If The Types Came With An Instruction Manual: INFP Edition

Midnight Thought on the Ithaca Saga (spoilers)

When Athena is hoping for a kinder world, I like how Odysseus doesn’t shoot her down (I think he had his fill of that with the suitors, ha ha ha), but just says it won’t be in his life. Why? Because he’s not saying it’s impossible, just that that kind of change takes more time and sacrifice than he can give. And that actually reminded me of something: in the Bible, King David wanted to build a temple to God, but God said no because of all the blood on his hands- David was a king during wartime, he is not meant to lead Israel in peace. But his son, Solomon? He would be the peacetime king, he built the temple, and coincidentally was also known for his wisdom (and his 700 concubines, but that’s irrelevant here).

Basically- TELEMACHUS AND ATHENA WORKING TO MAKE THE WORLD BETTER!!!

[I don’t really think Jorge was using the David-Solomon thing as inspiration or a reference, I just thought it was a cool similarity- especially the wisdom part, which I only realized while writing this. ]

Telemachus wants to “bring the world some light,” and she accepted his friendship rather than just a mentor-mentee relationship, showing that she’s opening her arms. Together, they can make a greater tomorrow that she couldn’t do with Odysseus. His part in the war was important, but there’s still work to be done, work Telemachus is very eager to accomplish.

He was also just coming back from a “diplomatic mission,” which shows more of that open arms mindset, something even the more innocent version of Odysseus didn’t really do! (I know in the actual Odyssey he went in search of his dad, but I don’t think that’s the same case here since there was no mention of a plan to do that on his end, plus Jorge had to change how Odysseus actually made it back to the island to fit his story.) Diplomacy is a lot about alliances and making peace, not about outsmarting/outmaneuvering enemies. It still requires wisdom and intelligence, but the world is not changed for the better by swords alone.

Odysseus’ story required him to embrace ruthlessness, but because of that, his son Telemachus doesn’t have to.

And I am so PSYCHED for the new wisdom duo. GO MAKE A GREATER TOMORROW!!!

[edit: it also ties into one of Circe’s last lines: “maybe one day the world will need a puppeteer no more”]

Ouch

INTP: I put the moron in oxymoron INFP: I put the pain in paintings ISTP: I put the angst in gangster ISFP: I put the rave in graveyard INFJ: I put the sun in misunderstood INTJ: I put the bias in phobias ISTJ: I put the law in flaw ISFJ: I put the harm in harmony ENTP: I put the troll in controller ENFP: I put the fun in dysfunctional ENTJ: I put the sass in assassin ENFJ: I put the fun in fundamental ESTP: I put the ass in classic ESFP: I put the disco in discord ESTJ: I put the hate in whatever ESFJ: I put the table in respectable

Avatar 2 characters as Vines

Jake @ Lo’ak: when will you learn?! When will you learn?!? That your actions have CONSEQUENCES!

Neytiri the entire movie: release all of the sounds that are trapped in your mind… “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaahhh”

Neteyam the entire movie: aaaaa…Aaaaa…AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

Lo’ak the entire movie: Kevin—Kevin don’t—Kevin, watch the light dude! *smashes light*

Tuk getting captured by the RDA: Well, when life gives you lemons!

Kiri watching her bros fighting with Ao’nung: can I get a waffle? Can I pleeeaase get a waffle?

Spider @ Kiri: don’t tell your mother 😏 kiss one another 😏 DIE FOR EACH OTHER!!!!

Tsireya @ Lo’ak: accept yourself! Love yourself! Accept Yourself!

