HOW RICK PORTRAYS ARTEMIS

What to do if you find yourself homless- written by someone who has actually been homeless

Most important: Spend the money you have on a motel. Churches probably will not actually help and shelters can be dangerous or turn you away. At a motel you have free breakfast, access to running water, and a lockable place to sleep. Do not waste money on a gym membership like the popular version of this post says to do, YMCA memberships are like $40.

2. Contact family and friends. Now is not the time to worry about being a burden. Your survival and safety comes first and that is all that matters, anyone worth having in your life will agree.

3. Start a gofundme. Even if someone can’t offer you a place to stay, they might be willing to toss out $5 so you can eat today.

4. Libraries have free wifi. Apply to any and all jobs you can think of if you aren’t already working.

5. Any home is a good home. Even if it’s a dingy apartment in a bad neighborhood. If its cheap and you can afford it, snatch it up. 

6. Pancake mix and peanut butter are filling, cheap, and last a long time.

PLEASE SHARE THE FUCK OUT OF THIS

STOP ATTRIBUTING EVERYTHING TO GOD AND TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ONCE

Off topic but it frustrates me to no end that religious people always attribute my actions and achievements to God.

'Oh, you're so lucky, God answered your prayers-'

Noooo no no no no no no, NO.

I am the one worked hard to achieve my goals and I will not have them automatically assigned to a higher being that's nonexistent for me. No sir or ma'am, no I will not.

'Oh, but we need God to be humble-'

Maybe your pea sized little brain needs him for that, but my hulking cranium can take the weight of the fact that I can say that I'm good, great, amazing even at something and not start claiming that I can find the cure for cancer.

Seriously. If you meet an atheist, do not automatically say that everything they've achieved is due to God.

Can we talk about how much the Aphrodite kids are a wasted/lost potential? How RR made them vain, vapid, mean and only useless pretty faces until Piper came? (Which is one of the characters I dislike in the books for all her internalized misogyny and the way she judged her siblings and cabinmates before even getting to know them properly). Aphrodite was worshiped as a goddess of war in her own right. Give me children of Aphrodite who are as beautiful as they are deadly, they wield their beauty both as a shield and as a sword. Give me Aphrodite kids that are so deeply loving and loyal towards each other, willing to move mountains and brave the harshest storms to keep their loved ones safe. Give me cabin 10 members being the ones that other campers go to because they know there will be no judgement there.

Can we talk about how much the Aphrodite kids are a wasted/lost potential? How RR made them vain, vapid, mean and only useless pretty faces until Piper came?

Aphrodite was worshipped as a goddess of war in her own right. Give me children of Aphrodite who are as beautiful as they are deadly, they wield their beauty both as a shield and as a sword. Give me Aphrodite kids that are so deeply loving and loyal towards each other, willing to move mountains and brave the harshest storms to keep their loved ones safe. Give me cabin 10 members being the ones that other campers go to because they know there will be no judgement there.

Exactly! Your vision for them is amazing. Of course, if they had had a writer who actually cared about fleshing them out, they could have been amazing, but unfortunately, Rick is too much of a misogynist to think past 'pink, pretty clothes, concerned about looks' = 'vain, shallow, conceited'.

The fact that his main female characters are able to look good without trying is such a cliche. A girl who looks good because she takes care of herself and is concerned about her looks (though not to the point of vanity) is much more interesting than 'Effortless Without Trying'-which is present ad nauseam in 2000s YA literature.

A son of Aphrodite would be extremely interesting to read about. How would he deal with his feminine side when he was a boy? How would others have seen and treated him? We all talk about masculine girls and feeling uncomfortable in masculinity, but talking about a feminine boy and his feminity would have been so interesting, especially in the PJOverse where Aphrodite is seen as weak. How differently is he treated from his sisters? Do they expect him to be tougher or weak just like them? How does he feel about his heritage and his mother?

Wasted potential, though we have fanfiction, discussions and headcanons, so there's that.

(Piper is one of the characters I dislike in the books for all her internalized misogyny and the way she judged her siblings and cabinmates before even getting to know them properly).

