#then the batting instead of interfacing

[transformers-spike]

I’ve been flipping through some ideas in my head and wanted your thoughts on it. One thing that through my head was how would some bots feel about their human getting down with another human, while they’re both inside them in their alt mode? Straight off the bat, I’m sure the general consensus is “absolutely not!” Or only with an exception where the other human has to be someone the bot also knows. But do you think that there’s any that would generally be into this as some sort of fetish, no exceptions needed? I guess the word here is cucking for sure lmao. For some reason, I feel like seeing their human interface someone else as a fetish is at a higher percentage if it’s with another bot instead of a human.

In the initial ask above, it was with the idea that the bot in question and human are in a relationship already. But what about other scenarios? Where they’re not in a relationship.

For the scenarios where there’s no relationship between the human and bot: ⬇️

Imagine this scenario where a human is interested in a specific bot and the feeling is mutual but both haven’t confessed their feelings. Now, let’s say the human makes out with another human against the bot they’re interested in, while said bot is in alt mode. Just to see what kind of reaction they can get out of them. They get all touchy and heated with the other human against the bot who’s still in alt mode. Would the bot be mad? Jealous? Or slightly turned on in a humiliating type of way?

In another scenario, it’s a bot that’s interested in a human. They haven’t confessed to the human. They’re walking down some secluded area and catch the human they’re interested in interfacing with another bot. To their surprise they feel turned on by it.

ohohoho I love this Personally, I tend to view Cybertronian romantic relationships as being pretty open. In most cultures, you can have multiple partners and still frag just about anyone Now add human culture into the mix and ohhhh boy. Now, if we focus on human monogamy, then I can see some bots being willing to adapt to it due to our short lifespans. But being a human and being with other partners as well? Ohhhh boy I'm trying to think who would be into humans interfacing inside of them off the top of my head... Knock Out would find it hot as long as you clean him up afterwards, and if you leave a permanent stain he will fucking kill you. Smokescreen would like to experience this too - except his engine gets too loud and the oblivious human next to you is like "Why's your car doing that????" Now, if a bot catches their crush getting it on with another Cybertronian... Ratchet would be into it He'll watch and berate himself for it later on. He just... can't help it. Yes, he will guilty wank over it - and no, his shame will never fade. Megatron will also take great pleasure in it. Let's assume this happens on the Nemesis, and the poor human and bot have no idea they're being watched. Orrr - we could go for Laserbeak catching.... a peculiar kind of footage. Ohhh Megatron will get off to it. He'll rewatch the recording over and over again, set on making that human his no matter what, whether they want it or not. Primus forbid he catches you interfacing with an Autobot

[brawnsleloenigmadoublesonic]

Tfp Bee being a little SLUT with his pretty optics and whore waist, knowing he's hot asf and like prime (lol) interface material 4 autobots and Decepticons. Anyway he gets captured by breakdown on patrol and instead of fighting back he's batting his optics and subtly swaying his hips juuust right to where breakdown pounces (I know knock out would usually be pissed but I feel like he would plug in that gayass psychic patch and watch them fuck idk) Breakdowns fuckin massive yknow and bees small for his frame type so his valve is damn near torn in like 5 different places by the time Breakdown comes to his senses and continues taking Bee 2 the nemesis (Bee is barely coherent, he cannot feel his stabilizers, his valve is so sensitive)

They arrive and instead of putting his little slut self in the brig like Megatron told them to, Soundwave takes Bee down to Shockwaves lab (for reasons)

They arrive and bees finally awake and not freaking out cuz he decided if Breakdown felt that nice, how good are Shockwave and Soundwave gonna be..

He's immediately chained to the ceiling with his chest facing the floor, unable to touch the ground.

He's shaking w excitement as he feels Shockwave shove into his valve while Soundwave forces his intake open and forces his entire spike down Bee's throat.

Hours and Hours of interfacing later and they've gathered an audience, star, megs, Knockout, even Arachnid..

Bee knows they'll have their turns with him and he can't wait..

Few days later Op gets sent a file from the nemesis w videos upon videos of Bee being a little slut for all the big bad Decepticons, he gets so hard so fast he nearly pops his panels at the sight of Bee's face, absolutely fucked out of his processor, dumb little smile..

Wrote this 2 get out of writers block

Thanks 4 the Bots Brawn!!

-Yang

Woooo you're welcome! This was funnn what payment do you take my friend?? Cookies or kisses? I make exceptions for allergies, we also have brownies. Celery if you dislike sweets

Megs probably threw a fit over Bee not being in the brig until he saw that scout getting fucked stupid between his two best soldiers, dangling in the air. His spike is so hard so fast he almost passes out and Knockout gets surprisingly worried about him. (He just wants an excuse to see their leaders spike)

[5thcloud]

Beauty of Typesetting

decided to update Tres Flores' table of contents and , AUUGHHH HOLY SHITTT

this what looked like before , can see it was rlly bare .

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[ long ramble about how cool different book formatting are below ]

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AAAAUUGHH RRURHGHG love typesetting soo so much , feel things like table of contents and typesetting in general is very overlooked thing

we like compare it to idea of game UIs (user interface) . Even though it Feels invisible , way things formatted and presented can really impact feel of it . can make good thing go to great , or make what Should be good , be flat out not enjoyable cuz way presented is hard to navigate

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we also very intentionally only used basic shapes and things straight from software , no art assets .

You can do a Ton with simple shapes and even preset things like wingdings for decor . also wanted give more old school feel . Entirety of Tres Flores is technically decorated , but you dont rlly notice it as it feels part of the story

yet , its very recognizable part of its identity

Ik no one has a strong connection to it or read it as Tres Flores isnt out yet , if compare or remember our old posts , or just look at this as is ,

its very recognizable and memorable despite how simple it is and not using any artwork

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Most beautiful thing about formatting and typesetting , is how Every book and series is done different . If pick up 2 different books not related to each other , chances are they're going look completely different or different in the smallest way

We remembered how we opened up Watership Down for first time and never knew how Jaw Dropping its formatting is ,

or how Wings of Fire series for some reason doesnt have a header at all which is in majority of published books n has name of author / book title / chapter title . Fun detail is that way do page numbers (design on bottom with numbers centered) is that graphic novel does exact same thing ! WoF has rlly strong visual design

or how weird it felt to read Firebringer with its info instead as footer and barely any margin at all , but got used to it

or how fucking ugly Warrior Cat's headers are with trying to fit its Entire story title up there on both sides </3 but how comfortable and whimsical the chapter banners are even if character (if even are) arent recognizable , which feels so incredibly different to how lifeless lot of current wc covers are (not to mention how Iconic the wc allegiance list is despite being technically simple)

more stuff

There no one "best" way format story , there so many ways can do and all in plain sight , just like art

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But going back to idea of table of contents , lot books not have them which makes us sad , both cuz it would help reading experience in general and can make look nice

And here is Tres Flores' test bind did in April 2025 (about a month ago as of writing , should also say off bat that formatted story will be free of course as its a fanfic , we also use Libreoffice to write which is free)

So comparing it , can see how it feels very different but still feel natural

can ramble for hours about typesetting and how cool formatting is wwowowaw

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dont overlook formatting ! if love books or graphic designs , next time try pay attention how different books all formatted :]

you dont need artwork to format a story beautifully 🐕

[a-rainbow-girl-detective]

The (plush) Making of Cassandra Cain

Thought I'd share some behind-the-scenes pics of making my Cass doll! If you'd like to make your own Cassie (or other character), the pattern I used was from the book My Rag Doll, by Corinne Crasbercu. I got it from my public library, but it's currently available as an ebook on Hoopla as well! Just a heads-up, the ebook links to the incorrect page for pattern templates (which you'll need to, y'know, actually make your doll), but you can find the correct location for the templates here.

Flat Stanley Cassie in her early stages! I think the instructions in the book say to embroider on eyes after you finish sewing the doll, but I used plastic safety eyes, so I added those (and her mouth) before cutting out the fabric for the head. Because the cotton I was using was pretty thin, I added a layer of lightweight interfacing to the face so that the eyes wouldn't tear loose as easily. I also gave her ears, which the original pattern does not include, because I thought they were cute.

And here she is with stuffing! Isn't she adorable? I think she can rock a bald look.

