#theres something about them bonding over research and new beginnings

[fistfuloflightning]

Courtship by Candlelight

[thetangibleghost]

I gotta confess it is so much more fun talking to Sal as if he is a separate person like he wants and not a member of the system. He's super creative like. Its just fun.

[lunarbun-ships]

hey guys! i know yall have been waiting for this for a few days and im proud to say that i finally have the whole timeline/backstory for bunny and i's adventure time ship lore sorted out!!!

so im proud to present our lore in extreme detail, its kinda rambly and very long!!

for yalls sake, im putting it under a read more 💀

kitty note: a lot of at’s canon events still happen, most of canon resides in the past, betty never comes back, so golb is never summoned. islands happens but no humans come back to ooo in fear of vampires, which are still an issue since marceline isnt alive either (referring back to the fact wk has ice marcy, implying something bad happened to her). some other canon events happen later on, so the timeline compared to ats is all over the place lol 😭 this has nothing in common with the f&c canon outside of the bare bones

for colored quotes, pink are for kitty, bold purple is for bonbon, blue for the wk and red for bunny :)

ik/wk gets ahold of the crown & puts it on in front of betty

betty doesnt get summoned to the present, she moves on after leaving simon

ik/wk meets marcy & has her for a couple of years before passing away (either due to the radiation from the gmw or due to the oozers that came from the radiation)

the original ice kingdom builds up around 500 years after gmw

kitty becomes princess of the stuffie kingdom about 700 years post-mushroom war

they meet princess bubblegum during a princess day celebration

this one is hosted in the breakfast kingdom

they get along famously during this princess day meeting & become fast friends

kitty meets ik/wk due to his princess kidnapping tendencies

kitty, once settled into his ice cell, informs him that theyre a lesbian

ik apologizes & they end up talking about girls until they get rescued

kitty & ik’s relationship mirrors marcy and simons post i remember you

BIG father/daughter type bond

after 150 years of friendship, kitty & pb persue a romantic relationship

their relationship is pretty healthy to begin with while both of their kingdoms are in infancy (725 years post gmw)

after ~200 years, theres a communication breakdown between the two of them, leading to their breakup

it takes a good amount of time before the two of them get back together- koo’s election still happens & she loses the ck for a while, which allows for their reunion to happen

bella noche gets summoned & ice king becomes simon again

this is the first time kitty gets a glimpse of who ik truly is

this, obviously, is an eye opener for them & they want to help ik gain his lucidity once more

kitty takes betty’s place in punching bella noche

marcy, as stated before, has passed & hambo is long gone, which prevents simon from creating the portal to apologize to betty

after bella noche’s defeat and kitty’s discovery, they ask bonnie for help in their quest to fix/cure the ik

bonnie agrees & offers to do some preliminary research on ik’s crown while kitty is away on royal business

bonnie uses the machine from “broke his crown”

ice king comes along with gunter

while ik and bonnie are using the machine & preoccupied, gunter is bored & starts pressing any and every button on the machine

this causes the machine to overload and explode

this accident transfers the curse of the crown from ik to bonnie via electric shock (from the explosion)/magic (the explosion malfunctions ik’s crown & the curse is transferred)

bonnie has amnesia from the crown curse

kitty returns from royal business and cant find ik anywhere and finds bonnie’s lab destroyed

kitty comes across bonnie, now bonbon, first

“…trying out a new look bonbon?”

“who’s bonbon? who are you? how did you get in here?”

bonbon is kind of aggressive, her mental state is adjusting to the curse

kitty, freaked out, goes in search of the ik, who is now the winter king

they finally come across wk while searching deep in the newly-forming winter kingdom

they ask him what happened & he genuinely has no idea what happened exactly, but offers to use his newfound conscious thought to help figure things out

kitty thanks him & they return back to their own kingdom

over the course of the next six months, kitty tries to adjust to bonbon’s changes & tries to help her remember

bonbon shows no interest in kitty, as the curse’s infatuation sets her sights on wk

kitty tries (and fails!) to ignore this & they try to help bonbon regain her memories

“i just got you back and ive lost you again” energy

kitty approaches wk & tells him that theyre going to be leaving to find a cure for bonbon’s madness & they werent sure when they would return

kitty’s sibling becomes the main one in charge in their absence & it stays this way

they lose touch with the wk after some time, leading him to believe they might be injured or worse- dead

kitty spends ~7.5 decades looking for a magic cure where both wk can continue to be wk and bonbon can turn back to normal to no avail

kitty meets magic man outside of the wastelands of ooo, where he promises to help in exchange for a favor

he’s still trying to steal glob/gob/grob/grod’s residual powers

the process malfunctions due to an interruption & magic mans powers transfers to kitty, making them magic woman

for the remaining 25 years before they return, they do intensive and obsessive magic studies in order to find a cure

they also occasionally watch bonbon from afar, watching the candy kingdom be rebuilt & just seeing how she’s doing

it is very painful for them but they miss her so much that they cant help themselves sometimes

bunny, age 24 by the time the 100 years have passed, meets winter king while assisting the ice scouts with another one of cq’s kidnappings

bunny is related to finn since josuha treated being an adventurer like a family business, so the tradition carries

impressed by their skill, wk appoints bunny to be his personal body guard due to their skill with a sword

since theyre always together, wk and bunny get to know each other rather quickly & become fast friends, bonding over magic and science

after some time, wk finds himself falling for bunny and he is not shy about those feelings in the slightest

he constantly flirts with them & makes it known that he likes them

bunny is oblivious + has had a crush on wk by this point anyway

wk takes bunny to some royal business & they get stressed out by all the people there/feeling like they dont belong due to the fancy event

wk takes bunny aside and gives them a pep-talk, a sweet one at that

“i wouldnt have invited you if i didnt think you wouldnt belong”

his hand is gently sliding towards theirs, interconnecting their fingers

“i brought you as my date for a reason..”

bunny.exe has stopped working

they confess their feelings to each other & they spend the rest of the event away from everyone, talking the night away.

wk and bunny enter a romantic relationship

two years pass & wk needs to go to wizard city, bunny accompanies him

the two run into kitty, causing a whole mess of emotions to run through wk- not good ones

kitty starts coming around more & becomes friends with bunny

kitty’s sudden reappearance is stirring up a lot of bad memories, thoughts & feelings with wk. despite this, the two are slowly rekindling a friendship

due to the bad feelings, wk is pulling away from bunny & is drowning himself in his work, this is a slow process, it takes a few weeks before bunny says anything

the stress of emotions is reaching to the point where he’s starting to see so much of betty in bunny & its scaring him

not to mention he’s feeling guilty about something…👀

during wk’s slow pull-back, bunny and kitty are venting to each other about their respective issues

my sona reveals that bonbon wasnt always the way she was & tells the story from their own perspective

bunny, having no idea this ever happened, decides to confront wk about his distance & why he never told them that he knew what was wrong with bonbon

during this confrontation, wk finally breaks down and reveals to bunny everything about what has happened & his thoughts

“you remind me so much of her..”

he also reveals the fact that there is a cure for bonbon’s madness that he discovered during kitty’s absence, but the caveat is that he would become the ik again. theres no way to be fully rid of the curse.

“are you ever going to tell kitty?”

“no. ive worked so hard for what ive had & i dont want to lose it.”

“but you really should, its unfair to them to hold onto hope that isnt th-“

“im not telling them!” he snaps at them

after he snaps at bunny, they decide that they need to think about things for a while & they spend the next few months in the magic man house with kitty

at some point during this period, kitty decides to go on a date with bonbon, mirroring bespoken for

rather than getting angry and frustrated like betty, they get progressively more upset and sad

during their breakdown, they reveal to bonbon that they used to date

bonbon later thinks about this & it begins the crowns obsession/infatuation slow shift from wk to kitty

this date doesn’t go well & kitty ends it early

bunny’s sona is the one to give the tiny manticore speech

“maybe you're going after someone who doesn't exist anymore. why not take her as she is? after all, you’ve been through a lot of changes yourself”

kitty takes bunny’s speech to heart & they think it over, but not immediately

on wk’s side of things, he is miserable and alone & wants nothing more than to apologize to bunny

he seeks out kitty, who takes him to the magic man house

he apologizes profusely

“i never meant to push you away.. ive just spent so long trying to avoid these feelings that i ended up exploding. i’m horrible at dealing with negative emotions, but i want to work on it for you. i am so sorry, bunny”

bunny, after hearing his apology, forgives him & they return back to the winter kingdom with wk

bunny & the winter king, once reunited, try and figure out a way to tell kitty that there is a cure to bonbon’s madness in a way that they wont freak out/blow up/snap

during this time, kitty comes back bonbon to give their date another shot, apologizing for how abruptly it ended last time

they end up having a simple spaghetti dinner & kitty realizes they have more in common now then they did 100 years ago

this date goes well & they continue to go on dates, falling in love with each other all over again

bunny and wk finally find a way to tell kitty that there is a cure but it would reverse everything in wk

my sona, interrupts them before they can say more than “we found a cure-“ and tells the two that they dont want to fix bonbon anymore & that things finally feel the way they should now, ending my sona’s arc

the four of them can finally relax & enjoy life once more & they all become close friends once more :3

[glorified-red]

What is the boys go to method of persuasion (read: manipulation) and how would someone persuade them in turn?

This request took wayyyy too many of my brain cells, thanks fish, you’ve killed me

Batboys Method of Persuasion

word count: 1390~

warnings: none

I’ve been wanting to write angst for a few days now and I am so close to diving into Nightmare and never coming back until the whole series is written.

Dick Grayson

Dick uses social influence consciously and subconsciously all the time

Social influence is how we are all wired to believe that if the people we admire are doing something, then that behavior is normal and we should act that way as well

He uses this to his advantage whenever he leads the titans or any of his siblings

A role model of sorts

Dick acts like the perfect vigilante and people subconsciously follow

It started with Jason when he was first learning about Robin, then with Tim, and eventually with Damian

Going out to patrol with Jason and being very careful about what he’s doing in front of him in the off chance that he picks up the habits Dick has

Knowing Tim watches him so closely so Dick might as well take advantage of it to keep his brother safe with protective patrol actions

Seeing Damians adoration for Dick and genuinely trusting what his older brother says, so why not slowly show Damian how to assimilate into the family through his actions

Theres plenty of different ways this affects Dick however

The constant pressure of needing to be perfect and make the right choices

The feeling of everyone and no-one watching him at all times

And even people pleasing tendencies, because what else is left of his self-importance without admiration?

Which is exactly why the easiest way to persuade Dick into doing something, is making sure he likes and trusts you

He couldn't care less about what strangers think of him, but those close to him? Those inside his circle of influence? Dick wants them to love him

Thats exactly why he tries to keep the family together; exactly why he takes every argument with his siblings to heart

The Liking Principle: we are more likely to comply with requests made by people we like

Ask Dick to do something and he will cross a valley for you not only because he loves you, but because he feels like he has to go through with it to make sure you still love him.

Jason Todd

Jason loves to use reciprocity

He exploits it every chance he can when he’s the Red Hood, how else would he have gotten so powerful?

Reciprocity is how we feel obligated to give back to others what we receive from them, especially if there was no cost to begin with

Jason spared plenty of criminals as Hood to use them for deals or favors later, always bringing up the fact that he could've killed them and could kill them now

He’s not afraid to say to those criminals, “Remember when I did this for you? Yea, I want compensation now.”

