Author: Danny Freels

In any situation, under any circumstance, I'd rather be loud and incorrect over being silent and right. I'd rather speak loudly when I do, in the case someone needs to hear it - If a correction needs to be made or not. There is a special comfort in having your own thoughts, but a greater connection in sharing that thought with another. Everything you encounter may not be magical, it may not be loving, or it may not be kind. That's not to say everything is ugly; However, if we shy away from what is we will never notice how full up of the good we feel when we do find it. I've devoted myself to telling the ugly the same way I would tell the kind, for the selfish reason of enjoying it that much more when I encounter it. I share that story, that thought of my selfishness, in case I happen to be loud and right.

sen·ti·men·tal·ism

sen·ti·men·tal·ism

[sɛntɪˈmɛntəlɪz(ə)m]
noun

sentimentalism (noun)

excessively sentimental behaviour, writing, or speech:

"the author blends realism with surrealism, journalism with sentimentalism"

Sentimentalism, as a concept, was introduced to me with its theatrical meaning. Bascially, sentimentalism is the pattern of plays having an “evil” character who is reformed and redeemed, and becomes good. Every bad act they have ever committed is simply negated because the protagonist hit them with a beam of friendship, love, and understanding. They may have a slip or two back into evil, but usually those are for noble reasons, separating them from being “evil”, that the protagonists either don’t know or misunderstand, hence the miscommunication trope.

Everyone has already done their “last blog” blogs, or most of everyone, and I’m going to talk about this little thing called sentimentalism. It’s just a fancy way for me to talk about how I’ve gotten so sentimental over the last few weeks, since someone told me we only have 3 go-home weekends left. It actually freaked me out sooo badly.

I have my own reasons for not wanting to go home for the summer, like a whole list that just gets longer and longer the closer and closer the summer gets and…. One of the main reasons is I know that I wont see a lot of people again. People are leaving, not getting invited back, or coming back and they may be entirely different people. I myself have changed so so many times, over and over again, throughout this school year that if I were to meet myself in may 2025 he wouldn’t recognize me.

My entire life has flipped around a hundred times since coming here. I’m healthier, I have a better understanding of my style, im happier. I have more friends, ACTUAL, REAL friends that I made on my own. I have a whole new perception of myself and it’s honestly amazing. I have a group, and I’ve reconnected with old friends too. This year has been so eventful and I’m glad for every second of it.

My art has progressed greatly, too. At first I wasn’t noticing a change. I was trying something new, writing poetry seriously, for the first time and I hadn’t exactly found my voice in it yet. Now I’m comfortable enough to write things I couldn’t have imagined EYE (i) wrote. I, like I said in my last blog, hadn’t been writing, and writing at all was hard for me because of what all it means to me. I felt like it wasn’t enough.

Last night, though, I participated as a reader in Steph and Richie’s senior literary showcase. I always knew that writing and literature had a huge impact on the world around me, and I also knew that it wasn’t accurate to only assume that big, famous pieces like Moby Dick or whatever get the chance to impact culture. I genuinely think differently after that showcase, and I think that’s what literature is supposed to do. To make you think differently.

I think, without realizing, being a literary has made me think differently, too. Like I said, I’ve had my whole brain flipped around and blended and had transplants maybe a hundred times this semester, and I think it may be a part of maturing. I said me from may last year wouldn’t recognize me now, but I don’t recognize who I was in august, either, or October, or even December. Freak, February danny is an entirely different BEING from me now. And yet, I’m still me. Despite everything, it’s still me. IYKYK. I don’t know. I guess I’m just getting pretty sentimental, and I’d rather let everything go that has made me upset over the last few months. It’s not real anymore. None of it is real and everything is impossibly real at the same time. I mean, sure. I can be frustrated. I can be put off. But, at the end of the day, I have to move on to no choice of my own. Life’s gotta keep moving, and there are bigger things to worry about and worse things to happen. Everything is gonna get better, though. Everything’s gonna turn out all right, even if its only for a few years, months, weeks, days, hours, or minutes. If it so pleases you, everything only has to be all right for a few seconds, and if you notice that and cherish it, then it was real. It doesn’t matter how long it lasts. It’s that its there.

Idk. Danny’s getting emotional and I have no idea what he’s saying. Hate that guy. I want everyone, EVERYONE, in literary to know I love them so much and that they’re the best ever. Kiss kiss. Heart heart. Kind of regretting not ending this off with a Greek mythology blog, danny hates his feelings. BYE. I LOVE YOU. <3

Talking about writing instead of doing it

My struggles in writing that aren’t real problems but I want to talk about them anyways.

For reasons unknown, I barely wrote for an entire year, almost two entire years. My pieces I used to apply to MSA were the first things I had written in that whole time, all pieced together over the span of two-ish months. I actually have in a notebook, somewhere floating around my dorm right now, that had the single thing I wrote worth anything in that entire time.

Writing is pretty sentimental to me, and especially that piece and the subject its on—but I wont share what it is, due to how personal it is. It’s sort of the type of thing that I did love, then, and held very dear to me because it is literally the ONLY thing I could write for that entire portion of my life, even if I don’t care much for it now, or agree with it, or even resonate with it. I realized im a lot more personal than I previously thought, and I do overshare and infodump but its never really about the most deep, personal stuff to me and blah blah blah. I don’t like talking about stuff currently going on in my life, just stuff I did or that did happen in a somewhat comedic lense that cant currently effect me, and I really try to keep my personal thoughts and feelings out of things.

