My definitive ranking of my least favorite bodies of water! These are ranked from least to most scary (1/10 is okay, 10/10 gives me nightmares). I’m sorry this post is long, I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this.
The Great Blue Hole, Belize
I’ve been here! I have snorkeled over this thing! It is terrifying! The water around the hole is so shallow you can’t even swim over the coral without bumping it, and then there’s a little slope down, and then it just fucking drops off into the abyss! When you’re over the hole the water temperature drops like 10 degrees and it’s midnight blue even when you’re right by the surface. Anyway. The Great Blue Hole is a massive underwater cave, and its roughly 410 feet deep. Overall, it’s a relatively safe area to swim. It’s a popular tourist attraction and recreational divers can even go down and explore some of the caves. People do die at the Blue Hole, but it is generally from a lack of diving experience rather than anything sinister going on down in the depths. My rating for this one is 1/10 because I’ve been here and although it’s kinda freaky it’s really not that bad.
Lake Baikal, Russia
When I want to give myself a scare I look at the depth diagram of this lake. It’s so deep because it’s not a regular lake, it’s a Rift Valley, A massive crack in the earth’s crust where the continental plates are pulling apart. It’s over 5,000 feet deep and contains one-fifth of all freshwater on Earth. Luckily, its not any more deadly than a normal lake. It just happens to be very, very, freakishly deep. My rating for this lake is a 2/10 because I really hate looking at the depth charts but just looking at the lake itself isn’t that scary.
Jacob’s Well, Texas
This “well” is actually the opening to an underwater cave system. It’s roughly 120 feet deep, surrounded by very shallow water. This area is safe to swim in, but diving into the well can be deadly. The cave system below has false exits and narrow passages, resulting in multiple divers getting trapped and dying. My rating is a 3/10, because although I hate seeing that drop into the abyss it’s a pretty safe place to swim as long as you don’t go down into the cave (which I sure as shit won’t).
The Devil’s Kettle, Minnesota
This is an area in the Brule River where half the river just disappears. It literally falls into a hole and is never seen again. Scientists have dropped in dye, ping pong balls, and other things to try and figure out where it goes, and the things they drop in never resurface. Rating is 4/10 because Sometimes I worry I’m going to fall into it.
Flathead Lake, Montana
Everyone has probably seen this picture accompanied by a description about how this lake is actually hundreds of feet deep but just looks shallow because the water is so clear. If that were the case, this would definitely rank higher, but that claim is mostly bull. Look at the shadow of the raft. If it were hundreds of feet deep, the shadow would look like a tiny speck. Flathead lake does get very deep, but the spot the picture was taken in is fairly shallow. You can’t see the bottom in the deep parts. However, having freakishly clear water means you can see exactly where the sandy bottom drops off into blackness, so this still ranks a 5/10.
The Lower Congo River, multiple countries
Most of the Congo is a pretty normal, if large, River. In the lower section of it, however, lurks a disturbing surprise: massive underwater canyons that plunge down to 720 feet. The fish that live down there resemble cave fish, having no color, no eyes, and special sensory organs to find their way in the dark. These canyons are so sheer that they create massive rapids, wild currents and vortexes that can very easily kill you if you fall in. A solid 6/10, would not go there.
Little Crater Lake, Oregon
On first glance this lake doesn’t look too scary. It ranks this high because I really don’t like the sheer drop off and how clear it is (because it shows you exactly how deep it goes). This lake is about 100 feet across and 45 feet deep, and I strongly feel that this is too deep for such a small lake. Also, the water is freezing, and if you fall into the lake your muscles will seize up and you’ll sink and drown. I don’t like that either. 7/10.
Grand Turk 7,000 ft drop off
No. 8/10. I hate it.
Gulf of Corryvreckan, Scotland
Due to a quirk in the sea floor, there is a permanent whirlpool here. This isn’t one of those things that looks scary but actually won’t hurt you, either. It absolutely will suck you down if you get too close. Scientists threw a mannequin with a depth gauge into it and when it was recovered the gauge showed it went down to over 600 feet. If you fall into this whirlpool you will die. 9/10 because this seems like something that should only be in movies.
