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shubblelive · 2 years ago

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— MONDAY MORNING

summary : you'd always craved the idea of someone knowing and loving you completely. fortunately for you it seems like that person sits three rows ahead of you.

genre : fluff

warnings : reader's friends suck, also i self projected here shh you didn't see it

pairing : wilbur soot x reader, non-streamer, musician!wilbur uni au

pronouns : none (you yours)

featuring : uni student!musician!wilbur soot

word count : 1.5k

note : finished my first term of college so i thought i'd put something out. not super duper proud of this, but it's something. so here you go!! enjoy <3

you absolutely despised study groups. you weren’t a massive fan of studying, of course, but doing it in groups was the bane of your existence. if you were studying, you preferred to do it in the library. there were specific sections, marked with signs; a person talking in a big red circle with a line through it. headphones on, laptop open with your pathetic amount of coloured pens.

however, every monday morning before your 11 am lecture you found yourself in the student commons, spiral notebook on your lap, trying desperately to take notes and your friend would not shut up. she was going on about some girl she’d met at the bar the night before and you couldn’t bring yourself to care.

“are you listening to me?” you weren’t, but she didn’t need to know that. you nodded, not looking up from your notes, and she apparently didn’t care enough to press, continuing on as if you weren’t even there. you had been friends with her since high school, and she’d introduced you to another two people you shared a class with. you weren’t particularly close with any of them, but they were the only people you knew.

if you weren’t studying, you were working uptown at marcel’s, the swankiest bar that would hire a uni student. it was classes, then waiting on finance men who weren’t rich enough to afford the good stuff. after that was a two hour bus ride home, then taking care of your mum before more schoolwork, and then collapsing into bed at one in the morning, only to wake up for more classes. your day punctuated with your tedious friends.

the timer on your phone went off, and you sighed. “i better go. have to talk to professor marks about the homework,”

they waved you off, barely even noticing your impending absence. you deflated a bit, but by the time you were out in the sun you felt a bit better. you’d been feeling somehow trapped and also invisible for the first twenty-odd years of your life. no one had ever seen you before, not like it didn’t in the movies. you’d been a comfortable level of lonely your entire life, and that didn’t change just because you now had a group of uni friends who shared the same ambitions as you.

but being out in the quad, with the breeze flowing through the grass, made you optimistic. there was two boys at a wooden picnic table, textbooks spread between them as they exchanged soft smiles and jokes about what they were working on. there was a group of people relaxing on the grass. a girl with headphones gazing at the clouds. a campus full of people just waiting to be befriended, and yet there you were. three years in, and still with the same group of people you didn’t click with.

you reached the building your next lecture was in, another twenty minutes until class started. the door was unlocked though, and you slipped inside quietly. professor marks was your favourite teacher, but she also wasn’t alone.

your class had about fifty students in it, so you didn’t know him by name, but you had seen the guy she was talking to. he sat in the middle of the room, answered enough questions to get the 5% participation grade but not enough that he got taken note of.

if someone had asked if you knew him, the best way to refer to him would be “the tall one.”

professor marks saw you and gave a chaste smile, turning back to your classmate to let him finish speaking. they talked for a few minutes, both nodding, before he stepped back politely to let you have your opening. however, before you got a chance to talk to her, her phone rang. “ugh,” she groaned, giving you a sympathetic look. “one second, so sorry.”

so you stayed there with what’s-his-name as your teacher stepped out of the room to take her phone call. you went to pull out your phone but got distracted by your classmate saying your name. you looked up at him, he gave you a sheepish smile. “sorry. that is your name, right? i didn’t get it wrong? that’d be embarrassing.”

you just nodded, hoping he would introduce himself. “i’m wilbur.” oh, how your prayers were answered for once. “i’ve seen you around. you’re in my geography class, aren’t you?”

god, you were embarrassing. you had noticed him in this class but not the other one. you nodded. “yeah, sorry. you’re wilbur. of course i know you. you’re in that band, right? they play in the quad sometimes?”

you were hoping it was the same wilbur. you remember thinking it was a weird name when you saw it on the poster. him and a few other names you didn’t recognise. surely there were not two people named wilbur in the one university, not with how old fashioned it was.

the relief was palpable when he nodded. “yeah! you’ve seen us play?”

“you guys are really good,” you weren’t lying this time. “you played cyberbully mom club.” wilbur’s eyes lit up. “i love them. you did a really good job. what are you doing taking geography courses when you can sing like that?”

he laughed, bring a hand up to the front of his face, fluffing his hair nervously. “someone of great taste i see. what about you? i saw one of your paintings in the exhibition in the hall. why aren’t you getting an art degree?”

you flushed, looking down. none of your friends even knew you painted, and yet there was wilbur. 6’6” wilbur with his los campesinos jumper and his scuffed doc martens, quietly loving your favourite bands and your art. “guess this just seemed right?”

“i get that. i’m a big believer of fate,” you looked back up towards him, his warm brown eyes already looking at yours behind his round glasses. people had started filtering in, and your friends were gesturing at you impatiently to come sit up the back with them. “you should go, your friends want you.”

“i don’t want them.”

you were sitting down on the end of the row before you even realised what you’d said. wilbur just laughed, taking his usual seat, eyes shining. you sat through the next ninety minutes, looking at the back of wilbur’s head.

“now, i’m going to let you guys pick groups for this project. three people, though. no groups of four. don’t even ask. i’ll give you the last fifteen minutes to work that out.”

great. a group of three. you didn’t even need to turn to your friends before they were muttering sorries, and you were stuck looking around the room for other people in your same predicament. you didn’t have to look for long, making eye contact with wilbur almost immediately. he waved you down and you hesitantly made your way down to his row.

“wanna work together?” his smile was so bright that you couldn’t even think of turning him down. he was charming, he liked the same things as you. but more than that, he saw you. he saw you better than your friends over the last three plus years did.

“i’d like nothing more, will.” you replied, and wilbur grinned. “you sure, though? you probably have other friends in this class.”

“i do,” he admitted. “however, i want to get to know you better, and i was hoping this might give me an excuse to ask you out. or, if that’s not something you’re interested in, then you are also more than welcome to join me and a few of my friends in the courtyard after class, purely platonic.”

his words were quick, but you understood every syllable. you didn’t have time to meet after class, you had a rare hour off after your last class before you needed to grab the bus to marcel’s. “i would love to, but i have work every day this week, and next week. and every week, and the bus is hours long. i’m sorry.”

wilbur nodded. “if this is your way of letting me down gently, i totally understand that. uh, but-”

“no,” you said quickly. “it is. i work seven days a week, it’s not you,” he didn’t seem convinced, still convinced you were trying to be polite. he didn’t want you to lie to him if you truly weren’t interested. you’d had one conversation, but he felt giddy when you made eye contact with him. it was dumb, probably, but he really wanted to know you better. he didn’t want to press you. you could see that, so you tried again. “however, i think my schedule’s just become more open.” you glanced upwards at where your friends were sitting a few rows back. “i’m free monday morning?”

wilbur’s face lit up, still hesitant. “you sure? because if you’re not interested then it’s fine, really. i won’t give you a hard time about it. promise. you can still meet my friends, if you’d like. or if you want to we can pretend that the other person doesn’t exist.”

“no.” you said decidedly. “i’m free monday morning, and i would love if we could meet somewhere?”

he smiled at you. “i can’t wait.” you’d never looked forward to homework so much, and from the bright look on wilbur’s face, he hadn’t either.

#wilbur #wishing i could write my name on it #wilbuh #wilbur soot fluff #wilbur soot headcanons #wilbur soot x you #wilbur soot fic #wilbur soot fanfiction #wilbur soot x y/n #wilbur soot imagine #wilbur soot x reader #wilbur soot

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nim-lock · 4 years ago

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Art Career Tips, 2021 Edition

Here’s an edited version of my 2019 answered ask, because... this feels relevant.

It is a problem of capitalism that folks equate their income as a judgement of their value as people; and let me preface. You are worth so much. You have inherent value in this world. Your income is not a judgement on who you are (plenty of billionaires are actively making the world worse). LARPing self-confidence will go a long way to helping you get paid more for your work, because clients will believe that you know what you are doing, and are a professional.

& real quick—my own background is that I’ve been living off my art since 2018. I went to art school (Pratt Institute). I work in a publishing/educational materials sphere, and a quarter of my income is my shop. Not all of this information may apply to you, so it is up to you to look through everything with a critical eye, and spot pick what is relevant.

So there are multiple ways of getting income as an artist;

Working freelance or full-time on projects

Selling your stuff on a shop

Licensing (charging other companies to use your designs)

This post primarily covers the freelance part; if you’re interested in the other bits there is absolutely info out there on the internet.

IF you are just starting (skip to next section if not applicable) dream big, draw often (practice helps you get better/more efficient), do your best to take "a bad piece” lightly. You’re gonna RNG this shit. At some point your rate of “good” works will get higher. Watch tutorial videos & read books. A base understanding of “the rules”; anatomy, perspective, composition, color helps you know what the rules are to break them. This adds sophistication to your work. One way you can learn this stuff is by doing “studies”—you’re picking apart things from life, or things other people have done, to see what works, and how it works.

Trying to turn your interests into a viable career means that you are now a SMALL BUSINESS; it really helps to learn some basic marketing, graphic design, figure out how to write polite customer service emails; etc. You can learn some of this by looking it up, or taking skillshare (not sponsored) classes by qualified folks. Eventually some people may get agents to take care of this for them—however, I do recommend y’all get a basic understanding of what it takes to do it on your own, just so you can know if your agent is doing a good job.

Making sure your portfolio fits the work you want to get

Here is a beginner portfolio post.

Research the field you’d like to get into. The amount people work, the time commitment, the process of making the thing, the companies & people who work for them.

Create work that could fit in to the industry you’re breaking into. For example, if you want to do book cover illustration, you draw a bunch of mockup book covers, that can either be stuff you make up, or redesigns of existing books. If you’re not 100% sure what sort of work is needed for the industry, loop back into the portfolios of artists in a similar line of work as whatever you’re interested in, and analyze the things they have in common. If something looks to be a common project (like a sequence of action images for storyboard artists), then it’s probably something useful for the job.

CLIENTS HIRE BASED ON HOW WELL THEY THINK YOUR WORK FITS WHAT THEY WANT. If they’re hiring for picture books, they’re gonna want to see picture book art in your portfolio, otherwise they may not want to risk hiring you. Doesn’t have to be 100% the project, but stuff similar enough. If you aren’t hired, it doesn’t mean your work is bad, it just wasn’t the right fit for that specific client.

If you have many interests, make a different section of your portfolio for each!

Making sure you’re relevant

Have a social media that’s a little more public-facing, and follow people in the career field you’re interested in. Fellow artists, art directors, editors, social media managers; whoever. Post on your own schedule.

Interact with their posts every so often, in a non-creepy way.

If you’ve made any contacts, great! Email these artists, art directors, editors, former professors, etc occasional updates on your work to stay in touch AND make sure that they think about you every so often.

Show up to general art events every once in a while! If you keep showing up to ones in your area (when... not dying from a sneeze is a thing), folks will eventually start to remember you.

Industry events & conferences can be pricey, so attend/save up for what makes sense for you. Industry meetups are important for networking in person! In addition to meeting people with hiring power, you also connect with your peers in the community. Always bring a portfolio & hand out business cards like candy.

Active job hunting

Apply to job postings online.

If interested in working with specific people at specific companies, you could send an email “I’d love to work with you, here’s my portfolio/relevant experience”, even if they aren’t actively looking for new hires. Be concise, and include a link to your work AND attached images so the person reading the email can get a quick preview before clicking for more.

Twitter job postings can be pretty underpaid! Get a copy of the Graphic Artists’ Guild Handbook Pricing & Ethical Guidelines to know your rate. I once had a twitter post job listing email me back saying that other illustrators were charging less, and I quote, “primarily because they’re less experienced and looking for their first commission”. This was not okay! For reference, this was a 64-illustration book. The industry rate of a children’s book (~36 pages) is $10k+, and this company’s budget was apparently $1k. For all of it.

Congrats you got a job! Now what?

Ask for like, 10% more than they initially offer and see if they say yes. If they do, great! If not, and the price is still OK, great! Often company budgets are slightly higher than they first tell you, and if you get this extra secret money, all the better for you.

Make sure you sign a contract and the terms aren’t terrible (re: GO GET THE Graphic Artists’ Guild Handbook Pricing & Ethical Guidelines)

Be pleasant and easy to work with (Think ‘do no harm but take no shit’)

Communicate with them as much as needed! If something’s going to be late, tell them as soon as you know so they aren’t left wondering or worse, reaching out to ask what’s up.

And if all goes well, they’ll contact you about more jobs down the line, or refer you to other folks who may need an artist, etc.

Quick note about online shops/licensing and why they’re so good

It’s work that you do once, that you continuously make money off of. Different products do well in different situations (conventions vs. online, and then further, based on how you market/the specific groups you are marketing to), so products that may not do well initially may get a surge later on.

