#which I know is supposed to not be as good for retention

[pinkplatiploo]

I feel like school kinda screwed with me that I need to take notes and annotate everything because most stuff I can’t directly annotate (esp not how they taught me to with different symbols meaning different things, a lot of things i at best get to color code with different highlighter colors which I have been told was an eyesore before lmao) but anyways now I have so much reading weekly that taking notes adds a lot of time to but I feel like I can’t retain any info without taking notes so now I’m kinda stuck lol

[scientia-rex]

Wound Care

Ok so, take this with a BIG grain of salt, because I may be a medical doctor BUT you need to know how much wound care training we get in medical school: none. Zip. Zilch. There may be medical schools where you do, but mine wasn't a bozo factory and there was NO wound care training. Everything I know I learned from one of several sources: an intensive 2-day wound care course I did in residency (highly recommend), the local Home Health wound care nurse (highly recommend), a completely batshit insane old white male doctor who started our learning sessions by yelling Vietnam War stories at me (do not recommend), a hospital wound care nurse (highly recommend), and experience (oh god do not recommend).

The first thing you need to know is that wound healing varies dramatically across the course of a lifespan. Kids? Kids will heal. If they don't, get their ass to a pediatrician because there's something genetic going on. Young adults will heal. Middle-aged adults will heal. You know who doesn't heal for shit? The elderly, and people with severe illnesses, and people with uncontrolled type II diabetes.

Your body needs several things in order to heal. It needs macronutrients, so you need to be able to EAT protein, fat, and carbs. If you are on total parenteral nutrition, aka TPN, aka IV nutrition, you are going to be worse at healing. If you are starving yourself, you are going to be worse at healing. If your body is desperately funneling all the calories you take in to surviving your COPD or cancer, you are going to be worse at healing.

It also needs micronutrients. If your diet sucks, you won't heal. Take a multivitamin once in a while.

There are two CRITICAL skin components to healing: collagen and elastin. Guess what we stop making as we age. Promoting collagen isn't just good for "anti-aging," it's good for NOT ripping your skin apart. Taking oral collagen is probably bullshit because your body is going to have to disassemble it to get it across the intestinal membranes to absorb, but it's also harmless, and if your diet REALLY sucks, who knows. Give it a try. Collagen is made of amino acids; think protein.

Another absolutely crucial component is blood flow. As people age, they start to develop cholesterol plaques lining arteries that eventually pick up calcium deposits. This makes blood vessels less elastic, which is a problem, but eventually also blocks them off, which is a much bigger problem. If someone has the major blood flow to their feet decreased by 90% by arterial stenosis, they are not going to heal for shit AND their foot's gonna hurt.

One component of blood flow I hadn't thought about before going into medicine is fluid retention. The way your body works, blood exits the heart at a very high velocity, but slows to a crawl by the time it gets into capillaries, the smallest blood vessels in the body. Water is a very small molecule and can leave the blood vessel, especially if there aren't big, negatively-charged molecules like proteins like albumin in the blood vessels to hold the water there. And we're built for this--some water is supposed to leak out of our blood vessels when it gets to real little vessels. It gets taken back up by the lymphatic system and eventually dumped back into the bloodstream at the inferior vena cava. But if you aren't making albumin--for instance, in liver failure--you may leak a LOT of fluid into the tissue, so much that your legs get swollen, tight, the skin feeling woody and strange. This isn't fixable by drainage because the fluid is everywhere, not in a single pocket we can drain. And because it puts so much pressure on the tissues of the skin, it often results in ulcers. Congestive heart failure, liver failure, kidney failure--these are all common causes of severe edema, aka swelling due to fluid in the tissues. And they're a real bitch when it comes to wound care, because we have such limited resources for getting the fluid back out, which is a necessary first step to healing.

Pressure is another common cause of wounds. Pressure forces blood out of those little capillaries, so you starve the cells normally fed by those capillaries, and they die. It's called pressure necrosis. Very sick people who can't turn themselves over--people in the ICU, people in nursing homes--are especially prone to these wounds, as are people with limited sensation; pressure wounds are common in wheelchair users who have lost some feeling in the parts of their bodies that rub against those surfaces, or diabetics who don't notice a rock in their shoe.

So, if you're trying to treat wounds, the questions to ask are these:

Why did this wound happen?

-Was it pressure? If it's pressure, you have to offload the source of the pressure or else that wound will not heal. End of story. You can put the tears of a unicorn on that thing, if you don't offload the pressure it won't heal.

-Was it fluid? If it's fluid, you have get the fluid out of the issues or else it won't heal. You can sometimes do that with diuretics, medications that cause the body to dump water through the kidneys, but that's always threading a needle because you have to get someone to a state where they still have juuuuust enough fluid inside their blood vessels to keep their organs happy, while maintaining a very slight state of dehydration so the blood vessels suck water back in from the tissues. You can use compression stockings to squeeze fluid back into the vessels, but if they have arterial insufficiency and not just venous insufficiency, you can accidentally then cause pressure injury. The safest option is using gravity: prop the feet up above the level of the heart, wherever the heart is at, at that moment, and gravity will pull fluid back down out of the legs. Super boring though. Patients hate it. Not as much as they hate compression stockings.

-Was it a skin tear because the skin is very fragile? This is extremely common in the elderly, because they're not making collagen and elastin, necessary to repairing skin. If this is the case, make sure they're actually getting enough nutrition--as people get into their 80s and 90s, their appetites often change and diminish, especially if they're struggling with dementia. And think about just wrapping them in bubble wrap. Remove things with sharp edges from their environments. I have seen the WORST skin tears from solid wood or metal furniture with sharp edges. Get rid of throw rugs and other tripping hazards. I had somebody last week who tried to a clear a baby gate and damn near destroyed their artificial hip.

The next critical question: why isn't it healing?

-Are you getting enough nutrients? Both macro and micro?

-Are you elderly?

-Are you ill?

-Do you have a genetic disorder of collagen formation?

Fix why it's not healing and almost anything will heal. If you're diabetic, find a medication regimen that improves your sugars and stick to it. If you're anorexic, get treatment for your eating disorder. If you have congestive heart failure, work with your doctor on your fluid balance. Wear the damn pressure stockings. Prop up your feet.

If, after those two unskippable questions are done, you want to do something to the wound--apply a dressing, do a treatment--that's a whole other kettle of fish. I'll write that later. The dryer just sang me its little song and I need to put away the laundry.

[letteredlettered]

What an interesting topic. I’ve heard that a large percentage of employees cite their bosses as the reason they leave their jobs. What are some ways companies try to mitigate this?

They don't.

I can really only answer for my company, which cared about retention (of employees) a lot. Many companies do, because it costs much less to recruit/onboard/train as little as possible, and because it can be hard to get the work done without adequate staffing. I'd add that my company had one area in which staffing was a nation-wide crisis; also my company was in the public sector and was in the press a lot, which mean they cared about their image.

They still didn't do that much to ensure that people had good bosses. That has less to do with this company and more to do with the structure of business in capitalist society. This is a big reason HR is never going to be that helpful unless you've got a tiny company that, completely by luck, has mostly good folks.

A company isn't going to take a generalized point about folks leaving their job because they don't like their bosses as fact. Companies feel they are too diverse and the financial risk is too great to pour money into something if they don't have hard data, so the first step to retention is getting data. You would think exit interviews would be really informative, but those require a lot of time which equals staff which equals money. Some employers do them but mine would only do one if you asked, and then they did nothing with the info. This is because the company's mentality was "well, if you're leaving you're probably really dissatisfied and we don't want to hear about that." I know this makes no sense. But in general, not just in the business but in this society (formed by capitalism), the idea seems to be if you're dissatisfied it's your fault. Meanwhile the company is interested in data about why people stay; they figure if folks are satisfied, that's the company's fault and they want to keep doing the same so they can retain employees.

