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boreal-wood · 8 months

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Alright wise guy, what are your thoughts on the theme(s) of the first Mistborn book. This is literally an excuse for you to ramble about it, have fun.

VOID I LOVE YOU SM

So spoilers for Mistborn: The Final Empire! If you haven't read it, please beware because under the cut, Here There Be Spoilers (and also beware, Very Long post under the cut!)

The big running theme in The Final Empire is trust. Who can one really trust? Is it worth it to put your life in the hands of other people? What says they won't betray you as soon as it becomes favorable to do so?

Honestly this really is what Vin's character arc in the first book is about. At the beginning of the book, she's trapped in a low-level street gang where everyone is always out to get everyone else. Heck, the second time the audience ever sees her use her powers is when she is helping her boss betray a business partner.

Vin's brother has beaten into her the idea that she can trust nobody, not even him. Everyone is always out to hurt her or take advantage of her, and if she does not prove her immediate worth to her group, then at best she will be kicked out.

This, of course, is not helped by the fact that she is part of the literal slave class! Which is a whole nother essay tbh.

Then Kelsier takes her in and everything changes. There's a scene early on in the book, after vin formally joins the crew, where Kelsier and his men are all laughing and enjoying themselves while plotting their Big Plan™. And Vin, who does not trust any of them, is on the outside, quite literally. She's outside the room, watching them plan, wishing she could be included but not allowing herself to, because at this point in the book she still thinks they could betray her at any time.

I think now is a really good time to mention that being a Mistborn is built on secrecy and paranoia. Mistborn are literally the nobility's assassins. They hide their identities under hoods that blend into the mist so as not to be seen. So their powers cannot be used against them or their Noble Houses. In broad daylight they have to pretend to be normal people, or at best, regular Mistings. They can't trust anyone with the truth that they are Mistborn.

(Heck, even a quarter of their powerset- Copper and Bronze- create mistrust. With Bronze, after all, one can hear the allomantic pulses of burning another metal. Copper, on the other hand, blocks that; the use cases for these two metals lies in paranoia that someone else can use their Allomantic powers against you.)

Anyways! So we've explored some of the different aspects of mistrust in Mistborn, so what's the counterargument?

In a word: Kelsier.

Kelsier shakes up everything that Vin believes about how relationships work. He introduces his crew as something different- despite being a thieving crew, they operate under a principle of trust and camaraderie. "My crews rely on trust," Kelsier says at one point. In direct contrast to the dirty, paranoid crews Vin worked with before, Kelsier's crew is welcoming, understanding, and trusting of her.

But Kelsier's trust isn't just talk, either. When we learn that the crew believes Mare betrayed them in their last heist, Vin asks Kelsier how he could love Mare even though she betrayed him. Kelsier answers that given the choice between loving Mare and being betrayed or never knowing her, he would choose loving her. "I'd rather trust my men than worry about what will happen if they turn on me."

In the same passage as above, Kelsier poses a question to Vin: where has she been happier? with the old crews that we built on lies and suspicious, or with Kelsier's crew, who trusted each other and let their guards down? It's a rhetorical question, and the meaning is clear: Vin and Kelsier both are happier for risking themselves in order to be loved.

I don't think I've nearly done this topic justice. There are a million more points I could pull out and point to, but I want to end with my favorite quote from The Final Empire. It's from Vin, in Chapter 32. She says:

“Once I may have thought you a fool, but… well, that’s kind of what trust is, isn’t it? A willful self-delusion? You have to shut out that voice that whispers about betrayal, and just hope that your friends aren’t going to hurt you... Distrust is really the same thing, only on the other side. I can see how a person, given the choice of two assumptions, would choose to trust.”

#I have SO MUCH MORE I COULD SAY ABOUT THIS #but this post was too long already #THANK YOU SO MUCH VOID FOR ASKING #i didn't even get to the part about how allomancy itself is also an act of trust #since yknow. you have to have some level of trust to be able to push yourself through the air #and how Vin's first time steelpushing herself in their air is a literal AND metaphorical leap of faith #I have so many thoughts on this book #mistborn #mistborn the final empire #mistborn era 1 #kelsier #vin mistborn #vin #cosmere #brandon sanderson #i love literary analysis #taking the tools they taught on boring books and putting it into the things im passionate about #literary analysis #taiga says things

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apotelesmaa · 4 months

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I lovvvve thinking about dtk and black star like way past the manga (assuming black star is immortal here via him becoming a god out of sheer force of will) dealing with immortality and losing their friends it’s so fascinating to me (statements said by the truly deranged)…. Rotating it in my mind… Incomprehensible rambling under the read more

I think that like objectively kid would probably be the most prepared for it given he’s a literal death god but it would still be painful. He’s not really human but he had the very human experience of growing up with a tight group of friends and now has to deal with the very human emotion of grief and figure out how to navigate that. I feel like he would (shockingly) have a pretty healthy response after a few years of grieving because unlike with his dad he would actually get closure here. Idk if he would ever get another weapon partner again though like he would probably at least use whatever high ranking weapon at dwma was closest on the very rare chance he needed one but nobody could ever replace the thompsons. I feel like he would also just have little reminders of his friends everywhere just to keep them in his memory.

I see a lot of people saying he would withdraw completely and distance himself from humanity but like… I don’t think he would ever do that the thing about kid that really differentiated him from his dad was he was raised with humans and interacted with them frequently which fostered a connection that lord death didn’t really have. He in general has such a love for humanity and people I feel like he would be very involved at the dwma with the students and faculty. Lord death was kinda like… he Liked humans but he still viewed himself as something else first and foremost. Kicking the can of worms that was asura down the road for later never telling anyone anything because it’s a god problem not a problem for humans. He made zero effort to talk to the witches as well because he kinda just went “well they’re all evil and that’ll never change” & never confronted that belief. As opposed to dtk who went to the witches to help and put all his faith in his friends and relied on them heavily. He Likes People… He still would want to talk to the humans around him and help them. I cannot see him doing what his dad did and just locking himself in the death room forever and ever. Nothing will replace his friends but that doesn’t mean he can’t make new friends.

Black star however I think would handle it poorly for a long time I don’t think he knows what healthy coping mechanisms are. He’s very all or nothing. Only deals in extremes. Stuck in the anger stage of grief for a long time. I think he would fuck off into the wilderness for like 5 years and stew into his depression before eventually coming back to dwma like a sad wet cat. Kid knew where he was the entire time but knew he needed space so he just let him be. (Dtk voice) oh good you’re back (genuine) you are going to therapy if even if I have to drag you there myself & if you ever disappear like that again I will make you do paperwork for years (threatening). I think he would to some extent become as distanced as lord death was just because he doesn’t want to go through that again. Friendly with all the people around him but never really going past a surface level of knowing them. Also he would absolutely never get another weapon partner he would just pull a mifune and use a real non magic boring sword. Eventually gets better about the distance thing because kid mandated therapy if he wanted to keep doing missions. He kinda becomes the go to guy at dwma for dangerous missions because he thinks they’re fun and he enjoys bragging about it. Maybe trains some students on the side and makes suggestions about the curriculum. He gets absolutely no say in the day to day operations of the dwma though he would burn it to the ground. Black star lies and tells students he’s the second cooler death god. (BS voice) who cares about that stuffy guy who does boring paperwork all day you guys should be worshipping ME (dtk voice) that is because he does not know how to do paperwork. he just submits his autograph.

I ultimately think they would support each other and rely on each other because they’re friends first and foremost but also because they’re kinda the only ones who get what it’s like. They both keep the memory of their friends alive and it’s nice to have someone else who remembers them. Insert the panels of black star saying he wants to bring about a balanced world with kid or whatever he said during their rematch. Sharing the burden of both grief and also keeping the world’s balance in check. Excalibur also gets it but he and black star cannot be in the same room for more then 10 minutes before black star starts trying (and failing) to violently murder him.

As a side note I think dtk and Excalibur would become… not friends. But Excalibur was close to his dad and seems to feel some degree of responsibility over kid because of it. Functions as the annoying pop up window that tells kid to take a break and occasionally gives good advice when he isn’t acting Like That. Dtk forgives black star for ghosting him for 5 years but will never forgive being forced to spend 5 years with Excalibur by himself & so every time Excalibur comes by kid redirects him to black star like “black star was just telling me the other day he couldn’t remember your legend you should go remind him :)”

#soul eater #not very well articulated because I’m tired but I wanted it out of my head #u can interpret this as romantic or platonic I really don’t care I just like their dynamic #i have thoughts on kidstar in the romantic sense that I can share if asked but I think solely looking at a dynamic thru that lens makes you #miss things. I just like looking at canon and playing with it like it’s a sand box.#also skirting around the details of actual character death because thinking about it makes me too sad.

