#anyways submit will be open to accept the applications!

[insomnya777]

do you guys know that youtube dating show called the button. because i was watching it with my friend the other day bc we were bored and we were like this seems funny and i somehow got a boat boys fic idea based off of it. so if i make a fic about the button dating show will people underdtand or is it too niche

[occamstfs]

Rosa's Cafe

Here's a longer Racial TF set in a coffee shop, Best! Occam

Matthew had clocked up more hours of overtime for his company than they were willing to pay him. He assumed that their guidelines weren’t so rigid and that he would be fine to get ahead early. These days you really need to go above and beyond to get ahead and Matthew was determined to get in the good graces of the big bosses.

Unfortunately working so hard was a misplay. His direct boss was forcing him to take Paid Time Off in lieu of the overtime pay for the past year. Now he sits at home with next to nothing to do, twiddling his thumbs until he can return to the grind. He loved back when he was a barista in college? Maybe he can get back to customer service?

Reflecting on this he takes to LinkedIn to see if there are any managerial spots open for a cafe. Something needs to scratch his itch for administration and he night as well pour coffee while doing so. In a stroke of luck, or perhaps something more deliberate, as soon as he logs in to check listings he sees a manager position at “Rosa’s Cafe.”

He auto-submits his resume to the restaurant assuming he’s overqualified before even reading the listing’s qualifications. Glancing through them he sees that they’d prefer someone fluent in Spanish. Matthew struggles to recall what if any Spanish remains in his head from taking it in both high school and college. He starts to pull up a language app on his phone before seeing that, jarringly fast, he has already been advanced to an interview for this cafe. Rosa herself sending him a message to come as soon as he’s ready. 

Matthew then sprints to check himself in a mirror. He has certainly not slacked in his hygiene since he was asked to stop coming into work, partially in hopes that they’ll need him to come in any day. Today though he throws on some cologne and drives off to Rosa’s Cafe. He doesn’t stop to question how odd it is to already be on the way to an interview, minutes after submitting his resume. They must just really need someone?

As soon as he arrives Rosa is there at the door to greet him, smiling wide and welcoming him into her establishment.

“Hola Matthew! So glad for you to join us, your application was outstanding! Solamente, I was wondering why you wanted this job given your current one?”

Matthew blushes and explains his situation, struggling not to sound like a maniac for wanting to work despite the relatively cushy situation he is in. Although Rosa hears this and is impressed at his ethic, his crave to work. Rosa was more than happy to take advantage of his situation.

“Uhhh there was just one thing though, Miss. Oh uh, lo siento. Señora Rosa.”

“Sí, sí. You aren’t quite fluent en Español, are you Matthew?” He averts his eyes but before he can answer Rosa continues on, “Esta bien. You will just learn on the job sí?”

Putting on an air of determination Matthew pumps his fist “Sí, Sra Rosa! Uh claro que sí,” he attempts, stepping to the limit of the Spanish remaining in his head. Rosa gives him a look like an owner watching a pet as it tries to show off, offering an ambiguous smile before explaining her stance.

“Claro que sí,” offering a knowing nod, “I’m sure you understand why I would want a manager to speak Español, yes? En esta ciudad, in this city, there are very few places where Español is the default. I would just like my cafe to be one of them. The job is of course yours, I would be a fool not to take the opportunity. But while you’re here, mientras estás aquí, please work on su Espanol,” tacking on, “I can’t imagine it will be too long before you’re called back to your job eh? Una estrella como tu” 

To her point there are clearly not a lot of people speaking English in the cafe. Matthew would guess he is probably the only native English speaker present making him blush, although after being flattered by Rosa he was ready to accept. After all he had been meaning to practice his Spanish anyway. He puts his hand out to shake her hand, “when can I start?”

“Well, mi pequeño gerente, why not start training now?” Turning around she calls over the barista Juan to introduce the two, talking to Juan at a speed that made it clear to Matthew that she was quite dumbing down her language in their conversation. She then bids farewell to the two, “adios Matthew! Tengo que ah, cόmo se dice, file your paperwork. Hasta mañana!”

“Hola Matthew, it is nice to meet you! Rosa said to show you around,” Juan smiles offering him a cup of their house roast. “Espero que, ah, I hope you don’t mind but I added canella, cinnamon.” Matthew graciously accepts the cup. He may be a world removed from his time as a barista but instantly returns to his first coffee tasting.

It smelled quite strong, darker than he usually prefers and he can see cinnamon swirling through the cup as the cup steams in his hand. He begins to bring the cup up for a closer smell although as soon as the movement begins the allure of the drink overpowers him and he drinks almost too quickly. It was delicious. He always, almost performatively, drank black coffee at his old job. Or no, his real job?

Juan sees Matthew continue to gulp down the cup of coffee waiting for reaction, though he sees very little sign of his mind processing the drink at all. Matthew’s just staring ahead, his eyes ever so slightly glazing over as he finishes the cup. He grins as it almost looks like the coffee has stained Matthew’s upper lip, offering a napkin before asking, “te gusta hermano?”

Matthew snaps back to his senses, staring at Juan as a small ring of brown starts to stain the center of his icy blue eyes. He struggles to even find the words to describe how profoundly he enjoyed the coffee. It was a passion too great for him to even begin to capture in English. “Juan, that was, cómo se dice? Is there some word better than delicioso?”

Juan laughs putting his arm around his new manager, “Ay hermano! Maybe that’s what you should do now! You just go work on your Spanish and I’ll bring you some samples! Ah, aqui, the employee handbook is in Spanish, practica perfecta!” He brings over another cup and the handbook and Matthew starts struggling through it. 

Matthew figuratively bashes his head into the handbook, it’s not dense but it is per cierto not written with beginners in mind. Smirking as he notices he just reflexively thought in Spanish, going to get another drink only to find the cup emptied once more. He hasn’t been drinking nearly as much since he left the office, bargaining with himself as Juan comes to refill his cup. He can cut back his intake later, he needs to get this through this work.

And work at it he does, caffeine is not making him feel wired as usual but sensual as he continues to page through the booklet. He starts to stretch just to feel the strain in his muscles and the tension in his clothes. He looks down and sees his shirt is fitting much better than he thought it did. It’s not tight but anyone who looks can see there is muscle under there. He stares at his own body feeling strength he does not remember cultivating. Suddenly he notices it’s not only his upper body that’s filling out, as a growing package begins to demand attention under the table. These jeans were clearly not designed to handle this and Matthew is barely able to stop himself from flexing to see just how much he truly can fill this outfit and he attempts to switch gears back to working. Urgently feeling adverse to thinking any further about his body.

Struggling to find any way to distract himself he remembers being historically shit at actually speaking in Spanish. This is as good a chance as any to practice his pronunciation. Matthew begins to mouth the words in the handbook, feeling his tongue in unfamiliar ways that he swears he has done a million times before. Matthew attempts to raise his practice to a whisper and immediately goes into a coughing fit. Hope that coffee didn’t burn my throat he thinks clearing his throat and finding a much deeper voice on the other side. One that announces his Spanish progress to the whole cafe shockingly loud for a whisper though Matthew doesn’t notice. What is immediately apparent to him is how expertly he rolled an R. 

He knows he could never do that, and not without trying. He probably spent half an hour practicing it his sophomore year. He reflects back on how hard he worked on Spanish in the past as his eyes start to glaze over once more. Something is off here, his hand raising to his face not notice a moustache and sloppy goatee start to push out of his face. He foes feel itchy elsewhere though, scratching at his chest and stomach, averting the more animalistic urge to scratch his pits and crotch as Juan begins to walk over.

