#unrelated but his grandfather - so my great great great grandfather?

[leveragehunters]

I was going through my great grandfather's memoirs (born 3 March 1880) and came across this part, which feels eerily similar to our current times:

Our biggest handicap was the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918. With men off sick we were lucky to have 50 staff. Some would come back and more would go off. I was off two weeks myself. There were many deaths in the city.   The war was over and the men were returning from France. We were working a fifty hour week. With the men returning, the trend was to repress wages and frown on a reduction of working hours. My responsibility had been increased so as I was next to the superintendent. This was fine, except my wages were the same as the day I started. They said, "You are doing a good job, but with the men returning that is all we can pay you." There was general upset. The returned men were dissatisfied with the wages offered, not only with our company and the warehouse business, but with what was being offered in general.

He then goes on to explain how they met with the Trade and Labour Council to form a union and present their demands (which were union recognition, basic wage of $180.00 a month, an eight hour day in a year's time, and a two year contract), but it all went to hell because of spies reporting back to the bosses and scabs who refused to honour the strike.

After the second day they flooded back like sheep. At Ashdown the travellers and buyers worked the warehouse without interruption of service. The strike was a washout. I was out of a job!

The night before the strike was scheduled to start the bosses even resorted to the closest they had to social media 105 years ago.

The Evening paper carried an advertisement, by all companies concerned, advising that all employees absent from work for three days, would be discharged.

(The memoirs are 180 typed pages, so I may post more bits as they catch my eye)

[where-the-water-flows]

ok so like, maybe I am missing something, but. is almost every action/plan carried out by nanyin associated folks to revive nanyin just... absolute clownshoes nonsense? every single attempt is just nine fuck ups in a trench coat before the plan falls off a cliff, and/or gets fully coathangered by someone else's completely unrelated plan at the last second?? Like...

Princess Longxuan, Li Xiangyi's + Jiao Liqiao's mumble great grandmother (?), first cab off the rank re:attempting to revive nanyin. Her husband - who is the fucking crown prince of Xi, and thus should have been a basically guaranteed way to get the nanyin bloodline on the throne, no more plotting required!! job jobbed, everyone take a real long lunch!! - seems to have either decided on his own or been convinced (by her? I guess??) to be like 'fuck waiting to inherit the throne when my dad the emperor dies, life is short and coups never ever go wrong', and then fucked that up so bad they got executed and also consigned to the shame tomb for eternity about it. on the one hand, wild that she did not get executed prior to the failed coup, given everyone seems to have known? she was from nanyin?? which literally falls the day after her wedding???? I don't know enough about historical Chinese customs here w/r/t if she would have been considered to have fully 'married out' and thus be....not of nanyin and presumably thus an enemy of the state...even though she clearly still thought of herself as being of nanyin???? also, this is assuming that nanyin is an enemy of Xi! maybe they were allies, and when nanyin fell Xi was like ':( oh noooo.... anyway.' , but I....do not get that impression. on the other hand. girlie your husband is the crown prince. you have a son with him, thus securing the bloodline already. you are, presumably, a fucking shoe in for inheriting the throne? how did you fuck this up. I know it might have just been your husband being impatient but also good lord, talk about an own goal.

Feng A-Lu, nanyin sorcerer, secret great grandfather(ish) of the current emperor of Xi. second attempt to do anything about getting nanyin bloodline on the throne. fucks up and does not find the heir even a little bit. On the one hand, finding some kid/teen in a forest is probably reasonably difficult, given the circumstances, on the other hand, c'mon man. you had one job.

Jin Yu Huang Quan, the og guys holding the ice keys. fully just decided to simply say no thank you!! to bringing back nanyin, the thing they were explicitly entrusted with doing. not really a fuck up on their part, because they got sweet cash money out of it, but also, very funny they were collectively just 'friendship ended with reviving nanyin, being rich in Xi is our new friend.'

Feng A-Lu, again. also fucks up what is presumably the back up plan to take over Xi with the power of the karmic bug (and murder), because he gets distracted by a pretty girl, and then practically attic wifes himself. on the one hand, not really his fault consort Ying was planning her own 'and then I will be emperor empress, mwuah-ha-ha' thing, on the other hand, c'mon man, stop thinking with your dick for five seconds.

Feng bloodline / Wansheng clan. misidentifies the orphan heir they've been looking for. literally would have been better off not checking the signs (necklace, birthmark) and just picking one of the two possible options at random, because that would have given them a 50/50 chance of picking the right kid. not really their fault for assuming the kid with the identifying necklace is actually the kid with the identifying necklace they're looking for, but still. fucked that one up right good. the fact that even if shan gudao had won nanyin still wouldn't have managed to get their royal bloodline on the throne is incredibly funny.

Shan Gudao, sigu sect era. leaving as read he's not actually nanyin royalty anyway and thus literally everything he does is by definition clownshoes fuck up from the start; sigu sect era he is presumably planning to get close to the emperor via...sigu sect becoming allied with/part of the imperial court?? and then launching a coup from there. maybe also picking up the karmic bug, only he screws that up too, RIP to the 14 thieves. manages to ally with the court! plan derailed because surprise, li xiangyi has learnt a new trick, and it is: basic diplomacy. has to fully fake his death about this for a literal decade. hilariously bad outcome, nice job mate.

Shan Gudao, again. retrieves (via jiao liqiao via di feisheng+fang doubing+li lianhua) the karmic bug box he failed to get his hands on a decade ago. manages to finally collect all four ice keys. unlocks the karmic bug box. immediately loses the karmic bug, box, and keys. technically this probably doesn't count as fucking up a whole plan unto itself and is just a set back because he does get the bug back but also, lol. lmao.

Jiao Liqiao. she has clearly been working with the wansheng clan (including, secretly, shan gudao) for about/over a decade? thundering fire bombs, basically took over the jinyuan alliance, etc, but also, she does seem to have just been using them (to get her man) as much as they were using her (to clear remove any possible threats to their power/throne), so... good for her I guess. she decides to go all in on being the emperor at basically the last second, and honestly, she doesn't do too bad! she could fully nuke the karmic bug advantage, and after that it's a power struggle between her and shan gudao, which, I'd back her and her legion of jianghu boytoys over him. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ she does die because her malewife ambitions were set too high, though. notable for how her plan coathangers herself with the absolute clownshoes behavior.

