#the effort i put in to be a successful person academically with no avail. but so is the life of a neurodivergent in an ableist society | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

capslearning · 2 days

Text

Realizing Dreams- Inspiring Success Stories of CA Foundation Toppers at DGS CAPS

Becoming a Chartered Accountant (CA) is a dream for many aspiring professionals, and it all starts with clearing the CA Foundation exam. Aspiring CA students often seek guidance and support from reputable coaching institutes to navigate the complexities of the exam and achieve their goals. In Nagpur, DGS CAPS Nagpur stands out as a leading CA Foundation coaching institute, known for its comprehensive curriculum, experienced faculty, and track record of producing CA toppers.

DGS CAPS has earned a stellar reputation for providing top-notch CA coaching in Nagpur. With a team of highly qualified faculty members who are experts in their respective fields, DGS CAPS offers a structured and rigorous program designed to prepare students for success in the CA Foundation exam. The institute's focus on conceptual clarity, practical application, and exam-oriented preparation sets it apart from other coaching centers in the region.

The success stories of CA Foundation toppers at DGS CAPS serve as inspiration for aspiring CA students across Nagpur. These students, with their dedication, hard work, and guidance from DGS CAPS, have turned their dreams into reality and emerged as top performers in the CA Foundation exam.

One such success story is that of CA PAWAN SARDA, who secured the All India Rank 1 in the CA Foundation exam AIR 2 - CA CPT AIR 8 - PCC AIR 2 - CA FINAL AIR 16 - CS FOUND AIR 23 - CS EXE AIR 6 - CS PROF. Pawan, a student at DGS CAPS, credits the institute's structured approach to learning and personalized attention from faculty members for her success. "DGS CAPS provided me with the guidance and support I needed to excel in the CA Foundation exam. The faculty members were always available to clarify doubts and provide additional support whenever needed," says PAwan Sarda.

What sets DGS CAPS apart from other CA foundation coaching in Nagpur is its holistic approach to student development. In addition to providing academic support, the institute focuses on enhancing students' overall skills and competencies through workshops, seminars, and personality development sessions. This comprehensive approach ensures that students are well-prepared not only for the CA Foundation exam but also for the challenges they may face in their professional careers.

Moreover, DGS CAPS' commitment to excellence extends beyond the classroom. The institute regularly updates its curriculum to align with the latest exam patterns and industry trends, ensuring that students receive the most relevant and up-to-date education. Additionally, DGS CAPS provides personalized attention to each student, catering to their individual learning needs and preferences.

Some of our student’s testimonial about DGS caps

Student: Kush Kesharwani

Best Coaching for CA classes. I have been studying here from foundation and scored such a great marks because of such Great and Supportive faculties. They make it way much easier. They also focus on overall personality development and strive to make us such a expert CA There is nowhere the best coaching then DG Sharma's CAPS

Student: Akshat Jain

DGS CAPS is definitely one of the best CA coaching in India ! The homely environment, well maintained classes, timely completion of courses, humblest of the humble faculties and staff, all the extracurricular (weekly walks, life skill workshops, webinars/seminars, adventure camps, fest etc.) motivates you to put an extra effort to your self-study. You are assessed on weekly class tests and 2-3 test series afterwards. The guidance, motivation, support you’ll get from the teachers will make you feel like you are talking to your brothers or father. I can define DGS CAPS with a single word i.e., HOME and i can mean it!

Student: Khushi Pataliya

DGS CAPS is the best dicision that I have taken in my life. Our honourable sir DG sharma sir is the best and pure soul of our DGS CAPS. Nextly I would love to talk about our Karan Arun i.e Pawan sir and Neeraj sir the are the best Jodi ever. And yes last but not the least the one and only Shashank sir and sanket sir they are the most pure heart and happy souls every

Student: Aryan Manohare

Feeling grateful about the guidance I got from the teachers at DGS CAPS. The way they taught me the importance of understanding & conceptual clarity, rather than memorising, is exceptionally outstanding. Apart from academics, I also learnt various significant life lessons during camps, fest & classes; & enjoyed my time thereof. The people I met there have taught very much in some way. Lessons from DGS CAPS & their faculties very much unforgettable. From making understanding every concept to increasing one's potential, I think they are really experts. I hope to learn everything I could from them, apply it to real life & become a good man.

Aspiring CA students looking for top-quality CA coaching classes in in Nagpur need look no further than DGS CAPS. With its proven track record of producing CA toppers and its dedication to student success, DGS CAPS is the preferred choice for those aiming to realize their dreams of becoming Chartered Accountants. Join DGS CAPS today and embark on your journey towards CA success!

Feel free to reach out via phone or email for any queries or to learn more about the services offered by D G Sharma's CAPS.

CAPS Contact Number: +91 969 312 0120 / +91 805 512 0900

CAPS Nagpur Address: Plot No - 83, Hill Top, Ram Nagar, Near Water Tank, Nagpur - 440010, Maharashtra.

Email Address: [email protected]

Website: https://capslearning.org/

#ca coaching institute in nagpur #caps nagpur #ca online classes #dgscaps #best institute for ca in nagpur #best ca coaching

0 notes

reflectivelecturer · 9 months

Text

Reflection on interactive oral assessments

In 2021, I needed to change an assessment in a postgraduate subject within a specialisation. The course was the masters of information studies, records and archives specialisation. The change was required when it came to my attention that there were risks to academic integrity to the existing task (academic integrity checks showed that it was available on TV Assessment Help). Through connections from participation in the grad cert. higher education teaching and learning, an interactive oral assessment was recommenced.

My initial research showed me this format was a good fit on several counts:

the IOA comes from the business school community. My subject focuses on methods to manage information for integrity and reliability in organisations, close to the business environment.

My subject is part of an accredited course and the lead of teaching and learning in my School and I were in agreement that the IOA is a good fit with industry expectations of graduate skills

I come from industry to the academy and in my own experience, skills around having professional conversations with confidence are crucial, skills promoted by the IOA

Finally, the IOA is a good fit with my own teaching philosophy, prioritising authentic learning.

After this evaluation by me and my learning and teaching lead in the School that the IOA was an effective fit with my course, my next step was to join in with the university's community of practice for IOAs. This provided me with practitioner insight from others who had already used IOAs. It also gave me access to the resources developed by the team at Griffith who established this assessment approach. The key resources I drew upon from this community were research on the benefits of IOAs from Griffith University, example assessment descriptions, communication to students and QA on my proposed assessment and communication from experienced colleagues in the COP.

All students participated, none failed. I put effort into communicating with students repeatedly about what the IOA involved. The conversation was co-marked with a sessional, a former colleague of mine in industry. Crucial to the success of this implementation for my confidence was involving that sessional - I wanted that oversight from a third person and co-evaluation of student performance. This also solved the moderation issues as it was agreed with the learning and teaching lead in the School that usual moderation methods would be challenging to colleagues in the School. I confirmed involvement of this sessional before I confirmed I would include the assessment. This meant the assessment conversation scenario involved 3 people.

The assessment process met my expectations about academic integrity. Student survey feedback had slightly more specifically positive comments than specifically negative. About a third of respondents to the survey included comments specifically about the IOA.

It resulted in marks bunched around the credit band (60-70%). I have continued to use the IOA, setting one in a new subject in a new university. I have modified that based on what I learnt from other COP members about using a document prepared by the students in the task as the basis for the IOA conversation. I expect this will help to improve the span of grades and support the students more in their experience.

I gave a short paper to CSU's edX in late 2022 explaining the benefits I took from the IOA process. The greatest benefit for me from this process was spending 10 minutes in conversation with each student. This course is fully online and only a small portion of students attend the online meetings and therefore meet with me. The opportunity to engage in person with each student gave me excellent insight into their learning journeys and what I can do to support them better. This task was set as the first of two assessments, that gave the chance to check their basic understanding of key ideas in the subject and as I've said, to adjust my teaching content and style to accommodate their learning needs.

From that edX event, my support for IOAs was also confirmed by a talk on academic integrity from Deakin Uni's Phil Dawson, confirming IOAs as 'the gold standard' for academic integrity.

1 note · View note

thestylistapproach · 2 years

Photo

Motivation Report: Promote Student Autonomy

PIDP 3250 Assignment 2

“The notion of learner autonomy was first developed out of practice-that the teacher researchers at the Center de Recherches et d’Applications Pedagogiques en Langues (CARPEL), University of Nancy, France, in the early 1970’s. According to the former Director of CARPEL, Henri Holec, the need for a term to describe people’s ability to take charge of their own learning arose for practical, though idealistic reasons”. (Smith, 2008) In the ELT Journal, volume 62, published by Oxford Academic, Richard Smith, associate professor at the University of Warwick, notes that “in the interests of widening access to education and promoting lifelong learning, CARPLE began to offer adults opportunity to learn… free from teacher direction. However, it soon became clear that participants did not necessarily have the full capacity (competence) to take charge of decision-making in all areas normally determined by an institution, teacher, or textbook, namely: objectives, content and materials, syllabus, methods and techniques, pace time and place, and evaluation procedures” (2008). Due to this the “CARPEL put into place various kinds of support measures, including learner counselling and training, to assist in the development of learners’ abilities to work more effectively in a self-directed fashion” (Smith, 2008). Merriam and Bierema define autonomy as “the yearning to direct our own lives, or in other words to control tasks, time, team, and technique” and is “synonymous with self-directedness”. (2014. P.147) The promotion of student autonomy motivational technique, focuses on the fact that “self-determination is the basic human need to have control over one’s life” and that “students are more motivated to engage in meaningful learning if they are acting of their own volition.” (Barkley & Major, 2020. P.74) Barkley and Major outline in chapter five of their book Student Engagement Techniques, “tips and strategies for creating classroom conditions that enhance student motivation” (2020. P.65) After reviewing the thirteen motivational strategies, promotion of student autonomy stands out as a benchmark technique for adult education, fostering lifelong learning and a method to build other motivational techniques into fluent strong tools for educators to enhance their classroom learning. I think that in my classroom this strategy will fit well, as engaging, and guiding students to self-direct their learning will enhance lifelong learning attributes that are key, and students can continue to utilize throughout their careers as successful hairstylists.

