#but not Thursday of this week because I'm commuting to work and have personal stuff on as well)

[dreamingofmuses]

New Year's Resolutions: RP Edition

Howdy all, Ash here. I've been having a think while with family this week, and I've decided I'm going to implement some new 'resolutions' to try and help make writing in 2024 be way more successful than in 2023. This will include things from the running of blogs to jobs I really want to get finished. I'm putting them under a read-more to keep the dash nice and clean.

I will say, this has taken me an hour to write up, and I'd recommend you doing likewise if you think there's little ways you want to improve.

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Overall Running of Blogs

I'm going to experiment a new approach to running the blogs. For this, I'm going to put all active blogs to low-medium activity. In other words, even if I am personally lurking on mobile, I won't be constantly writing things if I'm not able to. (Work is just about to get super busy and I'm anticipating chaos)

A queue/schedule function will be used for all blogs. I intend to dedicate one weekday evening to working without interruption on replies. Taking commutes to the city and family visits into account, this is looking to be a Thursday, which is the only day I am neither travelling to the city nor have a guaranteed family visit. Of course, this may fluctuate, but that's what I'm hoping to work with, assuming those things stay as they are.

However! What all this means is that I am going to tentatively take skullandbowties off hiatus. With that blog being quiet, it should be possible to juggle it better now. Plus, it's officially off-season so the demand for him from new blogs ought to be low. I'm very smart :D

I also plan to update all pinned posts. I am aware some of them are marking a vacation from months ago.

Individual Blog Maintenance

Create "New Here?" posts to add to the pinned posts/info tags. This is going to be a very quick crash course on what to expect from the blog, especially where some characters might diverge from fanon expectations.

FINISH. WILF'S. BIO. It's not actually relevant to anything being written on the blog itself at present, but I really want to flesh out his character and show that he was stuck in stories for years, decades even! The doc has the word count to 4,888 at this precise moment. This is a mix of summary and brainstorm. Since it's getting a 'little' out of hand, I intend to have a 'tldr' at the start that people can read, and then longer versions if they're curious to get the full story. Maybe even have it that they can jump to particular parts but... I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Likewise, Noah's version of Space needs to be finished. This one is going to be a summary, but it's a case of making sure the pieces are in place sufficiently to have parts match canon Space, but also make it clear that there is a lot of differences between canon and what he went through, with his plot entirely spiralling away for 'Part 2'. This is at 5,794 words, and the ending has yet to be ironed out...

(I am going to stop creating needlessly long-winded projects for myself that realistically add nothing of value to my blogs. These two projects are exhausting...)

Theauthorlives is returning to a very small multimuse. Any muses that aren't ones I genuinely enjoy writing are being fully archived, unless they are muses that get no traction but I want to keep the possibility open. Details of that will be shared when I do this.

Redo some muse icons (not all of them!). Though the selection I have for particular sets is a lot, I still feel like I'm missing some expressions or poses. I would like to remake one batch of icons for three characters, and finish iconning a third. Replies seem to be shifting toward iconless, but I like them for asks or IC commentaries.

OOC/Mun Related stuff

Following matters that have happened both online and IRL, I've decided to take a step back from actively engaging with people. My focus will be people that I have been in good communication with for the last twelve months (as well as people I don't talk to frequently but am on friendly terms with) rather than people I feel I have to 'chase' after. Saying that, I'm going to try and not let past experiences meddle with anything in with new writing partners - whether these are brand new to the community or people I've not had the chance to properly interact with prior to this. Just be aware that I might not be super outgoing at first. (This is where setting limits and boundaries is good practice, everyone! Don't sell yourself short, and don't spread yourself out too thinly!)

Which is where I now say I want to send even more asks! Not just memes or sentence starters, but general questions about headcanons or muse opinions. I want to get people thinking more.

My stance on Discord still stands, in that it's solely for OOC stuff, but I'm not giving it out to everyone. However, I have been in two group servers that have little-to-no connection with writing rp threads in them. I would hope that I can fully regain my sense of comfort using Discord as a whole.

Art related

Despite socially stepping back, I still want to keep some semblance of 'community' where my blogs are active so people don't feel isolated. For instance, I want to do something that encourages invasions of ask boxes. That was good fun to watch as the chaos began to spread, and when people are good-humoured to go along with my silly ideas.

