Drowning My Sorrows In Tea

[not “best” in terms of giving good game overviews, “best” in terms of McElroy hilarity]

Who’s Your Daddy? - it’s a game where one player is a baby trying to kill themselves by drinking bleach, drowning in bathtubs, etc. while the dad tries to baby proof the house and keep the baby alive. hilarity ensues.

I Expect You To Die - Griffin is a little tipsy and he makes Justin tell him how to play the game, while occasionally actively working against him (Justin is frustrated and charmed by turns).

Car Mechanic Simulator 2015 - Griffin tries to do some car maintenance with Justin on commentary. Griffin doesn’t know how cars work and after a while they stop caring about repairing the cars and it becomes a small mob operation? it’s very fun.

American Truck Simulator - Griffin is bad at being a truck driver. the way they play this one reminds me of monster factory. “Wow, it only costs you $250 to drive the wrong way down the highway! I think for that kind of thrill it’s a-worth it!”

Rust - Griffin and Justin wander around Rust and have some great interactions with other people in the game

Girl’s Club - Griffin is very distressed by the game’s sexism, Justin has a great time picking his dream dates, and dream boys.

Catlateral Damage - this one…is a trip. it’s 23 minutes long and over the course of the video Justin realizes that Griffin is attempting to hold him hostage by refusing to end the video and it becomes a wild battle of wills.

Spooky’s House of Jumpscares - Justin isn’t in this one, but you get to hear Griffin get a little spooked. it involves scared laughter and many distressed “alright. so- alright”s

btw: she’s in the upcoming Black Widow movie 😍 and—

US Helplines:

Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696

Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433

LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255

Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743

Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438

Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673

Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272

Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000

Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253

Child Abuse: 1-800-422-4453

UK Helplines:

Samaritans (for any problem): 08457909090 e-mail [email protected]

Childline (for anyone under 18 with any problem): 08001111

Mind infoline (mental health information): 0300 123 3393 e-mail: [email protected]

Mind legal advice (for people who need mental-health related legal advice): 0300 466 6463 [email protected]

b-eat eating disorder support: 0845 634 14 14 (only open Mon-Fri 10.30am-8.30pm and Saturday 1pm-4.30pm) e-mail: [email protected]

b-eat youthline (for under 25’s with eating disorders): 08456347650 (open Mon-Fri 4.30pm - 8.30pm, Saturday 1pm-4.30pm)

Cruse Bereavement Care: 08444779400 e-mail: [email protected]

Frank (information and advice on drugs): 0800776600

Drinkline: 0800 9178282

Rape Crisis England & Wales: 0808 802 9999 1(open 2 - 2.30pm 7 - 9.30pm) e-mail [email protected]

Rape Crisis Scotland: 08088 01 03 02 every day, 6pm to midnight

India Self Harm Hotline: 00 08001006614

India Suicide Helpline: 022-27546669

Kids Help Phone (Canada): 1-800-668-6868

FREE 24/7 suicide hotlines:

Argentina: 54-0223-493-0430

Australia: 13-11-14

Austria: 01-713-3374

Barbados: 429-9999

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(Hong Kong: 2389-2222)

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(Singapore: 1-800-221-4444)

Mexico: 525-510-2550

Netherlands: 0900-0767

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Norway: 47-815-33-300

Philippines: 02-896-9191

Poland: 52-70-000

Portugal: 239-72-10-10

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Spain: 91-459-00-50

South Africa: 0861-322-322

South Korea: 2-715-8600

Sweden: 031-711-2400

Switzerland: 143

Taiwan: 0800-788-995

Thailand: 02-249-9977

Trinidad and Tobago: 868-645-2800

Ukraine: 0487-327715

13/4/2020 | 2020 Quarantine Studyblr Challenge

Mon: What is your biggest tip for staying focused?

4,000 people forced to shelter on the beach during midday daylight hours as the fires surround them in Victoria. The fire has since passed the beach but many homes were lost and they are still stuck on that beach.

Some families took boats to the water for safety:

The near entirety of east gippsland was evacuated on Monday and many areas remain inaccessible. That’s 30,000+ locals and assorted tourists

Similar evacuations play out in Nowra, NSW with the local population evacuating to the beaches as the skies turn black (it’s 4pm!).

and again at Bateman’s Bay…and again and again across the country.

The extent of the fires is creating dry thunderstorms - all the risks of lightning and none of the benefits of rain.

Sixty fires started today, adding to the two hundred that started on Monday. This is a map of all NEW fires in the past 24 hours

The Mogo zoo had to evacuate - thankfully the animals survived the immediate fire. People fleeing Mogo were cut off by the fires from the evacuation centres

Even those not directly in the path of the fires are experiencing the effects of the smoke as it drifts across town and effects health.

