you know what would be really great? to just be an augur in ancient rome and get prophecies from birds. just get to hang out in my ceremonial clothes looking for vultures all day and every once in a while say something profound when i see a sparrow or w/e, and nobody will bother me because if they piss me off i can just tell them that they can’t lead a military expedition against the gauls because my sacred chickens don’t like them. what a life
some crusty old roman general: please augur, consult your chickens, for i desire to wage the greatest of wars against the wretched, barbaric carthaginians
me, hanging out with my pigeons, remembering last week when he cut me in line at the market and bought the red figure vase i wanted for his 8th country villa: unfortunate
more on writing muslim characters from a hijabi muslim girl
– hijabis get really excited over pretty scarves – they also like to collect pins and brooches – we get asked a lot of questions and it can be annoying or it can be amusing, just depends on our mood and personality and how the question is phrased – common questions include: – “not even water?” (referring to fasting) – hijabis hear a lot of “do you sleep in that?” (we don’t) and “where is your hair?” (in a bun or a braid, usually) – “is it mooze-slim or mozzlem?” (the answer is neither, it’s muslim, with a soft s and accent on the first syllable) – “ee-slam or iz-lamb?” (it’s iss-laam, accent on the first syllable) – “hee-job?” (heh-jahb, accent on the second syllable)
– “kor-an?” (no. quran. say it like koor-annn, accent on the second syllable) – people tend to mess up our names really badly and you just get a sigh and a resigned nod or an awkward smile, maybe a nickname instead – long hair is easy to hide, short hair is harder to wrap up – hijab isn’t just covering hair, it’s also showing as little skin as possible with the exception of face, hands, and feet, and not wearing tight/sheer clothing – that applies to men too, people just don’t like to mention it ( i wonder why) – henna/mehendi isn’t just for special occasions, you’ll see people wearing it for fun – henna/mehendi isn’t just for muslims, either, it’s not a religious thing – henna/mehendi is not just for women, men also wear it, especially on their weddings – there are big mehendi parties in the couple of nights before eid where people (usually just women and kids) gather and do each other’s mehendi, usually just hands and feet – five daily prayers – most muslim kids can stutter through a couple verses of quran in the original arabic text by the age of seven or eight, it does not matter where they live or where they’re from or what language they speak natively – muslim families tend to have multiple copies of the quran – there are no “versions” of the quran, there has only ever been one. all muslims follow the exact same book – muslims have no concept of taking God’s name in vain, we call on God at every little inconvenience – don’t use islamic phrases if you don’t know what they mean or how to use them. we use them often, inside and outside of religious settings. in islam, it is encouraged to mention God often and we say these things very casually, but we take them very seriously – Allahu Akbar means “God is Greatest” (often said when something shocks or surprises us, or if we’re scared or daunted, or when something amazing happens, whether it be good or bad; it’s like saying “oh my god”) – Subhan Allah means “Glory be to God” (i say subhan Allah at the sky, at babies, at trees, whatever strikes me as pleasant, especially if it’s in nature) – Bismillah means “in the name of God” and it’s just something you say before you start something like eating or doing your homework – In Shaa Allah means “if God wills” (example: you’ll be famous, in shaa Allah) (it’s a reminder that the future is in God’s hands, so be humble and be hopeful)
– Astaghfirullah means “i seek forgiveness from Allah” and it’s like “god forgive me” – Alhamdulillah means “all thanks and praise belong to God” and it’s just a little bit more serious than saying “thank god” (example: i passed my exams, alhamdulillah; i made it home okay, alhamdulillah) – when i say we use them casually, i really mean it – teacher forgot to assign homework? Alhamdulillah – our version of “amen” is “ameen” – muslims greet each other with “assalamu alaikum” which just means “peace be on you” and it’s like saying hi – the proper response is “walaikum assalam” which means “and on you be peace” and it’s like saying “you too”
As a Muslim this post is so very important and it makes me so happy that it gives the small facts and details that one might be unaware of or confused about.
I’ve reblogged it before but honestly this fucking post touches me so much. To see how intrinsic Allah is to followers of Islam and how ingrained He is in their daily lives is so beautiful.
Also, can we just talk about the fact that there aren’t like 100 different versions of the Quran? Because I didn’t know that and that legit AMAZES me.
I hadn’t seen any English reports on this but its too good not to share.
