#I have so much research to do and less than 10 hours to write 4 essays

[houseswife]

Residence reference spotted in my coursework 😨🫵

[orcelito]

researching minor & inconsequential details to an unnecessary degree VS actually writing

guess what i’ve been doing for this goddamn chapter

anyways i think futaba would have this 3ds and this 3dsXL

[marciaillust]

How long does it take for you to finish drawing?

I'm an artist (beginner) and i unconsciously set unrealistic goals for myself and need a reminder of how long it takes to complete a drawing, Thanks.

Hi! In the context you presented it in, that is a really interesting question, so I'll try to approach it thoroughly. I hope I won't make you roll your eyes too much.

Where to start, where to start... I guess the first thing I should say is that there is a difference between time I spend preforming the action of <drawing>, and the time I spent <working> on a particular piece. The first would be counted in hours, the second one - days. I'm a big believer in slowing things down, and giving things time - going through options, gathering research and references, taking breaks every 1h of sitting and drawing - and seeing things through until I achieve the goal I set at the beginning of the process.

The goals are usually different each time: "quick design", "character exploration", "analysis of an artist's linework and experimenting with the knowledge gained", "creating an aesthetically pleasing image", and so on and so forth. Of course I don't write these down like it's a school assignment, but knowing in the back of my head what I'm actually doing helps me manage my expectations. I also enjoy being conscious of why I create - when I was younger regardless of what I was doing I had the thought "AND IT MUST LOOK GOOD AND PRESENTABLE! BECAUSE PEOPLE WILL LOOK!" ...and I think that obsession is the cancer of creative process.

Since the goals for each picture are different, the time I'll spent on achieving each one will be different as well, because the "satisfactory results" lay in different places. For example, the Marcile sketchpage was created in one afternoon, and took approximately 3 hours. The goal was to play around with a brush that has no opacity forcing my lines to be more decisive. I did that and so it is "finished". There's nothing else I want from it.

On the other hand, the cover of Asterism took about 10 days to create, the goal of which was to make "an aesthetically pleasing cover picture taking colour inspiration from the works of (specific list of artists)". I took my time designing it so that it looks aesthetically pleasing, made sure the anatomy is "correct" (a nebulous statement when it comes to stylised humans), took my time masking, and picking colours, and shading. I wanted it to "look good" to my own eyes so if something was not working I would go back, change it, alter it, move it around... that's the wonderful thing about personal art, you can take as long as you like making something satisfactory.

The funny thing is, with what the Asterism cover actually is (a cellshaded image), it could have been done probably in 4 days by the me 4 years ago. But that person was willing to sit 8-10 hours a day to draw with no breaks, she had little social life, and treated herself as a little circus seal performing tricks so that people clap around her, and the clapping was soooo nice because it meant that people remembered her and she mattered. And it worked for her! For long 10 years! Until her arm gave out, and the reality of never being able to draw again became more tangible than ever, and it's been following her like a fog ever since for the past 4 years. The me today works about 4 hours a day and every hour I take about a 30 minute break. I also don't post half the stuff I draw. There is also another aspect that dictates the speed of creating and that is familiarity with the subject matter. The less you know something, the fast you'll draw it! But as you get to know the intricacies of the process, and see all the building blocks, it will start taking *longer* because you will start accounting for every block. But then you'll eventually get familiar with the blocks and so the time spent on a picture will go down again! The cool yet overwhelming thing about art is that, there are always hundreds of building blocks. Form, composition, ambient occlusion, saturation, hue, light balance, line form...... and those are just the *some* of the generalised *categories*. And each category will have it's own subsection of building blocks! And then those blocks will interact with each other to create completely new area of expertise! This is crazy! Marcille sketch page took me only 3 hours to create because I am already quite familiar with linework - I have drawn 3-4 comicbooks worth of linework. This also means I am familiar with believable anatomy, more or less, which got utilised in the Asterism cover - the main bulk of linework got created during a 3h livestream. So.... what's the answer.... "It's all relative" is so unsatisfactory and probably not what you looked for. But you can draw something in 3 days and kill your body over it. Or you can become an expert in a field and dish the same picture out effortlessly in 8 hours. You can also split that 8h block over multiple days bringing you back up to 3 days. You could even add a whole day of visual research which might make your picture only marginally better. And even if we calculate it in terms of raw working time, pen-to-paper, like a self-inflicted capitalist tumor, that time can fluctuate still due to personal visual library and knowledge base. If I asked Tom Fox how long it takes for him to create his sketch pages his answer would probably be downward of 30 minutes. Yet I need whole 3 hours to create something *less* anatomically correct than him. And so here we are at the end of this perhaps unnecessary essay. And all we learned is this: it depends. Dry, not nuanced tl;dr, my personal timings: single sketch - 30mins; single linework pic 1-2h; Cellshaded illust - 16h; Rendered illust: 20-25h.

[poomphuripan]

10 BL Boys I Want Carnally To Love, Take Care and Cuddle With Every Night

@bunnakit awww thank you for the tag 🫶 as an asexual i can't say i spent much time thinking about fucking anyone (so coming up with this list was really hard ;_;) but if any of these characters propositioned... i would NOT say no 😉

10. Phob (Something In My Room)

if there is an award for cutest ghost of all time in a BL series, i think Phob will take home easily. Phob deserves better sex. my meow meow friendly ghost Phob, i will tuck you in bed my ghost sweetie 🥺🫶

9. Shao Fei (History 3: Trapped)

my righteous cop with a strong sense of justice, i really love Shao Fei so much. Shao Fei doesn't beat around the bush and is really straightforward with his wants, I LOVE HE!

8. Khuafah (Sky In Your Heart)

Khuafah, the HOT CHARMING doctor that you are. i would volunteer to get sick every day just to visit him 🫠

7. Gene (Lovely Writer)

if Gene ever needs to write a straight romance novel, i'm happy to make out with him for research purposes 😉

6. Pisaeng (Be My Favorite)

most patient boyfriend who tries super hard to get you plushies? yea i would bang Pisaeng in a heartbeat, no doubt. in fact, i believe Pisaeng would be considerate and wait for me to be ready (Pisaeng babe i'm always ready for you 😉)

5. Tennoji Haru (Trillion Game)

while Trillion Game is DEFINITELY not BL, but Meguro Ren was in Kieta Hatsukoi so my boy should get a PASS 😤 Haru is confident yet humble, self-proclaimed selfish yet always selfless. god i love competent men *swoons* Trillion Game is out on Netflix, please check out my boy Haru and his boy(friend) Gaku and their start-up adventure together 🥺👉👈.

4. Charn (Laws of Attraction)

while i can't guarantee that i can give Charn a good time, i believe that as a fellow lawyer i can assist Charn with any case work he got. Like i said, i am a sucker for competent men 😮‍💨.

3. Tangmo (Great Men Academy)

you don't understand how obsessed i am with the og golden retriever, nation's boyfriend, Tangmo. it's been 4? years... i have not let him go... gentle soft boi but great at judo too? i think Tangmo and i should have our wrestling sessions ending up as makeout sessions.

