#thoughts opinions onions!!

[jemichiart]

Late night doodle 👀

I like people with onions. @re-l certainly has some. Especially when it comes to Knives. So these onions are for you. With Knives as a bonus. 😁

(be careful though, onions and knives have a reputation of being a combination that makes people cry 😜)

[starsfromtoulon]

it really is true what they say....your first les mis becomes Your Les Mis.....

[onioneyez]

Saw a take on the internet that made me sad :(

[rhythmcrown]

incredibly grievously tired but full of the drive to complete sht that I'm behind on, so let's see:

-one week from today I must finish a very large illustration that's about 50% done. This is a cry for help

-extra credit is a similar one about half that size, likely will not come to fruition

-also ''''due'''' in one week is page 26 of SCC but due to other obligations I'm not confident that I won't need a break week. Remains to be seen

-undefined but overdue illustration that needs about two more hours of work, that might be today's thing

-other miscellaneous projects like a blog icon redraw and a comms sheet, no due date but definitely a brain tab I'd like to close

My to-do list is fat and my capacity to stay on task is small, but after today's grocery run it's time for a concerted effort because it sure would be nice to get something done today

[ughmulder]

I'm finally breaking free of some fucked up thinking patterns and general ideas

[portugalisinsa]

I’m watching the first part of the Catch-Up and I guess that my controversial opinion is that I mostly agree with Mike’s nepo baby opinion but I disagree with Jay

[radioprune]

only downside of switching to firefox is now i can see who all has blue checkmarks on here and it’s disappointing af

[ahiijny]

glass onion spoilers

ok this movie was fun, but it fell a bit short of expectations 😅 y'all hyped this up a bit too much (note: i did not watch the other knives out movie yet so maybe im missing out on some context)

I thought this was going to be this awesome keikaku murder mystery with this likeable queer and fruity detective guy where everyone rips down the curtain of lies set up by this tech billionaire and it is revealed mr. miles rich guy actually has no idea what he's doing and all of his accomplishments were stolen from other people

I guess we kinda get that in a sense, but I guess reality just outdid fiction this time if you know what I mean... so it wasnt nearly as satisfying

I guess that's kind of the point of this movie, as benoit himself points out: it looks complicated, but it's actually not. (and thats why he had so much trouble solving the mystery, bc hes not good at solving dumb puzzles, only clever ones lol) but that still doesnt make it satisfying.

anyway, my thoughts about the movie!

the masking and covid callbacks remember those ah memoriesssss (man)

ok but if this entire movie were about this scientist guy trying to do science engineering work while pushing back against unrealistic expectations from overzealous entrepreneurs/business ppl i would watch that...

i liked the part where the lady was like "you've got to stay off the twitter" to the other lady, this is relatable and realistic and a good message

puzzles are fun. i liked the peoples working together to solve the puzzles. if this entire movie were about a diverse group of friends solving puzzles in a collaborative way i would watch that...

shoutout to manosphere guy's mom she dont give af but she's hella clever, she's solving these puzzles and she doesn't even care lol

(also dude be more respectful to your mom. doesnt matter if ur streaming, ppl will understand if u have to take a brief interruption to answer to something. if they dont understand, u do not want them watching ur stream)

benoit amogus (this is probably pandering but i am the target audience so i will accept the pandering. if this entire movie were just benoit and his friends/colleagues playing among us i would watch that...)

the way the ppl all have their different attitudes towards masking strictness and runs the full gamut, that's just really interesting to analyze. i saw the tumblr post about this and i thought benoit was actually going to narrate these observations and it wouldve been really impressive 😅 I guess it's actually more subtle than that...

ok but what IS that spray. how does it work. i know u dont have to explain EVERYTHING in a story but the nerd in me wants to know pls pls pls (does it even work lol)

"piece of shit" hehehehe

benoit very charming and there was some awkward tension in the air bc everyone else is tightly knit and he's a newcomer but he talks through it easily enough so my feelings of social anxiety werent too bad in these scenes lol

everyone talking and socializing (ergh) and dropping various bits of information and im like 'i dont even remember their NAMES im definitely not gonna remember all these little factoids which are sure to be relevant later lol' (help)

the part where benoit is sneaking around and spying on ppl, i feel like maybe they could have leaned even more into the comedy here if they wanted to. like. they have manosphere guy spying on miles rich guy and other lady doing the sussy and he clenches his fists in anger but later it's revealed actualyl she is trying to persuade miles rich guy to put manosphere guy on his news thingy or something but miels was refusing so actually manosphere guy was clenching his fist in anger because of that and benoit was behind the bushes watching the whole thing but also helen was behind both of them watching the whole thing as well

i know it probably makes cinematic sense for them to do this, but i wish helen and benoit had been a bit quieter/vague about their discussions bc i was in constant fear that they would be overheard and someone would be like "hey why is your accent different" bc as the previous scenes have shown, eavesdropping people and recording devices are EVERYWHERE (god)

and as modern technology and even death note potato chips scene have taught me. why would you ever NOT assume that your rooms are not bugged. like. recording devices are cheap and tiny. and you're in a rich guy's mansion that he had built for himself and he has a huge ego and doesnt care about other peoples agency. I would be paranoid that there would be hidden cameras and microphones everywhere (dsfosdfjsoijfds)

the part where benoit explained away the entire mystery that miles had someone else write up for him was fun, if the entire movie were just ppl chucking mystery puzzles at the guy and him just explaining everything i would watch that...

tho eq-wise this was a bit like if you're the best tetris player in the world and you enter the lobby of some very casual player and their friends and no one is playing faster than 0.5pps and then you demolish everyone at 5pps with ms2 dpc loop and then the streamer is like "well I guess this isnt our stream anymore it's theirs" that's a bit bm... (we actually kinda do have this problem in the tetrio community and someone even made a video about it)

social anxiety DID HE JUST COMMIT A FAUX-PAS BY BEING TOO OP i do appreciate that he commented on doing it intentionally afterwards (ok so he's aware) bc he was concerned someone would try to actually kill miles

when the pretty dress lady was spinning around and was like "look at me!" i was like 'ok this is obviously a distraction and somehting sneaky is going to happen' but it was too flashy and distracting so i didnt notice anything lol ^_^;;

my first thought was that someone tried to poison miles and poisoned manosphere guy by accident, so when ppl went to their initial conclusions i was like ok that makes sense

okokokookok the flashback

initially i was sus of helen's story. i thought she was andi, but pretending to be a nonexistant twin sister for some reason. her story seemed a bit too clean. like. maybe she fabricated this murder mystery to pique the interest of the best detective in the world to help her with her task, since maybe he wouldn't be interested otherwise. and then benoit would poke some holes in her story and then she would reveal that actually the story was a fabrication but she was desperate and benoit would have some sympathy and would help her out regardless

the movie went on for a while before i was like. 'oh ok, the other shoe isn't dropping... she really is who she says she is??'

