phantomrose96:

ghostfiish:

phantomrose96:

phantomrose96:

ghostfiish:

phantomrose96:

phantomrose96:

You know those anime meta posts along the lines of “I was born with pink hair. The doctors told my parents I was a Main Character and ever since my life has not known peace from demons/spirits/sports competitions/harems who find me”

Well I see that, and I raise you this:

An anime boy whose appearance is, by absolutely anyone’s account, completely and utterly average. Mundane hair. Mundane eyes. Not even glasses to set him the tiniest bit apart. A simple, unmemorable, unrecognizable civilian among a backdrop of millions.

And he has a lot of passions, and a lot of ambitions, which he hones every chance he gets. He’s dabbled in sports and archery and cooking and just about anything you could wrap a competition around. And he’s competed in many of these. Every chance he gets. With all of his passion and all of his might.

He’s crushed by the competition every single time.

Until one day–one day something clicks for him. Something that should have seemed obvious from the start and yet never was–as though everyone, including himself, was unwittingly blind to it. It clicks, when he realizes every kid who’s beaten him in competition, every kid who’s gone on to fame and glory and acclaim, has been some candy-haired gel-spiked ridiculously-dressed fucker. 

There’s some trend there that this Main Character boy can’t explain and can’t understand but he decides, this one time, fuck it. He’ll play along too. He’s got a model train competition in four days, and he’s got nothing more to lose. He hits up the department store, buys the pinkest, noxious-est, fruitiest hair dye he can find, the spikiest hair gel available, and the gaudiest clothes on the thrift rack. He enters the model train competition looking like a bubble gum gijinka.

And he wins.

Suddenly, the other candy-haired contestants notice him. They talk to him. They pledge rivalries. Girls notice him. Judges applaud him. Acclaimed model train aficionados offer him internships across the world. He’s hit on something. 

The main cast expands to cover just about every candy-hair cliche in the book: from the mostly-normal-looking demure school girl with the blue hair to the Naruto-est, yelling-est boy with the red-and-green spiked hair. The cool megane senpais, the purple haired tsunderes, suddenly everyone is interested in him. They’re prodigies and upstarts and underdogs and they truly believe that this main character boy is one of them.

So the main character boy maintains his ruse. He touches up his roots at dawn every morning and carefully attends to his gelled spikes and tells absolutely no one about this great, uncanny, unfathomable secret he’s stumbled upon. He wins his competitions left and right. He racks up the acclaim. He’s hailed as a prodigy of all trades, just now bursting onto the scene, and boils to the top of all his candy-haired peers.

He’s rising up, his every dream within his grasp. Until one day he gets a note under his door, taped to an old picture of his Normal Boring self from middle school, that says “You don’t belong”

There’s an international competition, and Main Character-kun and all his candy-haired rivals/peers/nakama/friends are being housed in the same hotel.

The night before the competition, some ungodly scream sounds from the Naruto-kid’s room. The rest of the cast rush in, flick on the lights, and find Naruto-kid sitting up in bed, his hair completely flat and utterly black, a pair of DIY salon gloves discarded next to his bed. He races to the mirror across the room, hands hovering in shock around his straightened hair, as though unable to recognize the boy staring back at him.

It’s… an unsettling act of personal vandalism, but Naruto-kid seems unhurt. After verifying he’s okay and reporting it to hotel security, most of the kids are content to go back to their own rooms and just double-check their own locks.

Most seem content…. Not all…

The next day, Naruto-kid is eliminated from the competition nigh-instantly. He’s given no chance to monologue about his ambitions, his friends, his hometown.  Not even a second spared for a flashback to the bullying that became the formative motivator of his childhood.  

No. He’s summarily eliminated by another candy-haired contestant. Naruto-kid, with his suddenly unassuming black hair, is dismissed from the arena. And Main Character-kun is distressed. 

There’s a murderer on the loose. Just in no traditional sense. Another kid is shaved bald in the middle of the night, and eliminated from the competition the next day. Colored contact lenses go missing, and suddenly the red-eyed yandere girl doesn’t have a leg to stand on. She’s sent home without the slightest bit of fanfare. Someone funnels bleach into the sprinkler line, and a triggering of the fire alarm leaves a whole arena of contestants doused in the ruinous fluid. Their candy colors melt into brittle, tacky, bleachy off-orange. Not a single one survives that night’s round of eliminations.

Main Character-kun is still pink. He’s still gelled. He’s still dressed in fiery robes and platform sandals with a bandana cinched around his forehead. He hoards hair dye in his room and sleeps with one eye open. He can only watch in silence as this gruesome assassination plot unravels, without a doubt in his mind that he is the real target.

One night, there’s a knock on his door. And the twisting of a key. And the squeak of hinges swinging open. Main Character-boy’s breathing halts.  His time has come.

He looks. It’s the blue-haired girl, the quiet one with self-confidence issues. Her hair is tied into twin pigtails. She’s carrying something in her right hand.  Main Character boy braces for impact.

She flicks on the lights. He looks. They’re wigs, in her hand. Three of them. Purple Green and Orange, each primmed and poofed and curled to extravagant degrees.

