Should-be-studying-not-shipping - 👀

“A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.”

- C.S. Lewis

One of the MANY perks of being a teacher is being to justify my media consumption with a straight face.

"I find it helpful to be familiar with the characters and interests of my students. It helps foster connection, build trust, and gives my students at least one topic they can talk to me about."

Being LDS on this website that’s obsessed with finding fault in different groups of people means you’re subjected — semi-frequently, at complete random, and by random blogs so you can’t follow a pattern back to one person to unfollow — to posts that are like

“Mormonism is a cult because-" *insert a) something the church doesn’t teach, b) a claim about how the church is controlling and forces its members to do things they don’t make you do, like cut off contact with nonmembers or something similarly crazy, or c) completely innocuous thing that’s completely normal for any religion to ask of its adherents*

“Mormons are crazy because-" *insert a) something that has literally never been taught as doctrine ever that was either made up about us or spread by weird members in the past who didn’t know what they were talking about and people held onto that instead of listening to corrections regarding it, or b) something taken wildly out of context or worded in a way to purposefully make it sound nuts and which makes way more sense if you’d actually bother to listen to someone try to explain it*

“Exmo here, yeah the church is horrible because-" *insert a) personal experience with individuals doing xyz that is certainly unfortunate but has nothing to do with the church as a whole or its doctrine, or b) wild claims that you KNOW this person is lying about because you literally grew up in the same faith as they did and were taught the same things and you know they’re spouting some serious garbage about what we supposedly believe but of course everyone is going to trust the person who talks like a cult survivor so there’s nothing you can do about it*

And you sit there having to either ignore it (DIFFICULT) or find the courage to message the person who reblogged it to gently explain why the post is wrong (does not go well half the time).

No, the church does not fit the BITE model for a cult (literally the only few parts of the list you could say it matches are the few that are true of literally any religion and do not scream ‘cult’). No, you do not need a lawyer to get your records removed, anyone offering those services is scamming you for money because you can literally just ask your local leaders to have it done. No, we do not genuinely believe that insane Bigfoot Cain folk story or anything else like it. And frankly, sometimes people who leave just lie. That happens. It does not make me brainwashed to say that someone who left the church and is spreading obvious crap about things we don’t really teach or believe is indeed lying and it’s frustrating to no end that the automatic reaction from so many people is that you must be the crazy one, meanwhile you’re sitting there being gaslit about your own beliefs as they go ‘Mormons teach/believe xyz’ ‘no we don’t’ ‘yes you do’ ‘we literally don’t though’ ‘shut up you’re just brainwashed’ ‘????’. Have you ever seen a divorced person spread bad rumors about their ex that are not true? Yeah.

(And before anyone goes, ‘Hey, she’s trying to invalidate the stories of people who left, that’s clearly a cultist!’, I’m referring strictly to people who make false claims about what we teach that can be easily verified as false. There are bitter people out there who do that. I’m all for listening to people who have had bad experiences with other members in the church, absolutely nothing but sympathy and love towards those who have genuinely been hurt in one way or another, and yes there are cultural things especially in Utah that have needed or still do need shifting. But as always, the same is true of literally any religion or just any group of human beings in general because a lot of the time human beings kind of suck. The church isn’t special for this. It’s just as filled with flawed people who need to repent as any other group of people on the planet and that’s no secret. There’s a reason we’re always encouraged by our leaders to continue to become better and to try to be more Christlike than we often are, and the vast majority of members are absolutely trying to live by that and it’s not fair to judge those millions of people by the ones who don’t behave as they should. You can believe the stories of people who have had bad experiences without making out 16 million other people to be horrible. Everything would be a cult if the qualification for that was to have some bad apples in your midst.)