Start with things that have low minimum order quantity and are relatively cheap to produce, like prints and stickers.

If you are not breaking even, go back to some of the earlier portions of this and think about how you could tweak things as a small business. Ease of access is also very important with this; for example, if you only take orders through direct messages, that immediately shuts off all customers who don’t like talking to strangers.

Quick resource that you could look through; it’s the spreadsheet of project organizing that I made a while back

Licensing is when people pay you for the right to use your work on stuff they need to make, like textbooks or greeting cards. This is generally work you’ve already made that they are paying the right to use for a specified time or limited run of products. This is great because you’ve already done the work. I am not the expert on this. Go find someone else’s info.

“I am not physically capable of working much”/ “I need to pay the bills”

Guess who got a hand injury Sept 2020 that messed me up that entire month! I had a couple jobs going at the time that I was terrified of losing, but they were quite understanding when I told them I needed to heal. So: Express your needs as early as you know you need them. Also do lots of stretches and rest your hands whenever you feel anything off; this will save your health later. Like, the potential of a couple months of no income was preferable over losing use of my hands for the rest of my life.

This continues to apply if you have any other life situation. Ask for extra time. Ask for clarification. If you tell people ahead of time, folks are often quite understanding. Know how much you are capable of working and do your best not to overdo it. (I am.. bad at this)

Do what MAKES SENSE for your situation. If doing art currently earns you less money than organizing spreadsheets, then do that for now, and whenever you have the energy, break down some of the tips above into actionable tiny chunks, and slowly work at em.

The original ask I got in 2019 mentioned ‘knowing you’re not good enough yet’. Most artists experience imposter syndrome & self-doubt—the important thing is to do your best, and if anything, attempt to channel the confidence of a mediocre white man. If he can apply to this job/charge hella money for Not Much, then so can you!

Check out this Art Director tumblr for more advice!

Danichuatico’s Literary Agent guide

Kikidoodle’s Shop Shipping Tutorial

Best of luck!

–

Once again disclaimer this post is just the ramblings of a man procrastinating on other things that need to be done. I’ve Long Posted my own post so that it turns into mush in my brain if I try to read it, but I wrote this so I should know this content. If you got down here, congrats. Here’s a shrimp drawing.

Yee Ha.

My reference post tag My tip jar

#reference #artist information #UHHHHH I don't know man

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lunar-girl-fic · 4 years ago

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Against All Odds- Week 1

Warning: Harrassment/assault, language, suggestive, threats

Y/N POV

Word Count: 2530

A/N: As mentioned before this is based on my personal life. Even though not everything in this story happened, some of the more serious topics actually did. So a quick warning, there is content in here than can make the reader uncomfortable, specifically se**** harassment/assault. My intention in mentioning this in the series is to make people aware that this kind of stuff does actually happen in places you might not think it happens in. Also I try write relatable content. In my opinion Y/N reaction was kind of realistic. I reacted like that as well but instead of telling a boyfriend I told my close friend who worked with me and his reaction was the same as Eunwoo’s. Soooo in conclusion I hope you don’t think I’m writing this to be insensitive. I’m just trying to be as realistic as possible since it is based off my life.

A/N 2: I am a brown (If ya wanna know my exact ethnicity you could ask and I'll gladly tell :)), curly hair girl and since this is based on my personal life/experience I'm gonna write this series with those details in mind.

*Beep beep beep beep*

Your turned to your side to turn your alarm clock off. When you turned it off you gently pried the hands that were on your waist off. Even though your boyfriend was going to school the same time and place as you, you wanted to get ready first so you could make breakfast.

You took a quick shower and put on some home clothes because you didn't want to mess up your new uniform. After dressing you woke up Eunwoo.

"Eunwoo wake up" You said while shaking his shoulder.

He lifted his head towards you and barely opened his eyes, "Mmmh 5 more minutes", he mumbled dropping his head back onto the pillow.

You understood why he was so tired. You guys had stayed up late finishing the homework assignment that was due today. Had you guys known it was going to take so long you would've done it a week before but there's no point in dwelling on the past.

You shook him again, "Eunwoo, you have to get up. Class starts in an hour." He turned onto his back and whined.

"Morning sleepy head."

"Mornin’“

"You should start getting ready. We don't know how this man handles lateness."

"But I'm soooo tired." He said as he grabbed you and pulled you back onto the bed.

"I know, so am I."

"I can think of a couple ways to help us feel more energized." He said while caressing your thigh.

"So can I and it's called a shower and breakfast." You said while slapping his hand away.

He pouted, "You're no fun."

"I'll be sure to remind you of that next time you wanna have se-"

"Okay okay you win."

"I always do, now hurry up and get ready. You have about 15 minutes to shower and eat."

"Hmph, unlike you I don't take an hour just to shower."

"Wh-what?!? I don't take an hour!"

"How would you know if you've never timed yourself?"

"Well-I-you-"

"My point exactly." He said with a smirk as he closed the bathroom door.

You scoffed in disbelief but then thought about it. Maybe you did take an hour to shower but who cares. At least you were thorough when you cleaned yourself. You put your school uniform on and packed you and Eunwoo's lunch. Even though your school was close to fast food places, you guys needed to save up to pay for necessities. Plus who knows if your professor is actually going to give you a long enough break to buy food in those dreadfully long lines.

Just as you finished packing lunch Eunwoo walked out of your shared room fully dressed. You looked down at your watch and realized it was time to go if you guys wanted a seat close to the front.

As Eunwoo went to take a bite of his breakfast you snatched it out of his hand and bagged it.

"Hey! I was about to eat that."

"I don't think so, you took too long to get ready so now you have to eat it on the way."

"Sounds like too much work." He said as he tried to grab his food out of your hand. Of course since you were smaller than him you were able to escape and quickly ran to your bookbag to put his food in it.

After you zipped up your bag, you turned to look at your pouting boyfriend.

"As I said before your going to eat on the way there but since you'll be driving I'll feed you. How does that sound?"

His face beamed at your offer, "Let's get going then."

As you promised you fed him on the way there. By the time you arrived you had about 5 minutes to spare. Before you guys entered the gym you saw one of your classmates you made friends with when you took Pharmacology.

"Hey Laura!"

Laura turned around to see who was calling her name. When she saw who it was she instantly smiled. "Y/N! How are you?"

"I'm good, how have you been?"

"Pretty good, can't really complain." She said but then looked at Eunwoo who was just standing there looking like a teen whose mom just saw an old friend. You wouldn't have mind at first since this would be the first time she ever saw him. But the look she was giving him ignited a fire in you that only happens when you get jealous and that doesn't happen often. So you just stood there and tried your best to keep smiling and act like nothing was wrong.

"Who's your friend?"

"This is Eunwoo, my boyfriend." You said making sure to put emphasis on the boyfriend.

"It's nice to meet you." He said sticking his hand out for a handshake. She shook his hand. An action that is generally an innocent and friendly greeting seemed so wrong in that moment that you couldn't take it anymore.

"Ohh would you look at the time, we should probably go find a seat before all the good ones are taken." You said while pulling on Eunwoo's arm.

"Maybe we can sit together." Laura said as she tried to catch up to you guys.

"Mmmm I don't think we'll be able to." You said while you scanned the room for a row with only two seats available.

Bingo you thought when you saw row 3 only had 2 seats. You quickly pulled Eunwoo to the spot. You looked back to see what Laura was going to do and saw the look of defeat on her face. Which of course brought a smile to your face but quickly dropped it for a look of remorse.

Once you both pushed your chairs closer to each other you sat down and pulled out your syllabus, textbook and notebooks. You didn't even have a chance to talk to Eunwoo because it just turned 8 o'clock.

"Okay, Let's get started." The class immediately got quiet. "Welcome to Process 1, this is where you will learn the fundamental skills of nursing. I covered most questions in our previous zoom meeting so I will not be answering any today unless it has to do with the material. As I said before you must abide by the rules because this is Nursing and we need to shape you into future nurses. I will NOT baby you because this is college and if your looking for an easy class then you can go do Business Administration."

Oh great, another smart a**, you thought.

"Now let's get down to business. Today we're going to be watching videos of what you are going to do for your head-to-toe assessments. But before we do that I am going to let the other clinical instructors introduce themselves."

After they introduced themselves your professor started the videos. At first they seemed interesting but then after a while you started to get sleepy. And you weren't the only one. You looked over at Eunwoo and he was already sleeping. You gently pushed his shoulder and he woke confused about his surrounding until he realized he was still in school. Thankfully your professor finally gave you guys a break from watching videos.

"Okay now we are going to practice what you just saw. I want you to take a finger and find the 1st intercostal space and then the 2nd and don't stop until you get to the 5th one. You will do this on yourselves first and in a few minutes on your partner. But when you are with your partner you will only go to the 2nd one. "

That shouldn't be too hard, it's literally just the space between your ribs, you thought. But boy were you wrong. You couldn't tell if what you were touching was a space or something else and it started to hurt because you were putting a good amount of pressure. You looked over at Eunwoo and surprisingly he seemed to know what he was doing.

The few minutes were up and your professor told you to find a partner and find their intercostal spaces. Obviously you chose Eunwoo as your partner.

"Did you find it on yourself yet?"

"Yepp, it was actually pretty easy to find."

"Can you help me please?"

"Are you sure you want me to touch there?" He said with a smirk.

You narrowed your eyes at him, "Fine. I'll ask someone else. Maybe that guy by the projector... "

"No don't do that."

"Then help me and don't you dare try to do anything."

"Yes ma'am."

He took his pointing finger and started in the upper middle of your chest and dragged it side to side. In a non sexual way of course. He found it to be bit difficult to find it because of the fat in your boobs. However he finally found it.

"Ah, there it is."

"You found it?"

"I found two of them. The other 4 are a bit difficult to find since they’re underneath your top. The only way I can find it is if I stick my hand in your top."

"Eunwoo." You warned.

"What? I was just saying. I never said I was actually going to." He said feigning innocence.

"Could of fooled me."

He just shrug his shoulders, "Give me your finger so I can help you locate it."

It took a minute before he was able to locate it again but when you finally felt it you let out a breath of relief. You knew you needed to find this for your finals and if you weren't able to you surely would fail the class.

"Do you feel it?"

"Mhmm"

"Good, now find mine"

Since Eunwoo had a flatter chest than you it was easier to find despite him laughing from being ticklish. Before you had a chance to tell him your finding, your professor interrupted you.

"Fooling around isn't going to get you to pass my class."

"But we-" You said.

"Aa! Talking back isn't going to help you pass either. Now go find another partner. You need to practice on your other classmates because your not going to know who you'll be testing with until testing day."

You felt your insides boiling. You had to deal with this crap in high school and now your dealing with this in college. When he left you let out a strained sigh and Eunwoo instantly rubbed circles in your back to calm you down. Normally you would welcome this but you didn't want the professor coming back over to scold you so you pushed his hand off. He looked at you clearly hurt by your actions but you brushed it off and went to find a new partner. Unfortunately the only person available was actually the guy by the projector but at this point you didn't care.

You walked up to him and tapped his shoulder, "Excuse me, do you uh have a partner?"

He turned around to see who tapped his shoulder. You expected him to answer but then he started to check you out with a smirk on his face. "Well hello there, what can I help you with beautiful?"

You rolled your eyes, "I asked do you have a partner?"

"Oooo sassy too, I like"

You narrowed your eyes and turned to walk away, "I don't have time for this."

"Wait! I'm sorry I was just surprised you asked me when you have your boyfriend."

"Not trying to be mean or anything but I wouldn't had asked you if I wasn't forced to choose another partner."

He looked at you slightly deflated by your confession, "Ah... I see but since you need a new partner I'll gladly take the spot for now." He said as he got up to make his chest more accessible.

"...okay... thanks I guess."

At first it started off fine., You were able to find it on him rather quickly. However when it was his turn that's when it turned into a problem. He found the first one and gradually went lower until he reached the beginning of hem of your scrub top. You expected him to stop there but when he started to put his hand lower in your top you instantly jumped back.

"Wh-what are you doing?!?!?!"

"Just doing what we were told to do."

"You were supposed to stop at 2."

"Was I? Must've misheard, my bad." If you weren't paying attention to his tone you would've thought he was being sincere just by his facial expression.

Not wanting to cause a scene the first ay of class you excused yourself and went back tp your seat to think about what just happened. Was this something you would need to report or were you over exaggerating? Should you tell Eunwoo? What if the guy was right and made you get in trouble for not listening to instructions? All those questions raced through your mind until Eunwoo saw your troubled face and left his partner to comfort.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked as he placed a comforting hand on your back not caring if the professor saw.

"Yea... actually no."

"What happened?"

"I was working with that guy over and he was about to put his fingers down my shirt before I stopped him."

Eunwoo's gaze instantly hardened and if looks could kill that guy would no more. But you couldn't have your boyfriend fighting your battles for you. You gently cupped his face with your hands and made him look at you.

