#Philosophers Walk
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Kyoto, March 2021. Sakura season is in full swing. Cherry trees are heavy with blossom. Japan's symbolic rebirth is underway.
Streets should be heaving with admirers. Some drenched in the significance of the moment. Others enjoying the spectacle. A few desperate to grab that perfect selfie for Instagram.
Except there is an uneasy stillness.
Philosopher's Walk, the iconic centerpiece, is quiet and flows freely. There's plenty of time to pause and admire the moment or snap a photo without the frame filled with others doing the same. There are polite nods and even occasional words spoken between strangers.
As devastating as the pandemic was for Japan's tourism, I am grateful for these quieter moments. They offered an opportunity to enjoy the here and now without worrying about the crowds or fretting I was somehow spoiling someone's shot.
While a small part of me might hanker for quiet times again, I know it won't happen. Or rather, I hope it won't happen.
#Kyoto#Pandemic#Sakura#Philosophers Walk#On my travels#photography#original photographers#documentary photography#my photography#photo blog
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Kyoto, Japan
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Don't you find the strict rules of society in Japan overwhelming for you and the kids?
not one bit
#i can’t express how safe i have felt here versus the US over the past several years specifically#no guns… good healthcare… clean environment… good childcare benefits… good food…#no strong religious chokehold permeating society#vaccines and masking aren’t a moral conundrum#functioning public transportation system#functioning postal system#don’t have to worry about people randomly yelling at you#many convenience stores open 24/7#focus on seasonal eating so produce tastes better and you appreciate it more#i can walk the streets at night#in my city all childcare costs and child medical costs are waived up to 3 years old#cost of childbirth fully covered including a week long stay in the hospital after#you can drink the water#early public education has a focus on community and natural science#credit cards are automatically set up to autopay out of your bank account#my company does my taxes for me#did i mention no guns?#i could go on#like i have my philosophical issues with the country for sure but my base needs are covered and that means a lot as a parent
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they’re very cartoon villain to me
#league of legends#annie league of legends#jericho swain#vladimir league of legends#leblanc league of legends#they are all so comically evil in their own way#a literal child a philosophical pessimist a hedonist and a utilitarian walk into a bar#the child gets kicked out#and the other three try to viciously stab one another to death#and then they make out
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#I was writing a fic about Finrod and Namo decided he and his existential crisis are going to take main stage#WHY Namo?! This isn't even the PURPOSE of the fic#It's supposed to be some crack humor not some philosophical treatise on the nature of free will#*walks off to grab theology and philosophy books grumbling under my breath and side-eying Namo*#(In reality I love exploring this - it's just not supposed to be what the fic is about)#writing#writing things#writing memes
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Me: well this is absolutely the most fucked up thing I've ever written
My brain: yeah this is actually pretty bad. you know what would make it better?
Me: .... don't say it don't say it don't say it
My brain: skullfucking!
Me: i hate you
My brain: at least the skullfucking would be consensual
Me:
My brain: you know, unlike the rest of-
Me: aaaauuuuuuugghhhhgggghh
#nattering#“outshine the sun is fixit fic” well that was clearly a lie#there is a strong possibility that i will finish writing this thing and either never post it#or post it and then walk into the woods and never return#philosopher's bone(r)
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Currently I'm playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey and whilst playing I'm thinking about the Eternals back then, in Ancient Greece.
So basically i thought about Socrates annoying our Goddess of War. And Thena would never admit she actually likes talking to him.
Hugs and much love!! 🖤✨
"Is the Goddess of War cowering again?"
Thena bristled and glared at the old man, "I do not cower."
He chuckled, though, sitting himself on a rock amongst the olive trees behind the main constructions of Athens' outskirts. "And what to call it then?--you hiding here in the trees?"
She rolled her eyes. The old man was not so insufferable, but he had no problem saying things that made her want to pick him up and rattle him like a barrel. Although she was almost grateful for it in comparison to the obsessive reverence of the rest of Athens.
"Too many demands in the day already, young one?" he asked, raising a frayed, white eyebrow.
She sighed; if only he knew how young he was, to her. "They are discussing the launching of ships. Why this would need my input - let alone approval - is beyond me."