Matthew quickly tries to meet him halfway, standing to a height just taller than the one he thought he knew to be true. His bulge grazes the bottom of the table which causes his body to convulse in pleasure. His feet are caught on the table as he falls knocking his coffee all over himself and the floor. “Mierda!” He shouts before going dark.

He awakens to Juan wiping coffee off his face, his clothes now certainly stained brown and spelling of rich coffee and cinnamon. Helping him back to standing, Juan makes sure he is alright, “quite the fall amigo! Tal vez we call it a day?” Matthew hastily agrees feeling impossibly strained and weary for what little work he has actually done. Juan continues, “Rosa said the paperwork should be good for you to start tomorrow if you can!” Stumbling to his feet Matt knows he agrees but the rest of his night is little more than a blur. 

He sees Juan wink at him and knows he is going to start tomorrow. He must drive home after that since he is now looking at himself in the mirror brushing his teeth. Something seems off, he is clearly too tired to put a finger on exactly what it is. He flexes his bicep noticing he must have completely disrobed. He thought he shaved his pits recently. He scratches at his crotch realizing that his now heavier cock is also out, pawing at his pubes and feeling his bulge expand even further into his hand before forcing it into some briefs and continuing his audit. 

Didn’t he have a tan? Looking at himself up and down he feels like he isn’t supposed to be this pale right? Isn’t he from? Matthew feels lightheaded and begins to collapse once more before being jarred back to reality smelling the coffee and cinnamon scent still hugging his chest. Using this second wind he stumbles into bed, neglecting to change into his nightclothes and he quickly drifts to sleep.

Matt falls into a dream that feels realer than the reality of his previous life. It’s the middle of the rush and he sees himself working at an espresso machine with Juan. He looks down seeing his body expertly maneuver around the bar, tossing cinnamon into drinks, chatting with customers in truly fluent Spanish. He pauses in this dreamscape to notice the tan he was so sure he had earlier. He sees the tattooed arms he has known for years, he worked hard enough for them after all, might as well show them off on the clock. He raises the hairy arms to flex at Juan and say something clever in his native tongue before being jarred back to reality by a sunbeam.

Matt awakens hearing his morning wood stretch his briefs to their near limit barely able to keep himself together before seeing the time and once more shouting “mierda!” He is already so late for work, they’ve been open for hours. It’s his first real day and he has already jod- he’s already fucked it up! He quickly inspects himself once more, seeing the true version of himself he saw in his dream. Seeing his recently shaved chest he quickly realizes he doesn’t have time for a shower. He smells his pits just to see how bad the damage is. His voice rumbles in his chest, “joder…”

He smells again even deeper, it reminds him of? Oh it is just on the tip of his tongue, which he begins to reach out before remembering his predicament. He throws on a dress shirt before giving one last whiff to his pits, flexing his pecs as he does so. It is so fragrant, almost spicy. Matt postpones the mystery after concluding it should certainly be covered by the smell at Rosa’s and rushing out the door. Not seeing as his chest pops off the top button of his shirt and his neat goatee begins to grow even thicker.

Matt rushes into the door and is greeted like a regular, which he is of course to be now, as the new manager. He feels a warmth in his chest as Juan brings over his first cup of the day. “Buenos días Juan!” Matt offers before going to meet the chef, Benito, as the plan was today.

Making his way back to the kitchen he smells something even more distracting to him than his body odor this morning. Benito runs over with a plate full of arepas that Matt recognizes instantly before Benito greets him, “buenos dias jefe! Rosa said you wanted us to start serving arepas sí?” 

“Rosa? She said, I asked for these?”

“Si! Desde su ciudad natal no?”

Matt’s mouth is overcome as he starts to clearly drool for the plate in front of him. He has no choice but to tear into one which immediately brings him back. He loved these when he was a kid, but? Didn’t he grow up en los estados? Wasn’t he from? He fails to finish the thought in his head before it is wiped away as if fireworks are going of in his mind. 

He beams at Benito as his eyes glaze over and fully darken to brown. He feels an urge to burp which he chokes down with another cup of coffee. “Ay this takes me back amigo, estos son exactamente como, like the ones mi abuela había before nos pequeños…” Matt pauses as he feels a pervasive warmth starts to grow distracting in his chest as a similar itch begins on the outside.

He doesn’t notice as his inner monologue begins to entirely shift away from English, as it should of course. He may live in los Estados hoy, but he was colombiano born and bred. He remembers how hard he worked as a child learning English as his biceps start to clearly strain the already tight dress shirt.

Matt remembers fighting for his place to get a degree at a university that did not respect his native country or tongue as he feels his voice deepen beyond baritone and into a strong bass. He remembers trying to find a place in this mierda ciudad before meeting Rosa as his chest bursts open shooting any buttons remaining off his shirt. 

Rosa then enters the kitchen to see how her new hire has progressed and slyly smiles seeing his progress. She tosses a shirt at him saying in Spanish now effortlessly understood “Oi Matteo! You’re in the kitchen put some clothes on!” 

Matteo shuffles to the restroom to change as he looks one last time in the mirror and sees the flawless trajabador he sees every time he checks himself out. He puts on his nametag flexing to see just how much he can strain his shirt before returning to the cafe, ready to conquer another day in the life he has worked so hard for.

[nebrasska-alasska]

this may sound really weird. because it’s not related to anything from your fics, per say, but more real life related. HOW do you get into a good dental school. or just like. how do you get on their radar. next chapter in my life is coming up and i want answers from something that isn’t google ai or a random article 💔

genuinely any advice will be very much appreciated and taken into consideration- my entire family is business and law and i’m the only one so far looking into this feild

Oh man, there is so much to say! And I am the only dental/healthcare person in my family so I totally get it. Warning in advance to anyone else reading: this is not at all Sonadow-related (sowwy :3 ) and is very very long (sowwy pt. 2 :P )

But okay! I think the first order of business is determining what a "good" dental school is. Assuming you are in the States, there is no official ranking list for the 60ish dental schools there are. You might find the average GPA of the matriculating classes and rank them that way, but that isn't accurate because it is skewed towards the state schools. If you have a super high GPA and have multiple options to choose from, people tend to attend the cheapest school they get into, which is almost always the one offering in-state tuition. Not necessarily saying that private is better, but ignore the average class GPAs when you compare schools because it truly doesn't mean anything.

No, the best way to determine what a "good" program is (and tbh, all programs are good if you get your degree), is to find out what they will offer you in terms of clinical experience. And the best way to do this is to look and see if the dental school offers specialty residencies. This is super important because if you go to a school that has any of the nine specialty programs (such as endodontics, oral surgery, orthodontics, prosthodontics, etc.), they will get priority on cases. All the hard stuff will go straight to them, and you will not get as much experience as a result. My school had no specialty programs, so us dental students got to do everything of every level of complexity since we didn't have to share with residents. So basically, look on the website to see if the schools you are applying to have post-grad residents or not. You will get more experience at schools without those tryhard yahoos.