"Promise me your not going to do anything."

"I don't know..."

"Promise me."

"I can't promise I won't do anything but I do promise to not intervene over something you can handle."

"I guess I can take that."

"You'll have to because I am not about to just let some guy touch you like that without your permission. He's lucky I wasn't there because he surely would've been picking his teeth off the floor."

"You know, I never took you as the violent type."

"I can promise you I'm not but this is a different story."

That was the end of the conversation because your professor continued on with the rest of the lesson which was fairly easy. He dismissed the class an hour earlier since it was the first day. However when you guys went home instead of relaxing you started your clinical homework because you didn't want a repeat of what happened last night.

It was about 11 o'clock when you finished half of the assignments. Eunwoo was starting to lose focus so you decided it was time to go to bed. After you finished putting on his t-shirt and your curls in a bun, you went to join him in bed. He pulled you closer to him so that there was barely any space between the two of you. You knew this was his way of silently comforting you. He wasn’t going to lie. He was looking forward to having sex with you but after todays events he knew you probably weren't going to be in the mood and just want to sleep off the days problem. You were thankful but deep down you knew you weren't going to get much sleep that night...

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the photo’s used. I got them off of Google.

A/N: Soooo sorry for the long wait. I had so much to write that Ii realized I couldn’t put everything in this one post. On that note I’m hoping I can have the next post up by next week. :)

#eunwoo #eunwoo smut #eunwoo angst #astro smut #astro angst #eunwoo fluff #astro fluff #eunwoo x reader #nursing au

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yellowgnomeboots · 2 years ago

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One thing I'm not sure about though with these memory types is where "factual information you didn't learn deliberately" fits.

From the link:

"Information that you remember unconsciously and effortlessly is known as implicit memory, while information that you have to consciously work to remember is known as explicit memory... Where explicit memories are conscious and can be verbally explained, implicit memories are usually non-conscious and not verbally articulated. Implicit memories are often procedural and focused on the step-by-step processes that must be performed in order to complete a task."

I'm absolutely shit at deliberately remembering stuff. I can't study for tests or learn facts. If I try to memorise something word-for-word it requires a lot of effort and I forget it very quickly. I couldn't remember any dates or names in history class, or any specifics from the books for English class. I studied the same spelling lists and times tables every night for months in primary school.

But on the other hand, I read a lot and knew and could spell far more words than others my age if I was simply writing. I could do maths by its principles but not memorisation. I could explain why things happened in history but without any concrete facts. I didn't learn much in biology class but I read a lot of biology books for fun and could describe the processes so long as I didn't have to remember the correct terms. I failed my final music theory exam because I couldn't interpret the questions but if you just asked me to do the thing with the whatever then that was easy. Everyone is always astounded by the amount of stuff I know, but I describe those things as "concepts not facts".

Applying for jobs as a computer scientist/programmer was embarrassing because they ask you to explain or reproduce various algorithms and concepts. I couldn't even start to explain or name the same things that I used every day; I was actually a much better programmer than most of my peers and many people I've worked with, but if I try and talk about it I sound like I don't know anything.

Another downside is that since I need the "concepts" not the "facts", I can only operate with A LOT of information. You can't just give me a summary of a task because I will not be able to interpret or remember how to do it. I need to quickly read a book on it so I understand it from the ground up in order to KNOW how to to it.

Basically the way my memory works is: I can't remember anything about my own life, I cannot learn a vocab list of 10 words to save myself, but if I casually read a biology textbook then I will know a lot biology and if you give me a moment to work out how to do a physical task (plaiting, origami, play an instrument, etc) then I pick it up twice as fast.

I always thought there were these different kinds of memory which I just discovered right now are actually real divisions of memory, and correspond to Implicit and Explicit memory which can be broken into Episodic and Semantic memory. See here https://www.verywellmind.com/implicit-and-explicit-memory-2795346

And I always said my Episodic memory was worst, then Semantic, and it turns out that depression causes memory impairments primarily with Episodic memory, and then with Semantic memory.

So, it turns out what I've been saying for most of my life is probably true and caused depression, especially that of my childhood and teenage years.

#gnome post #memory

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unsureofreligionname · 5 years ago

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This was meant to be me venting, but accidentally became a history of my relationship with religion instead.

Alright. So.

Came here to talk about religion because I have no outlet. If you don't want to hear it, just block me. I'm not trying to convert anyone, I'm just explaining things to see if anyone has a feckin name for my damn belief system, because I really want to avoid accidentally starting a religion or something and pissing everyone off more.

People who got pissy last time got on my ass about how I probably wasn't even ethnically jewish, so here's the whole story.

I was raised by a mother who was raised by a non-practicing jewish mother, both of whom converted to christianity in the late nineties, shortly before I was born. They're ethnically jewish, or so I'm told.

Not super related, but, in case it comes up later, I was raised with the belief that my mother's family is a long line of very careful psychics, which roughly means "a lot of the family is sensitive to spirit shit but avoids it like the plague because it's scary."

I was raised by a father who is, as far as I know, not ethnically jewish. He's of mixed asian heritage, so i guess maybe, but I'm going to assume he's not. His parents, however, were both religiously Jewish; my grandmother was adopted and raised Jewish, and my grandfather converted sometime between meeting and marrying my grandmother. They are reform. My father wasn't the most religious guy in the world, but, if you asked, he'd probably either make a joke about ohio state football or say that he was jewish.

I was raised by my father and mother together until I was seven. We didn't always consistently go to church in early childhood, but my mother did take me to two or three for months or years at a time during the 2-5 period. We celebrated christmas and easter, and i had an illustrated children's bible that, if I remember right, was split into two parts: the first was marketed to christian and jewish kids, and the latter- new testament- to christian kids. Guessing the marketing from the publishing organizations. I think I had a few other religious books and videotapes directed towards kids, both jewish and christian. I specifically remember one that illustrated mana as vanilla wafers for some reason. At seven, my parents divorced, and I primarily lived with my dad.

My dad didn't take me anywhere on the regular, but when I visited his parents for the full weekend, they'd take me to the synagogue. This was every couple of weeks. We celebrated major jewish holidays, but smaller festivals only really got a mention. When I was ten, my dad and stepmother married. She wasn't really religious, but her parents were christian, so christmas was back on our roster then, too.

I started going to hebrew school in 6th grade, but I didn't actually have a bar mitzvah because I ended up getting kicked out at around the time I turned 13 due to a whole thing about me going trick or treating when I was "too old" or whatever, shitty parents, so I ended up having to go live with my mom after that.

At this point, my mom was studying to become a youth pastor, and enrolled me into a local christian school with about a hundred students. Unfortunately, this ended up being a weird fundamentalist cult with its own textbooks and teachings, including that bacteria was not real, AIDS was a summoned by The Gays™ to kill all the christians, evolution was a conspiracy meant to dissuade people from religion, et cetera. It was fucking bizarre, at one point they called several of us posessed for being autistic and otherwise neurodivergent, and they categorized us students into the groups wise, fools, simple, and scorners. (I was a fool, by the way.) It was really not ideal, and the weird punishments were pretty traumatic. There was some weird brainwashy type word repetition involved with lookatthepersonsayokayanddothetask over and over and over, and it sucked.

So, I was at that school for about 18 months before they kicked me out for refusing to stand on one foot for an extended period of time after tapping my foot in class which caused a student who disliked me to complain.

At the same time, my mother was working at a small church out of town that wasn't exactly a cult, but I think the pastor kind of wanted it to be? It was like he wanted the cult aesthetic™ and devoted followers and shit, but only had the skill to make a really sketchy and toxic small town church with a lot of people sitting on blankets on the floor instead. That church honestly wasn't a big part of my life the way the fucked cult was, I just sort of went most weeks. I went to a confirmation class there- I'm pretty sure it was a methodist church- and got confirmed into it shortly before my mother left because the administration was weird in like an asshole way, and that was the last I knew of it.

I was homeschooled for a while during the end of this period due to all of the school stuff. Religiously, by this point in my life, I'd developed some of my own beliefs. I believed in most of the new testament and most of the torah, but I didn't have much exposure to the talmud or much of a comprehensive education in any religion. I think I read a bible cover to cover at least once as a kid, including some shitty commentary (it was a preteen bible) that gave me some internalized homophobia issues for actual years. I was also super curious about the paranormal but terrified of possession- remember the cult?- and I was curious about the idea of some people being reincarnated if they were needed on earth again. Not sure where exactly that idea came from, but it was there. People told me from a lot of sides that those with the wrong religion would go to hell, and the cult tried to teach us all to convert people at any opportunity, but, after leaving, the whole situation just made me massively uncomfortable. I did continue to practice the jewish traditions I knew how to do on my own- like hannukah and a weird private sort of passover- and my mother would support this by getting me what I needed for it, even though she didn't participate and I didn't go to any place of worship during holidays.

After getting kicked out of school not that long after adjusting to not seeing my dad or siblings on his side, we moved. My dad lost custody at some point and we no longer had to live close, so we moved and tried to find a better school. It was a Catholic grade school this time, and I was there for about six months, if I had to guess. It was actually a pretty good school, but I had some issues at the time, so I didn't enjoy it much. I was scared of teachers and administration by then, and I had trouble going the entire school day without panicking or not being able to work. There was a period of a week or two in which I didn't speak at school at all. We ended up settling on half days, and, after that, I did well.

The religion class was awkward. The other kids seemed to know more than me even though I'd thought I had a good grasp on religion at that point, and the little information we shared I'd been taught from a very different perspective. Everyone was very nice to me, but I definitely stood out as the kid who wasn't catholic at that point.

Chapel was even weirder. We had to go every wednesday during school, and catholic churches had so many traditions I didn't know about, and the stuff I knew about from either my jewish grandparents or protestant churches had a different name for some reason.

I'm looking at you, sacraments.

Anyway.

I don't think I got much out of the chapel, but religion classes were kind of cool. I liked learning about stuff I hadn't heard before, and the things that were the same were a comfort.

Soon, though, I was graduating eighth grade. I ended up going to a catholic high school. I was still out of place, but I at least had a basic idea of what to do during the mass this school had monthly.

I liked the religion classes here more, how they were an open discussion of everyone's opinions and experiences, and I liked that both of the most recent schools I'd gone to had actual textbooks with facts and studies in them. There were more kids there who weren't catholic, and I felt more comfortable to actually explore religious topics with people. I had a better understanding of catholic beliefs, a decent idea of their traditions, and could recognize at least a few of their holidays I couldn't have before.

I spent my last year of high school at a public career center to start working towards a medical career.

Now, my current beliefs. If you don't want to read it, then just don't.

I haven't been to any place of worship since my school required it, but I do have strong beliefs. I believe in one God (which I generally write all the way out after a billion essays for religion class) who created everything and watches over humans, which he made in his image, etc etc etc. I believe the old stories from the tanakh/old testament/don't care what you call it and the new- yes, including the key messiah bit- though I do think it wasn't all translated perfectly and that it was written by humans who made mistakes and poor decisions sometimes in their writing. I believe people's salvation comes through their intention, not through a piece of knowledge or a creed or good deeds or a tradition, and I believe different people worshipping in different ways is how it should be, because different people NEED different styles of worship. I believe that if someone is genuinely mistaken and incorrect in who or what they believe in, it doesn't MATTER because it's the intention to strive to do good and not harm fellow people that counts. I'm a little guarded about sharing my own beliefs, hence why I made an anonymous tumblr account, but I'm generally very curious to hear about what other people believe. I find that, for me, celebrating Jewish holidays and traditions helps me get closer to God, and I'd like to find a place of worship one day, but churches fucking terrify me now. I worship best by sitting and discussing beliefs, but I have no place to do it now that I've graduated school. I also developed some of my less related beliefs now: I believe in a lot of old stories that have popped up around the world, like fairies of various places, different creatures and entities and things that have become the subject of curiosity or worship, spirits and things, etc. I think many of these creatures exist, just that they may be different from us in the nature of how they interact with the world and matter and that, and I don't think they're deities or anything. I believe in ghosts of humans in some cases, too, though I believe sometimes other things mimic them. I don't find the idea of God having someone reincarnated if he wants the same soul to play many parts in the world unlikely at all, though that's really just me speculating. I still believe in demons, and I still don't want anything to do with them.

A lot of my understanding of things comes from Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant teaching in a strange mishmosh of culture and religion.

I relate to a lot of things directed at Jewish people, and I understand what's directed at Catholic people. Things directed at Protestant people are both understood and, unfortunately, make me instinctively wary due to weird cult trauma (that in no way reflects on actual protestant people, i love you guys some people just suck and twist religion) so are hard to interact with.

In a lot of ways, I'd consider myself Jewish. Culturally, at least, if my religious beliefs aren't "validly jewish" or whatever.

I have literally zero actual connections to any Catholic church, but I almost feel like a weird half-catholic. That's not a thing, but it's how it feels. I believe a lot of it, and I'm interested in all of it, even if I have my disagreements, plus I understand the environments and culture of it, even if I'm a bit of an outsider.