Shan gudao, again (again). actually gets sort of on the throne! for like. a second. before getting his ass kicked, his henchmen killed/defeated, and also finding out that whoops wrong orphan. hilarious to me that he is the nanyin aligned person who actually succeeds at getting a nanyin person on the throne for a hot second, except for how he's not....actually of a nanyin bloodline at all. net zero success.

like, once is happenstance, twice is bad luck, nine+ times over a century is very much hitting maybe you should just pick a new, more realistic goal territory.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for cleaning the graves of people I don't know?

So, the thing is, I(17NB) have a lot of dead relatives. I spend a significant amount of time cleaning their slots in spring and fall, and when I'm there, I also spend some time cleaning the graves of people nearby. Sometimes I leave them flowers, even though I know they're going to get stolen like half an hour later. Most of the time the slots I clean look abandoned, or just covered in dead plants and stuff. I like being in the graveyard, I like cleaning, so the thought of possibly being an asshole hasn't crossed my mind.

That was until I took my dad(45M) with me to help with the broken fence on our great-grandfathers spot. All of the graves have fences here (unrelated, but this is why american graveyards always confused me — how can you tell where your grandpa ends and someone's aunt begins?) and they get rusty with years. So while he was busy with painting our spot, I took it upon myself to repaint the fence of the couple graves nearby. To do that, I had to physically enter said spot.

My dad got really angry and told me to get out of there, that what I was doing was a sin, a crime, and generally a horrible thing to do. I was really confused, but his reasoning was that I was walking on someone's final resting place and I didn't even know them. I apologized and climbed out of there. On our ride home he said that he was really disappointed in me.

AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[panther-os]

Full Name and Family Headcanons

For the extended 141 family plus the fruity bastard betrayer (derogatory (affectionate)), some more complete than others. If any of this is directly contradicted by canon, I don't care, that's why they're headcanons

Soap

John Steven Donald MacTavish

Two loving parents, the youngest with at least 3 older siblings, all sisters. Closely enough related to the Chief of the Name and Arms of MacTavish to a) be considered low upper class and b) know his exact place in the line of hereditary succession. Also the kilt he wears on special occasions is always the modern MacTavish tartan, do your research. Grew up in Bonnyrigg outside Edinburgh and is emotionally attached to Sir Salter Scott

Ghost

Simon Lorcán Riley

Same family and circumstances as '09 Ghost (extremely poor, abusive dad, oldest of two boys), but give him loving maternal grandparents and three cousins. He's Irish by ethnicity and heritage, which a few family members kept alive and passed down to him, but British by nationality. His great-great-(great-?)grandparents migrated to Manchester during the Great Hunger, but his aunt moved back to Ballylongford where some of the family originally lived. His cousins and maternal grandmother are all alive but think he's dead and he keeps it that way for their safety. His middle name is after his maternal grandfather who died when he was young and was given to him by his grandma. I do also hc he's trans and have a deadname headcanon for him but I don't share those. The specific neighborhood he grew up in inside Manchester was Beswick

Gaz

Kyle Adam Garrick

Grew up in Brixton in London, relatively poor with two loving but working parents, but also with an enormous tight-knit community and more neighborhood aunties and uncles and cousins than he knew what to do with. Has one baby sister but she's 20 years younger than him so she's a baby baby and he was already enlisted and moved out when she was born

Price

John Matthew Price

Grew up in Anfield in Liverpool, near the football stadium. Avid fan, ropes Ghost into Liverpool vs Man United debates every season. Ghost doesn't even like football. Middle class, working dad and stay at home mom, older sister, younger sister

Roach

Gary Parker Sanderson

Working poor, older sister, younger brother

Laswell

Katherine Emma Laswell

Middle class child of divorce, no step-siblings or step-parents, lesbian wine aunt who's basically Kate Kane (coincidentally Kate's favorite superhero)

Nikolai

Nikolai Antonovich Pokrovsky

Absent parents, one younger sister

Farah

Farah Leyla Karim

Canon family - two loving parents killed by AQ, one older brother. Her middle name is the Georgian spelling of the Arabic name Layla (see my post about Urzikstan and Abkhazia for why this spelling)

Alex

Alexander Jeremiah Keller

Two older sisters, two triplet sisters (one an hour older, one three hours younger), two younger sisters, single mom, also raised by aunt and grandmother

Alejandro

Alejandro Ernesto Vargas Leon

Grew up working poor, dad died when he was three, mom had to work, older brother 4ys older took jobs for the cartel starting at 12-ish to make ends meet and left Ale as the "man of the house" at 8. Also has one 4ys younger sister (same dad, mom was pregnant) and 12ys younger twin baby brothers (different dad who chose not to be in the picture, oopsie babies). He loves the twins but wants to hang them upside down by their shoelaces more often than not, his sister is just as mischievous but more mature and subtle about it which made her easier to raise

Rudy

Rodolfo Ildefonso Parra Rosales

Born into a poor family, cartel killed his parents when he was three, adopted by a single mom after that. His new family is unrelated to the Cartel but his bisabuela is just as feared and respected as El Sin Nombre and La Araña before her, if not more in some parts of the city. Learned his best chancla skills from her. Only child but grew up in a massive multigenerational multifamily home with at least 20 older cousins - was the baby until he was 7 and now he's the second youngest

Graves

Phillip Windsor Graves

Upper class, born to parents who had an heir to the company because it was expected of them but who didn't actually want or like kids. Essentially raised by a rotating cast of nannies

[sgiandubh]

Far away and long ago

One thing leading to another, I tried to watch A Princess for Christmas yesterday, prompted by my Peleș/Pelișor Anon answer and I have to say I am grinning as I write this post: it is, after all, a Hallmark movie, isn't it?

Maybe if I were drunk and/or in good company, it would have been easier. I was neither, so it was unwatchable. Even with the bits of personal nostalgia, knowing very well all the sets they used: from the two castles in Sinaia, to the Știrbei (princely) House private chapel in Buftea, to the Bragadiru Palace in Bucharest they obviously used for that ball. I finished skimming on fast forward for S and howled at this bit of Imdb trivia, I believe with all my heart to be wishful thinking:

Not only I do not believe ever seeing/hearing such a thing in all the interviews I have read/watched (of which they are a shameless handful), but it would be completely out of character for 'No Ego' 2014 S to declare such a preposterous thing (correct me if I am wrong, for I truly believe I am not).