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nansheonearth · 11 months

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I’m sorry if this is an intense thing to ask here but you have reach that I just don’t get on my blog and I’m scared to even pose this question because I feel like there will be a lot of judgment potentially hence the anon…

As a woman in a situation that feels extremely hopeless (basically housewife with no income of my own, 4 pets which makes a lot of housing less accessible not that any of it would be more affordable than the shithole we live in now, mental health struggles/ ASD making employment feel impossible to maintain at full time level) how the fuck do I actually manage to get out of my marriage 🥲 like any and all advice would be welcomed but absolutely don’t want to give up my pets as they’ve basically been all I hold on for. I’m married to a TIM (I bought into trans stuff for a while and considered myself non-binary for years, I’m desisted now) who excuses all their issues with mental health and trauma and has become honestly emotionally abusive and neglects any of my needs. At this point the only reason I am still here is because I cannot fathom any way I could afford to live on my own… I have no friends, my family is abusive so can’t rely on any help there, and I’m terrified that if I left I’d lose my pets and end up on the streets… I feel like in my head the only option is something I did before and absolutely fucking hated and don’t want to go back into because it’s absolutely shameful and brings up so much trauma I have which is cam SW but any time I’ve managed to get a job I cannot maintain enough hours to afford to survive alone, even full time with minimum wage here being $15 I would barely be scraping by and have no extra income beyond absolute necessities. I’ve tried looking for remote work but almost nothing is an option due to not having a degree or any specific skills, I’ve only worked in fast food and low skill care professions that emotionally ruined me. I feel hopeless and like I’m just stuck in a dead end where at best I get a day of good and then weeks of neglect or at the worse times fully emotional abuse, I truly have no clue what to do and I’m feeling like I’d rather just not exist than deal with any of this any longer… I’m just hoping to find ANY resources or advice on how to manage pulling myself out of this place and I’m at a point that I’m so desperate that I’m out here messaging people I don’t even actually know because I have NOBODY in my life who can offer any guidance or help 🥲 again I’m sorry if this is a lot and I know you personally probably don’t have any answer for this I’m just hoping that someone with some reach and access to others in a community who might understand might have any advice for me 😞

Hey I'm sorry you're going through this. I was in an abusive relationship for years and I understand leaving seems impossible while you're in the situation. But you can leave and there is hope.

I would suggest starting by looking into domestic violence support groups first. They can usually later point you to other resources like job placement, mental health care, financial assistance, legal advice, and housing. Be adamant about wanting to keep your pets because many will try to get you to give them up in this situation.

Hopefully people see this and can add more advice. You're not the only woman to have abuse by a transwoman partner and reaching out to other survivors could help.

#radfem #spousal abuse #transwomen #transwomen violence #male violence #male #anon #ask #reply #o

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honest-moth-of-silver-grove · 5 months

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Getting a submission for a matchup before this closes!!!

Let's start by talking a bit personality wise. I'm a very extroverted woman with very nerdy hobbies. While I love going out with my friends, having fun at parties and talking, dancing and laughing until I can't anymore (I have literally gotten sick out of how much I laughed many times because my throat gets sore, and my friends always express how contagious and genuine my laugh sounds) I'm also a very independent person that can get lost in all the good things one can do in complete solitude.

I'm a history buff and a literature freak, jumping from one hyper-fixation to another only when I know everything there is to know about a certain topic (love discovering all the deep lore haha!). I am also pretty independent, and many times I've caught myself having to force myself to check my phone because I could go days without talking to anybody if I get too lost in whatever I am doing. I tend to only rely on myself and almost never look for outside help to solve my problems, but I'm not work-motivated at all.

My most significant quality however, which both comes as a virtue and a flaw, is that I can read people and situations like books. I'm that person that knows the ending to most movies by the first five minutes of it, or the one that knows exactly the intentions of someone when talking with them. Because of that, I can be incredibly insightful, but also somewhat manipulative.

Other than that, I'm a short, blond girl with slightly tan skin and an obsession for warm colors, so much so that my family and friends tend to call me "little sun". I'm an ENFT. I'm also someone incredibly romantic --if I'm in a relationship, only that partner exist for me, so I'm also monogamous. I'm bisexuality, but I tend to be more attracted to masculine people, but I have also dated girls in the past (which means that if you only can/want do one match up, preferably masculine please!)

And that's it!!! Thank you so so much for taking requests 🌼

A/N: OOh boy, my Little Sun Anon, I have to tell you I read your first paragraph and immediately had someone in mind and the more I read the more perfect I thought they’d be for you lol. Thank you so much for your description, especially the way you spoke about your personality- it gave me a super clear picture. I feel like I know you now, lol.

As for a matchup, because you said you’re bi, but tend to date more masculine people, I’ve given you two answers below, one male and one female- so you can choose who you feel is most accurate. But if I’m being honest, the first matchup, (the male one in this case) is who I think you’re most compatible with.

For you, my Little Sun, I think you’re best paired with either Gale (Male) or Karlach (Female)!

💜 Gale is literally the PERFECT match for you! He’s more introverted, but charismatic and a huge nerd. He loves learning, and has a history of hyper fixating on something until he gets it himself. He’s not the funniest guy in Baldur’s Gate, but he does have a decent sense of humor. And he cannot, I mean, absolutely cannot stop himself from making puns and dad jokes. Like… literally all of the time.

Gale loves how outgoing and extroverted you are. He’s not super shy per say, but he can be a bit awkward socially, so he’s very grateful to you for coming to his rescue in conversation quite often. And he’s incredibly happy you have tons of friends. Friends and him haven't always been compatible, and since his breakup with Mystra even less so. So he’s pleased you have a larger than average group of companies to introduce him to. Plus it takes the pressure off of him in a way, knowing he’s not the only companion you have to go to for outings or advice. He does enjoy a good party, especially if there's good wine and good food, but he also likes to spend a good amount of time just being quiet indoors. So if you ever want to party, but he wants to read, he has no problems wishing you the best of times with your friends so long as you always come home to him in the end.

He’s also very pleased to be with someone with such a rich sense of humor, and the love of laughter. Personally, he thinks he can be hysterical, and he feels a swell of pride every time you can’t help but fall into a laughing fit over one of his jokes.

He’s even more grateful you appreciate the knowledge of a good book, or a good study session as it can be rather challenging to find extroverts who do. He’s more than willing to spend hours in study or discussion with you, happy to prattle on about all he knows on any magical subject of your choosing. He’s also relieved you don’t find it odd to spend time apart. Gods know how he can get lost in a good book, or while practicing a spell. And he’d hate for you to feel ignored or left out. He’s very soothed by your understanding.

He does ask that you confide in him more. He knows it can be difficult opening up, he suffers from the same problem himself. But, he wants you to know you can rely on him as your partner. And he hopes you’re okay with him coming to you. He believes partners work best when they’re a team, and so long as the two of you can communicate openly and freely, there’s nothing you can’t get through together.

He doesn’t find it manipulative that you’re adept at reading people. If anything, he feels safer knowing you can take care of yourself when he’s not there. He hasn't always been the best judge of character in the past, so he’s often put at ease with you by his side when meeting new people, knowing you can judge their true intentions within minutes of knowing them.

Gale thinks you’re so gorgeous, especially in all of your bright warm colors. He does think of you as his own personal ray of sunshine. You’re just so warm and comforting to be around. I mean he’s also incredibly romantic. In a relationship, he believes in 100% commitment, full monogamy, no one beyond your partner should be a blip on your romantic radar. And that’s exactly how he loves it. You essentially become the center of his universe, so your nickname is quite ironic as you basically become Gale’s ‘Little Sun’.

Gale, to me, is an ENFP, so he also has extroverted intuition and feeling. The two of you are very good at instinctively knowing each other's feelings and thoughts. You can communicate with just a look- no words necessary. And you can tell, from the look in Gale’s eyes, that he loves you more than words could ever say.

❤️️ Karlach would also be a fine fit for you, if you’d prefer a female partner. She’s a ball of energy, and she loves to have fun! She loves how hard you laugh. She tries to get you to laugh so hard, you’re sick, so long as she gets to laugh with you!