2. Joe (My Stand In)

this is kind of a cheat but i've read the original novel for My Stand In (Professional Body Double by Shui Qian Cheng) and i can confirm Joe/Zhou Xiang is the sweetest soul, most precious, unluckiest gay ever (Ming, you are on sight, watch it sir or imma steal Joe away). i'm super excited for My Stand In because i hope i get to fall in love with Joe once again the way i fell super hard, head over heels for him when i finished this danmei novel within less than 24 hours. (was this shameless PR for Poom Phuripan's new BL series next year? yes, yes it absolutely was 🤗)

1. Khun Yai and Jom (I Feel You Linger In The Air)

if i don't have a gentle lover like Khun Yai Kritsada Palathip or a soft boyfriend like Jom Ravit Pittayanan then what's the POINT. i want both of them so BAD. also isn't it such a crime that Yai lives his entire life the rest of his live in celibacy, having fucked only ONE person (the love of his life) in his lifetime. LET ME IN. i will love both of you equally.

+ bonus: Chef Guy (Bake Me Please)

did you REALLY think i was gonna end my list without current loml, our resident sad boi, considerate and caring Chef Guy? 😅 Guy deserves a spot on here because well i'm absolutely feral for this man. Guy is just the nicest guy and i will literally do anything for him. Guy had me at hello but my heart truly broke when he comforted Peach saying he doesn't want to see Peach who's given him so much positivity, cry 😭.

oooooh that was soooo hard ;_; i love all these characters, maybe one day i need to start listing the female characters i'd totally hypothetically bang too because WOMEN ARE HOT 🔥.

[trombonepog]

Writing Commissions Open

Unlike most other freelance writers, I don't have that much I'm not okay writing, and I don't charge extra for NSFW.

TLDR: I won't do illegal shit, incest, poems, or songs (I'm bad at the last two). I also won't do your school assignments for you.

I've already written things such as unofficial SCP Logs, content for AUs, a lore document for someone's OC, context-less drabbles, torture scenes, platonic love, and kidnapping plots. Everything costs the same to commission.

Pricing:

Target below 1K words: $1 per hundred words

Target of 1000-2K words: $15

Target of 2,001-3K words: $25

Target of 3,000+ words: $25 plus $1 per 50 words

Edits after proofreading begins: $1 per 50 words

If you would like me to edit something I made that you didn't commission, talk to me in DMs ad we can settle on a price.

There's also a research fee if I need to do 30 minutes or more of research.

30 minutes to an hour: $5

An hour to an hour and a half: $10

More than an hour and a half: $15 + $10 per additional half hour

I'm very familiar with the Super Mario, Pokemon, OMORI, Sonic the Hedgehog, MegamanX, Kirby, Super Smash Bros, and Minecraft serieses, so if a story involves primarily those, you most likely won't need to pay a research fee.

I'm in the process of adding Puyo Puyo and DnD to this familiarity list.

There is also a commercial use fee, which differs from scenario to scenario. Typically, it'd be 75% of what you paid in full.

All payments should go through Paypal, cashapp, or ko-fi

Refund Policy:

If you, in good faith, would like a refund after attempts to make your story fail:

0-3 days after payment: 75% back

4-6 days after payment: 50% back

7-10 days after payment: 25% back

11+ days after payment: 0% back 

If the story is completed: 0% back

Please send all commission inquiries to my DMs! You can find me on twitter and deviantart as well. (I post stories to deviantart. You can make a commission private if you don't want it posted anywhere)

This post was a condensed summary of this document:

There's a bit more nuances there that would warrant a quick glance. Most of what's there you should know, however.

[fandom-research]

First research results!

I have managed to turn analysing the survey to be part of a uni project I have due next month so I finally found time to analyse the basics! I will link to a less colourful and "boring" table view of all of these results in a later post, as I still need to write the code for that part and it's late. For now there is image description on there!

This analysis is based on n=100 people.

Question 1: Where do you mainly read fanfiction?

Unsurprisingly most of us spend a lot of time on AO3, but I think we should pay respect to the three lonely souls who use ff.net, wattpad or tumblr respectively. But how much time are we spending reading on average? Well...

Question 2: How much time do you spent reading fanfiction in a week?

I don't know if I should be concerned that nearly 1/4 of us is spending over 15 hours per week, meaning at least 2 hours a day, reading, but then again I strongly belong into the orange category as well.

Question 3: What fandom(s) do you regularily consume fanfiction from?

I have cut to the top ten of fandoms mentioned, because the list of mentioned fandoms is too long to nicely display in any form. It isn't all that legible already.

Quick switch to bar chart, because the pie chart got too crowded and because this is a multiple choice question so the percentages wouldn't match up. Our top 3 consist of Merlin at 19%, Marvel at 37% and Harry Potter at 71%. This is the point where I really questioned the data for the first time. I don't know if these percentages are representable for fandom as a whole or if this is a case of a "selffulfilling prophecy". Meaning the channels over which I distributed the questionnaire reached only a specific group of people, namely the Harry Potter and Merlin folks, as I have the most contact to those fandoms, accidentally biasing the data.

Question 4: What ship-category do you read most often?

Funfact: for the first ... 50? 65? entries, F/M wasn't represented at all. We love our gays I guess. Different funfact: there IS the option to choose F/F in the questionnaire. It just wasn't used. Even now there is one (1) lonely soul who picked that option out of 126. (The form is still open so on there I can see more answers than I used in the analysis)

Question 5: What type of fan-content do you create?

This one was a surprise. I didn't think that there were this many people actively creating content, but then again, this might due to the people reached by this questionnaire, so possible bias again. (Top 3: Fanfiction 77%, Fanart 35%, Podfic 9%)

That's it for the fan-related part of the research, let's go on with the neurodiversity and demographic part. Especially for these coming results keep the possibility of a bias in the data in mind.

Question 6: What form of neurodiversity/mental health struggle does apply to you?

This one was the reason this research even exists, and while I haven't yet looked up what percentages of the general society have any of the neurodiversities, I believe that this is rather high, proving my subjective observation: A LOT of the people reading fanfic are neurodiverse in some way. Over half of the participants answered that they have some form of anxiety and/or depression, with some people even leaving me comments how fanfiction is their safe-space, helped them grow and accept themself. This one I will be focussing more on in the future analysis.

Question 7: What is your gender identity?

This as well surprised me to a degree. Even without comparing I know that this is FAR off of the official gender demographics of the general society. Especially the amount of enbies is surprising but nonetheless welcome.

Question 8: Do you consider yourself as part of the LGBTQIA+ community?

(No picture due to the 10 pic limit on posts) Results:

Yes: 90%

No: 6%

Prefer not to say: 4%

Now, again. A LOT of us are queer as fuck. This is most definitely not the norm in general society and even with a potential bias is significant enough to say that the majority of fanfic-readers are part of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Question 9: If you consider yourself as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, what "part" of the community?

