#unsolicited rant

This is long, so I apologise for that, but bear with me.

Firstly, lemme just address the fact that we didn’t get the puppet challenge this season and I’m not happy about it, because everybody loves puppets. And friendly shadefests.

So, the mini challenge...

What the fuck does decorating pancakes with fruit, veg and meat have to do with drag? ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY NOTHING!

This was completely pointless and it’s where I realised that this episode was going to turn out to be a shit show.

The maxi challenge...

I’m pissed off. This challenge was fucked up and unfair.

Not only did Ru tell the queens to reach deep into their feelings and encourage them feel bad about themselves on purpose, but also told them to actually listen to their saboteur and bring it to life, and show it to a whole world full of people they don’t know.

To walk up to a person and criticise them for not thinking and saying bad enough things about themselves, asking “is that as deep as you can get?” and trying to push them to find flaws in themselves and then bring attention to them on camera, that ain’t right.

Some people don’t have as many doubts and insecurities as others, or don’t feel comfortable showing those in front of other people, let alone an entire fan base who will judge them for it, and ru is just going to send someone home for that? That’s like saying “because you’re not tearing yourself down and show every stranger on the planet that you actually don’t like who you are, you can’t be here.”

Everybody say love? Yeah, unless it’s about yourself. Then only say how much you hate everything about yourself on national tv. Like what the actual fuck, Ru. 😒

This season is turning out to be just as bad as all stars 3 and the best thing to come out of it, and the only thing redeeming it tbh, is the queens themselves and the looks they’re blessing us with. The challenges are shit, the guest judges are too (apart from the make over challenge guests and Bianca of course) and opportunities like the double save are being wasted. Ru spent the first half of the season uninterested and quiet (which, yes, it could’ve been because of personal problems, but don’t bring it to work with you and show it on camera) and then spent the other half, making unfair decisions and humiliating the queens. And I’m not here for that, at all.

And don’t even get me started on the fact that Eureka wears a bodysuit all the time and the judges eat it up, but another queen wears something similar to something they’ve already worn one time and they get criticised for it 🙃

And the fact that Kameron turned off the option to comment on her Instagram pictures because she was either receiving hate or was about to, THATS NOT OKAY! Yes it was her third time lip syncing and we’re all going to miss Miz Cracker, but they’re both fierce and beautiful queens, and THEY DONT CHOOSE WHO GOES HOME‼️‼️‼️ if you’ve got a problem with who is going home and when, take it up with Ru and the producers. BUT STOP SENDING HATE TO PEOPLE WHO ARE THERE TO DO WHAT THEY DO BEST AND HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THE END DECISIONS. All the queens deserve so much better and I can’t wait for this season to be over and for them to all shine and thrive despite who wins the crown because they’re all incredible and no goddamn tv show can change that.

This is just my personal opinion and I understand that other people will think differently, but I won’t sit back and let all of this happen without voicing how I feel.

Ok.  

Just to put it out there for any other anons - it is not necessary to submit your vote on whether or not Malicia Vanilli will get pregnant today. Some think she will, some think she won’t. I’m not curious enough about the subject to seek everyone’s opinion on the subject.

To turn this around into something interesting, allow me to share why I get turned off by discussions on whether or not a couple will have kids that starts as soon as they get married. In short, it’s rude and invasive. 

Some couples just do not want to have children - ever. There’s nothing wrong with that, and they shouldn’t be shamed for it. 

Further, some couples don’t want to have children, but life has other plans and they get surprised by kids they end up having, and loving every bit of raising them. A couple who doesn’t want kids should not be put on the spot to say so, then end up having kids down the road and worry that some day some nosy person will tell those kids that their parents didn’t want them.

Other couples desperately want to have kids, but life has other plans for them and no matter what they try, they can’t. For them, every damn time someone talks about them having kids, they have to go through the private hell of what they are facing - usually while smiling, nodding and keeping it to themselves.

Then there’s the whole challenge when one spouse is ready to try for a baby and the other is not. That can bring all kinds of stress and tension to a marriage.  When the “when are you having a baby” question is asked to them, they have to smile and play along to avoid diving into a whole explanation of the fights and tension that have been existing between them for months now while they try to figure things out.

When it comes to having kids, everything in life does not always go as planned. That’s why it’s a private and intimate decision between a couple. It’s none of anyone else’s business and really and truly every time that someone asks a couple when they are having kids they are essentially saying “So, tell me about your sex schedule with your husband”.  If you don’t know someone well enough to ask that question, then you shouldn’t be talking to them about their plans for having kids.

Coming back from the grave to express my shock and bewilderment about this petty conflict I’m seeing between langblr people that care about linguistics versus those passionate about “language learning”...I’m trying to decide whether I care enough to comment...

Let’s start by saying that it’s weird and reductive to suggest that language learning is nothing but learning word lists. There is inevitably overlap between learning a language and learning about linguistics. As someone who had studied several languages independently before setting foot in my first linguistics course, I found that knowledge of a handful of different syntactical and phonological systems provided a huge amount of perspective, and made learning linguistics so much more intuitive and concrete than it would have been otherwise. Plus let us not forget that socio-linguistics and applied linguistics are important fields that, if I’m honest, don’t get enough respect in certain pretentious corners of the linguistics world beholden to the “scientific rigor” of, say, contemporary syntax. Sure, learning a language is not the same as learning linguistics, but why pretend like there isn’t overlap? Why reduce what a language learner does to memorizing words and phrases when, of course, what they do is comprehensively engage with a complex new culture and communication system.

I guess I respect the fact that it can feel like Tumblr is dominated by people who are more interested in learning languages or cultures than learning about linguistics. But I’ve never felt like the wall put up between linguistics and language learning (with linguistics often presented as a more serious or sophisticated pursuit) is necessary. Most of the blogs I follow confirm that feeling.

Hmmm I don't know. Is it? I'm not really sure how the dapper or swag thing works lol I think the state of mind - thinking/believing you are dapper or have swag - is a little counter intuitive to me lol I'm firmly stuck with the Canadian  high regard for humility an an aversion to conceit. I just personally have an issue with people feeling the need to state how sexy/hot/cute/attractive they are. Like that's awesome that you think you're so great but if you're full of yourself then what does does any of the rest of it matter because it's so unattractive? And don't even get me started on the arrogrance masquerading as self confidence argument which is even worse.