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howtofightwrite · 1 year

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Just a casual question: What lightsaber style do you prefer out of one-handed, two-handed, double-bladed or dual wielding?

We’ll leave out the Lightsaber Forms from the EU, because they are inconsistently defined between sources.

No, no, no. You ask me what my favorite lightsaber is, you get the answer whether you want it or not. The answer may surprise you. It’s (probably) considered the second dumbest lightsaber weapon ever invented in the extended universe with the exception of the lightsaber nunchaku.

Are you ready? Do you have your guesses?

The Lightwhip.

The chosen weapon of Dark Ladies of the Sith and the Nightsisters of Dathomir back when the Sisters weren’t all dark side practitioners and rode rancors.

(This is my favorite. For reference, Starke’s favorite is single blade Form IV: Ataru. He’s boring.)

Now, I agree with the general fandom that the lightwhip is a dumb, impractical weapon that’s more likely to dismember its wielder than it is their opponent. Only someone with a high level of skill, prescience, and telekinesis could make effective use of a lightwhip’s dismemberment murder frenzy without killing themselves. Fortunately, that’s exactly the base level of skills most Force sensitives possess. Probably most important, the lightwhip is the exact sort of dumb we see with real weapons in the real world. This includes the more wild examples like the urumi, the chain whip, and the three-section staff. And, it should be said, I have watched living black belts concuss themselves with the three-section staff while trying to figure out how to use it. All for the Rule of Cool. So, while I accept its impracticality, I refuse the argument that the lightwhip being any more unrealistic in use or invention than the rest of the lightsaber weapon family. Does it have a high skill floor? Absolutely. Is it a safe weapon compared to the rest of its very dangerous family? Absolutely not. Would a student potentially dismember or murder themselves learning to use it? Yes, and that’s why it’s fun. (I’ll add a small caveat that the average student could also dismember themselves with a normal lightsaber, so this isn’t just a danger posed by the lightwhip.)

The lightwhip is a weapon of the Dark Side. Its battle style would be (and should be) wild, chaotic, and nigh uncontrollable. There’s no way to use it safely and it belongs in the hands of a wielder who is straight up thrilled to cut down both their allies and enemies in equal measure. This is the weapon of a murderous lunatic in black leather, and gets even more wild when it switches to a Cat o’ Nine to bring on nine weaving laser tendrils instead of just one. The lightwhip is the sexy Catwoman reference that transcends its genre when we really start to think about how intimidating it’d be to see that thing on the battlefield in the hands of a novice and, especially, an expert.

The standard use for a whip in the real world is as a support tool for your primary weapon, such as a rapier. The whip doesn’t do much damage on its own, leaving only small, painful cuts and lacerations so it transitions into a means of harassment. The advantage of the whip is that it attacks at odd, circular angles which are difficult (if not impossible) to block and will curve into a strike around the opposing weapon. The rippling movement makes it difficult to see and even more difficult to predict. If kept in constant motion, this difficulty triples because the disparate movements blend together.

Now, take this setup and add the lightshow. Instead of a weapon that does light lacerations, we have a weapon that deals massive burns if it doesn’t straight up dismember. It will cut through everything and everyone. Conventional fighting styles fall apart against it. More importantly, because it is a burning plasma ribbon, it doesn’t need to follow the standard rules of physics. The lightwhip is beautiful in its raw, chaotic brutality, it’s high risk, high reward nature, and I love the way it hard counters the standard philosophy of lightsaber combat with a literal curveball. Any opponent who faces it is forced into new, creative approaches for their very survival.

Lastly, I love what the lightwhip says about its wielder as an expression of their vicious, ferocious, highly aggressive personality. This weapon requires commitment and dedication. It’s absolutely fair to say the person who wields a lightwhip has a fanatical, if not suicidal, bent. After all, they’d willingly risk death to master it. They love destruction. They don’t care about outside consequences or property destruction. They go it alone.

I’ll admit the lightwhip’s true potential is too violent for most of Star Wars and, like most Star Wars weapons, it very much lives on the Rule of Cool. One of the sadder aspects with the lightwhip is that, while I love the weapon and its potential, any discussion of it gets mired in sexism. Every appearance of the lightwhip comes with the sexy NSFW Dark Side Dominatrix bent and leads to the lightwhip not being given the consideration it’s potential deserves.

My favorite saber is Darth Maul’s saber staff from The Phantom Menace, because versatility allows for use of both one and two. My favorite lightsaber form (which should now surprise no one) is Form VII: Vaapad.

All that said, I do enjoy a good Dark Side Dominatrix as much as I enjoy a moody and hooded Dark Side Goth. And I genuinely love dumb and, seemingly, impractical weapons when the reward justifies their risk. If there’s a general writing advice takeaway here, always consider the practicality of an impractical but cool weapon, address i’s rewards as well as its risks, and pair it with a suitable personality. The lightwhip is not a weapon that belongs in the hands of a Jedi or, really, any individual who possesses any degree of restraint. It’s for a character who merrily expresses raw, raging power at every opportunity and willing to risk destroying themselves along with everyone else for victory.

There’s a weird angle with the Star Wars EU where they tried to establish the lightwhip as weaker than the lightsaber (*cough* woman’s weapon *cough*) with less cutting power even when it doesn’t use a physical cord, which makes absolutely no sense. The lightsaber is the more versatile weapon, while the lightwhip is more specialized and circumstantial. Which fits with the patterns of real world weapons technology.

This a long circle round to saying that the weapons we choose for our characters act as personality tells. Which is why it’s important to give a lot of thought and consideration to any weapon’s historic use and purpose before attaching it. Weapons communicate more than we might expect, both via their situational viability and associated cultural myths. It’s important to choose whether you’ll address this, especially if you’re not planning to intentionally communicate that message or make those personality traits part of the character’s identity. Weapons are tools and, like with all tools, different tools attract different personalities. In fiction, we the authors often decide this from an external perspective. Once a choice has been made, always give yourself a chance to think about it from a character’s internal perspective. Why did Character X choose this weapon? Why do they want to use it? What does this weapon do for them that another weapon doesn’t? Or, what makes that other weapon less attractive?

You might find yourself with an answer or story beat you hadn’t previously considered.

Food for thought.

-Michi

This blog is supported through Patreon. Patrons get access to new posts three days early, and direct access to us through Discord. If you’re already a Patron, thank you. If you’d like to support us, please consider becoming a Patron.

#star wars #lightsabers #michi answers #writing advice #writing reference #writing tips #how to fight write

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blueparadis · 1 year

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❝ LITTLE MISTAKE ❞ + BAIZHU !

+. precis –› one accident leads to another. when his apprentice accidentally drank an experimental sample of love potion, baizhu had no other choice than to take care of her. +. tags –› f!reader × service!dom!baizhu ; óral acts, xplícít content, dûbçôn, possessiveness, praising, somnophilia. | redirect to blog navigation. | wc ~ 0.8k.