Our company had a huge employee satisfaction survey they did every year that included questions about employee opinions about the company, their colleagues, and their bosses. You get emails to remind you to take it and if you can't get time in the workday, bosses are supposed to allow time for it. Some problems with that are you still have to remember to take it; if you don't have time you have to ask a boss you might not like to get that time; some folks at my company literally had jobs that literally are life or death so it can be hard to take time to take a survey; the survey is only in English; the survey is only in the computer; the reminders are only in email. So you have to be a moderately good English speaker who regularly checks email and knows how to use a computer and gets regular access to a computer for the company to get your data about your satisfaction. As you can imagine, our most vulnerable employees often get missed.

If the survey showed that folks were really dissatisfied with a particular boss, that boss got put into a series of trainings. Training is good, but US businesses (and plenty of employees themselves) seemed to have latched onto the idea that training is the be-all, end-all of improvement. Many of us saw this in response to the discussions about EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) that came about in 2020; business promised to be anti-racist and had some EDI seminars to prove it, and that was all. Why is it like this? What is really needed to make bosses better bosses? And why isn't that being done?

When it comes to "why is it like this": recruiting and retaining good leaders is hard. The way someone becomes a boss in almost any organization is a) management likes them, and/or b) they were good at a job in a lower level or different department, or c) they come from the outside with a good resume and what sounds like good experience. But a lot of time, management likes people who aren't disruptive, and sometimes folks who aren't disruptive are the folks who are not thinking for themselves and not asking questions and doing everything the way they're told even when it doesn't make sense. That doesn't make a good leader. As for folks who are good at the lower level job in the hierarchy or in another department, they aren't always good at managing. It's a different skill set, but I've seen a lot of leaders and employees make this mistake. They think that that the folks who are great at the job should be promoted, and honestly that really doesn't make sense. And last but not least, folks who get hired from the outside are a complete crapshoot, because experience with leadership does not necessarily a good leader make.

As for what is needed to make bosses better bosses, imo what you would really need is someone embedded within the department who is managed by the boss and is doing the same work as the other employees, but also has the training and experience to evaluate what the boss is doing well and isn't doing well, and then also has the authority and buy-in to work with the boss so that the boss can shadow and learn the leadership skills they need. Then, if the boss can't improve, there would need to be the will within the org to fire or demote that boss, and often that will doesn't exist because recruiting bosses is so hard and the training is usually monumental.

Side note, what I'm describing is what consultants should do and normally don't. Consultants come in and ask a lot of questions and do focus groups and maybe some observations, but they are not in there doing the work understanding what it is like to live in this world, and without that I frankly find a lot of the work they do useless. That said, consultants are almost always hired to identify inefficiencies; they're not really there to make it a more satisfying job. Imo, the greatest efficiency is a satisfied worker, but it is hard to get the data to point that way, and again, companies only want data, and again, your dissatisfaction is your own fault.

Another side note, this is why unions are so great. Union stewards are folks who work for the company but can act as a union representative. This means they're embedded in the department and doing the work everyone does, but they can also at times step outside that role and carry the authority of an outside entity that does have some power to use against the employer. This is why all employees should have a union.

So, why aren't companies doing this? As you can imagine, hiring the ambassador to embed within a department, training them, paying them for their time--all of these are just too cost prohibitive to justify when they only thing you're getting out of it is employee satisfaction. It is also possible to improve employee satisfaction by paying employees more, which is in fact why I stayed in this job I hated as long as I did. I was getting paid so much that it just did not make sense to walk away without a firm plan in place. In the end, paying employees more costs less than ensuring they have a good boss.

I have lots more to say about this, but I've said a lot already, so if anyone has follow up questions, feel free to send more asks.

[im-a-goat-in-disguise]

hey, tumblr @staff , if you don't revert my dashboard back the way it was like two weeks ago [i.e - NOT LOOKING LIKE FUCKING TWITTER OH MY GOD. PUT THE HOME AND MESSAGES AND EVERYTHING BACK IN THE TOP RIGHT WHERE ITS SUPPOSED TO BE AND I KNOW WHERE IT IS AND I WANT TO CLICK] I'm just not going to use tumblr on the website. at all. my use of tumblr will severely decline. you were good the way you were before. at least mobile is still the same [For now...] Trying to blatantly copy the layouts and decisions of other companies and social media sites [which are burning to the ground *because of those decisions*] will not make you more popular or retentive to new users or old ones. You will only push away anybody who creates content and has used your site for a long time. I've seen some of my friends switch to tumblr recently and they are not using it because it feels like twitter, or because it feels like reddit, but because the content they want is right there, accessible, and not hard to get to. they have supreme control over what they see and no algorithm tries to lead them to other stuff. for this reason, one of my friends has literally described tumblr as "Reddit, but more wholesome" - based on the fact that reddit kept leading them towards content they hated and made them feel upset. Don't try to become reddit. Or twitter. Or facebook. You're tumblr, and that's all you need to be.

At the very VERY VERY least, let us have an option to opt-out of future UI layout changes. OR give *NEW USERS* the OPTION to customize the UI layout when they join, if they want it to resemble twitter or reddit or anything else.

[ @staff @changes @humans @engineering @brickwhartley ]

[dark-angel-of-muses]

Ravioli Good Omens AU

Been losing my kind over this with @breannasfluff haha

Legend is a tired, bitter angel who really doesn't want to give ungrateful people blessings

Ravio is a nervous, lonely demon that is supposed to sell cursed objects at a Needful Things type curio shop but keeps all his cursed merch off the shelves and runs a normal shop. Bad for customer retention when they're cursed whenever they buy from your shop, you know.

Ravio and Legend fudge their respective reports blaming each other for whenever their work doesn't get done. Oh, Ravio wanted to sell that cursed doll to someone, but the curse was removed by that Angel! Oh, Legend tried to hand out blessings, but they were siphoned away by that terrible demon!

Meanwhile they actually just live normal lives and ignore their divine/demonic ordained duties. Legend tends a small apple orchard. Ravio has a key to his his house and if either is asked how that happened they will dodge the question.

Ravio also has a "demonic familiar" bird that's actually just a normal bird he adopted. Hi Sheerow.

Ficlet under the cut!

"Um, Mr. Hero Angel sir? Excuse me? May I come in? I'd knock but, ah, your halo is right there on the door. I'm afraid I'd rather not be horribly burned?"

Link rolled his eyes. This demon. Link never even locked the doors anymore. He was being polite by asking to come in. But he was a demon! He didn't have to be polite! Besides, Link hadn't worn his halo in years, preferring to keep it as a door knocker. The remaining angelic power scared people, which meant he could reduce the number of visitors knocking at his door asking for blessings.

Link opened the door, fixing Ravio with a critical look. "I see you've brought a friend today."

Sheerow stared unblinking back at the angel. Ravio had taken him on as a pet after the little bird made a nest on his windowsill and refused to leave.

"Ah, well. You see, I needed to bring him along. I ask for a favor. Just a tiny one!"

Link groaned, swinging the door wide and letting the demon in. If it had been a human, he would have shut the door in their face, but Ravio was.... special. They'd been in each other's orbit since creation. Link was supposed to give blessings, Ravio was supposed to place curses. For a while, they did their jobs, occasionally getting in each other's way. Link would break some curses, Ravio would steal away some blessings.

Eventually, they made an agreement to stop interfering entirely. Link was tired of handing out blessings while his Bosses were thanked, and Ravio didn't much like giving curses. Made one a bit lonely when everyone they met encountered a horrible fate. If anyone asked, they were doing the same work they'd always done, since their output was about the same.

"You want tea?" Link walked to the kitchen to start the kettle.

"Ah, it's not holy water if _you_ boil it, right?" Ravio shuffled nervously, black wings fluttering.

"No. If all I had to do to bless something was touch it, I wouldn't hate blessing so much. Besides, it's not like when you boil pasta, the spaghetti becomes demonic." Link rolled his eyes at the thought. Ravio was so nervous about cavorting with an Angel. Link knew their superiors didn't care. As long as the status quo was maintained, a little rule breaking wasn't noted by either side.

