may the force be with you [and also with you]

i have grown bitter and cold my words come with such vitriol that i don’t understand what has come out of my mouth the sun is radiant and bold yet my days are gray and cloudy the feeling of trying to swim up to the surface when the world’s heaviness engulfs you in its deep ocean i take a step, and then another, up on a mountain, searching what am i searching for? is it hope? is it…

i passed by the basement door today as i was walking down the hall the basement is filled with dried flowers and boxes labeled eros in marker i got curious so i took a peek as i peered down to the stairs leading down i saw the light wasn’t bright enough to see what was at the bottom of the stairs complete darkness sat there i took a deep breath a shadowy figure loomed roaming…

Not all storms come to disrupt your life, some come to clear your path I came across this quote this morning and it truly came at the right time. Facing PTSD was not something in my cards for this year of 2025 but I know I will get through it, as the only way out is through. (Though I could easily dissociate and avoid this I have gotten the help of my therapist with all of this.) The storm this…

There’s a lot of terrible things going on in the world right now and people are fighting the cause head on. You may be thinking: Oh I can’t protest so all I can do is just share and repost those infographics and news on my social media. While that isn’t a terrible idea there are things that you can do within your own community! let’s change this mindset! Learn a skill that helps others in your…

I watched this video recently and I resonated with the captions so well. We think we can’t love again until we do. Love is not a finite source. There is hope for me and you reader. https://www.tumblr.com/merryhearts/785838809796558848/music-sweet-by-orion-sun-video-by-milky

policing women’s bodies using the term blunt as an excuse for rudness minimalism being nonchalant wearing an outfit once/overconsumption raw food diets modest/neutral clothing “no rest days” normalizing the use of AI for everything transphobia purity culture borders keep us safe being apolitical male loneliness epidemic thinking things are cringe buying books instead of using the…

I met my younger self for coffee She was 10 minutes late. So was I. She wore a tennis skirt . Her hair was black long and wavy. I wore a white maxi skirt with a flowy top and my recently balayaged hair that is much more curlier. She ordered hot chocolate with extra whipped cream. I ordered a matcha coconut latte with housemade coconut milk, oat milk, ceremonial matcha. She told me that her…

i cried so much. i talked about why the reason i didn’t want to have children is because my mom would purposely ignore me while i was crying or hit me more when i was crying. i remember the full memory of me hyperventilating and passing out on the floor and hearing her say i was just being dramatic and to ignore me. if that was what being a mother is then i don’t want that. i grew up with…

I recently came upon a video of a professor named Felipe De Leon, Jr., former chairman of the National Commission of Culture and the Arts, where he explained the different ways to be looking at someone in the tagalog language. Look at the words and their meanings below 🙂 Titig: Intense, prolonged gaze, often with admiration or focus. Tingin: General act of looking, can be casual or…

A medicine potion for female friendships. unconditional loving. listening, holding, laughter tears, time. remembering, inspiring. witnessing, honoring. being. intimacy. forgiving. trusting. supporting. authenticity curiosity. Healing is just a series of doing things you don’t want to do. Feeling when you want to numb. Communicating when you want to be silent. Setting boundaries when you just…

This morning I arrived in school with cooked egg in my hair. I can’t believe that I continue to try all these DIY hair mask recipes but one of these are bound to make my hair look amazing. I believe. I’m thankful for Lisa and Jill for being on this journey with me.

This morning I arrived in school with cooked egg in my hair. I can’t believe that I continue to try all these DIY hair mask recipes but one of these are bound to make my hair look amazing. I believe.

the things you want are on the other side of the things you’re scared of doing you will outgrow people, places and things and that’s okay. you’re meant to. if a conversation is hard it’s almost guaranteed to be one worth having. there is no right time, only the best time was yesterday and the second best time is now. there is no destination — don’t get hung up on that — it’s the journey that…

I think whenever anyone takes a personality test we accept the results that resonate with us. I think that’s super important because it will guide us to the kind of person we want strive to be. So in a way these results are a sweet reminder for myself that I am a person that enjoys many hobbies and I care a lot about my friends. I do find it quite fascinating that one of my best friends got the…

“I make so many beginnings there never will be an end.” I have recently become inspired to do daily journaling again. This will all be casual from all things and thoughts of Ellie but I just want a place where I can write and export all the uncategorized data in my head. I want random things and then things I can fill out. This is my own version of beautifully organized…

No board game or cards needed!

1. Mafia 

Basic rules of Mafia. Players - 5 up to 25. Time - 30-45 minutes One player is the Gamemaster. All other players sit in a ring. They close their eyes. The GM selects 1-5 Mafia (depending on the number of players), 1 Sheriff, 1 Doctor and the rest of all players are just citizens. No one knows what the others are since everyone closed their eyes during the selection. (No cheating!!) Everyone continues to "sleep." The GM asks the Mafia to wake up. They look at each other and then chooses 1 player they want to kill by pointing. Then they fall asleep again. The GM asks the Sheriff to wake up. The sheriff points at a person. If that person is a Mafia, the GM nods. The sheriff can later use this information. He/she fall asleep again. The GM asks the Doctor to wake up. The Doctor may point at any player. If that player was the target of the Mafia, he/she is saved. If you are 25 people playing, the Doctor needs to be really lucky with this... Finally the GM asks everyone to wake up. The GM reveals which player was murdered by the Mafia. (Unless the Doctor pointed at the correct person..) The person is now a spectator. Now, players shall decide 1 person they want to hang. Preferably a Mafia.. Players shall argue, ask questions to each other, and within the ring try to find out who is lying.. Everyone can claim they are innocent..The Sheriff is the only player who can know for sure who the Mafia is, if the sheriff pointed at the correct player during the nigt.. But of course, everyone can claim they are innocent, and everyone can claim they are the Sherif. When 1 player is decided to be hanged, that player is out of the game. Then there is a new night were everyone falls asleep... The city wins when all Mafia is hanged. The Mafia wins when they have killed all citizens.