(you have to understand my experience in these kind of genres involve ppl like L and Naomi Misora and Junko Enoshima and Celeste Ludenberg its RARE for characters to actually just have been telling the truth the entire time so you have to understand why i was doubtful >_<;;)

i was expecting one of the others to have reset the box and sent it to benoit and then he solved the puzzles and went to the island but no the box benoit received was the one helen smashed to bits lmaoooooo. benoit is so smooth i completely fell for that.

i like all the parts where benoit was like "elementary child puzzles" or something and it made miles look kinda annoyed hehe

ok the false memory thing DOES happen, it's true! when he said it, everyone remembered differently. memory is notoriously unreliable. this is true

ok i know barely anything about business or law but i feel like theres so much more andi couldve done to protect her ownership of the company. like. documentation/photographs of the napkin? patents? on the other hand, as recent events have shown, it is also notoriously easy for a charming guy with money to completely sway public opinion with a strong enough propaganda machine so i guess fair enough...

also i feel like that conversation kinda escalated a bit too quickly. "hey i have new idea KLEAN will energy the world poggers" "no it too dangerous it will blow up the world" "no c'mon" "i will BISECT THIS COMPANY"

like. hindsight is 2020 but. give toddler something to play with rather than taking it away altogether. right?...

also i feel like my watching of medical jdramas has skewed my view of what is realistic, but. i feel like everyone gave up a bit TOO easily after manosphere guy stopped breathing. no one even attempted CPR? does no one have like. epipens or something (idk how pineapple allergies work)

also that little hint at the beginning slipped by me. i thought he just didnt like the taste of pineapples lol (relatable), didnt know that he was actually allergic

the dietary restrictions thing in the invite was actually kinda considerate of miles rich guy tho. i mean, u know, aside from the fact that he exploited this very thing to murder his dear friend

also do the police not have. helicopters

whys it gotta be boats

continued bc apparently 4096 character limit per text block

maybe they shouldve added like a thunderstorm or something. or a cut to the police station where they're like "it's that guy again (ugh), let's deal with this in the morning..."

i am happy helen survived tho. guns scary... especially when they are pointed at you lol

NOT THE HOT SAUCE IN THE NOSE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO this legit was one of the most stressful scenes in the movie lol

i get so stressed anytime there's clearly an actor playing a dead body in a movie bc then im imagining the actor having to lie still without moving or breathing at all and that just makes me anxious lol

ok but why did andi even NEED this dude, she shouldve just made alpha or whatever on her own. unless it's maybe just the. stereotypical white, charismatic figurehead to appease the investors maybe. idk

benoit getting mad at miles rich guy for stealing his murder mystery ideas is the funniest thing

but also i know this is a movie but girl why would you bring out the napkin. just hide it, get off the island, and show it! or at least make a few decoys! take pictuers at least?? whyd u let yourself get outwitted by miles rich guy this is so sad

the smashing glass thing is cathartic but i was also cringing bc all that flying sharp glass in the air and floor does NOT look safe. and also who's gonna clean it up afterwards you're making more work for the poor staff of this resort place :c

also. do u have a death wish. why would you throw that in there when you are THERE in the room. headlines: MILES BRON AND OTHERS DIE IN EXPLOSION ON PRIVATE ISLAND RESORT (ONLY SURVIVORS ARE WORLD'S GREATEST DETECTIVE AND SOME GUY) idk

while the mona lisa burning is funny and LONG expected since the protection barrier thing was introduced and IS probably not the real one since something about wood panel vs. canvas. i just. do not like destroying art man. tho i probably dont care as much bc it is something coveted by rich people. but still.

also imo this isn't the slam dunk they think it is bc if miles rich guy WERE smart, there's a billion ways he could spin this to his favour

it's pretty much his word against theirs but if he uses his money wisely he can easily drum up propaganda support for this, even if his former friends turned against him

e.g. "ex-Alpha founder who never contributed anything and was actually a leech (true story) throw a tantrum on island resort and used bottle rockets/dynamite/whatever other flammable things there are that DEFINITELY arent Klean to destroy PRICELESS work of art'

wait he killed andi, that wont work

'twin sister of ex-Alpha founder who in an irrational, bereaved fit of rage, destroys PRICELESS work of at'

there we go (miles huffs proudly as if he thought of this idea himself and definitely not as if one of the propaganda firms he hired thought it up for him)

ok but who is that other guy. what is his story. why is he on the island

also, helen girlboss destroying his stuff is satisfying but imo not nearly as satisfying as miles rich guy just destroying his OWN stuff just from sheer incompetence

right now he can escape into the mental copespace of "that woman destroyed my (yes definitely my) lifes work, i will have my revenge". i am worried, bc as recent events have shown, it IS possible, even if you are confirmed guilty, to just skedaddle on out of prison, because of technicalities or whatever

and he will probably still have his diehard fans on his side

the future worries me

sdifgos jsgiojf gdoisdgjdiogj

so in the end, i guess. not really satisfying in the sense of a keikaku whodunnit, and I didnt really vibe with many of the characters either, except for benoit, and manosphere guy's mom, and benoit's... husband? (idk who he is but he seems chill), and helen is neat too but i feel like her characterization was a bit too infodump/exposition heavy

i guess if i look at it more in the lens of a social commentary comedy rather than a murder mystery itd be more up to expectations. but still. not really my cup of tea i guess

7.4/10

[obi-wann-cannoli]

Can’t wait to hear what Elon Musk thinks of Glass Onion

[successfulgoddess333]

Why the Void State is so easy?

When bloggers say the void is easy

They’re not lying

Here’s why

Every time you fall asleep you lose awareness of the 3D

During this time

Everything around you does not exist because you are in your 4D

Which is why entering the void is easy

You’re doing EXACTLY what you do when you fall asleep

You just lose awareness of the 3D!!!

