#also (and this is a chunk i cut from the original post bc it felt tangential but it's Important):

[mail-me-a-snail]

Hey seeing your ds games post, I felt it was important to let you know that the kingdom hearts games all build off of each other story wise like a long book series.

If you go into either of those kh games you will be lost storywise if you haven’t played (or watched) the prior games before.

Kh 358/2 days takes place time wise before 2, but is meant to be played after and fleshes out some of kh2’s new characters.

Re:Coded takes place after kh2 timeline wise but should be played after Birth by sleep bc it has some references to that game, tho not enough that you would really understand or be spoiled if you went in without playing that one. Re:coded also recaps a chunk of kh1 bc of it’s premise and directly references Re:chain of memories plot stuff.

Both of these games have voiced and remastered cutscene only versions as part of the 1.5+2.5 kh game collection. Which condenses them both into basically short movies, and in fact has a new cutscene for re:coded, bc why not. (Shame these aren’t full remasters of the ds games but oh well)

Personally I think the cutscene collection of kh Days cuts (and abridges) too much in terms of story and looses much without the gameplay. People overall are mixed on the actual gameplay tho since it’s a mission based game vs kh’s normal fair, plus some other things about how abilities and such work. I personally really like the gameplay, and have replayed the game a few times through, but if it really doesn’t jive with you I recommend the cutscene collection bc it does still do a decent job of telling the story and getting you attached to the characters.

Re:Coded is weird bc as a ds game it’s already a remake of an episodic? I think, 3D mobile game they had in Japan (bc square was making a bunch of those at the time), and I think gameplay wise it’s an okay kh game. Platforming and game pacing overall is a bit clunky tho. The cutscene collection version I think is a fine way to experience it since the game kinda bounces around in quality but I’d say give it a shot if you’ve got the opportunity perhaps. I do think it also cuts a bit more than I’d like from the original game’s cutscenes (especially towards the end) but not as much or to the same detriment as days.

Sorry this really is a long ask just to basically say you should play the kh games in order of release for optimal like, story impact and understanding. But if you just want to play the games in a different order I wouldn’t stop you. I’m certain there’s plenty of people out there that started the series with either of these games bc they were on ds.

listening learning nodding understanding. this is actually a really detailed and comprehensive answer which is exactly what i was looking for, so thank you for taking the time to write it out! i know nothing of the story of either of the polled games other than that, like you said, their hd remasters are purely cutscene only. worth nothing that i learned this from a reddit post trying to explain what order to play in (results were ofc varied; no one could agree on any one order)

we'll see how the poll shakes out and depending on the result i will look into getting the kh remasters since they just came out! i wanna give the story the respect it deserves by getting the pieces of it in order. now putting them all together is a different beast but that can come later

[clairenatural]

I honestly think Cas WAS in the wrong though for leaving Dean in 15x04 because he knew Dean was hurting and he knew Dean had low self worth and extreme abandonment issues. Like I get why he did it and I don’t hold it against him but it wasn’t the right thing to do

this is a castiel apologist blog!!!!

so sorry, but i disagree. it sucked for dean but dean was not in a place where he could listen to cas or be receptive to his help, and it was just hurting cas to stay there and continue trying while being shut down. i don’t blame dean for this, because he has a lot of trauma and abandonment issues to work through, but nobody (fictional or not) is required to sit with their partner and help them work through their issues at their own detriment, especially when their partner is refusing help. of course cas wants to, every partner in this situation wants to, but it’s just more damaging to everyone in the long run. so yeah i do think it was the right thing to do to put himself first for once, even if it hurt dean. both of them were hurting deeply at the moment, and both hurt in the aftermath, but cas leaving was good for him and also their relationship and, arguably, dean, because it forced him to have the “you left but i didn’t stop you” realization which was such a breakthrough (and isn’t only applicable to cas but to all his relationships tbh).

[megabadbunny]

Hi there - first of all, in case I haven't pestered you before, I love your art and your fic is amazing! Happy bunny day to you and your furry friends! 🐇🐰🐇 Your hair looks super cute! My hair is getting really long, and it's making me crazy. :( Do you live with a hairdresser? Or are you actually cutting it yourself somehow? Is there a video? Duolingo for hair? A correspondence course? Plz help!

Awww thank you thank you thank you!!!! You’re such a sweetheart. And happy Bunny Day to you, too!

As for my hair, yeah, I took a deep breath and buzzed/clipped it all off myself. I figured, hey, if it turned out crummy, no one would have to know but my husband and our rabbits! XD

So here’s the dilly: I am more than happy to share the steps I took, but I’m not a hairdresser by any means, so please proceed at your own discretion (and if anyone else sees this who has official hairdressing experience, please feel free to chime in with corrections/additional tips!)

First, I looked up pics for inspiration—“pixie with undercut” and “disconnected pixie” yielded the best results for me. Then I checked out a couple of tutorials, having the best luck with ones like the guy at https://getarazor.com/how-to-cut-your-own-hair-with-clippers/ that are aimed toward men. (Warning for cheesy illustrations, but they get the point across!)

To start, I would recommend throwing on an old crewneck tee shirt, one that’s loose enough to move around in easily, but with a close enough neckline that you won’t get all those prickly lil fresh-cut hairs sticking to your skin. (I did not follow this step myself, and thus ended up with a bunch of prickly lil fresh-cut hairs stuck to my skin 😝.) I did, however, remember to move the bathroom rug out of the way, so yay for that! After thoroughly dampening my hair, I secured the entirety of the longer portion atop my head and out of the way. Then, with my husbeast’s clippers in one hand and a handheld mirror in the other, I got started clippin’!

Source. This gentleman’s eyesight is way better than mine lolol, I had to look into the little mirror the whole time so I could get it close enough to my nearsighted lil eyeballs XD

Starting out with a #3 guard attached (that’s 3/8 of an inch), I shaved upward all around my head, beginning at the bottom hairline and shaving upwards to the line where the longer hair starts. I took breaks every once in a while to brush off the little hairs that collected along the clipper. Once I was satisfied that the buzz-job was even along the sides and back (good to put your glasses back on, for that part!), I switched to a #2 guard on the clipper (1/4”) and repeated the process, except this time I stopped around the tops of my ears, to give a subtled faded look. Then I removed the guard and used the naked clippers to shave off all the lil peach fuzzy hairs on my jawline/neck (bc why the heck not) and to trim and shape the hair at the nape of my neck as well as around my ears.

Source. I shaped my neck-nape-hairline into a “v” shape.

After checking to make sure my buzzed bits looked good all over, I let down the longer portion of my hair on top, planning to take off about 2 inches. Working in sections, moving side-to-side, front to back, I pulled the longer hair up/out with a comb until the comb looked to be about 2” from the ends of my hair, and then I cut along the comb with the naked clippers.

