#(realized I have so many things I've created but never posted here on tumblr so.... rectifying that slowly)

[capskat26]

Charming hassaku face! Steaming Onomichi ramen hat! Cute fish pouch! Cool boots, vital for any fisherman! And a bold and trendy Ono shirt! That's right! It’s my tribute to the Pride of Onomichi… Ono... Michio! 🍊

2" hard enamel pin with screen printed details. I ADORE Ono Michio and I adore how this pin came out too!

Get it here!

[jedi-hawkins]

"Strap in, kid. You're not gonna want to miss this view." - Sgt. Hunter

I've seen a few others make a tribute post for the batch and I felt some words pulling at my chest.

I was a latecomer to the fandom, I binged season 1 & 2 in July of last year and it's been a wild ride since. I've laughed and cried and everything in between. It's hard to even articulate what this show means to me.

I began my Star Wars journey like many others, with the original trilogy at some point in childhood (you could consider me a zillenial). I liked them, but I was much more of a Harry Potter nerd at the time, my head was at Hogwarts. The prequels, however captured my heart. I don't remember when I first watched TCW, but it's very clear my heart belongs to the times of the Republic.

Like things often do, other fandoms have faded out of my peak interests, Harry Potter, Hunger Games and Maximum Ride to name a few, but any time I've come back to Star Wars, it feels like coming home. A galaxy far far away so vast and full of hope and love and grief and sorrow.

The last year has been far from easy. For the last few years, that feels like all we've been saying, huh? But in all seriousness, I really did loose myself in the past year, but oddly enough, Star Wars was a constant for me, it was an escape. I joined tumblr right after I binged season 1 & 2 of The Bad Batch and immediately fell in love with the wonderful world of fans and writers and artists here.

At first, I was a lurker, just a name that popped into the reblogs, but I began interacting more and more. I've brushed on this with a couple people (so sorry for repeating myself), but it was actually through reading fanfiction, that I came to terms with the fact that I needed to leave a 2.5 year relationship. It's not that I 'fell out of love' with them or anything, I just realized I didn't trust them as much as I should, I didn't want to share as much as I should, I wasn't being fulfilled in the ways I needed. And for that, fanfic authors, I thank you. Please never stop creating.

I also learned a lot about myself, get ready cause I'm about to get cheesy.

Hunter, you brought me a lot of comfort. I saw how heavy the wellbeing of your squad weighed on your shoulders. How you sacrificed and starved yourself, mentally and emotionally for their safety and benefit. I've lived that more times than I can count and with you, I didn't feel quite as alone in that experience. Even though we never talked, and we never will, I feel like you saw me. Crosshair, you healed some of my faith in humanity. That people can change, they can see the error in their ways and turn against a system they just sort of slipped into. You reminded me that healing isn't linear, and that's okay. You reminded me that courage and bravery aren't the absence of fear, but they are going and facing the mountain despite every atom in your body telling you to turn the other way. Echo, you reminded me it's okay to leave a group if your goals don't align. That it's not always an "in or out" situation. They can still be your family, people you rely on and who can rely on you even if you're not sharing bunks or meals anymore. You also reminded me that no matter how dire a situation is, or how grumpy you may be, a little humor goes a long way. Wrecker, you reminded me that people's perception does not define who you are. You can be big and gentle. you can love explosions and destruction and still be very intuitive. You can take some time to process things and still be skilled and intelligent. You reminded me to take joy in the simple things, a Lula, some Mantel mix, an ice cone. Things are always a little better with a full belly. Omega, you brought back some of my childlike innocence. You approached the galaxy with wide eyes full of wonder and always gave people the benefit of the doubt. You never lost hope. Even though you had to grow up too fast, you didn't let it break you, you still opened your heart to anyone who would see it. Tech, dear Tech. You reminded me to never dull myself or apologize for being authentically me. That my interests and skills are a good thing, no matter how niche they are. That I shouldn't be embarrassed or feel annoying for my knowledge or my eagerness to share it. You reminded me that love and humor and kindness and connection come in all shapes and sizes.

I've also made friends in this fandom at a level I wasn't even expecting to. I've made connections beyond the galaxy of Star Wars and found love and support in amazing ways. I was pulled to create more than I have in a long time, writing, drawing, hell even building my own server.

For sake of not clogging people's notifications, fighting with Tumblr's tagging bugs, and inevitably forgetting to tag someone: You all know who you are. Three M's, Havoc Marauder.

I began writing this tribute post before I watched the finale, and I'm finishing it after the finale. I'll end my ramble with this:

Dee and Michelle, thank you for bringing these characters to life over the last four years. You two really were the heart and soul of this project and your voices will forever ring true as Clone Force 99. Filoni, thank you for creating the concepts for this wonderful show that has become such a big part of so many people's lives. Brad, thank you for the immense work you've put into the show, your direction will not be forgotten. Jen, Joel, KinerBros, and Noshir (The Four Horsemen), y'all are a bunch of trolls and I hate you for it. I'm sending you my therapy bills. (I mean thank you for your work too, but you've been playing with my emotions for the past three months so forgive me if I'm a bit bitter)

It has truly been an amazing view. I don't plan on going anywhere, the fandom is just getting started, I am on the edge of my seat for all the wonderful fan creation that are yet to come.

CT-9901 ~ Sergeant Hunter ~ Havoc 1

CT-9902 ~ Tech ~ Havoc 2

CT-9903 ~ Wrecker ~ Havoc 3

CT-9904 ~ Crosshair ~ Havoc 4

ARC-1409 ~ Echo

Omega ~ Havoc 5

Clone Force 99 ~ Signing off 🫡

[ladysarai]

@inception30daychallenge, Day 31: A letter to Inception fandom.

Dear Inception Fandom,

Friends, I am Old. I have been around the block and back again. I am old enough to have read fanfic on the computers in the school library and printed out fics for my friends because they did not have computers at home. I read fanfic on dial up. I cut my teeth on fanfic on FF.Net, on AngelFire websites, and on AOL Message Boards.

I say this ONLY because I want you all to know How Long I have been in Fannish Spaces, and how many fandoms I have been involved in, so that you can believe me when I say: I have NEVER encountered a fandom like this one.

If you look at my AO3, you'll see that most of my posted fics are dated prior to 2010. I spent most of my 30s not being particularly fannish. I didn't post fics. Once LJ made the move to DW, I lost track of fandoms and friends (and never really grasped Tumblr, tbh), and whatever writing I did, I kept to myself. I thought I had lost the ability to get fannishly obsessive over a piece of fiction. There are a lot of Real Life reasons for this--jobs, health, family crap, mental health, selling my home and building a new one, working in healthcare during COVID... And I was put on a medication a few years ago that, it turns out, basically induced depression, but I didn't realize it until February of this year, when I stopped taking it.

It was like a switch was thrown in my brain, and I suddenly wanted to read fanfic and create again! It was great! And one day I was rereading old fics by a favorite author and thought "what else did they write?" and saw they had Inception fics. I thought "huh. That was a fun movie. It provided the premise for the very best RP game I've ever been involved in. Why not?"

As they say, the rest is history. I fell down the rabbit hole of Inception fanfics, discovered an obsession with Arthur/Eames, and dragged my bestie @nutterzoi down with me. I swear that in April, I watched that movie basically every other day for the entire month. And then we started writing fics. I have now posted FOUR Inception fanfics since the middle of June. With Zoe, I'm working on a Big Bang and on several other fics. We literally have a gdoc of ideas for fics because otherwise we will forget them all.

This is all great, Sara, but what about the fandom? Guys. Friends. Zoe and I have been writing fanfic together basically nonstop since before Y2k. We have not posted any of our fanfic since prior to 2010. UNTIL NOW. And the reason I am happy to write and post fanfic? For other people to see and read?? Is because of YOU, the fandom.

