#truly rambles

[foldingfittedsheets]

Back in 2017 I signed up for one of the Cards Against Humanity sillies and did their Cards Against Humanity Saves America. Basically they were like fuck Tr*mp and his border wall and used the funds from the campaign to buy land and to make all 150,000 contributors part owners of said land across the US/Mexico border.

It was fun and silly and I got a little certificate.

Today I got an email that Elon Musk illegally annexed that land for SpaceX and that CAH are suing him over it. So possibly I’ll get like $100 if they manage to win a lawsuit and stick it to Musk. It’s like even more bang for my original buck.

[mediocre-megs]

honestly more media should portray the anti aging industry as horrific and decidedly unhuman. it IS body horror it IS grotesque it DOES go against nature. it WILL kill you. yes.

[emeraldreverie]

i restarted the weird shawl cape thingy for my kiddo! i went down a couple needle sizes and am gonna be more aware of the middle phase and which way i'm adding the cast on....i think that's where i went wrong last time

still really happy with what i'm learning!

also on the last of ten balls of yarn for the kiddo blanket! it's looking bigggg and i'm real pleased with the muscle memory and comfort i'm building. also the brain go brrrrr in background fulfillment of it, yes good

[owlbelly]

so. i understand where the sentiment "listening to an audiobook is the same thing as reading the book" is coming from - i mean, yes, the bottom line is you are taking in the same words in what is possibly a more accessible (or maybe just more enjoyable) format for you! and i'm 100% in agreement that "book snobs" who say "no you didn't really read it" if you listened to the audiobook are full of shit. ofc you should engage with stories in whatever way works for you, there is no moral or intellectual superiority to reading words off a page vs. listening to them

but it also is different? an audiobook is a performance. choices a narrator makes about line readings can drastically influence the meaning of the lines. even just different voices, accents, etc. - there are creative choices being made by the person delivering the words to you, and that affects your experience of the story in a different way than if you were making those choices in your own head. it might even change the way you visualize what's going on!

this isn't a bad thing it's just An Actual Thing & i think it's worth talking about. it rubs me the wrong way when people act like accommodations (and for many people audiobooks are an accommodation) always result in a completely identical experience, or even that they should, & if you suggest that people accessing media in different ways are having different experiences it's somehow ableist

anyway on rare occasions i really enjoy audiobooks but mostly they are much less accessible to me than words on a page (i need to be able to reread, flip back and forth, go at my own pace) & i also just really strongly prefer to encounter a text on my own before hearing someone else's performance of it, if possible! again i don't think it's "better" to read a physical book i just think it is a Distinct form of experiencing a story & acting like the two things are entirely the same is sort of doing a disservice to both

[flimsy-roost]

Reminiscing with my partner about high school, and we both have a lot of memories of a specific Spanish teacher we both had (she was the only Spanish teacher) who caused us to both stop taking high school Spanish as soon as we possibly could.

I want to clarify up top that this woman was not a bad teacher per se, we both learned Spanish effectively from her. She also wasn't a bad or mean person per se, I think if she was my aunt or a friend's mom I would like her just fine. Instead, she was extremely hit-or-miss with fostering good student-teacher relationships, and she whiffed hard with a lot of us.

She would often take weeks to grade exams and assignments, which isn't the end of the world, but she wasn't nice about it. Her most common refrain, to a classroom of overworked and overtired college prep students, was "sorry I didn't get to those yet, I was too busy having a life." The concept of giving us less gradable work, which could have made both her and our lives easier, did not seem to occur to her. She seemed almost kind of smug about the power imbalance, if that makes any sense.

My partner got to tap out when the classes were still large, lucky me got to advance to her much smaller Spanish 4 class in my Junior year, where things only got sillier.

Day 1, she tells us that she will not be handing out grades in class anymore. Instead, she wanted us to come to her office hours so we could learn how we did and discuss what we could do better next time. For every. single. assignment. I opted to just go the year never knowing how I was doing. I ended up with a B+.