“Here,” she offers, hand extended. “Take whichever you like. They’re extra.”

“Wait. Why…? What’s this–what’s happening?”

She takes a step forward, and she shuts the door behind her. With her free hand, she grips the blue hairline at her scalp, and she pulls back gently, revealing netting. She drops the blue hair to the ground, and pulls the netting free from her forehead, and a loose, unassuming bob of perfectly black, perfectly normal hair falls around her shoulders.

She’s unassuming in every possible regard, mundane in every sense, a girl to blend into the backdrop of millions.

“We’re not going home yet,” she says. “Not you, and not me.”

chrissy i want you to know im in love with this

The Comb and the Dye are in fact the real anime weapons of this series im so glad they’re wielding them as such

The Main Character girl wraps her hair back up in the netting and fixes her blue wig back in place. She takes a seat in the nearby desk chair and explains why she’s here. She’s suspected for a while that she and MC-kun are the same, both normal-looking people masquerading in this candy haired world. MC-kun had seemed just a bit too distraught during the Naruto-kid incident. That was when Main Character-chan first noticed him, and when she recognized his shade of candy pink hair by its bottle brand.

MC-chan explains that she had lived a very normal and unassuming life. She did Stage Crew in middle school for the drama club, always the unnoticed extra in the background, sweeping in silently, covertly, under darkness to handle the scene changes and wardrobe transformations.  She honed her skills making props and costumes for the drama kids, til she was a master of needle and thread, dyes and combs, and props built from paper and plastic.

She thinks it was that attention-to-detail she cultivated in prop-design that let her finally See what MC-kun had seen—the Candy Haired world around her that constantly overshadowed whatever she did.

One day, she put on the wig. And she never looked back.

But she doesn’t know who the hair assassin is either, any more than MC-kun. There’s still strength in numbers. And she figures if they work together, their odds of survival are greater.

MC-kun agrees.

…

The next day is a free day for the kids competing in this International Competition. The morning passes with most of the contestants montaging through a romp in the city, tasting local cuisine and window-shopping around the market area and getting into Kodak-moment worthy shenanigans.

MC-kun and MC-chan steal away to a quiet park, sitting at a picnic table, putting pink- and blue-heads together to talk through all the info they have, and what options are open to them. They don’t get very far. A glasses-wearing girl appears from behind the bushes and stops them cold.

Glasses Girl is small and wiry, mousy in her frame. She has orange hair that poofs around her head, cropped at chin level, in a way that reminds MC-kun vaguely of a roosting chicken. Her glasses are enormous on her freckled face, and they capture the light, obscuring her eyes behind their glare.

“You two… you’re fakes, aren’t you? Both of you.”

MC-kun stops cold. MC-chan spins around in her seat, wide-eyed. “I don’t… I don’t even know what that means! Go away before we—”

Glasses Girl pulls an immaculate, highly stylized laptop from her bag. She flips it open with one hand, propping it on the table and typing furiously, too fast to even see her fingers. Audio begins to play from the laptop speakers.

“We’re not going home yet. Not you, and not me.”

“I hacked into your phone last night,” GG-chan states simply, head tilted toward MC-kun. “I’ve heard the whole conversation.”

“How?!” MC-kun asks. He holds his phone at a distance, like it’s suddenly venomous.

GG-chan shifts. Suddenly the glare of her glasses is no longer obstructing her eyes. Behind the coke-bottle look is an expression of pure brow-knitted confusion. “I don’t…. I don’t actually know. I just could.”

GG-chan was an art student. A not-very-good-at-all art student. And a very-much-below-average competitor in sculpting competitions. She was plain, and unassuming, and inconspicuous, and jealous of the better-established art students around her with their own flashy styles. Her peers wore giant non-prescription glasses; they dyed their hair bright colors and cropped it short to perfect hipster chique.

GG-chan tried to imitate that. But as a truly-not-fantastic artist, she couldn’t even pull that off. She dyed her hair, picked out glasses, overshot “hipster”, and landed firmly in “geek”.

She landed so firmly in “geek” that internationally-acclaimed hacker abilities spawned with her makeover. Suddenly she could break into anything, override anything, hack or fix or erase anything over a permanent wifi connection that followed her as its hotspot.

Her laptop never loses charge. Her bash scripts never fail. Her glasses always glint in the slightest bit of light and slide down her nose so that she has to keep her middle finger pressed firmly to the bridge at all times.

She’s afraid of being sent home in ruin, sent back to her life as a mediocre art student.

GG-chan wants to join the effort to not be eliminated.

…

A day passes. GG-chan has hacked all the email accounts of the registered contestants and has found nothing suspicious. MC-chan has spent her time crafting shorter-cut wigs to give to MC-kun and GG-chan as backups. MC-kun has been trying his best to understand what he’s gotten into. He bought a few extra obnoxious bandanas to bolster his obnoxious outfit, as if that might help.

They’re sitting quietly at lunch, eating in silence, with no new information to share and no desire to attract unwanted attention from the contestants around them.

“Ohhhhh my what is this? Has this pathetic posse of plebeians formed a little club oh how quaint!”

MC-chan chokes on her noodles. GG-chan startles. MC-kun groans.

