remix 7 just has nostalgic vibes for some reason n idk why i literally had no experience with ds at all before hyperfixating on rhythm heaven-

The Red Plague

The art above was created by Nix Hydra, and can be found in the Minor Arcana Art Book (or where I got it - off the fandom wiki page, because who’s going to stop me)

Much of Zelda’s story in the non-apprentice timeline delves into the plague before, during, and in the aftermath of Vesuvia, and I wanted to compile my lore and headcanons for it in one place before I delve into her story fully. I will incorporate as much canon as possible, but given that that isn’t a large amount of info, a lot of this is based off research and personal worldbuilding. 

CWs for discussions of disease, death, body horror, I guess spoilers but I’m surprised if it is for anyone considering how the info is everywhere in game in all routes. This is also, again, personal headcanon and I don’t expect it to fall in line with everyone’s thoughts on the plague.

The Timeline

I’m going to go with a comprehensive timeline first, and this part is all based on canon information. I’ll try and provide as many sources as I can as well, but some of this is pulled from multiple books and I might forget exactly where something came from. 

As we learn in the Lucio tale, Dawn of the Grub, Lucio strikes up a deal with the wyrm of pestilence (Vlastomil) - his parents’ hearts in exchange for a disease that will allow Lucio to kill them both. The Lucio brought the disease back to the tribe, which weakened his father enough for Lucio to kill him. His mother Morga, however, fights off the disease, referring to it as a ‘summer cold’, and Lucio flees the tribe and joins a traveling mercenary band which allows the plague to spread. 

I don’t have a particular reason why Morga would have survived the plague. Her sprites in the game never show any sign of the plague that are generally acknowledged - no red sclera, no veins, no signs of weakness, so on and so forth. The best theory I can posit is that Morga either genuinely had a summer cold, or that the plague only took hold in Lutz rather than them both. Either way, unsatisfying, but we’re going to call Morga the exception and not the rule. 

Because Lucio did not fulfill his end of the bargain with Vlastomil, the plague continued to spread, following Lucio as he traveled the continent. This is also the point where the beetles appear - more on them later. 

The implication in the game is that the disease reached other countries and areas, but the next canon mention of the Red Plague’s spread occurs in Portia’s route, book X - Wheel of Fortune. A map is discussed where dates, places, and sightings of the plague are noted by Julian in his study of the plague - the Painted Fields, Blue Mountain Ridge, and Annyala Gate are all names that arise. 

Nasmira recognizes the name of Annyala Gate and points out that Nazali was at that battle, in which a band of mercenaries was sighted - and their leader needed an arm amputated, which is confirmed to be Lucio. Nadia states that Lucio came to Vesuvia not long after that battle, and the next time the Plague was seen was in Vesuvia. 

It is never seen again outside Vesuvia, and this brings us to the three years before the game, where Lucio’s ‘death’ heralds the end of the plague, and it is never seen actively again in the Arcana world. 

The headcanons I have are to help establish a solid timeline. Dawn of the Grub tells us the deal is made on Lucio’s 18th birthday, and I personally believe that Lucio’s death occurred on his 40th birthday, giving us about 22 years of time for us to work with for the spread of the plague. 

Some more headcanons mixed with canon:

Lucio is newly titled Count in the tale Travel at Night. Based on personal age headcanons, this tale probably occurs at minimum 17 to 18 years pre-canon, putting Asra at (at most) 10/11, Muriel at 14/15, and Lucio at a startling 22/23. It could occur later, as art style can influence perspective on age, but Muriel and Asra really don’t feel like they could be much older than that. 

During his mercenary days (sometime between the ages of 18 and 22/23) Lucio was contracted by the former Count of Vesuvia, Count Spada. This battle occurs at Annyala, mentioned above, and is the battle where Lucio 

At a certain point, Lucio was contracted by the Count of Vesuvia at the time, Count Spada, for a battle where he "made a name for himself." Story implications indicate that this was the battle during which he lost his left arm. It was amputated by Julian to prevent his death from blood loss. After he won the battle for Count Spada, he became friends with the Count and privy to secrets about Vesuvia and the Palace. Spada would eventually name Lucio his heir, and upon his death, Lucio earned rulership of Vesuvia. 

The plague eventually appears and ravages Vesuvia’s population

Plague patients are sent to the Lazaret away from the city and cremated, then scattered on the beach. 

Lucio contracts the plague and defies the average lifespan of those who contracted it by lasting a few months rather than 3-10 days.

Lucio dies on his birthday, not of the plague but as a result of the ritual he was attempting to gain a new body.

I tried to map most of that out here, and wow, what a sad little diagram. Nix Hydra, y’all are cowards for not going hard on this. I, however, am not, and I am about to go more apeshit than I already have. 

The Spread

Cracking my knuckles on the history degree, baby, I’m borrowing some real life inspiration from across multiple time periods to tie all this together. 

I personally think the whole “Oh, the plague arrives wherever Lucio goes and disappears when he leaves” thing is a copout, and we’re drop kicking that out a window. 

I do believe, as canon states, that the plague follows Lucio. It spreads obviously to regions he visits, but I don’t think it just disappears when he leaves. I really, really want to believe someone would have been smart enough to see the connection if the plague suddenly appeared and was later yoinked out of existence as soon as Lucio left town every single time it cropped up somewhere way sooner than it was noticed in canon. 

I don’t think the plague was as isolated as the game implies, and when it was in Vesuvia, it was probably also elsewhere. The epicenter was Lucio, of course, so Vesuvia faced the worst of it, but I think there would have been pockets with much smaller numbers in other parts of the world. 

Earlier I mentioned a few locations cited in Portia’s route as to where the plague had been before Vesuvia - the Painted Fields, Blue Mountain Ridge, and Annyala Gate. I think once these areas were hit with the plague, it would have continued to spread even after Lucio left. Across multiple routes, it’s made clear that the only ‘cure’ to the plague is Lucio’s death, which is why Julian had intended to kill Lucio after making his deal with the Hanged Man. The lack of Lucio’s presence would have kept the plague from continuing to escalate, but in these regions, it probably would have spread when the region’s people attempted to relocate, or ceased when the population died out. 

Annyala Gate, or the Great Gate, is a location I can dive a little deeper into. It’s the last location the plague was sighted before Vesuvia, and because it ties into my OC Zelda’s storyline, I have many a thought. 

Lucio is in Annyala sometime between year 1 and year 4/5, though I believe it’s on the later end of that spectrum, so let’s say year 4 to clearly predate his title as heir to Vesuvia. For reference, here is a map of the Great Gate as provided by the art book: 

Jeebus. Terrible photo quality. Ah, well, on we go. 

The Great Gate is situated between the Sea of Persephia (left) and the Salty Sea (right), and as the map currently stands, is the only point on land that gives access to the southern part of the world map. In this area in particular, I feel like a number of factors would have kept the plague alive long after Lucio left. 

Narrowest point on the world map for transport of goods between ports and seas, which would be a more efficient route than traveling around the continent to reach the same point

As previously stated, this is the only known access point to the south, and travelers heading through this area could possibly be carriers of the plague or catch the plague from the area 

The only way for the plague to stop would be with the death of Lucio, so once it was inflicted upon this area, it continued to spread and infect the population in adjoining areas 

The game repeatedly has emphasized the proximity of the Red Beetles (known harbingers of the plague) to water, such as the Nopali village in Asra’s route and the red stains attributed to them in Julian’s route, and we receive further confirmation in Portia’s route that the water supplies are contaminated during the period of the disease

Fun bit of trivia from Nadia’s route - in the Strength book, Nadia mentions that she remembers the beetles, and that once they had been used as part of a pigment used to dye fabric crimson, which was all the rage in Vesuvia. Should this trend have continued, people wearing fabrics dyed with this beetle pigment most likely would become infected, and thus, the cycle continued. 

I will also point out here that pigments have been used in makeup across history, and I’m sure applying some beetle-laden makeup would have really fucked some people up. Eyeshadows, blushes, lipsticks...contact with any of these areas, particularly the eyes and mouth, indicate a possibility of infection. 

This does, however, leave a fifteen year (ish) period where the plague would have been active in this region until Lucio’s death. Historically, diseases can last such broad swathes of time. For the sake of displaying precedent, I will point out some examples here:

The Black Death, lasting 1346-1353

The third cholera pandemic, lasting 1846-1860

The third plague pandemic, a major bubonic plague like the Black Death, lasting 1855-1960

The HIV/AIDS pandemic, which has been ongoing since 1981 in the US

However, some of the most devastating plagues have lasted only a few years, which I will touch on later when I discuss Vesuvia’s case of the plague. All of the diseases listed above are additionally categorized with death tolls over a million people.

(On a side note, if you would like to contribute to programs searching for a cure for HIV/AIDS, I will suggest donating to organizations like amfAR, the Black AIDS Institute, or the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, all of which are linked accordingly and deserve your support if you are capable of making a  contribution)

Remaining question: if the last place the plague was seen was in Annyala, more than fifteen years before it was seen in Vesuvia, what the fuck happened during that time beforehand?

Vesuvia - Before the Plague

Here’s the thing. The timeline given by the devs is a fucking mess. So, what I’m going to propose here is almost entirely theory, and I ask that you keep that in mind. 

Lucio ascends to the title of Count by the time he’s about 22 or 23. Spada dies, presumably, and there’s no noticeable mention of his death via plague or the establishment of the court. 

For some fascinating lore on how the government in Vesuvia works, I’m going to point you to this post by @sunrisenfool​, who has one of the biggest brains and is gracious enough to allow me to reference their work a little for this one. 

I don’t think the court as we know it existed when Lucio became Count. I agree with sunrisenfool here that Valdemar has been the Palace’s cockroach for a while - which was actually also confirmed in the Star book of Portia’s route, in which we see Count Prospero (founder of Vesuvia) summon Valdemar and ask for their aid in creating a city that will never die. The remaining courtiers would be gradually established as time continued on, all demons who struck bargains with the Devil in one form or another placed into positions of power alongside Lucio. We also cannot forget Valerius, who made his own deal with the Devil, and played his own role in this scenario.

We know that Lucio was also a pawn, later on, in the Devil’s agenda to bridge the gap between the main world and the Arcane realms. The ritual discussed in Portia’s Star book is described as a vessel to do just that - 

“...every 777 years, the physical and magical world will collide...the laws of magic will no longer be immutable, and the world will bend to our will...So long as the Countship and canals remain whole, so shall the power to reshape the world. You need only await the conjunction. Perform the ritual and lead the city to glory heretofore unknown. I, Count Prospero, first of my line, declare the founding of Vesuvia. The city eternal. My legacy.” - Count Prospero

It’s confirmed after this scene that the ritual, using the canals as a conduit, opened a ‘door’ so to speak to the Arcane realms. It’s also said there is a three year window to perform this ritual, and that at the time of game canon, we are at the end of that three year window. 

So. Borderline conspiracy time. 