Source. Like this, but further out! Coincidentally, this is how I accidentally cut a racing stripe into the side of my head. So, y’know, consider this your hearty warning to be extra-careful at this juncture. And if you do end up buzzing any oopsy lines on your back or sides, consider leaning the fuck into it and building on so it all looks intentional. :D

The more I clipped, the more I got kind of a feel for how the hair needed to be shaped and cut in order to make my desired style work–pay attention to the direction your hair grows in and the way it wants to fall, that’ll make a big difference. For me it worked out well to keep it a little longer in front and cut it a little shorter and shorter as I went back–I’d say it’s about 1.5″ long in the back, 5″ or so long in the very front. After it looked/felt done, I ran the comb through all the longer hair, and then went back through and combed it all back up and out to make sure I hadn’t missed any random chunks (I definitely had) and to ensure that there weren’t any bits that stuck out too long for their placement on my head (there were). Once I’d trimmed those bits accordingly, it was time for cleanup! Our dustbuster took care of all the hair chunks on the floor, I brushed out all the stray hairs from the bathroom sink, and of course you can’t forget to clean off your clipper, too! This was right about when I realized I had Made A Mistake and it would have been a good idea to wear a cape or tee-shirt; as it was, I used a mega lint-roller to sticky all the loose hairs off my skin :D

And yeah, that’s about it! I’ve had good luck with letting it air-dry and working a lil pomade through, I’ve had good luck with blowing it dry, and it holds up for several days between washings (and dry shampoo gives it some NICE volume!). It’s working out great so far for my naturally curly-wavy hair texture, which contributes nicely to the casual-tousled look and is also very forgiving for the many mistakes I’m sure I made XD

And just for shits and giggles, here’s a before-during-and-after for ya:

Nothing wrong with the original look, just sometimes you look in the mirror and say to yourself, “Self, how can we look Even More Gay”

Accidental racing stripe feels lonely? Consider giving it a friend! :D

Anyhoo! I think that’s pretty much it. Feel free to hit me up if you have any questions comments concerns corrections additions subtractions multiplications or any other kind of math* in relation to this post! If you do end up taking the plunge and cuttin’ all your own hairs, best of luck and SEND ME PIX! :D

Have a lovely week and stay safe, sane, and healthy! ( ˘ ³˘)♥

* Please do not actually send me any math, math is not my friend. It taunts me

[codenamesailordarillium]

I just stumbled across your tumblr & saw the thing where you said you don’t mind random asks, so I hope this ones ok: I got into DW over the past year & am now hardcore RiverDoctor. Unfortunately it seems like I’ve arrived to the party about 10 years late. Which means I stumbled across the section of the fandom that hates on THoRS bc 12 wasn’t “River’s Doctor” & 11 didn’t get to take her to Darillium for the first time today... Would you have any thoughts on that whole thing?

Wow…well, first I wanna say it’s always great to have new people on board. I know it might seem like you’ve gotten into it too late in the game, but trust me, new people in our corner in the fandom are always welcome (as with any fandom, of course). Feel free to send asks gushing about it to people, I’m sure fellow shippers would be happy to welcome you with open arms. ^_^

As for the rest well…this is gonna get long and probably have the potential to piss certain ppl off bc I have Opinions™, so gonna put the rest of this under a cut.

Hoo boy…yeah, 11/River *ONLY* shippers. See, the thing was, initially, back in late 2013/early 2014, when we were fresh off of Matt’s regeneration ep and all, I could sympathize to a certain degree with ppl who were sad about him leaving and were reluctant to see River/Alex with 12/Peter because it wouldn’t be the same or whatever. I didn’t agree personally (tho initially I was p bummed about Matt leaving, Peter started winning me over real quick not long after he was announced), but I understood that people have a certain attachment to characters and specific dynamics shippy or otherwise. 

But to me, River was always the priority when regarding my interest in DW, and I wanted to see more of her in the show again, regardless of which Doctor it was with. I didn’t like how abruptly Moffat decided to end her story, just because the majority of the big reveals unfolded with Matt as the Doctor and suddenly because he and Karen and Arthur weren’t gonna be on the show anymore it meant Alex had to go as well. That didn’t really seem fair to River as a character, ‘cause it felt like we’d only been shown the bare bones of her story, her background/origin, her getting married to the Doctor, and then her dying. It didn’t feel right for her to just…not be there all of a sudden. Certain episodes (and lbr character dynamics) during series 8 and 9 would have probably benefited from her presence (off the top of my head I’d say Time Heist, how the hell did this show have a heist episode with no River using her time-traveling archaeologist sleuthing skills, like dafuq).

So…pre-THoRS, the Doctor/River fandom after Peter took over the role was a bit of a mixed bag. There were the people who only wanted River with 11 and just angsting in general because there wasn’t gonna be any more of that, but there also was a significant bunch of us who were DEEP into wanting River & 12 to happen. People were still in the fandom, writing fic, drawing fanart, what have you, probably at a slower rate than they had previously, but there was still stuff being put out there, simply because we wanted to entertain what that hot Capalston Sex Storm chemistry might look like. So when news of THoRS suddenly hit us in the face like…

…needless to say, a good number of us were suddenly stoked, new life had been breathed into the fandom and there was pretty much constant excited yelling for like the three and a half-ish months after it was announced. Once the episode finally came out and Darillium got switched from that big dreadful moment where River’s story turned tragic (well, even more tragic than it already was) to literally the most warm and fuzzy soft 24 years of domestic marital bliss for River, there were diverging opinions.

Post-TNotD the fandom had come up with all these headcanons about 11 having lost River directly after losing the Ponds, which was why he was up on that cloud for a century and the generally accepted consensus was that Darillium had to have happened with 11. Admittedly, it doesn’t really paint 11 in the best light after the fact that he seemed to have tried dying on Trenzalore without ever having taken River to Darillium like he’d promised. But, looking back, a lot of 11 & River’s relationship as it was depicted in series 5 & 6 was fraught with emotional hurt on River’s end, so for me personally (and some others), it didn’t really seem entirely out of character for 11 once we really started thinking about it. 

Really, it’s more complicated because of the nature of TV and how with a show like DW it’s really impossible to plan out these big story beats ahead of time with different Doctors. Moffat initially tried getting David to stay an extra season after RTD left, and had David said yes, that means a good chunk of River’s story would have unfolded with 10. It kinda just ends up being a case of who’s currently part of the cast and how can we mold this particular part of the story around them. By the time Steven decided on the way in which he wanted to show Darillium unfold, Matt was already gone, so it had to happen with Peter.

(And I mean, if you wanted to put a positive spin on it, you could see it as 11′s big blustery last-ditch attempt at trying to prevent River dying in the Library from happening.)

I was admittedly a vocal cuntface about how much I DIDN’T want THoRS to end on Darillium before “24 years”. I hated the idea of 12 finally seeing and being with his wife only for it to end all unnecessarily angsty again. Moffat managed to completely upend and rewrite my expectations in that regard, fortunately. 

For a lot of us, it was about River being shown to finally have some no-strings-tied happiness with a Doctor who knew her. I think a lot of people wanted that to be with older!11, but narrative-wise, I think regardless of whether it’s older!11 or 12, the point is the Doctor being at a point where he can be the husband who River needs. One whose memories don’t need to wiped after the fact like all the classic Doctors, War, 9, or pre-Library 10. Aside from the whole HELL YEAH SPACE WIVES angle, I think that’s also what fuels a lot of the desire for River to be with 13 as well, a Doctor who knows and loves her regardless of what face their wearing.

For some ppl in this fandom tho, that didn’t suffice because it didn’t happen with Matt & Alex. And I mean, if that’s how someone feels, that’s their prerogative, but I don’t see any reason to rain on everyone else’s parade when it literally brought new life and excitement and joy and FUN into our fandom after what felt like quite a long dry spell without any River content. 