I think the pattern suggests adding hair by sewing strands of yarn together into wefts, but I decided to go back to my crafting roots (knitting) and make her a wig cap instead! I basically knitted a trapezoid of fabric, sewed it to her head (I'm in the process of pinning it down in the picture), and used a crochet hook to attach lengths of yarn to the knitted stitches. Cass has over 500 strands of hair! (Dick, down below, has even more.)

Hair added, trimmed, and finished! I actually made a Nightwing doll at the same time I was making Cassie. I'm not thrilled with how he turned out, but I think he and Cass look super cute here together!

I sketched out a few attempts at a bat-cape for Cass, but none of them looked very good. I had a few dollars left in my crafting budget for last year, so I decided to go ahead and just buy a pattern! I used one from DollTagClothing on Etsy. It's intended for 18-inch dolls, but the shorter version was the perfect length and width for Cass! If you look closely in this picture, you can see there's a seam down the back of the cape that isn't supposed to be there. In the pattern, you're meant to cut your fabric on the fold, thus giving you one complete piece for each side, but I was nearly out of fabric, so I had to cut separate pieces.

The best Caped Crusader, truly! But her expression was missing something...

With newfound eyebrows (and attitude!), Cassie was finished and ready to take on the world! Next, I plan on making either a Signal or Robin!Steph doll. Curly hair is my favorite to make, so I'm looking forward to both of them!

[selh0ve]

Hello!

I finally decided to write my thoughts about the game down! So here is my own "little" review, which is in fact quite long, and segmented in three parts, beginning with a general review, then my personal opinions on the LIs, and finally some more specific likes and dislikes.

Thanks in advance for reading 😘️

General Opinion

First off, the interface is refreshing, and I appreciate all the efforts put into it, although I admit it can be quite heavy, and therefore buggy (even without anything else running, on a good laptop). For this reason I'd like being able to disable some features (the animation of the transition between pages, for example, gives me a lot of troubles).

I like that Candy can have a more defined personality, and I also like how we can better understand the intention behind the answers now. No more "what? but that was not what I meant by choosing this"! For the new AP and gems system… I am still wary of it for now, and will see later if it is really as manageable as it seems. I also like sending hearts to other players, so even if they don't end up useful I'm still happy to have them I personally like the idle mini-games, and am quite curious about how the other game will be. I also think the calendar is a nice touch. And lastly, the jokers seem nice and promising, though I would have preferred having a stock-limit instead of them being temporary.

Story-wise, I like that things are going rather quickly for the beginning, and I trust they'll know when to slow things down later. I saw a few reviews saying these two first episodes felt punitive, and let me tell you… Yes. Amanda disliking me right of the bat on my first play was unexpected. So was Roy. And Devon. But I think it is kind of the point of starting a new game, we don't know their personalities yet, so it's quite normal to screw up when not using guides. But yeah, it was frustrating and Devenmentiel broke my heart.

The Love Interests

Jason is my favorite so far. Why you may ask? … I find him funny. The man is just having fun being an annoying bitch, and I absolutely love that for him! He also was one I had a quite good Lo'M with at my first play without even trying (rip Roy and Devon who did not appreciate), and it felt quite nice since things did not go so well with most of the other characters. And of course being the antagonist has its own ring, and in my taste the white streaks of hair too.

Amanda comes in the second place with Thomas. Even though my first play did not go well with her, I managed better on my second, and I quite like the relaxed Amanda.

For Thomas, he is the one I had the easiest time with on my first play, everything went smoothly and I found him pretty nice and relatable, though I do not plan on following his route.

Devon is the one I am the most neutral about I think, I don't particularly like or dislike him yet, though his route does intrigue me in a "Ah shit, here we go again" kind of way.

… Now, listen. I do not dislike Roy. He honestly seems like a great dolphin-loving guy who likes to be half-naked a lot and decided to dislike me when I was trying hard for him not to! He is just not my type. This is nothing personal, I swear! Joke aside, Roy is the one I like the least for now. And honestly, it is a shame, because I totally see why other people appreciate him. But the warningless half-nakedness happening twice summed to his for now unexplained short-patience with Jason really did not woo me, quite the opposite in fact.

Other things I like:

I find Candy's customization quite good! Whether it is for the illustrations, where you can choose between different skin colors, or for our profiles. Candy can also have disability aids (though no mobility aids yet) and a panel of skin features for really cheap, and you can not know how happy it makes me! There also are so much outfits from the beginning, and though many of them have to be paid with real money, Beemoov needs to be profitable, so I think it's rather fair (and hopefully, we'll be able to get those outfits through mini-games).

The music and the animation. I said it before and I'll say it again, I absolutely adored the theme switch when Jason appeared, and I also liked the creativity in the animation very much too. I can not wait for other such things to happen again.

Things I find too bad:

So far there has only been one character that is not thin (two if you count Danica who will show up later), and I regret that all of the men Love Interests are so fit. I can not tell you how down bad I would have been for a fat Devon or Roy (I get that Roy is the athletic type here, but you can be incredibly strong and not be skinny).

Amanda being rich was really emphasized, too much for my taste, on my first play it made me feel like being rich was her main personality trait, which made me uncomfortable. I would have preferred a more subtle way to express it (show don't tell amiright?).

I would have loved to see more not-conventionally-thought-as-attractive features in the LIs, like visible disabilities for example, or different noses, or scars, the kind of things that make the characters feel more real.

What I hope for later:

For the characters of color to be written like ones, with at least their cultures included in some aspects of the game. I understand Beemoov's wish to keep the game lighthearted, so I'd personally understand if they choose not to show racism in the game, but I would also hate that to be an excuse for ignoring the characters' cultures when addressing them would actually be relevant. Here is a better post about the matter.

More non-skinny characters.

Hopefully some in-game disability representation.

[yoiku]

Did some changes to my pinned post with all the links. also a general update. Oh wow this turned out WAY longer than I thought i'll just put it under read more lmao.

Removed twitter/x entirely from the pinned post, It's really just one man's joke of a site, and i'd rather not have anything going on there. Really thinking about just deleting my acc there alltogether, but i'm still giving it a bit of time so more people can find me on bluesky. each time I retweet about being on bsky instead on twitter a few people see it and start following me on bsky, so there's still stragglers out there. But i'm no longer posting on twitter, i'm not even going to use it to announce stuff on other sites etc.

Another rather big change (at least for me) is the swap to Piczel from Picarto for streaming. I've been on Picarto since 2016, and the site continues to prioritise pointless things instead of the stability or quality of the service. while their subscription price has pretty much doubled from when i started. the facelift for the site was a good sign some years ago but the functionality stayed the same. and while I understand it to a degree from the business wiew, it does feel shitty that the admins and mods on the site favor the big name streamers. I think it would also be nice to show some love for the small fry who are often more actively streaming then the big ones. It's just so difficult to move from a place that's been your home for so long, I wish I'd done the move sooner. It's wonderful that more or less our entire little group is moving over so the most important thing, the people, will still be there. I have to also give praise to Piczel right off the bat. I've exchanged emails with the owner before, and they're genuinely a nice person. Offering a month of free premium to anyone who wants to try the site, and being fairly transparent about what's going on and what are the plans for the site. Not to mention that they were in the chat day one when we were testing the site, helping everyone with the setups and answering questions. I paid for my premium right away since I felt like returning the generous gesture of a free month, but they still gave me a code for a free month, lol. That's another nice feature, that the premium service is given as 30 day codes. while it's a recurring payment, it also lets you choose if the codes are automatically added, or if you want to manually activate them. I find it nice, because you can have a break if you feel like it, but you're not "losing" paid time for a premium. and you can choose to gift the code to someone as well. It's more consumer friendly. (and a bit cheaper than picarto's) While the new interface is going to take its time to get used to, the more I learn about it the more I prefer it. There are so many things that make it easier for streamers. I really appreciate it. Multistreaming on Piczel is crazy. it allows up to 16 streams which sounds like way too much, but the settings make it work better than it sounds. i've noticed that whenever there's more than 4 streams online in the same multi, the site defaults to setting the video players to a mode than only refreshes the picture every 10 seconds, which is much lighter for less than ideal connections/lower bandwidth. and it's really smooth to change between different streams and you can enlarge one without having to set it on fullscreen, if you'd rather just focus on one of the many streams. you can have some playing, some on the 10 second refresh mode or paused. At least for me it has been working very smoothly. Piczel is also mostly favored by nsfw artists from what i've gleamed, but the sfw/nsfw settings on there actually work unlike picarto of late, where putting a filter on did -nothing- and telling the staff about it nobody replied and the issue persisted.