Autonomy in the classroom can be present on different levels of learning from simplistic research and development skills to more complex self-guided studies. With its strong links to lifelong learning, teachers employing autonomous strategies, can integrate autonomy methods in any classroom from formal to adult education, self-directed and online learning. Due to the large capacity of this strategy, I think it is important for educators to understand their role and the role of their learners when utilizing this technique in their classrooms, and the impact on both their teaching methods and their learners’. Considering the role of the teacher in the autonomous classroom, Khem Raj Joshi in the Journal of NELTA, states that “generally, a teacher in such learning is a facilitator, an organizer, a resource person providing learners with feedback and encouragement, and a creator of learning atmosphere and space. In other words, a teacher works as a guide, a co-operative, and an initiator rather than an authority” (2011). When referring to the learner’s role Joshi states that the learner “is the one, who accepts that his/her own efforts are crucial for effective learning and co-operates with the teachers monitoring own progress through the use of opportunities available” (2011). In any classroom nothing is perfect, but we must be aware of the disadvantages of techniques and strategies we employ as teachers so we can be prepared to assist our students learning as well as adjust our methods to meet the desired outcomes and objectives of our classrooms. The promotion of autonomy for motivation strategy does not fall short of that fact and is clear that its disadvantages lie in resistance of learners and educators unwilling to become facilitators over authoritative figures. On the other side of that, I think that this strategies’ advantages far outweigh the negative impacts which can be overcome. In utilizing autonomy for motivation teachers gain the ability to have clarity in student progress, have a closer student teacher relationship, accelerate lifelong learning attributes, gain time management in their classrooms, have better understanding of learners’ goals, evaluation becomes collaborative, teachers become better role models and recourses for their students and more. Barkley and Major (2020, P.74) outline ten general strategies for promoting autonomy. They are as follows:

1. Provide students with meaningful rationales that enable them to understand the purpose and personal importance of course activities. 2. Acknowledge student’s feelings when it is necessary to require them to do something they don’t want to do 3. Give students choices among several learning activities that meet the same objective, and be clear about how the choices meet objectives. 4. Allow students options in deciding how to implement classroom procedures. 5. Allow students to decide when, where, and in what order to complete assignments. 6. Encourage students to manage on their own when possible. 7. Encourage students to define, monitor, and achieve self-determined goals individually. 8. Help students to use self-assessment procedures that monitor progress as well as identify personal strengths and potential barriers. 9. Provide opportunities for students to assist in determining evaluation activities. 10. Avoid making students right, wrong, good, or bad based on their choices but instead emphasize accountability.

I think that these ten tips give any educator a roadmap to successful engagement of student autonomy strategies in their classroom and should be considered when developing programs, courses, and lessons. In the hairstyling classroom I can see how these tips can be utilized in different ways to employ this strategy. For example, tip number three can be used to give students the choice of how they submit assignments, like videos, essays, or presentation boards that best suit their abilities, where implementation of tip number one will define the requirements and standards to which those assignments will be held. Therefore, students assume ownership of how they are learning within the guidelines of the course objectives. As mentioned previously, in my classroom, promotion of autonomy is a strategy that will not only be advantageous to my classroom and students’ learning process, but it also provides students with the lifelong learning skills necessary for mastery of hairstyling. The hair industry is ever changing and growing with continuous science and product advancements, a rapid turnover of trends and a large focus on technique development. Hairstyling as a trade, is a career that must be advanced parallel to these industry progressions with continued education and self-driven professionals at the forefront of the industry. In conclusion, “How we teach students is critical to their development of authority, autonomy, and authorship” (Major & Barkley, 2020, P.74) With that, autonomy of learners in today’s world is proven to be beneficial in education and for society. More specifically, teaching hairstylists to be autonomous lifelong learners by utilizing the promotion of autonomy strategy sets students up for success in the hair industry and advances mastery of their craft. As Merriam and Bierema note, “Mastery is the compulsion to progress and improve around things that matter” (2014, P.147).

References

Barkley, E.F., Major, C.H. (2020). Student Engagement Techniques, A Handbook for College Faculty: Second Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, NJ. USA.

Joshi, K.R. (2011). Learner Perceptions and Teacher Beliefs about Learner Autonomy in Language Learning: Journal of NELTA, Volume 16, No. 1-2. Nepal Journals Online. Retrieved from: https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/NELTA/issue/view/410

Merriam, S.B., Bierema, L.L. (2014). Adult Learning, Linking Theory and Practice. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. San Francisco, CA. USA.

Smith, R. (2008). Learner Autonomy: ELT Journal, Volume 62, Issue 4. Oxford Academic. Retrieved from: https://academic.oup.com/eltj/article/62/4/395/408953

0 notes

betweentheracks · 3 years

Note

can you tell us what your credentials are and what sort of studies/coursework did you have to take up to get to your position? and, if not too personal, what your day to day work life might look life in and out awards seasons or other big ticket events your clients might need styled for?

This is long and rambling, I do apologize.

Regarding coursework and education routes into becoming a pro stylist, the thing is that there isn’t necessarily a need for a specific type of education. You could literally drop school and strive for success by the grit of your teeth and iron will alone if you really want and still could gain great acclaim. It isn’t exactly common but it does happen if you strike upon fortunate circumstances and garner experience wherever possible to form the base of your portfolio and profile which will later shape your reputation.

As it is, most studios and clients do tend to give more consideration to those that come from an academic qualifications and learning. While experience if the foreground on which all stylists (and any other set of industry workers) tread, having the support and security of studying styles and fashion and marketing and all manner of related blather gives a sense of merit and provides opportunities for your to be selected for a job despite a lack of reputation or experience. The best stylists fall from both trees and the worst do as well; there is no guaranteed recipe for success in this field as fashion itself is too fluid in expression to be quantified.

As for what I did; I had hands in both pots and have the educational background that assures I know what I am doing in terms of textual/technical understanding as well as experience from moments of pure luck compounded by my audacious efforts. I have a Bachelor’s compromised of fashion merchandising, fashion retailing, marketing, and visual arts. I took side courses at a fashion technical institute with a more tailored program that catered to the fundamentals of fit, body (and measurements) assessment, design and trends, media styling, and fashion industry principles. Additionally I did half a semester of social skills in a business. From there I went on to snatch up an internship and spent a bit more than a year being a shadow of the stylists for the company I work for before grasping a golden chance to become notable and step beyond that restricted role. I also have the certifications of AICI CIC and AICI CIP with hopes to one day finally snag the coveted AICI CIM (respectively; certified image consultant, certified image professional, certified image master).

I had friends that have worked in and out of this end of the industry and knew from the jump that I wanted to pad my portfolio with the safety net provided by academia and use it to bridge the gaps in my experience early on. I figured if I had the knowledge of how to deal with the business side of things as well as the styling side then I was a bit more valuable and, worst case, could go be a consultant or advisor for retailers or big wig company heads. As it is, the only reason I have any clout to my name at all is due to my internship - it paved over all the potholes in the road I was on and has been very favorable, but not everyone is as fortunate as I have been and this is not an easy path to undertake and forge into a career with any real sense of stability or security. Freelance stylists have a completely different struggle despite the majority coming from similar backgrounds as myself.

Now, onto the daily scope and specs of wardrobe styling ~

Please take into consideration that I am an admitted workaholic/perfectionist/overachiever within the boundaries of my work. I’m quite lazy in almost every other sense of living and make existing seem like a wreck and I’m the one driving the struggle-bus that caused it, but for the job I have I am a supremely different breed (though still a lunatic). So yeah, I do a lot more than most would in my position and it is actually something that my company head both loves and hates and is rumored to be writing a clause for all employees regarding allowable working methodology due to the sheer amount of paperwork I alone generate. I am the hazard of our company, but I am also an asset.

Anyway, I start most of my days with a lot of reading through emails that range from client comments and commands to vendors looking to use my company or clientele to bolster their credibility, to brands extending offers of product usage for marketing and campaigning reasons, and a variety of back and forths between me and the PAs or clerks of photographers, other studios, and fashion houses. Next comes hours of phone calls and reviewing schedules to ensure there is no intersections between client-oriented event slots. For one photoshoot I typically spend 3-4 weeks on the semantics of lighting quality and set features and then the rest of the time is dedicated to wardrobe and piecing out however many styles are called for, and then usually adding in at least 2 extras just for good measure. There's so many meetings my butt goes numb and touching base with the other members of my glam teams to reaffirm that we are all working on tandem and on the same page as far as vision goes. I sometimes have a turn in taking care of a new trainee or intern that is wandering our workplace like a fawn on clumsy legs and have questionable instincts.

When it comes to pulling apparel to make up sets, I have been known to be in the rack rooms and show rooms and fashion archives for over 7 hours a day. Our archivists know me as personally as I know my assistants and friends from how often I am in there territory and have to rely on their hardwork and favor. I spend days doing this until I have what I need and then dedicate every bit of my attention designing and creating looks which is another 5+ hours of one day, over the course of many. I have had days where I have been at work for 16 or 17 hours before I realize it, which is why I am such a thorn in my boss’ ass and often told to take a day off or get sent home midway through the morning - my hours alone could have business bureaus raising their eyebrows at the legality of my working hours. (This is cranked to max when shows and events are in the schedule; Awards Season is a nightmare and tours are the bastard offspring of Hell actually. The amount of hours put in are truly horrific).

Also worth mentioning for the sake of perspective is that my job is as expansive as my clients allow; if they request me for one of their various activities in the public eye or in media, if available, I am obligated to prioritize their needs above the projects that my company has assigned to me as per our contract and am expected to either find a replacement or delegate to my assistant and apprentice when possible. The opposite is also true: if my clients have a light workload or are on break from their careers, I am typically doing the busy work of in-studio tasks or tracking rising trends and other features of the fashion forecast. I also host a multitude of temporary contracts with all manner of clientele from brand ambassadors to photographers to celebrities to commercial shoots & services. These jobs come upon official requests made through the company and then negotiated into the terms of how short the working schedule will be, what work I will be undertaking, and an assessment of skills vs revenue to maintain a balance of my time as a professional being properly valued within the sad decline of styling budgets before it will be officially taken on in my name. For these I tend to make better use of my status and hand off most of the project unless I am specifically needed. I make appearances as necessary but am mostly an advisor rather than the producer, instead focusing on my exclusive clients all while staying keyed in so that the work isn't below standard. This is all a badly kept secret of my company and myself - the clients do typically know and accept this is how I handle things in general and are aware that they are paying for an absent role of by way of my name/credentials unless they specify otherwise. There have been times when a side job like this has more prestige than all the years of my experiences combined could generate which ostensibly is treated with much more care and most of my other work pauses in deference to this.

Being a stylist, especially a wardrobe AND fashion stylist, is just so much I don't think I could fully capture the scale of it for a proper index of what we do.

In short, I don't have routine days. I have days that are at the beck and call of a workload that changes at the drop of a pin or the half digit uptick that dictates the emergence of a new trend or the downwind of when a trend skews into becoming mainstream. I can be paced out and looking at a light day at my desk and suddenly be crammed into a pitch meeting or called out to a set. I've also spent many days lounging on the sofa in a client's dressing room playing on my phone and cracking jokes with the glam team as we wait for our client to return between performance takes. And then there are days when I only go into work for our weekly meeting and review before heading back home. It's constant and consuming and sometimes I can't catch my breath before I'm shoved into the show room under a daunting time crunch because an entire ensemble has been misplaced or ruined. Just a matter of days before I was felled by COVID-19 I was having a nap during a photoshoot which I had already fulfilled my purpose and had no further need to participate in.

The reality is that I spend the majority of my time carving out a balance of my work life not superseding my time dedicated to being with my son and making sure he knows no matter what, he is above my hectic career always.