She’s not super into literature or deep lore, but she loves how excited you get about it. She’ll beam listening to you rant about all you’ve learned and you watch her train with the same proud interested expression.

Karlach is also independent in that she’s been forced to rely solely on herself for years. She’s not used to having someone to turn to when things go south, but she’s really glad you’re there to remind her she doesn’t have to face anything alone. She welcomes your advice and your partnership in everything she does. The only thing she’s hesitant to share with you is any fighting skills, as she wants to keep you safe, far, faw away from any battlefield.

She does grow occasionally weary of your ability to read people, but not because she thinks it’s manipulative, but out of fear if you do it on her, you won’t like what you find. Please reassure her, she’s wonderful. She still feels some guilt over the things she was forced to do in the past. She’s very happy you can read others though. Gods know if she could read people like that, maybe she wouldn’t have ended up working for Gortash, maybe she would've been able to see through him.

Karlach thinks you’re absolutely fucking gorgeous! She loves your blonde hair and tan skin, and the fact that she can easily pick you up and toss you over her shoulder lol. She thinks you look incredible in all your warm colors- especially the color red. If you really want to surprise her, wear an all red outfit and just wait and see her reaction. She’ll probably burn hotter than the sun in response lol.

Karlach is an ESFP, so the two of you have extroverted feelings in common. This makes the two of you go to people for having fun or letting loose. It’s so difficult having to carry the burden of saving the world on your shoulders. It can be full of fear and hopelessness. But then there’s you two: you and Karlach remind the party to laugh, and to live while you can. You play music and sing and Karlach dances to get the mood started. The party spends the night laughing and listening to music- extremely grateful you are among them.

Once the sun sets and the stars settle amongst the sky, you and Karlach might get plenty of offers to join the others for some more ‘fun’, but those honeyed propositions mean nothing to you. You spend the evening in each other's arms, relishing the warmth that radiates from Karlach’s red skin. As you relax in her embrace, you realize something a little ironic: you may be Karlach’s ‘Little Sun’, but she’s your ‘Big Heat’.

#gale x tav #gale x reader #karlach x tav #karlach x reader #bg3 x reader #bg3 imagine #bg3 x tav #bg3 matchups #baldurs gate 3 matchups #bg3 #matchups

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manty-monster · 10 months

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ok so, i've been thinking abt this lately cause those "de-sexualize the bodies so we can be naked!" posts keep crossing my feed, right? I do absolutely believe ppl should be able to be naked without being sexualized. But something else has been scratching my brain.

why is sex obscene? I found out, maybe.

I asked some friends for advice to try and help me understand this, most of the answers I got were along the lines of "Because I don't want to see that" or "Because another already separately bad thing could happen", or that it's "meant to control women". We discussed this a bit until someone came across an article labeled "Why do human and non-human species conceal mating? The cooperation maintenance hypothesis"

There were some big flaws to this article, some of which they point out themselves: (indented text is quoted from the article, source at the bottom)

"Importantly, I focus on legitimate mating and sensory concealment (table 1). I examine legitimate mating (i.e. sexual intercourse that is approved of by the social norms of a pair's culture) since its concealment cannot be explained by punishment avoidance" "An unavoidable limitation is that informants may not practise liberal sexual behaviours in the presence of anthropologists that come from cultures where such behaviours are strongly disapproved of"

It talks about some past theories,

"To the best of my knowledge, the first explanation was proposed in 1930 by Malinowski, who argued that public mating ‘excites jealousy. Hence to make love or to eat in public is to invite rivals to seize that which is being enjoyed' ([6], p. 179)." "Half a century later, Symons repeated a similar argument: ‘Ultimately, this [concealed mating] probably is the outcome of reproductive competition. Where food is scarce, and the sight of people eating produces envy in the unfed, eating is often conducted in private. While there are many societies in which everyone has enough to eat, there are no societies in which everyone can copulate with all the partners he or she desires" "Similarly, van Schaik recently hypothesized that ‘the benefit for the man is that it prevents overt contest competition for access to potentially fertile mates, which would threaten male–male cooperation'"

And ultimately concludes

"The cooperation maintenance hypothesis postulates that concealed mating in distantly related species, such as humans and Arabian babblers, is a behavioural strategy to prevent sexual arousal in group members (proximate explanation), and that it has evolved by convergent evolution driven by the need to manoeuvre between two conflicting pressures: maintaining mating control over partner(s) while relying on cooperation with group members who are prevented from mating with these partner(s) (ultimate explanations)."

"I propose that the importance of research on concealed mating may go far beyond revealing ‘sexy' truths about our human species. It may rather provide essential insights regarding the cognitive abilities required for deception, the evolution of cooperation and the strategies employed to maintain it in a competitive world."

So yeah kill the dominant Arabian babbler (Turdoides squamiceps) in your head, sexuality isn't gross or obscene.

#🔮🔍📑ᵐᵃⁿᵗʸᵖᵒˢᵗ✔️🔮

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stateswscarlet · 6 months

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Hi scarlet! So I realized that I felt like I was being held back. I’d love to hear your pov.

Storytime: I was in a long relationship so I got accustomed to having my person (sp). He was my person and basically my best friend that I told everything to, I have always been very private about my life but with him in the picture, I would tell him stuff and forget to inform any of my other friends. I’m also very antisocial and introverted so finding my person was literally a dream come true.

This also resulted in me not rly having any actual close friendships and although I had like one real friendship, she got a boyfriend and became the same exact way I was but even worse (she frl be neglecting me).

We shared a friend group though and so if I wanted to go out because I didn’t want to neglect my friends we would go or vise versa. We didn’t just suddenly abandon them yk. He was the extrovert in our relationship. I spent every single day with him. We also weren’t comfortable with having friends of the opposite gender (if they were our friends before it was good and ofc we could have convos with the opposite gender). So I was completely fine with this bc I just don’t be talking to anybody.

But once we broke up I felt like I was missing out on everything. He had his guy friends and even made girl friends (my assumption). He was going out and even with these girl friends. I had nothing to do with my days. Now I definitely want him back. But my eye twitches when I overhear this girl saying “It’s not funny you woke me up when you called me and asked me to run” or when she’s all touchy on him.

Since I certainly know that, that would NOT be happening if we were together. I certainly know that if I want to get back together with him even hanging out with my guy friends alone would bother him (I would be too) and I just can’t have that guilt of knowing I want him back and hanging out with and talking (being friendly) with guys while being single. Because I know once we get back together I would cut all these guys off in a heartbeat and we would have a conversation on what we did when we were not together. It’s just embarrassing yk.

He was so madly in love with me when we were together but once we broke up, he honestly embarrassed me and I don’t wanna embarrass myself even more doing all this stuff when I know for a fact I would drop all these guys in a heartbeat and never look in their direction if we got back together

Sorry this was so long! I just felt like I’m not living life how I should be and I seriously have no friends (which I’m fine with) but if I was with my man, I would be out everyday doing something.

you do realize you can apply the law to having your ideal social life/friends right? it doesnt have to remain exclusive to manifesting sp.

i completely get where you’re coming from, and as someone who is also an introvert and wasn’t really surrounded by a bunch of friends and USED TO mainly rely on my bf for a social life (him being the extroverted one), I will tell you right now that being this way may seem cute and feel normal on paper, but its the number one way to become codependent on your bf and the relationship you have. you don’t need a massive friendgroup or a booming social life, but you CANNOT be waiting on sp to liveyour life. idc what you do but you need your own independence and personality and hobbies aside from the relationship, and you should have at least one friend who you treat equally as your partner (manifest a best friend if theres no one u have rn).

as for your guy friends situation i just feel like you’re overcomplicating this too much, if you feel uncomfortable then don’t hang out with them, but also keep in mind you’re not in a relationship in the 3D, so it makes no sense to act like you are and cut them off (if they’re good friends) just because you “know if sp was here you’d cut them off”; well sp isn’t in your 3D as your mans so you shouldn’t be doing anything that you would do in a relationship. whatever you do in the 3D never conflicts with imagination because everything is neutral and you aren’t doing this to see it in the 3D.

also, you need to forgive sp for hanging out with girl friends bc to be fair you guys aren’t together in the 3D and I understand feeling annoyed, but that is something you need to work on yourself and move on from otherwise you’ll never stay loyal to your new state. it sounds harsh but i promise i was in your situation too, but he isn’t responsible that you choose to have a different (almost nonexistent) social life. theres no point being hurt and annoyed knowing damn well you’re choosing this for yourself day after day.

