Reddie: Friends AU

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tomorrow is december, which means i’ve succesfully wasted almost an entire year again

Things I wish I already knew going to University

Here are some reminders to myself. Hopefully, they are also helpful to some freshmen or anyone who’s curious:

1. University is not school.

You can’t shilly-shally around, take your sweet time and expect to just roll with it. Trust me, you will be in for a rude awakening. Find a goddamn studying method early in and stick with it. Flashcards and quizlets, whatever works for you. The deadlines and exams will draw closer faster than you think they will.

2. Your profs are not decoration.

Ask. Questions. Seriously. And go to office hours if you have any particular problem to resolve. Make use of that time. A lot of them will actually be thankful anyone is showing up. Against popular belief, professors indeed do make a mental note of a lot of their students. Don’t be one of those 20 people standing infront of their office for the first time a week before the exam.

3. Get as much work as possible done until noon.

It’s 12 and you have already studied for three and a half hours? Amazing. Look, I know, I am not a morning person either. But at least try it out. Get your sleep schedule in check. It will feel so much better than to procrastinate until evening and then you HAVE to do it anyway.

4. If you can explain it, you have understood it.

Done studying? Bet you’re not. Try explaining yourself the material loudly like teaching it to a clueless person. Or get yourself a study buddy and explain your subjects to each other. It’s even better if you don’t have the same majors. If you are able to explain the topic and have the other person understand it, you actually know the topic. If not, you now know where the shoe pinches. It’s also great practice!

5. You may feel a bit lonely at first.

Okay, I don’t want to scare anyone. I did find a lot of friends. Especially at first, everyone is your friend. Because everyone is scared of missing the boat and feeling left out. There will be so many people around you. Still – or maybe that’s the reason – you will probably feel a bit lonely at first. I want to tell you that this is normal. It’s because everyone is still a stranger to you and maybe you’ve just moved out! Maybe you are far away from home for the very first time. I’ve struggled with this. That’s fine! Everything will be fine. You will feel at home eventually.

I hope everyone is doing well. Take care! :)

'Brambly Hedge' by Jill Barklem

Klaus :: Pitchbook illustrations by Marcin Jakubowski

Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple.

J.k. Rowling

🌱The Basics of Witchcraft🌱

This is a small excerpt from my coven’s lessons. I’ll continue to post these so witchlings, or witches, can have this information! I hope it helps.

Witchcraft is, in my opinion, the practice of manipulating energy forces into your intent. This can also be simplified as the practice of magick. You can aid it by tools and materials, but no matter what, you are manipulating energy. That is why energy work can be very important.

The Craft started wayy back, from the start of human civilization. Before we started to get scientifically advanced and didn’t know that much, we would believe in the supernatural, that a god or spirit did this and that. Witches were the mediators between humans and the higher powers. Religion and Witchcraft may have gone hand to hand back then, but it isn’t always the case. You can practice witchcraft without believing in a higher power or deity. Here are just some things to know before stepping into the Craft:

Witchcraft ≠ Religion

It isn’t a game(To specify, don’t half-ass a spell. It either might not work, or worse, create chaos. We can learn about this next lesson when we learn about Energy work).

Witchcraft can be used for anything and everything you want it to be, It’s really flexible.

There are morals and ethics to learn about in the craft you should pay attention to

It is an enhancement, not a replacement to your life.

To elaborate on the last point, here is a document by Brian Windvexer that should be looked at:

Don’t Let Witchcraft Erase Who You Are:

Don’t become dependent on Tarot readings to make decisions

Don’t feel like the day is ruined if you left the house without drawing your card for the day

Don’t feel helpless if you can’t figure out a spell to help

Don’t rely on witchcraft alone to improve your relationships

Don’t forget how to speak out because you can hex at home

Don’t forget how to be confident without a candle spell

Don’t forget to discover for yourself because there are so many free resources online

Don’t get panicky if you can’t explain it with your new beliefs

Don’t lose your friends because they don’t understand the new you

Don’t avoid going out with friends so you can buy more herbs and candles instead

Don’t give up your other hobbies to practice endless energy work or Divination

Don’t neglect your job or studies to read witchcraft books instead

Don’t ask yourself ‘what would a witch do’. Ask yourself, ‘What would I do.’

Witchcraft is an enhancement to life, not a replacement for life.

There are different types of witchcraft and I’d say they are all valid. But with every practice, there are certain basics to them.

They are:

Protection

Grounding

Centering

Meditation

Visualization

Protection - To guard and prevent harmful energies to an area/being, especially in Magick practice.

There are 3 types:

Wards: protection of an area (ie. House or room)

Shields: protection of a being (ie. You, someone else, maybe a pet)

Circles: Temporary protection ground for rituals

Here’s the best part of protection, you can think of protection in so many ways, may it be a ring of fire, a giant bubble, a castle wall, whatever your heart desires! You can even more than But, I suggest putting up protection that is similar to a membrane, so things still flow freely, letting the good things in and the bad things out.

There are plenty of techniques to set up protection, starting with visualization. Imagination is a powerful tool, and is very important in practicing energy work and the craft. Some added protection is made by adding protection-associated materials, like Salt for example.

Grounding - To stabilize your energies and stay down to earth

Grounding is a great recommendation to keeping your energies in control and staying connected to the earth. It can help recharge you with energies.

One technique to help ground yourself is to visualize a root shooting from the bottom of your spine and digging into the earth like a Tree. Gather the energies from the earth, and give off all of the negative energies you feel. Cycle the energies until you feel refreshed. You can make 2 roots and have one give the good energy and the other giving to the earth the negative energies.

It can also be as simple as shaking off and stretching!

Centering - Getting your shit together (shit as in energy).