2.  Werewolf 

3. All in the Family 

We play a game at family gatherings called "All in the Family". Everyone writes down a name of someone that at least 1/4 of the people know. In most cases, this will be a celebrity, character of some sort, or a historical figure. Everyone sits in some kind of a rough circle. Then, one person who is not playing that round, reads the names outloud one a time, slowly. No repeats, all names are said only one time. If you had bad penmanship, you screwed yourself. Better luck next time :-). No one in the group may make any comments about any of the names or talk at all during this time. There may be multiple names; in one game we had three Genghis Khans. Then, in clockwise order, the person to the left of the reader tries to guess who wrote down just ONE of the names. If they are wrong, play moves to the next person. If they are right, then the person who wrote the name comes over to you and becomes part of your "family", with you as the leader. That "family" can talk amongst themselves and then the original leader may make another guess. You keep guessing until you are incorrect. Of course, the leader will tell any new family member who his name is so they don't suggest that name out loud. You have to do this very quietly, for obvious reasons. Eventually, everyone will be on one of two teams. Usually the teams are roughly even in size, but occasionally it will be the whole group against one lone standout. The leader that correctly combines the entire group into one huge family is the winner. The key to winning this game is to pick a name for yourself that everyone recognizes and then instantly forgets. At the end of the game there can be a dozen or so people frantically trying to remember one last name. As I said in the beginning, the names are read one time only, so there can be a lot of names to remember. The fun in the game comes from the generational disparities (like when Grandma wants to know who Justin Bieber is ...) and from successfully sharpshooting people who picked too obvious ones (like my 6 year old daughter who picks Barbie when she should be picking Darth Vader). My favorites are names like Al Jolson that are familiar to all but don't evoke specific visual memories for most.

4. Keyholder / Are you the Traitor?

You randomly distribute roles, and don't need anybody to run the game like in Mafia because of how it's setup. It's somewhat similar to mafia in that people have different roles, but there's no day/night, it all happens in a single round.

The roles are: Good Wizard, Bad Wizard, Keyholder, and Traitor. Everyone else is a City Guard. Use playing cards (We use Black King and Red King for the wizards, an ace for the keyholder, a black card for traitor and red cards for the guards).

The Good Wizard, Keyholder, and Guards are on one team. The Bad Wizard and Traitor are on the other team.

At the game's beginning, both wizards declare that they are wizards. They'll both be trying to convince everyone that they're the good wizard.

The wizards are then asked to close their eyes (by anybody, or they can even call it out themselves). The keyholder then raises their hand so that all the guards (and the traitor) knows who they are. Noone gets to know who the traitor is.

The wizards then open their eyes and the game begins. Everyone freely talks to try to figure out who is who, and the game ends when someone yells "Stop!". The Good Wizard and the Traitor cannot yell stop. You yell stop when you think you've figured out who your "target" is.

The Bad Wizard's target is the keyholder. The bad team (Bad Wizard and Traitor) wins if they're right, else the other team wins. For this reason, the Traitor will try to help reveal who the keyholder is. (And the guards will try to throw the bad wizard off by acting like traitors, since if they guess wrong the good team wins)

The Guards' target is the Traitor. Team Good wins if they guess right, Team Bad wins otherwise. For this reason, the traitor tries to keep their identity a secret. (And for this reason, the bad wizard might say "Hey, that guy seems like a traitor" if he knows that person's not a traitor.)

The Keyholder's target is the Good Wizard. Team Good wins if they guess right, Team Bad wins otherwise. For this reason both wizards will be saying "I'm the good wizard!" and trying to convince everyone of their good-ness.

Because any person winning causes their team to win, the good wizard or keyholder can suggest "Hey, I think that guy's the traitor" if someone's been really obviously acting traitor-ish. The bad wizard can do the same, but pick someone random, to try to cause a wrong guess. A guard can act like the traitor to throw the bad wizard off (the other guards and the keyholder will know they're not the traitor if they see them signalling towards the wrong person)

The game usually takes 15 minutes per round, and we like to play several rounds in a tow. Please ask if you have any questions! It's fun because, unlike Mafia, noone has to sit out while the game finishes (Though I do have a special place in my heart for Mafia)

5. Cash n Guns Live

6. Resistance

7. Kemps

8. Mao

GAMES “BETTER” THAN MAFIA

MORE GAMES

1 start misinterpreting boring questions or negative situations and answering in funny positive ways. Basically assume everything that people say to you is positive 

2.  do things to amuse yourself