read tags plz)

I like to combine aspects of the 1986 and the 1960 films :3.

He was put up for adoption as a baby, too expensive to care for a child. Seymour grew up assuming he was an orphan and was put into the custody of Mr. Mushnik. As he became older, he figured that he DID have a biological mother and she was still alive. He tried to reach out to meet her, but she refused to keep contact. He never met her until he became more well known, with newspapers covering the story of him and his new special plant. His success reached her and Seymour was delighted to know that he was finally going to meet his mother after so many years. Who knew fame was this powerful?

She requested that he visit her apartment for dinner. The woman was older, with messy gray-white hair and eyes that matched seymours, mousey and nervous. She welcomed her son but not without a quick check-up, only to make sure he won't drop dead right at that moment.

The apartment was messy, but no smell of mildew or sight of mold. A clean-ish hoarding situation, there were boxes everywhere full of who knows what and half-used first aid kits. The lack of bugs is what made Seymour confused, cockroaches were a common bug, especially in more drafty, more run down apartments like in Skid Row. He developed a bit of a phobia, growing up around the critters in skid rows home for boys. Dirty. Gross. Even as an adult he sometimes would sit up in bed in the middle of the night, scanning his room for any nocturnal bugs that would skitter in for shelter from the elements.

Seymour was immediately put off by the kitchen, where dinner was cooking. His mother had been talking the entire time, rambling something about the shop and what was in the paper that day, he tuned her out as he became more aware of his surroundings. The kitchen had bottles full of medicine, pill bottles aligned in rows on the counter, and already there's a napkin out with a glass of water with an assortment of pills that are ready to be consumed.

he noticed Seymour's quietness and slight discomfort, who was gazing at the view of her kitchen. She turned to explain her many issues, bad back, sinus infection, constant cold, her appendix got removed recently, ect. Her explanation managed to visibly calm her son's nerves, but he was still eyeing what was on the stove. Seymour tried not to pay mind to his mother's cooking, she was gracious enough to try to form a connection with him, and even asked him to come over! He turned to her to change the subject, he didn't want it to seem like he was judging her. They talked throughout the afternoon about what happened in the past years, and how they found each other. Most of the conversation was directed at Seymour: How did you find the plant? What kind is it? Oh, its a cross between a flytrap and what exactly? You don't know? You must be getting a lot of press, any opportunities? You were asked to host a TV show?ect. There were so many questions that Seymour wasn't to ask his own, he wanted to know why it took so long to talk to her, where was she this entire time, why didn't she reach out first?

Eventually, she passed him a bowl of whatever was in the pot in the kitchen. He didn't notice any food on the counter. The soup smelled sweet, like cough syrup. He opted to drink more of the water she offered, but he didn't want to be rude, he consumed some of the dinner. She grinned as she ate her food with her son, explaining that this is a staple of her household. The aftertaste after one spoonful made his whole body shiver as if he drank bitter wine. Out of fear of potentially offending her and risking her cutting him off forever, he ate a little bit more, cringing at the taste. Quickly he started becoming nauseous. He paused, looking more closely at the bowl, there was little to no actual food, there was a broth of course, but little to no items that would be the cause of this spike in anxiety and confusion. Something dawned on him. While his mother was watching him in between spoonfuls, she asked if he was okay. He nodded but politely declined any more. His newly reunited mother was either horribly ill all the time or a hypochondriac. He didn't need a high school education to know that. The pills and bottles on the counter were another explanation. This wasn't regular soup. She was drugging him. He sat up from the realization, and his mother became more worried at his sudden change of personality. She asked him if he was alright again, if he didn't like her food. He replied hastily that it was amazing, it's just that he remembered he left the stove on-- no, he needed to check on twoey, around this time her leaves should get washed. She accepted that explanation, and began pushing him out the door to help him on his way to Mushnik and Sons. As soon as Seymour was on the sidewalk outside of her apartment, he turned to an alleyway nearby. Fearful of whatever was in his system, he tried to throw up.

He became experienced when he accidentally ingested pesticide as a child and had to induce vomiting to avoid a hospital visit. He ran home, still feeling some residual effects of the drugs, despite only ingesting a little. The shop was empty and dark, Mr. Mushnik and Audrey went home early that day. He drank water and tried to calm himself. He found himself leaning next to audrey ii's pot, mind racing from the events that transpired. His strange mother, the apartment, the "food".

Tears sprang from his eyes as he thought everything over. She only cared to reach out as soon as he became famous. She didn't care to reach out to what was presumably her only child and never gave an explanation as to why she gave him away. He felt used. Defeated, he cried into his clammy hands. Why is everyone so cruel? Was twoey right? That some people were evil by fault and needed to die? His thoughts were deafening his senses, and didn't notice a vine curl around his body and pulled toward the sentient plant. Twoey could read his mind, which was why she knew what his innermost desires were. Turns out trying to get Seymour to reunite with his mother was a bad idea. He tired himself out after 2 hours, one of her vines snaked around his wrist and fingers, sensing Seymour's ratial artery to monitor his heart rate. He was asleep eventually, blanketed by twoeys vines and leaves. Thanks to Seymour, Orin left twoey satisfied for the past week, though maybe she could convince him again for another meal sometime soon.

[bunnyboy-juice]

cupcake, warm milk, pillow, pastel, soft fur, meow !!

Cupcake - Do you have a comfort food? If so, what is it?

OH YEAH- my comfort food is quite literally kung pao chicken (no green peppers, add broccoli) from the Chinese food place down the street from us. they literally know my wife (tho they think she's me bc i always order) bc i am spoiled (read: they are VERY affordable) and xe will pick it up for me basically whenever im having a bad day and we have takeout money available and it never fails to make me 300% happier until i finish the leftovers

Warm milk - What is something that makes you feel comfortable?

my headphones c: they are over the ear and noise cancelling, i wear them 90% of the time i am not at home, and in general if im having discomfort but idk why I'm usually reaching for those first

Pillow - What are five (or more) things that make you happy?

non-living things/experiences only for this (bc if not my wife, cats, and closest friends take up slots 1-8 easy): the leather cock ring my wife tried buying that fits my wrist better (its really fun to clicky clicky and also is a cute bracelet and also makes me blush knowing what it was supposed to be for), seeing children expressing themselves through their clothing in public (UGH 🥰💞), seeing people with their friends/lovers and being able to tell from the laughter/loving touch that they're in their own little world together, movie nights at home (or at least somewhere i feel safe to unmask), CHICKEN SPAGHETTI THE WAY MY AMMA (mom) MADE IT, basically Any food but esp soup from my mami (grandmother), ummmmmm g-d this list could go for a really long time tbh so I'm gonna cap it but tbh a lot of things make me happy also, its not a very hard feeling to make happen for me

Pastel - What is your favorite color?