The voice belongs to a platinum-blond boy, dressed to the nines, who’s sidled up to the table unannounced. He reeks of ambition and money and arrogance and a very particular high-end cologne, and he laughs heartily at his own joke. He flicks a lock of blond hair from his face, which all but sparkles.

MC-kun recognizes this kid. He was one of the first Candy Haired kids to declare an eternal rivalry with him.

“What’s it to you?” MC-kun challenges, already ticked off.

And the Rich Blond Rival Boy deflates. Comically. Pale and hollow-cheeked and exhausted, suddenly leaning against their lunch table, speaking in a rasp. “Please let me join you. I’ve been wearing this Gucci suit for two weeks straight I don’t have any others.”

No one answers immediately. No one has anything resembling an answer.

“Then buy another suit!” MC-kun says.

“Do I look like I’m made of m o n e y to you?!”

“YES.”

“Ah ha! Yes that is the point, well you see–” and RBR-kun pulls out a soggy PB&J from his bag, slumps into an open seat at the table, his eyes dull and matte, solemnly chewing his lunch. “Can one of you spot me like $1.50 for the bus ride to the competition arena tomorrow? I spent the last of my money on this bread.”

MC-kun: “What?”

RBR-kun: “I don’t have money!”

MC-kun: “Why are you ACTING like a rich boy if you DONT HAVE MONEY”

RBR-kun: “LOOK IT JUST KIND OF HAPPENED OKAY.”

MC-kun: “WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT JUST KIND OF HAPPENED.”

And well, it just kind of happened. Rich Blond Rival Boy is as fake as they come. He grew up in a modest household, making money over the summer by doing yard work for neighbors. He was fairly frugal and quiet and unassuming, until his grandma bought him a nice tux for the school dance, and he dyed his hair platinum blond on a dare, and suddenly the world was in his pocket.

Suddenly he had connections in high places. Suddenly he could have wait staff doting on him at a moment’s notice. Suddenly he could summon helicopters at the snap of his fingers, and have any product imaginable, legal or not, air-lifted to him on a whim. Everyone was his pawn. Everything bent to his will. Ever since then he’s been unstoppable in his ambitions.

He just doesn’t have any of the actual money to maintain this. All his cards are overdrafted. His credit is in the toilet. Several different loan sharks technically own the rights to his immortal soul.

Rich Blond Rival Boy wants in on the League Of Background Characters, because he is utterly afraid of the ruin he faces if he is exposed. If the others get assassinated, they get sent home. If RBR-kun gets assassinated, the debtors will drag him out by his toes.

A scuffle erupts over by the lunch line before anyone can give RBR-kun an answer. It’s over in an instant. A shriek, a clatter, a tray and knife hitting the ground. The biker ruffian boy with the blue mohawk lies on the floor. His shorn-off mohawk spikes lie on the platter, as if being served to the cafeteria at large.

Worried murmurs break out in the crowd.

No one had seen the knife-yielder. 

No one had seen anything.

As if the act were committed by someone impossible to even notice.

[chanting]

MORE KIDS MORE KIDS MORE KIDS

LAST PART, CONCLUSION AND ALL, AND IT’S LONG. 

And the one thing worth noting: MC-chan is now MG-chan, as in Main Girl-chan, to avoid mixing up her name with MC-kun. 

Enjoy.

---

There’s a sustained hush, like a breath held too long. It’s a blooming, crawling, clawing wave of realization that takes the cafeteria captive. Heads turn. Voices falls silent. Clueless candy-hair after clueless candy-hair takes in the murder scene, mohawk spikes presented so curiously, so esoterically plattered, as if part of the lunch selection.

The dish itself is a warning; MG-chan understands that much. She feels the bloodlust in the air. And it’s closer now. She edges her chair away from the table. Her nerves are alight.

“Run,” MG-chan says.

“Sorry?” MC-kun replies.

MG-chan kicks her chair back, lighting to her feet.

“Run!”

And at that moment, a sound like a cannon ball fires, the silence breaking. People startle at the noise, but it’s the boy sitting one table over – directly across from MC-kun – who jolts entirely sideways in his seat. He’s the contestant whose hair has been quaffed perfectly into a cartoon whale, pallid blue and deep ocean undertones brimming through his hairline. He stares forward, as if stunned. The girl next to him asks if he’s okay.

He turns to her slowly, and reveals the entire right half of his face has been consumed in a wad of bubblegum. He raises one shaking hand to his whale-tail, now webbed in gum, and he collapses.

And all hell breaks loose.

MG-chan has MC-kun by the shoulder before he can process it. They’re running. Them and GG-chan and RBR-kun. Them and almost everyone else, a breathing screaming mass of panic as people shove and knee and elbow their way through the crowd.

“Where are we going?” MC-kun asks. He’s stumbling to keep pace with MG-chan, one hand pressed protectively to the bandana on his forehead in danger of slipping off.

“Away from here. Outside.”  MG-chan throws her weight against the cafeteria door. It slams open. “Wherever we’re not sitting targets.”

