Do It In Another Language

trump declared a national emergency at the southern border + is getting the US military more involved in stopping "invasions including mass migration"

no one can declare asylum in the US

all existing appointments for people wanting to legally become US citizens are canceled

birthright citizenship (aka the 14th amendment) is now gone

ICE sweeps beginning "soon," not specifying when (though there are rumors it's starting tomorrow in sanctuary cities such as chicago)

mexican cartels are now designated "foreign terrorist organizations" and trump is not opposed to US troops entering mexico to eliminate them

he restored the death penalty for "crimes committed by illegal aliens"

biden had signed an executive order attempting to stop cops from using chokeholds or doing no-knock warrants. trump just revoked that order

25% tariffs on canada and mexico begin on feb 1 2025 — expect a lot of produce imported from mexico to get more expensive soon

tariffs on china will begin soon, not specified when

trump said he intends to take back the panama canal, did not specify when or how

january 6 insurrectionists are to be immediately released/pardoned

he pardoned the leader of the proud boys

tiktok has a 90 day extension, during which the US gov will try to buy 50% of tiktok. trump said he no longer cares that china is "spying on our young people," but he wants to buy half of tiktok so the US government "can police it a little bit, or a lot." if tiktok will not sell, it will be banned in the US again.

he claims the people of greenland want to become part of the US

he says the gulf of mexico is now to be called the "gulf of america" + denali is now to be called "mount mckinley"

alaska is to be mined and become the US' main source for fossil fuels

the green new deal and "electric vehicle" (green energy) mandates are over

the US has withdrawn from the paris climate agreement

the US has withdrawn from the world health organization

reproductiverights.gov is already gone

the US now "only recognizes two genders, male and female"

trans women prisoners are to be housed in male prisons; gender affirming care for prisoners is gone

self-identification for gender on passports, government IDs, and social security cards is gone

all federal employees are required to work in the office five days a week, no more working from home

trump said the US is going to "pursue our manifest destiny into the stars" and plant a US flag on mars

sources on what executive orders were signed: one two three

and lastly, some things that happened during the inauguration:

the pastor who blessed the inauguration during the swearing in ceremony has already announced a new meme coin/cryptocurrency

trump did not put his hand on the bible + there are rumors the pope is going to say trump is the antichrist

the wealthiest people on the planet — the CEOs of twitter/tesla, amazon, google, meta, and even the CEO of tiktok — who own almost all communication platforms used by westerners — stood directly behind trump as he was sworn in

Please remember that the only way to overturn a US Constitution is another amendment and we've done it exactly once (to overturn the prohibition of alcohol). A new amendment is really hard to add, which is why we've been trying to add the equal rights amendments for decades without success.

The fourteenth amendment still stands! If you were born in the US or its territories, you're an American citizen. Your parents citizenship does not matter. You cannot be deported.

Also! US laws apply to everyone, regardless of immigration status. You still have the right to an attorney. You have the right to remain silent. You have a right to free speech and protest. It does not matter if you are in the US without a visa; you do not have to allow searches without a warrant and you do have the right to counsel.

trump signed executive orders aimed at militarizing the southern border. he floated the idea of sending US troops into a foreign country to take out anyone he labels as being in a cartel. he reinstated the death penalty for any immigrant they accuse of committing violent crimes. what fair trial do you think this country will give "illegals" under trump?

❝That's a counterfeit bill. It's a low-quality counterfeit. It doesn't even have a watermark. It's definitely fake.❞

Know ~500 words?

Mandarin Companion Graded Readers. I recommend the Sherlock one, and the Journey to the Center of the Earth one. All Mandarin Companion books are excellent for beginners though.

Pleco Graded Readers - I recommend The Butterfly Lovers. There are a lot of Pleco Graded readers though, so you can pick based on amount of unique words (some Graded readers on Pleco go up to 2000 unique words).

Know ~1000-1500 words?

Sinolingua Chinese Graded Readers. There are several, and I started with the 500 word one. They somewhat match up with HSK and I found them more challenging than the Mandarin Companion graded readers. They have a vocabulary list in the back of the book and footnotes to help you study. They are a good bridge to get you from graded readers to other materials. I found the 1000 and 2000 word book equally difficult.

Pleco Graded readers, which include readers from 1000-2000 unique words.

Start delving into manhua! If you're ready and feel like it! Easier manhua will be slice of life setting ones, and ones based on something you're already familiar with. So if you've watched the Untamed or read 魔道祖师, then the manhua will be easier for you. If you've watched The Lost Tomb Reboot, then try out the slice of life comedy manhua spin off 盗墓笔记重启日常向 https://m.ac.qq.com/comic/index/id/649452. My Story 他们的故事 is a gl manhua which is slice of life and easy to read, as is 19天. There's also more genre specific manhua which I waited a bit to read, but if you're familiar with the story they may be doable like 2ha's manhua and 破云 manhua.