"It's not like I'm cooking for anyone else, I wouldn't know," Ravio protested.

Link dropped the black tea bags into the kettle and left it to set as he flopped into his favorite armchair. "Alright, demon. What's the favor?"

"Could you perform a blessing for me?"

Link blinked. Was he being pranked? "Excuse me?"

"It's just, I've grown fond of this little guy," Ravio scooped Sheerow into his palm, holding the bird up with one hand and covering him with the other, "And I read that birds only live 30 years, and Sheerow was an adult when I found him! If you could bless him with longevity, I would be so grateful!" Ravio bit his lip, buck teeth showing as his nose twitched.

"You do realize if your people downstairs heard that question, they would smite you?"

Ravio blushed. "Look, if it's a no, we can pretend this conversation never happened. I just thought, since we already had a deal and all, you might help me out? I do promise to pay you back! Uh, if this conversation happened. Did it happen?" Ravio's primary feathers twitched and puffed.

Link rolled his eyes. "Pay me back? What, can you curse the mealworms rotting my apples?"

"Done! They'll be cursed with an affliction so they never desire to eat again! Starvation from apathy. Lots of suffering, I promise!"

Link stared. Was he serious? He had meant it as a joke, but Ravio's face was fully earnest. He... really wanted this. Wanted to get a blessing and fully willing to pay back in a way only he could.

"Well. alright. I'll bless your bird. After all, I can't just leave him in the hands of a demon unarmed, can I? If he lives long, maybe he can tempt you into good."

"Thank you so much! I'll make sure the curse lingers, no pest will ever touch your apples without suffering again!"

He was too good to be a demon. Then again, Link was pretty bad for an angel. Maybe they fit neatly together.

[mint-and-authoress]

Slime HRT - Progress Report I

<<| ⏯️ |>>

“...”

[The video shows a bedroom with a computer setup in the background and an empty chair in the foreground.]

“...gods how do I even start…”

[o-s]“Just talk, love. You’ll be fine.”

“...but I meant like… no, you’re right.”

[A young woman appears from stage left, wearing a green flannel hood atop a t-shirt and leggings. She has brown hair and glasses, standing around 5’8/172cm. She sits in the chair.]

“Hello. My name is Elise, and I’ve decided to make a video documenting my transition. I’ve recently thought about some life choices and more about my identity, and I’ve chosen to undergo human removal therapy. Basically I wanna take all m’ flesh and bones and turn it all into slime. Thanks to experimental drugs and the fact that the FDA is not responsible, I’ve been given an opportunity.”

[Elise holds up one generic prescription bottle containing capsules; two vials for injections, one opaque and slightly coloured green, the other clear and watery; and one tube of ointment that has been emptied.]

“This is the motherload, right here. Everything I’m taking to do this. This bottle is my… ‘my-o-chi-tin-ase’... yeah. This is the main ingredient, turns all your insides to mush and turns that mush into slime. The pills are homolipostat, it’s basically spiro but for human removal. Stops your human parts from regenerating. The other vial and the empty tube are things to help the transition. This is vasopressin, helps with water retention, which I’ll need a ton, since I’m basically becoming 50% more water by mass. And this tube once contained something like 30 grams of salicylic acid, all to break down m’ skin. The myo is 1mL once weekly, the -(pfft)- the homo is 100mg once daily, the vasopressin is 0.01mL once daily, and the ointment is one tube weekly.”

[She sets the medicines down.]

“So…day one of Slime HRT. All that is to say, nothing yet. Though I have heard this human removal therapy business is supposed to work pretty fast compared to hormone replacement therapy. So, hopefully I get some good results out of it.”

“Still haven’t told anybody except my darling wife so…yeah that’s gonna be fun when it happens.”

“Oh, and yeah, this is what I look like right now. It’s decent as far as a human body is concerned, so just to make it obvious to the TERF-y crowd, I am happy I went through this process. Even though the slime is gonna replace all of…this.”

[Elise vaguely gestures to herself.]

“I’m gonna end up uploading this all in one big compilation-esque video at a good stopping point so this is all ya get for now!”

[The woman reaches for the camera and the first segment ends. The next segment opens in a different room, messier and more decorated. In the top right corner a timestamp of ‘14 Days’ is shown.]

“Two weeks later! Still not used to talking to cameras, I’ve had absolutely zero practice since the last time you saw me.”

[Elise brings her right hand and wrist up to the camera.]

“So in terms of changes, I haven’t really noticed much. Pandora - that’s m’ wife, if ya didn’t know - she thinks my skin’s gotten clearer. I think to her-”

[Elise momentarily looks away pointedly, likely towards her wife]

“-it’s just a confirmation bias thing. Not to mention I just cannot imagine. Nope. Nothing. Never been able to. It’s called aphantasia, and if you’ve ever seen that image where it’s the five heads all imagining an apple, I’m the one that can’t see anything. But that’s not really relevant to the slime stuff.”

[The camera switches to the outer camera of a smartphone, pointed down at the back of Elise’s left hand]

“So… just so you can see… even turning my hand over just to show… nothin.”

[The segment ends. The next segment opens with a headshot and the timestamp reads ‘1 Month.’ Elise looks excited, despite having obvious bags under her eyes. Her skin appears more lustrous and is slightly translucent. She is wearing short sleeves.]

“One month! Gods one month! It’s like, impossible to explain how excited that makes me. Anyway, big news! Look!”

[Elise holds her arm up to the camera, the skin looking notably transparent.]

“That’s the first sign! Well, the first visible sign. The actual first sign was like a couple days ago. Turns out the first thing to change is something to do with sweat, probably because slimes don’t want any help in terms of drying out. It got a sweeter smell, weirdly enough. If for some reason you’re using this as a guide, take the extra time in your day to keep your skin clean. Sweat equals bacteria, so while your skin is kinda retiring from the idea of keeping all that outside of your body, do yourself a favour and take preventative measures.” 

“...and I guess this’ll be a kinda vlog thing, too. Transition’s not all about the meds and stuff, y’know?”

“I told my boss about it. Honestly, it went pretty decently, all things considered. Most importantly: not fired, which was what I was most scared about. We talked about it for like, an hour while she was in the store for something else. She’s a very human human, so I don’t think she really got the deeper meanings of it.”

“Still haven’t told my friends or my family. My friends are…also human. It took them a while to actually take my transition seriously, and even then it was because I had to tell them to. As far as my family goes…yeah, nah. I’m moving out at some point soon so either way they’re not gonna have to deal with all this for long.”

“I have connected with people more like myself, though! These drugs are experimental so it’s not like everybody can just go for it yet, so that list of new friends is kinda small. There’s a couple little support groups but everyone kinda talks to everyone and wow there’s some nice creatures I know now. So, Mayday, Sandy, Xion, if y’all are watching, hey! I am aware of you!”

“I think that’s everything? Again, not much, but it is still only a month into all this. If something happens, I’ll keep you all posted.”

[The segment ends. The next segment appears to be an Overwatch lobby, where in the top left corner a webcam is set up, showing Elise wearing headphones. The timestamp reads ‘7 Weeks.’The audio from the game is intentionally muted.]

[o-s, distant]“Hey, El?”

“Yeah?”

“...”

[Elise removes her headphones.]

“One sec.”

[Elise walks away and opens the door, still in frame. The video zooms in to mostly show the webcam, though nothing of note happens in the gameplay.]

“What’s up?”

[o-s] “Nah I was just headed to the store and…”

“...and?”

[o-s] “...what the fuck? You feel okay?”

“Uh, yeah. I feel fine. Why?”

[o-s] “Look at your skin, you’re like breaking out or some shit!”

“No, dad, it’s fine. I’m fine, okay?”

[o-s] “No no, it’s not. You’re not! You got like, shiny skin and it’s…”

“...”

