Random Observations - Tumblr Posts

A tiny, dazzling heart inside the rose quartz stone that I use for representing Venus in readings. The heart can only be seen under a specific light and angle. I didn't notice it before. Has it always been there or just formed?

Neptune's mode of expression

Random observations about how Neptune expresses itself in my daily life.

My aspects: Neptune as 12th's lord sitting on MC, Neptune aspecting Sun/Moon/Venus/AC

• Confused look (both me and the person looking at me)

• People stare at me, I stare back at them, no change in their gaze. Make me wonder am I an inanimate human being or an animate object.

• People getting startled in elevator when they realised that I was standing in the same elevator with them during the whole ride (context: me alone in the elevator then the other person walked in but only realised my existence when I was about to walk out)

• Spacious bus station but people insist on standing right in front of me, the distance between my nose tip and their back could be measured by the length of one finger. If anyone wants to hire a backstabber (in the literal sense), please contact me.

• "I thought you were a foreigner"

• "You don't seem to have worldly desires"

• "Searching for your home planet?"

• "You walk like a zombie", "Are you walking or floating?"

• People assuming me being innocent and naive, need to be taught without actually talking to me.

• I can guess people's astrological signs through their assumptions of my sign. I had people guessing the whole zodiac for my Sun sign. "Oh you probably are Scorpio or Virgo" can be translated as they having Scorpio or Virgo placements. My ideal career is probably being a mirror or a projector screen.

• My motivation has avoidant attachment style. It ghosts me when I make demand on it.

• The most enjoyable aspect of sleeping is the dreams.

• The most enjoyable aspect of staying awake is daydreaming.

• Hermit is a very attractive word.

• Loud noises, the bane of my existence.

• Having random amusing thoughts then forget about them the next minutes. The past me probably had more fun things to write in this post than the present me.

• Fascination with watery, bubbly, oceanic stuff.

• Liking floaty, lightweight, oversized clothes so I can swim in them.

• The inner happening vs How people perceive it: crying river from the anxiety of public speaking = "oh you look so calm", being sad because I've lost something = "is there something good happening for you?", getting excited about dinner = "Why do you look so down?" *hence the confused look*

• Getting assigned to do the decoration of any project or getting asked whenever there's something remotely artsy needed to be done, like gift wrapping even though I've never shown any sign of being experienced at gift wrapping.

• Perpetually confused about my life path.

• Can cry at everything and nothing.

• Getting introduced to astrology since primary school.

• Messy space means creative mind = The mantra I use to soothe the nagging feeling whenever I see my messy space.

• "Your desk looks like the stationery shop/ witchcraft shop"

And many more observations but they've escaped my clutch.

Today's Tarot questions

I like to ask Tarot about Tarot.

Question 1: The meaning of the middle cup in 7 of cups card:

The cards: The high priestess, The hermit, 9 of cups

My interpretation: Your innermost, deepest wish and things that bring you fulfillment but are not always visible to you.

Question 2: What's behind the veil of the High Priestess?

The cards: Knight of cups, Queen of cups, 6 of cups

My interpretation: Your past, your memories, the emotional growth (somehow I see the Knight and the Queen of cups as a grown up version of the two children in 6 of Cups), how you hold your depth within and how you give it to others.

Question 3: What's in the cup of the Queen of cups?

The cards: The Chariot, The Empress, The Emperor

My interpretation: The ability to hold/control/wield both the Feminine and the Masculine force within.

What's your interpretation?

168 is the number that I've seen everywhere and have yet deciphered its meaning.

So I twitched the background and header's colour of this blog to the hex code of #168168 and #000168. They turned out to be my favourite colours all along.🤔

Confession #2

I feel so heckin' comfortable with myself now that I started living in the suburban-like region of a small town. The internal peace overwhelms me, I don't even want to scroll Tumblr mindlessly to relax - it's enough to just look out the window.

General rule of thumb: NEVER say anything negative in the comment section under a cat video. No matter what's happening in that video or what your comment is about, if it's negative even in the slightest, you are dead. The internet community of people who think they "touch the grass" more often then you do will devour you. The fact that your are an experienced cat owner or even a professional cat behaviourist or veterinarian can't save you. You shall be destroyed.

- Don't let your cat lick on your Starbucks cup, they might get poisoned.

- OH YOU ARE SUCH A SNOWFLAKE GO THE GRASS AND TOUCH THE OUTSIDE

***

- Your cat is destroying your TV because for the cat it is natural to want to jump on a higher surface. You should buy a cat tree or get some shelves for your little dude.

- No, he's just orange! Silly orange cat! So annoying

***

I talked to a cat behaviourist recently (who happens to be my friend) and she shared her annoyance over the fact that people often record their cats doing "silly things" which can be potentially dangerous for the little guys, like leaving an open aquarium and recording cats trying to catch the fish and then them falling into that aquarium, because it's "funny" or, for instance, allowing cats to get in through a tilted window (she actually shared a personal story that her neighbour had such an incident with her cat having got stuck in a window like that and loosing sensations in his back paws because of that; the cat gained sensations back after some massage, but a few more minutes and he would have lost his legs or broken his spine), and everytime she tries to inform people what exactly can be done in such situations to avoid any trauma or injury, they say: "it's just a cat, whatever" or even tell her to shut up, claiming that her suggestion is "unreasonable" and she doesn't know what she's talking about.

