#this blog is already a lot to handle - I'm not in middle school anymore; I can't hyperfixate on RPing for hours like I used to

[msmc-796-official]

OOC: Update from Upper Management

Hiya folks! FC speaking.

I promise the stuff for the 50 follower celebration is coming out soon; I've just been really artblocked lately. Okay, that's a lie - I've been artblocked for Lancer specifically (which is really frustrating, considering I literally only have one drawing left and it's of the character I draw the most) and haven't had the motivation to do jack shit about it. Also, work schedule is fucked as always, so. Y'know.

Rest assured that when I find the time and motivation to get shit done, I'll have that post out to y'all as soon as I can.

Thank you all again for your continued support - I never dreamed I'd get this big on Tumblr for any reason much less running an RP blog for a TTRPG that I've never even played. Y'all really are the best.

Bye for now, and don't forget to cycle your NHPs. (No, seriously. Have you seen the amount of NHP-related shit that's gone down on here lately? Go do it now, if you haven't for a while. They'll forgive you.)

-- FC

[whentherewerebicycles]

hi! i wanted to say i love reading your reflections on teaching, and in general i really look up to/am inspired by your thoughts regarding education and academia. if it's not too much to ask (completely understandable if it is, in that case please disregard!) i would love to get your advice on college related things?

i had pretty significant academic struggles throughout grade school, and ended up dropping out of college after a year. i would've graduated this may, so lately i've been considering going back and finishing my bachelor's. but i've been waffling on this decision because of 1) anxiety about having to drop out again, and 2) some confusion about what i actually want to study. i guess i'm wondering, is it worth it to start from scratch? my struggles were mostly about mental health stuff & difficulty keeping up with coursework—i loved being in the classroom, working with professors, learning from other students. i like being challenged intellectually, but if i have issues with followthrough, is there a way to work on that??? i know these are Big Questions, lol--whether they are answerable or not, cheers and thank you and i hope you are doing well these days. <3

hey! happy to give my thoughts, for what they're worth. you know your situation better than i do so the specifics may or may not be relevant, but i can give some advice just based on seeing lots of students pass through four-year programs!

i've worked with a number of students who took time away from college and came back to finish later. i took a year off myself in the middle of college for mental health reasons, though my school allowed you to take a two-semester leave of absence for any reason (so i always had the safety net of knowing i could come back without having to reapply or start over). in my experience, time away is almost always a good thing. sometimes people just really need that break from the stressors of the college environment! but more importantly, i think people benefit from having a few years' experience living and working in the world.

even though it can be intimidating to come back to college as an older student, i think older students or nontraditional students who took time off and came back tend to underestimate how much more confident and assured in themselves they'll be once they're back in the classroom. working out in the world for a while, even if it's not a job that you especially love or feel is relevant to your long-term goals, tends to help you build more trust in your own ability to get stuff done, manage responsibilities, and be an adult person in the world. in your time away, you've probably grown more than you think, and you may find that some of the things you struggled with at 18 just don't feel as daunting anymore. or they might feel daunting, but you also have more experience talking and working with other people, and you may feel more confident in seeking out & using your college's various academic success resources.

have you considered a two-year college as a possible next step? one of my advisees this year was an adult student who went to college for a year, dropped out, served in the military for four years, came back to do an associate's degree, and decided he liked school enough that he wanted to transfer to our university and finish his degree. (now he's going on to do a phd next fall!!!!) he's one of the most passionate advocates for community colleges i've ever met, and he's stayed actively involved in our local CC community & now mentors recent transfer students at our university. he's talked at length about how CCs are this amazing way for students to explore their interests without having to take on the huge price tag of a four-year degree, within a learning community that's much warmer, more responsive to student needs, and more accepting of the diverse paths that lead people to & through higher education. i wonder if you might consider taking a semester or a year of courses at your local CC, to dip your toes back in and see if you're still feeling energized by the experience.