[o-s] “You’ve been taking shit behind my back, haven’t you?”

“What? What do you mean?”

[o-s] “Oh don’t you start that bullshit. Come on, El, you know that shit is delusional. You see it on TV, you see those people just throw everything away and kill themselves on that removal shit.”

“You don’t understand! You don’t struggle with identity issues! I want to be something that isn’t human, it literally should not change anything between us.”

[o-s] “Ah don’t give me that shit. This trans species stuff is all just a hoax. Government just wants an excuse to take gullible people and experiment on ‘em, they get away with it every time there’s some international shit to take the heat.”

“This isn’t from the government, though! It’s from Hyper City-”

[o-s] “Hyper- when the fuck did you leave the house that long? No, if your doctor didn’t give that out then hand it over.”

“Not happening. And we really don’t wanna talk about unprescribed meds, do we?”

[o-s] “You know that’s different, you… Whatever. You’re not gonna be around long enough to make it matter anyway. You don’t show any of this to your mother, got it?”

“...Fine.”

[The door shuts loudly. Elise returns to the setup as the scene fades to black.]

}~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~{

YEAH THAT'S RIGHT, PART THREE

finally made some progress thank you to sandy and weiss and the rest of them over at @sandyca5tle for dropping a bomb of inspiration on us earlier this morning

but yeah! finally actually getting the changes documented, as well as the developing lore (tm)

the trans experience on full display today ;-;

[takeariskao3]

idk guys things are just weird

this is going to be a very chaotic and disorganized Personal Post (sorry in advance)

i know this is silly and i don't owe anyone anything, but i genuinely feel so sad that i don't have anything to contribute or post today on harry's birthday.

something is up with my writing and i can't quite put my finger on it.. harry and ginny are being...very soft and not in a way that is in-character or plot driven. things are just off. all my plans i have in my head are literally flying out the window everytime i sit down to write and i don't trust if it is the right decision for the story or just some weird mood i'm in that's manifesting in a really out of character tone on the page.

i suppose it could be a couple different things. i haven't met with my therapist in two weeks so my brain could just be overloaded with other crap that i need to process and or decompress before my writing thoughts feel organized again.

my husband has been massively stressed out because of many different things going on in his life separate from our family and so i've been going a little over the top trying to be there for him.

our daughter hasn't been sleeping all that well and she's been fighting a virus/cold for going on about two weeks that i think we are finally on the tail end of.

work for me is bleh. i don't enjoy what i'm doing right now. we are in one of those cycles that is all reporting and data entry and retention analysis and its so boring and just not at all what fulfills me from this position. however in the same vein, the semester is right around the corner so it's also the last push to make sure everything is ready to go for when students return to campus.

i killed a spider today which is like a very big deal for me. i am deathly afraid of spiders and my good friends can attest that when confronted with one i dissolve into a lot of screaming and sweating and general panic. so i def think i am experiencing the aftermath of an adrenaline rush even though that was like five hours ago.

all of this is to say, i think i need a break from wips. specifically already gone and the entire the path from you universe. i feel like this past month has just been me forcing something that doesn't need to be forced. i think if i take a step back from both stories, and quit putting so much pressure on myself, my head will clear and things will start falling into place.

this week is @corneliaavenue-ao3's ficfest! and i hope this will be a really good way to bring to life some of these soft moments that keep trying to knock down the door and also keep me in the habit of writing. i don't want to put a timeline on it and somehow set an expectation for myself or anyone else but i'm guessing you can expect a two/three week longer hiatus for those two stories, and you can probably expect a fair amount of random one shots and/or drabbles from me in the meantime.

i'm sorry if this is disappointing, i can promise it is just as disappointing for me. i miss having a clear head and the words flowing effortlessly. i hope someday i get that back, but for now, i'm going to hope a little time away from those plots helps settle the static that lives inside my head.

as always, thanks for reading and understanding <3

[behindthewox]

Where has WoPEU gone?

No, no, I don’t mean where has the url or the actual site gone, I mean where has what makes it EU gone? Let me explain.

WoPEU is the longest running of all the english language sites. For a long time, it had a reputation for being the sillier, more welcoming and more inclusive of the english sites. Its first long term leader was a prominent member of the community, they were approachable, took part in the randomness, pranked their users in good-natured ways and fully embodied that sort of vibe that made it a fun place to hang out and for its new members. It was a site that went on to help spawn other sites after getting new users settled there or trained up. It also had the highest retention rate by far of its staff than seen on a lot of sites. The leaders were always people that users could go to easily with anything, they advocated for the userbase in its entirety, they could be counted upon to get involved in anything and everything and were actively roleplaying with literally anyone who asked (which was a lot). The newer leaders, born from the same sort of atmosphere that the site’s community embodied, were along the same vein and helped steer the joyful ship through some tough waters. Together, they all set a strong tone of what the community went on to make of EU.

WoPUK was a good site too, I enjoyed my time there, but there’s no denying that the two places were very different from each other. UK had a reputation for having a very loyal, if small, base, and if you were a part of that, it was a great place to be. But it was a closed community, a retreat for some, anyone could see the high staff turnover, and new users found it hard to dig their way in and make a home.

Zoom forward to now and WoPEU is a very different place. Its leader is not approachable, is hardly around in a social manner, and when they are, they give an impression of forced fakeness rather than authentically a part of the community. Less a part, more an overseer. I’m not saying they’re bad at their job and I’m sure they’re working very hard. But they’re from a different world, and as a result, they have a very different approach and it’s having a big effect on the site and its community as a whole. They seem to be more of a firm sitting head that, while surely worked well on WoPUK and the dynamic there, is gratingly obvious in a place where the vibe was historically very different. And sadly, there’s nothing there in place to counter or to balance this.

The merge itself of the two sites needed to happen. They shouldn’t really have been separate in the first place, but hindsight and all that, it made sense to put them back together again and to concentrate efforts rather than split. And who says no to more friends? But regrettably, it wasn’t a merge that was done well. I won’t get into the details of why, I’m sure there are many opinions flying around about the specifics. But it can be summarized I think, now that we’re further along and able to look back, in the simple fact that the leadership they chose wasn’t the right one. If the type of closed-off-but-close community atmosphere was what they wanted, then sure, but for a site that was supposed to be more welcoming and open in order to have the merge go well, it wasn’t the right choice. And, quite frankly, the site is a grey shadow of its former self without the energy and silliness it once embodied.

Though some people will argue they foresaw problems like this before it happened, we can’t really know these things for sure until they do happen and their course has been running. And for that reason we can’t say for sure that choosing EU’s leaders would have produced a better result either. What we can say though is that it would have been a different path and a different merged site. And more importantly, we’re at a place now where we can look back and review and analyse what has been in order to see the effects of decisions made and, most notably, what is missing.

So where does this leave us now? With a sad site, to be honest. It can be clearly seen by anyone who actively participates, or tries to. Morale is low. People aren’t sticking around. There’s fewer jokes. A number of staff have recently stepped down, some of which have been prominent figures in their positions for over five real life years on EU and heavily devoted to their positions and community in the past. And while I don’t know these people well enough to be able to know why they’re leaving, the timing is telling. And sadly this despondent vibe is more than just a guess, it’s showing in the site and userbase itself. What was once a fun and varied community is morphing relatively quickly into the closed-off one that was UK, with what embodied EU, which could have countered this, being displaced or erased. This isn’t how the merge should have gone; it should’ve been a complementary merging of the two. In another timeline with other decisions, the site exists in a better form with a happier community and a brighter future, I’m sure. Instead, what we were all assured would not happen has in fact happened: that UK would simply overwrite EU. A great thing for people who enjoyed WoPUK for sure and I doubt any of those would find a complaint. But for a merged community, time is showing it isn’t working; the site is worse off for losing its EU half.

Leadership keeps coming up, so let’s tackle that now that time has passed. It’s possible to have someone leading who is good at their job and getting stuff done, but be entirely wrong for the community they lead. I believe that’s the case here. 