Assuming you are in undergrad, there are four major things that dental schools look at on your application. Ranked in importance, it's GPA, DAT score, Extracurriculars/Volunteering, Shadowing Experience at dental offices. I could sit here and spit numbers at you about GPA, but honestly I don't know what's considered "competitive," because I was NOT competitive in this category. My GPA kinda sucked. 3.55 overall and 3.17 science. Booooo booooo stoopie booooooo. (I compensated for this by being super involved in extracurriculars and being the president of multiple clubs, one of them being for a service frat that allowed for me to get a bunch of volunteer hours.) In addition, I had a decently competitive DAT score which helped. A lot of schools have a minimum DAT score cutoff of 17 for any of the categories, but obviously aim higher (max is 28-30 depending on the scaling of each individual test). Imo being at or above 20 is very solid and will put you on any school's "radar," so to speak. I had an academic average score of 21, and here was my breakdown (just so you can see the stats of someone who got accepted):

Gen Bio: 19

Gen Chem: 17

Orgo Chem: 18

Math: 22

Perceptual Ability: 25

Reading Comprehension: 28

As you can see, I hated chemistry. Anyways. That's not the point.

BECAUSE THE MOST IMPORTANT THING (AND THIS IS IN ALL CAPS BECAUASE IT'S THAT BIG OF A DEAL) IS SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION ON TIME. I don't remember the timeline, but I think it opens in May for you to start filling out, and then you can maybe submit it on the first of June or something like that, idk I would look it up. Basically, you can't fully submit it without your DAT, so make sure you take it early summer or during the spring semester before you intend to apply! I took my DAT in late august, realized that with my score I didn't have to take a gap year, and then ended up submitting my application end of September/early October.

DON'T DO THAT!!! DO NOT. DO. THAT!!!

Many of the schools I had applied to were already done with their interview cycle by that point!!! It's a miracle that I got two interviews!!! Everyone I told my application story to was shocked I got in!!! Submit your stuff on time to give yourself the rest of the summer to take care of the secondary application stuff they send you, so that you can start receiving interview invites in the fall. And trust me, they will roll in, as long as you submit it early!!!

Another random thing, but don't waste your time applying to state schools unless you're either from that state, or from a weird state with no dental school like North Dakota where you know they have some special consideration for you. I'm pretty sure most state schools prefer state residents who intend to stay in that state, so it'll be a waste of your time and money to apply to a state school where you don't live. I'm from California and our two state schools are stupid competitive, so I think I only applied to private schools. So just keep that in mind!

Lastly, unless you've already declared your major, embrace the things you enjoy. Make sure you get your prerequisite coursework done (and you can see what these courses are on the websites for the dental schools you're considering applying to, they're all slightly different), but also study stuff you actually like! I was a Biology and English double major, and I really think those two things helped me "stand out." It was certainly a unique combination!

This was a huge dump of info, but if you want more info you can DM me, such as what school I went to and what requirements we had to do. It was a lot, and my program is known for producing good clinicians (research on the other hand, we're pretty lacking in tho lol), but yeah I really can't recommend my school enough! I feel really prepared.

(Also sorry if telling you my stats was kinda weird. I just feel like I am a really good example of someone who got in for something other than just numbers, and that if even my goofy ass could get in, you can too! Use my mediocrity as inspo LMAO)

Okay dental dump complete, peace out HAHA

[whentherewerebicycles]

.

I’m having kind of a bad brain day today and I can think of two to two point five reasons why but one of them is definitely that I feel a deep pit of dread in my stomach about work a lot of the time lately. I think for a while I got a brief reprieve from the bad feelings because I’d submitted those three applications and was feeling like there might be some escape hatches still. but I think I now have to accept that 1) I’m not even going to get a first interview for these jobs, which is humbling and honestly kind of crushing, 2) given hiring freezes and the current state of higher ed there are not going to be other jobs opening up in my field anytime soon, maybe for years, and 3) this isn’t really a good time to be changing jobs anyway given economic uncertainty. so I think even though nothing about my situation has materially changed I am just right back in that headspace of feeling totally trapped. and even though I am trying so so so hard to look for the positive and to reframe stuff in a more positive way and to handle things maturely and to not take stuff personally and to just in general care less about work, it just takes like. constant effort to do that. and I am so tired of doing it and also just tired of feeling bad when so much else in my life is so good. I was so euphorically happy when I was on family leave and working at my coaching job and now I am just like. still very happy in other parts of my life but also sort of mentally trudging up a steep hill at all times. I feel incredible at 4pm on Fridays when I delete outlook off my phone but by 11am on Sundays I am sliding back into this state of muted despair. why does it make me feel so bad!!! I think I also feel shitty about it because I think other people would probably be able to brush this off and just be like oh that’s weird, seems like that person has some issues, and move on. but for whatever reason I am soooooooo emotionally flayed open by someone implying that I am not competent and speaking to me with barely veiled contempt in their voice. blah blah blah I can’t even write about it without feeling these sick awful stomach-churning feelings of shame. and then to bolster myself emotionally I have to keep reminding myself of all the people who have explicitly told me that this person is the problem, not me, that this person is the one who “doesn’t know the work” and is “in over her head,” and that this person lashes out when they feel unsure or confused, and that it’s not me it’s not me it’s not me it’s not me it’s not me it’s not me it’s not me it’s not me. but that ALSO feels bad because it reminds me of how stuck I am in an untenable situation and how everyone KNOWS about the problem but will not do anything to address it and just blahhhh!!!! blah!!!!!!! I have to vent these feelings here and then I must somehow make myself stop thinking about it because it’s ruining my entire sunday and I should get to count as working hours the hours I spend thinking about how to deal with this person.

[dervampireprince]

Audio Commissions Are Back! (And New Art Commission Options)

That’s right lovelies, audio commissions are back open. I previously had audio commission open from February 2022 to December 2023 and ultimately closed them because I was getting stressed, burnt-out and I got the occasional commission request for something uncomfortable and the more that happened the more stressed I became that the next commission request would also be for something I wasn’t comfortable with.

However, it’s been a long time since then and my life and situation may be changing. I’m so grateful to you all that you support my work and you’ve enabled me to do this as a job when it’s been so difficult for me, a trans autistic person with chronic pain, to be able to go out and find regular work that I’d be able to handle. Being able to do this really is a dream and I appreciate you guys so much. And I’m going to put trust in you that anyone who wants an audio commission will read and respect my rules before contacting me with their commission request.

I’ve constantly been asked when or if audio commissions will ever reopen ever since I closed them and I always said I didn’t know and that I didn’t think it was likely that I would reopen them, however things have changed. I had a really scary tax return I just submitted and I owe a lot more than I thought I would which has made me realise I really wasn’t earning as much as I thought I was. Also, as some of you know, I’m still I the process of trying to move out, I’m still looking at apartments and applying for them and hopefully soon I will have an application accepted. And of course, when that happens I’ll be spending a lot of money on a deposit, moving costs, furniture, a new PC (my current PC is about 15 years old), and more. And after I move I will be paying more in rent and bills than I currently do to my parents. I feel somewhat insecure in my financial situation right now and re-opening audio commissions will hopefully be a way to help me out.

They’re back slightly different than before. Instead of seven different time lengths, we just have two now. There’s a 5-10 minute option for SFW audios, and a 15-20 minute option for NSFW audios.

Currently, there are no limited number of commission slots, I will take as many as I get. This may change if I get too many to be able to handle.

I have also added more options to my art commissions. So now you can get your own animated goober (could be used as an animated or static emote, or a PNG vtuber model), pixel chibis, hug emotes and tiny square full-coloured portraits.

You must be 18 years or older in order to commission me, and you have to be 18+ anyway to have a Ko-Fi account.

