You're going to be amazing

image 1: uncredited #shoutout to the person from the admin team who once sent me an excel sheet #and told me to print it out and fill it in BY HAND #and then scan it and send it back to her #and when I cautiously asked if there was a reason why I couldn't just fill it out on the computer #she gave me a look of mild surprise #and replied 'oh you could do that I suppose' #?????? #what the fuck is your team doing up there??

image 2: tags from lordmaddie #Once one of my colleagues, after asking a user for a screenshot of the error they were seeing #Received, some days later, a letter from said user #They'd taken their laptop to the scanner, SCANNED THE SCREEN #printed off the scan, and POSTED IT TO OUR OFFICE

image 3: tags from nukenai #my job is literally reviewing documentation that has been submitted #things have to be uploaded digitally #either by the consumer or by a worker assisting them #the amount of times i receive photographs of phones with photos of ID cards on them is insane #like. just upload. from that phone. #the phone you are photographing #why are you photographing your phone with another phone why are you ding this

image 4: tags from jarino #i used to have managers print out their filled out forms and then send me a picture of said form #instead of just...sending the form

image 5: tags from hematiterings #I used to work on PDFs by annotating them with the Adobe tool #and once someone replied to my comments on a pdf #by making a PowerPoint with screenshots of the pdf and writing their answers to me in the comments of the ppt #I have no idea why they did this btw

image 6: tags from iljanne #work and it related: i had to share links to all our sharepoint folders for a coworker #no one could get her access for 2 years and counting #and then my other coworker turned to me after i explained what i did 'oh yeah thats what we did for the boss! ah.. we. couldve done that #for nadia. huh...' #like yeAH #TWO YEARS #You had the SOLUTION??

image 7: uncredited, partially cut off email me what was clearly a printed out Excel file that they'd then filled out by hand and scanned back into the system #Presumably something they did when they realized they couldn't fax it over #I am not kidding when I say I don't understand how society continues to function when the tech skill level is so low #Even in my own office it's disturbing #There was an office-wide freak-out bc I used the color-categorize option on some emails. #Where all these colors coming from?! #I don't understand!!! #The handful of ppl in the office with a brain tried to explain to them but they were like chickens with their heads cut off :/ #The other day it was two of my coworkers not understanding how to message someone on Teams that wasn't already in their chat history #...we've used Teams for like five years now. And even if you didn't already "know" the process for it it's so easy/intuitive to click around #and find out? This has to be that fundamental lack of curiosity thing some people have going on #Bc believe me. I get it being difficult--ever since I became visually impaired it's sooo much harder to learn new tech/software-- #but it's not impossible

image 8: tags from lensdeer #my boss regularly sends me the worst fucking excel files in history so yeag i believe that #shes sent me crusty phone pictures of excel file printouts and asked me to input what she wrote into the file

image 9: tags from moonybyte #literally what it's like whenever I have to order stuff at my job #most of the stuff we can just fill in and send around/save as a file perfectly fine #but if I have to order something? #print the sheet #sign it #scan that back in #put the scanned document into ANOTHER document #save that document as pdf to send it to my superiors #who then supposedly print that out and send it via actual non-digital mail #the process of all that always makes me question things sometimes

image 10: tags from cryptidfloyd #one time my boss printed out 40 of the exact same sheets and told me to write the same thing on all of them #and i tried to say "couldnt i just do one sheet and copy it 39 times" but she kept interrupting me telling me "just write x on them" #i did the copies anyway #i think she was mad i thought of it and she didnt #she probably would have told me no if someone she liked didnt tell me how good of an idea it was (help me) #she is constantly making shit endlessly more complicated than it needs to be

actionaidindia seedsindia planindia project tapan

The heat’s been brutal this summer but we still gotta eat! If you’re like me, heat might suppress your appetite, and the last thing any of us want is to sweat over a hot stove and oven when it’s already boiling outside. Here are some of my favorite hot-weather recipes to keep hydrated and fed with when the weather is unbearable! (All recipes should be un-paywalled).

NYT’s best gazpacho (lives up to its name!!)

Persian cold cucumber soup (if you like tzatziki you will like this!)

Eric Kim’s cold noodles with tomato (infinitely riffable Korean flavor profile — for a creamier and less brothy take, try these cold sesame noodles too)

Vietnamese chicken and herb salad (this is an excellent time to get a rotisserie chicken so you don’t have to turn the oven on)

Radish sandwiches with butter and salt (and in a similar vein, if you dig this flavor combo you should try this Polish cottage cheese dip on some good rye bread or even crackers)

It’s still a little early in the season, but you can never go wrong with a BLT (or, if you don’t eat bacon, try this tomato furikake sandwich in its place)

Infinite iterations of pasta salad! You can use anything you got but here is a template I like.

