#and since i’d have to grind the beans my imagination got a little fancy and was like

[mimicori]

the urge to become a little pretentious abt the process of making coffee.

[loulougoingsolo]

Whose paw print was that??!

Who knew all it took for me to get out of a funk was a dead, funky rat? Let’s vlog about that!

I live in the countryside, and across the road from my house, my neighbours keep chicken and horses, which means the rodent population in this area is strong. I get my fair share of the rodents regularly visit my quarters, but thankfully, the ones who get indoors, are mostly tiny mice. I’ve also managed to block most entryways to my kitchen and livingroom, and my little visitors can’t access my inner sanctum anymore - but I have traps in my hall / bathroom wing (this is a really tiny house, so wing is a bit of an overstatement), and I catch a mouse every now and then. I have an agreement with the surrounding nature - if the animals come to my home uninvited, I have the right to kill them. If I disturb wild animals in their living quarters, they have equal rights to kill me. But in today’s vlog, no-one is getting killed. The culprit to the mysterious stink in Link’s house is most certainly already dead, and the mission for today is to find the carcass.

But in today’s vlog, no-one is getting killed. The culprit to the mysterious stink in Link’s house is most certainly already dead, and the mission for today is to find the carcass.

My parents have a much bigger house than I do, and they get some mice in the attic every now and then - and because they rarely go there, the way they sometimes find out there’s a mouse caught in a trap is by the horrifying smell that comes down through the air vents. My mom has a really bad sense of smell, so usually it’s me who smells it first, when dropping by. It’s amazing how much a tiny mouse can smell - and I can only imagine how horrifying a bloated dead rat is. My parents also have had rats a few times, and the most recent one took weeks to catch, but fortunately we finally caught it and it didn’t have time to start smelling.

(In case you’re asking why it was me and my mom who did the hunting, and not my dad...let’s just say that my dad is a gentle spirit, and unfazed by the expectations put on the male gender by the society. He does own blue overalls, though.)

Link has invited Rhett over to his house to find the stink, and Rhett arrives, looking like a very tall truck driver. Somehow, he pulls off the look quite well - and we should probably get used to it, since a hat is an efficient way to control the mane. I wonder when we are getting a new Mythical hat, I have the black and camo one from a couple of years back, and I’d very much like another (it turned out to be a useful thing to wear in the sun, after I got over the fact that I, too, look like a truck driver wearing it.)

Turns out, the Neals have an actual rat problem. My personal opinion is that they should probably get an exterminator to drop by. One rat trap isn’t going to solve this - and based on how Jade prefers to sniff the house plants instead of guarding the house from furry intruders, she is no help in the battle.

I really envy the fancy coffee maker. My dad has one, and I regularly drop by just to drink coffee just because it grinds the coffee beans. But it would be an overkill to buy an expensive thing like that just for myself, when I drink two cups (well, two enourmous mugs, really) max per day. Which reminds, me, now would be a good time to make that second cup. But isn’t this nice?

Oh man, Link’s overalls are exactly like the ones my dad has, and just like my dad, he has to make a little dance performance after putting them on. I don’t want to think that Link is just like my dad, only 30 years younger. And then he does things like this. When he walked through the gate wearing a head lamp, I cracked up. My dad ALWAYS wears a head lamp when he does something where he needs to see properly. Is there some manual of how to be a dad where they teach this stuff?

For someone who doesn’t watch horror films that often, Link really knows how to enter the space under his house in a very genre accurate way. This vlog could easily be turned into a horror film, and I’m personally a little scared of what’s to come. But I’m sure we’d heard by now if the guys somehow ended up eaten by giant rats while filming this, so maybe they’re ok.

Now that we got Link under the house, I want to tell a story about a rat who lived under my parents’ trash can (outside) one year. I was house watching for my folks while they were traveling, and because it was November, it was the time of year when mice usually start coming inside houses to escape the winter. I caught 6 mice during the two weeks, and each time I caught one, I took it to the outside thrash can, in a plastic bag.

My parents knew the trash can needed to be replaced, because it had a hole in the bottom, and when they finally came back home, they dropped by to get a new trash can. When they went on to remove the old trash can from the place it was standing in, a rat ran away from under it, and was never seen again. It had been living under there for a while, and had organized the space very neatly. The dead mice I had carried out were lined up next to each other in one corner, and the plastic bags in which they used to be, were in another corner. The rat was saving the mice to eat later.

So, that pile of trash under Link’s house, was most likely put there by either the rats while tidying the place, or by whatever animal it was that left that paw pring in the dirt. I think that could be a raccoon paw print - they have five “fingers” like humans. Looks like the Neal house is home to all kinds of creatures, big and small. I wonder if the raccoons took food under the house, and the food attracted the rats to come over, too?