I want to have one huge art-related event at some point this year. I'm not entirely what or how to do it, but I think it would be a great excuse to practice something. Portraits, comics, something like that. I'll have a think. (For those who remember, the water gun event was supposed to have an art conclusion but plans for that fell through.)

I want to try and upload drawn responses to heythereneighbor once a week if I can. Obviously, this is depending on how busy it is.

I'd also like to try doodling more on other blogs? But I'm not sure if this is even something people want to see anymore. People might prefer I focus on writing if I have free time instead of doodles or little comics.

... the writing blog. I need to do stuff with that in general. Whoops.

Finally, I want to do what I can to the best of my abilities on a particular day. I've always told people over the years that real life comes before rp, and I still stand by that. Whether I'm around or not every day isn't the end of the world. The communities I write in are a lot slower paced than they were when I started, which is great! I need to remind myself that I don't need to be writing just because I have a bit of free time.

[girltomboy]

My week

was pretty nice. I worked from the office but my work friend made it bearable. Wednesday's quiz night had to be held elsewhere because of a concert, but my work friend and I didn't know and entered the pub without even acknowledging the bouncer at the entrance, but he also ignored us lol. We had a nice evening. Thursday was the last office day, because we were so tired, and another coworker had like a nervous breakdown on the clock. Mainly she said she felt burnt out, I feel for her because she's such a positive and friendly person, but you can only give so much for a crappy job. But there were probably other personal reasons as well. Anyway, we agreed to wfh on Friday, and it was a really good idea. Because yesterday my work friend and I went to this party held by 2 of her friends (who were at her bday party and apparently liked my vibes a lot because they kept asking her about me and telling her to invite me to their place for a ~party. Which was soooo cute bc I loved hanging out with them and we had such a good time yesterday! The fatigue after a full day of commuting & working in an office would have prevented us from having any fun lmao.

Anyway, something odd happened at the party: my cw and I somehow ended up on the balcony looking at the moon and talking. And she once again tried confessing her feelings for me, telling me she likes me and subtly asking about my boyfriend. Lol I don't even get her when she does stuff like this! Like, what do you really expect from me? I don't get mad at her or anything, she was drunk and she has done stuff like this before while drunk. I know it's true, but she's better at hiding it while sober. It doesn't bother me because she's not disrespectful or crossing any boundaries or anything, they're just her feelings and as long as they're not interfering with our friendship I'm okay with knowing them. But when it happens, when she starts dancing around this topic again, it confuses me because I don't understand where she's going with it, what her intentions are, what the goal is. I don't get uncomfortable and it's not awkward, I just don't know what is expected of me.

The conversation floated in the air and vanished, and then she invited me to sleep over at her place because we were both kind of drunk and her flatmate went to a wedding. So we left the party not long afterwards, and stumbled to her apartment lol (she doesn't live far from the girls' house, whereas I would have had to make it to the other side of the city, and given that I got touched inappropriately on the street not long ago, she was reluctant to let me walk by myself at night, which I appreciate). Anyway, we sat on her balcony for a while, then went to bed. We woke up early and a bit hungover but not badly, then watched some Youtube vids in bed, and fell asleep again. Got up, ate, and then I went home. It was really beautiful outside today, but I didn't really go anywhere because I kind of wanted to be at home lol.

I'm excited to go home this week. I'm pretty sure the moon is going to be in Cancer, so that makes the reunion with my parents and the fact that I get to see and cozy up in their new house makes it even cuter. My bf might come to the city on Monday morning for a quick errand, so we'll get to see each other for a few hours, which is exciting and lovely, but I feel bad that he has to make so many trips for college and he can't even spend more time with me :( </3 But it's okay because he'll be here after his birthday too.

Speaking of, I was wondering what else to get him for his birthday, but I've also been thinking about getting my work friend something else to go with the hamster mug I got her a while ago. I'll probably go out tomorrow, I also have to look for some pants for myself, and perhaps a new journal.

This week I've been watching a Youtube girl who used to post videos about her mundane routine and stuff like that, and she was saying that she had started writing in her journal more often. She mentioned that she had a few year long gap in which she never wrote in her journal, and that period is now a blurry mess in her mind, and the exact same thing happened to me! Well, I can't say I don't remember anything from the years in which I *did* write but threw out my journals, but being able to reread past entries just helps me understand myself on a higher level. Like, the first 2ish pandemic years are like a black stain in my mind not just because of how abysmally depressing they were, but also because I barely ever wrote consistently in my journal. Sometimes I feel silly for having been such a pessimist and so paralyzed with fear and grief, but I'm sure it felt different to be then & there, in those times. Again, maybe having a written record of those years would have helped me understand my past self better. I do keep a journal now, but it's more of a "5 entries per year" type of situation rather than a consistent practice. Maybe I'm too stingy about notebooks lol.

