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This is Goodbye.

So here we are. I was going to spend time today thinking about how to say goodbye to this blog, but then... well. Something happened that hit me like a gut punch, and it’s been distracting me all day. I’ll talk about it more in my next Blogress Report.

Tumblr used to be the only social media site I was actually invested in, a place for creators, for weirdos, for rejects. My kind of place. It just felt different from a Facebook or Twitter or what have you... and with the way those two sites have become garbage fires, I was grateful for Tumblr more than ever. Tumblr helped me discover myself during an extraordinarily difficult time in my life, it helped me expand my horizons far beyond what a sheltered, disabled white boy mostly stuck at home could hope to experience. I genuinely feel that thanks to people on Tumblr, I’ve overall become happier with who and what I am.

But now I no longer feel welcome. Tumblr has turned its back on people like me and embraced the worst kind of hypocritical, puritanical self-righteous bullshit from its parent company. I cannot and will not stand for this; it goes against everything I believe in.

So I am not only participating in the Log Off protest starting at midnight tonight... I will be leaving Tumblr altogether, no matter what the outcome of the protest is. I will not stay on board with a place that believes people like me don’t have a right to equal expression. This blog will stay up, at least until I can transfer the important stuff, but I will no longer interact with it.

I’m trying to make Pillowfort my new social media site of choice. You’re welcome to follow me on there if you’d like.

The Steven Universe Commentary and Star VS Commentary archives are in the process of moving to a new Wordpress blog: http://susvtfoecommentaryarchive.home.blog . The import process isn’t finished yet, and not all of the SU commentary is there as of this writing, but it’s a start, at least. New commentaries will go up on my Pillowfort (linked below), starting tomorrow night with SU’s new episode.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by my little corner of the internet over the past six years. I appreciate each and every one of you that I was able to talk to. @inkdearie​ in particular, you’re an angel and my best Tumblr friend, and of course @thesilvergoddex​ and @beloved-monsters​, the power couple of all power couples, you guys have been a constant highlight of my experiences in this place.

See you around.

- BHS

Where to Find Me:

Tasakeru - http://tasakeru.com

DeviantArt - http://www.deviantart.com/bhsdesk

Pillowfort - http://www.pillowfort.io/bhsdesk

Twitter - http://twitter.com/bhsdesk

FF.net - https://www.fanfiction.net/u/3237916/

AO3 - https://archiveofourown.org/users/BHS/

WattPad - https://www.wattpad.com/user/BHSDesk

Twitch - http://twitch.tv/bhsdesk

Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/c/bhsdesk

Patreon - http://patreon.com/tasakeru

Steven Universe and Star Vs Commentary Archives (Under construction) : http://susvtfoecommentaryarchive.home.blog/

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Where To Find Me

Tasakeru - http://tasakeru.com

DeviantArt - http://www.deviantart.com/bhsdesk

Pillowfort - http://www.pillowfort.io/bhsdesk

Twitter - http://twitter.com/bhsdesk

FF.net - https://www.fanfiction.net/u/3237916/

AO3 - https://archiveofourown.org/users/BHS/

WattPad - https://www.wattpad.com/user/BHSDesk

Twitch - http://twitch.tv/bhsdesk

Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/c/bhsdesk

Patreon: http://patreon.com/tasakeru

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Ok so, since Tumblr is being an over protective Christian mother int he worse possible ‘Carrie’ sort of way, I’m going to ask that ya’ll reblog and spread the word about your favorite writers and artists again. Likes are nice, but reblogging is way better. And with the way things are and tags and searches being literally nonexistence, we need you so much! I know activity has gone way, way down for me and other writers and artists, and now, it’s gotten so much worse. Tumblr has literally fucked up being able to search for anything at all. Your reblogs mater and are so important. If you want to keep seeing content from us, please, for the love of god, reblog. I hate asking this, but it means the world to me to be able to keep creating here. If Tumblr keeps fucking up then a lot of your fvaorite artists and writers may move elsewhere. Hopefully Tumblr will get everyone back to working order soon, but for now, YOU are the most important thing to us creators. 

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when you’re trying to write and your last two functioning brain cells start yelling at each other

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Now Available on Tasakeru.com: BOOK IV, TWILIGHT’S DREAMING - CHAPTER 6

Chapter 6

Path of many years

Winding from farm to forest

This is her story

“The maiden’s name was Shizuka. From that night on, she was a constant sight by Hayaoh’s side. Those who knew of him saw a great change come over the great warrior… gone were his days of fury and bloodlust, gone was the merciless aura that trailed him like clouds. His heart of stone had cracked in two.