I've been so fascinated with how the movie pulls off the emotional climax at Ozdust, because I think its not nearly as simple as is seems to a lot of people. Like you can reduce it to "Elphaba did something nice and Glinda felt bad" and then one dance routine later they're friends

I think its a lot more than that though, and I think the movie kinda trickles things in gradually to show it throughout. And that kinda reduces it down to Glinda's guilt motivating the entire friendship, which I don't think is accurate either. Its less "Glinda feels bad" and more "Glinda and Elphaba realized they were playing entirely different games and had entirely skewed their reasons for hating each other" which included making Glinda also realize that she was being a bitch for no damned reason

Like, even their reasons for their rivalry are different from each other and so are their reasons for "maintaining" that rivalry. Their first interaction was them both mutually embarrassing each other, though only Elphaba was trying to embarrass Glinda. Which, to be clear, I'm not saying puts Elphaba in the wrong. Elphaba is very clearly in the right for I'm pretty sure all of this, and even if Glinda wasn't trying to embarrass Elphaba, it doesn't make her promising to degreen Elphaba in front of everyone any better. It's just important to understand their different perspectives on what is going on to understand the different places they're coming from. Glinda was putting on a performance of being a good person, at Elphaba's expense which she didn't even consider. Elphaba was pointing out how stupid that was and embarrassing Glinda to prove she's unbothered and correct.

That is kinda that best summary of how their rivalry goes. Glinda is performing, while Elphaba is responding to that but specifically in ways to piss off Glinda and show she's wrong. But they don't realize what the other one is doing. Glinda is performing to look like a good person and maintain the admiration of her classmates. By putting on this front of suffering by having to be in Elphaba's presence, she gets an easy win with her peers. In What is This Feeling specifically, you see them over and over again validating Glinda for just existing in the presence of Elphaba.

And given the girl sings a whole song about how "its not about aptitude, its the way you're viewed," you can assume that putting on a good appearance to her peers is probably the most important thing to her, period. Literally nothing matters more than that, and Elphaba provides an easy win. But she also has some clear attraction draw toward Elphaba that is strange and unspecified (she's gay), because she doesn't just suffer by being Elphaba's reluctant roommate, but clearly goes out of her way to partner with her, to find her at lunch, to make a scene with her in class repeatedly. Like she almost doesn't even count just having to privately live with her, she needs to bring it out in public too and spend time around her even when she should be happy to finally not have her around.

And making it all the more clear to me that all of this is, in Glinda's eyes, just a performance, we have the "looks like the artichoke is steamed" line, which is definitely one of the meanest things she says to Elphaba, but the way it goes down is fascinating. Because let's look at how that goes down:

Glinda makes a scene because Dr. Dillamond mispronounces her name.

Elphaba defends Dr. Dillamond and tries to embarrass Glinda.

Artichoke comment.

everyone is laughing at Elphaba.

To Glinda, this is what they do. They poke and poke at each other in public until one of them folds and wins, and if its her she gets public approval. But, what makes this clear to me that this is a performance is Glinda's immediate actions after the artichoke comment. When everyone is laughing, she exchanges a look with Elphaba, and the look is not mean at all. She doesn't look like she's gloating or like she just won, she just kinda nods and smiles and it seems like a genuine acknowledgment of...something. It's unclear what, but she doesn't seem like she's overly proud. It's like she's nodding to someone who just played a good game against her, but lost and she wants them to know they played well. It's bizarre the look here and fascinating.

And even more bizarre because Elphaba seems to acknowledge it as well and seems like she understands and almost smiles in response. But I think this also illustrates the disconnect in them for what their rivalry is.

So looking at Elphaba now, her approach to her rivalry began with her embarrassing Glinda, as mentioned before, and continued with her embarrassing Glinda. Most of what she is doing is trying to intentionally embarrass Glinda, which as I said before, isn't really wrong because Glinda is as far as we ever see, the one who is in the wrong and who starts the whole thing by embarrassing Elphaba. But as I said before, embarrassing Elphaba isn't the point of what Glinda is doing, she's trying make herself look better and is just using Elphaba, but literally how would Elphaba know this and why would it matter?

We see that Elphaba has been targeted and mocked her entire life, and that is basically what Glinda is doing to her now. But its also different with Glinda. Because before its always like, groups of people banding against her, with Glinda its personal. She certainly has her minions and all, and basically the entire school hates Elphaba just because they love Glinda, but Glinda isn't really using them. She's still doing everything herself and seems to actually go out of her way to go against Elphaba herself.