He doesn't use it much to his family aside from the typical sibling drama of Jason driving to get Tim food and then bringing it up again to get a few pop tarts during patrol

The more the time passes though, the less he can use reciprocity since it'll lose its draw

So he tends to use it within a few days or weeks

Jason keeps tabs, especially when it comes to crime lords or mob bosses

With his family he kinda just remembers? He’ll see a cookie and automatically remember that Dick owes him a pint of ice cream

But reciprocity works both ways

Jason knows this, so if anyone is smart and cunning enough to see through his manipulation and do it back? He’ll comply

The best way to do this is through consistency and commitment

Make Jason commit to his morals or word by bringing up statements he’s made in the past

His word means a lot to him so twisting it or holding him to it will definitely make him cave

Especially if his word was public and other people were there as witness

But be sure to reward him and reciprocate so that he keeps doing it ;)

Tim Drake

Tim’s method of persuasion is so meticulous 

Anchoring: the tendency to rely heavily on the information presented first when making a decision

He mostly uses this at work because it works better with numbers

Having a point value presented for the company so he can appease the snarky board of directors

Twisting and manipulating how the stock market values look by prefacing inflation or previous values from months past 

Or maybe shifting employee percentages around to make it seem more successful than it really is, not by a lot but enough that Tim can get them off his back

It’s not lying, he’s just presenting the information a different way that makes it seem more pleasant for his side

Since Tim is well aware that information can be tweaked or presented in a bias manner, persuading him can be a bit tricky considering he’d much rather do his own research

The Ellsberg Paradox, a wonderful experiment that showed people tend to lean towards things they know about rather than take a chance on unknown factors

Like the true introvert he is, Tim needs to know every detail before he makes a decision on something instead of going in blind and regretting it

Want to persuade him into going to a party? He needs to know exactly who's going, what to wear, what’s being served, what’s the earliest time he can leave—the list goes on

Trying to persuade him into doing something risky? Give him the details and he’d have no choice but to sigh and go through with it

Damian Wayne 

Damian and the hot-hand fallacy

When someone experiences a success, they’re more likely to continue that streak

He uses this to his advantage when it comes to Robin

Showing his father that he is self-sufficient because Damian busted this ring by himself and took down this villain too

Setting down a steady foundation of success to persuade more privilege and independence with the cape on

It’s a way to prove he belongs as well as keep the line of success for Robin going, purifying the colors so to speak

Dami also uses it on his siblings, especially when Dick took Batman’s role

Taking a weak, low point and showcasing the success that was brought to the mantle through him rather than previous Robins

It’s his confidence, his drive, the passion to maintain success lest he break that streak and tarnish his name

He's also used it to present new tactics or weaponry to the family, stating the success rate or how it has been used in the family before

However, with the inflated importance of Robin’s role, it doesn't take much to persuade Damian back into line

That’s where his weakness of persuasion comes in, The Authority Bias

Authority figures are perceived to be correct and have a stronger influence on others because of this

Damian not only grew up being forced to respect Ra’s and Thalia, but its so deep rooted in him that it is very rare for him to speak out against someone of higher authority than him

Hence why he respects Dick so much as Batman, or even Bruce because he is Damians biological father

So the easiest way to persuade Damian into doing something is to assert authority or dominance over him

There has to be merit behind it however, or he will call your bluff and not take you seriously

Bonus

All of the batboys share one method of persuasion that can also work on them: Mimicry

Its natural for us to respond more positively to people who act, look, or sound similar to us

This comes in handy with survivors on patrol, each of the boys mimicking body language or softening their voices to appear less threatening

In Jason’s case, he likes to appear more human by taking off his helmet so his voice doesn't sound as intimidating, it sounds similar and soft

For Tim, he sometimes takes off his cape to seem less like a super hero and more like an ordinary guy, especially for younger kids

In general though, it’s an unspoken bond between them all that they can tell exactly who each brother likes just by watching mimicking body language or adaptation of speech—very easy to tease each other about it

And of course, mimicry works on each of them as well

Makes them all—in their own way—feel less outcasted

Taglist ♡

@anothertimdrakestan

@bungunz

@red-hood-redemption ​​

@missredrobin

[sweetstrawberry-jam]

Minus Hex Hc

OK SO If any of ya’ll don’t know this is official art of Minus Hex and lemme tell ya me and my friends went off on ideas for him, theres no info about Minus Hex so anything i talk about here is pure Hc i have came up with overall. So lets begin So We always thought this Hex looked rather gentle and soft compared to normal Hex who seems more energetic, so we came up with the idea “what if he was a sort of helper/ Therapy robot “ and we went from there. -Story/idea i wrote- Hex was created by a high tech company, he was commissioned by the family of an old rich man, he was wasn’t well and the family had no time to take care of him, so they asked the company to create a caretaker type/ Therapy  robot and so the manufacturer made Hex. In fact Hex was the first Model, and he was the first to actually run on solar and to be programed to do such a serious task, he was pretty much a prototype, the company wanted to see if this could be successful for future use, so they used the Old man as a  sort of guinea pig coming by to get reports on how well Hex was doing. Overall the beginning of Hex’s life was rather simple, he wasn’t anything like he is now, he was only programed to help the man, he wasn’t given a personality he wasn’t supposed to have one, he wasn’t even supposed to gain a full thought process outside of, ‘take care of old man’.  The company would note how successful the project was as Hex was doing as told, and was taking care of the man and the house, though the man himself wished the robot would do more then just say ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir’ The company didn’t really care about that, after seeing how well Hex was doing they began to plan to mass produce robots like him, and once the man died they would make Hex obsolete and scrapped him using his parts for other better robots. But something happen that really none expected, overtime as Hex spent more time with the lonely man he started to gain more and more of a conscious he was taking out to see the world, and saw how others interacted something clicked in his system, it all started because he started to play basketball while the man was resting, though the man caught him one day, but instead of being upset, He was happy to see this, encouraging Hex to keep trying new things  the two grew a strong bond after that they would spend hours talking and the old man would show Hex how to bake and even how to sing, for once the man truly felt like he wasn’t alone. Hex would still do his job taking care of the man, and taking care of the home but he developed a complete personality and he even had his own opinions and thoughts. When the manufacturers came by and saw this they were in shock to say the least, they couldn’t understand how this happen, they saw it as some kind of malfunction and now they were worried their new care taker robots they wanted to sell would end up the same way, and that meant they couldn’t control them. The company offered to take Hex and program him back to his original state, or even just scraped him (mainly so they can take him apart and figure out why this all happened), but the old man refused saying “This robot is more of a friend to me then any Human i met..i won’t let you take my friend” Now the company can’t do anything until the rich man dies and they would have ownership of Hex again. So for the rest of the old mans life, Hex stayed by his side chatting taking care and just..listening Hex was happy and felt like he was fulfilling his purpose, even though he manage to reprogram his system and basically gain a soul in a sense, he could never get rid of his main function..Taking care and helping, Hex was always prepared to do whatever needed to be done..but no matter what, nothing prepared him for death, The robot could never forget the last interaction with his old friend before he passed on All in a flash before Hex knew it he was gone, and he gain a new emotion..sadness, now that the man has passed on the Company was ready to get Hex and scrap him for good, but there was a problem, the old man rewrote his will he gave everything to Hex when and made sure legally the company can't do anything to Hex.

So Hex was free, he didn’t have to worry about the company scraping him, though the problem was... Hex was lonely he was stuck in a large house on his own none to sing with none to talk to, for awhile it was hard, but Hex started going out more, even started playing Basketball with the local children, and then met Minus Gf and Bf, and after that Hex found Whitty, and then Carol And Finally Hex felt like he was truly fulfilling his purpose, by helping and taking care of those he can and not to mention gaining more friendships then he never thought he would He truly feels happy and will do whatever he can to help others. (I don’t write a lot so forgive me if this isn’t great) -Extra Hc- -  Hex learned other emotions over time such as happy, sad ect but due to his programing he can’t go over the top with his emotions, he has a rather calm versions of these emotions,when he’s excited it is very hard to tell as it looks about the same comparing it to his normal happy face.- Hex can’t raise his voice very loud, as he is meant to be a comfort caretaker, so his voice needed to be gentle and calm in order to not panic the one he takes care of, he was never given a loud voice box.

 -  None really knows how Hex manage to gain a personality, when he first started out he pretty much had no emotions and would just do as told, but as he did errands for the old rich man, he started to see the world and see how people acted, and something in him changed and he began to research more about life in his own little ways . - If Hex goes through a full reboot and doesn’t have his memory bank loaded in yet, he will be resorted to his original state before he gained his personality, he will remain like this until his Memory Bank gets restored in his reboot. - Given he is pretty much the first robot of his kind Hex is not perfect, he still has some flaws he is not built to fight so you could beat him pretty easily (and maybe break him a bit) he can also get hacked into pretty easily when his guard is down (Though his guard is not that strong to begin with) and if a virus gets in he can reboot to get it out, but his battery gets drained quite a bit and he will have to recharge after words. The robot is also not waterproof  - Hex loves charities he learned a lot about them thanks to the old rich man, as the two grew a bond the man began to take Hex to many charity events, he wanted to show the robot how important it was to do your part when you could, and the old man didn’t feel like he was wasting money on this, in fact it was a privilege to him to be apart of this and do all he can for others. That spoke to Hex a lot and after the man passed Hex continued on what the old rich man did and goes to many charity events and donates he knows that's what his friend would’ve wanted .- In the beginning the relationship between the old rich guy and Hex was a bit rough, Hex didn’t have a personality and the old rich man was a bit cold to him, given he felt his family just left him with something that he can’t talk to or even relate to, but slowly as Hex gain his personality the Man began to notice, even catching him playing basketball after gaining more a interested in it, and the man encouraged it rather than deny Hex any of these interest, in fact he began to show the robot things more even going out to show him the town more, and the man began to open up more to Hex showing really he was a good guy. - Hex loves gardening, it is a very peaceful time for him, he started gaining a love for it, after finding the garden room the old man had and wasn’t able to use given he wasn’t well, so hex began using it growing many lovely plant and flower, when the Old man died, he started to stay in his garden a lot more - Hex cares for all his friends/ housemates but he has a rather protective bond with Whitty, after they met the robot just knew he needed help, and will always help him no matter what - Hex learned to sing from the old man, The robot was a bit unsure about singing given he wasn’t built for that, but the old man didn’t listen he wanted to show Hex how much fun music was, and that began the robots love for music  But after the man passed, Hex hasn’t dared to sing since - Hex was created to take care, so he knows how to treat all kinds of injuries and illnesses, he doesn’t get affected by seeing others in a bad state or get sick at the sight of blood, he just wants to help them - Hex can’t get sick from human illnesses (like colds or the flu) he’s a robot, but he can get overheated or if he gets a small bug in his system he can feel unwell till it’s fix, he may act like he is sick because of it. Bleh and thats all i got thought i would share anyways tell me what ya think

[starlightshore]

im kinda want to get into this sort of thing so is it okay to ask u a few questions? if not just delete this, but here goes? would u reccomend game maker studio 2, and how hard is it to use in ur opinion? and is there anything u wish u knew at the beginning of making ur fangame?

aw anon you’re so sweet! don’t worry about asking about this, its really exciting to make games and trying new things! i would not say i’m an expert, and i wouldn’t even say i know gml like. at all. i just understand a how the code is used, but now what the code itself is or what to type exactly. like, i understand the theory more so than actually doing it. which is, eh, fine? i’m getting by, and i’m still learning. i’ve only been using gms 2 for 2 months now.

also, i’m using a fangame engine! i feel its kinda like cheating lmao, but its just meant to be a framework to build your own thing off of. and i still need to learn gms2 to use it, and i plan on doing more advanced and complicated things (ie: changing how battles even work structurally.) so. i’m not good at gsm2 yet, but uh, really once you understand coding its not any harder than i’d imagine w/ other professional game engines. compared to unity, i like this better because it seems built on the idea of making 2d sprite games. its SO much more simpler and the userface (while. i’m not a fan of how it has its workspace but whatever) is simple and easy to grasp.