“Theirs was more than a simple courtship turned romance turned love. ‘Love’ was hardly a sufficient word, for the two complemented and completed each other. As Shizuka filled the emptiness inside Hayaoh’s heart with compassion, so Hayaoh brought out the warrior’s spirit in Shizuka, teaching her the sacred virtues of the samurai. She tempered his anger, and he brought out her courage. He showed her how to fight, she showed him how to make peace. It was a perfect union, with each half enhancing the other to become greater than the whole. In time, the legend of Hayaoh became the legends of Hayaoh and Shizuka… the world watched in awe.

“Yet this was not the end of their troubles. When they fought, as all who are in love must fight, their passion shook the earth and rattled the sky, bringing forth rains of bitter tears. Only when they reconciled would the sun shine again.

“And as the years passed, one grew to resent this passion, this bond between them. He was a samurai as cold and hard as Hayao’s heart of stone had once been. His name was Gen, and for many hours, Gen would sit and think his dark thoughts: that Hayaoh had come to disgrace the warrior’s code, becoming a pale shadow of what he was before. It was his mate’s fault, he thought. Something must be done, he thought…”

[Excerpt from The Legend of Hayaoh, a collection of squirrel folklore, circa Year 500]

She is born on a farm in mid-autumn, in a small brick house within the Jiburi Grasslands. The house is bordered by rows of green blessed with vegetables and fruits in a dozen varieties, and flowers in countless colors.

It is a humble life, a simple life. The farm makes money, but not very much. She learns to tend the fields at a young age. Her parents teach her the Edicts of the Heavens and how to read and write, for they do not have the money to send her to formal school or hire a tutor. She reads whenever she can, whatever she can. Sometimes she hopes for a younger brother or sister to play with, but one never comes.

Years pass. Her life is quiet and sometimes lonely, but pleasant.

As she grows, her parents tell her again and again the importance of the Edicts, the sacred directives given by Lady Terra, the Goddess of Life herself. She comes to know them all by heart. The Edicts are good, the Edicts are absolute. How could anything from the Goddess be anything but?

She spends many days gazing out of her bedroom window, imagining the wider world beyond the seemingly endless fields of green. She suspects she will never see that world, that the farm will keep her here for the rest of her life, as it has kept her parents and grandparents before her. Sometimes she sorrows to think this, but the sorrow always passes quickly. It is good work, important work that she and her parents do. They plant the seeds and till the soil, and the Goddess gives them food and flowers. The food feeds the people, the flowers make them happy. Happiness brings enough money to plant more seeds, and the cycle goes on.

Sometimes she thinks that the cycle will continue without end...

Read more on Tasakeru.com (indirect link because Tumblr)

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BHS Belated Blogress Report: 2018, Week 48 - I Know It's Late, Dammit

#BHSBlogressReport 2018, Week 48 : I Know It's Late, Dammit - So maybe there'll only be TWO late Blogress Reports this year. Anyway, I made a major #Tasakeru breakthrough. New chapter this week.

Week 48 – I Know It’s Late, Dammit

I should have done this last night, but it completely slipped my mind. I guess doing the Thankful List special edition threw off my timing. Well, anyway. Since most of the major happenings of the past week were covered there, I don’t have all that much to talk about. I’m in crunch mode as far as writing goes, trying to get out Chapter 40 of Shattered Skiesand…

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the one thing all of us writers have in common is that none of us are fucking writing

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BHS Special Blogress Report: The Thankful List

BHS Special Blogress Report: The Thankful List - A special edition, containing my annual positivity project.

The Thankful List Happy holidays, everyone. Sorry I couldn’t get a full Report out on Monday. Fortunately, I’m feeling much better now. So! Before I get to the annual list, I have two pieces of news: the first is that I attended a free midnight screening of The Room last Friday night. Yes, THAT The Room. My fears that I would be one of the only people there turned out to be completelyunfounded,…

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BHS Blogress Report: 2018, Week 47 - Placeholder

#BHSBlogressReport: 2018, Week 47 - Placeholder : Sorry, didn't plan on getting sick. Actual Report content to come later this week, hopefully.

Week 47 – Placeholder

This was going to be a standard Report up until a few hours ago, when I started feeling bad. “Bad” has rapidly downgraded to “awful”, so I’m putting the updated list of projects up now and doing my usual Report discussion and content with the annual Thankful List (to be posted on DA, link forthcoming) on Thursday, by which I’ll be feeling better, hopefully. Sorry. – BHS

Ta…

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How to Fix Tumblr’s “No Posts with External Links Show Up in Tags” Nonsense!