This movie is 14 years old, but the fandom is alive and active. Arthur and Eames have about 3 minutes of screen time together, but over 8,000 fics on AO3! @inceptiversary came along just as I was finding my footing here on Tumblr, and MAN, the things everyone has come up with for @inception30daychallenge just blow my mind! The creativity, attention to details, impressive meta and gorgeous fanart and graphics are incredible. Maybe some of the reasons this fandom is so calm and comforting is that I missed the early growing pains, but it is FUN to come into a well established fandom with so much to read and see!

But even more than that... this fandom is KIND, and WELCOMING. I point out again that I am Old. I have reached the point in my life that I do not want to spend time around people or spaces that are not comfortable, especially online, which is where I go for my escapism and fun. Every single person I have interacted with in the Inception fandom has been friendly and encouraging. I hope you all know just how rare this is for both a fandom and for an online space. THANK YOU for being so wonderful. In more ways than one, you have restored my faith in fandoms and fannish spaces, and in my place in them. I certainly hope you're all okay with being stuck with me, because I do not see myself going anywhere.

Thank you for giving back a part of myself that I thought was lost and gone forever.

Love,

Sara

[welcome-to-roomba-fazbender]

HAPPY 5TH ANNIVERSERY TO

CHARLIE THE CURSED PHONE GUY

MAY HE STAY WITH US FOR ANOTHER FIVE AND BEYOND!

and now a special message from the man himself.

"Well, Well, Well... look how far we've come huh? Genuinely, honest... And Truly."

"Five years ago I was made and cursed the world of tumblr with my presence, time sure does fly! I've lost a few friends, but gained plenty more in return!"

"I wouldn't even be here today without them, now granted I'm not gonna name EVERYONE! But I am gonna name a select few and tell you how they've impacted me... AHEM..."

"First and foremost the man the myth and the legend the one who is the reason behind everything, the man where if he didn't exist I wouldn't exist!"

"Henr- ... we all know I don't mean him we're talking about real people."

"If your name isn't listed, it isn't because the mod dosen't care but it's because he's a dumbass and these are the ones that came up at the top of his head when writing this post, totally not a forth wall break."

@directdogman

"The Creator of the DSAF/Dayshift At Freddy's Series Direct Doggo himself, sure okay I was a late edition to the fandom.

but it is fully thanks to DSAF 3 and him that I even exist, what can I say about doggo other then what has been said before one thousand times? He is a man of many skills and many talents."

"He is creative, smart and genuinely an inspiration to everyone in the community of both DSAF and Dialtown... no matter how much time has passed, I will personally continue to respect the man I owe everything to him. So thank you doggo genuinely for your support and your amazing games."

@cook-ie-chip

"One of my oldest friends in the community, I've known you since almost the start! we have alot of memories together, some laughs, some cries! you also created my blue prints

(though in lore they were written by henry and will) let's look past that! You remind me of how things used to be a long time ago, and I'm glad to still know you even now."

"and with any hope I'll curse you for many years more."

@lazy-charlie / @chuck-the-fanboy

"I remember how we met, you found me and we both realized we had the same name, and so I decided to charge you extra for like a pizza party lmao."

"But ever since that day we have only grown closer and closer... to the point your apart of the roomba fazbender family [no you will get no discounts] ..."

"You've done so much for me over the years though, you helped create the Roomba's we have here today, you drew some of our lovely walrus friends!"

"AND ... ough... Okay Okay I'll be honest you made Chuck The Fanboy originally a joke just to tease me with, but over the years he's grown on me... DO NOT LET HIM HEAR ME SAY THIS, but he's like a lil bro... and if anything happened to him I'd be devastated."

@clownsuu / @not-robert

"... well well well if it isn't the shadow in black and the big buff zombie, what can I say about both of you?"

"Hmm... Clownsuu here teases me, has DRAWN ME MPREG, HAS DRAWN ME EMO, IS THE REASON WHY THE EVIL VERSION OF ME EXISTS!..."

"and yet life wouldn't be the same with out him, jack is... an anomaly someone I met because someone thought he was stealing me! HA no one can steal this perfect face~"

"Gotta say though, all jokes aside... life just wouldn't be the same without him, alot more boring you know? I must admit he is someone I will never forget, you've also drawn photos of a few of my walrus I still have hung up in my office, I appreciate you for absolutely everything you've done."

"And don't get me started on Robert that big buff baby, I've put him in just about every costume under the sun, and yet he still puts up with me and stays still no idea why. But it's because of him my restaurant has expanded so much, from a bowling alley, a karaoke bar and dumpsters full of meat."

"Don't tell Robert this he'd likely call me an idiot, but guy's one of my best friends genuinely thankfully he's immortal so I'll never worry about losing him but ... the thought still scares me."

"Never change Robert."

@weirdozjunkary

"You turned me into a furry... I got nothin else to say I just had to point that out."

"..."

"..."

"Okay, fine you did alot more then that, you introduced me to bedlam someone who can FINALLY truly be a sponge to my cursed and chaotic behavior, honestly I'd hope so considering he's the god of chaos."

"I only met him recently but I'd fuken fight his version of god for him ... seriously don't tempt me I will kick that old man's ass."

"I'm glad to have bedlam in my life and hope I know him for many years more."

@an-artist-place-for-extra-art

"you simp for the evil version of me I..."

"I have no words for you..."

"I just question... why?"

"though honestly? never change, I care for you just the way you are, your amazing."

"Alright, Alright enough of the mushy stuff and forth wall breaks it's messing with my circuits and servo's ahem..."

"The most important thing about this day is one..."

"I'm so fucking cool"

"two"

"I AM NEVER GOING ANYWHERE HATERS, FIVE MORE YEARS AND BEYOND OF ME!!!"

"and three... and most important lore wise"

"HAPPY 50TH ANNIVERSERY TO ROOMBA FUCKING FAZBENDERS!"

"50 YEARS THIS PLACE HAS BEEN OPEN WITHOUT ANY DEATHS JUST A FEW INJURIES AND I'LL TAKE THAT WITH STRIDE!"

"AS THE ULTIMATE FUCK YOU TO FREDBEAR'S AND FAZBENDER ENTERTAINMENT!"

"THE GUY WHO IS A LITERAL ELDRITCH HORROR AND EATS SHOES WITH HIS BOOTLEG RESTURANT LASTED LONGER THEN ALL OF YOU SUCK IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

"... thank you... genuinely out of pocket with full seriousness..."

"thank you everyone for sticking around none of this would be possible without you, and I HONEST AND TRUELY can't wait for another five amazing years."

Moderator Monnie: And happy anniversary to everyone from me to all of you!

Have a fantastic day! and thank ya'll for reading!

[moonfromearth]

~ Happy Simblr Gratitude Day! ~

I didn't realize how much I had to say thank you for until I started working on this post. It's all probably going to be incredibly cheesy but in the few years I've been on here there have been so many things that I'm grateful for. When I joined a whole two years ago now (wow it went so fast!) I was incredibly lonely, shy, and very socially anxious. Despite still being all of those things being here has introduced me to a whole community that was more kind and caring than I could have ever hoped to find 😊

Soooo on to some shout outs...