😭 g-d okay i had to use a color picker bc i wanted to give a very accurate representation of the orangey yellows and purpley pinks i like so oranges/yellows: dd9220 ffbe67 f2b40b pinks/purples: cfb5d2 ff4fd3 a8548f

Soft fur - How are you feeling right now?

honestly could be better, this morning was weird and now im itchy bc my skin is dry from the cold but im also leaving work rn so my mood will Definitely increase for sure in the next hour once im home

Meow - Share a random fact about yourself, please

ohhhh ummmm let see.....OH I have photos of my uterus in a folder somewhere because when i was 17 i had to have emergency surgery bc of a ruptured cyst and even though all i remember is Immense pain, i was apparently sobbing begging them to take pictures of my insides while they were trying to put me under for the surgery. i did this AGAIN when i was 18 and had to have my appendix removed (again, emergent surgery), and they did give me the photos but i lost those when moving

[monsterrae1]

Hello lovely Rae! 💖 for the hesitant love prompts: "what can I get you? do you need water? a hug? space?" Pretty pls 💕

Ryan, Baby, I'm so sorry it took me so long to answer this! Things have been, well, they've been better. Hope you like this!

_

Eddie Diaz had been shot more times than anyone should’ve been in one lifetime, he had been to war, he had been buried alive under 40ft of mud, he had nearly drowned while getting himself out of said 40ft of mud, he had survived so many near death experiences, but the tuesday night his appendix decided to burst? Eddie thought for sure he was going to die. 

It really came out of nowhere, he hadn’t been feeling bad at all, no fevers, no nausea, no abdominal pain, he had been completely fine one moment, helping out their vic into the ambulance and calming the nerves of the partner who had never seen a broken leg before, and the next thing he knew he was doubling over in pain, throwing up into the asphalt, his insides feeling like they were tearing open. 

If he didn’t know better he’d think that he had been shot again. 

Bobby and Chim were by his side in an instant asking him what was wrong, and if anything had happen, Eddie could only shake his head, but as soon as they tried to move him, he was hit with another wave of excruciating pain and dropped to the floor, curling into himself. That’s when he felt a couple of big hands cradle his head and brush their fingers over his cheeks.

“Eddie? Eddie, what's wrong?” Buck asked him, and Eddie made an effort to open his eyes again. 

“Hurts, stomach, i don’t know” He grumbled, wishing it would just stop. 

Bobby must’ve called for a second rig because next thing Eddie knew he was being rolled into a gurney and transported to the ER, 

“What the hell is wrong with him, chim?” Buck asked from next to him, Eddie was holding into his hand tight enough that he might’ve done some damage. 

“My best guess? Appendicitis?” 

The last thought of Eddie’s head was, oh fuck, before pain made him pass out. 

Next time he opened his eyes he was staring at the hospital’s room ceiling, he tried to move but he felt the very distinct pull of stitches in his abdomen.

“Ugh” He tried to say, but his throat was too dry.

“We’ll be home soon, ok, bud? Be good for Carla” Eddie turned his head following the sound of Buck’s voice, he had his back to Eddie, and was still wearing his uniform, he had his phone on his ear, and nodding along to whatever Chris was saying on the other side “I will bud, I’ll let you know when the doctor tells me anything, okay?”

“Buck?” Eddie tried again, this time managing to make more noise and startling Buck and making him turn around “What happen?” 

“Hey” He said softly “How are you feeling?” 

Eddie frowned, making a mental check of himself, his thoughts were too fuzzy for him to make a proper check, but he didn’t feel like his stomach was being torn open so he figured that was good.

“Alive?”  He ended up saying, making Buck laugh. 

“Yeah, gave us quite the scare there buddy” 

Eddie smiled at him “Sorry, when can we go home?” 

“Tomorrow maybe” 

Eddie hummed and closed his eyes “Chris waiting for you?” 

“Yeah, I’m picking up dinner from that Italian place you pretend you don’t like? Sorry you’re gonna miss out” 

“Mean” 

Buck was still laughing when Eddie fell back asleep. 

He ended up staying at the hospital for 2 days, it wasn’t by far his longest stay at the hospital but towards the second day he was already climbing the walls, he was fine, he was ready to go after the first 24 hours, but because his incision was slightly red and swollen. He was fine, the doctors were just annoying. 

“C’mon” Buck said, guiding Eddie into the house, he would’ve complained that he didn’t need the help, but the truth was that he kinda did. It was too early for him to be heading to bed, so he asked Buck to set him up on the sofa where he could watch Buck tinker around the kitchen or play video games if he got bored. 

“You’re all set up” Buck said once Eddie was laying down on the sofa, his back being supported with what seemed like every pillow in the house, “I’m gonna get you a snack in a second, what else can I get you? Do you need water? A hug? Space?” 

Eddie stared at him for a second “You know what, a hug would be nice” 

Buck chuckled, helping Eddie sit up and wrapped him in his arms, Eddie rested his head on Buck’s shoulder and breathed him in. 

“Thank you Buck, for everything you do for us” 

Buck hummed “You I love it, I love helping you guys out” 

Eddie hugged him tighter for a minute, promising himself that once he was better, he was going to tell Buck just how much he meant to him.

[contentwithit]

Crohn's disease. My story.

I'm 42 and was diagnosed at 8 years old. The time up until diagnosis was troubling as an 8 year old I would eat something and in ten minutes it would have moved through me; I lost 20 pounds. At 8 years old you lose 20 pounds and you can see most of your bones, you look like the starving kids the show on the tv when they ask for money. My parents were grasping for anything to help all along, natural path experts did allergy tests, doctor said "oh he's just lactose intolerant" finally threatening lawsuit they referred me to the children's hospital, after tests and more tests they decided on crohn's and started with pednizone.