Only difference is now

You’re doing it on purpose

You’re just becoming aware that you are pure consciousness

There are lots of moments in life where we are no longer aware of focusing on the 3D

When we zone out in class

Daydreaming about our crush

Thinking what we’re gonna do when we get home from school or whatever

During these moments we do not focus on the 3D

And it feels good

To daydream

About our desires if about our favorite person or food of whatever

Because in that particular situation you are just thinking of something that makes you feel good

You’ve ever daydreamed so hard you can physically feel what you’re imagining? It takes you away from your reality

Which is why people snap their fingers at you to snap you back into “reality”

But What is reality?

Reality to me

Is whatever you assume

Whatever you want

If you’re sitting in class hungry

But you’re daydreaming about a juicy cheeseburger

I mean think about it

It’s got the perfect amount of cheese

Lettuce tomato onions the meat is cooked to your desire crispy or soft buns

(Damn I’m getting hungry)

Be honest

You just went

“Mmm” didn’t you?

Because when you daydream

It results in feelings cuz our body it reacting to whatever we’re thinking about causing emotions

Emotions play a key part in our self confidence

If you think negatively you’ll feel bad about yourself

Think positive thoughts and you’ll feel good

It’s this easy because you’re simply giving your positive thoughts a label and by labeling them you’re giving them importance

So when it comes to the void state

Reality Shifting manifesting Lucid Dreaming etc whatever

Feel

The key is to FEEL

Your thoughts

Feel your desires as you visualize them

Many people label things and give it importance

By saying you “failed” to enter the void of to shift

You’re giving it power and importance

STOP DOING THAT ✋

Because the only powerful thing here is you

There’s nothing in this world you can’t have Sugar

If you want it a you it is yours

Like

It’s yours

Failure in my opinion IS an option if you assume you’ll fail

Then you will

Don’t make this an option for yourself

“I’m gonna TRY to enter the void tonight”

Yeah bitch that’s exactly what you always do

You TRY

You gave that word importance

By doing so

You’re only stuck thinking and feeling

That all you are able to do is TRY

No you are GOING TO

There’s no trying there’s doing

When we call ourselves a procrastinator or lazy we give that word importance

By giving it that label

We’re making it harder for us to change our ways

When we say we are depressed

We’re giving it power

STOP PUTTING LABELS ON SHIT THAT DOESN’T EVEN RESONATE WITH YOU

So when meditating for the void

Your desires are that cheeseburger(sorry for any vegans here)

Thoughts create feelings

When we think about something bad

Like

“Omg what if this what if that?”

Etc

You’re going to start panicking

Mental disorders, intrusive thoughts are JUST like this

Coming from someone who used to deal with countless mental issues

I’ve been knowing this

So think about it the longer we let in unwanted thoughts we go crazy obsessing over them to the point where we start hearing or seeing things because our minds told us so

This is what created delusion fear

And something as simple as a thought could cause you to feel very negative thing as if it were real

If you think about something negative and it creates negative feelings and energy

Not only did you give it power but you’re letting it consume your energy

Why?

If you can think negatively

You can think positively

Like I said before

It’s YOUR brain

Why are you fighting it?

You’re fighting yourself OVER yourself and you’re still losing??? Huh

Babe how you losing a war that YOU started??

And why are you letting fuck ass thoughts that don’t resonate with you win?

If it doesn’t resonate with your soul it’s not meant for you and if it’s not meant for you then it will never be true

Because thoughts are thoughts

They’re the results of whatever you spend our time obsessing over

If you’re always talking about your crush

You’re gonna think about them 24/7 right?

Stop thinking

Start feeling

It’s ok to daydream

But don’t constantly think and obsess over your desires

Because of f you already had your desired bf or your desired face you wouldn’t obsess over it

LIVE IN THE END

This is your movie

If you you can skip to the best part and just stay there

Life is a movie

Who cares if nobody comes to watch and support

Who cares if it’s not interesting for some people

It only has to make sense for you

It only has to make you happy

The 3D is just here

The 4D is the REAL reality

In the 4D you are everything you wanna be

In the 3D you are not

Why?

Well bitch you’re not connecting with your 4D self

Because your 4D self

Is YOU

The 3D is dead

3D you exists because of her assumptions

You might think this is clicking

But the 4D you gets it

The 3D you does not

She needs to disconnect from HER reality

In order to be in tune with her 4D reality

So she can live in her real true reality

You need to connect with your 4D

The 3D is the cover of a book

It can be changed if you(the author) doesn’t like it

But the 4D is the inside of the book once it’s been published

You’re the author of your own life

Don’t hand someone else the pen

Create the story(reality) that YOU want to see and live in

Add new characters

Create plot twists

Because the best thing about being the author of your own life

Is nobody gets to tell you how to write your story

If you don’t like how you’re living

Turn the page💗💗

[nobrashfestivity]

24 Hour Red Sauce

Since I am making this right now as I type, I thought I would share one of my sauce recipes. The long cooking time may seem daunting but that's also what makes it difficult to mess up. There are probably typos and I never before have written this down but here it is.

24 hour red sauce

People ask me sometimes “How did you make this sauce?” and I usually say something like, “Well, I cook it a really long time.” But now I will share, roughly, how I do make that sauce.

In spite of my part-Italian family, This is my recipe not a family one. My mother and Italian grandmother showed me how to make sauce but frankly, theirs was not that great. Okay, serviceable, not amazing. Perhaps, like many people I learned to cook at an early age because I didn’t like other people’s food. I went to one of those terrible schools where they would make you eat what they gave you. I’m stubborn and refused their overtures, and as I went forth in life I said no to many things. and thus never developed a taste for them. I’m basically the opposite of Anthony Bourdain.

Because I am a vegetarian, I would bring Lasagna or the like to holiday meals for friends and family and over time I endeavored to make a sauce that would stand up in lasagna, stuffed shells or other sauce killers. I make other sauces but this is the favorite of my friends because, I think, the long cooking time makes for a complex flavor.

I’m not the New York times, so this is a little rough in terms of measurements but the beauty of red sauce is that you taste as you go.