We're doing an oral presentation on a movie of our choice in Spanish. Great! Fun! We need to show movie clips to support our analysis. In this awkward period during the decline of physical media support but before (legal) widespread online media availability, how are we supposed to get those clips? idk kids you figure it out. I got an uncloseable sex bot popup in the middle of my presentation while showing a grainy clip from Anastasia on a sketchy website.

Right before a mid-semester vacation (either thanksgiving or spring break, I can't remember), she assigned us a partner presentation on a topic I don't even remember. Neither me nor my project partner were keen on oral presentations, and were both too busy with our own shit to practice. We did do all the work and research, but made a half-assed written outline for the presentation itself. Presentations were divided across two days (which likely worked in our favor), with a volunteer order (ie, "who wants to go next?"). We both kept delaying and delaying because neither of us wanted to do it. At the end of the second day, she asked if anyone else needed to present. My partner and I make direct eye contact across the room. Neither of us say anything. We're dismissed, go on our merry vacationing way. My partner tells me we got a B+ for a project we never presented or turned in any evidence of. B+ seems to have been kind of her thing. Ted, you're a real one, excellent teamwork, I'd give us an A+ for cooperation.

Senior year I took two science classes so my parents wouldn't make me take Spanish 5, which I probably would have really loved taking from somebody not her.

[lurkinginnernarrator]

Shen twins or bros au where the Shens go through Qiu Manor and Wu Yanzi together but only Shen Jiu joins Cang Qiong with Yue Qingyuan. Cut to Cang Qiong facing a problem that needs the expertise of a demonic cultivator and Shen Jiu presents the most powerful and elusive demonic cultivator as his brother

...how is it that the demonic cultivator brother is nicer than the one dressed in pastels

[queerofthedagger]

the thing is that tolkien was right trees really are that great

[orionshounds]

he cares so much about them, but he has never known how to show it

and now, it’s too late.

[somnimagus]

My page for @sheikahzine; about Impaz's duty to her village, empty of people and full of memories.

[id in alt text]

[boxingcleverrr]

Popular Hades & Persephone "retellings" are, rightly, getting dunked on all over the socials right now and, as a Pagan who has an altar to the Queen, I could not be happier. But also, I feel like a lot of people miss WHY they're bad - aside from just plain bad writing and lazy tropes. Which are, yeah, also REALLY bad.

Pretty much all retellings try to wave away, or excuse, or twist the whole kidnapping bit. And I actually do have sympathy and understanding for why, when speaking from a modern perspective.

But honestly...you gotta get over it. There are other stories to play fix-it with, not this one.

The Abduction is The Thing.

Were I a little more sober I could bring up chapter and verse of the Hymn to Demeter but frankly, if you know even the middle school mythology curriculum version of the story, you SHOULD know the themes. The story of Persephone was one mothers and daughters in the ancient world held dear, because it was a reality: you will, one day, be swept away from your home to go cleave to a man you most likely know nothing about. You will miss your mother, but chances are very good that he will be a good husband, once you get to know him, certainly better than Zeus or Ares, and he will make you a queen of his home.

Leaving home to marry was often scary, and violent (look up the history of the tradition of Bridesmaids, if you don't already know it - they were originally decoys on the marriage road). Centuries later we'd have tales like Beauty & The Beast serving the same function: comfort, hope, you are leaving your safe loving home to figure life out with a (often older, powerful) stranger. Your trauma over this sudden ending of your childhood made manifest in a Beast, or a God of The Underworld.

It's wonderful that we don't NEED stories like this anymore to comfort us (here, at least, in this culture). But if you try to force them into modern vernacular it just will not work, not really, because you're gutting out the whole point just to have a more tidy romantic male hero.

I have read MANY very good ...novelizations? fanfic(? however you would frame them, but they're certainly not "retellings"), etc. that simply take advantage of the blank spaces in the myth, and there are many!

It's not explicit that sexual assault happens - "The Rape of Persephone" as a title was coined in much earlier eras, when the word was just as often used to simply refer to abduction.

"She was starving!" the gods didn't need to eat. So it's easy to read her eating the Pom seeds as a deliberate choice on her part. Like, shit, people, scholars have written whole papers on the symbolism of this moment, between marriage rites and even yeah, Seph choosing both worlds with her husband's knowing consent.