Really bad at explaining that, so I’m just going to jump into my point: I don’t write about my personal life.

Of all of my favorite, most memorable pieces, they were about something or someone else. My Polar Bear Haibun, Rose Oil, Metaphorical, 11:11, Tributaries, Constellations. They’re all great, and I love all of those stories and poems and whatever else so much, but they don’t really like reflect any of my inner beliefs. I think about so much, all the time, and none of it ever makes it into my work. Why is that?

A part of me is embarrassed. Like I’m scared of being wrong, like whatever I say could be taken the wrong way if I don’t over explain, but over explaining takes thought and impact away from other people. I think that’s why I love realism so much. You don’t ever look at someone scratching their nose and think they must think they have something on their face and they’re hiding it. You don’t think about it at all. You don’t think, are they embarrassed? Do they think they have food around their mouth and they’re hiding it?

You don’t ever think if someone’s worried that they’re accidentally flirting by twirling their hair, or if they look overly anxious by bouncing their leg, but these are always things people think about in themselves. You recognize it. It’s a way to hide. Or, maybe, forgetting to brush your teeth because you’re in a rush so you never stand to close to someone, or you’re worried if you missed a spot when brushing your hair and if you look a little crazy. If you’re like me, maybe your septum is crooked. Fix it. Oh, maybe your classes are lopsided. Are they too high? You get to say things, do things, that people never ever want or think of talking about. I think that’s because it’s so normal to you, but do you ever think about other people doing it? If you are, you’re incredibly vain, and probably judgmental. I know I’m judgmental.

But, in relation to that, I get too embarrassed to write about my personal life. I know that, realistically, there are probably entire communities full of people who think exactly how I do, or look at the world the same, or think about the same hyper-realistic things in art like I do, but who ever tells someone im terrified I have something in my teeth so I’ve been trying to look at my reflection in this one-sided glass window but the shade it too brown and I cant see and now im trying not to cry because that’s somehow worse.

It’s easier to keep my thoughts to myself than it is to share them, but at the same time I know that I’m not putting my best work out, because I’m not being genuine. But, I also feel like if I were to get extremely personal in my work, especially if that work was for literary, I would have to explain everything behind it and how it makes me feel and I DON’T do how things make me feel. I’d feel like I was venting in explaining why I wrote something, even if the memory is really happy or whatever. I also feel like if my short stories were any more personal then I’d end up, like, going 1000 and 2000 words over the limit instead of my usual 300-400 (sorry Dr Alexis). Or something.

This is danny’s (poor) attempt at discussing his issues with writing, and yes, before anyone says it or thinks it, I know that writing doesn’t HAVE to be personal. I just would like mine to be more so, I guess, even if I don’t exactly know how to do that. Dats all. I feel like I haven’t even said anything omg.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise

I have phases where I listen to a song, love it so much, and loop it over and over again until I learned the entire thing. For days. My spotify wrapped is always interesting because of this, because theres always a song at the top I never remember listening to. When I was 13 (ish) I looped “Strawberry Blonde” by Mitski for not one, not two, not three… but four weeks (in dr phil voice). The surprising part? That wasn’t even the top of my wrapped.

As of late, I’ve tried to expand my music taste less and more so tried to get more familiar with artists I already know and love. This was the case with the album I’m predicting to be my favorite, “Class Of Cardinal Sin” by Covey. I have a very, very deep interest in the concept of “sin” as a whole, but ESPECIALLY the seven deadly sins, and this album kind of just scratches that itch in my brain. This is also the case with Rainbow Kitten Surprise, my ABSOLUTE all-time favorite band. I love them so dearly.

It started with one song, which happens to be their most popular, “It’s Called: Freefall”. This song, often shorted to “freefall”, comes from the Album “How to: Friend, Love, Freefall” and is the 4^th of 13 in the album. This is, of course, their most popular album BUT! The third they’d released.

I’ve been spending a few days (I say this like it hasn’t been two weeks(edit: It’s been a month and a half, almost two months)) looping their albums, and I’ve JUST finished looping that one, but if I had to name a favorite album it’s definitely “Seven + Mary”. (Still not tired of it, just starting Love Hate Music Box)

I think it may be because I’ve loved RKS’s (Shortened from Rainbow Kitten Surprise, I am NOT typing that out 100 times) music for so long, but I find their music very very easy to listen to on loop how I normally do. Sometimes, sadly, I can’t loop my favorite artists and bands because they tend to find a sound that works for them and… never ever EVER stray from it. This is why I can’t listen to Lana Del Ray (? I have her blocked on spotify) or Chase Atlantic, sometimes even The Neighborhood and Arctic Monkeys. They have lots of music, yes, and it’s all good music, but it has a sound that’s too similar to their other songs. My other favorite bands, like The Crane Wives, do have this problem (from time to time) but by GOD it is not as obvious. Sorry. Little hater rant there. I never have this “Sound too same” problem with them, so it feels like im looping a hundred different favorite songs rather than one album.