you might find that some of the courses aren't intellectually challenging enough, but this might also be a wonderful opportunity to create the kind of learning experience you want to have. i was a full-time community college student for a year during my year away from yale, and while i'm sure i was just INSUFFERABLE in many ways, i had a prof in my Western Civ course who was really generous with his time/energy and met with me outside of class to help me figure out how to make the papers into something that i found really exciting and challenging to write. so the class kind of became what i made of it, and i got to read some stuff (dostoevsky!!!) that sent me down all kinds of interesting unexpected rabbitholes. the former CC grad i mentioned above was an extraordinarily bright student who would always go to office hours and ask his profs for more recommended readings, and he ended up becoming a TA for one of his courses and helped them redesign basically their entire intro humanities curriculum as a student advisor. so your CC experience can absolutely be what you make of it. and even if your profs can't give you that kind of support, you could practice doing it for yourself, setting little challenges for yourself either focused on the intellectual aspects ('I'm going to read and cite two scholarly sources in this paper, even though it's not required') or on developing strategies for effectively managing the workload ('I'm going to schedule a writing center appointment on Thurs, so I have to finish this paper two days before the deadline—and then I can devote my weekend study time to practicing for my Spanish test').

CC would be a slightly lower stakes environment for you to try out college again— lower-stakes both in the sense that it's cheaper (so if you decide you don't want to continue, you're not out as much money / don't feel compelled to go on to justify the debt you've taken on) and in the sense that the workload might be more manageable for you as you readjust to academic life and build systems & structures that work for you. as you probably have gathered from this blog, i am a HUGE believer in doing lower-stakes things many times over to build your own confidence and your trust in yourself, and then gradually scaling up the difficulty. by the time you reach the hard thing, you've already built up this strong image of yourself as a person who can handle challenges (and you've also had the chance to identify areas where you struggle & experiment with developing workable solutions).

if a two-year college isn't something you're especially interested in, i think it's definitely possible to start a four-year degree again. if that's the path you choose, i would strongly recommend reaching out to students in some of the degree programs you're tentatively interested in. people are almost always happy to share their ~wisdom~ (see: this ask response, lol) and most people love being asked for their thoughts on the pros and cons of something they know well. so you could get an honest sense from students of what the program is like, what the workload is like, and how useful or engaging people find the required courses for the degree. but also know that it's pretty normal to take courses all over in your first year or two (you have the advantage of having done a freshman year before, so you probably know this!), so you might just want to plan to try out a bunch of different things, with the goal of narrowing your focus by the end of your first year, or midway through your second.

i would also HIGHLY recommend spending lots of time familiarizing yourself with the resources your university has to offer. learn everything you can about the kind of mental health counseling and support they offer to students, and see if there are things you can set up in advance for yourself before you even step foot on campus. for instance, our university offers individual counseling, but they also have free groups that meet every week or two around different topics (coping with stress, students in recovery, etc) that are led by a counselor. check out your university's writing center or peer tutoring centers, too, and set up a standing appointment once a month or once a week or whatever, to bring in something you're working on—so that you know that every week, you're going to talk with someone about what's going well and what you're struggling with in your assignments.

you might also want to look into your university's services for students with disabilities office, as they can help you figure out if you are eligible for various kinds of accommodations or additional support (extra time on exams, notetaking services, recorded lectures, etc). i know you mentioned that you've dealt with academic struggles in grade school, too. if you think it's possible that there may be underlying learning differences that are affecting your academic work, it might be worth seeing if they can help you find lower-cost testing, so you can get a diagnosis that qualifies you for additional accommodations and university support.

many schools, esp large public universities, also have resource centers and mentoring programs for students from specific demographics who may benefit from additional structure and support in their early years of college. my university has a variety of resource centers and programs for students from low-income backgrounds, first-gen students, students who transferred from community college, etc. you don't have to take advantage of ALL of these resources, but proactively establishing a support network long before you need it is a really good way to set yourself up for success. and even just doing the research will probably help you feel more confident in your capacity to 'follow through', since you'll know that you're going into this with your eyes wide open AND with a detailed plan for what to do if you run into some of the same obstacles you encountered the first time around.