i can’t say for certain if i recommend game maker. its very pricey and doesn’t go on sale often. (big sales i mean, it goes on 15% somewhat frequently) i really, really recommend doing your research first. 

so here i talk about what game engines i’ve used over the last year. (also i hear Godot is good!)

at the end of that post i said this: “TLDR; figure out what kind of game and story you want to tell/make. i could of saved a year’s worth of work if i just sat myself down and realized i wanted to make a completely new fangame separate from my old blog stuff. and that i wanted to make an rpg specifically.“

and so! past me has good advice. figure out the scope and what story do you want to tell. with AL, I know it has 2 chapters, and rn i’m only concentrating on chapter 1. chp 1 has 7 nights and one area where you fight enemies. its very story/character driven and is more so like. a deconstruction of the rpg genre than an actual rpg game. (i know that the word deconstruction is over used as hell, but it is what this is.)

it builds off the themes of the original, while focusing on things that i want to focus on and develop. ut, at it’s heart, is about stories and grief, i’m just taking it to a different extreme and angle.

uh, anyway, i really wish i knew what i wanted to make and understood the source material more and what i wanted to make. i’ve. thought really really hard over what UT means, what message toby was trying to convey, how he did it and what I thought about it. understanding what YOU want from and for your project is the most important thing. WHY do you want to make this? WHAT do you want people to feel and think about when playing? or even, after playing? it doesn’t have to be super deep either.

so, figure out what you what to make, and then you can work on the how. really plan your story, but honestly i wouldn’t recommend planning it in super big details right off. also, super helpful to have a friend help you brainstorm and plot check things for you. (shout out to my friend the sniffer

anyway, don’t plan things TOO detailed because things are GOING to change no matter how well you plan! just try to get get an outline done, then rewrite it 5 more times and then MAYBE you’ll be ready to tackle a more detailed version. then write it 5 more times. i can’t stress enough how important planning is, and how you shouldn’t expect everything to work out even on draft 10! things will work, and when they do, draft 10 is going to look like bad awful nonsense cause you’re at draft 20 now and everything is much more coherent and better. games aren’t written or consumed all at once on the fly. its not a piece of fanart, a fanfic, a comic. its not updated more than once. its out, and then its just out. plan for it.

and real quick, don’t worry about art assets! depending on how you do the art, that’s most likely going to change and its going to be polished LAST. i could go more into how you should think of art when game developing, but thats another topic. just. honestly use shitty art assets and worry about it later.

kris’ place holder sprite for deltarune ^ it don’t need to be pretty, it needs to be practical.

second advice: start SMALL!!! i feel i should of done this, and frankly i probably will have to sit down and do this lmao, basically, you should make boring small games to learn the basics. I know, i know, nobody really wants to recreate asteroid when you got big ideas of making stories and animations u wanna make. but like. you really need to figure out how the program works and how the code works in theory and practice.

ok so like, think of coding like this. i got this from a skillshare video series, so uh. i’m going to retell this but in a shittier and likely less nuanced way. sorry

ok so imagine. you’re telling this guy who is trying to get to Gary’s house. now, Gary’s house is just down the road, few houses down, now, you can tell this guy that and he’ll likely find the house just fine. but if you’re telling a robot it’s not going to understand what “down the road” means. what road? how long? it needs instructions that are simple and work in a language it understands.

so you tell the robot “go down two houses, stop at sign until x seconds pass, turn right, go forward 1 house, turn ect. stop at house, ring doorbell. IF Gary answers, go inside; ELSE: do not go inside, wait;

so this what i mean by understanding the theory behind the code rather than the code itself. yes there’s complexities and differences in each language, but they’re ALL based on the same concepts. different program languages are less like different speech languages, but rather different dialects of the same. (uh, like us english vs uk english) its just different rules and “spellings” of the same core concepts.

next advice: don’t be afraid to ask for help! but also! do so within reason! if people are OPEN for helping, be sure do so in the right environment and within what time works for them. compensate people for the time and effort if you can. ALWAYS try to figure out the solution yourself first. often with coding, it can be a simple solution that you could of thought of yourself if you took the initiative to. google is your friend, youtube is your friend! (ok, youtube isn’t, but in this case! yes!) the answer might not always be easy to find, and its perfectly fine to look for help but its good to at least try on your own first!

speaking of which! LEARN LEARN LEARN! be ready to devote A LOT of time to watching and reading about game development. this goes to every game making program, not just gms2. i watch. so many videos on gms. i rec having the video play at 1.5x or 2x speed to cut down time. obvs you still need to retain the information, so speed might be not a good idea then. and its REALLY GOOD to pause and type out the code and follow along. but its also good to just understand the concepts, and theres no harm in rewatching once you’ve understood it  better at a different speed.

things WILL click and work out for you, and its going to be a very time consuming and long journey to get there. i LOVE making this game and telling this story but I also had no idea what i was getting into! and i probably will have more advice once i’m further in, (i’ve only used gms 2 for 2 months!) but thats the best i can say for now! i hope you pursue your dreams and start making things!!! you can do it!!! 

the best time to start is yesterday, the second best time is right now! even if you put a little effort into it everyday, you’ll  build up progress and you can learn SO MUCH over time and theres this whole world of possibilities out there! the world NEEDS your story and your perspective, and i think creating it in anyway you can is necessary for humanity! your work will mean something to someone someday, and i am so excited for you to start your journey!

[ofcloudsandstars]

Hi! I'm new to the witchy scene and don't know where to start on anything tbh. It's hella overwhelming, esp bc I'm finding planetary stuff v interesting but also incredibly confusing. Any thoughts, suggestions, etc? Any blogs i should follow?? Favorote resources??? Idk. You seem v cool so i figured i would ask. My witchy sideblog is kosherkitchenwitch. 💜💜💜 (im on mobile 24/7 so sorry if you have that info somewhere and im being repetitive!!!)

I usually have a very long winded explanation for this question. Its just hard to write a very short answer because the topic itself describes several life styles and cultures and practices. To really get you started you have to be ok with journeying down a rabbit hole. (This answer by the way is it’s own rabbit hole so get comfortable lol). 

Witchcraft is a practice but it’s also very spiritual so it’s definitely one of those things that become a lifestyle and you are forever learning something new. Don’t feel too overwhelmed that it is forever going on cause like its something that expands with everyone’s unique experiences!

I honestly should write a book for beginner witches with tips and exercises but for now I will leave you with this: (Though it’s very long and I apologize, I want to give you something concise to research and start with so that you have someplace to begin instead of just short and concise answers since that still won’t give you a good enough foundation.)

Here’s the top 5 tips I will tell you:

1- Know these Basic Terms

2- Know Yourself

3- Know Your Roots

4- Know Your Local Nature

5- ResourcesBelow I will flesh these points out:

BASIC TERMS

Ok so if we start with point 1, people will always tell you READ READ READ! And honestly that isn’t great advice cause most popular witchcraft books are either written by European people in the 60s and they are outdated as hell or they are full of rigid concepts or appropriation. Like don’t waste your time or stifle yourself diving into the typical witchcraft books cause you might feel like you can only exist in this narrow idea of what magic is and you won’t learn most of your abilities out of an old Scott Cunningham book or god forbid a Silver Ravenwolf published monstrosity.

The books that you would REALLY need eventually are moreso Witchcraft 201 type of books when you are diving into the specifics of practices. This is like for example if you are getting more into herbalism/herbology and now you are investing into books like local herbs or medicinal plants, or now you are getting more into astrology so you are buying books about astrological movements, or books on tarot tips and symbolism, or books like the Crystal Bible for all the esoteric crystal info. But don’t worry about all those books YET cause you are STILL JUST starting out.

However the things you should know are these terms: (also I have given some brief descriptions but please look them up even further lol that is your homework).

MagicKind of too complex to narrow into a definition here but there is a force of the universe and everything that flows within it that can be manipulated by projecting energy outward into the universe. That manipulation is referred to as Magic.

WitchA magical practitioner that uses magic to manifest their goal. Witch does not describe every magical practitioner as there are many from different cultures, but witch tends to describe one that uses magic of nature and the universe in a “grey” way (neither specifically to do good or evil) to bring about their desires.

Wicca/WiccanWicca is a religion founded in the 60s in England. A wiccan is a follower of this religion. They are witches that practice magic from revived practices of pre-christian western europe that fall under the ‘pagan’ umbrella. Not all witches are wiccan though it’s something people get confused over. Popular cultural ideas that are wiccan is the worship of the green god and triple goddess, the wiccan rede, the wheel of the year and also the terms ‘Blessed Be’ or ‘So Mote it Be’.

WizardIn popular culture referred to as a male that practices magic YET that’s cause we live in a dumb gendered society because Witch is gender neutral, anyone can be a witch and wizards/wizardry actually refers to a specific magical practice that includes elements of alchemy and transformation. I like to think of wizardry as the blending of the scientific process and magic.

Closed CulturesMagic exists in every form of the globe and in every aspect of nature but many magical practices/spiritualities or religions that deal with spirits and magic are closed for very obvious reasons that no one should be offended over. For example practices like Shinto or Mugyo have to do with the LAND they are on. Like with Mugyo for example, you literally can not practice this if you are not in Korea cause it has to do with the land itself and the spirits that live on it and the ancestors of korean people. (Theres a blogger on here that’s been raising money for a long time to be able to travel to Korea to do this). In other practices like Hoodoo or Brujera, it was carved out of the oppression of people that lost their roots and reforged a connection to protect themselves and their community from white colonialism/slavery. Indigenous American practices have to do with bonds that animal spirits and ancestors have had with tribes for generations (and also the land they live on) that will lose its context once taken out of the tribe’s culture. I think stumbling upon closed culture territory is very avoidable if you stick to the nature local to you and your roots, plus there are a lot of open cultures to choose from (and the culture that mostly dominates modern western witchcraft which has celtic roots is open to all), but honestly all cultures come from (1) nature, (2) local spirits that you’ve bonded with and (3) your history so you can always build your own magical foundation that will be stronger with your own personal connections instead of seeking something in a closed group. It’s very common when you meet witches from a hereditary line that they have their own unique practice passed down from their family. A lot of witches I know tend to make their own practice outside of a cultural tradition. Some closed folk practices and religions that you might stumble across in America are:

HoodooAfrican American folk spirituality that helped the black diaspora subjected to slave trade and racism find their ancestral roots and protect their community. It uses root work that deals with the roots, dirt and spices they have access to. Though you might see a lot of magic practitioners interchange this term with witchcraft, it exists in it’s own culture and it’s own context outside of witchcraft. This form of magic is closed to nonblack magical practitioners.

VodouIs not interchangable with Hoodoo. Its a religion of Haiti that haitians used to connect with their ancestors and spirits that watch over them.

SanteriaA religion that uses magic and has catholic influences yet the catholic saints are more like guides that help them fulfill magic. They’ve adapted the catholic imagery due to colonialism forcing christianity onto their culture but it was a way to disguise their old gods. (Hoodoo also uses christian tools to disguise their magic).

BrujaA form of folkmagic that can be found in Latinx culture. Just like Hoodoo and EVERY. OTHER. FORM. of FOLKMAGIC culture (just emphasizing these points cause like people do get UPset when you talk about closed cultures when there’s no reason to be) it uses plants and spices that were accessible to the people, they elevate their ancestors with altars, and have their own practices like using eggs for cleansing spells or eggshell powder (cascarilla).