Currently, As I am typing this, I’m looping their album “Love Hate Music Box”, (edit: I didn’t like it then, i’m locking in now btw this is danny a month later) and I think it’s a perfect example of what I’m talking about. It has an entirely different sound from, say, RKS the album. And both of those albums sound entirely different from “Seven + Mary”, even if RKS the album and Seven + Mary definitely sound more similar. Love Hate Music Box brings a sound from them that I’m absolutely not used to, and I’m still working on actively listening to this album and becoming as familiar with it as I am the others.

Something I think is funny, in relation to their albums, is that this is about the 3^rd time I’ve looped their albums like this , but never with this dedication. I was so sure that I knew only a few songs in seven + mary, but I can sing most of them and if not I can recognize them. So far, from each album (that I’m versed in, don’t ask me anything past love hate music box) my favorites are Mr. Redundant, Seven, Shameful company, and Black and White from Seven + Mary. In RKS, Counting Cards, Lady Lie, Goodnight Chicago (probably my fav on the album) and an even tie for All’s Well That Ends and The Countdown, the two last songs on the album. In the album How to: Friend, Love, Freefall, my favorites are definitely It’s called: Freefall, Mission to mars, Possum Queen, and When it lands!!!! (I love this entire album so much it’s devastating). After that…. I don’t know enough of the albums yet to have a favorite, and that’s okay!!! Otherwise, my #1 favorite song from the entire band is Drop Stop Roll, one of their singles. Their singles are a whole other ballpark, one that I do not care to talk about (no vacancy, work out, and our song are all MASTERPIECES deserving of their own blogs).

I know that I really like music blogs, and that it teaches me a lot about bands I already know or bands ive never heard of, and I figured it’s about my turn to share some of my favorites. Don’t know if I’ll be continuing this blog…. But know I do love RKS and also a few other bands that DEFINITELY deserve more recognition. Kiss kiss, literaries!! See you whenever 🙂

This is me from a few weeks later, coming back and reflecting on this blog: I’m now going to properly rank them based on my favorites.

1 It’s Called: Freefall; 2 Drop Stop Roll; 3 The Countdown; 4 Mission to Mars; 5 Black and White; 6 Goodnight Chicago; 7 Shameful Company; 8 When it Lands; 9 Cold Love; 10 Fever Pitch or Holy War (these are the same song to me)

Honorable Mentions for: Polite Company, Painkillers, Possum Queen, and Devil like me plus every other song they’ve ever made (our song, dang, and SVO also belong here)

My book, because i wanna talk about it.

This weeks blog is about something a little different, though it’s in the same vein as basically everything I’ve ever talked about. Passion projects, or, specifically, MY passion projects. I realized I don’t really talk about myself on my blogs, or I don’t think I do (?) and I’d like to share, like, the biggest thing in my life.

Since I was 12, I’ve been writing a story about a teenager who can see ghosts, and delivered the prophecy about their own death, which will reinstate order for the world. Kind of like trading one valuable human life for the greater good. I’ve had huge plans for this story for years, and it comes with characters you all are familiar with if you read my short story, Constellations, back at the beginning of the year! This story has probably been the single most important thing to me since its conception, and there has been an occasional stray from it, but I always go back. I love this story so much.

It explores messages of grief, specifically grief within people who are terminally ill, found family, and the concept of fatalism and discussions of free-will in a world where everything is “predestined”. The story even includes its own pantheon, entirely made up by me! I write a lot about grief, choices, sins, ect., and during the “heart of the story” assignment I realized that my struggle to find a message for my story was pointless. I already knew it!

Basically, I’ll be talking about my pantheon today, and the ways in which it is corrupt. The reason I’m doing this is because I’ve been reworking the entire thing, since I realized it wasn’t an entirely expansive, fleshed out, or realistic pantheon based on the fundamentals of religion and the world I wanted them to live in. Talking about it will help me understand it better, and I can’t exactly express over 43 gods who have been scrapped in a poem instead.

We have a few laws on how the gods themselves work , and these are examples that have kept me on track since I was 12, so they’re pretty easy to understand I think. The laws of succession, contradictions/opposites, connectivity, and dispersal. The easiest to understand is the law of opposites, but I do have to explain some smaller bit for that one to make sense.

You can’t have a god of fast food, or cellphones. There is not a technology god, entirely because I don’t feel like making that some sort of plot point and, if I include it, it will be. Gods don’t get so specific, or small in concept. We have gods of War, Violence, Conflict, and we have gods of sculpture and bigger concepts like that. Generally, once concepts get so small they’ve already been dispersed between demigods or godlings.

You also can’t have a god of two things, unless the other thing they’re the god of is the flip opposite of their other thing. Law of opposites! Like, for example, the god of health and injury is the same dude (in a gender neutral way), and just has two faces. The gods of truth and lies? Same dude. Death is also life. The god of order is also the god of chaos! Stuff like that. Then, with the law of opposites, sometimes it presents itself like the god of violence swearing to never hurt someone again, and being a pacifist—and eventually becoming the god of pacificity. In a greater sense, the god of war also governs peace. The god of purity is disgusting (nod to how purity culture is disgusting and exploitive). Memory and amnesia are the same guy.