Assorted dense bean salads. This back pocket canned salad is a weird combo of jarred ingredients but it slaps, this hoagie-inspired one is super satisfying, and cowboy caviar is a classic for a reason.

Poke bowls! Canned tuna mixed with some kewpie mayo and sriracha is a budget-friendly riff on the usual ahi and makes everything taste like a spicy tuna roll, but use whatever proteins you like, this is more of a loose template.

rgu + How to be a Dog by Andrew Kane, part 2

The first image is of Anthy and Utena looking at each other with text reading "Of course you must learn to love'.

Young Anthy is placing her hand on Dios' forehead with text reading "to love always".

Touga, shirtless in his bandages, tucks a hand under Nanami's chin and uses it to tilt her head up with text reading "to love entirely".

A silhouette of Anthy being pierced by the thousand swords of hate with text reading "and to be wounded by nothing so much as the violence of your own love".

Nanami, standing in her nightgown, presses a hand to the glass to look out at the stars with text reading "You must learn to be confused".

Anthy is laying in Akio's lap as he traces his hand against her cheek with text reading "but never disappointed by".

Dozens of swords criss-cross in front of Anthy, framing her eyes, with text reading "a deficiency of love".

Nanami stands in front of a giant glowing egg with text reading "You must give up your children and not know why."

There are several members of the fencing club standing "You must lose yourself wholly in activity".

Touga is riding his bicycle with Saionji perched on the back of it, with text reading "you must never feel an itch that you do not scratch".

Utena is sitting off of the bed she shares with Anthy wearing her pajamas as text reads "you must learn how to wait at the foot of the bed and hope".

Anthy lays on the bed with nobody on the opposite side of her looking at the ceiling with text reading "silently".

Most of the screencap is black except for a small section like a window with cocktails full of ice. Text reads "that somebody is drunk enough".

Touga lies on his back with his shirt open, resting his hands on his chest, with text reading "or lonely enough".

Utena is naked and Akio is framed over her, his hand clutching hers, with text reading "to invite you up".

Utena and Anthy are standing on opposite sides of the table in Akio's apartment as text reads "and you must learn not to show your excitement or overplay your hand".

Young Utena, dressed in her early prince uniform and standing proudly, reads "if you want to be a dog".

rgu + How to be a Dog by Andrew Kane, part 1

In the first image, Anthy looks up at the ceiling of the planetarium with text reading "If you want to be a dog, first you must learn to wait".

The second image shows Anthy in her coffin with a crack of light pouring in. Text reads "you must wait all day until somebody returns",

The third image shows Utena and Anthy falling asleep across the table holding each other's hands. "And if someone returns late, you must learn to wait until then."

Akio rests a hand on top of Dios' shoulder as the text continues "Then you must learn to speak in one of the voices available to you"

Anthy waters her plants inside of her rose garden with text reading "high and light".

Utena holds a hand up showing her rose ring as text reads "or mellow thick and low".

Nanami stands scowling with her arms crossed as text reads "or middle-range and terse".

Young Anthy stands outside the cottage with the angry mob around her shouting and text reading "Whichever voice you learn to speak, you will meet someone who does not like you because of it,"

Saionji slaps Anthy across her face with text reading "they will be wary or annoyed",

Anthy sits at the piano in the same style as flashbacks showing Miki and Kozue, "or you will remind them of something".

Anthy holds her hand out with an orange rose and text reading "or someone else".

Anthy is standing in the shadows underneath the bridge, light glinting off her glasses. Text reads "Once you have learned to speak, you must learn not to speak".

Anthy pulls a sword out of Utena's chest with text reading "until you absolutely must".

Touga stands in the foreground, watching Nanami and Utena fight with swords with text over them reading "or to speak as much as you feel you must".

The headlights of a car shine through an archway with text reading "no matter how many times you are told to stop".

Kanae sits in a chair waiting as text over her reads "or sit".

Nanami sits on the floor outside of the greenhouse with Touga and Keiko inside, arm wrapped aroudn herself with text reading "or placed behind a door".

Dios is dancing with two different women, Utena in her princess attire and Anthy in her rose bride attire, with text reading "this will depend on what kind of dog you want to be."

Text over the student council (Touga, Nanami, Miki, Juri, and Saionji) reads "and indeed there are many kinds".

Touga pulls Nanami close to him in the aftermath of their duel, "It may not feel as if you get to choose, and that too is a kind of dog."