Circling back to the lovely sunrisenfool’s work, I’m going to pull a particular excerpt here:

...the Consul of Vesuvia is the second most important/powerful political figure in Vesuvia, directly after the Count/ess. Aside of the political and civic duties I have already explained, the Consul acts as a “protector” of Vesuvia, albeit not in a paternalistic politically-conservative way (which is how paternalistic policies would be understood in our world). Instead, the Consul is meant to rule the City if the Count is absent or incapacitated, therefore being the subsidiary depositary of the secret of the foundation of Vesuvia, and the importance of it’s Canals.

Lucio makes it pretty clear he doesn’t know much of anything about the ritual during Portia’s Star book, but he was told about it by Spada before his death as it was a secret kept close to the court. That gave him something of leverage, even if he wasn’t aware of it, 

My thought as to why the plague did not spread in Vesuvia sooner is that Lucio had knowledge of this ritual, however minimal, and the Devil needed him alive to eventually use the ritual for himself. So, as Vlastomil (the wyrm of pestilence who granted this curse) was established in Vesuvia as Praetor, the plague was kept at bay for the time being while the city came under the full control of the Devil’s demons. 

I cannot imagine the only person who knows about the ritual is the Count, because that feels like a woefully flawed plan, so I do believe the Consul would have also been privy to such a secret in case the Count was in a position they could not share it due to absence or incapacitation. Basically, a rehash of sunrisenfool’s point, but I digress. 

As the window drew nearer for the completion of the ritual and it became clearer that Lucio knew next to nothing about the ritual and how it worked, the Devil decided to take a different approach. The plague was unleashed once again by Vlastomil, with the goal that Lucio become infected and eventually die, and that Valerius take over the Countship. Lucio no longer was useful to the Devil, and should he be removed from power, someone like Valerius - who knew the purpose of the ritual, who was under the Devil’s bargain by this point - would be an ideal candidate to finish the task at hand. Leverage, it works wonders. 

I don’t think the ritual performed to gain a new body could have been mere chance. I think Lucio knew more than he let on about the canals and the magic in Vesuvia from Spada. Yes, I know the first three were written before Portia, but come on, the timing is insane. He’s no magician, and performing something that complex and magically charged right at the beginning of the three year window when the ritual is supposed to be performed feels far from coincidental. Fight me. 

But, on to what happens in Vesuvia once the plague is free to spread again.

Vesuvia - During the Plague

The first sighting of the plague is in year 20, and I personally believe the plague lasted about two years or 24 months. The period is divided into three ‘waves’ - the first six months, the year leading up to Lucio’s death, and the six months following Lucio’s death. 

The First Wave

The first wave begins when the first known case of the Red Plague is confirmed, and in this period, the spread is rather slow.  

Here is the introduction of the Lazaret, which I do believe is a building that existed before the plague - this is personal thoughts, but the odds of this being the first major disease Vesuvia experienced feel pretty slim, and I do think this was a previously established quarantine that was renovated/expanded for the Red Plague outbreak. In an effort to get ahead of the disease, the space was designated a quarantine, largely staffed by volunteers when the palace seemed to not acknowledge the growing situation. It would slowly begin to increase until the plague boomed at the six month mark, heralding the beginning of the second wave. 

The Second Wave

This is the ‘bad period’ of the plague. I say that loosely, because it’s all bad, but I digress. 

I headcanon that the apprentice dies in the beginning of the second wave, when spread of the red plague rapidly begins to increase and the call goes out for researchers to search for a cure. We know how that story goes, so moving on to the details of this wave. 

There were two groups at this point in the plague - those assigned to research, working out of Valdemar’s dungeon/lab/carnival of horrors studying the plague, and those assigned to the Lazaret, caring for the sick and dying and maintaining the facility. 

I’m going to focus more on the Lazaret for this, as the research aspect is pretty well covered throughout Julian’s route and conversations with him in other routes, and this post is already getting long. 

The Lazaret was home to the dying, where they would be cared for in their final days and eventually cremated. My thought is that the remains of the patients were carefully catalogued in the beginning, returned to families willing to claim them, and those left unclaimed were scattered on the beach at the Lazaret. Later on, as more and more people died, less remains were claimed, leading to the black beaches that still mark the shores of the Lazaret in canon. Often the staff here were a mix of healers, doctors, apothecaries, anyone willing to try anything to ease the pain of such a disease. 

The staff at the Lazaret began wearing layered masks - the plague mask with its herb-stuffed beak, another facial covering beneath for an added layer of protection, and a head covering that sealed the gaps between the mask and the face. They were also required to wear gloves, tight-fitted sleeves tucked inside, and their pants tucked into their boots to reduce the risk of infection through contact. Their days would start in locker rooms on one end of the facility, removed from the patients, and suit up for the day while leaving belongings in the lockers. The end of the shift consisted of showers and disposal of garments to be sterilized, they’d return home in the clothes they came in, and by the time they returned a new uniform would be waiting for them. 

Lucio caught the plague during this period, most likely halfway through. He lasted several months, but the exact length is unknown, aside from he ‘lasted longer than most victims of the plague’ who died between 3-10 days.

I don’t think the averages are entirely accurate. There were most likely some who were asymptomatic until the plague was in very late stages, or those who presented symptoms very early on and survived for long stretches of time. All would die bearing the red sclera, veins, and other symptoms depicted above. Basically, this disease is claimed to be unpredictable, and I think that would also stretch to the duration at which each patient had it. Those who were physically frail likely would have died sooner than those who had been in oprtimal health before the plague, making the times vary rather drastically. I’d suggest perhaps a month at the longest, a few days at the shortest. 

Policy wise - during this period, the ports would have closed, and Vesuvia would have shut down. Nobody in, nobody out, not without rigorous inspection and quarantine before exiting to the city to avoid further spread. Often the only people allowed into the city were doctors from other regions affected by the plague called to help research, but during this year, I would estimate Vesuvia lost easily 30% of its population to the Red Plague. 

The Third Wave

This wave is the period that occurs after Lucio’s death at the Masquerade, three years pregame. I’ll touch a tiny bit more more on this in the next section, but this is where we see the gradual end of the spread of the plague, and the last cases shown in Vesuvia. It’s the end of the plague period, and I give this about six months for the official ‘all clear’ to have been given by those tracking case counts. 

The Lazaret is eventually decommissioned and now sits abandoned, a shadow on the horizon to remind those who survived what had been lost. The city mourned, the gates slowly opened, and gradually, we reach the point of comparative normalcy we see in the game set three years later. 

Vesuvia - The Aftermath

Lucio’s death would, ultimately, mean the end of the plague. Rather than immediately disappearing and all those suffering from it be cured, however, I would be inclined to say that the spread came to a halt. 

The last wave of the plague, in the six months after Lucio’s death, would have been a decrease in new cases until there were no new ones being reported, and the last of the patients who had been infected finally passed. 

The final duties of the doctors at the Lazaret, after all remains are cremated, would have been the incineration of all materials that could not be sterilized. Linens, spare uniforms, unclaimed personal affects, so on and so forth until the time came to return home. I do not remember the exact location, but I am fairly confident of a mention of the MC remembering barrels burning doctor’s uniforms and masks in the days after the end of the plague. It was, for a lack of better words, a purge - an attempt to erase the last physical memories of what the city had endured. 

Events like this are traumatic for all involved. They are painful wounds, and for the rate of death I imagine occurred in Vesuvia, the odds that someone lost no one are slim. There was likely a long period of mourning, and as noted in the present of the game, rarely is the plague spoken of outside of the context of the investigation in the primary routes. 

Many of those medical staff members who survived were those assigned to research at the Palace. The proximity of the staff to the ill at the Lazaret quarantine likely would have made the rate of infection far higher for the caretakers, meaning that often the staff would end up caring for colleagues in their final days. 

Even three years removed, the time of the plague is a raw wound for those in Vesuvia - but I do think the period is fascinating and I love exploring the different facets of it in my own world building. And, well, shameless self promo, but I am eager to write it myself when I get into Zelda’s backstory.

If you made it this far, thank you. Go drink some water or something, idk, wellbeing checkpoint bc what a long ass post

A Discussion of One Approach to a Universal Characteristic

I have felt inspired yesterday to make this attempt as a text post on Tumblr. By the subject’s weighty history and definition, it should by no means be an easy endeavor. However, there are two individuals from my readings that have inspired me, named John Locke and George Polya. Although I own both of the texts that interest me by these men, I have not read those specific texts unfortunately. Another influence was the eloquence of Euclid’s axioms, indeed I have not read the Elements either except for like the first page. I tend to become distracted very easily, and this is not something that I am very proud of. 

Now I must reveal my passion for the works of Ramon Llull. He was the guy behind the most complete version of Characteristica Universalis, but that is only because he managed to inspire Leibniz to come up with his Characteristica, which was never really worked on or implemented, and the system that Llull created is called Ars Magna, in four distinct stages. The term Ars Magna itself with regards to Llull refers to the Ternary Art, which refers to the wheels or volvelles that he used have elements or principles being divisible by 3. Furthermore this also by coincidence is the third phase of the art, but the phase and divisibility of the wheels are distinct things. 

Enough of Llull. Leibniz is really the only person to be regarded here, as it can be assumed that he wished to update Ars Magna to the science of the time and his own distinguished opinion. That being said, he never managed to create such a thing, but merely wrote to his collaborators and associates about what a proper implementation of this Universal Characteristic would look like. His letters are somewhere in the order of magnitude of 10^5, which is a complicated way of saying 10,000. Indeed I do not remember the estimated number from the Wiki, but I do believe it was something like 30,000. 

By the way, the Wiki does list 21 different attempts at Characterica Universalis, which is the number if I recall correctly, that this scholarly text on Llull mentioned that the man had written this many different version of his system. Quite interesting, but I cannot lower myself into base numerology. That has been superseded. To return to Ramon Llull for a moment, the man allegedly got his system from the Sufis. This precursor system is called Zairja, and there are a couple of texts available on that subject, one written by modern scholars and another written by a Tunisian historian who wrote the Muqaddimah. A hint for those of you curious about the latter text: The chapter about Zairja is in the third volume of that text, and is available on the Internet Archive. 

Back to Leibniz; for some reason essay writing is quite tiring. From what we can discern about what he stated that this system would look like, well I have some bad news. Leibniz simply took the diagram that Empedocles created in antiquity and said “There.” What I mean by this is that Leibniz just took the four elements and their supposed connections, in doing so adding another four nodes to the diagram, and being content with drawing lines between said nodes in order to ratiocinate (think) on paper. Anyone can tell that this is follysome since we now know for a fact that the Classical Elements theory is rubbish. In fact, I have a hot take that it was not only responsible for the idea of “race,” but also the idea of depression. I have created an acronym for the various iterations of Classical Element theory, that is “EHTR” (pronounced ‘ether’) or Element-Humor-Temperament-”Race.” Indeed this may come as quite a shock everyone, but Kant the philosopher was really racist and decided to rank the “races.” I am not going to get into this, but I will say that it may have become esoteric or something through the likes of Manly P. Hall, who mentioned the same scheme Kant used, albeit reordering some things, after the latter mapped it to an analogy about the caste system mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita. I can feel the cancelation brewing already. 