Which, of course, brings the next law: connectivity. This is my favorite, because I just eehhehe I love it. There is a god, Riah, who is over both memory and amnesia, aka forgetting, is the sibling to the god, Cas (name changing soon I swear) who is forgiveness! Like.. like… ehehe, forgive and forget. There were also some others, which I genuinely don’t care to remember, but siblings come in pairs. Twins are REALLY common among gods, like two of the most prominent gods in the art world are twins, and they’re visual and performance art.

Finally, to sum up all of those rules, we have the law of dispersal. Every pantheon has some “start” god, for example Chaos (Khaos) for the greeks. This is that, and my version of that is Idyll. Kind of the big guy for all of the gods. Idyll split into four different gods, ceasing to exist by choosing to exist in them, and then those gods split up to make more gods. Like mitosis. The law of dispersal is all basically mitosis. You have greater gods, like the Ancients who represent some sort of element, and then lesser gods. Lesser gods can disperse into huge concepts still, like Humanity and the Sciences (who are two separate dudes) who dispersed into separate subjects like art, then literature, then poetry. Eventually, though, the amount of idyll in a god’s soul is so little that they don’t exactly get domain over anything, or nothing big, and those guys are known as godlings. And, if anyone from any of these groups has a child with a human, that child would be a demigod. Demigods aren’t really “over” anything, but they have a more concentrated amount of power than godlings in a specific subject. Take my books protagonist, Halo, for example. His mom is the earth, so he can like earthbend and stuff (not really). There is a character, Sol, whom he gets in a fight with who is directly descended from gods and not human in any way, and he lowkey mops the floor with sol, because Sol is so far removed from Idyll.

There are also groups and concepts like “False” Gods, then theres the whole reason people hate demigods, theres zombies and vampires and like the cult and also bird people…. And the whole blessing system and the tattoos, but I don’t!!! care about explaining!!! Those!!! Maybe next week (year?)

(if anyone has any ideas on what to call the gods besides gods… hmu. I saw someone call the pieces of their pantheon Totems and thats so cool but stealing is wrong or wtv. I had a friend suggest Mantle, but that feels too clunky + and also military (scary). Send help. Love you. kiss Kiss. Bye.)

Favorite Characters and my problem with having them (JJK)

(Few vague spoilers for JJK)

I’m a really like anime. I’m not claiming to be the biggest anime fan ever, I’m definitely not (I vowed when I was like 12 to never ever watch attack on titan, I fully intend to never ever watch it), but I have seen like the main few shonen (Shonen defined as Anime geared towards younger male audiences, usually some kind of action or adventure anime) Animes and if not I plan on watching them. Am I the most versed? No. Yeah, that’s it. I’m not the most well versed.

BUT, in the shows I have seen, I find it weirdly hard to find a favorite character. Not that you HAVE to have one, not at all. I actually prefer not having one sometimes, or having multiple. This weirds some people out, especially when I say something like “Oh, I really like Mahito from JJK.” And they look at me like I’m going to burn their house down. Which, I get it. Don’t get me wrong. I DO hate Mahito and he got what was coming. He was also one my favorite characters. I liked his character, not ANY of his actions, nor did I root for the bad guys (Kenjaku, Geto is a different story). Do I instantly assume people who say Mahito is their favorite are actually insane and should be put on an island away from everyone else? Yes. JJK fans are crazy. I don’t trust them.

Anyways, I do find it particularly difficult to have a favorite character, especially in shows like Jujitsu Kaisen, because I love most if not all of the characters on screen. Something something good writing and fleshed out characters. Then I feel WORSE because I can tell that the characters are well written and well loves, and I STILL cant pick a favorite.

When it comes to JJK, I have a handful of characters that I may call my favorite on any given day. Previously, those characters included Mahito and Junpei… which feels really contradictory in retrospect. Super ironic. Still devastated. Still cry periodically… I digress. Now, if I were to be asked, my favorite character is in order (as of 2:48pm) Geto, Itadori, Fushiguro, Inumaki, Yuuta, and then like jogo or something. Do you know who these people are if you haven’t seen the show? No. You will have no clue. But lily will, and that’s all that matters a little bit.

I like each of them for different reasons, Geto as an all-rounder, I love EVERY aspect of his character, but Yuuji trumps him in the sense that I like Itadori’s characterization with compassion more. Fushiguro is an amazing representation of depression. Inumaki has the coolest technique ever.

That’s it. I’m running out of time, lol, so that’s my blog. I don’t know who my favorite character is.

Poseidon…. That freaky water dude

poseidon sculpture | Aongking Sculpture Poseidon sculpture So. Like, basically. Yeah, we’re jumping straight in btw. So, basically, it is very VERY important to understand the history of not only your religion but also other religions. You should actually know the history of anything you’re interested in. I’m not saying like exact dates, time stamps, comprehensive notes, ect. I’m talking being able to verbally give out a basic history of whatever it is you like as background, and to better understand it yourself. Please, never talk about something if you have no clue what you’re talking about. Thank you.

In relation to this, Poseidon. The water guy. The whole, like, king of the ocean and father of like cyclopses and stuff like that. He’s done a couple things. Had a very brief cameo in Epic: The Musical (if anyone mentions Epic in the comments i will actually throw chairs i do NOT wanna hear about epic the musical). Most people do, however, know Poseidon through the medusa myth. I genuinely think i’ve explained that myth at least three times already on blogs and how its wrong btw, so im not gonna expand on it.