The answers here refer to the orientation differing from hetero or the gender identity differing from cis. Keep in mind that this question was voluntary and therefore not everyone did answer this. Actual percentage might be higher. (I don't know the number of people that answered that question right now but will go into more detail at a later date)

Question 10: How old are you?

Again a voluntary question. But on average the community seems to be in their mid or late twenties, although there are also a bunch of adults over 30 enjoying fanfiction. This graph especially reminded me to not assume anything about people within the community. The other person could be someone in still in school, dealing with their first crush or big exams. It could just as well be someone working full time or someone with kids, someone with grandkids even. Fanfic is and always should be open for people of all ages.

Question 11: Where do you live?

Sadly I haven't been able to reach people in africa or antarctica but oh well. The form is still online, should anyone from there want to add their input into this statistic! ;)

Overall results:

People reading fanfic are a lot more queer, neurodiverse and in general divers than one might expect. I for one was surprised to see how willing people where to answer a stupid online survey that wasn't supposed to lead anywhere.

Thank you to everyone who answered and especially to those that left me nice comments in the form <3

[mangonatural]

Rules: Make a 24 hour poll with the names of your WIPs, let it run, then work for 10 minutes for every vote the winner receives.

Thank you for the tag, @angelcasendgame!!!!! I am not sure I will be able to work on anything very soon just because life came after me again, and turns out I'm gonna be moving over the next month or so, but I really do hope I can find time!!

None of these have names yet lol. I put the SPN ones first, but technically I've been trying to break my writer's block by returning to The Great Gatsby (It's all Nick/Gatsby btw, just realized that might not be immediately evident) with limited success. It's always come easier for me. But all of this is stuff I do actively want to work on.

Ohh I don't know who to tag. I'm sure everyone in this circle has been tagged already, and most of the people I talk to regularly enough to know about their projects have more or less left Tumblr... I do absolutely want to pass this your way though, @antique-ro-man!! (It's Wes, btw!) I also wanna tag @heyfagbutt! And then anyone else who sees this and wants to participate, I also encourage it!! This is such a cool idea :D !!

Long, rambling explanations down here ⬇⬇

I think the name is pretty explanatory? The gist of it is they go after the same guy and become pseudo-enemies but they keep bumping into each other like this and decide to work together after a while 👍 this is a really bad hook LMAO. Anyway, I'm trying to build on the idea that they work REALLY well together when they do it intentionally but fail comically when they don't.

Pretty much what it says on the tin as well. No Supernatural AU. Dean goes to a community college to get a certification to help with his work elsewhere, but Cas, a figure drawing model, catches him drawing (which Dean's been doing on and off as a hobby) and tries to get him to sign up for the arts program.

I technically only have a summary of this, and I'm not entirely sure if I will write it all out, but I do want to at least put more time into the development before I dedicate to giving up on it bc of scope lol. I just have SUCH a soft spot for fake relationship AUs. Also, I just found out that while I have FINALLY aged into independent FAFSA eligibility, I am once again tax bracketed out. Anyway, financial abuse is real and I want to project my suffering onto Dean. Also immigrant Cas, but I haven't decided where I want him to be from yet. I think this has a lot of potential for some pretty hefty character redesigns too so it's also compelling to me from that angle. I guess I could also write it for TGG, but I did initially think of it for Destiel, so.

I don't know how to explain this one very well except that I had unhelpfully written "poolboy au" in my notes and then proceeded to forget what the hell I meant. This fic was an attempt to resurrect that but ended up being a funky modern West Coast re-imagining where Gatsby can't even "make it" as much as he wants to, and Nick can't find a place to live except for a less-than-legally rented pool house. It's not meant to be a full rewrite or anything though.

Uhhh yeah, I'm keeping the details private for this one ahaha but that's just because it wasn't supposed to be a big deal and I told a friend she would see what it was when it was done...like oh god probably a month ago at this point... My original scope for this was quite small, but research for it, indecision, and a nasty case of writer's block that I've had for nearly a year now have kept development a bit slow. Hopefully, I'll finish it before the year comes to a close.

I also don't know how to explain this one well other than "after being rejected by Daisy (Canon Divergent), Gatsby attempts to buy his way into a bewildered Nick's heart. Though the fic is from Nick's POV, Gatsby's just had his worldview shattered and is in a bit of denial, but instead of pursuing Daisy harder, he channels all of that energy into Nick (though he's not really sure why he's doing it at first). I wasn't sure what to put up at the top because I absolutely don't want my code name for this public at least until it's done LMAO.

[navigatorwrongway]

okay finals week is over so here’s my ADHD online/remote student survival guide

1. This is the big one: if you’re stuck staring at a blank document that should be an essay by now, what you’re gonna do is turn off your brain and turn on your voice to text on your phone.

ideally, you should have at least one little guy (can be a figurine or stuffie or whatever) for moral support

just go on auto pilot about whatever your paper is supposed to be about. You can go back and neaten it up after you have some thing to neaten up, the point is get something down on the document to break the surface tension

I have speed-written so many essays using this strategy, you don’t even know



2. Get a floor pillow!! It will make your floortime so much more comfortable and sometimes doing work on the floor is necessary for your wellbeing i have this one and I slept on it for several weeks when I didn’t have a bed

just make sure it’s one you can stretch out on, belly flop style — those giant throw pillow-style ones are no good

3. For the love of all things holy go outside sometimes, open a window, anything to get fresh air will help

4. Find something you can have on in the background that will get your brain into over the optimal arousal threshold, I like Time Team and the Historical Farm series (both are on youtube)

5. i KNOW you’ve heard it before but you’re gonna hear it again use firefox and adblockers. Do it. I haven’t seen an ad on YouTube in two years and that could be you, too

6. Even if you can’t use one consistently, I hate to admit it, but a planner does actually help. It doesn’t have to be a planner planner, literally a notepad or stickynote where you write a to-do list and due dates next to the assignment is better than nothing. Black pen for everyday/general to-dos, red for the day it’s due

7. Alarms. Alarms for everything. I usually do three alarms for each class or assignment deadline; ten minutes before, four minutes before, and one minute before

8. Find a dopamine boost game that you can pop on for a second and jump off just as easily. I like dragcave.net because i can collect cute dragons but it doesn’t have any of the ‘drag you in and hold you down’ suction that mobile games do and I can put in as much or as little effort as I want (ie. no rewards for checking in every day, no time-out penalties, also free)

9. Work in daylight as much as you’re able to, lamp light if you must, and screen-only in a dark room as a last resort, your eyes and brain will thank you (see point 1 for alternative methods of essay writing at 10:37pm when there’s a midnight deadline)

10. If your school/institution has tutoring or workshopping resources, use them!! They help, both as an extra pair of eyes and as accountability prods; if you have an appointment to have your essay looked at BEFORE the eleventh hour, it can act as a little baby due date to get that deadline productivity magic working

11. Relatedly, research librarians are seriously SO helpful, see if you can get in touch with one.

12. Find a reason to visit campus every so often, if you don’t have any in-person classes. It’s wild how much the “I am a student, I rightfully belong here” feeling can do to strip away that plastic remote learning vibe

13. Seriously just try point 1 it will make the ‘getting started on essays’ part of your life so much less painful

(And please feel free to add on your own tactics!!)