Their feet beat against the linoleum below, into the hotel foyer, but it’s no good. The bloodlust presence doesn’t fade. It does not grow weaker. Instead it gains on them, like heat, like a house fire that lashes out at their heels and trips them with each step. Another two kids go down with the sound of razor blades and a puff of shorn hair, like dandelion fluff blown in the wind.

MG-chan, MC-kun, GG-chan, and RBR-kun all burst out the hotel front doors – RBR-kun with a shriek and a graceful leap over a half-shaved unconscious student on the floor.

“How did he go down?! I didn’t even see him go down?!” RBR-kun shouts, pointing to the kid he vaulted. “Invisibility? Is the murderer invisible?!”

“Maybe super-speed. Really any superpower is possible among these people. We can’t rule anything out.” GG-chan has her laptop out, balanced precariously on the crook of her arm. She types one-handed while she runs. “If I can hack into the security cameras maybe I can activate the infra-red sensors and get a reading on—”

There’s a crack. A gasp. MG, MC, and RBR all look back to find GG-chan frozen in place. Her glasses are shattered, pinned to the wall beside her by a single needle-thin arrow.

“My glasses…” GG-chan blinks, and stares at her laptop like it’s something entirely foreign to her. “What is this? What was I–?”

MG-chan grabs her arm too. “Never mind. Run. Just run.”

Keep reading

yui-mhcp001:

castors-great-pumpkin:

wings-and-cherry-blosssoms:

kagazuly:

mewmewchann:

pinkiemeowstic89:

xx-sweetiebee-xx:

buzzkillign:

tuliharja:

10 questions & 10 people -tag game

Thank you so much for tagging me @lemongrass-and-cedarwood!

Rules: Answer 10 questions & tag 10 people you want to know better

Relationship status: Mentally married to an anime character.

Favourite colour: Blue and violet. 💙💜

Three favourite foods: Minced meat sauce with pasta, chicken curry and fries with meatballs. 🍴

Song stuck in my head: DIES IN NO TIME by Jun Fukuyama

Last song I listened to: Cry Baby by Official Hige Dandism

Last thing I googled: Geb Egyptian God

Dream trip: To travel somewhere where is beautiful and warm.

Anything I really want: Some copics.

Tagging: @avokkun, @littleeyesofpallas, @queenbonded, @the-con-she-called-conscience, @jingmcastle, @1dsoul1, @saving-empress-ac, @iss-lover, @banimikyu and @jkrobertson.

relationship status: qpr .
favorite color: red, yellow, white
favorite foods: pineapple on pizza (cowards), garlic bread, most pasta
song in my head: tetris sounds
last song i listened to: newly edgy idols
last thing i googled: puyo nexus wiki
dream trip: to never have to go anywhere again
anything i really want: my friends all here with me.
tagging: @squipy @pigspeetsandhooflikefeets @booloocrew-blog @riverkath @jackal-jpeg @z0mbiekin @highlightergarrick @nate-5fucks (i dont know your main, cuz) @xx-sweetiebee-xx @jesterjamz

Relationship status: Fictional character bc imma loser

Favourite colour: Pink!

Three favourite foods: Shrimp, Alfredo and Garlic bread

Song stuck in my head: Shinitai chan (German version)

Last song I listened to: Seasonal Shanty (msm)

Last thing I googled: Black and White GHOST

Dream trip: Not sure

Anything I really want: An art tablet

Taggin: @mysteryreblogs @flame-boyant @moshi-roulette @pinklightningmc @pinkiemeowstic89 @lunarfeat21 @c00lac0la @r3tr0-jpg @julie-loves-cake @macabre-beth

Relationship status: Not telling

Favorite color: Pink

Three favorite foods: Grilled cheese, apples, and chocolate

Song stuck in my head: Ashley’s Song (WarioWare Gold)

Last song I listened to: Don’t remember

Last thing I Google’d: Not telling

Dream trip: Japan

Anything I really want: If Shantae in Smash counts, then that

Tags: @mewmewchann @violetganache42 @ anyone else you sees this randomly and wants to do it

Relationship status: Single but not really looking

Favourite colour: Navy blue and dark gray

Three favourite foods: lasagna, Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food ice cream, Hershey’s Cookies and Cream chocolate

Song stuck in my head: Perfect Blue by Luz (I’m a Utaite simp I know)

Last song I listened to: Would You Be Impressed by Streetlight Manifesto

Last thing I googled: “How do you describe demonic possession” (IT’S BECAUSE OF DND I PROMISE)

Dream trip: Japan

Anything I really want: *shrug* well I want motivation to write a thing I’ve wanted to write for a few days so

Tags: @charmergirl2468 @scarrunner05 @ladylolalilly @kagazuly @cloudyxskiies @ anyone else who wants to do this!

Yknow what sure

Relationship status: I want mental stability first thanks

Favourite colour: Emerald my beloved

Three favourite foods: Spaghetti w/ pistachio pesto, savoyard fondue and those customized frozen yogurts you can get in summer at the beach don’t @ me

Song stuck in my head: I wanna be your slave by Måneskin like get out me head plz I have exams

Last song I listened to: Black mirror on the wall by Akatsuki Records

Last thing I googled: Greek alphabet

Dream trip: Fun fact I actually don’t have one, just send me to Spain or Italy for summer vacations I want a break

Anything I really want: A Shion Yorigami fumo. Or a Tenshi Hinanawi fumo. Or any fumo, really. I want a fumo so badly.