The search for immortality has been less boring since the owner of Bubu pharmacy has taken in an apprentice a month ago. She has been a ‘lucky charm’ for him, as claimed by his other staff and clients. Rumor has it that Baizhu is one step closer to finding the elixir of immortality , a million steps forward abandoning the humanity. But no one knows the exact details. They all are just rumors and only he alone knows the downfall of searching something non-existent, like chasing a mirage. But, he would be wrong if he denied how Bubu Pharmacy has become more lively than before since the advent of this new apprentice, his favourite among all those who applied before.

But today he is resting, even though it is not an official holiday. Besides, when did exactly a medical practitioner ever get a holiday? The answer is never. They are always needed. His favourite apprentice is sick and asleep. Perhaps, her harbouring feelings for him might not have gone unnoticed as she thought it would be.

Baizhu released a breath of ease watching her asleep in his chambers.

He sat at the edge of the bed checking her pulse, the rise and fall of her chest seems quite normal. He does not understand why would she act the way she did this morning — getting flustered while talking to him, avoid making eye contact with him, being absent minded when Baizhu is instructing her and her actions being tipsy once in a while. He has never seen her in such a distorted zone. Perhaps, today's letter from Mondstadt did not bring a good news or perhaps. . .

A pair of amber eyes which is only vividly awake among the two lands on a broken empty vile discarded at the corner of the room. He inspects it, holding it the transperant cylindrical vile against the light and then, smelling the vile from a distance so that it does not infect him too. As soon as he gets a whiff of a sweet aroma corroding his nostrils all her actions that was confusing him became crystal clear through and through. It was some sort of aphrodisiac with a mixture of philtre, commonly known as, love potion. Such products are forbidden in Liyue but Baizhu knew better than anyone the potential it had in bootleg markets and if sold to a person of high authority, it could earn them a fortune for decades, if not more so.

But, that is not what angers him.

His jaw hardens, eyes flare up in disappointment and eyebrows become conjested. It is her who makes him that way, it is her behaviour of not taking any antidote for it. Moreover, how did she let this kind of blunder happen? Even if had happened by accident, why would not she trust him enough to ask for antidote? Maybe she wanted one for him too.

Baizhu hears her roll over the bed, and when he looks at her again all his anger washes away. It has been five hours since she is asleep and it would take another hour to wear off the effect of it completely. Baizhu looks for another vile in the room and he finds none. He does not understand why he feels so relieved knowing that his favourite apprentice was just experimenting or making some for a client, not actually intending to flee with her lover.

You woke up sometime at night to warm pants against the shell of your ear and shallow thrusts against your rear that caused your entire body to go rigid in distress. Blinking away your sleep, you desperately took in your surroundings illuminated by the city lights streaming in from the windows across from where you lay.

The tall windows that made up an entire wall were the same ones you often gazed out of to watch the cloud formations pass by in the sky. A wave of relief washed over and you relaxed when you recognized your surroundings as your bedroom–at least until the hand draped over your waist pulled up your nightgown and something hot and pulsating pushed between your legs.

“Did I wake you?” Baizhu’s shrill firm voice echoed into your ear. “Sorry, sweetheart. I couldn’t stop thinking about how good you were the other day. Tending to patients, keeping up a hopeful smile, assuring them they're going to be alright— you're going to be a good doctor, a really good one. It makes me happy.” one of his arms flew over your eyes covering them as he kept his motion steady. “easy girl. Easy. You're doing great,” he rasps against your ears.

The contradicting emotions whenever Baizhu became overly affectionate with you rose to the surface when he buried his face in the crook of your neck with his cock rubbing against your clothed slit. Your skin eventually erupted in goosebumps and desire pooled between your legs. They were the tell-tale signs that your body wanted him to breach the barrier of professional relationship and take you the way you knew he wanted. Your boos firmly held your cheeks and suckled onto your lips as his hands cupped your breasts. “Don’t you taste divine?” he cooed with lustful eyes thrusting his hips against yours whilst massaging your breasts. You nod, your hands involuntarily move over his.

Yet, your knee-jerk reaction to all of his inappropriate attention was fear and repulsion. Your body never failed to stiffen and tremble until he dispelled those negative emotions during your time with him, locked in your room and away from the other’s prying eyes. Your boss’s words, which could cut you down and lift you up all in a single breath, assured you of the normalcy of your intimate relationship with him. Your boss’s touches, that struck and soothed in the same spots, coaxed from your body the reactions he wanted—No, your true reactions as he would remind you time and time again.

And those true reactions were what had you moving your hips in tune with his. Those reassurances that your relationship was the same as it always been had you declaring your love for him over and over again. Because besides your certificate of recommendation, the only thing you could recall amidst the thick fog that permeated your brain was the compulsory need to make your boss happy. only then, you could receive what he was trying to achieve, only then.

@tokyometronetwork

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postitforward · 1 year

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Mental Health Spotlight: Jasmine Marie, Founder of black girls breathing®

Jasmine Marie is a speaker, breathwork practitioner, and the founder of black girls breathing®. Her work is innovating the wellness, healthcare, and research industry by making mental health services accessible to Black women while filling in the gaps of data and research available on this underserved and underrepresented demographic. Marie plans to impact one million Black women and girls with her work by 2025. She is a serial founder with a past life in global haircare brand marketing and an alum of NYU Stern. The impact and range of her work to date is expansive—ranging from underserved minority communities to stressed-out college students and executives. She’s brought her expertise to elite colleges such as Harvard Business School, Columbia University, and Cornell University, and her client list includes corporations such as Estée Lauder Companies, Under Armour, Capital One, Ford Motor Company, Facebook, and Twitter. Marie has been featured in Oprah Magazine, Good Morning America, VOGUE, Forbes, Harper’s Baazar, Marie Claire, Glamour, Nylon Mag, Wall Street Journal, and Black Enterprise, to name a few.

What is black girls breathing®? And why was it created? black girls breathing® is a safe space for Black women to manage their mental and emotional health and heal trauma in their bodies with breathwork and community.

I created black girls breathing® after finishing my breathwork training and seeing so few facilitators that looked like me yet knowing how much chronic stress and trauma (generational, societal, etc.) and decided to create it. I used my background in business to help me develop a model where we could provide this work accessibly.

Do you have any secret hobbies, skills, or interests?

I don’t think I have any secret hobbies but for a while, I would always feel embarrassed whenever anyone asked that question, as a lot of my hobbies can maybe seem boring to others lol. But I love to read. Reading is one of my favorite hobbies. I love having quiet time…any activity that allows me to feel refreshed, sit with my own thoughts and enjoy my solitude. I think because I deal with so many people’s energy that in my spare time, I just like to spend time with self. I love to cook though…it’s a very meditative activity for me that allows me to unwind from my day.

How did you get started in this work? And why is it important to you?