Centering is great as it can help make a state of mindfulness and gets you to stay present in the present. It’s great mentally. It helps get scattered energy into one. Literally, getting your shit together. Centering can help as well in controlling your energies and gathering yourself up so you stay together. How energy works is that you tend to throw bits and pieces of your energy all around different areas(sometimes you may not even know it), and sometimes you just need to recharge. Most of the time you should ground after a centering.

Here’s one technique to practice centering: visualize scattered energy, making you less bright and more dull, very dim as a person. Then, imagine the pieces of energy flying back at you, morphing around you into one bubble, like a puzzle piece. You start to glow brightly again.

Meditation - Being one with the thoughts/self, calming yourself down and staying mindful and aware.

Meditation can do soooo much. It helps you mentally, physically, and spiritually. It can help your energies stay in check, and It can do so much more than that. Before you astral travel, you must fall into a state of meditation. There are two types of meditation, Concentrated and Mindful. Concentrated is when you focus on one object, sound, or mantra. Mindful doesn’t focus on anything specific, just being aware of everything that passes by in your mind. In witchcraft, if it used to help discover who you are, as well as communicate to others(spirits/deities/etc).

Now, the number one thing to focus on when meditating is to breathe. Long, regular breaths help calm down. Get into a quiet area. Now get into a comfortable position, either cross-legged or laying down. Breathe. 4 counts in, 4 counts out. Clear your mind. Now, be aware of your mind.

Disclaimer: Now not everyone has to follow these things, It’s just a suggestion. Experiences vastly differ from mine.

"Dancing in a swirl,

Of golden memories,

The loveliest lies of all,

The loveliest, lies of all."

how to write that 17-page essay that’s high-key giving you anxiety

so it’s 4am and you’ve had three cups of coffee but you’ve only written two sentences. you look at the prompt and find it has ceased to make sense. “how the fuck am i gonna turn this into a 17-page paper” you ask. 

never fear! your friendly neighborhood college fuckup is here with an answer. buckle down and get another cup of coffee; you’re in this for the long haul. (literally. this post got long because i’m apparently incapable of writing short posts, but i also pulled a 3.9 cGPA using this method so i’d say it’s worth the read.)

first, a cheat: email your professor and ask if you can use subheaders. subheaders eliminate the need for smooth transitions between portions of your argument and also create a ton of white space, which can help you reach page count. 

second, a tip: don’t be afraid to meet with your prof. this essay probably isn’t a take-home exam; it’s likely that your prof set this paper to give you a chance to learn and write about something you enjoy. shoot your prof an email saying “hey, this is what i’m thinking, this is what i’m struggling with, can i meet with you to talk it out?” 9 times out of 10, your prof will say yes. if they say no, talk to another prof in the same discipline. otherwise talk to your uni writing center or a friend of yours. worse come to worst, shoot me a message.

what you’re gonna do now is outline the fuck out of your paper to procrastinate actually writing it. 

step 1: take apart the prompt. it’ll be asking for a few different things; mark these things with different cues: brackets, underlining, different colored pens, whatever. this structures your response.

if you don’t know your thesis yet, that’s fine! let it develop naturally as you conduct your research and plan your argument. you can change it as you go - that’s the point of researching the topic. no one will know what your first draft thesis was.

step 2: look at the dismembered prompt. write bullets with brief explanations for how you’ll attack each part of the prompt. these can be detailed or as vague as “look up that one reading and use it as a counter argument.” then figure out the best way to organize the bullets. if nothing makes sense, that’s fine too. you can write each chunk of your argument and structure it later.

these bullets make good subheaders. js.

step 3: under each bullet from step 2, list out what info and evidence you need for that aspect of your argument. don’t worry about details yet; focus on structure. write these bullets as though you’re talking to a friend about what your argument is and why is works. let it be stupid. let it be simple. say shit like “freud was a bitch and i can prove it.” 

step 4: now that you have a rough draft of your outline, go back and fill in the details. remember, you’re still outlining! you’re basically redoing step 3 with the bullets you made in step 3. this is the part where i take the most time and put in the most effort.

i tend to reach page/word count easily if my outline is half the length the paper needs to be, so i keep outlining until i reach that point. this ratio might be different for you. if you can figure out your ratio, it can tell you if you need to look for more info or if you’re good to go.

make a note of what you’re citing but don’t worry about actual citations. i like using gdocs because you can easily paste a link to your source in a comment. this way, the sources don’t clutter up your doc or artificially inflate your page or word count.

be silly! be stupid! use swear words and memes and internet lingo. you’re just outlining right now; you don’t need to sound smart and professional. you should be focusing on what you want to say, not how to say it.

by the end of this process, my outline is basically my paper in bulletpoint format, without any fancy jargon or quotes or cited evidence, and usually not in complete sentences. i’ve essentially tricked myself into writing my paper by saying “i’m just outlining, it doesn’t really matter.” it’s also less daunting to write the rest of the paper when you know you already have 9 pages done instead of 0.

step 5: write the damn thing! open a fresh doc for your paper and view it side-by-side with your outline. now you get to make your bullets sound pretentious and academic. insert quotes and other evidence. turn “freud was a bitch” into “freud knowingly perpetuated several falsehoods for the sake of his personal gain, thereby undoing decades of progress in the field of psychology.” 

don’t worry about citations right now, though! do what you did in your outline and insert the citations as comments at the points where they need to be. creating citations will interrupt your flow.

step 6: once your paper is done, go back and add citations! this can take up to an hour depending on how many sources you have, so budget your time appropriately. 

holy shit! you just wrote a whole damn paper! i’m proud of you, buddy. go buy yourself a milkshake and take a nap. 

some outfit designs