A year- or maybe two years, idk- ago, I mentioned some upcoming holiday or smth in a post and tagged it messianic. That's the closest name I could find for my experience, but apparently some organizations who use the term suck or something. I ended up getting a bunch of asks calling me a predatory fake jew or a fundamentalist christian trying to appropriate judaism or other weird shit that I'm NOT DOING. Because of my experiences in the past, those comments still weigh so damn heavy on my that I broke my resolve and made this stupid account to complain about it.

I don't have a name for what I am. I don't know where to go to talk about my beliefs with people, or what environment I could find to actually practice whatever weird faith I've dreamt up with other people in a way that isn't just picking part of what I believe and leaving the rest to rot. I feel closer to God and more spiritually fulfilled practicing the festivals that call back to what the Jewish people of old went through, but I also believe in the messiah of the new testament, and I like to read the pope's opinion on things, even though I think no human is perfect or infallible. I want to talk about old writings with people and discuss what they mean, from my religion or others, and I don't want to give any of what's right for me spiritually up.

I don't know what this post is for.

Maybe I'm just venting, but I do want to know if this is a thing or if I'm the only one with this belief system. I'm sick of getting shit for the actions of people who I'm not affiliated with, so apparently calling myself messianic doesn't cut it. I can't call myself "spiritual but not religious" either, because I'm very religious, it's just very personal and not something I shove at people, and "christian" doesn't describe a solid half of what I believe. Off and on again I've considered converting to Catholicism, but I think that's kind of grasping at the closest thing that won't piss off tumblr anons as much. (And yeah, the larger Catholic church can suck, but I honestly think I'm gonna get that with any religion with a large following)

Rambling aside:

I want to find a short description that hits the major points of what I believe in order to help me find a place or group of worship that actually matches my spiritual needs without compromising the cultures that I grew up with and making me feel like shit.

(Also don't try to change my beliefs thanks)

I'll be tagging this with anything I've mentioned or vaguely heard of that might be related so relax ok

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outerspace-iiinnerspace · 5 years ago

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11, 13, 14, 25!

11. Hmm... I’d love to see the 1.0 versions of Smoky Quartz and Sunstone! Or a Steven/Lars fusion, just to see how pink it would be. I’m not sure about voices though? If Terry Farrell does voicework I can maybe see her as Smoky.

13. Ooh boy!

Pearl- When she was newly made on homeworld she looked up to Yellow and Blue Pearls a lot. They were the older, wiser, (comparatively) more experienced ones and she hung onto every word they said. In Blue’s case, it wasn’t much, but Yellow was really into the attention and would tell her stuff like “I went to a colony with Yellow Diamond and it wasn’t completely terraformed and it rained, which is when liquids fall out of the sky, it was terrifying” and our Pearl is quaking in her boots like wow, omg, you’re so brave for facing that. And in the present the tables have turned and she loves it.

All the Pearls get together and complain about stuff to blow off steam every so often and it usually stays lighthearted but occasionally they’ll get serious and then you maybe don’t wanna be in the room because there’s throwing things and crying and screaming all those great curse words they learned at Little Homeschool. It’s very cathartic.

She’s got some kind of impostor syndrome because of being the *Terrifying Renegade* and the kinda poster girl for the rebellion, despite not technically actually running away or anything. By the time the fake shattering happened, she’s mostly accepted that she’s really a rebel even if she’s doing it with Rose but even to the present day it’s one the things that really fucks her up. I dunno if there were other Pearls in the rebellion but she’d probably be half admiring/ half awkward around the real runaways.

Oof these are all sad... let’s say that she uses her holograms to learn stuff! When she sees someone doing something and she decides she wants to do that too then she records and plays it back later and tries to imitate what happens on the recording. Which leads to little idiosyncrasies, like she plays the violin in a particular way (I don’t know anything about violins so I can’t get specific) because the musician she copied 300 years ago or something played it just a little bit off.

Garnet- It took her too long to figure out how her future vision worked when she first started using it. Like, she’d know how to activate it and tell the difference between visions and reality, but at first didn’t actually understand that she could change the outcomes. She would see the visions and think “Hmm, there are twelve different outcomes but which one will happen? No idea, just got to wait and see.” When she realized that her actions would affect the futures she saw she was so excited. Like, wow, the coolest thing!

She only realized Rose was the reason she couldn’t ask questions after the Pink Diamond reveal. Until then, she thought it was a weird fusion thing that wasn’t anyone’s fault. It’s not that she never put it together with “No more questions, you already are the answer,” but she assumed it was some kind of subliminal thing because she was so new and confused that it just got lodged in her subconscious and stuck. Which doesn’t make much sense but hey, what else was she supposed to guess?

It is canon that her shades are prescription, but my headcanon is that Bismuth made them! Ruby was always nearsighted but never knew it until after she and Sapphire fused because Sapph brought it up once like, “Hey, why is Garnet’s eyesight so blurry?” and Ruby was like “That’s just how eyes are.” They didn’t unfuse enough for it to be worth getting Ruby her own glasses, but since it looks like they’re unfusing regularly in SUF she might get some now! Also, all three eyes have different prescriptions, with the purple (middle) one having the best vision and the blue one the weakest.

Amethyst- Her poofing most often isn’t just because she takes the most risks, it’s because of her shapeshifting skill. Her form is more ‘elastic’ than average, which may or may not be because she was overcooked, but it means she has more control over her shapeshifted form with the downside that it’s a little more fragile. She probably gets checked out by the gem equivalent of a doctor at some point and is officially told this.

Her Little Homeschool classes (other than doing whatever you want 101 and 201) are Eating Food, Advanced Eating Food, one about human socializing, one about sleeping, and one about being rude (why, when, how, and the textbook is a very long list of curse words, some of which people don’t even use anymore until gems start bringing them back) (oops)

Gems in general don’t have a sense of taste but Amethyst is so good at shapeshifting that she can make taste buds that are actually pretty functional. She doesn’t do it often, though, because the stuff she likes to eat doesn’t taste very good. It’s all about the texture for her. Like motor oil (smooth), a whole watermelon (crunchy, wet inside), charcoal (crumbles and dust gets everywhere).

General gem headcanon- Homeworld was never laidback and lovey-dovey but it was way more accepting of off-colors and other weirdos before Era 2. After the rebellion, there was a huge crackdown and things got way stricter and worse. This was part of Lapis’s culture shock when she went back briefly.

Lars’s crew (Flourite, Rhodonite, Padparascha, the Rutiles) are all Era 2. Rutiles are supposed to be painters, like wall painters, not like artist painters. They have to work with Bismuths a lot. (That last comes partially from a discussion in a discord I’m in but I really like it)

Sort of running off what I said about Ruby, it’s depressingly common for gems to have vision problems and not know about it. There’s technically a system where gems can apply to get corrective lenses issued to them but it barely gets used because there’s no vision testing otherwise so everyone goes around thinking the world is naturally blurred.

Oh yeah, and Onion is just a normal kid. He’s not evil or scary or secretly a living plant. He’s nonverbal and has food issues and okay, he tried to bury the city in toy capsules once but like, I would have done that in elementary school if I had the chance. I just want people to stop being like “oooh what a scary terrifying nonhuman kid!!1!”

14. I love the Zoo arc because it’s the first real glimpse of non CG gem society and because I find the Zumans incredibly fascinating. Obviously, their whole thing couldn’t be more different from the Crystal Gems but like... a small group of humans living surrounded by gems, with a culture completely different than humans on Earth vs a small group of gems living surrounded by humans, with a culture completely different than gems on Homeworld. Makes you think. Or not.

Honorable mentions go to the Sardonyx arc and the Pink Diamond murder mystery.

25. I’m honestly not that big a fan of AUs. I’ve found a few I’m into (b-sides, and this one fic which you mightve written?? I’m gonna check. yep, that one 90s appalachian au where Pearl’s a wanted criminal and Rose has no boundaries) but generally not my thing. I guess I get attached to characters as they are, so it’s hard for me to keep that connection when all of a sudden they’re horse breeders in the 1200s or whatever. Sorry that sounded harsh but unfortunately it’s the truth.

Aaaaaand this makes me a huge hypocrite but I have created an AU! It began when I started listening to this song, got annoyed that I couldn’t properly daydream about Pearl to it, and starting constructing an elaborate series of events that has mutated to the point where it has nothing to do with the song anymore. The short version is that at some point after the flashback portion of We Need To Talk, Pearl gives Rose an “Either Greg Leaves Or I Do” ultimatum. Rose thinks she’s joking. She’s not. Pearl then walks out of the temple, does her damnedest to make herself absolutely uncontactable, and spends the next two decades hitchhiking, fighting gem monsters, and generally screwing around (not literally). Eventually, she returns and things are more or less “Hey guys, I’m back! Where’s Rose? What’s this kid doing in the temple?” and I don’t even know what happens after that. Chaos, probably, Crying, yelling, confused baby Steven who has no idea who Pearl is. Who knows!

There’s also a Flight Rising AU but that has no plot: it is solely an excuse to draw gems as dragons, and I have barely even done that. I’ve only created mental images of gems as dragons and then not drawn them. I should get around to that

#eep this is long!#thank you for asking #goddamn i'm trying add heart emojis but it's not working please imagine some hearts there #it's so late here i need to sleep

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raendown · 6 years ago

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Chapter: 5/9 Pairing: MadaraTobirama Word count: 3534 Rated: M Summary: Walking patrol around a university for mages probably sounded like a wild time but Tobirama has never found it all that exciting. He’s not even technically supposed to be here. When responding to a tripped alarm becomes a desperate attempt to stay alive, however, excitement is the last thing on his mind. All he’s ever wanted is a quiet life alone with his books until he finds himself bound to Uchiha Madara in the most impossible way and finally learns to think about more than just himself - in a way.

Follow the link or read it under the cut!

KO-FI and commission info in the header!

Chapter 5

“Can you brush my hair for me?”

Tobirama paused in buttoning up his shirt to give the man on his bed a flat look. “What?”

“I said can you brush my hair for me? I want to look at least halfway presentable and it always looks better when you do it. If I pretend to be polite and say please will you do it?”

“One of these days I’m going to invent a spell that will brush your hair for you. Levitation or something. No, wait, I hate levitation spells. They’re so finicky.” Snatching the brush being wiggling enticingly under his nose, he asked, “Why do you even care what you look like? They’re just dumb adolescents.”

With a satisfied smile Madara turned away from him and settled in to a cross-legged position.

“It doesn’t hurt to take a little extra care with one’s appearance,” he said. “You should try it sometime.”

“Are you calling me a mess?” Tobirama demanded. Just for that he made sure to catch a knot in the thick chuck of locks within his grasp and pull hard. Madara gurgled out a protest.

“Careful with that! I was not calling you a mess!”

Scowling, Tobirama let it slide. He wondered if Madara had noticed the same thing he did when they woke up that morning. The longer they were able to stay apart the less he seemed to be able to sense what the other was thinking and that bothered him more than it should. If anything he should have been celebrating getting a little more privacy back but somehow he just felt oddly alone. It was, embarrassingly, a relief every time they had to touch again and he could once more feel Madara just on the other side of that thin wall between their thoughts.

Pulling the brush a little more carefully – he didn’t really enjoy the echoes of pain their bond fed through to him, after all – Tobirama sat quietly and listened to Madara rambling on about his lesson plans for the day. He didn’t have a lot of opinions to give other than admitting that a lot of it sounded quite boring to him. But then anything that involved sitting still and being lectured on a subject he had already studied would always sound boring to him.

When Madara finally announced that he was satisfied with his own appearance Tobirama nodded and stood up.

“Finally. Now turn around so I can change out of my sleep pants.”

“At least I down have to hold your hand and close my eyes anymore.” Madara turned away as asked and pulled the notes Hashirama had sent over in to his lap.

Tobirama scoffed. Now that was a bit of separation he actually didn’t mind. His partner was right that those first couple of days learning how to function when they had to stay attached were mortifying. Tossing on a pair of pants to match the button down shirt he’d already changed in to, he paused and looked down at himself with a frown.

“I look fine, right?” he asked. Madara was smirking when he turned around.

“Who’s worrying about their appearances now?”

“You got in to my head!” Tobirama reached over to tug on a lock of that perfectly brushed hair. “I can’t help it! We’re rubbing off on each other more and more with every day. Next thing you know we’ll show up somewhere in matching outfits talking in unison. Actually, can we do that? I want to freak out Hashirama.”

Madara rolled his eyes and didn’t answer, though when Tobirama dropped a hand on his shoulder he could feel that the man was at least a little intrigued by the idea.

Since it was well past breakfast by the time they left home there weren’t actually many people around for the first few minutes of their walk. The residential areas were barren, anyone not currently sitting in their first period class probably still sleeping or just getting up, so the two of them held hands with the assurance that there was no one there to see and start rumors from it. It wasn’t until they passed the residential hallways and turned in to the wing where the classrooms began that they let go, instead walking so closely their arms brushed on nearly every step. Still a bit suspicious looking but not enough to confirm any of the ridiculous rumors that neither of them had been seen in days because they were on their honeymoon.