#racks asks

19 notes · View notes

dramaticviolincrescendo · 3 years

Note

I've really enjoyed your recent meta takes and was wondering if you could elaborate on your thoughts on Mandy + Ian and her going for Lip as a result (from your Ian Relationships meta)? I love reading about M+I and their connection is just so dear to me 😭

(P.S Thank you for being such a beacon of positivity in the Shameless fandom! I only got into the show during lockdown last year but it's become such a comfort so it makes me so happy to see positivity right now. ❤ )

Oh my gosh, thank you so much! You’re seriously too kind! I totally sympathize with you: Shameless has shot straight to the top of my list of comfort media since watching it right around the same time, so I’m really passionate about sharing the love around. 😃🧡

To me, one of the most important things to look at in this analysis is motives—who each of these characters are, what they desire for themselves, and how those factors fit together like a puzzle.

Mandy is in such a difficult position. It’s not as easy as saying that she’s a victim of abuse and wants nothing more than to get as far from her family as possible, because that’s simply not true. In s1, we see that she’s very comfortable in her house. She and Mickey exhibit your standard sibling animosity (and competition for Ian’s attention, unbeknownst to her), she makes breakfast for Terry even though she’s obviously not super respectful to him as a parent, and she clearly has a solid understanding of where her family stands in the neighborhood. In a way, she thrives on that in the beginning. At but a word, she can do serious damage to somebody without raising a finger herself. Viewing Ian’s lack of response to her advances as an insult, she takes full advantage of that. In s2, we know that she is being abused in such a heinous way. She takes charge of the situation, although not in a manner that would save her from it. She leaves the house for a while to avoid Terry; she holds him at gunpoint and forces him to accept what he already knows so that he won’t hurt Ian. When they talk afterward, she even recounts what happened in a way that makes it sound like no big deal—he was drunk, and he didn’t know who she was, so it’s whatever. (It isn’t. We know it isn’t. If this is going to be her reality, however, then she’s going to own it. No one will look down on her, especially not a Gallagher who’s barely ahead of her in social standing.)

We’ll pause there because so much of how Mandy changed afterward is tied to Lip, but we can already see that Mandy isn’t like Mickey. Mickey stuck it out with his family and very clearly fell into the same trap we’ve heard verbalized by other male characters, namely the notion that men can’t be abused. It doesn’t matter that that is entirely inaccurate—that’s what they’ve been taught in their environment. That’s what’s normal to them. (That’s part of the dramatic irony in this scenario: we can see how damaging and traumatic these events are, but the characters don’t have our perspective. I don’t think Mickey sees what happened to him as rape, just like Ian doesn’t see what happened to him as grooming or assault. That’s for the audience to comprehend in terms of gravity and should add to our sympathy for them.)

Mandy is different. Women are abused all the time in their neighborhood. It’s visible, and it’s pervasive. In s3, Mandy immediately teaches Debbie how to defend herself against it. She didn’t have to learn. Like not seeing themselves as victims is part of the boys’ culture, fighting not to be one is part of the girls’. But there’s a contradiction in her life: the Milkoviches are the neighborhood badasses, and while she shares in that, it’s limited by her sex. There is something she will never be able to overcome in order to see the same return on her reputation that Mickey and Terry do, not unless she gets out, which will be extremely difficult on her own merits. She’s living in poverty and not doing well in school. Her prospects are limited—she told the counselor so. Based on that conversation and her history with boys even before meeting Ian, she clearly sees one surefire avenue to get out of this hole she’s stuck in: a man with the resources to get out and take her with him. If she’s lucky, it’ll even be a good man with a good heart who wants to do good in the world.

Now, let’s talk about Ian. (See what I did there?) This doesn’t need to be long because I’ve already talked so much about Ian already lately, but let’s wax poetic just a bit. Ian wants to be a good person. He wants to be able to get by, even be successful, without having to do it through scamming and stealing. He has goals and ambitions, and whatever anybody thinks of those ambitions, he did it with the mindset that he would be a hero—a protector. Along with that, he never gives up. When Mandy sets her brothers on him, he doesn’t hide forever—he seeks her out multiple times to fix the situation. When he can’t get into West Point, he doesn’t quit ROTC and ignore his dreams. He keeps going.

Not only is he someone who wants to be good for himself, but he wants to be good for others too. He shows Mandy kindness that she arguably hasn’t seen from anyone else before. He takes care of his family when hers tends to focus on themselves and their own individual survival more of the time. Ian has what she would have seen as the potential to get out, and at the time, that is what he wants. It isn’t as an escape for him, but as a way to facilitate his own dreams.

The problem? Ian is gay. We can see that that bothers her sometimes because she forgets. She goes in for a kiss in s2 and has to reel back, settling for a hug instead. She gets tired of hearing him talk about Kash in s1 and kisses him to shut him up, saying she just wanted to kiss her fake boyfriend. Ian isn’t attainable. If Ian leaves, he won’t take her with him as a partner, and she can’t ask as a friend. How desperate would that seem to someone who refuses to be put in a position where she even slightly perceives him to be pitying her? She can’t ask. Not Ian. She needs someone else, someone who is also good and capable of getting out of here—who can be convinced to even if they don’t want to. Someone she can also trust and has some sort of connection with. Someone who is a fixer, and someone she can draw in with the only thing she thinks she has of any value: her body.

That would be Lip. Not only does he meet all of those criteria at the time, but she knows she can trust him. She trusts Ian, and Ian is closer to Lip than he is to anyone else—even her. No, Lip doesn’t have any convictions or real desire to leave, but he has potential. She can work with that. She’s also there for the entire Karen saga, so she knows that Lip is someone who takes his responsibilities to the people he’s with very seriously and tries so hard to cultivate that connection. (For example, feeding him, making herself sexually available as often as possible, letting him stay with her when he can’t go anywhere else without any conditions, etc. We even begin to see her distancing herself from Ian a little bit by s3, putting all of her energy into what she has with Lip when, a year ago, they were sneaking around because she said she didn’t want Ian to know about them. That isn’t to say that Ian was seeking her out either, being quite distracted with Mickey, but it’s noticeable for me.)

Like Mickey, Mandy also has a very deep capacity for emotion and affection that seems incongruous with her personality a lot of the time. Also like Mickey, nobody brought that out in her—it was always there. As much as she seemed to hope that Lip would take care of her, the process of growing closer to him led to a level of affection. I don’t particularly read their relationship as being a deep one. Both of them were using the other, to an extent, to deal with their trauma in other areas of their lives. But that sort of thing can foster a kinship, a mutual understanding that transcends time and place and even the terrible stuff that people do to one another.

So, it doesn’t work out. Mandy is hurt and does something unforgivable. She then runs from Lip, straight into what she feels is her only alternative now: an abuser. What else is there for a girl in her position? Ian was unattainable because of his sexuality, but to someone beaten down again and again, perhaps she believed he was also unattainable because he was too good a person. Lip was unattainable despite her best efforts to bridge that gap because of what he had with Karen, but to someone beaten down again and again, perhaps she believed he was also unattainable because her position in his life was to give but never to take. With Kenyatta, all she does is give. She’s embraced being beaten down because what else is there? She leaves with him, believing there’s nothing for her there.

When she finally finds her strength, far from home but hopefully under better circumstances than when she lived in Chicago, she still follows the formula that has ruled her decision-making for some time: finding a place where she can have the control over her life that was never there before, but still with the belief that what she has to offer isn’t academic or able to be built or improved upon. Ian has worked past his perception that his body was what he had to offer, that it was what would provide him with the love he was looking for. But of course, he has. He’s had Mickey to love him when he’s healthy and love him when he’s lost a bunch of weight from a depressive episode spent in bed. He’s had his family to mess up here and there but ultimately love him so much.

Mandy doesn’t have that. She didn’t then either. She got what she wanted—she got out. She even implied that that was the most important thing by telling Ian that being born on the South Side doesn’t mean that’s where they have to stay. But Ian “got out” of the spiral of abuse he unknowingly suffered and the mindset that it fostered while Mandy didn’t. This isn’t to say anything negative about sex work, of course, only the mindset that led Mandy to this point in her life. And when she leaves the house for the last time, she looks at Lip after having asked about him, and they acknowledge each other the way that people who once knew each other do.

I’ve made the joke before that to Milkoviches, Gallaghers are like catnip. It’s flippant and funny enough when we consider how many of them have dated at one point or other. I’ve also said the Milkoviches are designed as a foil to the Gallaghers, a juxtaposed image of what they could have been had their situation been altered slightly. In s10, Mickey mentions how the Gallaghers are messed up and he’s never been happier to be a Milkovich, so there’s some awareness there that these are the two notorious families of the neighborhood, albeit for different reasons. For Mandy to see that not one, but two Gallaghers are out of reach? To perhaps feel as though she’s less than even them, or made to feel that way in her interactions with Lip? It’s the ultimate slap in the face.

She trusts Ian more than anyone else in her life, to the point where she will still call him to help her hide a body long after she’s left him and their home behind. But trusting Ian led her to loving Ian, and she couldn’t have him. Trusting Ian led her to meeting Lip, and if Ian was so good and loved Lip so much, he had to be worth it too. And to her, he was. The problem was that she felt that she wasn’t.

Self-fulfilling prophecies suck: when you’re treated like garbage by a neighborhood that sees your family as garbage and repeatedly experience things that will make you feel like garbage around people with the best intentions, you’ll start believing that you are, in fact, garbage. I think what we’ve watched with Mandy is a steady decline from a place of strength in herself and weakness in her environment to an overall place of weakness that she couldn’t escape. Not with Ian and, when she realized that wouldn’t happen, not with the only real alternative she thought she could trust since she trusted Ian so deeply.

#shameless #shameless meta #ian gallagher #mandy milkovich #abuse tw

35 notes · View notes

thegrandkinghimself · 3 years

Text

who is oikawa tooru?

i guess that’s a weird way to start off a post, considering just how popular oikawa is in this fandom. i’m absolutely certain that he’s still one of the most popular characters if i can take the #oikawasear trend on twitter a couple of weeks ago seriously. (i will be mourning that iwaoi is no longer the top ship in this fandom. it’s devastating to me on a personal level). and i can’t say that i’m any different, either, otherwise i wouldn’t have made this blog or this post. but i guess the reason i’ve been itching to write this is because i’ve been in this fandom--and more specifically, a fan of oikawa--for about four or five years now. i devour the content available, and i can assure you that i’ve read too many of the fanfictions on ao3 to be healthy, and never before have i seen a character whose characterization is so hotly disputed.

and i get it. he’s a complex person. he’s kind of awkward in that there is a very clear disconnect between his outward personality and who he is alone. it’s a very hard balance to strike, especially when you consider just how much conjecture goes on in his characterization among fans and in discourse. he’s really easy to project and certain traits, correct or otherwise, are amplified based off how authors perceive him. there’s plenty of presumptions that can be made based on his on-screen actions/thoughts/beliefs that can be taken to some very logical conclusions.

but i’ve also seen people write him in ways that don’t strike me as particularly truthful. he’s type casted into stereotypes that don’t do him justice, or made into something that is vaguely like oikawa, but not quite. in the following post, i’ll be trying to dispel misunderstandings of his character, if only for my own sanity.

tl;dr i think that oikawa is chronically one of the most misrepresented characters in fandom and i want to fix that

exclaimer: i am solely an anime-watcher; i have seen snippets of the manga and therefore have a general idea of what is going on.

let’s establish some very very basic stuff. just to keep it simple, i’m not going to talk about anything beyond what has been published via the anime (as of season four).