Anyways. When it looks low budget, it is a low budget (with Eastern European logistics) D-series thing, despite all their efforts. Plot is downright stupid and the painful cheesiness permeating the slightest line uttered makes it unredeemable. Nuh-oh: not even to kill time, not even on a flight from Almaty to Saint Petersburg. No way.

Low budget is particularly apparent when it comes to costumes. This one, for example...

Her dress is ok-ish (heavily insisting on the -ish, here). But his uniform is an operetta reinterpretation of the Romanian Army's dorobanț (infantry) State Protocol uniform. An exact copy of the 1877 Independence War officer outfit (itself a Second Empire French uniform copycat, but that's just the historian in me nitpicking, of course):

The above is a very recent pic (2023 Remembrance Day festivities at a British War Cemetery near Bucharest). I know that place well, spent all my childhood 1 mile away, my grandparents owned a house in that village. It is a small, forlorn plot of infinite melancholy and a striking sight, with its carefully trimmed grass, among what used to be cornfields, circa 1984. 'This is British soil', my grandfather once told me and that made it both absurd and enticing: an alien enclave of sorts, a city of the dead. He was correct, by the way, and that gave our Remembrance Day expeditions a sort of strange, furtive charm. We always brought flowers and he, a former officer and POW, would always salute, bareheaded under heavy rain. But, I digress.

Both that movie and my recollections were far away and long ago. Mercifully so for S, at least. The difference in demeanor, profile and presence is undeniable, no matter what the Disgruntled Tumblrettes would tell you: some pushed the cheapness up to the gratuitous folly of 'he was a much better actor then'. Well, he wasn't: no chemistry with a female co-star who would clearly be more eager to have a dental surgery intervention. And no presence every time a very tired Roger Moore is around, which makes for roughly three-quarters of his part. But unlike many striving wannabes, he managed to pull out of the Prince Ashton (🙄) typecast and give us a very credible JAMMF, when starts aligned and with a surreal bit of luck.

If he could manage to pull out of the JAMMF typecast, I see great things. Until then, I will stand by my words: this is a guy with tremendous, but completely overlooked/untapped potential, who has been repeatedly miscast. And this is why what would immediately happen after OL is of critical importance. Brace yourselves.

On another, completely unrelated note: should I wait for that US copycat, disingenuous McTavish booze circus tour to end, in order to draw a line and my thoughts on his brand? I think I should, but always happy to oblige to public demand :)

[lactodebillus-bulgaricus]

HWS Bulgaria

I'm redoing the pool because I forgot to set the poll duration to 1 week.

Who is he, when was he born, who is he related to? What is y'all's opinion? (I'm curious, I'd be happy if you wrote why you chose the option you chose)

(shout-out to @jalshristovski & @athenov & @chido3000 who replied on my first post on this topic, I like your ideas and I'm happy you shared them)

Idea No.1: He's the son of Old Great Bulgaria (OGB for short) and the brother of Volga Bulgaria (VB for short) who came to the Balkans. He was born in the 7th century and represented Asparukh's Bulgars who were distinct from the Slavs, once the Bulgars were assimilated by the Slavs and the Bulgar name was given to the mixture, he began representing the Slavic Bulgarians. He used to believe in the pagan Bulgar religion, then he became an Orthodox Christian.

(Is he the biological son of OGB, or did he pop out of nothing in 681, bearing strong resemblance to OGB? Is he his son in the biological, human way, or is he his son in the weird Hetalia way?)

Idea No.2: He was born from the mixing of Slavs and Bulgars in the 9th century, his mom is a Slavic tribe and his dad represented Asparukh's Bulgars (or vice-versa), he's the grandson of OGB and the nephew of VB.

Idea No.3: He's a Slav, he has been a Balkan Slav all along, he is the descendant of some Slavic tribe. He was adopted by the avatar who represented Asparukh's Bulgars and inherited the name Bulgaria from her or him, then his adoptive mother or father died in the 9th century when the Bulgars got assimilated. He might be related to some of the Balkan Slavs.

Idea No.4: He appeared out of nothing once the Bulgars got assimilated by the Slavs and he doesn't have any biological parents. He looks Balkan and is unrelated to the other Balkan Slavs or, overall, Balkan countries, at least not in a biological, human-like way. He may be related to Thracian tribes, to the Odryssian kingdom, or to other Slavic countries (in the weird, non-human Hetalia way) as circa half of modern-day Bulgarans' genes is local, Balkan/Mediterranean and circa half is Slavic/East European.

There's this idea that maybe he was born in 1878 (as he isn't shown in Hetalia before that), with the Second Bulgarian Empire as his father and the First Bulgarian Empire as his grandfather, but that doesn't make any sense, the idea of Bulgaria, Bulgarianness and the Bulgarian ethnicity have existed continuously, yes, the Bulgarian state was nonexistent for almost half of our 1300 years of history (500 years under the Ottomans and almost 200 years under the Byzantines) but Poland didn't die when he was partitioned, Finland didn't die when he was under Russian rule, so it's nonsensical to make the First and Second Bulgarian Empire different characters who have died.

(I go with Idea No.1 in my crackfic because the dynamic of Bulgar, Onoghur, Volga and Danube Bulgaria is funny to me, but if I ever wrote a serious work, I could use a different idea)

(Feel free to suggest other ideas.)

[gratiaveneris]

So my great-great-great grandfather was obsessed with poetry (and also a Union soldier in the civil war, but unrelated) and he named all his sons after famous poets like Milton and Tennyson. Basically, he’s just like me frfr

[donnerpartyofone]

(Sorry if this sent twice--having internet problems) Anon with the shrink friends here. That was a great read, thank you. Great point about self-criticism not being a reflection of what one values in others. It's hard to believe you're stupid and destructive, as you seem very insightful and considerate, but that's cold comfort if those qualities aren't at your disposal. My aunt lost a leg, and when her brother visited in hospital he said, "One you've got left sure is nice though."

Man, you are two for two with great asks. Sometimes when I have a run of annoying interactions, which we all know is routine, the question arises of why I don't just turn off replies/messages, and this is exactly the reason. But the thing is that when I'm talking about my stupidity, it's really a reflection of what I directly, materially experience. You can imagine I often hear from people about "different kinds of intelligence" and while I agree that that is a thing, I don't really experience whatever other intelligence I've got in the same way, it's like some sort of party trick, or an abstract concept. It's like being "beautiful in your own way" maybe, it's money I can't seem to spend--whereas I experience my harmful incompetence really directly and literally in an unavoidable way. That's what makes it so easy for me to talk about stupidity, and so frustrating to have arguments with people who care about me regarding how "smart" I am. Like in what way, what good is it doing me? That's my usual perspective on it.