So right now there are pretty crazy right-wing nationalist sexists in Japan. They’re dressing up in WWII military outfits, they’re standing outside of Korean schools (in Japan) shouting that Koreans should be killed, and just generally being horrible human beings. For reasons unknown, the Japanese police haven’t done anything to stop them, and when people get physical with the right-wingers and a fight breaks out, it’s not the right-wing people who get punished.
Enter: the Yakuza.
Yakuza, for those who don’t know, is the name for the world of Japanese gangs, commonly known for being covered in tattoos. A few retired yakuza members (most of whom are notoriously and vocally conservative) got tired of this extreme right wing BS. They believe that picking on people who are weaker than you, like the children at the Korean schools or refugees, is embarrassing, and not something to be proud of. They want these right wingers to man up (the group is almost entirely men) and shut up.
These old retired yakuzas start showing up at the right wing protests and intimidate the hell out of these guys. When they feel like it, they’ll use physical force too. The police don’t mess with the yakuza so these right wing protesters become human punching bags. All their talk of killing Koreans or their superiority to just about everyone flies out the window when these gangsters roll up.
It started with only one or two yakuza who were bored and fed up, but more and more started to come. They started training in boxing and street fighting, and wouldn’t you know it…the number of right wing protesters got less and less.
Then, people of other walks of life joined in too. With the yakuza throwing the police off, professors could join by writing about the issues profusely. Suddenly a ton of otakus joined too, using their art and community to protest. They’d show up in droves and stand behind the muscle (yakuza) and make a ton of noise. They literally staged an “otakus against racists” rally.
Slowly, the protests have seen the right wing attendance drop more and more and I am living for these “manly men” being trashed by retired gangsters and fans of Love Live.
In conclusion:
First, I’d like the extreme right wing to gtfo
Second, I’d like a manga, then an anime, about these yakuza who befriended professors and otakus to fight neo-nazis. K? cool.
watch as certain types of manga start being extremely hostile to yakuza and otaku types, and yes i am absolutely thinking of SNK and its ilk
its freezing and the heater is broken so im gonna run the most challenging-to-render thing i own (minecraft) and make my pc so hot itll warm the room up
ok we good
So this is what hubris looks like in physical form…
One of the most useful things I’ve learned about recovering from trauma is that my decisions need to be judged according to the incomplete information that was available to me at the time.
So, say I’m deciding whether to eat chicken at a restaurant. All evidence is that it’s a good idea. I’m hungry for chicken, and I usually feel good after eating it.
I eat the chicken, and I get food poisoning. The resulting illness causes me to fall short of responsibilities, and creates numerous problems for me and the people who depend on me.
What happened?
Trauma brain says: “This happened because I am Bad At Making Decisions. If I had made The Right Decision and not eaten chicken, everything would have been fine.”
Recovery brain says, “According to the information that was available to me, the chicken was unlikely to make me sick. Eating chicken was a Good Decision with Bad Consequences. This happened to me because I had incomplete information.”
The “trauma brain” response makes all decisions really hard, because each decision involves the prospect of being judged by a future self that has more information.
“Should I buy the $2 mouse pad or the $3 mouse pad? If I buy the cheaper one and it doesn’t work well, it will be my own fault for not buying a better quality one…”
(Then I might end up paying myself $1-per-hour to agonize over which mouse pad to buy, which is probably an ACTUAL unwise course of action.)
But if I foster the “recovery brain” response, I can start to trust that my future self will judge my decisions kindly.
“If I buy the cheap mouse pad and it doesn’t work, then I only gambled $2 on it. If I buy the $3 one and even it doesn’t work, then I’ll have more closely guessed how much I need to pay for a mousepad of sufficient quality.”
And then later when the mousepad doesn’t work: “Well, that didn’t work. At least I made a decision. The outcome has given me more information about the options available to me going forward.”
(Meta level: Decisions you made prior to reading this post about how to treat yourself were probably good given the information you had access to about trauma and recovery!)
tl;dr: Bad results are not always evidence of bad decisions. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt about why you do what you do.
Something I like to do is,
I can buy $2 mouse or $3 mouse. I have a bad feeling about $2 mouse but dont have much money and will get in trouble for spending too much.
I buy $2 mouse and it doesn’t work.
I think, I was right! I have good instincts and this is evidence that they are trustworthy. I can now build a case to defend my decision and get permission to buy something which will work.
Reward yourself for good work and improve upon mistakes.
The Chaos Bitches 