Oikawa Tooru | 及川徹

gender: male

d.o.b.: 1994.7.20. or 20 July, 1994

height: 184.3 cm

weight: 72.2 kg

occupation: high school 3rd year, class 6

position/number: setter, 1 (captain)

here’s something that’s never pointed out: oikawa is in class 6 which, if we go off the trend of every other school in haikyuu!!, means that he is in a college preparatory class aka he’s pretty dang smart. it’s not confirmed or anything, but it a. follows the trend of every other class 6 student and b. is the highest class available among seijoh 3rd years (classes 5, 3, and 1). don’t get the idea that he’s dumb or unintelligent, or even that his strengths only lie in the classroom because that would be a gross understatement of his skills.

anywho.

generally speaking, i like to start with the building blocks of his personality because there’s so much room for assumptions. here are the things that i think make up his core personality:

intelligence/knowledgeable: not only academically speaking, but he’s also well-versed in people. he knows how to play them--what will make someone more confident, more doubtful, what will help his teammates succeed. clearly, oikawa is very knowledgeable in human thought patterns. or he’s dedicated a lot of time to knowing them.

loyalty: of all of oikawa’s traits, i think this one gets talked about the least, but we know it to be true. we make jokes about “you should have come to shiratorizawa” but it really shows you exactly how loyal, how much trust, oikawa has in this team that he has spent three years shaping. he never stops believing in the work that he has put in, and especially the hard work that his teammates have put into their volleyball.

hardworking: one of the most well-known things about oikawa. most fans already know that his white knee pad is actually a knee brace. ‘nuff said. i salute you, good sir.

insecurity: oikawa’s insecurities are perhaps his most notable trait. in a sense, he’s sort of the underdog--so good, but never quite good enough to accomplish what he’s set out to do. and we know that he’s struggled with his doubts since junior high, literally since he was 12 or 13, and that’s informed all of his character from the moment he ran into ushijima. oikawa is someone who is defined by his insecurities.

oikawa is a lot of things. he’s introduced as someone who is very flamboyant--he’s built up by kageyama as the best setter, his senpai literally and figuratively, his initial shots are all of smug smiles and easy, unfaltering swagger in the face of this new team. even his theme, all rambunctious brass and jazzy, is meant to be all in your face, here’s the big boss! he’s someone who is petty and silly and seems to favor shallow conversation. but he’s oikawa, so there’s a surprising amount of depth in the little time that we have with him. there’s a reason that, in any other franchise, he’d probably be the protagonist.

he is someone full of contradictions. he’s childish and he spends time with a bunch of girls and is very clearly someone who likes to project a certain image of himself to the public (see: his cute lil’ humming run after his yell in s4e23 to make him seem kind of normal). but he’s also spent a lot of time with himself. in fact, if we take the few scenes we have of him alone and his bedroom (bare, spartan, meticulous) into account, oikawa actually is much more solemn and/or serious than the image he projects. he’s comfortable in the silences between all the white noise. he’s alright just being with iwaizumi. he allows himself to dwell on the past and his shortcomings, while also looking forward to the future. his ambition and passion to improve drive him, but his past failures weigh him down. they haunt him.

personally, i think that he’s naturally a pretty silly guy when given the chance. it’s not just for show. iwaizumi would even corroborate this à la oikawa’s introduction speech in s1. he likes having fun when he can with his friends. if we assume that oikawa is most himself with iwaizumi, then we definitely know that’s the case (see: “are you my mom, iwa-chan?”), and there’s nothing wrong with that. but i think that the most basic traits of his character, combined with his experiences in volleyball, have pushed him to be this person who is mired in doubt. it’s forced him to go down a path where something that he once loved for the fun of it has now become the source of his ire. it’s really just that simple. maybe in another life, things would be different and oikawa wouldn’t have to struggle as much. but that’s really just a part of the human experience, isn’t it? and, in all honesty, would we really love oikawa as much without all his vices?

and maybe this is getting into speculation, but i don’t think it’s a difficult argument to make that oikawa is really mature. he’s introspective. i say introspective because the revelations that he’s had in regards to his own strengths and weaknesses--those are things he’s had to confront and deal with since he was in junior high (starts at 12 years of age). it takes someone with a lot of maturity and self-awareness to realize those kinds of things about himself.

and he’s stronger than he gets credit for. most people depict him as a crybaby, but he’s really not. he doesn’t cry or give up in the face of ushijima or kageyama’s unfettered growth and successes, he doesn’t cry when faced with defeat. oikawa is there to support iwaizumi in his own doubt as ace, and lend support to his teammates. and oikawa doesn’t get stuck on the what-ifs or has-beens. driven by his infamous ambition, he looks forward to the future.

it’s kind of a double-edged sword. it’s pushed him this far--he’s put in this much effort to be one of the best in the prefecture--because of his competitive spirit, but it’s also something that has caused him serious injury. oikawa’s motto (”if you’re gonna to hit it, hit it until it breaks!”) is the very epitome of this mentality. it’s a message to work hard to finish what you started, but i also think that you could interpret that hard work breaking you, too. he’s steadfast—obsessive, really—to the point that oikawa will let his passions break him before he would ever give up. it’s the point of all the strife in his life, because he would never have the problems he does if he were even a little less enamored by this sport.

and you really have to wonder where he would be without ushijima and kageyama as his obstacles. his drive will always be there, that is an intrinsic part of him, as are the standards to which he holds himself, but you really have to wonder just how good oikawa would be if he didn’t have such direct competitors. this is an incredibly important question to ask about kageyama and oikawa in particular. yes, oikawa does loathe ushijima: for his disregard for oikawa’s decisions, for his disregard of oikawa’s loyalty, for his flippant attitude of seijoh, who oikawa has poured his blood and sweat into creating. but ushijima is an opposite hitter. oikawa is a setter. those are two very different positions with little crossover. but with kageyama--that is a clear rivalry. they push each other to be better, made all the more potent by their differences as players; one setter’s growth as a player directly impacts how the other performs in each subsequent game. seijoh’s defeat by karasuno in season 2 just feeds into oikawa’s drive for the future. he has not intention of giving up. a light was lit under him, pushing him forward, to do better, to be better.

this is something that has been pointed out in a different analysis (linked below) but, narratively speaking, oikawa is kageyama’s foil. their interactions inform their characters and are a major cause of tension in their development. their relationship is really the most complex in the story that i have noticed, and is something that has not been appreciated enough. the iwaizumi-oikawa thing has been expounded and studied in every facet possible (i love the alexander the great/hephaestion allusions), but it’s true that kageyama has impacted oikawa the most. they begrudgingly respect each other’s talents, what it is that they bring to the court, while also envying what the other has in spades that they do not. in oikawa’s case, his strength clearly lies in his interpersonal relationships--his ability to intuit exactly what his teammates need to be at their best. kags is just a fount of overwhelming technical skill who has a really hard time getting to know those around him. living up to the standards that oikawa places on himself, in tandem with kageyama threatening his position as setter, leave oikawa floundering, fearing his own incompetence against opponents who are naturally much better than he. so he’s left with the knowledge that maybe his best isn’t good enough, but he still continues on anyway. he pushes himself past a seemingly unreachable threshold just to go toe-to-toe with this monster. it’s the purpose of his character--to tell this story of the ordinary v. the extraordinary--and it is perhaps the most relatable arc that a story like haikyuu!! can tell.

their connection naturally causes oikawa to seek out help, seen in the flashback scenes where he is talking to an unspecified coach/adult. that coach’s words then become the creed upon which oikawa plays, maybe even more than what iwaizumi has taught him, and is the final push that completes oikawa’s character arc in s2ep24. that change in mindset allows oikawa to see kageyama’s unbridled talent not as an obstacle but as a challenge. it’s very nuanced, but it makes all the difference. it’s why, following seijoh’s defeat, oikawa has the audacity to declare to kageyama and ushijima his plans for the future. in a sense, karasuno and kageyama and ushijima have won the battle but not the war. it’s the tipping point in his story and, more than anything, what makes oikawa so compelling. we have seen what has led up to the change, but now we want to know what he’s going to do to meet that challenge. what will he be doing beyond the story when he is no longer relevant to the narrative? we don’t know the details at this point, but we know that oikawa’s love and ambition for volleyball have been reaffirmed in this moment.

but to bring it back, the kags-oiks connection also makes us question what it is we are watching, makes us as the audience think: what qualifies someone as a genius? are there any limitations to what that genius can do? what can ordinary people do in the face of those geniuses?

these are questions that exist beyond the reality of sports and transverse into other disciplines. for me, those are very real questions that i have had to ask myself as a musician. i have dedicated nine, almost 10, years to my practice but there are still 10-year-olds who are just better at it than i ever will be. part of it is time and practice to be sure, but some of it is just innate. and i think the more appropriate version of those questions would be this: what qualifies someone as a prodigy? are there limitations for prodigies? what can we do in the face of prodigies?

oikawa is a genius player--he knows the ins-and-outs of his sport better than anyone, and he can accomplish great feats that others in his same position can’t. but even with all that veritable experience and skill, he is ultimately still overtaken by a prodigy whose talents seem endless. it’s why he can hate ushijima but fear kageyama. one is something he can actively fight against, the other is inevitable.

and really, i think that’s the beauty of oikawa tooru, why he’s so beloved by the fandom, even years after he has stopped being relevant to the narrative. beyond the fluff and goofiness and hijinks, there’s someone there who is really, truly, human.

an aside with much less significance/why do people think this??

so here’s one thing: even though oikawa has fangirls, i wonder what he actually thinks of them. for one, it’s only natural for anyone to be super flattered if people think you’re hot stuff. that’s just... i don’t think he’s weird if he pays attention to them. but i think that people are conflating his being kind to them to being genuinely egotistical due to the attention. actually, i think these are opposing ideas and a contradiction of who oikawa is. when you’re an arrogant person, you think that you deserve all the attention you’re getting and you’re not going to bother with the people who worship you.