I do think that it's unfair to dislike Piper for that because she was raised in Hollywood, where it would be easy to take on such a mindset and lose yourself in it. Besides, the girls that were bullying her (both at the Wilderness School and Drew Tanaka) were all pink and feminine, so it would be easy for her to dislike them and think that they were shallow and stupid.

I'll have to reread the Lost Hero to look at her arc and how it was handled, so I'll add my thoughts after this happens.

On an unrelated note, I wish that we had gotten Piper and Drew making up. The fact that two teenage girls of color fight over a white guy and presumably don't make up again is just so aggravating to me, because female solidarity and platonic relationships are absolutely wonderful to read about.

Sally and Gaia parallels

I've already said that Percy Jackson's Greek Gods is a terribly book at times and that you shouldn't take it too seriously, but one thing that really appalls and surprises me is that Percy calls Gaia a psycho for telling her children to overthrow Ouranous, who locked Gaia's children and the Titans' siblings in Tartarus.

Ouranous, who hated his children, locked them away in the Earth as a prison, essentially leaving Gaia to raise them, to raise them as a single mother while he did nothing.

Gaia who raised them lovingly and told them how to overthrow their abusive father and free their siblings to have a better fate.

Gaia and her children are overthrowing an abusive, neglectful father and Percy calls this..........psychotic?

This is VERY ironic, considering that Percy and Sally literally murdered Smelly Gabe for being abusive. They overthrew an abusive man, and a decade later, Rick writes a mother who wants to overthrow an abusive father and husband and free her children as insane and psychotic.

Coupling this with how he writes Gaia in HOO...........oh Gaia, wanting to overthrow an abusive father and husband for the sake of your children..........killing an abusive, domineering patriarch who abuses your children and then being demonised for it by another man.........how, oh all the women understand you. Oh, how they suffer too.

How Rick could have portrayed Calypso

It would have been way better if Rick had portrayed Calypso as a mother figure instead of a teenager. I know that Percy Jackson is a kid's series, which is why he took out the rape, but choosing to portray Calypso as a teenager after reading about her being a fully-grown woman and raping Odysseus definitely feeds into the horrible mindset that men can't get raped by women because the latter are too cutesy and weak to do something that terrible.

She could remind Percy of Sally, ironically, because she wants him to stay (but won't force him to) and she's so angry with the gods because this boy is so YOUNG, only 14. And Percy loves her a bit like he loves Sally, and he resolves to make the gods free her if he can.

And when Leo crashes up on his island, barely older than Percy, Calypso doesn't really know if the war's been won or not, so she asks him, and he tells all, but instead of blaming Percy, she blames the gods again. And she reminds Leo of Esperanza and he comes back for her, and maybe she could join the Waystation and be friends with Jo and Emmie or something-just that terribly written and rushed romance plot.

Yikes, just another toxic Percabeth moment

I was reading Percy Jackson Greek Heroes and I found another concerning Percabeth moment-

Percy says that when he doesn't like what Annabeth likes, she goes all 'man-hazan' (meaning warrior like) on him.

Meaning that she yells at him and is violent when he doesn't like what she likes..........

That's uncalled for. You don't have to like everything that your partner likes. And if they get angry at you for not liking what they like, then that's concerning and you need to talk to them about it.

Cardan Greenbriar with people other than Jude, please

Ok, people, does ANYONE in the TFOTA fandom want more of Cardan Greenbriar on his own?

Because most of the content I see with him is always linked to Jude somehow, and it's getting frustrating. This guy is his own person outside of Jude, yet no one seems to think about that. They just woobify him and reduce him to this himbo character.

What about his platonic relationships? I mean, I know he had an effed up relationship with Locke and Nicasia, but what about with Valerian (his thoughts on Valerian in general? Valerian lore?)

Or Vivienne? Or Taryn? Or his sisters or father or mother?

Or even Cardan with the court of Shadows. The Ghost, the Bomb and the Roach. Without Jude.

Or just on his own. Seriously, Cardan is an entertaining asshole who can be regal and intimidating-

and no one takes advantage of that. He's always dumbed down and placed with Jude. It's always Jude, Jude Jude with him and there's a certain point where it gets too repetitive.