And maybe my favorite little thing, I have a button on my stream to "share on tumblr" which makes it so much easier to remember to announce streams. Hmm, anything else to talk about? I think I'm slowly coming out of the worst of the depression, or at least I finally feel SOME movement in my mind. I'm not gonna lie the blorbo asks have been like a serotonin injection. feel free to send some any time! I will ruminate on questions that make me think more, but all will be answered.

I am still struggling with getting back on with the comic which annoys me to no end, but I'm sure it'll come as i start to draw more again. I am really trying to get commissions back up and going before the end of the year. I am planning on dropping my workshop days to 2 instead of 3 for at least 3 months, and i'm gonna take a 2 week break next month or december. so additional funds will be needed ;u; I'm incredibly dissapointed in the healthcare services atm, so much so that i've kinda given up for a while. I'm just gonna let those things move on their own if they will, since me trying to make things move hasn't done anything the entire year. It's all been wasted energy and pointless stress.

[etherealvoidechoes]

Dinner Offer: Coasting Gigs - Pt. 1 of ???

Goro eventually takes Varsha up on her dinner offer sometime after the warehouse infiltration. After having the twins help decipher and clear up his misinterpretation of her texts from that night.

Well, I've been sitting on this for a bit and finally feel like I can post it. Maybe a 3 to 4 parter, not sure yet with how chapter 3 is slowly coming together. Hopefully, the characterization isn't too far off. Need to give the game another go for the other lifepaths.

Ao3 || Fic Wiki Hub

1(You are here)||2||3||

Appox. 4.6k

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Goro’s brows furrowed, knitting tightly together as he scrolled through his phone, searching for the “note” app to double-check some information for future endeavors. “››Infernal device…‹‹” He cursed under his breath for the fifth time as his quick fingers accidentally activated another app he did not want. How he missed the phone and the familiar interfaces he once used. With a mere thought, he would have what he wanted instead of aimlessly searching like a toddler. 

“Hm?” He felt and heard that familiar ping of an established hidden connection in his modified Internal Agent before seeing an equally familiar icon take over the screen before a button press would transfer it to his internal hud. A portrait of Vargus’ face — the right side obscured by stylistic smoke billowing from an elegant cigarette holder held by two fingers. Goro’s cyber eyes lit up orange as he looked up and out from his windmill perch. “More targets incoming, I assume?”

It had been a few days since Goro and his unlikely former Corpo compatriots had infiltrated the warehouse where the Arasaka parade floats were being stored and infected the target float with the malware. 

Today, he was assisting the twins in a gig they got from Fixer Dakota. More or so, the twins roped him into joining them when they overheard him mumbling about needing more cash so he could procure some more gear before the parade happened after a quick meet-up. 

At first, he declined, partially him still being cautious with his fugitive status and then he didn’t want to get roped into the possible shenanigans they would be getting into in the Badlands. But the cut they offered — half paper, half digital — made his judgment wain just enough. And it wasn’t the first time they had managed to do so.

“Heh, yes’em!” Vargus softly laughed. “Eyes up, Goro. More Wraiths coming in hot. More to dust.”

Goro set his phone down on the grating before lifting the Techtronika SPT32 Grad sniper rifle, one the twins let him borrow, from his lap. Military training kicked. Good habits to always have. Magazine check first. Still a fresh one he had swapped to once the first round of their business was done. Black-tipped armor-piercing rounds greeted his eyes. Then the chamber. Loaded, locked, and ready to fire. Repositioning himself, raising his left knee higher than the other before placing his left arm on top of it and nestling the rifle in the crook of his elbow. Lowering his head and raising the scope to his face, he scanned that parched landscape around the Wraith camp they had wiped out 15 minutes earlier.

Towards the southeast, he spotted a massive dust cloud rapidly charging their way. 

“Hm.” How many this time? His finger gently turned the dial, feeling each subtle click until it reached the infrared vision. “A convoy of ten vehicles from the southeast. Rapidly closing in on our location.” He relayed to Vargus.

“Got four more coming from the west.” Vargus said. “Oh ho! They ain’t happy about losing this catch. Time to zero these fools.”

Shots rang out. An explosion followed by the sound of metal grinding and twisting in the distance.

“Mhm.” He nodded. He steadied his aim on the lead car. Lining up those crosshairs to the driver’s head. “How much time does Višnja still have?”

Another familiar ping rang in Goro’s head. This time, he saw the ID appear in the corner of his vision. A sleepy cartoon bat with massive ears and connection cables crisscrossing over it like a spider’s web. That portrait was quickly replaced with Višnja’s and that concentrated hacker face — scrunched brows and bitten lip — he had come to learn. 

“Secured the important data slates and caches, but still digging through this ICE of these kleptoid deckheads.” A second caller window opened, showing the inside of the garage she was currently in. It was a pig’s sty. Various boxes and containers were strung about, as well as half-eaten, near rotting food. Fresh and dried-up blood stains were splattered across almost every surface. The people of interest were in a nearby bath — with barely a hint of ice floating — with a mass of cables weaving back and forth between them and the nearby servers.

Višnja’s fingers rapidly tapped away at a console as her eyes glanced back and forth between the two net runners and the monitor. A low rumble of a growl entered her voice. “Gonks really had to make their rescue harder with some of these daemons they have set up.” 

“Hm.” Goro pulled the trigger twice in quick succession. Two shots rang out. One for the driver, another for the engine block. Seconds later, that silhouette of the driver slumped over the steering wheel. The car took a hard left, careening into another vehicle before the two crashed into a boulder. “Is the option of ‘delta-ing’, to leave these two overzealous fools to their fate still available?”

“Yeah.” Višnja answered. “But…”

“But?” 

“We get more eddies if we bring ‘em back alive.” And extra money was always nice. A second later, she cursed. “Oh, for fuck’s sake! What do you mean there’s another layer!?”

“Told ya, ya should’ve asked Varsh to lend over Chroma, batsy.” Her brother butted in. “That spunky AI would be done lickity split compared to you, slowpoke.”

“Can it, Varg or I’ll shut your brain off for a week!”

“Nuh uh, feedback will knock you out, too.”

Their squabbling continued into more name-calling. Like most siblings would do.  

A soft chuckle left Goro’s lips. Though he could find the young ones’ conversations grating at times, he did enjoy the sibling squabbles they would get into from time to time. Something refreshing for the pressing times. It reminded him of childhood friends. And to think he was slowly considering the two to be entering that territory. 

“Think you two kids can save your sibling ‘love’ for ‘nother time?” Johnny’s voice joined the call. “Gonna get flatlined with all the distractions.”

The twins; squabbling stopped like a bullet drop. “Shut it, Johnny.” They spoke in unison.

A snort slipped from Goro’s lips. How that construct could make everyone laser focus to shut him up. It was strange hearing the voice of that dead man when they linked their Agents like this. 

It was strangely alluring, as a few times he couldn’t help but pick at the “samurai’s” brain when they all would meet to discuss future plants. More often, Goro would make disparaging comments due to the terrorist’s vexing, often vulgar comments. Loose lips and barely a filter Silverhand had. But it was also a constant reminder of that every pressing time limit. Varsha’s mind would be overwritten by the construct’s or outright killed from the information they receiving from Hellman. Then the potential brain-damaging feedback the twins were receiving the longer they had their neural oscillation synchronizer linked to Varsha’s systems. 

Each Relic malfunction was bringing all of them closer to the grave.

Goro fired several more shots, causing four more cars to crash, but the others, looked like they had reinforced windshields and hoods. “Hm.” He grumbled, tugging on his collar. He would have to deal with them once they arrived. His free hand went down and unbuttoned the first three buttons of his sweat-soaked shirt. 

“››Blasted heat.‹‹” Muttering, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Update on our situation. Four vehicles are closing in on your position, Višnja. Mere seconds away. The other vehicles are disabled, but some of their occupants still live. Those that can walk and wield weapons are making their way here on foot.”

“I’ll engage them.” Vargus said. “Deal with the others and want to see what my new spine can do. Doc Roth let’s see how good your daughter’s work is.”

“Hey, didn’ V tell you to be careful with that new Sandy of yours with the whole ‘potentially catastrophic’ feedback from you and ya sis’ synchro horn things?” Johnny interjected. Though he usually sounded dismissive, this time he sounded genuinely concerned.

