#but maybe that's because i'm used to postcard prints

[futurecardbuddyfight]

Some prints I brought because not only do they serve as inspiration, but this ( the white rabbit ) is how I imagine Kiri’s hair when it’s long!  It starts getting wavy and curls at certain ends, though is more layered like in the second print of the bottom left photo and the side fringes of hair.

The artist’s linktree, which includes their social medias and stores!

[ineffable-endearments]

Hello, everyone!

In light of Neil Gaiman's comment that Amazon is close to officially renewing Good Omens but hasn't done so yet, I think those of us who can should start sending physical postcards to Amazon Studios!

The TL;DR of this post is that you can easily send a postcard from MyPostcard.com for about $3 (USD, I'm sure other currencies can vary). The Web site will print and mail it for you, so you don't have to do any printing or mailing yourself. The postage is included in the $3.

If you don't already have an image or card you want to use, you can just use one of mine above. Some of them are small because of small source images, but the site seems to resize them appropriately for the card. There are bigger versions in a Google Drive folder that you shouldn't have to be logged in to see.

You can send the postcards asking for a third season of Good Omens addressed to Jennifer Salke and Vernon Sanders, co-heads of Amazon Studios, at:

AMAZON STUDIOS 1620 26TH STREET, SUITE 4000N SANTA MONICA, CA 90404 USA

@fuckyeahgoodomens was the first to post this contact information for Amazon, so thank you, Ixi.

If it's something you don't mind, I would very deeply appreciate reblogs on this, since it works better if lots of people see it! No pressure if you don't want to, though.

And if you have Questions, click through below for my reasoning on all this.

Why should we send postcards to Amazon Studios?

We've made lots of noise online about renewal, and we've done a lot of streaming Good Omens. But I haven't seen much discussion of sending physical mail or, specifically, postcards.

Mail takes up space in the real world. It's slightly harder to ignore than email. It's way more attention-grabbing than posts on X or Tumblr or any other social media site. Because postage is required, physical mail can also appear more "committed."

Postcards specifically are great because of their convenience for the recipient. No one has to open them to read them. All it takes is a quick glance to see what we're asking for, and realistically, a quick glance is the best we can ask for in a corporate office. That's why I'm emphasizing postcards over regular letters (although really, anything helps).

Is sending postcards really going to motivate Amazon to make more Good Omens?

Postcard and letter-writing campaigns have helped get shows renewed in the past. Star Trek: The Original Series is a good example of a series that got another season after a letter-writing campaign. This article has more examples.

We don't actually know what's going on in Good Omens's case. Maybe postcards would make a difference; maybe they wouldn't. We can only make our most determined effort at making sure we're heard, and sending mail is part of that.

The cost of sending a postcard is too much for me.

I understand that sending a postcard will not be an option for many of us. This post isn't intended to try to push you into spending money you don't have. If you still want to find a way to participate, you can also send an email to cs-reply@amazon.com with your comments about wanting Good Omens 3. It's not physical mail, but it is still a personal message from a customer.

In fact, people who are sending postcards might want to follow up with an email, too.

Do we have to use your postcard designs?

No! Not necessarily! You can use anything.

As long as the message you write includes how much you want Good Omens 3, your postcard's image doesn't necessarily have to relate. You could send a souvenir postcard that says "Greetings from Los Angeles, CA / Tadfield, England / etc" from your local post office and just write your message on the back.

Technically, even a plain index card should be thick enough to mail as a postcard, at least by USPS standards. Just write your desire for Good Omens 3 on it, put a stamp and Amazon's address on it, and make sure it's at least 90mm x 127mm (3.5in x 5in).

Isn't Amazon Studios going to notice a bunch of postcards being mailed from the same Web site?

I'm sure they will. But the messages will each be unique, and again, they'll know each card represents a person who had to order the card and postage themselves.

Speaking of unique messages, what should I write?

One sentence is enough. Definitely indicate that you want Season 3 of Good Omens. If you want to add more, you could also write a sentence or two about how much you love the series so far.

Above all, be polite and straightforward! Remember that sarcasm and jokes often do not come across well in print, so it may be best to stick with simple statements that can be taken at face value.

What address should the cards go to?

The co-heads of Amazon Studios appear to be Vernon Sanders and Jennifer Salke; you can address them by name, although I'm guessing it will be someone else who does the reading/glancing.

Amazon Studios's address is:

AMAZON STUDIOS 1620 26TH STREET, SUITE 4000N SANTA MONICA, CA 90404 USA

Where did you get these images?

The images for the nightingale postcard and the Crowley postcard are screencaps from directedbypiper.

The Please Do Not Lick the Walls and Fell the Marvelous posters were downloads from the Amazon X-Ray feature.

The Nice and Accurate Prophecies postcard was adapted from cover art I did for A Nice and Interpretive Fanzine. Most of it is my own, although the mottled background is an extremely blurred version of a free stock texture from Pixabay, users chrisfiedler and/or humusak.

The bookshop postcard is a promotional image from Amazon used in a Den of Geek article.

[mercurygray]

The Only One I've Got

This one goes out to the anonymous Fred Friend.