BrauchereiI am UNSURE if this is closed or not but this is a type of magic found in Pennsylvania and in Appalachia due to German settlers. They use the bible too as a conjure book along with diviner rods and magic symbols (like the Haagel). Some people refer to this as “Pow Wow” magic but I feel weird about that for obvious reasons but if you want to do more research on it you can find stuff underneath that term. It has a very Country Aesthetique™ and you might recognize it by the tradition of Hex Signs painted on Pennsylvanian barns or Barnstars as a goodluck charm.*As a personal note I would say almost all folk magic is closed cause like it comes from a specific land, culture and context so it might lose meaning outside of the context unless if you are welcomed within the community and find people to teach you their folk magic secrets. Anyway Magic is EVERYWHERE so this is in no way to discourage you but also its interesting and fun to learn about other magical cultures as long as you don’t try to claim it as your own.General Magic Terms:

Energy WorkRefers to exercises or magic that is purely energy based. Some magic likes to use candles or tools but energy work is just using the body and your own energy.

GroundingA way to center your energy within your body typically through focusing on the connection of your feet or roots into the earth. There are many ways to ground and many places in nature you can ground other than your bare feet on the earth. For example some witches like to do it while their feet is under the waves by the sea, or some witches like to do it on a breezy hill or in front of a lit candle. You just focus on the energy flowing through your body by the environment surrounding you and center this before going into a ritual or casting a spell. 

Chakras vs Energy PoolsChakras is a term taken from it’s cultural context and appropriated BUT the concept of Energy Pools is is A LOT of cultures and even creeping it’s way into science due to acupuncture and other therapeutic practices involving pressure points and energy pools being accepted into the mainstream. When doing energy work it’s good to be aware of the various energy pools in our body. (Its important to be familiar with the term Chakras since it’s still widely used so at least you will understand it’s meaning.)This can also be studied forever but I can try to write a brief blurb on it: The feet often obtain our lowest form of energy, the thighs can store emotional trauma and can hold our hidden emotions. The Pelvis is our root and connects us mostly to the physical world (when you do grounding work you can focus here as well as your feet if you feel you are drifting), the womb/bowels is where we have our passionate or lustful energy and that allows us to create. Our stomachs is our influence power and ego, our hearts is our compassion and empathy towards others. Our throats can help us communicate, our hands help us manifest, our third eye helps us with our intuition and dreams and our crown helps us be connected to the universe and receive messages from our guides. When you have physical ailments that are reoccuring in a part of the body you should think if maybe any emotional stress in those areas are contributing to physical sickness. I know the thighs might have more energetic abilities but I learned that they can store emotional trauma cause I used to feel a kind of stiff pain there when I was stressed and my friend who is training to be a yoga instructor told me that emotional trauma gets stored in the hips and thighs. She would give me yin yoga lessons for free to release that tension. Also if you feel you need to be more Compassionate, Confident, Vocal, you can focus on doing energy work in those corresponding areas of the body.

AstrologyThe study of planetary movements and how it effects our lives and the flow of things.

PlanetsKnow the planetary effects on yourself and society INCLUDING Chiron and mathematical points such as Lilith and the Ascendant

Star ChartThe positions of stars and planets when you were born and the strengths and qualities they’ve given you along with karmic lessons you must overcome. Look up your star chart here.

Moon CyclesThe phases of the moon have power to them too. Full is a great time to release energy and manifest things where as new is a great time to begin new plans and cleanse. The moon rules our emotional body and each sign it has a new or full moon in has a lesson for us.

Zodiac Signs and their ElementsEach zodiac sign has a sort of attribute to it. The way we think of the Four Elements as a type of quality, the 12 signs have their own unique qualities as well. Just familiarize yourself with them as best you can and their element. This will come in handy later when you are more familiar with the signs and will understand what it means when certain planets are transiting signs. (Meaning when planets are crossing over a zodiac sign in the sky).

ElementsThe Four elements Earth, Water, Air and Fire are like a quaternic attribute that can be applied to anything. Earth rules the solid form, The physical body and can be thought of as having qualities of structure and providing. Water rules the liquid form, the emotional body and can be thought of as having qualities of nurturing and cleansing. Air rules the gas form, the mind and can be thought of as having qualities of change, innovation and inspiration. Fire rules the energy form, the spirit and can be thought of as creative or explosive. You can apply these qualities to almost any thing such as: Carnelian the stone is Fiery because it possesses qualities of bursts of inspiration and motivation and sometimes sexuality. The Dandelion is very airy because it can spread far due to it’s seeds and its a poofy tuft. I also think the quaternity of the elements adds more flexibility in assigning attributes to things where as the binary is very black and white and I find it confining. (Also reinforcing gender stereotypes but we will get to that later). This quaternity will pop up in many places in your magical research, from the zodiac elements, to the tarot card suits. 

Sun cyclesAs the moon has cycles so does the sun. The sun changes the zodiac sign like once a month and these periods of times are usually referred to {zodiac} season for example: ‘Sagittarius Season’ or 'Capricorn Season’ when the sun has lined up with the Sagittarius or Capricorn constellation in our sky. These moments of time also have lessons for us.

SabbatsThe Sabbats are witch holidays that derived from western europe that were revived in the wiccan religion that have to do with the earth and sun’s position throughout the year. Witches celebrate Spring and Autumn equinox and the winter and Summer Solstice. There are also crossquarters for points in between this time like Halloween/Samhain on Oct 31st/Nov 1, Beltane or May Day on May 1, Imbolc on Feb 1st and Lughnasadth on August 1st.  

Wheel of the YearThe name for the cycle of sabbats. You can search the tumblr tag to learn a little more on it!

Agrarian CyclesEvery region has their own unique seasonal change and foods and living beings local to their environment. The Wheel of the Year does have Celtic western European roots but you can take the concept of celebrating nature and the seasons and make it secular and apply it to any region and put your own cultural roots into it. Just research your local land and your local farmers almanac and you can get started. Here are a few wheels and concepts taken from other cultures and regions (1)(2).

Bioregional AnimismThis is a fancy term meaning that local nature has it’s own spirit. You should be familiar with your local “magical terroir”. Being connected with nature is important for a witch as nature is where magic can be found. The body itself is a magical conductor but for a witch that does not have a connection to nature, using the body’s energy without any recharging can be draining. Most books on magic are very eurocentric based which does not help magical practitioners or witches that live in other climates that are not four seasonal or temperate. Also there are unique spirits and plants to each environment that can help you with your magic. I will link a post on this later. 

SpiritsEntities that are noncorporeal that exist everywhere. Some live on this plane, some live solely on the astral. I feel like dealing with spirits is a Witchy 201 issue so I won’t dive in it here but know that almost everything has a spirit (disclaimer: I am an animist so I believe everything- especially everything living has a spirit), and the more you form friendships with entities like trees, plants, animals and your guides you will gain a stronger practice. I believe for a witchling its best to try to befriend or get to know the spirits of things you can see like local trees, animals, stones etc. Don’t mess with ghosts or astral entities yet haha. (Until you know how to ward and banish)

Spirit GuidesWe all have spirit guides. Whether it be our ancestors looking out for us or some spirits that genuinely like us and want to help us out. You can form a relationship with them to help you succeed in your goals.

Astral PlaneI might not be the best person to define this (your witchy homework is to further do research on all these vocab words I’ve put on here so far lol) but the astral plane is the realm beyond this physical one where dreams, thoughts, spirits all coincide. I think its kind of like a world in between worlds cause you can travel to other worlds within it. You can access it through dreams, trancing, guided meditation or astral projection (when your spirit leaves your body). Other spirits may not be friendly so it’s wise to protect yourself before trying to travel.

Astral ProjectionWhen you project your spirit from your physical body to travel.

Wardinga form of energy work to create a boundary so something won’t cross into your space. It’s like a magical security field. 

BanishingTo get rid of an entity or toxic person in your life. It’s seen as a form of cursing since its a long term spell that’s not to the target’s benefit. 

Hexing/Jinxing/CursingThere are multiple definitions for these but I define jinx as a quick kind of malicious energy put on someone to cause them bad luck. Like putting energy towards someone to wish they bust their ass going down the stairs and they do. A hex is more aggressive and usually pretty specific since a jinx is just general bad luck. A hex is usually more thought out and you want a specific outcome to happen yet its just general misfortune instead of any real physical harm. A Curse is the most long term and often is difficult to be free of until it’s over. Some curses last lifetimes or can even become generational. Usually you are forever barred from doing something or it reveals something about you to damage your reputation. A curse is often the most damaging out of the three. In Wicca there is the wiccan rede that forbids any negative spell casting but that’s only a rule for wiccans. 

BlessingA form of positive spellwork to be casted upon someone. Opposite of hexing obviously lol.

SigilsI believe this has some long history with summoning entities but it’s now usually used to refer to magical symbols a witch can create to store energy or influence something with energy. For example you can carve a sigil in a candle to infuse the candle with a certain energy or put a sigil in your coffee with the creamer or paint a sigil on your nails for glamour magic. You should just search the tumblr tag for sigil.

Use of Masculine and Feminine EnergyUpon your witchy research you will find this binary to describe energy and I personally find it archaic but you should understand the difference despite my personal opinions. Since most are agreeing that referring to something active/fast/powerful is masculine and something passive/slow/nurturing is feminine is problematic, they are now rebranding the binary as “active” and “passive” but in my magical experience I find that active and passive are not great ways to think of energy because its more of a spectrum than a binary. Anything can be active, passive or neutralizing. Fire can be passive when it’s used as lighting to see. Earth can be active when it’s shaking the ground during a quake to form new surfaces. Water can be active when it’s changing topsoil and causing mudslides and floods. Air can be passive when it’s a gentle draft being pushed through a vent. I’d suggest thinking of this type of energy as a spectrum but also its good to know about this too.

The Use of X Witch/WitchcraftYou will definitely find upon your witchy research the use of 'Fire Witch’ or 'Kitchen Witch’ or 'Sea Witchcraft’ or 'Desert Witchcraft’ and to put it simply: Someone who calls them self an X witch basically is defining most of their craft around one aspect that they gravitate the most to wield magic. A LOT of witches however won’t use this because most witches have many aspects of magic they use in their craft so it’s hard to define themselves simply as X witch. However the easiest label most witches like to use deal with the local nature because your local nature usually always defines your magic in someway whether or not you are a City Witch, a Sea Witch, a Desert Witch, Swamp Witch, Mountain Witch, Farm Witch, Prairie Witch, Island Witch etc etc. Usually someone who really sticks to a label of X witch that’s not nature orientated really has a joy of that craft and on a platform like tumblr it’s used to find other witches that practice that. (Don’t feel pressured to pick a label) Other than labels you might find terms like Candle Witchcraft, Tech Witchcraft and Kitchen Witchcraft and those are just categories of witchcraft that have to do with those specific subjects. I sometimes refer to myself as a Cottage Witch (witchcraft that has to do with the home) and a lot of my magic deals with daily rituals at home! 

Cottage Witchcraft/WitchMagic that has to do with the home, protecting the home, cleansing, the garden, the kitchen, the bedroom, the bathroom. It’s essentially kitchen/bath/green witchcraft all combined.

Kitchen MagicMagic that has to do specifically with cooking, using herbs in oils and recipes for magical outcomes, recipes as spells. Charming hot cocoa, magical teas.

Bath Magic/ Bath WitchMagic that has to do with the ritual of bathing. Face masks, bath bombs, home made soaps as spells, cleansing the body, infusing scents with intent. Wearing scented creams, lotions, perfumes as spells.

Glamoursa type of illusion magic to influence others to perceive you a certain way. (examples: making yourself invisible to others by spells that make you less noticeable, or making yourself more alluring to grab needed attention, or making yourself more intimidating to avoid confrontation). Glamour magic kind of goes hand in hand with bath magic too.  

Green Witch/WitchcraftMagic that has to do with nature and gardening and herbs. Plants are our allies and have spirits that are willing to help us if we nurture them.