The current leader is extremely divisive. They’re someone who even other site leaders have expressed issues and reservations with, spoken about before the merge was even announced. Despite this, chances were given, their course was run and now we can review. They have benefits and in the right environment would work well, in the current one however, the fit does not seem to be there. They’re efficient and quick and able to make tough decisions, but their communication methods have raised countless issues as well as with their ability to take on feedback, criticism, to be flexible, or to just consider any other perspective and bend their views to take them on board rather than bullying their own point across. All things they can work on, sure, and I’ve heard they are trying. But can you work on developing that heart that the site is so sorely lacking now? The newest hire I’ve only heard good things about, however I can’t help but note the misstep of an opportunity missed there to share leadership with exEU alongside exUK to form a better balance for mergedEU. Former EU leaders were pushed out of their positions in the same way UK staff lost theirs. If merged site staff step down, exUK are currently offered those positions. But when one of the merged leaders stepped down, why weren’t those who lost those positions, exEU, also first in line to replace and co-lead? Maybe they were and they declined, I can’t claim to know, but the question remains and especially now that the effects that an absence of exEU is now causing is being realized. One of those who lost their positions and has been a long-term member of staff on EU pre-merge, has now gone on to lead WoPUS. They embody that same kind of spirit from being part of the team or family of exEU and have taken their part of that and its silliness with them. I have no doubts that US will do well with them and partly because of that. Meanwhile, the new EU will likely continue to flounder under its very different - and honestly boring - rule. The core community will stay and continue to argue its benefits and lack of faults I’m sure (or at least its UK core will), but is that what we need for a happy shared community that we want to grow? For half of its userbase to feel neglected and pushed out? A community is what makes a site, but a leader is what helps shape it, and this shape is very quickly losing any form that includes EU’s spirit. We didn’t get the marriage of features to create something new and better, we just got UK again instead.

And yes, it can be argued that I am biased. And I am - I had a favorite between the two, pre-merge. I do appreciate both sites and see both their good sides (and bad), I just personally found it easier to integrate into EU, and on alts, and remain, because of the things I mention, as well as personally finding more enjoyment in its more fun and inclusive environment. For that reason I mourn those aspects of EU that have been lost and I have left too. 

I was very happy for an EU/UK merge and felt it was the right (but difficult) call to make. What a shame we didn’t actually get it. 

[disclaimer: the text above is a submission sent in by an anonymous contributor, and they are expressing their personal feelings and opinions. I'm just posting it / fish]

TL;DR (for those of you who don't like to read essays) WoP EU has lost its' former character due to the merge. It feels like the old EU vibes have been replaced with the UK vibes, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but it's a loss for those who preferred and loved the old EU vibes. Anon also questions why the leadership wasn't split between one exEU and one exUK user, providing insight from both sides and maintaining both cultures.

[thefloatingstone]

Sailor Moon Questions: Why is Mamoru the worst part? Is it a Kaiden Alenko sort of thing or did you inherit Kunihiko Ikuhara's dislike maybe? Also, what about PGSM gets past your dislike of live action remakes?

Mamoru is the worst part of Sailor Moon because he is BORINGGGGG. He is literally just a prize for Usagi. And I mean that's perfectly fine because, to put it bluntly, "this ain't about him". Mamoru is only important because he's important to Usagi. We only care about him because Usagi does. If she didn't care about him we could kick him out of the group and never think about him ever again.

The problem is just that sometimes, although very rarely in the 90s anime, the story makes a big drama over him and Usagi's relationship. Honestly the ONLY reason is works in the anime is because we're always seeing it from Usagi's perspective. So we care because she cares.

But whenever we have to spend time with Mamoru it's just so incredibly dull and uninteresting because the guy has no personality. And what little personality he DOES have isn't particularly enjoyable. In the manga he's a bit of a sarcastic bitch which is at least SOMETHING I like about him. But in the anime and in PGSM... he's just a anal retentive jerk most of the time, brooding and aloof to make him ~*mysterious*~ and desirable to the preteen audience because he is uncomplicated and therefore nonthreatening. But in the anime especially, as soon as he and Usagi officially get together he is all but a blank slate. Just passively nice in a way that forgoes any individuality. He's literally the opposite of Bella Swan. A sort of reverse Y/N where instead of being a self insert for the audience, he's an insert for the audience to project whatever they think would make for a cool boyfriend because he has no describable traits. Hell we barely even know what he's supposed to be studying!

This is why a rather big group of fans, especially back in the day, preferred Usagi with Seiya in the anime. Because at least Seiya had SOMETHING resembling a personality. I don't like Seiya but they at least are a CHARACTER.

And then because Mamoru has 0 personality it brings up a lot of questions the source material isn't built to address which is "why are these two together?". Because without actually having a personality, they don't seem to have anything in common at all. And that brings up a lot of uncomfortable questions regarding fate, and destiny, and whether the only reason they are together is pressures from a past life and pressures of a Utopian future they are obligated to fulfill.

None of this is something the story is equipped or interested in discussing, however. Because it's a story for preteen girls (except for the final Stars arc, especially in the manga, where Naoko decided to go off her shit and make the entire thing about philosophy regarding the self, static death versus dynamic life, the acceptance of chaos because it is the only way good can exist even if it means the possibility of evil, self love, the universe as organism etc etc).

Mamoru isn't like Kaidan at all tho because Kaidan is an actual character. I can tell you things about Kaidan, both good and bad, about his personality, how he sees things and how he thinks about things. Mamoru is literally just the male version of a sexy lamp.

I clown on Kaidan and make fun of him because I really appreciate his role in Shepard's story and his importance to the games as a whole. He enriches the world and plot, especially as a foible to Shepard. I think Kaidan's clashing with Shepard makes her personal story BETTER. kaidan ADDS to the narrative specifically because of who he is, how he thinks and how he responds to things, and how he and Shepard have to work out their shit to reach equal grounds and overcome their past issues and mistakes with each other. Kaidan also humanises Shepard in a way that I adore. Because Kaidan and Shepard's messy relationship shows that Shepard is just a human being. Which is immensely important to Mass Effect as a whole.

Shepard isn't space Jesus. She's a human being. Which is why she makes me so emotional.

Mamoru is just there so Usagi can give the preteen girls watching their wish fulfillment of a cool older boyfriend.

And that's just incredibly dull. Especially when the canon within the story itself, in all its incarnations, has other really great relationships which are complex and nuanced and actually interesting.

[avaseofpeonies]

Warning: self-indulgent writer moping ahead.

Today marks the fourth anniversary of the day I began writing Salvage, and I'm looking at about 20-25 chapters until it's finally finished. It currently stands at 162,000 words.

I had no idea it would end up this long. It was supposed to be a 25 chapter NaNoWriMo style thing. Oops.

I really wish I had been able to keep it to that length. This whole experience has been a rollercoaster of pride in accomplishment vs. soul-crushing disappointment. I started posting it online in hopes that I'd get some readers to give me feedback and cheer me on, but that never really happened. It's only got a handful of regular readers, and of those only a spare few are at all interactive, so a downward spiral began where I'd get discouraged about it and take long hiatuses, which certainly didn't help with reader attraction or retention.

I've been on a pretty good streak of getting chapters out lately, and I really don't know where this boost in motivation has come from. At this point I suspect it's just a grudge match to get the thing finished.

After that... I have ideas I've been putting off because I'd feel guilty for writing anything but Salvage just now. Let's see if I haven't burned out my remaining optimism by the time I finish this one.

Ok. 20-25 chapters. I can do this let's go.

[i-am-still-bb]

Treat for 22/10:

One of them is a modern witch and an owner of a famous potions recipe blog. The other one is a bit of a fanboy / just trying not to get his eyebrows synged off…

A/N: Originally conceived as an AU of The World Next Door. That had me stuck though. So we have this. But it still has similar elements, age gap, instructor/student dynamic, etc.