There are probably many different ways to attain this Universal Characteristic. I find that I have provided enough introductory information on this subject, so let us move on to the main part of this essay. Unfortunately, this whole thing was spurred on by a feeling of grandiosity, so I really don’t know how valid my intuition is. Furthermore I forgot what it was that I could use to implement Charicterica Universalis. That being said, I think it was along the lines of a study of analogy, using mathematics, so that we could potentially describe the various processes that underlie reality. The other part was a return to metaphysics proper, or the three general distinguishing features of it according to some textbook, those features being categorization (which is what I consider to be important in particular with regards to this endeavor), thinking and a sense of supremacy regarding the method. Personally I really don’t think that the last one means much, and is in fact a detriment to updating philosophy as should be periodically done in my opinion. Science will always push the boundaries. 

I am going to split the remainder of this essay into three parts: The first part will be about analogy; the second, categorization; and thirdly an obscure paradox that I came up with last night, as a bonus for making it to the end of the essay. You could just skip to the paradox, if you would like, in fact I will bold the title for you, in case I have wasted too much of your time and am boring you. 

On Analogy

I envision analogy as not something fundamental, as the man who wrote Zen and the the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance stated that analogy is irreducible to sub-elements; and I argue against that position taken by the author of that text. I am honestly getting tired of writing and I have written the later parts of this essay before I wrote this part, so here goes nothing. 

In the next part I briefly mention knot and graph theory. I envision analogies as graphs, as I was inspired by Schrödinger’s book What is Life that the genetic material was a crystal. Not true, but why could this crystal represent mimesis, as opposed to “genesis?” (Genesis as in genes, an improper way to say that mind you.) Yes, I really think that this is the case, but it does sound kind of crazy now that I have it on paper after having it in my mind for a few years. I don’t know. I dislike the designation that Dawkins created for such things, the “meme” which he literally took from some German scientist with the same first name, and removed the ‘n’ in mneme to create this Internet garbage we see today. 

Then there are the developments with the idea of metaphor. I don’t really feel like getting into these because I am too tired and I keep making typing mistakes. Just know that it is possible to limit portions of the structure of the analogy to make it more congruent with other analogies or structures. Lastly, it really feels like the literary criticism movement is starting to claim all of the universe as its “text.” That is a portion of Structuralism, at least, according to PhilosophyTube. She stated that Structuralism started as literary criticism, and what do we as human beings do? Why we map the text to the whole of the universe. Some could argue that is a kind of metaphysics were it to be loosely understood. ...

On Categorization

The general gist of what I am thinking of here is that Ars Magna’s major issue is that it is not chaotic enough, if that makes any sense. What I am attempting to get at here is the thing about the questions generated in that system solely referring to the statements created. There is no architecture or complexity there to be studied and afterwards engineered, as it is just base multiplication to generate the questions. What I would like, is for the creation of the questions to be irreversible and chaotic, indeed those are separate things, much like the weather. Knot theory, or graph theory would come into play here, I am not sure which but that is what my intuition is telling me. Also, many statements could be superimposed to generate a set of questions, or a single question. Hopefully my mathematical studies will enable me to investigate this further in the future. 

It must be stated now that the whole category term does apply in my opinion to Ars Manga. This is because the system abstracts the categories into a table of about 54 “elements” which are then combined a second time to produce very short strings of text, for instance “BCD.” Of course, the strings could very well be longer, and could incorporate more intricacy in this manner, but it is really the interaction between all of these strings which constitutes the architecture of the system, although this is done in a manner contrary to the mainstream Lullists, which is an anachronism, really. 

Case in point the categories must translate into natural phenomena and vice versa. At the same time, if the categories were generative, then they must be irreversible in order to be as intricate as possible. The sky is the limit with this, “New Lullism.” I don’t feel like explaining any more, but if someone wants me to tell them about why the standard categories must be reversible, and the generative categories the reverse, then I will explain this another day. Indeed, it may be a false distinction; there may very well be four types of category system, that is:

Standard reversible;

Generative reversible (Ars Magna);

Standard irreversible;

Generative irreversible.

That is all for this part.

The Paradox

There is a possibility for a Universal Library, but the one available on the Internet is not feasible for conducting research on, because it is an art website and is not powerful enough to locate texts and be practical. I am talking about an implementation for the Universal Library called the Library of Babel. You can visit the website at libraryofbabel.info. I do not have the energy to disclose the theory behind this whole thing right now, but on request I will write about it another day. 

The mathematical constant “pi” supposedly does not repeat. Yet there is a trichotomy to be established here, when the constant is juxtaposed with the Universal Library, either; 

1). The Universal Library is effected by Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem (was stated by two separate mathematics professors to likely be the case);

2). Pi does indeed repeat minute portions of itself after a significantly large computation of it is conducted, with an upper bound order of magnitude of around 10^5000. Note that this is a back-of-hand calculation;

3). Pi cannot be mapped to the Universal Library.

This trichotomy may indeed be defective as I am not trained in logic, and also I had to make up the last one as I forgot what it was. Oh well.

Thank you very much for reading all of this. Have a swell day. 

BnHA Bonus Diversion: Horikoshi’s Sketches

of all the things I could have spent time writing a post about on my morning off, it ended up being this. but in my defense, Horikoshi’s sketches are actually amazing and this was kind of overdue.

so! as you may know, Horikoshi Kouhei frequently gets bored and doodle-y and is then kind enough to share the resulting drawings with us. sketchy boi. but not sketchy like that. though he did invent Mineta so maybe a little. 

anyway, because he’s so disgustingly talented, these pictures are usually amazing. and there are a lot of them. when I finally got around to doing this post, I ran a search for “Horikoshi sketches” and it turned out there was a whole wiki page dedicated just to them (god bless whoever is running the BnHA wiki, they do such a good job). and, well...

two hundred and eighty-eight. you may recognize this as being nearly fifty more than the current number of chapters. this would mean he’s releasing at least one sketch a week and has been doing so for the past five years! fortunately (for me, who has to do a recap of all these), this number is slightly misleading, as this page apparently includes some of the character sketches he did for the volume omakes. so I don’t have to go through 300 sketches omfg. but still, there are a lot! so I’ll just go through them and post my favorites and see how many we can get through in this post I guess.

these are all in alphabetical order according to their file names on the wiki, and like I said, I’m not doing all of them, just the ones that catch my eye the most. which is still a ton of them. honestly we’re about to find out whether tumblr text posts have image limits. (ETA: the limit does not exist!)

right off the bat we are getting off to a great start! love me the ladies of class 1-A. these girls are all so, so valid. I love how Deku is there too and his hair is transforming into a tree or something.

this is a sketch from chapter 10. this cat I guess just came up to them and they were like “...” and the cat was like “...” and long story short they’ve been like this now for a whole hour. meanwhile Aizawa is wondering where his cat has gone.

why are they dressed like it’s world war I. ??

holy fuck this cat. did it eat the other cat. anyway do you guys think Momo and Todoroki were walking to school together because that’s some cute shit omg. we know there is a cat that hangs out around Shouto’s house, so he’s probably good at playing with stray cats, and they probably really like him because he is calm and kind.

holy shit.

oh my god I need Tsuyu’s siblings to come visit the dorms at U.A. and play with Eri!! now.

posting this one because it’s cute, but also because it notably has nothing at all to do with the actual chapter 120. but that’s okay.

what, and I mean this sincerely, the fuck.

are they making chocolate?? you know, canonically we haven’t actually had a Valentine’s Day yet in the series, and now I’m really hoping we get a little mini plot. things that would happen:

every single girl makes chocolate for Todoroki and he just accepts it very politely and obliviously.

they actually make enough chocolate for everyone (except Mineta. and honestly they would have, except they know how that’s gonna go down, and no. Tsuyu really would have made you some pity chocolate dawg, but you brought this on yourself). but don’t end up giving it to everyone. specifically several of them thought better about giving some to Bakugou after seeing him react to the first unlucky person to give him some (y’all know that song I THREW IT ON THE GROUND by the Lonely Island? I’m sure you can understand my meaning here). and also Jirou gets way too flustered about giving some to Kaminari and chickens out. she gives it to Momo instead. hmmMMMM.

Satou also makes chocolate for everyone, EVEN BAKUGOU, and it’s delicious. no one is throwing his chocolate on the ground.

Aoyama makes chocolate for Deku because!!  ☆ ☆ WE ARE FRIENDS, MON AMI  ☆  ☆  ☆ oui oui baguette.

I love everything about this, but especially Ochako’s face. she’s just like. sincerely trying to figure out exactly where she went wrong.

excuse the fuck out of me but DID HORIKOSHI SERIOUSLY HINT AT THE FUCKING A-BAND A WHOLE ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY CHAPTERS BEFORE IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED. omfg. “what a cute AU!” “yes... AU,” Horikoshi agrees, nodding to himself. although after giving it some thought, he made the wise decision to switch Kaminari and Bakugou’s instruments. because we all know Bakugou was born to play the drums.

NO!!! VIDEO GAMES!!! IN CLASS!!!!!!!! [does a fucking aerial while emitting furious little huffs and bitchslapping Kirishima in the face]

I can’t figure out what’s going on in this picture. it appears to be baseball, except that Bakugou doesn’t have a bat. which I guess is the joke?? because his quirk is so strong he doesn’t need the fucking bat? except that I feel like that would result in either a broken arm or a blown-up baseball. idk this would make more sense with him as the pitcher.

“we really do love this AU, Horikoshi-sensei.” “yes... AU.”

this time it’s Shouji on the drums. I get that we all want to see Bakugou shred guitar, but it feels like he was just postponing the inevitable.

a full 85 chapters before he actually did this in the manga. god he really does enjoy foreshadowing with these things. I need to start paying more attention to these.

I have no words.

actually I do have words, and they are, “is that a fucking toothbrush.”

also is it just me or does he look, like, really swole in this pic. like, this is what the scarf has been hiding the whole time?? here we all thought he was a beanpole who subsisted off of energy bars and plain rice, but like. nope.

:) showing that there’s no hard feelings about the whole shooting-you-in-the-fucking-face thing. All Might is squeezing his hand awfully tightly, though.

all of them are so good-looking when they’re not trying. and then they open their mouths.

I am pained that there hasn’t at least been a karaoke chapter in one of the light novels yet, guys. pained. I NEED THIS.

holy fuck Todoroki. what are you, a mermaid?? I feel like this is a result of a prank gone wrong. like the other guys were sick of the girls always pining after him, and so they tried rubbing a balloon on his head in an effort to make him look ridiculous, only IT BACKFIRED COMPLETELY. shit.

fuck me I love this. of course Kami blowdries his hair and puts a ridiculous amount of effort into achieving the same kind of boyishly tousled look Todoroki is JUST NATURALLY BORN WITH. some things in life just aren’t fair. also lmao Deku.

oh my god. how are they all so cute. this was from episode 12 btw. you’re welcome for saving your life All Might.

I don’t have the slightest idea wtf is going on here but omg.

this was for episode 16 of the anime, a.k.a. the obstacle course episode of the Sports Festival arc in season 2. I can’t read what they’re saying, but I’ll tell you what, I know Bakugou is being a rude little shit and I’m here for it.