but that’s not at all what oikawa does. he’s rather kind to his fans. i would never say that he’s self-effacing, but knowing what you’re worth is different from being pompous. and think about it. it’d be a real jerk move for oikawa to not say nice things to them and thank his fangirls when they spend time, energy, and effort to make him food and see his games. he would just be a genuinely awful person if he didn’t at least give them thanks. it’d be more alarming if he didn’t talk to them, at least in my opinion. more than anything, we should consider this: why is it that oikawa has the fan club and not anyone else on the seijoh team? i’m sure a part of it is because he’s attractive and the captain of a team, but i think it’s more than that, too. we see these interactions from other perspectives, but i think that reflects more on those around oikawa than oikawa himself if they don’t understand why he acts the way he does with those girls.

another thing: i don’t think that anyone can question that oikawa is very pretty, or handsome, or whatever descriptor you would like. it’s prevalent in fandom (see: pretty setters squad), but he is also the only person in canon to be acknowledged by other characters as being particularly good-looking. maybe the miyas count at this point? i’m not sure. but i don’t really understand where people get the idea that he is particularly focused on his appearance, though. there is literally no indication of that from the material that i have seen. and maybe he uses that to his advantage with his fangirls, but i highly doubt that, in all honesty. i think that it’s fun to imagine him being into these things as a hobby, but it irks me greatly when i see that people spend time saying that oikawa wakes up extra early just to fix his hair or slather on foundation/concealer just to look presentable.

he’s a teenaged boy who clearly has other things that worry him, he’s a full-time student, and volunteers to coach at lil tykes volleyball classroom in his free time. he wouldn’t have time to spend on his hair or makeup. and we even seen in the hanger tooru special that he even wakes up looking like that.

he is au naturale, my friends. and we even know how little he gives thought to his own body, if you take into account his knee brace. for oikawa, his body is merely the medium through which he can accomplish his goals. we even have evidence of this when we see oikawa up all night studying karasuno game play or via his knee brace. he doesn’t know how to stop or understand when enough is enough. he breaks himself if there’s no one to watch him.

also, just... how would makeup work, logistically speaking? i don’t wear makeup, but i’m thinking that foundation and concealer and hair product would be, um, really bad. like, it’d run down his face and stuff. also, it’d probably get into his eyes, too? seriously. i’m not against oikawa wearing makeup in the slightest cause he’d be even prettier, but we know that oikawa would absolutely not jeopardize his chances in any way.

thank you for reading this long-winded, probably awful look into my favorite character of all time. and i do mean that. he is my favorite character in all of media. which, like, says a lot when he’s competing against the casts of a:tla, call me by your name, and my actual favorite book, the song of achilles. after all of that, if you would like another (better) analysis of oikawa’s character, i suggest this reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/haikyuu/comments/94irsi/character_analysis_16_oikawa_tooru_discussion/

#oikawa tooru #haikyuu #character analysis #i'm so sorry about this #i just had to get this off of my chest #thanks for coming to my ted talk

29 notes · View notes

kakashibestie · 3 years

Note

u posted about this in july but anyway,,, research tips? how do u research? any resources ?? /// bye i love researching but i want to get better at it!!

HII!!! omg anon thank u for this ask like truly, my fondness of research + my adhd literally go hand in hand and i have no idea of how i’d do it if i was neurotypical so that’s a good thing to take into account when using tips from other ppl, the learning process is just about as personal as it gets and you do have to tailor it to ur own needs in order for it to be effective...bc let’s face it research can be tedious and boring if not carried out properly so yeah, i’ll list what i feel are the most crucial things to pay attention to when doing research below:

find a topic and narrow it down. let’s say you want to learn about idk dog breeds. good starting point, but there’s a shit ton of information on dog breeds available out there so your topic needs to be narrowed down in order for ur research to be successful. think wh questions: where? (e.g. dog breeds in mexico) when? (this is mostly useful for research involving numbered amounts, e.g. gun violence related deaths in the us in 2019 or about past events e.g. popular dog breeds in the 1950s) how? qualifiers!!! (e.g. best dog breeds for children, or maybe most popular dog breeds in the world, or even top dog breeds in mexico) the entire point of this is to make your research easier. the more specific your questions, the more specific the answers you’ll get.

give it purpose. this is like. the backbone of any good research imo. no matter how serious. asking yourself the following questions might help give purpose to your research: what do you want to learn about it? why do you want to learn about it?

keywords are your best friends when googling. im literally having vivid flasbacks to the zillion times my mom would ask me to help her google stuff because she wasn’t finding what she wanted. she’d type in stuff like CUTE FACEBOOK POSTS ABOUT REFORESTATION or other rly long questions typed in as if she was actually speaking to someone when google is...a website. so if you have a question popping up in your head think of a way to word it using only keywords. if i googled “naruto episode where naruto and sasuke fight again” it’ll eventually show me the episode i want but if i googled “naruto vs sasuke second fight episode number” i bet my ass it’d show it right away!!! using keywords will save you both time and effort when conducting literally ANY type of research and it’ll most likely lead you to more accurate results, while also polishing ur summarizing/logical thinking skills!!!!

MIND YOUR SOURCES!!! this is to ensure the information you’re gathering is reliable. for academic research my prof would always recommend websites ending in .edu .org and .gov...newspapers are good sometimes but u do have to be aware of the particular newspaper’s background so as to identify any possible biased opinions that might affect the objectiveness of your research.

CROSS CHECK YOUR INFORMATION. this one’s also viiiiiiital, and it goes hand in hand with getting ur info from reliable sources, esp. when carrying out important research or if your topic actually matters to you...you might look something up and find an article from a news outlet confirming it, but if you look it up again and not find any other sources talking about it then you should go back to ur base questions/main topic and figure out what to change in order to get the info you need, although most of the time, if only ONE outlet/website/paper’s talking about a particular topic or event it’s either incredibly recent or fake!

read read read, write write write. research will not only help you learn about various topics but it’ll also help you develop and nourish your comprehensive reading skills!!! this is particularly important in academic research because you’ll most likely encounter a GAZILLION papers/journals/articles about your topic of choice, and yes they’ll contain the information you need but it’s imperative u use ur reading comprehension skills to filter out things in order to get just what you need. the writing of course comes after the gathering, i often copy paste excerpts from sources i think might be useful later on, and even if i end up entirely rewriting the sentences, it’s still super helpful to have little passages handy in case i get lost along the way.

be mindful of ur time... if you’re at school/work and are given a deadline to meet, try ur best to organize yourself in a way that allows the process to be as smooth as possible, or else you’ll end up like me throughout most of my hs years up all night doing research at like 3am and finishing ur paper literally minutes before the deadline when you had...days or even WEEKS to do it the right way. self imposed deadlines for non-academic/professional research DO NOT WORK for me but you might find out they work for you so i’d say go ahead and give it a try!

HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the most important point of it All. there’s always a way to have fun while conducting research...put on your favorite music while googling shit...add fun little colors to your google doc titles before formatting it to turn it in...of course it’s easier to have fun doing research when said research is about a FUN topic...but ive done research on literally The Most Boring shit imaginable and i can tell you i’ve found a way to make it at least bearable...hell...even fun.

i hope this was helpful and if any mutuals/followers have any additions u think might be useful dont hesitate to send em in or add them to this answer!!! much love <3

#long post #most of this i extracted from this handbook our research prof gave us in law school but i leFT IT AT MOM'S DSKFJHFJKSFH #reference #anonymous #answered

16 notes · View notes

itsbenedict · 3 years

Text

Two-Faced Jewel: Session 8

Welcome to the Hotel On-The-Floor, Yeah

A half-elf conwoman (and the moth tasked with keeping her out of trouble) travel the Jewel in search of, uh, whatever a fashionable accessory is pointing them at. [Campaign log]

Last time, the party identified the culprit behind the murders in Barley and Wheat, but... well, it's complicated. The culprit was apparently being coerced by a dragon, and they managed to talk him down rather than fight. If they want that to stick, though, they'll need some kind of plan to get rid of that dragon. And... is it really worth bailing this guy out, anyway?

Saelhen, Oyobi, and Vayen all start discussing their plans in Elvish, which it doesn't seem like Arnie understands. Oyobi advocates for just killing the guy, but is a little less keen on the idea once Vayen advocates for the same. Saelhen would rather give the guy a chance, and points out that there's not much point to killing him as long as the dragon is still around- they'll need an answer for that, and the answer to a dragon is probably just as good an answer to Arnie.

Looseleaf, oblivious to their Elvish chatter, describes the basic plan to Arnie.

Arnie: "So you're, what... you're gonna get the church involved somehow? What're you gonna tell 'em?" Looseleaf: "Well, probably also Deathseekers," Looseleaf thinks, out loud. "We'll tell them there's a dragon conducting sacrificial rituals at the site of an altar to the god of pain. We'll get the church involved by virtue of proving to them that there's a dragon fucking around with divine shit, and we'll get the deathseekers involved by convincing them that there's a dragon stacked to the gills with cool magic items, which we'll prove by bringing them one of said items." "The important thing is to get going as soon as possible, right? There's a time-limit here measured in, uh... human... corpses..." Arnie: "Wait, how are you gonna get one of its magic items?" Looseleaf: "How do you think, mister 'I work for the dragon so he gave me a bunch of magic items to serve his dread will'?" "We'll bring the deathseekers that magic cloak you said you had." Arnie: "Uh, that's..." "Mine, though."

Eventually, after a persuasion roll or two, Arnie agrees to loan them the cloak, as long as it comes back in one piece. He also tells them how to safely retrieve it from the laundry room- as long as they exchange some dirty laundry for the clean cloak, they'll be happy and won't attack. He's got plenty lying around downstairs, which he heads down to grab.

While he's downstairs, the party confers, and decides to all go together to the nearest city- Cauterdale- to ask the local Deathseekers for aid. They figure Arnie's not a flight risk, since he doesn't have anywhere to run and a draconic boss who'll hunt him down if he tries.

(As they prepare to leave, a natural 20 on a perception roll alerts Looseleaf that Vayen has ransacked Lumiere's personal library, stealing- specifically- Lumiere's books on gods and divine magic, for some reason. She doesn't make any objection to this, though- Vayen's a creep, but it's not like they weren't all on board with looting the dead guy's tower.)

With Arnie's bloodstained laundry in hand, Looseleaf heads upstairs and retrieves the cloak without incident. She tries it out, and...

The result of her crit failing her Wisdom saving throw on the magic item is... nothing, apparently. That's always good to hear! The cloak appears to work exactly as intended! She's wearing a very fancy outfit.

Further experimentation reveals a few limitations- first, the cloak's shape is illusory, so it can't become armor or anything with particular utility. Second, it can get overly literal if you ask it to copy an outfit outright- you have to use your imagination properly. Third, it seems to get tired the more you ask it to change, so there's some limit on how often you can update your wardrobe. Those appear to be the only drawbacks!

So, with Arnie temporarily kept from murdering people, the party gets back on the road.

Saelhen du Fishercrown: For caution's sake, Saelhen calligraphs a piece of paper to say WE HAVE NOT BEEN TORTURED TO DEATH, and sticks it on the door on the way out.