To Many of the Simblrs I've Loved Before: To call out as many people as I can making awesome content... @oswanily, @resurrectonomitron, @p1x1e-simsm, @pixelnrd, @bastardtrait, @servegrilledcheese, @sojutrait, @gloomlet, @saltybluffs, @sonicblooms, @simmingonthelow, @papiermaker, @wildmelon, @rebouks, @neighborhoodstories, @seokolat, @heartblobs, @deathbypufferfish, @simelune, @d4isywhims, @carousel-of-sims, @lovecidik, @noeyinthemist, @windslar, @dreamlandiasims, @buglaur, @thebramblewood, @aheathen-conceivably, @loveryss, @druidberries, @kashisun, @rainymoodlet, @sasaofastora, @come-hell-or-high-water, @panicsimss, and @simsandgiggles. You're all so amazing! 🥰

To the Sims Groups: I joined several Discord servers this year and I'm not very good at it, and I'll try to be more active next year, but I've appreciated the communities you've built and I got to find a lot of new blogs and awesome people because of it, so thank you @nexility-sims @thewoodslegacy @300yearschallenge @simstrashkingdom @crownsofesha @lynzishell @sirianasims @salemssimblr @simlishpiadina and @buttertrait.

To Some of my First Followers: I've never gotten a chance to thank some of the people who've been following my posts since the beginning. You made me want to keep creating while also being talented creators yourselves! I'll never forget seeing that such talented people thought my posts were worthy of liking, so thank you @lalunebleue @akitasimblr and @minty-plumbob for always being here.

To Everyone Who Interacted with My Blog In Any Way: Thank you for every ask, like, comment, reblog, everything. Even if it was only on one post it made me incredibly happy and I'm so grateful you took the time to look at my sims. 😊

I'm sure I forgot some people (and tumblr limited my tags so I ran out of room), so, to anyone I forgot/didn't get to mention, thank you so so much and to anyone who might not have gotten a mention today you are beloved as well and your presence in the community is still seen.

I'd also like to give a final thank you to @armoricaroyalty for setting up Simblr Gratitude day! It's been such a wholesome day so thank you and know that you're amazing as well~!

I could say so much more about everyone I mentioned but it's already gotten really long 😅. Know that you're all so insanely talented and I'll never not feel lucky to be a part of this community.

Thank you~ ❤️

[meat-wentz]

FOB LORE POST Pt. 1

okay so tumblr ate the original ask i was responding to and now refuses to save/post all the edits i’ve made, so this post has to come out in two parts. i’d rate it surface level-knee deep lore (maybe some waist deep, maybe some neck deep idk we'll see)! i'll be focusing on pre-hiatus just cause post-hiatus is generally easier to find (but there will also be post-hiatus because i can't help myself). also curated to my tastes these are things that *i* always think about, so big disclaimer this is not everything. this part basically covers the fob extended universe (terms/people to know, blog links, and important texts here and there), links to unrealeased tracks/rares/covers, and a rundown on the origin story.

so here's some basic things to know:

FBR- Fueled by Ramen. baby's first record label. also host to a bunch of other notable acts from the scene.

FOBR- easy to mix up. literally just falloutboyrock.com, their website. hosted journal entries, updates, the webstore, and more.

Decaydance- record label owned by Patrick and Pete under FBR, founded in 2005 when Pete wanted to sign P!ATD and realized he didn't have label to do so. AWESOME ORAL HISTORY FEATURING PETE, TRAVIE, GABE, AND SPENCER. intro to Decaydance (included in article). relaunched as DCD2 in 2014.

FOE- friendsorenemies.com, let's do a quote about this one: "If you’re one of those types that have uttered the words, “I’m their biggest fan” in reference to post-punk popsters Fall Out Boy, then you’re in luck because there is a site where like-minded people can hang out. Honda Civic Tours has joined forces with Friendsorenemies.com, to create a user-generated worldwide fan community for the Chicago-based band. The site includes dozens of up-close and oh-so-personal videos of the band, along with exclusive, unscripted content that gives an extensive behind-the-scenes look at the Fall Out Boy’s latest tour… because pop stars shouldn’t have any privacy or down time." they have a youtube with SO MANY videos here (check out their playlists, they have a bunch of fob specific ones.

OCK- Overcast Kids, fob's official fan club, usually got exclusive content, merch, pre-orders, and more. you'll see some blog posts where pete makes references to overcast kids referring to the fans.

Fuck City- essentially Andy Hurley frat house/collective/brand. he has Fuck City tatted on his knuckles. there's primers out there i'd search for "Matt Mixon primer" and you'll probably find some livejournal links.

Clandestine Industries- Pete's clothing brand. there's a whole dvd about his collab with nordstrom and in it he states he wanted to aim for "unisex," if i ever found a rip of this i'll link it here. meanwhile here's a video about their landmark store. video that was on the site. 2010 fashion show.

Pete’s blog entries (best viewed in browser). there's also this masterpost (hint, if some links don't work in this, especially for fobomatic, try amending the url to "fobomatic-blog," and it should pop up). and this tumblr: @disloyalorderofpete

Joe’s blog entries

Patrick’s blog entries

important text: “We Liked You Better Fat: Confessions of a Pariah” written by Patrick post-Soul Punk, and kicked off talks of coming off hiatus between Pete and Patrick.

important text: “Fall Out Boy Forever” by Hanif Abdurraqib

important text: “The Boy With the Thorn in His Side” by Pete (his first book), you can read here, just scroll to the bottom to start: @clandestineindustriespresen-blog

important text: to you (unfinished, off the top of my head) arguably one of the most important Pete blog entries (to the fans and to ME at least)

you'll see some names around, so here's a few touring friends and crew you'll want to make note of: Charlie (security), Dirty (personal court jester and whipping boy, he seems to like it, i want to do a study on him, he has Pete's initials branded in his ass- Pete did it himself with a hanger), HeyChris (i'll probably give him is own section), Nick Scimeca (i've never really clear on him, i think he acted as web designer/bestie, but i know for sure he lived in the dirty ass tttyg apartment), Hemingway (Pete's dog), Matt Mixon (Andy's bestie/fuck city roommate). primary ones to know are bolded.

HeyChris: okay Chris is important because he was in Arma Angelus and was fob's first supporter, caught the name HeyChris through grenade jumper (which they wrote for him!). he tours with them for awhile, i *think* doing crew duties, running the merch stand, being one helluva hypeman. QUITE A DYNAMIC with pete. part of the World's Most Hated Crew which were crew members primarily shared between mcr and fob, who had bad reputations for 1) their proximity to the bands 2) being scene kings/queens 3) gossip and drama. 2006, he and Pete have a massive falling out over their blogs. since then they've made up, still talk every once in awhile. he runs the catcade in chicago and emerges out of the woodwork to stir shit up every now and then. here's his livejournal. and another one. he also has a tumblr. so go hunting if you want. most of his updates are through instagram, he loves to troll.

list of movie references in songs

because it's referenced so much i have to include the drunk history, but be warned it's Brendon, and a whole lot of him.

here’s some of my personal fave unreleased/covers/features:

hand of god (some very uhm breathy whiny patrick vocals in this that i can’t believe are legal)

austin we have a problem (also horny vocals and for what)

star 67

we don’t take hits we write them (listen the amount of blood i would spill to get a clear recording of this song)

save your generation (jawbreaker cover)

basket case (green day cover live)

under pressure (queen and david bowie cover, patrick does both vocal parts and and it’s so cunt)

what’s this? (nightmare revisited: nightmare before christmas cover album and US SPOTIFY REFUSES TO COUGH UP THE ONE FOB TRACK, however i still recommend korn’s version of kidnap the sandy claws and rise against’s version of making christmas)

lullabye (hidden track on folie a deux written pete’s son)

catch me if you can

mr. brightside (killers cover which they did live a few times, which is extremely funny because pete and brandon flowers were feuding after brandon said fob and emo were ‘dangerous’ and ‘poisoning the minds of the youth’ and that he wanted to ‘beat all those emo bands to death’)

i write sins not tragedies

tiffany blews bridge ft. patrick vocals

patrick covering i can make you a man from rocky horror

patrick feature on one day i’ll stay home by misery signals

patrick features on cupid’s chokehold and clothes off! by gym class heroes (these may be obvious to some but i’m including just in case and also because they slap)