SHINSOUUUUUU. this was for episode 20. his one and only appearance in the anime so far. he knows he’s here for a good time not a long time.

lmao. my headcanon is that Monoma actually ended up losing after this, but somehow still managed to be smug about it.

lmaoooo. Kacchan refusing to even acknowledge that this is a thing that is happening for some reason.

HAWKS DID YOU REALLY KILL THIS MAN. COME ON OUT HERE I JUST WANT TO TALK.

I feel like taming Deku’s hair is arguably even more of a feat than taming Bakugou’s. meanwhile Iida looks 90% the same. and Todoroki is. well. just goes to show that this look is not for just anyone.

I have never in my life seen Katsuki so full on just done with life. like he is so fucking over this shit. he’s just rolled over and accepted it. I have never seen Bakugou fucking Katsuki just sigh and be all, “you know what, this might as well happen.” not until this moment. wow.

you guys I’m crying.

is it just me or do the little matroyshka dolls actually look like little nun Jeanists. though the hair swoosh is going the wrong way. Monomas, maybe.

HOLY SHIT I LOVE THIS? my god, how useful would Shouji’s quirk be for this sort of thing. and Shouto looks so surprised (on like, a Todoroki scale) to have actually caught something. oh my god. so fucking cute. c’mere you. someone needs a hair ruffle.

I feel like this is how Tokoyami would want to be remembered. yes I know he’s not dead.

oh my god. so I’ve seen this one floating around on tumblr, but like. ffff. it’s my favorite ever. they are. so. fucking. cute. both looking up to All Might. and then the contrast between their innocent happy faces and their shocked and worried expressions watching All Might at Kamino. god it fucking destroys me. all four of these kids need hugs goddammit. the older ones because they’re heartbroken, and the little bubbas just because they’re so stinkin’ cute omfg.

I LOVE HER AND I’M NOT SORRY. please Horikoshi give me more Bakufam in this upcoming arc. who do I have to bribe or threaten.

STRANGER DANGER omg. Toga no. that’s not nice.

Horikoshi what did my heart ever do to you for you to treat it like this.

villain Iida from episode 7 holy fuck I’m dying.

here come the New Year’s sketches! I’ve been looking forward to these. Kacchan photo strategy: never look directly at the camera.

I wonder which animal year 2016 was. rooster, probably.

fucking look at Todoroki fucking Shouto stuffing his face yet again. can you stop chewing for one fucking second. we’re trying to take a picture you slob.

the year is 2018. Horikoshi Kouhei attempts to draw a dog, because it’s the year of the fucking dog. it does not go well. panicked, he takes the All Might he’s already started drawing, and for some reason attempts to turn it into another dog. it goes even worse. now he’s really starting to sweat. “oh shit,” he whispers, drawing Deku upside-down in his unrest. “oh fuck.” finally he just draws Bakugou shouting the words HAPPY NEW YEAR in giant letters across the screen, hoping that’ll be enough to distract everyone from all the rest of it. it is not.

oh my god. thank you so much to everyone who went to SDCC and made him so happy. this is the purest thing I’ve ever seen. also loving Bakugou tolerating the shit out of All Might leaning on him omg. I’m so fucking weak for this as always.

this is Horikoshi’s most recent sketch! lookit, he’s so happy with the toy him omg. it actually is really badass.

league of dorks. I love Toga’s face. and how Horikoshi clearly put more effort into drawing Tomura’s Face Hand than the entire rest of the picture.

I don’t understand a single element of this. wow. also this is twice now that Horikoshi has drawn the fucking Predator in these sketches. just pointing that out. of all the films to make multiple references to. what’s going on here. and is Mineta playing the fucking little sister in Totoro. am I losing my fucking mind.

this was for the season 3 premiere. I love how Bakugou and Deku are wrestling for control of the screen. but he knows better than to touch Mineta I guess.

Iida and Ochako are the only two reacting appropriately here. Bakugou just looks concerned. to be fair I guess that’s appropriate too. but Deku is all “fuck YEAH All Might you go ahead and SMASH YOUR FACE RIGHT THROUGH THAT MONITOR” and I feel like his blanket approval of all his mentor’s actions has finally gone too far.

this just goes to show you that even a very simple sketch concept can pay off dividends if you play your cards right. good job Horikoshi.

he could run faster if he just pulled his fucking pants up. does anyone have any brain cells to spare for my son here. please he needs them. I don’t know what he thinks a belt is actually for...?

hello this is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen and also is Kirishima doing the kage bunshin pose from Naruto or.

sob Aizawa I’m dead. I fucking love how Mineta is like HE’S CLEARLY FINE IT WAS A FLOP as though Kirishima is not literally covered in fucking grape balls. something else I also love is that Katsuki is number 10 and Deku is number 11. even in a soccer match he can’t stand to be lower then his rival sob. also Ochako is straight up about to rip off Mina’s head jesus christ girl run.

there aren’t even words for how much I ship this. just emotions. omg.

this is one of those pictures that keeps getting more wtf the longer you stare at it. naturally your eyes are drawn to Todoroki’s reindeer antlers first. by contrast, Ochako looks relatively normal, even with the odd pose. but then you notice Deku’s Christmas tree hair. from there your eyes are drawn down to his strange lack of a shirt. and then, finally, you spot him. Tokoyami. you wonder if the mangaka has finally gone too far. you’re still not sure.

for once it’s not Todoroki who’s leaping into action with his mouth full. never one to back down from a challenge, Bakugou has picked the absolute least practical food to consume whilst in the middle of battling. I can barely eat spaghetti without making a mess when I’m not throwing down. I’m not sure what a good food to eat while throwing down would be, but maybe something more portable, like a calzone.

I feel drawn to him the same way one might be drawn to a stray cat, even though you’re pretty sure the cat is really wary of people and will probably try to claw or bite you if you get too close. I would like to pat him on the head, but he might try to blow me up. eh, worth it.

look at the Baku Protection Squad trying to do some fucking Abbey Road thing. damn you can really see how short Tokoyami is in this. also Bakugou buys pants that are at least three sizes too big I s2g.

and that’s it! anyways, this was fun as heck. I’ve bookmarked Horikoshi’s Twitter now so I can keep up with the new sketches as they’re released. this is fucking great, and a whole new bonus to being caught up with the manga that I haven’t been appreciating until now. fucking love it.

Eve’s Diary - Entry #44

Synopsis: A very snowy week of January passes, and Eve collects her thoughts on the happenings. 

Words: 1,501

Date: 17th of January, 2027

Dear Diary, 

Well. It has been quite a week. I feel like my mind is too full of things, and I’m definitely looking forward to the weekend to process some of it. I’m gonna at least write down what I remember, to sort of… unload and unpack.

First of all, I finally approached that Persephone Vitrac girl. I didn’t mean to, but I stumbled upon her and kind of just… started asking all those questions about werewolves that have been bouncing around my brain. I had been reading those old Owl Post articles, after all, so I was really curious. 

What I learned was: 

Dittany and silver are used to heal werewolf injuries - silver does not hurt werewolves. And this is the only thing that can heal those wounds, thus why almost all, if not ALL werewolves are also magical folk. 

Werewolves face so much discrimination because of their violent nature, that it drove them to the Dark Lord’s army, as they believed they would finally be safe and in a community of their own. 

The discrimination stems from the fact werewolves do not retain their human mind when changed and have a weird and strong desire to attack other humans…

UNLESS they take wolfsbane, which was only invented around 50 years ago, and magical folk live really, really long so many remember life before wolfsbane.

Werewolf related injuries are considered curse damage and will never heal properly.

No one really knows where the curse of lycanthropy started. 

The Lovelace woman I read about in the papers is the one who turned Persephone, several years ago, and was the one doing the Hogsmeade attacks that I read about, dreamed about, even had a vision about. 

I think that’s everything she told me. Anyways, it gave me a lot to think about. Especially because we had our full moon just last week - and ironically enough, January’s full moon is called the ‘Wolf Moon.’ Or at least, that’s one of a few nicknames for it. It’s also called the Old, Winter, or After-Yule moon. 

For this moon, I asked my tarot deck to present me with a card that would show me what to expect between this moon and the next. I know that I should do a larger reading for esbats, but I honestly don’t have the energy to. 

Anyways, I pulled judgment, which tells me imminent change is coming, and I will have to make a very important decision of some kind. I’m unsure of what this could be, so for now, I will sit tight, continue my studies and practices, and wait to see how life unfolds. 

Most of my dreams have been nonsense, like, the other night I dreamt that Talula owned a shop inside the school, and she made and sold really pretty velvet dresses, and then this boy who was really mean came and lit the shop and the school on fire. But, like, Talula thought it was funny? And it just didn’t feel like how any of my serious dreams felt, so I sort of brushed it off. 

Though I did have a dream about Aures, too. She was really sad and was sitting in the snow alone, when three roses grew from seedlings to buds, to fully blossoming in a circle around her. And then these roses began to glow and turned into three foxes curled around her, and the foxes seemed to make her happy. So I took some of the wood from artificer club, and a knife and paint, and carved Aures her own little wooden fox that I put in a terrarium for her. 

Speaking of, Bonnie has been showing us how to carve our own wands in Artificer club. I tried to make mine look like a berry branch… Maybe Holly or Blackberry, I’m not sure. We’re going to paint and polish our wands next week. I want mine to be colourful rather than just polished wood. I feel like there are so many creative opportunities with wands that don’t get explored!

Also in Artificer club, I talked to Bobby and this older boy who had approached us to talk to Tal, about making a jellyfish lantern. If I get a floaty fabric and a jar, I could probably make it.. I’d have to learn how to cast bluebell flames and a few floating spells like wingardium leviosa, and I feel like there’d have to be some level of enchantment involved, but maybe Bonnie could help me! I think it sounds so nice to have a glowy jellyfish floating above you as a nightlight. 

We had Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Vikander had something really noisy in some sort of cage covered in cloth that looked stained with either blood or jam. I hope whatever it was is closer to the latter, and not the former. Anyways, Vikander asked us about dark creatures, what makes a creature dark, and that sort of thing. And Aures said something that sort of echoed and reminded me of a thought I’d had when we were talking about dragons. And I’ve come to the conclusion that humans, both magic and muggle, really are the most deadly creatures on the planet. 

History is really… bloodstained, and we’ve caused so much damage to all living creatures, ourselves, and our own planet. So we must be the darkest creatures of all, even if we have the capability of being the opposite. We can choose to be different, we can choose to be light. So that’s what I’m going to do. I will be one of the lights in the darkness. I have to be. If no one did it, we’d all drown and cease to exist. 

Speaking of dark things like this, I need to remember to write Aisling a letter and ask how she’s doing. The attacks have continued to be addressed, and they’re apparently still looking for the guy who has been going after animagi. I hope they catch him. 