-7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (I use Tuscan olive oil such as Vetrice for critical stuff but it can be waste of money in long cooking sauce. Any good olive oil with a little bite will work)

-2 28 oz cans of Bianco DiNapoli crushed tomatoes. (you can also use San merican, Mutti or what have you, but I like these best)

- 14 ounce Bianco DiNapoli whole tomatoes (opinions differ on crushed vs whole, I use a mix)

-25-35 cloves fresh garlic, finely chopped

-½ to 3/4 oz fresh basil leaves, chopped (this depends on how many stems you get and how pungent the basil is)

-Vegetable broth (this will add salt, if you want less salt use low sodium broth. If you’re not a vegetarian, you can use beef or chicken broth too).

-Full bodied red wine, like Cabernet, Merlot or Rojas. Don’t break the bank but don’t use something disgusting, you’re eating this.

-1 dried bay leaf (yes you have to)

-¾ teaspoon crushed red pepper (I use a whole teaspoon actually)

-½ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

-1 medium to large sweet onion

Get a big sauce pan because red sauce will splatter as cook it and it's easier if that doesn’t end up on your stove.

Chop the whole tomatoes (I do this by hand but you can use a food processor) set aside in a bowl.

Under low heat, put the olive oil in and add the garlic and the red pepper, saute a little until the garlic becomes a little glassy.

Add the crushed and chopped whole tomatoes, increase the heat to medium. Set aside the cans.

Peel your onion (you can use two if they are small) and chop it in half. Now look where the sauce comes up to in your cooking pot. Make a little mark (obviously on the outside) of your pot or just wing it.

Fill one empty can half way (14 oz) with vegetable broth and slosh it around to get the remaining tomatoes out of it. Add the black pepper and bay leaf and pour into the sauce.

Fill the other empty can half way with red wine (also 14 oz), a Cabernet is good here, slosh it around and add to the sauce. Now you have wasted nothing except your life cooking this sauce.

Add the two halves of your onion to the sauce. Stir in about half the chopped basil.

Cover the sauce with a lid with a hole in it or half cover it allowing some steam out and turn the stove way down below a simmer. You should even being seeing regular bubbles I the sauce at first and they shouldn’t be appearing rapidly ever.

Every hour tell Michael to stir the sauce (or do it yourself)

Pour a glass of wine and drink it.

Cook it half covered for 4-6 hours on as low heat as possible. You should see occasional bubbles. If the cooked sauce falls below the line you made on your cooking pot, you’re cooking it too fast, but no matter, if that happens, add a cup of 1/3 wine, 1/3 water and 1/3 broth and stir it in. Taste the sauce, it should be pretty good.

Go to bed and out the sauce in the ice box (My grandmother said Ice Box, refrigerator is what it means).

When you get back up in the afternoon (if you get up early, who even are you) uncover the sauce and put it back on low heat simmering or below. Add another two cups of the wine-broth-water mixture and cook for another 5-8 hours. Remember to stir.

When the sauce tastes amazing and you can’t stop tasting it, remove the onions and bay leaf and throw them away. Turn the stove off. Add the rest of your fresh basil and stir it in. You don’t have to use all the basil but basil is not a bad thing. Let the sauce cool for at least an hour. Serve or store. Drink the remaining wine.

It’s actually difficult to ruin this sauce if you follow these guiding principles-

1- You want roughly the same amount of sauce you started with before you added the liquids (wine, water and broth). So you want to see about 50-65 oz of finished sauce depending on how thick you like it.

2- Cooking the onions provides the sweetness to take the acidity out of the sauce, if it’s not sweet enough to can add another onion but it should all even out with more cooking. More sugar will be released from the onions over time. The sauce should be spicy and somewhat strong and acidic but also smooth and flavorful. Add more of your liquids if the sauce is too thick, cook more if it’s too thin. Don’t use sugar.

3- The red wine is a big flavor in this, the alcohol will cook off but flavor is part of the dynamic. Sicilians will tell you to use paste, but that’s a different sauce.

4- I cook this sauce for as long as 24 hours but you don’t have to to make it good. It depends a lot on how high your heat is, how much liquid you use etc. but I would recommend no less than 7 hours of cooking. Otherwise the magic doesn’t happen.

5- Make this often, tweak to your taste, you will return to it each time affirming its power to sustain you in a harsh and unkind world.

[dedalvs]

Hey! I'm David Peterson, and a few years ago, I wrote a book called Create Your Own Secret Language. It's a book that introduces middle grade readers to codes, ciphers, and elementary language creation. The age range is like 10-14, but skews a little bit older, as the work gets pretty complicated pretty quick. I think 12-13 is the best age range.

Anyway, I decided to look at the Amazon page for it a bit ago, and it's rated fairly well (4.5 at the moment), but there are some 1 star reviews, and I'm always curious about those. Usually they're way off, or thought the book was going to be something different (e.g. "This book doesn't teach you a thing about computer coding!"), but every so often there's some truth in there. (Oh, one not 1 star but lower rated review said they gave it to their 2nd grader, but they found it too complicated. I appreciate a review like that, because I am not at all surprised—I think it is too complicated for a 2nd grader—and I think a review like that is much more effective than a simple 10+ age range on the book.) The first 1 star rating I came to, though, was this:

Now calling a completely mild description of a teenage girl who has a crush on another girl controversial is something I take exception to, but I don't want to pile on this person. Instead I wanted to share how this section came to be in the book.

The book is essentially divided into four parts. The first three parts deal with different ciphers or codes that become more complicated, while the last part describes elementary language creation. The first three sections are each built around a message that the reader can decode, but with language creation, the possibilities are too numerous and too complicated, so there isn't an example to decode, or anything. It would've been too difficult.

For what the messages to decode are about, though, I could do, potentially, anything, so at first I thought to tie them into a world of anthropomorphic animals (an ongoing series of battles between cats and mice), with messages that are being intercepted and decoded. My editor rejected that. Then I redid it so that each section had an individual story that had to do with some famous work of literature. My editor rejected that as well. He explained that it needed to be something that was relevant to kids of the target age range. I was kind of at a loss, for a bit, but then I thought of a story of kids sending secret messages about their uncle who eats too many onions. I shared that, my editor loved it, and I was like, all right. I can do this.