patrick feature on one of THOSE nights by the cab, brendon jumpscare warning, but patrick’s vocals literally made me fucking insane here, also the amount that pete is featured in this video is so funny to me

fob feature on the hand crushed by a mallet remix by 100 gecs (the way i fucking lost my mind when this dropped)

these are on spotify but often get looked over/missed/are hard to find:

roxanne (police cover): spotify, youtube

start today (gorilla biscuits cover): spotify, youtube

snitches and talkers get stitches and walkers: spotify, youtube

the music or the misery: spotify, youtube

my heart is the worst kind of weapon: spotify, youtube

my heart will always be the b-side to my tongue

pax am days

lake effect kid

yule shoot your eye out: spotify, youtube

i wanna dance with somebody (whitney houston cover): spotify, youtube

the world's not waiting (for five tired boys in a broken down van)- literally my personal favorite off of EOWYG it makes me insane: spotify, youtube

some fun extras:

there’s also this fun little behind the scenes video for cobra starship where patrick is singing city at war

this uncomfortable video of patrick and pete singing womanizer with ellen degenres

this video of fob at the inaugural dinner for obama where they have light up instruments and patrick starts off i don’t care with a little snippet of womanizer (very cunt) which also has a part 2 where pete climbs a tree and they meet the president ajbdjdksndnd.

fall out boy on teen titans go: part 1, part 2, song

deep blue love (patrick wrote this for a movie! and it makes me need to lay down) "behind the scenes" here

patrick song in star vs. the forces of evil

patrick theme for spidey and his amazing friends

patrick musical episode of dead end paranormal park (most of the patrick demos are uploaded as well)

patrick features on robot chicken, also here's the uncensored version of blue rabbits fucking

you can also look up their rare/unreleased songs and get a whole lot more than provided here, and also patrick has done so many covers it’s wild there’s a playlist on youtube that’s 130 videos long and includes bangers such as this is how we do it, let’s dance, in the air tonight, kiss my sass, fob covers of we are the champions, don’t stop believin’ and more.

NOW. as far as origin stories go. let’s start with pete who was a notable figure in the chicago hardcore scene, having been in bands on bands on bands, and very notably RACETRAITOR. pete, joe, patrick (i still haven’t found the source for patrick but it’s on wikipedia so i’ll include him) and andy have all at varying points played in racetraitor, and andy still plays with racetraitor when they get together. joe and pete become friends, joe driving him around because his license is suspended, and right around that time pete starts ARMA ANGELUS and when heychris can’t make it on tour, pete convinces joe’s parents to let him fill in on bass and they all go out on the road. when they come back, arma’s kinda its last leg and this is when pete and joe start talks for a pop-punk project. joe will play guitar, pete will play bass, now they just need a drummer and a singer.

so very important lore here, joe’s hanging out in borders when he’s interrupted by none other than one patrick stump who starts a lecture on music to which joe starts lecturing back, THIS IS HOW THEY MEET. i’ll let joe tell it (click for full view):

this continues into another important bit of lore, which is that joe dragged pete to patrick’s house so he could audition and patrick answered the door wearing a sweater, shorts, and socks. this is important, it comes up time and time again, patrick answered the door in an sweater, shorts and socks. it’s important. to both me and pete. he proceeds to show them all his talents, but when he sings, that’s when it clicks and everyone in the room says you’ve got a massive set of pipes there, you’re our singer. now, patrick didn’t care about singing, in other bands he had primarily focused on drums. but he wanted to be in a band that would let him write music and he also had admired pete from afar on the scene and so he agreed to sing.

they finally pull andy when they start recording seriously and their drummer can’t make it so they ask andy to fill in. andy at this point is a notable drummer in the scene, like he plays in so many bands and is referred to as “the metal drummer.” pete and andy have known each other for a long while and they've had their eye on him since the beginning, it's just that he's in various other bands and going to school so he hasn't had the time. but they ask him to fill in and everything just falls into place. i’ll let patrick tell it:

and they've been the same lineup for two decades now (outside of fill-ins every now and again for emergencies etc). as legend goes, they had switched out names quite a few times, fall out boy being one of them, referencing the character from the simpsons. one night they came out, said "we are [insert long drawn out complicated name here]" and a fan yelled "fuck that! you're fall out boy!" and they have been ever since.

[letteredlettered]

Hi!! Have you ever struggled with burnout, depression, or overwork? Currently in my first job post college and it’s been very intense as we are currently like 3 people doing the work of a team designed for 7 people (two roles they are working to fill and two people are out on leave -> one is out on vacation and the other on parental leave). Have spent many ours on overtime (around two days a week I usually sleep five or six hours and spend a few more hours working —> other days I work a bit less but still some overtime) for the last few months. It’s really hard to decompress and stop thinking about work as I work remotely. I need to get better at setting limits and advocating for myself but I think one issue I’ve been dealing with is getting caught in a cycle of having a lot so having not a lot of time to do an analysis of like what needs to change and this is my bandwidth. Also it’s hard to predict bandwidth sometimes because I’m still very new to this industry and department, so I’m still learning how much coordination is necessary to get something done. Another problem is that everyone is stretched to their limit and extremely busy, so I feel kind of bad rejecting projects. I think an issue is that I also have relatively low self-esteem and confidence but a deep desire to be “good” from like an academic perspective and a work perspective, and the main leader of my team is someone who I like a lot and appreciates what I do, so I keep trying to do more or at least meet expectations. I also receive assignments from different people (five people total, usually), so people generally don’t have visibility as to my bandwidth unless I speak up. One person in particular gave me a lot of assignments with a good deal of time pressure and was the person that I was working the closest with —> still trying to catch up to some of the more evergreen projects I had with him because the other projects I’ve had in the last two months have even way too intense to do anything else. I’m really grateful for this job and I like a lot of the people I work with, but I’m kind of struggling.

I mention all of this because I really respect the way you are able to commit to creative projects and create incredible works and really focus on making something. I’ve never really had an ability to stick to a creative project or hobby for an extended period of time —> frequently I disappoint myself in my lack of consistency or follow-through for a lot of my personal goals. I also really appreciate the way that you engage with certain themes in your work and value your perspective. So just kind of curious if you’ve been through this before or have any thoughts about this sort of thing

I've thought a lot about what to tell you here.

What anyone would recommend is that you set boundaries and take care of yourself. They'd say that your well-being is more important than your work. If they read your ask carefully they'd realize that maybe your performance in this job is connected to your well-being in your mind. If they're looking at the strings that control the system they're going to tell you capitalism has brainwashed us into thinking that we should sacrifice our health for the sake of production, and then they'll tell you you should do what you can to break out of the capitalist mentality. If they're not excited about seizing the means of production then their in-universe advice (in-the-capitalist-universe advice) is going to point out that you cannot produce more for the capitalist machine if you're burnt out (I'd call these people the neoliberals of tumblr but I'm not sure that exists; I haven't seen it).

But none of that is really addressing the problem here, because you already know all of that, or if you don't know it, knowing that isn't going to help you. You don't need to be told to set boundaries. You know you accept too many projects; you know that you haven't been clear with your colleagues about your bandwidth. You know you're trying too hard to please others and that part of the reason is you have a low self-esteem.

Something that people don't talk about enough is how bad it feels to set boundaries. When people advise others to "set boundaries" it's always as if it's never occurred to anyone else to stand up for themselves. The problem is that it usually has occurred to us, but it's hard to do and feels bad. Hearing "stand up for yourself!" repeatedly can sometimes help us feel like we did the right thing when we do manage to stand up for ourselves, but it can just as often make you feel even worse when you can't stand up for yourself. You're being overworked and you're not doing the thing that everyone tells you you should do.