On lighter notes, some fun things have happened this week, too! Like, Professor Banks was substituting for Transfigurations this week, and we were talking about the basic functions of Transfigurations and whatnot… And I think… Well, I asked her if it’d be possible to use magic to turn oneself into a faerie, and she wouldn’t answer, which tells me it is! If I can just make myself really small, and give myself wings and maybe pointy ears… It’d be wonderful! And dangerous too, of course, but you know… 

I went to Arithmancy and learned that even though numbers and my brain don’t really get along, it’s an interesting class! Professor Rask made all these pretty shapes in the air with the wand-writing spell, and we were meant to copy those shapes and sort of do something to comprehend them, but I couldn’t get my wand to work with me. I also met a few new people - a boy named Colin Mackenzie (who called me Lady Kindred, thank you very much! Makes me sound like a knight or a princess or something!) and a girl named Maddy Hemlock, who tried to help me cast the spells. 

There was this girl in that class who was really mean to one of the older Hufflepuffs. She called her a loser and told her to get out of ‘her seat’ and it was just… really odd, but no fights were started or anything. She was just kinda loud about it, but the Hufflepuff moved and didn’t kick up a fuss. I didn’t like it though.

In Herbology, Ruby’s friend Octavia sat next to me. It was her birthday, so I gave her a chocolate chip biscuit with some icing. I guess she really liked it, because she got really energetic afterward! I also gave one to this other girl who was sitting next to me, another Slytherin, because her stomach rumbled and it was close to dinnertime anyhow. 

And then tonight, I had divinations with Bonnie. We were continuing our eye study, and so Bonnie told me to look in her eyes and tell her what I saw. Basically, to no one’s surprise, Bonnie is a brilliant mind and will have many opportunities before her. But I warned her not to burn herself out by putting too much on her plate. 

I think I want to paint her eyes, as well. So maybe I’ll do that this weekend… paint some eyeballs and write Aisling a letter. 

It’s been snowing like crazy. I feel trapped in this castle, in a way, and comforted in another. Like the snow is a clean, sparkling blanket against the stone walls, keeping us safe to be cosy by our warm fires. I’m certainly much sleepier this time of year. I love all of the seasons, honestly, and I especially love when things shift and change, so I’m really getting ready for spring. I know that’s a long way away, though. 

Anyways, it’s super late and I need to go to sleep. 

Much love, Everly

About the Character: Everlina Rosemary Kindred is an imaginative Hufflepuff attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She keeps up with her magical journey through a series of diary entries, dream journals, and tarot readings, all documented for future reflection. Her diary is a small glimpse into her enchanted life, and her adventure into the wizarding world and all its splendors. If you’d like more information about Eve, visit her wiki page. 

About the Author: My name is Katherine! I am a 21-year-old Hufflepuff & Pukwudgie from Louisville, Kentucky. This page is my creative journey into the magical world, through the lenses of Second Life. Here I post diary entries, dream journals, and tarot readings all from my character’s perspective. If you’d like more information about me, visit my Flickr! 

Outfit Credits:

Hair - Magika - Hair - Faye

Eyes - Gloom. - Walkers Collection - Undying ((Now at Epiphany!))

Skin - DeeTaleZ *Appliers* for Genus Heads *Sienna* Nordic

Head - GENUS Project - Genus Head - Baby Face

Headband - Mossu - Fleur.Wreath

Sweater - neve top - sharp

Book & Pose - *!R.O!* Knowledge BENTO Pose

Choker - Whisper ~ Teeny Choker 

Ring - ^^Swallow^^ Lock of Love Ring

I just now found out today that MS-13 is a real gang. Like was that common knowledge before or something and I'm just an idiot?! the gang Emilio has tattooed on his shoulders is a real thing. My mind's just a bit blown right now. Like that irl cafeteria thing you told us about, this just made icos feel a little more real to me

The cafeteria thing was so weird dude!!! omg I forgot about that until you reminded me just now! Ugggghhh it weirds me out lol

But MS-13 has been around forever, yeah. (well, since the 80′s anyway) They’re really intense, which I think was part of the reason Sonny chose them as inspiration for Emilio. I think they’ve always been pretty well known if you do research into those sorts of gangs (or look into cartels operating in/around Mexico and who has aligned with them) but if you have no reason to run across them/read up on various names, and particularly if you don’t live in an area where they have a strong presence, it makes sense if you didn’t know about them. I don’t know how talked about they are specifically in mainstream culture until recently. 

You should probably count it a good thing you didn’t know until now, given how they can be, tbh. They’re not exactly known as being the most chill.

If you really want to be depressed, look into what the cartels have done in Mexico. Their tactics are really terrible. For example, years ago when we were writing ICoS and editing things, I was reading about how they had a stranglehold on the media. Journalists were told not to report on anything even remotely related to them or designated topics, and if they did they were literally murdered, or their family was, or both. Or they’d disappear and never be seen. The cartels used to do tactics where they would cause a crisis (let’s just say as an example they set off a bomb) in a populated area full of civilians who are doing nothing wrong. They kill, hurt, and maim a certain number of people with that initial attack. They then wait for the emergency personnel to come - the police, the ambulances, the doctors who rush over to help because they happened to be nearby, and even the journalists who show up to cover the story -- and they set off a second bomb or do a second attack to target the helpers. Killing and maiming more people. Enforcing terror as a new regime. It’s so sad and so terrible.

We wanted to include things like that in ICoS for various groups wherever it made sense, although at this point I can’t remember if we did or if we left it out. The reason we wanted to include it wasn’t to market off of real life pain and suffering but rather because of it. People in our reality couldn’t speak up about situations like that because it was literal life or death for them and their loved ones. So we wanted to include really terrible and harsh things like that wherever it made sense in ICoS as a whole in order to touch on the reality some places or people have to live with, so in some form their story is still heard. 

I don’t know if those tactics are still in use. I remember reading leaked reports about that sort of thing around 10 years ago, and talking to some people who knew people in the areas who said they believed those reports. 

Actually, the time I visited Mexico, literally the week after we left, in an area where we had visited and spent days hanging around, a grenade was thrown into the location and a lot of people were injured and killed. And other people who were connected to the group we were hanging with were killed. One was gunned down as he walked into his home, and another had his throat slit as he left a grocery store. 

It’s just. Saying it’s awful doesn’t even begin to address it.

Honestly, it’s depressing how many things are reflective of reality in ICoS. I really wanted it to remain totally in the realm of dystopia...

On the other hand, hopefully that means the good things are reflective, too. The ability for people to be open-minded in meeting others, the chance for love even in dark places, and the sense of humor people retain (whether for good or bad) in tough circumstances.

Oh and by the way, I loved Mexico! And all the Mexicans I know (whether in Mexico or several generations removed in the US) are fricking awesome. Also, Mexican was my favorite dialect when learning Spanish because you can throw chingar everywhere XD It makes me so happy lol So I’m not talking shit about Mexico as a whole. I LOVE Mexico. I was just using it as an example of other places there can be intersection between things in reality and how they partially inspired aspects of ICoS.

Also I should note: MS-13 isn’t a Mexican gang or cartel, at least it wasn’t in its creation. It’s named after a group from San Salvador even though MS-13 itself originated in LA, and its members are mostly Guatemalan, Honduran, and Salvadoran. So, Central America, yeah, but not Mexico. (Actually, originally it was formed precisely to protect themselves from pre-established Mexican gangs) But their operation includes a lot of funneling of things to/from/through Mexico, and they later joined the Sinaloa cartel which is international but operates in Mexico, which is what made me transition in my mind to the other topics. I am by no means an MS-13 expert, though, so I could completely be off on some of this. I’m going based on my memory of research 10+ years ago, and a quick glance at the wiki page to remind myself of some details.

That would be really startling, though, to not know MS-13 was a thing, and then suddenly realize it is. I can totally see how your mind was blown. If I were in your place, mine would have been too!