That, as far as we know, is different than any bullying Elphaba has experienced before, and what also makes it different is that Elphaba has an advantage of having something Glinda wants and something that prevents her from being pushed aside. Elphaba is basically going to be at this school however long Madame Morrible wants her there, and Madame Morrible also hates Glinda, so Elphaba can't be pushed away and she also has this one thing to hold over Glinda, because she's the one getting the attention that Glinda actually wants. And she's also potentially the only one that might help Glinda get it.

In a really weird way, this rivalry with Glinda might be the closest thing to a friendship that Elphaba has had from someone that isn't her sister or her nanny. Because its both of them personally going after each other and they both also have advantages over each other. And its clear that Glinda could be using her peers to target Elphaba but isn't. And Elphaba also makes it clear that she can ignore people she doesn't like, and yet she doesn't ignore Glinda. Because both of these freaks enjoy poking each other nonstop forever too much. There is something that draws them together (homosexuality) even when they supposedly can't stand to be around one another. Glinda is performing, but Elphaba is having the time of her life sparring with someone in a way she probably never has before.

Which takes us to the hat.

Elphaba approaches Glinda because, according to Nessarose, Glinda did something nice for her. We don't know specifically what Elphaba was going to say to Glinda, but it seems like its something she isn't comfortable with. Maybe she was trying to figure out what Glinda's motivations were. Maybe she was just going to thank Glinda for what she did. Either way, we don't know because Glinda interrupts her by giving her the hat and really talking up that damned hat too. Not only giving her the hat, but specifically inviting Elphaba to go out with them. Elphaba has probably never gotten anything like that before.

Elphaba, who has had the time of her life being antagonistic with Glinda up until this point, now thinks that Glinda is doing nice things for her and for her sister, for seemingly no reason. So she returns the favor and makes Madame Morrible accept Glinda as a student and tell her that night. That night, because this was going to be best night for Nessarose, maybe for Elphaba too now, so let Glinda have something too. Maybe this rivalry was turning into something else and maybe Elphaba was glad for it.

Only, Glinda wasn't being nice.

Glinda getting Boq to ask out Nessarose wasn't to be nice to Nessarose. She wanted Boq to leave her alone. And she didn't give Elphaba the hat and invite her out to be nice, she wanted to embarrass her after receiving validation for the idea from Pfannee and Shenshen.

What you need to know about Glinda here, is that she does not think about other people. She will throw a fit at Dr. Dillamond mispronouncing her name because he physically can't say it right and then repeatedly call Boq by the wrong name. She doesn't know if Nessarose wants to go to the dance or if Elphaba wants her to stop mocking her. She doesn't even consider these things when deciding to do something for her own benefit. She is doing as Glinda must do to perform as she needs for her audience (the entire world).

Which is how we end up here, at the emotional climax of the night. When she discovers that Elphaba did one very nice thing for her after she did something specifically to humiliate Elphaba, its not just guilt for this one moment, right? Its guilt for every little thing that she's done that she just assumed wasn't actually affecting someone else. Her mocking Elphaba and doing all these things wasn't actually about Elphaba, after all, it was about Glinda looking well. Because she didn't even really think about Elphaba, or how she might be interpreting what their dynamic is or that she might actually have been hurt by the things Glinda does. It was all a performance to Glinda.

But is was something else to Elphaba entirely.

And so we look at all the times, like the artichoke moment or their introduction, where Elphaba didn't seem all that upset and maybe Glinda realizes that wasn't always the case. She just wants people to think she wasn't. She was performing too, just not in the same way Glinda was. She was enduring the disapproval of others because she was maintaining this dynamic with Glinda, whereas Glinda was getting approval from others for enduring Elphaba. They were playing different games entirely and Glinda didn't know until Madame Morrible gave her the wand. It wasn't just the cruelness of the hat that she realized, it was the cruelness of single thing she's ever done to Elphaba.