Audio commissions here: https://ko-fi.com/dervampireprince/commissions Art commissions here: https://ko-fi.com/emptymasks/commissions

[rosesradio]

so i got an automatic email back saying they got my application and they’d be in contact with me either way…and now the job listing has been removed so they’re not accepting any more applicants…what does this mean ? 👀

so i finished an application to my local library, please be manifesting for me to get this job, it’s notoriously hard to get library jobs (which is why i went into this field, obviously :’) )

[gatheredfates]

Greetings everyone! If you're thinking to yourself 'Wow, it's been a bit since Sea updated the Compendium', you'd be right! I've been (unfortunately) dealing with that demon we call burnout. However, I am determined not to let it win, even if it's capping my own creativity/drive at the moment, which is why I bring you an update to the Compendium. ✨

If you know of any communities I have missed, please reach out to me via my Discord or the Google Form.

However, as of 09/29, the following communities have been added to Sea's Community Compendium for XIV Creatives.

EVENT / COMMUNITY SPACES

The Cursed Carbuncle—The Cursed Carbuncle is a Cabinet of Curiosities & Oddities which sells alchemical reagents, curios, cursed items, intriguing artefacts, luxury objects, occult, rare books, taxidermy & unusual finds.

LORE

How Rare is that Job?—An Unofficial, Opinionated Look At Class/Job Rarity For FFXIV Roleplayers, created by Mis’to Raesthe on the Odin Server.

MISC

Leyla's Gposing Guide—This website is an ongoing comprehensive gpose guide that helps you every step of the way from the vanilla gpose menu to using shaders and posing tools/plugins, complete with screenshots and video guides, as well as pose/edit-along videos. It's also meant to allow many people to submit their own guides and tips.

So You Wanna Start Roleplaying in FFXIV—(Specifically, on Crystal Data Center). But It Sounds Really Scary And You're New And How Does This Even Work Anyway? A FAQ by By Nevivi Nevi/Lenneth Andrew of Balmung.

Have you thought about joining our Tumblr Community? You can find it here!

Want to submit? You can either fill out the google form here or send me an ask with the relevant information!

Is my space suitable for the Compendium? Most of the time, yes! Below the read more is some more information/stipulations. This is all publicly available on the document.

Below are the following things I do not accept on the Compendium:

Personal/Single-Character LFC ads. (Though these get posted to the SEAFLOOR Tumblr Community when I find them!)

Content intended for or can be used for bullying, harassment and OOC gossip. E.g. ‘Secrets’ blogs, receipts, callout posts, etc. This does not include IC tabloid blogs or other ventures used to generate roleplay.

Communities that do not have an RP/writing element (large-scale exempt).

Anything I find personally distasteful or goes against the spirit of this project.

Common-sense rule applies.

I want to put my community on the Compendium but we have an application process. Is this okay?

Yes! Just note somewhere in your application that's a requirement. The only thing that is mandatory for the Compendium is that you must be open to new members or have a public-facing/accessible facet. There's no point advertising a community if no one can join it in some way!

I want to put my Community on the compendium but I only have x number of members —

Also totally okay! People don't start with large communities. Activity is a must but, whether your server has two or two thousand members, if you're looking for new people to join, I'd love to help you find people.

I want to put my community/resource on the Compendium but I worry its too niche?

Okay, and? If your Eorzean Fishing Alliance has four members but you roleplay every second weekend, I still want to know about it. The same goes for resources; if it's relevant to the game, it'll be useful to someone.

How active does a community need to be?

If you find a community has not been active in about two/three months, send me a message and I'll take a look at it. Communities have ebbs and flows, especially event spaces that may take hiatuses depending on member interest/life events. I'm not strict in my implementation provided a space isn't dead. If a link or anything is broken, contact me asap!

I have [insert a question not stated here]?

No drama! Send me an ask or use the #Compendium channel in my Discord!

[physalian]

On self-publishing, and why I did it

Based on the research that I have done, following other indie authors across multiple platforms, I think I've made an approach to this that is a lot less... shall we say, *intense* than people make it out to be? I've seen some YouTube videos acting like picking one route or the other might be the worst mistake of your author career.

I mean, I guess?

Back a few years ago I had a manuscript I was querying around and couldn't find any takers. Couldn't find any publishing houses that were accepting open submissions to pick up my manuscript either. So many of them had clauses in the application verifying that you were submitting to them and only to them and to expect a reply within 8-10 months. Coooool.

I did not have time for that.

—

The manuscript I had was 120k words. Baby’s first novel sitting at 120k words is not attractive to publishing houses. It’s a risk. I was younger and didn’t know much about finding an agent and all that jazz, so I had looked into self-publishing and was staring down an editor bill of about $3k minimum because of my word count. I did not have the money for that.

So that manuscript got shelved, meanwhile I wrote the sequel and got halfway through book 3 before writer’s block took hold.

Enter February 2024. I have an idea for a new book. 31 days later, I have that book’s first draft done—Eternal Night of the Northern Sky, on sale from draft to publication in seven months.

This time, I didn’t consider for one second trying the traditionally published route. ENNS is 111k words, it’s a doorstopper of a book, but the bulk wasn’t the only reason I decided to bootstrap myself to the finish line.

I wanted complete, absolute creative control every step of the way

If I have to market myself anyway, why am I splitting profit with a publishing house?

I *really* don’t have time to wait around hoping the right person sees my manuscript. I have a new job coming that’s going to eat up all my free time and could either delay ENNS a year or more, or get it out while I still had time to do so

I didn’t do this for money

I think that’s what makes so many of those rather intense arguments for one or the other so harrowing—the pressure is a lot higher if you invested all this time, money, and effort expecting returns to break even, if not actually turn a profit. Publishing with a publisher doesn’t guarantee people will buy your book, mind you, but it’s a helping hand nonetheless. If I even want to break even, let's say just on royalties from the ebook, I'd have to sell over a thousand copies.

Breaking down my above points:

I’m a firm believer in “if you want something done right, you do it yourself,” which does bite me in the ass from time to time, this I know. I didn’t want to get caught up in contracts or editors telling me what I could and couldn’t do or what I had to change. If ENNS fails, I will have no one to blame but myself, and I am at peace with this. If ENNS fails, and I’d gone through the trouble of signing my book’s soul away to a publisher, then I’d probably be a little resentful. 100% of ENNS is mine, even the cover. I had an image in my head of what I wanted the cover to look like, and I sat down and I drew it and it matches perfectly. Aside from the feedback implemented from betas and editors, my story is told the way I wanted to tell it. If it fails, I am at peace with this.

On marketing, I am not a person who does well with social media. Maybe it’s autism, idk, but trying to keep up with an Instagram is exhausting. I just don’t get anything from tiny text posts and blurbs and doomscrolling through influencers and advertisements. Social Media is, for me, exhausting. Tumblr is different, because writing is my strong point and this blog exists to share and curate something useful. But either way, I’d have to market this book alone, so why not do so with full creative control? If it fails, I am at peace with this.

I have a new job coming very quickly. My current job allows me about 5 hours of free time during my 8 hour shift on a good day not including the time outside work, and I work from home. ENNS was written in 31 days thanks to this job. The new one? Not so much. Seeing “please allow 8-10 months” and “please ensure this is an exclusive submission” on so many little publishing houses, and I did search far and wide, was incredibly disheartening. For me, personally, it wasn’t worth the gamble of waiting all that time, following the rules, and being told no or just being flat-out ghosted. Nor did I want to sit around querying agents into the void. This time, I didn’t have time to sift through agents. ENNS had to get out on the shelves as quickly as I could get it, and all that time (five goddamn months of editing, 500% of the time it took to write it) was spent perfecting the manuscript that it is, *not* waiting around trying to find an agent. If it fails, I am at peace with this.