Pednizone is a steroid, it has side effects aggression, increased appetite, and healing. I remember coming home from school one day and eating 5 Hotdogs with buns and everything, and I clearly remember still being hungry but we were just out and that was an after school snack not dinner which I also ate. I remember just wanting to wrestle and fight which was a new energy for me after being so sick that all I was doing was laying down and thinking I'd eventually die. Harsh thoughts for an 8 year old.

At the time I was also taking Sulfasalazine a 5mg folic acid supplement as Sulfasalazine robs your body of folic acid or so I remember them telling me. Sulfur drugs were the goto treatment at the time early 1990's

About 8 years of treatment later things went south again, though having diagnosis mean it didn't go so drastic before they switched things up, immuran or Azathioprine and I believe Mesalamine was my second treatment. It held me until 19/20 when I had my first and so far only resection done. Taking about a foot or so totally between my large and small intestine they also took my appendix because they were in there might as well. I have a 10 inch scar up my stomach.

That was my first true remission I felt right, I pooped solid, I was a real person for a good 2 or 3 years it was magical. Then the back slide happened, as time went on things got worse again but still manageable.

I went vegetarian and it helped to, it was good for me as I kind of was a picky eater as a kid so the only thing I don't eat now for the most part is tomatoes osyters and olives.

Things started getting bad again but humira was something that started it didn't feel like it helped much but it probably kept me from backsliding more and then I developed immunities.

Started remicade and was a couple years not much help then immunities developed, after going off that my joints all seized for 6 months by the end of a day I couldn't close my hands everyday and I was hardly able to walk normally but I powered through.

Currently stelara. It's been a rough year and as you may see I'm trying restrictive diet of less meals to hopefully turn things around, which is helping me enjoy my days but is not really sustainable but fasting isn't meant to be permanent but it's still helpful.

That's most of my crohn's story 34 years and still alive, still working a full time job, still waking up everyday, I have a family of my own.

[misterradio]

house of leaves has my mind blown at such random stuff. page 97 has a check mark in the corner.

[i'll add random other musings below]

notation 127 references a real book which is even on archive dot org..!!! and it says to check out a diagram But you need to log in to view the book. AAGHH!!

page 119 it is now time to be confused on how to read this 👍

nevermind the box is just all one long footnote. and the backwards box is like a reversal of the previous box.

"this is what happens when you hurry in a maze. the faster you go, the worse you are entangled"..... UH OH !

the footnotes along the sides are just BUILDING NAMES?? and then ARCHITECTS ??????? i do really like the cyclical nature of these notes, one makes u flip thru several pages and then you have to turn the book upside down and flip back thru the same pages. the last note in this series is right at the 2nd page in this sequence but along the side. makes me think of. a spiral ::-) makes me smile.

im just now realizing some of these notation marks are letters instead of numbers....X appears several times (that footnote is on page 107) but theres also like, LL (but if the first L was reversed)? and this one is F (page 122). not sure if there is a meaning here

page 127 guys this is scary

(page 151) "I was sorry to hear he disappeared. Do you know what happened to him?" HE WHAT?????

(page 620) okay i decided to read some more letters from (checks her name) Pelafina and. this is one is. ::-(

okay i finished her letters and wah........... sad. i wonder what was the one jewelry johnny kept from her.

(page 154) i already forgot what these different names were for ermmm lol. great hall and antechamber. i forgor

(page 159) the fact that the stairwell was around 13 miles long for Roberts' crew and then for Navdison its 100 feet.... LOLLLL F--K the explorers in particular

(page 192) YAY JED and wax !!! i never thought id be so so happy to see them again. yayyy. but now getting out is the next obstacle.. F--K OFF I CANT BELIEVE HOW SOONI SPOKE f--k this book

SICKENIINNNNGGGG!!!!!!!

(page 263) I LOVE THAT there are occasional emails from people after the 1st printing and someone says "what was all that crazy stuff in the introduction about guns and blood?" THATS WHAT IM SAYIINNGGGGG

(page 272) this makes me think that the stairwell is analogous to a throat..

(page 305) once again. witnessing the staircase lengthen and groan. makes me think it is literally swallowing navy.

(page 318) im so so glad wax survived YAY

(page 320) this made me get up and start pacing and smiling. like. this house wants navy so bad. SO BAD

(page 326) JOHNNY BECOMES SELF AWARE THAT HE A FICTIONAL CHARACTEr (scary)

btw i did find ouf the letters used in notations are actually symbols bc there is a photo of a graph of them on the inner cover. i dont actualy know how to look up what they are called at all tbh. theyre like. aircraft related.

(page 342) bruh this is new and scary. fhe house's shifting horror now extending beyond the imposible hallways but into the main house ...... what the......

(page 397) everyone in this book is so FREUDIAN !!!! like all the psychology is so fruedian i think.

(page 402) im so fascinated by these dream scenes i didnt expdct this book to really have a dream scene but there u go ^^__^^ im sad the promised third dream is missing......

OH YEAH BABY WE ACTUALLY HAVE A MINOTAUR PRESENT also in a dream scene. EVERYONE GIVE IT UP FOR A MINOTAUR PRESENCE

(page 406) this is some like. reverse tma thing. you know how in tma everyone who gives a statement to jon has nightmare of him. this is like what if jon did something to absolve everyone of their nightmares. huh. (also i havent gotten past this part i dont even know what navidson Does back in the house yet.........)

OH I JUST REALIZED THE SKETCHES IN APPENDIX II ARE JOHNNY'S. he mentioned doodling on any scraps of paper he had like mail and i was like heh. just like in the appendix. OH WAIT

i love that tgis chapter does NOT end in a period and ends with an open-ended sentence that segues into the next chapter. thats so neat ::-) idek if navy is still alive like wtf i dont know yet SHHH shhhh

(page 425) the dread this is imbuing in me. the floors tilting slightly wherever navy goes to guide him along. youre at the mercy of this house now..

(page 465) WHAT THE ? THIS BOOK IS WITHIN THISBBOOK? (navidson has a book titled house of leaves) WHAT?