[theaudreyhaus]

Transit Talk Thursday

This week's Transit Talk Thursday is gonna be a bit different, mainly because I keep forgetting what to talk about lol. I just don't get the argument against transit projects in the United States, but not from the group you think. (Maybe a future Transit Talk Thursday?) I don't understand it when other urbanists love to go hail mary and say "North America is simply IRREDEEMABLE when it comes to transit!" and I'm like "Bitch really?". I absolutely hate this mentality because this basically conveniently ignores all the good that has been coming recently. Yes, there's a lot of work to get done still, but I do think substantial steps have been taken to get North America on the right track. (Pun unintended but we're gonna roll with it) So for this week's Transit Talk Thursday, I'm gonna do a little bit of a lightning round of different projects in North America and why I'm excited for them, even if they don't affect me personally.

First one in the shootout is the new Brightline route from Miami to Orlando. This one was making quite a number of rounds recently as the inaugural run happened on September 22nd, and it's a pretty big win for people who either live in Miami, Orlando, or are just visiting, as you now have a fast way to get from the two cities for just $79 for a one-way ticket. Say what you want about Brightline but the fact that something like this did make it all the way to completion and can now be used by people regularly is a big net positive, and it could help pave the way for more projects like it in the future imo.

Next up on the chopping block, Amtrak got a juicy $200mil grant from the FRA to improve various infrastructure on the NEC and a few other corridors. If there's something that Amtrak could always need, it's definitely more money. This whole "Shoestring budget for public service" model will almost always guarantee disaster (see my Transit Talk Thursday on the Big Dig and MBTA Commuter Rail), so it's super uplifting to see the government stepping in and deciding to give a sizeable chunk of cash to a public service, especially if the service needs it, and this is a prime example. The Northeast Corridor is undoubtedly where Amtrak is at it's best, but it isn't perfect, and while this won't be the be all and end all for the fixes to the NEC, this is a good starting point. QOL improvements shouldn't be ignored, and if you want to get more people on trains, making the service better is how you do it. Speaking of QOL improvements...

Next up, Amtrak is going to be ordering some new Siemens trainsets to modernize the current fleet. I love the Budd built Amfleet I's, but I'm not gonna mince words when I say that they're definitely showing their age, especially with how accessible they are. The new Siemens Venture passenger cars are most definitely a big step-up from the Amfleet I's, and as a bonus the trainsets are supposed to help fix the time-consuming switch from diesel-electric when going on a route that doesn't have electrification, like at Washington D.C. Union Station. This can easily cut down on delays in trips, which ties back to me saying that improving service gets more people to take the train. Doing a little bit of digging (aka looking on Wikpedia) does confirm the ones that are planned to run on the Northeast Corridor are going to be dual power, having diesel engines and pantographs. Good step forward I say, though the Empire Corridor getting battery-electrics is super stupid imo. Guess they can't all be winners.

Last one for this week, Caltrain has just done their first full speed test of their soon to be in service Stadler KISS EMU. As much as California gets a lot of stuff wrong, Caltrain getting actual modern electrification for it's mainline and good rolling stock to go with it is something that is genuinely awesome to see, and it's proof that the United States is capable of stuff like this. The current track speed allowed is 79mph, but the KISS's can go up to 125mph, so hopefully the main line has it's tracks upgraded to allow for those speeds to be possible. I'm hoping that the testing can wrap up soon so the new EMUs can go into service, because a project like this is a really good move forward for anyone who happens to rely on Caltrain and/or those who don't use Caltrain but may want to now thanks to the electrification. Alright, I think that's gonna be enough for this week. As you can see, a LOT of stuff has been happening in the United States...fuck I forgot Canada lol. Canada's definitely getting some stuff done, I'll remember them for another week. Point is, these are just some great examples of how the United States isn't "unsaveable" and "unsalvageable". There is lots of work to be done, yes, and it may be slow, but we shouldn't just look at that and shun the country as being unsalvageable. There is work being done, and there has been some real world progress seen from it. It will only be a matter of time.