As if that would ever happen.

The twenty minutes it took to get to the right classroom were mostly spent in silence, both of them trying their hardest not to make eye contact with anyone wearing that weird hunger in their face people get when they’re trying to confirm something they think they already know. Madara did nod to some of the students that called out to him. Tobirama didn’t much bother looking around; the only people who ever waved to him were Hashirama, Mito, or his cousin Touka who had left the university after one year of classes, declaring them much too boring. He would have been bothered except that he much preferred it that way. Socializing had never been his strong suit.

Despite knowing intellectually that Madara’s students had missed him, they were both startled to open the door and find several dozen faces staring back at them with brilliant smiles and neatly folded hands, every one of them with their textbooks out and placed at the top left corner of their desks. It was nothing short of surreal.

“Students or thralls?” Tobirama muttered out the corner of his mouth, shrinking away from all the creepy eyes focused on them. Madara grunted and turned to scowl at him.

“They are not thralls,” he hissed quietly. “A bit odd, though, they’re not usually this well behaved.”

One of the nearby students overheard them, apparently.

“We thought we’d surprise you, Uchiha-sensei! Everyone knows how much you like it when things are neat and tidy.” The young man smiled proudly, teeth stretching from ear to ear, and Tobirama tried his best not to think about how cute he looked with all that curly hair and those cheekbones that so closely resembled the man at his side. “I like your new shirt, too!”

“Flattery will get you nothing, Kagami,” Madara told the kid with a note of suspicious in his voice.

“Aw come on, we were just trying to do something nice for you!”

“Do your homework on time for once,” Madara snorted. “That would be nice.”

Kagami, as was apparently his name, wilted and turned away to sulk in the other direction. While his appearance was undoubtedly similar to Madara’s his personality seemed to be uncomfortably reminiscent of Hashirama instead. Tobirama really wasn’t sure what he thought of that. It was a relief to follow his partner towards the front of the room and slip behind the ancient desk covered in perfectly neat little stacks of paper and pens all sorted by color.

If there was one invention he would always be grateful to the non-magical community for it was pens. Sometimes Tobirama still came across an old ink pot in one of his closets and he always shoved it right back in to the mess with a shudder of memory. Normal folk were almost lucky not to live half as long as anyone with magic, saving them the trouble of remembering such dark times as the days when homework was done with quill and scrolls. Keeping track of it all had been a nightmare no matter how many extra pockets he sewed in to his clothing.

Settling himself in to the very center of the staging area at the front of the room, Madara swept his eyes over the class before him with an expression that Tobirama had come to realize meant he was looking for something specific.

“There’s a few faces missing,” he noted eventually.

“Uh, I think the Transformative Spells class last period had an accident,” Kagami piped up from his seat. “So anyone who was there is probably in the infirmary right now.”

“Ah.” Madara frowned, worry flashing through him so strongly that Tobirama felt it even from several feet away, although he let nothing of it show on his face. Without saying anything more on the subject he launched right in to a recap of what they should have been learning over the week while he’d been gone.

While he spoke he moved back and forth across the empty space at the front, stopping at the desk every couple of minutes to reach for a random object or tidy something that Tobirama had fiddled with, anything to use as an excuse for their arms to brush together and reestablish their connection. When he wasn’t getting smacked on the shoulder for messing with stuff Tobirama explored whatever items had been left out in easy reach. He passed over the homework assignments that someone else seemed to have graded – Madara just didn’t seem like a happy face sticker kind of guy – and instead pulled a binder towards himself that had no label at all. In his experience the things that went unlabeled usually had the most interesting things inside.

Generally they were also forbidden or taboo but that only made them more interesting.

First making certain that Madara was focused on his lecture, Tobirama flipped the binder open. His first reaction upon finding nothing inside but lesson plans was of irritated disappointment. Upon taking a closer look, however, he realized that he had accidentally stumbled on to something beautiful after all: Madara’s handwriting.

There hadn’t really been any need for his partner to write anything down over the past few days and suddenly Tobirama mourned that fact. He’d never seen more elegant script in his life. Each letter was a masterpiece, perfectly crafted with a patience he would never have himself. His own writing was usually cramped and rushed as he tried to get as many words on to the page as he could and as quickly as humanly possible. Not once in his life had he taken the time to make anything half as pretty as the lettering in front of him now. Madara’s writing was so nice just to look at that it took a couple of minutes for Tobirama to actually read what was written on the pages.

When he’d seen the title ‘Lesson Plan’ and a date from nearly a week ago he had assumed it would be nothing but a general outline of the material they were expected to cover. He was surprised to see the level of detail this plan included, complete with notes in the margins about which subjects his students were doing well on and could advance quicker as opposed to which they seemed to be struggling with and needed to have covered in more detail.

In all the years he’d spent here at the university – and despite still enjoying his earlier centuries it had already been a lot of years – he’d never known any of the teachers put this much effort in to planning their classes. Although to be fair he had no evidence that anyone other than Madara made their plans so detailed but that only worked as a point in the man’s favor. Tobirama had always assumed that lesson plans were no more than a rough outline, lazy and thoughtless, copy and pasted from all the years before. Knowing they were more than that gave him a little more respect for the position and it only got better as he kept reading down the page.

Underneath all of the technical details was a small section where Madara had penned in a few notes about specific students, who seemed to be having trouble with what and how to help them work through those issues, sometimes a personal reminder that this student or that one had reacted a certain way to his teachings and even suggestions to himself about how to tweak his lecture for the future. It was thoughtful.

Tobirama closed the binder and pushed it away from himself, uncomfortable suddenly and unable to pinpoint why. It was interesting having everything he thought he knew about someone slowly flipped upside down, there was no denying that, but it was also jarring and brought up a lot of introspective questions he wasn’t at all prepared to deal with.

No one liked to think they were so self-involved that they could judge someone else so wrongly.

Madara trundled over to brush against his arm a few moments later and Tobirama tensed, eyes darting up to make sure he’d replaced the binder of lesson plans exactly where it had been before. With the obsessive organization system it would be all too obvious he had touched something if it were even an inch out of place. Luckily for him Madara wasn’t even looking at the desk. He stopped at Tobirama’s side to put a hand on his shoulder and look down at him with an expectant expression.

“I wasn’t listening,” he admitted quietly. Oddly, Madara didn’t even look annoyed. He turned back to the class without removing his hand.

“Take Tobirama here as an example. His natural element is water, the complete opposite of mine, but I have seen him both invoke fire and use fire runes. Can anyone tell me why that’s possible for him?”

“Because I’m just that good.” Tobirama smirked when a handful of students tittered.

“No,” a quiet voice piped up from the back. “It is because fire runes channel raw magic from the closest ley line and do not rely on a caster’s abilities while invocation begs power from the spirits themselves with no magic passing through the one invoking them at all.”

Madara squinted around the room until he found the one who had spoken and then nodded once in satisfaction. “Very good Shino, that’s exactly correct.”

“Good to know they have their basics down,” Tobirama muttered under his breath. “They’re only, what, fifth year students?” He grunted when the hand still resting on his shoulder clamped down extra hard in retaliation.

The lesson went on to a discussion of when it was best to use fire runes over any other options, always easier than invocations though they were also less powerful, and Tobirama let his attention wander off again. He considered going through the desk drawers when he ran out of things to inspect on the top of it but one look from Madara had his hands curling together in his lap. As much as he did enjoy riling the man up he wasn’t looking to become a visual aid by having his hair set on fire. Madara wore sparks much better than he did.

Boredom had set in again long before one of the students casually asked whether fire or water was stronger since the two elements were considered natural opposites. He was in the process of opening his mouth to gleefully suggest they make a demonstration of it when a bell began to chime to signify the end of the period, Madara’s eyes rolling back with visible relief.

His partner called out homework assignments over the sounds of everyone packing up their things and warned them that he probably still wasn’t back on a permanent basis so they should expect their substitute again. While he was busy shouting Kagami made a point of stopping by the front.

“It was nice to meet you,” he said, leaning over the desk to smile at Tobirama.

“Probably. I’m an absolute delight.”

The boy laughed at his joke, peeked over at Madara, then covered his mouth to laugh a bit more. “I’m sure you are.”

He was gone a moment later, joining the flood of bodies rushing off to their next class. Luckily for Tobirama’s attention span it was Thursday and Madara only happened to teach one period of class on Thursdays. For years his only social interactions had been the rare occasion he made it down to the dining hall at proper meal times or when Hashirama deigned to stop by his rooms. Even the librarian had stopped trying to pull him in for a chat when he went down to check out more books. He understood that his partner needed to get out more often than once a week but personally his own quota for human interaction had more than been met.

Madara didn’t count as company, not with their minds so closely intertwined that they couldn’t bear to be apart.

When the room was empty and the door snapped shut behind the last student Tobirama eyed the binder of lesson plans before standing up to watch his partner clear off the various things he’d written on the whiteboard. Yet another invention to be grateful to the non-magical community for. Chalkboards were so messy. It had actually taken Mito several years to convince her husband to install them in all the classrooms; not because of any budget concerns but simply because he stubbornly clung to the aesthetic of chalkboard classrooms in the castle which housed the university. Sometimes Tobirama wondered if Hashirama had only taken the job of Headmaster so he could pretend he was still living four centuries ago.

“Learn anything new?” Madara asked after the whiteboard was clean.

“Yes, actually, although I didn’t listen to a word you were saying.” Tobirama dragged his eyes away from the binder of treasures and pulled as innocent of an expression as he could manage. It had exactly the desired effect of making the other man roll his eyes.

“How–? No, never mind. I don’t think I want to know what you think you learned if it wasn’t anything from the class.”

Tobirama cocked his head to one side and noted that it seemed Madara was getting to know him as well as he was getting to know Madara. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing but it wasn’t really something he could stop so he simply allowed the thought to pass him by.

Standing up from the desk at last, he made his way over to stand next to his partner and weave their hands together with a sigh of relief that Madara immediately echoed. All the small excuses for brushing together had been the only thing that kept him sane throughout the past hour and they had another twenty minute walk ahead of them until to make it back home. It was good to know they could separate now but it was still better when they didn’t have to.

“I used to hate you,” Tobirama grumbled, personally offended that he couldn’t say he still did.

“Yes and I still have no idea why.” Madara lifted one arm like he meant to cross them and then awkwardly aborted the motion after he realized he couldn’t with his other hand occupied. “I’m lovable! Your brother always says so!”

“Hashirama’s opinion doesn’t count, he loves everything that breathes in his general direction.”

Madara puffed his chest up to argue back and then deflated almost immediately. “Or things that don’t breathe. I caught him naming all the flagstones in the front courtyard once,” he admitted. Tobirama closed his eyes to block out the exasperated shame.

Together they puttered around cleaning up the classroom and putting away all the things Madara had used to demonstrate whatever he’d been talking about. As much as Tobirama normally couldn’t care less for having everything put away so long as he remembered where to go find it again later – laughable considering he never remembered where anything was – he found himself pointing out things that were still out of place and dragging Madara along behind him as he popped over to put something else away.

Once everything was back where it was supposed to be and all the books on Madara’s desk had been set at right angles again they were free to head on back home at last. Madara spent most of the walk making a case for why they would go back to class again the next day, whining that Fridays he only taught two classes and that it wouldn’t be too much different than just one class, especially since they were hours apart. Tobirama mostly let his wrinkled nose make his opinions on that known. It wasn’t the classes he objected to in particular, just the upset to his daily routine. Ever since this whole thing began his life had been steadily changing bit by bit, again and again, and all he wanted was to find a little equilibrium again.

Finally turning down the hallway where their rooms were located and finding Uchiha Izuna leaning against the wall with both hands in his pockets certainly was not a path towards finding his equilibrium. The mental connection between him and his partner lit up with startled happiness at almost the exact same moment Izuna looked down to see that they had once again linked hands as soon as they were out of the public eye.

“What the fuck Aniki!?”

Tobirama closed his eyes and prayed for patience. Hopefully the gods would see fit to send enough for both of them.

#rae writes #madatobi #madara #tobirama #fanfiction

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jq37 · 7 years ago

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I'll be the one that bites the bullet. Fantasy High episode 11--thoughts?

**spoilers for cool kids, cold case**

Hoo boy.

That could be my entire write up honestly because, geez ya'll.

Let's break it down.

Sidenote, I just got mildly into Overwatch so every time I say that and I say it a fair amount, I hear Lucio in my head.

Anyway, like I said in an earlier post, I'm now pretty sure that the bloodrush fight didn't go the way Brennan expected. Like either he didn't expect them to win or that they would win but not kill Daybreak because there was so much exposition and change and repositioning in this episode. It was a lot like the first session with all the setup. It's like he needed to get them on a new trajectory so he took an episode to time jump and change the status quo before--BAM. But we're getting to that.