it’s a thing that I’m gonna use as a survey

1:Is there a boy/girl in your life? There sure is. Met her on here. 2:Think of the last person who hurt you; do you forgive them? Yeah, but there’s really nothing to forgive. Her leaving hurt me a lot, but she had every right to leave because I really hurt her. I hope she forgives me. 3:What do you think of when you hear the word “meow?” KITTEH. Kitteh that needs pats and belly tickles and ear scratches. Also Ashes from Fallout 4 because I saved his stupid cat ass. How he got out of Vault 81 I will never know. 4:What’s something you really want right now? A fucking plane ticket to Germany, fuck being here. 5:Are you afraid of falling in love? It’s scary as fuck, but I love it. 6:Do you like the beach? I love the beach. But the last time I was on a beach was in like 2012. 7:Have you ever slept on a couch with someone else? Yeah, a few times, but it’s uncomfortable. 8:What’s the background on your cell? A swirly black hole. It’s one of the cool ass live wallpapers. 9:Name the last four beds you were sat on? Uhh. Shit I don’t know, I don’t really know the last time I was in a bed that wasn’t mine. 10:Do you like your phone? Yeah, it’s awesome as fuck. 11:Honestly, are things going the way you planned? No, but that doesn’t mean they’re bad. :) 12:Who was the last person whose phone number you added to your contacts? Uhhh. I’m not sure. Tyler, I think. 13:Would you rather have a poodle or a Rottweiler? I’d rather have a cat. 14:Which hurts the most, physical or emotional pain? Emotional pain. Physical pain goes away after a while. 15:Would you rather visit a zoo or an art museum? That’s tough, but probably a zoo. 16:Are you tired? Yeah, I’m always tired. 17:How long have you known your 1st phone contact? For like 3 years. 18:Are they a relative? Nope. 19:Would you ever consider getting back together with any of your exes? I would have gotten back with Jessica the moment she expressed interest in it. But that isn’t going to happen, and I have someone now. 20:When did you last talk to the last person you shared a kiss with? I don’t know. It’s been a long time. 21:If you knew you had the right person, would you marry them today? Yeah, I probably would. Well maybe not, I’m not financially stable. 22:Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? Nah. 23:How many bracelets do you have on your wrists right now? None. 24:Is there a certain quote you live by? Not really. I’m not huge on quotes. 25:What’s on your mind? Özge, work, and trying to get comfortable. 26:Do you have any tattoos? Nah, but I want a few. 27:What is your favorite color? Black. 28:Next time you will kiss someone on the lips? Whenever we get to visit each other :) 29:Who are you texting? Nobody right now. 30:Think to the last person you kissed, have you ever kissed them on a couch? Nah, never did. You’re obsessed with people I’ve kissed, you freak. 31:Have you ever had the feeling something bad was going to happen and you were right? Yeah, multiple times. 32:Do you have a friend of the opposite sex you can talk to? I have several. 33:Do you think anyone has feelings for you? I know she does. 34:Has anyone ever told you you have pretty eyes? Yeah, I get that a lot actually. 35:Say the last person you kissed was kissing someone right in front of you? Oh well lol have fun with her crazy ass. 36:Were you single on Valentines Day? Yeah, I was. 37:Are you friends with the last person you kissed? Nope. 38:What do your friends call you? Garcia. Or faggot. Or any other random expletive. 39:Has anyone upset you in the last week? Yeah. 40:Have you ever cried over a text? Oh yeah, plenty of times. 41:Where’s your last bruise located? I don’t think I have any atm. 42:What is it from? See above, you cuck. 43:Last time you wanted to be away from somewhere really bad? Today. 44:Who was the last person you were on the phone with? I dunno. My dad, I think. 45:Do you have a favourite pair of shoes? Yeah, but they’re getting worn :( 46:Do you wear hats if your having a bad hair day? Nope, I just tie my hair back. 47:Would you ever go bald if it was the style? Fucking fuck no. 48:Do you make supper for your family? I have a few times, but not usually. 49:Does your bedroom have a door? Yes thank god. 50:Top 3 web-pages? I dunno. Tumblr, the Fallout wiki, and YouTube. Well, maybe ElephantTube. I like pr0n. 51:Do you know anyone who hates shopping? ME. 52:Does anything on your body hurt? Nah. 53:Are goodbyes hard for you? Yeah, I’m horrible at them. 54:What was the last beverage you spilled on yourself? Vodka, probably. 55:How is your hair? Greasy, I haven’t showered today because it’s been kind of a shitty day. 56:What do you usually do first in the morning? Contemplate saying fuck work and going back to bed. 57:Do you think two people can last forever? Yeah, I do. 58:Think back to January 2007, were you single? I don’t think so. 59:Green or purple grapes? Purple. 60:When’s the next time you will give someone a BIG hug? I have no idea honestly. I don’t hug a whole lot. 61:Do you wish you were somewhere else right now? God yes I do. 62:When will be the next time you text someone? I dunno, sometime tonight, probably. 63:Where will you be 5 hours from now? In bed. 64:What were you doing at 8 this morning. Playing Fallout 4. 65:This time last year, can you remember who you liked? It was more than like, but yes. 66:Is there one person in your life that can always make you smile? Yes there is. 67:Did you kiss or hug anyone today? Nope. 68:What was your last thought before you went to bed last night? “Why did I drink so much” 69:Have you ever tried your hardest and then gotten disappointed in the end? Yeah. Plenty of times. Sometimes it’s my fault. 70:How many windows are open on your computer? Four. 71:How many fingers do you have? Ten, thankfully. 72:What is your ringtone? Nothing, I keep my phone on vibrate. 73:How old will you be in 5 months? 24. 74:Where is your Mum right now? At her boyfriend’s house probably. 75:Why aren’t you with the person you were first in love with or almost in love? Because I ruined things with her. 76:Have you held hands with somebody in the past three days? I have not. 77:Are you friends with the people you were friends with two years ago? Some of them, yes. 78:Do you remember who you had a crush on in year 7? Yeah, her name was Jessica funnily enough. 79:Is there anyone you know with the name Mike? Yes. He sucks at singing. 80:Have you ever fallen asleep in someones arms? Many times. 81:How many people have you liked in the past three months? Two, and I’m with one of them now. 82:Has anyone seen you in your underwear in the last 3 days? Probably, I tend to stagger out of my room in my boxers late at night when I get thirsty. 83:Will you talk to the person you like tonight? We’re talking right now. 84:You’re drunk and yelling at hot guys/girls out of your car window, you’re with? Probably Phil. 85:If your BF/GF was into drugs would you care? Depends on which drugs. I don’t want any hard drugs around me. 86:What was the most eventful thing that happened last time you went to see a movie? We got really trashed and then wandered around the strip for like 4 hours. 87:Who was your last received call from? Dad. 88:If someone gave you $1,000 to burn a butterfly over a candle, would you? Yeah, but I’d feel like shit. 89:What is something you wish you had more of? Fucking money. 90:Have you ever trusted someone too much? Yes. 91:Do you sleep with your window open? I wish I could but my windows don’t work. 92:Do you get along with girls? More so than guys. 93:Are you keeping a secret from someone who needs to know the truth? Nope. 94:Does sex mean love? No, but when I have sex with someone it’s because I love them. 95:You’re locked in a room with the last person you kissed, is that a problem? Yeah, we might end up fighting. 96:Have you ever kissed anyone with a lip ring? I actually don’t think I have. 97:Did you sleep alone this week? Yeah. 98:Everybody has somebody that makes them happy, do you? Yeah, she makes my day better by existing. 99:Do you believe in love at first sight? Nah, but infatuation at first sight is a thing. 100:Who was the last person that you pinky promise? I have no idea. Probably Jessica, that was a while ago.

  The magnificent old soul glimpsed through the foliage

  A rare full-body portrait

As I mentioned in my January post, I tried this year to use as many “first-times” in the calendar as possible in order to minimize the chances of rehashing old stories for you here in the blogs. This has meant I’ve used a great number of animals from the Australasia Pavilion, simply because I’ve not featured many of its species before. The flip side to this idea, however, is there is a good reason I’ve not featured some of these animals before: I simply don’t have that much information on them. Makepeace, the lone tawny frogmouth living at the Toronto Zoo, is an excellent example of this problem. When I sat down a couple of days ago to begin working on this piece, I did as much digging as I could and I realized there just isn’t very much info about Makepeace specifically available as I had hoped there would be. I’ve reached out to a few people since then – former Zookeepers, friends who have been Members at the Zoo for a long time, a gentleman in the States who (apparently) holds the Stud Book for the Tawny Frogmouth species in captivity – but have not heard back yet from any of them. I am going to write this post now with the little information I do have and then update it as more comes in. I’ll make sure to announce each edit on social media; if you don’t follow me on any social media platforms, I recommend you come back here in a couple of weeks and see what more I’ve been able to add!

  My first photo of Makepeace

I had paid no attention whatsoever to this beautiful bird for most of my years of visiting the Zoo. The species has always featured prominently on the sign in the Oz Aviary listing all the birds to be found in the area, but the tawny frogmouth seems to be a rather shy creature and is excellent at blending into the background. It was only at the very beginning of 2018 when I began to make a weekly visit to the Zoo with my friend, Lynda, and we spent a great deal of time in the warmth of the pavilion that I started to seek Makepeace out. Another avid photographer friend, Lloyd, had recently posted shots of him so I was able to work out where to look, and on my very first visit in January of 2018 I spotted Makepeace at the back of the exhibit, on a tree near the window and catch-up cages. It was not an easy spot to capture his image, as it was well into the undergrowth and extremely back-lit from the windows, but I managed to get a few shots that time and on subsequent visits that year.

  New hiding spot!

In late summer I went to see him and he had vanished! I looked all around the pavilion without any luck, until an amazing Horticulture worker, Norm, came by and pointed him out to me. Makepeace had moved to a spot above the HVAC equipment right above the back window. You can see from this shot at left that he was extremely well-hidden in this location, and he stayed there for most of the rest of that year. As a result, I didn’t take many shots of him over the next few months; in fact, the one here seems to be the only one I have of him in that spot. Eventually he moved out well into the open and I snagged the full-body shot of him that appeared farther up this page. He sat out there on the lattice-work roofing over the turtle pond for quite a while – it may well have been a cool spot for him in the summer heat – until he moved on to his current perch: right above and to the right of the door leading from the aviary to the area where the Komodo dragon lives (among others). He’s tucked in nicely to his corner but very often will react to a visitor he knows (such as myself or Lynda) and fix those piercing eyes on us. When he’s really feeling sociable he will clack his beak and blink his eyes slowly. It’s quite a sensation, believe me, when he locks giant peepers on you; it’s like he’s looking directly into your soul!

  He’ll win every staring contest, hands down

  See what I mean?

  Sleepy boy

From the very little information I uncovered, I believe his mate was named Adelaide. It appears she may have passed in or around 2009, which is before I began my Volunteering career, because her name appears in a list I found from that year, but there was some pushback in the comments about exactly how many tawny frogmouths still lived at the Zoo. Sadly, this species mates (for life) and he has been on his own since then. What I do know for sure, though, is this: Makepeace was born (hatched) on June 13, 1986, which makes him well over 33 years old! This site lists their life expectancy at 12-14 years in the wild and, for some inexplicable reason, shorter in captivity; I don’t imagine that second part to be true, but still: for Makepeace to outlive his normal life expectancy by a factor of nearly 2.5 is absolutely incredible. I’m not seeing any more information about their life expectancy on Wiki;

however, when a student on one of my tours inquired as to whether Makepeace is the oldest in the world, I did manage to discover that there are a couple of others of his species that are slightly older than he is. If he hangs on for a while, though, he could easily hold that title. This site suggests that the oldest “reported” frogmouth was 32 years old in 2018; that’s how old he was, but it seems to have been a different bird.

  Papa and chick!

In 2013, a chick was hatched at Paulton’s Park in the UK to a very old couple: Gerben, the dad, was 33 while mom, Fleur, was 29. Both of these would be older than Makepeace today, but I cannot find any record of them still being around, nor even of their passing. However, I did find this adorable photo of Gerben and his chick (named Willow)!! This makes me wonder if maybe it isn’t too late to obtain another, older mate for Makepeace and give him one more chance at producing an offspring for his legacy. I doubt this will happen, but you never know. In the meantime, I will continue to pop ’round to see him whenever I am in his building, because it does my own heart good to see him still alive and kicking after all these years. 

  There’s not a lot more I can tell you right now. I will continue digging and update this post when I have more information for you. Oh, I did happen to come across this cool old program from the AAZK conference in Miami in 1985; note the talk being given by Oliver Claffey on “Breeding the Tawny Frogmouth at the Metro Toronto Zoo” and remember: this was the year before Makepeace was even born! (You’ll probably have to click on the photo and zoom in.)

    Next month: one of my favourite animals in the whole zoo and one I did my very first project on during Volunteer Training. So if I don’t have a lot of information to share with you next month, there’s an entirely different issue to be dealt with!

See you then!

2020 “HANGING OUT WITH ANIMALS” Calendar – March Story As I mentioned in my January post, I tried this year to use as many "first-times" in the calendar as possible in order to minimize the chances of rehashing old stories for you here in the blogs.

March 16, 2017 • Lost

The podcasts were queued. The Contigo was full. The windows were down, and the destination was loaded into Apple Maps. The cotton-like cumulus clouds were picture-perfect against the bold blue sky. It even smelled like sunshine. It was the perfect day for a road trip.

I set off to visit my friend who lived a few hours away, and the drive was just as I had planned, well, until the final turn. As I drove down a winding country road with a cornfield on one side and a cornfield on the other – and nothing else – Siri proudly proclaimed, "Arrived."

I slowed the car to a crawl, and the crawl slowed to a stop. I looked again to my left and my right. Closed my eyes. Rubbed them. Opened them again. Looked again. Corn. Nothing but corn as far as the eye could see. Arrived, indeed – or something.

I was lost.

Siri told me I had arrived, but my elevated heart rate told me otherwise. It said, "You're vulnerable and panicky, and you have no control over the situation, and you're probably going to die." Where were Rand and McNally when I needed them?

Whether driving or in a dead end job or on that never ending quest for meaning and vitality, getting lost can be disorienting and disheartening. Sometimes you know exactly where you are. Other times you end up the middle of nowhere – surrounded by corn – with no idea what to do next.

But here's the thing: If you don't get a little lost, you can't be found. So today's Thursday Three is about getting lost.

"Flight 815" – a 42-second sketch by Jennifer Moxley

+ The Stranger in the Woods

It's rare for me to get lost in a book. I can't remember the last time I finished one in less than 24 hours, but that's exactly what happened this weekend with Michael Finkel's The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit (Amazon, public library). It just released last week and tells the (true) story of Christopher Knight who, at age 20, left his home and vanished into the woods of Maine where he lived alone for 27 years. In that span, Knight said only one word aloud ("Hi"), went completely without human touch, and stole everything he needed from nearby vacationers, covering his tracks so he wouldn't be found.