As mentioned above, after my breathwork training, I realized there were so few Black breathworkers. But before that, I found breathwork while being stressed out after graduating from business school at NYU and working in beauty in NYC. My nervous system was so fried I began having physical symptoms…rashes and an inability to sleep. The doctor would see me and always say, “This is stress. How can you reduce your stress?” Fast forward to me finding my first breathwork class and falling in love with the way it allowed me to just feel more space in my mind and body.

WOW — ONE MILLION Black women and girls breathing by 2025 what an ambitious goal! What impact do you see this having?

It is an ambitious goal, but in 2020, we fundraised $55k to make our work accessible for one year. After the year was done, it was so clear that we couldn’t stop there. So many Black women needed this work, and we would hear that over and over again. So I decided if I was going to do this work, I was only interested in creating real impact and a goal that would signify that. Imagining 1 Million Black women using breathwork as a tool to regulate their nervous systems, heal from compounded trauma and reduce the effect that chronic stress has in our community (health challenges linked to chronic stress: heart disease, high blood pressure, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, fertility issues, and the list goes on) will not only affect them but our community as a whole. Ending the passing down of generational trauma and normalizing healing.

What would you suggest to people who feel like they cannot find the time to breathe or practice mindfulness?

I would first affirm that it’s okay they feel that way. Western society has done a great job of making us feel that anything outside of productivity is not only a waste of time but the least important thing we should make space for. Making time for yourself for any mindful activity can be eased into and it can start with being more aware of the present moment and practicing that action on a daily. Maybe you create a routine where every morning for 3 minutes right when you get up, you take a moment to be still, notice your breathing pattern and focus on each and every inhale and exhale.

Why is Black representation important in this industry?

The wellness industry isn’t unlike other industries where Black representation is lacking. I think it’s important to see other Black women caring for themselves because, historically, we’ve been taught to do the opposite for oh so long.

Where do you find joy?

I find joy with my family and my loved ones, in intimate moments with friends, in good food and conversation, and in being able to create something and see it grow, shift, and evolve.

Want to learn more about black girls @blackgirlsbreathing?

Check out their website!

Breathe with us on March 27th @12pm EDT during their Mindful Monday Breathwork for Anxiety session on Tumblr Live

Ask black girls breathing all the questions on your mind for IssueTime on Navigating Anxiety in an increasingly digital, lonely world

Take the pledge with black girls breathing®

#meditation #mindful monday #mindfulness #mental health #well being #tumblr live #black girls breathing x tumblr #black girls breathing #self care #healing #take the pledge #mental health matters #menhealthmatters

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the-blackbird-roleplays · 1 month

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@wayward-roleplays

New Orleans, Louisiana.

Hidden in an alley and underground, next to a practitioner of the art of voodoo, is a auction. Not the normal kind of auction house with antiques and jewelry, this one specializes in pleasure and illegal dealings of supernatural creatures that look mostly human.

The person at the ticket stand looks up and studies the man in front of him. "Do you have an interest in the unknown, and Supernatural? Can I offer you a ticket to the show?" He asks making a sales pitch.

Kuro smirked at the man, nodding softly as he fished out a few bills from his wallet.

"Considering most of my life has been spent in the shadows, I think seeing what else is out there would be fun." He grinned softly, his true motives as indecipherable as a seaborne fog.

The Fallen Angel had been hunting down this particular show for the past several months, reports of illicit dealings and under-the-table markets becoming more frequent this close to Mardi Gras. Seems even the darker elements of humanity enjoy a good party...

Ticket in hand, Kuro passed through the hidden door and descended the stairs into what he was almost certain was an old morgue. Things had changed a lot in this city since he'd claimed Nouvelle Orleans as his home centuries prior. Some details were hard to keep track of for the quasi-immortal...

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mrsjobarnes · 2 years

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Not the only cowboy

Summary: Jake had never been the type of guy to fall first, maybe you’ll be the one to change that.

Jake Seresin x Nurse!reader

Word count: 1k

Likes & comments are welcome!

Please do not steal my work!

A/N ~ Hey yall! Thank you to @gretagerwigsmuse for helping me with this!! The idea popped into my head while I was listening to “Country Girl” by Luke Bryan. Hope yall enjoy

Masterlist | Next Chapter

“Penny, who is that gorgeous southern bell that was just at the bar?” Jake asks. He was looking over his shoulder at you. He’ll admit that you are the prettiest girl he has seen at the Hard Deck in a long time.

“None of your business, Hangman,” Penny said, rolling her eyes. Jake doesn’t give her the response time to resonate before he takes his drink back to the pool table. As the night drags on, Bradley serenades everyone with his rendition of Great Balls of Fire.

“Y/N you should go ask him to sing a song,” your friend said. After a shot, you decide what’s the worst that could happen and go for it.

“Hey, that was one hell of a song, how about one more,” you said with a smirk

“What did you have in mind?” he said flirtatiously.

“What about Jackson?” you said. After y’all decide on a key to sing in he starts playing away as if his life depended on it. And after the first few notes, Jake knew exactly what song it was. He put his pool stick down and watched you and Bradley sing. He was in a trance as you sang.

“Might want to stop gawking before she notices,” Phoenix said with a chuckle.

“I am not gawking, I’m just admiring their taste in music,” Jake said, eventually taking Phoenix’s advice and returning to his game. Bradley proceeds to walk up with you and your friends just moments later.

“Guys, this is Y/N and her friends,” Bradley said, gathering everyone’s attention. You and your friends go around introducing yourself. A warm feeling grows in your stomach when you lay your eyes on Jake.

“Is that a southern accent I'm hearing?” he asked, fully knowing the answer.

You blushed. “Yeah, I'm from Kansas but I went to college in Georgia and lived in Norfolk, Virginia for work. I just relocated” you said.

Jake nodded along, wanting to know why you were in Norfolk and where you were at the same time. “Norfolk, are you military?” he asked.

You shook your head and explained that you are a contract nurse practitioner for the Navy. They all nodded, and then someone named Fanboy asked where you were being sent.

“They have me at Top Gun right now, I'm the main nurse for one of the squads,” you said.

They all nodded along and moved on to ask your friend what she did. Jake could care less at the moment. All he could think about was whose squad you were stationed with -

“- What squad are you stationed with?” Jake blurted out, interrupting your friend. His friends gave him a look. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he said, scratching behind his head. He patiently waited while your friend explained what she did.

“I have no idea who I’m with, all I know is that their commander requested me,” you said. As you and the group found a flow of conversation, Jake couldn’t help but wonder if you’d be with the Dagger Squad. “Alrighty guys, I don’t know about all of you, but I have to be on base at 7:00 I’m so I'm heading out,” you said with a smile. Your friend agreed and you both headed to pay off your tab.

As you walked away, Jake was met with a smack to the back of his head. He turned around to see the squad glaring at him. “Don’t even think about it,” Phoenix said, while the rest of the group nodded in agreement. He put his hand on his chest and gasped.

“Think about what, Phoenix? I don’t like these accusations” he said. They all rolled their eyes and laughed. He knew he was a man-whore, but normally they didn’t say anything.

