I just reada really good fic but halfway through I realized "oh shit this is really familiar.... didn't I write something like this once?" And as I kept reading I kept predicting what happened next and the further I went the more convinced I was that they'd ripped off my story-

like, copied the ENTIRE plot and re-written it, just better than I had? The characters were more fleshed-out than mine were, and the POV was more interesting, and the pace made more sense- but it was MY STORY?

So close to the end I was like "holy shit.. do I message them? Ask if my story inspired theirs? Should I be angry? Flattered?" Cause their tags and description didn't mention me AT ALL, which, sure, it's fanfiction to begin with, but if you're using my work than at least credit me as inspo, right? Just to be courteous?

But I get to the end of the final chapter, and it's not finished, and I'm kind of disappointed cause I never finished my story and I was really immersed in their version now and had been looking forwards to seeing how they tied up my loose ends- so I scroll to the bottom to leave a comment, and.

It's MY URL.

IT WAS MY STORY THE WHOLE TIME.

THE ONE *I WROTE*.

In *2013*.

And FORGOT ABOUT

BECAUSE I WAS SO INSECURE ABOUT MY SLOPPY, SHALLOW, AMETEUR WRITING

And I'm just sitting here now staring into space thinking about every shitty story I've ever written now like

IT WAS ALL GOOD?

IT WAS GOOD THIS WHOLE DAMN TIME??

I'M A GOOD WRITER?????

Some people have "fuck you" money. You know, that amount you have in the bank where you can look at someone, say "fuck you, I quit" or "fuck you, I'm leaving" or anything like that.

This has now taught me that some people have "fuck you" time. and I could not be any happier with this knowledge.

The secret to developing Fuck You Time is developing Fuck You Skills. In the above example, the gentleman had the Fuck You Skills of

1. Being able to track down the superintendent's doctoral thesis 2. How to check it for plagiarism 3. How to notify the relevant people of this fraud without sounding like a crank.

Since he has these skills, it does not take him MUCH time to preform the Fuck You. Hence, his Fuck You time might be only a few hours a week, but because he's so effecient at the Fuck You, that's all he needs.

Learn a new skill and how to tell the universe Fuck You! today!

They make me physically ill (I love them so so much and I am so so sad they couldn’t be happy together forever)

"My childhood was so awesome. Kids today don't even know!"

Isn't a flex.

It's a lament.

More people should understand that.

Cereal boxes had toys inside.

Yes, it was a crass marketing for a sugar cereal made of chintzy plastic

Today you're just expected to eat Capn Crunch because that's what you do as a child, that's what breakfast looks like. Which is... fine, I guess. Sugar still tastes good. That's still a pleasure you're otherwise asked to disavow by the protein shake nutribottles advertised on podcasts.

But it also means the idle minor joy of getting a random toy present, as a reward for nothing, just because you exist, is stripped. That random spark of joy is gone, replaced with nothing.

Where did the public pool go? the neighborhood park? the atrium food court public place to gather?

Same thing. All of them were just replaced with nothing.

Kids today have many good things. But it shouldn't be a trade off. They should get to have instant messages with friends and go skating at the park. They should get to play amazing modern video games at home and go trick or treating for halloween. They should be able to have stickers and markers and macaroni art as well as youtube and streaming libraries and fortnite dances.

Fun should be allowed at every level.

die a hero or live long enough to become memes

This is frustrating.

I love the comparison, but I hate how they are comparing.

They are acting like she is using optics to give herself an advantage. But the device she is wearing is just for comfort and essentially does the same thing as closing one eye and squinting the other.

The little thing over the left eye is basically like an eye patch.

And the thing over her right eye is a mechanical iris, like in a camera lens, but it is NOT a lens.

Different lighting environments are going to be brighter or darker and you may have to squint more or less to let in the same amount of light into your eye. Squinting allows the shooter to get the sharpest possible vision in order to shoot a bullseye the size of a 12-point Times New Roman period.

But if you have to squint for hours for practice and in competition, this can strain your face muscles and become uncomfortable. So this iris basically squints for you.

It's more like wearing comfortable shoes so your feet do not hurt than a lens magnifying the target and giving an advantage.

Both athletes have access to these items. One felt more comfortable without them. The other didn't feel like getting a muscle cramp from squinting all day.

Either would have shot the same if they had or had not used these devices.

Just a funny difference in gear preference.

I should also add, the Turkish dad is the only one using lenses.

I'd just like to add that Kim Yeji may look like a cool cyborg badass, but she and the Turkish dad only won silver.

The gold medal winner in the women's air pistol finals was adorable and a bit overshadowed.

Oh Ye-jin, who is only 19, won gold and set an Olympic record with her final score.

Kim Yeji is her mentor and seems very supportive of her.

Also, Oh Ye-jin added a little heart to the barrel blocking thingie.

I mean, it's like she got lost at summer camp and just wandered into the Olympics to win gold.

I think she deserves some attention too.

When I was watching the competition I kept wondering why they never showed the actual target as it was being shot. On the broadcast they just show a graphic of the target.

And then the commentator said the bullseye was literally the size of a period—smaller than the actual pellets they are shooting. And that the entire target was the size of a coin.

They'd have to set up a macro lens next to every target for you to see them.

Pretty much every shot lands within the 3 inner circles. And if you hit the 3rd circle your shot is basically garbage. Like you'd see the shooters grimace and do an angry little foot stomp if they hit it there.

Like, if you get a 7 you might as well go home.

And the best shot possible is a 10.9—which would be hitting as close to the bullseye as can be measured.

This was Oh Ye-jin's final gold medal winning shot.