As they make their way northeast, they make some Animal Handling checks to keep hold of their giraffes, as something seems to spook them. Looseleaf gets a critical success and is able to calm her giraffe right away... but the party ranger, who is proficient in neither Animal Handling nor Nature nor even Survival, because what kind of monster hunter needs to know that boring crap, has no idea how to handle an overexcited giraffe and is thrown from her mount with a critical failure.

Benedict I. (GM):There's a small sign by the road, heading off west towards what appears to be an actual forest. The prairie is giving way to a somewhat hillier and more forested terrain here, but the forest is thicker than anything you've seen on your way there. And as you're approaching the crossroads marked by that sign, your giraffes all try to bolt for it. Looseleaf is able to realize that they've been forced to graze on grass for miles, and when they see the trees, they get overexcited. Vayen and Oyobi get completely thrown from their mounts, and you have to follow them down the road a bit to catch up with them and rein them in. Looseleaf: Haha, oh, well, hopefully they don't try and spend the rest of the whole day grazing a pit-stop is within tolerances but we really do have to make it to Cauterdale sooner rather than later. Many lives are on the line! Saelhen du Fishercrown: Good thing Looseleaf can radiate peace at them! Benedict I. (GM): Looseleaf is able to beckon them back before they completely get out of reach, and pretty soon you've got them calmed down- but you've lost some time. There's a choice to make here, now: continue on to Cauterdale, but make the last hour or so of the journey in the dark- or rest at the location marked on the map near here.

On the map, where the sign marked "Umbrella Village" points (shut up, I don't even play Resident Evil, don't worry about it), is simply a warning that reads "EVIL WITCHES- AVOID!!!"

Oyobi and Orluthe inform the others that "witches" usually means "druids"- and Zero cashes in something from character creation. Looseleaf's background as an academic provided her with a book on some historical topic, which was never allocated because at character creation he didn't know enough about the world to decide on something interesting. Here he declares it's a book on the history of druids!

Benedict I. (GM): Druids, from what you've read, are sort of like clerics. They channel a divinity of some sort- which is typically revered as Mother Nature, or Gaia, or... every druid you meet is going to have a different name for it, because while it needs to have a thing to call it by, it is emphatically not a god. Druids have a complicated relationship with Ccorde, who's ostensibly the goddess of environmentalism and hippy communing with nature type stuff- but most druidic traditions regard this as a false claim on a divine domain. Nature is untamed and wild and exists on its own terms, a vital force that is not to be tamed with rules- people must forge their own relationships with Nature. The author of the tome you acquired was herself a cleric of Ccorde, and the tone of the book is defensive on that subject. The author's curiosity outweighed that defensiveness, though, and there's a long section dedicated to the theoretical differences between the channeling of Nature and the channeling of Ccorde- in particular, there's no common dispositional element with druids. Whatever Nature is, it's willing to act through anyone who puts in the effort. The author didn't seem to know anything about animism, but you suspect druidic practice might be related in some way- that their nature-spirit-channeling abilities may be a form of animism. The book is unfortunately light on the practical details of druidcraft, as the author prefers that the reader eschew the practice in favor of fealty to Ccorde.

Okay! So, they head down the road to stay at the druid village for the night- and notice something odd on the way, after some Nature checks. They notice that the dirt road they're going down seems to divide the forest in two- between a sparse, ivy-choked pine forest to the northeast, and a dense, healthy-looking deciduous forest to the southwest. You usually don't get such a sharp delineation between forests like that.

And Looseleaf notices... that their map doesn't show a forest on the southwest side of the road. The road is supposed to just go along the edge of the pine forest. Also, Looseleaf can see the trees' spirits there, and there's something... not quite right.

Benedict I. (GM):The left side of the woods- there does seem to be some ambient magic. Your Sight Unseen ability doesn't exactly detect magic, so much as it lets you see spirits, including the spirits of spells- but what's going on here isn't a spell effect. It's just that the spirits of these healthy-looking deciduous trees don't quite match their physical forms. Their spirits seem... sickly? Frail? Like they're not full trees, not trees that grew in their places from fallen seeds. There's something false about them.

Looseleaf: When you said 'the left side of the road is full of healthy-looking deciduous trees and the right side is full of misshaped thorny things' you know what the first thing i thought was it was, 'the left side is the dangerous side.' i didn't say it out loud but i was totally thinking that, and i am glad to have been vindicated.

The weird forest doesn't seem to be attacking them, though, so they head onward towards Umbrella Village, which seems to be built entirely on the pine side of the road. It's kind of cool-looking- every inch of available space, on the lawns, roofs, and walls, is covered in fruiting vines and various plants. The whole village is a carefully-cultivated ecosystem.

The villagers seem surprised to have visitors- apparently it's not a common occurrence. They seem normal enough, though- while they don't have an inn, they direct the party to visit the village elder, who might know where the best place for them to spend the night is.

(Oyobi once again crit-fails her Animal Handling check, and is unable to prevent her giraffe from ripping a tomato plant off the side of someone's house, which gets her scolded. Why are you a ranger, Oyobi?)

They head down to the village elder's house, which is unique in not being overgrown with crops- and knock on the door.

The door is answered by a little lizardfolk girl, who doesn't have any idea what she's supposed to do about there being... people... here? People she's never seen before? Who don't live in the village? What???

Benedict I. (GM): "...Who...?" "GRANDMAAAAA," she calls back into the room. Which she didn't really need to do so loudly, because there's an elderly lizardfolk woman sitting right there next to a small fire.

Looseleaf: Oh, and Looseleaf was about to ask if the little girl was the elder. Never let external appearances color your preconceptions, and all that. Benedict I. (GM): "Eh?" "Gramma there's Mysterious People!" "They don't exist!" The old woman gets up. "Who's... oh, visitors?" The little girl looks confused. "Vizza-what?" Looseleaf:"Indeed, we are emissaries from the Faraway Phantom Lands of Nonexistence," Looseleaf says in deadpan to the girl. "Behold as my incorporeal voice from out of the thin air astonishes you!" To the old lady, Looseleaf says. "Excuse us. You must be the elder?"

They inquire about a place to stay for the night, and the elder... checks the weather. Looseleaf, who has Druidcraft as a racial ability, also checks the weather, using a fancy little snowglobe spell!

Looseleaf: "I'unno, does this help?" Benedict I. (GM): "Oh, goodness. I thought you were from outside- do they..." "That's very well-done, really, and you smell delicious, but..." Saelhen du Fishercrown: uh Benedict I. (GM): "Well, it ought to be fine." Saelhen du Fishercrown: "...hmm," says Saelhen. Benedict I. (GM): "Just put your bedrolls out anywhere- we're not doing rain tonight." "Well, anywhere in town, anyway." "You shouldn't set foot in the Mysterious Woods." Saelhen du Fishercrown: "Ma'am, rest assured that we have less than no interest in Mysterious Woods."

So the party beds down in some soft pine needles, making use of Looseleaf's recently-acquired Extremely Comfy Pillow and a few bedrolls. They have a druid elder's assurance that the elements won't be a problem, so... nothing wrong with camping!

And as they're going to bed, Looseleaf rolls a 21 on Perception.

Luckily, Looseleaf fails her unarmed strike roll, which would do no damage even if it hit because her strength mod is -1. So she does not do any damage to...

Benedict I. (GM): So, you kick out at the mouth full of sharp teeth. Saelhen du Fishercrown: Fwff, goes Looseleaf's puffy moth footsie. Benedict I. (GM): The mouth full of sharp teeth goes "Eeek!" and recoils before you make impact, and you see the little lizardfolk girl scamper away into the darkness. Looseleaf: "What." "Wh- how dare you bite me! I am an emissary of the Phantom Lands and all that or whatever." "Come back here and explain yourself to My Imperial Nonexistingness!"

The little girl, affronted, explains that if she's not real, then it's not bad if she bites her!

Vayen: Vayen stirs. "...Shouldn't kill a child," he mumbles. Saelhen du Fishercrown: "...this is a new dream," remarks Saelhen. "Better than the dreams about dad." "Vayen's even deciding not to kill someone. This is super neat, subconscious, keep going."

Saelhen argues that maybe Gramma doesn't know what things taste good, because sometimes grammas think things that taste bad taste good, like bell peppers! The child has no defense against this devastating logic bomb, and scampers off into the darkness, indignant.

Next time: the journey to Cauterdale, and the menace of the bobbledragon.

#twofaced jewel #tfj log

3 notes · View notes

almcgraw · 3 years

Quote

"Being aware of your own weaknesses could be your biggest strength"

~Gordon Hester

Strengths and Weaknesses

Despite my inability to write a paragraph beyond the first sentence without losing my train of thought, many of my strengths lie within my communication skills. Although many of us would consider one of our strengths to be communication, three years working at Mcdonald's undoubtedly has given my communication portfolio a bit of an edge. The summer I worked in a golf pro shop to my current position working at an animal emergency clinic (and all the other honourable mentions along the way) has taught me to identify the appropriate communication style to use during different interactions and the critical role the non-verbal components play. I learned to be more mindful of the other person's communication style during the exchange and adjusting myself slightly to accommodate. (*when appropriate-you, still must be professional to angry people, unfortunately)

Another strength that may be less common is my inability to sit still for too long. I thrive in fast-paced & high-stress environments because it allows me to stay interested and engaged in the task at hand. An example of this would be when I first started at the veterinary emergency clinic, and I watched the controlled chaos unfold. My job is constantly changing and never fails to keep me on my toes. Working in an environment that allowed me to be continuously engaged has provided the much-needed motivation for full-time school and my exhausting overnight shifts. Finding a position that could match and even surpass my energy level has allowed me to see the benefits that come from being unable to sit idle.

One of my weaknesses is that I often lose sight of the task assigned and proceed with what I think will be "basically the same thing." Instead of asking for clarification or, better yet, permission to make my blog post closer to 500 words, I proceed with hopes it will give me credit for creativity. Although sometimes this is recognized as “innovative” or “refreshingly unconventional,” it is mostly just a reflection of my inability to follow too restrictive instructions. I do make an effort to collect feedback and look at criticism as an "opportunity for growth," I still, unfortunately, am what I like to call an "unemployed perfectionist." Unemployed perfectionists like myself continually strive for perfection but have yet to achieve such results as simply they are unachievable. This has and continues to cause many issues for me as its reappearance makes succeeding academically and in my professional life more of a challenge.To give an example, I did read over the outlined expectations for this post. Still, I decided that I would not follow the instructions given regarding the blog post title or length. Instead, I produced this ridiculous monster paragraph hidden beneath an innocent quote I found from googling entrepreneur. (If you are not evaluating me and have gotten this far, you must be bored in lockdown too.) Another unsolicited quote:

"You go to school to learn. If you knew everything already, you wouldn't need to, so don't be afraid to make mistakes; it's part of the journey."

~Unknown (my mom)

Weaknesses do put us at a disadvantage in certain areas and impact an outcome's success, but they also provide the opportunity for improvement in an area that is readily available.