It looked like it was going to be sunny today.

After the long slow slog through December and January's sleets and snows, sunshine would be welcome, even if it was only for a few thin February hours. The weather was pressing in on them just as much as the missions were, and so far 1944 had not had much to recommend it.

(Their director had asked quietly at New Year's if a reassignment would be welcomed, but she didn't really want to go. If she left she'd lose so many good memories.)

"I left the mail on the table," Tatty said, coming in from the front where they usually parked the jeep. "I didn't see what's there."

"Thanks, Tat!" Fred said, brushing the last of the toast crumbs from her fingers and going to look at the pile. Helen, Helen, Mary, Tatty, Helen - and a small square of what looked like cardstock, stamped several times in purple and red with a very serious German word in the upper left corner, and her name, Freda Torvaldsen, written in careful block script in the address.

She must have made a noise, because Helen was suddenly there, and maybe Tatty, too, and she couldn't remember sitting down in the chair, and the rest of the mail had fallen on the floor. Her vision was swimming a little.

She wanted it to be from him. Maybe it wasn't.

"Fred, honey, you need me to read it to you?"

She shook her head, her hands shaking as she tried to turn it over to open it and nearly ripped the thing in two. Tatty took it from her and eased the seal open before she handed it back.

It was dated three months ago - December.

Dear Fred,

I'm hopeful that maybe you've tried to get news about me before now. If not, my new stationery should inform you - I am alive, and a guest of the Germans in a Prisoner of War camp. I'm sorry I haven't written before now. Now that we are settled we are permitted to send three pieces of mail a month and I needed to tell my folks first.

It feels very strange to write your name at the top of a letter. I've never had to write to you before. I'm hopeful that maybe we can keep this up, if you still feel the same way you did several months ago. Quarters here are close and I couldn't keep who I was writing to private. I need to let you know there have been some complaints. Lots of guys from the old outfit are here with me, and many names that you would know. (I'm not listing them, as I think the censor will black them out.) Hopefully you don't hear from them, too.

I just realized I'm using the word hopeful a lot, but it's the only one I've got. Hopefully Yours, John

PS - There are a few guys here who are not getting mail. Can you share my address with Ma Brennan and see if she could write something? It would be nice to share a little of the news from home and let them know that they aren't forgotten.

She read it through three times, vision increasingly blurry, realizing, belatedly, that the pencil was getting on her fingers. Hopefully yours. She held it to her nose and thought she could smell pipe smoke, and it was the best gift she'd ever gotten.

Of course I'm yours. You're the only one I've got.

-

A big thank you to a friend who is asking to remain anonymous for sharing images of what POW mail looked like. Some of it was on pre-printed postcards and some was on a message blank, which is what I'm describing here. The big German word Fred can't read is Kriegsgefangenpost, prisoner of war mail. I also just found a website online that has a ton of pictures of what this looked like.

[netherworldpost]

TRICK OR TREAT

A small box, purple and ribboned green. Inside are things, pleasant yet not yet seen.

Dreams, maybe, of places yet visited -- or places visited yet not yet returned to, in quite some time.

Wrapped in woodsmoke, that pleasant, and a leaf -- no, two -- it has been a good year, let us celebrate this success with harmless excess.

rambling ->

This will (probably) be the only trick or treat I respond to this year. You're the first! That's the bad news, that I'll probably only write one of these this year.

The good news (in active progress all season) is that I'm working on a whole system of them.

<- rambling / making sense ->

In 2014, I ran a promo on Evil Supply Co. where folks were invited to write in "trick or treat" and I would come up with a unique ramble (as above) for them.

Just for them. A gift of text. No duplicates. Each wildly different. How was that so long ago question mark exclamation mark.

I peaked into whatever information they provided to write something specifically customized for them using all of my powers of deduction (i.e. reading + skill as a storyteller) TO WRITE A TINY ***CUSTOM MYTH*** FOR THEM

(see above) (for yours) (enjoy!)

Answered LOTS.

It ended up being dozens. I don't think it was actually 364, but I do believe I ended up doing a few hundred, but. Y'know. Gif. Can't pass it up.

Tons of fun.

Tons of work!

Tons of fun though.

"I think you might have said something about a plan?" you might be wondering.

I don't know you and I don't know how familiar you are with my work and I'm guessing this is just a fun ask without prompting.

However.

I never let a chance to ramble go to waste.

Netherworld Post Office is being built as "an independent media company".

Fancy words.

Means we do lots of stuff.

Right now we're making myths for back office clients.

We're building a front office shop. Cards and stickers and zines.

That's two of the "lots of stuff."

A third of the "lots of stuff" is a continual "trick or treat" blog.

I'll run through some logistics quickly. You didn't ask for any of this part but this is the trick to the treat.

The Trick or Treat blog will be a public archive. Some things I'll just write because the blog'll need some stuff to get going and keep going.

But sometimes there will be a "trick or treat!" shop entry. Limited quantity. Available until sold out. One per customer. Working out the details. Randomly during the year it'll come back in stock until it's out of stock again.