It's a captivating story, well worth a read (or a listen), but if time is tight, this recent article from The Atlantic tells the story well.

Though the "stranger" in the title is Knight, one closes the book with the sense that Knight, like all seers, is the only sane person in a world gone insane – that modern civilization has made us strangers to ourselves.

If you want a little more before diving in, Finkel used this feature piece from GQ as the starting point for his book. It amounts to an extensive excerpt – complete with a diagram of Knight's camp in the woods. I wouldn't last two days out there.

+ Flow

I've listened to the podcast, Good Job, Brain!, for years. It's one of my favorites. Each week, four trivia nerds sit around a table with microphones, quizzing each other and sharing their most recent trivia discoveries – all in an effort to train for their next pub trivia night. It's a lot of fun.

In their most recent episode, co-host Dana describes the psychological concept of "flow." Flow is essentially "being in the zone." It's getting lost in what you're doing. It's that near-transcendent state where time seems to stop because you're firing on all cylinders, utilizing your talents, and working to overcome a surmountable challenge. "Flow" was named by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi and, he maintains, it's the secret to happiness.

In his study, Csíkszentmihályi interviewed creatives, CEOs, athletes, and others. He found that when their hard work was enjoyable – when they were enjoying the constant challenge of their work, getting lost in it – their priorities shifted. They cared less about ambition and less about financial success because the challenge of the work was satisfying in and of itself.

I don't know that I would go so far as to say it's the secret to happiness. I think there's more to it and we're often talking about different things when we talk about happiness. Still, the concept of flow is certainly intriguing. It's something I've experienced myself a handful of times – I just didn't know there was a name for it.

Click here to watch Csíkszentmihályi's 2004 TED Talk on flow. (Or just read the transcript. Might be easier.) There's also a book if you're so inclined (Amazon, public library). And if you want to learn more about Good Job, Brain!, subscribe in your favorite podcast app or follow them on Twitter here.

+ Maps

For Christians around the world, it's the season of Lent – a time to clear out the cobwebs of our souls and clean out the junk drawers of our hearts as we prepare for Easter. It's common in this season to give something up or take on a discipline as part of that work. This Lent, I've been working through Malcolm Guite's excellent anthology, The Word in the Wilderness (Amazon, public library). In it, Guite offers a poem a day for Lent and Easter – some contemporary and some classic. And after each poem, he shares a reflection about the piece. The book has been a meaningful companion along the journey, and Holly Ordway's sonnet from last Thursday is especially fitting for today.

Antique maps, with curlicues of ink As borders, framing what we know, like pages From a book of travelers' tales: look, Here in the margin, tiny ships at sail. No-nonsense maps from family trips: each state Traced out in color-coded numbered highways, A web of roads with labeled city-dots Punctuating the route and its slow stories. Now GPS puts me right at the center, A Ptolemaic shift in my perspective. Pinned where I am, right now, somewhere, I turn And turn to orient myself. I have Directions calculated, maps at hand: Hopelessly lost till I look up at last.

BIG DEAL ALERT: The Thursday Three turns one tomorrow! I sent the first Thursday Three to three people on St. Patrick's Day last year. It's come a long way, and if you've had any part in reading, writing, podcasting, sketching, mixtaping, sharing, inspiring, encouraging, replying, or subscribing, THANK YOU.

Thank you for helping to make this year so special. I couldn't have done it without you. And, hey, if you want to give the Thursday Three another year, consider forwarding it to your friends or use the share, tweet, and forward buttons below. I'm grateful. Until next Thursday, don't be a stranger.

Peace,

Brent

All of the questions xoxo

Hey Anon, what's up, how're you, wanna get breakfast, maybe see an early film? Hmu Also these took forever and I hate you thank you for asking 😂 (I love these kinda things) 1: Is there a boy/girl in your life? There is not, hasn't been for a while haha 
2: Think of the last person who hurt you; do you forgive them? I do, because at the heart of it all, they were afraid. I've acted out of fear before, I wasn't proud of it. They were afraid and they acted out, it's been a long time and took me a while to get here, but I don't hold it against them. 
3:What do you think of when you hear the word “meow?” I...I can't answer that omg there's this inside joke between my friends and I and this...thing that happened almost a year ago just yeah I can't answer that Jesus Christ 
4: What’s something you really want right now? Mental stability my dudes and also a coffee and maybe some physical affection because I realise it's been nearly 4 months since I actually hugged someone and that kinda sucks. 
5: Are you afraid of falling in love? Terrified, but not in the bad way, in the way you're supposed to be scared of falling for someone. 
6: Do you like the beach? I am inclined to give to answers, that I like MALTESE beaches because that country is like a second home, and I hate SCOTTISH beaches because they are not fucking beaches 😂 
7: Have you ever slept on a couch with someone else? Never with someone as far as I can remember. 
8: What’s the background on your cell? It's the Assassin's Creed insignia. 
9: Name the last four beds you were sat on? Oh right, easy, eh, my friends: Andrew's, Laura's, Carol's and my nephew's. 
10: Do you like your phone? I do like my phone, it's an iPhone SE. 
11: Honestly, are things going the way you planned? No they aren't, but a plan is only as good as how well it holds up when it fails, my English teacher used to say that to me and it's the truth as far as I'm concerned. Things aren't going to plan, nor are they going badly. 
12: Who was the last person whose phone number you added to your contacts? Some girl in Firewater who I never called, who never called me, and I should probably delete. 
13: Would you rather have a poodle or a Rottweiler? Comparing dogos is wrong and I shall have both please they will be called Alduin and Paarthurnax. 
14: Which hurts the most, physical or emotional pain? Right now, both. 
15: Would you rather visit a zoo or an art museum? Zoo for me! 
16: Are you tired? I'm always tired 😔 
17: How long have you known your 1st phone contact? Considering it's my mum? Haha about 20 years now! 
18: Are they a relative? Yes. 
19: Would you ever consider getting back together with any of your exes? Consider, probably. Actually do it? Never. 
20: When did you last talk to the last person you shared a kiss with? Probably the night that I kissed them which was ages ago and not really a big deal. 
21: If you knew you had the right person, would you marry them today? No, even if they were The One™ we would still be too young. 
22: Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? Not really. 
23: How many bracelets do you have on your wrists right now? I don't wear them sadly. 
24: Is there a certain quote you live by? Laa shay'a waqi'un moutlaq bale kouloun moumkine, that is to say, nothing is true and everything is permitted. 
25: What’s on your mind? Food, having not eaten in a while, and college having not studied in a while. 
26: Do you have any tattoos? I have a few, 3 to be exact. 
27: What is your favorite color? Red or light grey. 
28: Next time you will kiss someone on the lips? The next time myself and a person who wants to kiss, kiss. So probably never again lol 
29: Who are you texting? Lots of people, mostly my sister to pick up milk. 
30: Think to the last person you kissed, have you ever kissed them on a couch? I have not. 
31: Have you ever had the feeling something bad was going to happen and you were right? A few times, the last I can remember clearly was way back in August last year, when I was at my friends house, and my phone rang. 
32: Do you have a friend of the opposite sex you can talk to? I do, a few. All of them I trust, all my friends. Near or far haha 
33: Do you think anyone has feelings for you? I wouldn't know, unless they felt like telling me. 
34: Has anyone ever told you you have pretty eyes? I have brown eyes, so, not really. Which is a shame, because brown eyes are beautiful. 
35: Say the last person you kissed was kissing someone right in front of you? Good for them?? I don't really know how I'm supposed to react to these questions. 
36: Were you single on Valentines Day? Lol yup. 
37: Are you friends with the last person you kissed? I'm just gonna ignore these kissing questions now wtf 😂😂 no I am not! 
38: What do your friends call you? Condie. 
39: Has anyone upset you in the last week? The last week? Not really no, it's been a chill-ish week. 
40: Have you ever cried over a text? I have. 
41: Where’s your last bruise located? My face, where most of my bruises have been located recently. All healed up now tho. 
42: What is it from? I was in an accident, got some pretty bad facial injuries. Like I said, all healed up. 
43: Last time you wanted to be away from somewhere really bad? Usually every Monday in Psychology 😂 but in all seriousness, my house sometimes. Just, miss going out as much. 
44: Who was the last person you were on the phone with? My sister. 
45: Do you have a favourite pair of shoes? I do, I have a pair of white converse I bought when I was in London, and they remind me of a pair I had when I was a kid. I love them!
46: Do you wear hats if your having a bad hair day? Yeah so that's why I'm wearing a hat in most pictures 😂 I love my hats leave me alone! 
47: Would you ever go bald if it was the style? Probably not. 
48: Do you make supper for your family? We don't really do supper. 
49: Does your bedroom have a door? It does indeed! 
50: Top 3 web-pages? Fallout Wiki, Stanford University Sociology, tumblr.hellsite. 
51: Do you know anyone who hates shopping? Now I think on it, I don't. 
52: Does anything on your body hurt? My soul? Ahaha nah my teeth, I don't get my face fixed fully till next Friday so I'm pretty much always in pain. 
53: Are goodbyes hard for you? They can be, depending on the person. 
54: What was the last beverage you spilled on yourself? Coffee, last night. Stupid thing to do really! 
55: How is your hair? I haven't left my bed yet so eh not great 😂 
56: What do you usually do first in the morning? Check my phone. 
57: Do you think two people can last forever? If they work at it, yeah. 
58: Think back to January 2007, were you single? I was 10 years old. 
59: Green or purple grapes? Purple all the way! 
60: When’s the next time you will give someone a BIG hug? Ahaha starved for physically affection this question makes me sad. 
61: Do you wish you were somewhere else right now? With friends? 
62: When will be the next time you text someone? Later today probably. 
63: Where will you be 5 hours from now? Probably still in this fucking house. 
64: What were you doing at 8 this morning. On tumblr I think. 
65: This time last year, can you remember who you liked? I was in a relationship this time last year. 
66: Is there one person in your life that can always make you smile? There is. A message from any of my friends, or my niece and nephew. 
67: Did you kiss or hug anyone today? I hate these questions now, I'm lonely you asshole. 
68: What was your last thought before you went to bed last night? Gosh darn I hope I can sleep tonight. 
69: Have you ever tried your hardest and then gotten disappointed in the end? Hey look it's the title of my autobiography 😂 yeah son 
70: How many windows are open on your computer? Six. 
71: How many fingers do you have? 10...
72: What is your ringtone? Because I'm a Fucking Nerd™ the TARDIS noise. 
73: How old will you be in 5 months? Twenty. 
74: Where is your Mum right now? At work I think. 
75: Why aren’t you with the person you were first in love with or almost in love? AhAhahaha because the world is a cruel place 
76: Have you held hands with somebody in the past three days? Can these physical affection questions actually fuck off? 
77: Are you friends with the people you were friends with two years ago? I am indeed, and I fail to see why, according to some people, that's a bad thing. 
78: Do you remember who you had a crush on in year 7? Lol yeah I do 
79: Is there anyone you know with the name Mike? There is not. 
80: Have you ever fallen asleep in someones arms? I have, a few times. 
81: How many people have you liked in the past three months? Maybe one or two? I'm not really sure I'm so starved of love these days I can honestly start to like someone if they are nice to me. 
82: Has anyone seen you in your underwear in the last 3 days? Nah. 
83:Will you talk to the person you like tonight? How about N O P E on this question. 
84: You’re drunk and yelling at hot guys/girls out of your car window, you’re with? Alice, my legendary drinking buddy, or Heather, my other legendary drinking buddy, or ALTERNATIVELY, we're not harassing innocent people on the streets because that's fucking creepy and who does that???? You choose which one you think is right. 
85: If your BF/GF was into drugs would you care? Anything over weed and I'd be pissed. 
86: What was the most eventful thing that happened last time you went to see a movie? It was Logan and everyone cried. 
87: Who was your last received call from? My sister. 
88: If someone gave you $1,000 to burn a butterfly over a candle, would you? Y'know what, I would. Yeah it's fucking awful and disgusting and I'd feel bad but I'm also a student, I'm poor with bills to pay and I kinda need food. So yeah I would. 
89: What is something you wish you had more of? Time. 
90: Have you ever trusted someone too much? I have. 
91: Do you sleep with your window open? Hell no because I'm no barbarian 😂 and also Scotland is freezing! 
92: Do you get along with girls? I do, I get along with most people. 
93: Are you keeping a secret from someone who needs to know the truth? Everyone is. 
94: Does sex mean love? Sex means whatever you want it to mean. 
95: You’re locked in a room with the last person you kissed, is that a problem? O H. MY. GOD. 
96: Have you ever kissed anyone with a lip ring? I think so...? I'm not sure. Would be up for it but I can't remember. 
97: Did you sleep alone this week? I'm always alone dude. 
98: Everybody has somebody that makes them happy, do you? My friends yup. 
99: Do you believe in love at first sight? For some people sure, if it ever happens with me, I'll be the first to tell y'all. 
100: Who was the last person that you pinky promise? I can't remember sadly.