(page 468) this desolation almost made me cry somehow . maybe logcially its not the worst thing thats happened in this book but the nothingness is crushing

this part makes u turn the book around a lot and i really did get a sense of dizziness while reading bc i realized i didnt know whether the text i was reading was really along the bottom of the page or what... also im still so tripped up that they mention this book by name, even say how many pages it has, and that 'maybe some of the pages are hard to read'. bro.

the song on page 479 is apparently "when johnny comes marching home" which i had to look up but thats where the tune of that song the ants go marching one by one comes from???? u learn something new every day.

i like that the footnote on page 488 is another of those aeronautic symbols (theres a chart of some of them on a collage in the back) and this one means "heavily injured, need a doctor"...............

(page 527) "and whenever she laughs the notes sing a call to Victory" STARTS BAWLING

okay i done YAYYYYYYYYY AAAUUUUUHHHHHHHHHGGGGHHHHHHHHHH i have yet to finish the appendices....

[price1972]

So, I started Ozempic to help my diabetes. I tolerated the first three 0.25 doses with no problems. Started the 0.50 doses and immediately got severely nauseous, not to the extent of throwing up, but pretty close. Then, after my 3rd 0.5 dose (it’s 1 shot a week, so this was week 6, with the previous 2 weeks of me barely being able to get out of bed), I got violently ill, throwing up, diarrhea, the works. And severe pain in my lower right stomach. ,y husband was convinced it was appendicitis, because I ha d 9 out of 10 of the most common symptoms from google. He finally got in touch with the liver clinic head (we are both idiots who didn’t program the damn emergency number in our phones and couldn’t find the paper in out binder that has it) on a Saturday, which was extremely involved. She told us to call the ambulance and take me to the local hospital instead of Hopkins. We did that, and my vitals met the curriculum for sepsis, so they drove me Priority 1, which is the lights, siren, blowing through intersections, the works. Let me tell you, that is NOT a fun ride, especially when your gut hurts. So many bumps. Anyway, after all the tests and a few hours a local hospital, I was transferred to Hopkins. Again, not a fun ride with a painful gut. All the testing done again, and agreed: Appendicitis. Went into surgery on Sunday (Father’s Day) and the doctor said 1) my appendix was gangrenous and necrotic and 2) the worst appendix he’d ever seen. Awesome. So this was my view for several days of South Baltimore:

Here’s a photo of the most plastic omelet I’ve ever had. Normally the food at Hopkins isn’t too bad, but this was awful. I ate it though.

And here’s a photo of my IV line, that I accidentally ripped out of my hand and bled all over the bathroom floor. I felt terrible for the nurses, but they said it happens all the time. Yikes.

My room (I called it my she-shed, I’ve been in it so much in the past year.

And the gorgeous flowers my daughter gave me:

And this was funny. My diet got changed to regular from liquid only after I’d already ordered my dinner, so the food service gave me both my broth and sodas and my real dinner with more sodas. I ended up taking home like a case worth of Diet Coke, which is worth some $$ in today’s economy. The pyramid gave me and the nurses a good laugh though.

I got discharged 2 days before my daughter’s 18th birthday, and I was determined to make her cake. I ordered all the glitter and fondant and molds in the hospital and we picked them up on our way home from the hospital. I haven’t decorated a cake in years, but it turned out pretty ok.

Even better, she seemed to like it. Confetti cake with vanilla better cream icing.

All in all, an eventful week in the middle of June. 😂

[veefuls]

2024-07-04 23:58

It's so dark in my room my eyes hurt rlly bad but anywho

I've picked up reading which is insane if you ask me or my mom. I bought Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki and it's good but then it's bad and then it's good again... so I have no idea as to my actual opinion of the book. It's not the easiest read, so maybe not the best idea for a first read in at least 7 years. I did finish Daisy Jones & The Six in a total of no more than 4 hours though. I ordered The Time of Cherries by Montserrat Roig, which obviously isn't going to be an easy read but it piqued my interest so 🤷‍♀️

ALSO I've been looking into Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui, which I think will be a more like "chilled" read.

Apart from books, I got pissed OFF last weekend because I didn't watch the Austrian GP and guess what. Apparently best race of the season so far. THE EXACT SAME THING that happened in Australia. Skipped the race and Carlos wins a race like 12 seconds after getting his appendix removed. Trust I will be watching on Sunday. My internal musical roster has expanded immensely since last post. I've taken a liking to both Laufey and general Argentinian music. Any sort of Argentinian music. Also my affinity for Neapolitan music isn't slowing down especially since Geolier released a new album but look !! I'm not complaining !! ALSO Rachel Chinouriri AND beabadoobe (late ik).

I'm in desperate need of a tv show to watch, but everything is boring. I want something that's summery young adult but not Netflix original style young adult, that's horrific. I'm thinking about watching something Brazilian 1. nice beaches 2. best language (european portuguese isn't as good sawry).

Anyway it's currently raining so I'll be sleeping good tonight, to recommend something,,,,, The Hills by Rachel Chinouriri + OHH BABY by Trueno.

tchau have a nice weekend 🩷🩷🩷

[disaster-twins-incorrect-quotes]

Update Please Read!!

(TLDR at the end)

I once again want to apologize for the lack of posting and any future lack of posting. As of now, this blog will be on a hiatus for an indefinite amount of time while I choose to focus on my health.

For some background info, I was having severe stomach pains that would occasionally send me to the floor. I went to an urgent care the next morning after the first time it happened, but they did the absolute bare minimum in terms of my care and sent me home without even telling me my diagnosis in person, just handing me some paperwork and telling me to leave. I would later find out that the diagnosis they gave me was wrong, but anyways-

I've been spending this past week in and out of the doctor's and the hospital. I had a scare with the possibility of my appendix bursting, but rest assured, I'm ok. I had a CAT scan with contrast done today (that was an experience my sensory issues thoroughly hated), and we discovered that I most likely have inflammation of my small intestine, though I won't know for sure if thats it or what the cause is until I go to a GI.

This past week-ish has been mostly me dealing with medical stuff. When I'm not at the doctor's office and such, I'm either attending my college classes, throwing up, managing my pain, or sleeping. In addition to this, this week is Valentines Day as well as my partner and I's two year anniversary (bless them they've been so worried about me), so this blog hadn't even crossed my mind at all.

Regardless, I thank you all for your support, and I'll try to be back as soon as I can. Thank you!