In another show or even another episode of this show, the opening convo with Ragh might have been the wildest part of the ep. There’s just so much to unpack there.

Fig making him kowtow to Gorgug and everyone being like dude, stop making it weird.

Before she did that, Emily paused and you could just see every other person looking like “What insane thing is gonna come out of her mouth now?”

Kristen getting the scoop on his super gay dreams.

Adaine trying to get him to got to therapy (and also to realize that he's gay).

The group whole ass making him cry for possibly the first time?

Fabian trying to shut everything down.

“You’re cumming from your eyes.”

Kristen, please stop. I’m begging you.

As I suspected, the group reached the point of yeah, we NEED to call Riz's mom this ep. Like, they *had* to call her. You can only realistically take shenanigans so far before it becomes straight unrealistic to not just call a responsible adult.

And, speaking of, yay! We got to see a little of everyone’s parents just like I wanted/predicted.

We actually got a lot of stuff from my wishlist. There’s so much time jumping and stuff in this episode I don’t even know where to start.

This is probably the wrong place to start but I remember wondering what their Christmas equivalent was because they can’t have Christmas because of the Christ thing so when they were like Solstice I was like, oh duh. It’s literally right there. How could I miss it.

OK I guess

Christmas Solstice party at Gorgug’s house! I knew his house would end up being the hang house.

Sklonda handled the situation pretty close to how I thought she would. I really think Brennan was forced into a, “This adult is too responsible to not wipe out my next ten plot points over the course of a week,” corner and that’s why he had to pivot. More on that later.

Fabian just refusing to eat any of the fast food she got them.

I totally forgot Adaine has diplomatic immunity. Which actually means she’s the ideal Bad Kid to do anything shady they need done, even though that’s not really her style.

Unlike, other people

We’re getting there

I’m glad Brennan drew the line at Kristen’s parents actively being in a cult. He was like, OK no. They’re willfully ignorant but they’re not PART OF THE CULT.

I also think it’s interesting that they didn’t actually kick her out? Like they sorta kinda did but not really because it seems like she’s couch surfing of her own volition a little and staying home sometimes too? I wonder how her brothers are doing.

Both of Fig’s dads just work at her school now. I wonder is they commiserate about her w/ Goldenhoard.

I can’t believe Brennan is letting her just ruin the life of this random, full-adult dwarf doctor. Like, imagine if any adult in her life found out about that.

Brennan says bud a lot. Almost as much as he says rad.

Gorgug choosing playing the drums as his proficiency, but not well. Just, like, a simple drum beat. Bro. Why.

Adaine’s makeover!

I knew we were gonna get to see that. Or at least I really hoped we would.

And it was in boutique setting similar to what I imagined. A little surprised that she went straight for the jeans and t-shirt thing but dope. I want fan-art.

Also, if I hadn’t already been convinced, that scene would have convinced me that Fabian got everyone the gifts (before it was confirmed later).

“You’d look nice as a sailor.” Is that like a pirate thing, bro?

Real talk, does Fabian for-real, for-real have a crush on Adaine low key?He’s complimented her looks more than once, which he hasn’t done with the other girls. They’re at a similar social class which might be a factor. And he clearly has a thing for blond elves.

WE’LL GET TO IT.

I am Concerned about Adaine’s jean jacket, regardless of how dope it is.

Someone needs to talk to Fig about the rat thing. Possibly also Emily.

42069 LANE (or whatever it was). I hate that I love Brennan for that.

“The worst thing about you is that you’re rich.”

But aww, Fabian. I’m glad it ended up being him (and shoutout to the anon who pointed that out to me). This is exactly the character growth I wanted from him.

When Gorthalax said that tryouts had already happened, I was legit upset for Fabian for a sec. Also, how did I know Gorgug was gonna somehow end up on the bloodrush team?

Guys I feel like there’s still a million more things to talk about.

Adaine finding out about Riz’s dad. God I hope there’s a heart to heart soon but she won’t just drop that info unless she has a really good reason.

GILEAR. I can’t believe that was him on a NAT 20. God, he has zero game. Also, imagine Fig and Riz as siblings. Lord.

The return of Tracker. I was concerned that she was in college but she’s like a Sophomore so Kristen is good to go as soon as she stops being a total disaster so actually that’s probably a moot point.

Sidenote, kinda surprised that she’s a cleric. I thought she was off religion totally but I guess she just switched. But I feel like it’s hard to be totally non-religious in a world where gods 100% for sure exist?

Adaine going, “Mrs. Gukgak. Actually Captain Gukgak,” to her racist-ass dad gave me life.

OK so re: the whole conversation about perditional contradoxy and treaties and war and such. How much of that was in the plan and how much of that was last minute retooling by Brennan? Because, I’m going to be honest. If it wasn’t for that comment by Siobhan, I would never have guessed that we were off the rails. But, with that in mind, this feels like the work of a GM who needs to keep the game going because things ended up moving too quickly.

It does answer the question of where the story is going now that the Harvestmen seem to be taken care of. I was a little surprised when Brennan was like, “Yeah Riz’s mom gets them all arrested,” because I’d assumed that the bad guy was going to be just the higher guy on the totem pole.

OK, I’m sure I’m missing some things because this was a JAM PACKED ep so, if I missed something you wanted my thoughts on, please tell me and I’ll be super happy to write more words but let’s get into that scene.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

OK OK OK

Before we start, I’m so pumped about all of this development but I hate how often I’m going to have to type the word Eolwyn because my fingers refuse to accept that that’s how that’s spelled.

ANYWAY

Dude, the pacing, switching between Adaine and home and the rest of the gang at the party. Like, I knew what the reveal had to be as soon as she walked in but I was still like, “Oh my God. Oh my GOD.”

Sidenote: It was very convenient for Brennan that Adaine never actually read those books because it was an easy and non-cheating way to dole out exposition now, later in the game.

What were the mechanics of Adaine not being invited to that party? Did Eolwyn specifically get her not invited? Did she actually get invited but couldn’t go because of the dinner at home? Did all her friends still decide to go, knowing she wasn’t invited? Was she OK with that? How exactly did that go down?

EOLWYN

BUSTING into that party

Magicking up a bunch of LOVE SLAVE PUPPETS

SNORTING magic coke

Playing Spin the Bottle DEATH ROULETTE

MAKING OUT WITH FABIAN

CUT TO: I’M GOING TO KILL MY SISTER

DAMN BRENNAN, I did NOT Expect you to go THAT hard.

AND THEN IT KEPT GOING

Assuming they all live, I can’t WAIT for the, “YOU KISSED MY SISTER????” conversation.

Which means they’ve either never met Eolwyn or only in passing and not enough to remember her.

Shoutout to Riz for being the only person to give Adaine a heads up.

Her eyes glow blue when she does certain types of magic so I’m just picturing her walking into that room, eyes blazing blue, ready to F up her sister (even BEFORE she finds out what’s going on).

I don’t remember if she called Eolwyn a c**t in this ep or the promo for next but I was like, “Oh damn.” Like you got her to escalate her cursing that much that quickly? Damn.

Also, I love that when she’s really upset, Adaine skips the magic and just starts hitting people.

OK, so remember in the first ep when Eolwyn tried to have Adaine steal that book? The book that I’m pretty sure is the one they mentioned as having wards on it to keep monster stuff from happening at school? So, here’s what I want to know. Has Eolwyn always been a part of this? Because, clearly, it looks like she is right now. But it’s possible the original intent was that she wanted to get Adaine to do it as a prank, not knowing it was important and then, Brennan checked his notes while salvaging the plot and decided to work it in.

Also, unlikely, but imagine if Eolwyn somehow induced Adaine’s panic attack during her entrance exam to Hudol specifically so she would fail, have to go to Augefort, and steal the book for her. Wouldn’t that be wild?

Idek what else to say about that last ten minutes or so that isn’t just incoherent, Ally-esque screeching.

I have to say, battle eps are never my faves but I’m looking forward to this one more than any other one so far.

Man, I can’t believe I thought Eolwyn asking for that textbook might turn into a sister bonding moment. Lol @ past me.

Anyway, kick her ass Adaine!

#fantasy high #asks #anon #idk which anon #y'all can always ask me more questions if you have them #on or off anon #anonymous

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cassolotl · 8 years ago

Text

Pronoun tips from binary men and women

Every once in a while I am asked (or see someone asking) how to use pronouns other than he/him and she/her. The person asking is usually a man or a woman unfamiliar with nonbinary stuff generally, but they’ve got a particular nonbinary person in their life whom they care about and they don’t want to mess up. Maybe they keep misgendering their nonbinary friend and they feel guilty, or they want to take the burden off the nonbinary person who keeps having to correct them, something like that.

When binary people lack that confidence with pronouns, they seek the advice of nonbinary people. Not only are we likely to give advice that’s not ideal for binary people (because we’ve got skin in the game, all our friends are nonbinary so we’re used to it, etc.), but it is another facet of that dynamic of the privileged group (in this case binary people) placing their burden onto the marginalised group. Binary people should be asking advice from other binary people who’ve mastered pronouns.

So, I asked, and a bunch of binary people answered. I got advice from trans and cis binary people (men and women), and I’m collecting all the common stuff and the stuff I thought was good, all here for your perusal. If you know a binary person who’s struggling to get pronouns right, pass this along.

[This article assumes that you know a specific nonbinary person and you want to get better at using their pronouns, though the advice can be adapted. It also assumes that you’re familiar with the concepts of singular they and neopronouns, and you accept that they’re grammatically correct.]

Update: Now available as a printable on Google Docs, in case you need to hand it to someone in person!

PRACTISE

Something that came up over and over, from cis and trans people, was that just like learning anything language-related, practise is essential. And like anything language-related, it is definitely possible to learn!

“If you can get into a hobby like, say, knitting, and learn how to use 'knit' vs 'purl' vs 'cast' vs 'bind' and so on, you can absolutely learn whichever pronouns are correct for the people you talk to, or about and use them as needed.“ --An anonymous cisgender binary person.

Practise a little bit every day. Language is maintained through regular and habitual use. “Pure repetition leaves these pronouns on the tip on my tongue.” --Anonymous cisgender binary person

Talk about the person and use the correct pronouns. You can talk about them to yourself or to a non-judgemental friend. Do this while they’re not around, so they don’t feel uncomfortable. “It really helped me having a friend [to practise with] who I trusted to not judge me when I got it wrong.“ --An anonymous cisgender binary person.

Think about the person and use their pronouns. “I would narrate what they were doing in my head using their name and chosen pronouns, so like. ‘They sat down and opened their textbook for the class.’” --Mason

Write about someone and use the pronouns you want to learn. Something magical about writing fixes things in our memories. Write about the person whose pronouns you’re trying to learn, or write a story about a fictional person with those pronouns. Compose a selection of phrases that use all five forms of the pronoun, and write them down. Rewrite a passage of a book you’re reading with different pronouns. “Every time you bugger up someone's pronouns, write a paragraph about them in your journal as practice - just, like, nice things about them - and do make it about focusing on them and who they are, not at all about your mistake or punishing yourself for it.“ --Anna K

Listen to/read works by other people using the pronouns. Podcasts, YouTube, fiction and non-fiction books, newspaper articles, queer socials where folks have a lot of nonbinary friends...

“Practice getting it wrong as well as getting it right, so that you can correct yourself smoothly and automatically.” --Anna K

TRICK YOURSELF

"Imagine your friend has a tiny buddy on them, like a puppet in their pocket, and you're talking about your singular friend and their buddy, so: ‘them’. Eventually you'll get used to saying they/them/their.” --An anonymous cisgender binary person.

Draw on your prior experience. If you’re queer and you’ve had to do the Pronoun Dance when talking about your partners before, pretend to yourself that you’re deliberately hiding someone’s gender from the person you’re talking to. If you’re used to not knowing friends’ genders because you only know them online, pretend to yourself that you’ve never met your nonbinary friend AFK before. “The most effective way I can get myself in the mental frame to consistently use they/them pronouns for someone who I've previously known as she/her or he/him, is by thinking of it as like I don't wish to disclose this person's gender to the audience (even if the audience is myself, in my thoughts).” --S

Many people commented that tricking yourself often naturally and accidentally leads to...

CHANGE HOW YOU THINK ABOUT GENDER

“View the people you're talking about as people, and their gender(s) as valid. This is the most helpful thing.“ --Kaelen

Start using singular they when talking about people whose genders you don’t know. This was recommended by a LOT of binary people. It cements the idea that you can’t know someone’s gender or pronouns unless they’ve told you, and it detaches pronouns from gender presentation and your own assumptions based on appearance.

Research genders that defy the binary. Get comfortable with the subject, understand that what people tell you about themselves is important and personal to them, and accept that any gender that someone earnestly tells you they experience is valid.

Get used to the idea that you don’t know anyone’s gender until they tell you. “If I knew Shirley used they/them pronouns, I might slip and say ‘she is over there’ but if I train myself to believe I am not fully aware of their gender (only they are!) than I can say ‘they are over there’ more confidently and assured.” --Maria

Think of people as masculine and feminine instead of male and female. “Something that I'm sure also helps is seeing certain looks/types not as "male/female" but as fem/masc. There can be a masc female, a fem male, and so on and so forth.” --An anonymous nonbinary trans-masc person.