General rule of thumb: NEVER say anything negative in the comment section under a cat video. No matter what's happening in that video or what your comment is about, if it's negative even in the slightest, you are dead. The internet community of people who think they "touch the grass" more often then you do will devour you. The fact that your are an experienced cat owner or even a professional cat behaviourist or veterinarian can't save you. You shall be destroyed.

Kinda hate what lockdown and TikTok did to people. And I don’t mean to come off as one of those people who are like “blah blah phones are the root of all your problems!! Ride a bike” but like our generation is so hyper aware of how they are perceived bc of the obsession with cringe culture. Even if you say “cringe is free” or whatever you’re still aware of how you’re being perceived and it creates this weird paradox where you’re trying to convince yourself and others you’ve stopped caring but we all still do. And I’m not saying that this has never existed before now but it’s just that it’s become so much more prevalent. it ties into the whole obsession with labels, why do we need to label every aspect of ourselves?? Labels exist to put you in a box, why are we curating our entire lives to fit a label?

It’s caused people to not be able to think for themselves anymore, they’re just kinda running with what the masses are saying without even doing their own research and then repeating what they’ve heard without actually knowing what they’re talking about. Making so many people loose they’re critical thinking skills, which then just creates so much hostility because people will see one small POSSIBLE fault and run with it without looking at x,y and z that actually contradicts their point.

There’s probably so much more that can be said on this but these specific things are what really stuck out to me. It’s genuinely been bugging me for years now.

random observations about kudos/hits ratios on ao3

so i've been reading fic on ao3 since uhhhh about 2016? 2015 maybe? and writing since 2018 ish. during those years i've made a few observations about common ao3 reader/author behaviors. i thought i'd share them with the obvious caveat that i am limited to the fandoms i've been in and my own personal experiences

One-Shots

generally the standard for one-shots is a 1/10 kudos/hit ratio. meaning if a fic has 3,000 hits, it has at least 300 kudos.

if a fic has a kudos/hit ratio below 10%, it probably has an unsatisfying ending. i almost never see the ratio lowered for poor writing quality.

the exception is fics tagged Unhappy Ending or Hurt No Comfort. those get less hits but the people reading know what they're getting in to. those fics will generally stay within a 10% range.

generally fluff one-shots or fics that are all comfort, no hurt have the highest ratios of any category of fics, sometimes reaching as high as 20%.

Multi-Chaptered Fics

these fics are damn lucky if they reach 10% lmaooo

this is a gradient of sorts, though. complete fics with 2/3 chapters have a much higher chance of being near a 1/10 kudos/hit ratio, while those decade-long 400k 50 chaptered epics are probably near 1%.

based on how ao3 hits work, i would guess that this is because there's a higher chance of ao3 registering another hit even if the reader is just reading the latest updates.

basically, a 2-chapter fic started and finished within two weeks has a very good chance of being above the 10% ratio. that really long fic you spent a week reading three years ago which made you feel like you just ran a marathon? not a chance.

a brief tangent into chapter lengths: a higher length correlates with higher quality. i want to emphasize (actually, i want to tell twelve-year-old self this, but 12 y/o me is beyond our help now) that quantity does NOT make quality. just because you can squeeze an extra thousand words into chapter 3 doesn't make the story any better. however, in general, the writing quality of a 30k fic with 3 chapters will be higher than that of a 30k fic with 30 chapters.

there are exceptions! i once read a very long fic with very long chapters where the writing was, for lack of a better descriptor, extremely childish. the author mostly rotated the same ten verbs around and around for 100k. also sometimes you read a 400-word one-shot that mentally destroys you for weeks.

of course, at the end of the day none of this matters. i wrote a barely decent 42k 5-chapter fic which is somehow over the 10% ratio. i cannot for the life of me understand why this is. it's not good, you guys. it's really not. on the other hand, i wrote a 37k one-shot which is below the 10% ratio. the kudos/hit ratio has not changed how i view the quality of those fics, it just convinced me that some of y'all have no taste.

these really are just random observations i've made from my six ish years putting fic on the good old Archive. it's not meant to be a reading guide, just something that makes you go "huh."

Life in China: Observations #2

Deodorant what? I order mine from taobao, as I've yet to meet a deodorant out in the wild. Seriously, none of the beauty or health stores carry it, so taobao has been a great help

The bathrooms The public bathrooms tend to be the squat kind (malls and places frequently patronized by foreigners excluded) and you'll have to bring your own toiletpaper and other hygiene items with you. Some places do have the odd western stall amidst the squat stalls, but nonetheless they are the expection. This is in a pretty big city, so expect western style bathrooms to be more rare in more rural areas.

VPN can be a hit or miss It's good to have a few vpns as backups in case one starts glitching and doesn't work (it actually happened a few days ago and after 15 min I caved in and bought the premium version for my free backup only for my current one to start working later). Not all vpns work in china, so it's important to do some research before buying any.

