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ros3ybabe · 7 months

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Update Check In - October 7th thru October 10th, 2023 🎀

I am officially back home from seeing my boyfriend and now I am big sad because I already miss him again. I was not as productive as I thought I would’ve been while with him these last three days but I’m also not mad about my lack of stuff done. I got some quality time with him and I am so happy with that. I did do some things that would count s productivity, such as some Japanese studying and a short amount of homework. I think I’ll use this post as a motivator for some stuff I need to do with a little bit of what I did this weekend.

🩷 What I Accomplished -

Kept up Duolingo daily streak

Kept up Busuu daily streak

Began working in Lesson One in Genki I

Submitted and passed Psyc Quiz for Chapter 7

Began using LingQ for Japanese

Looked into Kanji learning books

so yes, I didn’t accomplish much but again, not mad. I am still happy with what I did accomplish. I also really enjoy the Genki I textbook so far, I’m still trying to figure out a good note taking technique for myself with this textbook but I really like writing down the end of lesson practice exercises. I think I want to get better at reading and writing, and listening, and my goal is to start italki lessons by December/Jaunary. If I don’t start my italki lessons until a bit later tho, I won’t be upset because I know learning Japanese is a long process and something I’ll be working on for a good chunk of my life.

🩷 ToDo Personal Today, Oct 11 -

Wash bed sheets + pillowcases

Wash + put away all laundry (clothes)

Do dishes

Continue to work on Genki I lesson one

Maintain Duolingo streak

Maintain Busuu streak

Use Renshuu

Look for some more affordable Japanese language resources for my IPad

Talk to my boyfriend in video call

Make a shopping list for language tracker/bullet journal (I get paid tomorrow)

Make a schedule/routine for working out (I’m going back to the gym next week!)

🩷 ToDo Academic for Today, October 11 -

Lifecycle nutrition chart for NUTR

Lab 7 Pre Lab for my Anatomy Lab

Discussion 3 for NUTR

Culinary chapter 10 quiz

not much academic stuff on the list for the day but I’m trying to take it a little easier with my school things as I am exhausted from a long day of flying and airports yesterday. However, I am using today as like, a set up day for my upcoming days/week. Productive planning is basically my goal for today with a little bit of actively doing some work. I am excited to start my language tracking bullet journal and plan some stuff for working out as I am planning on going back to the gym next week. I want to start with light cardio for the first week just to get me in the habit of going and then after I’m going to step back into the weight room and start lifting light. My boyfriend got me motivated to work on my mental and physical health a bit better, so I’m definitely excited!

I feel with the exercising, it will help me manage my stress better, which I feel will lead to better mood and better food choices. Exercising alone is enough of a motivator to take my nutrition more seriously. I’m more focused on the mental and emotional health aspect of working out than I am the physical stuff, but I’m excited for all the benefits regardless. I just want to take better care of my health in every aspect, in a way that aligns with my values. Hopefully I will have better posts full of more information and stuff I’ve done during the day once I get all areas in my life back in balance with each other.

that’s all for now! I appreciate all of you who read and comment and send me the most encouraging and supportive messages, you all keep me motivated and inspired to continue being my most authentic self and help me feel comfortable with expressing myself in this community. I am so grateful for everything that goes into this blog and everything it’s done for me and the direction it’s helped me guide my life in! Much love to all of you <3

til next time lovelies 🩷🤍

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haechanhues · 2 years

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KPOP FIC RECS

So I recently (like a couple of months ago) read Bowie’s Books by John O’Connell which is a series of essays exploring David Bowie’s list of 100 Books that transformed his life and I thought it was a way to make my own. These are all fics (in some way or another) that have been memorable in many different ways and I hope to share them with you all.

This is also a full on sap train so I thought you should be ready. I’m also weirdly nervous since this feels kind of vulnerable and makes me shy. but haiii

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR | PART FIVE

1. @timextoxhajima - HOSTIS | THE BOYZ (completed)

May as well get this one out of the way first. This story means a lot to me, for different reasons. This au is very fun and a very sultry enemies to lovers and I got carnal pleasure from this book. I love this story and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. BUT the most important reason I love this fic is that it lead me to one of my best friends who means a lot to me. I’m a successful fan if you think about it. I also kind of cringed at writing this but it’s true (Dana it’s our sappy hour)

2. @bambisgirl - Confident | ENHYPEN (completed)

Ahh! You're still going by the time I’m writing this (you’re almost finished) but I loved seeing your updates. This fic was so so fun, I enjoyed it immensely. The way I could just see it playing out in front of me. It was amazing. I just can’t stop talking about how fun and just how joyful I felt whilst reading the fic. I’m telling you it had powers! Powers! When I was sick I would curl up with this fic and it made me feel really good, so thank you and I appreciate you.

3. @svtskneecaps - Play It Again | SEVENTEEN (completed)

I just re-read this recently! But I loved it. I love this concept so much! TMI but it reminds me of this old Nickelodeon version of Groundhog Day (The Last Summer?) I loved the way friendship is portrayed in here and I had a really good laugh. I also really loved the development of this fic - it was really fun. I always have a great time reading it.