—

Fili drummed his fingers on the walnut conference table. One. Finger. At. A. Time. Focusing on how there were pits in the wood and some scratches in the varnish beneath his fingertips.

“Do you have any ideas?”

The silence following the question stretched on a beat too long and Fili knew he was supposed to answer. “Can you rephrase the question?”

“Enrollment numbers are dropping.”

“I’d noticed.”

“We need better student engagement and retention. Do you have any ideas? You are the most junior member of staff.” That last part was a thinly veiled dig and threat.

Fili shrugged, brushing off the words, “We could try putting some stuff on social media, teasers, sneak peeks, behind the scenes stuff. Stories about how potions and other magic sometimes go awry.”

Frowns appeared on the tenured track professors’ faces as soon as the words “social media” had left his mouth. This is why he rarely spoke up during these things. He kept his head down, did his research, lectured, and quickly attended conferences and published. 

Alice, the other young faculty member, specializing in potions that assisted in the growing of plants, clapped her hands. “My students would love something like that,” she grinned. “And I think it would do them good to see us as human, to see that we also make mistakes and singe our eyebrows and armchairs off.”

The department head looked skeptical. “It is an ‘interesting’ idea,” Fili could hear the air quotes around the word. “I think one of you younger people should be in charge. And as Ms. Yu is already assisting the Archives in their project then it should be you, if you don’t mind.

Fili did mind. Very much in fact. 

“It shouldn’t take that much time, maybe an hour a week,” the Head continued. 

And that was how a decade later Fili found himself spending more time on social media (Instagram, TikTok, and the like) promoting the university more broadly and the potions department specifically. 

He had asked for an assistant and was denied. 

It was fun. 

Sometimes. 

But other times he was just answering basic questions, or telling people “NO! ABSOLUTELY DO NOT MIX THOSE THINGS TOGETHER!” and then hoping that they actually listened.

Most of the time he was typing up replies, proofreading, posting, recording response videos, without paying much attention to the usernames that came across his screen. Sometimes there was one that would strike him as particularly ridiculous or clever; he would screenshot it, crop it, and save it to a special folder on his computer. He did the same with responses that made him give up home for humanity. 

But then there was one user, K.O.A.K., who asked questions that often made Fili pause and wonder and sometimes his only response was “I don’t know” even after he did some research and some serious thinking. 

They had a video chain going back at least six months at this point. 

Fili’s videos were well-lit against a carefully chosen background from a tripod; all courtesy of a performing arts student who interned for him for a semester. Really, she had bullied him into letting her do an unpaid internship. She was a double major and she said that the content of his videos were fantastic, but everything else was tragic. 

So now part of Fili’s large office / workspace was permanently set up for filming videos.

K.O.A.K.’s videos were probably worse that Fili’s had started out as. He always held his phone which sometimes made Fili nauseous while the user tossed ingredients into a travel sized cauldron that sat on a stove that had a single burner and plugged into a wall outlet. The wooden table it sat on was scarred from mishaps and frequently littered with ingredients, snacks, dust, and the occasional iced coffee cup of varying fullness. 

K.O.A.K. never showed his face. 

His hands featured in nearly every video. Sometimes his bare feet (which Fili had scolded him for, “What if you spill [insert potion here]? Or it boils over?” K.O.A.K.’s only response had been laughter, and to show off a fairly impressive old scar on his shin from just that thing happening) appeared. 

Fili shared tricks for making a potion that temporarily improved hand dexterity. “Roast the willow root before cutting it into thin 1 inch strips.”

K.O.A.K.  responded with a video demonstrating the differences between his original potion, one following Fili’s tip, and then one where he had added some olive oil to the foil packet before roasting, and then had roughly minced the root. 

Fili amended his notes.

He toyed with the idea of sharing his phone number as they starting talking about more than just tips and tricks for potions. But decided against it. This account operated in an official capacity. And it was probably bad enough that he was carrying on personal conversations through it. 

But he did notice that the twinge of excitement he got when he saw a notification form K.O.A.K. was the same as the one he would get early on in a new relationship. He had more than a little bit of a crush. It was merely academic, or so he told himself. He did not often get to talk about potions with anyone else.

—

Direct Messages between You (Prof.Durin) and K.O.A.K.

You: Why don’t you have a degree in this? You’re better than some of my grad students.

IDK.

You: You should apply to Erebor’s program. 

I don’t think they’d take me. I never took those ridiculous tests.

You: I’ll get them waived.

… I may not have finished secondary school

You: I’ll see what I can do.

—

Fili dismissed the class early. The first day of a new semester was always short. Most of his students were out of their seats and out the door before Fili had finished wiping down the whiteboard. Except for one. He was standing by the lectern, backpack slung over one shoulder.

“Did you have a question?”

The student shook his head. “I just wanted to introduce myself.”

Fili consulted his attendance sheet for a moment, “It’s Killian Oaks, right? If you would prefer something else, I can certainly do that. I just don’t have a note from the college about anything like that for you.”

“It is. But that’s not how you’d know me.”

Fili frowned in thought, one hand splayed over his papers on the desk. There was the niggle in the back of his brain that told him he was missing something.”

“You’d know me as . . .”

--

Taglist: Everything: @silvermoon-scrolls Fili/Kili: @dubhlachen

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "The Forgotten Droid"

Chopper goes on an adventure and makes a friend!

Already putting our Quasar to good use I see.

And Hera's using the map data from the ritual in "Legends of the Lasat", nice nice, love that that little element came back.

Hi Ketsu, not that it's not nice to see you but again I am sorely missing the legwork behind why you're buddy-buddy with the actual legit Rebellion this time. And NO the Forces of Destiny shorts do not count, you can't rely on outside material to fill in the gaps for you in a story that you're supposed to be telling in the main work.

The Sequel Trilogy was really bad about this and frankly some of the live action shows suffer a bit from this as well *coughbookofbobafett*.

Rebellion immediately running into the logistics problem that their carrier needs a lot of fuel, lol.

You know what I'm going to say, this is a really pretty location.

-squint- Do we revisit this station in "In The Name Of The Rebellion" or did we just reuse these assets?

Sabine patting Chopper on the dome. <3

Lol Chopper just full-body yanking on Ezra's leg to get his attention. And then Zeb and Ezra roasting Chopper. Such a sibling thing to do. XD

Chopper shows a remarkable array of emotion for an orange box.

Oh hey a fanfare! Haven't had one of those in a while.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: Leftover smoke from Chopper's rocket following his wake.

Offscreen blaster shots immediately after the scene where Kanan cautions them to do things quietly lololol.

I love this gag. This episode is hysterical.

The little "arm movements" with Chopper's manipulators is really good, like right here it's a very clear, "Uhhhhhhh-oh." gesture.

Lol the Stormtroopers immediately assuming that the leg strut theft and the fuel theft are related.

I mean they are but still.

I really like this location.

These background Stormtroopers sound so tired at the constant Rebel activity lol.

Right, at this rate I'm just going to be laughing at everything I guess.

AP-5! I love him, he's so deadpan and anal-retentive about everything.

People are so mean to the droids in this universe sometimes.

And thus begins a beautiful friendship. <3

You can absolutely make out Chopper's dialogue in this episode.

Chopper and AP-5 bonding about being in the Ryloth campaign. <3

Oh hey, more examples of the Empire as the bloated state wasting useful valuable resources on menial tasks. (Applicable!)

Awww AP-5 telling his first lie.

I love the sheer Looney Tunes silliness of how Chopper "fights" the officer.

"Still a terrible plan." AP-5 how I love you.

Chopper's triumphant dome twirl when they jettison the cargo and troopers. <3

"No, the first one to the bridge is not the captain!" Chopper is an actual child lololol.

Ooooh that pissed look on Hera's face, ha ha.

Ezra still not enjoying leaving people behind.