And another thing that people do not talk about enough is that most workplaces do not like employees who set boundaries for themselves. They like people who say yes. You often won't get in trouble for setting reasonable limits for yourself, but you won't advance. The ones who work late and work on weekends and take on every project and say nothing about bandwidth are usually the ones who get promoted. I'm not saying this because it's right or okay. It's another flaw in the capitalist system. But it is very often true, and I've been a little frustrated that in all these glorious discussions about boundary-setting, this is not something that gets talked about more.

So what to do, when you know the answers, but it doesn't feel great, and might not get you where you want to go?

Spend time with your feelings. A lot of time with your feelings. Imagine ways to communicate your bandwidth. Imagine how you would feel in each scenario. Pick scenarios that feel more comfortable and less intimidating for you. Imagine saying no to a new project. Imagine how you would feel doing that. Pick a way of doing it that feels the most manageable.

Think about your colleagues, what you like about them and why. Imagine how they would feel if they knew that you were struggling. Imagine having an honest conversation with them about how hard this is for you. Would they listen open and compassionately? Would they try to make changes that could help you? Or would they say, "We're all going through it," and "there's nothing to be done?" Imagine saying to them, "I know we're all going through this, because of the staffing challenges we're facing," and "I know there's not much to be done about this, but this is how I'm feeling." Would they accept your vulnerability? Would it make you feel bad to be vulnerable in that way? Would it make you feel worse to be vulnerable in that way or to say nothing?

That's not a leading question. Saying nothing is okay. There have been many times where I am facing a problem and I realized that doing nothing was the thing that made me feel best. There were other times when I really didn't want to do something and I knew it would be incredibly hard, but I knew I would feel much better having done it.

Think about your self-esteem and confidence. Why don't you feel confident? When you imagine saying no, and it feels bad, what makes it feel so bad? Is it because other people don't say no? Are you measuring yourself against those other people? How can you stop doing that? Or is it because you feel like a good worker always says yes? Where did you get that idea? Was it an idea communicated to you by people who love you? By society? Are there people who haven't made you feel that your worth as a person was predicated on how much you were able to accomplish? When is the last time you spent time with them? What makes you feel good about yourself? When is the last time you did it? Are there things you can do outside of work to boost your confidence? What are they? Can you do them? Why not? If work is holding you back from doing them, is it worth it?

It's okay if work feels worth it. I'm not endorsing the capitalist machine when I say that it is okay to do something that is really difficult or unpleasant for a certain amount of time to get where you are going. But if that's what you're going to do, then develop a plan of escape. Ask yourself how long you're willing to put up with this. Ask yourself what the next step in your career or life journey is. Ask yourself what you will put up with to get there and what is unacceptable. Write it down if you have to, then try to abide by that, and if you are unable to bear your plan six months down the line, make a new one.

I am fortunate in that these kinds of questions come really naturally to me, and I think they must not come so naturally for a lot of other people. Definitely, there are blocks in my mind; I'm not always able to understand myself or my own feelings; I don't know what's best for myself or how to make myself do things I want. But this kind of thinking is not going to give you immediate answers. Instead, it's going to build the skill of getting to know yourself.

The ultimate question you should be asking is "What will make me happy?" It sounds like a simple question, but it is in fact the most difficult of all. It is the question we struggle with every day, and every book that was ever written, every song that was ever sung, every painting that was ever painted is about that, in the end. The answer to that question is the meaning of life. Most people never find it, but the search is worth it.

It's definitely worth it.

[the-fucking-cannibal]

🌸Quick PSA for cyber safety, online diffamation and identity theft🌸

Hello my darlings, it's been a while since last time i've had the opportunity to hop on here a share a direct message with all my followers and anyone who might need to hear this on the internet.

In these last couple of days I've remained dreadfully silent about a very delicate and serious topic that's been affecting me and many other friends on this app for months to no end. I've stayed silent out of respect and out of maturity, I tried to move on and keep a positive outlook on things to avoid drama as much as possible, however my irl family and friends at home eventually made me realize that any form of abuse and cyber bullying cannot go silent forever.

I'm a victim of stalking, and my stalker is still freely lurking online on all social media platforms to this day. I tried contacting my aggressor multiple times with kindness and respect, begging them to please stop with their tormenting messages and obsessive, unhealthy behavior. I offered help for their mental health many times, I tried to be as comprehensive and understanding as possible to offer help since this person is clearly struggling with a severe mental illness. However I understand that a problem as severe and compulsive as this one cannot simply be solved with compassion and kindness.

Today I've finally found the strength to speak up and seek help from expert and reliable resources. I've been in contact with the Tumblr support team this morning through email and they'll get in contact with me shortly to discuss which accounts are responsible for stalking and nonconsensual identity theft and diffamation; in the mean time I'd also like to thank my father who works in the cyber security team and all of his kind colleagues who offered to help me handle this case in private. I've decided to take legal action upon this injustice and defend myself, as i will no longer be taken advantage of anymore.

We're currently gathering all the information we need for a proper report to the authorities, I've saved up many proof files of all the harassment, endless stalking, diffamation and MANY messages I've been subject to in these past few months (and these last couple of days especially) and hopefully everything will go well, thankfully all the proof we need is still up and public online for everyone to see and witness.

The list of acts i've been subject to include: Posting a picture of my IRL face on this site without my consent (my discord pfp), screenshotting and reposting my art without my consent for harassment purposes (art theft), sending infinite, obsessive and compulsive messages with foul language for many hours, insulting me and calling me names, sharing private information about my friends and threatening me and my safety, creating multiple fake accounts on many social media platforms to stalk me and message me even after repeatedly blocking every single one of them, spreading serious criminal rumors about me and my friends (criminal diffamation).

I'd also like to leave a message to all the people who might be or have been victims of cyber stalking: there's always time to seek help, it's never too late to report to a trusted friend or an authority. I know it sounds scary and dangerous, but finding the courage to take legal action is the safest choice you could possibly make, for your safety and the one of your friends 🫂

I don't know if I'll ever keep this post up in the future, as I'm trying to keep this account only related to art and my merchandise business as much as possible; however I will keep in touch in case anything new about this case comes up, thank you so much for listening and dedicating me a minute of your time 🌸

One last message to my stalker because I know you're reading this right now: I tried being your friend, i tried helping you many times, I tried offering you comfort and making you seek the help you needed because I know you're not mentally stable and are in a very dark place right now....but sadly this cannot keep going forever, and I hope you understand that what you're currently doing is wrong and not healthy, for both of us and for all the people around us too. I'm sorry it had to go this way, deep down I've always seen you as a friend who I could eventually reason and make peace with but i now realize that some people simply cannot be saved. You tried many times to destroy me mentally and emotionally, tried to shatter my spirit and my happiness, steal my light and ruin my friendships. But you will not rob me of my freedom, my happiness nor my right to live and create whatever i want however i wand. You have no power over me.

Thank you.

[always-is-always]

Watching original content...

Some of the bloggers that I follow here talk about how important it is to watch original content. It seems to be an obvious thing to do, yet many never go quite that far. Especially some of the fringe people who are hyper-focused upon a single member or a particular relationship within Bangtan.

All I can say is that it does matter, whether one sees original content, or not. When a person relies only on compilations, videos that are created with a particular "focus" (relationship or idol), analysis videos, and content that has incorrect translations or interpretations, then the person is going to have a very distorted view of things.

I know as I've been there..... not realizing what I was viewing as a pre-baby ARMY. (I didn't even know what it meant to be "ARMY".) That YouTube algorythym that can take a person down rabbit holes that have never been explored, you know. Yeah. So I watched a ton of videos on all sorts of things related to BTS, before I was on this platform, and before I really had a grasp on what any of it meant.