Know ~1500-2000 words?

Start getting into easier novels. Suggestions include 活着 (anything by this author is often recommended to learners, I have not actually read anything by him yet), 小王子 (this was my first not-graded-reader novel I finished reading in chinese, it was a bit challenging, I used a english/Chinese copy so I could look up words occasionally), 笑猫日记: 会唱歌的猫 (I highly recommend this series of books, they're for kids and fairly straightforward, set in a city so decently useful words are used, with a lot of chengyu that's commonly used so they're worth learning, I read 2 of these novels), 他们的故事 by 一根黄瓜丝儿 (a bl novel that's first person, generally uses a lot of common daily life words, and is fairly straightforward, I've read half and it was the first real novel I tried to read in chinese). These novels can be tried earlier on if you're more willing to use a click dictionary, which is what I did (except for 小王子 since I had a print copy). 论如何错误地套路一个魔教教主 The Wrong Way to a Demon Sect Leader (a fairly easy wuxia bl read).

Also in general anything you've read before in a language you understand, is going to be easier to read in chinese than something brand new.

Feeling brave? Up for a challenge?

撒野 and anything by that author uses a lot of more everyday language and is an easier read than some other webnovels. 盗墓笔记 does not use particularly hard language outside of the tomb genre words which if you're reading then you need to look up and learn anyway eventually (the slang in it is a bit hard but also worth learning so the cursing etc trips you up less later in other stuff you read), if you've seen the show before its doable to read. Scum Villain Self Saving System is on the easier end of mxtx novels to read, especially if youre already familiar with the plot.

Know ~2000 words?

The same novels as before apply. But now you may need a dictionary a bit less. Stuff like 撒野 will now be a bit less difficult, still challenging. Now other novels will start to be doable as desired, if you're using a dictionary. So go have fun looking into whatever webnovels you're interested in.

(I made a list of difficulty ratings of various webnovels in my rec list tag, you may want to check out that list. A quick gadget though is like... 撒野 author is easier than 盗墓笔记 author, then mxtx, then priest (and tian ya ke and zhenhun are easier than silent reading and sha po lang), and poyun was higher on the difficulty scale, 2ha was fairly hard. Basically the more vocabulary or thicker the paragraphs, the harder it's gonna be. Or the less familiar you are with a given genre).

push yourself to fall asleep earlier - start with 11pm, then 10pm, then 9pm. wake up in the morning feeling re-energized and comfortable.

get into the habit of cooking yourself a beautiful breakfast. fry tomatoes and mushrooms in real butter and garlic, fry an egg, slice up a fresh avocado and squirt way too much lemon on it. sit and eat it and do nothing else.

stretch. start by reaching for the sky as hard as you can, then trying to touch your toes. roll your head. stretch your fingers. stretch everything.

buy a 1L water bottle. start with pushing yourself to drink the whole thing in a day, then try drinking it twice.

buy a beautiful diary and a beautiful black pen. write down everything you do, including dinner dates, appointments, assignments, coffees, what you need to do that day. no detail is too small.

strip your bed of your sheets and empty your underwear draw into the washing machine. put a massive scoop of scented fabric softener in there and wash. make your bed in full.

organise your room. fold all your clothes (and bag what you don’t want), clean your mirror, your laptop, vacuum the floor. light a beautiful candle.

have a luxurious shower with your favourite music playing. wash your hair, scrub your body, brush your teeth. lather your whole body in moisturiser, get familiar with the part between your toes, your inner thighs, the back of your neck.

push yourself to go for a walk. take your headphones, go to the beach and walk. smile at strangers walking the other way and be surprised how many smile back. bring your dog and observe the dog’s behaviour. realise you can learn from your dog.

message old friends with personal jokes. reminisce. suggest a catch up soon, even if you don’t follow through. push yourself to follow through.

think long and hard about what interests you. crime? sex? boarding school? long-forgotten romance etiquette? find a book about it and read it. there is a book about literally everything.

become the person you would ideally fall in love with. let cars merge into your lane when driving. pay double for parking tickets and leave a second one in the machine. stick your tongue out at babies. compliment people on their cute clothes. challenge yourself to not ridicule anyone for a whole day. then two. then a week. walk with a straight posture. look people in the eye. ask people about their story. talk to acquaintances so they become friends.

Bisexual is 双性恋, or just "双". 双 means two so it's basically the exact same meaning as "bisexual".

I guess since you asked, I'll just go through some basic/popular terminology real quick:

General terms:

同性恋 (tóng xìng liàn) = homosexual ; homosexuality

同志 (tóng zhì) = (lit.) comrade; (slang) gay/homosexual

You can add "男" (male) or "女" (female) in front of either of these two phrases to specify gay vs lesbian.