The tough part for me in coming up with mini-stories to plan these coded messages around was coming up with a reason for them to be secret. That's the whole point of a code/cipher: A message you want to be sure no one else but the intended recipient can read in case the message is intercepted. With the first one, two kids are poking gentle fun at a family member, so they want to be sure no one else can read what they're writing. For the last one, a boy is confessing to a diary, because he feels bad that he allowed his cat to escape, but no one knows he did it (he does find the cat again). For the other, I was trying to think of plausible message-sending scenarios for a preteen/teen, and I thought of how we used to write notes in, honestly, 4th and 5th grade, but I aged it up a bit, and decided to have a story about a girl writing a note to her friend because she has a crush on another girl, and wants her friend's opinion/help.

Here's where the point of sharing this comes in. As I had originally written it, the girl's note to her friend was not just telling her friend about her crush, it was also a coming out note, and she was concerned what her parents would react poorly.

Anyway, I sent that off with the rest of my draft, and I got a bunch of comments back on the whole draft (as expected), but my editor also commented on that story, in particular. Specifically, he noted that not every LGBTQ+ story has to be a coming out story, the part about potential friction between her and her parents because of it was a little heavy for the book, and, in general, not every coming out story has to be traumatic.

That was all he said, but I immediately recognized the, in hindsight, obvious truth of all three points, and I was completely embarrassed. I changed it immediately, so that the story beats are that it's a crush, she's not sure if it'll be reciprocated, and she's also very busy with school and band and feels like this will be adding even more busy-ness to her daily life as a student/teen. Then I apologized for making such a blunder. My editor was very good about it—after all, that's what drafts and editors are for—and that was a relief, but I'm still embarrassed that I didn't think of it first.

But, of course, this is not my lived experience, not being a member of the LGBTQ+ community. This is the very reason why you have sensitivity readers—to provide a vantage point you're blind to. In this case, I was very fortunate to have an editor who was thinking ahead, and I'm very grateful that he was there to catch it. That editor, by the way, is Justin Krasner.

One reason I wanted to share this, though, is that while it always is a bit of a difficult thing to speak up, because there might be a negative reaction, sometimes there is no pushback at all. Indeed, sometimes the one being called out is grateful, because we all have blindspots due to our own lived experiences. You can't live every life. For that reason, your own experience will end up being valuable to someone at some point in time for no other reason than that you lived it and they didn't. And, by the by, this is also true for the present, because the lives we've lived cause us to see what's going on right before our eyes in different lights.

Anyway, this is a story that wouldn't have come out otherwise, so I wanted to be sure to let everyone know that Justin Krasner ensured that my book was a better book. An editor's job is often silent and thankless, so on Thanksgiving, I wanted to say thank you, Justin. <3

[ryder-writes]

Dad!Bakugo x GN!Reader fluff

A/n: Just some domestic fluff. This is completely gender neutral. It is not said whether your daughter is adopted or if you had her biologically.

CW: talk of having another kid

WC: 947

You had built an amazing family with Katsuki over the years. After 4 years of dating he had proposed (much to your relief and happiness), and you were married a year later. A year and a half after that, you now had a baby girl, Enya. He could not have been happier. Until you both decided to add another addition to the family. That conversation had taken place the night before, both of you agreeing that a now 5-year-old Enya needed a little sibling. 

Katsuki was walking home. He had asked to take patrols closer to the house so he could make sure that your family was safe. He reached the front door and got out his keys. He always enjoyed coming home. Once he stepped through that door, it was like all of his anxiety left his body. And, that’s exactly what happened.

"Daddy's home!" He yelled as he swung open the door. He crouched down and held his arms out as he saw his pride and joy, his daughter, running towards him. He now left his gauntlets at the agency, because one time, Enya had accidentally jumped head-first into one while trying to give him a hug. Poor Katsuki felt so bad.

"Daddy!" Enya yelled, jumping into his arms. 

"Hey, squirt!" He grinned. He hoisted her up and kissed her forehead. "You have a good day?"

"Yeah! We made cookies!" She giggled. He smiled as he walked into the living room, listening to her talk about her day. He made his way over to the couch and gave you a sweet peck on the lips. 

"Hey, baby. Missed ya." 

"Missed you too, Kats." You smiled. "How was your day?" Katsuki sighed;

"Better, now that I'm home." He set Enya down before bending down to her level. "You go wash your hands so you can help daddy with dinner, got it?" She nodded and ran off toward the bathroom. Once she was out of view, Katsuki walked to the front of the couch. He flopped down on top of you and nuzzled his head into your chest. You chuckled and led your hand to his hair, gently scratching at his scalp. He let out a content hum.

"Tired, baby?" You asked. He have a soft grunt in response. "You sure you wanna make dinner?" 

"Mhm. Can't have you fu-" He could feel the glare you shot him. "messing up my sauce."

"It's not your recipe- its your mom's." You countered. He grunted.

"Fine. I want you to relax." He removed his head from your chest and looked up at you. "You take care of Enya every day. You literally hold this house together. It's the least I could do." He kissed your forehead. You smiled sweetly. 

"What did I ever do to deserve you?" You chuckled. He stood up and shrugged.

"Exist." 

-Fast forward 30 minutes-

"Okay, now scrape the onions into the skillet." Katsuki explained. Enya followed his instructions, scraping the onions off of the cutting board and into the sauce. "Great job, squirt." He praised. "Now ya need to stir this for bit. I'm gonna get the pasta." Enya contained to stir the sauce as Katsuki strained the pasta. He then slowly poured the pasta into the skillet. The pot got placed to the side as the sauce was mixed into the pasta thanks to Enya. She smiled up at her dad.

"Is this good?" She asked.

"Perfect." Katsuki smiled. "Now," He un-tied Enya's apron and slipped it above her head, "you go wash up an-"

"On it dada!" She yelled as she ran to clean up and get you. Katsuki chuckled under his breath and started plating the food. He really couldn't have asked for a better life.

"So, baby, I was wondering: do you like being an only child?" You asked, both you and your husband curious as to what she thought about bringing someone new into the family. You had both decided that Enya's opinion was important in this decision. If she 100% did not want a sibling, she was not going to get one. Enya paused her eating and tapped her chin, deep in thought. 

"Well, I like playing with Daisy…" Daisy wagged her tail at the sound of her name from where she was laying on the floor, between Katsuki and Enya's chairs. Katsuki had insisted that you get a guard dog once you decided to get married. He wanted to make sure you were safe when he was away because of hero work. So you got Daisy, a sweet but attentive German Shepard. "But having a sibling could be nice! I could play with them when you and Dada are busy." She smiled at the thought and went back to eating her dinner. You and Katsuki exchanged knowing glances. It was decided.