 “Doc Roth, Mithra, Višnja, and I fixed up some limiters and warnings. We good.” Vargus said, confidently. “Goro, you can provide me support, but focus on those stragglers.”

“Affirmative.” Goro responded. Pulling away from his rifle for a moment, his eyes darted over to the windmill Vargus had made his perch. 

Eyes zooming in, he saw him holstering his rifle on his back before pulling out a knife and revolver. The next second, he jumped over the railing and landed on the ground below with a hard thud. The fabric of his pants flared out, most likely in response to the sections of his cyber legs flaring out in response to the impact. Raising himself up, he broke out into a blur of a sprint towards their enemies. 

Goro shook his head. “Insane.” A bold move to only use those weapons against dangerous odds.

Goro shifted his focus back to the vehicles he had disabled earlier and made quick work of the ones pulling themselves out of the wreckage and the others moving on foot towards the camp. 

“Hot damn! They don’t know what hit ‘em!” Johnny exclaimed.

With them taken care of, Goro shifted his focus over to where Vargus was once he heard Silverhand’s excitement. The construct was right. He barely had to provide support for the cocky edgerunner. Even with partially reactivated(jailbroken) cyberware, his mind could barely process the speeds Vargus was moving at. Strategically activating his Sandevistan in short bursts, Vargus was a blur dancing across the battleground. One second he was plunging his blade handle deep into the neck of a startled Wraith. 

Next, like a flickering flame, he appeared behind each individual in another group, placing the barrel of his revolver to their heads mouthing “bang” as he pulled the trigger. Nothing happened, as he quickly moved on to sink his blade into the gut of one with a machete that tried to sneak up on him. 

BANG BANG BANG BANG

Goro heard the delayed shots. Blood, brain, and bones flew. The bodies dropped. Vargus was wearing a cheshire grin that grew wider as he repeated the cycle of violence against the rest.

The engagement barely lasted for a few more minutes before the desert grew quiet once more.

“Whoo! Mithra’s got miracle hands. That is ex-hil-arating.” Vargus was pulling his knife free from the last Wraith, having to give it a firm pull with how deep he buried it in their skull. Blade free, he wiped the blood and brain matter against the dead’s shirt before gently sliding the blade against his black fingernails. A few ribbons of the polish rolled up against the wicked sharp edge. “Hun’dred miles better than my old chrome spine.”

“Don’ let it get to your head, kid.” Johnny said.

Feeling an unexpected “heavyweight” dig into his back shoulder blade, Vargus lurched forward. Gritting his teeth, his head snapped around, eyes nearly closed tight in a glare. No one was there. To the visible eye, that was. “Oh? Gonna be a killjoy now? Thought you liked being gung ho? A little reckless?” 

“The construct is right.” Goro said, agreeing with Silverhand. That made Johnny laugh with surprise. “One should not lose oneself to the dangers of bloodlust in the heat of battle. Keep your senses sharp.”

“The ronin and terrorist agreeing? Hell’s getting colder…” Vargus grumbled. 

There was probably a smirk on Johnny’s face, even more so with Goro agreeing with him. “Kinda am in a kill joy mood ’n’ making sure you ain’t going cyberpsycho.” 

“I ain’t hexed. Ain’t that chromed.” He rolled his eyes. He took a step forward, letting Johnny “fall” before rolling his shoulder. “No plans to be, ever.”

Johnny made a halfhearted “aaaaaah” and “oof”.

Goro continued to scan the landscape. 

The desert was still clear. No reinforcements in sight.

An excited exclamation from Višnja. “Finally!” She was beaming from ear to ear. “Cracked the ICE. Both are free. Applying the coolant since their temps are high. Get the truck, bro!”

“On it.” Vargus replied. He was off.

Hearing that, Goro began to gather all his gear before leaving his windmill perch. “Coming to assist.”

Once Vargus brought the truck around, they tossed the unconscious netrunners in the back, along with the other items they had come for. Before leaving, they made their way around camp to gather whatever weapons and gear were salvageable from the Wraiths. Just another way to secure some quick eddies unless there was something they wanted to keep for themselves.

The trip to the rendezvous was uneventful. Goro stayed in the truck (though he didn’t need to) as Višnja and Vargus did the handoff. The netrunners and items were handed over. In return, they got their eddies and some extra goodies for a job well done.

“Aaaaand your cut, choom.” Višnja sang as she entered the passenger seat. Reaching towards the back, she placed three stacks of 10,000 €$ on the middle seat. Then, her eyes glowed blue as well as the lines in her neural oscillation synchronizer implant — the horn — on the right side of her head.

Goro glanced at his phone first. A smile crossed his face as he saw those numbers in his account rise. He then picked up the stacks. Old and new bills glided against his fingers. After a few flicks, the amount matched the band. And it was more than enough for what he needed to buy. 

“Thank you two, again for allowing me to join your… gig.” His mind still had some trouble comprehending some of the slang of the city.

“No, probs. We have a few more lined up and ain’t hurtn’ for the cash.” She said.

“Actually, have another gig we’re about to hit next if you’d like the join?” Vargus offered. “Deals with an annoying Maelstrom branch. They got their hands on something they shouldn’t have and the owner wants it back and doesn’t really care if half the block hears us. Says it’ll get a point across or sum’n’.”

Višnja tilted her head back and forth as she giggled. She leaned forward towards Goro, placing the side of her hand to her mouth. “That’s code for zero ‘em fools to send a message.”

“Hm.” Another gig? Goro wasn’t so sure about that. He had his money now and had some final planning he needed to do before the big day. Besides, he felt like he had been out long enough, though nobody had seen him. And the possibility of this next contract could be quite loud and bloody.

“We’ll give you a fair cut agaaaaaiiin.” Višnja playfully sang. Her wide smile soon turned into a sour sneer as her eyes focused on the empty seat next to Goro. “Oh shut it, Johnny! He deserves the cash and a bit of a break from being on the run.”  

Goro stifled a chuckle. He wondered what Silverhand had said this time. 

He tapped his fingers together. Another fair cut? More eddies were always nice. Maybe he could use the extra money to buy some new clothes? 

“Where too?”

———————————

The trio’s next gig went on into the long night. But was another successful venture, even if they ended up more banged up due to close-quarters combat.

“››Will need to buy some new clothes. Or mend these.‹‹” Goro muttered to himself as he used his sleeve to wipe the blood dripping from his nose. 

His shirt was littered with tears and holes as well as blood, synthetic blood, and other questionable viscera painted it. Feeling stray hairs tickling the sides of his face, he took a moment to fix his equally disheveled hair. A hiss slipped from his lips. Something felt off with the joints of his fingers and knuckles as they ran through his hair. There was one metalhead that snuck up on him and Višnja that he had to punch dead in their borged-up face. 

Hair slightly neater, he took a look at the offending hand. At a glance, it looked fine, but moving his fingers slightly, there was an odd bend in the digits and the gaps between the knuckles were slightly off.

“››Out of joint.‹‹” A hiss shifted into grunts as he popped his dislocated knuckles back into place before flexing his fingers several times. “Ah… and may need to pay Viktor a visit to make sure there is no damage. Or maybe Dr. Rothschild, if he has an opening.” 

He was waiting for the twins. Vargus was gathering up weapons and gear to strip or sell, and Višnja was turning in the gig. Feeling his phone buzz, he brought it out. Another hefty deposit of eddies in his account. Good. Since he didn’t know how long he would have to wait, he tried locating that “note” app once again. There were a few fumbles before he finally found it.

Eventually, the twins made it back. Vargus got their spoils of war loaded into the truck before he and his sister started discussing their plans for the night. Višnja gave Goro the other half of his payment. 

“Yo, Goro, where do ya need us to drop you off for the night?” Vargus asked, rolling his jaw a few times. The segments to the armor plating that lined his cybernetic jaw and part of his neck flexed open and closed.

“Hm?” He glanced up from his phone. “The same place you picked me up from for the first gig.”

“Alright.”

“Unless ya wanna grab a drink and bite with us?” Višnja said. “It’s a low-key joint. Pretty preem soul-food style grub and breakfast. Waffles and fruit sound real good right now.”

Goro raised a brow, inadvertently wrinkling his nose. He had still yet to find anything in Night City that his palette found remotely palatable. Though there were a few places he was growing a soft spot for. Tom’s Dinner. 

“I think, as you two say, ‘I’ll pass on that shit.’” Though he would never admit it, around the twins he let that air of sophistication wain and let their “city lingo” infiltrate his speech. “I have preparations I need to make.” His eyes winced as his body tensed. A hand went to his stomach. There was an audible rumble coming from his stomach.