RC checklist for Indian Applicants

One Sunny Sunday morning one can get up and question their self-existence, or one can ask every few days or few months what am I doing at the current job? The answer will push you to a place you have never been.

One can meticulously plan for extravagant programming tour or programmer’s pilgrimage for three months. Yes, that what my outlook of RC is! RC is a different place from a usual workplace, meetups, college or any educational institute. The two striking reasons are peers and social rules. If you haven't thought of attending it, give it a thought. I am jotting down the list of steps to ease the planning.

What is RC?

The Recurse Center is a free, three-month self-directed program for people who want to get better at programming.

Application Process

RC application process is straightforward. The applicant fills an online form with few details like programming experience, what are your plans at RC and few other details. The exact details are available at Apply Page. Once you submit the application, RC interviewer gets back to you in next few days about application status.

The first round for shortlisted candidate is casual Skype chat. The Skype chat is a step to get to know the applicant. The conversation lasts for few minutes to half an hour. The next round is pair programming round. You will pair up with an interviewer to add a simple feature to the code you submitted as part of the application process. The ideal duration is half an hour. Finally, you get the green card or red card. If you get a red card, you need to wait for six more months to apply. If you get a green card, you’re entitled to jump out of the chair or open a beer bottle and celebrate. You can read about the experience of a recurser on his interview process.

Choosing a batch

The application form has the drop down list of batches you’d like to attend. Normally, the drop down list contains next four batches with timelines. You will know how many days in advance to apply for a RC batch the bottom.

Book flight tickets and accommodation

First and foremost expense for the trip is purchasing flight tickets. You should book two-way flight ticket with or without the cancellation option. On an average, the flight tickets cost 70K INR (~1050 USD) for a two-way journey.

The trip is for three months, and the hotel stay is out of the equation since it's expensive. The other viable option is Airbnb. RC has a community mailing list for housing. You may get access to the list few weeks before the batch. But if you don't have a US visa you can't wait until the last moment. I’ll explain why this is important in a bit. Airbnb charges for the first month stay in advance for the three-month stay. If the user cancels the trip, Airbnb will refund the money with some deduction depending on terms and conditions.One can book Airbnb for the first month and upgrade/shift depending on the experience. Most of the times, Airbnb has a flat discount for one month stay.

By now you must have noticed the savings disappeared like melting of ice.

B-1/B-2 Visa - walking on the rope

Every year lakhs of people from the Indian Union travel to the USA for different purpose like education, business, family visit, conference, relocation, tourism, etc.. As per 2015 available stats on Wikipedia article, 1,175,153 tourists visited the USA. If you already have a US visa, skip this section.

Every purpose of the tour has a different class of visa. Here is an exhaustive list of visa types for immigrants and non-immigrants. All grad school students apply for non-immigrant F1 visa. The Recurse Center isn't typical education institute since you don't get a degree at the end of the stay. The motto of RC is Never Graduate. So you can’t apply for the F1 visa. The alternate option in front of the computer is B-1/B-2 visa.

B-1 visa is for business visitors, and B-2 is for pleasure. If your company is paying for the trip, apply for B-1 else apply for the B-2 visa. In the end, your visa carries a stamp stating B-1/B-2 visa type. The permit is valid for ten years.

Visa application

In the Tamil movie Vaaranam Aayiram - A thousand elephants, the hero shows up on US visa Center when he decides to fly to meet the girl whom he encountered on a train journey and fell in love with head over heels. That's one heck of a crazy scene! But the real life picture is entirely different. You need to apply for a visa online. The application process is time-consuming and takes multiple hours to fill. The application requires a bag full of references. Let me put down points I remember.

Date of journey and return

Purpose of visit - RC admission letter is suffice

Accommodation information

Flight details

Your last two employer name

Your point of contact in the USA

Your relative or friends address[es] in USA

Your trip sponsor information. If you're paying for the trip, itself

Your past crime records :-) Hopefully void!

During the online application process, your session must have expired multiple times. The applicant needs to select two dates for in-person interview. Everyone wants to have their interview as soon as possible. The number of visa interviewers is less than 20 in a Center, and one can speak to approximately 20 to 40 applicants in a day. Depending on which day of the year, which season the next available slot will fall in one to four weeks. During the education season, the interview slot fills up faster with minimum three weeks from date of application. The US travel site displays the turn around based on location.

The first day the applicant submits paper documents of residence, passport information. The Center takes candidate photo, collects fingerprints. The first day is tension free. The second-day applicant meets the interviewer for 10 minutes who will judge your intent and all the carried paper documents. This day is boxing day.

Criteria

Some people take off from the job and go to RC, some resign from the job and go to RC.

The visa clearance depends on what is your case out of two and other probabilities like marital status, loan, plans after RC, etc ...

US embassy loves people who travel for the business purpose. That should be the simple guess. What does that mean here? If your company pays for the trip, the chance of visa approval is high.

The prime concern for the interviewer is the applicant may disappear in the USA and never fly back. Hope you heard similar lines in the linked video. To break the fear, you need to answer the questions and show the proof of return. Now you must have understood why booking flight ticket is the must. As you know, the return flight ticket can be canceled and not a cohesive proof of return but showcases your plan.

So, What else can be a substantial evidence for flying back?

A loan like education loan, car loan, housing loan or personal loan.

The latest wedlock certificate.

A statement from the employer that you will join the current job after the short visit.

If you don't satisfy above three criteria and you're in the twenties, your visa request has the high probability of rejection. That’s the price you pay for being a free bird!

DS-160

An applicant can try twice consecutively for visa application. AFAIK for the third time, the applicant needs to wait for six months to apply. The interviewer for subsequent interviews are different, and there is a high chance of conversion on the second attempt. You need to fill out DS-160 application to get started on the application process and then pay 160 USD. You will receive the email notification at all phases. Once your payment is through, login to ustravel docs portal and pick up the interview slot. You can read step by step procedure on the site. Here is a document for the first-time traveler.

It took two attempts for me to get a US visa. So one of the safest bet is to obtain US visa for the conference or business and then later apply for RC if you have time. If you work in India focused startups, high chance the company won't send you to the USA. So you don't have USA visa.

The current political climate in the US may bring new rule during your transit to the USA. So odds are in all lands.

At the end of the interview, the concerned officer informs the status of the visa request. For the selected candidate, US embassy sends the visa affixed in the passport to one of the specified Collection Center in a week.

Timelines:

RC application process: 2 - 3 weeks

Visa application process first attempt: 2 weeks

Visa application process second attempt: 2 weeks

Visa delivery time: 1 week

Time to put down paper at the current company or relieve: 1 week to 3 months

So the applicant needs two to three months to complete all paperwork to attend RC. If you have US visa, you can fly next month to attend RC!

How much does it cost?

Economics played a crucial role in planning the trip.

I will provide two cost breakup. First one is from a fellow recurser Satabdi Das and second is mine.

She is not a vegetarian and stayed with an RC alumni who rented the other bedroom in his 2 Bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. Her commute time was between 25-30 minutes (25 minutes when I got the express train - A line) in A and C lines. Usually, she prepared her breakfast. In the beginning, she tried to cook dinner too, but that turned out to be a little time consuming, and there was no dearth of good and cheap options. Most of the meals used to be around $5 to $10 (rarely $10, if she felt like splurging) and sometimes even $2 (thanks to those yummy Chinese buns!). And she used to buy fruits almost weekly.

List of her most frequented places - Halal cart - Falafel sandwich - Hummus sandwich - NY Dosa - Chinese Buns from Golden Steamer - Sweet Green

Expenses:

Rent - 1185 per month = 3555

Commute - 115 per month = 345

Mobile Bill - 40 per month = 120

Food - 2000

Laundry - $3 per wash and dry.

Total $6020 (excluding the visa fee and plane fare and laundry cost)

Thanks Satabdi for sharing the expenses.

The second story is mine.

I am atheist vegetarian by choice and eat egg. I stayed in Brooklyn, traveled to RC by subway on A and C lines. The subway is operational throughout the clock. My Airbnb stay was a single room of 10*16 with queen size bed and dressing table in a three floored building. The room came with a shared kitchen, fridge, wifi, and toilet. Only two rooms were occupied, out of four rooms on the floor.

I mostly lived on fatty bread with peanut butter, French Sandwich, Falafel Sandwich, Dosa from NY Dosas,Dosa from Hampton Chutney,Veg Bowl from Sweet Green, Dollar Pizzas and fruits.

Three months expenses

Room Rent - 3000 (1000/month)

Subway - 345(115/month)

Food - 1700

Mobile Bill - 105 (35$/per month with unlimited calls, 4GB/4G data)

Misc - 200 (Laundry, Haircut, Sightseeing, etc ...)

Visa fee - 340 (Two attempts, Travel to Chennai)

Flights - 1000

Total = 6690 USD

With 1 USD as 67 INR, the trip cost was approximately 4.5 lakhs.

Hope the article gave a sense of trip planning. If you have any other doubts, feel free drop me an email.

Thank you Satabdi and Alicja Raszkowska for reviews and comments on the blog post.