Link crawling in thight small spaces reminds me of the movie Descent, and that is possibly the scariest film I’ve ever watched. I’m so glad he got out of that hole alive.

How old exactly is the house Link lives in? The roof space looks like it’s been there for decades, and for some reason I assumed this was a fairly new building. Whoever owned the place before the Neals was obviously aware of the rats, so I really hope Link gets someone professional to sort this out before he has to sit on the sofa with a family of rats to watch tv.

Well, at least the source of the stank is found, and probaly only hours before an explosion which would have made things even more unpleasant. And because this gruesome story can’t really get any worse at this point, I’m going to say that a dead rat is food for more rats - and leaving rat traps unattended means that if they ever caught anything, they probably lured more rodents to the space. And who knows what other creatures, flies and bugs, and...eww.

I know the reason the rat looks so chubby is because it’s literally ready to explode, but that is by no means, a small rat. Are rats, like everything else, bigger in America? (I was going to place the screenshot of the stinker here, but let’s just not do that.)

So, what did this vlog teach us? As the sorroful notes of the trumpet travel across the neighbourhood (I wonder what Link’s neighbours thought of this?), and the rat is put into it’s temporary resting place (before the dump), we can admire Link for his bravery in dealing with this ordeal. We can appreciate the fact that Rhett looks like a senior skateboarder with his cap reversed (I prefer this version of his look).

Most of all, we now know that under the peaceful exterior of the Neal residence, someone with five fingers in each of their hands, crawls in the dead of night, looking for a way to access the house, and the innocent people and dog, who sleep in their beds, thinking they are safe. 

Let’s not think about that.

[l-sincline]

Cybernetics- Cyberpunk!Sonic AU- Chapter 3

Amy Rose has been working tirelessly at her broken down booth for as long as she can imagine. Ever since Tails left their work to join forces with the revered hero of Mobius, ‘The Blue Blur’, she’s grown lonely and desperate to make her life exciting. A strange customer comes in one day asking her to fix his cyborg arm, what she didn’t know was that he would be the catalyst for a brand new life.

AO3 Tags:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Amy Rose/Shadow the Hedgehog, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Amy Rose (Sonic the Hedgehog), Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles “Tails” Prower, Dr. Eggman | Dr. Robotnik, Rouge the Bat, Whisper the Wolf, Cream the Rabbit, Knuckles the Echidna, Badnik (Sonic the Hedgehog), E-123 Omega, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Angst, Slow Burn, Partners in Crime

AO3 Link

Previous/Next

Amy struggled to follow her mystery customer that weaved through the crowd with ease, it was now no surprise to her that he had managed to sneak up on her the first time they’d met, he practically floated through the crowd. Ducking and weaving through the tightest of spaces and the closest of people, while she clumsily followed with quiet ‘excuse me’s and ‘sorry’s. As she trailed behind him, she took this chance to take in the rest of his appearance in the light of the street lamps. His cloak was heavy, practical, and it was a deep gray with only a few tears and ragged edges. The only other thing she could really see at the moment we’re his shoes, and they looked about as mechanical as his arms. They looked heavy, but he seemed to have no problem walking in them despite their strange metal material. Maybe she’d ask about them if she got the chance, but he seemed to close up at any topic surrounding himself aside from when he’d told her his arms were custom made. 

She’d been so focused on trying to figure out his shoes that she hadn’t noticed they’d traveled out of the outer ring of the city. Now, instead of dirty streets and flickering street lights accompanied by the mass of people, they walked among street lamps in better condition and shops with some neon signs flashing in the windows, there were even a few cars parked on the side of the road, though they weren’t as upper class as the cars she’d seen in magazines and they seemed to be quite old, perhaps from a time before Earth had come to attack Mobius. There were significantly less people milling about in the middle ring, and she finally found herself able to catch up to her mystery customer. 

“I haven’t been to the middle ring in a long time- it seems like it’s cleaned up a bit more though. My friend works here now.” She started enthusiastically, wanting to have a conversation. 

“Wouldn’t you be here more often to visit them then?” He opted to ask more about her friend, which deflated her slightly, but at least he was talking. 

“Ah, well, I’m not allowed to know anything about where exactly he works and he’s constantly on call so... I can’t really just pop in and visit.” 

“What’s he do?” 

Amy paused, she doubted she was supposed to just go around spilling the beans that Tails was the Blue Blur’s personal mechanic, and thought she felt slightly bad to lie, she reminded herself that she would just be saying a partial truth, and that the mystery customer himself hadn’t exactly been spilling his guts to her either. 

“He’s a mechanic too, just on call all the time instead of having working hours.”