“Just think about it, dude, if you piss her off the whole team would have to be careful around all of the nurses on base. So, just find a different girl.” Javy said, patting Jake on the shoulder. Pretty soon after that, the team left for the night.

The next morning when the team showed up for training, they were all asked to go to one of the classrooms. Normally, if they were going to one of those it either meant a mission or someone did something stupid. Once they were seated, they started interrogating each other til Maverick walked in.

“Hey, Mav, do you know what this is about,” Bradley asked. Mav shook his head no and then joined the gossip circle til Cyclone walked in with you following in tow.

Cyclone explained that you would be the Dagger Squad’s team nurse and that you’d be doing new medical evaluations today. You quickly explained the schedule of who you needed to see and Cyclone left. You couldn’t slap the smile off of Jake’s face even though he wasn’t getting evaluated til after lunch.

As the day dragged on the team had done their regular training maneuvers and it was now time for lunch. As the team ate, Jake was planning on ways to ask you out. “Hello!! Earth to Hangman” Bradley said.

“Huh,” Jake said, realizing that the team was staring at him waiting for a response. “Sorry, what was the question,” he said.

“We just wanted to know if you wanted to do a beach day this Saturday?” Bradley said.

BINGO that’s how Jake would ask you out. He’d invite you to the squad hangout.

“Sure, that sounds fun,” he said as he focused on finishing his lunch.

“Hey Y/N over here,” Phoenix said, waving you over. You quickly walked over and sat across from him and next to Phoenix. “So, how is your first day at Top Gun,” she asked you.

As you explained the ins and outs of all the paperwork you had to fill out, Jake noticed how your face lit up. He would do anything to see that again. Once you were done, Phoenix proceeded to invite you to the beach day.

Well, shit there goes my idea. He couldn’t be too mad though because that meant you’d be there.

Once y’all had finished lunch you said your goodbyes and called Jake over. “Are you ready to go?” you asked. He nodded and followed you. “I promise it is not going to take long. Hate to keep you out of the sky,” you said while you unlocked your office and examination room. He laughed and you smiled.

God did you have the prettiest smile he thought.

“If you don’t mind sitting on the table we can get started,” you said, grabbing your computer and paperwork. “Okay, let’s get started. Do you smoke or vape?” you asked.

“No, those are cancer sticks, ma’am,” he said.

“Good answer and no need to call me ma’am, just call me Y/N.” You smiled and asked some more questions while also checking his breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure. “Okay we just need a blood sample and then we are good.”

As you prepared to take his blood, you remembered you forgot a question to ask him: “Are you sexually active?” you asked, looking up through your eyelashes.

Jake’s brain damn near melted. “Um yes,” he stumbled, being caught off guard. You nod and finish taking his blood and tell him his blood results will be done soon. All he could think about was you looking at him with those doe eyes asking such an intimate question. Granted you had to for your job, but it had him rocking a semi to the locker room.

#jake seresin x reader #jake seresin x you #hangman x reader #jake hangman seresin smut #hangman top gun #hangman imagine #jake hangman x reader #jake seresin imagine #hangman seresin x reader #dagger squad

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dissociacrip · 1 year

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hey s/o to chronically ill or otherwise physically disabled people who are mostly, entirely undiagnosed, or otherwise have undiagnosed body problems that have yet to be explained.

especially if your symptoms are scary and confusing and weird enough to both you (and perhaps also to medical practitioners) that you have no idea what's really going on with you so that you can't even self-dx or make a solid guess at it.

especially if you keep getting expensive and non-routine medical testing/exams that seems like it's supposed to tell you something but then the results come back normal.

especially if the only potential answers to your problems are notoriously difficult to diagnose, treat, and/or require specialists that you don't have access to.

especially if this would have been a lot easier to deal with if you had supportive family members but you were medically neglected and/or don't have any family that you can rely on (this particularly applies to congenital stuff.)

and especially if you don't have the time, finances, or patience to figure out what the fuck is going on because dealing with the medical system and constant testing and a constant lack of answers is utterly fucking exhausting. desperately wanting help and relief and feeling fear that something might be seriously wrong but you don't even need to start, or just being tired of suffering and not having any clue what your body is doing.

post inspired having had episodes of wack neurological(?) shit that was causing excruciating nerve pain at the base of my neck and my upper back that was at like a 10 and cognitive impairment that got worse the longer i remained upright (including my speech starting to slur) over the past couple of years that seems to correlate with daytime manual labor specifically. seemed to be a herniated disc but a supine mri that insurance refused to cover showed zero signs of disc herniation or any other abnormalities. is it cci? is it a spinal cfs leak?? who fucking knows dude!! i came home sounding like i was drunk one day due to how fucking delirious i was and left work on day in tears once due to feeling like a knife was in the base of my neck and i still have no idea why ✌🏻

#chronic illness #chronically ill #physical disability #physically disabled #cripple punk #< - not super related i just want this to be seen #j #body log

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she-is-ovarit · 9 months

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This is for all the younger gen Z women, particularly those of you within the ages of 17 to roughly 23. This is written from an American perspective, things might be a little different depending on where you're from.

I graduated high school with the unconscious assumption that certain systems will take care of me. The medical system would educate me on proper nutrition and health issues was probably my largest underlying assumption, but really I just had trust in institutions generally.

This isn't true. You are responsible for learning. As an example, I have been vegetarian since age 14. Nobody talked to me about proper nutrition, they just told me I needed to eat more protein.

I lived a decade of my life having shortness of breath, sleeping issues, clumsiness, cold hands and feet, having brain fog, extreme fatigue, heightened anxiety, etc. My period was extremely light and brown, it'd last for about 2 or so days. I'd go and talk about these problems, and telling doctors that I was vegetarian was one of the first things that came out of my mouth just with any visit because I knew at least that piece was important to communicate.

There was really no action taken over the span of about 10 years. I was told the period thing was normal, that changes for women. A sleep specialist let me know that feeling exhausted was also normal. The brain fog was probably due to anxiety. Here, try allergy medication (tbh that did help for other reasons). Then one day I just asked them to check my vitamin and mineral levels. Prior to this I didn't think you can make requests to doctors, I thought you showed up and they performed tests on what they recommended. With some reluctance from my primary care physician and some compromise because she said my insurance wouldn't cover testing things like B12 levels (I later found out from a nurse that, they would, she would have just needed to fill out extra paperwork), she did some tests.

I found out both my iron and D3 levels were low. What else could be?

I later learned pretty much all the vitamins common to be low for vegetarians were low. D3, magnesium, vitamin Bs, iron, and healthy fats. Bought some liquid vitamins (because the body only absorbs 10% of the pill supplements), began eating an avocado a day, my period became normal for the first time in nine years, and I am able to function.

