#ardenposting

this is genuinely so kind of you, thank you so much. i really really appreciate you. i'm doing a lot better than i was when i didn't think i'd live to see 18. the future is terrifying but i have ambitions and dreams and, very importantly, plans (law school here i come!) i've gone through a frankly absurd amount of shit since turning 18, but my teenage determination to drag myself out of every hole tooth and nail is still going strong. it's not easy in the slightest; to be honest, my mental illness has actually worsened because of everything, but i know how to cope now. i'm going to be okay. my life is not in danger, and if that changes, i have the skills to handle it.

tagged by @cannibalgender my frand <3

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reading: hamlet in purgatory by stephen greenblatt + my lsat prep books

i am usually too exhausted to read much for fun during the semester, so i'm trying to finish some of the shakespeare studies books that i have before my classes ramp up. i also retake the lsat (for the last time!!!) tomorrow, so i'm going through my books for a final review

last series watched: criminal minds

claude you and me are like this 🤝 with the emotional support cop slop. i started criminal minds in late november/early december and am on season 5 already <3 been really into the problematic age gap fbi yaoi that i invent in my mind lately #myhotchreid

last film: hamnet (2025)

i got to see this one in theaters because my partner and i had coupons and it was TRANSCENDENT. it did have some flaws, but the acting performances were so raw and natural and the foreshadowing was impeccable. hamnet (2025) they will never make me hate you

last song: crying during sex by ethel cain

i need an official release 🙏 this song is so personal to me and i love it so much. ethel cain captured such a specific feeling that every time i listen i'm like Oh You Get It. this is also one of the songs that transports me straight back to study abroad in stockholm because i listened to it so much on my commutes to class and around the city

sweet or salty: sweet

don't get me wrong, i love salt, but i have an incorrigible sweet tooth. sweet treats are my fundamental weakness and the sworn nemesis of my bank account

coffee or tea: tea

the real answer is both since i love both and drink them at around the same frequency, but i'm choosing tea because i like more varied teas than i do coffees. if the coffee isn't sweet i don't want it, but i like many hot teas, southern iced tea, arnold palmers, thai tea, matcha, the list goes on.

working on: a crochet hood for the winter + a villager trading hall in my minecraft server

the hood is made up of two multicolored granny squares! i'm using brown, cream, two shades of green, and light blue accents. please don't ask me to tie another magic knot ever again. the trading hall building requires so many materials so i am about to start the sub-projects that are a guardian farm and a squid farm for dark prismarine

tagging: @hamletkin @crunchie-morris @iliveinprocrasti-nationn @acting-pterygii @worfsbarmitzvah @therainbowwillow @flshbonez @infinitelytheheartexpands @omggolden

i have a video essay about cannibalism in early modern english drama playing on the tv

im a little bit high

other people on this site have already said this far more eloquently than i ever could, but even if texas were the most die hard red state without a single blue vote, this tragedy would not be deserved. civilians do not deserve to suffer, drown, and wonder about the fates of their missing children because of the actions of their government. if you cheer and clap at mass human suffering because some (or any) of those who are suffering voted red, you are no better than the legislators who made the budget cuts and are murdering my people to begin with. texas is a "red" state because of voter suppression, gerrymandering, and other forms of political violence, but even if that weren't the case, if you ask who someone voted for before you'll pull them out of floodwaters, YOU ARE THE MONSTER.

Here, it's simple. There's no authority on what's a move and what's not. A move is just whatever you can consistently pull off in a battle, and there's no biological or even legal limit to four. It's just that about four per pokemon, on a standard league team of six, gets to the limit of what a trainer can remember when strategizing. I can do plenty more than four things, but I don't expect Fluttershy to give me that much detailed direction mid fight, especially when we haven't even come up with a nice shorthand name for every last move.

But then, in a lot of other universes, it seems so rigid! Some worlds' moves really do seem like they're externally standardized, and the pokemon do them exactly the same way each time... I've even heard of some universes where learning some new technique means you're not allowed to use an older one anymore! If I try to hit someone with an exploding fireball, is that the same move as if I intentionally "miss" with it and explode the fireball into their back? To me, that's just a clever variation that takes one extra word at most for Fluttershy to suggest it to me, which is a low mental load for my trainer and I'd probably call it the same move, but in some universes that might be a full 50% of what I'm allowed to do in a battle. I mean, I'm sure it works fine if that's the format you're used to in your local league, but also I'm glad I live here and not there.