Later that night, you were laying in bed reading when Katsuki walked in, having just put Enya to bed. You patted the spot next to you and he happily got under the covers with you. Not even a millisecond after you had put down your book, he pulled you into his chest. You chucked and wrapped your arms around him. He nuzzled his head into your hair and rubbed your back softly.

"I can't wait to add someone else to our family." He confessed.

"I know, Kat. I'm excited too." You smiled. "And, I'm sure Enya will be a great older sister." You looked up at him (causing a soft grunt to escape him because he was forced to leave your hair). "And, I know you'll be an even more amazing father, Katsuki." He smirked softly.

"Not as amazing as a parent as you, my love."

A/n pt.2: btw I just wanna say tysm for the love and support on my other fics and stuff; I really appreciate it <3

My reaction to seeing said support:

[eastgaysian]

it's like. you go to a new burger place. everyone's said it's really good. there was a soft opening a while ago that people really enjoyed and gave a lot of feedback on and they're looking forward to seeing that feedback incorporated. you order a combo meal. they give you one burger. and the burger's... fine, good even, but it's not enough to make you full, and you ordered and paid for a combo meal. you ask one of the employees if there's really no drink or fries as part of the combo meal. they tell you that they thought the fries might just be a bit too much for a meal and people would get bored of them after the burger. you're like okay that's bizarre, nobody's ever had that opinion about a burger and fries combo, that's like the definition of a fast food meal. what about the drink? they tell you the soda machine hasn't been assembled yet but it should be soon, they'll keep customers posted. tap water is free though of course. the water tastes a little mineral-y in a weird way but it's water, it's fine. you go home and feel ripped off. the burger was good but you didn't expect or pay for just a burger, and it's really disappointing given all the hype. a week later you get a knock on your door. it's delivery. you didn't order it. you're told that it's free to everyone who ordered a combo meal at the grand opening, it's fries and a drink, because they received a lot of customer feedback about wanting fries and a drink. you already ate the burger a week ago so it seems kind of weird to be given just fries and a drink now. right, the delivery guy tells you, we also changed the burger based on customer feedback, so you can try eating it again. a lot of people didn't like the onions so there's no more onions in the burger and the meat/fat ratio's different. you tell him you like onions on your burger. he shrugs and leaves. you try the fries. they weren't fully cooked through. this cycle repeats for the next year, the burger place is still getting rave reviews the entire time and being credited with revitalizing fast food, and it's called larian studios

[clangenrising]

Month 18 - Greenleaf

As the dusk patrol padded along the southern border, Slatepaw tried to squint into the distance to spot EarthClan’s first marker in the hopes that, any moment now, they would wrap back around to where they started and be released from duty. She was hoping that Sparrowsway would be in camp when they returned so she could offer to share a meal with him. It had been forever since they’d had any one on one time and, if she hadn’t known any better, she might have thought he was avoiding her. 

Beside her, Fogpaw was going on about something or other and had been for the last several minutes. Slatepaw tried to listen but heard the words “for the spell to work” and tuned out again. As much as she loved her sister, she didn’t understand how she believed in spells and things and expressing that opinion never went anywhere good so she tended to keep her mouth shut about it. 

Pantherhaze, on the other hand, was nodding along and smiling kindly. Slatepaw smiled too, fondly appreciating her amazing and compassionate mentor. He simply was the best -- not like Scorchplume who still made Slatepaw’s fur prickle with unease when they were too close to each other. There was something wrong with her, especially if Fogpaw’s ramblings on “speechcraft” were anything to go by. 

Not to mention the way she treated Ghost. The worst of it was that Scorchplume’s hatred for him had rubbed off on Fogpaw somehow. It would have been enough to glare at him all the time and turn her nose up when he walked by but turning his own daughter against him and pushing their family even further apart? It made Slatepaw want to scream. 

Slatepaw sighed heavily and let her gaze wander through the dry, prickly grass and over the fresh pawprints in the mud from last night’s sudden rainstorm and- 

“Wait,” she said aloud, scrunching up her nose as the realization hit her. “Look at these tracks.” 

“What is it?” Pantherhaze asked as he stepped closer. 

“These tracks are coming from the city, aren’t they?” she asked. 

Fogpaw leaned in and opened her mouth to drink in the scent of the steps, wrinkling her nose and declaring, “Ugh! They smell like onions!” 

“They must have disguised their scents,” Scorchplume hummed darkly, squinting at the path. “It could be a war party.” 

“There’s only three of them,” Slatepaw said. Scorchplume cocked a brow but said nothing. Instead, she glanced at Pantherhaze who nodded and Slatepaw puffed up in pride.

“If it’s a war party, it's a small one,” he said. “They’re probably hunters.” 

“I thought Ghost was supposed to stop the rogues from hunting in our territory,” Fogpaw scowled. 

“He’s not all powerful, Fogpaw,” said Scorchplume, somehow defending him and putting him down in the same breath -- typical Scorchplume. 

“We should try and catch them,” Slatepaw said, boldly lifting her chin. 

“Yeah,” Fogpaw agreed. 

Scorchplume frowned. “I think you two should probably run back to camp for reinforcements.” 

“I think it should be fine,” Pantherhaze countered. “They’re about ten moons old now, they can handle a fight where the enemy is outnumbered.” 

“Yeah!” Fogpaw said again. “We’ve got this, Scorchplume. Come on!” 

“Alright,” sighed the ginger warrior. “Just be careful.” 

“We will,” Slatepaw nodded. Like Pantherhaze said, they could handle this. 

“This way,” Pantherhaze said, starting after the tracks. “They can’t be too far. Stay low and quiet and follow my lead.” Both apprentices nodded and the patrol slank into the grass. 

Slatepaw’s entire body was rigid with adrenaline as they stalked through the field, paws falling directly into step with the tracks they were following. She went over the maneuvers Pantherhaze and Floodstrike had taught her over and over in her head as they went, praying to StarClan that she was ready for her first real fight. 

The night was dark and full of crickets but, soon enough, she could hear voices laughing nearby -- voices she didn’t recognize. Pantherhaze lifted the tip of his tail to stop them and they all stilled, swiveling their ears to try and pinpoint the location of the sounds. 

“I’m serious, he’s cute!” a high, feminine voice laughed. 