What i’m getting at is, when people think Poseidon they thing A) That water dude, B) Percy Jackson’s dad, or C) Epic: The Musical (as of late). Poseidon is actually a LOT more than that, in a modern Lense and in a ancient one, too. This would come from understanding his history and roots, so we’re going to do that today!

Poseidon, whos name oddly (as far as we know) means actually nothing relating to the Sea, which he is the god of. His name most nearly, in current theories, can mean “husband,” “Earth Husband”, or “Earth Shaker” and any varieties of the name. This could come from his Mycenean roots, which that’s basically the guys right before the greek dark ages when everything changed, in which our dearly beloved Poseidon was actually the KING of the gods, rather than the throw-away brother who often had non-consensual encounters with women and was like kinda in the ocean or sum. It is believed that, somehow someway during those dark ages, Poseidon and Zeus did a whole personality swap.. which may be the reason that some greek heroes have very unclear family lines, because are they zeus’ or poseidon’s? like whats going on?

Basically, Poseidon used to be, like…. that guy. He was the king of the gods, and not only that, but he was the king of the skies, seas, and underworld as well! This leaves entities like Hades and Zeus, one of which ive talked about before, without the whole things they’re known for (Which, if i knew anything about that, i would definitely make blogs on them). It’s actually pretty hard to research them, since the greeks were only really writing stuff down AFTER the dark ages anyways… but whatever. Poseidon used to be the king of the gods, still mostly relating to the sea, earth quakes, and… horses? Whats a guy like him, like the sea, doing being the god of horses????

He had a baby with his sister and it was a horse.

That’s it, That’s the myth. He had a baby with demeter and it was a horse. The fastest horse ever, or something, and it ate gold and other precious metals. Technically, the horse has a twin sister, who is NOT a horse. Sister of Persephone. Oh, persephone’s brother is also a horse. btw. yeah. Arion. His name is Arion. Kind of how Loki turned into a horse and got pregnant by a horse and had a horse². Actually, the myth is pretty similar.

While demeter was looking for her daughter, Persephone, after Hades had abducted her, she managed to travel great distances looking for her. She went to helios, some random son of zeus (so… technically Persephone’s half-brother/cousin) whom she fell in love with, a few places regarding giants and titans and whatever… along the way, Poseidon had begun persuing her. To evade his advances, he changed into a horse…. then he changed into a horse. This was okay to her, but not normal Poseidon, and, well.. when a mommy horse and a daddy horse love each other very much, they end up popping out two other horses- nope. One human girl and a horse. That horse, Arion, is the fastest horse to ever horse. and also, like, sometimes can walk on wind (not in a pegasus way) and may or may not be the father of all horses.

Yeah. That is, as far as I know, the ONLY reason Poseidon is considered the god of horses, aside from the fact he also like… invented horses. It’s kind of confusing and useless, if you consider ancient greece instead of mycenean greece, where horses and water were like the best thing before sliced bread. Still, that aspect of him carried over yearrrsssss and some of his most prominent children in myth, demigods by all means, just…. happen to really like horses. I think that was the founder of thebes’ whole thing. Just a demigod of poseidon’s who liked horses but also did like every cool thing ever. Hate that guy, by the way, and WAY too many people like him recently for him to have been, like….. one of the earliest myths and arguably most boring. But, i digress.

As for him being the earthshaker, aside from it being what his name (probably) means… he has, like, four kids with earth-related dieties. One of them being with GAIA herself. like. dude. weirdo. Other than that, they just geld the general belief that he was so powerful (or something) that he could shake the very earth. It’s fun, he’s fun, and i love him.

(Someone… someone give me gods to talk about next week. I like doing this. I’ll do (Almost) anyone.)

(Ancient Greek) men suck. Here’s who doesn’t!

I don’t know if you guys know this about me but. I like Greek mythology. Surprise!! Shocking, right? No one knew this! Anyways, this is another Greek Mythology blog except it’s just going to be me bashing the same two guys over and over because they’re everyones favorites and then I’m going to tell you the ONLY correct answer for who your favorite (male) Greek god should be, out of the main 7~ ish.

Most of the time, when people hear “evil death guy, god of the underworld” they get scared. And, don’t let me lie to you, my dude Hades gets a bad name most of the time. He is actually NOT death, that is a separate entity known as Thanatos. Hades isn’t even the god of the dead. He’s the god of the underworld. Not just the bad parts but the ENTIRE underworld, including the Greek equivalent of heaven, Elysium. This makes Hades the god of not only the scary fire torture place, but the place where they feast and party and have fun for the rest of forever and literally everything good ever happens. He, in his roman form of Pluto, actually receives a lot more credit regarding this aspect of him because of how militarized the romans were. They didn’t want to fear death, not how the greeks did, so he morphed into a GOOD guy who… kinda also was super duper death or whatever. And also riches. Shouts out to Pluto, by far my favorite Roman God (somewhere near hygiea)

On the flip side of the same coin, hehe get it because riches, Hades is absolutely NOT a “good” guy by moral standards. It’s impossible to hold a god, if you believe they are real, or metaphorical beings, if you don’t, to OUR mortal standards. However, people do. People LOVE to bash on deities like Poseidon and Zeus for their actions, and then don’t extend the same ideas over to HADES. Who’s most known myth is HADES and PERSEPHONE. Like. THE myth Greek mythology was so popularized by.