And looking from Glinda's perspective, it makes sense if you see that she's forced to reckon with the fact that she's a terrible person and doesn't like herself, but look at what the situation is from Elphaba's. To Elphaba, Glinda is the first person that saw that she'd hurt Elphaba and then reached out to comfort her and try to help fix it instead of laughing or getting upset or doing nothing. Like I said before, the dynamic she has with Glinda before this is maybe the closest thing she has had to a friend, which is fucked up. But also part of me wonders, based on how they're seemingly drawn together when they could just ignore each other and based on Elphaba's reaction to Glinda's sort of nod after the artichoke comment, AND based on how quick Elphaba was to approach Madame Morrible, part of me wonders if Elphaba was just hoping for a moment when their antagonism would end the whole time. And that's why she's so willing to accept that once Glinda does something that Galinda is not supposed to do and makes a fool of herself to support Elphaba in front of all of the people she's supposed to be putting on a show for.

Which I think, makes Glinda joining Elphaba in the dance that much more important. Because, and I love this for the movie, she's not getting praised for doing so. Shenshen and Pfannee tell her to stop. The initial reaction she gets once people realize she isn't mocking Elphaba is scorn. For like, this one little moment they're on the same page. Glinda is getting disapproval for being with Elphaba here. And it ends in them being accepted by the party, but that almost seems to be unimportant. They hug before they realize that everyone else has joined in, and once they realize it, they leave the party together pretty much immediately. Their relationship has been a show in public for so long and so what happens next when they stop performing happens in privacy, just for them.

The contrast of Athena and Odysseus now compared to when they met 😭😭 Athena’s dreaming of a kinder world and Odysseus is like, “it doesn’t exist now and if it ever does, it’s beyond my years and I’ll never see it.”

hi i was wondering if you had any skincare product reccomendations, i've never done skincare before and i don't really know where to start. i know i have sensitive and relatively dry skin.

i have a suncream that has spf 50+ which i think is good but do i need a specific one for my face? i apologise for all the questions but any advice would be amazing!

thank you!

💛

Hi darling!

Skincare is a tricky thing, because everybody's skin is different and as such has different needs. What works for one person may not work for another.

Firstly, you should start with my top skincare tips post so you understand the basics, function of ingredients, and which products are essential or not. You can also check out my skincare tag if you're interested in additional reading.

That being said, here are the basics from my routine and what currently works for me:

Morning routine:

Vitamin C serum: La Roche Posay - Vit C10 This helps brighten complexion, softens skin and helps to fade any blemishes, scars, etc. Pro tip: keep your Vit C serum in the fridge, Vit C tends to oxidize and turn orange with time, even if i doesn't affect its efficiency.

Sunscreen: La Roche Posay - Anthelios for Face SPF50 This is what I've been using for 2 years now, it's popular for good reason. Although I will say they recently changed the formula from completely dry to a little oily, and I prefer the former.

Night routine:

Cleanser: CeraVe - SA Smoothing Cleanser This is a chemical exfoliant (with Salicylic Acid) which is great for acne or break-out prone skin, to be used 2-3 times a week. For daily use I recommend CeraVe's classic cleanser, the Hydrating Cleanser.

Moisturizer: Bioderma - Hydrabio Riche Gentle, moisturizing, rich but not greasy. I always go back to this. (It's for dry skin, but if other readers have oily skin, try the Hydrabio Legere version instead.)

Skin-barrier repair (optional): La Roche Posay - Cicaplast Baume B5 This is a holy grail if you have damaged skin from using too many products, exfoliants, sunburn, etc. It's very gentle and soothing, and really does improve skin overnight. You can use it for face, body, even lips, but for that I prefer the product below.

Skin-barrier repair for lips (optional): La Roche Posay - Cicaplast Baume for Lips This is my go-to for intense hydration and repair (ie. chapped lips, wore drying lipstick all day, etc). Leave it on overnight and you'll wake up with smooth, plush lips ready for the day.