Utena is sitting on a horse with Akio, clinging to him, as text reads "Next you may learn to relinquish all control over everything you wish to control".

Utena is reflected in Anthy's glasses as she tries on the earrings Akio gave her, with text reading "You must learn to prefer to be led about by the neck on a piece of string,"

Anthy is lying, undressed and in pain, on the stairs that Akio abandoned her on, with text reading "or staked to a neglected lawn by a length of chain,"

A closeup of Anthy and Utena's entertwined fingers as text reads "You must learn, once you have sampled the freedom of a life without chain"

Anthy drives a sword through Utena with text reading "that it is better to return and be chained again".

Anthy sets her glasses down next to a pile of letters with text reading "Or you may learn that it is not,"

harrowhark gideon, saint of grace

silas colum, saint of honor

dulcinea protesilaus, saint of aid

palamedes camilla, saint of perfection

abigail magnus, saint of love

isaac jeannemary, saint of passion

we already have ianthe naberius's saint name, so for this alternate timeline she's ianthe coronabeth, saint of charm

saint of grace

gideon's relationship to harrow is all about wanting to give herself to her, to grace her with everything she's got. their defining moment comes when harrow gives gideon permission to drown her and gideon hugs her instead, loving and forgiving her when she has every reason not to, an act of grace. I've seen sacrifice or devotion around as saint names for harrow, and those also fit gideon, but I think "grace" hits the irony note a little more given how fiercely judgemental and grudge-holding harrow can be.

saint of honor

colum's one sticking point of resistance against silas: clinging to the honor of his word. and silas would looooove to call himself saint of honor, but, well. yknow.

saint of aid

protesilaus often functioned more as dulcinea's personal aide than her knight, and he was one of the first to volunteer to follow nonius to fight the RB in the river. not hugely ironic a name for actual dulcie, she's not particularly un-helpful, but she was always so constricted by her life circumstances that I doubt she's ever been able to conceptualize herself as adding to anyone else's lives rather than taking.

saint of perfection

camilla is meticulous. her choice of weapon is data driven, she put that skull back together chip by chip, and she doesn't let go, it's her one thing. she does nothing by half-measures. ironic for palamedes because he's super into the idea of chasing perfection and always wants to think he's only just missed it, leading him to very imperfect results.

saint of love

we know why magnus would be dubbed as loving before anything else. only really ironic for abigail in this alternate timeline because she'd only be called it if she gave in and ate her husband's life.

saint of passion

jeannemary's terror after the fifth die and her drive to run after him after isaac dies are both expressions of intensely personal emotional extremes, aka passion. ironic for isaac because he's not the "stupid" one, between the two of them he's believed to be the one who's cautious and careful.

saint of charm

coronabeth is charming. we know this. she's charming in the way of a house stateswoman and charming in the way that make insurrectionist cells want to promote her immediately. and ianthe? is made entirely of creepy slime.

saint of constance

me and the devil

as long as you smile and nod, people are satisfied. it’s just to show that you are nice and there with good intentions. we’re small in a big world and have to rely on other people to be decent to us. so we do our little human dance to each other to say, “i’m not here to hurt you. here’s something we have in common, like the weather or sports or itchy sweaters, so we both know we’re on the same team. we both agree on a basic fact, like that it is rainy or that being itchy is uncomfortable, and this proves we can get along. i’m being light-hearted and non-threatening right now.”

small talk isn’t to get to know a person. it’s just a greeting to affirm you’re buddies in the universe.

first image: (in bold) The cashier at the gas station asks me where I'm from

and when I say Ohio, he says "Go buckeyes" which I understand as a stranger offering language that can be shared. The way starlings roost on a power line, scooching over so the other can sit, flocked and fanning feathers against rain and never in my life have I seen a football game, but still I reply "Go buckeyes" which is a way of saying.: I accept. I would root with you in imaginary stands. Cheer at the same time in a darkened bar. We are more alike than not, us two. Here, let me shift, shuffle. Shelter a moment beneath this wing.

K. SULLIVAN

second image: Bold title: Small Kindnesses Smaller and fainter subtitle: Danusha Laméris

I've been thinking about the way, when you walk down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs to let you by. Or how strangers still say "bless you" when someone sneezes, a leftover from the Bubonic plague. "Don't die," we are saying. And sometimes, when you spill lemons from your grocery bag, someone else will help you pick them up. Mostly, we don't want to harm each other. We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot, and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder, and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass. We have so little of each other, now. So far from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange. What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these fleeting temples we make together when we say, "Here, have my seat," "Go ahead - you first," "I like your hat."