(Hades, Persephone, and little tiny cerberus)

Y’know, the general myth in which Hades sees the beautiful Persephone in demeter’s garden, decides he wants her for a wife and opens up the ground to catch her, brings her down to the underworld refuses to let her leave. She gets super hungry, goes out and finds a pomegranate and eats like six seeds, leads to us and the changing of our seasons because something something deal with Zeus. Kind of the blueprint for most “Dark” (read: kidnapping) romance these days. Bad boy who really wants you but you cant have him because of some external force (usually the law).

Yeah, shut up. Hades Kidnapped and, LITERALLY, assaulted Persephone. In ALL tellings of the myth. He literally snatches my girl out of her garden. The OG myth was actually more focused on Demeter, and her journey in finding her daughter and how different seasons were divided into where, blah blah. But, no. It’s all about hades and Persephone. People like to call them some big metaphor for devotion and unconditional love, rebelling for what you want, but no one has been able to explain to me how they are a metaphor for that. Because they aren’t. Most tellings of the myth have Hades putting the pomegranate tree out there to entice Persephone because she was refusing to eat for him, because he was trying to trap her down there, and some have him plain deceiving her because she’s, get this, young and doesn’t know. People tend to villainize every other male deiety for the exact same thing, but somehow hades gets a pass?? Somehow?? Also somehow theres a telling of the myth ive heard in which he was DEVASTATED that Persephone ate the seeds and was now forced to be with him, as he wanted her to “choose” him. That telling was GREATLY popularized my Dark Romance today. That literally would not ever happen ever. Where are you guys getting your information.

I’m sick of the hades glazing. Theres a few other bad things here and there, though most of those were “but zeus told me to!!” and not of his own free will, so whatever. A god that is NOT bound by anothers free will but is still so deeply loved and adored by all is APOLLO.

(Apollo and Daphne)

Apollo is a JERK. He’s an INCEL. He’s TERRIBLE (not really ily apollo). Most of his myths, if not pertaining to prophecy in some way, is him screwing up so bad with the ladies (and men, on occasion) that they beg to be turned into trees, throw themselves off cliffs, turn themselves into plants (happens like 3 times) and genuinely so much more. The amount of minor myths that are just “apollo wants girl. Girl says no. Apollo then chases girl. Girl then finds some new insane way to die just to get away from him.” I actually cant believe I just called a god an incel im giggling. Apollo in most media is perceived as this “great happy sunny poetry and music” guy. He was initially the god of PLAGE. And DEATH. And TERROR. The music and poetry and all that other good stuff, like medicine, came WAY after his origins.

You know who you SHOULD like though? Who your favorite male god SHOULD be, if you want to hold ANY of them to mortal standards? Not Hades. Not apollo. Not Poseidon, or Hermes. DEFINITELY not zeus.

(My goat Ares bowing to his girlfriend Aphrodite)

Ares. ARES is one of the only gods who, as far as im aware, has NOT greatly wronged a woman. Googled it just now. He’s like an angel. Also, he is younger than Athena and not a technical biological child of Zeus (or something, probably a Romanized myth). Which makes sense, weirdly. Anyways. Just a few points on why Ares should be your favorite.

Is the father of the first amazonian queen and patron god of the amazon warriors
Had it out for Heracles for years after he killed said amazonian queen, and when a later amazonian queen died in battle (some time during the iliad im pretty sure) he came down and actually just. Killed an entire army. Love you Ares.
One of his daughters, alcippe, was bathing by a river when a son of Poseidon came and tried to assault her. Literally took that guy out on sight. No hesitation.
He, as far as im aware, has a VERY clean record of ONLY consensual relationships with EVERYONE.
In reference to the last point, Aphrodite is his most known lover, and in almost all tellings of it he is referred to as “Aphrodite’s Lover”, instead of the other way around, which absolutely flips Greek gender and intimacy roles.
The entire cult of Ares Gynaecothoenas
Actually never read this one, one of his daugthers died during childbirth and he saved her baby by allowing him to breastfeed from her, uh, body, which is kinda gross and dark but he didn’t want his daughter to die AND for it to be in vain
Yeah no EVERY relationship he’s had is consensual. Shouts out ares for the bare minimum among modern men, above and beyond for Greek men.

This is really long.. I’ve been cutting it up for like 10 minutes.. guys… I love ares… he isn’t even my favorite god… the god of medicine is. Oh, that guys really cool too. Sigh. Someone buy me a “I ❤️ Ares” t-shirt for my birthday. July 19th. I want it in the style of those “I ❤️ my girlfriend” t-shirts. ~~Ares is my girlfriend.~~

Snakes!!! My favorite Snakes!!!

A little fact about me is that I LOVE snakes. Probably more than I should. Probably more than anyone else ever (this is a lie), but I love love LOVE (mountain goats reference?) snakes so much. So much so that I fully plan on owning several in the future, as well as fully intend on getting a massive snake tattoo that I probably love more than I love like. Idk. Eating.