IN THE MEAN TIME

If you’re struggling, use the person’s name in a pinch. It’s better than misgendering them, and it can keep the natural flow of conversation going so that it’s not all about their pronouns.

When you mess up, correct yourself and move on. “I think I'm a lot less likely to make the same mistake again if I catch myself and amend it.“ --helen

Don’t say sorry, say thank you. "If you misgendered someone and are corrected pls say “thank you” rather than “I’m sorry” - apology forces that person to tell you it’s ok, which is strange. THANK YOU suggests that u understand it’s not okay and you’re grateful to have been corrected!” --Dan Owens on Twitter.

BE KIND TO YOURSELF

Accept that you’ll make mistakes and that’s okay. “There is no fast, there's no short cut for it except making sure you do it regularly, and correcting yourself when you inevitably get it wrong. It isn't actually a huge deal, most non-binary people recognise the difference between a slip up (particularly if you knew the person pre-coming out) and wilful misgendering.” --CJ Atkinson

Privately say/think kind things to yourself when you get it right. Learning new pronouns can be really hard and positive reinforcement is good for you!

Forgive yourself when you get it wrong. Don’t beat yourself up, because everyone gets it wrong sometimes and you can’t learn if you don’t make mistakes. “Don't punish yourself for slipping up. As long as you're trying you're good.” --An anonymous trans binary person.

Start easy and work up. “When it comes to neopronouns they become easier to use after learning they/them because you've already got a base to work off of, if you will.” --An anonymous nonbinary trans-masc person.

DON’T PUT IT ON THEM

It’s your responsibility. If you’re reading this then you probably already know this! No one should have to work to have their identity recognised and respected, no matter how uncommon their pronouns are. “Not putting the onus of correction on the person I've misgendered has been key for me.” --helen

Don’t ask a nonbinary person to correct you. It is exhausting and depressing to have to correct other people on your pronouns all the time. If you need someone to correct you, ask your binary friends to correct you and each other, whether the nonbinary person is within earshot or not.

Don’t talk to them about how hard their pronouns are. Nonbinary people have to deal with a steady stream of “I’m really sorry, I am trying but it’s just so hard.” We know it’s hard for some people and we get it, but we also know that it is possible and quite frankly, as the people in the middle ring of the Kvetching Order we’re not the ones you should be complaining to.

#original posts #gender #nonbinary #pronouns #resources

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milesgonzalomorales · 7 years ago

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1-50 for studyblr (all or nothing motherfucker ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))

I owe you my life anon I wanted to answer these

What year are you?Third-year as of summer 2018

What’s your major/what do you think you want to major in?Double major in Political Science and History

If applicable, what is your thesis about? n/a

Do you think you picked the right major? For sure. At first I was uncertain in my choice bc I switched quite a bit in my first/second year bw English and History, but then I realized that English classes were making me dislike my relationship w/ literature. I love my poli sci and history classes

Ultimate educational goals? Getting my PhD in International Relations but i have no job to pay for it

Career goals? Working with an international organization like the UN or the IMF

Do you think your goals are realistic? Certainly. They may be difficult to reach, but they are within my grasp so long as I keep working towards them.

What classes are you taking right now? Canadian government/politics, introductory political theory and a comparative history class on race relations in the US and SA

Favorite class out of everything you’ve ever taken and why? Introduction to international relations parts 1 and 2, I took them both in my second year back to back (one in the fall, the other in the winter) while I was still in the political science minor. I loved this class for several reasons. First, the content was so interesting that reading the textbook was never a chore and I was always in the first row of the lecture hall ready 15 minutes before classes even started. Another reason I liked this class was bc I had a really good experience with the ta who was my tut. leader in both semesters - there is only one other ta that I’ve had who has been that phenomenal in their teaching. This ta along with another prof have been really influential in my learning and I don’t think thank you will ever be enough for what they both did. It was actually through these classes that I decided to major in poli sci bc I loved it so much.

Least favorite class ever and why? An Ancient Greek history class bc it was at night and the prof had us read exclusively from a sourebook and his slides sucked.

Current favorite class and why? Canadian government, I’m learning a lot of cool stuff about my country that high-school teachers never did justice to. Also the prof is really enthusiastic and it’s contagious.

Current least favorite class and why? Political theory… it’s not that I hate it, but some of the texts are really difficult to read at times. Lectures are fun though, the prof really knows how to keep an audience engaged.

Favorite STEM field? I took an anthropology class in first year and loved it, the tutorials were really interesting bc we actually got to handle bone material!! It was nothing like humanities tutorials where you discuss and debate. A fun experience overall and I loved learning about the science parts too even if it was a little complicated sometimes…

Favorite humanities subject? Political science, hands down.

Class that you’ve always wanted to take but never had the chance? I want to take a class on ethnic conflict and security, but it’s a 4th year class and i don’t have the prereqs (yet!)

Do you use caffeine and if so how much daily? Never, unless Coffee Crisp counts

What’s your preferred method of taking in caffeine? ^ see above answer

Have you ever tried study drugs? Nope, not a huge fan of supplements like that.

Are you a homework-in-the-morning kind of person? Homework whenever I can type of person

Do you listen to music while you study? Used to, but now it distracts more than anything so I’ll put on some ambient noises or just work silently.

Crowded area or quiet place? Quiet place, but one that has people in it so I feel obligated to work

What’s your preferred writing implement? bic gelocity 0.7 black and blue pens. i cannot write w/o them but they run out so fast.

Do you need to work out before you can study well? work out??? haven’t heard that term in years

Describe your perfect study environment. Idk the specifics, but good lighting, nice temperature, a rolling chair and a high desk i guess?

Are you procrastinating right now? Not really, I have time before assignment deadlines roll in.

What was the last thing you procrastinated? Reading Thomas Hobbes Leviathan, the language was too complex and I shied away from it

Are you a perfectionist? Not really, you make a mistake and you move on, I find that studyblr aesthetic notes are counterproductive

Do you like easy classes or do you feel bad if you’re not working hard? I don’t think there is such thing as ‘easy’ classes, it depends on what an individual’s strengths and weaknesses are. That being said, I had a light course load for a first year class where the prof felt bad for assigning us 10 pages of reading a week when another prof was assigning 80-100.

Are you a good test taker? Most of the time, but with essays, I need to write outlines or I lose my train of thought and get frustrated and anxious about the time and my argument.

What are you the proudest of out of all the assignments you’ve ever had? A paper I did for my critical writing for history class 2 semesters ago, I contacted that professor regularly and was in her office all the time working with her to keep making it better and when I saw my final grade of 38/40, I cried with happiness.

Do you talk to your teachers/professors a lot? Oh yeah, I’m that student who stays after class, spends half the time at office hours, asks questions during class, you name it. Professors are people too, just really accomplished people. Also they’re pretty cool and they want to see you succeed.

Describe your favorite teacher/professor and why you like them. Okay again not a prof, but this person is training to become a prof and i truly hope he’s successful for several reasons. He has a lot of cool book recs both academic/non-academic, calls out the bullcrap that is academic writing, genuinely goes above the paygrade to make sure that students succeed and most importantly, is enthusiastic about the content himself. (press f to pay respects)

Describe your least favorite teacher/professor and why you dislike them. Hnghhhh there was these 2 profs who taught intro ir part 1 and one of those guys was an absolute loser, he constantly made holocaust jokes and other tasteless comments and when i went to talk to him about my final paper, he told me that i’d look like someone who might like to write mine about is/s like ://. never told that prof anything about my academic interests so shut your mouth

Have you ever thought about becoming a teacher/professor? A few times, but I don’t think I could do it. I’d be one of those rambling profs who never end up finishing their scheduled content.

Most profound thing ever said to you by a teacher/professor? Not a prof, but a ta once said that my ideas were worthy of respect and that i shouldn’t feel the need to apologize for contributions (ta: you are valid me: holy fuck i’d die for you)

Best feedback you’ve ever gotten on something academic? Best feedback I’ve ever gotten was on a paper I wrote for my ir class in the first semester where i had a lot of pitfalls in my argumentation style so when i wrote one the next semester w/ the same ta marking it, i got a better mark bc i incorporated that feedback.

Worst study habit and how are you working on it? My worst habit is lacking discipline and I’m working on it by trying to stick to schedules so I can fall back into routine and ultimately be on top of things

Are you an in-class fidgeter? moment of silence for all the pens i’ve dropped while twirling them/taking them apart.

How’s your handwriting? pretty neat, not to brag. but apparently my f’s are jumping off the lines practically.

Write “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” and post a photo. sorry, too late for that I’m headed to sleep soon.

Neat or messy notes? A weird combo?? Like messy enough that you have arrows sticking out from all corners and sometimes things are disorganized, but the writing itself is usually very neat unless i’m tired.

A lot of notes or the bare minimum? A lot, for me, the slides are the skeleton and the meat comes from the prof’s mouth.

Post a photo/scan of your notes from your favorite class. I think I uploaded them to my side blog?? anyway it’s late now so can’t do that

Are you a doodler? I used to be, but I cut the habit bc sometimes I miss key info if I’m not paying attention.

Post a photo of your doodles if you have any. lol i used to post a lot under the tag naailah draws

Do you have pre-test rituals and what are they? Making sure I have more pens than I’ll ever need and checking the ink refills to ensure there’s enough.

Are you a tangent-question asker? Yup, there’s no such thing as a dumb question. Unless it’s answered on the syllabus. That’s a dumb q.

Do you make jokes in class? Sometimes. I’ve cracked some awful puns in my comparative poli class once and the prof’s mic picked up on it bc i sit at the front so you have a room of 200 or so students hearing me laugh about poverty and i swear it sounds bad but it was not as bad w/ context.

How many hours do you spend on academics per day? A lot… most of my time is spent on studying/procrastinating on it

What’s something more important to you than school? Life after school and making a real impact in the world, whether it’s small-scale or large.

#Anonymous #naailah receives an ask

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whittynovels · 8 years ago

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can you give some tips for being/staying motivated to study?

just a warning that i go to a small school with small class sizes, but here’s my main advice:•DO NOT STUDY IN YOUR ROOM!!!! too many distractions. snacks. cleaning. technology. books. your bed. makeup. Get out of your room and only bring your books and some water. find a study room, library, lounge, or anywhere else with a desk that you know you can work in without being distracted. so don’t go to a coffee shop if you need silence. also, emphasis on finding a study place with a TABLE because studying on the couch is uncomfortable, inconvenient, and distracting.•the phone and laptop go on DO NOT DISTURB. leave them behind completely if you can.•ANY time you read a textbook, take notes. it takes twice as long, but you’re making a study guide and you’ll remember it better/be able to reference it in class. Focus on vocab words. You can skip most sections that talk about examples, because those usually arent on tests. Skim read anything non-essential, like practice problems, little “Did You Know?” sections, and paragraphs that dont have relevant info/vocab words.•when reading books for english class, have in mind what you might want to write about, then as you read, underline quotes that you may use in an essay. when you finish reading the book, type up all those quotes with page numbers. sort them into categories, like if you were going to make different paragraphs out of different topics. eliminate quotes that are weaker or dont seem as strong as the others. For each quote, write a sentence or two explaining why it’s relevant to your thesis. Put those together. Add a topic sentence and transitions, intro paragraph, thesis, and conclusion. BAM essay. •when reading research articles for an essay, keep a word doc in another tab and write down useful quotes & page numbers as you read. you’ll only need to read each source once that way, and you’ll have already selected out the most useful parts. •read research articles BEFORE making a thesis statement. sometimes if you go into research looking to prove a specific point, you won’t find good quotes and your argument will end up really weak because you can’t find evidence to support a claim that might be too broad, too specific, or just lacking proof.•GO TO YOUR PROFESSORS’ OFFICE HOURS. EMAIL THEM CONSTANTLY. ANY TIME YOU ARE CONFUSED, GET CLARIFICATION. i recently sobbed in a professor’s office hours after meeting with him for 3 hours because i didnt understand the material. the next day in class, he cut the amount of material we had to cover. always communicate with professors and get help.•make flashcards. quizlet is good for simple word/definition ones, but flashcards are your bff. study in groups when possible. if you’re a visual learner, read the cards off to a partner. if you’re an audio learner, have a partner read them to you. repeat until you can recite all of them.•use free campus services like the writing center and tutoring center. you pay for them in your tuition.•go to SI sessions and any other freely offered help sessions that your classes may offer. i know my math class and my history class had these lectures you could go to to review the material and make sure it all made sense/your notes were complete.•if you listen to music while you study, make a playlist with a few silly songs thrown in so that when they come on shuffle, you get a randomized 2-3 minute break depending on how long the song is. my favorite break songs are the monsters inc theme and jellyfish jam from spongebob.•some subjects are good to study in groups. others are good to study alone. you can always ask your professor how people tend to do on tests depending on how they study.•get as much done during the week as you can. i promise over the weekend, it’s gonna be impossible to want to drag yourself out of bed and leave your room to study. go to the library after your weekday classes and study until 11 PM. you’ll get stuff done early and wont feel guilty for being lazy over the weekend.•EMAIL DRAFTS OF ESSAYS TO YOUR PROFESSORS AND ASK IF IT’S WHAT THEY’RE LOOKING FOR/WHAT CAN BE IMPROVED. most will be willing to help.•to avoid doing assignments the night before they’re due, make a calendar and to do lists of all your homework and do a little bit every day. if you are forced to have a peer review day before the actual due date of an essay, that is a BLESSING. do NOT turn in an unedited peer review draft as your final draft. use that peer review draft to bring to the writer center or your professor to ask how to make it better. your first draft is never perfect and having your essay completed before the actual due date for a peer review workshop is valuable because it gives you time to make improvements. UTILIZE THAT TIME. DONT SKIP CLASS ON A PEER REVIEW DAY BECAUSE YOU’RE TOO LAZY TO WRITE A DRAFT BEFORE IT’S ACTUALLY DUE. (most profs require peer review day in the syllabus, too.)•make group chats with people in your classes. •make good friends with people in your major, especially those who have a lot of the same classes as you. you’ll probably be asking each other to share notes or ask what they missed in class at one point or another.i work at the writing center so i have a lot of specific advice about writing essays, if you want it!