Thankfully, one of those YT channels recommended Dalloga's blog here on Tumblr, as she is known for her translations and clarifications on Korean language and culture. I managed to find her blog, not having any clue what Tumblr was. lol It took me over a year get the nerve to create my account, and then another year before I started to follow people and post.

So yeah....As an English-speaking woman living in the States, I had a HUGE learning curve to navigate, and much of it had to do with understanding the culture around BTS. I had to learn what a "bias" was, what "shipping" meant, what the heck those combined names meant 😆 (Jikook, Taekook, Jinkook, etc., etc.), and none of it really made sense to me. Here in the US, we don't have anything quite like the culture around K-Pop. Even now, I don't get the total attachment to labels in the fandom.

So what is the point to these words?

I am finally making my way through some original content that I have never watched before. Yay for me! 🎉

Having watched BV season 1 last week, I just finished season 2 of Bon Voyage last night, and OMG. To watch from beginning to end, to see everthing as it was and not chopped up and edited to fit a storyline someone has created, has been so awesome. It's been even more eye-opening given where we currently are in the BTS timeline (everyone in the military).

And, I see dynamics and moments in their original context which helps to clarify my understanding of things. Yeah. Clarity and understanding... always a good thing.

I understand how some have mis-interpreted certain things.

I'm going to navigate away from making big statements here, that would lead down some rabbit holes that I'd rather not explore. There are plenty here on this platform who have done it already, and it's not my forte. I'll just say that it is always a good choice to look at original content, and just let it be what it is. The reminder here is that they never show everything. What we see is but a glimpse....

These months that we have on-hand are a prime time to take the deep dive into original content. Perhaps it is a re-visit for some folks.

I'm going to do my homework, and learn what I can, via tons of episodes of BV, RUN BTS, and anything else I can put my hands on. It's going to be a fun journey! 💜💜💜

[taiturner]

NEW YEARS CLEAN-UP 🎊

rules: unburden yourself from the abandoned WIPS collecting dust in your folder and share 5 gifs, then tag five people. (tagged by @yenvengerberg, thank you i feel like i can do something useful with these things now 💖)

tagging with no pressure of course: @wyllhalsin, @capinejghafa, @cardvngreenbriar, @seance, @ayoedebiris, @ughmerlin, @craintheodora, @lottiemilfews, @natscatorrcio (yeah miles i'm tagging you to be funny i know what you did with those psds)

these are all from projects that i have in a folder titled "on the bench" that i want to pretend i'll come back to, but.... some of these have been benched for so long and they're no longer fresh in my head so i fear they'll be abandoned forever. should also be mentioned that a lot of projects on the bench are literally just me making all the typography first and then losing inspo when i actually wanted to gif things.... usually by the time i do start, i change my mind about the type anyway. i also have so many abandoned gifs from other gifsets i've already posted but i'm not even sure where to begin searching so... here are some things!

one of the many gifs i already created for a prompt from @yellowjacketsoctober to put the show in a different genre. ironically, a prompt that i came up with for the event specifically to make this gifset but didn't even complete. i spent so many hours and so many days trying to gif this entire arc for these three with the intent to make it a heist drama set but after so long i realized i was just giffing exactly what happened in the show and it started to feel pointless. but at least here's a preview of something that i'll never finish. my trio of all time, can they commit more crimes together please! (should also be said that this folder is 44gb because i already saved all the caps + because these psds are so heavy... new years clean up for real)

i don't know what it is about lydia that makes it so hard for me to finish any set for her, but every time i try i seem to always lose the drive eventually (probably because twd in general just feels really uninteresting for me to blend, for some reason). from a 2022 spotify wrapped meme, i'm pretty sure i restarted this specific gifset so many different times, unhappy with the colors and the blends and the text and everything -- which is why there are two very different examples here. my girl of all time though i will finish something for her eventually (and maybe even this one, because this song is still so good for her).

one of the many gifs that were abandoned by my scream vi set for favorite slasher in october. when tumblr first changed the image upload limit to 30, i promised myself to never take advantage of that too much, but i severely underestimated how many moments i would want to include for this movie and i made so many other gifs for this set but ultimately cut them so i could try to tone it down - 18 gifs in this set still feels like a lot but i spent so much time on this set that it was hard to part with many more. anyway here's sam being the hottest final girl in the world and correct about everything.

i don't know how long this has been on the bench but it was definitely a project i started way before season 2 even aired. i think i just got stuck and wasn't sure where to go with it, but anyway her!

extra spoiler for @wyllhalsin but this was supposed to be a pride edit in june for one of my favorite lgbt characters of all time. this show's camera movements nearly makes it impossible to blend anything so i lost the drive, but i will come back for felix someday (and for coty, obviously this set was for him).

[naranjapetrificada]

Director's Cut: Cornerstone? (in particular, what broke the seal on writing fic at all after a decade?)

Apologies for not getting this out sooner but the bastard app ate my first draft of this post. There are two answers to this question, one of them quite straightforward and the other less so.

The straightforward answer: one day I wrote some meta, and the next morning my brain was still turning it all over enough that I started thinking about the details. Specifically what Ed would be thinking about, and about the ADHD experience of sex which can be frustrating, especially in emotionally fraught times.

I may or may not have been reading a lot of canon divergent first time fics at the time, and while Ed certainly experiences powerful emotions in those scenarios, things are understandably much thornier in post season 1 pre season two fics where there's so much more broken between the two of them. So I was thinking about being in that headspace and how Ed might be worrying about missing stuff while it was happening and trying to be present in a way that's an ADHD struggle.

The less straightforward answer: I guess if all of the above was like, what was fueling it all, the question of why now after a decade is because the stars aligned in such a specific way. Naturally there's just the source material itself, which is so inherently compelling to so many people that lives are literally changed by it. In fact, for folks reading along, some of the earliest conversations I had with question asker here were about all the grief stuff the show was dredging up (enough to have its own dedicated tag). I actually think the breaking point that got me to write this fic goes all the way back to my very first posts on here.

This show and its fanworks began to pull emotions out of me that I hadn't experienced in a long, long time, and got me thinking in ways and about stuff I never had before. Even with a lot of personal baggage around writing (which is too big to get into here), reading and writing and metaphor are how I understand the world. I'd been reading loads of fic and meta in the weeks before I created this account (initially succumbing to tumblr's sign-in wall) and after realizing I needed somewhere to put all these feelings I was having, I started making actual posts.

So lots of meta. And I love writing meta! But it wasn't scratching every itch, not with the kind of minute detail that I wanted, or not from the perspectives I felt like I needed to. There were always going to be things I couldn't explore through meta, and despite my personal history with trying to write fiction it was really inevitable that I'd end up writing something, since I couldn't let go of all the topics I was turning over in my head.

So all that, plus I got lucky with images. I've talked before about how all my one-shots feel like they were written with the part of my brain that writes poetry instead of prose, by which I mean they're born of an emotion and an image hitting me with a finite kind of urgency. The image, which I later remembered encountering in (among other places) an Assassin's Creed fic I'd read a few years back, was about the inherent collective nature of cathedrals. How they require enormous coordination to build in the first place and constant maintenance afterwards.

Which like, small digression but remember the Notre Dame fire from a million years ago? Intellectually I knew it would be fine, especially because no one was hurt, and since it was in western Europe they'd have funds for the repairs in no time. And also fuck the Catholic Church and basically everything they've done since oh, the First Crusade? The Great Schism? When Paul decided to go preaching to the gentiles? But like, at some point during all of it I cried, and at first I couldn't figure out why, but then I remembered stuff I'd read about workers putting bits of themselves into cathedrals. Like stone masons chiseling stuff onto the inner-facing parts of stones that no one else would see almost like individual offerings, which is such a goddamn human thing to do that it overwhelms me. Anything that extremely human, that connects us across time and space and even reminds me of time as an extant concept gets the existential tears flowing.