speaking of detailed plans: i find it helpful sometimes to do IF-THEN exercises with students when they're stressed about something on the horizon or unsure about whether they can handle some new challenge. IF-THEN is just what it sounds like: 'IF this thing I'm nervous about happens, THEN I'm going to do X, Y, or Z.' what i like about this exercise (i use it with myself too aha) is that it acknowledges that sometimes the thing you're dreading DOES happen. sometimes the professor you emailed for an extension says no. sometimes the TA doesn't understand why you're confused about the assignment. sometimes you don't have time to finish the reading before class. sometimes you overschedule yourself and you have to pull an all-nighter to finish two papers on the same night. scary things, confidence-shaking things, happen all the time, but they are rarely fatal! and there can be something really powerful about acknowledging and naming the thing you're concerned about, and then generating a few next steps you could take, should the thing you're dreading come to pass. i could see you doing something like this as you start thinking about the things that tripped you up last time, or made it difficult for you to balance the workload. if X happens, then what could you try next? giving yourself a few options means that you already have backup plans, too, which can make the whole situation less terrifying. if this happens, i might have to try this, or this, or this, and those things might not be the most fun or the easiest to do or the 'best' thing academically, but they'll get me through this difficult moment mostly in one piece, and once i'm through it i can look back on it and learn from it, or adjust the structures i've built for myself moving forward, to reduce the chance that X happens again.

PHEW!!! sorry this got so long but that is just the RISK YOU TAKE when sending me anons 😅 i hope that some of this is helpful to you, or at least sparks some useful thinking for you, even if it's not all directly applicable to your situation. i would say that if you love learning and find being in the classroom exhilarating, then you should absolutely go back to college! but that doesn't mean you have to go back right away, or that you have to go back and do it exactly the same way you did the first time. there are lots of possible paths to higher ed, and there's no particular rush—college will always be there, if it's something you decide you want now or at some future point in your life. i would also just reiterate again one of the core Themes of This Blog, which is that the brain is NEUROPLASTIC, and that humans have a truly astounding amazing capacity to change, grow, and learn new things (including new ways of getting around old obstacles or working through old challenges). just because you struggled the first time doesn't mean you are doomed to repeat that pattern. if you can spend some time thoughtfully reflecting on what you found most difficult to manage the first time through, you are better equipped to make plans, design new structures for yourself, and build the support networks that will help you thrive in college.

[questionofdarkness]

Yo! I'm a heterosexual male, I'm 5"5, I'm quite intelligent in some subjects but most of the time, I'm quite dull and unable to understand a few topics. As for my personality, I can be quite chilled out and layed back but I'm quick to anger. Sorry if this isn't much to come off by but I want to see how this particular blog works so if you would match me up with someone, that'd be awesome

Apparently, really, really slow! :D

Ok, I know I say this every time so it’s probably not very believable anymore, but… sorry? I let you wait for an awfully long time, even though I once decided to never take longer than a week… Yeah, that worked out…

But I’m glad I finally get to reply to your request – although it really wasn’t much, so I had to add a lot of… let’s call them “anon headcanons”. Or should I say: head c-anon-s? (I am sorry :D)

I’ll also try to write at least one matchup a day during my break, but… yeah, we’ll see how that goes.

I match you with… Ochako Uraraka!

It was a warm, sunny day and the plaza was stuffed with people, all waiting in line eagerly and hours on end for a single picture with their favorite hero, the chance to tell them your name, the slight hope they’d actually remember. It was one of the many conventions that had started to take place all over the world as heroes became popular, but the one in Musutafu probably overshadowed them all. It was very loud, most visitors who were lucky enough to get a ticket speaking excitedly over this and that, which hero they looked forward to meeting the most, rumors they had heard about special guests, the shows and events and panels that would took place. The few of your friends that came here with you were especially focused on latter one. As aspiring heroes yourself, from a smaller academy around and hour outside the city, you had your mind set on getting to meet some of the students of UA itself, which were to hold a panel this year. This rare occasion had drawn the attention of thousands of people – so many in fact that the organizers had to give special passes for the few lucky ones away through drawing lots. They didn’t want the students to be faced with too many people. And it just so happened that you through the favor of some divine being were one of the chosen ones. Your friends wouldn’t shut up about how you had to ask certain questions for them, how you were obliged to tell them everything, how you needed to take as many pictures as you were allowed. It was one set for the late afternoon of the first day, but you already knew, you wouldn’t be able to get it out of your head till then.