Retinol: The Ordinary - Retinol 0.2% in Squalane, CeraVe - Resurfacing Retinol Serum, La Roche Posay - Effaclar Adapalene 0.1% Topical Retinoid Retinol essentially regenerates your skin, helps with fine lines, wrinkles, scarring, etc. I'm still looking for the best retinol product, but I would recommend either of the above, all of which are direct recommendations I've found by dermatologists via Youtube or IG.

Conclusions

The only essentials you need are: cleanser, sunscreen, moisturizer. Everything else helps, but isn't necessary.

If you choose to add new products to your skincare routine, always add 1 at a time. That way you'll know which one is or isn't working for you.

Create the skincare routine that works for you. Don't go running after trends and trying out a hundred different things. Only test 1 product at a time, and when something works for you, keep it in your routine.

If you can afford it, reach out to a dermatologist to recommend products that are tailored to your needs. Most of the products listed were recommended by my dermatologist for mine.

If that's not an option currently, start following board-certified dermatologists on social media instead of taking advice from random people online as fact. You'll learn so much from their tips, plus it's free! I like watching Dr. Dre and Shereene Idriss, they are both entertaining and educational.

Hope this proves helpful, and let me know how your routine comes together. 💜

-Lumen

musical lyrics as truths the types need to hear

ESTJ: “Life is never what you planned. Life is moments you can’t understand. And that is life” (Falsettos)

INFP: “You pretend to create and observe when you really detach from feeling alive” (Rent)

ISFP: “Make just a ripple. Come on, be brave. This time a ripple, next time a wave” (Anyone Can Whistle)

ESTP: "You may know what you need, but to get what you want, better see that you keep what you have” (Into the Woods)

ISTP: “Prefix ‘ordinary’ with ‘extra’” (Finding Neverland)

ENFP: “Don’t fall apart at the seams. It’s called letting go your illusions, and don’t confuse them with dreams” (Merrily We Roll Along)

ISTJ: “You can like the life you’re living. You can live the life you like” (Chicago)

ENTJ: “So scared of what your enemies will do to you—you’re the only enemy you ever seem to lose to” (Hamilton)

ESFP: “Nice is different than good” (Into the Woods)

ENTP: “Well, I’ll sing you the story of a sorrowful lad. He had everything he wanted, didn’t want what he had” (Pippin)

ESFJ: “Nobody but me is going to change my story” (Matilda)

ISFJ: “Stop worrying where you’re going. Move on. If you can know where you’re going, you’ve gone” (Sunday in the Park with George)

INTJ: “You’ve got so many reasons for not being with someone, but…you haven’t got one good reason for being alone” (Company)

INFJ: “The choice may have been mistaken. The choosing was not. You have to move on” (Sunday in the Park with George)

ENFJ: “Hey, buddy, don’t be afraid it won’t be perfect. The only thing to be afraid of, really, is that it won’t be” (Company)

INTP: “Give me pain, if that’s what’s real. It’s the price we pay to feel” (Next to Normal)

Close up shot of somebody's lover

When a person with ADHD complains of severe anxiety, I recommend that the clinician not immediately accept the patient’s label for her emotional experience. A clinician should say, “Tell me more about your baseless, apprehensive fear,” which is the definition of anxiety. More times than not, a person with ADHD hyperarousal will give a quizzical look and respond, “I never said I was afraid.” If the patient can drop the label long enough to describe what the feeling is like, a clinician will likely hear, “I am always tense; I can’t relax enough to sit and watch a movie or TV program. I always feel like I have to go do something.” The patients are describing the inner experience of hyperactivity when it is not being expressed physically.

At the same time, people with ADHD also have fears that are based on real events in their lives. People with ADHD nervous systems are consistently inconsistent. The person is never sure that her abilities and intellect will show up when they are needed. Not being able to measure up at the job or at school, or in social circles is humiliating. It is understandable that people with ADHD live with persistent fear. These fears are real, so they do not indicate an anxiety disorder.

holy SHIT