The Bolton Strid, England
This looks like an adorable little creek in the English countryside but it’s not. Its really not. Statistically speaking, this is the most deadly body of water in the world. It has a 100% mortality rate. There is no recorded case of anyone falling into this river and coming out alive. This is because, a little ways upstream, this isn’t a cute little creek. It’s the River Wharfe, a river approximately 30 feet wide. This river is forced through a tiny crack in the earth, essentially turning it on its side. Now, instead of being 30 feet wide and 6 feet deep, it’s 6 feet wide and 30 feet deep (estimated, because no one actually knows how deep the Strid is). The currents are deadly fast. The banks are extremely undercut and the river has created caves, tunnels and holes for things (like bodies) to get trapped in. The innocent appearance of the Strid makes this place a death trap, because people assume it’s only knee-deep and step in to never be seen again. I hate this river. I have nightmares about it. I will never go to England just because I don’t want to be in the same country as this people-swallowing stream. 10/10, I live in constant fear of this place.
Honorable mention: The Quarry, Pennsylvania
I don’t know if that’s it’s actual name. This lake gets an honorable mention not because it’s particularly deep or dangerous, but it’s where I almost drowned during a scuba diving accident.
hi i was drinking mold all my freshman year and got the most sick ive ever been in my life here's good ways to avoid that shit:
number one rule is get stainless steel shit. stainless steel water bottle stainless steel straw, you dont want that rubber plastic etc shit it grows mold like a mf. turns out that was the main culprit of what happened to me, my reusable water bottle was plastic and it didn't matter how much i let it soak or cleaned it out.
get this either if you can or can't afford the stainless steel stuff and just be really on cleaning it; staw cleaner looks like this:
and get one its mammas the bottle cleaner for your cup:
this one is 3 dollars you get soap in there and spin this shit around and push it up and down and the mold will be begging for mercy
My additional piece of advice: get a pack of denture cleaning tablets. These are especially good if you use your bottle for anything other than water (squash, coffee etc) or if you’ve got a built in straw with awkward curvy bits.
You put that tablet in the bottle, add hot water, let it fizz and soak for a bit and hey presto, any stains or discolouration or weird little crevices are suddenly removed of their hidden nasty bits.
My niece kept saying her water bottle tasted weird, and she washed it and washed it, and then me and my mum were like GIVE IT HERE and we put a denture tablet in it and added the straw to it and it started fizzing up the straw and all this black gunk started coming out the weird curvy bits of the fitted straw like a Coke-mentos experiment.
It’ll taste slightly minty unless you rinse rinse rinse rinse rinse rinse but that’s not a terrible thing, and let’s face it, denture tablets are for cleaning dentures so, you know, designed to clean things that go in mouths.
Anyway: wash your water bottles! Wash your flasks! More often than you think you need to!! Keep denture tablets in the cupboard!!
finished gintama yesterday....it was my whole personality in school and early uni over ten years ago haha, and then slowly I fell behind a couple of seasons and stopped watching...But it was still a big part of my life. I was so afraid to finish it now, to watch it more grown up, with more experience, and finally reach the end of the story and realize it's over
just wanted to thank fandom, and in particular everybody who has ever let me a long heartfelt comment on my fic, because experiencing that as a creator of things has made me realize i myself am going through life as a coward. not only has your commenting materially changed me & encouraged me to write, but it has also made me change how i engage with all kinds of art because i cannot un-learn how powerful those kinds of comments can be.
i went to a show on the weekend and loved a band - big enough to tour nationally, small enough to be the opener at a $20 bar show. we chatted and i bought merch and it was perfectly lovely but i’d listened to their album since getting tickets and have come to love it in a much more specific and personal way than “awesome set, you guys were great”
in the past i would not have done anything with these feelings, and if i shared them with anyone it would have been my friends - certainly not the band. but instead i wrote them a long and earnest message the next day. embarrassing! horrible! but knowing what it has meant to me to receive such a message made me push through it and hit send even while wanting to pitch myself into a pit of personal mortification.
but what do you know, lo and behold, shocking no one except the cop and coward in my head, the lead singer replied thanking me, and talked more about their plans and music, in an even longer wall of text.
it’s things like this that keep me going as an artist, he said. thank you again, my heart is so full
anyways, so is mine, thinking of all the people who have told me exactly how something i shared made them feel, and made me confront how pointless and miserly it is to sit on my feelings and gratitude just because i am shy of showing them; what a sad dead end for the transformative touch of creation, when it could be reflected right back into the heart of the person who reached out into your guts in the first place.
here’s to those who keep it all going, and in doing so, spread it to the rest of us, rolling outward and outward, filling up hearts.