If you snag one, it is $0.00 with $0.00 shipping and handling. Anywhere in the world. Trick or treats are free!

I'll write a tiny myth like the above.

It'll get printed on a card.

We cover the printing and the postage.

It'll get mailed to you. Wherever you are in the world!

Tiny postcard print.

Written just for you.

Mailed to just to you. For free! Anywhere in the world!

Trick or treat!

Via the mail!

You caught me in a late night business session and I had a solid amount of sleep today for the first time in weeks and so I Am Full of Energy.

Enjoy your treat!

I've carved off the launch date because (uncomfortable laughter) the problems we thought we had solved were solved but they weren't the only problems lurking.

It's fine.

That's business.

I'm smart and I've added even smarter folks helping me figure out the complex problems.

netherworldpost.com has the mailing list if you're thinking "huh I like the idea of receiving a launch email sometime when this all sets up."

I've overstayed my welcome in answering this ask, so I'll see myself out after a big "Happy Halloween!" to everyone

(or small I guess, text size is structured for reading)

(and we're in a small text section)

(...wrapping up...)

Thanks for this space.

The Trick or Treat blog is in active idea-ation-stage-ization because it is October and the October Energy is Rampant so we're grabbing it while we can to figure out this very October thing.

This gif selection is reminding me I am due for a witch hair appointment

Paying that bill requires cash (fair and good and fine)

And remembering "oh stones, money exists"

means remembering "oh bones, I gotta market this machine lest it devolve into An Ungodly Expensive Hobby"

so

that URL for email signup

one last time

netherworldpost.com

(I am actively reducing coffee intake and increasing sleep intake and my schedule has coincided with "tonight is a coffee night" + "today was a heavy sleep day" and your ask came in on "I am planning a big project")

(let this be a joyous warning to folks who ask me things)

(I MAY ANSWER) (IT WILL BE LONG) (IT MIGHT NOT MAKE SENSE)

[captainhoers]

I realise this is my third thank post in the genre of "quick doodle of the gote being overworked and exhausted" which is maybe a symptom of a systemic issue anyway

January thank post is a little late because it slipped through the cracks while I was in the US for a couple of weeks after HarmonyCon doing the Vol 3 mailouts to the US! I will also say that the last couple of months have been a lot, with the Vol 3 printing and shipping, an animation project for Vanhoover Pony Expo, two panels for HarmonyCon, the bonus mini comic for patrons to make up for the missed postcards in 2023 - oh yeah and I've been doing a comic in between all this!

I think I need to just. Slow all this down a little bit? For March I'm going to be dialing back on these "extracurriculars" and re-establish my baseline. I'm also going to be giving myself room to like... completely mess up if it turns out I just really need the recharging time. If I put out like 12 pages of Stardust in March? Great! If I just end up putting 200 hours into Helldivers 2? That's also fine! The point is to have a few weeks of "normality" - no trips, no projects, no crunching. Y'know, that healthy work-life balance thing.

Anyway I'm going back to bed

[danmeiarchive]

TGCF Special International Edition (Simplified Chinese) Set

I decided to get this set as I was already ordering Silent Reading and so I wanted to share some pics of what all the set includes :3c

I love the art and theme-ing of each volume as one of the three realms and while I can't read it (who knows maybe this'll inspire me to learn another new language) I am still quite pleased with this set.

So the part that wraps around the books has a little magnet to keep it shut but you can unfold it and see inside!

The book marked "above" for the heavenly realm -- and is the first volume of the set.

the book marked "middle / in between" for the mortal realm and is the second volume in the set.

finally the book marked "below" for the underworld / hell and is the third / final volume of the set.

the painted edges of the pages are outstandingly gorgeous. this cute little pouch had all the extra goodies in it.

teeny stickers and these cool holographic ... I'm not sure if they're bookmarks? the paper is rather thick and firm so I'm not sure if they would be good to use for that or not.

postcards! they're all pretty but I do wonder how they chose which ones to print and which size to print them. Like why not have ALL the covers and box set cover as postcards instead of just two of them?

I adore these and they are closer to what I would think of as a bookmark thickness. However with the diecut edges I'd be worried the little bits would get smushed or bent if not careful when using.

more pretty little art prints! I especially like the ones with a copper colored foil on them. The paper texture for all but the two shadowy hualian prints are a nice textured paper as well.

more stickers and some papercrafts

there's this long foldout poster that's quite lovely and the back of it has the same lineart in a different composition for a landscape orientation.

I like the art in this set so much it's really very tempting to get a lot of it framed. Like the dust jackets especially are just *flails hands around because I don't have the words*

[fred-the-dinosaur]

It seems to me that the trouble with digital is it's all still physical objects. Maybe there can be copies of things and they can travel very fast and be in multiple places and be compressed down and stored in unthinkably tinier places and accessed cleverly and take forms we could barely conceive of before we met computers.

But it's still an SSD card, a big server, a powerplant, physical equipment to read a bunch of information inscribed into a very high tech substrate (stuff!)

