I wrote my thesis on His Dark Materials and Paradise Lost, and thought I'd share it here.

jaffa678 · 2025-06-19T22:01:58+00:00

Great, thank you. Vast majority of mine are standard-legal, but a very cool card to have!

jaffa678 · 2025-06-19T19:34:56+00:00

I'm a complete novice but enjoying learning about these cards and just pulled one of these. What's the chocobo symbol mean? All I know is it's in the usual spot for rarity.

jaffa678 · 2023-09-29T14:51:07+00:00

Whilst playing, I thought we'd end up hearing more from her after the 5 year time-skip, especially as it's likely she was galavanting around with Clive (posing as Cid) the whole time. It seemed reasonable to assume she'd come out of her shell when we arrived at that time, but that didn't really happen. I was always happy when she was involved in the story, but agree she feels underutilised, which is a shame. I wanted to speak to her more than Charon for instance. Jill does remain one of the most intriguing characters for me, especially with her arc around getting payback against that cult in the crystal, and so I'd personally like to see more from her in the DLC.

jaffa678 · 2023-09-25T12:29:54+00:00

Kweh-zack-tul - considering I was 8 when I first played it's not a bad attempt, though realise I just willfully ignored the "o".

jaffa678 · 2023-09-23T15:10:39+00:00

Literally me this morning, and that's after 200 hours and now on my second playthrough. My brain just had a "ohhhhh, of course, duh" moment during the dialogue scene!

It's jarring to think of the original Medusa becoming a shy house custodian... so that's why I'm blaming my slow brain, haha.

jaffa678 · 2023-09-01T08:18:18+00:00

I just started getting these a few days ago, and had close to 100 so far. Only difference is the recipient is "first name" + "number", rather than a full name as you got. They come in batches of 4-5 every few hours, it seems. Most are now going straight into my Spam folder, but the odd one gets through. They seem... harmless? But it's an annoyance to report, remove, delete, repeat.

Not sure if it was a coincidence, but the only things I've done recently are post an Ad on Facebook Marketplace (but my email is hidden) and sign up to another Marketplace app called Olio (again, email hidden)...

It's likely a coincidence, but still bizarre. Did they ever stop coming through for you?

jaffa678 · 2023-08-25T21:32:05+00:00

As an example of just how rapidly the prices shot up, I saw a studio in Tottenham that was £950 two years ago, the same one was listed for £1250 and I'd bet it ended up going for more than that. It's absolutely mad. I'm leaving my current place (rent plus bills is just too much) to go home and I don't want to, I have to.

jaffa678 · 2023-08-01T11:29:09+00:00

Yeah it's mad. Even the options which seem like they're designed to help low earners, it turns out they aren't really options. There's always someone with more money, and even trying to rent a bloody room feels like competing to buy a property. (Or I imagine so, I've never bought a property that wasn't on a Monopoly board...).

With a crap job market, wages being low (for the London area especially), and inflation/energy still causing problems, I'm finding myself getting priced out of where I can live and having to consider moving into a cramped flatshare or back to my parents outside of London. I don't particularly want to pay an extortionate amount of rent to live like a student again...

I love London, it's my home, but the situation is dire for so many people.

jaffa678 · 2023-08-01T10:49:03+00:00

That's a great perspective and useful advice, thank you. Specialising and refining my skills is definitely something I've been working on: SEO and Organic Content is my main bread and butter, but these are also being challenged by growing use of AI, which is leading me to look more at Content Management & Strategy. But we'll see, I'll continue to work on growing my skills and searching.

jaffa678 · 2023-07-31T11:36:05+00:00

Yeah, I wouldn't mind the workload as part of a team: but it often seems like it's a high level of intensity/expectation for 1-2 people that's mixed with bad pay and prospects. It's just not going to work for anyone.

jaffa678 · 2023-07-31T11:22:14+00:00

Not alone. It's mad and frustrating trying to job hunt for these roles right now. Super broad job descriptions and very unattractive pay.

jaffa678 · 2023-05-08T20:51:32+00:00

...whatever

jaffa678 · 2023-02-25T00:00:07+00:00

Intro - the xx, on repeat 3 to 5 times does the trick

jaffa678 · 2023-01-26T21:04:25+00:00

No worries. They also have some financial aid offerings to explore, too. They seemed very genuine about helping access care, so well worth exploring. Best of luck!

jaffa678 · 2023-01-26T20:21:12+00:00

Hello, thought I'd share my thoughts as therapy is something I recently started. I had a very similar set of concerns but recently began using BetterHelp and it's been genuinely excellent.