And I mean, not to get mopey and sad about it (trigger warning for some potentially upsetting stuff), but the news about River being back on DW in September of 2015 couldn’t have come at a better time fore me personally, bc that was literally a time in my life where I had sudden and overwhelming/dangerous mental health issues, to the point where daily I contemplated suicide and knowing that River was finally gonna meet the Scottish version of her husband was quite literally the thing that kept me alive, because I fucking HAD to see it. So, I do tend to bristle when I come across opinions that trash that particular episode, because it means a HELL of a lot to me. 

The only thing I can say about dealing with people who stew in negativity is to just try to avoid them. I don’t follow anyone who professes THoRS-negative opinions and in some very rare cases I’ve blocked certain people. In addition to this, bc Tumblr’s blocking system is balls, I use the xkit blacklist extension and literally put people’s urls into it so I don’t have to see their stuff when others unknowingly put it on my dash. (Tho be aware that if ppl change their urls you might need to go in and change it to their current one, but it’s not that hard to do.) Because at the end of the day, you just want to be able to enjoy the ship. You are the one curating your own fandom experience, and once you know what you want to avoid (or who), you gotta just take the necessary precautions.

[invelleity]

psst. be honest. all of the questions. go.

i can’t believe jeanette is tryina kill me in public and i’m still love her??? | not accepting anymoooore | @ltbroccoli​

cracks knuckles here we go ( odd numbers 1-9 are here )

2. Are aesthetics important to you? If they are, why?

Not very. It’s fun and cute and all, but I care a whole lot more about “clicking” with people and having fun writing with them.

Exception: If someone’s aesthetic is so overblown that I can’t even find the pages on the blog or read the text, I.....won’t interact with that tbh.

4. How do you explain rp to someone in the real world?

(kicks down my roommate’s door at 10pm) “OK so I’m writing— stop screaming, it’s me,— I’m writing a character in Security and you’re like a double black belt or some shit, can you explain how—”

( My roommates all know it’s a thing I do but I’ve never sent them a link or shown them any of the actual writing. They’ve met a bunch of y’all over like Rabbit streams and @rumdaydreams​ irl though so like.... They Know. )

More under the cut

6. Do you prefer writing male muses or female more? Why?

Ehhh, depends on my mood. I lean towards female muses in general ( definitely got a bigger chunk of ladies on my list, for sure for sure ) but I love my boys.

8. Name any three things about the rpc that bother you.

Uhhhh A) We’re all such dumb socially awkward blobs so it’s often hard to get to know new people.

B) The feel that if you have a good relationship with one person who writes a canon muse, it’s some kind of lowkey betrayal to write with other people who write the same muse??

C) How much I, a certified card-carrying dumbass, stress myself out about posting on a “regular” schedule. Does that count? Like I want the blogs to look “presentable” lmao and me@me Calm The Fuck Down.

10. Have you ever had a bad experience with commissions? As either someone who makes them or as someone who buys them?

N / A

11. What do you know now about rp that you wish you knew when you first started?

Uhhhh, when I first started was long enough ago and the community was so different a lot of those lessons no longer apply. I wish when I finally jumped over to Tumblr I’d realized quicker how the new like....basic ways of meeting people and posting and all worked, which was mostly just a “calm down and go with the flow more, let go of your stupid rigid old habits” lmaooo.

12. Have you been involved in drama? Do you regret it?

yES. Yeah. Hahaha ha h. 

But ummm, not usually. No. Most of my drama has been either A) me posting the very very softest, most diluted version of barely-touching on my politics and my real goddamn life and people being fuckin butthurt as hell about or B) cutting people who were toxic and draining out of my life. So.

13. Have you ever thought about leaving rp? What caused it? What changed your mind?

cw suicidal ideation ment

Yeah. Once I actually did — when I started college I just didn’t have the time, so I peaced from the larger community to just write with close friends for a while. I’ve also considered leaving the T.umblr RPC a few times, but really only because of long bad depressive episodes. Coming back and “not wanting to literally die irl ha Ha” and catching up with my drafts gets me back on track lmao. 

14. Do you think rp has had a positive or negative affect on your life or you as a person?

Positive! Sometimes I worry that I spend too much time wrapped up in fiction and miss my real life, but I’ve learned to keep my time more separate so now it’s just good to have a healthy hobby that makes me happy. Also I’m definitely a much better writer for it, and there a lot of networking skills I think translate to real workplace skills so it’s 👌

15. How has rp changed you personally?

See above, tbh. And it gives me a lot of good outlets for writing ideas that would otherwise stew in my head until I hated myself for never ever writing any lmao. It’s good.

16. If you could change one thing about rp on tumblr, what would it be? Why?

Oh, I dunno. I wish I could post replies from mobile more easily, god. That’d keep me a lot more on top of my drafts lmao.

17. Have you ever sent a message to yourself on anon? Why?

Not on any of the rp blogs. ;^)

18. Have you ever sent hate to yourself on anon? Why? 

No, wtf

19. Do you delete anon hate or post and address it? Why?

Depends on the hate — things I feel need to be addressed or I want to be clear about not tolerating I’ll post. Personal hate and mean shit I delete.

Or if it’s stupid and makes me laugh I will definitely post that shit.

20. Have you ever felt pressured to write something you weren’t comfortable with?

Sometimes. If a partner is actually pressuring me I’m real good at saying uhhh hey, fuck off about that? but sometimes partners will perfectly-innocently be enthusiastic about things I’m not super comfortable with and that’s harder to bring up. So it’s..... more like I pressure myself, whoops.

21. Have you ever followed someone because you felt like you had to, not because you wanted to?

Ehh. Not really. Sometimes I’ll follow a friend of a friend despite lack of interest just because, like.... My friends are smart and good, maybe I’m just not getting the right “vibe” from their blog as who really they are. Sometimes that just means we never click and I unfollow them later. Or sometimes @rumdaydreams​ drags me straight to mutual hell and we write 20,000 unfinished bullshit and meet irl and she actually talks me into wholeass new blogs and muses. So, you know. Mix bag.

22. What would make you block someone?

Red flags for manipulation and lowgrade emotional a.buse, especially ones I viscerally feel in my stomach from previous experiences. Obvious r.ight-leaning politics ( Weirdly, I’m not particularly comfortable around people who don’t think I or my friends deserve to be treated like human beings! A character quirk, haha! )

Also ngl sometimes I block people just to remind myself I’ve followed them before and I don’t wanna re-follow them six times and look like I’m trying to intentionally harass them. My memory is bad but the block button always knows, lmao. 😅

23. Have you ever stolen something from someone else?

Not intentionally — I try very hard not to steal hc from duplicates or take plots without asking. But, y’know, sometimes an idea sticks in your head and you eventually just forget where it originally came from.

24. Have you ever had something stolen from you? If so, how did you handle it?

Not that I’m aware of.

25. Are you open to duplicates? Why / why not?

Absolutely, for the most part! I like seeing other perspectives, and especially since @thewrongsorts​ is such a bigass multi it lowkey just makes my life easier.

There are a few exceptions — less because they’re duplicates and more because there are hc/fanon I just......dislike enough I don’t wanna write with them. Not a feeling that’s limited to duplicates tbh.