“Privately hired then...” he responded, more to himself than to her, but she ‘hmm’ed in confirmation anyways. 

After that, she chose to look around at the buildings they were walking past. A few bars, some convince stores, a reclaimed food place, and eventually they walked by a mechanics. The shop was large, and it had a neon sign in the front with the shops name- it was much nicer than her little booth, Amy could hardly imagine how nice it would be to work in the middle ring, and even past that how amazing it would be to work in the inner ring. Her thoughts were interrupted as she nearly bumped into the mystery customer. 

“We’re here.” He gestured to the building they stood in front of. 

It was a little rustic, made of brick, and without any windows showing the inside. A neon sign hung on the wall next to the entrance that read “Lions Den” in a bright blue. 

“Looks real inviting.” Amy announced sarcastically, this seemed to get some sort of good reaction as he snorted quietly in response. 

He stepped past her and opened the door, pushing it open wide enough for her to follow him in without having to touch the door. The inside was much different from the outside. She stood next to him in awe as he tried to wave over a waitress. It was slightly packed by all sorts of mobians, some cyborg some not. But the most impressive part of it was how it so easily echoed what she imagined the Inner Ring of the city looked like. 

The tiles on the floor were mirrors, as was the ceiling that was lined with bright blue neon lights. The bar was plexiglass, back lit by more bright blue lights as the people at the bar drank neon drinks with straws that glowed in the black light. There were rounds tables that were dotted randomly throughout the large room, mobians sat at them and drank and ate happily, occasionally pointing at the large ProjScreens that took up some blank space on the wall, projecting a live game of whatever sport was currently going on in the Inner Ring. Booths lined the wall with the same flowing plexiglass, but the seats were made of some plastic-y, metallic material that shone in all the light. 

Amy felt something smooth to the touch grab her arm and tug her in a different direction, and soon realized it was her mystery customer dragging her along to follow the waitress that was seating them. They got sat at a booth, and it was when she was handed a menu on a ProjScreen that she got to get a good look at the waitress. It was stunning, a fully automated Android was serving them. She mostly ever saw robots, ones with wheels that looked more old time-y, but the android in front of her had the exact same shape and build as your average Cat mobian. Her metal was a sleek black, and her eyes glowed blue as she handed the man across from Amy his ProjScreen menu before folding her hands behind her back once more. Her tail swished soundlessly, no metal grinding or clinking. 

“May I get you both started with something to drink?” Even her voice seemed perfect. 

“We’ll both have the Strawberry Lights.” He responded. “And some time to look over the menu, please.” 

“Of course. I’ll be back with your drinks, shutting off your ProjScreen menu will alert me that you are ready to order.” She informed before turning and walking away, blending perfectly into the chaos of the bar as she went to get their drinks. 

“Ordering for me?” Amy teased. 

“Well, I’m paying, and I think it’s fun to guess what you’d like.” He shrugged, pushing her ProjScreen towards the wall so she wouldn’t be able to look at it as he swiped through the projections on his. 

“Would it be out of line for me to ask if you plan on keeping your hood up the whole time?” She asked. He paused. 

“...Yes.” He finally replied. 

“Is there at least something I can call you?” Amy pressed, it was getting a bit strange to continue to call him her ‘mystery customer.’ 

“You can come up with something if you want.” He offered. “Seems fair, since I’m making a game out of ordering your food.”

Amy ‘hmm’ed in thought at this, quickly becoming distracted by her own thoughts as she ceased to listen to his muttering as he scrolled through the menu. Mystery customer was a no, she was trying to get away from that. Cloak boy? No, that was dumb. She could do some iteration on Cyborg but that was probably tacky, especially to a man who hid both his cyborg arms. 

“Myst! Spelled with a Y to be cooler.” She suddenly announced proudly, crossing her arms over her chest with a smug smile. 

She could feel his eyes boring into her own, before she could even worry that he thought she was strange again, he laughed and shook his head. 

“Sure.” He relented, shutting down the ProjScreen menu. 

Amy wasn’t sure what to say afterwards, so she was glad to see their waitress heading back over to them with two drinks in hand on a tray. She almost ‘ooh’ed out loud at the sight of them as the cat Android elegantly set them down on the table. 

“You’re ready to order?” She asked as she reached over the table and collected the ProjScreen menu ‘Myst’ had put aside earlier before grabbing his as well and holding them gently. 

“The flamed mango on the compact milk bread for her, and the enhanced beef stir fry for me.” He spoke loudly enough for his voice to be heard over the chatter of the restaurant. 

“Of course, enjoy your drinks while you wait.” She bowed her head slightly before walking away. 