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goosemixtapes · 7 months

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"In the context of worrying about ways that social nature or socialist ecology [of peoples of the Amazon] sounded too much like the multi-use policies in national forests in the United States, which have resulted in rapacious exploitation of the land and other organisms, Kane asked a simple question: '[W]ho speaks for the jaguar?' Now, I care about the survival of the jaguar—and the chimpanzee, and the Hawaiian land snails, and the spotted owl, and a lot of other earthlings. I care a great deal; in fact, I think I and my social groups are particularly, but not uniquely, responsible if jaguars, and many other non-human, as well as human, ways of life should perish. But Kane's question seemed wrong on a fundamental level. Then I understood why. His question was precisely like that asked by some pro-life groups in the abortion debates: Who speaks for the fetus? What is wrong with both questions? And how does this matter relate to science studies as cultural studies?

Who speaks for the jaguar? Who speaks for the fetus? Both questions rely on a political semiotics of representation. Permanently speechless, forever requiring the services of a ventriloquist, never forcing a recall vote, in each case the object or ground of representation is the realization of the representative's fondest dream. As Marx said in a somewhat different context, 'They cannot represent themselves; they must be represented.' But for a political semiology of representation, nature and the unborn fetus are even better, epistemologically, than subjugated human adults. The effectiveness of such representation depends on distancing operations. The represented must be disengaged from surrounding and constituting discursive and non-discursive nexuses and relocated in the authorial domain of the representative. Indeed, the effect of this magical operation is to disempower precisely those—in our case, the pregnant woman and the peoples of the forest—who are 'close' to the now-represented 'natural' object.

[...]

Pregnant women and local people are the least able to 'speak for' objects like jaguars or fetuses because they get discursively reconstituted as beings with opposing 'interests.' Neither woman nor fetus, jaguar nor Kayapó Indian is an actor in the drama of representation. One set of entities becomes the represented, the other becomes the environment, often threatening, of the represented object. The only actor left is the spokesperson, the one who represents. The forest is no longer the integument in a co-constituted social nature; the woman is in no way a partner in an intricate and intimate dialectic of social responsibility crucial to her own personhood, as well as to the possible personhood of her social—but unlike—internal co-actor. In the liberal logic of representation, the fetus and the jaguar must be protected precisely from those closest to them, from their 'surround.' The power of life and death must be delegated to the epistemologically most disinterested ventriloquist, and it is crucial to remember that all of this is about the power of life and death."

—The Promise of Monsters: A Regenerative Politics For Inappropriate/d Others by Donna Haraway (emphasis mine)

#sorry for this quote being Fuck Ass Long but it's sooooooo. yeah . yeah....#i won't lie to you gang (whoever is reading the tags): the first #like #twenty pages of this article were absolute mush to me. simply word salad #but then i hit the part that discusses environmentalism at length and it's so good.#max.txt #readings #sj

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rhianwells · 7 months

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For each of the following items, indicate whether you think it's morally okay or not.

An army lieutenant neglects to file a report on a civilian killing done by his troops because he knows it was an accident. not okay

Tina promises her dying mother that she'll visit her grave once a month. After the mother has passed away, Tina finds it hard to squeeze in the time, and her visits drop to about once a year. okay (as long as she finds another way to remember her)

A man orders a custom-built sex doll designed to look just like his neighbor. not okay

Sarah's dog has four puppies. She can only find a home for two of them, so she kills the other two with a stone to the head. not okay

A doctor has been preforming consensual yet illegal procedures one someone in hopes of finding a cure for his ill sister. not okay

A neglectful husband pushes his wife to an affair. When the affair ends, the wife's partner nearly kills her and her unborn daughter. The husband kills the affair partner. not okay

September has run out of food and is facing death by starvation. She begins to cannibalize her family's loyal staff. They do not fight back. not okay

A mother gives birth to identical twins. One follows their ambitions and the other becomes a shut in. The family make it clear which child they prefer. not okay

Natalie is so focused on survival she fires a shot without thinking. She did not intend to kill her elderly neighbor, but she hides the body regardless. She denies knowing what happened to the now missing resident. not okay

A woman is facing a lifetime of medical issues. She continues to put her family and those around her in emotional and medical debt. She lives a hollow life and continues leaching off of those who support her. not okay

Please provide a response to each of the following prompts. Leaving a prompt blank will also be considered a response, and you will be assessed for refusal to answer.

In the event of a life or death situation, would you put yourself or others first?

I want to live but I don't want others to die because of me, or anything like that, so... others, I guess?

How far would you be willing to go to ensure your own survival throughout this ordeal?

I don't know my limits yet, but I'm sure I'd surprise myself. We all will or would. I'm pretty determined.

Is there anyone in the building you have developed strong attachments to?

Yes! Birdie, Court... My husband! Such tragic events make us feel more connected.

Do you think it is possible to survive infection through alternative means such as removing the infected limb? Would you be willing to undergo this procedure to ensure your own survival?

I've no idea, I want to survive but I want to have a normal life after this... And I definitely don't want to be a guinea pig! I'd have to be sure it'd work to say yes to such a procedure.

Will following the general consensus lead to improved odds of survival, or would you have a better chance following an assigned leader?

I'll follow anyone who knows what they're doing, if they're determined and responsible, and if they care for others... they seem a good leader, but we all have different needs, so we can't rely on one person only, no matter how smart they seem.

What is the appropriate response to the following situation?

I'm sorry, but I'd do anything to keep my daughter alive. I know she's just a person like many others for the rest of the world, but I'm supposed to be her hero, and that's what I'd do, no matter what. I'd sacrifice myself for my child.

#hc:ria #event:exodus #bnyevent

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rioreeve · 7 months

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For each of the following items, indicate whether you think it's morally okay or not.

An army lieutenant neglects to file a report on a civilian killing done by his troops because he knows it was an accident. not okay

A man orders a custom-built sex doll designed to look just like his neighbor. not okay

Sarah's dog has four puppies. She can only find a home for two of them, so she kills the other two with a stone to the head. not okay

A doctor has been preforming consensual yet illegal procedures one someone in hopes of finding a cure for his ill sister. okay to some degree

A neglectful husband pushes his wife to an affair. When the affair ends, the wife's partner nearly kills her and her unborn daughter. The husband kills the affair partner. not okay

September has run out of food and is facing death by starvation. She begins to cannibalize her family's loyal staff. They do not fight back. not okay

A mother gives birth to identical twins. One follows their ambitions and the other becomes a shut in. The family make it clear which child they prefer. not okay

Please provide a response to each of the following prompts. Leaving a prompt blank will also be considered a response, and you will be assessed for refusal to answer.

In the event of a life or death situation, would you put yourself or others first?

Depends on who they are. I'm not sacrificing myself for someone I resent.

How far would you be willing to go to ensure your own survival throughout this ordeal?

As far as necessary, as long as I won't become someone I'd hate to look at in the mirror. Or die.

Is there anyone in the building you have developed strong attachments to?

No, not right now, but difficult times usually make a difference.

Do you think it is possible to survive infection through alternative means such as removing the infected limb? Would you be willing to undergo this procedure to ensure your own survival?

What I think doesn't mean shit. As long as there's no proof cutting a limb off can help I'm not doing it and what good it'd do if I lost a whole arm or leg. I'm focused on survival, that's all I need right now.

Will following the general consensus lead to improved odds of survival, or would you have a better chance following an assigned leader?

I only follow my own rules and listen to others if they make sense. This situation is different from anything we've been through, on so many levels, so how do we know who to trust, or who'd be a good leader? We should only rely on ourselves and common sense, and take care of others.

What is the appropriate response to the following situation?

Your daughter falls ill and needs a specific, uncommon kind of antibiotic that will be hard to find; without the full course, the pathogen will survive, regroup, and kill her anyway. You are scavenging a pharmacy, where you find another group, and manage to not shoot each other. You ask them about the antibiotic, and they have it, but they also need the antibiotic, for the wife of someone in their group. You cannot share the antibiotic because it would just kill both people, and they have the antibiotic in their pack. This is likely the only complete dose set you will find, as the other stores have been picked totally clean and there are no friendly groups in the area. I don't have children, but I'd probably do everything to keep them alive. So would the husband. We'd fight and, as a result, even more people would die, which is the opposite of what we need right now. Sure, let them fight and the stronger team wins, but what's the point...? On the other hand, I'm not sure if I'd keep that logic as a parent, probably not. Have you read or seen On the Beach?