But the old man laughed, letting his walking stick rest against a different rock. Thena eyed the pale length of dead wood. "The senators, as they call themselves, are just as new to this as the idea itself. They have assembled this great counsel and yet they still seek the approval of a higher power. One wonders why they assembled this body to 'speak for the people' if they were going to surrender their decisions to a figurehead in the first place."
Thena let old Socrates ramble on. She typically wasn't one for the musings of man, much preferring her solitude. But the old man hadn't ratted her out yet, and as far as humans went, he was far from the worst. "Have you been postulating again?"
"Bah," he waved his hand through the air, squinting up at the Grecian sun through the olive leaves. "Just a crazy old man, to them."
"And you think you are not, to me?"
"Maybe," he grinned at her with what teeth he had remaining, "but I'm a crazy old man who lets you be, no?"
Thena allowed a faint smile on her lips. "Indeed, you are."
"So then, we seem to have reason for our alliance," he chuckled.
"And you?" Thena asked in an unusual invitation to continue their talking. She summoned a blade to her hand and whittled down his walking stick.
Socrates watched her the same way he watched fisherman haul in their catch; with admiration for the craft, but with no further interest in the act itself. "Hiding from that young tyke."
"Young Plato?" Thena smiled as she sliced the wood cleanly, angling it to form a head for a proper cane. The old man was walking around leaning on this tree length washed up on the shore. "He is fond of Phastos as well."
"Ah, yes, Hephaestus?" Socrates raised his other eyebrow, to which Thena shook her head. "What of your Champion?"
A length of wood went flying.
Thena tossed the properly carved cane back at the man, "what of him?"
Socrates shrugged an increasingly bony shoulder. "You're with him when at all possible, aren't you?"
Thena nearly pouted at the needling - but entirely correct - statement. She huffed, "there are many demands on Gilgamesh."
"Ah yes, Gilgamesh," Socrates laughed, resting his hands outstretched in front of him. "And what do you call him?"
She gave him a somewhat tired glare. She could deny him the rest of his needling and simply leave. But then she ran the risk of an advisor or senator or counsellor - or stars forbid one of the many sculptors searching for her - finding her. She sighed. "Gil."
"Oh."
She glared at him anew, her hackles rising despite her best efforts.
Socrates gave her a look that made her want to chuck him right off their cliff of solitude, "Gil."
She hardened her expression at him, if only to keep her annoyance from boiling over. He said it in a way that made her feel agitated. "Have you not other people to pester?"
"None as fun as you, dear," he laughed heartily, his head tossed back.
Thena huffed again; insufferable old coot.
"And what power does your Gil possess, again?"
She glared at him, but he feigned some effort into remembering, scratching the beard on his chin. "Strength."
"Ah, yes, the fella who can reach into the forges and grasp iron with his bare hands."
No trouble remembering him at all, it seemed. Thena pursed her lips, "indeed."
"They do demand a lot from him," Socrates agreed with her earlier statement at this much later junction. He snuck his eyes - still sharp under the wrinkling of his skin - back over to her with a grin. "Not very fair to you, is it?"
Thena refused to dignify that with a response.
Socrates let out another laugh, and she wondered how many rocks might fit in that wide mouth of his. "That's why you're out here moping?"
The shade of the trees was doing nothing to shield her from the heat of the sun.
"Dearie," he snorted, jabbing her knee with the cane (which she just so-kindly fashioned for him!). "You are the patron saint of Athens. I'm sure if you want to steal your boyfriend all you need do is ask."
Thena flushed further at yet more indignity. "I do not-!"
"Oh, save it!" he drawled at her, in a way no one else in Athens would ever dare. He scratched at something in his ear, "I don't care what you think I think or what you know I know."
She glowered at him.
"There you are!"
Thena looked up, a smile coming over her (whether she wanted it or not). "Here I am."
Gilgamesh pushed an olive branch out of his way to lean on the rock beside her. He nodded to old Socrates, "and good day to you."
"And you, Champion," Socrates gave him a smirk. "We were just speaking of you."
"Oh?" Gil looked at Thena beside him, who was glaring at the old man.
"Have you nowhere else to rest after your ceaseless chatter?"
Gil didn't argue with her. He had seen her and the old philosopher interact a few times before, and it was always funny. Jabs were only ever made in good humour. "Actually, I was hoping to steal the Goddess away with me."
"She's all yours, sonny boy," Socrates stood, stretching out his arms before taking up his newly carved cane. "Don't mind me."