Amy looked back to the drink and inspected in with interest. The bottom of it was bright pink, and it had a slushy like texture to it, the rest of the fancy glass was filled with what seemed to be some sort of clear soda, sitting at the bottom of the soda was a darker pink syrup that she assumed was strawberry flavored as well as the slushy. One strawberry was artfully poked onto the rim of the glass, and the metal straw poking out of the glass was also pink. She looked over to see ‘Myst’ using the straw to poke at the drink and stir it up, so she began to do the same. Eventually it got to a point where it seemed it would be fine to drink, so she did. She was first hit with the strawberry slushy, quickly followed by the strawberry infused soda- it was pretty good. 

“Wow- good guess on the drink. I think I’ll be happy with the dinner then too.” She commented. 

“I’m glad you like it, I don’t come here often but it’s what I usually get.” He replied. 

“Really? You seem so dark and mysterious I’d assume you’d get like something squid ink based, honestly.”

“Squid ink doesn’t sit well with my stomach.” He defended incredulously. “Besides, you just said yourself that this is good.”

“Okay okay!” She giggled before taking another sip of the drink. 

“So what was that woman talking about earlier? The prototype? For what?” He questioned suddenly. 

Amy was unsure if this was his way of starting a conversation or if he was genuinely after this information. Did he have something against Whisper? The previous thoughts of how she knew nothing about him flooded back into her mind and worried her. 

“Why? Do you know her?” She shot back, a bit more biting than she’d intended. He leaned back in the booth seat and shoot his head. 

“No- sorry. I know I must seem untrustworthy to you, I was just curious. I don’t know who she is.” He replied, almost reading her like an open book. She took another small sip of her drink before responding again. 

“Her name is Whisper, she’s a weapons mechanic. Ever since my work buddy left I’ve felt a little more vulnerable so I wanted to have something to defend myself with. I chatted with her a bit and put some units down for her to make me a prototype, she agreed that she would give me the prototype and let me finish it if I paid her extra.” 

“Feeling vigilante-ish?” He asked, maybe she could even say he sneered. 

“Gods no.” She responded. “I’m defending myself, that’s all. That’s more of Tail’s thing.” After the words of defense had spilled from her mouth, she zipped her lips into a straight line, she hadn’t meant to name drop. 

“Tails...?” He echoed quietly, as if he was thinking about something. 

“Yeah- he’s just a friend of mine, sorry, gosh, I shouldn’t have said his name as if you’d know anything about who he was.” She attempted a quick cover up with a bout of short, nervous laughter before covering up said nervous laughter with taking another, larger sip from her drink. 

“It’s just an interesting name is all.” He responded calmly before reaching for his drink as well, clearly still thinking hard on something, which didn’t ease her nerves, but he at the very least seemed relaxed. “Can I ask more about the prototype?” 

“Sure.” She let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. 

“What kind of weapon is it?” 

“A collapsible hammer.” She started. “The hammer itself is hollow, so when I fold the handle away I can take out a strap and turn it into a side bag and store things in it, but even though it’s hollow it’ll be made out of a strong metal so it doesn’t break easily and can still hit hard.” Amy explained. She was pretty proud of her idea, though it was quite simple, she loved it dearly, and thought it had a touch of her personality and would work well for her since it could double as a heavy duty duffel bag. 

“That’s creative.” He complimented. “I’ve never seen anything like that, it seems like it would work well for you.”

“Thanks- I designed it myself.” Amy smiled slightly and took another sip from her drink, the only other person who she’d told about her weapon was Whisper, who after being around weapons for many years was thoroughly unimpressed with its simplicity. It was nice to hear someone say her design was creative. 

“Your food.” The cat waitress’ voice suddenly cut in, setting the two plates of food down on the table. “Enjoy your meal, I will be back to collect the units when you’ve signaled your done by pressing this-“ she gestured to a button at the top of the table. “-button.” She walked away just as elegantly and quietly as she’d arrived, and Amy’s attention was directed back to the table when she heard the clinking of utensils and ‘Myst’ declare, “Time to dig in.”

[krixwell-liveblogs]

Check out this post. Wildbow talks about his life on reddit. This explains so much about Taylor’s school experience. No Worm spoilers

This sounds interesting. I’ve frequently wondered about how Wildbow’s life shaped this story.

Let’s take a look.

Redditors who have opted out of a standard approach to life (study then full time work, mortgage etc), please share your stories. What are the best and worst things about your lifestyle, and do you have any regrets?

Well, the title is already intriguing.

Hermit writer here.

Born hard of hearing, went to a regular school. Struggled in middle school. Struggled in high school. Kids who were in my class in kindergarten were in my classes all the way through to grade ten, with the elementary/middle school and high school being a stone's throw from one another.