Tagging: @wings-and-cherry-blosssoms​ I literally have nobody else to tag but if anyone else wants to do it go ahead

Heck yeah, an excuse to talk about myself

• Relationship status: *vague aro handwaving*
• Favorite color: pink!!
• Three favorite foods: perogies with margarine, caramel chocolates, and cookie dough ice cream!
• Song stuck in my head: Ashite Ashite Ashite by Kikuohana
• Last song I listened to: Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by They Might Be Giants
• Last thing I Googled: “opéra” (Google was not helpful, for the record. It just recommended me theatres, which, it turns out, was not what I was looking for!)
• Dream trip: IDK, send me on a road trip across America or something.
• Anything I really want: better cosplay supplies, I guess?
• Tagging: @castors-great-pumpkin @aegleseeker @oneluckylucario

i’ve had to rewrite this three times. i hate it here. thanks for the tag tho nicky <3 

relationship status: “so there’s this one cute guy(/girl) in-“ but i do this at least once a week. (i do actually have a crush on this one Specific cute guy though)

favorite color: purple! specifically not lavender though.

three favorite foods: chocolate chip cookie dough, candied walnuts with cranberries, and my mom’s shepherds pie!

song stuck in my head: washing machine heart by mitski

last song I listened to: the last words of a shooting star, also by mitski

last thing I Googled: this stupid math formula “y= a/-b x(c/b)” one of the boys in my algebra class came up with it and we were all googling it to see if it was real or if we just made up a whole new damn math theory,

dream trip: I WANNA GO TO GREECE .. maybe italy too

anything I really want: a karl jacobs hoodie. yes i say that with my whole chest. i want a purple hoodie with a teal swirl on it, i want a karl jacobs hoodie <3

tagging: @itspixeledink , @bttrcoup , @nightmare-rivulets uhhh anyone else who wants too !! sorry moots i can never remember u all at once

omg ran u tagged me telekinetically :0 we’re so nsync

• relationship status: currently trying to process my own personal italicised “oh”. haha it’s!! a lot!! but i’m fine lmao
  

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• favorite color: dandelion yellow!!! like the discontinued crayola crayon u_u (on a related note. whoever’s idea it was to replace The Best Shade Of Crayola Yellow with ANOTHER GODDAMN BLUE is my worst enemy)

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• three favorite foods: beef stew, white cheddar cheez-its, and moose tracks ice cream!! (the kind with peanut butter cups :3 )
  

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• song stuck in my head: man there’s like five layered over each other rn. two of them are from sesame street tho 

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• last song i listened to: jubyphonic’s english cover of lemon (originally by kenshi yonezu)!!!! pls pls listen to it if it seems like the kind of thing u’d like!! i love it so much it feels like walking into ur house to escape the rainstorm outside. it’s warm and safe in the comfort of your living room, but the icy raindrops still cling to you like stars to the sky. 
  

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• last thing i googled: december birth stone lmao. my little sister said that one of her friends’ was a sapphire, and she wanted to know what hers was :) it’s blue topaz, if u were unaware
  

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• dream trip: uhhhhh. uhhh once upon a time, it was the harajuku district of japan, but right now it’s. uh. i don’t know lol. i can’t think of anywhere that i’d want to go
  

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• anything i really want: motivation,, OH and the entire koi to uso manga hehe

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tagging @well-she-isnt-straight,  @infinitemacaroni, & @chikerunotenshi !! 

also!!!! @thelemoncoffee bcus my dude. my guy. u like almost every one of my posts?? srsly ur like one of my biggest supporters and tbh i respect tf out of u for that!! thank u for existing my good dude :D 

and anybody else that wants to do this! (on a related note, u don’t have to participate! if ur uncomfortable, or if u just don’t want to do it, that’s totally okay! much love <3)

hiii um 😳 lets see

• relationship status- single in an aro way but vaguely open to changing that in a lesbian way
• fav color- lately its been orange and yellow.. and green…i can never seem to stick to just one
• three fav foods- youd never guess. 🤌i like a the uhhhhhh uhm uh
• song stuck in my head- Jump Up Super Star by the 8-Bit Big Band (ive never played mario odyssey in my life. im sorry this is just what i listen to for fun)
• last song i listened to- Mysterious Rainbow Girl by A Shell In The Pit (music from Wandersong which i also havent played but this one ive at least watched! its very good!!)
• last thing i googled- “revolutionary girl utena” (i forgot which one that was)
• dream trip- man this got me feeling all sentimental idk…..id like to go pretty much anywhere with my friends at this point im not picky i somehow enjoyed being in utah so at this point anything goes
• anything i really want- some motivation to get my fucking anatomy homework done before next week PLEASE

(via mizuno-marmalade)

hrefnatheravenqueen:

mango-habanero-autism-deactivat:

catididnt:

sioltach:

Transcript:

“Most of what you think you know about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is wrong.

This is the model that we all learned in psych 101 is wrong [image of Maslow’s pyramid is shown] where our basic physiological needs are at the bottom of the pyramid and achieving one’s full individual potential is at the apex.