A 10.6!

It's absolutely bonkers how precise these shooters are.

I mean... look at this period...

.

Now imagine trying to shoot it from 30 feet away.

I don't think my old ass could even see the damned thing.

Thank you for the context, my nearsighted ass did NOT know this.

1947

kid had a great week

— Unknown

where's that picture that ruined my life

found it

One of my favourite things about the end of The S-Classes That I Raised novel (major spoilers ahead),

is the realisation that the reason why Yoojin and Hyunjae's relationship looks so much like a love story at times is because it actually, honestly is.

Like, we know that sctir is a novel about love since the beginning, that's not surprising. Yoojin's capability for loving monsters (both literal monsters and the human kind) and the power of that love is at the centre of the plot.

But by the time you get to the end, you realise - and the author confirms this themselves in their final Note - that Yoojin's relationship and love for 2 specific people was the true core of the story, and what allows him to save the world in the end:

One is, of course, Yoohyun.

And that love is absolute; you cannot say that it's inevitable, cause we know Yoojin had to make a choice when he was a child between Yoohyun and his parents, and he almost chose his parents, but from the moment he decided to love Yoohyun onward, then it was unconditional and eternal. It's the love of a brother, but also the love of a parent and a caretaker.

And the other person is Sung Hyunjae.

And that love is not unconditional nor inevitable or absolute at all. It's not something that can be taken for granted. We actually see, because of how it ended between them before the regression, and thanks to the White Bird's power of seeing possible futures, that there were so many timelines where Yoojin and Hyunjae would have never come to care about each other fully (tho they are always at least somewhat interested in each other, because their personalities are actually really compatible).

But the White Bird also sees that the only possible future where the world is saved is the one where they love and hold on to each other. And that is how the story goes!

So, just like a romance novel, the necessary end is the one where they both love each other and accept that love. And it's not easy to get there! It's a slow burn.

From meeting to getting to know each other, appreciating each other's skills and intelligence, finding out they have fun together but still not trusting each other, to working on building that trust.

They go from a strong but superficial mutual interest to actually caring about each other as people.

Yoojin has to go through the self-doubt of feeling inferior and fearing that Hyunjae will lose interest in him. Hyunjae has to learn to stop pushing Yoojin away because he doesn't know how to handle having someone he cares about so much, and also someone that cares about him, because nobody in the world (except in part Song Taewon) likes Sung Hyunjae as a person, he is only ever admired from afar.

And in the end, after going through ups and downs and a few "break-up arcs", they make it. They accept their own feelings and each other's feelings.

And that's when Yoojin makes the choice to use the power that the transcendents gave him at the very beginning of the novel, to save Hyunjae. Not the world. Not even Yoohyun! Just Sung Hyunjae!

Yeah, the whole "gather 50 S-Class people", the very thing that gives the novel its title. That is not a power that is used to save the world!! It was meant to, but Yoojin is "selfish", and he will always choose to save the people close to him first.

And being able to love someone so selfishly gives Yoojin the power to save the whole world, too. As a bonus! A reward. Just a side effect.

So yeah. Is it romantic love? No. Canonically, there's almost no romantic love in the whole novel.

But is it a love story?? Yeah. Absolutely it is.

I read this in the novel and I was never ever the same again ever

Official Novel Art!✨

Love seeing Gyeol & Young Chaos here.

okay listen I think it would be the funniest of Han Yoojin’s reaction to Yoohyun leaving would’ve been getting his high school degree and speed running law school so he can specifically get himself into a position where Yoohyun can’t avoid him. he has the weirdest relationship with haeyeon as a guild, somewhere between “this guy is obviously favoring them” and “they’ve had to resubmitted their taxes like 5 times because he keeps denying them because of typos”

and he can’t be blackmailed out of the position because Han Yoojin being who he is, the other S-Classes would find him fucking hilarious. His superior get advised to fire him, 10 minutes later gets a call from Sung Hyunjae like “why isn’t my favorite government official breathing down my neck about tax evasion :/“

Do you think yerim ever mistakenly called yoojin dad?

CLAMP EXHIBITION

The National Art Center, Tokyo July 3 - September 23, 2024

to succeed in adult friendship you must remember the key tenets of child friendship:

successful examples from my travels:

of course these can be mixed and matched. most activities are enhanced by Snack Time if your friend targets enjoy breaking bread together.

and one begets the other. if you Play Pretend with someone for long enough they may eventually tell you about Toys they have and if you want to play too they'll probably let you. if they're nice.

life can be lonely when we live in separate boxes and worry about money all the time. this is what makes friendships hard, not growing older. but the antidote to isolation is connection, and the oldest wisdom we ever learn: share your toys. share your games. share your snacks.

I find it fascinating that people who choose not to have children are generally assumed to feel really strongly about not having children (or even to feel really strongly against children, anyone’s children, in general). I am probably not going to have children, not because I REALLY REALLY HATE the idea of having children, but because I don’t really really love it. Out of all the major decisions I will make in my life, this one is the only irreversible one. I can sell a house, quit a job, divorce a spouse, whatever. I cannot unhave a child. I cannot opt out of being a parent once I become a parent. I can’t even take a step back for the sake of self-care or whatever, or else my child will suffer.

So for me, having children is fuck yes or not at all. The default will be to remain childfree. Having children should be an opt-in decision, not an opt-out one. Until/unless I develop really strong feelings about wanting to have children, I won’t have them, even if that means I never end up having them at all.

Sometimes you just come across something that puts into words what you have yet been unable to.

this is a really sensible and thoughtful position to take, and I wish more people would consider it.