HerbologyThe study of plants and their properties

Hedge WitchcraftA form of magical practice that deals with working with spirits and traveling to other worlds for spirit work.

DivinationThe practice of fortune telling. There are MANY different ways to divine which are listed below:

Dream OraclingInterpreting your dreams based on your personal omens and experiences to do shadow work or to interpret omens that might signal something for your future.

Shadow Work (not divination- I’d categorize this as energy work- but I’m putting it here since I mentioned it)The practice of self reflection that’s often followed by meditation or sometimes coinciding with practices of dream oracling, tarot reading or trancing to delve deep within oneself to undo traumas and understand the “shadow” side of our self or our ego.

CartomancyDivination that has to do with reading cards. You can use regular 4 suit playing cards as many card readers do.

TarotThe most used card deck to divine with. There are 5 suits in a tarot deck. The Major arcana are cards in it’s own suit with a stronger symbolic meaning and the minor arcana are suits like hearts, spades etc (But instead cups-water, coins-earth, wands-fire and swords-air assigned an element) that tell an evolutionary story. There are a lot of simple tarot spreads on tumblr to help you get started if you wish to read tarot cards. Tarot tends to give very introspective answers.

LenormandA french style of divining cards using mostly archetypes instead of suits (though some cards are assigned a suit but its kind of irrelevant to the reading).

Oracle DecksCards that only have symbols and no suits. Each oracle deck is very unique from the next! I enjoy using oracle decks for one card draws for daily advice.

PalmistryThe divining technique of using palms to read someone’s qualities and obstacles in life.

RunesI will define them here as the divining practice of using small trinkets, or painted stones with symbols on them to toss and read your future. Some practitioners use bones, some use crystals, some use acorns, some use stones that are painted or carved. One set of runes you will see a lot are the Elder Futhark which is scandinavian (sorry I don’t know exactly from where) symbols that are carved in crystals or stones and read by tossing them.

NumerologyMagical Numbers. Each number has a power to it. You can find your life path number here. Also if you get drawn into the rabbit hole of numerology you should also look up Sacred Geometry. 

TasseomancyDivination of reading tea leaves.Other Divination Forms that you can refer to by with less fancy names like Bone reading and flame reading (like with candles), scrying (looking for symbols in mirrors or crystal balls), shufflemancy (music and tech can be used as divination too!)

Tools:

PendulumA weight (usually a crystal or coin) used at the end of a string that’s used to find answers on a grid. (Usually if it swings vertically it means yes and horizontally means no but look up pendulum on the tumblr tag you will find a lot of wonderful examples). 

Smoke CleansingEither using incense, a bundle of dried herbs or a twig of a tree or herb to burn to cleanse the air. Rosemary is great for warding along with lemongrass, sage and dragonsblood.Also FYI Some appropriating witches might refer to this as “Smudging” But Smudging is a specific practice of offering smoke to guides of a tribe in indigenous American cultures and it would be bastardizing the practice by referring to any form of smoke cleansing as smudging.

CrystalsSome crystals do have an electrical charge due to their crystaline structure. I am unsure of the specifics and I’ve already wrote too much lol but its a subtle and gentle force many magic practitioners like to use to create energy fields for rituals. They are often used as energy amplifiers and some crystals tend to have different energy than others. (For example lepidolite can help amplify the energy of healing and self love where as fire agate can help amplify the energy of motivation and starting new things).

CauldronUsed for burning loose herbs or cooking things. Large pewter cauldrons tend to be wild expensive so I haven’t seen a lot of witches use them. I typically see smaller ones to burn herbs in. Its a great tool to use in spell crafting when you toss ingredients in a spell to bubble and burn in.

Mortar and PestleTools to help crush herbs and roots into powder

BesomsBroomsticks made from certain twigs that can help cleanse the home with symbolic sweeping. The idea of witches riding on brooms come from a time where witches would put flying ointments made of mandrake or datura on the end of the broom and “ride” them by grinding their genitals on it therefore absorbing the ointment and “tripping” to another plane. Its a way of also acheiving astral projection and “flying” in on others to spy on them or completing tasks on other realms. This is like.. Witchcraft 301 its kind of dangerous please don’t try at home lol.

WandsA tool used to direct energy. If the body is its own source of energy and can conduct energy, the wand helps to focus it’s direction. Most wands have crystals or magical items fused onto it.

CharmA magical item charged with energy to have a purpose. For example a lucky necklace can become a charge if it is charged with the energy to bring luck or prosperity. Charms (unless they are made with a crystal or magical metal) tend to not have their own energetic charge so they constantly need to be recharged by the witch when the energy runs out. 

AltarA space to work magic. A witch can have many altars. It really doesn’t need to be fancy. Some witches use their altars to put all of their tools and often the surface is like a grid of their crystals. Some make an altar to an entity or their ancestors and the things they put on it are very specific in order to devote the offering to their ancestor or entity. Some use an altar as a workspace. When I have my own place I will do all three. I have my bedroom altar which the surface is a space I work magic on but the bottom is where I keep my books and crystals. The bathroom and kitchen will have more messy spell crafting altar space where I concoct bath potions or food and the living room will be a very clean and organized altar dedicated to spirit guides. What all altars have in common is that they are sacred spaces so even if its a messy magic working space you still can’t dump whatever on it. Also some altars can be spacious where as some can be inside of an altoid tin box. Some altars can be inside of closets and some can be sprawled across a ground. Some can be set up just for a ritual and some can be forever apart of the living room space. They all just have in common that they are sacred magic spaces.

Ouija BoardA way to contact spirits that are currently around you in your space. The thing is that it doesn’t have a great filter so it’s like Chat Roulette but for spirits and you can get any creep coming in to harass you.

GrimoireBook of a witch where they keep all of their spells, remedies, techniques and magical secrets within.

Animal FamiliarSo I believe (though not sure) that familiars refer to 'familiar spirits’ or spirits that are companions to witches and help them complete tasks. In modern witch media this has been mixed up with the idea of witch’s animal companion. Regardless of the roots of the meaning (I have my own research to do lol!) you should know what a familiar means and that in most cases people will use it to refer to their animal companion though I have seen it in a few contexts to refer to a spirit companion.

Sorry this list is super Extensive but think of this as your Witchcraft 101 homework haha. Witchcraft is something used across many cultures for a long time so there’s a lot to know.

I am unsure if I should elaborate this much on the other points, but knowing me I will haha. Hopefully I can find other posts I’ve written about it to save this from becoming a novel but I will try to keep it brief!

Anyway the next three points is where the magical practice comes in!

2.Know Yourself

You are a magical conductor and have your own unique magic. Every witch is unique. Things that will help you bring out your own magic is knowing yourself and what brings out the best energy in you. You can learn about your magical self by learning about your star chart, your zodiac signs and elements, your life path number and of course your passions or hobbies! You can infuse magic into any practice you can be creative in. If you enjoy cooking there is kitchen witchcraft. If you enjoy make-up there are glamours, if you enjoy singing there is intoning and musical magic. If you don’t like making music but listening there is shufflemancy. If you like sleeping there is dream oracling. No matter how obscure your preferences are you can make magic from it. Even if you spend all day obsessing over fanfiction or fictional characters you can create your own pop culture magic path (I saw a post here once with someone making sailor moon magic a thing it was very cool), even if you just like blogging and putting aesthetics together you can make vision boards on pinterest. The best advice to this 2nd point is GET A MAGIC JOURNAL. Not a grimoire but Journal where you can be messy and just take magical notes. Write your favorite colors, the elements that call out to you, animals that you feel drawn to, your favorite places in nature, your favorite hobbies and how you can put magic into them. Knowing yourself and finding your own unique magic is the first step to being a powerful witch!

3.Know Your Roots

This point can be glossed over but it is an extension of point 2 and will also help going into point 4. This is very important point if your cultural identity bears a lot of meaning to you. Magic can be found anywhere in the world and if you would like to follow a tradition you can definitely find one in your own heritage. Every culture has its own magic and even if you can’t find something specific you can definitely find aspects of your culture that you can make magical! For example: vodou is closed and I am half haitian but theres not much of a way I could access it. Anyway that is fine because I still incorporate a lot of my haitian heritage into my magic, mostly by foods that are native to Haiti, using tropical fruits and roots and sometimes offering of rum to spirits and sometimes intuitively (like I made flower water and my mom commented once thats something that people did in vodou and I was like lol I had no idea I was just making this water..) I am also half French and I use Lenormand to divine with and also like recycle my dad’s fancy wine bottles for oil infusion haha (that’s more of a 'what I have access to’ then a cultural thing tho). Every culture has something special like in witchcraft there is knot magic but if you were chinese you can incorporate that with the chinese knot charms, or for south asian/east african heritage could make sigils on their body with henna or assigning different spice mixes with spells in kitchen magic, or southwest asian/northern african witches using their hookahs to smoke various herbs to help them do shadow work or astral traveling, or afro witches braiding spells into their boxbraids and adorning them with crystal beads for protection or european witches baking spells into bread. Like since this is also a continuation of point 2, this is about how magic relates to you and whatever you are surrounded by. You can make magic yours and incorporate it into your culture!

4. Know your Local Nature

I have spoken ENOUGH on this post haha I am sure I have given you enough reading material for two months but I will link this link here on it.

http://ofcloudsandstars.tumblr.com/post/165455994141/local-witchcraft (read all the links in it too they are all great posts!)

I think on this post I have already spoken enough about nature and how important it is to magic so you understand by now.

5. Resources

Seek out your local metaphysical, new age, crystal or magic shops! Even if you have none you can sometimes find helpful books in used book stores, or find tools in craft stores. Michaels is an incredible franchise that sells potion bottles, labels, crystal beads, edible glitter, pretty journals, things for altars, candles and candle wax and candle making things, JARS, pots for plants, jewelry making kits, mini mirrors and all kinds of things you can use in magic.

Here is my resource tag for more resources

OK THAT WAS A LOT

sorry for the novel, but I hope you will have time to research and start your journey! Good luck with everything! Feel free to shoot any more questions!! °☆.。.:*・

[lamepotter]

au where Harry fell in love with a muggle

she lives in the apartment complexes just outside the neighborhood with her mom and little sister

au where Harry starts volunteering at the public library over the summer because they have air-conditioning and free snacks for their staff, and isn't it better than being not allowed in the house during the day?

au where Harry bumps into Emily the muggle at the library and they bond over a stack of sci fi books because Emily-"No I don't really like fantasy books or magic"-Perkins is new and different from anyone in his life at Hogwarts or in his life at Privet Drive

au where Emily starts volunteering too and Harry downplays how the Dursleys treat him when she asked about his family because of course she would ask

emily hears all about ron and hermione and she laughs at Harry's stories, but turns her nose up when he tells her about some of his teachers

he has to change things for her ears of course. emily thinks draco is a rich racist rather than a pureblood supremacist, and harry is famous because his parents were star athletes at his fancy boarding school etc

au where harry spends some of his summer nights on Emily's couch because the one time he forgets his sweater at the library, she decides to return it herself and witnesses dudley shoving him into the doorway, and vernon's yells, and the slamming of doors

when emily finally got up the nerve to knock, its petunia who answers the door, and she can just tell that this woman isn’t the aunt harry talked about. emily’s mom understands harry’s situation and doesn't ask questions when harry showed up at 11 o'clock that night with a black eye and an owl cage

au where Harry falls in love with emily’s compassion and positivity because its refreshing after a school year of war and endless talk of Voldemort. the biggest thing on emily’s mind is how she’s going to get to uni, not whether or not she’ll make it to 18.

au where emily the muggle falls in love with the strange potter boy that works at the library and has a pet owl.

emily knows theres something big harry is dancing around but she knows better than to ask. weird things happen around him anyway, like the time she lost the charm on her necklace and spent half an hour walking around the library sidewalks looking for it, nearly driven to tears. harry's observant green eyes spotted it in less than a minute.