Gil simply nodded to him as he began shuffling past them and into the city. He looked down at Thena, stealing one of her hands off her lap to hold for himself. "Hey."
"Hey," she beamed. The unique relief and comfort of his company truly had reached new heights during their time in Athens.
"Time for a break?" he propositioned, pulling her up from her resting rock, her hand still in his. He brought his head closer to hers, "I packed us a little picnic--you, me, in the orangery?"
Thena kept her eyes on her personal embodiment of solace standing before her. She yearned to curl up in his arms, "divine."
"I thought you weren't one for divination."
"Away with you!" she snapped at the old bastard one again chuckling at her expense. She thunked her forehead against Gil's chest.
"Hey," he chuckled, rubbing her back as he allowed her frustrations. "Come on, he's not bad. As far as humans go, I'd say you're fond of the old guy."
"I am done speaking of him," she sighed, still pressing her warmed skin to Gil's cooling robes. She purred as he pulled her hair over her shoulder, running his fingers through it gently. "I believe you offered sustenance?--and solitude."
#Thenamesh AU#I did look up both incarnations#I know in the games he's not designed as an old man#but honestly I wrote that his eyebrows were bedraggled#and I kind of went from there Love#I hope you don't mind#I thought it would be kind of cute for him to be this annoying grandfather type#he is a philosopher#he has no interest in the literal Goddess of War walking around in their daily life#if anything he doesn't believe she is a goddess#he knows the Eternals are...something#but he certainly knows that Athens impressed their beliefs upon her#not the other way around#so when he sees her haunting around the outskirts of the city#he just lets her#he too is tired of the pomp and circumstance of young Athens#and we may not know for sure#but he doesn't seem to have had a family#he thinks it's funny to get under the Goddess' skin#tease her about the things parents and grandparents tease about#he waves at them when they're out#others are like Socrates do not address the patron gods informally!#he's like ah we're old friends right kiddo?#Thena pretends not to like him#but he gets jostled and falls one day when some soldiers are passing through#and she picks them up and makes them apologise to him at knife point
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Overheard at robotics build session part two:
“I wanna come up with an adverting slogan that compares it to a nuclear weapon.”
“It’s like nuclear fallout but instead of killing you if just makes everything shiny.”
“Stop filing him! Yo, new OSHA violation just dropped.”
“I had two. One was awful, and the other was just… awful.”
“McMaster Carr doesn’t have googly eyes!!!! You know what, I’m gonna sue them. How can I sue them for not having googly eyes?”
“Just be like her and put everything in your mouth, eventually you’ll eat food.”
“Press control unfuck.”
“Your personality makes it seem like you should have more legs than you do. And I don't know where the rest went.”
“We got the screw. Happy screw.”
“Welcome to glowrito. You snap the burrito and then it just glows.”
“That’s catastrophic, like we ran over a blowtorch.”
(Additional quote insanity)
#part of me wants to say there’s context for this#but the context really just makes it worse#and half the time i just walk in to someone having a philosophical discussion with a can of wd40 so#i can’t tell if i love my team or hate them but they sure as hell make life interesting#frc#robotics#first robotics competition#frc 2023#charged up#frc quotes#frc robotics
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shaking of leaves by into it over it is genuinely one of the top songs of all time
#the sun is setting later which is a shock because i was too bruised up to celebrate the winter solstice this year#i got lasik surgery just to start a staring contest with the sun. two of my names mispronounced in a row by the butchers. i can still see#arithmetic as construction in space and geometry as construction in time. follow two parallel lines until they meet.#piazza stairs in the sun drinking aloe lychee juice watching young and beautiful people talk about money. notice the small fine lines#forming at the corners of their lips between their brows the sides of their eyes. what is representable for you is necessarily what there#is. subjective necessity transfer to objective necessity. why is this compelling? why are you compelling? would you like to kiss#by the river? would you like to walk 30 minutes to broadway so we can kiss by the river? ar 3³#ive learned a lot about turner's watercolours but i havent said enough about the ways neurons dance together. about the way all of it is a#process without emotion and how that makes it beautiful. chipped nailpolish on his nails and dark circles under his eyes and a smile that#says i have learned to study the nature of the mind and how intuitions form reality and i no longer want to die. instead of taking#that horrible fall he reads kant to himself and he reads her to sleep and he reads my horrible jokes.#dont think like a psychologist and dont write like a philosopher. dont do maths like a physicist.#ironically read the science of logic. ironically a caffeine adict. ironically drink steriliser for its 74% alcohol solution.#ironically a 1:1 student. there are birds hanging in the archives. orions belt over the red glow of a very normal house.#each time i walk home the stars are brighter. i hope you are brighter too. i hope i am brighter too. i am going to win#that staring contest with the sun.#[i drafted this post on jan30 and forgot abt it]