And that, I think, is the real heart of the thing. People want an utterly mundane, spelled-out story here, as opposed to what it really is, has always been, just like any other myth or religious parable: IT'S A METAPHOOOOOOR.

They don't need to be destined, or meet at a goddamned BALL and then CONSPIRE to fake her kidnapping, or shit, I once saw one where Hades got MIND CONTROLLED by Zeus?! Jesus.

Persephone was yoinked into the Underworld against her will.

That's how it went.

I don't mean this in a "stay out of my belief system!" way, shit I'm a white American chick with delusions of witchery. I mean this in a "stop stressing yourself out trying to make things palatable" way:

This is a very real, very precious myth to many people, BECAUSE for at least that one event, Persephone had no autonomy, BECAUSE for thousands of years most women had no autonomy. Erasing that, sanitizing the fact that a girl is ripped out of the spring, from her mother's arms, is erasing the thing that gave comfort to women for centuries. And people can and should still find power and healing in it now!

Fill in the blanks the story leaves in whatever manner seems fit to you, there's plenty of room, but. Come the fuck on.

[insufferablemod]

actually checking out pesterquest for the first time and

lmaooo nailed it B)

[imaybeabear]

Anna Williams did not run through miles of forest nor face off with an infected with literally only a switchblade and sheer desperation all while fucking IN LABOR, then cut her daughter's umbilical cord with her own hands, clean her up, name her, love her, and hold her for hours even as she knew and felt that she was dying, prepared to stab herself with that same switchblade to save her baby, then beg her lifelong friend to take her girl somewhere safe where she could grow up happy and protected only for Marlene to fuckin sacrifice that girl, that baby she swore to her dying friend to take care of, for a shoddy at best chance to save an already irrevocably shattered world. Both the Williams ladies deserved better than that.

[gojoest]

satoru is mad excited once you start dating. he wants to experience everything with you asap, every aspect of being a couple. 2 mins into being official he’s like “let’s go”, you ask “where?” and he’s like “to our house” and it’s just the jujutsu high dorm room he’s currently using due to his busy schedule. everywhere’s home when it’s with you though. loves all the signs of your cohabitation. every time he steps foot into the bathroom and sees your toothbrush next to his his heart flutters and his cheeks get all red and he smiles the most adorable smile, this man truly appreciates the little things. his eyes well up tiny bit when he sees your clothes on his bed or tossed over the chair or when he’s serving the table and he places two pairs of chopsticks instead of one bc it’s no longer just him. you see him standing there staring at the table and ask “what’s wrong? is there something missing?” and he just pulls you into his arms, kisses your forehead and tells you “no, not anymore”

[elven-child]

I know many people say you had to be USAmerican for this, but honestly nothing. NOTHING compares to waking up on November 6th, 2020. eight months into the pandemic. wondering if three days later they finally have the election results in the usa because they will affect your country too whether you like it or not. not even bothering to check the news sites because tumblr will talk about it anyway and the results will be the first thing you see. opening tumblr barely awake. and instead of the election the first thing you see, somehow - but also of course it had to happen this way - is destiel going fucking canon overnight

[codenamethebird]

I'm loving all the discussion about Melinoe's anti-human prejudice, but I don't see anyone discussing my favorite, so u get more of my rambling. I also got these screenshots from YouTube so you get sketchy Hades, but I actually only just got this dialogue in this patch haha (I forgot to screenshot it myself).

I'm obsessed with this bit of dialogue because it houses some beautiful Hades character development. One of his big flaws that caused like 75% of the problems in Hades 1 was his eternal punishments. Orpheus and Eurydice, forced to be apart. Achilles and Patroclus, also forced to be apart because of Hades contracts. And in this case Sisyphus, being doomed to always push up the rock.

Hades was convinced that they deserved their punishments, that they could not change, so they should never be free. Zag had to go through a bunch of hoops to change their fates, and Hades just grumbled through it all. But people can change, Sisyphus is a prime example of that. The way Hades' voice actor says that last bit "He forgave me anyway" just murdered me.