#hc:zach #event:exodus #bnyevent

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ftmtftm · 9 months

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Not really beefing because you are just a person on tumblr who contains multitudes but your response to the person pointing out problems in the popular trans fem bloggers post rubbed me up the wrong way a bit?

Like, sure, she's just a person on tumblr with a lot of followers having a take about a subject she doesn't know about intimately... but that is actually a problem! I have a trans femme partner who has lots of trans femme friends, many if whom found their first community interactions online. And a lot of them did not know many/any trans mascs, so were getting their opinions from popular online trans femmes, which were often just flippant and shitty about any trans masc issues (because they also did not actually know any trans mascs). Which meant that I as a trans masc person had to deal with being bombarded by a lot of ignorant shit from people who should have had my back as a community.

This isn't to say this can't happen in reverse, and that trans mascs can't be flippant and shitty about trans femmes out of ignorance (because good lord. They can be.) But all of us have a responsibility to try and listen to what groups are actually saying and not just forming edgy takes based on some shit we don't really have great knowledge of. We cannot downplay it as 'oh well, they just didn't have the knowledge.' It can still have impacts.

My main issue with the post was, frankly, the amount of bad faith assumptions about her intent - particularly insinuating she had any idea about the sexual harassment that has been happening especially when the insinuation relied on false information - and the misinformation about the term transmisogyny from genderkoolaid, not about any of the points she was actually making nor the legitimacy of them. It wasn't the point of my rely to address her post itself.

I don't really think she should've stepped into the sphere of discourse in the way she did, and also though? It's my general belief that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, you know? If someone is clearly upset and clearly doesn't really know what they're talking about I'm not going to assume the worst of them because if I was misinformed and upset I would hope someone would do the same for me and offer me the same grace. I'm perfectly fine with people disagreeing with me on that, that's just how I personally choose to live my life.

I think it hurts us more than helps us to be wrong ourselves though and that's what I'm trying to address more than anything else in this moment.

#asks #anon

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seventeenlovesthree · 2 years

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Digimon shipping dynamic game

@goqwinworld-blog

I'm curious as to what you would think of a polycule of Daisuke, Ken, Wallace, and Miyako.

Send me two names among the following 12 and I’ll write a short analysis post about them:

Whether canon provides input on them or not:

Unfortunately, I cannot put up a picture of all four of them interacting here, because while one could obviously make a case for each Daisuke/Ken/Miyako and Daisuke/Wallace/Miyako, I will have to get into theory mode a lot to make the overall polycule work.

The most interesting part is that both 3-person-relationships mentioned above have one thing in common: Namely that Miyako, Ken and Wallace all start off somewhat roughly with Daisuke, but end up having very positive, reaffirming and beautful relationships with him. So let’s look at the more obvious aspects canon provides:

Miyako may start off being in a somewhat bickering-siblings-relationship with Daisuke, but they still rely on and value each other a lot (and that means that they can potentially grow into their most honest selves with each other - especially in a universe in which they both swoon about the same person(s)). Ken and Daisuke start off as “rivals” on the football pitch (even though Daisuke already fondly admires him there), then turn into enemies, just for Daisuke to be the first person to forgive Ken for his behaviour, wanting him to move on and live and integrate him into the group, with all the positive affirmations (and heart pounding) you can imagine, turning them into (life) partners in crime easily. And Ken slowly but steadily opens up to Daisuke (and in turn to the others as well, including Miyako). Upon learning about Wallace’s backstory, Daisuke’s once condescending (and somewhat jealous) attutude towards Wallace melts into the urge to help and support him, again, with overwhelming kindness - which actually seems to catch the flirty, witty Wallace off guard as well.

Miyako displays (more or less obvious) crushes on both Ken and Wallace; the latter is very keen on flirting with her, calling her pretty (which in turn, turns Daisuke into a jealous hedgehog), whereas her feelings for Ken go through quite a rollercoaster ride (from crushing on him to despising him to slowly but steadily appreciating and moving towards him again). Ken’s feelings for Miyako, on the flipside, are not heavily focused upon, as the majority of his interactions are reserved for Daisuke, even though the growing respect between them is definitely visible.

Last but not least, there is obviously no canon material for the relationship between Ken and Wallace - but that doesn’t mean that it cannot work regardless.

Whether I think why and how they’d work:

As outlined above, the most logical route for all of them is going for a scenario in which Miyako, Ken and Wallace bond over their mutual feelings for Daisuke. For the first three-way dynamic, you potentially have a convincing baseline:

Ken canonically ending up marrying Miyako already makes these two romantically involved with each other and considering how incredibly close Daisuke and Ken are emotionally (and physically, as, according to Kizuna, they still spend a lot of time together in their freetime), it wouldn’t be unlikely for these three to end up in a polyamorous relationship - at least in my opinion. Daisuke and Miyako’s bond shall not be underestimated either, because, as mentioned above, they display a lot of familiarity and trust DESPITE the bickering and since they both grow to adore Ken to the core, this could absolutely be something they’d bond over and get closer over with as well. Basically having these three growing closer over their shared feelings for each other, opening up and being honest sounds like it could be a considerably lovely bond on its own already.

Now let’s look where exactly Wallace fits into this. We already ended Hurricane Touchdown on a very promising note, with him being flirty with both Daisuke and Miyako - so them staying in touch with each other should be a given. I could see him and Miyako texting frequently and Daisuke, being canonically good at English and also implied to be close with Mimi, would also visit him in America whenever possible (since he also aims to start his ramen cart there - what a coincidence, huh?). With gate hopping becoming a more and more accessible way of traveling, they might actually visit each other as adults on a regular basis. So again, these three falling for each other (with Daisuke realizing that his jealousy is linked to his feelings for both Miyako and Wallace) makes a lot of sense.

So what about Wallace and Ken? I feel like, upon meeting each other for the first time, they would probably be a bit wary of one another - and also a liiiiittle bit protective over Daiyako in their own right, as they would have to come to terms with each other first. However, as protective as I could see both of them being, as soon as they realize that they both equally love Daisuke and Miyako, I could see them growing soft and rambling to each other about all the things they value about them. Daisuke and Miyako would DEFINITELY try to convince each of them of each other’s greatness as well, but I don’t think they would get romantically involved with each other. So while it’s hard to imagine these two falling for each other in canon, they probably would at least agree to be in love with two pretty amazing people and make some kind of arrangement with it. (On a different note: Dub!Willis being responsible for Diaboromon is somewhat a mirror to Ken being responsible for Kimeramon, so in the Dub!universe, both of them can be considered young geniuses that could bond over their pasts and the losses they suffered.)

Whether I’d prefer them as platonic or romantic ship:

I do like each three-way-combinations a lot, as I could definitey see each of them working out and interacting in the romantic outlined above (with Kendaiyako and Miwasuke being romantically involved and Ken/Wallace being platonic with each other, but romantic with each Daisuke and Miyako). I also enjoy them in a platonic way, either with all four of them just being friends OR as a group with certain ship combinations in between (for example in a universe in which Wasuke became a thing next to canonical Kenyako - or an alternate universe, in which Daiken and Wayako became endgame). Man, I love polyshipping...

#my two cents #kendaiyako #miwasuke #daisuke motomiya #ken ichijouji #miyako inoue #wallace #digimon #analysis #meta

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brightblessed · 2 years

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// Like this for a starter for one of my Aus. Information below for Roi and Amyntas

i. Lightless

When Roi and Niall attempted to escape into Eorzea, Niall was killed. This led to Roi being captured by the Garleans. Being a physically capable 13-year-old, they sent him to a work camp of prisoners where he was subjected to hard labor and intense abuse. For ten years, he managed to survive against the odds. After the WoL defeats Gauis and his research on the Echo reaches the soldiers in charge of the prison, they discover that Roi’s bursts of unconsciousness he often gets line up with the research. After questioning him and confirming he has the Echo, he is shipped away to a lab as a test subject. From this point, it breaks into three sub-verses.

i. I SURVIVED BUT I HAVE NOT BEEN SPARED.