What you may not have known is that Maslow spent 6 weeks with the Blackfoot First Nation in the summer of 1938. He learned about their worldview and the Blackfoot Tipi, appropriated and misrepresented their perspective to establish his own Maslow’s hierarchy, and then didn’t give them credit.

[Image of Maslow’s pyramid and Blackfoot tipi shown, described below]

According to the Blackfoot Tipi, self-actualization is at the bottom of the pyramid. In the middle we have belonging and community actualization, where people take care of each other and help each other with their basic needs. And at the top, we have cultural perpetuity, which is teaching each other how to live in harmony with the land and achieve community actualization through generations.

It makes so much sense, right? Taking care of oneself is not enough. We need to take care of each other and our community.

This is why we need to decolonize psychology.”

If anyone wants to learn more about this I suggest watching the late Narcisse Blood’s interviews on Maslow and the influence of Blackfoot worldviews on his work thru the Blackfoot Digital Library, they’re very in-depth

Eldon Yellowhorn also discusses Maslow and Blackfoot ways of knowing but I forget which interview it’s in

Research Story - Rediscovering Blackfoot Science

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

sshrc-crsh.gc.ca

Maslow’s hierarchy connected to Blackfoot beliefs

I first heard of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in an advertising course I took in college many years ago. I remember looking at the pyramid an

A Digital Native American

The picture at the start of the next paper shows Maslow at the reserve, btw.

Before Maslow's Hierarchy: The Whitewashing of Indigenous Knowledge

For the last few months, I’ve been wincing a bit every time I see a

Shane Safir

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and Blackfoot (Siksika) Nation Beliefs | Rethinking Learning

I have referred to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs for as long as I can remember. I learned about it as a way of looking at the complete physica

barbarabray.net

Also this is good if you’re interested in a very short introduction to tipi construction and their use as homes and visual records of important knowledge:

https://href.li/?https://drroywilson.mhpsd.ca/common/pages/UserFile.aspx?fileId=2761889

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I much prefer the Siksika model to Maslow’s. It places the individual at the base of the tipi, and the existential objective in that model is literally cosmic in scale. A self-actualized individual can better contribute to the community, and a self-actualized community and culture can perpetuate itself through time. The goal is so much larger than the realization of your own self, it’s about being a part of a greater whole and ensuring it lasts into perpetuity.

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lacefuneral:

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mehofkirkwall:

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pitbullmabari:

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pitbullmabari:

rose-in-a-fisted-glove:

naturepunk:

I think I left the teller at the bank genuinely disturbed when I told him that “If I can’t afford it, I just don’t buy it.” 
“What about a car? Do you drive a car?” he inquired, his voice toning on the edge of fear.  
I told him, “Yeah, I have a vehicle. I bought it used for under $3,000.” 
He looked physically pained. “What about if you want to buy some kind of new appliance? Or furniture?” he persisted.
I stared at him blankly. “My couch was $5.00 at Goodwill. Like…I just buy shit cheap or I don’t buy it at all. The only thing in my life that I make payments on is my house, my bills, and my insurance, and that’s split five ways because I have housemates.” 
The young man looked horrified? Appalled? And somehow also awed? 
This guy couldn’t have been much older than me. But it seemed that he’d never even considered the option before of saving up for something to purchase it outright instead of using a credit card.
Am I the only person in my general age group (just turned 26) who’s never owned a credit card, and who has forgone basic comforts in order to save up for items so you don’t owe money to anyone, like, ever? 

If you’re living in the US without a credit card at 26, you’re playing with danger.

No credit is viewed as the same as bad credit. Which means you could be denied if you ever do need to rent an apartment or a car. Hospitals and clinics are also less likely to allow payment plan programs for people without good credit.

The best thing you could do at this point is apply for a credit card you’re eligible for and pay a few things (I do gas and groceries myself) with it each month. As long as you keep it to zero balance each month there is no interest and there will be proof of you not having debt (instead of just the absence of debt).

what.

This is legit how it works.  The system requires records on you, or else.  So you need a credit card and worse, you need to have a record of using it, even if you pay it off every single month.  Unfortunately, the formulas used to determine credit score are secret, so we also have people suggesting that your credit rating is helped if every so often you do pay a bit of interest.  The whole thing is a complete mess.  If you don’t have a credit rating/history, then any loans you manage to get will be at extremely high interest and will require much more effort than they really should.

what

yeaah let me just go get a card that i can’t pay off because capitalism is shit, even if i literally only buy a pack of gum
that’d go well

If you pay it off in full every month there is no interest.  Do what OP is doing but put some of that on your credit card and pay it off every month, and soon you will have a very good credit rating.

you skipped right the fuck over the “can’t pay it off” part huh

like credit cards are just not a viable thing if you’re poor and have shit income

And I’m saying to literally not put anything on it if you can’t buy it in cash. And I’m aware that they fuck over poor people, but yeah, that’s the system that’s in place. This is advice for navigating it, which is how to obtain good credit which helps a lot.

Right like don’t make minimum payments, put your gas on your credit card then that same day pay the credit card company online then don’t worry about it for another month. It’s an absolutely shit system, but in the event of an emergency it’s good to have.