Another example of how human systems won't educate you: I don't have feeling in some of my toes due to wearing incorrect sized footwear for years resulting in permanent nerve damage. I'm size 11.5 in women's, and I was relying on someone to tell me how proper footwear worked, because surely the guy in the minimum wage position working the footwear section would know.

Don't trust human systems to guide you through how certain things work. Seek specific specialists and experts when you can, and inform yourself on your own. Don't blindly trust search engines like Google, it's not like how it used to be when I was growing up and many millennial adults will tell you to "just google things" because we're used to finding actual substantive answers when we do. However, now, usually whoever pays is who makes the first page or two of search engines, it has nothing to do with what information is "most correct". Don't be afraid to request certain tests be done by doctors or certain referrals made to different specialists.

Edit: And also, I've found general practitioners are terrible when you walk in and tell them about several different symptoms at one time. They're more used to treating one symptom at a time, and they treat the symptom not the root cause. If you go in with a runny nose, general practitioners are going to throw medications at you to try and treat the runny nose, not look deeper into what's causing the runny nose. It's equivalent to if you're in a boat and it's sinking, they're bailing out water without actually fixing the hole or trying to figure out where it is, with the exception of emergency situations and even then it depends.

#tangent #health #nutrition #gen z #medical system #healthcare #women's health

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deramin2 · 5 months

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It feels like people were wanting the trust exercises in Critical Role c3 E79 and E80 to be research-supported therapy from a licensed practitioner where they all work together to get a good grade in therapy, a thing that's normal to want and possible to achieve.

Not A HAG fucking with them per her nature feeding off juicy drama and cringe who wants to shake them around until all their secrets come out for her to watch and realize that they're so scared of failure they're locking into the sort of inaction that will actually make them fail. (I love Nana Mori. She was exactly the sort of fucked up punk rock street wise woman they needed.)

It's BORING if they just talk about all their problems. It's BORING if they just jump to trusting each other (when the exercise was started that they can't trust each other). It's BORING if they're like "actually that power that's been set in front of me could possibly have a bad effect so I'm just going to keep ignoring it. It's BORING to be safe. Go back to your coffee shop AUs if you want everything to be soft and safe. That's not the point of the source material.

The CR cast have REPEATEDLY said they have more fun pushing the big red button than playing it safe because you spend all of real life trying to avoid the consequences of risky decisions and it's FUN to get to explore what can go wrong.

Bell's Hells succeeded because they concluded they are in a moment were inaction and hesitation will get everyone killed and they just need to push all the big red buttons and take the risks because it's now or never. They need to check in enough to keep each other in line, but they also need to imagine a scenario where none of them are traitors. (Like they had to restrain FCG from murder-bot mode, but they risked getting to murder-bot mode because the benefit outweighed the personal risk.)

This party is not OSHA approved. They literally couldn't do the job if they were. People like Allura and Keyleth are relying on them to take monumentally stupid risks while holding on by their fingernails so that other people can be safe.

Fearne came to the conclusion that she wasn't taking the shard because she was afraid of Dark!Fearne. But her friends will pull her out of that if she drifts. She also wasn't taking it because she thought Ashton was supposed to have it and that didn't work out well. If she'd put her hoof down her friends would probably have accepted her decision even if they disagreed with it. (It's actually like normal and healthy to disagree with your friends choices and not yes-man them all the time.) But she decided with her own free will that she was just being scared and actually she did want to try. (But also if they hadn't gone through the shard hurting and rejecting Ashton, Fearne might have thought her taking damage meant she wasn't supposed to have it, not just part of the trial of absorbing it.)

There's no binary where pressuring your friends is always bad. Sometimes your friends pressure you into doing things they believe will benefit you that you're reluctant to do and then you do it and are like "no actually that was the right call and I needed that." Or you conclude "No actually that was bad and I wish I didn't listen." There's actually no way to know ahead of time. My relationship with one of my best friends of like 20 years consists heavily of us battling each other's depression by pressuring each other into things we don't want to do but need to and that's healthy for us. But also other people in our lives pressured us into things we didn't want to do and should not have done and it turned out bad. It turns out that life is made up of shades of grey and not hard and fast rules. There's no way of knowing if you're fucking up ahead of time.

Imogen admitted in the Truth or Die session that she was upset that Fearne didn't take the shard. She probably would not have told Fearne that in normal circumstances. And she was probably feeling that way because part of her was upset at herself for not giving into the Predothos powers. Admitting that to Fearne gave her the courage to talk about the possibility of doing that. Which like, could be a terrible idea. But also this is a D&D game with predetermined character class powers that grow as you level and there has to be an in-game justification for getting powers like Revelation in Flesh at 14th level. Like, either she leans into these powers or they're forced on her or she stops leveling and goes home. Leaning in is way more fun. Don't you want to see what batshit thing Matt has planned for that? That's FUN. Ignoring the dark powers is boring.

Like first and foremost this is A GAME that involves yes-anding and taking risks. It's about characters who have spent their entire lives burying and ignoring their problems and getting worse because of it. It isn't REAL for them to have one revelation and be like, "Whelp I'm fixed now and will fall into none of my old patterns and just bare my soul to everyone forever now." People aren't actually like that and if that's what they need to do to be measurably better for you you'll have a lifetime of disappointments. This is an adult story for adults about how adults really behave.

Anyway I can't wait for them to schlep all their baggage and new fucked up powers to the moon with them where they're make irresponsible decisions based on a martyr complex while their friends yell at them to stop being stupid and selfish and let them help. It's going to be a disaster but hopefully they snatch victory from the jaws of defeat (or defeat from the jaws of victory) and tell an entertaining story about the fuckups who tried to stop the next Calamity. Maybe they will and they get to be heroes. Maybe it comes at a terrible cost. Maybe they totally fuck it up and it's a Ring of Brass situation. But it'll be FUN.

#critical role #critical role spoilers #critical role meta #critical role discourse #critical role campaign 3 #Bell's Hells #There's a reason many fans of this show would be totally incapable of making a compelling AP on their own #Maybe a fun home game but not a compelling narrative for other people #long post

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childotkw · 3 months

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Could you please recap what Voldemorts regime is like in CS. I’m just re-reading a bit now and I’m at the first task, (also did Voldemort put Hadrian in the comma for a week till he decided what to do with the whole Harry Potter situation), and I was wondering because Voldemort talks about recruiting James, so is his rule like quite fair? What makes him “dark” in this story?

Voldemort is a Dark Lord in the sense that he is the most powerful practitioner and user of Dark Magic, not necessarily because he’s a murderous psychopath and elitist.

In terms of fairness…his rule is likely more fair than people would expect. The first few years of him in charge were definitely some of the worst. A lot of murder, a lot of destruction, a lot of ‘rebuilding the system’ and other such things. He pushed through a lot of new laws that advanced Dark Magic, made it more acceptable for people to use, and came down hard on the muggleborns and integration of muggle traditions and ideas into Wizarding Britain. Muggleborns are taken from their families immediately upon their discovery and placed with either a magical family or a state-regulated orphanage.