“Sure about that, choom?” She grinned. He only glared in return.

“Don’t needle the old man.” Vargus nudged his sister’s arm a few times before roughly tussling her hair, which made her threaten that she’d hack his brain.

The three hopped into the vehicle and started their drive.

Goro fiddled with his phone. The talk about food brought a text conversation from the night they infiltrated the warehouse. A few taps, and he found his conversation with Varsha. 

He quickly scrolled up to find their discussion from that night. A dinner offer for real food. A private dinner offer. At her place. The viper’s den. And perhaps sex? The stressful circumstances made it tempting and his mind could only imagine what she looked like under that dark emerald dress she often wore. Quite pleasing to the eye. But Varsha didn’t seem like that kind of woman. 

From his observations, she was the complete opposite, especially when that one ‘associate’ of hers attempted to court her at every interaction whenever they crossed paths. She ignored every gesture, every word uttered by that silver tongue. Everything was strictly business to her. But there was always the possibility his assumptions were wrong. She was harder to read than most of the Corpos he dealt with during his service to Arasaka. 

“Višnja. Vargus.” He said as he leaned forward and perched himself between the gap between the driver and passenger seat. “Can you help me decipher this message from Varsha.” He moved his phone into their view. “I am not sure I understood her offer.”

“Driving.” Vargus said.

“I got it.” Višnja was about to pluck the phone from his hand but noticed those fingers tightened. Right, trust is still tentative. She read the text.

“Let’s see, let’s see.” She read it over a few times before mumbling Varsha’s portion of the text history. 

[Varsha]: What would you say to a little dinner together? Real food. I know some places that may fit your refined palette and the owners can ‘look the other way’ for you. If that doesn’t work for you, how about my place? I can order some food or cook it myself. Think you could use the company for one night. Perhaps we can get off on a better foot? 

It read like Varsha. She was always generous to those she considered friends, or those who stayed on her good side.

She then read Goro’s response and Varsha’s response to that and held in a snort the best she could. Where was this old man’s brain going to misinterpret her offer for food like that?

“What’s so funny?” Vargus shot her a few glances.

“››Think the old man thought V was offering sex in exchange for dinner besides not wanting her to go through the trouble of hiding his identity and he has ‘no appropriate wear’.‹‹“ Višnja slipped over to that machine language she, her brother, and Varsha liked to converse in if they didn’t want people listening.

The car jittered for a second. Vargus’ grip tightened on the steering wheel to steady it. He bit his tongue to stifle snickers breaking through.

Goro narrowed his eyes, even more so noticing those horns of theirs pulsing softly with color. He had his suspicions about what was shared between the two, but wouldn’t press. “So, what do you think?” 

“She offered you dinner.” Višnja said, pushing his phone back to him.

“And?”

“Just dinner. Nothing else, mate.”

“Are you sure?” He reread the texts again, especially his response. “Was she not offering…sex?” He almost didn’t want to say it.

“Sex? Hell no!” Vargus laughed. He slapped the steering shelf with each laugh. “Geez mate, and you said we could be fools, ya gonk.”

“Are you sure?” He just had to ask again.

“V wasn’t doing some tit for tat for dinner and sex, Goro.” Višnja shook her head, doing her best to keep her laughs at a minimum. “She’s not like that.” 

He looked at the two before closing his eyes. Shaking his head, those shoulders dropped. He sighed. So he had misinterpreted her message. He felt like such an idiot.

“No hard feelings, Goro.” Višnja said. “I can somewhat see how you read it like that. V still needs to work on her people skills.”

“Really, don’t think Varsh is even interested in sex. Hell, don’t think she’s wired for it.” Vargus said. “Don’t think we’ve ever seen her with somebody since we’ve known her. Minus anything for an Op.”

“She’s not. Remember the dollhouse story she told us?” Višnja said, corners of her mouth lifting with a little sticker. 

Her brother, in turn, lost his composure, breaking out into a deep laugh as he threw his head back. He was laughing so hard that his eyes glued shut; he had to pull over and wipe the tears from his eyes.

“H-her co-workers, her nosy coworkers wanted to learn about her sex life and instead witnessed a therapy season!” His fist pounded against the steering wheel.

Goro slowly tuned the twins out. He didn’t feel like he should be privy to that information. Besides, there were more important matters he needed to handle. How to apologize to Varsha for misinterpreting her offer? Perhaps he should accept it? As an apology? He was unsure. Hearing the sound of snapping fingers in front of his face brought him out of his brooding thoughts.

“Yo, Goro.” It was Vargus. Composure regained, he then motioned his thumb to the center seat. “Before I forget, check the cooler next to you. Center seat. Varsh’s got a gift for ya.”

“Shoot, I forgot about that.” Višnja said.

Goro raised a brow. He put away his phone and went to open the cooler. “A gift? Why?” 

“Just open it, you’ll figure it out.”

With the cooler open, Goro spotted several things. A few drinks, a backup handgun, an assortment of boosters, and then a few turquoise bento boxes.

“Those bento boxes are for you.” Višnja said.

“Really?” He asked as he picked them up. They had some heft to them. He closed the cooler and placed them on his lap. “Why?”

“Even though you turned down V’s offer, she’s been feeling sorry for you and your refined palette. Made ya some food. Home cooked and ordered something from a friend’s restaurant.” She said.

“Her cooking is the best. Real preem, you’ll love it.” Vargus said.

“Hm…”

Goro cautiously opened the first box. What greeted his eyes was a blanket of white rice, an assortment of vegetables elegantly cut and folded into shapes, and what he could tell was a few small cuts of raw fish with vibrant red meat. Fish. Real or fake? Raising the box to his face, he took in several sniffs. He prepared himself for a questionable, if not repugnant, smell. Eyebrows raised, his eyes lit up. There was nothing but a faint oceanic smell. Perhaps it was real? His stomach growled again. He bit the inside of his cheek.

“Yoooooouuuuuu’ll looooove iiiiiiiiiit.” Višnja sang again, dragging out every word to a nearly obnoxious degree.

Goro rolled his eyes. He opened the second box. His nose wrinkled not out of disgust but from the strong spices emanating from the second meal. It was nearly overpowering to his senses. There was more rice and next to it looked like reddish-brow curry and what he assumed was chicken or coconut chunks in it. His fingers found the silverware in the lid. Perhaps a taste test wouldn’t hurt? And it would silence his stomach for some time. He’d save the fish for later.

With the spoon, he carefully grabbed a portion of each piece of the meal, he finally took a bite of it. His eyes lit up, glimmering with surprise. It was all so flavorful. And the textures all felt right. The rice was light and fluffy. The chicken was firm and juicy, with the coconut only enriching its flavor. And the curry, his mind couldn’t describe it, but it was good. Nothing tasted like sawdust and plastic, and the meat wasn’t a chalky, stringy mess. He was already going for the second bite.

“The ronin likes it.” Višnja said.

“The ronin likes it.” Vargus agreed with a laugh.

Despite their Agents being disconnected, he felt a faint tickle in his ear like he could hear Silverhand joining in on their teasing. He ignored them. Best not to fall to their level. It would be foolish. He ate about half of his meal.

———————————

The rest of the ride was uneventful. The two dropped him off where they had picked him up earlier that day. 

Slipping through the shadows, Goro made his way back to his safe house, not before stopping to buy some replacement clothes and ammunition. Back home, he meticulously laid out his gear and went over his plans. As he did so, he snacked on what was left of the curry meal and took a few bites of the other and was pleasantly surprised it was real fish. Salmon from what he could tell.

As he was winding down for the night, his mind drifted back to the meals and that text conversation with Varsha. He shook his head and sighed.

“I need to apologize for my swift assumptions… and thank her for her generosity, this kindness. I do not deserve it, as I have been more judgmental towards her than the twins.” He mumbled his thoughts as his hand reached for his phone. “She deeply cares for those two. How she became complicit in this foolish chaos.”

For another hour, before sleep would finally take him, he made several drafts of the potential text he would send her in the morning.

[milomilasblog]

Long-Term Investment Goals Made Simple: My Journey with Fimatron

I’m a civil engineer by profession, but my passion for building goes beyond just structures. I’m also focused on building wealth for the future. About 2 years ago, I decided to dive into stock trading to create a diversified portfolio with blue-chip stocks. 