au where harry sends emily letters from hogwarts. she hears about Cedric dying in a freak sports accident. she hears about Umbridge and spends an entire night researching how to get a school teacher fired for discrimination and improper behavior. harry sends her candy with unfamiliar wrappers, and she trusted them all until one unforgettable toffee turned her breathe to smoke.

and then she begins to hear less from him

letters become scarce as the war that emily doesn’t know about gets worse. harry’s letters are monitored by the ministry, and after the dementor attack he's whisked away to "a long lost uncles house in the country". Sirius advised Harry not to keep contact because it could draw danger to her.

au where emily runs into him quite by accident in london right outside the leaky cauldron in the rain. she couldn't see the wizarding pub of course, but it was still surprising to Harry. Mrs. Weasley graciously gives him a few minutes to catch up with her, all the while looking around for death eaters who might happen upon them. This was just supposed to be a trip to get their school books.

emily doesn't know what to make of it. harry surrounded by unknown adults with strange clothing and words. she's happy to meet ron and hermione for the first time in person. and mad at harry for not telling her why he disappeared. "I thought you were really hurt!" she seethed, thinking of Dudleys tendency to pick on his cousin. Petunia Dursley refused to open the door to her now.

harry tells her he probably wont be able to see her til next summer and emily demands to know why. sirius nudges harry and they have to go theyre too vunerable out in the open and theres no time to say anything

so harry kisses her

right in front of ron and hermione, mrs Weasley, kingsley shacklebolt, sirius... Ron whistles and emily turns pink, but harry doesn't care. "Ill explain everything I promise". he says and he goes with them to the Leaky Cauldron. emily sees them all dissapear into thin air. She begins to cry and she doesnt know why. At least no one could tell in the rain.

au where sirius sends her the two way mirror in the mail anonymously. The only instruction was to send it back after she uses it. There's a dummy address attached that doesn’t show up on any maps. Harry activates it one evening while he's at school and scares the crap out of her. Shes confused because there arent any wires on the back and this isn't like any technology she's seen.

harry asks her not to question it and she hesitantly agrees. But Harry wont tell her whats been going on and emily is aware more than ever that there's a huge secret Harry isn't telling her. They talk almost every day through the mirror system, and that's when Emily begins to notice. harry would slip up and complain about nonsensical things.

"...was not ready for that pop quiz in Transfiguration, I copied of Hermione-"

"-Transfiguration?"

"-I mean history! Stupid history pop test. I swear..."

and he'd go on before she could ask more.

"Snape was a troll today!" he vented once. It was little terms like that that struck her as odd. Usually Harry was able to explain these little things away.

Until Seamus and Dean decided to have a duel in the his dorm. All Emily could see was bright red flashes and green explosions while boys yelled ancient latin phrases in the background. Harry shut off the mirror as soon as he could and ignored her attempts to call back.

His official excuse was someone set off a firework in his dorm. Emily didn't believe it for a second.

"Look, Emily, I really care about you," said Harry, and Emily blushed remembering that rainy day in london. They hadn't talked about it since.

"But there's some things I can't tell you." he hesitated. "Not yet at least."

Emily bit her lip.

"Can you at least let me know when you're in trouble, or hurt?"

harry was going to lie, but something in emilys tone made harry realize this was a deal breaker. He nodded once and brushed his dark unruly hair aside, revealing that curious lightning shaped scar. She nodded to herself and admitted,

"I really miss you."

Things got weirder after that. Harry talked to her more about what was going on but continually referenced 'the thing I can't tell you about'. Emily was frustrated. But she held her tongue. The school year seemed to go by so slowly.

au where harry comes home after his sixth year and knows nothing will ever be the same. Seeing Emily in person instead of the mirror was like he had taken a vial of felis felicius all over again. Harry spent the night on Emily's couch again but this time with Emily right next to him. Harry told her about what had happened to Dumbledore and the rest of the teachers.

"...and then he fell from the tower."

Emily held his hand. She assumed suicide and Harry wasn't going to correct her.

"Some of Draco's family came in. Totally torched the great hall."

Harry sounded so sad and broken all Emily could do was nod and hug him. They fell asleep like that, intertwined together, feeling complete for the first time in awhile. Harry woke first when Emily's mum left for work early in the morning. She gave him a knowing look and pointed to the bread box which had two muffins inside.

Harry couldn't go back to sleep so he stayed awake listening to Emily breathe. He had missed her so much. And this last year had put things into perspective.

au where harry realizes his 17th birthday meant he was leaving Privet Drive. and hopefully forever. Hermione was planning on obliviating her parents and sending them to a different continent. Ron was going off the grid and his family had a clone set up to take over his identity.

He knows the right thing to do.

au where harry spends his last summer in Surrey with Emily. They date properly and go to London for lunch with money Emily saved. They see cheap films at the dollar theater. Harry has nothing but stories for her. He sketches her favorite animals and folds paper into tiny stars. She keeps them all in a jar.

au where harry celebrates his birthday early in his bedroom with Emily and Hedwig. They sit on the dusty floor and blow out candles on a discount cake that was squashed in the middle. It was perfect.

au where Harry gives Emily a necklace from diagon alley even though it was his birthday they were celebrating and she definitely protested. A tiny golden snitch with silver wings went around her neck. Emily thought it was strange but she didn't ask because it was Harry's and it was beautiful.

they spent the next day together, hardly not touching one another in some way. Harry had a hand on her back when they walked around the library--the place they first met. Emily stroking his hair when they picnicked in the park. They held hands for days.

au where the eve of Harry's 17th birthday--his actual birthday--he takes her back to her apartment complex and they sit on the curb. Emily can tell Harry was sad about something.

"What's wrong, Harry?"

"I have something to tell you, Em." he sighed. "That thing I'm not supposed to tell you. Please, you have to keep an open mind. You see, I'm a..."

au where Harry told her everything. Emily listened carefully as he went over his entire teenage years. It all made sense and it terrified her. Harry had been in so much danger and he was so young and none of it was fair.

"...Hermione is going to obliviate her parents so they aren't targeted, which is really smart. Ron's in enough danger so his family is pretending he's sick and bedbound while we hunt for horcruxes."

Emily started. "Hunt for h-horcruxes? how long will you be gone?"

She didnt like the pain in his eyes.

"Harry?"

he didnt answer.

she gripped his arm and he looked down. He kissed the top of her head.

"I don't know if I'll even make it, Em." he admitted, saying the words out loud felt funny. but they were true.

"Harry-"

"And you're in danger as long as you know me."

"Harry-"

"And you can't protect yourself. And you have your sister and mother-"

"Harry James Potter!"

"This is the only way I can think of to k-keep you safe..." his voice broke in the middle and emily could hear the sob in his throat.

Emily was already crying. "Harry James Potter do not forget me!"

Harry held her tight. "Its more like a you-won't-remember-me kind of deal, love." Harry whispered.

"N-None of this is f-fair." she hiccuped. "You shouldn't have to do this. You can't just--I can't forget you."

au where Harry has to obliviate his muggle girlfriend

Harry let his wand slip from his shirt sleeve. He held her as she shook and sobbed.

"I'm so sorry Emily. I wish it could be different."

"Harry-"

"Obliviate..."

She stilled suddenly and Harry knew the spell worked. He withdrew his arm from around her and wiped his eyes. It was done. Irreversible. Harry kissed her cheek cringing at how lifeless she felt. He stood up and looked down at her frozen form sadly.

"I think I love you." he mumbled.

Emily was stirring so he slipped his wand in his back pocket.

Au where emily has a fuzzy recollection of dating some neighbor boy but it ended badly and stuff like that was best left forgotten right?

Au where emily stands up in front of a boy that she had known for almost nine years and didn’t recall any of it.

"Uh, hi. Excuse me, you're that Potter kid right?" Emily stood up sleepily. Her smile faltered when she saw Harry's stricken face.

"Jeez, are you alright?" she asked, her normally warm face full of worry and concern.

"Uh yea." Harry cracked a sad smile. "Just broke up with my girlfriend."

Her face contorted in sympathy. "Oh that's too bad! How long were you together?"

Harry almost lost it then. But he couldn’t--not yet. He forced himself to answer while she was still plastic and taking suggestions.

"A-About two years. We've been best friends since we were kids though."

"I'm sorry, mate." Emily reached up to brush her face and felt the tears she had been crying only moments before. "Whoa, why am I crying?"

"You just broke up with your boyfriend too. Kind of a weird bloke." he laughed shakily. “He had to go fight a war.”

"Oh. Am I sad about it? I don't feel sad."

"A little. But you don't want to talk about it." he replied simply.

"I don't want to talk about it." she repeated wiping the tears away and smiling a fake smile.

"It's getting late. You should go inside now."

"Okay." she said. "Sorry about your break up, Potter."

"Bye, Emily." he called, turning away before he lost it completely.

au where Harry loved a muggle that had to forget him

[slimeyflowers-blog]

Beginner artist quick tips

Hey there glad you’re interested in drawing! It’s a super fun hobby and useful for story-making.

Disclaimer: This is a quick tutorial that helped me improve my art drastically and wish I knew when I was starting out. This isn’t the only way to start or go about it. I will detail what would have helped me if I had more guidance and support in my life.

RESEARCH THE FUNDAMENTALS

Start with basic art fundamentals like perspective, composition, value + contrast, textures, space + volume and colors. Keep it simple and make little projects for yourself. Keeping it simple helps w getting stuff done. These will also help fix up future drawing problems that a beginner and even professionals struggle with.

INCREASE PROJECT DIFFICULTY GRADUALLY +  WORK TO IMPROVE EFFICIENTLY

In the beginning it’s not as apparently, being new to everything means not having much comfort. Keep drawing for a bit and it gets easy to fall into the mindset that if I can’t draw it I won’t. Like put hands behind bodies or don’t add shadows because to heck with light! These are signs of getting TOO COMFORTABLE.

How to break out of comfort-zone?

Increase drawing project difficulty slightly. Work on improving 1-2 things until you can draw hands and add light. Work on something you REALLY want to learn, like story-boarding, develop projects around it and gradually adding new tasks and goals. This takes discipline to accomplish. Overtime it’ll get easy to figure out what needs work and how to get started on it.

TAKE BREAKS AND TIME OFF

Take breaks for 15-30 minutes after drawing for 1-3 hours. Every 45 minutes if your wrist is moving back and forth quickly like when using colored pencils or markers. Practice wrist stretch exercises and be mindful of the potential of art-related conditions.

On that same note, it can get really enticing to want to draw everyday without rest to get good ASAP. Drawing everyday is not only unrealistic but also detrimental to an artist’s health. It’s alright to not draw for as much time you need or want. Despite what some folxs might say that it’s absolutely important to draw everyday to continue getting better, it’s not true. Everyone has to take breaks eventually to avoid burnouts + art blocks. If something isn’t working take some time off and come back later.

Your health and sanity is top priority.

BE OPEN TO LEARNING + THINKING OUT THE BOX

This one is more advice that comes from art professor + me than online tutorials. As an artist I’ve found it super helpful to just want to learn everything. There’s so much to learn and endless tutorials. Take advantage of them.  

Even if it doesn’t make sense in a drawing context, skills and knowledge add up. For example, I took a culinary class that had NOTHING to do with art whatsoever but it was insanely useful. It reinforced my team-player and leadership skills, both which are highly coveted in art school CVs. I will be using this skill set to set up our college’s art club and place that into my art resume so in the future when I want to land a studio job I have that experience.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF RESOURCES

There are a lot of resources and some of them aren’t easy to recognize. I’ll list some common ones that is usually recommended and then the overlooked ones that I have personally learned about.