It doesn’t take much to look at different sources to see if there’s another side to a story or another explanation for something that sounds weird. You don’t even have to look through church websites for it, you can literally just ask members if you know any. In fact PLEASE just ask us because I lose my mind a little more every time I see someone just looking at sources that are total confirmation biases against us. Ask faithful, practicing members if they’re really forced to do xyz or ask them to explain something weird you heard. We’re not exactly secretive or shy about explaining our beliefs (hence the missionaries lol), we’ll do it. Heck, I’ve got anxiety through the roof about answering questions because I’m scared I’ll word something poorly but even I will still do it, I’d rather face my fears and respond imperfectly than let someone go around thinking something that’s not true. As long as you’re asking genuinely out of curiosity to hear our perspective and not trying to just poke at our faith and be a jerk, you’ll get people who are willing to answer you and have a reasonable discussion without trying to convert you or something.

Aaaanyway. If you couldn’t tell, I’ve now seen two different posts from two different people today being negative about my faith, so. I’m tired. If you’re so inclined please pray for my ability to feel close to Christ, have love for people I disagree with, and be patient with nonsense lol. Goodness knows I need help with that sometimes. Especially right now since I apparently had enough frustration in me to write this whole thing lol.

I feel like one of the saddest things in 6x18 was how brainy looked at Alex and Kelly dancing. He was so longing looking, he so obviously wants that future with nia and knowing he can’t have it really hit him in that moment. So sad yet beautiful

Honestly, I had to rewind that moment and watch it again like 4 or 5 times before I could keep going with the episode.

It is such an incredible use of body language and facial expression that manages to perfectly exhibit just how much Brainy must be feeling in that moment. The way he's half sunk into his chair, clutching onto himself like he's about 2 seconds from a total mental breakdown, absolutely absorbed in Alex and Kelly laughing and dancing because the longer he watches them, the more it begins to sink in that he's about to lose all of that.

And it's not just his loved ones he's about to lose. Brainy is at a party where he's supposed to be celebrating his friends' engagement, he's surrounded by laughter and joy and he has to sit there knowing that he's essentially been handed his expiration date. When he leaves his family behind, he's going to die, and as far as we are aware, there is no one at that table - not even Nia - who knows that.

It's a truly harrowing expression in that regard and Jesse performs it absolutely perfectly. You're right, there's so much longing in that look, but also fear and heartache, so overwhelming that you can see the moment that Brainy very nearly goes over the edge and loses his composure. He catches himself just in time, though, blinking back into the moment and excusing himself before he can give anything else away.

I love that Nia is so aware of Brainy throughout, and the moment he leaves the table, she's ready to follow him. She might not know the horrible truth of what the future will bring for Brainy, but she knows enough that he absolutely cannot be left alone.

The scene that follows where Nia helps to ground Brainy was fantastic, especially with how touch-based it was. Yet again, we see the two of them factor in their main sources of comfort for each other, hand holding and of course Nia snuggling into her spot on Brainy's shoulder. The parallel of the pinky promise scene is incredibly poignant throughout, which further showcases how Nia and Brainy are so grounded by one another, even when it feels like the world is falling apart around them.

We truly did get some excellent performances and Brainia scenes from this episode, I just wish they could have been under better circumstances. 🥺

I hardly ever make a Sim outfit without layering with some sort of accessory top.

Accessory Top Masterlist

I’ve been making quite a few accessory tops / bras / chains over the years and they are all scattered around my download posts so I decided it’s time to make a proper masterpost for them.

🤍 Acc tops and bras 🤍

1 / 2 / 3 - 4 / 5 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 11 / 12 / 13 / 14 / 15 16 / 17 / 18 / 19 / 20

💚 Other 💚

1 - 4 / 5

💙 Male 💙

1 / 2

it’s december 1 where’s the christmas tail kitten bring him to me

Me, on a date: So, are you the type to report and then block or block and then report?

I wish all "Mormonism is a cult" a very merry "you should watch General Conference with us this April! No, really. You can listen to what the modern Church leaders are actually saying and become better informed. Come with an open heart and hang out with the millions of us tuning in to the broadcasts. And if, afterwards, you're still convinced that we're a cult? Then you'll be able to brag about how much research you did to come to that conclusion."

yes many and beautiful things

I can smell it

Take 40 seconds out of your day to be immersed in the chicken coop