[isfjmel-phleg]

Selections from the Correspondence of the Lockridge Family, I/XVII

Letter from Tamett Lockridge, companion to Prince Josiah of Lienne, to his family.

Königshaus Palace

Königsstadt, Lienne

21 February 1908

Dear Father, Mother, Emenor, Lovisa, Cille, and Zella,

I am well. I hope you are well too. Everyone else here is well and says hello. They really don’t but this is something you are supposed to say in letters.

Today I had breakfast. It was good except for having to eat it with His Royal Highness. Then HRH and I had morning lessons with Professor Ebner.[1] We did Divinity first, but I don’t remember much because I was mostly asleep.[2] Then we did Mathematics. Professor Specht[3] doesn’t like how I do multiplication. He wants me to do it like HRH, but his way doesn’t make sense even though he always has the right answer. Then we did Latin. The ancient Romans were interesting and did lots of exciting things, but I wish they had done it in Liennese and made it less confusing. I suggested to Professor Ebner that we do Latin practice by pretending to be gladiators outdoors, but he didn’t like that idea. Then we had lunch. Then we had more lessons, but they are also boring and I don’t want to write about them. After lessons HRH wanted to read, so I went for a walk in the park.[4] I am trying to see how far I can go before anyone notices. I think I was there for a few hours. Lord Protzmann[5] found me and said that I should know better than to disappear like that. So it was partly successful. It was too late to practice violin.

I had dinner with HRH and Mikaiah and Her Royal Highness Ateva. Her Royal Highness Ayra had to eat with the King.[6] She sneaked some of their caviare and brought it back for us to try.[7] It was strange. I wasn’t going to write tonight, but Lord Protzmann said I should.[8] So I am writing now.

When they pay me next week,[9] may I have a viertelmyunze[10] from it? I have had nothing for weeks whenever the shopkeepers come to visit.[11]

Yours sincerely

Tamett

P.S.: And please send my other handball from home. I lost the one I had.

P. P. S.: I asked Lord Protzmann about coming home at Easter[12] and he said he would talk to the king.

[1] Professor Ebner: Helmold Ebner, primary tutor to Prince Josiah, taught the traditional classical subjects. He was among the foremost scholars at the University of Wissenberg when he was engaged by Odren VII in 1902 to teach his son. The arrangement proved successful, with Ebner remaining with the Prince until the latter’s departure for Hollingham College in 1908. Ebner wrote to his brother in 1903, “While I admit that initially my expectations in teaching such a young pupil—a new experience indeed for me—were less than optimistic, I have found His Royal Highness to have the gravity and diligence of a young man thrice his age, and I would not exchange my young scholar for any graduate student at Wissenberg. He is a joy to teach and the pride of my academic career” (Collected Letters of Helmold Ebner, vol. 3, pp. 336-37). References to Tamett Lockridge appear surprisingly seldom among Ebner’s correspondence, with the most notable remark being his lament to a former colleague that “the Norriberrian child cannot understand simple concepts that His Royal Highness grasps immediately, while certain more difficult things that I take care to fully explain he claims to grasp from the start and yawns through the lesson” (Ibid. p. 429).

[2] mostly asleep: Multiple memoranda from Prince Josiah to his father complaining of his companion’s distracting tendency to snore during some lessons substantiate this remark.

[3] Professor Specht: Xaver Specht, mathematics tutor to Prince Josiah, was a professor at Wissenberg for only five years before winning the Höchste Award for Mathematical Achievement in 1902 for his monograph “Confronting the Monster Infinity.” He initially declined Odren’s request to teach the Prince, preferring to concentrate on research, but Odren’s promised compensation proved too profitable an opportunity to pass up. Specht was a notably private man but is known to have once claimed, “Most days, I need not teach His Royal Highness. He was born with mathematics written on his lips and heart” (Kalb, Xaver Specht: A Unique Mind, p. 284).

[4] the park: The park on the grounds of Königshaus Palace is famous for its great extent, nearly twenty miles at its widest point. Its attractions include the royal herd of deer, the Buchenwald (Beech Forest), and the magnificent statue of Odren (I) the Great, erected in 1858 by Odren VI to commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of Lienne’s conquest of Norriber.

[5] Lord Protzmann: Lord Protzmann, the head of the household of the royal children of Lienne, was appointed to that rank in 1885 and would continue in that role until his dismissal in 1910 after an embezzlement scandal. His duties included overseeing the daily affairs of the royal children’s domestic staff, managing accounts, and supervising such employees as the companion Tamett Lockridge and the princesses’ lady’s-maid, Sarra Gilsbrecht. Correspondence and diaries of the royal children indicate that they typically referred to Protzmann behind his back as Protz; it is likely that Tamett did also, but in a letter to his family which Protzmann could have easily intercepted, he is employing caution.

[6] Ayra had to eat with the King: By December 1902, after the death of Queen Nyella, Princess Ayra was expected to attend meals with her father in place of a consort whenever female guests were present. Lady Erna Rademacher, who often dined with the royal family, commented in later life that the princess was “so studiously courteous that to interact with her resembled a lesson in etiquette. She was always correct but lacked the spontaneous warmth more natural to her sister” (Forty-Seven Years at the Liennese Court, pp. 251-52).

[7] some of their caviare […] for us to try: The royal children’s household accounts indicate that the princes and princesses typically dined quite lavishly, in a style resembling that of their parents and the rest of the court. Even so, such dishes as caviar would have been off-limits.

[8] Lord Protzmann said I should: Lord Protzmann regularly corresponded with Edvin and Elina Lockridge about their son’s welfare and behavior and also kept track of the boy’s communication with his family.

[9] they pay me next week: Tamett Lockridge was paid 100 myunzen per mensem (worth approximately $5,300 today), the bulk of which went to his parents, although the rest was put in savings for his future, with a small allowance for him.              

[10] viertelmyunze: The myunze (plural: myunzen) is the chief unit of Liennese currency, worth approximately $53 dollars in 1908. A viertelmyunze was worth a quarter of a myunze ($13.25), while a halbemyunze was worth half ($26.50).

[11] the shopkeepers come to visit: Since it was not considered proper or feasible for the royal family to attend shops, certain prestigious merchants in Königsstadt were permitted by appointment to bring a selection of their wares and their catalog to the palace for the royal family to examine and purchase at will.

[12] coming home at Easter: Tamett’s last documented visit to his family had been at Christmas 1907.

[aracelisco]

Progress Reflection - 4/10/23

Posting has been going steady, and it's especially interesting being able to see the numbers that I'm collecting personally and the stats that Instagram provides for their business account setting! Here's a peek at the last two weeks of posting and engagement.

For my data I'm keeping track of engagement (likes/comments/shares/bookmarks) as well as post insights (exposure to followers and non-followers which when added together creates total reach and recording total impressions).