What an emotionally pogninent moment from a man who has realized his mistakes, but it's too late (to him at least), and now all he can do it stand in chains, in a prison he made, drowning in his regrets.

And then this is how Mel responds:

I just, omfg Mels nooooo babe, your Dad has just had some brilliant character development, what are so saying.

She is so dismissive. She totally missed the point of what he was trying to say. There's like no thought that went through her head, just "fuck that dumb mortal, don't feel guilty dad." Mel doesn't even try to even slightly engage with it, the moment he mentions a mortal, it becomes unimportant.

Hades, while blatantly disagreeing with her, doesn't exactly reply to her dismissal of Sisyphus. Which makes sense I doubt he wants to really argue with her and the context of these chats he is trying to get her to leave quickly considering their location.

But he does name Sisyphus here and reinforce the fact that he was a king. Which I note because Mel just called him "some dead mortal". And he appeals to a much more emotional thread with the whole thing with Bouldy, something Mel would understand a bit easier.

And Mel does call him a king in response, which while not his name, is more personable than "some dead mortal". But ultimately, she respects him because he was kind to her dad, not because she remotely comprehends the emotions and regrets that Hades is feeling with this character development.

And considering what else we know about her, I think it's very safe to say she still thinks Hades shouldn't feel guilty about anything. That this mortal is ultimately unimportant and deserving of his punishment.

But yeah tldr, i find it endlessly hilarous how Hades has this lovely moment of self reflection and then Mels immediately dismisses it with a simple "fuck that mortal".

[flimsy-roost]

I keep getting frustrated with AutoCAD because it feels like everything happens so slowly. this is definitely in part due to my still learning how to use it, but also because I've already spent a year doing all of this in pencil. it took me 45 minutes to make an autocad title block yesterday. I could do it in 5 on trace.

it also falls in line with what I've begun to understand about my learning style, that I can learn how to use a single tool exceptionally well, but fumble severely with a toolbox. to me a pencil is a tool I can use to do a lot of things with, but autocad, despite technically being a single program, presents itself as a toolbox of atomized functions. similarly, when we learned traditional color rendering, I was initially paralyzed by all the different colors and pigment materials- after a year of practice, I have strategies for depicting specific things (eg. water flow on a conceptual plan, layers of pencil/pen/marker for individual flowers), but if you asked me to render a car I literally wouldn't even know where to begin.

Processes > Ingredients.

my first career was in molecular biology, but I got a C in my university Molecular Biology class because, even though I knew (and know) exactly how all of the processes happen, I kept (and keep) mixing up the names of the proteins.

I maintain that the reason Organic Chemistry is such a nightmare class for most people is because it simultaneously has too many processes to understand (chemical reactions and puzzles) and too many ingredients to memorize (molecules/chemical parts), meaning a student would have to be strong in both to succeed as it is currently taught.

I can make it from my house to a couple dozen different places without a map no problem, but I always use navigation apps because if there's an unexpected detour, I'll have no idea where I am. I couldn't make it unaided from one of those places to another without going home first.

If I have a specific tool to focus my attention on for extended periods of time, I can skirt my way around general impairments. I have pretty poor strength and dexterity in my hands and fingers; I can't open jars, and on bad days I struggle a lot to tie my shoes. but I can finesse a micropipette to individual microliters, and I'm typing at an impressive WPM for someone who can't always open child safe bottles.

hell, I'm pretty sure the reason I can drive and drive well, when so many autistic people can't, is because it was presented to me from an early age as a tool I could master: between those kiddie ride-on cars, driving my dad around in golf carts on vacation from age 11, and driving my parents' car up the long empty road to our house from age 13, by the time I Officially Legally started learning how to drive, I already understood how to operate a vehicle, so I could focus my energy on learning the rules of the road and on how to deal with stressful traffic situations.

this is a true ramble without a planned ending, but I wanted to mention something else: all of the above is true for me, I'm AuDHD. for my partner, who is dyslexic and allistic, the exact opposite is true. brilliant in infinite toolbox situations, but has trouble putting the pieces together in contexts outside of his core competencies.

that's all