So yeah, all of that coupled with the cathedral-as-their-relationship image and it was truly inevitable. And at the time I had complete faith that if it happened again (which it did), nothing I wrote would ever be longer than 3000 words. We see how well that that worked out.

Ask me for director's commentary on my fics!

[rainypebble07]

Explanation :)

As you might have noticed, I've not been active on tumblr for a while now. My last post was made about ten days ago. After my dog passed away and a few other personal things occurred, I took a while to take a step back from my online presence and reenter the lives of both my family and friends, realizing how much I had missed out on in the past year or so as I've fixated on my fics and this blog.

I'd just like to say, I never intended to be a big tumblr poster. I made my account to promote and update on my fics, but I never planned to create art or meet friends. I definitely didn't plan to have a sideblog dedicated to history-themed fanart or 160 amazing followers who laughed at and supported everything I did, no matter how ridiculous.

My adventure on tumblr and within this fandom has been thrilling and a great experience for me, but as I look back on how many hours I've spent trying to make my blog memorable and how many I've spent just waiting for notes and reblogs, I realize that I think it's time for me to leave it behind and start to go back to focusing on my relationships in my real life, as well as my future.

I'm not deleting my blog. Perhaps I'll still post from time to time, I'll still respond to Ao3 comments (and maybe even asks). I really want to go somewhere with @widowartonss too, so we'll have to see, but, at least for now, I think I will no longer be writing fan fiction or making silly fanart. My Stranger Things hyperfixation has finally run its course and I would like to dedicate my time to a lot of other things in my life, so I hope you understand if you don't hear from me much.

I am so grateful for the people on this website who have made my experience memorable, so thank you to absolutely every one of you. I will probably remember you for years to come, rest assured.

So, that's my explanation for my absence. I wish everyone on this site a very happy day and a wonderful, wonderful future. I'm sorry I can't be as active in this community anymore. That said, I'm always here if you need to talk :)

Signing off for a while,

Rainy Pebble <3

[narastories]

catching up about fandom stuff

Oh, hi! Do you mind if I ramble a bit?

I feel like I've been a little distant and antisocial in the past few months due to personal stuff (mainly because my trauma bucket got kicked over many, many times, but also I've been trying to get the ball rolling on a few things I've been meaning to do for a while). And I know I'm not the only one who has been having a hard time. But now it's spring here, and I'm feeling a little hopeful and a bit more inspired. Is it just me? Do we dare to be hopeful??

I'm reminding myself that both of my favorite urban fantasy series, and main fandoms nowadays are due a new book maybe this year, and that is exciting and very much things to look forward to! It also makes me want to quickly write fic ideas I have before the canon status quo changes lol (Not that it matters. I believe you can write whatever you want. But with both of these series, we love to theorize about what is going to happen, so it feels like things are just not going to be the same when we get new pieces of information, you know?)

I'm also acutely aware that I haven't posted a Harry/Nic fanfic since the OTP challenge in NOVEMBER 2022 wtf. And uh, yeah. If you needed any further proof of my poor mental health then it is probably proof enough that I haven't touched my favorite obscure little OTP.

The good news is, that I have actually been inspired to write lately. I'm doing a little re-read of the FPA books, and also Skin Game, and it's all putting me back in the mood for fanfic. And I have been typing away for the past few weeks, trying to get back into it.

The bad news is, that I don't feel like posting things yet. I just want to be kind to myself and create without having to worry about sharing it. I know this might sound hypocritical bc I just shared a post about connecting in fandom. At the same time, sometimes it does good for a story to just let it sit and simmer a bit.

There is this expression (that I don't think is actually very popular in the English language) "to write for the drawer" and I never thought that was a bad thing. Sure I write very niche stuff so you would think it doesn't matter either way, but a story is never the same after you release it out into the world. So it's okay to keep it to yourself for a while and tinker with it and enjoy the process.

I also discovered gif making for myself. (If you have seen the gifset I posted yesterday, no you didn't :P I put it on private bc I wasn't happy with it yet. Mainly bc of the subtitle thing. I either have to figure out a clever overlay or venture out into the foreign planes of the internet to forage a little bit more lmao) I think the popularity of gifsets on tumblr is so fascinating, bc it's a format that just isn't very popular elsewhere (or convenient lol). When I was younger in fandom I never had a good enough computer to do this kind of editing. So now it just made me so happy to realize that my computer can do it, and I found it a relaxing activity.

I already dipped my toe in it with that Hellraiser/DF quote gifset, but now I figured out a method to make it look a lot better. And with open source tools too! That made me especially happy lol But I also realized that if I want to post gifsets then I might have to break my "no sideblogs" rule... Anyway, this is just one more thing that I will probably experiment with privately, and then we'll see if I put it out there or not.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is: creative hobbies are important. And if you can bring yourself to do them even when you feel like shit, it usually helps to feel a little less shitty. And that I will incubate my little projects for a while longer and then maybe I will feel like sharing them.

[khaire-traveler]

Hi, there! First of anything, I hope you had a wonderful day!

I have a question that could be kinda personal so please, feel free to not answer if you do not wish to. The main reason I'm asking you this is because you're one of my current fav blogs.

Could you share us how did you started to post here? And what made you take the decision to share your thoughts and experiences?

I've been wanting to start a blog about my practice lately, but I'm so scared of doing things wrong in the aspect of being disrespectful due to lack of information.

Thank you so much in advance! ✨

Hey, Nonny!

I don't mind the questions at all! I'm glad to hear you like my blog. c:

This response is a bit long, so I'm going to add "read more".

I forget how long ago I started this blog, but I believe it's been at least one year now? It may be two, but I'm unsure. I had a blog before this one that posted similar content. It wasn't as "popular", and at the time when I ran that other blog, I was healing through a lot of trauma. I deleted that blog due to some unsavory people I had met there; it just became too overwhelming at that time.

After about a year and a half, I created this blog. I missed having a community to talk to about my religion, even if no one really interacted with me. No one in my life, at that time, followed my religion, and if they did, they didn't worship any of the same gods. I wanted to have others to talk to that I could share my love for the gods with. I wanted to share some lessons I had learned, too. I felt a lot more ready to run a blog about my religion. It felt safer to do so, and I was much more confident in my practice than I had been. My relationships with my gods had grown, and so had I. Finally, my dear companion, @broomsick , inspired me to create this blog and rejoin Tumblr.

I was actually very hesitant to share my experiences again at the start. On my first blog, some people had weaponized my experiences against me and fueled some major anxiety issues I had at the time. So on this blog, I was very careful with what I shared. Frankly, I still am, but I'm much more open to sharing things I've experienced than I was.

My advice to you is to keep some things sacred and hold them close to your heart. It makes those experiences all the more special when you don't feel pressured to share them with others. My next advice is to start by sharing your random thoughts about your gods and experiences. It might sound silly, but over time, I've found that people enjoy hearing what others have to say. Many things I've posted here have grown alongside my real-life practice. Even now, I'll sometimes come across an older post of mine and see my progress. It's very encouraging when you're able to look back at how far you've come. Another piece of advice I have for you is to post for yourself, not for others. Make sure what you're posting are things you genuinely enjoy sharing, things that you actually want to post. Never feel pressured to post things you don't want to post simply because someone else requests it.

The most important advice of all that I have is for you to do it, and do it scared. It makes you nervous? Go for it anyway. You'll never know what it'll be like until you try. Taking risks is a difficult thing to do, but you could have so many wonderful experiences if you choose to take them, and even though this is just Tumblr, there's no telling what kind of connections and discoveries you could make by creating that blog! If you're new, that's great! Share what you're learning as you learn it, and as I mentioned above, you can look back and see how far you've come in the future and feel proud of it. I don't think it's disrespectful to share your thoughts and experiences, even if you realize you were wrong later on. Your practice will grow as you become more and more comfortable with it, and it's only natural that we say things now that we disagree with later. When we grow, we change, and so do our beliefs.