The air inside was stiff and the heat was even worse, but the excitement of everyone made up for it and you were able to enjoy the day – stressful as it was – to its full extend. As the time grew closer and you said goodbye to your friends, you could feel yourself brim with enthusiasm. You got a seat rather at the back of the room, but you had a good view and couldn’t complain. A group of people around your age sat in front of you, talking with lowered voices. You could only make out some of the words you heard but they, together with how oddly familiar the backs of their head looked, made you sure you had seen them before. At the mention of “Amajiki-senpai” and “Aizawa-sensei” you leaned forward and tapped on one of the boys shoulders. He turned around, small eyes and a gentle smile fixing on you. “Sorry to interrupt, but are you guys UA students?” “Psst!”, a girl with pink skin wearing sunglasses and a weird snapback waved her arms around dramatically.  “We’re not supposed to be here, no one must know!” “Well… maybe you shouldn’t talk about your school so loud then?”, you offered. But there weren’t many people this far at the back yet, so you probably were fine. “We came to see Bakugo!” A red haired boy with pointy teeth smiled at you. Apparently, most of the class was here (although you couldn’t exactly remember who belonged to which class or even was a student for that matter). “Isn’t he the one that won the festival?”, you asked, “He seemed very… extreme. Is it a good idea to let him participate in a panel?” “It will be fine,“ red head smiled even brighter, although it didn’t seem physically possible. “He’s actually not all that bad… although he has a very, very rough shell…” The girl that spoke was small and bright, her brown hair and big eyes and round face nearly glowing. You felt a blush creep up your neck. You remembered her, but you couldn’t recall her name. It surprised you that she specifically would defend the dude who had messed her up so bad.

The panel was a mess. There was a lot of yelling from that Bakugo, a lot of blushing and awkward silence by a black haired boy who seemed extremely uncomfortable being there, a fight that nearly broke out between to third years about which of their teachers could beat who’s ass and a general chaos. You found yourself leaning to the bright girl somewhere in the middle, asking her if it was always like this at UA, which first caused her to jump and then to giggle quietly. She was adorable.

You lost sight of her as the panel ended and the UA students disappeared through a side door. When your friends, who awaited you outside, asked about the panel, you found yourself unable to recall much more than two glowing eyes.

You stuck around after the convention for a few more days, exploring the city with you friends, following the paths of some of the most famous heroes and going sightseeing. There seemed to be an unusual amount of criminal activity and you got to witness multiple pros in action. You got very caught up in the fast live of the city and the whole incident moved to the back of your head, until one day – shortly before your departure – a voice from the other side of the street called out to you. Apparently. At first you didn’t exactly react to the title “panel guy”, who would? But as you turned in curiosity and saw her, standing next to a green haired boy and another one in glasses apparently telling her off for yelling in public, you froze in place. She waved at you happily, as if you had been friends for years, and signaled you to come over. That’s how you actually met Ochako for the first time.

 Her cheery and open attitude it captivating, it’s hard not to become friends with her when she sets her mind to it, so you got along with her very quickly. Of course you couldn’t stay in Musutafu, but you managed to stay in contact. Occasional texts became a habit became a friendship that became more. You went to visit her as often as you could and it was your concern for her safety that made her fall for you. She openly talks with you about everything, so you also know about the light crush she apparently had had on Midoriya for a while, which made you insecure for a while.

 Just like you, she has a very particular intelligence. While she is indisputably clever, she doesn’t rank high in every class while she absolutely excels in others. Her bubbly personality can switch to a much calmer, much relaxer state when she’s in a comfortable, not stressful environment. She can be a handful sometimes though, as deep underneath the loving and friendly attitude hides a competitive and strong will. Her experience in hand to hand combat has also caught you by surprise at times.

The good thing is that she can absolutely handle you getting angry at times. Whether it be at you, at her, at someone else or a situation, she can take it and either wait for you to cool down or help you work through it. She would never let you use her as a punching bag though, which is good because you can always trust on her to stop you were you to go too far. Ochako doesn’t take shit from anyone.

Altogether, she is an extremely reliable girlfriend and valuable companion in every life situation. She can be as thoughtful as a psychologist or soft as cotton candy – whichever the situation calls for. She makes for a stable, happy but also supportive relationship.