I kind of knew about the hard of hearing bit already. I can’t find the ask that told me about it, though (it was probably before I stopped using screenshots for asks).

So far this sounds relatively normal, except for that part. But I’m guessing he’s going to elaborate a bit on the struggles surrounding his school life and hearing problems?

In grade 10, after years of bullying and a peer group that had established who was 'in' and who was 'out' when I was knee-high, tired of struggling, I was walking down the halls and I found myself wondering when the last time I'd even opened my mouth in school was.

Oh wow.

I stopped dead in my tracks, just paralyzed by loneliness. I asked myself what the point was, couldn't come up with an answer, resumed walking, went out the side door of the school and went home.

This clearly parallels a few of the last times we saw Taylor at Winslow High.

The start of me just not going to school for that entire year. Nobody noticed.

Damn. He really did write all that from experience. It took a while for Taylor’s absence to get noted, too.

Taylor’s absence getting noted at all actually seems like a fantasy compared to this.

I got caught at the end of the year, did the same thing the next year, got caught only at the end.

What the hell sort of attendance routines did this school have? Clearly not good ones.

Ended up going to an Alternative school (Self study), proved to myself that I had it in me when I got 3 years of studying done in 8 months, won two awards... and then had to go back to my old school for what was essentially grade 13, where I struggled.

Huh. Well done.

People learn in very different ways. Some people can do this much more effectively than learning in a group. Some people are like me and can’t make themselves keep up the effort required to self study, or learn better from lectures than reading.

Some people learn by observing their surroundings while flying.

I worked retail and found it fine. But family wanted me to go to University and figure myself out.

I’m currently working retail, taking a break from the educational system and buying time to figure out what to study.

I went to University and I struggled.

Guys, I’m sensing a theme here.

I spent a long, long time trying to figure out why I struggled, why I was tired all the time, and it took a kind of confluence of events before I realized what should've been obvious. I found the social stuff hard and I was exhausted after a day of listening because I'm severely to profoundly deaf.

Oh yeah, that makes a ton of sense. It’s like how focusing is exhausting when you have trouble doing that, how reading without glasses you need tires out your eyes and brain, etc.

Honestly, it’s a little surprising that I haven’t (explicitly) met a hard of hearing character in Worm yet. Maybe later? Oh wait, there was that deaf waitress at the villain pub in Hive.

Beyond that, the 'path' just isn't for me. The systems and institutions just grind me down. The idea of a 9 to 5 is death to me. These things are built and streamlined for the average person, and between disability and a fairly extreme degree of introversion, I'm far from that average.

That is very fair. There’s definitely a brand of ableism in that system.

In the end, I stepped off the path. I'd been writing a thing online as a side project and the reception was good, so I decided to leave school earlier than planned, use the savings I had, stretch things as far as I could, and work when I could (with a family friend when he needed the help and had the cash to spare, doing some landscaping, drywall installation, house painting, all prepping houses for sale in a boom market) to stretch things further.

This would be too early for that thing online to be Worm, right?

It just occurred to me that I have no idea how old Wildbow is.

And I wrote as seriously as I could while people close to me told me that I didn't deserve to 'get lucky' and have the writing work out because I hadn't seen University all the way through, or openly expressed doubts and disappointments.

Yikes.

Fuck that noise. Writing is tons of effort!

But you know, it worked out in the end. I wrote the equivalent of 20 books in 2.4 years, wrote another 10 for my next series in the ensuing 1.2 years, and I've kept up a similar pace over the last 7 years and two months.

Especially when you’re this coddamn productive!

That’s 8.33 books a year!

I started writing mid- 2011, left school at the start of 2012, went full-time-paying-the-bills in 2014 with an income around minimum wage. I moved to a small town (no car, nothing fancy) that same year. I'm now closer to the average Canadian wage. It's been two chapters a week (2.5 if crowdfunding money is enough) since the beginning.

Oh, I suppose that means it would be Worm after all.

When was this written... huh, yesterday? Well, that explains why this hasn’t been sent to me before.

Writing being Wildbow’s only/main income makes me feel even more right about my decision to set things up so that some of the money from my Patreon goes to Wildbow. It’s not that big a portion of his income (apparently average Canadian wage is 986 CAD or 755 USD per week, and I chip in with about 3.26 CAD or 2.50 USD per week), but it’s something.

My reality: I can go a week or two without really talking to anyone that isn't a cashier.

Sounds a bit lonely in the long run, but as a fellow introvert (or maybe I’m an ambivert, in the systems where that’s actually a thing), I get it - it also does sound pretty good. Especially if you’ve got internet people to casually interact with at your own leisure.