And lastly, I don’t care if I make absolutely nothing from this book. I didn’t do it for the money, I did it to say I could. I have a day job, and I’m about to have a much higher paying day job. Maybe I’m lucky enough to have that, but I am under no illusions that putting in the hard work guarantees success. Success as an author is a crapshoot and being an amazing book is not the metric sales are measured in, if no one wants to read it. I’d like to make money, I didn’t do it for charity. It’s going to be priced exactly the same as another fantasy book of its caliber. But if only one person buys it, and finds something good from it, something in it that changes their life, then I will have succeeded, profit be damned. If all else fails, I am at peace with this.

—

This is not a post meant to sway people one way or the other. I know I didn’t do enough research or scour the internet hard enough to find a good agent. All of this is irrelevant when time was the most important factor in my debut novel. I was in a position where I could drop that $3k on an editor, so I did. I’m a capable enough artist to draw my own cover, so I did. I might be abysmal at managing social accounts, but less than a year ago this blog didn’t exist and it has over 5k reblogs and 950 followers and I think that’s pretty swell.

I’m 25 years old. I was not about to let it keep sitting around waiting for the golden opportunity with the perfect publishing house that might not have been coming. I had the means and motive to get it done, and by god, I did it.

If it fails, at least I can say that I failed trying. I am at peace with this.

—

Eternal Night of the Northern Sky is available now on Amazon in ebook and paperback! It is also available through your local bookstore.

Check it out on Goodreads!

[hermitzine]

HERMITZINE FAQ

What is Hermitzine, anyway?

Hermitzine is a fanzine, a compilation of illustration, comics and writing based around the long running Minecraft SMP Hermitcraft, with works focusing on the creative projects, collaborations and interactions the creators on the server (aka Hermits) share with their audiences. For each edition, we (the Hermitzine mods) announce the theme we're running with this edition, open applications, and pick our roster of collaborators from the artists and writers who want to be involved. 

Once our line up of collaborators has been selected, we invite all the contributors for the zine to our discord server, and the process of making the zine pieces starts! Contributors brainstorm an idea for a piece they want to do, and run it past our mods for approval, then work on it over the course of about 2 months (to make sure people have time to put together something they're proud of without having to ignore things like sleep, school and work). Hermitzine #9 has a little bit more going on with collaboration and format, but we go through that in the application form.

What's the timeline of events for this edition?

The current schedule for Hermitzine #9 is as follows:

March 02 — Applications open at midnight GMT

March 16 — Applications close at midnight GMT

March 23 — Acceptance / Rejection emails go out

March 30 — Check in 1 (initial sketches / ideas)

April 13 — Check in 2

April 27 — Check in 3

May 11 — Check in 4

June 01 — Final pieces are due

Late June / early July — Zine is published

More questions and answers below the cut! (A lot more. Be glad we added the cut).

How do I apply?

Fill out the form (we'll be posting them very soon)! We have a writers application form and an artists application form, both will be open between the 2nd and the 16th of March.

In your application, you'll be answering a few questions and sharing 3-5 of your best pieces, to let us know what you're about as a writer and/or artist.

Then all you have to do is sit tight and wait for our email on March 23rd to find out if you're in!

Who can apply?

We have three requirements: 1) you’re 15 years or older, 2) you can speak enough English to communicate about deadlines and other important zine-related discussions, and 3) you have a Discord account, as that is how all communications with contributors will be made. A free account is fine — we don’t send files through Discord itself, so there’s no need to buy Nitro.

What do I need to do / have to apply?

For all of our applicants, we ask for a small portfolio of 3-5 pieces of your best finished work. We ask for a small portfolio to keep our views of your work focused on what you think is you at your best. These portfolio pieces don’t necessarily have to be Hermitcraft related, or even belong to a fandom. As long as it’s your personal work and you’re proud of it, we want to see it.

For writers: we ask that the 3-5 works you submit are around 3,000 words maximum, since that is the vague limit you will have to work within the zine. You can submit excerpts from longer works as long as you specify that somewhere within the application piece.

Do I need to be well-known or have a large social media following to be accepted?

Not at all. Social media following does not factor into whether or not you’re accepted. You could have one follower or one thousand — either way, we’re looking at your portfolio. You don’t even need any social media at all! We ask for social media handles in the application in case we want to check out more of your work beyond your portfolio.

What do you look for in the portfolio judging criteria?

We look for several things when judging portfolios. For artists, the list includes:

Your ability to finish zine-quality pieces (fully-rendered, backgrounds, not rushed-looking, etc)

Hard skills: composition, color theory, anatomy, perspective, shape language, etc

Comic paneling skills, if applicable

Solid illustration styles that interest us and we want to see more of

For writers, the list includes:

Your ability to finish zine-quality pieces (complete and concise work, with a full narrative if applicable)

Good grasp on writing basics (grammar, punctuation, spelling, sentence flow, etc)

Solid writing styles / voice / characterization

Ideas and we find intriguing, interesting, or otherwise would like to see written in full

If either of these lists are daunting to you, don’t worry! We are very interested in people who are eager to try new things and push themselves as artists and writers. We’ve accepted many people before based on their apparent eagerness to improve and collaborate with others.

We also like applicants with a unique or unusual approach to artmaking. Some examples include: traditional media, 3D modeling, photo manipulation, graphic design, typography, poetry, etc. While these skills are fun to include, don’t worry — not having them won’t detract from your chance of getting accepted.

Can I apply for both an artist and a writer position?

Yes you can, but if you’re accepted, we’ll choose you for only one of the two options. For example, if you apply to both and we accept you for writing, we expect you to create a written piece for the zine only, no illustration. This decision will be revealed to you in the acceptance email you get once the application period is over.

Can I participate if I’m a traditional artist?

Absolutely! All we require is that you have a scanner in order to submit high-quality images of your work. We work around the 300dpi range, and unfortunately photos taken with phones or webcams usually aren’t high-quality enough for us to include.

How many artists / writers do you accept?

The number of participants (artists and writers combined) we accept depends on several factors — the most important of which are how many mods we have working on the zine and how much we decide we can handle. Historically, our acceptance count ranges anywhere from 35 to 75 participants, with our most recent editions hitting numbers closer to the top of that range.

How do I know my application was submitted correctly? What happens if the link to my portfolio doesn’t work?

If you don’t receive any word from us from the time you submitted your application to when the acceptance and rejection emails go out, then congratulations, your application was submitted correctly! If something is wrong with your portfolio, like if one or more of your links don’t work, we typically request access — which will then appear as an email in the inbox of whatever email is linked to the drive you shared your portfolio from. If the issue persists, you might receive a private message requesting access from one of the mods on a social media handle you included in your application. If you don’t receive an email or message from us, then everything with your application works.

Do you guys send rejection emails?

We do. If you apply to Hermitzine, you’re going to receive an email from us regardless of whether you’re accepted or rejected. If you’re rejected, we give you the opportunity to ask for feedback with your portfolio.

I applied but never got an email. What’s going on?

If you haven’t received an email even though we’ve announced they’ve been sent out on our social media accounts, please check your spam folder to see if it accidentally went there. This has happened a lot in the past!