26. How do you feel about vague posting? 

Ehhh. It’s like not a great thing, but I get the appeal. I tend to unfollow if someone posts a lot of it because then they’re just passive-aggressive as a person, but the occasional vagueblog I don’t mind. Sometimes you gotta get shit off your chest but you don’t wanna make it a wholeass call-out, I get it.

27. Do you follow people even if they don’t follow you back?

Generally I unfollow. I’m here to write, if we’re not interacting it’s clogging my dash. ( Honestly I unfollow mutuals eventually if we never write.... ) But very occasionally someone’s got such good #takes and hc that I stick around just bc I stan.

28. Do you read people’s rules before following or interacting?

A l w a y s.

29. What is your opinion on “reblog karma” and do you practice it?

It’s nice! Like.... I wouldn’t require anyone to do it, but it makes people feel better about their blogs, it’s polite. I know I’m happier getting memes as well as passing them along. You know, be social. Connect with people. I always try to practice it, yeah.

30. How have you responded to popular slang used on tumblr? Do you use it in every day life? Do you use it at all?

Uhhh, yeah. My irl social circles are a lot of dumb gay millennials, we use a lot of dumb internet slang.

31. Is there something you don’t know the meaning of but you haven’t asked anyone because you think it’s supposed to be general knowledge?

Oh yeah! Joined Tumblr rpc ten years late with Starbucks! But also like.... I’m a web developer. 90% of my irl workskills are being good at Googlin’ shit. So I’ve pretty much always found the answer on my own, at least. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

32. Was there ever something you had to ask someone to explain? 

( See above. )

33. Have you ever experienced discrimination? 

Here or irl or....? I mean yes in any case, but much less often in the rpc specifically. This blog is a lot less outspoken ( both about politics or about who I....am....generally ) than most of my others or me irl.

Shoutout to that time I complained one (1) time about how copacetic the H.arry P.otter rpc is and an actual irl n.eon.azi jumped in my inbox lmaooooooo.

34. How do you feel about personal blogs following your rp blog?

Uhhh, I don’t love it? But if they mostly chill and don’t fuck with my actual threads I usually ignore them. ¯\_( ‘ ‘ )_/¯

35. Have you ever cried while writing a reply?

No. I’m not like......good at crying. 😐

36. Do you read other people’s threads or do you only read your own?

Depends on the blog. Some multis I follow are in fandoms I just like don’t even understand, so I don’t read those. Sometimes I just don’t got the energy. But I read a lot of my friends’ other threads or threads on blogs I stan.

Good writing is good shit and I’m.....a big 👀 bitch. Tbh.

37. What’s one thing that other people seem to hate that doesn’t bother you?

Call-out posts, bringing real life politics into rp, generally acknowledging that we have lives outside of the fictional world that affect how we read and interact with fiction.

( 👏 The O.rder 👏👏 of the 👏 P.hoenix 👏👏 is A.ntif.a 👏👏👏 )

I don’t want to ever push that onto other people though, definitely. (Especially people affected by terrifying irl politics and coming here for escapism. )

38. How do you feel about tagging triggers? Do you tag them? How do you determine what is triggering content and what isn’t?

Always 👏👏 tag 👏👏 fucking 👏 triggers 👏👏👏

I tag things that are common or obviously upsetting, and if someone asks I add whatever tags they need to my list — the “list” is mostly a mental tally so I occasionally fuck up, but god I feel strongly about triggers.

Let 👏 people 👏 who are hurting 👏👏 live. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

39. What advice would you give to someone new to rp?

Poking around to see how other people seem to “operate” and scrolling through posts about how to get started is so so so fucking helpful! Don’t be afraid to do it!

Also reach out to people as much as you can work up the spoons to. If they’re rude back to you, like..... They were never worth your time anyhow. You dodged a bullet.

( Value yourself 2k19 )

[cmhoughton]

I am not happy with this episode, nor with me taking so long to write this review, but the review of 4.02 is almost done so you won’t have long to wait. I hope to have that posted tomorrow...

NOTE: Spoilers ahead, so read no further if you haven’t seen the episode or read any of the books, especially “Drums of Autumn.”  

Screencap courtesy of Outlander Online.  Map of Colonial North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia courtesy of UNC University Libraries.

NOTE:

Set in 1767, this episode was largely based on Chapters 1, 2, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of “Drums of Autumn, though the stone circle in North Carolina was originally revealed in Chapter 51.  Ian and Jamie’s conversation about what happened with Geillis was from Chapter 62 of “Voyager” (book 3) and the story Bonnet tells Claire about the drowning nightmares he’d had all his life was revealed to a different character in Chapter 105 of “A Breath of Snow and Ashes” (book 6).

Written by Executive Producers Matthew B. Roberts and Toni Graphia, the events in this episode dealt with a pretty large chunk of the book, totaling more than 130 pages (the Kindle edition).  That totals about 1/8th of the book, so there was a lot of material to jam into the episode.

While the series in the past had successfully crammed huge chunks of the books into a single episode, their efforts in this episode in that regard were a bit more hit-or-miss.  Also, jammed full with expository elements, the episode struggled to maintain a consistent tone.    It was talky, funny, tragic, sexy, romantic, suspenseful, and at times chaotic… It was like the episode didn’t know what it needed to be.

That said, there was also some great stuff in this episode.  For one, I liked that they introduced Stephen Bonnet (Ed Speleers) earlier than they had in the book.  In the book, the conversation Jamie (Sam Heughan) had in the jail with Hayes (James Allenby-Kirk) took place ‘off-screen,’ as it were.  Jamie only talked about it after the fact.  It was good they fleshed out that scene.  Hayes had a smaller part in the book and his loss didn’t seem as emotional for Jamie and Claire (Caitriona Balfe), but in the show, the role was expanded.  It really paid off when Hayes (inevitably) was executed and made the loss more impactful.  (Though, in the book, he was executed for theft, not murder.)  So, not only had we a better introduction to Bonnet, we got to spend more time with Hayes.

I adored the caithris (a lament for the dead) that Lesley (Keith Fleming) started.  It was nearly perfect.  Keith has a remarkably beautiful voice, and the scene was touching.  It was heartwarming and beautifully staged.

Another great choice was having Ian (John Bell) experience a flashback to his traumatic sexual assault at the end of last season.  The scene was based on one in “Voyager,” but it happened without a flashback there.  The show hadn’t had time to spend on it in 3.13 (Eye of the Storm), which is where it would have happened last season, so it was fitting they put that scene in here. It was also a welcome change they gave Ian a flashback.  The change made the scene more visceral and reminds show-only fans and new viewers of what happened to Ian last season.  It was also not only a wonderful bonding moment for the two men but showed the immensity of the emotional impact Geillis’ assault had on Ian.

“Outlander” has been criticized as using sexual assault too much as a plot point, but in other shows, sexual assault is usually a plot expediency and the characters don’t really seem to have any long-lasting consequences.  In ‘Outlander’ they have the aftermath be far more profound for the characters.  What is not usual for television shows, in general, is that this show also gives the characters time to struggle with the impact and show how they are healing.   It was good to see Ian struggle with the aftermath of the assault.