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philosophy project-ing right now
#as in im making progress on my philosophy project.#my dearset philosophy teacher says that she'd have to take points off for it being late but she'll give full points if i make it very good#and i will! and i will.#oh the phone situation is marginally fixed. begrudgingly told my parents about it and my father helped out#apparently clearing out the phone's memory helped the gghost touches. it's mostly usable now#and i will soon get a replacement! which won't be hard considering my father happens to sell phones and the like for a living.#ahem. philosophy project#oh idealism we're really in it now#im so happy my teacher happened to give me my favorite philosophical movement#on another note i love my teacher. literally an aunt figure or something of the likes she's my favorite#and im her favorite from my class ^^#of course she's never said it outwardly but it's rather obvious.#one time in class we were writing something on the board and while walking past me she proceeded to give me a headpat#a headpat!#i love her. aunt figure. (finger pointing at viewer emoji)#🌙rambling
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Me: *comes home for 2 weeks at the end of the semester bc I have so damn many things to do I couldn't manage to come down earlier*
Me: *spends the first week dying of term paper stress*
Me: *home alone with my siblings for the second week, doing my absolute most to a) stop the decent into chaos, and b) actually spend time with my siblings who I haven't seen since NEW YEARS*
Sibling 1: *leaves town bc they have Uni stuff*
Sibling 2: *sleeps til 11 am, spends the night at a friend's house when we wanted to watch a movie, can't be trusted to walk the elderly dog before she starts pissing on the carpet, responds to being asked to help out with [insert crucial house maintenance task or crucial animal welfare task] with "no, I don't want to", procrastinates cooking so hard when it's their turn we don't eat for around 8 hours uninterrupted, almost causes a really dangerous accident bc they didn't want to watch the dog while sibling 3 and I were working with the horse*
Sibling 3: *brings their best friend literally everywhere I really really wish I was joking when I say I have seen more of him all week than of sibling 2, plans squad game nights on mutually agreed upon family movie night and doesn't even tell me and invites best friend, who isn't even participating, to our home for the duration of said squad game night*
Me: *probably has gluten stomach due to the fact that the kitchen has not been cleaned all week*
Me: *literally moved a really important doctor's appointment on extremely short notice bc I didn't want to leave Sunday*
Me: *has not had a single friend over bc I wanted to spend time with my siblings*
Also me: *remembers why I never stay at home very long to begin with*
#vladi speaks#in other words. sibling 3 wrecked the whole kitchen making chocolate covered strawberries for a party and left without cleaning it up#and sibling 2 was asked to do 3 simple tasks today: walk the dog before 11 clean literally anything you want for 30 mins muck out the rabbit#pen. and has not only failed to complete even a single one of these but also tried to start a philosophical argument with me#person with gluten intolerance desperately trying not to get poisoned in a gluten-containing kitchen where sibling 3 feeds his sourdogh#starter on the counter daily and then doesn't wipe it down after#about the concept of cleaning and also why can't we do it tomorrow we're not cooking anything today
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I love the cold. I love how it seeps from the outside in, and has the sharp and precise edge of knife, permeating in little crystals, and after a cruel breaking in, settles in a blissful numbess that lulls and softens and dulls reality from it’s corners. It’s the opposite of the heat, that simmers and boils from the inside out, that’s suddenly overwhelming and blinding and painful in an all-encompasing way that comes with a facade of comfort and weakens all together. The cold tells what it is, it promises it’s end with how it breaks in, but then it takes slowly, kindly almost, like a friend holding your hand and walking you to the end of your line.
It’s beautiful, like the infinite fractals of a snowflake that are terrifying to understand, but stunning and breathtaking to enjoy.