If I’ve been rejected from an edition of Hermitzine, does that mean I can never apply again?

Absolutely not! You can apply to any edition of Hermitzine you’d like, from now until forever, regardless of the results of previous applications. We love seeing friendly names show up in applications!

Do people who have participated in prior editions of Hermitzine have a higher chance of getting accepted to the newest edition?

No. Applicants who’ve participated in previous editions have the exact same chances at getting into the newest edition than any other participant.

What content is allowed in Hermitzine?

Requirements for a piece are only to feature Hermitcraft and/or the Hermits primarily, follow the theme, be SFW and not have any shipping content. That means that crossover content (ex: the Empires crossover) and hermit-adjacent people can be included, and that pieces can be about content from any season of Hermitcraft.

[anniesocsandgeneralstore]

yeah yeah yeah a bullet point fic about gally x my oc joan in a fallout au cause why the fuck not

Ignoring all the experiment stuff (for now), let's say this takes place in Vault 12, where things are relatively normal! Society is just trying to survive underground, still thinking the outside isn't safe for them!

we'll say that Vault 12 does trades and communication with Vaults 11 and 10 - gotta keep that gene pool diverse.

Joan doesn't want to submit a marriage application to the council. She maybe doesn't want to get married period, she really doesn't know. But she's 22 and the doctors are saying her time is ticking to procreate, so her parents and the council force her hand.

her application is accepted immediately and the wedding is planned for three days time. the council makes a deal with Vault 10. A breeder for seeds and mechanical parts to fix equipment.

the dwellers of Vault 12 make food and bring out the picnic tables for their field and queue up music - everyone is so excited for little Joanie to finally get married.

while joan is just dreading marrying a stranger

her mother helps her get ready, bringing out the Vaults one wedding dress that has been worn by twenty different brides. All of their names written on the inside - Joan writes her name and the date with a shaking hand

the dress isn't as simple as the one Lucy wears, it's long with a train. A high neckline with lace. It's too tight but no one cares. it won't be on for very long anyway.

Joan gets her hair and makeup done, handed a bouquet of fake flowers, and they're off to the gate of Vault 11. She feels like she's going to puke but her parents are watching her like a hawk as they walk behind the Vault's overseer. she can't show any signs of weakness, not now. not when her fate has been decided for her.

the gatekeeper opens the gate to Vault 11 and on the other side is a group of ten people waiting.

when gally received the news that he had been chosen to transfer to Vault 12, to marry a girl he had never met, he was furious. Vault 10 was all he had ever known. His friends were here. His family was here. His own father, a transfer from Vault 9, said that it wouldn't matter once he met his bride. She would change everything.

gally highly doubted it

maybe he was feeling very suspicious about their society and the Vaults and who runs them, so him and a group have devised a plan to escape to the surface, but now that's all down the crap shoot and he has to start all over to find a way to get out of there

after doing everything he could to change what was happening, pleading with the council, convincing someone else to take his place but getting rejected, even cornering their overseer to convince him to choose someone else, and realizing there was nothing he could do - he decided to protest. he would go to Vault 12, he would marry that girl. but that didn't mean he had to talk to her or touch her. even if it was for the rest of his life.

he knew who she was as soon as the Vault gate opened. the one in the white dress holding pink flowers. blonde hair done up in a braid. She looked...scared.

He wouldn't figure out until later, when he stood before her under that artificial sun, that she was pretty. That she was shorter than him by a fair bit. That her roots were brown and her eyes were green like grains of wheat. But upon their first meeting, all he could really see was her fear.

It made him grimace to hear he was being traded for seed and mechanical parts. Was that really all he was worth?

And it made some red hot flare in his chest when his overseer called him a breeder. Nothing more than some sperm and a way to get it into a womb. it didn't matter what his personal feelings were. it didn't matter what he wanted.

when he was practically pushed to the front of the small crowd, introduced as the breeder, he wanted to punch whoever it was in the face. but with a hard glare from his overseer, he kept to himself. clutching his hands together with a death grip.

joan had good reason to look scared. she didn't want to do this in the first place. but her future husband looked...angry.

hands clasped together, lips pursed and brows furrowed. he refused to look at her for more than a second.

she wouldn't figure out until later, when she watched him dance with a woman from his Vault under the artificial moon, that he was handsome. that his hair was dark and buzzed close to his head and his eyes were the color of the sky the history books talked about. that he was loomed over her by nearly a heads length. but upon their first meeting, all she could see was his anger.

her mother nudged her from behind and joan cleared her throat. "wh-what's your name?"

he glanced over at his overseer then muttered, "gally."

"I'm Joan."

the walk back to the field in Vault 12 was a blur. the other dwellers forced the soon-to-be-wed couple to walk together. flanking them at all sides. but the two of them refused to look at one another, let alone speak. joan just stared down at her flowers and tried not to trip in the heels her mother gave her that were slightly too big.

she knew the overseer of Vault 12 said something. probably vows or a speech about the importance of marriage in the continuation of American culture/the human race...but Joan didn't hear any of it. Too busy staring at the stitching in Gally's jumpsuit and trying not to have a panic attack.

the overseer announced them husband and wife and that gally could now kiss the bride. joan felt like she couldn't move. couldn't breathe. they hadn't spoken any words to each other besides introducing themselves. but now she as expected to kiss him?

gally didn't seem too bothered by it. in fact she thought she heard him sigh quietly before he leaned over and pressed his lips to hers.

it was short and there was barely any contact, he pulled away fast as everyone in attendance broke out in cheers

joan felt tears sting the backs of her eyes as they descended the platform and took their seats at the nearest picnic table with her parents for dinner

it was clear he didn't want her and didn't want to be there. at least it was to her. everyone else kept coming up to them to congratulate them and people from her Vault kept telling him how lucky he was to have her. he would smile and say he felt that way already but she could just tell it wasn't genuine.

she barely ate anything that night

her father made her dance with him. her mother made her dance with her new husband.

as they swayed to the slow song, everyone watching, joan felt like she should say something. maybe he just felt the same way she did. maybe they would learn to at least tolerate each other.

"Does - Does this look anything like Vault 10?"

gally nodded as he looked around the field "yeah. pretty much exactly the same."

it was progress. a step in the right direction. and it made joan's heart feel at least a little bit lighter.

but when the party was over the rest of the dwellers practically shoved them down two levels to their new apartment. some of joan's friends had decorated the door with a banner that said "just married" it made her smile for the first time since she woke up that morning.

the apartment was lovely. freshly cleaned and refurbished. for a moment, the only thing she could think about was finally living somewhere without her parents right there. but then she heard the door slide shut behind her and her stomach dropped. right. she was sharing that apartment with her husband.

gally felt bad for her. some of that fear had faded from her while they danced. but it was back on her face now that they were alone in their apartment, her standing stock still in the middle of the room still holding her flowers. back turned to him, shoulders tense, like she was just waiting for him to do something.

but he didn't do anything. instead, he sighed as he undid the zipper of his jumpsuit. leaving him in just his boxers and the t-shirt he liked to wear beneath it.

from the corner of his eye, he saw her tense even more, if that was possible, at the sound of his zipper. but then they instantly dropped when he simply pulled back the covers and laid down.

she stood there for a moment longer, but then she dashed to the wardrobe, pulled something out, and scurried to the bathroom.

a smile quirked the corner of his mouth at the sight. that knowledge of her being cute starting to sink in. but then he rolled over to look out at the "balcony" with a projection of nighttime on its screens.