This is totally unrelated but your anecdote (very tangentially) reminded me of my grandfather's memorial. He was a congregationalist minister but I could never think of him as exclusively christian, he was very philosophical, bordering on cosmic, and also very worldly. He was extremely handsome and used to ride a motorcycle to mass, and his memorial felt like it was about 90% women who had obviously been in love with him. It was hilarious actually, which made it a little less sad. Everyone had these long, elaborate, almost fetishistic stories about how he affected their lives, but then my father got up and spoke very briefly. He and his father often discussed philosophy, and a recent subject had been the zen parable of the monk who is chased to the edge of a cliff by a hungry tiger, where he hangs above a second tiger. In his final moments he sees a strawberry growing nearby, and on eating it, he thinks that it is the most delicious thing he's ever tasted. Then when my grandfather had his final heart attack and was in and out of consciousness with his wife and my father sitting vigil, this attractive young nurse came in to do something and my grandfather came to, looked right at her and said, "My god, you're beautiful!" My dad just sort of shrugged and left the podium.

[enchantingtables]

@cloveredsys @noctivagantsys

OKAY

Damselette, this is all assuming you are NOT Kae's bio mother. I've just got here today so please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't know a lot and Barbatos is laughing too much to help me

As a non-biological parent, you would have had to have adopted Kae to have any relation to her

Because, and I'm assuming, you didn't, Kae is not your child

And becauae the Ragnvindr family adopted Kae, you have no connection to her or the family in general

NOW THEN. Because Kae was adopted into the Ragnvindr family, which only exists because of my partner and I, Kae would be my distant grandchild through adoption

Diluc is my distant biological grandchild, and being married to Ajax, makes Ajax my distant grandchild through marriage

WHICH ALSO MAKES IT REALLY FUNNY WHEN YOU CONSIDER THAT BARBATOS "STOLE" (/LH) MY FACE. EVERY TIME DILUC LOOKS AT BARBATOS, HE IS LOOKING AT A SLIGHTLY ALTERED VERSION OF HIS HOWEVER-MANY-GREATS GRANDFATHER'S FACE

However, if you do consider Kae your child, you still never formally adopted her ans don't have custody

But if you wanted to be her mother, you would be unrelated to Diluc, myself, and Ajax (I THINK)

TAKE ALL OF THIS WITH A LARGE GRAIN OF SALT, MY HEAD HURTS JUST THINKING ABOUT THIS

[turtlemagnum]

today was the day my grandpa retired. he came into work, sat in the break room and talked to everybody who wanted to say goodbye at work all day. he got to see this one regular shopper who always brought her dog, he got to pet her (and so did i, eventually). me and my grandma got there at about 2:30 or so, and stayed until about 4, which is when he got clapped out. i swear, every fucking employee in the company was there, and we all clapped as he passed by. it's weird to say about my goddamn grandpa, but i felt proud of him in that moment. then we went to the bar that they planned his retirement party at. turned out to be a gay bar, which they didn't know when they planned it, but they didn't have a problem with it either. was nice to have a bar i could feel comfortable wearing my pride pins at.

the party felt a bit rough on my end, at the start. shit got crowded quick, and for the first little while they kept sending me out to the car to get one little thing they forgot. but, i got some food in me (which was mostly pretty damn good), and then i started talking to my mom, which led to talking to family members i either hadn't seen for a while or hadn't met at all, which turned out nice. i played darts with someone who turned out to be my little cousin, little gremlin thing was only 14. i had to stop her from getting tetanus, apparently earlier in the month she decided to grab a motherfucking snapping turtle, frankly amazed she's still in one piece. her grandfather was the man who took me to shoot for the first time, so goddamn many years ago. my mom asked him about something gun related and his response gave me the bittersweet revelation that in terms of technical information, i've surpassed him in the intervening years. i can guarantee he's still a better shot than me though, given just a relative lack of experience on my end.

at first i only drank water because the only non-alcoholic drinks the barkeep said she had were non-alcoholic beer and coke products, and given the current boycott i'm trying my best to steer clear from coke products. then my little cousin mentioned she wanted a daiquiri, and apparently they had them available so i got one too (or first, rather, just by sheer luck of the draw). virgin, of course, just like i used to get when i was a little kid. one of the many things that felt nostalgic tonight. karaoke had started, and i saw my grandparents dancing together to a love song, and i felt like crying. it was through a window, but i saw a very special moment. a part of me was envious, for what they have. i'd never tell them that, though.

eventually, the crowd that came for the party started clearing out, and there were a few unrelated people who just came for the karaoke. one was a beautiful woman with an even more beautiful singing voice. my mom really hit it off with her after she sang, though i couldn't hear a word they said due to how loud the music was. the same could be said of my grandparents talking right next to me. i was resting my arm on my grandma's chair, and i felt it wobble from being a bit uneven. i decided to wiggle the chair a bit, which got a smile out of her. something else i remember from earlier was that i talked to my uncle. a bit about him:

he's my grandma's adopted little brother. i mention that he's adopted because he's native. don't know what tribe or anything, he's never mentioned it and frankly, given how he taught us kids words in "indian" i'm not entirely sure he knew either. again, adopted. in terms of raising him my great grandparents did about as good a job as white people living in the 1970s coulda done, frankly. because of that bleeding over into how my grandparents and how my mother raised me, i'd like to think i have a fairly healthy amount of respect and interest in indigenous cultures the world over; especially for somebody whiter than a cracker. so because of him, i don't think i'd be as good a person as i am today without his impact in a somewhat roundabout way, given how we were never the closest or anything. maybe when i was a lot younger, but the years have definitely gone on. and my only regret is that i feel like i can't really communicate how him and his son have impacted who i am as a person.

