#trickster rants

[we-are-trickster]

Trickster rant time - I’m really starting to hate the FREEDOM framing device of my American History textbook.

Everything is expressed in terms of “what does group X think Freedom is and how does that effect their relationship with the (white, wealthy) government?”

It’s to the point that the word is kind of becoming meaningless to me and I feel that it’s not focusing enough on the actual tensions that cause conflict - racism, classism, etc. - in history....

[we-are-trickster]

Adventures in Capitalism!

Or Why Trickster had a Panic Attack Today

So I’m a pretty chill person. I realize we live in a capitalist system and that until we fix some things, life is just gonna be like thatTM.

I changed jobs recently to get away from a shitty work environment and to free up some time to go back to school. I now work part time as a funeral home receptionist. It’s a fairly easy job, nothing too crazy, and I think I deal with death better than most with my pagan belief system.

So the place I work for is one of the ones that’s over watched (I hate to say managed...) by a dignified network. They set the sales goals and imho take away from the true mission of a Funeral Home to provide families with comfort and service during the darkest days of their lives. They’re really about them Benjamins....

To the point our sales team is entirely on commission. Yep.... the amount of money they take home is entirely dependent on how many contracts they sell. No base pay, but hey they do get health benefits! 🤮

Honestly, I hate that sort of set up because a) you’re employed by a company that takes the lion’s share from hundreds of sales reps and b) if you’re constantly trying to squeeze the most money possible out of someone are you actually trying to give them the best customer service? Or are you looking for that fat paycheck? Especially in an industry that should be looking to help people, and adding any additional financial hardship after a death is skeevy as hell.

I learn fact this from one of our sales reps who tells me she’s happy with this system. She’s “as red as can be” in terms of politics and thinks that if you’re in sales as a career, you should be able to work entirely off of commission, no base pay...... Gods above...

So I just block her out and ignore her as best I can, she’s young and dumb. But a few weeks after this convo, the lady who worked the front desk during the day either quits or is fired... I’m not 100% because two days before she leaves the company she’s shaking in anger and close to tears because they wrote her up for some stupid shit. She was literally written up for having to take off work to care for her sick kid....

Okay, I smell corporate fuckery there... she literally was doing a little bit of everything, not just working the phones, and they treated her pretty shitty...

So I start picking up day shifts. Fast forward to today, as I’m working an older Hispanic lady comes in asking about our pricing. By law, I have to hand her a list of our services and what they cost. No biggie at first, but Captialist-as-Fuck sales girl approaches and starts inserting herself into the convo as I’m trying to get a clear picture of what this lady wants (she’s asking about Direct Burials, no funeral) because she later reminds me “the sales team works off of commission....” yeah, good for you mate....

But what sets me off is a line about how “(previous front desk worker) used to take floral orders and stuff without giving them to the sales team” and how she hated that after the Hispanic lady goes with sales team member no2 (the less evil one i think....).The fuck? You lost out on small, pidly stuff like flowers? Oh noes! How could your capitalist ass survive?!

For some reason, I nearly shaking. Part of me is scared of retaliation... my mind goes back to how my ex-coworker left and the weird circumstances surrounding it. My extremely anti-capitalist ass is now scared that if I make a wrong move or decision that the salesperson will somehow orchestrate my unemployment.... like, it feels silly to admit but that was my thought process.

I just... ugh... I’m planning to bleed this place dry for a scholarship and then once I get my degree and can be a full-fledged funeral director, kiss this place and the dignified network goodbye. They very nearly own a monopoly on the funeral industry because they keep buying up funeral homes across the country and just adding what equivocates to an asterisk over the place’s original name, making you think they’re all individual places still... Nope....

Trickster needs some vodka....

[we-are-trickster]

[ABOUT YOUR INFINITY WAR RANT, SO THIS WILL HAVE SPOILERS] i saw some people saying that about thanos but I don't feel like the movie wanted us to feel sympathy for thanos?? it was just him justifying himself like most evil people do (at least that's how i see it, but i guess that if most people saw the movie as justifying thanos that means the director didnt do a good job) AND about the dr strange giving the stone i think is because he "saw" that he had to do that to get the Good End

[INFINITY WAR SPOILER ALERT!]

This Trickster really feels like the movie went out of its way to point out how “conflicted” and bad Thanos felt about Gamora. They tried to make him a Good FatherTM who has to make a terrible choice for the Greater GoodTM. Gamora kept coming off like a whiny teenager instead of a grown woman who knows the horrors Thanos will enact on the Universe.

And Re: Dr. Strange trying to get the “Good End.” That’s a plot device that I HATE in media - the character who sees the future, sees exactly what they need to do to get the win but they never tell anyone else how to achieve that end. The only time I feel this plot device was executed well was in Dragon Age: Inquisition because it gave the player a sense of urgency and allowed them to see the stakes. And if that was the good doctor’s plan, then that needed to have been made perfectly clear to the audience. Even just a little “this is all part of the plan” as he fades into non-existence. But, nah, let’s have him be vague and cryptic and hope Tony Stark makes the right decisions!