Old film negatives or plates aren't nearly as useful until you use a bunch of old processes, materials and skills to pull prints from them. Even digitisation requires both image capture tools (objects) and software (runs on objects) to replicate a process that was originally made with objects, and which is therefore modelled on data from having those objects.

Lots of people say 'oh get rid of manuals and physical books and photo albums and go digital' and sure. Tactility aside it's great option for space. Fold your two hundred book library into a flash drive the size of a postage stamp like an old man folding the broadsheet down to a postcard. Saves on a lot of dusting and apartments are pretty small. (First person to use this as an excuse to pile on konmari is getting hit with a saucepan btw)

But putting it all in the digital space is treated like using a magic hammerspace where it's safe, retrievable and doesn't rely on the physical world at all. Just your passwords which are now tied to you specific phone, your accounts which run on servers which are just computers you don't own. Your evergreen file formats. Your hard drives which will not fail of course, and will always be backed up to other infallible hard drives and other people's computers and Google searches which definitely find that blog (dead) which had a link (dead) to a file on a Google drive (deleted) that one time. Electricity which will always be on and legacy software that will definitely still run on the new hardware because the old ones long gone, and WiFi which is a basic utility so will always be flowing and so so much water in the big server farms run by the monopolies bigger than nations.

It just seems. Like a grown-up, acceptable equivalent to stuffing a bunch of stuff under your bed so you don't have to think about it. Because even if you ignore the monopolies and the exploitation for water and minerals, and the planned obsolescence. Isn't it all still depending on stuff? Physical, very dense stuff. That needs to be kept dry and cool and powered on and connected and very Not Near big magnets? But it's still objects to look after.

It feels like when we're selling each other the idea of keeping everything 'digital' there's an undercurrent of 'because it loopholes having to think about the inherent ephemerality, storage requirements and maintenance needs of physical objects'. But just as computing can transcend the forms of the physical, so is it dependent on it. I'm worried what's happening given that as a broader culture we pretend that it removes thinking about objects, rather than adding a whole new bunch of objects to look after.

And at some point that file in that file format on that cloud server or storage device will be as inaccessible to you as an undeveloped glass plate negative is now. That day is coming sooner than we think. And pretending it's not still made of physical stuff is contributing to the narratives that let it get pushed here faster.

(Also my computer harddrive died last week. Pah.)

[darknightsblog]

Hello pinlin!Last weekend I saw a video about DN on Bilibili, a Chinese bulleted video site. As a person who likes characters with their faces covered, I was immediately attracted to Chain on the cover, and when I played the Zeikun route, I realized that I was irresistibly attracted to Chian. My second favorite character besides Chain is Jace, as I think you can probably guess，so i'm greedy to see more jace and mc interactions.I thank you very much for your beautiful artwork and I look forward to playing the dlc. So I'm really curious about the progress of the dlc, and I'm wondering if you're going to release any goods like badges, postcards with cgs on them, etc.I also want to ask, does Chain smoke a lot? When does he smoke? And how old is he?

Hello Anon! I'm always surprised to see DN reaching outside the English community. Likely thanks to the Chinese fan translation. It's a delight to hear that you're attracted to the Chain & Jace. I have a soft spot for characters with their faces covered too.

You will enjoy the DLC because I added a lot of interactions with side characters. The progress is a bit delayed, but I can say for sure the release is set in 2024. The actual date will be announced when we're in beta-testing phase. I'm planning to release an artbook, character prints, bookmark, tote bag, post cards in the future. Maybe more types of merch if people are interested.

About your question, Chain used to smoke a lot to cope with stress. Usually after a job or when his thoughts drift away. He wanted to numb his emotions and used smoking as a distraction. Nowadays, he doesn't smoke anymore and leans towards a healthy lifestyle. Currently, he is 23 years old physically. The oldest of the romanceable cast.

[because-its-eurovision]

Do you have a favourite gig/concert/eurovision you've been to?

Hi!! 🖤 These three are the ones I can think of right off the bat:

Favourite Eurovision: Stockholm 2016

Of all the live shows I've been to so far (2015, 2016, 2018, 2022), Stockholm takes the prize by a large margin. Everything was neat, well organized, punctual and the staff of Globen was funny, friendly and knew what they were doing (cannot be said about every country😶) . The songs were great, postcards were cute and sketches funny, Måns & Petra were fantastic hosts, Love Love Peace Peace is my favorite interval act of all time (we saw Lordi!), Globen had a lovely athmosphere and audience, flag parade in the grand final still gives me chills and 1944 is my favorite winner of the last 15 years or so. Not to mention we met some very lovely people from Finland & Germany & Iceland in the front row every single night 😭💗 and ended up on the front page of Dagens Nyheter and accidentally gave an interview to some German radio show 😂

Favorite concert: Nightwish at Hartwall Arena in 2009

The final show of Dark Passion Play world tour. We got to the second or third row on Tuomas's side. The arena was packed and the audience started making waves all by themselves and cheering when we were waiting for the show to start :') Anette was at top of her vocal game that night, they played Dead Boy's Poem and Meadows of Heaven and Walking in the Air and Ghost Love Score and The Siren which was accompanied by violinist Pekka Kuusisto who is of course mind-blowingly talented, and Troy Donockley was there with his bagpipes, and they had of course large screens and pyros and fireworks and dress changes, and rainfall and snow and confetti and it was perhaps the best show I have EVER seen in my life and I miss that Nightwish so much 😭😭🖤

