Unreal Reality

Which is an interesting thing to say about a character that spends the first third of T1 looking out for people who don't like him, while ignoring his own discomfort, then spends a chunk of TDW protecting a woman who doesn't like him and who has slapped him across the face, then ends up being the ONLY person taking up the responsibility of restoring a half-destroyed city that Thor left behind to be with his gf, then helps and in fact saves people who didn't gaf about him AND a brother who tortured and left him to die (because Grandmaster WOULD kill him) like 30 minutes ago, a girl who threw bottles at his head, and his former enemy, all without expecting a mere "thanks" in return. Oh, he also spends a good portion of all of his screentime, from T1 to LS, giving people pep talks, and basically being their therapist.

I do find it fascinating how quick people are to call someone who doesn't simply suck up and tolerate the abuse and mistreatment in silence self-centered. Because yeah, he complains about the way he is treated. A lot. Guess why? Because the way he is treated is never changed, and you would rather call him selfish and annoying for not shutting up rather than blame the people who won't stop mistreating him.

T1 script has a scene of Frigga telling Odin that it's ok to make Thor king despite him clearly not being ready for this role because Loki will be there to guide and help him. And, looking at the relationship the brothers share, it's so clear that Loki was always raised with this expectation of taking care of Thor. Thor ALWAYS runs to Loki with his problems, even when they haven't talked in over a year, Thor vents to Loki, Thor decides where they're gonna go and what's they're gonna do, the people they both hang out with are Thor's friends, etc. Loki doesn't do any of this, in fact, I cannot recall a singular time Loki would ask for help/bring up his problems around Thor. Moreover, each time Loki expresses any kind of an emotional need or acts unhappy, Thor gets angry, and even violent. Tell me what kind of dynamic it portrays to you. Damn, Thor doesn't even look at Loki while talking to him in T1. ("Never doubt I love you" - "Thank you").

Then there's Odin and Frigga consistently holding the fact they "love" him and, in Odin's case, "didn't let him die" over his head, in both T1 and TDW, to guilt him into obeying them and acting the way they want him to, to remind him that he's "obligated" to be grateful and helpful.

The Other tells him that he owes Thanos for the "great purpose" and his own enslavement.

Then there's Mobius telling him that he was born for the sake of the avengers' success and "to make people into the best versions of themselves". He also holds the "I didn't lat you die" card over his head and tortures him for "being a bad friend" for "running away", etc.

Like, at any given opportunity, Loki is reminded that his existence is in service of other people, he's discouraged from having feelings, or even acting in self-preservation/making decisions that do not result in someone else directly benefiting from.

As someone from a hot country that's regularly on fire, here's some tips:

WATER IS YOUR FRIEND! WATER! IS! YOUR! FRIEND! You can transfer SO much heat into this bad boy! You cannot cool down without water!

Wrists under the cold tap. Splash your face and the back of your neck. Fan yourself.

In some countries you can buy a little handeld fan with a water sprayer.

Damp tea towel around the neck. Stick an ice pack in there on hotter days.

Half fill a water bottle with water, stick in freezer. If you use a bottle with a straw, make sure it's lying on its side with the straw side up and out of the water. When frozen top up the rest of the way with tap water and off you go.

Desperate to cool off? Wet T-shirt. Sit in front of a fan. This will nuke it, just don't get hypothermia and don't fall asleep like this.

Cold showers are also your friend in summer. Some people get psyched up by these. Personally, I sleep like a baby, so I'm good to have them before bed. Just keep in mind that it takes a bit of time for the cool to circulate, so your body will tell you that you're colder than you actually are. I find that when I have cold showers I need to step out of the spray when I think I'm cold... I'll just wait, and thirty seconds later the temperature has evened out and I actually need to step under again. Rinse and repeat until you maintain coolness even after stepping out for a bit.

If you can't do cold showers, turn the cold shower on anyway and just stick your arms under. When they're cold, lift your arms up above your head. The sensation of cool blood draining into your body is fucking weird and kinda unpleasant but less unpleasant than being hot.

Feet in a tub of water with ice. Blood naturally flows to your extremities when hot, so take advantage of this. If you don't have a tub of ice water, sticking a wet rag on your feet in front of the fan works too, it's the less powerful version of the wet T-shirt.

Drinks lots of water but make sure that water has electrolytes as well. Stay in the shade.

Keep air circulating. Fans don't actually cool rooms down, they just help transfer heat from your body to the moisture on your skin or the air via evaporative cooling.

Block north facing windows early in the morning so the sun doesn't get in. If you're in the northern hemisphere, this is opposite for you. Keep in mind that if your home is brick, the bricks will still heat up and slowly release heat into your home even after the sun goes down so this will only do so much.

If it's hotter inside than outside, close all your windows but two, making sure they're on opposite sides of the house/unit you're in. Point a fan out of one window, making sure that the doors between the rooms with the open windows are all open. This will help create a mini pressure system in your home, pulling cooler air in and pushing the hotter air out via the fan. Bonus points if you can get that fan high up where the hot air rises; even within a single room the top is much hotter than the air by the floor. Adjust the amount of open windows based on how many fans you have, but generally you want more windows with fans open than windows without fans to keep the pressure correct.

Obviously, use your common sense for these. Not everything WILL work for you, just use the stuff that does and adjust what needs to be adjusted. Some of these will be impossible to use in the workplace but others you can still use. Others are best used at home. If humidity impacts your ability to use any of these, get a dehumidifier if that's an option, or use more ice instead of evaporation.