They don't have time to debate it further as the Empire found Phoenix cell in the middle of its wandering through open space. (How it's not revealed but I don't blame people back when this first aired for thinking there was a mole and it was Ketsu, since she's the one who suggested the Yost system which we later find out was already compromised.)

AP-5 pettily dropping the leg so he can cheat and take the captain spot LOLOLOLOL.

Chopper calling AP his friend awwwwwwwww.

Ketsu's assistance gets the TIEs off their back long enough to dock with the stolen fuel.

"You owe me one." I mean... she really doesn't.

Hera just looooves her exciting landings huh?

Hera fullnaming Chopper lol.

AP-5 already being super useful to the Rebellion by relaying that Yost is Imperial-occupied and finding them a new planet on the fly.

LOL Chopper just whapping the officer with the leg.

Awwwwwwww AP-5! Choosing to help Chopper and calling himself Chopper's friend in return. <3

Ooof, ah yep, he dead. With a blunt force hit like that to the chest and head that officer is definitely 100% dead.

:((((((((

ATOLLON, YAY!

AP-5's okay! :D

Lol the confused looks on Kanan, Zeb, and Ezra as the droids immediately fall to bickering.

Droid shenanigan episodes can be hit or miss (see TCW fandom's hatred of the droid arc) but this is all win material for me, Chopper making a nuisance of himself is hilarious and adorable and his budding friendship with AP-5 makes the episode unexpectedly heartwarming in places.

Plus! We resolve that pesky season-long problem of needing a safe base and collect another ally. AP-5 doesn't get to come to Lothal alas, but I'm sure the Alliance put him to very good use doing inventory on Yavin. :)

Gonna see if I can knock out "Mystery of Chopper Base" today too.

[majorbaby]

Re: Your Retention Please MASH writers I am once again asking, have you even met Maxwell Q. Klinger?

Honestly, I think it’s a fair question because we see Klinger take on a lot of things that are cast off by other characters (gay banter with Hawkeye post-s3, being the dog one pets once Radar is gone, occasionally the buttmonkeyism that I enjoyed when it was Frank on the receiving end) or he’s molded to fit whatever agenda the show needs because while Klinger the character isn’t expendable, his characterization certainly is. This is how you end up with all of these late-seasons Klinger subplots and traits that either completely contradict everything we know about him or tbh, outright play into racial stereotypes. Like when he’s all of sudden really into  money-making schemes, or the weird friendship he strikes up with his exploitative boss, or when he takes a lot of racist, classist abuse from other characters (usually from Charles and sometimes Potter, but everyone gets a turn) lying down. This is the man who got into a fist-fight with Frank and then afterwards came back with a grenade to blow him up after Frank told him he couldn’t wear his lucky scarf. 

This disregard for his character is how you start off with Klinger in a dress*, gun-toting, back-talking, practically fire-breathing (and hella risk-taking, considering he is a Corporal) all over Majors Burns and Houlihan in the early years and end up at Your Retention Please. 

*I’ve read that Klinger stopped wearing dresses at Jamie Farr’s request which, while I respect his reasoning for that, I still feel we the audience and Klinger the character deserved a mourning period and a damn good, in-universe reason for him to have suddenly flipped like that especially after we saw the effect wearing the uniform has on him in Change of Command. 

Though he may not have the emotional weight that comes with being a drafted doctor forced to fix people up just to send them out to get hurt worse or possibly die, his belief in the utter uselessness of the army is indistinguishable from Hawkeye and Trapper’s (BJ too, but by the time he’s settled in, the army is in the crosshairs less and less and the Klinger character starts to waver) and anyway he’s affected by having been drafted in his own personal and no less tragic way. 

I’m on board with the way the recruiter goes after Klinger. First off, he goes after everyone. Secondly, it’s a common recruiting tactic, to this day, to go after the disenfranchised, the destitute and the desperate, particularly when those traits intersect with race. So there’s some realism in how hard the recruiter goes after Klinger - however, while I know that, these writers likely do not. There’s no race awareness going on. Par for the course. 

And let’s talk about that scene  with the recruiter for a moment: the slow music that sounds to me just the slightest bit sleazy. The way the recruiter doesn’t just offer a drink, he takes the empty glass from Klinger and places a full one in his hand and then he puts his arm around Klinger and leads him to sit down. The repeated closeups: the recruiter’s smile showing off his yellowed or missing teeth (nothing wrong with having imperfect teeth and idk if it was intentional, but it’s a common physical trait for a villain) and Klinger’s clearly zonked out expression. Klinger says, “You’re right... who are you.” and the recruiter responds again by being overly familiar, saying they’re buddies and that the army is his friend and family. Like if nothing else, I’ll give them this - there were numerous ways for us to read that this guy is a predator. It was appropriately unsettling, but my praise ends there. 

Maybe I could buy that Klinger might drunkenly agree to sign up Nope. I started typing it out and I got midway before I decided I would finish and then cross it out for dramatic effect. 

The writers forgot who main-cast member Klinger is yet I’m supposed to remember who Laverne is and believe that Klinger is so broken up about her leaving him after she’s already left him (3 seasons ago! hello???) that he decides to do something as drastic as signing up for the army, whether he’s drunk as a skunk or stone cold sober? I don’t buy it. I don’t buy it anymore than I would if it were Hawkeye in that position, but they figured it was easy enough to do such a thing to Klinger. I think he (Klinger) gets this plot because it can’t be given to Hawkeye, BJ or Charles, which is funny because one of those three flew off the handle when his wife got a job, so if there’s anyone I could see doing something very drastic (though, tbf, even then not as drastic as re-enlisting) if his wife were to leave him, it’s not Klinger.

Klinger wants to go home but he’s not overly specific about why. He doesn’t have the same attachment to Laverne as BJ does to Peg - he’s not cheating on Laverne but he says about as much about her as Trapper does about Louise. In addition to wanting to be home, I think Klinger, like Hawkeye, is philosophically opposed to war.

He has that very touching scene in War of Nerves where he’s actually given space to tell us why he doesn’t want to be in the army - and it’s way more essential than just ‘I want to go home’ - he does want to go home, but he also doesn’t want to be given orders to do something that would violate his beliefs and he works tirelessly to try to avoid that fate.  

In his dresses for 7 years, he’s a walking a protest, or as Sidney aptly puts it, “a monument to hope in size 12 pumps”. He does not believe in the mission of the army, opposes its authority over him and how powerless it renders him as people die around him - who does that remind you of? If you had to call any other character “a monument to hope”?

The other characters on the show are to different degrees opposed to war, with the exception of Frank but consider their reasoning - Margaret and Potter find the army fulfilling but are morally opposed to war, Charles is opposed to his life having been interrupted by the draft, BJ shows a great deal of compassion towards the wounded but his resentment towards the army also comes from how he’s been taken from his family (not a dig at BJ, completely valid for him to feel that way, it’s just different from what Hawkeye feels) and finally Hawkeye is opposed to the army I suspect long before he’s drafted and remains that way long after he goes home. 

Getting back to Your Retention Please, I have to pass on setting up Potter and Hawkeye to “rescue” Klinger from his bad decision. Hawkeye I’ll let slide - I have my reservations about the white saviour-y undertones but I’m more fine with Hawkeye being the (white) saviour here than I am with Potter, the regular army guy, getting to be the hero and undermining the anti-military message. 

And finally, i can’t accept this at all because we already have an in-character example of Klinger’s reaction to Laverne actually leaving him in Mail Call 3 - he deserts. He returns, blessedly not because he wants to ‘do the right thing’, but rather because he doesn’t want to be a fugitive. The icing on the cake is him declaring that when he does leave the army it’ll be the honourable way, via Section 8 - that’s Klinger!

Have you ever been upset that Larry Gelbart trolling-ly suggested that Hawkeye would become a right winger post-war? That’s how I feel about this episode and the difference is it actually happened, they really did that to Klinger. He deserved better. 