A common misconception about snakes is that they’re low maintenance pets. They are actually a COMPLETE and total opposite of it. While I don’t claim to be an expert on snakes, I do know that the reason I am not is because there are so many species!! With so many different, complex needs! Different species have different temperments, and sometimes even patterns can effect temperments on snakes!! As a start I’m going to talk about my three favorite breeds of snakes, why, and if I plan on getting them in the future… Then I’m going to talk about the best snake channel ever ever on youtube that you should TOTALLY watch if you like snakes too!!!

Ball Pythons

This!!! Is a ball python, named that because they roll up into little balls or whatever. They’re kind of THE snake, and also some of the most common pet snakes for people to have. They are medium snakes and come in all sorts of colors, known as morphs. They are constrictors, meaning that when they strike their prey successfully they’ll wrap around them and squeeze to either hold them in place or, y’know, squeeze them to death. They eat smaller prey (such as mice) and typically are very picky eaters. People suggest having set routines for them, such as removing them from their enclosures to feed them, so they know when exactly meal times are and don’t just not eat!

A few ball python morphs in order of appearance – Axanthic, Albino, Super Pastel (pastel on it’s own isn’t extremely visible), Banana, then Butter all as base morphs.

These are absolutely not all of the ball python morphs that exist, especially considering that none of these are designer morphs, but it’s a few of my (favorite) morphs because im tottalllyyyy not biased

Tangent: There is a gene in Ball Pythons known as the Spider Morph, which instead of effecting color effects the thick dark brown/brown bands you see on the ball pythons above!! It makes the bands very thin and offers some beautiful visuals, but however this morph is kind of like the “wobbly cat syndrome” for snakes. It tanks a snake’s cognitive (?) skills and makes them very uncoordinated, making it hard for them to eat and live. It is my FAVORITE morph for visuals, like 10/10 every time, but sadly it is not ethical to breed or distribute these snakes, as most owners do not know how to care for them. There is, as far as im aware, a man trying to breed the spider morph to be better for snakes as a whole, but he is not selling until he is sure he’s made a successful spider morph lineage.

Spider Morph Ball Pythons here

II. Bull Snakes

I actually do not know a lot about bull snakes. I will not lie. I’m actually having to google stuff for this one. Bull snakes are large snakes found in the Americas, typically north America. They can grow to be 6ft long, that’s taller than Lela btw. I actually discovered TODAY that bull snakes come in different colors. I seriously thought they came in like just the wild type and nothing else.

The main things I can say about bullsnakes is that they have dumb faces and they’re very VERY angry all the time. I would be too if I was a wild animal in America. They also have the loudest hisses of any snakes (in this size bracket)

A couple morphs I discovered (the generic two) for reference, in order of appearance — Albino, Hypo

Choosing this specific picture to show you just how meaty these guys are

For this next one I would like to mention that small snakes just aren’t my jam. I’d be scared of them getting out and then getting lost in like a bowl of noodles or something. We’re going Medium, Large, then Reticulated Python.

III. Reticulated Pythons

This image does nothing to show you just how huge these snakes are.

These pythons are just. Ridiculous. Why does he need all that. This is also a REALLY fat reticulated python.

These pythons are also (?) constrictors, and native to south and southeast Asia. A few have been introduced into the wild in florida, as a direct result of pet importation. Kind of like how those other snakes are all over the florida keys who aren’t even the biggest snakes ever (put some respect on my girl’s name) except im (fairly) certain that Reticulated Pythons aren’t AS invasive as like. Those other ones. Man I should be talking about boa constrictors right now.

Anyways, these snakes are the best, whatever. Its just huge. Like three Lelas. They get to 15 feet long and that’s SMALL, some have been up to. Oh my gods the biggest one they’ve found was 29 feet long. It was almost 30 feet long. Guys what the flip.

Do I plan on getting any of these snakes?

Ball Python – Yes

Bull Snake – Maybe, if I can get one as a baby and properly socialize it to me

Retic – I am 5’0. That Snake is, literally, over three of me. At it’s smallest. No. It can and will eat me and I’d rather not freeze rabbits in my fridge for the rest of my life, because it lives to be 50+.

That’s all!!! I thought I would have some times to talk about my FAVORITE youtubers ever but I don’t, but do NOT worry I’m fully capable of talking for a really long time about a lot of random animals and probably will next blog. Bye Bye!!

Morph List – World of Ball Pythons

Snake Discovery – YouTube

Zoo – Snake Discovery

Hair Colors!!

Yapperism

My hair journey!!!

Lil different of a blog today, but I’m feeling like I want to talk about my hair and, yeah!!! We’re talking about hair!!

For most of my life, up until I was like 12, I was convinced that I had straight hair. Like, when I was a kid it was PIN straight, with absolutely no wave or curl or whatever. My mom had straight hair as a baby, then she hit puberty and allll of her hair curled up so tight, kind of like those overly defined princess curls. My dad’s entire family, on the other hand, had around 2C-3B hair and REFUSE to take care of it at all, and to each their own (I guess) but danny LOVES curls

I always wanted colorful hair as a kid. Black hair, to be specific, with blue highlights and a peekaboo before it was cool. Specifically around #73bfb8 (Yes, this is a hex code. Little danny was very specific) but my mom WOULDN’T LET ME!!! She told me that when I was 10 I could dye my hair, and boy was I ready. We bought my first batch of hair dye and dyed the underhalf of my hair blue. Using a monstrosity. Splat Original Complete Kit, Semi-Permanent Hair Dye with Bleach, Blue ...