Companies like Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, and Microsoft were my top picks. However, I quickly realized the platforms I was using were overwhelming. They flooded me with complex charts and daily trading pressure, which made me question whether stock trading was the right fit for my long-term goals. 

I needed something simpler, a platform that would allow me to manage investments without getting bogged down by the noise.

A friend of mine, an avid forex trader, recommended Fimatron. He had been using it for some time and loved the user-friendly interface, so I decided to check it out. Right off the bat, I was struck by how clean and intuitive the platform looked. 

Unlike other platforms, Fimatron didn’t bombard me with too much information. It felt approachable, which was exactly what I needed. I opted for the Bronze account, which had a minimum deposit of 10k Pounds, offering access to market reviews, the CMTrading e-book, webinars, and social trading features. It seemed like a reasonable starting point.

In my first 4 weeks on Fimatron, I set up a watchlist and made a few small trades in stocks like Pepsi and Microsoft. The dashboard made tracking my portfolio a breeze, and the real-time data kept me informed without overwhelming me. Instead of obsessing over daily market fluctuations, I was able to focus on steady, long-term growth. My portfolio began to grow steadily, and it was satisfying to see my initial investments paying off.

5 months into using the platform, I received my first dividend payout from a stock I’d held for a while. It wasn’t a large amount, but it gave me the confidence boost I needed. The fact that Fimatron allows you to trade both stocks and forex in one account was a bonus. Although I wasn’t actively trading forex, it was reassuring to know that I had the option if I ever wanted to diversify my strategy further.

After eight months, I upgraded to the Silver account to take advantage of personalized trading alerts and more in-depth market education. The upgrade process was seamless, and I noticed a significant improvement in withdrawal speed. I also received more tailored support from customer service, especially when it came to risk management strategies. They helped me understand leverage in a way that finally clicked.

With the extra features from the Silver account, I expanded my trading into forex and even dipped my toes into cryptocurrency. Over time, my portfolio became more diversified, and my confidence grew. I had a few notable wins, like a successful forex trade that really boosted my outlook on the platform’s potential.

One of the highlights of my time with Fimatron has been the reliability of withdrawals. Whenever I needed to access my funds, the process was quick, usually within 1 to 2 days. This made me feel more confident in the platform’s credibility and reliability.

Now, after ten months of using Fimatron, my portfolio is well-diversified, including stocks, forex, and cryptocurrency. I feel confident about my long-term investment goals and am grateful for the easy-to-use platform and educational resources that have helped me grow steadily. Fimatron has truly helped simplify my trading journey, and I look forward to what the future holds with it.

[gamedevelopmenjournal]

◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆◆

Assets📕⭐:

Magic book (not adopted in the game).

We originally intended to create content similar to an album in the game, allowing players to check the types of magic they possess at any time during the game. I drew this magic book as the UI for this function. It can be placed in the upper left corner. When the player clicks, an animation of the book flipping can be played and then jump to the interface of the rune directory. However, we didn't have enough time to produce a perfect interface, and I also failed to complete the relevant animation. Moreover, the current prototype only has two runes. Therefore, instead, we have created a relatively simpler feature. When players hold down the P key, the drawing sequence and instructions of the two runes will pop up.

The Magic Portal

Placed at the end of the chapter map, it is used to teleport players to the next chapter and is planned to be the birth point of the second chapter. Players can activate a portal by interact it with any magic. Below are the activation animation of the portal, its inactivated state, and the loop animation after activation.

✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦

Enemy🗡🗡🗡💔↓：

Crocodile

This is a trap enemy. Since some people called this Scene the "Water Scene" when everyone was discussing the first chapter together, my initial idea was to add some lotus leaves on the water surface as a platform, and players needed to step on the lotus leaves to jump over the water. Among a pile of lotus leaves that can be stepped on, one or two such crocodiles will be mixed in. In standby mode, they are basically exactly the same as lotus leaves. When the player accidentally steps on them, they will be eaten. This can add some fun to the game and increase the difficulty of clearing it. But this idea was not realized in time in the end.

Bat

It falls at the bottom of platforms in some dark areas. When the player approaches, it suddenly flies down and attacks the player, causing collision damage.

Vine

When the player is not approaching, the vine will only lie in wait underground. When the player gets close, it will sprout a small bud, stay for about one second, then grow rapidly to whip the player, and then return to the initial state again.

When the vine finishes a whipping, it will stay on the ground for one second. Players can choose to clear it with magic.

═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═✧═

Motion✨💫🌟：

Floating Magic

Some problems emerged during the development of the game. When the character used magic, he would suddenly bounce into the air and remain stationary throughout the entire process of the player drawing runes. So the other members of the group asked me to draw an animation of a character floating to make up for this problem. This latter feature has become an important gameplay element in the game.

The following animation is done based on the existing free character Sprite. I added the floating effect and corresponding modifications to the character's casting animation.

[anisasthings]

3rd week of “Graphic Design and Visual Effects” course.

Thoughts

This week, we only had one lesson, but I thought about this course so much that it felt like we had classes every day. When I wrote my process blog last week, I thought I had finished my first assignment, but it turns out I was wrong. Miss Ainur sent us the grading criteria, and I realized I needed to make a lot of changes. But at the same time, I’m in the middle of a film marathon, so I had no idea how to find the energy for my assignments. I checked the criteria many times, but I still feel like I did something wrong. Also, I didn’t really understand the difference between kerning and tracking. If we didn’t have a lesson on Friday, I think this blog would only be about my emotions, but now I actually have something else to say.

Questions

During our online class, we talked about typography and briefly looked at Figma. I had very few questions, and honestly, they felt kind of stupid.

Who created Helvetica, and how? Why isn’t Helvetica used as often as Times New Roman?Why doesn’t Kazakhstan develop its own fonts, and how can someone even learn to do that?

I really like soft, slightly rounded fonts, and I wonder—what does that say about me?

Examples

During the lecture, I wrote down an example that came to my mind: the Green Alem font in pink reminds me of the “Game Over” screen in video games. Also, I have to mention something! When everyone was trying to say what animal a font reminded them of, I came up with my own answer, and I think it’s just as correct as the bat someone mentioned. To me, the font looks like an elephant! It reminds me of an elephant’s trunk, and nothing else.

What I Learned

I actually learned a lot and took many notes about fonts. I found out that you shouldn’t use pure white or black in design. I also wrote down what Miss Ainur explained about the Figma interface—where things are located, how to use them, and what User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) mean.

Conclusion

The Friday lesson was the last one of the week, and even though we had a weekend (which wasn’t really a break for me), I felt super tired, and by the end of the class, I had a terrible headache. I realized that 10 weeks for this course is way too short, and honestly, I wish we had a semester instead of trimesters.

[worldcup066]

World Cup Tickets: The USA needs more from its biggest star Christian Pulisic I am not happy with my output

World Cup Tickets: Christian Pulisic knows his role in these minutes. As the face of the Amalgamated States guys' countrywide team, he recognizes the focus is on him at all times. So when Pulisic fails to distribute in a game or in this occasion, successive games he textures the weight of prospects.

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The USA place on two lousy presentations at the Conceal Nations Association Championships. First, the group was stunned by Cap in Thursday's round when it provided up a strike time goalmouth and lost 1-0. Then on Sunday on the FIFA World Cup 2026, the team replied with further dissatisfaction when Canada out categorized the Americans and drew off a 2-1 conquest.

After charming the first three publications of this rivalry, the USA stumbled to a fourth-place finish. Of course we're dissatisfied, Pulisic told journalists following Sunday's damage. It's not the finish of the world for us. Today we have our bats to focus on and ration of big belongings fast, so I'm not overly bad about the state.

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FIFA World Cup 2026 Tickets: USA’s Struggles Raise Concerns Ahead of the Tournament

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Flanked by now and then, the USA will play in first one more knockout match at this season's Gold Cup. Nations Association was hypothetical to show development. Instead, the team seemed to regress. One of the conspicuous subjects, among the numerous, was the side's top interstellar, Pulisic was basically imperceptible on the field.

Even trainer Mauricio Pochettino said fast of the competition vs. Canada that he predictable more from him on this caring of stage. That is not the Christian that we sought to see since I think he can do abundant better, Pochettino said Saturday. Our foremost neutral is the World Cup.  