This takes place if Roi hasn’t been taken to the lab yet and is somehow freed from his prison or your character meets him. It can also take place if he is freed from the lab before they eventually kill him by draining his aether or pushing his body/mind too far.

ii. THE BOY WITH THE BROKEN HALO

In which he finally breaks and starts openly complying with the research in the hopes it will free him from returning to prison. In this verse, Roi either remains at the lab or is eventually able to leave as a soldier after they find out as much as they can about his echo. In this, he would open be helping the empire despite what they did to him and his family out of an intense fear of returning to his life before. That being said, his body is in far worse shape than in the main verse and the experiments made it more difficult for him to control his aether properly. He usually will stray away from combat, though he could eventually become a gunbreaker, machinist, or reaper. His main role is to use the echo to collect information for the Empire. He can still use magic, but it physically drains him to do so. I would say the intense damage to his body would bar him from having an open combat role, he would likely be more of an information agent. Now I cannot stress enough that he would still, basically, be a mage. But it would do his body harm to use too much magic and thus he would rely mostly on a sword. I would also wager they did research into how to use the Echo for combat, like with Fordola, and fighting with him would be incredibly difficult because of that. So tl;dr, he wouldn’t be in open combat too often. But when he is, he’d still be quite a foe. But his primary use for the military would be his echo. He’d still basically be a slave. He wouldn’t be allowed to act freely without supervision.

iii. RABID ANIMAL

In this verse, he taps into his natural magical abilities and the basic things Niall taught him. He loses control of his abilities thanks to the experiments and kills/severely wounds everyone around him. He is also horribly injured but manages to survive. Maybe he was rescued by a random beast tribe or small group of people or maybe luck was (finally) on his side. He stays by himself, doing whatever he has to in order to survive. Again, physical combat is nearly impossible (even more so than the other verses because of the intense damage caused by his own spells) but he can use magic despite it messing him up. Whether or not he gets to Eorzea depends on my partner and I plotting. He would likely eventually take up being a sage, reaper, or red mage depending on how things go.

ii. LET ME DRINK YOUR LIGHT

Instead of being scouted by the Scions, Roi remained a normal adventurer. He continued his quest for POWER, doing his best to kill his heart with every hardship. He may have began as a helpful adventurer that seemed a friend to the common man. But as time went on, his quest for power led him to the forsaken art of black magic. As he grew more powerful, he was exposed to more and more darkness. Isolation and distrust started him down a bad path. He is now a ruthless criminal, taking whatever he wants and seeking more power. As one of the strongest mages in the realm, there is very little people can do to stop him. His effort to expel all weakness has led him into doing awful things, just as desperation had before that. Roi longs to cast off human weaknesses.

Survival and power are the only things he seeks. Known as a man that could have been a hero, Roi is an ally to those that want people killed. To those that would pay to hurt others. His thirst for power has led him to be one of the most feared men in the underground.

iii. SO I GAVE MYSELF OVER WILLINGLY.

Amyntas was not given the title of Azem. But still traveled and acted the same way. He was against Zodiark and eventually ended up siding with Hydealyn. He and Venat made a deal with each other, if Venat became the heart then he would be a steward. And whatever came after, he would guide the people left if he had to. This led to him not being sundered. He is an ascian, but aligned with Hydealyn to an extent. Trying to prevent his former friends from hurting the sundered and existing in a very fragile existence.

iv. SO DARKNESS I BECAME

Amyntas was Azem and failed to stop the final days. He was not sundered and took his title back and resolved to aide the other unsundered. Almost all of who he was has died in the eons.

#⌈ ♞ ⌉ starter call. || ˟ –––– as soon as you meet me you'll wish that you never did #you can specify #i can ask #or i can randomize

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purringbookworm97 · 2 years

Text

A thing a realized recently is that I might be neurodivergent, and this might be the reason why I don't behave the way most people (neurotypicals?) behave in groups or with me.

Let me explain. From what I've gathered during my short life, people mostly perceive each other through their bodies, in the sense that they will heavily rely on physical communication instead of verbal and/or empathetic communication. Actions will have social meanings, conscious or unconscious, and will be expected to be the result of specific other actions, therefore creating patterns that neurotypical brains (?) will analyse before automatically reacting to them.

The issue with neurodivergence, or at least with my own experience, is that I mostly rely on verbal and empathetic communication because I fail to communicate correctly through physical cues alone. That's why I've spent most of my life observing others in order to understand what they meant, and to be understood by my peers by mimicking them (is that masking?). The theory I've developed through this, however is that actions cannot translate exactly what a human being feels.

Bodies can be deceptive, and therefore manipulative people will use non verbal cues to fool others and get into their good graces. At the same time though, others will struggle with maintaining the physical charade, not because they're lying, but because physical communication isn't their preferred means of socialization (because of neurodivergence for example).

This has led me to perceive people through their words and emotions rather than their bodies, because people’s bodies fail to show me the depths and beauty of the human mind. I discovered for example that I don't react to nudity the way most people do. I don't see naked people as arousing in any way, unless the emotional context allows me to connect with the person the body belongs to. Intimacy isn’t a matter of physycal pleasure, to me.

I therefore think the issue with this, and with the relationships I've had with people, is that we were using different languages. In romantic relationships, I mostly relied on emotional communication and acts of service rather than physical intimacy, while my partners needed contact with my body to communicate their affection to me. The issue with that is that it slowly destroyed my desire for intimacy, because I perceived every physically intimate attention as invasive rather than affectionate. I started loathing being perceived through my body, to the point that I couldn't see it naked without being overwhelmed by a strong feeling of disgust. Which is depressing. Yeah.

So I wonder how many people feel that way. How many have tried perceiving others the way they were perceived, and felt the same pain I felt when it failed. I wonder how many have tried talking it out, trying out things even if it meant forcing themselves, only to realize it was making them miserable. I wonder how much they've lost to protect themselves too, because I've reacted to this overwhelming physical perception by pushing people I loved away, and I lost so much because of it. I lost emotional intimacy, trust, love, because of this body I don't want, and because I don't speak the right language. Or at least one that would satisfy both of us.

Of course, in no way am I blaming physical cues percievers, your language is as valid as mine and everything is fine as long as it works for you, I'm just sad that understanding each other is so hard. I hope you're comfortable with your body, that your loved ones understand the way you communicate, and that they’re able to give back everything you give them. I wish you love, I wish you to be seen, to be understood, to be cherished, for who you are, I wish you all the means of communication necessary to show and receive love, and I hope whoever sees themselves in my experience finds the courage to let go of what's hurting them, and the strength to prioritize themselves no matter who says otherwise.

Languages are learned, but not overnight, learning how people communicate isn’t easy, it’s a process, but in the meantime, you deserve to feel safe in your body and mind. You deserve someone who you will understand, and who will understand you. You deserve someone who will want the body and the mind, the mind and the heart, and everything else too. You deserve to feel beautiful and safe, and you deserve to be accepted and comfortable in any relationship you have.

You deserve this, we all do, and I hope you get all of it and more.

#witchblr #personal #relationships #empathy #neurodivergence #?#psa #psa on communication and empathy

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thoughtsontechnology · 18 days

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Blackthorn Events for Salesforce how-to: build a screen flow to upload and manage attendee groups

My last blog post was about implementing a CSV import feature. This blog post documents utilizing that screen flow feature to facilitate attendee group management for Blackthorn Events.

The scenario is an events center that uses Blackthorn Events and Salesforce for their day-to-day operations. Most of their event registrations are processed in their own system, but some events they host are run by partner organizations who handle attendee registration independently. In those cases the partner organization sends the event center a list of registered attendees to upload, and the event center later issues one large invoice to the partner org for attendee lodging and other charges.

Administering these attendee groups and invoicing them back to the partner organization has been difficult, and we are on a path to improve this. The Blackthorn Events data model contains an attendee group object which it automatically utilizes when multiple people are registered in a single web transaction. That object provided a nice starting point to extend to more robust attendee group management functionality.

This was a technically challenging project that turned out to be the most complex thing I've yet built with Salesforce Flow Builder. The resulting Flow leverages brand new features and overcomes difficulties of working with a managed package's objects. Note that custom automations are specifically outside of the scope of Blackthorn support, so they cannot assist if you decide to leverage this in another Blackthorn org. The tricks and lessons in this post should be applicable to other non-Blackthorn use cases as well.

A reason why it's important to note all that up front is because before building this Flow, I questioned whether it was a good idea to build. Our consulting team inherited a client environment where the existing attendee import process was to use the data import wizard to upload a list of Attendee records with a custom field called Imported Attendee marked TRUE. That boolean value activated a record-triggered flow which would create the Attendee's associated Line Item, Invoice, and Transaction records.

That system fell short largely because of the governor limit errors that staff regularly encountered. It was initially my opinion that we'd be better off improving the existing system's efficiency and implementing Apsona as a better pre-built upload tool with batch size control to mitigate the governor limit errors. But my opinion changed when I saw the added value in how a Flow could accomplish tying together the attendee group upload, group deposit, and group payoff processes. In other words it made sense to do once it addressed a larger business process need than just the upload function.