One thing I had a problem with was that Stephen Bonnet confessed to Claire (Caitriona Balfe) about his history of having nightmares about drowning.  Not that it wasn’t a good idea, I liked how the show used that to give Bonnet an opportunity to try and have a bonding moment with Claire, but it seemed like such a non-sequitur.  I mean, Claire said something about avoiding Bonnet needing to avoid the noose in the future, then all of sudden he’s talking about a nightmare?  It seemed to come from out of the blue.  It’s things like that which added to the choppy feel of the episode.  But why would they foreshadow something that won’t likely happen until late in season 6 (“A Breath of Snow and Ashes”) anyway?  It seemed an odd choice.

I didn’t like the opening either, perhaps it was good to show just how the stone circle might have come to be built (and maybe shows the one that should make an appearance in the show later this season).  Again, it just seemed like something that came out of the blue.  It didn’t really mesh with the voice-over either, in which Claire talked about circles created over ‘centuries’ but the text on the screen said ‘North America 2,000 BC…’ So, shouldn’t she have said something about ‘millennia’ instead?

I also didn’t like how the show changed the geography of North Carolina.  While the Colonial boundaries of the Carolinas in the 1760s don’t match up to the modern state borders…

…Tennessee wasn’t a thing in the colonial period, the Cape Fear River is not in the foothills and there’s no way a day’s wagon ride from Wilmington would give Claire and Jamie a view of the Smoky Mountains.  I can only suppose that it’s due to the location they built River Run on in Scotland, which might be in view of mountains, but I guess that will remain to be seen.

The change to the circumstances Jamie was asked to accept the land grant from Governor Tryon (Tim Downie) was a bit unexpected.  In the book, Jamie was under extra pressure to get men to fight under threat of disclosure that he was Catholic since royal land grants were only allowed to go to Protestants.  If the fact he was a Catholic got out, he would immediately lose the land grant.  It was a remarkably effective method of extortion in the book.

Here, in return for the land grant, Jamie will be under pressure to muster men at the request of the governor or he would need to pay a quitrent.  It wasn’t a term I was familiar with since quitrents were not brought up in the book.

Although in looking into them online the change makes sense.   Quitrents (a type of rentbased on ancient English custom) were common fees charged to Colonial land grant holders so it was probably a mistake on Diana Gabaldon’s part to have not ever to have mentioned that. They were often waived to encourage settlement, which was what Tryon offered to do in this episode.  Historically, the quitrents were unevenly imposed and corruption was common since the payments were required to be in cash.  The quitrents in part led to the War of the Regulation (which will be a bigger factor in next season).

So, it makes sense they made that change and is also probably why they brought up the Regulators.  The lack of ready cash is a problem in a barter economy like Colonial North Carolina.  Poor cash flow will be a problem for Jamie and Claire throughout the rest of the series (if the show follows the books in that regard), so the promise to waive the quitrents in return for providing men for the defense of the government is probably a perfect shakedown for Tryon.

While I had no major problems with the episode as a whole, I did not like the ending.  Like, at all.  It wasn’t the musical choice, the Ray Charles version of ‘America The Beautiful’ is wonderful, and I liked the juxtaposition of that with the ugliness of what was going on while the music played.

It just felt like they were trying to recreate the emotional power of the ending of episode 3.04 (“Of Lost Things”), when Jamie rode away from Helwater.  It was a heartbreaking ending, but the situation was very different so using modern music wasn’t going to work the same way.   No one’s life was in danger in that episode, and what action there was wasn’t that involved (Jamie riding away and Willie running after him) and there wasn’t much dialogue.

Maybe it would have worked better if the dialogue hadn’t been totally silent.  In the beginning of the song, dialogue played, with the music underneath it, and that worked.  Yet, as the scene continued, the music got louder and the dialogue and sounds were completely cut out so all that the only sound heard was the song.  It turned the ending into a sort of an overly melodramatic pantomime that didn’t work.

Not hearing everything that was going on, the actions the actors took seemed extremely exaggerated and overwrought.  It reminded me of the more melodramatic silent films I had seen in a Narrative Film History class I took in college. D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” or Sergei Eisenstein’s “Battleship Potemkin” particularly come to mind.

Worse, music replacing the natural sound robbed the performances of any nuance, diluted the emotional impact and, which is worse, completely pulled me out of the scene.  It left a sour taste in my mouth at the end of what was otherwise a fairly solid episode.

I don’t feel like I can adequately critique the actors’ performances in their entirety with the ending the way it was, so I won’t even try.

Overall, this episode was enjoyable but the ending robbed it of some of its power, so I give this episode 3.5 out of a possible 5 Claire’s Wedding Rings.

[hundredsunny]

op oc #3: APRIL

im baaaaaaack

u are about to read about my prime DAUGHTER april. the rogue princess. a real pokemon! hahahhahaha she nabbed herself the AURA AURA FRUIT yo this is wild so get ready to learn about ol’ blue eyes!!!!!!!!!!