I don’t remember what the box looked like then, honestly, but It was so dark on my hair because we didn’t bleach it that you could only really see it in the sunlight, which I did not get much of.

Later on, when I was, like, 11, shortly after coming out as trans, I decided “Y’know what? I told my mom and I want a haircut!” I begged and i beggeddd, then she eventually told me NO anywyas, but she let me put blonde dye over my hair that made me ginger. I wish I still had pictures from that time, because it was something for sure. My hair was so long that it was to my mid back and I decided, y’know what? I want a BUZZ CUT, with a super secret third stage that will travel with me to the grave. It was bad getting my mom to agree to cutting off ALL of my hair, and I haven’t spoken of that in-between haircut since I was eleven, and I will not go searching for pictures.

My buzz cut was kind of the start of me taking care of my hair, and it’s been 5 years since I got it cut!! I used to get my hair cut shorter, like barely above my shoulders, but I eventually decided on letting it grow out. It’s hard to focus on things like growth, maintaining my wavy hair, AND coloring it at the same time, but i wanted nothing to do with ACTUALLY letting my hair heal to let it grow out.

As it was growing out from the buzz i realized it wasn’t as straight as it was before, and was actually a lot curlier when it first grew back out. It was pretty long, about the length it is now, before i finally got a haircut and had it shaped a lot, then i INSTANTLY bleached and dyed half of it. Also red.

I dyed it black for school, then instantly swore off of dyeing my hair black ever ever again, then some time towards the end of that school yeah i dyed my entire head pink. This was like the first time i was ever allowed to dye ALL of my hair, and i was super excited, even if it turned out really bad. I really liked the color that i ended up with, but it only looked like that because of an uneven dye lol.

later that year, like within the same school semester, i dyed my hair bright red right before going to Universal as a class trip. I think out of all of the decisions ive made in my life, dyeing my hair red is absolutely top 3. Dont take that seriously ive made more than that.

I feel like my hair color is such a big part of my personality, kind of like a trademark of mine. Sometimes I consider dying it another color, or doing maybe black on the longer parts, but I’m also so happy with my hair being red (Like one of the best colors) that I don’t wanna have or try anything else.

That’s all I have to talk about this week, weirdly. I’ll see what I can whip up for next blog that’s (hopefully) something more put together!!

The Glorification of Serial Killers and why that’s BAD

TW: Discussions of serial killers, danny complaining about bad businesses

We all agree killing people is bad. Not to get political, but I feel like this is a pretty standard worldview, so I’m gonna generalize a little bit. Killing people is bad. Good. Great. Now that we’re on the same page, lets talk about serial killers.

Now, while I can pretty proudly say I am not disgustingly educated on serial killers, I do know quite a few. Like, the general few mostly. Big names like Ted Bundy, Jefferey Dhamer, Ed Gein, ect. I’m just not a big fan of true crime, which fascinates a large amount of people, and I just don’t get it. I don’t appreciate how victims and their families are reduced to a notch on a timeline in a 25 minute youtube video. Now, imagine that entire 25 minute youtube video is actually an hour and a half visit at a museum dedicated to death as a whole.

When I walked into the museum I expected, oh, I don’t know, the iron maiden and how it was actually not a real thing ever. Or mourning rings from the Victorian era. Or, in a city with such a rich history and culture surrounding the celebration of life rather than death, an exhibit on the actual city you’re located in… but, no. I got thinly veiled racism, sexism, and the glorification of Charles Manson of all people. An entire wall dedicated to the man, actually.

I’m not here to talk about the actual museum itself, but rather to talk about how bad it is to talk about serial killers like they’re the best thing since sliced bread. There was barely anything to actually educate someone on the Charles Manson wall, just dozens of pictures of his face and followers. It was more like a good three walls that, oh, I don’t know, could have been used for the 9/11 attacks that were shoved into a corner.

Now, don’t get me wrong on what I’m about to say. As a dear friend of mine put it, if your special interest is serial killers don’t hang pictures of them on your walls, and definitely don’t become one. If you’re interested in learning about serial killers I will not crucify you for it. It’s interesting to me, and I would love to learn more about it, but the problem is that I cannot find a singular source who cares to look into who the victims are, or are not deeply disrespectful to them and their families. A lot of the serial killer.. fandom? (gods, that sounds horrible). Changing my wording. True Crime listeners and people who feel drawn to learning about serial killers (too wordy, I’m using true crime fandom from now on) tend to forget that, hey. Real people died. Real people killed real people. This isn’t some funny, ha-ha. People died. People mourned them; people are mourning them. Owning a cardboard cutout of Charles Manson is weird. Calling Ted Bundy hot is worse. Writing cutesy poems about serial killers, even if bashing them, is WEIRD. Go through the process to sit down and recognize that real people were hurt and are hurting.

This is kind of a jump from what I usually post on my blog I think, and I really tried to keep it as non-graphic as possible, but I genuinely am sickened at how some people can idolize creatures that decide to kill others. It’s weird. It desensitizes us to things we need to be sensitive about. I’m angry because victims are so deeply ignored and discarded because, oh, they’re not important, right? I don’t know. Stream Shauna Dean Cokeland on spotify.