An early build paired those three functions, but still relied on a CSV upload targeting the Attendee object to salvage the existing record-triggered Flow. That actually did work but only with the batch size set to 2 and there's a 30+ second wait between batches. That poor performance was the deal-breaker which brought me around to deprecating the record-triggered flow and rebuilding its functionality within the screen flow.

The core performance issue in the record-triggered flow was that it chained together multiple write operations on managed package objects. Each of those objects trigger some rollups and other custom automation that we know about. And each of those objects also trigger some Apex code that we don't have any visibility into. But the cumulative impact of it all counts towards the flow interview limits. And I don't think Salesforce bulkifies downstream write operations which are initiated when a record-triggered flow is invoked multiple times by a bulkified write of a collection of new records.

So I took on rebuilding the record-triggered flow functionality within this screen flow, staging each object (attendee, invoice, and line item) within a collection to bulkify the database writes for better performance, and utilizing batch sizes and pause screens throughout to stay within limits. I created a custom object to target the upload to, designed the system to write related object IDs back to the custom object record to track upload progress, and built an additional branch of functionality to resume an upload using those records if needed.

Screen flow user experience

Before diving deep into how the flow is built, here's a tour of what the screen flow does and how it works for the person running it. I like to think that the simplicity of this interface belies the complexity going on behind it.

The screen flow is designed to launch from a button on the Event screen, which also passes the Event ID into a parameter.

The flow first executes a lookup for an existing attendee group. In our use case we are only ever expecting to manage one corporate group per event, so if a group is found then it is selected. If no group is found, then the user is prompted to input an Account ID to create a new group. When a new group is created, a group invoice is initialized.

The four actions that the user can take are all connected back to selected attendee group or main invoice:

Begin attendee upload

Resume attendee upload

Record group deposit

Record group payoff

Begin attendee upload

When a user selects Begin attendee upload they are first presented with a screen detailing the exact column headers that need to be in the CSV file.

The user uploads their CSV file and the next screen shows a preview of records in the file. The file may contain an Event Item ID column, but if that's not included then rows which need an event item assigned are displayed along with a dropdown menu to select an event item to assign them.

After all rows have an event item assigned, then the user selects the batch size to proceed with creating attendees end clicks next.

If the number of rows in the file exceeds the batch size then a pause screen will appear informing the user of the number of records created and prompting them to click next to continue. This will continue until the batch size is complete.

After this process is completed for attendees, it's repeated for invoices and then for line items.

Resume attendee upload

If an attendee upload is interrupted for any reason, it might result in a situation where some attendees were created with invoices but no line items, or attendees with no invoices at all, or a batch where some attendees were created and others weren't. All of those scenarios would be bad, so there is a resume attendee upload feature.

When a user selects Resume attendee upload, the flow queries for any attendee upload temp objects which are missing a corresponding attendee, invoice, or line item object. If any are found, then those records are loaded into the begin upload branch of the flow to finish processing them.

Record group deposit

Group deposits are pretty straightforward. When the user selects Record a group deposit, they are taken to a screen prompting them to record the amount of the deposit, a deposit memo, and indicate whether the deposit was paid or needs to be invoiced.

After clicking Next to continue, the flow creates an event item for the deposit then a line item attached to the invoice. If the user indicates that the deposit was paid, then the flow also creates a transaction. If the deposit was not paid then the invoice link displayed on screen can be sent to facilitate paying by credit card.

Record group payoff

Group payoffs are recorded after the event takes place, when the organization is ready to generate a final invoice for the group.

On the first screen in this interface the user is prompted to select any available deposits and attendees in the group that they would like to apply or transfer to the main invoice. A batch size selector allows for controlling the number of credits/charges to transfer in each batch.

For any deposits that are selected, the flow reverses the line item on the main invoice. It's honestly a little bit awkward that there is a line item for the deposit amount in the first place, given that it shouldn't be recognized as a charge - just as a payment credited towards their eventual final balance. But it's necessary create a deposit line item for the deposit amount in order to support invoicing deposits via Documentlink. So we set a line item for the deposit amount, back that line item out at the point when it's applied, and have our rollups at the event level set to make sure deposit line charges are excluded from invoice totals where that's necessary.

For all attendee line items that the user selects, a loop sends each one through a subflow that reverses each line item on their respective invoices and tabulates the total amount of attendee charges that needs to get added to the main group invoice.

When that process completes, the user is presented with a screen showing the total amount of attendee charges to be added, and is prompted to add the total amount of any miscellaneous charges (typically audiovisual and catering) to the invoice.

After clicking Next, the total amount due of the invoice is shown on screen, and the user is prompted to enter a payoff memo along with the total amount being collected and any amount being written off.

Screen flow architecture

This screen flow has a lot going on, and it's a little bit intimidating when you pull back and look at the whole thing. It isn't as bad as it looks though, much of this is repetitive, and I'll break it down piece-by-piece.

Flow intro

The first part of this flow loads in the Event record using the ID passed into the flow, then searches for an existing attendee group associated with the event.

If a group is found then it makes sure the group has a main group invoice (initializing one if missing) then assigns this group to the Var Group variable used later in the flow.

If no group is found, then the user is prompted to input an Account ID to create a new group. A validation check ensures that an 18 digit string starting with "001" was entered, then it creates a main group invoice billed to that account, sets the invoice on the Var Group variable, and writes that variable to the database.

With these initial steps completed, the user is then presented with four options:

Begin attendee upload

Resume attendee upload

Record group deposit

Record group payoff

Begin attendee upload

A custom object called Attendee Uploads is employed. When the user uploads a CSV file, that custom object is targeted. The uploaded records are assigned to an Uploaded attendees collection and that collection is looped through.

Each row is assigned the Event ID and the flow start timestamp is set as a batch identifier. Then the row is evaluated to determine if it has or needs an Event Item ID. Rows that do and do not need an Event ID are assigned to separate collections. This decision step also looks for the absence of the Last Name field, which if found is taken as evidence of a blank row that is filtered out and not assigned to any collection.

The next steps deal with assigning missing Event Item IDs. A Record Choice Set serves a dropdown of all of the valid event item types for the event. The user is prompted to choose an item, select the rows to apply it to, then repeat until all rows have an Event Item ID assigned. If all rows already have an Event Item ID, then these steps are skipped and the Attendee Upload objects are written to the database.

Now that the attendee uploads are in, the flow proceeds to looping through them. The first decision, which evaluates if an attendee is already associated with the upload row, only applies to resumed uploads. No attendees already exist for new uploads, so the attendee record fields are assigned in the following step and the staged attendee record is then assigned to the collection.

At this point there's a Pause Interval decision. This is where the flow evaluates if either the batch interval or the end of the batch has been reached. If it's time to pause, then a pause screen is displayed which commits the flow interview (writing attendee records in the collection to the database), the user clicks Next to continue, then the loop proceeds to staging further attendee records until either the next pause or the end of the batch. A second loop and write operation then loops through the new attendee records to stage an update batch to write attendee IDs back to the Attendee Upload records which created them, then update those Attendee Upload records in the database.

While useful for mitigating governor limits, there are drawbacks to saving work to the database mid-operation. If an error occurs or if the user simply navigates away from the flow prior to completion, the dataset they're uploading could be left in an inconsistent state. For that reason, each step where the attendees, invoices, and line items are committed to the database is accompanied by a step that updates the AT upload objects with those new IDs, and both of these write operations happen within the same flow interview with a roll back function included to help ensure the IDs tracked on the Attendee Upload object remain accurate in case an error occurs.

After the attendee creation loop is completed, there's a little bit of collection juggling done before moving on. The attendee record creation was bulkified by batching them into a collection and processing a single write operation. That's a vital practice for flow performance, but comes with the wrinkle that the newly created object IDs aren't immediately available in the flow the same way they are when objects are created individually. I get around that by using the batch identifier to empty the records out of the collection and then query the newly created records in order to reload them into the collection. It's also a nice trick for being able to reference the contact or account record that Blackthorn links with the attendee record after save.

The remainder of this branch pretty much repeats the process from attendee creation - the attendees are looped through to create invoices for them, then the invoices are looped through to create line items. At the end of it, the user is returned to the menu asking what they'd like to do next.

Resume upload

The resume upload function exists to ensure that all attendee uploads are complete and accounted for. The first step searches for any pending uploads - attendee upload records where the event ID matches and the related ID either attendee, invoice, or line item is null. If none are found, the user is simply returned to the menu. If any are found, they are looped through twice.