Every two months or so I go to a relative's to dogsit while they're on vacation or to see someone for their birthday, and that gives me most of my fill of socialization and companionship.

Nice!

I don't have a car, so it's usually walking or taking the train to another city, and using public transpo there. I subsisted on a rice and beans diet for a good stretch, one $15 video game bought in a year, and my level of expenses hasn't really risen that much from that point. I eat better and buy a couple more things, but nothing major.

So I guess this would be somewhere between average and reserved?

I don’t know. Being Norwegian spoils me on these things.

60%+ of what I earn goes to savings, which gives me security when my income could fluctuate or disappear at any time.

Oh, that’s smart. I suppose writing would be a bit of a risky business, what with writer’s block, audience fluctuations, sudden drops in popularity because something you wrote didn’t go over as well as you thought it would, etc.

My schedule is entirely my own, which usually amounts to 2.5 15+ hour workdays a week and another 5-10 hours a week spent managing community, finances, and exchanging emails with tv/movie studios, publishers or startups.

I was going to talk about the long but few workdays, but tv/movie studios excuse me what

Is a TV series version of something Wildbow wrote (Worm or otherwise) a serious possibility right now?? :o

Best things - I love what I do. I love creating, I love my reader's tears, I love my readers being horrified.

This is really important. You gotta enjoy what you do.

I get to make monsters and be surprised by what my characters do. Many of my fans are just the absolute coolest people - people I'm now insanely glad to have met and include in my life. There's amazing fanart of my work out there, music, people have gotten tattoos. Tattoos. That's insane.

People have permanently, painfully painted their appreciation of your work into their bodies, Wildbow!

The bad- I'm an online content creator, and it's impossible to convey just how toxic the toxic elements of a fandom can get and how negative the negative aspects can get, and how much it can affect you.

That is true. There will always be a toxic side, and I can imagine works like Worm would attract a lot of the edgy sort.

I've seen 20 online content creators either break down or remark on the effect it has, and it's wholly accurate- and my audience isn't even ~that~ large.

Yeah, it doesn’t take that many people to start brewing fandom sides like this.

This is multiplied by the fact that writing is lonely as a profession (I know too many writers who can't even talk to their life partners about their work) and it can be hard to find perspective or balance as you take it all in, when you don't have people to communicate with.

Robert Jordan used his wife as a beta reader or editor of sorts. She was there to tell him when something he wrote didn’t quite come across, to make up for the fact that he couldn’t tell. After all, he knew what he meant by that one line.

On a similar note, some casual dating would be nice, and living in a small town for economical reasons doesn't leave me with a large dating pool, and at this point I'm not even sure if I could or should inflict myself on someone.

Oof.

There are way too many people who think like that. I hope you find happiness with someone who sees you for the good bean you are, Wildbow.

I'm healthy, groomed, I can hold a conversation, I'm just pretty set in my introverted ways.

...relatable, though.

But still, I’m pretty sure there are people out there for us, who not only tolerate but appreciate the introvert lifestyle.

Hell, both of my crushes have been very introverted, even compared to myself, so I know those people exist because I’m among them.

On another, less social note, there is the fact that as an online content creator, you can't really take breaks. Or you can, but it costs. Consistency and frequency of updates are god, and a hiatus is a death knell.

No wonder he criticized me on this that one time. In his situation, it matters a lot.

I don't even know what an effective vacation would entail, because I feel like finding my stride again would cost more than I gained from having the break. So it's been seven years and two months without a vacation, writing a short book every month.

Damn.

You deserve so many props, Wildbow.

...at some point here I started talking to Wildbow, just like I do to Taylor and other Worm characters. Well, at least this time there’s actually a chance he’s going to read this sometime, if he hasn’t dropped my blog.

I just hope he doesn’t think it’s weird that I’m liveblogging his life story.

It makes for a very strange sort of burnout, when I love it so much, I can still regularly put out some great work to acclaim and praise, but am nonetheless worn down around the edges.

That does not sound healthy.

No regrets. This is me. This is what I'm built for.

As long as you feel it’s right for you, this is good. :)

I could do with less negativity from some fans and getting regular good nights of sleep (the deafness comes with insomnia by way of terminal tinnitus), but both of those just come with the territory.

Ouch.

I feel you on the sleep front (ADD has its ways of messing with your ability to fall asleep too), but tinnitus sounds like a particularly annoying way to be inflicted with it.

I've been telling family for the last year that I'll move to a city with more going on than (as my elderly neighbor phrased it) drinking and meth, where there's classes to take, a possible dating pool, and/or activities that could break me out of my hermit shell... but my current apartment is amazing and cheap, with the nicest landlords ever. It's just in a do-nothing town. I haven't found anything remotely competitive, even taking 'cheap' off the table.