some loneliness and longing seeped into his bones then. he would never see his friends again. his plan to escape will probably never happen. everything he ever knew was gone (and not in the way he wanted, not in the way the things most important to him were coming with). as revenge, he was determined to continue his protest. reject his bride in all the ways he could and never breed in the way they wanted him to.

but then joan came back out of the bathroom in her standard issue pajamas. a blue silk and lace nightgown with matching robe. as she crossed to the bed, it looked like she was tugging on it to try and make it cover more of her. she couldn't get under the covers fast enough, jumping into the bed and pulling them up under her chin. it was only then that she seemed to realize that was where he was too - her entire body going stiff before turning away from him.

after one conversation and a wedding ceremony, gally knew pretty quickly that joan didn't deserve being ignored for the rest of her life. didn't deserve him for a husband - a guy who did everything he could to try and get out of it. she seemed nice, kind, and from the way she shared her cake with that child...she was generous too.

he didn't notice her crying until it was too late

"I-I'm sorry," she blubbed beside him and he turned on his back to hear her better. "I didn't...I didn't want this either. I'm sorry you had to leave your home."

gally's heart broke. what kind of asshole was he to think she was completely consensual in this?

he didn't know what to say for a while. all he could really do was listen to her sob and try to think...of literally anything. then he finally landed on putting his hand on her shoulder - but the way she jumped made him pull back.

she looked over her shoulder at him and he grimaced. "I...I'm sorry you're stuck with me."

that pulled some sort of laugh out of her. "i don't even know you."

"You will. Then you'll understand."

another silence. then she said "I really am sorry."

"Me too."

and that was really all that needed to be said. after a while, they both fell asleep. restless. but still sleep.

[endlessly-searching-for-you]

There's Always Another Summer, bonus chapter 2 1/2: The Recruit

I thought I was done with my Endless Summer sequel, well it turns out I lied and I’m adding bonus halftime chapters :D

Back to beginning

« Chapter 2  / Chapter 3 »

Four months earlier 

“I should have known that job was cursed the moment I got the file,” Zahra muttered to herself, lighting her next cigarette before the previous one even had a chance to cool off. The thick smoke surrounded her like armor. Her back pressed to the wall behind the arcade, legs stretched out.

She flicked the lighter and stared at the flame. Some insects buzzed nearby, drawn by the light. Just like her, except someone dangled a puzzle in front of her—and she’d fallen for it, hook, line, and sinker.

It happened last spring. She had just clicked “Submit” on her Hartfeld application and was already regretting it. Not because she thought she’d be rejected—please. But because the process was insultingly normal. No secret handshake, no cryptographic problem to solve—just deadlines, boring forms, and a polite automated email saying, “Thank you for your interest in Hartfeld University. We will review your application shortly.”  She rolled her eyes so hard she could see the back of her head.

So, when someone with a Hartfeld email address sent her an email with a cryptic subject “TIER IV RECON PHASE 01” and a single file attached, she didn’t think it was a scam. She thought: finally.

And then, when she opened the file, she let out a snort. Just a database dump, with tables like ‘students,’ ‘admissions,’ ‘classes,’ and ‘grades.’ She scrolled through the records half-annoyed, half-disappointed. What was the task? Find an average GPA from last year? Get the list of people who failed calculus twice? It was so below her level it felt like an insult.

She clicked back to the email to double-check. But besides the file, it was completely empty.

Now that was interesting.

She went back to the student list. It wasn’t big, no more than 1500 records. Too low to be a production dump. And they wouldn’t be that stupid, anyway. Privacy protection and all—not that she couldn’t access the real Hartfeld database within an hour, if she wanted to.

And then it caught her eye—the file size was too large for the number of records. Not much, but enough to raise her eyebrows.

She quickly wrote a script to compare the original with a fresh export she made herself, and there it was: random bytes stuck at the end of file. Mostly trash, but not all. Inside the noise, there was a message:

One of them is not supposed to be there.

Jackpot, she grinned.

A few hours later, she was elbows deep in the darknet mirrors of government databases, with a half-empty energy drink and a cold bowl of instant ramen on her desk. The search wasn’t that hard. There was only one student with a future acceptance date and grades for courses that hadn’t even started yet. 

Whoever added the record hadn’t even tried to hide it. First name only, “42” where the last name should be, and a birthdate of January 1st. Cute, she thought. Real subtle.

But there was a Social Security number. And unlike the rest of the generated data, this number was real.

They— she , Zahra corrected herself, checking the results—had three birth records, each filled in a different state. It could have been a bureaucratic glitch or a forgery.

But then she found two death certificates. Same number, same name, exact same date—

On a summer day, three years in the future.

She sat back and blinked twice as if hoping that was a prank. But the date didn’t change. She shrugged, clicked back to the original email, and attached the scans to the reply just to see what happened.

Two weeks later, she got a fancy admission letter from Hartfeld. And a second, smaller envelope tucked behind it. Inside was just a photo. No explanations. Just a few words scribbled on the back: “ Keep an eye on her.”

“Challenge accepted,” she murmured to herself, cracking her knuckles.

The Hartfeld database was in front of her like an opened book. And sure enough, there she was—the same ID as in the dump. Zahra copied the string, pulled up her own, and switched to the dorm assignments table. A few keystrokes. One command, and they’re roommates now.

Then she leaned back and smiled.

Let’s see who you are.

« Chapter 2  / Chapter 3 »

[august--and-everything-after]

Didn't get the summer seasonal position for the job I worked at during the winter seasonal because a software fuck up on their application site told me that my application was successfully submitted (including an email) and has had it listed as "in progress" since I submitted it (within 24 of the posting opening) but for some reason the hiring manager never got my app.

He even had me on a list to rehire automatically but allegedly never saw my application, and it still tells me it's "in progress" and I never got a follow-up email one way or the other, which I should have.

So I'm kinda really put out.

Maybe this is a sign that I should just throw all my effort into going back to school for a diploma/certification that should hopefully guarantee me some kind of job, even tho I can find a million and one reasons to hesitate or not commit to doing that. Idk I just need to do something at this point.

It's a three year program and I can't start until fall 2026 if I get accepted anywhere (ik the time will pass anyway but I don't wanna be broke and struggling for another 4 years) (but I could also just go from shit job to shit job for the next 4 years and have gained nothing to get to a better job so idk idk. maybe I should just go for it just to do something) (I can always try and look out for other opportunities between now and then and even while I'm in school) (if I get in)

[lunawings]

Today was a big day for me.

After finally starting treatment earlier this month for the health problems I'd alluded to before, I've been feeling a lot better.

So much better in fact, that I submitted a very last minute somewhat spontaneous application to the Idol Showcase at Another Anime Con this weekend and... I was accepted!

The song I applied with was Analog Heart, my favorite Rina Tennoji song that I've been practicing on and off for a long time. (Pretty much ever since I decided I wanted to try IRL idol activities.) And I was really, really excited to finally perform it.

But, due to circumstances at my work impacting my schedule the week before, I had to go an entire week without practicing before the event and I found myself unusually nervous. Then, this was exacerbated by two other factors. First of all, I was scheduled to perform very late in the event for some reason (perhaps my bad for applying late) so I had to sit and watch so many wonderful, wonderful performers before my turn (including another Rina who did SO GOOODDDD). Meanwhile, this was all taking place outside in a tent.

In the POURING rain.