NAME: april (i dont have a surname for her i cant think of anything and ive had her for 8 years im sorry) EPITHET: “aura shooter” ooOOoOOoOoo AGE: 18 (pre) 20 (post) BIRTHDAY: april (incredible would u have ever guessed) 5th!!!  BIRTHPLACE: nimbasa island in the south blue SEX: female HEIGHT: 5′6″ WEIGHT: 122lbs HAIR COLOR: sandy brown EYE COLOR: blue APPEARANCE: before she escaped her home, she wore an icy blue dress underneath a navy blue cloak and her hair down with a CROWN of course but she hated wearing it a lot. her hair when worn down reaches the middle of her biceps. after she escaped she ONLY wore her hair in a ponytail and she always wore a red bandanna with a white arch atop her head at all times!! it was a gift from her mamma the QUEEN herself. she also wore a white t-shirt with red triangles bordering the collar and the ends of her sleeves. does that make sense? i sure hope. she wore a red sash around her waist and then she popped on some black pants and boots. real piratey. also some of her hair kinda pops out in the front so theres a good chunk that sometimes covers her left side. look at u go princess. AFTER the timeskip she cut her hair so it reaches just above her shoulders, and instead of wearing her hair up and with the bandanna, she wears it down but with a black headband. her bandanna is tied around her left bicep (fashion inspo: zoro). she wears a green sleeveless crop top, and theres a scar that reaches from the back of her shoulder to the end of her collarbone. she earned that shit from her wild timeskip training. oof. shes ok. she wears light-washed pants and some addidas-lookin shoes lmao she also wears a rly loose belt too. also she has gold earrings and thas about it. her eyes are round and just v pretty and blue. her nose turns up at the end just a tad bit and it’s so cute she’s so cute. she has a dimple on the right side of her mouth. her mommas face :’) shes fairly skinny but after the timeskip she gained some muscles made 4 punching douchecanoes  REPRESENTATIVE SMELL: vanilla FAVE FOOD: pasta FAVE DRINK: lemonade  FAVE SEASON: fall REPRESENTATIVE NATIONALITY: australian BOUNTY: initial bounty was 60,000,000 (for being runaway royalty) but after dressrosa she SKRTED up to 155,000,000 DEVIL FRUIT: aura aura fruit a paramecia type. the fruit allows the user to manipulate their energy. with the aura aura fruit, users are able to detect the aura of others, repel the aura of others, and project their own. the power of aura is mood-sensitive and can change a lot. can u believe april is lucario 6 forms of aura: red is physical nature, orange is intelligence, yellow is sheer willpower, green is healing, blue is emotion, vioilet(i THINK) is mental communication. i forgot what i wrote down for the aura types lmaoooo the biggest drawback of this fruit is that the user can only use a limited amount at one time. another drawback is that they cant manipulate other people’s aura??? it’s rly hard to explain this but trust me it makes sense when it’s put into action i promise SKILLS SET: most of her attacks are used with red aura since it relates to physical nature. wild. “aura bullet” is just shootin aura goodbye. i love pokemon. lmao. uh “aura detect” is when she can see what someone else’s aura looks like, so basically she can determine if someone is a bastard or not before they even open their mouth. “aura clone” clones herself with aura and that takes a LOT of effort to pull this one off especially when she wants to use multiple clones. “aura bomb” yo this one is wild she uses it for diversions and escaping since it kinda acts as a smoke bomb but when she uses this thing in battle OOOOH BOY. “starstorm” ok this is like the “im going to die after i do this move” kinda thing. it combines all the damn types of aura and it just RAINS down on ppl. goodbye april. anyways there are more basic moves but i dont rly wanna get too into that rn im sorry PROFESSION: runaway princess lol CREW: straw hat pirates  PERSONALITY: an easygoing girl. v mellow for the most part but there are times where she can get pretty goofy (thanks jack). if the wrong buttons are pushed, she becomes a HURRICANE. she does have confidence issues but since she met luffy, she’s really started to overcome them. shes got a horrible habit of being sarcastic and also she asks a LOT of questions holy SHIT honey. she is TERRIFIED of heights so when franky lays down a good ol coup de burst, her soul leaves her body. g o o d b y e. she was very cold when she first met luffy and the gang bc she lived with the person who killed her mom AND jack left sooooo she was a little bitter. eventually she learned to rly live with the mugiwaras. when she first joined the crew, she was very shy and timid and tried hard to fit in. she was SO intimidated by zoro like he genuinely scared the fuck out of her so she always tried hard to not be a Fool around him but once she got comfortable with everyone she just had a good ol time. “hey grassy ass!! :))” “can u fucking not call me that”. she has the CUTEST laugh oh me oh my. honestly just a rly passionate gal, she just wants to be strong and be able to protect her pals. refuses outside help. bros out with luffy and usopp and chopper sometimes but also judges them from afar like nami does. it all just depends on the day. truly. i once wrote a series of one-shots where each one was an adventure that april had with one other straw hat. luffy was the first one, and THAT was wild. zoro’s was fucking baller. so on and so forth. rly shows off her dynamic with each member. april? shes honestly just a good person and im proud of her bc she works so hard  LIKES: training, traveling, every single animal ever, reading DISLIKES: heights, the marines, the heat, people who walk horrifically slow in crowded places WEAPON(S): aside from her devil fruit shes got a dagger she sometimes uses. jack gave one to her right before he left HISTORY: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO king jed and queen serena had a baby girl. APRIL. that made her the princess. anyways she grew up as any princess would--spoiled. however the spoiling never got to her head bc serena was so good about teaching her things like that. serena was a goddess i love her pls come back. serena was wildly popular with the citizens of the kingdom bc of her caring and friendly personality. she would always take april into the kingdom every day and pay visits to the citizens. out of all the citizens they paid visits to, the most common faces she saw were those of the solo family. cain was jed’s most talented and trusted knight. he and his wife celeste had 2 kids: jack and sho YO. jack was 7 yrs older than sho and 3 yrs older than april. april and jack became fast friends and often explored the kingdom together. regular kid stuff u know. jack’s mom was always like “jack NO u CANNOT take the PRINCESS to the farms thats FILTY” hahahah but they went anyway.  jed? a dark man. idk who hurt him or what made him so murderous. but. he was tired of serena treating the citizens like equals. he believed that royalty should be viewed as gods.  when april was 8 jed killed serena oh god there it is theres the tragic anime mom death. as soon as serena died, the dynamic of the kingdom instantly changed. soon after jed took total control, people began leaving the island. eventually, the island became so empty that only a handful of families remained. jed did not allow april to leave the castle at all, and with that rule, it damaged the friendship that she and jack had. ofc around that time jack’s dad ran off as well so he stopped tryin to visit her for a bit. but then once he got back into his groove hed sneak all about, avoiding the night patrols, and hed just sit outside of april’s window and talk to her.  when april was 11 she discovered a devil fruit hidden away in the trashed artifacts that belonged to her mother. she ate the devil fruit and was like “now im strong, fight me JED” but lol she got her ass whooped poor bby when april was 16 jack left the island, leaving her completely and utterly alone. the exposure to such loneliness began to change april into a more reserved, bitter person.  2 yrs later the STRAW HATS stumbled upon the island. at that time april had started a habit of sneaking out of the castle to roam the empty streets of nimbasa, but during one of her strolls, she encountered robin, franky, and brook. she ended up knocking them unconscious bc she felt threatened. the second group she met consisted of zoro, chopper, and sanji. they had been captured by guards and were brought into the throne room to be interrogated by jed. april was required to be there as well so she kinda sat in her throne and looked mad the entire time. sanji was like “NO WHY DOES SHE LOOK SO MAD SHE NEEDS TO BE HAPPY” and zoro was like “ive never seen someone so happy to see my face” and chopper was just having a crisis bc they were abt to be tossed into the shadow realm at the hands of the king. zoro got mouthy and jed didnt have none of that shit so he told april to kill zoro but she just knocked him out instead. that pissed jed off. THE NEXT person she met was luffy. she only met luffy bc he infiltrated a banquet thing by sitting underneath a cart. classic luffy. she didnt meet nami and usopp until WAAAAY later. yadda yadda yadda shit goes down (i wrote a whole arc for this. it’s called the princess and the pirates lmao original but yes i wrote an entire arc for her recruitment and it’s A Lot) ANYWAYS luffy asked her to join the crew but she declined at first bc she thought pirates were just like her father: power-hungry and murderous. however that obv changed when she was exposed to the straw hats more when luffy defeated jed who ate the ___ ___ fruit (tbh i forgot what fruit he ate im sorry) she KNEW she belonged with the straw hats. :’) she still be sailin with the legends. shes had some wild times obv. her arc comes a bit after thriller bark. woopie!!!!!!! like always, lemme know if u wanna know more about her!!!

[diegest]

2010 V.S. 2019

Age 15 and almost 25

(This is long a messy but I wanted to make some kind of post about it before the year ends.)

I was making a stink face bc my then best-friend was over and said something funny before she took the picture and afterwards we busted out laughing. We were at my then step-dads parents house out in the country walking down to their creek either just getting done swimming in their pool or intending to get in it after going to the creek.

I was most likely a freshmen or sophomore at the time of this picture. (Probably right before sophomore year started...) It was definitely during Summer. I either had a flip Nokia phone or an LG Neon at the time as I upgraded from one to the other. I had my first “job.” I was a veterinary assistant after school for a few hours a day and did some work out there during Summer as well. I wasn’t paid and used my time as a volunteer to play with animals, hold them down for simple procedures, walked dogs, and it helped me gauge whether or not I wanted to actually pursue being a veterinarian. I had competed in track for 6 years in a row by this point and was probably finished with it by the time this picture was taken. (Two Elementary School leagues, all three years of Middle School, freshmen year of High School). I was crushing HARDCORE on my childhood best friend whom I’ve known since the age of 6 but neither of us could handle our feelings for the other and things would become super awkward until we had actually dated 7 years later. I was tan as hell because of track practice, walking to both pools in town, and walking to Sonic with friends during sleepovers.