I have had to explain this to a lot of people in my life, but it’s true- no credit is the same as bad credit. What having (and using) the card actually shows is that you are capable of (and actually follow through on) making regular payments: ie, it is proof of having a steady income (even if you do not actually have a steady income). It is showing you reliably can pay for things you purchase, which is what your credit score is all about.

Think of it this way. You have a credit card, which is your credit tracking device. You use the card to tell someone “I will pay for this thing with borrowed money.” They agree to allow you to pay with borrowed money. You then turn around to your credit card company and say “Thank you for allowing me to borrow your money, I will now pay you back with my own money.” (which, if you repay them promptly enough, you can repay them the exact same amount you borrowed, rather than paying them more than you borrowed [which is what interest is])

The credit card company then recognizes that you successfully borrowed their money AND returned it safely, and they pass that information along to credit tracking companies. Each time you do this, you gain credibility. If you do this enough times, you are considered a credible borrower of money, so that if you ever are in a situation where you need to borrow a large sum of money (for example, a mortgage or a car or a hospital bill or whatever), companies with money will look at how well you have returned money in the past, and say Ah yes, this person repays their debts well, so we can lend them our money this time.

So like, do what the above folks are recommending. Get a credit card and use to to reasonably purchase things you already have to buy- put a batch of groceries on the card. Go home (or wherever you can use the interne), pay it off as if you had paid cash in the store for it. There is no extra fee or interest for doing this, and you are leveling up your credibility in case of emergency later on in life.

Ok, here’s a guide for the easiest way to do this.

1. get your first baby credit card with the bank that you already bank with. If it has cashback rewards, even better (that’ll be free money later).

2. set that shit up so it pays the full amount, automatically, every month. you don’t have to remember to go home and pay it off, or worry about it at all. You won’t pay interest.

Your first card, especially if you have no credit, is going to have a small limit. Like $500. This is important: credit companies want you to use a certain percentage of the card every month. This is 1-9%. I usually just go straight 5%. If you use too much, you look like a wild card (even if you pay it off every month) and if you use nothing than you’re not proving to them you can be trusted.

So your first card has a $500 limit. 5% of 500 is $25.

Your goal is to use $25/month.

This is about a tank of gas for me. So once a month, I would fill up with this card, and then put it in the back of my wallet until next month. The payment was made automatically by my bank from one account (debit) to the other (credit). Rinse and repeat. I did this for a year.

Then after a year, my credit had skyrocketed (because I had nothing before, and added this good habit for a year). So I called up my bank and asked for them to increase my limit based on my new credit. I had shown them I was good at borrowing a good amount of money and paying it back on time every time.

The bank increased my limit to $5,500. Like holy shit, at the time I was definitely not expecting that.

So new math. 5% of 5500 is $225. So now instead of gas, I put my cell phone bill ($50), my car insurance ($130), and my dog food automatic order ($40) on it.

The best part is everything is automatic. I keep this card in the back of my wallet permanently; all these bills and the automatic payments are, well, automatic. My credit goes up, I rack up cash back rewards, there’s nothing to it.

And, if I ever get in an emergency, like a vet bill for one of my dogs, I can use that card to pay the $3,000 emergency bill without worrying about whether the place will take my dog if I have no money. I can then go home, change the settings from “pay in full every month” to “pay $X every month” (more than the minimum!) until it’s paid off, and then go back to just my bills. My credit might take a little dip during that time, but will bounce back pretty quickly.

There’s several other factors to credit (hit me up if you want more info) but this was literally the only measure I took for my first year, and my credit went from 525 to 700 in a year. Another year later, I’m now at 753, have a mortgage with a great rate, and can get a monster ass loan if I really need it in case an emergency or hard times fall.

It’s a shitty system of hoops to jump through, but knowing you can use these measures if it comes to it is a good feeling.

Okay but literally read this entire post please!

Take it from someone who was taught that credit cards are evil, you NEED to build up some credit. 

I’m 32 and only JUST NOW able to get a card because my fiance helped me do so. I could not get approved before because I didn’t have any credit.

do NOT pay off the same day if you plan to make multiple purchases that month. only pay off your bill ONCE a month otherwise it will hurt your credit. i tend to wait until a few days before the due date and pay it then.

if you do just make the one purchase a month, go for it. but otherwise, be careful.

(via meduwusa)

royalhandmaidens:

thereluctantbadger:

snickerdoodlesandsausages:

A lot of Northerners were very kind during the freeze in Texas this winter with tips on how to stay warm for people who had lost heat. This is an attempt to repay that favor for people in the Pacific Northwest and other northerly locations who are facing dangerous heatwaves without built-in A/C. My qualifications to give this advice are that I was a summer camp attendee and counselor with no A/C for many summers in humid-ass central Texas with highs over 100F basically every day. Hopefully some of it will be of use to somebody who isn’t used to the heat.