Favorite gig: Kotiteollisuus at Tavastia 2011

First of all, it's Tavastia. Made it to first row very easily. I used to be a big Kotiteollisuus fan around 2006-2011, not least because Tuomas Holopainen used to tour with them in 2005-2006 when Nightwish was on hiatus after breaking up with Tarja and before finding Anette. In any case I remember this gig because I had seen Kotiteollisuus in Helsinki at Virgin Oil Co. maybe six months earlier, and that was the worst show I had ever been to - they had returned from a short break, hadn't really practised the songs, were a bit too drunk and on top of that there were so many technical problems that they actually cut the evening short. They did later apologise and said how ashamed and sorry they were for underperforming at Virgin Oil. And since I did still like their music and knew how great performes they could be on a good day, I decided to give them one more chance because everybody has mishaps. I'm glad I did, because the show at Tavastia was full of energy and practically perfect, and they played Satu peikoista which nobody was expecting and I just love that song so much. I also managed to get the setlist. It is the only one I have that was written by hand backstage right before the show and not just printed out. It is one of my greatest treasures.

[literaticat]

I'm a debut author with a book coming out from a Big 5 next year. Would it be weird if I got business cards made that are the cover of my book on one side and the info (title, release day, isbn)/my info (linktree) on the back to give to random people I encounter who claim interest (hairdresser, dental hygienist, etc.) and also booksellers at any bookstores I visit? Part of me thinks it's way easier than hoping someone remembers the book, but it also feels a little dorky maybe?

Congratulations!

I don’t think it’s dumb at all but I’d suggest making them bookmarks instead — you could even do an “odd size” that is a little longer than a business card but not a long skinny bookmark, kinda like a narrow postcard or something, with a little room for you to sign/write a note?

First of all, because if you are going to bother having something printed, you might as well print a lot so you get more bang for your buck, and then you can use them to hand out later as well — when you do school visits, kids love them even if they can’t afford a book — around release day you can stick them in copies of books you sign or leave them at bookstores for customers to see, send them to booksellers you befriended online, etc.

[silverspleen]

Was worried that my copy of Blood Machines wouldn't work due to regional play issues, or maybe would be in black and white or maybe something else BUT IT WORKS FUCKING PERFECTLY.

They couldn't sell the blu-ray in North America, the UK, or Ireland due to licensing bs with shudder but I have a friend in Europe nah nah nah and nothing could stop me from getting it sent to Q's place and picking it up when I visited them, so now I have my very own official physical copy of Blood Machines.

Their shop is closed atm so I'm confident this is probably classified as a rare blu-ray to find in the US now, which is especially funny because the blu-ray case is literally just cardboard. This shit is flimsy af. Like, really nicely printed glossy colors and all, but also like.... Literally just beefy cardstock, doesn't even come with a nice metal or plastic case just paper and a postcard.

[illustratorintheprocess]

FMP Part 2: Viable Practice

The second mini brief "Viable Practice" is where things become a little tricky.

For my final outcome of the FMP I aim to have a Cryptozoology zine + A2 posters of the Cryptid Illustrations I made in the book + screen printed T-shirts or hoodies with the Cryptids I feature in the book on them. The idea with it all is that it'd be purchasable so all of the above qualifies for the Viable Practice idea of creating something made to be purchased. But it clashed with the idea of that thing not to be the final outcome of the FMP. So I guess it'd have to be something else? This is where things get tricky.

MoohMade:

In year 2 I digitalized an old pencil sketch of mine and turned it into tissue paper that could be used for wrapping online orders. The little logo is a hybrid-creature half fish, half cow. When I printed the tissue paper back then, Tony called it a Moohmaid and it stuck. In recent months I have been playing with the idea of rebranding my Instagram and investing into a Squarespace website to show off my portfolio in a professional manner + have the option of eventually opening an online store. I was thinking of going by the alias or store name or whatever you want to call it: MoohMade. You know, because the Moohmaid is my logo and I MADE it...haha yeah I thought that was clever. Now with that I wanted to print business cards, new tissue paper and T-shirts with my logo on them. This is where it connects back to the FMP. The MoohMade being an odd little hybrid creature could qualify it to be ranked amongst the Cryptid creatures in my Crypozoology zine. Maybe on a last page as a little wink wink from the author, you know, self advertisement and all that. With that vague connection to my FMP theme and the fact that I want to print T-shirts for both, MoohMade and the Cryptids, I could potentially print the MoohMade T-shirts under the umbrella of the Viable Practice mini brief. I don't have much experience with screen printing on fabric so this would also be a trail run to work out any kinks with the MoohMade shirts before attempting the Cryptid shirts. The only issues are it's a bit far fetched and I'm running out of time for all these different types of printing.