So far it has been steady with the impression that Reels are the best way to gain attention to grow a new audience as consistently I've been reaching high engagement and reach with them. The lowest engagement and reach I've received for a Reel is 33 and 111 respectively, while the highest is 150 and 870 respectively.

As for regular posts, the lowest engagement and reach I've received is 0 and 9 respectively, and the highest being 12 and 10. For the impressions of my regular posts, they completely consist of who is currently following me as opposed to my Reels where majority of the reach are non-followers.

Not recorded in my sheets--but screenshotted from the data of my individual posts--I've also come to realize for regular posts utilizing hashtags doesn't seem to bring extra attention unless I'm going about them the wrong way. I make sure to use hashtags that are relevant to what I'm posting, especially if it's fanart of a game or show I'll use multiple tags in relation to it. But under the Impressions detail most of the views are coming from the Home page aka those who are currently following me. Unfortunately, for Reels they don't share a similar data record to show where people are seeing my videos whether it's through the home page, explore page, hashtags, or others means.

Aside from data collection--I've actually come to really enjoy creating Reels as it's become a fun experience after getting past the "cringe" factor I was facing when I first started. Video recording and editing was never my forte, so going through the process felt embarrassing like I was doing something wrong at a new job. But now it's fun, especially doing the transitions between clips!

Other than that, I have this week and next week to complete my posting and data collection just to try to get as much information as possible about my posting experiences.

I've also finally completed the mockup for my website design, it took me less than an hour and a half, who would've imagined how easy it was? Shout out to executive dysfunction for that one! Here's a glance at it.

Thanks to having a posting matrix I won't have to worry about posting this week or the next, so I can focus my time into writing out my website copy for my main pages and developing visuals and graphs alongside of them. Once that's completed I'll be able to create a final mockup and receive approval/feedback from Sharla.

I'm not too concerned about getting this done as long as I really use my time wisely as once I have all the elements together, it's as simple as copy and pasting it onto the actual website builder I'll be using. If anything, I'll just be worried about the completion of my "Research" page as I'll only be able to partially complete it until I finish my posting on my Instagram page to go over all of the data I've collected. I'm aiming to get most of it done by the ending of this week, I think it's manageable for sure.

Thanks for reading!

[mzashleypie]

Hey! I read your college advice post and noticed that you graduated from UT Austin, which has been my dream school since I can remember. I’m about to be a senior and I was hoping if you could give some tips on how to write a good college essay for UT?

Hey! This is going to get rambly so I apologize now lol.

-------

First things first, I was ranked 11 in a class of 600 and therefore in the top 7 and 10 percent of my class and was automatically accepted to UT. From what I've heard, they quite literally might've put my application in an accepted pile without reading any of my essays or extracurriculars.

Next, I was a very dreamy high schooler and wanted to go to the Ivy League and become some CDC researcher developing vaccines (this is a way more insane thing to say in 2022 than it was in 2014), but what did I choose to write about in my essay? The school library. I was called my library's mascot. I got to school every morning 2 hours before class to do homework and wait for the library to open. I worked in our "bistro" which was a stockroom where we sold coffee and did homework while I hung out with my friends. I had a stack of mugs and repaired my textbooks in the workroom. My librarian was like a second mother. I was in book club and anime club in the afternoons and decorated with the students for the holidays. I wrote the coziest vignette of community and home that I knew.

At the time, I didn't know that this is exactly what I was looking for in college. I wanted to be surrounded by people I didn't necessarily call friends, but just people who knew what it was like to be one of those in-between kids who didn't do sports, or band, or theatre, but loved to be consumed by stories. I applied to UT as a Biology major with a focus in microbiology and was accepted. I would graduate UT 4 years later as an English major with a certificate in Creative Writing with a focus in Poetry, but I feel like that conclusion would probably make much more sense than biology to anyone who read my essay.

I hope you write with passion and honesty on whatever your topic is and get in with the major you want!

And if you don't trust me, my fave May Gao does essay reviewing cheap or free for less advantaged students: https://www.collabadvising.com/essays

Going to add more about UT below, I swear I loved it, there's just a lot wrong with the way most schools work and I don't want you going in completely blind.

NOTES ON UT

Freshman classes are designed to weed people out of in-demand majors (CRUEL!!! but I was told this on multiple occasions faculty). Intro classes are notoriously difficult for calculus, biology, chemistry, and organic chemistry. You will probably fail your first test. It's okay (my roommate was our high school valedictorian and failed our first chem test and cried all night). I got back to back 32, 33, and 76 on chem tests and barely passed with a D. I survived. Fun Fact: former VP of the school got exclusively Cs in his intro classes.

Pick the major you want the most BUT if you are unsure or may want to double major, choose the major that is the most selective. This includes Comp Sci, any of the communications school, the business school, and engineering. These majors are extremely hard to once you are in and attempt to do an internal transfer. When I was trying to transfer into Moody for film, they told me they only accept 1 internal transfer A YEAR.

This school is a class divide. Coming from a working-class Hispanic family and from a not great public high school, I was absolutely broken by the amount of people with summer houses, no debt, loans, or work-study, who studied abroad multiple semesters, went out every night or even every weekend. If you are not White, Indian, or Asian, you will have to be active to find your people. There are tons of culture groups and clubs, but it's jarring when most of your classes are homogenous just because of who actually gets into UT.

Best of luck and feel free to message me here, twitter, or instagram if you have any other questions!

[jadeile-writes]

Fanfic Progress Update 158

Hello, peeps! The last Saturday of the year 2023 and thus my last post of the year. Wild. So let's see what I've got here, and then I'll see you again on 2024! Stay tuned for a sneak-peek for A Sign that you're important at the bottom of this post!

Current WIPs:

A Sign that you're important

Fandom: Sonic the Hedgehog, movieverse

Summary: One month upon his assigment as Doctor Robotnik's assitant, Agent Stone is told to learn sign language. He doesn't know why, and isn't suicidal enough to ask, so he simply rolls with it. Turns out, it's not just a whimsy of the eccentric doctor, even though that doesn't stop the doctor from utilizing it like one.

Progress: The latest chapter aka chapter 2 was posted on 28th of December. The third chapter will be posted on 4th of January aka the next Thursday. Chapter 4 is almost finished. This fic will most likely have five chapters, maybe six if I get epilogue-happy or smth.

The Christmas hassle really cut into my writing time, ngl. Let's hope chapter 5 practically writes itself when I get to it so that I can keep up with the schedule nicely and perhaps get new things cooking. Or maybe just focus on Lab Life, I'm starting to feel self-conscious about writing everything but my "main project", even tho that's by design.

-----

Life at the laboratory

Fandom: Sonic the Hedgehog, movieverse

Summary:

"Wanted: a yesman who is capable of operating an espresso machine, has at least a higher IQ than your average amoeba, and is willing to put work before having a personal life, or indeed a life, period. The extra in your pathetic paycheck is good, but the strain in your psyche will make up for the positives. Forfeit your basic human rights and apply today if this sounds like you." 