regardless, i talked with him for a bit. he asked what i was doing with my life, and i mentioned that i've been planning on getting my CDL and becoming a truck driver. he was also a truck driver before he somewhat recently retired, so he gave me a lot of advice, what to expect, what to look for, so on. he mentioned that the biggest downside to trucking is that it gets real lonely, and i said that was fine by me because i'm already a lonely person. he responded saying that it'd be the perfect job for me, then, and empathized with me when i mentioned how shitty that grocery job was. the conversation trailed off after his son, my cousin, came back after paying their bill. he was there with his girlfriend, who started talking about how she wanted to punch the owner dude for how he treated the barkeep lady. i just sorta slinked off from there

a few highlights and notable occurrences of today include: me and my grandma going to the car to be there for my grandpa while it was pouring goddamn buckets, like seriously just a little bit earlier the weather got bad enough that we thought somebody tried to bust open the door at first. being up at the bar with my mom and some guy mentioning that i looked like some guy from the smashing pumpkins(?), with both him and my mom being amazed that i didn't know who they were. he got especially amazed when i mentioned that she was my mom, he just sorta thought we were friends. he pulled up a picture of the guy on his phone and i did see the resemblance in the sense that he was a bald guy with a wide facial structure. one of my relatives i hadn't met before (at least, to my own recollection) wanted to see my eyes, because she wanted to see if i got them from my grandpa. his are blue, mine are hazel. regardless, she said i had beautiful eyes and an even more beautiful smile. really lit up my night, especially after my grandpa mentioned that i usually have beautiful hair too. also led to me having a conversation with the gun grandpa relative guy about how when i was a lot younger, i had my hair a bit longer once and then an old lady i held open a door for called me a "nice young lady" and i immediately shaved it, which he mentioned how he used to be a hippie dude which then went into a whole thing about him struggling with alcoholism and such. after the whole conversation topic had essentially run its course, i mentioned how growing up with my mom i heard a lot about the shit that addiction had done to our family, so i've made sure to never start anything, and i couldn't quite get a read on it but he seemed a bit proud.

at one point my mom was doing karaoke, this was later on in the night. she was doing green day, and she was just bad. had no sense for the flow of the words, no real tune to it, just god awful, it was great. she gestured for me to come up and sing with her, which i denied vehemently, mostly because i knew the song wasn't suited to my voice at all. which, to be fair, it wasn't suited for hers, either, but i actually cared about sounding good. i remembered how many years ago, she told me how much i sucked at singing, and it really hurt my little kid ego. then, a few years back now, back when i had a friend group they all agreed that i had a pretty good singing voice. so when i went up for karaoke, i felt pretty confident in sounding at least decent, albeit anxiety ridden as all hell.

here's the thing about my singing voice. it's not really suited for most of the music i'm really into, much less shit like modern-ish pop or rock or anything like that. i think it's unequivocally best suited for oldies, especially shit like sinatra. so, that's what i went with, and put in blue moon. i had songs from new vegas on the mind, since earlier the guy running the karaoke equipment sang why don't you do right from it presumably to fill the gaps between actual customers wanting to sing. and god dammit, when i got up and grabbed the microphone i was fucking shaking, especially my legs. i was anxious, because i wasn't sure if i was gonna turn out well, and to my relief i did. something i think was one of my better points was my rhythm/timing, i can't say i know the words by heart but i do know the way they're sung deep in my bones. i kept my eyes glued to the lyric screen until the first break in the song, and then i looked at the "crowd" (which, wasn't very many people but still). they all seemed to be genuinely enjoying it, and not at my expense either. something else i'm particularly proud of is how i'd occasionally misspeak (missing?) e.g. saying "flew moon" instead of "blue moon", but i managed to stay almost perfectly in sync with how the song's supposed to go without stopping and going "ah shit", y'know. i definitely know it's an important skill in live performances to be able to just keep on going even if you fuck up, so i'm definitely pretty happy about that.

afterwards i got applause. and like, i had been there for the night, i could definitely tell the polite applause from the "oh shit that was good" applause y'know. i didn't get as much hype as the lady who was an actually good singer, but i could tell that i did a pretty good job. my mom said that i did really good too, and both her and my grandpa congratulated me on having the balls to actually get up there and sing because they know how i am. afterwards my grandpa said he was genuinely impressed, and i know for a fact he'd let it be known that i did a shitty job if i did a shitty job, so that meant a lot. it was, in fact, my first time ever singing karaoke, so despite not being The Best tonight we're all definitely happy with how it turned out. that felt really nice.

it's bittersweet, seeing that he's finally done with this fucking job. he literally had number 1 seniority in the entire company, and this isn't a small company. it's mostly local, but it's big enough that there are a few stores in places like chicago. all of the people he worked with clearly loved him, and i'm glad that i have a grandpa worth being considered "the best boss i've ever had" by so many goddamn people. we had people who he hadn't even worked with in years, who moved to other jobs or other stores, they all came just to show how much they loved him. i'm glad he's so loved, i love him too. i just hope he doesn't go fucking insane from being home so damn much. tonight was a good night

[revretch]

Bug question, particularly butterflies but applies to pretty much any creature where the offspring goal is quantity over quality, but what happens when bugs inbreed? YouTube gave me a butterfly vid that led me down a rabbit hole and it was mentioned that these butterflies were inbred, but my understanding of that is It's Bad because it severely limits the gene pool and causes all kinds of issues. But that's for big animals that, at most, have 10 per litter or so. When you have bugs, you're looking at *thousands* of eggs, so what happens then?

Depends on the insect! As you guessed, it's not as bad when you have so many young and don't live that long to begin with. For most insects, though, it's still not ideal.

Emphasis on most.

Hymenopterans (wasps, ants, bees) have what's called haplodiploidy--a sex determination system where males only have one set of chromosomes. The result of this is that deleterious recessive traits can't accumulate too much, because otherwise the males carrying them wouldn't survive to mate to begin with. So, inbreeding isn't quite as bad.

Most hymenopterans still try to maintain some genetic diversity, anyway--worker bees will kill inbred bees while they're still in the cell.

However, for some wasps, it's the rule. Many species--including the various fig wasps, and many different kinds of parasitoids--are almost strictly sisters mating with their brothers shortly after pupating, only mating with unrelated wasps on the off chance two mothers laid eggs in the same host!

But the cushiony cotton scale insects put even the most incestuous wasps to shame. For years, they were thought to be hermaphrodites.

Nope. At least, not in the traditional sense. Turns out females are just infected with the parasitic testicle of their father/grandfather/great grandfather etc., who has been parasitizing and inbreeding with his own female descendants for--well, who knows how long?

[allylikethecat]

#30 i have a couple random questions

1) do you have any tattoos? if not would you ever get any? were there any tattoos that you liked when you were younger that you would’ve majorly regretted now that you’re older?

2) did you go to college? what’s your degree in?