Alternatively. I can just print the posters or the Cryptid T-shirts for the Viable Practice mini brief. I'm not sure if that's quite cosher because it's not really supposed to be your FMP outcome but hey ho. What can I do?

An alternative to the alternative would be to print small purchasable postcard prints of the large scale posters, like I had done before for the Winter Fair but again, that would add another print job to my list of to-dos and I am running out of time.

Maybe I should table the MoohMade T-shirts until after the Deadline for the FMP. I believe we will still have access to the lcc printing facilities. I think I will do that.

[fuck-customers]

Mkay.

I'm gonna try to keep this short but here's a small cast of characters:

Carl - part timer. Lazy as fuck. Only works 10 am to 2 pm. Spend entire shift on the client computer reading Manga. Gets huffy if he has to actually help people.

Pam - manager. Head honcho of our location. Been there 27 years. Cool.

Patsy - regular client who is pretty much Pam's second mom. Has been through hell and back but she's a fighter. Pretty chill.

Today (March 1st) was wild. We had a high school student in job shadowing with us. I had postcard order to hurry and finish. Parent location had their large format printer down so they're sending us large format orders to run off. Pam is having the job shadower help her run the plans. Carl is being a lazy shit mad he can't sit on the client computer because Pam is using it to handle the printing. Shooting the shit in the back while I'm cutting postcards.

Get called up front by Pam to help with walk in clients. Walk ins are other regulars of ours we vibe with. Carl helps one. I help the other. More people walk in. We in the flow.

Patsy walks in while I'm printing something. Tells me she doesn't feel good and wants to go sit. I motion her on to the breakroom while thinking "if you feel bad why don't you try to get home?"

Hella busy. Don't even notice anything beyond who I'm helping. By the time it calms down Pam is clocking out on her lunch break and asking Patsy if she needs the hospital. Two minutes later leads Patsy out saying she's going to the hospital. I finish outstanding stuff I had to do. Carl decides he wants to talk about the latest Manbat movie with the job shadower. Ignoring emails coming in.

I go on my break. I ask the job shadower to keep an eye on the emails (because Carl fucking ignores the emails!). Pam still isn't back. Had texted me saying Patsy just got taken back. I leave the shop to run some errands. Come back around 40 minutes into my break. The boss man is there to deliver paper and pick up what we printed for the main location. Carl is angry. Apparently he said he had to leave at 1:30. He said he told Pam he had to leave at 1:30. When? I don't fucking know when he got there this morning he clocked in and came straight back to try to find something to get him out of actually working.

He bitches. To the boss. About Pam. Not being there. Made it seem like she "dropped everything to run off and dick off with Patsy."

I didn't say anything because I was hungry and went to the breakroom to eat.

While I was eating Carl apparently aired an entire complaint to the boss against Pam. Making it seem like she fucks off to do this all the time.

Need I remind yall Carl is the one who doesn't do Jack fucking Shit when he's there?

I come out while Carl is still in his little temper tantrum. Admitted he made a complaint with the boss directly. Pam has texted and updated me on Patsy. Patsy had super rapid heartbeat, was clammy, left side entirely numb. Probably having heart attack.

I tell Carl this and he goes "oh. Shit. Maybe Patsy is actually having a problem."

Carl clocks out and leaves. I'm running the shop alone with the job shadower. I encourage him to go eat.

Pam comes back around 3. I end up telling her about Carl's tantrum and how he complained to the boss. Pam is mad because Patsy was actually at major risk of fucking dying. Not to mention Pam never fucking dicks off for three hours for the hell of it. Actually fucking works unlike Carl.

Pam is furious. Explains that while it was busy Patsy was in our breakroom barely able to stand, sweating buckets, and unable to speak without slurring. I didnt realize it was so bad and apologize for any dismissiveness I showed. Pam says she's going to speak to Carl about his complaint tomorrow. Hopefully before the job shadower comes in.

I apologize to the job shadower for the shitshow he has experienced with us.

And now we wait to see how tomorrow goes.

Thank you.

(And yes, Patsy was able to go home the same day!)

[netherworldpost]

@thatdarnyeti /

The current (emphasis: current, I'm still chomping numbers and capability) plan is there are going to be 3 monthly zines.

Each zine is 1 sheet of paper folded in half, to make a tiny booklet.

Monsters / the Netherworld / fun stories or poems etc

Real world post office letter mail inspiration stuff

Real world Halloween (spooky, not scary, in line with everything else we do) essay

Each zine is $1 each + postage (in the USA, about $0.70). You're only charged once for postage, so your total will be $1.70 or $2.70 or $3.70 depending on if you subscribe to one, two, or three zines.

Each zine is going to be about a blog-post in length... because a few months after they mail out (probably 3 or 4 months), they become blog posts.

At that point, the PDF of that zine will be "pay if you want" to download, or you can buy a copy in the shop as a normal product, for $1 (then we'll fire up the printing presses and mail it to you).

The advantage of us printing and mailing -- we use commercial printing presses that have really great colors. The advantage of "pay if you want" is you can get it immediately and (if you want) free.