Common:

Low-cost Art Classes

Art tutorials

Video tutorials

Favorite artists/stuff you like

Life drawing+studies

Online-reference sites/databases

Overlooked:

Museums +art galleries

Join an art club at local colleges( it’s fun to bond with other peers/friends on similar interests. As well as experience different art interpretations and voices that can benefit your own personal growth)

Libraries (travel brochures, encyclopedias, fashion magazines, so forth. Theres so much free reference sources and you can keep rechecking it over and over again)

Art history (this is a major one, learning history is A+)

Local artshows and workshops (a local art store I go to has monthly cheap or free workshops)

Art professors

Other artists

HAVE AN ART TAG OR ARTBLOG

If you can keep a personal blog and an artblog so that people have an easier time finding your work. It also helps to keep organized for personal reasons. Nothing worse than sifting through 1000’s of tweets to find art.

EXPERIMENT WITH DIFFERENT ART MEDIUMS

This helps with finding a style and way of doing things. There so much out there! Also makes it easier to test something so in the future put supplies together confidently. Here’s something I did in October that I will NEVER repeat. I was being “smart” and put black acrylic paint on first to reduce how much I would need to color with Prisma colorpencils, I quickly learned that it’s a terrible idea that I’m grateful to have learned. It’s also fun to play around with stuff when given the chance to.

HAVE FUN

Draw what makes you happy and like to do. Personal art is just as important as practicing fundamentals. There’s a lot to learn and tons of tutorials+artists with useful tips/tricks to learn from. Also it’s good to support and be kind to other artists. They will be more willing to help + encourage your growth and it’s more fun to have friends that share your interests!

:D

[themoneybuff-blog]

The forever fallacy

Last week, Ben Carlson from A Wealth of Common Sense published an interesting article about how staying rich is harder than getting rich. He writes: Research shows over 50% of Americans will find themselves in the top 10% of earners for at least one year of their lives. More than 11% will find themselves in the top 1% of income-earners at some point. And close to 99% of those who make it into the top 1% of earners will find themselves on the outside looking in within a decade. Its great that so many people get to taste what its like to earn a lot of money, if only for a little while. Whats not so great is that as most people earn more, they spend more. But if you spend all (or most) of what you earn as youre surfing an income bubble, you can find yourself in trouble when that bubble bursts. Carlson quotes a story about a couple that lived a lavish lifestyle because they were making a lot of money. When the income dried up, they realized they had nothing left. They were broke. Says the husband: The money was just coming so fast and so easy that my ego led me to believe that, Oh, this is my life forever.' Ive been thinking about that last line for a week now: This is my life forever. This couple fell for a common (but seldom examined) mental trap: the forever fallacy. The forever fallacy is the mistaken belief that you will always have what you have today, that youll always be who you are today. The Forever Fallacy Its easiest to see the forever fallacy at play in extreme cases. Take professional athletes, for instance. In a 2009 Sports Illustrated article about how and why athletes go broke, Pablo S. Torre wrote that after two years of retirement, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress. Within five years of retirement, roughly 60% of former NBA players are in similar positions. Fundamentally, the problem here is the forever fallacy. Athletes (and popular entertainers) tend to enjoy a few years during which they earn great gobs of money. The challenge is to figure out how to make five years of income last for fifty years. This never occurs to most of them. As the money is rolling in, it feels like the money will always be rolling in. When the income stops, the pain begins. [A pro athlete] cant live like a king forever, says Bart Scott in ESPNs Broke, a documentary about pro athletes and their money problems. But you can live like a prince forever. [embedded content] The forever fallacy doesnt just trap athletes and entertainers and lottery winners. It snares average folks like you and me too. Im sure weve all had friends who found themselves flush, whether from a windfall or from a raise at work. They succumb to lifestyle inflation, spending more as they earn more. They buy a bigger house, a new car, a boat. Then, without warning, something awful occurs and theyre no longer rolling in dough. It felt like the good times would last forever but they didnt. The forever fallacy manifests itself in lots of little ways too. When you choose not to keep an emergency fund because youve never needed one in the past, youre succumbing to the forever fallacy.When you take out a large mortgage, one that pushes the limits of your earning power, youre giving in to the forever fallacy.When you fund your lifestyle through debt, youre living in the forever fallacy. The forever fallacy doesnt apply only to positive expectations. People also give in to the forever fallacy with negative expectations. Theyre trapped in a minimum wage job and project that theyll always be working minimum wage. Theyre in a shitty marriage and let themselves believe that theyll always be trapped in a shitty marriage. And so on. The key thing to understand is that everything changes. You change. Your circumstances change. The people around you change. Nothing is forever. The challenge then is to balance this concept everything changes with living in the present. You must learn to enjoy today while simultaneously preparing for possible tomorrows. Negative Visualization One way to protect yourself from the forever fallacy is to play what if? games. In A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine, the author advocates a psychological exercise he calls negative visualization. Learn to ask yourself, Whats the worst that could happen? The Stoicsrecommended that we spend time imagining that we have lost the things we value that our wife has left us, our car was stolen, or we lost our job. Doing this, the Stoics thought, will make us value our wife, our car, and our job more than we otherwise would. Sounds a little gloomy, right? Irvine says thats not the case. Youre not meant to dwell on these things, but to occasionally ponder them as a thought exercise. In my own life, I used to imagine what it would be like if I lost my job. I could always go to work at McDonalds, I thought. And I grew up in a run-down trailer house. Worst case, I could always live in something like that again. This line of thinking drove my ex-wife crazy but gave me comfort. I knew that if disaster struck, Id be fine flipping burgers and living in a trailer park. Ive done it before and can do it again. Nowadays I challenge myself by thinking about what might happen if the stock market crashed or our house burned down. What would I do if I lost everything? Where would I go? How would I earn money? The Stoics took this exercise even further. Seneca the Younger encouraged followers to live as if each moment were their last. But thats not to say that he wanted people to descend into debauchery. Heres how Irvine explains it: Living as if each day were our last is simply an extension of the negative visualization technique: As we go about our day, we should periodically pause to reflect on the fact that we will not live forever and therefor that this day could be our last. Such reflection, rather than converting us into hedonists, will make us appreciate how wonderful it is that we are alive and have the opportunity to fill this day with activity. This in turn will make it less likely that we will squander our days. Negative visualization is useful because it forces you to look beyond the here and now, to imagine other possible realities. It encourages you to consider that the future might not be a linear projection of the present. I think it can also help nudge a person to think about whats truly important in their life. Too many people squander their days and their dollars. They spend their time and money on things that dont matter, not even a little. When you die, will you be glad you watched every episode of Game of Thrones? Or will you regret not having used that time for something better aligned with your passion and purpose? Be Prepared

Perhaps the best way to protect yourself from the forever fallacy is to become proactive. Like a Boy Scout or a Girl Guide, be prepared to do the right thing at the right moment. In the realm of personal finance, there are plenty of things you can do to be prepared. Get out of debt and stay out of debt. As somebody who was deep in debt for almost twenty years, I now see that carrying debt is a classic expression of the forever fallacy. Its blind faith that youll be able to repay what you owe in the future.Maintain an emergency fund to handle unexpected problems such as car accidents and broken bones.Start an opportunity fund so that you can take advantage of the unexpected good things that come along, such as a chance to travel with friends or a great deal on a used pickup truck.Carry adequate insurance to protect yourself from catastrophic loss like earthquake, heart attack, or giant fire-breathing monsters from the sea.Boost your saving rate, the gap between what you earn and what you spend. This has a two-fold effect. A high saving rate helps you set aside more for the future, but it also makes you more resistent to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune today.Build social capital by creating a web of friends, family, and colleagues that you trust and support and who trust and support you. The truth is youre never going to beat the forever fallacy and neither am I. Not completely, anyhow. Its simply human nature to extrapolate our present and past into the future. The best we can do is mitigate the trouble caused by this tendency. Be Like Bond Recently, Ive been reading the original James Bond novels by Ian Fleming. I like the books because the literary Bond is more realistic than the cinematic Bond; hes less of a superhero and more of an everyday person (who happens to be a secret agent). He eats too much, drinks too much, and can be a bit lazy at times. Where Bond excels, however, is preparation. Hes always thinking a move or two ahead of his foes. He tries to anticipate what might go wrong so that he can take steps to prevent trouble. This doesnt mean that he always evades trouble thered be no drama if he did but his dedication to preparation helps him avoid some scrapes while also allowing him to sometimes survive certain death. Bond does not suffer from the forever fallacy, neither in the short term nor the long. (He often wonders if hes near the end of his career, too old to continue working as a spy.) Wed all have greater success in life if we were more like James Bond, if we took precautions, if we didnt give in to the forever fallacy. Accept the inevitability of change. Prepare for an uncertain future. Plan the best but be ready for the worst. Dont obsess over what might go wrong, but be aware of potential problems and plan for what youll do in a worst-case scenario. https://www.getrichslowly.org/forever-fallacy/

[viralhottopics]

Happiness Hack: This One Ritual Made Me Much Happier

When my wife and I moved to New York City in 2001, recently graduated from college and newlywed, we were eager to find friends. We knew nearly no one but were sure wed soon find a fun-loving group like the 20- and 30-something New Yorkers who spontaneously dropped in on one another on

We hatched a plan. After moving into our Midtown Manhattan apartment, we invited all the neighbors over for drinks by placing Kinkos-printed quarter-sheets into everyones mailboxes. Then, we waited for our versions of Chandler, Kramer, and Elaine to show up. But they didnt. In fact, no one did. As the ice in the cooler melted and the guacamole browned, not a single person among 100 apartments stopped by. Not. One. Person.

Recalling that episode now, we sound embarrassingly nave. We didnt realize friendships in the real world worked nothing like the ones we had forged in our dormitories, let alone those we saw on television. Yet as it turns out, our desire to belong to a tight community was far from foolish.

Recent studies have shown a dearth of social interaction with people you care about and who care about you not only leads to loneliness, but is also linked to a range of harmful physical effects. In other words: A lack of close friendships may be hazardous to your health.

Dying for Friends

A 2010 meta-analysis reviewed 148 studies involving over 300,000 participants and concluded that having weak social ties was as harmful to health as being an alcoholic and twice as harmful as obesity. Julianne Holt-Lunstad, co-author of the analysis, told Reuters, A lack of social relationships was equivalent to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.

A more recent study, published in the , found a biological response to loneliness that triggers disease. According to the researchers, social isolation sets off a cellular chain reaction that increases inflammation and suppresses the bodys immune response.

Perhaps the most compelling evidence that friendships affect longevity comes from the ongoing Harvard Study of Adult Development. Since 1938, researchers have been following 724 men, tracking their physical health as well as social habits. Robert Waldinger, the studys current director, said in his recent TED Talk, The clearest message that we get from this 75-year study is this: Good relationships keep us happier and healthier. Period. Socially disconnected people are, according to Waldinger, less happy, their health declines earlier in midlife, their brain functioning declines sooner, and they live shorter lives than people who are not lonely.

Lest we think having 500 Facebook friends might offer some protection, Waldinger warns, Its not just the number of friends you have its the quality of your close relationships that matters.

So what makes for a quality friendship? William Rawlins, a professor of interpersonal communications at Ohio University who studies the way people interact over the course of their lives, told The Atlantic that satisfying friendships need three things: Somebody to talk to, someone to depend on, and someone to enjoy.

Finding someone to talk to, depend on, and enjoy comes naturally when were young. In college, for example, we build strong bonds when nearly everyone around us is also searching for connection. But as we grow into adulthood, the model for how to maintain our friendships isnt clear. We graduate and go our separate ways, pursuing careers and starting lives miles apart from our best friends.