I was struggling trying to find my identity as a teenager while maintaining being in the middle of my parents joint custody battle and being forced to be 100 miles away from my friends two weekends out of the month. I was a cynical older sister of two step-brothers and did not use my time with them as wisely as I wish I could have, sometimes being a real bitch to them looking back at it. I had no control over my hair color or length and remember desperately wanting to layer it to look like a scene kid despite how naturally thin it is. I had just started dabbling in eye liner (not pictured, as I preferred and still prefer my poolside activities over makeup), wore converse every day I wasn’t wearing flip flops for the season, wore baggy jeans, the same Paramore hoodie daily, and had an extreme creative drive that I miss deeply. I was bullied horribly for my teeth, nose, skin (I had terrible eczema that pool water, cortisone shots, and Summer weather in general helped tremendously with!), height, cup size, fashion, hobbies, having split parents, and then some. My metabolism was extremely high and I was in my athletic prime. I had a touch of internet fame by drawing my own personal characters on deviantArt.com as well as fan art for games and shows I was super into using my first Wacom tablet on my first laptop and to this day still have a folder of fan art created for me on my computer. I was obsessed with cats, rock music, anime, and drawing. I could drive a boat and got both a high five as well as scolded for that time I flipped myself into the water to retrieve my dads hat while we were going full speed over white-caps because I was too impatient for him to circle around and wanted to impress him and the rest of the family. I was for the most part unafraid of most things.

I was secretly extremely depressed and suicidal during the school year to the point I had missed my period for 5 months because of stress alone and I’m certain at the time this picture was taken, I was almost breathing a sigh of relief I was off from school for the summer. I had a close knit group of friends still before it had combust the following school year. I was “working” as a veterinary assistant but also had interests in pursuing being an animator, art director, cartoonist, children’s book illustrator, or graphic designer by this point and my mom encouraged me to pursue whatever I was comfortable with. I wasn’t really boy crazy like my friends were, instead having my heart set on one in particular and probably still having a soft spot for my ex whom I was with for 3 years prior. My bedroom contained my artwork, sports posters, cat posters, band posters, and trophies/medals from my days running track. My friend and I, though not legally allowed to drive, would occasionally sneak to Taco Bell using her parents car if they weren’t home and we never got caught or pulled over for it. My grades were A’s and B’s, though I could not pay attention in History to save my life because I was too preoccupied with doodling on my papers and ignoring this asshole who was two classes above me who had called me ugly but then admitted he liked me at one time because of my attitude?? He’s still an idiot from what I’ve heard only he’s an idiot who knocked up a few women post-high school, is apparently married now, and no surprise to me - is still stuck in that same small town with no goal to go anywhere outside of it.

I was scared of the outside world beyond my small town and had no idea how rough it would get for me. The family issues and my trip to family court had not happened yet. I had yet to become estranged from my family. I was small and awkward as hell. I struggled to hold conversations or make eye contact unless it was with people I felt most familiar with since people were kinda fucking mean. I could argue back but would immediately break down and cry from the interaction at the first chance I’d get. I’d use books, art, and video games for the escapism. Life felt scary and fragile and so very uncertain but at least I had a few individuals in the world whom I loved so much and who I know loved me.

I’m 24 now. I’m now in control over my own hair cut and color. I choose to keep it long as I didn’t even like the way it looked short when I finally chopped it as a teenager. It’s been red, reddish blonde, blonde on top and brown on the bottom, dark brown to blonde ombré, and now platinum blonde with my natural color as a shadow root and I quite like it. I don’t really dabble in makeup unless it’s for an occasion except for covering up my acne as my body decided that having zero acne in my teen years was just too good for me while I was battling eczema instead. I’m not nearly as tan or athletic as I’m forced to be inside at most times. I still love to swim though and I take every opportunity to go to my childhood beach during the Summer when I can in particular. I still don’t consider myself to be family-oriented despite this year really challenging that for me. I have a ton of amazing friends and people who care about me and feel like recently in particular, I’m always busy with someone doing something and making memories as we do whatever.

I have a bachelors in Psychology and a minor in Art, though I did not pursue a masters in art therapy like I had originally intended. I was heavily burnt out from school and my baby brothers worsening medical conditions and the news that he had been in a children’s hospital for quite some time with my family deliberately choosing not to tell me made me choose not to pursue one for the time being. I was working at Dairy Queen while technically sharing a lease with my ex before finding a job at a psychiatric hospital that I loved and getting my own apartment to myself and my cat, whom my ex gave to me as he saw she benefited me more than she benefited him. Though I lost that job, I can now say I have two years of field experience in Psychology and almost 6 months worth in social work and feel like I’m always learning something.

I’m not as creative anymore because the years of crippling depression, anxiety, and being forced to create for school absolutely ruined any creativity I had once had. Though occasionally I’ll have the opportunity to channel that creativity into a video game or quick doodle for a child.

I’ve moved to two cities after moving out of my high-school “home” town (not quite home but a good chunk of my upbringing!) and have every intention of doing it again within the next year after I save up some. I don’t take shit from anyone and have taken after the best parts of my moms personality in my opinion with the added benefit of my dads patience and keen eye. I’m known for making people around me comfortable and able to laugh and decompress and have been fortunate enough to use that power professionally. I would like to go back to mental and behavioral health as I miss the thrill and excitement as well as the camaraderie with fellow staff members in the pursuit of helping individuals. I’m very likely starting a new position in my company as early as next week and have been extremely excited about the pay and hour boost. I’ll be getting my dog in just over two weeks and am excited to start our life journey together. Though I had developed my moms serial-monogamist trait for a while there after my 6 year-long relationship had ended in the pursuit of finding someone to fill that gap, I feel very comfortable lately simply being pursued and wanted without the commitment. I’m addicted to sushi bowls, coffee, and chocolate. My passion is helping others. I feel comfortable in my body enough that I would love to pursue modeling of some sort and have been lucky enough to dabble in that a bit already. I also have a bit of a love for fashion now, though I rarely feel the urge to actually properly plan my outfits unless my goal is to dress to impress or for the sake of photography.

I’ve learned to allow myself to enjoy the things I enjoy without the fear of judgement from others. I still love nerd-culture and have somewhat recently taken an interest in cosplay and want to attend more conventions. I’ve learned that it’s an accomplishment for me to have gotten this far, to have my own place, and that it’s alright that I don’t have everything figured out and not everything has to be figured out right away. I don’t have the same best friend I had 10 years ago, but we’re still in contact and I love my current best friend tremendously though I don’t get to see him often. I’ve learned that my current group of friends may be temporary, but while I’m lucky enough to be around them I’m going to do what I can to make them feel as loved and cherished as possible and make plenty of memories. Ivy and I are doing well and I know we will continue doing well even with Atticus by our side. I value traveling way more and will continue to travel and see new things when I’m able to. Eventually I’ll narrow down a Masters program and go back to school when I feel ready. I might even work alongside my brother at some point as we had talked about working on a project together and I’m pretty excited. This is getting really really long oops

I also just look dope as all hell with blonde hair and have gotten the notoriety of being “that blonde girl who wears the leather jacket” and I’m beyond thrilled about this. I’ve come a long way and I’m proud of myself. It’s hard to believe that lanky, tan, dark haired, greasy-headed kid is me but I think she’s come a long long way and I’m genuinely proud of her for doing so and not ending things when she’s had the opportunity. Here’s to 10 more years of careful and concise progress and glow-ups~

[sharifs]

Building Up A One-Page Business Schedule

You will probably have to do the same, in your own way

Early on in my first serious infliction to start my own business online it was a whole new world where I did not know where to start. already having experience with light experimentation on social media as most people do, albeit more of a computer person since the early 90s layered on top of that. I did have some experience working as a door-to-door peddler, as well as a marketing business director’s assistant, but I hadn’t really looked into it too seriously outside of being delegated work from various freelance contracts in person and online.