-Juno

TLDR: I'm having some bad health issues atm and will be taking a hiatus

[justanechoflower]

(Looks like we’re not at the cutoff yet! But it really is fast approaching. Askers, this might be your last chance to interact with Monika before she leaves for a while!)

—————————-

Monika:That’s a good question! The Portrait of Markov managed to be allowed, as Yuri has brought that with her, and nothing has happened… and that has to do with human experimentation… At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream somehow got approved, ehehe…

Monika:Although the teachers not really “existing” might have something to do with that… I don’t recall any kinds of sanctions ever happening to us!

Monika:Though maybe the club has some kind of plot armor too… since it is the main focus of the game. The club getting disbanded would have to be some kind of bad ending if it’s even allowed at all, after all… I don’t really know much of how the game was actually supposed to end, since, well… I messed with all of that… and the game ended in a completely different way instead! It never even got to the festival, which probably would have been that final event that decides which ending you get. There weren’t character files for anyone else, so either it wouldn’t be possible to get new members, or the game would end shortly after the festival. Otherwise, the programmers would have made character files for the people who could have joined afterwards!

Monika:Or maybe it’s just another quirk of my world being a visual novel. Really, it’s a wonder that Natsuki hasn’t been questioning those things. So, as long as the books aren’t specifically about the monsters, and isn’t on the level of I Have No Mouth, it might actually work… though if it’s close to that, don’t be surprised if Sayori and Natsuki don’t take much of an interest, or if Yuri takes much more of an interest than what would be considered normal for a horror book…

Sayori:Oh! What if books about monsters were presented as fiction? While we don’t have real magic, there’s still plenty of stories about magic! 

Monika:…Those books are mainly just simply encyclopedias of how monsters work, without much of a narrative. The closest thing we’d have to literature in that sense would be the Monster History series, which would be kind of like The Silmarillion if we did present it as fiction. The others, at least the ones I was able to get from the game, look like appendix pieces to some main story… which wasn’t actually written.

Monika:But, since different sections of those books can actually be read in-game, it would be seen as someone filling in the gaps the game left off. As a sort of Undertale fanwork. So unless he wants to be seen as someone who writes full books of Undertale fanfiction, he made a smart choice to not bring those over. But maybe some of the books that I didn’t get to see can actually be presented that way… But it’s better to play it safe, right?

Monika:As for whether you should bring anything on the first day, it could work either way! The player character didn’t have much of an interest in literature at all at first, and brought nothing… as long as you’re open to discussing literature, they won’t have a problem with that. If there’s a book you want to bring, we can do that… and if you didn’t bring any, well, maybe you came to see what kinds of literature the literature club here had! 

Sayori:You probably didn’t know this Buttercup, but the fliers we used to advertise the club were things like “write the way into your heart” and “a place where you can express yourself”! It’s meant to be a place where everyone is meant to feel welcome in, no matter the kind of literature!

Monika:And yes… that does include manga. It didn’t originally, but oh, was I proven wrong about that! That was before the actual start of the game, actually.

———————————

(That didn’t stop her from putting the manga on the top shelf in the closet where Natsuki kept having a hard time reaching it, but that was probably Monika’s attempt at making Natsuki look bad. Natsuki does stubbornly refuse MC’s help getting it at first… Or maybe Monika didn’t want to mess with the script that early, and the teacher really did ask her to move it up there. Though that last part wouldn’t explain why she put the books in the wrong places in the box, so she had to have been trying to mess with how Natsuki looks in front of the player anyway. Or maybe Monika just didn’t care at all because she thought they weren’t real and that she was. I don’t think she’ll be doing that to the manga now, though.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flowey: Anyway, I think I know what to bring now! I’m ready.

[animalfriend69]

day 1

hi,

my name is m and i thought i recovered from an ed a while ago, but i’ve gained some weight back and i now realize it was never truly gone. this is my journey of what i hope is me going back to losing weight. this started on 15/12/2022 because 4 people commented on my weight in one day. the first one was l who said since im skinny i need to date a skinny guy. the second one was a who said my stomach was popping out of my pants. the third one was mr who said that these thing don’t really matter after i told him about how my pants got tighter. and the fourth was my mom.

she said my stomach was popping out of my pants, not like how it was in morning, when she commented on my acne. i always said that out of all my close family, she was the only one who didn’t notice i had an ed back then, i realize now that this isn’t true, it was just a coping method because i always knew she knew, but deep down she was proud, she tried to hide it and ask me to eat every few days, but it always showed when she’d brag to her friends and our family about how much weight i’d lost in such little time.

the previous journey started after my appendix surgery, to be honest i was trying to lose weight before but it was in a healthy slow way, after my surgery the nurse out glucose and i kept screaming to my mom to tell her to take it out because it would make me fat. this was because my brother had apendicitis before me, and when he did he lost alot of weight in so little time, it felt like it was my chance to lose weight in a quick way, wether it was healthy or not. however it just so happened that because my brother had it before me my mother knew the symptoms right away, so we went to the hospital right away, i didn’t have time to stay in pain for three days, to be in so much pain that i couldn’t eat, i wouldn’t want to. it just so happened that when we went to the dr they told us we were lucky to have noticed it so early. it just so happend that i had a great dr who did my surgery in such a quick and easy way that i didn’t even feel like i was sick. this caused me to not lose weight like i hoped, it caused me to gain a kilo. after i got discharged i started eating boiled chicken and other food for sick people.

and i looked better, the food i ate made it so the fat didnt go to the bad places, but i didn’t know that then. i told my mom maybe it was the appendicitis that made me so fat, she thought the same, but when we told me dad he said it wasn’t true, that it was probably because i started eating better and that made my body look better. i was still fat. i realized how sad i was because i didn’t lose weight, i kept thinking about how much i wanted my surgery to be as painful as my brother’s. i realized that i wanted to lose weight even if it meant sacrificing my health.