Maybe it said something about Agent Stone - and probably not good things - that the poster in the cafeteria's pin board piqued his interest more than any of his official assignments had for a good long while. 

Dr. Robotnik, huh?

Progress: This one will be part one of a two-parter longfic, the first part probably... 10-ish chapters? It's a bit hard to estimate at this point, so the number is subject to change - will probably end up being increased tbh. My weekly writing hour (as in, a specific hour when I sit down and write, no excuses [other than not being home]) is devoted to this fic.

I have the first four chapters completely written now. Chapter 5 is 3/4ths done. Let it be known that this chapter is difficult to write, because it involves so much research for things that nobody else will even care about and are basically just background details (actually, that applies to this whole fic tbh). It would be so much easier if I was less of a stickler for details, lol XD As a sidenote that's actually not relevant to this particular chapter, I'm failing miserably at learning to do latte art. The milk foam just turns into milk with hard whip on top. I need to invest in better equipment and fattier milk and give it another shot. The magic tricks I learned in my Hazbin fic research were so much easier >.>

I also have two halfway written chapters that don't yet know their exact placement within the fic (they're scenes that will be slotted in to wherever they feel natural, once we get Stone settled in.)

-----  

Other WIPs I’m not currently working on but intend to get back to Someday™:

PoE Drabbles (Pillars of Eternity)

DC Drabbles (Justice League)

Diaphanous Relations (Forgotten Realms, R.A. Salvatore’s books)

Rolling with it (Zelda: BotW)

Hah, our afterlife is the most hilarious bushwa, dearest! (Hazbin Hotel)

-----

That’s it for the WIPs! Here’s the promised sneak-peek into A Sign that you're important (Note: the text may end up slightly different in the fic itself due to more editing happening before publishing). Enjoy!

Robotnik let out a deep, exhausted sigh of relief upon the hotel room door closing behind him. Finally, finally the mission was as good as over, with only the paperwork and hopefully avoidable in-person debriefings left, and those were tomorrow's problems. Tonight, all that was expected of him was sleeping, and after days of planning, organizing, and finally the careful execution of the plan he was ready to give his brilliant mind a much deserved break.

"Stone, unpack the bags, order something edible and light from the room service, and ignore any and all messages and calls from the government", he said, taking off his outdoor clothes while his assistant worked in the background. He wanted a shower to wash out the sweat, grime, and the faint smell of a musty warehouse.

As soon as Stone had his pajamas laid out on his bed, he snatched them up and claimed their en-suite bathroom for himself. He couldn't get out of his nasty day clothes fast enough, and after taking out and carefully laying his hearing aids on the edge of the sink – as far away from the danger of falling in as he could manage with the limited options at hand – he hopped in the shower and let the warm water wash out the grime and stress in the blissful silence.

-----

That’s it this time. See you next Saturday!

Links:

My AO3   My FFnet   My Ko-fi    Radiohusk Discord Server

[dumpspacefornotes]

March 2023

Reflection on past jobs:

-Enjoy focusing on the task at hand and not having too much overstimulation

-Working at a computer might be a good path because of the ability to work alone and from anywhere with wifi

-Working in a creative field where I’m in charge allows for personal focus

-Enjoy being paid for something that I can physically see the outcome

-Enjoy working one on one

-I don’t need to be 100% in love with it, I need to see the value it would bring to others/my own life and run with it

Ideas for future work:

1.Psychology masters degree to become a licensed therapist, work in research, work in schools/hospitals/private practice/etc.

4 years and 80K+ debt most likely

Job with benefits

Usually make 50-100K per year

I enjoy learning about it

I enjoy helping others

2. Part-time to eventual Full-time

*Graphic Designer -- Community college to freelance

*Photographer -- Work with friend/family to learn to freelance

What am I skilled in?

Organization

Problem solving

Patience

Caregiving

Childcare

Mental healthcare knowledge

Creative Thinking/Problem solving

How can I show my skills?

- Photography portfolio

- Art portfolio

- Music portfolio

- Writing portfolio

- Childcare portfolio

- Mental healthcare portfolio (comics, therapy journal, screenshot info, book info)

6. Who will my skills benefit?

- Creative people looking for things they also enjoy/inspiration

- People who want perspective

- People suffering with mental health issues to feel less alone/seen

-Because it’s the only thing that has truly filled me with a sense of being known and liking myself

-Because it’s fun

-Because doing other things is less enjoyable

-Because when I’m doing other things I’m thinking of doing art/music/writing/etc

-Because it is good enough

-Because fuck it

-Because I can look back at all the creative endeavors, rather than working for someone else

7. Journal questions

* Who do I want to help most in this world?

Animals, people with mental health conditions, children

* What is so unique to my personality that it naturally helps others?

Caregiving, creativity, desire to figure things out, desire to seek out wellness

*What jobs are these qualities associated with?

Mental healthcare, Childcare, Animalcare, Healthcare

Personal trainers, workshop facilitators, Vet techs, RNs/CNA, therapist, school psychologist, holistic medicine

8. What do you feel is stopping you?

I want to get these other things completed before I work on anything else

The other things being-

Organized into books:

- Notes

- Photos

- Physical items

Why are they so important?

It’s the work that I’ve been doing all throughout my 20’s - I want it to have a home to rest. To be seen. I don’t want it to stay in my phone, I want to be seen.

After you get those things done, what will you feel free to work on?

I don’t know - I feel like I'll only know after they’re done.

1. Lessons book

2. Photography book - chronological

3. Comics from art ideas

4. Folder of my singing and guitar

5. Childcare binder

6. Mental healthcare binder

7. Philosophy binder

And maybe trying to spend 2-3 hours OUTSIDE the house, trying to get these done, rather than at home.

Home can be where you workout, eat, relax

It can also be a place to get work done, but it might be better to try somewhere else if you can’t

Career Journal

11/05/2022

No teaching - no dealing with administrative bullshit, being underpaid, asked to work outside of contract hours, and cater to parents

Focus:

1. Being paid directly for the projects that I create

2. Creative freedom

3. Purposeful work that will directly benefit - animal care, childcare, adult-care (emotional support- grief book, life lessons, art made to make them feel better, ideas on how to use art therapy/music therapy/somatic therapy in daily life, yoga

10-30-22

Steps to becoming an art teacher

- Writing to school about why I want to enter into and why I would be a good candidate

- Portfolio of 10-20 pieces showing a variety of my work

- If possible, enter into some art galleries or shows to show involvement

- Create a better social media page to display

- Get involved in an art discussion board on discord or Reddit

- Comment on your favorite art pages and start becoming familiar

- How my love for mental health could be a valuable skill in a teaching environment - as well as background in childcare, improv, therapy and yoga

Aim:

-Work somewhere with benefits

-NYS certified to go wherever

-Co-workers and students that have similar interests

-Eventually go into art therapy in 5-10 years

——

Accepting where I’m at and working with it

One day at a time,

One moment at a time

Aim - instant messenger discord server - if you see me on feel free to message me

Or writing prompt style

10/28/2022

All the things I do for my sanity and income for the next 5-10years while

acquiring this degree:

1. Childcare: babysitting

2. Animal-care: pet sitting, pet walking

3. Yoga instructor: / TT / workshops

4. Artist: small business for holiday gifts

5. Photography small business for infant and pet photography and maybe some nature photos to sell to hotels/wherever

Main source of income/debt:

1. Work toward degree to become a certified mental health therapist over however many years it takes to do two classes a semester

2. Audit all art, philosophy and music classes possible

Bucket list:

1. Create a design and Apply to make a mural somewhere

2. Social media - artist: Comics about mental health and funny whatever and photography

3. Researcher/writer/publish findings as well as a memoir and grief journal

4. Post music that I write and perform that feels deeply meaningful or I’m proud of in general

5. Become as physically and mentally healthy through therapy, weight lifting, yoga, and developing friendships/strengthening relationships with family for my own peace of mind

Call MVP and ask about healthcare if you’ve made ___ this year -

start figuring out quickbooks and how to do all of these things legally and file taxes with it

08/01/2022

Investing time

in things I love to learn about

1. Art

2. Music

3. Writing

4. Philosophy

5. Psychology

6. Early childhood development and how the relation of genetics/support/culture supports how our personalities develop and more importantly adapt over time

Working on for the rest of my life:

Childcare provider, researcher, and childrens book writer

Artist working with watercolor, collage, mixed media painting, epoxy resin flowers, embroidery, recreating furniture, photography

Writer working on a series of children’s books, a mental health book geared for all ages, a short “what I think kids need to know and feel growing up”, a fiction book that's based on real life events; sort of an embellished memoir,

Photographer and Filmmaker working on a series of creative explorations of the vast differences in perception, morality, human emotion, birth/death

Singer and songwriter working only a truly enjoyable process, not to share necessarily

Main work that provides the money I require:

April 5

Part of me just wants to accept that I’m not good enough at anything, and the other part of me knows that isn’t true, but isn’t sure either what it is I'm going to do. I feel so confused. Math, science, literature/writing, art, sports/fitness, cooking, history, computers, animals, plants - none of it is interesting enough to go all the way with? Have a little faith in yourself at this point, or at 40, 50, 60, you’ll be feeling the same- why didn’t I just shut up and try?

I can’t do them all, and trying to just makes me shitty at a lot of things.

Time to get focused.

I’m constantly in awe, envious of, and desiring the path of an artist. But, I hardly make art anymore. But, I have been wildly depressed the last few years AND I have made a lot of art in that time- just nothing “good enough”

What would it be like to be consistent with art for hours a day?

What always comes up is- what about the real work? What is the real work I’m doing that

allows me to do the art?

What am I good at, have some sort of experience in, and won’t burn me out?

[cristel-is-noveling]

The September Plan (coming to you this August!)

After the Great July Burnout, I had to decide between taking time off, or focusing on other aspects of the novel. I ended up doing both. I took eight days off between August 1 and August 10, and I spent the time since then focusing on research.

No regrets, research needed to be done. Not only that, it needed to be sped up. There were whole plot points hanging entirely on research that I wasn't (and still am not) even close to finishing.

The break was also beneficial in that it let the boys in the basement do their job, and I came out of it not only full of new ideas, but also a whole new concept of what this novel is, not in terms of story, but as a speech event. Why is this story being told, and to whom? All very interesting stuff I may write about at some point.

But back to the point of this post: The idea was that, come September, I was going to Officially Come Back To Writing (I say "officially" because all this inspiration did turn into a few frenetic writing sessions). It just looked like a nice goalpost, you know? New month, new schedule.

Well, screw that.

I just finished one of my reference books today, and wouldn't you know it, this also looks like a nice goalpost. The new schedule is going into effect starting tomorrow, August 27.

🌹🌷🌻 The September Plan 🌻🌷🌹

Research, regrettably, will still take up the majority of my noveling time. Otherwise I'll never be done with it, and I'll keep writing myself into walls of underdeveloped worldbuilding. I already marked everything I could as to be decided, but there's no ignoring those holes anymore.

Thankfully though, this latest surge of inspiration means I have new stuff to work on, so writing can again be a part of the picture. I will, however, not impose a word-count goal on myself. I'll make up a dummy NaNo goal to log everything that does get written, but I won't be shooting for any particular number. The catch, however, is that I have to write every day, for a set amount of time.

So my daily six poms are going to look like this from now on:

🍅 Sprints 1 & 2: Reference Material

Craft books, history, psychology. The next book on my TBR is Spiral Dynamics, so I'll be going with that until something better comes across or I decide it's not relevant enough and DNF it.

🍅 Sprints 3 & 4: Writing

A whole hour. Seems sensible enough. I tend to be at my most awake during this time, and will probably be inspired after the first two sprints.

🍅 Sprints 5 & 6: Biology

This should theoretically be the priority, but there's only so much of this I can take in a single day. A little less attention-intensive than writing, though, so a nice way to come down from the session.

[skypancake]

fall 22 + why i started this blog

it’s a bittersweet time as the semester comes to an end, the profs i didn’t like i’m happy i don’t have to do any more work for them, but on the other hand the ones i do like i don’t get to be in their class anymore ;-; or i suppose i could take their class again, but it doesn’t really make sense to, you know? one of my profs is retiring, and preferred we write good things about her on rmp lol

next semester should be interesting, 15 units, i’m taking physics, psych, history, and comp sci. i wasn’t able to get them all online like i’d wanted to, so i’ll have to expend some gas, but maybe i’ll actually see some friends more often now that i’m on campus. should i get a board? i don’t know how much sense it makes considering i’m not on campus all day, i’d probably wanna get new shoes too, then, considering i feel i should know at least some tricks, and i don’t wanna tear my canvas shoes as is

i think my parents think that by pursuing a cs major i’ve an innate interest in the subject, which isn’t necessarily true. i mean, i don’t hate it, but i don’t have a passion for this craft, either. my actual goal career-wise is to own a/multiple successful business(es), and i’m told comp sci is a useful skill across many disciplines, while you’ll learn more by actually doing business than looking at it from an outside perspective, possibly the instructor being a dinosaur who doesn’t know a thing about what they’re teaching. but yeah, my mum pulled me over and showed me the microsoft teams and other shit she was doing, i think she and my dad are trying to set up my mind into the idea that i’ll be working for someone else my entire life, a pitfall i’m doing my best not to fall into. if money’s tight i’ll give in to the traditional system, but my time is mine. i own it, and i’d rather not sell it to somebody else

i made a topic change for my final essay in english 10 days before the semester’s ending, but seeing as i got more research done in 3 hours compared to less in 4 with my other topic it should hopefully be that much better, i guess this topic just speaks to me more. one of the other ideas was based on bo burnham’s “welcome to the internet” delving into how the internet has changed people, but that might be too broad/specific a topic considering i couldn’t find anything about that specifically (like comparing the 80s-90s to now), though i might’ve also just been using the wrong keywords. another i just thought of was how negative the american news is, don lemon looks like he’s dying, and all these awful stories combined with the negativity bias and availability heuristic can make taint the image of the world in someone’s eyes, this is an idea stolen from jarvis johnson, i don’t remember which video. unrelated, but he also mentions at some point while giving advice to somebody (about relationships?), to not be burdened with the present or past if things went south, because something way better could be right around the corner. i also couldn’t find which video this was

another one of my profs is the whole reason i started this blog, she had a survey at he end of every week asking how we were doing and the like, which i absolutely poured my heart into with thoughts and stories, and her compliment of they being engaging and such inspired me to possibly put these things out there for more people to see. whether they do or don’t is fine, i write these things in a google doc for myself anyway

i am wondering how to publish things like poetry or short stories though, is tumblr the right platform to do that? i would assume the platform itself matters somewhat, idk 