Getting stared at It happens everywhere, even in big cities, but after a while you get used to it.

Food is affordable My uni canteen breakfast costs around 1-2 euros, whereas the same meal at a local cafe would be 7-10 euros back at home

Eating out is common Sure you can cook, but it's much cheaper to go out to eat, especially to the local non-touristy places. In a lot of them you just scan a code that's on the table and order and pay from your phone so there's not a lot of in-person interaction other than saying thanks when the food is brought out to you.

Taking the initiative with friends Making friends with people is always great, but ever so often you will have to take the initiative to do things especially with your Chinese friends.

Bottled water is the way to go Everyone drinks bottled water. Local people, tourists, expats, pretty much no one drinks tap water. The explorer in me wants to try it out, and maybe see how much sips I can have before something (probably bad) happens but past experience says no :/

Private hospitals are more convenient Yes, they may be more expensive but if you can afford to pay a bit more it's always worth it. The staff speak English, which is very useful if you don't speak Chinese or if you have a complex issue that requires very specific vocab that you never learned.

Life in China: Observations #3

Vitamins/supplements are necessary Especially Calcium and Vit D. Dairy isn't really that big of a thing here (milk boba tea does not count!!), and with cheese being a mythical creature Calcium and vit D are quite useful.

The city never sleeps The big cities at least are always loud and active.

Sugary drinks Sugar is everywhere. From milk-tea to coffee, everything is pretty sweet. Even some of the bread is sweet as I discovered when eating a sandwich.

Interesting flavours Cucumber-flavoured crisps to cheese-flavoured coffee. Whatever flavour combination you deem too outlandish to be true, chances are its real.

Face masks People wear masks for a few main reasons; Fashion, against the cold, against illness and against the air pollution

The aforementioned air pollution It's a thing everywhere. The AQI index thing does not play about. The cold months are the worst, so you'll see people wearing masks very often.

Taobao I mentioned Taobao previously, but seriously. You can buy anything on Taobao. Literally. Clothes, makeup, household items, vitamins. I even saw some people selling rabbits. And other animals, but you get my point.

The New Year isn't that much of a thing here. It's celebrated but not to the extent that the Lunar New Year is celebrated from what I've heard.

The transport/travel system is pretty well connected. Getting around China has little difficulties. The only issue is getting out or into China especially if you're from a european country that doesn't have that many international flights.

Life in China Observations #4

It's been a while since I last did this, so let's go again!

Identity is complicated The question "where are you from" can be just as complicated as it is simple. For many people, their country of birth is where they're from, which is usually the case here. However, if you happen to be born in country A to parents from cultures B and C, immigrated and became a citizen of country D and now attend university in country E and are now on an exchange program in China, the question "where are you from" is not that easily answered. From what some of my friends told me, where you're from is actually the place where your dad was born in even though you may have been born in a different city which is a pretty interesting concept known as the "ancestral home" - 祖籍 (zǔjí) or 籍贯 (jígùan).

You have to make the first step I may have mentioned this in a previous post, but people are constantly doing something and unless you specifically and intentionally reach out and work on your friendship, you may end up drifting apart. Maybe this is a specific thing, but back home I could go a few weeks without really reaching out to my friends and then someone would suggest grabbing lunch together and it would be like no time had passed at all since we last saw each other. Here? Quite different.

Beauty and pop trends There are all sorts of weird and wonderful trends that you can come across in China. From using bread as a study tactic to decorating your workplace with banana plants, I feel like the more I assimilate here, the bigger the reverse culture shock will be when I go back home, and not just for me. dr.candiselin covers some of these trends on Instagram (not a promo post!), and I recommend checking out her content, it's quite brilliant.

Taobao You can buy anything on taobao. Literally. I saw someone selling a house there. I was previously a little shocked to see animals such as cats and bunnies being sold, but after seeing houses and cars being sold I honestly don't know what else is there to surprise me with.

Prepare in advance (foodwise) for the lunar new year During those 8-12ish days during the holdiays a lot of stores were closed. The convenience store outside my campus was open thank God, because otherwise I would have been living on instant porridge and instant soup which was my main food source 2 weeks prior due to being ill and there is only so much instant oatmeal that you can eat before slightly losing it.

Being ill is a nightmare And I mean the mandatory-bed-rest-no-going-out-for-at-least-5-days ill kind. You need to go to the hospital or a clinic to get a note to give to your school otherwise the day's you're absent will be counted, and once they reach a specific percentage you won't be allowed to take the exam (which can seriously mess with your grades, even more if you're there as an exchange student).

The weather can change at the blink of an eye I remember back in December the weather was in the negative digits and then suddenly the next day it was around 20 celcius?? The very next day it went to 3-4, and even now in March it's very all over the place. The weather forecast is not that useful because I'll leave the dorms wearing my coat in the morning only to return carrying my coat, jumper, long-sleeved shirt and wearing only my t-shirt.

More affordable beauty products I saw some products go for around $80 online?? And here on Taobao they cost under $10? I'm assuming it's the shipping costs that drive up the price so drastically, and now I'm pondering whether it would be cheaper to order online or to travel to China every couple of years just to stock up on beauty products.