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justsome-di · 8 years ago

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I Hate How People View My Major

No, I’m not going to be a teacher. That other field you’re suggesting is more complicated than you think and isn’t “fun”. And please don’t try writing a novel. Just don’t.

I’m an English major with a concentration in writing. I love it. I’ve never been so comfortable studying something in my whole. Writing has been a passion of mine since I was little, and I wrote almost everyday through elementary and middle school. Even as I was busier in high school, I still found time to work on projects. I was always writing. And now I’m studying how to do it better in college. It comes a little easy to me because of my experience and practice (and just total raw determination), but I also find some really good challenges.

But, people haven’t always been supportive of my area of study. I was asked by other high school seniors a couple years ago, “What kind of job are you going to get with that?” And I get asked all the time now by non-majors, “Oh, so you’re going to be a teacher?” It shows the total lack of value of English. People think that it’s only something that can be taught and never implemented in real life. Which is crazy. It’s literally the language a good chunk of the world speaks. You would think a degree in the analysis of beautifully crafted works and the writing of long papers in this language would be of more value to people. You would suspect people would immediately think, “If you’re good at writing and understanding language, you’re good to go in multiple fields.” But no. People only see boring teachers in classrooms, forcing their students to read books they couldn’t care less about. They don’t see the world of possibilities out there for English majors.

For starters, that also completely devalues English teachers. I can’t imagine the stress that goes behind being one. I could never grade the mediocre papers of students who didn’t even the books, try to pull some insight out of half-asleep students, and plan for these lessons every day. That’s why I’m not studying education at college. I’m studying English. Also, I don’t like kids. I could never work with them all day every day. Teachers are special people. Appreciate them.

It also shows the complete lack of understanding of what English is as a major. People imagine that it’s just students sitting around, talking about whatever classic book they read, making literary references that go beyond everyone else’s head for the sake of making others feel dumb, and not doing any real work. English is a tough major. The best way to make me happy and proud of myself and fellow majors is to tell me that you think English is hard. English may not have math or chemical formulas, but there is a certain science to it. It’s carefully peeling away the author’s words to understand why they chose to write that. Then, it’s pouring over notes and context and our laptops to write 5 pages on that subject. There’s theories behind literature. It’s complex. It’s not just reading and stating feelings. It’s not easy participation. There’s no area of academia that is easy. Let’s leave it at that.

When I tell people about the writing concentration part of my major, that’s when I get really upset. Now, I would like to say at this point of the rant that I do not get visibly upset. I nod and correct the person I’m talking to. I restrain myself and blow up in my head. I’m mature about it, but I would like people to still understand.

The response is usually that writing is easy. That everyone is a writer. That “it must be so much fun!” Yeah, it is fun, actually. For the most part. Not when you meet with your professor, and he tells you to scrap the majority of your project and start over with a different approach. It’s not easy when you’re pouring over your textbook, trying to understand the next step of your fake grant application. It’s not any of that when you get a 70% on a poem you worked hard on simply because you struggle to make your words flow without cliches. I can admit my weaknesses. Poetry and grant writing aren’t my areas of comfort. Writing is hard. Even when it isn’t, it is.

Before I started this current semester, my mom told me I should go into grant writing professionally. I flipped through my new grant writing textbook and made a face as a skimmed the pages of lingo and research methods. Why did she tell me to do this? Because it seems fun to her. It seems fun to apply for grants and help people get money. In a very idealistic way, she’s right. There would be some good, mushy feelings when you get a non-profit funding for their project. But she was forgetting that 1) grants are highly competitive. There would be more rejection than winning. And 2) grant writing takes a lot of work. It’s a lot of research, it’s a lot of backwards thinking, it’s a lot of writing, it’s a lot of shaping things to match the funder’s language, and it’s a very long process. It also doesn’t pay as well as she thinks. But it’s hard. It’s my least favorite writing class at the moment. It’s draining, and it’s complicated. I have a lot of wasted research right now, and I have to do more soon. Like in the next couple days soon. And you know what? I probably won’t use all the research I find. I’ll just have a lot of knowledge on conservative politician’s views on non-profit health clinics. It’ll be a fun party trick, but I don’t think it’ll be fun right now.

Just the other day, my girlfriend found out her university offers a writing major. She’s an art major, and she’s trying to find a second major to raise her chances of finding work. She writes occasionally. I read her stuff. I write with her. I love her stories. But she suggested she take up writing (or more specifically creative writing) as her second major. I advised against it because creative writing is a little too niche, I think. And also because writing isn’t a field you can just jump into. There’s also not a glamorous job market out there for creative writing. I love my girlfriend, but I had to tell her to not do it. Writing of any kind isn’t something someone can just pick up. It takes some years of prep before college, I think, to get ready. It’s like art. She’s been an artist for years. She’s been practicing for a long time. It’s a skill she’s picked up after years of dedication. I am so proud of how far she has come, and I’m even prouder thinking of all the progress she has yet to make. Art and writing aren’t like science or math. It’s not something you can go into with high school level knowledge and be ready to go with a little hardwork and Khan Academy. A lot of schools need portfolios before they accept you if they have a special program (the more elite schools at least).

I also always see people who think they can be a writer. I think that everyone has a right to write. I would never discourage someone from being creative. I love to encourage people, actually, to write. It’s a nice hobby. I see young teenagers post their writing online all the time. It’s nice to see. I love that. What I hate, though, is adults who think that because they have an edgy idea, they should write a book. We all know the joke on TV, write? The man whose been working on the next great American novel for years and has only gotten a sentence about how rainy it is outside? Yeah, I know people like that in real life. People can write. That’s fine. I can’t stress enough how much I love people being creative. But don’t think you’re going to be the next Stephen King, okay? Jack Whyte has a lovely entry on his website about this:

As an aside, I heard a lovely story about a retiring brain surgeon who, when asked what he would do next, said, “Oh, I think I’ll write a book.” One of his dinner companions, a female author in her fifties, laughed and said. “I hope you will. I can’t wait to read it. When I retire I intend to try my hand at brain surgery.”

English and writing are not things everyone is capable of. It takes time to learn. It’s not fun all the time. It’s staying up late and waking up early. It’s a lot of conferences with professors. It’s a lot of research. It’s a lot of boring stuff. It’s something I have a real passion for. I wouldn’t change studying this for the world. I’m very proud of my field. I love my professors. I love my peers (for the most part). I feel like I fit in with English. And when people say to me, “Good for you studying English! I could never do it!” I smile and thank them. On the inside, I think (maybe a bit offensively), “Yeah... you couldn’t.”

#rant #original

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melvinfeller · 5 years ago

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Melvin Feller Discusses the Best Business Startup Books

Melvin Feller Business Group in Texas and Oklahoma. Melvin Feller MA founded Melvin Feller Business Group in the 1970s to help individuals and organizations achieve their specific Victory. Victory as defined by the individual or organization are achieving strategic objectives, exceeding goals, getting results or desired outcomes and a positive outreach. He has extensive experience assisting businesses achieve top and bottom line results. He has broad practical experience creating WINNERS in many organizations and industries. He has hands-on experience in executive leadership, operations, logistics, sales, program management, organizational development, training, and customer service. He has coached teams to achieve results in strategic planning, business development, organizational design, sales, and customer response and business process improvement. He has prepared and presented many workshops both nationally and internationally.

Melvin Feller is known as “The Entrepreneur’s Mentor” because Melvin walks his talk. Melvin Feller has been there and done that and more importantly, Melvin Feller knows how to transfer the skill-set for success. This is main reason that he has been the sought after coach to hundreds of small business owners, entrepreneurs, Realtors, Real estate investors and service professional internationally. Melvin Feller’s main talent is to show you how the step by step process to build and enjoy a successful 6-figure plus business while having a balanced life.

Most of the startup learning curve is a learn-on-the-job endeavor. Nothing replaces the real experience of managing your own company; however there are some lessons that are worth learning ahead of time.

Smart entrepreneurs learn to pick out which teachings should be followed and which should be discarded.

This is my common response I send when friends ask for a book list. I actually think blogs are far more important because they’re real-time and often include comments that can help the reader learn the subtleties and exceptions of an argument. As I’ve said before, instead of reading this blog, I highly recommend these:

Paul Graham, Steve Blank, Brad Feld, Fred Wilson, Mark Suster, Guy Kawasaki, Venture Hacks, and a daily check-in at Hacker News,

But there’s something nice about books. Books are consumed in a different setting. They linger on bookshelf’s. They get highlighted and earmarked. If you’re new to the startup world, I would recommend reading and re-reading the following 6 books. In fact, I would go farther and say that you should not start your company until you read through this list:

The 6 best startup books to read before starting your company

Lucky Or Smart? by Bo Peabody

A lot of this book is understanding how to put luck on your side. I put this book as first though because it can help you understand if you want to be an founder or a manager. Founders are a special breed. Peabody claims it’s the B- players that like to hack systems so that they get 80% of the result for 20% of the efforts. Managers are early employees, A+ players, that can take a founders vision and create something remarkable. It’s helpful to understand which one you are. And it’s helpful to know how luck and intelligence work together. As he says: “I was smart enough to realize I was getting lucky”

Getting Real by the guys from 37 signals

If you’ve never built a product or if you’re a non-technical MBA, start here. The purpose is to learn the basics of agile development early on.

The m.o. of 37 Signals is:

“We believe software is too complex. Too many features, too many buttons, too much to learn. Our products do less than the competition — intentionally. We build products that work smarter, feel better, allow you to do things your way, and are easier to use.” Getting Real is how they teach you to do the same.

The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki

Guy will show you how to start the company and how to raise money. This is your replacement for whatever textbook you used in your entrepreneurship class. It’s a nuts and bolts guide to what you do at each stage of start-up process. Kawasaki is great about helping you understand how investors will view you.

One great example, he directs you against putting a competitive profile slide in your pitching deck that shows your features vs. their features. He’s seen this enough times to know it’s a useless cliche: the entrepreneur always claims to have more features than the competition. His solution is to list out your unfair advantages and their unfair advantages in order to prove you have a reasonable perspective on your market. Good stuff.

The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank

From my vantage point, Steve Blank is this year’s favorite author, blogger, professor, and speaker. I know that some venture capitalists give his book out to all newly-funded management teams. (To show how aware I am of my own hypocrisy–Steve Blank teaches entrepreneurship at a business school–perhaps better than anyone else anywhere.)

Blank outlines a method called customer development. In his words: “Your startup is an organization built to search for a repeatable and scalable business model. Your job as a founder is to quickly validate whether the model is correct by seeing if customers behave as your model predicts. Most of the time the darn customers don’t behave as you predicted.”

Rework also by the guys from 37 signals

Rework is a collection of essays from their wonderful blog, Signals vs. Noise. Reading it as a whole is a nice way to learn about how to think of your startup as a business that needs to make money. These guys are pro-bootstrapping, pro-profits, and anti-venture investing. They’re a nice counterpoint to much of the startup literature that focuses on how to raise money as the primary goal in the early part of a company.

Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston

This is a good last book for this list because it gives you insight into founder culture. One of the most interesting (and unexpected) aspects of being in Your Combinator is that we got to see so many other founders working on their startups. Entrepreneurship can be a lonely endeavor and it’s nice to have some perspective on how other founders manage ups and downs while executing at very high levels. The early days of the startup are the most interesting and unlike anything that comes afterward.

In her words: “This is what productivity looks like. This is the Formula 1 race-car. It looks weird but it goes fast.”

Those are my 6 favorite and of course I feel are very foundational!

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