On social media, for the last few years, I've balanced

"here is monster stuff in a fun dimension, sometimes there is smooching"

"here is a love letter to the postal system, yes, a love letter... to.. the postal... system"

"Here is fanfic about Scooby-Doo, or a very specific Halloween commercial from the 1980s, or a love letter to Dunkin' Donuts Halloween donuts"

By splitting the zine into three options, people can focus on "I like THIS part of your work, but am less interested in THAT part of your work."

I want to serve people exactly what they are most interested in. I love making all three lines of stuff pretty much equally, and having 3 focuses to bounce between keeps me in a great flow state.

It works out great.

I am extremely pro-social media, it has given me an inordinate amount of advantages and benefits for many years.

And.

I'm in the classic business scenario of "what got you to where you are won't get you to where you want to go."

The above zine project is explicitly designed around "Hey. Like our stuff? Here is a physical copy priced as affordably as possible. You're getting a blog post / social media post, but in the mail. Enjoy!"

Each zine is going to be wildly experimental.

I look at them as a box.

"I have 1 sheet of paper, folded in half, so a booklet of 4 pages. What can I do this month with it?"

FOR THE MONSTER ZINE, I'm thinking "Okay. One month it is a love story (obviously). The next month it is a series of sketches of slime candy. The next month it is a day-in-the-life of a dragon."

FOR THE MAILING ZINE, one month it is going to be "You should write a postcard to your favorite independent restaurant and tell them exactly how you feel about them. You should share why you order what you order and how happy it makes you. Maybe you went there on a date and it went great, maybe you went there after a really hard day and their food made it a little bit better."

FOR THE REAL WORLD SPOOKY ZINE, I'll do a deep dive into my fan theories about magic in Hocus Pocus.

In the 80s and 90s there were tons of super cheap magazines and comics that were constantly shifting and experimenting and I love that.

It's the energy I'm bringing back.

I've spent too many words on this really simple response, I'm sorry, I'm full of words today.

There will be a giant post on the blog "this is how I'm doing it because I have access to commercial printers, if you do too, here is what i recommend. If you don't, check out how to print it at an office supply store, here are details. If you don't want to do that, here is what you can do at home with a cheap desktop printer."

Wow I am WAY over my word budget (laugh)

thank you sorry getting back to work

[princessfbi]

Do you have any headcanons of postcards, messages, or calls Buck reached out to Maddie that weren’t shown in “Buck Begins” or maybe just moments he needed/wanted her?

UGHHHHH Nonnie! You came for my heart! I'm sorry this took a hot second. I was having a day yesterday. So without much further ado....

**If we go by canon math then Buck was wandering around for about four years (if he left at 21 and then started LAFD at 26 for his probationary period) and he was with the 118 at least a year before Maddie came back. He says he hadn't heard back from her in three years so I'm going under the assumption that he at least heard a little bit from her for about two years before she cut off contact (at around 23/24).

Buck learned the importance of a handwritten note from Maddie putting notes in his lunches. He used to write letters to her when she was in Boston on loose leaf paper. One time he accidentally sent his math homework with his letter.

Maddie sent him a postcard from Boston that he kept taped to his wall that now sits in the sun visor of the Jeep.

Buck made a point of always sending Maddie flowers and calling her on her birthday. He didn't have a lot of cash those first couple of years and he had to make the money Maddie gave him count but Buck always saved at least a little bit so he could get her some of her favorite flowers. Even when he didn't hear from her he still sent the flowers and a card anyway.

They don't usually do Christmas gifts but Buck found a necklace with Maddie's name on it when he was feeling particularly homesick and a little adrift. He sent that to her with a card that just said "Wish you were here. Miss you."

Maddie used to call Buck on his birthday and she always would check in to see if he needed her to send him some money. Buck would say he was fine before he would change the conversation because she'd given him way more money than he anticipated to run away the first time.

When Buck realized that Maddie wasn't responding anymore, he gave in and called his parents. He didn't know if something was wrong or if something had happened. It wasn't a great conversation but he was able to get out that she seemed fine and no his parents hadn't heard anything. When he realized that Maddie had cut off contact with him, he called her crying. He didn't mean to cry but he didn't understand what he did and he seriously considered going back to Hershey. But if Maddie didn't want to talk to him then that was fine. She had a life her own now. Buck just needed to find his.

Maddie cried in the hospital bathroom listening to the voicemail.

Buck still sent her flowers on her birthday that month anyway.

Buck kept his postcards short and sweet for a few months after that. He didn't want to bother her.

But Buck's going to Buck and something exciting happened that he found himself filling out an entire postcard and he realized he missed sharing things with her. Besides it could be that Doug was being a dick again.

If anything the postcards became more frequent after Maddie cut off contact. Anytime Buck saw a fun one or something crazy happened or if he just missed her then he sent her one.

Maddie almost caved and called him when she read that he was going to join the SEALs. It's not that she didn't think he should do it but she was worried he was doing it for their parents instead of himself. But before she could, she got the postcard telling her he quit and was heading to Peru.

When Buck sent Maddie the postcard about joining the LAFD, he sent her a magnet with a fire engine on it.