3) whats your go to drink when you go out?

YESSS thank you for sending me an ask from the weirdly specific and unrelated asks to know someone well list!! I can be found HERE if anyone else wants to send some / reblog it for themselves! It's a good list if you ask me!

30. ask me anything !

1) do you have any tattoos? if not would you ever get any? were there any tattoos that you liked when you were younger that you would’ve majorly regretted now that you’re older?

I do not, I would very much like to get two - one I worked with a friend who is an artist to design as a tribute to Pop, the second is my grandfather's name in his handwriting. We were extremely close and even years later I am still completely devastated by his passing. I actually bought Pop with the money he left me, making Pop all the more special and a connection to him (he loved horses and loved that I rode, and in all honestly most likely would have bought Pop for me himself if he had been alive, it makes me so sad that they never got to meet because I know my grandfather would have loved him) however I am absolutely terrified of needles and keep chickening out. I'm hoping to eventually get over it though. In all honesty, I feel like even if I got one of the dumb tattoos I dreamed about as a kid I'd probably still like it - I was very into art history / literature growing up so a lot of the tattoos I fantasized about were rooted in that.

2) did you go to college? what’s your degree in?

I did! I have a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. My career focus was initial content marketing and copy writing in the sports industry before I moved over to the the tech / software industry. I've found myself doing less and less content marketing and taking on more data analytic focused roles which has been a lot of fun and an unexpected development - especially because I was initially hired for my current role as an account executive (I sold out, I was chasing the money and going into account management / sales lol)

3) whats your go to drink when you go out?

Depends what kind of night we're having lol If I'm out to dinner usually some kind of silly fun bespoke cocktail with way too much sugar. If it's a chiller bar situation or a sporting event then I am a High Noon girlie. If we're going to get rowdy bring on the vodka red bulls

Thank you SO MUCH for these asks omg these were such fun questions! Also like, I really do love High Noons they are truly the perfect seltzer beverage situation. My only complaint is I hate the pineapple and watermelon ones and it feels like that's what most bars stock? Which like wtf there are so many great flavors why THOSE two?! Thank you so much again!! I hope you are having a lovely Monday and a great rest of your week!

❤��Ally

[fandomlife-confessions]

We now have an empty inbox, thank you for your patience. I just have to share that I've seen a lot of actual propaganda here on lately which people actually share it around as facts

There's one post where people who suffered under soviet share their stories, one where one had their grandfather arrested because he listened to the radio and was never seen again and the propogandist said that there was female scientists in the soviet so that made it okay?? And people shared it... Want to know why they had so many female scientists? Because the male scientists were either killed or ran away. I'm not saying USA was any better at the time. Communists killed people for being capitalist and capitalists killed people for being communist.

Russia, China, and Israel have notorious troll armies, do not share their crap.

Have you forgotten how China treated the protesters in Hong Kong?

Do you believe the man who attacked his neighbouring country? The country that considered Russians their cousins? And now they're killing and kidnapping children? And pretend to be the rightful owners of their land?

I'm not saying the west is perfect, and there's lots of bad stuff here too. But do not share their crap! I saw one post lamenting Cantonese being a dying language because even when they were free their parents taught their kids English, but it's okay now, now they're learning Mandarin! Um... That doesn't solve anything, Cantonese is still dying, while more related aren't Mandarin and Cantonese the same, they are giving the population less options to talk to the outside world. Yes, China has one of the largest populations in the world. Here in Norway do we have a party called FRP, to not share my personal opinion, their main political mission is getting rid of immigration and their slogan is "for folk flest" (for most people). But if most people live in China, and if they don't want anymore but Norwegians in Norway, and Chinese people want to visit Norway, are they really for most people?

Yes China is seemingly standing up for Palestine now, but do not forget what they are doing to the Uyghurs at this very moment. There's also several posts about "X country did something bad, therefore all people from there are evil and deserve to die", or "their ancestors did something terrible so they are at fault", just no. Listen here. You are only responsible for your own actions, if your grandfather did, what your father did, heck, even if one of your siblings did something absolutely horrendous, it's not your fault or responsibility. You are responsible for your own and they are responsible for their own. But to some crazy fans out there, your ancestors didn't die so you could be creepy towards someone else or excuse being rude to someone unrelated because of it.

Heck they even used an Ukrainian woman to make deepfake Russian propoganda in China, it's disgusting.

(the ones owning that channel lived in China and loved it for all its faults which you can still hear in their voices, but they were chased out when they showed the faults to the world. They aren't just some foreigners pointing and laughing, they show off their own footage and what they receive from Chinese people or find behind the great firewall of China.)

I've myself been in Kaliningrad, this was a while before the the war, 10 years or so. I was there as the remaining parts of Königsberg are the remnants of Prussia which some of my ancestors came from. Never before had I seen such a depressing place. Drunks everywhere, down the Lenin bridge a man wearing nothing just pulling his clothes after him. Even though the weather was lovely, the whole place felt grey. Resembling the parts of Britain ruined by Thatcher. Soviet had the highest kill count during WW2, most of them their own for "not doing what they were told". Soviet was hell, there's a reason why so many wanted out, don't let them trick you into thinking it was a feminist haven.

And as I haven't seen it posted in a while:

Sorry for babbling but I felt that it's important to know. So if propoganda is sent here or you send in anything based on propoganda, it'll be reported or banned.

And hereby I declare the confession box open!

-Mod Nen

And no, if anyone's wondering, no there hasn't been any julehefter (comic booklets sold around Christmas here) like this in Norway since 2019.

And if you are interested, @fjordsoncomic aka. Nordlys comes out in English sometime this year. And so is Oppfinneren! Neither of them has the old man yaoi above, so you don't have to be afraid to be arrested in Russia for reading them.

[terris-mayweather]

The Smoke Room spoilers;

GUYS I'M SCREAMING AND FREAKING OUT OH MY GOOOOOOD!!!!!!

So like I said, I have been playing The Smoke Room, and I am loving it. I ended up choosing Cliff's route since he's an adorable and earnest boy and I can't help but <3 him.

HOWEVER I DID NOT EXPECT THIS!!!!

So this is a map of the region of Echo from Avery's parents, and specifically his great great grandfather whom tracked where all the bonfires the Meseta people left behind... (These bonfires were places of safety and refuge, where they didn't feel at all threatened)

The FUCKED (and DEEPLY INTERESTING) part however is that the area surrounding the LAND of Echo, there was NEVER a bonfire in...