i couldn’t get myself to eat healthy because i couldn’t cook and my mom made unhealthy things. my mom only cooks lunch, breakfast and dinner were each person’s responsibility. i realized i might not have control on my lunch but i did in the other meals. i thought about making a healthy breakfast, and for a while i did. i ate 2 tangerines every morning, and if i was hungry i just ate more until my the acid hurt my stomach so much i couldn’t eat anymore. it didn’t matter, a tangerine was only 47 calories. when it came to lunch i couldn’t skip it at first, but i learned pretty quickly to skip dinner. someone told me once to not eat 4 hours before i sleep, and my mom always made lunch late so i wouldn’t have time for dinner anyways. after i got used to skipping dinner, it was easy skipping breakfast. i only ate lunch.

at first i had a 5 finger rule, i could only eat 5 things, but one of them can be a meal, for example:

1. strawberries

2. a spoon of nutella

3. a cucumber

4. lunch

5. chips

at the point of time it began to develop into an ed it turned into a 3 finger rule. at the worst it was 1 finger. i didnt eat before my 9 pm graduation so my loose jumpsuit wouldn’t show my stomach. i didnt eat before my 7 pm prom so my poofy dress wouldn’t show my stomach. i didn’t eat during my friends 7 pm prom so that same poofy dress wouldnt show my stomach. i did the same to my 3 pm class graduation photo event. after that i traveled with my friends and one of them’s mom. i told myself i would eat as i want so no one would suspect anything, but i felt horrible guilt throught the trip that i gave up that thought halfway through the second day. i remember my pink floyd tshirt that looked so much better when it became oversized. i remember being so proud that the jeans that only had the smallest size available were something i could fit it. these same jeans being the very reason i begin my journey again today.

finally, i want to mention my friend h’s mom. when i was visiting my friends at their graduation she was there. she told me that id lost so much weight from the last time shed seen me, which was well before my journey. i said that i looked better like that. right? she said

i love you then and i love you now

and i cried that night, it felt so beautiful to have this person that i once saw as a mother figure either care so much about my feelings she said the perfect words, or truly love me for more than what i looked like. which was more than my own mother ever did. i can’t blame her though, she only raises me how she was raised, the difference is i got sick and she didn’t.

you’re welcome and sorry, mom.

[bluejaysandblackbats]

The Spin Out

Fandom: Batman, DC Comics

Summary: Jason Todd returns to Gotham after three years for the final time to win enough money to pay off Sheila’s debts.

Chapters: 11/?

Characters: Jason Todd, Sheila Haywood, Original Character(s), Bruce Wayne

Relationships: Jason Todd/Original Character

Additional Tags: Street Racing AU, No Capes AU, Jason Todd-centric, Hurt Jason Todd, Bad Parent Sheila Haywood, Bruce Wayne Tries to Be a Good Parent, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Communicating, Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings, Hurt/Comfort, Organized Crime, Jason Todd has Trust Issues, Jason Todd is Not Okay, Good Person Jason Todd, Stalker Bruce Wayne, Secret Identities, Secrets, Angst

Chapter Eleven: Emergency Room

Jason sat in the waiting room, rocking back and forth as tears streamed down his cheeks. Miranda rushed in and looked Jason over. Blood and vomit stained his coveralls. “What happened?” Miranda asked. Jason pulled away and wiped his face as the tears kept coming. 

“I had to put him on my—. He rode on my bike. The ambulance would’ve taken too—. It would’ve taken too long,” Jason cried, “I didn’t know what else to do. He told me he felt like something was wrong in his stomach… I put him on my bike because he was crying. I was—. And we got here, and he threw up all over me and passed out. I don’t—. I don’t know what happened. He was fine when I got to the house earlier.” 

“Jeremy’s talking to a doctor right now. I’m just glad you were there. Did Ethan call you?” Miranda questioned. Jason shook his head. 

“I was on my lunch break, and I wanted to talk to Uncle Jeremy… Ethan was by himself when I got there, so I called out to stay with him. I’m sorry,” Jason apologized, “I’m so sorry. This is—.”

“You were there for Ethan when he needed you. If you hadn’t shown up… Michael, you did good,” Miranda replied as she took a breath. Jeremy entered the room and nodded at her. 

“Michael, you saved Ethan’s life today. Do you know that?” Jeremy questioned. Jason could hear the shakiness in Jeremy’s voice as he said it. “How long have you been here? We got caught up in traffic. There was a pile-up… How did you—?”

“I’ve been here for a few hours. Nobody’s telling me anything. I took my bike. I know you—. I didn’t think an ambulance would get here faster than I could drive… I’m so sorry—.” 

“He’s out of surgery… They said we can go see him as soon as he wakes up. I’m gonna go to the car and get you a change of clothes. Mine might be a little big on—.”

“Where are Mason and Lindsay?” Jason asked.

“I dropped them off at a friend’s. They’re alright. Let’s get you changed, though,” Jeremy replied.

**

“You should go in. He probably wants to see—.” 

“Jason, he’s gonna wanna see you first. Trust me. Ethan’s very particular about things like that,” Jeremy replied as he nudged Jason forward. 

Jason closed his eyes as he entered the hospital room, and Ethan smiled. “Hiiii, Cousin,” Ethan slurred. 

“Hi, Ethan. How’s it going?” Jason asked. 

Ethan lifted his blanket. “Well, I still have both legs. What’d they take?” Ethan asked. “They took something out of me, right?” 

“Your appendix,” Jason answered. Ethan poked his lips out and chuckled. “What?” 

“At least they left my index and glossary,” Ethan replied. Jason grinned. “I love you, buddy. Are you okay?” 

“I’m okay now,” Jason whispered as he sat at Ethan’s bedside. 

“Hey… Are you mad at me? I threw up on you… I didn’t mean to,” Ethan apologized. 

Jason shook his head. “Think nothin’ of it… Do you feel better now that it’s gone?” Jason asked. Ethan bobbed his head from one side to the other. 

“Ehhhh… I’ll be honest, all this stuff feels weird. Aaaand… I need to see my Dad before my Mom. That’s the order—. I mean—.” 

“I can get him for you—.”

“But, I don’t want you to leave me. I want you to stay, okay?” Ethan asked. Jason nodded as he opened the door. “Jason—.” 

“It’s okay. I’m not going past the door… Uncle Jeremy,” Jason whispered. Jeremy followed him inside. 

Ethan reached for Jeremy, and Jeremy kissed his forehead. “Hey, Dad… This is the ice cream surgery, right?” Ethan asked. 

“Nope. That’s a tonsillectomy—.”