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Football World Cup 2026 Tickets: Christian Pulisic Poised to Lead USA’s Attack

I have no reservation Christian will be equipped and be his unsurpassed and one of the unsurpassed players for certain for us World Cup. Back in October gaining of his first competitions schooling the team, Pochettino rib highly of Pulisic and termed him one of the top offensive companies in the world.

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Pulisic has converted a basic part of AC Milan and prior this month, tied a career-high when he recorded his 15th goal of the time. He also has nine assistances for the Series A truncheon FIFA 2026.  Pulisic frequently plays on the true wing for Milan, but Pochettino enjoys him in the No.

World Cup Tickets: USA Must Maximize Pulisic’s Impact Before It’s Too Late

10 character on the state team. In theory, stroking your most imperative player in the record pivotal location on the pitch echoes ideal. But Pulisic didn't bearing either match against Bonnet or Canada. On Sunday specifically. Pulisic by a hair's breadth thru his presence felt in the arguing half of the park.

And wasn't a threat confidential the 18-yard box. Obviously, I want to kind more of a difference in the disposed, Pulisic said. I'm not pleased with my output Football World Cup 2026. But it's partway me and partly finding unalike ways to get the ball in that situation.

It was dangerous for so forth reason in the former two meets. The clock is marking, and the World Cup is receiving closer. Pochettino wants to figure out in what way to get the best out of Pulisic and the break of the team both on and off the field beforehand it's too late.

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[whennnow]

A Stash-Busting Toiletry Bag

January 21, 2025

I saw a few toiletry bags on Pinterest right around Christmas, and for some reason that really got my brain going. I suddenly decided that I needed a toiletry bag that would fit all of my travel toiletries perfectly.

Now, this isn't completely out of the blue - after a week-and-a-half-long trip to Germany last spring and a weekend camping trip in the fall it became clear that the second-hand cosmetic bag I was using just wasn't big enough. But how much space would I need?

Inventory of Contents

In order to avoid making the bag too small (which was my current problem) or too large (things would rattle around and get disorganized), I decided to take stock of what I wanted to fit inside the bag.

It's a pretty extensive list. Shampoo, conditioner, dry shampoo, face wash, shower gel, moisturizer, lotion, face sunscreen, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, mouth wash, deodorant, and a hairbrush. Plus, ideally, a phone charger, spare hair ties and bobby pins, menstrual products, and a lipstick and mascara (thankfully I never wear more makeup than that).

Then, I measured everything. All seven bottles I have are the same width and depth, and there's only about an inch difference in height. The moisturizer and sunscreen are in small tubs/canisters. The deodorant is a full-sized one. The brush was my biggest issue, being irregularly shaped.

I also did some test arrangements to see how things would fit together, and combined that with the measurements to decide the dimensions of my bag.

The Pattern

I opted for a simple rectangular shape inspired by the boxy, quilted cosmetic bags I had seen on Pinterest. I measured out the bottom of the rectangle I wanted and added the sides, tops, and ends, just like all the tutorials showed. I even made a small paper model to scale to make sure my math checked out!

And then I decided to complicate things.

I mean, my toiletries wouldn't be very organized if it was just a free-for-all inside the bag! Nothing would stay in place!

So I decided to add dividers.

[Img ID: A top-down photo of the pouch with both sides folded back to show the center divider, which consists of a small zippered pouch in the center, branching into a "V" of fabric on each end that attaches to the four corners of the larger pouch.]

Now, I can't honestly recall how my brain arrived at this idea, but I ended up with a central divider which is also a zippered pouch. It does not run the full length of the bag, but instead each end splits off into fabric tabs that are sewn into the corner seams. The divider is not connected to the bottom of the bag because I don't think that will be an issue for me.

This leaves me with two long areas along each side of the bag, a triangular area at each end, and a zippered pouch in the middle for small things like hair ties and bobby pins.

Supplies

With my plan firmly in place, it was time to gather my supplies.

I initially intended to grab some quilting cotton from the store, but thankfully remembered that I have a lot of quilting cotton in my stash and that this would be a good stashbusting project!

I found a dark blue floral that I inherited from my grandmother for the outside and a coordinating solid teal of unknown origin for the inside. I even had cotton batting in my stash, some sew-in interfacing, and thread to match the fabric already! I just needed to grab two zippers for the store - a longer one for the outside, and a shorter one for the inner pocket.

Construction

I started out by machine quilting the outside, making a fabric-batting-interfacing sandwich. I drew my seam lines and quilting lines on the interfacing first to act as guides, and when I was done, I cut the batting out of the seam allowances to reduce bulk.

Then, I tackled the inner pocket/divider. I wanted to do this in the same fabric as the lining, but didn't have nearly enough fabric (especially after cutting two pieces the wrong size), so I used more of the outer fabric.

The pocket/divider was made of four rectangles of fabric, used in pairs. Each pair had half of the zipper for the pocket sewn into the top and was sewn normally at the bottom, then was turned right side out, ironed, and topstitched along the top edge.

This left me with two rectangles, partially connected by a zipper. I used top stitching to close the sides and bottom of the pocket part. There were about 3in of fabric left on each end of the fabric, which I topstitched separately at the bottom, allowing them to move freely. I set this divider aside until I constructed the lining.

Next up was the handle. This was very simple, with two long rectangles of fabric and one of interfacing (though two layers of interfacing wouldn't have been a bad thing) sewn up the long sides, turned right side out, and top stitched along the long edges. This got pinned into place on the outer quilted fabric right away so I didn't lose or forget it.

At this point, I had to decide how the whole thing went together. I had a hard time wrapping my head around how to attach the zip and still make sure no seams showed inside the bag. In the end, I decided to make thing simpler for myself by assembling the lining, assembling the outer with the zip, and then just hand sewing the lining inside to the zipper.

So I started with the lining! First, I pressed the zipper seam allowances in, both as a guide for myself later and to keep them out of the way of other seams. Then, the edges of the top (with the zipper space in the middle) and the bottom were sewn together. This is the horizontal seam on each end. I then pinned the loose ends of the divider into the vertical corner seams, and the lining was done!

At this point, I put my toiletries into the lining to make sure my math had been right. I rounded my measurements up, so things were ever so slightly larger than I wanted, but that's okay.

Then, I could move on to assembling the outer.

The zipper was attached first, and I turned that seam allowance in and top stitched along the edge. Seams were sewn in the same order as the lining - top ends to bottom ends to create the horizontal seams on the ends of the bag, then the vertical corner seams. Obviously, there were no divider edges to catch, but I did need to make sure the handle on one end ended up where I wanted it.

After that, there was just hand sewing left!

I turned the quilted outer portion of the bag inside out and tacked the bottoms of the corner seams together to help the lining stay in place. Then, I turned it mostly right side out around the lining and tacked the upper corners together. Finally, I hand sewed the zipper edge of the lining, whose seam allowance I ironed earlier, to the zipper of the outer and was done.

Final Thoughts

I think this toiletry bag turned out super cute! It does indeed fit all of my travel toiletries, plus a phone charger and some small accessories.

My main regret is not putting a fabric tab on one end of the zipper opening. There's nothing for me to hold on to when unzipping the bag, which is mildly annoying, but thankfully doesn't impact the zipper's operation. I'll learn to live with it.

I also kind of wish I had attached the central divider to the bottom of the bag after all, but that sounds complicated. It's not a huge deal but I think it would have kept the bottom of the bag from sagging so much.

On the bright side of things, this project allowed me to de-stash one bit of fabric (the lining). I had to buy zippers, because I don't have any zips in my stash, but I used them both right away. The fabric, batting, interfacing, and thread all came from my stash.

Bonus Bag!

I still had a solid chunk of the outer fabric left, and I decided to turn most of it into a large drawstring bag which can be used as a shoe bag or dirty laundry bag when traveling!

It was a quick project - about half an hour. The bottom of the bag was folded, so I just french seamed the sides and sewed a casing for a drawstring at the top. I used some light blue ribbon from my stash as the drawstring, but it doesn't match well, so it may get a replacement if the opportunity.

There was still a small rectangle left of the fabric, which may go eventually become a sleep mask. Or maybe it'll just go into the hexie box.

Stay warm. Stay safe. Stay healthy.

[jambjars]

ACADEMIC BLOG POST 2- Gesamtkunstwerk and Spectacle(s)

Richard Wagner’s original concept of gesamtkunstwerk has gotten a little muddied in intention over the centuries, but I dare say the spirit of the phenomenon is alive and well. Instead of adhering to Wagner’s initial vision, I think pieces that stimulate multiple senses of the audience to elicit an awed response could be considered for the definition. Art is subjective, so far be it from me to define what can’t fit under the parameters of gesamtkunstwerk, but I’d go up to bat for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida being considered as such.