You guessed it.

A circle.

"You're always going in circles."

The Meseta people also know the land of Echo as 'evil'. This is so unbelievably interesting and fascinating to me. Oh my goodness. I have to think about the implications and theories for a while, now.

Unrelated side note;

I have really been enjoying Cliff's route. What I DIDN'T expect was the addition of Murdoch, too. It has given me quite a shine to him, as well, and I think it's AMAZING that the Echo Project was able to interweave another character like this into a character's route, and also the potential for this kind of throuple is fascinating to me. I haven't gotten much further than Murdoch's proposition, but I'm starting to get feelings™ because these 3 have found each other in such a desolate place, and I can see a deep and emotional bond forming for all three of them. And that's beautiful, especially given the time period they ended up in.

The Smoke Room has been fucking amazing and I just love these developments and characters I have been seeing. SPOILERS FOR LEO'S ROUTE/ECHO

But I am FILLED with dread knowing how Leo's route ended, and how Sam/Chase specifically called out Echo for hurting his loved ones: William, Cliff, Nik, and Murdoch. I'm scared. x-x What. Happens?

[hekates-corner]

Apothecary Diaries | WN Translation | Arc 9 - Chapter 20

Hi and welcome!

For a number of reasons I ended up here. I go about translating to the best of my abilities, relaying all that happens in the chapters - pretty much playing wine-aunt.

So, be warned that all the spoilers are down below. Want some but not all? My dm's/asks are open!

New here or missed a part? Check out the Masterlist.

Enjoy & please take a look at the notes, if you're caught up!

Chapter 20 | A Twisted Past

Maomao checks with Kurumu: So you know the wind reading clan?

The self-proclaimed “beautiful girl” crossed her arms and grunted “Hmm/Well”.

Kurumu: I know, or rather, that’s what my great-grandfather used to call it when he was still living in the grasslands. Well, I only know very little/not much about it either, I’ve only asked my grandmother a few times.

Maomao: Can you tell us as much as you know?

Kurumu: Eh, what should I do?

Narrator-Mao notes that as she made a bad move, Kurumu got carried away.

Kurumu: I can’t say it’s free but/though

Grinning, Kurumu asks for money.

Taomei: Hehe, do you want to get turned in by/to the officials?

Eyes reminiscent of a bird of prey flashed behind Kurumu. Taomei looks on with a smile. Narrator-Mao notes that.. for some reason, the unrelated Basen cowered and the owl was trembling, its wings ruffled.

Kurumu’s face twitched.

As expected, Taomei is a scary wife who puts Gaoshun in place.

Maomao deliberately clears her throat.

Maomao(?): …… I think we’re making a concession here. You answer the questions. I won’t expose you to the officials. Also, depending on what you do in the future—

Taomei: Right, we can also discuss what to do with this owl

Taomei continues Maomao’s answer.

Kurumu: Understood. (it’s short and rushed, fitting for being gaslit like this). What I heard from grandma was that a long time ago, a nomadic family was hunted by slaves. I heard that most of the people who were hunted were killed, the women were taken as wives and the children were sold as slaves.

Narrator-Mao’s like “that’s info even I know”.. however, there is one thing that’s bothering her.

Maomao: I heard that the wind reading clan uses birds. Does this mean that the method of incubating and raising bird eggs has never ceased?

Kurumu: That’s it. Ah, that was a bad thing to say. The wind reading clan was destroyed. The divided half

Maomao: Half?

Maomao and the others stare at Kurumu.

Kurumu: That’s right. They must’ve been going around the grasslands for some kind of festival or something. In that case, wouldn’t it be better to move in parts, rather than all at once. There was also a means of communication using birds.

Maomao nods, saying that’s certainly true.

Maomao: But what happened to the remaining half? It seems that the wind reading clan is thought to have disappeared. Was the festival not continued?

Kurumu: Yes/Hmm. I don’t really understand/get it. Apparently my great-grandfather was one of the surviving members of the family, but he died when grandma was about ten years old. Granny said that he had taught her a lot about birds, but he was no longer grazing and was living in the city. However, there was a regular customer who would buy the pigeons he raised, so he didn’t have to worry about food/eating them.

Maomao: A regular?

Kurumu: Well, I was told that he must be some kind of big name, but I haven’t heard any details about him. I mean, even grandma didn’t seem to know much about it.

Everyone falls silent at Kurumus testimony.

Kurumu: Huh? Did I say something weird?

Maomao?: No, thank you very much.

As narrator she goes on ask-stating if that’s what’s meant with a horse coming from a gourd, which is a literal translation from a saying about a joke/something very unexpected actually coming true. But then she argues that she’d assumed it could be somewhat related to the wind reading clan, it just got to the core of it all more than she expected.

Kurumu: Compromise. Can I take this one home? I found a place that looked like a good spot for releasing (owly).

Maomao(?) asks if she’s actually going to let owly go if they hand owly over and Kurumu explains that that’s what she’d intended to do and what she’d been taught by her grandmother.

Maomao makes eye contact with Taomei. Taomei nodded quietly, so Maomao handed the cage containing owly over to Kurumu. Kurumu smiled broadly.

Maomao: May I ask you one more question?

Kurumu: What is it?

Now that the bird had been returned, Kurumu seemed to be in a good mood, saying this with her teeth showing.

Maomao: You said that your father and Gyokuou-sama’s mother are related, but is it okay to assume that your mother is also part of the wind reading clan?

Kurumu: I can’t say for sure, but…… She seemed to like birds and was used to handling them.

Narrator-Mao notes that if Gyokuou’s mother is from the wind-reader clan, there would be various connections.

Going on to think: I got some useful information though

However, Narrator-Mao’s like.. if they believe Kurumu’s story, several contradictions will appear.

Maomao thinks: If the wind-reading clan had not perished, perhaps they could’ve continued the festival even after that.

Which would mean they’d have to question what the meaning of what Nenshin, who’d become a serf, was doing actually was.

And why did the wind-reader clan become extinct?

Narrator-Mao thinks that a strange/suspicious point just appeared.

In her mind, concluding that one possible possibility is…

Maybe they pretended the wind reading clan was destroyed and used their abilities for something else. (also got that they destroyed them to use their abilities)

“The faster information is transmitted, the stronger it is” - she points out in her head.