I’ve lived in small-ish towns all my life. It’s pretty nice, especially as an introvert.

So that's where I'm at.

Thank you, Wildbow. This was an interesting read. I feel like I know you a bit better now. :)

(Again, if you’re reading this, I hope it wasn’t too weird to see me liveblogging this.)

[blinkerfluidcars-blog]

Dear Ford, Don’t Forget the Drivers

Pictured above is my ‘14 Focus ST, the first (and only) new car I’ve ever purchased. 

Welcome

First of all, welcome to BlinkerFluid, and thanks for taking the time to check it out. For a long time, I’ve wanted to start some sort of car-centric social media whosamuhwhatsit, with a nice balance of substance and humor (hence the page name), and I finally took the jump. I hope you enjoy it. This first post turned out to be a mini-book, but I needed to get it off my chest after Ford’s recent announcement. After all, it’s what finally got me off my butt and up to the keyboard to write for you fine folks.

I got a bit of shock the other day when, before I’d rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I came across a post someone shared in an ST Facebook group I joined. Ford announced that it was axing every car in its North American lineup, except for the Mustang. Of course Ford can’t kill the Mustang, and they shouldn’t. They’re axing the cars in the lineup to expand the offerings of crossovers, SUVs, and trucks. I also read that a second car would remain, or rather it would be brought to the American market from Ford’s product lineup in China. They call it the Focus Active. I understand it’s more of a mini-crossover than an actual car. Will there be an ST variant of the Focus Active for the real drivers? One that would replace the current ST? Since Ford plans to offer an Explorer ST, I’d say the chances are good. But will the car be good? It will certainly be taller, which doesn’t help when it comes to performance. Right now it’s hard to say if the car can be worthy of the ST name, but Ford has a lot of questions to answer. And seriously, an Explorer ST? Yeah, there’s a track ready driver’s car. Let’s see how many pennies we can squeeze out of this ST thing before we kill it. And here I thought autonomous cars were the closest threat to drivers’ cars.

Will the real drivers please stand up

So what do I mean by the real drivers? Well, it’s simple really...and if you’re spending your valuable time by reading this, odds are you might be one too. I believe that there are two types of drivers: Drivers and Commuters. Drivers are the glorious misfits like you and me who enjoy the sport of the drive. We get behind the wheel for the fun of the drive, not the destination. We take the long way home to get those few extra minutes on the road (or off). We relish that connection between man and machine. When we’re not behind the wheel, we think about being behind the wheel. We watch Smokey and the Bandit, and the Cannonball Run, and yet another Fastest/Furious movie. Why? Because Vroom. That’s why. And we’re a damn proud bunch.

Then there are commuters. Commuters aren’t bad people, but they just don’t get us drivers. “Why spend all that money on a car?” “Why customize a car?” Commuters climb into a car to get from point A to point B. That’s it. They drive a stock Toyota Camry with mismatched hubcaps. *Shudders thinking about hubcaps*. They drive a car like they use a washing machine. Why? Because a vehicle is really nothing more than an appliance to them. I have to give Motor Trend the credit for that comparison, having read a number of articles where they compare the Camrys/Accords of the world to being automotive appliances. Just soulless. 

What is being lost exactly...

I’m going to focus (the pun really isn’t intended) on the ST/RS vehicles. When Ford launched the Focus ST in 2013, and later the Fiesta ST, they demonstrated that they understood the drivers. A vehicle that offers ONLY a manual transmission? There’s the mark of a real driver’s car if ever there was one. YOU WILL NEVER SEE A COMMUTER DRIVE A MANUAL. EVER. And the STs were affordable. Affordability was what drove the original 1964 1/2 Mustang to such enormous success. The ST was launched at exactly the right time, too. Can you imagine if the previous generation Focus had been given the launch of the ST? That car was hideous. 

The Focus ST is a fabulous car. It’s quick, fun, and always feels like it’s ready for more action. There’s a slew of other things I love about my car. Although I can’t speak from experience, I understand the Fiesta ST is also an excellent car. The Focus RS is in another league, and it’s a highly respected track car. When Ford offered these cars, it demonstrated that it understood there was a market of drivers who were looking for sport in something other than a Mustang. I’m not targeting the Mustang in the least, but it’s influenced to fit the desires of a wide range of buyers. You see, sometimes commuters fancy themselves enjoying a sports car. Good for them. You can see that influence in the Mustang: Auto transmissions are very common, the cars are a bit hefty with some optimization for commuting, and the price tag can climb pretty quickly with the wide range of optional equipment and features. You don’t see that influence bleed over into the STs and RS. You have colors and several trim packages from which to choose and that’s about it. Why? Becuase in this market, cusomization is huge, and creature comforts and little gizmos aren’t the primary concern. That money is better spent in the aftermarket realm.