#philosophical musings of a tired soul#it's a ice-pack-back sorta day#it's my method of torture#listen if you have to pick a way to punish yourself or go out choose the cold team jack frost all the way#i also learned to not turn my heater on during my car rides and i have discovered a Whole New World#don't do drugs just walk in the cold with as little protection from it as you can tolerate#Red's personal sitcom
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the majority of the cis people in my everyday life these days know at least a handful of trans people either personally or professionally and/or are generally thoughtful people who do their own research, so I’ve gotten pretty used to them having half a clue about gender, which left me largely unprepared to respond to my coworker asking me about Trans Politics TM in the middle of the work day. gave her a deer-in-headlights look for a good ten seconds because like, I don’t actually always mind being someone’s gender liaison, but a) I think I’m the first out trans person you’ve ever known and I don’t think you’re ready for my full-throated opinion on this so I gotta pull together a good gentle 101 real quick and b) it’s one in the afternoon and I’m in the middle of looking over our suture stock, can I maybe get back to you on this one
#I think it went okay. she's trying. it went better after I realized she was turned around on terminology so we were talking at cross-angles#which made more sense after she showed me the article that prompted the question and it was from the New York fucking Post#which is a whole other issue I didn't know how to tackle so I just stayed on topic#anyway. wild interaction. the philosophers walking together/playing with blocks meme is real sometimes.#in which Ruth makes text posts
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pumpkin gnocchi with sausage-based ragú spoke to me in a dream so I think I should really write tonight
#sneaky niki#lamb loose liveblogging#theme of the day: HDS’s philosophical regression#walk with me here for a bit#he ended the series full of himself. enough to read nietzsche#but then I decided I didn’t like the natural progression of things#so he will read philosophers that have come before nietzsche one after the other#in order: schopenhauer. kierkegaard. kant. rousseau.#I’m keeping away from idealism and the likes bc they don’t talk at large about the question around evil or happiness#even kant only briefly touches on that at large but I think HDS would be pompous enough to think himself worthy of kant#all of these people had their flaws btw so this is not me putting any of them on a pedestal#I’m just wearing my HDS goggles right now#but yea I wouldn’t call this story a redemption arc bc I don’t think any of these characters can be redeemed#but evolution also has its regressions and I think HDS needs to take some steps back and remember humanity is not all to toss in the garbage#himself included. he used to be kind. I wanted to explore that sense of regret and guilt and grief starting from his final form in the show#HDS does very heinous shit in this fic to the people around him#he did it in the show and he is doing it again#and his actions will make us pity SDY (incredible! ik!)#also HDS is making new friends (*cough* found family whomst *cough*) and that will remind him of what he had lost along the way#will he be deserving of connection? is a honeymoon phase enough to restore his husmanity? feeling empathy again is worthy of forgiveness?#these are the topics of this writing session#wish me luck :*#niki out!
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One symptom of feeling better is that you might start to smile at strangers more. This in turn might cause more happiness even if they didn’t smile back. Further research is needed but the present data is promising
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they could have finished endwalker and just not used the items for the minion and mount, phil doesn't have his yol either
i cant believe i'd never thought of that but youre so right and that WOULD make sense but also oh my god i cant believe i didnt notice phil not having his yol. PHILIP WHAT DID YOU DO WITH IT? IS THE WHISTLE IN YOUR INVENTORY SOMEWHERE? YOUR SADDLEBAG? DID YOU HAND IT OFF TO A RETAINER AND FORGET? fascinating. and yet kinda real of him cause i too would like to forget the majority of stormblood. but yeah it would make sense that they finished endwalker and just didnt use the mount & minion yet cause honestly i cant imagine stopping in the middle of ultima thule like that is such a one sitting experience so if they got to the ea they MUST have finished it. so much to think about.......
#very important ffxiv dnp discussion to think about here THANK u anon i feel like we're that painting of the two philosophers yknow the one#much to ponder..... i cant believe i didnt notice him not having his yol. hes so funny#i dont blame him i used to be so bad at the game that i almost cried doing bardams mettle#(but that was also bc i played it for the first time way before they patched it to make a lot more sense. so i was just dying real badly)#(and i was a summoner then too.... phil i understand u. i do. i get it)#nowadays i play rdm mainly. which like. Lesbian Class fork found in kitchen. i LOVE red mage. not the point. anyhow#lads if u really have finished endwalker and are just letting poor argos sit in ur inventory.... let him out! take that poor dog for a walk#ask
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