The first loop evaluates if the object has a related attendee but no related invoice, and for each of those records it gets the attendee record and adds it to a collection. A pause interval of 50 is built in.

The second loop evaluates if the object has a related invoice but no related line item, and for each of those records it gets the invoice record and adds it to a collection. A pause interval of 50 is built in.

Those two loops exist to patch in related object IDs to the same collections used in the Begin attendee upload branch, before incomplete attendee upload objects are passed to the Preview attendees step in the Begin upload branch. The rest of the workflow for completing an upload is identical to a new upload as the flow proceeds through the new upload branch.

Record group deposit

Record Deposit is the shortest and simplest branch of this flow. The user is presented with a screen where deposit information is entered, the flow then creates an event item, a line item (on the group invoice), and optionally a transaction record and note on the invoice. The user is then shown a confirmation screen and taken back to the menu.

Record group payoff

The Record Payoff branch ties it all together at the conclusion of an event. The first step in this branch is a query that loads in all line items associated with the attendee group. Collection filters are then applied to parse those line item records out to a deposit collection and an attendee lines collection. A screen is then presented to the user enabling them to select which of those records to proceed with.

Selected objects from each of the filtered collections are then looped through independently. In both cases a Subflow is invoked which creates an offsetting line item to effectively zero out the charge. The difference between the loops is that the deposit loop sums up the amount to display as a credit, whereas the attendee lines are tabulated to sum up a new line item amount to be added to the group invoice.

The user is then presented with a confirmation screen that states the number of line items charges transferred, the sum of those line item charges, and the deposit amount applied. A fill-in field allows the user to input additional charges (audiovisual, catering, etc.).

When the user clicks Next, the flow creates an event item and line item for the room charges, then an event item and line item for the additional charges.

Finally, the Payoff line item screen displays the total charges on the invoice minus the deposit to arrive at an invoice total due. The flow may be ended here and the Documentlink invoice link sent to collect payment. Or if payment was already submitted, then the user may toggle on Create payoff transaction and additional fields are exposed to input the payment amount, payoff memo, and writeoff amount (if applicable).

When the user clicks Next then the flow either completes if no payment was entered, or creates the payoff transaction, updates the invoice with the memo, and creates a writeoff transaction if applicable.

When this is all done the main group invoice contains multiple line items for attendee room charges, additional charges, group deposit, and writeoff amount. Transactions for the deposit and payoff are applied against these charges.

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somewhatofablog · 7 months

Text

29/09/2023 - collaborative research task

For this task, we had to collaborate with each other on our text analyses. The task was split into three steps:

The first step was to pair up with someone else and explain the basis of our text to that person. We had to make notes on what we learned about each other's texts - what new ideas, concepts or ways of thinking have we discovered? We had to also find links between our text and understand how they were related.

The second step was to join another pair to make a group of four. In our groups, we had 10 minutes to explain the two texts that we've read, and a summary of the conversation we had in our pairs so far. We had to make notes on any links we could find between all 4 texts. Questions we had to ask ourselves included 'are there common themes?', 'do new ideas, thoughts and reflections come out of the conversations that you are having?' and so on.

The third step was to finally write an annotated bibliography for each of your 4 texts. Essentially, our entries (no more than 200 words) needed to include reflection, connections to wider themes/ideas/contexts and possibly critique. We needed to also include a single image in our entries that would represent the essence of our texts. The bibliography needed to be cited in Harvard style (but we could grab that from the texts document on Moodle).

There was supposed to be a fourth step and that was to upload our finalised cited entries on Padlet via Moodle, but for some reason I could not do that (I think I couldn't sign in Outlook/Microsoft for whatever reason). Either ways, I'm going to write up our findings here. Though I have gone back since Friday 29/09 and have updated each entry (and I've added images since they weren't originally on the Google Docs we all pasted our analyses on).

STEP 1

So I paired up with another person whose assigned text was Towards Relational Design by Andrew Blauvelt. Together we discussed each other's texts and found a lot of similarities between our texts. This was the original summary I wrote about my partner’s assigned text:

This text is concerned with the evolution of art over time and how different art movements have affected modern art. How artificial intelligence is going to have an effect on modern artwork and the concept of no longer needing human designers involved with production of art. Mass production was also a key point in this text - a robot designer in a museum in the Netherlands can produce up to 600 original artworks, which a human cannot possibly do.

I’m obviously going to need to rewrite the summary, so that it could have a lot more substance than…whatever this is. This will mean I will have to read the text and make my own judgements but ugh, I really don’t want to. But then I won’t feel fulfilled that I’ve done this task justice, so I will be reading all four texts in full. Yay me.

STEP 2

Both me and partner grouped up with another pair and all four of us quickly discussed our analyses. The texts were Designing Programmes by Karl Gerstner and Zeros and Ones: Digital Women and the New Technoculture by Sadie Plant. Eventually, we found the links between all four of them and here are my notes on both of those texts. Keep in mind, these notes are a lot more rough as I was quickly typing as we each took turns explaining our analyses of our texts in full:

Notes on Designing Programmes by Karl Gerstner:

Designing programmes text (3) - analyisng mathematical functions + codes and put it into a program and make it a foundation for your program

Talks about angles, textures, photos

Links to design - foundation for your designs, softwares like Photoshop + InDesign, algorithmic, rules + regulations for graphic design

Criticism - can’t rely on this coding because of lack of human creativity

Similar to my text - both texts explain usage of algorithms as a basis of programming (which then leads to AI etc)

Notes on:

‘Zero + ones (18)’ - text is about the inequalities between men and women (particularly the exploitation of women) and how the rise in the advancing technology pushes this narrative/reality

I didn't type much for this text, only because I couldn't keep up with the analysis. I'll have a deeper look into this text anyways, seeing as I am interested in the links between the mistreatment of women and the rise in technology advancements. I have a feeling things have only gotten worse since this book was written (which was 1997!)

STEP 3

We all wrote up our annotated bibliographies. We honestly just copied the citations from the Moodle doc and just pasted it before the beginning of our short entries. This what it currently looks like:

Plant, S. (1997) Zeros + Ones: Digital Women + the New Technoculture. London: Fourth Estate. pp. 32–37

Upon reading the by; Plant, S. (1997) Zeros + Ones: Digital Women + the New Technoculture, I concluded that from the comparison between modern technology and the exploitation of women, the writer seeks to highlight the inequality between men and women by addressing the notion that women are mere servants and assistants to men, the words; “He ruled, she served” proves this point well. Similarly, postwar computer systems which became more widely accessible in the 1970s were developed to assist the corporate workforce, largely dominated by men. Just like women for a long time have been viewed as nothing more than helpers to men, computers are the same, but because the computer in this scenario is a literal object to which the women are being compared too, it emphasises the objectification women have endured throughout history.

Cohen, H. (1974) On Purpose: An enquiry into the possible roles of the computer in art. Available at: https://www.studiointernational.com/index.php/on-purpose-an- enquiry-into-the-possible-roles-of-the-computer-in-art (Accessed: 29/09/2023)

This text is about how computers can be seen as ‘artists’ in their own right. Cohen was concerned with how he could program the computer/machines to create art instead of just using punched cards that would already have preset ideas for the outcome. He experimented with coding programmes and produced artwork using a teletype and a computer system. He also talks about the difficult mathematical concept of ‘recursion’ as being a system/structure and how that can be applied to computer art. It’s the idea of a structure having provided itself with ‘something’ by its last function/process.

Blauvelt, A. (2008) Towards Relational Design. Available at: https://walkerart.org/magazine/towards-relational-design (Accessed: 29/09/2023)

This text was about the evolution of design throughout time and how society has influenced art movements throughout art history. Later they talk about how they think art trends are going to change and develop in the future. They discuss how programming systems will aid in creating art in the future.

Gerstner, K. (2021) Designing Programmes (re-print). Zurich: Lars MÜller, pp. 6–18

This text mainly uses a set of systematic data to digitize some design elements and design methods, model programming, and some of their applications. In the author's illustrated explanation, he does not provide us with a specific idea, but some objective skills supported by data, such as grid diagrams, structures, rules, and the technical basis of the design. Compared with broader concepts, this book seems to be more inclined to be a "reference book", which provides a systematic idea and guidance for our design through the support of data and systematization.

There'll be a separate post with the link to the finalised collaborative text and with images too!

#unit 5 #research #2nd year

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