1) PUT ICE WATER IN YOUR BODY. Ice water is your best friend and the #1 way to drop your body temp. Drink more than you think you need (like, at least a half-gallon a day and closer to a gallon or more if you have to be outside doing manual work all day) to cool your insides down and stay hydrated. Have some bananas, trail mix, or a sports drink to help replace the electrolytes you’re sweating out and keep you from getting cramps, but try to have most of your fluid intake be water. I used to take a giant water bottle, fill it part way with water, and freeze it on its side so the ice would slowly melt over the course of the day and my water would stay cold longer.

2) PUT ICE WATER ON YOUR BODY. Cold water, ice, or a damp rag on your head and neck, the backs of your knees, the insides of your elbows, and under your armpits will help you cool down the best, because your blood runs close to the surface in those places. Cold packs designed for injuries or lunchboxes, bags of frozen vegetables, etc. can substitute for ice water as well. Even room-temp water will pull heat away from your body better than body-temp sweat will, especially if it’s humid, so if you don’t have enough ice, the sink, bathtub, or hose will do fine. Dipping your feet into cool water helps a ton as well if you have to sit and work and don’t want your clothes to be wet.

3) WHERE AM I SUPPOSED TO GET SO MUCH ICE?  To make sure you have enough ice to last you the weekend, especially through a potential power failure, I recommend getting a cooler (even one of the cheap styrofoam ones is fine in a pinch) and ~10lbs of ice from the big coolers at most gas stations, drug stores, or grocery stores. Try to do this now, before anybody loses power, and store as much in your freezer as you have space for to keep it from melting. You can use it for drinking or to keep your food cold in a power failure. You can use it for a party later if you don’t end up needing it during the heat wave, but you will probably be very happy you had it.

4) AIR FLOW. Being inside a room with the windows closed is the worst possible place to be if you don’t have A/C, because glass windows create a greenhouse effect and the hot air can’t escape. If at all possible, find a shaded place outside where you can catch any possible breeze. If not, open all your windows and, if it’s safe, doors so you can get a cross-breeze. Hopefully you have window screens to keep pets and kids in and bugs out. If not, you’re gonna have to do your own risk assessment. Fans of all sizes and descriptions are your friend; ceiling fans should be set to spin counterclockwise in summer. Even if you have A/C, finding or making a handheld fan will be worthwhile for when you have to venture outside. If you aren’t in a situation where you need to conserve ice, blowing air over a cooler full of ice will give you a makeshift A/C. 

5) SHADE. You will probably immediately notice that direct sunlight is a miserable place to be when it’s super hot. Find or make a shaded location, and don’t be afraid to move around to avoid the sun as the day goes on. Stay on the shady side of the sidewalk whenever you walk someplace. Try to shade your windows as best you can without obstructing airflow using blinds, curtains, shutters, etc. especially if they’re directly in the path of the sun. Do not be a jerk to your neighbors if their shade solutions are ugly. If you can get a shade for your car windshield, I highly recommend it, as the steering wheel, dashboard, seatbelts, and even seats can quickly become too hot to touch in a sealed car and will hold that heat for a long time.

6) CLOTHING. Light-colored, loose clothing that is as close to 100% cotton or linen as you can find is your friend. It doesn’t necessarily have to be short as long as it’s breathable. You will sweat through anything you wear, so I personally prefer only wearing machine-washable stuff. Sun hats, sunscreen, sunglasses, aloe gel for sunburns, mosquito repellent, anti-chafing supplies, etc are all worth looking into if you aren’t used to spending time in the heat.

7) TIMING. Try to stay out of the sun and avoid doing anything strenuous in the middle of the day when the heat is the worst. If you have a choice, plan to be more active early in the morning and late at night when the temperature is more bearable, and take a break in the middle of the afternoon.

Here’s a graphic from the CDC about how to recognize heat-related illnesses and what to do about them. I will add to this that if it’s hot and you stop sweating, you are getting to a dangerous level of dehydration and need to drink something BEFORE you start having more serious problems.

Tip from an EMT: the big difference between Heat Exhaustion and a Heat Stroke is confusion. If someone seems overheated and in distress, but can still hold a conversation and answer questions appropriately, they still need help but not as drastically. Most of the time it can still be reversed by simply getting them into a cool environment and giving them cool water to sip on. Electrolyte replacement will be a must.

If they seem overheated and are slurring their words, unable to answer your questions appropriately, or unable to talk at all, those are key indicators that they may be having a heat stroke and need medical attention ASAP.

For my muslim/hijabi sisters:

• an abaya is your friend, the looser the better. it’ll allow airflow and keep you cooler
• wear the fabrics designed for the middle eastern heat, like nidha
• if you don’t have nidha, stick to light, organic fabrics like cotton or linen - no polyester!
• buy a neck cooler and wear it under your hijab or just around the house - these are a life saver and can easily be refrozen quickly
• wear a hijab style that doesn’t wrap in multiple layers or hug your head and neck too tightly
• sprinkle some water on top of your hijab, looks silly but works wonders at cooling your head down
• i know we hijabis like to layer but layering is not your friend in the heat
• do it like they do in the gulf countries - become a night owl, snack on a lot of fruits, freeze fruits to snack on, and stay indoors or nap in the hottest parts of the day
• also unrelated but coffee and tea are diuretics so it’s best to cut down consumption when it’s super hot

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