As I felt the occasional droplet on my head and watched the wall of the tent cave in and split open beside me I felt increasingly concerned that the entire roof would just burst open at some point to inundate us all. It did not, but one of the biggest leaks happened to be right on the stage, so when I got up there and saw that puddle it was like.... uurugughghg.

In the end I got through my performance just fine and everyone cheered for me! The crowd was so kind!

But

I felt my movements were a lot more jerky and rushed than they should have been.

Which sucks considering I was SO happy with my audition video. I felt like I'd finally captured the fluid, confident movement I'd been striving for, for so long and I was SO. PROUD........

I shouldn't be this disappointed in myself but unfortunately I am.

*sigh*

Thing is, this was supposed to be my last solo performance as a Love Live character. I was hoping that, after this performance, I would feel fulfilled enough to close that chapter and move on to the other things I have planned.

But I don't feel that way at all.

I don't think I'm ready to let go of Rina quite yet...

Well.

My next opportunity to perform probably won't be for quite some time, so I do have a lot of time to think about it. I can always learn new things and still keep Rina on the backburner if another opportunity comes up short notice. I mean who even knows when I'll feel confident enough to perform the next thing I've got planned anyway because it'll be even harder and more nerve-wracking.

So I guess that's where I currently stand as a soloist.

As for my group idol endeavors... we'll see :)

To end on a high note I guess I'll leave this photo. My friend was cosplaying Lanzhu. Lanzhu was killed by pirates. She died. I don't know if Rina has noticed yet.

[everrainrp]

Hey hey, here to ask a couple questions while I think of my character application!

First one, is medic an explicitly high/limited rank or a general one? Wanting to clarify since they aren’t one of the big three mentioned as Clan leadership (leader, deputy, apothecary) but they are also listed in a separate section from the general ranks on the website, especially similar ones like brewer and seer. Verifying since I’m wondering what category it would fall under, if anyone could enter the rank or if it’ll be limited.

Second question, does making a connection between your character and someone else’s in an application actively decrease your chances of being accepted? I did see the previous ask talking about this, and completely understand the reasoning behind recommending against it in case one of the characters is not accepted! However, was wanting to see if doing so anyway would be held against the applicant, or count as “points off” being accepted. What if the applicant acknowledges one of the characters might not get in, and their own character can function as its own individual? Me and a friend had an interesting story concept and are looking forward to applying soon, but felt it would be best to make sure this wouldn’t be considered explicitly against your wishes. We’re both keeping our expectations very realistic and there’s no hard feelings if one of us isn’t accepted.

That’s about it I think, thanks in advance! Really looking forward to seeing where the group goes, as a spectator or participant!

Hello hello!

Medics are considered general ranks! Having multiple medics has been a historical point for each Clan and has turned tides against previous battles or sicknesses that have gone through the rainforest. I have two questions about this so I will be reformatting the site to portray this statement! From a quick glance it looks like on mobile it separates general ranks out weird, so thank you for bringing this to my attention! They are not considered a limited rank ^_^ !

And for your second question, no it does not decrease your chances or take 'points off' at all! Especially if both characters are submitted and can be played as standalone in case one of you does not get accepted and it is clarified in your applications, I see no issue with this whatsoever. I very much do appreciate you reaching out and asking about this, and hopefully with openings you are both accepted, I'd love to see that and the story concept you have in mind work out!

Thank you so much, you are so sweet! And thank you again for bringing the ranks to my attention, I will have the website updated later today with rank and rule fixes!

If you have any other questions do not be afraid to reach out!

[forgotten-elegy]

Hello! I'm very excited for the next opening :D I wasn't in a good spot to apply for the last one, so i'm hoping this time all will work out teehee 🙏 For my question: I'm really not good at cat genetics, so i'm worried about submitting a character and then the pic i chose isn't viable? I've been rotating this image in particular, but if I were to submit it, would it be okay? If I were to be accepted and it doesn't work, would I be able to change it? Thank you for taking the time to answer! I can't wait for applications to open <3 https://i.pinimg.com/736x/da/39/4d/da394db7f654f9ea9ac1f17ea4cdbf52.jpg

This image looks fine to me! Generally if you can find an IRL image of a cat, it's almost always going to be fine to apply with them, even if they look a bit uncommon. However, if you did use an image reference that doesn't work for some reason, and we otherwise liked the application, we would likely accept you anyways and just let you know what needed to be changed!

We have a short period after opening where we allow changes to be made to characters, such as letting members establish relationships between their cats. During that period would also be a time when we'd be open to changes in your cat's appearance, provided those still fall within our realism standards (i.e you can't get accepted and then try to change your character to make a bright pink cat).

Overall, though the server uses realistic genetics, we don't expect members to be completely proficient in them and the mod team will help you out with anything that needs it!

- Mod Thistle

[readingloveswounds]

Hello Sophie. I'm preparing to submit my PhD and I'm looking to apply to a postdoc fellowship in my field which involves talking to a Professor who will hopefully accept to be my "advisor" so I can submit my application. However, I'm someone who does everything EXTREMELY early - if I have a deadline on Feb 10, you bet I'm submitting by Jan 31. I think it's because I'm an extremely anxious person. SO, I'm having a hard time keeping my sanity right now because the fellowship deadline is in about 7 and a half weeks (it only opened a few days ago, too), and I emailed the Professor I want to work with this weekend, and I'm still waiting for a response, but I keep imagining that I won't meet the deadline. I'm beating myself up because I think I should've emailed them earlier, but I was still preparing my research proposal to send them... Anyway, any tips? Am I overreacting? Can you relate at all? I feel like I'm going crazy tbh

Hi!

To answer your last question first, yes, I can extremely relate, though I don't submit anywhere near that early.

Applications make me nervous, especially when I have to ask other people to do things for me. I have a prof who disappeared this summer and never replied to my emails. Same prof also just submitted a letter of rec two days late, so I have no reason to think that application is going through. Same prof has not acknowledged a recent email about a letter of rec. I am going insane and cannot wait to defend and be able to ask another member of my committee for recs if I can.

THAT SAID, right now you are overreacting. You have time. You have over a month - just under two, in fact.

I mean this lovingly, but take about five steps back and tell yourself that you have time. There's something that I've seen around tumblr, which is something to the extent of 'don't borrow grief from the future' - and is what you need to think about here. Being nervous and anxious is normal, but you can't let it take over and you can't let yourself fall into catastrophizing. You've clearly planned this out! That's really good! Focus on that part. You have enough time to course correct if you need to because you're on top of things.

Here are a few things to consider:

You emailed them this weekend, so they may not have seen the email right when it came in. I would give it at least a week to hear back a response. It depends on the schedule they're on, but a lot of universities just got back into classes, so if they teach (or are at all involved in the department), it's extremely busy for them right now. I would give it a week to a week and a half and then follow up, if you haven't gotten a response. You can offer to provide more information, etc.

Maybe it could have made things easier to talk to them earlier, but you can't know that for sure. I would try to let go of that because you can't change the past. They don't have infinite time and I doubt it would be helpful to either of you to contact them with no real research plan in place. It seems - to me - most appropriate to have contacted them once you had the plan written, which is what you did.

Submitting applications is definitely nerve-wracking and I don't like it!

I try to submit at least a few days early if possible (though it isn't always possible, somewhat due to my own procrastination), but I think the main thing I would focus on rather than getting it in as fast as possible, is making sure you've done as much work on the important parts of it (research plan, cover letter) as possible - which is to say, submitting early isn't a bad idea, but definitely make sure you're giving yourself enough time to do the work well.