Please make more of Cardan Greenbriar without Jude. I promise you that it is possible.

Solangelo first meet rewrite-making it better

So, I've been thinking, and I really think that Will should've strongly and firmly advised Nico, but never ordered him. And in case you're wondering what I mean, just read this-

Will blew out a breath. 'Nico.......listen, can I tell you something?'

Nico frowned at the healer. 'What?'

'I'm a healer. And when I touched your hand........well, I've never felt so much darkness.'

Nico raised his eyebrows. 'And?'

'And, simply put, in my medical opinion-' here Will held up his hands, palms facing Nico, '-you're in no shape to shadow travel anywhere, much less that tent. One more shadow slip and you'd never come back. I strongly advise you not to shadow travel anymore as an experienced healer and probably the best camp medic.'

'But the camp is about to be destroyed. My powers are necessary to defeat the Romans!'

'We can stop the Romans without your powers. I'm pretty sure of it. We can do it our way-Lou Ellen can control the Mist. We'll sneak around, do as much damage as we can to those onagers. I very, very strongly advise you not to travel shadow again in the next few hours. Literally.'

Nico snarled. 'Are you ordering me not to use my powers?'

Will Solace glared daggers at him.

'Nico di Angelo. Don't ever say that to me.'

His tone make Nico stop and stare.

'I'm a healer. I'm a combat medic. And I give great medical advice. But one thing that I'm never supposed to do is order someone not to do something. Patient consent is always necessary, and doctors aren't allowed to do something that the patient doesn't want even if they're at the risk of dying. So I can give you very strong advice that I think you should follow, but one thing I'll never do is demand that you follow orders. I don't even know the extent of your powers, but right now I'm pretty sure you couldn't summon a wishbone without melting into a puddle of darkness, but if you think that your powers will help us? By all means go ahead. Please, just remember.........keep yourself safe out there. And you're not the only fighter in Camp Half Blood. There are more experienced fighters and magic users than you are, and we're all working overtime to defeat the Romans. You're not the only one fighting this battle.'

Nico stared at Will Solace. He'd never imagined that Will could be like this-sure, he had seen him in action, the best combat medic in Manhattan, but he'd never thought that he could be so firm or even say something that was actually true.

Nico wasn't the only one fighting this battle. There were Hecate kids, and even Clovis could make people fall asleep in battle, which was more dangerous than it sounded. There were so many magicians and fighters both on the frontlines and back in the camp, and all of them were doing their part too.............

Ok, I need to tell all of you something.

Even if your posts don't get notes, that doesn't mean that someone is seeing them.

People are looking at your posts, they're reading them again and again, even if they're not nothing them.

I've read truckloads of posts that I have not noted. I've read them again and again. I haven't noted them, but I still read them.

Don't think that your posts aren't noticed if they're not noted.

Share this with people, ok? They need to know.

Percy was not smart-Procrustes was dumbed down

This post is about the 12 year old trio (well, 14 biologically and 28 chronologically in Grover's case) getting caught in Procrustes' store in TLT.

So, our heroes run into Procrustes' store after being chased by mortal teenage wannabe gangsters.

And they come to Procrustes' store where he's nice at first and then traps them in the waterbeds

He leads Annabeth to another bed and when she doesn't want to get on, he pushes her onto it and traps both Annabeth and Grover.

And then he wants to get Percy on a bed, and instead of simply grabbing him and putting him on one........he tries to convince Percy to lie down?

Why did Procrustes have to convince Percy to lie down? Why didn't he push him onto the bed? It was pretty obvious that he could, but for some reason, he stopped and tried to convince Percy.

What, you're telling me that he sat down to demonstrate for Percy, knowing that Percy could just snap his fingers and say ergo and bind him to the bed?

Is this because Percy was agreeable to him? What, did Procrustes not think that Percy might want to rescue his companions and might be lying? Because if so, Procrustes is dumb.

Percy might have rescued his friends, but his wits in this are diminished by the fact that the villain was dumbed down.

Percy wasn't smart. Rick had to dumb Procrustes down, which undermines both the antagonist and our protagonist's supposed smartness. It's frustrating to see people use this as an example-please don't.