Taking The Educational Path

I started to put two and two together to form what could be a business. With daily strategizing, planning, learning, studying, researching all the while working on a project I thought could show my prowess. During this process I decided to level up my credentials by obtaining a certification in a topic I was already strong in but never learned formally. I prepared for my Photoshop CC certification by finding some free preparation materials for an old CS4 test and teaching a compatriot how to use Photoshop based on those materials. On top of this I brushed myself up on my own skills and made sure to, although at the last minute, review all the added features and changes of the current version of Ps CC in the manual.

This last step ironically proved to be the most impactful, but I suppose those last 30-60 minutes wouldn’t have been as easy to perform without that rigorous preceding training being put into action. While working on my own project I also took on another friend’s project through telecommunications to provide software, training, motion graphics work, graphics design and consulting for a video series he had planned to do. I also, for a period worked at an independent music label, where I thoroughly learned how to use WordPress while applying my already developed graphic design and interactive media skills. I also took on and completed a freelance video production project shortly after that time.

Shooting Darts

While remembering what I had learnt from my marketing days in Ottawa and New York with a passion for customer service developed at food establishment positions, I formed a plan for making a functional business with multiple components working with and augmenting each other for a positive momentum towards business success. However the brand that I wanted to push at the time went nowhere and my project also stopped short of its original plan. I felt something was missing in my plan, I was missing direction and feeling somewhat hopeless while playing a game of man and mouse, literally fighting off the unusually large amount of mice and rats spawning throughout the city that romantic Vancouver spring. We eventually headed back to Ottawa where my family mostly resides.

I took back from Vancouver with me a business map of sorts with symbology, direction, rationale and sense. This was basically a map of all the results I learned from my studying, networking, discipline, hope and experience trying to really start something of my own, laying the foundation for the next step in my learning process of something I avoided focusing on for a while, business.

Back To Class

After gaining some stability in my hometown I started my own work routines and tested out different business models as well as attended college to upgrade my IT depth and affirmation. I learned a lot all the while along the way deepening my skills in interests which I had concentrated on years before such as social and online media developing into a particular focus on Twitter. I came to realize that developing an audience was crucial to my business plan and was some more practical substance to my fairy land results map I illustrated in BC.

I realized three components which you can find here on Production Hackers in my other article: Structuring Your Online Business Plan.

With those three components as my blueprint, I became excited to dive into a real side business to compliment my studies and fulfill my desire to really create something great for humanity, no matter how small or big.

Multiple Iterations

I came to remember, after implementing practical business advice as part of my extraneous studies, that having a proper schedule was the key to being clear in the morning of what you plan to do, as well as having a reference to track your actual priorities, to motivate and fuel your progress, clarifying your ultimate responsibilities. This schedule went through many iterations before it was satisfactory to the level of efficiency I wanted. You will probably have to do the same, in your own way. Even if it may change later, finalize a schedule immediately, even if it’s finalized, be motivated to completely update it against your practical behaviour and results, not forgetting to also upgrade yourself mentally and physically to meet the standards of your schedule’s motives and your business’ values.

Inspired by the concept of chunking time I learned from Evan Carmichael, my first schedule was quite rich with a slew of specialized tasks in one domain per domain, a different one for each day promising a lot of hours deeply spent in each different realm every day. I really tried to follow it at first but immediately I realized that the level of inspiration and energy to focus in on just one world was fine if it was done on occasion or in a simple fashion but having to switch from one perspective to a completely different one from one day to the next was quickly jarring, complicated and stressful. Similar to concepts like Communism, it sounded good on paper at first until it was practiced (“Yowza!”).

I soon moved onto a new plan. This time I went for a pared down approach, to more closely reflect the blueprint I discovered in my basic Online Business Structure. I split it from one completely different set of tasks each day, to two major tasks, which were themselves split into A and B tasks. I would then alternate between one of those two major set of tasks depending on the day prioritizing the A tasks. This was my own style of implementing what I learned from Brian Tracy about time management.

That schedule style was actually pretty effective for a while, and pretty easy to work with, and led me in the right direction. From there I had more time to focus on more studying which was integral to progress even further in my schedule development. Now I could pare it all down to a one-page, one day, one set of tasks schedule that I could follow any or every day of the week, simplifying the comprehension of the practical side of my business plan and integrating as many talks with the best efficiency of time as possible.

Three Realms of Ownership

I came to realize there are 3 realms of ownership to make it as a company, entrepreneur or even the new coined indie term, “solopreneur.” Following are those three realms:

Ownership of Product

You should be razor sharp cutting with your focus on what you do with your limited time and energy on top of your daily responsibilities and work. This means you should be only focusing on one product at a time. You can definitely, after one product does well, still support it, if peripherally with your staff, but you yourself should not ever be putting your energy into more than one product at a time or you kill quality, efficiency and the likelihood of completing your tasks and converting your hard work into generated earnings.

Ownership of Business

Oftentimes we find business people who are focused on prospecting, setting up transactions, submitting applications, dealing with paperwork, attending meetings or communicating with major clients or sponsors, even mandating work and reorganizing the upper management. With a focus on sales and implementing daily and ongoing initiatives to raise equity, increase sponsorship and drive the vision of the company. However these business people aren’t always the ones making the book or product themselves, they are usually managing others that do so and often have to deal with the inevitable headaches that have the potential to ensue. The other side of the puzzle is also true where the ones more focused on project management than business management forget to drive momentum for and ensure the sale of the products of their relentless, deeply invested authentic work.

Ownership of Network

Depending on the type of business you run or your personal business plan, the types of strategies, methodologies or production pipelines you employ may differ from a day-to-day basis or for more long term contracts. In any case you will need to publicize your product and you business, your going to need to post online updates and content daily for your network and base, to keep in touch with the audience you are growing in your niche. You need to stay current with all the different formats that today’s people expect to be delivered every day with your content. Whether this is text, audio, video, blog, social media, your website, established networks, email newsletters or the latest trend in communications, it should be integrated into your daily output. This is on top of the multiple longterm projects you are hoping to deliver on in time.

Getting It Done: Simplification Through IntegratED Implementation

The way I’ve found to do this is to simplify it down to the core projects you want to do and integrate them into one project where working on one aspect of one project can be used for content in the aspect of the other project, so in reality the two projects become one project, effectively killing the proverbial second bird as well. This same attitude is thus imposed into every respect of ownership you need to be concerned with. This includes the integration of your projects into one overall task. This makes all the factors in operations and sales one daily initiative connected to the product and network. Finally this is coordinated while deploying your constant content output in every expected medium through one efficient workflow. It allows you to streamline your work from a “multiple content in multiple formats” approach to one chunk of content at a time outputted in multiple formats instead.

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