Once you surround them with the fact that they perished, there’s many ways to use them. This isn’t strange, considering that Kurumu’s grandmother was already living in the city. It also makes sense that Kurumu’s great-grandfather passed away so early.

Maomao goes on thinking, about great-grandpa’s premature death, that once the technique has been passed down - those who know the past are in the way. (because they know too much)

Kurumu: Hey. Nee-chan. Can I go home now?

Maomao startles as Kurumu pokes her. She seemed to be in deep thought.

Maomao: Sorry. Could you please give me/us your contact information? I might also be able to introduce a customer who also wants a small bird.

Kurumu: …… Eh, I’m kind of scared

Narrator-Mao notes that Kurumu doesn’t seem to be fooled by her fake smile. (Maybe) There was a look on Maomao’s face as if she was going to let a valuable source of information escape.

Taomei: Hehe. I(?) would never do anything terrible to a child. Hey/Listen, could you please introduce me to your father?

Taomei’s eyes light up.

Kurumu reacted timidly, nodding.

Mind-Mao’s like: She’s just too strong

Going on as narrator: Even though she’s a different type from Suiren and the Madam (granny from Verdigris)

Mind-Mao thinks that it’s quiet around her/that it’s no wonder everyone around her (Taomei) is so quiet.

Chue is not as bubbly/outspoken as usual and Basen has a selfless look on his face, one that resembles Gaoshun. Maomao wonders if this is how today’s Gaoshun was created.

Once Kurumu was sent home with a/her servant, Taomei looks at Maomao.

Taomei: From the look on your face it seems like you’ve come up with a few things.

Narrator-Mao notes that this seems to be a polite way of saying: If you know something, tell me.

Maomao: This is just my assumption and it may be (wild and?) absurd

Recently, Maomao has had some antipathy with her adoptive father, Luomen, but she is basically faithful to his teachings. She doesn’t intend to judge things based on speculation without evidence.

Taomei: But my-, our master isn’t looking for a definite conclusion every single time/for every single thing. He’s a master of taking everything into his own hands, but could you please speak with him once so that we can plan for possible future countermeasures?

Taomei looks at Maomao with the eyes of a bird of prey.

Maomao?: Well then—

Maomao opens her mouth to tell Taomei to tell Jinshi her story.

Taomei: No, please meet and talk with him directly.

Maomao: I don’t think there’s a problem with talking about it here

As narrator Maomao doesn’t think that Taomei would twist around the speculations she told her.

Taomei: No. Sometimes I need a distraction

Maomao: Huh?

Maomao could only narrow her eyes at Maomao, who gave her a slightly mischievous smile

Notes

This shit’s getting wild xD

– Please note that this was originally Arc 10. I wrongly assumed since it's going to be LN 10 it would line up, but it was brought to my attention that 2 of the arcs are split up due to how long they are. It doesn't change much per se, since it's still future LN V10, but I'm sticking to the promised honesty, if I get something wrong somewhere. I've gone ahead and renumbered all the posts by now.

– A bird of prey is a bird like an eagle/hawk that kills and eats other birds/animals

– The line about the horse and the gourd was an actual chain of kanji. You can google it and it'll come up: hyōtankarakoma xD

– Which, btw is unrelated, but Basen’s often coming up in translators as “Horse flash” which is always funny. Taomei is peach(es)

– The “selfless” expression mentioned from Basen towards the end is “muga no kyouchi”, a state of self actualization. It’s a state where a person has surpassed his/her limit and starts to copy and execute techniques that he/she has seen/experienced in a random pattern. And yes, this is part of Prince of Tennis xD

– One of the only things I don’t know this time is who’s servant Kurumu leaves with.

– I most often got that sometimes Taomei (aka “I” not “you”) needs a distraction, which.. She's a married wife, with grown kids, her husband in tow - I did get it a minimal amount that sometimes “you” need a distraction, but with Maomao’s reaction and Taomei’s mischievous smile.. 6 and 9 is a number once added up that equals yoga between the sheets.

– I also got it a couple of times that Taomei has a couple of potential clients that could want birds from Kurumu’s dad, but for now I settled on one (Jinshi, the obvious target)

I hope you enjoyed. Buckle up, this is going somewhere. I just love that Taomei is domming anyone and everyone like they’re all just clay in the palm of her hands. Stay safe and I’ll see you soon!

[consolecadet]

After getting moderately lost on the college campus where it was sited, I went to the first meeting of my darkroom photography class. I arrived eight minutes late and wheezing -- not a great first impression, but it was cold, I have asthma, and I was hurrying. Just like when I was an undergrad, only it now hurts slightly less to walk!

There were only two other students, a married couple named something like Christopher and Kim, or Kyle and Kristy, or something. Of course I forgot their names but still remember the name of the dog they mentioned having, an Alaskan Malamute called Panda. They seem nice enough, vaguely hipstery. Calvin said he was interested in film photography for the aesthetic, which, valid.

The instructor's name is Paul and, unsurprisingly, he is an older gentleman. He told us his favorite thing to do photographically is to use high-ISO film with large grains, then enlarge an area of the photo until it looks almost like a pointillist painting. The prints he showed us tonight, though, were more conventional ones: dead leaves, the campus at night, a tasteful nude of a thin woman, an outtake from a series he shot of old Grange buildings. (Proto-union-halls, I guess? I don't know much about granges beyond the unrelated ZZ Top song.)

We could not get my grandfather's camera working because the batteries, which were from the 1990s at the latest, were dead. It takes button batteries, like a hearing aid. Paul asked if I had the manual, and I admitted that at home, in additional to the manual, I have all the receipts, because my grandparents keep everything. There was a partially shot, undeveloped roll of film in there. I'm sure it's quite old. Once I know what I'm doing, I'll develop it and see if any images survived.

I'd kinda figured that learning to shoot and develop film would help me reconnect with both my grandparents (my grandmother was always more a photographer than my grandfather) and keep my grandfather's memory alive, just because the camera was his. But I as I watched Paul demonstrate the developer bath I remembered -- how could I have not thought of this before? -- that my grandfather was a chemist. The real keeping-alive is in learning the chemistry.

The processes of developing film and making prints feel almost intentionally tailored to fuck with any person who struggles with executive function. It's alllll watching a big clock for one to seventeen minute durations and remembering to gently agitate a container for ten seconds every minute, and pouring a series of similarly colored fluids in the correct order only. Luckily, there's no cell service down there, so you can't get distracted texting or whatever.