Suddenly work obligations and ambitions trump buddies and brewskis. It becomes impossible to be spontaneous without planning for weeks, if not months, in advance. Once children enter the picture, exhilarating nights on the town become exhausted nights on the couch.

Friendships Starve to Death

Unfortunately, the less time we invest in people, the easier it is to make do without them until one day it becomes too awkward to reconnect. Since we havent spoken for so long, we think, where would we even begin? If we were still close friends wouldnt we have spoken more by now?

This is how friendships die they starve to death. But as the research reveals, by allowing those friendships to starve, were also mal nourishing our bodies.

Case in point: Several months ago, I found myself in a funk. I now live in San Francisco and whenever someone asked, How are you? my reply was the standard Silicon Valley yuppie salute: Good! Super busy! Yet this wasnt exactly true. I wasnt good.

To put things in perspective, I wasnt bad, either. Things were fine. By all measures, more than fine I had a healthy family, a growing business, and interesting clients to work with. Id recently published a book that became a Wall Street Journal bestseller, and if my social media stats were to be believed, I had plenty of friends and followers.

And yet, the funk. I soon identified the problem: The more professional opportunities came my way, the more time I spent away from my real-life friends the people I truly cared about. Maintaining friendships with people to talk to, depend on, and enjoy takes time.

As an undergraduate, I first heard the term residual benefactor in an economics class. A residual benefactor is the chump who gets whatever is left over when a company is liquidated typically, not much. When were not careful, the people we care about often become residual benefactors: We leave them for last, giving them whatever bits of time are left over after weve attended to everything else.

The Solution, the Kibbutz

If the food of friendship is time together, how do we make the time to ensure were all fed? My friends and I have recently come across a way to keep each other close. It fits into our lifestyles despite busy schedules and a surfeit of children. We call it the kibbutz.

In Hebrew, the word means gathering, and for our gathering, four couples meet every two weeks to talk about one question sort of like an interactive TED Talk over a picnic lunch. The question might range from a deep inquiry, like Whats one thing your parents taught you that you want to pass on to your children? to a lighter, more practical question, like How do you disconnect from your iPhone on weekends?

Having a topic helps in two ways. For one, it gets us past the small talk of sports and weather, and helps us open up about stuff that actually matters. Second, it prevents the gender split that happens when couples convene in groups men in one corner, women in another. The question of the day gets us all talking together.

Consistency and Stiff-Arming the Kids

Every other week, rain or shine, the kibbutz is on our calendars consistency is key. Theres no back-and-forth emailing to find a time. We always meet at the same place, and each couple brings their own food so theres no prep or cleanup. If one couple cant make it, no biggie, the others carry on the conversation.

What about the kids? In our group, kids are welcome, but they dont run the show. Typically they play on their own, but if they interject, theyre given a stern response that sounds something like: Im having a conversation with my friends because my friends are important to me. Youre welcome to listen or join the conversation, but please dont interrupt unless its an emergency.

For our childrens sake, we want them to know that adult friendships matter. We dont want them to have to rely on TV to figure out how adults interact. By watching us, our children see that being a good friend means listening when others have something to share, and not being distracted by anything else including our cellphones, the football game, or even our own children (unless someone is bleeding). The entire affair lasts about two hours, and I always leave the kibbutz with new ideas and insights.

Most important, I feel closer to my friends. No, our group isnt as funny or spontaneous as the pseudo-New Yorkers I grew up watching on TV. But it turns out that fun wasnt what I was missing it was authentic, caring friendships. Making time to invest in my most important relationships finally snapped me out of my funk and provided the psychological nourishment I didnt know I was missing.

Not only that, it turns out the time I spend with my friends is also an investment in my future health. Forget diets and the latest workout routines. The best medicine may be to gather your favorite people around a table and make a toast: To friendship, and your health.

Heres the Gist:

Studies show adult friendships have a significant impact on our happiness and well-being.

Committing to my kibbutz has had the biggest impact on my happiness over the past year. Heres how our group works, but the lessons can apply to any adult friendship:

Book the time Reserve time on your calendar for the foreseeable future so there’s no guesswork or scheduling headaches about when well see each other again. Our group meets every two weeks.

Go deep Talking about a meaningful topic strengthens your bonds. Get past the shallow small talk. In our group, a different member brings the question of the day to each meeting.

Dont let kids derail you Children benefit from seeing you model a healthy adult friendship. Tell the kids they can listen or participate, but they cant interrupt unless its an emergency.

Read more: http://tcat.tc/2nX0I0T

from Happiness Hack: This One Ritual Made Me Much Happier

[themoneybuff-blog]

The forever fallacy

Last week, Ben Carlson from A Wealth of Common Sense published an interesting article about how staying rich is harder than getting rich. He writes: Research shows over 50% of Americans will find themselves in the top 10% of earners for at least one year of their lives. More than 11% will find themselves in the top 1% of income-earners at some point. And close to 99% of those who make it into the top 1% of earners will find themselves on the outside looking in within a decade. Its great that so many people get to taste what its like to earn a lot of money, if only for a little while. Whats not so great is that as most people earn more, they spend more. But if you spend all (or most) of what you earn as youre surfing an income bubble, you can find yourself in trouble when that bubble bursts. Carlson quotes a story about a couple that lived a lavish lifestyle because they were making a lot of money. When the income dried up, they realized they had nothing left. They were broke. Says the husband: The money was just coming so fast and so easy that my ego led me to believe that, Oh, this is my life forever.' Ive been thinking about that last line for a week now: This is my life forever. This couple fell for a common (but seldom examined) mental trap: the forever fallacy. The forever fallacy is the mistaken belief that you will always have what you have today, that youll always be who you are today. The Forever Fallacy Its easiest to see the forever fallacy at play in extreme cases. Take professional athletes, for instance. In a 2009 Sports Illustrated article about how and why athletes go broke, Pablo S. Torre wrote that after two years of retirement, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress. Within five years of retirement, roughly 60% of former NBA players are in similar positions. Fundamentally, the problem here is the forever fallacy. Athletes (and popular entertainers) tend to enjoy a few years during which they earn great gobs of money. The challenge is to figure out how to make five years of income last for fifty years. This never occurs to most of them. As the money is rolling in, it feels like the money will always be rolling in. When the income stops, the pain begins. [A pro athlete] cant live like a king forever, says Bart Scott in ESPNs Broke, a documentary about pro athletes and their money problems. But you can live like a prince forever. [embedded content] The forever fallacy doesnt just trap athletes and entertainers and lottery winners. It snares average folks like you and me too. Im sure weve all had friends who found themselves flush, whether from a windfall or from a raise at work. They succumb to lifestyle inflation, spending more as they earn more. They buy a bigger house, a new car, a boat. Then, without warning, something awful occurs and theyre no longer rolling in dough. It felt like the good times would last forever but they didnt. The forever fallacy manifests itself in lots of little ways too. When you choose not to keep an emergency fund because youve never needed one in the past, youre succumbing to the forever fallacy.When you take out a large mortgage, one that pushes the limits of your earning power, youre giving in to the forever fallacy.When you fund your lifestyle through debt, youre living in the forever fallacy. The forever fallacy doesnt apply only to positive expectations. People also give in to the forever fallacy with negative expectations. Theyre trapped in a minimum wage job and project that theyll always be working minimum wage. Theyre in a shitty marriage and let themselves believe that theyll always be trapped in a shitty marriage. And so on. The key thing to understand is that everything changes. You change. Your circumstances change. The people around you change. Nothing is forever. The challenge then is to balance this concept everything changes with living in the present. You must learn to enjoy today while simultaneously preparing for possible tomorrows. Negative Visualization One way to protect yourself from the forever fallacy is to play what if? games. In A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine, the author advocates a psychological exercise he calls negative visualization. Learn to ask yourself, Whats the worst that could happen? The Stoicsrecommended that we spend time imagining that we have lost the things we value that our wife has left us, our car was stolen, or we lost our job. Doing this, the Stoics thought, will make us value our wife, our car, and our job more than we otherwise would. Sounds a little gloomy, right? Irvine says thats not the case. Youre not meant to dwell on these things, but to occasionally ponder them as a thought exercise. In my own life, I used to imagine what it would be like if I lost my job. I could always go to work at McDonalds, I thought. And I grew up in a run-down trailer house. Worst case, I could always live in something like that again. This line of thinking drove my ex-wife crazy but gave me comfort. I knew that if disaster struck, Id be fine flipping burgers and living in a trailer park. Ive done it before and can do it again. Nowadays I challenge myself by thinking about what might happen if the stock market crashed or our house burned down. What would I do if I lost everything? Where would I go? How would I earn money? The Stoics took this exercise even further. Seneca the Younger encouraged followers to live as if each moment were their last. But thats not to say that he wanted people to descend into debauchery. Heres how Irvine explains it: Living as if each day were our last is simply an extension of the negative visualization technique: As we go about our day, we should periodically pause to reflect on the fact that we will not live forever and therefor that this day could be our last. Such reflection, rather than converting us into hedonists, will make us appreciate how wonderful it is that we are alive and have the opportunity to fill this day with activity. This in turn will make it less likely that we will squander our days. Negative visualization is useful because it forces you to look beyond the here and now, to imagine other possible realities. It encourages you to consider that the future might not be a linear projection of the present. I think it can also help nudge a person to think about whats truly important in their life. Too many people squander their days and their dollars. They spend their time and money on things that dont matter, not even a little. When you die, will you be glad you watched every episode of Game of Thrones? Or will you regret not having used that time for something better aligned with your passion and purpose? Be Prepared

Perhaps the best way to protect yourself from the forever fallacy is to become proactive. Like a Boy Scout or a Girl Guide, be prepared to do the right thing at the right moment. In the realm of personal finance, there are plenty of things you can do to be prepared. Get out of debt and stay out of debt. As somebody who was deep in debt for almost twenty years, I now see that carrying debt is a classic expression of the forever fallacy. Its blind faith that youll be able to repay what you owe in the future.Maintain an emergency fund to handle unexpected problems such as car accidents and broken bones.Start an opportunity fund so that you can take advantage of the unexpected good things that come along, such as a chance to travel with friends or a great deal on a used pickup truck.Carry adequate insurance to protect yourself from catastrophic loss like earthquake, heart attack, or giant fire-breathing monsters from the sea.Boost your saving rate, the gap between what you earn and what you spend. This has a two-fold effect. A high saving rate helps you set aside more for the future, but it also makes you more resistent to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune today.Build social capital by creating a web of friends, family, and colleagues that you trust and support and who trust and support you. The truth is youre never going to beat the forever fallacy and neither am I. Not completely, anyhow. Its simply human nature to extrapolate our present and past into the future. The best we can do is mitigate the trouble caused by this tendency. Be Like Bond Recently, Ive been reading the original James Bond novels by Ian Fleming. I like the books because the literary Bond is more realistic than the cinematic Bond; hes less of a superhero and more of an everyday person (who happens to be a secret agent). He eats too much, drinks too much, and can be a bit lazy at times. Where Bond excels, however, is preparation. Hes always thinking a move or two ahead of his foes. He tries to anticipate what might go wrong so that he can take steps to prevent trouble. This doesnt mean that he always evades trouble thered be no drama if he did but his dedication to preparation helps him avoid some scrapes while also allowing him to sometimes survive certain death. Bond does not suffer from the forever fallacy, neither in the short term nor the long. (He often wonders if hes near the end of his career, too old to continue working as a spy.) Wed all have greater success in life if we were more like James Bond, if we took precautions, if we didnt give in to the forever fallacy. Accept the inevitability of change. Prepare for an uncertain future. Plan the best but be ready for the worst. Dont obsess over what might go wrong, but be aware of potential problems and plan for what youll do in a worst-case scenario. https://www.getrichslowly.org/forever-fallacy/