All these photos and snippets are from 31 December 2019, one day on Australia. There are more, but I’m getting depressed looking at them, trying to decide what tumblr would find interesting to share and raise awareness versus what won’t. Not a judgement call I like making.

It’s currently 6:30pm, so there’s still 5.5 hours left of this day for more to come. These fires are still going and the people in these photos are still not safe.

You can see before/after photos here.

Australia is only four weeks into summer (”fire season”) but the bushfires began 16 weeks ago - in the second week of spring.

a really excellent way to reduce anxiety is to pick up a new hobby. find something you’re interested in, learn it, then use it as a healthy and productive way to cope.

learn to play guitar

learn how to make interactive stories with the free program Twine

learn how to make pixel art

learn another language

learn how to build a ship in a bottle

learn how to develop your own film

learn how to embroider

learn how to make chiptunes (8-bit music)

learn how to make origami (the art of paper folding)

learn how to make tumblr themes

learn how to make jewelry 

learn how to make candy

learn how to make terrariums

learn how to make your own perfume

learn how to make your own tea

learn how to build birdhouses

learn how to read tarot cards

learn how to make zines

learn how to code

learn how to whittle (wood carving)

learn how to make candles

learn how to make clay figurines

learn how to knit scarves

learn how to become an amateur astronomer

learn some yoyo tricks

learn how to start a collection

learn how to start body building

learn how to edit wikipedia articles

learn how to decorate iphone cases

learn how to do freelance writing

learn how to make your own cards and

learn how to make your own envelopes

learn how to play the ukulele 

learn how to make gifs

learn how to play chess

learn how to juggle

learn how to guerrilla garden

learn how to chart your family history

learn how to keep chickens

learn how to do yoga

learn how to do magic tricks

learn how to raise and breed butterflies

learn how to play dungeons & dragons

learn how to skateboard

learn how to do parkour

learn how to surf

learn how to arrange flowers

i know it gets dark early now and the tired is setting in and everything sort of feels blank and hazy and you want to spend ages staring at walls thinking of nothing

(gifs not mine, credit to the artist)

How does a child learns? Immersion

So you gotta dive deep

Find songs that you like. You don't have to understand, you just have to enjoy the song.

Listen them at least once a day. The idea is for you to get familiar with the sounds.

Once you have already heard them too many times (without getting tired of them) look for the lyrics. In their native language, not a translation.

If you can read in that language, then try reading them. Print them if you have to or write them down (this is better) and as you listen to the song try to sing.

If there's a word/sentence you like because it sounds pretty, mark it.

If there's a word you don't know how to/can't pronounce, mark it.

For example, I have a journal in which I write Japanesse Kanji that I find beautiful (whether is because of the meaning or the symbol itself is pretty)

Once you are familiar with the song look for a translation.

Check those words you have marked with the translation.

While looking for definitions it's better if you find images (so can have an idea of what that word is) instead of a definition in your language (unless is a long/complicated concept).

Movies, you must watch movies in that language. Better if they are from that country. (It can also be a doubled movie, perhaps you could look for one of your favorites)

Watch them with subtitles (in your language) once or twice. Then watch them again but this time without subtitles or with subtitles of said language. (You already know the plot, so you can still understand what's going on)

If you like to read, look for children literature. It's easy and fun.

Keep reading even if you don't understand a single sh*t. It doesn't matter.

Mark again those words you like, don't know the meaning or can't pronounce.

Write at least one sentence every day. It doesn't have to be right, it doesn't have to be long or poetic, you just gotta write.

If you still don't know much about grammar (enough to formulate a sentence on your own) then write a quote from one of those songs, movies or books you read. Again it doesn't matter if you don't understand what are you writing.

If you already know another language, try to learn the new language with that one. For example, I learn german from english instead of my native language spanish.

Videogames. In my experience this is amazing. You have no idea idea how much I learned english just from games.

You have fun playing, engaged with a story, while constantly hearing the language. You don't even have to pay attention at what they are saying, eventually you'll figure it out. It's very intuitive.

And because games, usually, requires that you spend many hours playing you will have a lot of practice without actually studying.

Some games, if you look on the settings menu, even have other languages instead of english. For example I played Assassin's Creed Brotherhood in italian and french and AsC III in russian and japanese (the voice actors are fantastic).

Seriously, videogames are freaking amazing for learning.

The idea of this, is that you can imitate the learning process a child does, while also having fun and enjoying it. Kids learn by making mistakes, by playing with words and by being constantly surrounded with the language. At first, kids have no idea what they are doing, they just repeat what they see and hear. So it's okay if you don't know what are you doing, take that pressure off. This is not school/college, this is just you trying to learn a culture. So be kind and patient with yourself.