“Boo!” Ethan shouted. Jeremy chuckled. “Dad… The kids. Where are Lindsay and Mason?” 

“They’re with Dr. Shannon,” Jeremy answered, “Mom’s gonna come in while I talk to your doctor.” 

**

Jason slept on the floor by Ethan’s bed after the hospital removed the drain and discharged Ethan. But, Jason woke up when Ethan got up to use the bathroom. “I’m fine. Go back to bed,” Ethan whispered. Jason shook his head and wiped his eyes. 

“I’m alright. I’m gonna get a drink of water,” Jason whispered. 

“You don’t have to sleep on the floor. The daybed is right over—.”

Jason pinched Ethan’s cheek between his knuckles. “I know where the daybed is… Maybe I sleep better down here,” Jason lied as he walked to the kitchen for a glass of water. 

Lindsay was already in the kitchen eating a cookie. She held a finger to her lips, and he nodded. “Can I have one?” Jason whispered. She nodded and brought him one from the jar. “Thank you.”

“Are you going to be here tomorrow night, too?” Lindsay asked. Jason shook his head as he took a bite. “Why?” 

“I have to go to work tomorrow,” Jason answered. Lindsay pouted, and he picked her up. “I’ll come back to look after everybody on Sunday night.” 

“Why don’t you come to live with us? Everybody wants you to,” Lindsay whispered. 

Jason set his cookie down on a napkin and kissed her cheek. “You’re just being nice, Lindsay,” Jason smiled. 

“Nuh-uh. Everyone wants you here for real. Ethan said so… And Daddy said he loves you so much. We all do,” Lindsay insisted. Jason frowned. The past three days made him feel so normal. The kids made him feel more like an older brother than a cousin, and Miranda and Jeremy were happy to have someone around to help look after Ethan post-op. Jason liked being there. He liked having a real family that made noise and argued and played and laughed. Jason might’ve been happy growing up with a family like that. But no… He couldn’t want anything like that. He had to go home eventually to Sheila. That was the plan. Jason had to stick to his plan. 

Jason finished eating his cookie and carried Lindsay back to bed and tucked her in. “I love you, Jason… Don’t go tomorrow,” Lindsay frowned. 

“I’ll call you at lunch tomorrow… How ‘bout it, Cousin?” Jason whispered. Lindsay nodded. “And I love you too, Lindsay-Bug.” He shut her door and returned to his spot by Ethan’s bed, and Ethan turned his head. 

“Jason, I was twelve when I had my first real crush. I didn’t know I liked her, but I always felt kind of funny around her… Like I couldn’t say anything without feeling dumb later. And I had nightmares where I embarrassed myself in front of her all the time. I couldn’t sleep, and I actually had a panic attack when I was talking to her once. It was awful,” Ethan confessed.

“Yeah?” Jason asked. 

“And I don’t know… Then, she asked me out, and I was a little embarrassed because I didn’t know what to say. We went to the movies and then to get milkshakes… And when it was almost time for Dad to come and get us, she kissed me… And it was like—. Hm… I don’t know. But it felt like everything was finally okay,” Ethan whispered, “Do you get what I mean?” 

“I wish I did… But, I’ve never had a crush on anybody before,” Jason whispered. Ethan sat up. “Easy—.” 

“I’m alright… You’re telling me, you’ve never liked anybody? Or are you saying that because you think I’m too young to talk to about that kind of—?”

“No. I’ve never even kissed anyone. I promise I’m not lying. It’s much more embarrassing to mention at my age that I’ve never kissed anybody,” Jason answered. 

“You’ve never been kissed before?” Ethan asked. Jason hesitated. 

“I’ve been kissed… I’ve never kissed anyone by choice. That’s different. Isn’t it?” Jason questioned in reply.

Ethan softened. “I’m sorry… Jason, are you okay?” Ethan asked. Jason waved his hands. 

“No. No, I’m fine. Really—.”

“It’s okay if you aren’t. It might have a lot to do with why you don’t have a crush on anyone. Do you not trust people?” Ethan questioned. 

“Ethan, that’s not it… I just don’t have a crush on anyone. I haven’t had that kind of time to have those kind of—. Why are we talking about my love life?” Jason uncomfortably laughed. 

Ethan paused. “I guess I wanted to know something… But I don’t even think you know,” Ethan replied. Jason frowned and lay on his blankets on the floor. “I shouldn’t have—.”

“No, it’s fine, Ethan… I just—. Hm,” Jason paused. “What did you want to know?”

“I wanted to know if you’ve ever been in love,” Ethan replied, “But I’m kind of sad now… I hope you get to be happy someday.”“Thanks, Ethan… But I’m happy right now. It’s been great spending time with you guys these past few days,” Jason replied. And he meant it… Even if he couldn’t have it.

[twistedsimmer]

Due to budget cuts, it was decided that two of the settlers would share a house for the time being. After drawing straws, Emi and Mona became roommates. Unsurprisingly, it didn't go too well at first.

"Mona, put on some damn clothes, it's fall for Watcher's sake."

"Omnomnomnom!"

"And your table manners remind me of a pig."

"*swallows* A cute pig, right? Like Peppa? Or Wilbur?"

"You missed the point entirely."

"Porky? No wait, it's gotta be Babe!"

"*sigh*

"Bad enough she takes all the hot water, then she spills it all over the floor..ugh!"

"Oh, I didn't know you two had a dog. It needs some serious training though."

"Dog? I know we didn't adopt any -- MONA!"

"Mona, did you invite my arch-nemesis over?"

"No, I just made cupcakes, and people came in!"

"Nice to see you too, Emi. I was just happening by."

"You freaking airhead, I'm sick of you and your antics! If you can't be a decent roommate, you can sleep on the lawn!"

"I-I'm sorry, I'll do better.."

"For your sake, I hope so. And Marf, if I see your face here again, I'm going to punch it!"

"Understood."

"What about that truce?" Amayata asked. Emi stormed off without a reply, leaving an awkward silence in her wake.

To help unlock her dream career and get out of the house, Emi finished her study of Physiology and began working out.

She also infected herself with food poisoning - for science.

"I'd rather be puking my guts out than cleaning up after Mona."

As Emi recovered at home, Mona headed out to the lakeshore to get some sun and socialization, the latter going better than the former.