Hey fellow creators! So, as some folks may have recently become aware, Tumblr posts with external links don’t show up in relevant tags (as detailed in this post). IE, if you post a Steven Universe picture and tag it “Steven Universe” and there’s an external link in the post, it won’t actually show up in the “Steven Universe” tag! This is very frustrating! What if I make a post and want to link to my Twitter in the description? What if I want to link people to my online store when I post a piece of art? What if I want to link to a YouTube video and still have it show up under the relevant tags I put into the post?

Hold on to your butts kids cuz here’s how we cheat the system. 

—

The thing about Tumblr’s Anti-Linking nonsense works is that it only blocks external links. Internal links are fine. So if you wanted to post a link to another Tumblr post, or someone’s Tumblr blog, you’re good. But if you wanted to link to your Twitter page or something, you’re screwed. So, all we gotta do is make your external link into a Tumblr link. Sounds weird. I know. But here’s how it works. 

First, go to your Tumblr blog. Hit the “Edit Theme” tab. 

In the theme editor sidebar, scroll all the way to the bottom, the “Page” section. (Here’s what mine looks like- I already have a few of these set up)

Hit “Add a Page”, and this window will pop up. By default it’s set to be a Standard Page. Hit the dropdown and select “redirect”. 

For this example, let’s say I want to link to my Twitter page. I’ll name the page “Twitter” (this is what the redirect URL will end up being- IE yourblogname.tumblr.com/Twitter), and insert my Twitter URL under the “Redirect To” tab. Leave “Show a link to this page” turned off. (Unless you want the link to show up on your blog, in which case, turn it on. Do what you want, I’m not your mom)

Hit “Save”, and your new page should now show up on your Page list!

And done! So now, let’s say I wanted to use the new link in the text portion of a post. Simply use the Tumblr redirect link instead of the direct URL! As a test, I linked to my Twitter in a test post, using the redirect link instead of the direct link, and there it is in the tag! Success!

I recommend making a Redirect Page for any external links you’ll be using frequently. I like to post links to my webcomic/Twitter in posts fairly often, but doing that made me take a pretty big hit since my posts wouldn’t show up in tags. With this method, I can keep the external links, and have stuff show up when I tag it! Workarounds are fun! 

Hope that helps! -Star

(Reblog to spread the word!)

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BHS Blogress Report: 2018, Week 46 - A Little Bit of Light

#BHSBlogressReport 2018, Week 46 - A Little Bit of Light : Improvements in my outlook, a new chapter of #ShatteredSkies, Precure rankings, and #DoctorWho delivers another masterpiece.

Week 46 – A Little Bit of Light

I woke up on Wednesday morning, and for the first time in more than two years, I didn’t feel complete dread for the future. It’s a funny thing… the world isn’t really all that much different than it was last week. We made a little bit of progress, we had a lot of good news and a lot of bad news too… but more good than bad. It’s like I have a different perspective…

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Okay, this never happens. I just sat down for a solid 3 and a half hours and wrote a fic from start to end in a draft format that closely resembles mid-draft as opposed to first draft. My concentration never wavered.

I’m afraid

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BHS Blogress Report: 2018, Week 45 - Staying Angry

#BHSBlogressReport 2018, Week 45 : Staying Angry - A new, very personal #Tasakeru chapter, and why I've been cutting myself off from the news... not because I don't care, but for my own survival.

Week 45 – Staying AngryIt may come as a surprise to some of you, seeing as I make a name for myself putting characters I love through the wringer, but in real life, I actually hate conflict. I’ve gotten myself into numerous very bad situations over the years because when conflict is happening or seems imminent, I almost always back down in an effort to resolve it as quickly as possible. I get…

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TWILIGHT'S DREAMING, CHAPTER 5

#TASAKERU Relaunch: TWILIGHT'S DREAMING, CHAPTER 5 - The last dance concludes with bittersweet tea and a bittersweet confession. Everything changes.

Chapter 5 A green tea meeting Revelations and reveals The tears of autumn

  “When at last the bathing maiden saw Hayaoh on the shore, she did not move. When her eyes met his, he saw in her surprise, confusion, indecision… but not fear. Not a trace of fear.

“For what seemed hours, Hayaoh and the maiden in the lake gazed at one another. Neither moved, neither spoke. The moment between them hung…

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BHS Blogress Report: 2018, Week 44 - Close to Home

#BHSBlogressReport 2018, Week 44 : Close to Home - Slow week, but expect a Tasakeru chapter by Wednesday.

Week 44 – Close to Home Not much to talk about this week, sorry. I’m pushing myself to get Chapter 5 of Twilight’s Dreamingdone by the end of the month. This is a difficult chapter to write, because it’s supposed to be intensely emotional… and it involves drawing on experiences and aspects of myself that aren’t pleasant in the least. I wonder if that’s part of the reason I’ve been putting it…