In my opinion, the very act of looking at the future changes the future because you can then adjust your present course to react to what is going to happen or ensure that the future you saw never comes to pass because you know your opponent’s plans. Again, a plot device handled well in Dragon Age Inquisition because the information about the “Dark Future” is shared and an entire organization can use their resources to change the course of the future.

And also as Thanos said, Dr. Strange refused to use the power of the Time Stone, why not just reverse time back to the moment where they nearly got the gauntlet off of Thanos and keep repeating that moment until you get it right? Now, granted I’ve never watched Dr. Strange and don’t plan to so I don’t know Da Rulez of the Time Stone. But it is very odd to me that if you have such power, why don’t you use it? I’m pretty sure “madman about the destroy half of all life” counts as a scenario where such power is warranted.

Trickster has a lot of negative feels about Infinity War. For me it’s a terrible movie and I feel like a lot of people’s “explanations” for the bad choices made character and story-wise are just excuses.

[we-are-trickster]

-Runs Hands Down Face-

Good morning my lovelies.... I know it probably shouldn’t annoy me but this morning over on the DDAL DM Facebook group someone was asking about the Season 7 Epic “Peril at the Port.” This adventure features pirates attacking the city of Port Nyanzaru, led by the dreaded Pirate Captain Smoke back from the Nine Hells to seek revenge. Smoke has but one demand - hand over her ex-lover Pelican Jake who betrayed her and she’ll leave Port Nyanzaru, but be quick because she’ll extract one soul for every gold coin Jake stole from her. Also for context, Epics are big, multi-table adventures where actions at one table can effect the entire room. Now, the question this person had was not about running the adventure, no... it was about changing the gender of Captain Smoke from a woman to man. Only because the person chosen to play Captain Smoke is a guy. No other reason. They just want to be able to refer to “him.” Now of course my argument to this is is  you can pretend someone is a Tabaxi or a Half-Orc or a Drow without them tossing on a fursuit, green make-up and fake tusks, or purple-grey body paint and pointy ears then you can sure as hell pretend that a Man is currently playing a Woman or a Woman is playing a Man (that same group has a woman playing Volothamp Geddam, a famous male author in the Forgotten Realms setting and ALSO wants to refer to Volo with female pronouns). This behavior is somewhat prevalent in Tabletop and it annoys the shit out of your local Trickster. When I’m playing a character, I want to be referred to as that character’s gender - whether that’s my pretty-boy paladin Cecilios (he’s pretty but he’s a boy, thank you), my Transwoman Half-Orc Jakka (if you DON’T use female pronouns, she’ll break your legs), or if I’m playing Icarus (their gender pronouns are flexible). However, there are numerous DMs and Players who flat-out refuse to check and make sure what gender your character is and always refer to the character by the player’s gender or insist that the character IS the player’s gender, even when told opposite (I’ve had a couple of Starfinder sessions where Starfinder!Icarus has been repeatedly referred to as She/Her when I’ve repeatedly tried to tell my fellow players that version of Icarus is male). And I will admit, I am a bit protective of Captain Smoke. She’s near and dear to my heart because I love her story - a Woman Pirate Captain literally coming back from Hell to get her revenge on the man who stole her treasure and got her killed. Changing that to a man (unless you make sure to play up the Gay!Pirate!Lovers aspect) just doesn’t have the same impact for me.

[we-are-trickster]

Uuuuuughhhh.

Why do cops always pull me over after I'm coming home from a D&D session? Like, seriously... 3rd time it's happened while I'm coming home from D&D. Got pulled over tonight over a damn break light! Like, sorry I don't do a multi-point inspection every time I pull out of the driveway? I literally wasn't aware that I had a break light out until jack off mcgee pulled me over and gave me a citation. Apparently I have until Tuesday to both fix it and show up to court to prove it has been fixed.... da fuck. Can't I just email you guys a receipt and wash my hands of it? The court you want me to go to is like 45 minutes from my apartment. I have to figure out where and when I can go to get my brake light fixed, probably pay someone to fix it, and then pay for the gas to get down to your shitty little court house, but also loose working hours because of a damn break light? Yeah, fuck off. Not a happy Trickster.

[we-are-trickster]

Into Hell We Go....

So I’ve never been crazy about Critical Role, probably never will be, but thanks to fan art of the new campaign I decided to give it a go.

Not convinced I’ll like it but.... damnit Mollymauk and Jester are like.... my perfect characters. My weaknesses in two different Tieflings and I just.... uuuuugggghhhhh. I can’t even....

[savingprivatebirb]

i don’t think my father understands that i don’t like watching my tv shows in front of people because i see them as personal things that are a part of me and when i do i feel exposed and vulnerable.

so when you go ahead and insult a show i’m watching and say “it’ll give me a headache” and make me watch it somewhere else because you don’t wanna watch it i feel insulted and hurt because you’re my father and i put up with all the sports bullcrap that you watch so why can’t you put up with mine

and seriously, i feel even more insulted because i tried to share some of my life and interests with you but you just turned it away and didn’t see what i was trying to do. this is why i don’t have a good relationship with my dad: he doesn’t even try to understand or accept the things in my life.

[savingprivatebirb]

i have many problems going on right now. i want to art but cannot art, i want to write but i suck at that as well, i'm drinking from my water bottle and in the position i'm in no water will come to me, and my jaw feels like it's bleeding on the inside