The timing for the ST/RS cars was right because then CEO Alan Mulally, the man who deserves every bit of credit he received for saving Ford, brought over the long-desired European Focus that American drivers actually wanted. His philosophy was straightforward: build the best damn car because that’s what the customers want. It involved globalizing the Ford product line and using its strengths from each geographical market to produce the best cars (and cut costs drastically). If you get the chance, I recommend reading “American Icon” by Bryce Hoffman. It’s got a slight feel of being Ford propaganda, but the company gave the author unprecedented access that revealed how close the company was to total collapse, and what it took to save it.

Let me get to the point

Ford’s recent announcement feels like they’ve forgotten Mulally’s philosophy. And their deep-rooted history in racing. Just look at the Henry Ford II/Carroll Shelby fight to defeat Ferrari in the 1960s at Le Mans (read Go Like Hell, by AJ Baime). The decision feels like an affront to those of us who would have remained loyal to the ST/RS brand. It feels like the company’s primary goal is to make money, not cars. Let me be clear: I know the company needs to make money, and take care of the stockholders, and bla bla bla. I get that. And I don’t like to brag, but I own literally tens of dollars worth of Ford stock. I’m sobbing into some Jacksons as I write this.

What bothers me is that the move to an almost entirely crossover, SUV, and truck lineup is a decision that was driven by the hoards of commuters who flock mindlessly to dealer showrooms demanding such utilitarian vehicles. But here’s the thing: Commuters are flaky. They want the trendy, shiny object, regardless of what it is, and regardless of the brand. They buy their cars like they buy paper plates. They consider them disposable. The case is not so with drivers. But we are on the losing end, because we will never be a majority in the buyers’ market.

History repeats?

What really grinds my gears about this whole ordeal is that according to one article I read, Ford is cutting billions of dollars from its engineering budget. It’s unclear whehter they’re moving the investment away from engineering, or if they’re saving that much by cutting the cars. But if they plan to add models that don’t currently exist, I don’t see how they’re going to do that without investing in the engineering budget. They must not have long memories in Ford’s boardroom, because the Big 3 nearly went extinct when the economy tanked in the late 2000s. Ford, GM, and Chrysler had been neglecting what was important (the customers) for decades, and the cars they were building (with some exceptions) reflected the lack of investment the companies made in them. They were in the money business, not the car business. 

The only reason Ford didn’t have to take a bailout was because they finally woke up and saw the disaster looming (losing billions of dollars each quarter). The other 2 had to declare bankruptcy and were actually owned by the U.S. government for a while. Part of the price that GM had to pay was killing some of its brands in an effort to cut costs. The long-neglected (and recently resurgent) Pontiac was killed and it was a damn shame. Just as the G8 was launched. And yet Buick survived. The only reason Buick survived was because it was making serious money in China, it sure as hell wasn’t making that much off of Grandma and Grandpa back here in the states. Either way, Buick was making money now, and that was the ticket to live. It didn’t matter that Pontiac had a bright future. 

In response to Ford’s recent announcement, GM says that it remains committed to cars, whatever that means. They’re all a bunch of appliances, minus the Camaro/Corvette. Good appliances, but appliances nonetheless. I'd love to see a Cruze SS, I think it could be a really great car. Dodge showed serious potential with the Dart, but killed it before it really had a chance to solidify itself in the small car market. An SRT Dart could have been killer! I love the Challengers, but like the Mustang, they're heavy, and expensive. Committed to cars or not, it seems all 3 American automakers are far more focused on building utilities and pickups. Even Mazda has moved away from its long and rich history of building driver's cars to building cars aimed at the commuter market.

I finally got to the point

Unfortunately, it appears that the bean-counting has begun again, at least at Ford. And as a true-blue Ford man, I am so disappointed in that. I’m not stupid, I know the company has to make money. A small, sad, soulless part of me almost admires how bold the move is...I just don’t like what that move is. So the big question for me is, will the Focus ST survive, when the new model arrives from Ford’s China lineup, and will it be any good? I sure hope so, but right now I’m just waiting on answers. Meanwhile, the drivers who came to Ford for the ST and RS are already eyeballing other brands for their next ride. Brands that will continue to offer true driver’s cars.

I didn’t write this inaugural post to bash Ford, by any means. I wrote it to make a point...that the drivers of the world shouldn’t be forgotten. We aren’t all racecar drivers, but driving is a sport for us, nonetheless. And that matters, plain and simple. As I develop this blog and add more writers, I plan for it to be about all things cars. Stories, photos, fun, whatever. 

Thanks for reading!