As promised, I will be writing up summaries of No.6 Reunion #2. This is a summary of the second half of chapter 1. Any errors are my own. Spoilers in abundance—beware! I will have a summary of Chapter 2 sometime in the next week or so. (Previous summaries: Chapter 1 part 1)
There is a scene break, and the narrative switches from Shion's POV to Nezumi's. Inukashi and Nezumi begin to chat. Nezumi comments that Inukashi really does seem to care for Shion, and Inukashi kicks a rock at him in response, swearing. Nezumi admonishes them for swearing in front of a child, but Inukashi says that they're living honestly, enough that a child can look up to them.
The flames at the Anthill seem to be dying down, and Nezumi marvels at how much has changed in two years. Two years ago, residents of the Anthill would have received no help or resources to put out the fire. That's not the only thing that's changed, either—conditions in the West Block have vastly improved, with public infrastructure and aid. People no longer live in fear of death. The former city of No.6 has also changed, with Chronos and Lost Town only remaining in name. There is a new library and a symphony hall that doubles as a theatre under construction—the first arts facilities in No.6. Citizens have freedom to go anywhere they wanted, with the one exception of the Mao Forest. Sasori will contact Shion in the rare instance that there is an intruder so that he can take action.
Nezumi remembers the time Shion had said that to end No.6, all they needed to do was take down the walls, and how Nezumi had laughed at what he had considered naive, childish nonsense at the time. He had disbelieved Shion's words from the bottom of his heart, and lost his temper. For the briefest of moments, he had even felt hatred.
Now, though, Shion had seen those words through. No.6's shining, golden walls were gone without a trace. Shion had brought forth a world Nezumi couldn't even have imagined—Nezumi finds himself awestruck at the enormity of that power.
Even so, reality, cruel and ferocious and merciless as it was, could not be avoided. Many of the homes and workplaces of the Anthill were now charred ruins. Shion, all those years ago, had said to him so many times that he wanted to know the true shape of reality, but once he did, he could never have gone back to the happy ignorance of before. And yet, Shion didn't care.
That desire, coming from someone who had never once known danger, had angered Nezumi. But Shion had proven Nezumi wrong—his desires and words weren't empty idealism, but true drive. Shion had confronted reality head-on, and this Herculean feat of overseeing No.6's rebirth was the result.
Nezumi wonders, though, if in the coming year, Shion will be able to continue living like that. Nezumi knows it's his turn to wait, and wait for Shion he will—even a hundred years, if he must—but he's not sure Shion has fully considered the monster called reality that waits in the wings in the coming act. Fighting will be Shion's only option.
Two years ago, Nezumi got Shion involved in his personal fight against No.6, and as a result, made Shion shoulder an enormous burden. Nezumi bears the sin of that without any hope of forgiveness. He wants to take up half of Shion's fight, this time, not from a need to atone—atonement is impossible for his unforgivable sin—but because he wants Shion to live. All he wants is for Shion to survive to see the future.
Inukashi breaks Nezumi out of his thoughts by asking what's really going on. They think it's no coincidence that the fires broke out at the same time Nezumi returned. Nezumi ignores the question again, pivoting the subject to little Shion and how Inukashi has matured into an admirable parent. Two years ago, children here were never so safe or treated so gently.
Inukashi tells Nezumi that if he came back because of Shion, then he needs to do his job and get Shion out of No.6, even as soon as tomorrow if he can. They're worried about what will happen if Shion continues to work as hard as he has for much longer—he's going to break apart. They can't believe Nezumi hasn't realized this.
Nezumi starts to say that Shion took up what he was entrusted with of his own free will, but Inukashi kicks him in the side before he can finish his sentence, and he falls to the ground, dirt getting in his eyes. He tries to haul himself upright, but Inukashi kicks him in the shoulder, and he cries out in pain. Inukashi sneers at him, and accuses him of not dodging on purpose out of a sense of guilt over his role in Shion's current situation. Nezumi sits up, steadying his breath, and the pain becomes slightly more bearable. Inukashi tells Nezumi that if he knows what he did, then he needs to do something about it. He wasn't at Shion's side when he needed to be. He's late coming back.