Another voice, lower but still feminine, replied, “You’re nuts, Minnie. Bandit’s a solid four.” 

“You just don’t know him like I do,” said the first voice - Minnie. “He’s cute, I’m telling you.” 

“Let her have him, Tink,” said a third, more brash feminine voice. “It’s her life.” 

“Are you looking at anybody new?” said the second voice - Tink. 

“No.” The third voice said with finality, bringing the whole mood down.

Pantherhaze’s hind quarters started to wiggle where he had bunched them underneath him and Slatepaw moved to copy him. There was a beat of silence that hung tensely in the air, like the moment before a lightning strike, and then the patrol shot forward and collided with the hunting party who hissed and bristled right before impact. 

Slatepaw struck out at a creamy tabby she-cat in a bright green collar. The kittypet jumped up on her toes and batted harshly back at her but before she could overwhelm Slatepaw, Fogpaw was leaping up to kick her side, sending her staggering. Pantherhaze was wrestling with a brown and white tabby while Scorchplume hissed at another brown tabby with dark stripes who was snarling at her uneasily. After another swipe or two, Pantherhaze’s opponent pulled back and the two groups squared off. 

“Scorch, you bitch,” sneered the cat Pantherhaze had been fighting. “I’ll tear your face off.” 

“We’ve got you outnumbered, Bella,” Scorchplume spat back in a very similar tone. “Go home or else.” 

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Bella reared up into an arch. “I’m the Speaker now. I’ll go wherever I damn well please!” 

“Oh, really?” Scorch huffed a laugh, “Then why does everyone still report to Sardine?” Bella did not seem to like that, tail snapping side to side. 

“Leave our territory,” Pantherhaze interjected before the verbal sparring could resume. “You have until the count of three. One…”

“Shut up, dog face!” Bella hissed at him. 

“Two…” Pantherhaze continued, undaunted. Slatepaw tensed into her battle crouch, wishing she felt as calm as he seemed. 

“Are we fighting them?” asked Minnie, the brown tabby opposite Scorchplume, her eyes darting sideways towards Bella. She and the other cat, Tink, seemed uneasy but their stances were solid enough. They weren’t the kind of kittypets Slatepaw had imagined. 

Bella grit her teeth, glancing over the Clan cats. Her eyes snagged on Fogpaw and Slatepaw curled her lips and stepped forward to block her view.

“Three…” Pantherhaze said, his tone a final warning. 

“Fine!” Bella snapped, tail lashing. “I’ll be back, though. You’ll all suffer for what you’ve done.” 

“Make threats when you can back them up,” Scorchplume growled. “Right now, you’re leaving.” 

Pantherhaze stepped towards Slatepaw in order to make room for the kittypets to pass him. After a tense, fur-prickling moment, Bella growled and stomped through the opening and the others followed her. The patrol shifted to keep eyes on them as they went. 

“Don’t try looping back around,” Pantherhaze called after her. “We’ll be watching the border all night.” Bella growled lowly but kept walking. Slatepaw sighed in relief and let the tightness in her shoulders dissolve a bit. 

“That was easier than I thought it would be,” Pantherhaze admitted softly. 

“Yeah, we barely did any fighting,” Slatepaw pouted. 

“Be glad for that,” said Scorchplume. “Never solve problems with claws when you could solve them with words.” Fogpaw nodded obediently and Slatepaw’s pelt prickled. 

“But that’s what warriors do,” she said, “we fight to defend our Clan.” 

“Only when we have to,” Pantherhaze soothed. “That’s why we have mediators -- to prevent fighting when possible.” 

“Yeah,” Fogpaw chimed in, “Don’t you remember what mama said?” 

Slatepaw bristled, her cheeks burning in embarrassment. “Yes!” she frowned deeper, “I’m just saying…” She didn’t know what she was just saying but she didn’t like the insinuation that she had forgotten her mother’s teachings. 

Pantherhaze brushed his tail over her back reassuringly. “Why don’t you two run back to camp and tell someone what happened and to send another patrol to watch the border. Scorchplume and I will finish up the patrol and meet you there.” 

“Okay,” Slatepaw wilted. 

“You did great, Slatepaw,” Pantherhaze said, leaning in to lower his voice. “I’m really proud of you for spotting those tracks and being able to interpret them so well.” 

“Yeah?” she looked up at him through her lashes, feeling small. 

“Yeah,” he smiled. “You’re going to be a great warrior.” She smiled tentatively back. “Now go on and rest for the night. You’ve earned it.” 

“Okay,” she nodded and turned to follow Fogpaw who had been waiting for her. They walked in silence for a few moments but eventually, Fogpaw spoke. 

“Hey, did I hurt your feelings?” she asked. 

“No,” Slatepaw said defensively, then softly, “A little.”

“I’m sorry,” Fogpaw said. “I didn’t mean to.” Slatepaw looked over at her sister and hated how little she could read in her flat expression. Sometimes she wondered if Fogpaw meant anything she said or if she’d just learned how to say the right things from Scorchplume. She chided herself at the thought. Of course Fogpaw was sorry! What a terrible thing to think about her own sister. 

“It’s okay,” Slatepaw forced herself to smile. “I understand.” 

Fogpaw smiled brightly and twined her tail with Slatepaw’s. “Come on, let’s go back to camp so we can eat something! I’m starved.” 

“Yeah,” Slatepaw said, wanting to crawl into the earth, “me too…” Fogpaw didn’t seem to pick up on the disappointment in her voice and Slatepaw couldn’t figure out whether that made her feel better or worse.

[arsenal-womens-1]

I see you in my reflection part 2

Tw: guns school shooting death blood self harm description of death murder panic attack if there’s any I’ve missed sorry

“The bravest thing I ever did was continue my life when I wanted to die.” — Juliette Lewis

“If you love someone, you say it. You say it right then, out loud. Otherwise, the moment just passes you by.” — Mark Sloan

Six hours later, you are on your way back to Leah's. It was just going to be Beth, Viv, you, and Leah having dinner tonight after you’re planning on watching a movie called *The Fallout*. You have no clue what it’s about, but it’s apparently meant to be good. It’s cold outside, not too cold, but still cold. The car comes to a stop. Finally, you get out of the car and run to the door. Leah walks up the stairs as slowly as possible, finally opening the door. You run in, running straight to the kitchen. Leah had agreed to let you help with dinner. It’s called marry me chicken. It takes about 45 minutes to cook.