I say to give it a try and see if you enjoy posting! If not, you can always change your mind. It doesn't have to be a permanent decision.

I hope this answered your questions well. I also hope that the advice I shared is helpful to you. Take care, Nonny, and may you have fun on your new adventure, wherever it takes you! 🧡

[youngglittersoul]

My story of becoming a Jonsa stan. (I know that no one is asking but seriously I need help moving on from this ship.)

I binged watched GOT this August 2022 before school started. I never really thought about Jonsa as a romantic pairing while watching because I was trying to finish all the seasons in a week. Then one day, I remembered the Jonsa reunion scene and when I re-watched it I thought that the scene was oddly romantic. I suddenly searched "Does Jon have a thing for red heads?" because Ygritte and Ros couldn't have been coincidences. Then, I re-watched every Jonsa scene and realized that they had intense romantic chemistry. I became obsessed with finding out if other people saw the same thing I saw and got introduced to Tumblr. It turns out I wasn't delusional and lots of people shipped them. I read so many amazing metas and analysis of their relationship in the show and their parallels in the books in here. Everything just made sense ever since I read about the book parallels and foreshadowing. Eventually, I created this account for the sake of liking every Jonsa post in existence (In two days, Tumblr told me "you crazy for liking 1000 posts"). I watch their scenes on YouTube religiously as if doing that would change GOT's ending and make them endgame (I've been reading a lot of AO3 fics to cope). I can't remember a ship that has affected me this way. I know they are a fictional couple but I can't move on. It's been over 2 months of me obsessing over them. I just want them to be happy and have many babies on the Jon Snow sequel and the last books. Lord please forgive me for shipping incest, but they really look good together.

[oonajaeadira]

20 questions for fic writers

Thank you for the tag, @insomniamamma. For the record, I think you write beautiful smut. I appreciate it for its realness and connection.

How many works do you have on ao3? Aw man, you made me log into my AO3 account? I haven't been around there recently because I feel bad about leaving some messages unanswered. Tumbletown is my main fic home and I haven't really had the time to post here, much less on AO3. (Answer the question Adira.) It says I have 19. I don't post there until they're here and sometimes don't crosspost. Mainly I've been posting over there only if I have a complete series, although sorry LMR readers both there AND here.

2. What's your total ao3 word count? 260,317. Seeing as how not even half of my fic is up over there, I cringe to think of what my actual wordcount is.

3. What fandoms do you write for? Pedro Pascal. Which is an umbrella for the actual fandoms contained therein.

4. Top 5 fics by kudos According to AO3? Losing My Religion, A Girl Walks Into a Bookshop, A Rare Treat, The Sweets Series, Eyes Closed, Comm Open. According to Tumblr: Good. Things. Take. Time. (this one's a Tumble exclusive, dunno if I'll ever AO3 that one), Losing My Religion, Dulces Suenos, The Sweets Series, A Girl Walks Into a Bookshop.

5. Do you respond to comments? I do. Every one. I know I'm behind on some and I'm sorry about that. I let that bother me enough that it's getting in the way of my writing and I shouldn't do that.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I don't like to leave angst hanging and only use it as a trampoline for a happy ending, but I guess the closest thing I have would be A Kiss Before Dying and in Death We Combine. Even if it ends in "death," at least they get to be together.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? All of them? LOL. Of the multi-chapters I've actually finished, probably A Girl Walks Into a Bookshop.

8. Do you get hate on fics? Only in passing. There were the mean girls that were kind of being catty over on a few other blogs about GTTT when it blew up much to my surprise (yes, of course I saw all of that, mean girls gonna mean). I remember some comment about not trivializing massage therapists just because I have a shitty back.... and all I could think was, hey. First of all, I can tell you didn't even read it, you're just mad about it blowing up. Not my fault. Next. Don't talk about my back. You wouldn't like being injured and having people talk smack about a piece of your body that gives you pain beyond comprehension, y'bigot. Also not my fault. Once I realized they were just mean girls meaning, I let it roll off and got my own satisfaction by writing a pretty bomb series based on some of their prompt lists that I never would have seen if I hadn't been clued into the smack. Turn that hate into something great!

9. Do you write smut? I do. Not exclusively and it's never the main dish of the story. If it does show up, it's usually the result of a long period of longing and/or feelings exchange.

10. Craziest crossover? I'm not a crossover gal. Every once in a while I'll write an easter egg into another fic (there are several in GTTT), but nothing heavy duty. There was the time The Mandalorian got something of a cameo in a Sweet's fic tho....

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Oh gods, I hope not. That would suck. I hate blocking people.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? YES! But not in the way you might think! @katareyoudrilling did an amazing job translating the first chapter of Good. Things. Take. Time. into a sexytime roleplay script!!!! I'M STILL SQUEEING ABOUT IT.

13. Have you co-written a fic before? In a way. For a while when RP accounts were in full swing, I was falling very much in love with the adventure I was creating with @morally-gray-prospector. That account was so amazing, run by one of the smartest writers I've ever known here, but they were TOO good and poured themselves generously into their responses, which got them quite a following...and they burned themselves out! While my story with Ezra didn't have an ending, I never expected it to. I meant it when I said it to the writer: I'm just so happy to have an adventure with Ezra and every minute working on it was a joy that I will love forever. I'm glad they had fun too and didn't keep pushing themselves when it was no longer sustainable. <3

All time favorite ship? It's Din and Little Bird. Now that I know how that story is going to soft-end, they're my favorite couple of all time.

What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will Oh, I'll finish them all. Right now, Branded is in the most danger of lingering, since I have to figure some stuff out with them. But if I could solve the puzzle of Losing My Religion, then I have no doubt that I'm eventually going to get on with that one too.

What are your writing strengths? I don't know what my strengths are, but I like the magic of showing without showing. I like pacing. I enjoy trying to get the characters' voices right and make the dialog real.

What are your writing weaknesses? I am slow. And I make a show of "not following the rules" as if I'm some kind of rebel, but really, I'm just bad at following rules!!!!

Thoughts on dialogue in another language I try to avoid it for the most part because I usually mess it up pretty badly. I generally don't write Din in Mando'a because I haven't really heard him speak it in the series and he seems to always default to Basic even if he understands it spoken to him, so I can't shake the feeling that it's out of character. But Little Bird is a Mandalorophile, so she'd definitely know it and use it. I do sometimes pull in Spanish for Sweets, but it's usually because it's two characters who actually would speak it when Sunday's not around, and even then I try to make sure it's basic enough for folks to follow. The one time I tried to put Italian in I messed it up pretty good, but a beautiful reader helped correct it for me and I'm so so so grateful. <3

First fandom you wrote for I know I have a Doctor Who piece in a notebook somewhere hidden away. And I most likely have a slew of Ranma pieces from my college days. Were there any before that? Possibly.

Favorite fic you've written I have too many. I write really slow, so if it's actually made it to Tumbles, that means I loved it enough to manifest it. Some of them I love because of the fandom, some because of the relationship, some because of the world building, some because of the interaction, and most because of the good time I had writing it. Right now I'm seeing people reading Losing My Religion, and I've had reason to dip into some of those chapters and re-read a little and it's reminded me how much I love writing for the Star Wars universe, how much confidence I have in it. That was the first fic I really wrote, and I put so much of myself into it... so if I choose a favorite, I'll point there first even if it's not really finished yet.

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tagging: @blueeyesatnight @ezrasbirdie @missredherring @leslie-lyman @prolix-yuy