Buck had Hen help him take the picture for his Christmas Card. Bobby helped him find a place where he could get it printed. "I didn't realize you were a Christmas card kind of guy." They said and Buck just shrugged. "I'm not really. Just with one person." "Someone back home?" Bobby asks. That's when Buck tells the team about his sister, Maddie. "She worries. Just want her to know I'm okay." He doesn't tell them that he hasn't heard from her. It doesn't matter.

The Christmas Card was the first time Maddie got a postcard from the same place and she finally let herself breathe a sigh of relief that Buck was settled somewhere. She'd started to worry because it'd been a while since she'd gotten a card but when the Christmas Card showed up she couldn't help but show it off to everyone. Buck had found his home it would seem and she couldn't be happier for him. She didn't even think twice before she brought the Christmas Card home with her to put on the tree.

When Maddie decided to leave, she kept that Christmas Card in her pocket for the months leading up to her planning her escape. If she had to cut and run then at least she would have that postcard.

She used to swap out the cards that she'd tape to her locker door but she took them down and kept them in a personal effects bag so she could grab them quickly.

When Maddie got on the plane to LA she kept the postcards in her carry on so if anything happened to her luggage, she would still have the cards. And any time she thought about going back she would look at Buck's Christmas Card.

When she got to Buck's old place and they said he wasn't there she panicked for a second. Because even after all this time when she stayed silent, he never gave up on her. Was she too late? But then they told her he was at Abby's and when she showed the Building Manager the card, he let her inside.

[someonelookingpraediti]

Subscription Box Comparison - 2022!

I received four boxes for this month, and I thought I’d do a really brief comparison of these boxes! I need to cut back on the amount of boxes I’ve been buying, so this has helped me pick my favourites. That said… I have just ordered “A Year of Sanderson” for next year!

You can click on the individual box names to see the unboxing post for that box. I've rated the customisations made to each of the books in the boxes - something I haven't tried before! I used this scorecard in an attempt to rate them fairly! And I've mentioned the number of items each box included, but I haven't counted any samples, promo postcards, author letters, or art prints. These aren't really "goodies", and so I personally don't count them towards the value of the box.

OwlCrate Theme: Among the Monsters Featured Book: Only a Monster - Vanessa Len Price (before shipping): £24.31 / $32.99 Dispatch time: 4 days late Total number of items: 5 Items I actually liked: 3 Book Customisation Rating: 4/10 Overall: This is a very middle-of-the-road box. The customised books are often disappointing, but sometimes the items can be really good.

FairyLoot Theme: To the Moon and Back Featured Book: Daughter of the Moon Goddess - Sue Lynn Tan Price (before shipping): £27.50 / $35.90 Dispatch time: On time Total number of items: 4 Items I actually liked: 3 Book Customisation Rating: 8/10 Overall: This is my favourite box, and definitely the one I'd recommend. The books are usually well customised, and they have a good range of items.

Book Box Club Theme: Cabinet of Curiosities Featured Book: Pandora - Susan Stokes-Chapman Price (before shipping): £28.99 / $39.33 Dispatch time: 7 days late Total number of items: 4 Items I actually liked: 3 Book Customisation Rating: 0/10 Overall: This is a really basic box. The books aren't customised, and the items are run-of-the-mill. If it was cheaper than other subscriptions it would be a good budget option - but somehow it's the most expensive!

Illumicrate Theme: Bad Blood Featured Book: A River Enchanted - Rebecca Ross Price (before shipping): £27.00 / $36.64 Dispatch time: On time Total number of items: 5 Items I actually liked: 2 Book Customisation Rating: 7/10 Overall: I prefer the book-only option here. The books are really well customised, but the items are always a disappointment. But bonus points for their excellent customer service.

There were a couple of boxes I chose not to order. LitJoy Crate is quarterly - which is a really sensible idea - and I love the idea of the "add-ons". But they seem super into the HP fandom, and I'm absolutely not cool with that. The other box that looks really interesting is The Bookish Box. But they don't ship to my country, so the only option is to get them to deliver to a separate shipping company, and pay them to ship it to me. Not worth the hassle.

I also ordered a box from FaeCrate. But a week after it was due to dispatch, with no email from them to update me, I decided to contact them, asking for an estimated dispatch date. They skirted an actual answer, and told me there were "delays". I pushed further, and they reluctantly admitted that they were still shipping November boxes, and were "hopeful" that by the time they had packed and shipped the December and January boxes, all the items would have arrived to start packing the February boxes. I then asked to cancel my order - and they said that because they had a message explaining the situation on their checkout page, I wasn't entitled to cancel my order. Just FYI, the messages says "Please be aware that we have been experiencing ongoing shipping delays [etc]... Monthly boxes are normally shipped the week of the 20th each month" with no mention of a THREE MONTH delay. I got quite cross with them in my reply, and haven't heard back, so I guess I'll get the box that I absolutely do not want sometime in the summer. Maybe. At least now I know to NEVER order from FaeCrate again. They "look forward to living a thousand lives" with me! I'd have settled for just the one, as long as it was on time.