“Right, get all the ingredients out, and we can start cooking,” Leah says, pulling out all the ingredients: 30 g of plain flour, 4 chicken breasts, 125 g sundried tomatoes in oil (drained and roughly chopped), 3 tbsp oil (reserved), 1 red onion (finely chopped), 3 garlic cloves (crushed or finely grated), ½ - 1 tsp chili flakes (to taste), 2-3 thyme or oregano sprigs (leaves picked), or 1 tsp mixed dried herbs, 150 ml of double cream, 250 ml of chicken stock, 35 g parmesan (grated), 8-10 basil leaves (torn), and lemon wedges.

Halfway through making it, there is a knock at the door before Leah can say anything. You run to the door. Beth and Viv are just standing there. “Come in,” you say, taking off their shoes and coats. You all walk back into the kitchen where Leah is still doing stuff for the food. “How was media day?” You just shrug your shoulders at that.

“Boring, mainly they all ask the same question, just in a different way,” you reply. Beth and Vivian just shake their heads. You have said multiple times that you don’t like media days. This is only the second one you’ve done, but you still have the same opinion: “Yeah, they do that a lot apart from a few, and since you couldn’t do any work today, you need to do a bit more tomorrow.” The only downside of living with Beth and Vivian is that they make you do schoolwork. It’s the most boring thing.“What if I don’t do any more schoolwork?” you ask.

Viv loses it at your shoes, saying that no matter what you are doing, the work is still there.

You just accept your fate. “Can someone call my phone? I’ve lost it. It’s aging.” Leah holds your phone up and says, “Thank you.” Opening your phone, there is a text from your dad.

Dad:

“Hey kid, I know we haven’t spoken in a bit, but I thought I would text you and see how you are doing. Also, Max and Missy want to know if you are going to be home this summer for their birthday.”

You:

“Hey Dad, I’m doing good. I don’t think I’m going to be able to make it home this summer, but tell Max and Missy that I miss them and I wish I could be there, but I can’t. I’ll send them presents.”

Dad:

“It’s okay, kid. You don’t have to apologize. I know why you don’t want to come back, but they wanted to know if you were able to come. It’s good to hear that you’re doing well. I have to go. The twins need to be dropped off at your grandma’s house.”

You:

“I’ll text you later. I love you too.”

“Who are you texting?” Leah asks as she finishes cooking.

“My dad was asking if I was going home this summer.” In the time the team had, knowing you’ve only ever said that you lived in America, you dodged any other questions, so at one point they all just left it, seeing that you didn’t want to talk about it before you got there. “Are you going home this summer?” they asked.

“No, I think I’m just going to go to another country,” you told them.

They all nodded. “What country are you thinking of going to?”

You had thought about this a lot. “I was thinking Norway, Sweden, Spain, or the Netherlands. I’ve always wanted to go to those countries.” When you said “Netherlands,” Viv smiled a bit for the next 45 minutes. You all talked for 20 minutes before the food was done. It was time for the movie.

The movie starts with a girl sitting on the toilet. Three minutes later, she walks to the bathroom. Viv and Beth are sitting next to each other, and Leah is in the middle. On the end, exactly seven minutes in, it sounds like a door banging and screaming more. It feels like your heart is about to pound out of your chest. A lump in your throat starts to form.

Blood everywhere, screaming, bullets.

“I can’t breathe.” The second you say that, all three of them are beside you. Vivian lifts you up and places you in her lap. “Copy my breathing pattern.”

“Y/N, I’m scared.” The door slams open.

“They didn’t do anything wrong; it should have been me.” Your breathing isn’t slowing down. “They didn’t deserve it; we were just kids.” Beth is now standing behind you, kind of trapping you like a burrito. “Copy my breathing, kid.” You try your best to copy her breathing, eventually doing so.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Your head is still on Vivian’s chest.

“I’m a twin… was a twin. The shock on their faces was something. We were identical. Lucy was 1 minute and 25 seconds older than me. She always would use that or say it was the best time of her life.” Tears were falling down your face. The girls said nothing, so you continued. “When we were 4, we moved from California to New York. Our next-door neighbors had a girl our age. Her name was Lily. She had green eyes, brown hair, and was a little bit taller than us. We became inseparable. We were in the same class. It was grade 6; we were in 4th period English with Miss Cooper. We sat at the back of her class.”

“Today we are learning about Romeo and Juliet.” Lily is to the left of you, and Lucy is to the right. “Lily, give me a pencil; I’ve forgotten mine again.”

“We were 12 minutes into the class when the first shouts could be heard two doors down from us. The screams for help were horrifying. We did everything they said to do. He was down with that class fast. He moved to the one next to us. There was a door connecting both classrooms together. We didn’t barricade it.”

The sound of the door crashing open startles everyone. Before anyone can do anything, he’s shooting randomly all over, and in 2 minutes, he’s gone.

“Lily was on the ground. She was in a pool of blood. He shot her 6 times; 2 of them hit her left lung. I tried to stop the bleeding, but it was no use. Her lungs were filling up with blood. Her beautiful face was covered in blood. She was scared. I could tell because of the way her eyes looked. She would get that look when she was scared. Lucy laid her head on my shoulder. She had been shot once, between her chest and shoulder. I remember Lily’s eyes starting to shut. I remember saying, ‘Come on, Lily, keep your eyes open for me. Keep them open.’ I remember her last words so clearly: ‘Y/N, it’s okay. It’s okay. Go be a superstar, win all the trophies. Don’t give up on your dream.’ There was another round of shots. The color in her eyes was gone. She was gone.”

“No, no, no, Lily, don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.” Armed police rush through the door. “Everyone show hands.”

“I don’t really remember much about how I got from the classroom to the ambulance. I remember the paramedic saying that I had been shot 3 times. I didn’t even know that I had been shot. I was in shock. I remember the sirens. I remember them asking questions, getting wheeled into the ER. I was next to Lucy. I remember her heart monitor. I didn’t know what it meant except that she was alive. Within 2 minutes of being there, she flatlined. They tried to get her back, but they couldn’t. 14:25 was her time of death. A piece of the bullet had made its way to her heart. They were dead, and I wasn’t. After that, I turned to self-harm and other things. I wanted to be with them. It wasn’t until about 2 months after it all that it sank in that I had lost my twin sister and my first love in the same day