In a lot of ways, he’s a traditionalist and an isolationist.

It’s only been in the last five-ten of years that things mellowed out and returned to a somewhat normal state. People have settled into the new way of life, accepted that this is how things are now, and with some of the more extreme restrictions lessening in recent years, they’re not actually that upset with the way things are run now.

Sure, punishments are harsher - but there’s also rigorous processes in place in the ministry that makes corruption from those in power significantly harder. Voldemort doesn’t want the same rot to infest his regime that infected the previous ministry, so he’s deliberately made the system harder to manipulate.

Onto your other question though - Voldemort didn’t put him in a coma. From what I remember Hadrian was just exhausted magically and physically, so he was bed-bound for a while. But it’s also been like five years since I wrote that scene so I might be wrong 😂

#anonymous #HP #consuming shadows #harry potter #tom riddle

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blue-sterling0357 · 10 months

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hi. may i request headcanons of ciel, sebastian and grell reacting to the fem reader being an umbra witch (like bayonetta)?

(this request was kind of hard, but I really enjoyed writing it!!! Apologies for any mistakes in the request, I'm not familiar with Umbra witches)

Ciel, Sebastian, Grell X Umbra witch! S/O

Ciel PhantomHive

❈ Ciel learned about you being a witch when he started dating you, now he was sure you'd help and he was right, you'd help Sebastian and the other servants around!

❈ Ciel knew you were magical, but just not how magical and strong you were. You and him would have like shooting practice, Sebastian mostly had you both do that, you were surprisingly very experienced with guns, okay that a was an understatement you were astronomical...

❈ Until he found out you were a Umbra witch which kill angels, demons as well....Sebastian was definitely worried if you were here to break his contract, but you told him you weren't and he was normal again, he is quite interested at what you do as a Umbra Witch.

❈ Ciel once saw your shadow when he was sleeping and instead of your own, the shadow was of a very huge and horrendous demon, he asked you about it but you dismissed saying, it was nothing and that the late night shines could have something to do that and Ciel believed that until he learnt about your abilities.

❈ Ciel and Sebastian take you on most of their cases, like during the Jack the Ripper, you fought with Grell very easily using your four guns, two in your hands and other two on your heels that you fire using your telekinetic powers. And Grell got enamoured with you, she enjoyed annoying you and Sebastian...

❈ And when you were fighting with Angela, you let out a huge demoness from your hair, for the first time not only Ciel but Sebastian was frightened a bit and Sebastian in his true demon form and you with your infernal demoness paired up together to kill Angela.

❈ After the fight, Ciel and Sebastian learned about you as a Umbra Witch. You were now more comfortable to dress up to your style more around them, which showed your rank in your clan. Sebastian also learned how you use your hair to create your clothing using magic and how you carry four guns at all time..He is proud of you, a bit...

❈ Ciel learned how Umbra Witches gain power, you told him and Sebastian how you make a pact with a Infernal demoness to sponsor you and allow you to improve you. And you showed him an example by sparring with Sebastian summoning the demoness's fists and feet for attacking the butler. And this is how Ciel learned how your shadow is portrayed by a demon's silhouette.

❈ Ciel started reading books about Umbra witches and learnt about them from you as well, he learned how Umbra witches were witches who are powerful practitioners of a form of magic known as Dark Arts, revolving around the usage of Spirit Energy, an evocation of beings from Inferno, and optionally forming contracted with specific Contracted Demons to perform special techniques.

❈ Ciel also learnt how other than your sponsor demon, you summon more demons from Inferno by using different mediums like using your hair or chanting a spell...Sebastian is kinda jealous at how strong you are and always wants to fight you now...

❈ Ciel notices how you always go missing sometimes and later on learnt how Umbra Witches travel from the normal world to the Purgatorio dimension, which allows them to travel without being by normal humans in the human world and how you can fight beings that are usually invisible to humans, but visible to creatures such as angels. And this is the only reason why Sebastian knows where you even when you aren't anywhere in the manor...

❈ You would help servants around as well, once Mey-rin and you were washing dishes while you were talking with Ciel and she accidently dropped one of the most expensive and prettiest china tea-cup, and you grabbed it with your super fast reflexes, it was around 4 feet above the ground that's how fast you were...Now Ciel did scold Mey-rin a bit, but he is always curious about these perks of yours...

Sebastian Michaelis

❈ Sebastian knew about you being a strong witch from the beginning, he felt an extremely strong aura from you and he could feel demons stronger than him around you, which made him worry if someone was having an eye on his lover...

❈ Sebastian had often see you in formal, body-fitting outfits and always thought you looked pretty and amazing in them, though he was curious as to why you were in such formal clothing, until you told him it's to show your rank in your clan, the he understood and would often keep your outfits clean and fresh..

❈ He asked you about it and you explained how you were an Umbra witch, he remember meeting one of them and learning about them, he knew you kill angels and some demons as well, but he didn't know how and so he was curious about everything you do..

❈ Sebastian had always noticed your shadow not being you but of a huge demon and he figured it's because of your power which had something to do with demons, cause he always felt demons around you even when there weren't any... or he always thought it was his real form behind you but he noticed it looked different than his demon form.

❈ During the luxury liner Campania, while Elizabeth was fighting with the undead, you were fighting with Undertaker and Rian Stoker, Sebastian was keeping an eye on you because demon things and he saw you letting out a HUGE ASS DEMONESS from your hair which literal killed all the people in one sec and since grim reapers probably can't harm them, another plus point of being a umbra witch!!!

❈ You would often tell him how you all needed a infernal demoness to sponsor you and how you could summon their feet and fists to attack something, protect something and basically control them and he got really excited and so you both spend the next three to five hours sparing and him being defeated with stars in his eyes..

❈ If he is allowed to touch one of the four guns, he is going to use it and decorate it according to your aesthetic of your outfit, subtly, of-course, which shows your rank in the clan, you weren't nervous to dress like you wanted around him, he also has gun practices with you and Ciel at times for entertainment..

❈ He learnt about you being able to travel from normal world to Purgatorio world without being detected by humans and so he would also ask if you if you okay with it to also to teleport him with you as well, cause he's clingy like that.. :>

❈ Sebastian is a demon who is naturally a dark creature cap which commit sins all the time, and so it was natural that he chose someone as you to be his significant other, an Umbra witch who are practitioner of dark arts, involving around spirits energy, demons and being able to perform special techniques due to being sponsored by a demoness...

❈ Your super fast reflexes also help you find what tricks sebastian has up his sleeve at times, maybe the tricks he's about to play, maybe the pranks, maybe a hit, or maybe a kiss, depends in all honesty...

❈ Overall you both are a generally dark, cute and demonic couple who'd people are tad bit creeped out and scared off...

Grell Sutcliffe

❈ You met her during the Jack the Ripper case and she was more than happy when Ciel asked you and Sebastian to teach him to be a good butler, she is more than obsessed with you than him tho, curiosity probably!