Nezumi stands up, then says he can see the truth of Inukashi's affection for Shion. He acknowledges that he's been treating Inukashi's anger lightly, then informs them that Shion asked him to wait a year for him, so he can't just spirit Shion out of No.6 tomorrow no matter how much Inukashi might want him to. Plus, Nezumi has his own job to do, now.
The mention of Nezumi having a job to do puts Inukashi on edge, but they jokingly say they'll pray for Nezumi and Shion's happy future together. As Inukashi turns to go, Nezumi sneaks around behind them and winds their long hair around their neck, lightly choking them. As Inukashi complains, Nezumi drops two silver coins in their hand—he has a task for them.
Using a robot mouse to project a hologram, Nezumi shows Inukashi an image of a man. He thinks the man is involved in not only the incident with the fires, but also Shion being attacked. He asks Inukashi to investigate. Inukashi is very hesitant, not trusting Nezumi, but says they'll do it for a gold coin and the robot mouse. Nezumi calls them greedy like Shylock, and Inukashi asks who that is. Nezumi briefly explains the Merchant of Venice, calling Shylock a loan shark.
Inukashi still refuses, but Nezumi lures them in again by asking if they think that the situation seems similar to how the old No.6 used to be. Inukashi asks him what he means, and Nezumi explains how the Anthill, out of anywhere in the West Block, is the most vulnerable to fire due to its construction, and so the children and elderly people who live there would have been especially at risk. The horrible cruelty of a fire starting there of all places calls to mind the tyranny of No.6, and how it made life in the West Block what it was.
Inukashi disagrees with him, saying that things are completely different now. Nezumi fires right back, calling true cruelty the crime of aloofness when committing murder, of not even recognizing that who you were killing was a fellow human being. No.6 thought of its victims as no more sentient than insects.
Nezumi recalls in his mind the Mao Massacre, and how his people and their forest had been torched with flamethrowers as just another part of the workday. The people, as they gave the orders to massacre other people, were safely nestled in comfortable environments, sipping wine, trimming their nails, leafing through documents. To them, massacre wasn't any different than spraying insect repellant on pesky bugs.
Nezumi's people hadn't even been permitted the dignity of dying or being killed like human beings. It's difficult for him to believe that that cruelty and misery was truly a thing of the past.
He remembers a conversation two of No.6's soldiers had had as he hid in a bush in the Mao Forest, watching them. They had complimented each other on a job well done, then complained about being parched, sharing water with each other. They had smiled, cheerful, not even acknowledging the burned and blackened bodies collapsed at their feet and the moans of the dying.
Nezumi doesn't remember the specific details of that memory any more, but he had still experienced that utmost cruelty, and the pain of that day still pierced him, fresh and potent. Whenever he remembered it, it made his back ache. He would remember the visceral experience of that burn wound, and the breathing of the old woman at his side, and his back would continue to ache, in time with his veins, beating out a single unified rhythm.
It hurts, he thinks. It hurts so much I can hardly stand it.
Inukashi jolts him out of his thoughts again. They say he's overthinking it—firetrucks and ambulances did come, even if a little late, and the Restructural Committee was doing its job to provide needed aid—that's why Shion rushed back to the city. Things are different now, and the cruel tyranny Nezumi fears won't actually appear in reality.
Nezumi pushes back against Inukashi's words, and asks them not what they want to think, but what they feel right now. Before they can answer, little Shion asks for Inukashi, and after helping him, they say that back in the old West Block, they had buried the bodies of countless children. They refuse to let this child meet the same fate.
Nezumi wonders at how much Inukashi has grown up.
Inukashi then surprises Nezumi by agreeing to help him, for two silvers instead of one gold. They call the two silvers from earlier payment for the food that they had brought Nezumi, and tell him to pay them two more silvers. Nezumi warns them that if they're too greedy, they'll meet the same fate as Shylock, and quotes from the Merchant of Venice as he hands them the two additional silvers. Inukashi leaves.
As the wind carries the faint noise and scent of smoke from the fire, the burn scar on Nezumi's back still aches.
origamiaround
andulkaphoto
yousharknotpass
baratheonpilled