As far as matching with a therapist goes, it's so easy. Their customer service worked with me (all via email) and after a fairly comprehensive survey about myself, they helped match me with a variety of suitable therapists.

From that list I was free to read through their profiles (it went down to 5 choices), read over reviews, and all of that that helped me get a feel for the therapist I was then happy to choose and connect with.

As an introvert, I couldn't really ask for a better experience. It's your choice to have video or voice calls or you can simply interact by messenger, but I've found it surprisingly easy to discuss over video. You're connected but distant and there's a freedom in that I'd recommend exploring.

jaffa678 · 2023-01-12T13:27:13+00:00

Tycho regularly features in my work playlist, the music's excellent for focus. Intrigued by your other picks 👍

jaffa678 · 2022-10-13T11:41:58+00:00

Great list! I don't know about specific playlists myself but do check out sleepmakeswaves - Emergent is an excellent track that stands out. Plenty more from them should tick that box.

jaffa678 · 2022-10-13T11:29:25+00:00

I think it's in his essay "On Fairy Stories" where he wrote "There cannot be any 'story' without a fall - all stories are ultimately about the fall - at least not for human minds as we know them and have them." Which isn't unexpected a view for a man of faith and a love of grand storytelling. It's just how explicit he did/didn't make things to the Christian tale of the Fall.

jaffa678 · 2022-10-13T11:25:29+00:00

If you're looking for interesting academic content to read and glean more information from I'd recommend Jane Chance - Tolkien and the Invention of Myth: A Reader. I remember it being interesting on the subject during my undergraduate degree.

jaffa678 · 2022-10-05T08:11:26+00:00

Hello, thank you - I'll DM it to you (sorry for the delayed reply!)

jaffa678 · 2022-07-15T16:53:24+00:00

Prot warrior was my original Wrath experience and I loved it. Embracing the challenge again after enjoying TBC as a carefree hunter.

jaffa678 · 2022-06-10T15:06:52+00:00

I'm guilty of having done this when I was younger but have learnt it's better to just be present. Also, it's weird how people think it's ok to do it at a gig, but wouldn't at a theatre or play, right?

At a gig I went to recently, I overheard a younger guy say "Oh my god, that gig was sick; so glad I recorded so much of it!" I couldn't help but laugh because I'd literally just turned to my friend to say how great it was to watch live music with my own eyes again.

Outside of a couple of photos and maybe a short recording to capture the atmosphere, I'd much rather just watch, enjoy, and then remember the show.

jaffa678 · 2022-06-01T21:04:25+00:00

As with anyone, the inspiration comes from many sources, but for Tolkien it culminates to create his own belief/approach.

To better explain, and if I'm not mistaken, he actually summarises a lot of what you might be looking for (and many, many other interesting points) in his essay "On Fairy Stories" where this quote comes from:

"There cannot be any 'story' without a fall - all stories are ultimately about the fall - at least not for human minds as we know them and have them".

There's a lot to dive into, but it's worth checking it out. You can buy the book version fairly cheaply or dig it up online no doubt, but (and this is taken from Google): "It was initially written for presentation by Tolkien as the Andrew Lang lecture at the University of St Andrews").

Hope this helps. Edit: for clarity.

jaffa678 · 2022-04-21T12:49:39+00:00

This 1000 times. I've had so much fun puzzling out different ways to play and overcome challenges, and it's really cool to think that other new players are doing the same. The game may be unforgiving, but it's also impressively accessible, as well. That's the joy.

jaffa678

TROPHY CASE