❈ When she saw you, she did feel the aura of a demon, but not those types like Sebastian, but different, more feminine, maybe more smokey, she doesn't know how to describe it and neither do I! So, she was a bit vary around in the beginning of you both dating, then she became normal afterwards when you explained the different demons....

❈ She noticed your shadow too, she's not that dumb, she is always confused as to why there is a demon in your shadow when you're a human, unless you're a demon? But no, you explained to her that it's because as a umbra witch, that you have a infernal demoness sponsor you, and that's the reason your shadow is a demon instead of a human!

❈ During the book of atlantic, she saw you fight the undead as you let out a demon form your hair and summoned the infernal demoness's fists and feet to attack them in less time as the ship was sinking, she definitely found it very hot! And of-course she clinged to you after the fight..

❈ She wants to learn everything even though her work stops her from spending her whole day with you and learning about your life as a umbra witch no worries she'll learn about you in any way she deems fit!

❈ Oh and she's either in love with your outfit or finds it a bit intimidating, she'll try to match with you as you explain how your outfits show your rank in the clan and she nods as she learns more and she glams up your outfits just a BIT so that your outfits look better but at the same time, your outfit stays the same shows your rank in your clan!!

❈ You know how she has that chin saw, if you give her one of your four guns, she will give her chainsaw but please be careful with it as it is basically her baby, and it is very important to her...

❈ She is very much in love with the witch aesthetic and so it may seem fitting that she is dating you, an umbra witch, a practitioner of dark arts, spirits energy, demons and other things, she also started reading about Umbra witch, which is a tad bit hard considering there isn't much literature talking about your guys presence in the past, she does learnt that you can kill angels and on occasion demons, so there's that!

❈ she wouldn't be able to find you often and when she asked Ciel, he said he never saw you around, unless she talked with Bassy about it! Then she learnt that you can travel from human world to Purgatorio world without being detected by humans and so due to her curiosity, she would ask you to take her with you!!

❈ So there's that, a grim reaper with an Umbra witch, both desperately in love with each other and being simps for each other's aesthetic... <3

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transmutationisms · 8 months

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thoughts on adhd diagonsis and the rising numbers of it? heard a couple different theories, including a school therapist saying that he thinks children are just getting misdiagnosed because they’re cutting recess times, but interested in your thoughts! lol

yea i talked about this a bit here but i would add for clarity:

this kind of narrative of 'rising rates of' [any dsm diagnosis, in this case adhd] is kind of misleading on the surface because these numbers, and cultural and medical attitudes toward these labels, vary widely. matthew smith gives a very abridged introduction to varying attitudes toward adhd globally, and points out that countries that have 'embraced' the adhd diagnosis and its corresponding drug treatments tend to be countries where pharma companies have pushed to expand their market for these drugs, and have been able to succeed in partnering up with local and regional medical guilds and practitioners' professional interests. which is to say that any 'rise' in 'adhd' should be interpreted with an eye to material factors, meaning, specifically, profit-seeking and broader patterns of imperialism and global market expansion.

none of this is to say that the impairments people experience in adhd are any less real, debilitating, or distressing. however, when we ask about those impairments becoming more widespread or severe, often the conversation becomes rapidly re-routed to cover only a narrative of individual cognitive or neurological 'failures' constituting a distinct 'disorder'. elided from this framing is the idea that an impairment of this sort arises not just from the individual's brain-mind-body, but from the extent to which that person is being accommodated by their social context, specifically demands for productivity, sustained attention, &c in the home / school / workplace.

the core research methodologies & data interpretation in the psy-sciences embed social valences into neuro-psychological investigations, heightening the perceived contrast between, eg, 'normal' and 'adhd' brains / neurotypes / &c. susan hawthorne points out that this is a powerful feedback loop: social values are embedded in the scientific investigations, the results of which are then of further social interest, and together social and scientific values tend to converge, mutually reinforce one another, and strengthen the ideas and data interpretations supporting the concept of a discrete, pharmacologically actionable, transhistorical and cross-societal brain disorder.

i truly cannot overstate the extent to which it matters that when ritalin arrived on the us market in 1955, psychiatric diagnosis of and pharmacological prescription for children's behaviours were in a very different state to how they are today. it is quite common (in psychiatry but also in other branches of medicine!) that diagnostic definitions and categories change, or even come into existence altogether, at the behest of pharmaceutical companies who need a diagnostic label in order to ensure insurance coverage for patients interested in taking their patented drugs. this combined with marketing direct to patients, and paid promotion to physicians, is a critical piece of the history of the adhd diagnosis.

because i always feel the need to make this crystal-clear: i do not oppose or object to people seeking or using stimulant medications lol. i <3 stimulants. that's not what this is about. i want you and me both to be able to use white-market amphetamines whenever we damn well please and you don't need to justify that on any moral or medical grounds. xx

#adhd #psychiatry

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kairoseas · 5 months

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I think one of my favorite things about Sukuna has to be how he's, above all else, a Jujutsu practitioner and not only a practitioner, but a master. He's studied all the ins and outs of Jujutsu for centuries, designed his own techniques both within the limits of traditional jujutsu and outside of it, and he's always looking to push those limits beyond what's known. When he meets people like Megumi and Satoru, who both push themselves to the limits of what is considered possible within traditional jujutsu, he shows genuine interest in them, but it's only when they take a step past those set limits that he's compelled, enchanted by them, fascinated by how far they're willing to go. He's this way because he, too, would push the limits, would press past his barriers, grow into his full potential as a jujutsu master. Megumi's "Mahoraga", Satoru's self-destruction, they're all considered "beyond traditional jujutsu". These are methods no 'normal' sorcerer would ever entertain, let alone utilize to the degree that Megumi and Satoru have. Satoru destroyed his brain and used his technique to heal it up to seven(?) times in the battle between him and sukuna, and Megumi utilized a technique that he paid for with his own life to "win". Typical sorcerers aren't going to risk life and limb, most want to live without having to gamble everything; but these two aren't like your typical sorcerers, and are completely willing to pay with their lives for victory. What Sukuna is fascinated by is what Satoru explained as "craziness", ie. "You have to be a little crazy to be a good sorcerer." Of course Sukuna is fascinated by them, of course he wants to interact more with them; if they could reach these heights alone, imagine what they could do together? Imagine the limits they could destroy with one another's input, with one another's collaboration. (In Sukuna's case with these two, 'collaboration' would be battle with Satoru, or in Megumi's case, a takeover and merging of their abilities, thereby heightening them.) Ryomen Sukuna is a jujutsu practitioner first and foremost. He wants to test the limits of it, to be fascinated by others who're willing to do the same as he himself is. It's so rare, so seldom found in the modern day, that when Sukuna runs across these kinds of people, he can't help but want to watch them develop, watch them grow, compound all their knowledge and their skill into a threat worthy of his concern. And of course you can also read into this with a shippy intent. His fascination with Satoru and his fascination with Megumi both stemming from the same place: how far are you willing to take this? Show me, nay, compel me, entertain me with the last vestiges of your life on full display.