By and large, the concept of a theme park such as those which exist in some of the world’s most major cities aligns with the definition of a “total work of art”, brought on primarily by the sheer spectacle of the various Disney parks. In the case of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, specifically (hereby referred to in this post as "Harry Potter World" for the sake of being concise), immersion is an outright necessity. While I haven't heard personal recountings of character training being grueling from my friends who work in the Universal park(a divorce from the Disney practice of overworking their character actors), the sheer amount of detail in every inch of this attraction is awe-inspiring.

Figure 1: The centrepiece of the Harry Potter World park

A little closer to home (for now) is the less grotesquely expensive Harry Potter Warner Bros Tour on the outskirts of London-- still utterly consumerist in concept, but immaculately crafted.

Figure 2: Diagon Alley in the Universal Studios Tour

While I have no plan to build a massive handcrafted homage to Harry Potter, I think keeping in mind what gesamtkunstwerk entails in this day and age is still a good idea. While this phenomenon is, again, highly consumerist in nature, it brings a lot of children joy and wonder. In physical spaces as well as digital ones, I would love to inspire a similar sense of awe through my own work. For now, I'll have to stick to visual mediums, but Wagner's initial gesamkunstwerks were such as well, so the sky's the limit.

Additionally, I suspect (as an American) that the sheer popularity of Harry Potter World is motivated in small part due to the novelty of a walkable, "European" space. Of course, there isn't a real city in the whole of the real continent of Europe so immaculately and in-authentically decorated, but the phenomenon truly is notable in such a car-dependent community.

Disclaimer that I do not agree with the personal views of the author of the Harry Potter series, and actively disavow transphobia in every form.

Bibliography

Godwin, V. (2017). Theme park as interface to the wizarding (story) world of Harry Potter. Transformative Works and Cultures, 25. doi:https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2017.01078.

Shaun (2022). Harry Potter. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1iaJWSwUZs&ab_channel=Shaun [Accessed 19 Oct. 2023].

Warner Bros. Studios ed., (2018). Diagon Alley in Warner Bros. Studios. [Digital Photography] Digital. Available at: https://media.timeout.com/images/105171327/750/422/image.webp [Accessed 19 Oct. 2023].

‌ Waysdorf, A. and Reijnders, S. (2016). Immersion, authenticity and the theme park as social space: Experiencing the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 21(2), pp.173–188. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877916674751.

[frankstudio4b]

Intentions for this semester

I’d like to fully dive in to my interests in social commentary, but instead of doing one long form project and delving deep into one topic, I’d like to do something similar to what I did when I was doing my “Variety Show” series. Where I was exploring multiple social topics through the medium of video audio.

These are my current ideas for this semester and what themes they cover:

BAT-COMPUTER

The Bat-Computer is a video installation inspired by Batman’s computer from the Batman comics. A desk attached to multiple screens with a detective/spy interface. Through the screens it would tell a story through news clips, internet clips, CCTV footage, Bat-Cam bodycam footage, video calls etc etc.  The story I will tell through the physical structure of the computer will cover topics of social justice, woke culture, justice and internet discourse.

WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN

This is just a little fun experiment I want to do. It will be a series of paintings that depicts famous woman that I STAN. I LOVE. I ADMIRE. It’s a play on gay men’s obsession with female celebrities and aims to turn the idea of het love on its head.

ELLA ENLIGHTENED

This is a skit I’ve been writing at the moment that I want to do before week three crits. It takes the form of a fictional podcast hosted by a white woman spiritual advisor and self-proclaimed “guru”, throughout the podcast she speaks on spirituality while also incessantly promoting her paid content and merchandise. It’s a comment on white spirituality and the gentrification and appropriation of eastern religion. It also comments on the commodification of eastern iconography and practices as a form of profit for white people.  

[teleconhaikus]

I’m annoyed today.. I have to do a basic lift and shift of all the common library interfaces stored in frontends because someone thought it was good to copy pasta away everything as we go into every single frontend sooo we need another spot for all of that to handle, as is obvious, deprecation, new endpoints, modifications to handle validation and error and bugs etc.. but in the process am finding a lot of boiler plate code which is just like veryyyyy obvious everyone came from a Java background switched to web and didn’t once bat an eye. We have a billion getters and setters, we have no type aliases or other items which are strategically created for Typescript so that you do not need to define a class to use for simple items like in this situation a matrix which is now an internal class which supports getting elements... WHY WOULD YOU WRITE THIS CODE??? You can literally define this with an array of arrays or I guess some call this a “jagged array” but because JS says and is written in all things “Functions serve as a first class citizen” you never really need a class.. not really, not unless it entirely makes sense whereas in a lot of old coding languages like say Java or C++ you do need a namespace and and that namespace does define classes and objects usually first and then those objects hold actions, Javascript can instead behave more often as first methods that then act on many things.. this creates less bloat and code boilerplate and often is one of many reasons people say they hate web coming from OOP driven design but truly it is just different and everyone’s hateful and I am going a bit insane because I am doing what is an inherently wrong bad practice like I feel itchy all over doing it but if I do it the right way, it will never be complete.. it’s too big, so I gotta first chop off my leg to save my face or whatever then repair everything best I can but I am making the problem worse because I have to move all the unnecessary typings and objects and constructors to a third place and then try and find a way to fix that and I guess.. Idk I wanted to vent, but I also wanted to just sorta rubber ducky and console myself in the process..

[trothplighted]

You’ve struck the nail right on the head, I think, regarding Harry. We’re supposed to think that he comes to the correct conclusions all the time, and also that the people he agrees with are correct / the people he doesn’t agree with are incorrect, and so we’re in a situation where instead of him going “I’ve come of age in a very fucked up society and I have inherited a lot of money and am essentially an aristocrat oligarch thanks to my bloodline and my status as Sirius’s heir and therefore the de facto head of House Black in the UK”, he’s sort of… generally A Nice Guy. And so he can’t really interrogate the systems he’s interfacing with, because then we’d have questions like “what level of compromise is acceptable to you, on the subject of personhood and basic human rights?” becoming really relevant.

Joanne is also really fixated on this idea that systems are neutral and they’re ‘flavored’ by the people running them, and that’s handicapping her here. She acts like good people will automatically make a system good, and like all it takes to turn a system bad is a bad apple in charge, and frankly it’s just laughable to hold that point of view imho. Wizarding society is casually prejudiced against non-magic-users (the Squibs’ voting rights movement is something I wish more people would talk about, same with Ron’s Mad Muggle comics that apparently turn ordinary humans into caricatures to be laughed at) to an astonishing degree. Even good characters violate the bodily and psychological autonomy of Muggles if it’s convenient or judged to be deserved (Dudley’s tail, Hermione’s parents, the camp worker in GoF, countless other examples) and nobody bats an eye at it. They’re also prejudiced against house-elves and goblins and centaurs and merfolk for not being human and presumably for not doing magic “properly”, and this is evident in how they treat their slaves and other people’s slaves. (I am sort of excluding Sirius here because Sirius pivots from criticizing Crouch for mistreating Winky to hating Kreacher in a way I can only ascribe to Joanne’s massive shift of opinion on Sirius, but her homophobia in killing him and sabotaging his character is another post; realistically I think the ‘accurate’ Sirius is a Pureblood heir who had a LOT of deradicalizing and deprogramming to do, and he probably also holds some prejudiced views on house-elves.)

She really needed to pick a side; she isn’t able to because she’s not critical enough of the government or of Society and its rules.

i've seen 'house elves are based on brownies and folk spirits so you can't read chattel slavery into it' as a defense of the house elf situation but like. CoS and GoF were published in the twentieth century and I am sorry but assuming that brownies and folk spirits are the salient comparison there is irresponsible because chattel slavery will inevitably loom larger. like she may not have intended for chattel slavery to be read into it but she should have thought it would be.

and like when our literal first introduction to house elves has Dobby calling himself a slave calling himself the dregs of the wizarding world...like. that is a slave. that is a comparison the text is making. it fails to do anything remotely responsible with the metaphor but it makes the metaphor and you cannot excuse the failure by saying well she was talking about something more obscure, because how do you read these books without slavery as we know it looming in your mind? it's about context! a modern reader comes to it with the context of chattel slavery!