[goatsludge]

So I'm currently holding on to a Somogear PEQ-15/ATPIAL clone for a friend but ofc I'm taking the opportunity to fuck with it while it's in my hands for the time being

First impressions are good, but dubious The plastic definitely looks and feels like glass-filled nylon despite the reputation these have to crack around the pic mount idk maybe people are cranking these down too hard

The only parts that really scream china quality so far is the rubber used on the diffuser caps and the remote port dust plug feels like cheap silicone, but not that big an issue I suppose Especially considering Steiner units have just as dubious quality cap retention so I've heard

All the metal parts feel relatively high quality and both the selector knob and all the buttons have satisfying positive clicks not mushy whatsoever Hell, even the modbutton clone it came with feels decent quality for an airshit product the cable isn't shiny and plasticy and it has an actual insight-style crane plug, not a 3.5mm audio jack like so many airsoft lasers use

But even if the plastic body doesn't shit the bed and stress fracture over time, supposedly the real major downfall of the homogear units is their lack of proper coaligned zeroing. They hold zero fairly well, but the coalignment between the designator and the illuminator isn't quite there

But it's also a sub-$300 Chinese laser so what do you honestly expect lol

As soon as I get some spare burning money, I may end up getting one of these for myself Not necessarily to use as my primary IR laser device, but just something to fool around with for fun I have an AIM-1/D and two PAQ-4/C's, all of which are full power, so I'm not exactly hurting too badly in the laser department lol

Also ignore the flash hider on my SPR, I know it isn't timed properly, I'm gonna be sending the barrel out to get properly profiled for an AE Suppressor Collar

[sbuggbot]

Long, rambling post incoming.

I'm a DSP. I work in a group home for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities. I'm also autistic; I just happen to need low support.

I do tangible, good work - the individuals I take care of are always happy to see me and like when I'm there to help them. (And being autistic myself, I have a unique perspective on things because in many ways, I'm a lot like them.) For many of these people, their families live not too far away but they still never come and visit or take them on home visits. (No all of them though-three or four of them do go home regularly on weekends, out of fourteen.) DSPs really are their family to them, and many view the older, longtime staff as parental figures.

But this post isn't about me.

The home I work at does not pass the burrito test. Or at least, I don't think it would. I don't think most of the individuals would even get the idea to try. Most of these people are in or approaching their fifties and sixties and have been living in this sort of environment since they first came of age. I wonder how much their autonomy has been repressed over the years. We don't have a set bedtime, but most are in bed before 8 or 9 pm (likely because of the medications they take and also many have to get up early to get assistance for morning showers). Most lack the skills to safely go out in the community unsupervised, as well.

As staff we micromanage so much of their daily lives. We have menus we are supposed to strictly follow and portion sizes we have to adhere to. We can substitute a food for a like food, but we still have to stick with what's on the menu. We can take suggestions from them but we have to follow what the dietician and doctor say, and any restrictions that come with that (like limiting junk food and pop to Saturday's Special Snack).

But even then, in training, it is hammered into our heads that these people are in fact people and that they do have rights. The individuals know it, too, and will tell you that. As staff, we can't just take away their things for misbehaving unless it's causing an immediate threat (like as a throwing projectile) or it's been laid out very specifically in a maladaptive behavior modification program, which has its own detailed process to be put in place, and it can't be permanent. Also, a number of these people are not their own guardian and there's all that entails.

They are getting to go out on outings a lot more nowadays thanks to our new house manager, and they love to do so, but that's all reliant on adequate staff. And let me tell you, the retention rate is terrible for DSPs because it's grueling, thankless work. You can easily end up running around like a headless chicken trying to keep everyone's needs met and make sure things are done on time (such as medication passes and dinner, while also ensuring showers are getting done and cleaning up any accidents or messes and making sure nobody starts a fight). I have my days where I get completely overwhelmed.

I'm honestly not sure where I'm trying to go with this post. I'm part of this massive and far from perfect system, and sometimes I wonder if I'm just adding onto the systematic oppression disabled people face...

[spydoclovr69420]

Divided Loyalties Deca Breakdown(Very Opinionated) PART 2

Page 94 of Divided Loyalties by Gary Russell

What's with this sassy lost child.... Kinda dramatic to pick your time lord name before graduation and insist that your friends call you by that name instead. OK Doctor, you do you, weirdo.

Azmael and the Doctor seem close-ish in this section. Also Rallon description and Millenia description.

So Rallon description says he is a big fella, sounds very playful with the shoulder pat. and Millenia has long hair she throws around, I can practically picture it. I picture him kind of tall and muscly.

Page 94 of Divided Loyalties by Gary Russell

I'm just saying they're the oldest bestest friends and they deserve to be happy. THOSCHEI.

Love it with them walking next to each other behind the other members, although there's not much said about their actual relationship to each other.

Page 95 of Divided Loyalties by Gary Russell

The idea that all 10 members of the Deca are academically superior is argued a lot throughout continuity. Koschei being non-reactive both makes a ton of sense and none at all considering how we know him now (but that's extenuating circumstances).

Kos is schemes. As he does.

That's actually just them. Kind of fun to see something that foreshadows future interactions while still being playful in this historical context. Makes food a good two sided coin of the past and the future. (very Doctor Who)

Page 95 of Divided Loyalties by Gary Russell

Mortimus is described as "rotund" and also with having "aerial ears" which probably means that he mostly listens until he has something to input into the conversation. I'm picturing a not-quite silent type character with strong opinions when he does have them. (Or strong questions)

Also Type 30 TARDIS' are in testing, which means we're still a couple versions behind the Doctor's museum piece Type 40. The Type 40 was considered a museum piece when the Doctor was young according to the TARDIS in 'The Doctor's Wife'. So from this we assume he is even YOUNGER in this flashback scene.

Page 95-96 of Divided Loyalties by Gary Russell

From "Even those in the Deca" it sounds like they get some special permissions for their academic accomplishment.

Millennia and Rallon being together and annoyingly cute saying goodbye to each other before leaving is so sweet.

Page 96 of Divided Loyalties by Gary Russell

Gendered dorms, kind weird for a society where the people change gender, but I suppose they don't quite yet so... ok.

Describing them as Decas, using it as an adjective is super interesting and cute. On the other hand, mentioning that they are "leaving him alone. As always" sounds like from the narrator's perspective, at least, this happens a lot.

"Anal-retentives with personality defects and self-insecurities"... insane way to describe a person.

Page 96 of Divided Loyalties by Gary Russel

Ok Mortimus kind of ruins him here. Very sassy, very brutal. Also he cares 0% about the repercussions of being written up.

Also, nobody likes hall monitors, not even hall monitors.

It sounds like the Deca (at least Mortimus) have had tardiness/ hall monitor issues in the past. This might be because of the 3 hour walk they took between this page and the last.

Page 97 of Divided Loyalties by Gary Russell

The CIA (not the US one) is a spooky force of nature and is SUPER up their own asses, they're also targeting someone specific. There's some theories that think the CIA is a later version of Division from series 12 of NuWho. There's a lot of conflicting information about this agency and how it started.

We know who has a destiny, rat ass Mr. acting older than he is.

Page 97-98 of Divided Loyalties by Gary Russell

Loyal to the end.... yeah totes.

ALSO "Let nothing come between us" and having Koschei reply must have been entirely on purpose because it's too ironic.

Also Koschei having his own dorm room makes my Thoschei headcanons of sneaking into each other's rooms to do kissing and cheating on homework even more valid.

Also foreshadowing.

Page 98 of Divided Loyalties by Gary Russell

The Doctor has had many partners and I don't think he ever managed to regret it.

This section kind of makes me think about the romantic/partner related thoughts of time lords. Appearance (surprisingly) and personality, as well as their family.

Thanks for reading this unreasonably long rant about Divided Loyalties, it's very fun to read and compare to other sources about DW history. I think after I finish DL I'll start with Lungbarrow... maybe even really get into it.

Divided Loyalties

Part 1 ...