#kore's posts #sukugo #sukufushi #??? idk #idk i have a lot of thoughts about this

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howtofightwrite · 1 year

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When I was 15 we went to China and we went to see a martial arts show and were allowed to take photos with the performers and hold the weapons. Well, the one I first picked (ji polearm) was heavy and difficult to just pick up and hold straight up and off the ground. I don't understand why weapons like this are 'NEVER heavy' is all over here. There ARE heavy ones.

So, there's a couple important things to note. For obvious reasons, I can't examine that specific ji, but they usually weigh about 9lbs. Which isn't particularly heavy. Now, it is possible that the martial arts school was using a weighted ji as part of their act, or it could have been an ornate example. Even then, it would be unlikely to break around 15-20lbs. Which loops back to the original point, infantry melee weapons aren't heavy.

It is worth remembering that if you're picking up a weapon without any prior experience, it may feel much heavier than it's weight would imply. This is, in large part, because you don't know how to find the weapon's balance. As, I'm sure you noticed during the show, the trained practitioners had no problem spinning it around like a baton.

This is going to be true of most melee weapons. Even a sword, which weighs a fraction of what that ji does, may still feel awkward and heavy until you learn how to wield it.

With all that said, the ji is on the heavy side for melee weapons. That's generally true of polearms. They're large and a bit awkward (in the hands of the untrained), but the weight is still quite manageable once you learn how to hold them.

It's possible (though somewhat unlikely) the weapon was also simply too larger for you to wield. This tends to be more of an issue with being unable to effectively balance the weapon in your grip, rather than it simply being too heavy to physically lift.

With all of that said, heavy weapons do exist. One of the classic examples are parade swords, which were heavily ornamented, and could weigh up to 20lbs. The important thing to remember with these object is that they're art pieces, not functional weapons. However, the fifty pound greatsword that looks like it was fashioned out of a chrome bumper does not, and while an adult with average physical fitness could lift such a weapon, wielding one in combat would be extremely tiring.

Fatigue is the real reason you don't see heavy melee weapons. The heavier the object is, the more energy you need to expend getting it moving (or stopping it.) The more energy you burn getting your weapon up to speed, the faster you will exhaust. When you're exhausted and facing a fresh opponent, you die. (That last bit is part of why you never saw things like the 50lb greatsword. It's not enough to be able to utterly obliterate a foe in one strike, you also need to be ready for all of his friends that are waiting behind him.)

As mentioned earlier, weighted weapons can be used for shows like the one you attended. Usually the purpose is to adjust the center of gravity on the weapon to facilitate specific tricks, but I don't know if that was the case here.

Either way, what you're looking at isn't so much the amount of weight, as an unexpected point of balance. I don't know what your general physical fitness was as a teen, but lifting 10lbs should not be an issue for a 15-year-old. Consider that your winter coat probably weighed more than that ji. However, you were not expecting the weight distribution, and probably didn't know how much weight to expect. Also, while I didn't state it explicitly, weapons tend to feel heavier than they are, until you get used to them. This is a consequence of the weapon's point of balance being someplace you weren't expecting. It gets better, because it's surprisingly difficult to lift significant amounts of weight off your center of gravity. The normal exercise example of this is to lift and hold a small barbell at arm's length. If you've never tried it, (or tried to hold a gun on someone for an extended period of time), it's surprisingly difficult. No one is going to argue that 1-2lbs of weight is heavy, but when you're holding it out, away from your body, it feels much heavier, and takes more effort. So, the, “trick,” with the ji is to keep its center of balance is close to your center of gravity. That's actually pretty easy once you've started to build familiarity with the weapon, but it can result in a deceptive first encounter.

Finally, I hope it's self-explanatory, but a theatrical show is not the same as battlefield combat. A lot of the physical considerations, like the threat of being killed because you burned too much energy, aren't really a problem in a ninety minute show, where performers can rotate out. This leads to a flashier, more physically demanding performance. You couldn't take that performance onto a battlefield because, “exhausted then dead,” but it will entertain the crowds.

Which leads back to: No. Heavy weapons do exist, but their place is on the mantel or stage, not in combat. You NEVER want a weapon to be any heavier than is absolutely necessary, and in a lot of cases, when you can't get the weight down, that will diminish the value of that weapon in combat.

-Starke

#howtofightwrite #writing advice #writing reference #writing tips #martial arts #chinese martial arts #melee weapons #Starke answers

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tanadrin · 8 months

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on reflection, i think there's a symmetry to, say, doctors who are willing to refer patients to osteopaths or other ""holistic"" healthcare providers and the susceptibility of engineers to certain kinds of crankdom (of the "i-disproved-relativity-in-my-garage" type). both are forms of scientific training of a sort, but they're heavily outcome-focused and not theoretically focused. in large part, this is good! you do not as a doctor need to have a robust theoretical defense of every treatment you provide to patients, and it would be impossible to do so, because medicine is a huge and complicated subject. you do not, as an engineer, need to have a subtle grasp of theoretical physics to build a bridge; you just need to know what the latest developments in bridge-building are.

but it means in both cases you can have people who are skilled in their field, or who even excel, but who don't understand very well why certain techniques work. and in the case of alt medicine, where there has been considerable work to try to obfuscate or deceive people on how shaky the theoretical basis for their techniques are (stuff that literally if you remember your high-school physics and biology at all will make you go, "wait, there is no plausible mechanism for this, that's not how any of this works"), doctors who do not have time to read studies on RCT trials of every type of medicine they have ever heard of will blithely recommend stuff to patients that's actually complete horseshit, especially if the culture around them has been normalizing that woo as part of "holistic" therapy for the last hundred years, spurred on by alternative medicine practitioners and a public with a fear of needles and ~chemicals~ that medical practitioners have not done enough to allay.

it does not help that medicine only emerged very recently from being about 99% bullshit. like maybe at the end of the 19th century at best medicine was starting to be put on a broad-based empirical and theoretical footing--before that it's truly insane the stuff that wasn't just considered perfectly normal medical practice, but was considered serious Science. i mean, this is why we developed double-blind studies in the first place--because theoretical explanations of medical treatments are still necessarily often secondary to the process of finding ones that actually work, so we need really robust mechanisms to avoid confirmation bias or outright charlatanry. and while mainstream medicine is far from perfect in this respect, "alternative medicine" is all far, far worse.

#imagine if bridge-building was still trial and error half the time #like medieval cathedral building #that's probably not very fair to medicine #like we've gotten so much better in just the last seventy years #at targeted medical research #but still sometimes we develop new treatments #and we're like 'idk why this works but i'm pretty sure it does'#psychology still feels like it's full of individual practitioners with idiosyncratic theories #inventing therapies in an ad-hoc way #like ye olde 19th century doctors #but psychology is still theoretically very weak #so that kinda makes sense to me

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