酷儿 (kù'er) = (loanword) queer

A lot of general modern LGBT terminology is borrowed from the west, i.e, "出柜" (chū guì ; to come out of the closet" or 弯 (wān; "bent"); 直 (zhí; straight).

Lesbian

女同性恋 (nǚ tóng xìng liàn)/女同(志) (nǚ tóng zhì)/ 拉拉 (lā lā) / 百合 (bǎi hé; "lily")

P = 婆 (pó; "wife)/femme

T = Tomboy/butch

H = "half", or 不分 ("doesn't separate") = a lesbian who doesn't differentiate these categories or doesn't identify with either P nor T

Gay

男同性恋 (nán tóng xìng liàn)/男同(志) (nán tóng zhì)

EDIT bc I forgot: 基友 (jī you3) meaning “gay partner” or “close samesex friend” (often for servicemen/firemen/police) is also a common term

零 (líng; 0); 受 (shòu ) = bottom

一 (yī ; 1); 攻 (gōng）= top

0.5, 10, 可攻可受 (kě gōng kě shòu), 兼备 (jiān bèi) = versatile

There's a lot of numbers involved. If you see stuff like 101 or 001 etc these are just referring to the "roles" in a threesome, etc. Numbers are sometimes also used for lesbians, where T = 1, P = 0, and H = 0.5, but I feel like this is less common. The thinking is a little binary in this regard but adherence to this ~structure~ is really case by case, just as it is in the west with tops vs bottoms in LGBT culture.

Within P/T/0/1/etc slang, there are also adjectives that may be added in front of these classifiers. Ex: 肌肉0 (muscular bottom); 公0 (manly bottom), 大母/母0或大母1 (effeminate bottom or effeminate top); 铁T (iron butch; basically super/manly butch)... It's all really arbitrary stuff, sort of like "twink" and "bear" and all that.

Bisexual: 双性恋, 双 (shuāng).

Pansexual: 泛性恋 (fàn xìng liàn) (泛 is a transliteration of "pan-" and has the same meaning of 'general' or 'extensive').

Nonbinary: 非二元 (fēi èr yuán) ("non" "binary" direct translation)

Genderqueer: 性别酷儿 (xìng bié kù'er) ("gender" "queer" direct translation)

[Anecdotally I would speculate that "pansexual", "nonbinary" and "genderqueer" are not popular self-designations as I have never seen them being used online outside of LGBT resource literature taken from the west]

Transgender: 跨性别 (kuà xìng bié) (跨 means "to step across" or "to straddle")

Asexual: 无性恋 (wú xìng liàn) (无 means "not to have" or "no"/"lacking")

Misc

My only addendum at this point is that 第四爱 (from misc) is not from fanfiction as I first wondered, although it still gets wrapped up in discussion of lgbt/queer acceptance due to its flipping of perceived gender norms (altho again, to most of us it probably doesn't seem like a big deal).

This show loves hands the way I love hands and I appreciate that.

quotes and copywork. when reading, if you find something you enjoy, just copy it into the notebook. you can copy a whole chapter if you wish, highlighting what caught your attention the most.

definitions. look up on a dictionary and copy it. you could write your own dictionary as well, making up definitions for words.

lists. a classic, write movies to watch, books to read, the playlist of the month or just the groceries you have to buy.

maps. when going somewhere, you could draw the route you took or just a map of the place itself. just look up the place on google maps and copy it. you can draw a little map of all the places you have lived or the schools you have attended as well.

photos

take “notes” as you watch movies / documentaries. write down phrases that caught your attention or doodle.

illustrations and clippings. if you see an image or piece of art that you liked, put it in your journal. if it’s from a book or from a magazine I would recommend scanning it, tho’. it will serve as a record of what kind of art you enjoy through the years.

newspaper clippings from the day.

tickets and pamphlets. from movies, museums, transportation.

postcards

records. you could record for a month what the temperature was when you woke up and when you went to sleep. if you do that for a year, it gives you a better notion of the passing of seasons. you could record rainfall and other seasonal changes as well. you could choose something (an animal, a plant, an item or object) and write down every time you see it.

rubbings of leaves, coins, landmarks.

count. there’s a scene in the movie Coraline (2009) where Coraline’s dad tells her to go count the windows. you could do the same type of counting game if you are bored and write down.

mindmaps/sketchnotes + timelines of books, movies, music albums.

collages

pressed leafs and flowers

your collections. if you collect anything you could write down an inventory or maybe try to draw the items.

recipes. write down recipes and give it a score every time you try it. you could do the same for drinks you try out.

stickers