[bananonbinary]

Time for a Salty Meta Post about Martin!

people who’ve followed this blog for a bit know that spending six hours combing through text for some goddamn sources is my specialty, so i compiled every time jon ever talked about martin’s work in season 1. which for the record, he stopped complaining about all the way back in episode 26, where he was angry that martin of all people got hurt.

things jon gets mad at martin for:

not being able to find records that don’t exist

not being able to find someone based only on a first name

the Dog

not wearing trousers in his off-hours

being the one that got caught up in the jane prentiss thing

mag 004 and mag 012 both have jon taking potshots at martin over research that was proven accurate by outside sources

things jon has never once complained about:

martin not understanding the filing system and just putting stuff away at random

martin being clumsy, constantly ruining things, spilling tea everywhere everyday, etc

martin turning in incompetent, poorly-edited, or badly formatted reports

martin not understanding the terminology used, skills expected, etc., and generally being extremely new to the field

please for the love of god stop making martin the silly bumbling idiot who can’t do anything right just because he doesn’t have a formal education. there’s zero evidence for it in the text, and it’s really weird to act like a 4 year degree would outweigh the *10 years* of job experience he has, not just in academia, but in the institute itself by season one. my boy has worked there longer than ANY of the rest of the main cast. screw you guys.

tl;dr: martin is never once shown to be bad at his job, jon pretty much only ever gets mad at him for the really stupid first impression and also not finding stuff that no one else was able to find either. after martin got hurt, jon talks about his research basically the same way he talks about tim’s or sasha’s work.

fucking proof under the cut:

(i didnt include the s1 finale or martin’s statement bc that’s just...two entire episodes of them talking to each other, but there isn’t really any notable Martin Complaints in either of them imo)

I swear, if he’s brought another dog in here, I’m going to peel him.

[pre-launch trailer]

.

Well, technically three, but I don’t count Martin as he’s unlikely to contribute anything but delays.

[...] Alongside this Tim, Sasha and, yes, I suppose, Martin will be doing some supplementary investigation to see what details may be missing from what we have.

[MAG001 Anglerfish]

.

Martin couldn’t find any records of Ex Altiora as a title in existent catalogues of esoteric or similar literature, so I assigned Sasha to double-check. Still nothing.

[MAG004 Pageturner]

.

I had Martin conduct a follow-up interview with Mr. Woodward last week, but it was unenlightening. Apparently there have been no further bags at number 93 and in the intervening years he has largely discounted many of the stranger aspects of his experience. I wasn’t expecting much, as time generally makes people inclined to forget what they would rather not believe, but at least it got Martin out of the Institute for an afternoon, which is always a welcome relief.

[MAG005 Thrown Away]

.

Martin was unable to find the exact date the original house was built but the earliest records he could find list it as being bought by Walter Fielding in 1891.

[...]

We cannot prove any connection, but Martin unearthed a report on an Agnes Montague, who was found dead in her Sheffield flat on the evening of November 23rd 2006, the same day Mr. Lensik claims to have uprooted the tree.

[MAG008 Burned Out]

.

According to Martin, who was here when they took this statement, it was at this point in writing that Mr. Herbert announced he needed some sleep before continuing. He was shown to the break room where he went to sleep on the couch. He did not awaken; unfortunately succumbing to the lung cancer right there. Martin says the staff had been aware of how serious Mr. Herbert’s condition was, and had advised him to seek medical aid prior to giving his statement, but were told rather bluntly by the old man that he would not wait another second to state his case. I can’t decide whether this lends more or less credibility to his tale.

[MAG010 Vampire Killer]

.

“Veepalach” might also be a mishearing of the Polish word “wypalać”, according to Martin, which means to cauterize or brand. Admittedly, if Martin speaks Polish in the same way he “speaks Latin,” then he might be talking nonsense again, but I’ve looked it up and it appears to check out.

[MAG012 First Aid]

.

I sent Martin to look into this ‘Angela’ character - not that I want him to get chopped up, of course, but someone had to. Apparently, he spent three days looking into every woman named Angela in Bexley over the age of 50. He could not find anyone that matches the admittedly vague description given here, though he informs me that he had some very pleasant chats about jigsaws. Useless ass.

[MAG014 Piecemeal]

.

Martin declined to help with this investigation as he’s “a bit claustrophobic”

[MAG015 Lost John’s Cave]

.

There simply aren’t enough details given in this statement to actually investigate, short of Martin confirming that Mr. Vittery did indeed live at the addresses he provided.

[MAG016 Arachnophobia]

.

Oh, he’s off sick this week. Stomach problems, I think.

Blessed relief if you ask me.

[...]

I asked Martin to try and hunt down Mr. Adekoya himself for a follow-up, but have been informed that he passed away in 2006. 

[MAG017 The Boneturner’s Tale]

.

MARTIN

Well, I need to tell someone what happened, and you can vouch for the soundness of my mind, can’t you?

ARCHIVIST

…

That is beside the point.

[MAG022 Colony]

.

Martin! Good lord man, if you’re going to be staying in the Archives, at least have the decency to put some trousers on!

[MAG023 Schwartzwald]

.

Martin found one other thing while combing through police reports for the Hither Green area. About a month after this statement was given, on May 15th, 2015, police were called out to once again investigate the chapel.

[MAG025 Growing Dark]

.

I know, but it would have to have been Martin, wouldn’t it? I mean, anything goes wrong around here, it always seems to happen to him. Anyway, we’re getting off topic. Why didn’t you report this?

[MAG026 A Distortion]

.

Martin made contact with the son, Marcus McKenzie, but he declined to talk to us, saying that he’d “already made his statement.”

[MAG027 A Sturdy Lock]

.

Tim and Martin had a bit more luck investigating Tom Haan, though only really enough to confirm that he seems to have completely vanished following his departure from Aver Meats on the 12th of July.

[MAG030 Killing Floor]

.

Martin’s research would seem to indicate the place employed a reasonable number of international staff they preferred to keep off the books

[...]

TIM

Ah well, that’s actually what he was asking, huh! Um, apparently Martin, uh, took delivery of a couple of items last week addressed to you. Did he not mention it?

ARCHIVIST

No, he… Oh, yes, actually. I completely forgot. He said he put it in my desk drawer, hold on.

[MAG036 Taken Ill]