Mona and Marf shared their first kiss right there on the beach, and later on their first woohoo back at Mona's house.

Emi was less than thrilled about this new union, and made her displeasure well known.

"Marf." she growled. "I told you what would happen if I saw you here, didn't I?"

"Emi! Um, I can explain-"

He never did get the chance to explain, as Emi's fist connected with his jaw. And kidneys. And everything else, as she soundly whooped his butt.

While Marf went to the bathroom to clean up, Mona decided to make a move on Jake; she found him surprisingly receptive for someone who already has a girlfriend. Brigette and the Watcher were displeased by this development.

Brigette pulled Jake aside, as Marf came back in to claim his territory.

"Okay, I have to ask: are you drunk?"

"No, not today." Jake replied, bemused. "Why do you ask?"

"You do realize that most Sims would count kissing another girl as cheating, right? Especially Amayata?"

"Well yeah, but it's not like we're married or engaged yet." he glanced over at Mona and shrugged. "What's wrong with having a little fun?"

"Just don't say I didn't warn you."

Brigette's warning fell on deaf ears, as Jake and Mona's dalliance continued. Fortunately for the lovers, neither of their partners suspected a thing. Yet.

While Mona was off destroying a potential marriage, Emi threw herself into training for her new job.

"Note to self: that was not an appendix, and should never be removed."

Her hard work (and a not-so-hard choice) paid off, and she moved on up the ladder from Intern to General Practitioner.

By the end of autumn, Mona started showing some improvement around the house, making less messes and more meals for the two of them. Her new fascination with Jake meant Marf was coming by less, which Emi appreciated.

It was beginning to look like the start of a tolerable co-habitation.

[jsaunderswrites]

Watching the Yostverse; or, the X-Men problem

With Spider-Man being in my head lately (between Across the Spider-Verse and Spider-Man 2 on PS5) I realized I wanted to rewatch The Spectacular Spider-Man and see if the ending has value as is or if it's entirely ruined by being cut short. And that lead me to remember I never finished The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! despite enjoying the first season a ton. It's been like a decade since both and I am much better at reading media than I was so I'm curious what'll hit different.

Now according to Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol.10, Wolverine and the X-Men takes place in Earth-8096. Then The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe lists that Wolverine and the X-Men, Hulk vs. Thor, Hulk vs. Wolverine, Planet Hulk, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes!, and Thor: Tales of Asgard all take place on Earth-8096. This also means the Marvel Universe: The Avengers - Earth's Mightiest Heroes! and The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes! (2011) comics are set there.

Now the Planet Hulk film is also set on Earth-10022 as well, so if it can take place in multiple universes, I felt that there's no reason that The Spectacular Spider-Man couldn't also have happened here. According to Christopher Yost the AEMH episode Along Came a Spider was, in spirit, a Spectacular episode. The episode was also initially recorded with Josh Keaton as Peter Parker/Spider-Man before being redubbed as Drake Bell (at the time the upcoming voice for the lead in Ultimate Spider-Man). These details lead me to include the show.

So I compiled a list of all these episodes, movies and comics in release order. I've made it through most of The Spectacular Spider-Man and just began Wolverine and the X-Men, and despite being hopeful about a series I haven't watched before, I've already started to be caught up on how it is beginning to present things.

But maybe the problem is that the X-Men are a very flawed concept.

I was never into the X-Men as a kid, never saw the cartoon, the comics, or the movies. But the concept sounds cool. An oppressed people, proudly expressing their identity as members of that group while fighting against their oppressors! But the problem is how it is not a good metaphor for reality.

Whether based on racism, homophobia, or any other form of prejudice, oppressed peoples are not themselves inherently more dangerous than anyone else. The fearmongering about them is entirely artificial or unjustified paranoia. But even the nicest most considerate version of Scott Summers could trip and accidentally kill an entire room of people. Mutants in this series can actually be incredibly deadly to everyone around them! But the ones that have no deadly powers and just kinda look weird aren't treated any better. They aren't propped up to deflect criticism "we aren't anti-mutant, we are kind to the good ones!" And what makes the Brotherhood bad? In the show so far they smash a cop car (the cops are shown to still be fine) and this is portrayed as villainous. Contrasting Wolverine leaving the MRD guy in the automatic torture chair.

I just feel like X-Men can't get past its initial concept, where the good guys defend themselves from attack but don't actively fight back against their oppressors. That's villainous behavior. The heroic thing is to behave respectably until you are deemed worthy of rights.

The cops are good, and are also the law, which is good, and as part of the law they arrest mutants, who are all automatically criminals and hand them over to the MRD, who are bad, and SHIELD also hands over mutants to them, and SHIELD is good and works with the Avengers, who Wolverine joins, and the Brotherhood are bad because they're criminals.

I don't know if there are any good versions of the X-Men out there, but I feel it would only be so if they changed enough that the established fans would be unhappy with how different it was.

I did like one thing, when Angel turns down rejoining the X-Men because living as his father's shameful secret gives him access to a fortune he can use to help mutants. He is faced with two mutually exclusive choices and picks one. Neither the characters or the show judge this decision, it's ambiguous and up to the audience to decide. I like that!

It's possible I'm just being very judgemental on this series only halfway through the second episode but I'm not sure it'll manage to untangle these issues. I guess we'll see.

[horrorsequel]

I’m so mad because getting my PCOS diagnosis hurt a lot more than it helped. Now every time I have an issue, my doctor just says “it’s probably PCOS”. This has happened with multiple issues across multiple doctors. When I told them I thought something was wrong with my appendix, they told me it was probably just PCOS. The pain eventually got so bad that they decided to do exploratory surgery and guess what they found? An inflamed appendix! Like wayyyyy after I first complained about it. When I told the, I thought something was wrong with my gallbladder or kidney they said it was probably PCOS and they couldn’t do anything about it. It was a kidney stone. When I tell them about my extensive and debilitating back pain which doesn’t allow me to stand or walk for more than a minute at a time they say it’s probably PCOS and they can’t do anything about it.

Like every time something is blamed on PCOS they say they can’t do anything about it because the only treatment they ever want to recommend or it is hormones or birth control which never did anything good for me and ended up with me in a psych ward so??? They just say they can’t do anything.