Another weakness that continues to make many areas of my life more challenging, including school and work, is my inability to complete a task if I cannot provide the attention or time needed for it to be perfect. This is a weakness because it creates a challenge for me that is counterproductive to my success and constantly causes me to feel dissatisfied with my performance. The pressure is debilitating, therefore preventing me from submitting the assignment for school or even attempting the task required. Obviously, I am aware this makes no sense, and a half-fast mop job is better than nothing. However, somehow, I still struggle to submit the assignment that would give me a 65 and hurt my GPA far less than a 0 because it does not perfectly display my competency. (Yes, I know it makes no sense.) Although this weakness is a challenge for me and has always been, it can be managed by developing an awareness of its potential impact on the task and ensuring any efforts made for improvement are supported by discipline. There are still many areas that need improvement, so it will likely make a reappearance like a lousy magician in my strengths and weaknesses analysis in the future. Even though there is always room for improvement, and I intend to continue to strive to be better, I have noticed being aware of personal strengths and weaknesses does encourage me to grow as an individual.

2 notes · View notes

fall-from-typeface · 3 years

Text

The influence of Erik Spiekermann, Jack Stauffacher and Tré Seals on contemporary typographic design.

It could be argued that Berlin’s position as the focal point of the European type design scene is thanks largely to the work and influence of Erik Spiekermann.

Printer, designer, typographer, professor, writer, entrepreneur and even a short stint as a politician; Spiekermann’s typography career started whilst studying Art History. To pay his way through Berlin’s Free University he set himself up as a jobbing printer, working from his basement with just two typefaces in three sizes. He never finished his course; instead moving to England to teach at The London College of Printing during which time he gained freelance experience in corporate design offices then returning to Berlin in 1979 to co-found Meta Design.

The company built its reputation and status on information design with clients such as the Berlin Transport System and The German Post Office. Recognising the creative potential of digital technology in type design he proposed customising typefaces for individual brands rather than setting rules for existing typefaces which had been the standard approach up until this time. With Spiekermann at the helm for twenty years, Meta Design would go on to become Germany’s largest design company with expansion into the US and Asian markets, responsible for instantly recognisable brands such as Audi, Volkswagen and Bosch.

Yet it is worth considering that despite his global success with Meta, the influence of Spiekermann in contemporary typographic design is even greater through his next entrepreneurial endeavor. FontShop established in 1989 with his then-wife Joan Spiekermann and Neville Brody was the first mail-order producer and distributor for digital fonts. With the internet in its very infancy the concept of downloading a font from the digital cloud was still more than a decade away; instead fonts were digitised and sold on floppy discs then posted out from FontShop’s Berlin office. FontShop gave designers choice; with desk-top publishing replacing phototypesetting; the market exploded. For a decade FontShop expanded with branches across Europe and North America before going digital as FontShop International.

Continuing to hold great influence over the type industry in 1996 Spiekermann launched a three-day design conference with presentations, seminars and workshops for designers, academics, journalists, students and anybody with an interest in visual communication. TYPO Berlin has continued for more than twenty years, during which time Spiekermann has carved out an almost secondary career as speaker at design conferences across the world influencing not only type design but also peoples ideas, perceptions and knowledge of the subject.

In more recent years Spiekermann has focussed his time and efforts at his experimental letterpress workshop P98a. On the publishing of the book ‘Only On Saturday’ a tribute to the experimental wood type prints of US based letterpress printer Jack Stauffacher he said;

“As typographers, designers, and printers, we translate words into written communication. Jack had done that all his life, making words visible. Then, after he had designed pretty much everything worth designing for a purpose, he started doing the opposite: he picked random wood letters from a case he had stumbled upon and made images with them. We aren’t supposed to read those letters as words but to go back to where they came from: pictures of those things. A large red B can be a sail, a blue A on its side is the sea, and the little black letters are birds or stones or ripples. . . . When I asked Jack about the prints, he said that those letters had become such intimate friends over time that he could behold them just as beautiful objects; they didn’t have to work for a living anymore.”

(Spiekermann, E 2019)

Celebrated as one of the finest printers of the twentieth century Stauffacher dedicated his eight decade long career to print. At just fourteen he established Greenwood Press in a garage behind his parents house, initially it gave him the space and opportunity to learn and later, once he had refined his skills, Greenwood Press gave him the freedom to pursue various passion projects and personal development beyond that of his everyday paying work. As a professor of typographic design at Carnegie Mellon University and San Francisco Art Institute his genuine passion and ability to lead by example made him an influential teacher.

It would be easy to assume that as a master of the analogue printing process for most of the twentieth century Stauffacher wouldn’t hold much influence in digital typography. However the opposite is true. Despite his initial reluctance he took to digital typography quickly and was soon producing elegant sample pages alongside his analogue proofs. He was quickly approached by Adobe and became an adviser as they digitised classic typefaces in the 1980’s.

A contemporary typographer going through that same process today is the award winning designer Tré Seals. His type foundry Vocal Type design typefaces highlighting specific moments in history where underrepresented voices were amplified; often through protest posters. For his ‘Martin’ typeface Seals painstakingly researched photographs of the Memphis sanitation strike of 1968 and designed a digital typeface based on the letterpress printed picket signs carried by the striking workers. Of it’s design Seals has said

“...since releasing Martin, it’s just been amazing to see how people have put Martin to use, like since the Black Lives Matter movement throughout 2020 people have used it on protest signs from California to New York to London to Denmark to Australia. Street murals and wall murals all around the world and just seeing the impact that this font has had it just amazes me.”

(www.youtube.com, 2021)

All eight typefaces published by Vocal Type highlight voices which are underrepresented in different forms; be it race, ethnicity, orientation or gender picking specific moments in history as the starting point of their design. Through his purposeful work, Seals aims to not only highlight the lack of diversity in the design world but also increase representation in a white male dominated field ‘starting with the basis of any good design - typography’ (Seals)

References

Creative Boom. (2019). Only on Saturday: A new book celebrates the wood type prints of type legend, Jack Stauffacher. [online] Available at: https://www.creativeboom.com/features/only-on-saturday-a-new-book-celebrates-the-wood-type-prints-of-jack-stauffacher/ [Accessed 6 Apr. 2021].

Design Observer. (n.d.). Jack Stauffacher: Typographer, Scholar, Teacher, and Polymath. [online] Available at: https://designobserver.com/feature/jack-stauffacher-typographer-scholar-teacher-and-polymath/39708 [Accessed 6 Apr. 2021].

Designers & Books. (n.d.). Erik Spiekermann. [online] Available at: http://www.designersandbooks.com/designer/bio/erik-spiekermann [Accessed 30 Mar. 2021].

FontShop. (n.d.). FontShop. [online] Available at: https://www.fontshop.com/content/30-years-of-fontshop [Accessed 30 Mar. 2021].

gestalten (2020). A legacy in letters with Erik Spiekermann. [online] Medium. Available at: https://uxdesign.cc/a-legacy-in-letters-with-erik-spiekermann-f745e6498289 [Accessed 30 Mar. 2021].

Shop, gestalten U. (n.d.). A Legacy in Letters with Erik Spiekermann. [online] gestalten UK Shop. Available at: https://uk.gestalten.com/blogs/journal/a-legacy-in-letters-with-erik-spiekermann [Accessed 6 Apr. 2021].

VOCAL. (n.d.). Story of. [online] Available at: https://www.vocaltype.co/story-of.

www.eyemagazine.com. (n.d.). Eye Magazine | Feature | Meta’s tectonic man. [online] Available at: http://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/metas-tectonic-man.

www.youtube.com. (2021). Protest, typography, and the fight for justice - Tré Seals in conversation with Naresh Ramchandani. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX-P8LHD_DQ [Accessed 6 Apr. 2021].

#gms hncgd1 #hncgraphicdesign #cogc #cityofglasgowcollege #typography

2 notes · View notes

zacharyleishmanfilmstudent · 3 years

Text

FILM 302 – Continuing Professional Development: Finding our Networks – Lecture Notes and Thoughts:

For our beginning session for our FILM 302 Module ‘Continuing Professional Development’ we began with a class exercise designed to help us determine our current filmmaking networks. A group exercise we were tasked with developing a research document where in which we would identify the key members that make up our primary, secondary, and digital support networks for our practice. The task was to help us identify specifically the collaborators we have chosen to work with and highlight any gaps in our networks that we currently possess.

Listed below are the beginning notes I produced as part of my research document. Aptly titled ‘Where is Zack’s industry?’ it details my current network as well as the areas I need to expand my influence and seek support in.

“WHERE IS ZACK’S INDUSTRY?” - My Personal Network:

My Primary Network:

My primary network comprises mostly of my own family. They are my primary network due to currently living with them. They take an active interest in my desire to work in writing and directing roles and often do their best to bring opportunities to expand my practice. Outside of this they often attempt to make an active contribution to my productions.

·My Father head of an engineering firm has been more than ready to provide physical materials where I’ve needed them and has aided me in the construction of equipment, I was unable to source. The pair of us constructing a dolly.

·My mother is a fantastic hoarder and has become my go to source for physical props, set dressing and costuming. Her knowledge of available and potential locations has also been a skill she’s been willing to share.

·My Sister, less able to assist due to her work commitments, has whenever able gone to great lengths to assist in the production of visual effects in photoshop, greatly tutoring me in the programme’s use.

My Secondary Network:

I would personally consider these collaborators to be my primary collaborators, the only reason they have been listed in secondary network being that I have not recently been able to see them personally due to the lockdown. Before restrictions were put in place and as soon as they are ended however, they will return as my primary network. They are former flatmates whom I have collaborated on a number of projects. They, I suspect will also become vital critics and collaborators on my final grad project (I promise I’ll also help them too).

·Cain Jacka (Graphic Design Student) – Personal consultant on all of my branding and promotional materials. Has been involved in the titles and graphics I’ve included in my productions and has helped produce and edit thumbnails for all of my short films.

·Jess Reddy (Animation Student) – We’ve worked together in small roles but have always greatly expressed interest in producing larger projects. Up until now we’ve provided small scale contributions to each other’s work she produced a logo animation for me, and I did sound work for her. She has also consulted on my own efforts at animation in return for me tutoring her in editing software’s.

·Cameron Charles (Game design student) – I’ve utilised his expertise in the unreal engine to produce set mock-ups and also test lighting setups.

The secondary network does also extend outside of my flatmates into others I have physically worked and interacted with.

·Plymouth Marjon Acting Students – We’ve maintained a dialogue since being introduced in year one and have only been prevented from working together again due to the lockdown. We have expressed on multiple occasions the desire to produce projects for and with one another and have plans to hopefully revisit planned projects once our academic commitments come to an end.

·Lecturers – Just all-around top people. Great critics. Not afraid to tear my work apart and are too willing to read through my gibberish repeatedly.

Digital Network:

My digital network is comparatively smaller, my channel and social media outlets not having the highest follower and subscriber counts. However, I do utilise what resources I have. I am apart of several online communities that I can share work with and there are some acquaintances I intend to explore possibly working with in the future. They include:

·DBS Sound Students – We hope to explore potential collaboration opportunities as soon as work on my grad project really takes its stride.

·Discord and Twitter Creative Group Chats – These are communities where I’ve been able to share drafts and completed versions of my work to get feedback from international audiences and utilise the people to work through creative problems. I have also done the same for the work they have provided.

Industry Network:

Currently, I sadly possess no real industry network contacts. I hope this is something I can rectify if my grad film can find an audience and success.

#Continuing Professional Development FILM 302 PCA FILM BLOG POST

1 note · View note

coldbrewtarot · 4 years

Note

Hello~ I must say that i really appreciate you doing these free readings to gain experience, help others and more. You seem so nice 🙈 On the 21st of this month I'll be having an exam (not online unfortunately, but there are only, like, 7 people participating). I'm in a dilemma if i should go make it because I'm pretty sure i won't be fully prepared for it, i haven't even started studying for it yet. 1/2

Hello! The cards that came forth for you this afternoon are the Ten of Wands, the Three of Swords, the Six of Wands, and the Ace of Cups.

The Ten of Wands paired with the Three of Swords suggests that if you were to take the test, there is a good possibility that this will lead to burn out and exhaustion with very little reward. You may put in extra effort (especially if you haven’t studied) for a disappointing outcome. Despite knowing that you don’t know the material and haven’t attended the lectures online, the outcome of your exam will probably leave you feeling extremely disappointed and frustrated. However, this will serve as a learning lesson for you to do things differently the next time The Universe brings this situation to your doorstep.

The Six of Wands and Ace of Cups suggests that not taking the test may actually be the better alternative. There is the opportunity to receive a passing grade if you are presented with the opportunity to retake the course. This will require a lot of effort on your end, but you’ll be able to have the time and energy (possibly even connections with other people in the class to help you study) to succeed in the course. The Ace of Cups supports the Six of Wands by confirming that this is the better of the two choices. You will be really happy with your results or develop the skills you need in order to be successful in other classes.

*Disclaimer: Please note that I do not have a personal opinion on the matter and suggest that you speak to an academic counselor or look into what options are available to you (like checking to see if retaking the course is a possibility) before making any sort of decisions.

✨🔮✨🔮✨🔮✨🔮✨🔮✨🔮✨🔮✨🔮✨🔮✨🔮✨🔮

Free single-pull requests and free full spreads (depending on the complexity of the question/situation) are open and free of charge. Tips/coffee through ko-fi are very much appreciated, but a reblog or some kind words are always appreciated as well! Larger spreads with more in-depth readings are also available upon request. Please consider sending me feedback so I can continue to grow and learn more.

#witchblr #witchcraft #witches of tumblr #tarot #tarot community #free tarot readings #free tarot reading #tarot reading samples #free tarot spread reading #free tarot spread #cheryltooy96

4 notes · View notes

atelophobicity · 4 years

Text

Top 10 Things You Shouldn’t Do If You Want to Finish Your Thesis On Time

It’s my entry for September! I’ve been busy in consuming new music, films, and kvariety episodes in my effort to catch up on everything. So, I decided to post monthly to fulfill my oversharing Tumblr needs and to exercise my skills in writing in English and putting thoughts into coherent words.

TL;DR of this: things I’ve done instead of doing my thesis for the past year and a half. I’m not romanticizing my not doing thesis self for the past 21 months, but I’m also not dissuading you from doing other stuff besides thesis because god knows, you will need something.

1. Got a part-time job. This was the first new thing I’ve done that really took my time and effectively gave me no time to do thesis. And yet, this was the most rewarding thing as I learned how to get my TIN, accomplish my deliverables, answer to my superiors etc. Looking back, I wasn’t the best employee and I deserved no job offers on the same company after. But still, it was a stepping stone in the right direction. Adulting-wise, anyway.

2. Discover the art of creating.

Journal spreads. I bought a 2019 planner and I couldn’t fill it up, so I decided to turn it into a journal-planner. The art materials I used for to design pages are from old supplies bought back when I was in high school or stickers from the fandom-related events I attended. I didn’t spend money and I was given a chance to be creative.

Sew doll clothes. In K-pop, dolls that look like your idol exists. It usually comes with one set of clothes to dress it. As a “doll mother”, I wanted to dress them with new clothes but buying clothes was expensive. So, I just sewed clothes for them. I made clothes from scrap fabrics or clothes no one wears in our household. I’ve been barely successful, but it’s one of the things that keep me happy and make me feel like I’ve succeeded in one measly part of my life.

3. Purged my online files.

From my high school files. Nostalgia has been one of my coping mechanisms. I was able to be provided by lots of it when I discovered that I didn’t lose my high school files and it was on my mom’s laptop all along. Being able to relive memories while organizing my files was the best hours of that day.

To my external hard drives. Since 2016, I have been a hoarder of online files for so long that I have two EHDs to prove it. This time though, I was able to delete content that was either repetitive or uninteresting anymore. I was able to shave off some of my data bytes and am now able to save new interesting content available online (if I ever find one).

4. Realigned my priorities and consumption of K-pop as a stan and as a person by:

Selling 3/4 of my merch. Unlearning the pride that comes with owning K-pop merch was difficult, but overtime, I have been proud of myself for not falling to the traps of capitalism—at least in K-pop. Also! I was able to buy my own concert tickets with the stuff I sold so it is a win!

Joining giveaways instead. No matter how I can avoid the urge to buy K-pop merch, I still can’t help but want to own them. This is where I discovered how joining giveaways was my next best option. It takes a lot of effort and screenshots to win these things. However, if and when you win, it really feels like winning against the odds. You get free merch too!

Actually spent hours to vote and stream. In relation to the last point, since the main requirement in giveaways I’ve joined are voting/streaming proofs, I have been one of those people who collects points on voting apps or has a playlist of music videos that should be streamed. After collecting and/or streaming, I take screenshots, put watermarks there, and tags mutuals if needed. It’s relatively hard work but there’s a feeling of pride when your idol wins the poll or an MV reaches a certain amount of views and you know you participated in making that happen.

5. Rediscover Youtube. Channels like the vlogbrothers and their associates (Crash Course, Pemberley Digital among others), Buzzfeed’s shows (The Try Guys, Ladylike, Buzzfeed Unsolved) were a delight to watch after being out of the Youtube loop for so long. The platform also offered new niches of content and I allowed myself to be sucked in it. From Simply Nailogical to Ask A Mortician to amazing pop culture video essays like Lindsay Ellis and Jenny Nicholson, Youtube has all it for you! Learning something new every day is one of my favorite things and I get to do it with this website.

6. Rediscover my love of writing. (As if I’ve written anything for my thesis but here.)

Made drabbles. There is a weekly activity on my fandom where we write < 500 word drabbles on any pairings. I have been joining when I can, and through the support of the (small) community (back then), I gained confidence to write one. I’ve written at least four now and I’ve not done yet because I’ve been on a slump lately. But I’ll get back to it soon!

Short story. The same account that brought the drabble challenge created a festival where we write a pairing and write a short story with it. I decided to join the event! Not going to lie, my entry was shit, It was the first draft, it needed a lot of revisions and more constructive criticism and yet, I am still proud of it. It was the first creative fiction I wrote since 2019 and I did it in a day. And, I believe it has potential, so I’m going to review and revise the hell out of it someday.

7. Reclaim my college days.

Reconnected with orgmates. Visiting Elbi for registration and consultation purposes are brightened up by the fact that I get to do this. My first four years of college were not kind to me. I’ve forgotten a lot of things because of trauma and deep sadness that I still have until this day, and when I remember good things, they’re few and far in between. The numbered days I was in Elbi during 2019 were also few and far in between, but they were infinitely better than my academic years from 2015 to 2017. I was able to do the things I wasn’t able to do before (mostly attending Happy Ts and eating in newly-opened food places there) and I get to do it with people I love.

Made friends. One of the drawbacks of being a slot-driven student with no care of my coursemates’ schedules: I didn’t get to establish a friend group. So I didn’t get to make friends. During this time, I’ve accepted that I didn’t have any friends outside my organizations. But this time, instead of a feeling of dread of being that cliché orgmate, I feel relief and happiness because now, I realize that I do have friends from college, unlike the 2015-2017 who didn’t have anyone in college to rely on her darkest times.

8. Appreciated my friends more. For the past few years, I was the shitty friend. I agreed to go on hangouts only to message them that I’m backing out the last minute—sometimes I even straight up ghosted them. I really took my friends for granted. I have been slowly making it up to them by always attending when there’s an invite! I sometimes initiate the invite and it’s always a fun and healing time for me (it was a literal healing time for me as I was depressed during that time). I love them and I’m always thankful for them—and more so now than before.

9. Unlearning things like:

Realizing that a priv (a private account meant to be seen by your mutuals you trust; usually contains unpopular opinions and hot takes on stan twitter) only encourages negative emotions and I must not do it again.

No matter how I tried rationalizing my hate for Jennie when the JenKai dating news happened, I was one of those K-pop stans who hated her because she dated my idol. (I have moved on past that and have started liking her and Rose.)

Knowing that attacking people for what they say won’t make them unlearn their wrong opinions. Not talking down at them and educating with patience is the key, always.

There are still so much more I unlearned and learned where those came from. My main takeaway is: it’s complicated. Sometimes our opinion needs a more nuanced perspective and sometimes it needs to scrapped entirely because it was just wrong. But it is essential so we, as people, won’t be stuck with outdated views of the world.

10. Learning something new like:

Practicing how to do Tzuyu’s helicopter hands until I realized it wasn’t meant for me.

Utilizing Omegle to look for potential quaranflings.

Installing Telegram and uninstalling to ghost quaranflings.

How to do laundry in compliance with my mother’s preferences.

Doing two things at once.

Enough patience to take time and read the laws our government makes every day to know what I’m fighting against.

Optimizing my Twitter lists and now I can keep up with current affairs (that takes a toll on my mental health) then scroll through a fic fest-centric list the next (that helps me forget the stress from reading news).

Learning something new every day has become one of my life goals. Knowing that the world always has something new to offer to me, a speck in this universe, warms me up and keeps me going. And you’ll never know where the new tidbits will lead you. Maybe it’ll help you reconnect with something you’ve known before, maybe it’ll change how you see things, or maybe it’s something new that once explored, it will contribute something new to the community. It may seem small and unimportant but with a tweak in perspective, it might be something worth doing and pursuing.

Looking back at my list, I can finally see how if I didn’t do all these things, I would have probably finished my thesis by now and probably working a full-time job, able to provide the financial needs for my family. There will always be regret that I am still not done until now. But stressing over my current predicament in this time when the world is in its most stressful state yet won’t help me. So, we soldier on and hopefully, hopefully get back to the thesis I’ve been meaning to do.

Let’s get it.

#2020 diary

2 notes · View notes