4. @/ - ??? | BTS (completed)

I’m sorry, I remember reading this fic awhile ago and now I’ve forgotten the name of it. Ahhh. I’ve been looking for it these past couple of months to give proper credit but haven’t been successful. But it’s so amazing. It’s about a forced/contract marriage with Hoseok who doesn’t want to be married but has to learn how but he’s in love with another girl, Taehyung is an annoying cousin and Jungkook is a pool boy? (Help me find it please) But I loved the slow burn - the PACING of this story is to die for and I just love love love it. Okay but someone please tell me what the fic is before I cry. I can’t wait to find it again to reread it and get obsessed all over again.

5. @lunarlxve - Trees In Fall | ENHYPEN (ongoing)

Let me just tell you the amount of times I refresh the page every time you update and even when you’re just online. Like a dramatic reading~ it gives me hope, it gives me excitement, it makes me happy. Like I don’t know there’s just this level of enjoyment I can’t explain whenever I read Trees In Fall! I am diligently waiting for the next update! I’m obsessed.

6. @kinktae - Waterloo | BTS (one-shot)

Everytime I read this I just fall for it all over again. The romanticist sucker in me loves this story with my whole heart. The fact that it’s inspired by Mamma Mia 2? Man, I love those movies they were my comfort and my everything when I was growing up. I read this so early on when I came onto Tumblr and whenever I come back to it’s always some kind of refresher. Like home and adventure in one place :) So thank you, I appreciate you more than any of these words can portray.

7. @ateezmakemeweep - You’re The One That I Want | ATEEZ (completed)

I remember reading another one of your works and as soon as you released previews for this one I was already hooked. I think I even set alarms as well - to be completely honest and trust me, I am slightly embarrassed by it, but it was so good. It was something I could look forward to and it still is - even though it’s been some time since you finished it. Also the betrayal in this. Fucking hell he’s lucky that redemption arc came for him. Murder on my mind for real.

8. @justoneday-namjoonii - It Burns, Doesn’t It? | BTS (ongoing)

So quick expose storytime but on my old account I had written this massive observation (?) paragraph of every character in the fic and putting on my detective hat was so fun. I loved doing it. I’m very interested in these characters and what the fuck they think they’re doing. These characters have these flaws and these stories that are so compelling. The scary thing is the characters are so easy to hate but I find myself being very fond of them all the same. I never tire of them and I’m not sure I want to let them go when this fic is completed either.

9. @skyesins - Red Mercedes | EXO (completed)

Well first of all, it’s been so long since I read this but I still haven’t gotten over it. I think it got so bad that I couldn’t even stomach looking at * because of how he’s portrayed in this fic. Like I feel like I didn’t know pain until I read this. Perfect if you’re an angst lover. A little too perfect. I feel like I need compensation of some kind....which was stupid because I basically willingly put myself through that pain. Like I got so angry and then sad and then back and forth. So thank you for the perfect type of pain and the resetting of my standards. Read : am I masochist?... after reading this? probably.

10. @dayinseoul - Baby | BTS (completed)

I have a memory deeply ingrained in my head relating to this story and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever had in my life. It’s hard to explain but my new university hall was planning what I can only describe to people who are unfamiliar with Māori culture as a massive sleepover for orientation (for those who are familiar though - a noho) My flatmates at the time (the girls) and I were just starting to get to know each other and had joined me to read over my shoulder as well. So us three were all on one mattress and just reading the available chapters. I’ll forever remember that and be thankful of that :)

11. @starxblossom - Cherry Wine | NCT (completed)

It also won’t tag for some reason?!

Truly a story after my own heart. It’s a story I’ve been infatuated with since the first chapter and even though the last chapter as been completed for like three years now - it’s always at the back of my mind. Like if you think infatuation only exists between people you’d be wrong. I’m so incredibly fond of this story and I want everyone to read it so we can have long talks and have tipsy afternoons to this. It’s like music to me.

12. @nikihoon - Jealousy Jealousy | ENHYPEN (completed)

This story is so fun. So so fun. Like it was devious fun. I can’t describe it. I just physically couldn’t stop reading it. Truthfully I got in trouble with my mother for being ‘on my phone too much, what have you been reading anyway?’ whilst I was reading this. I’d also like to just mention Jungwon briefly but HE IS SO CUTE. I COULDN’T STOP LOOKING AT HIS PHOTOS ON PINTEREST WHILST I WAS READING THIS. Sorry I promise my favouritism is over - at least for now but ahh I just love it. A serotonin boost taking form in a story.

13. @escapewriter - Redamancy | SEVENTEEN (completed)

I’m in love with these characters. These boys bring chaos and healing wherever they go. I love Y/N. My standards are just raised but I can’t really explain what standards have been raised but I’m just here to say that they have. I just re read it again recently (like literally just now) and these characters have such a way of forming a little mould of themselves on your heart. In truth too I was contemplating which of your stories to add on here but it just clicked when I saw this.

14. @ddeonuism - My (Accidental) Demon Roommate | ENHYPEN (completed)

SUPER ENTERTAINING. I must say this story tested my loyalty so much and so often. It was on the interrogation table pleading and crying I’ll tell you that much. I remember just constantly looking for updates and being so happy each time. I was in a very angry phase (I don’t know what to call it) but this felt very healing and very calm in comparison to my moods. So thank you for that. Thank you for sharing and writing it.

15. @yutaholic - Smashing The Six | NCT (completed)

I’m writing this before my baby’s addition but it is so close to being completed. I’m really loving the story and the plot. I don’t want to spoil too much but I’m so glad I stumbled across your account and this story and binged the fuck out of it. I saw you updated recently and may have...accidentally decided to read it instead of paying attention to my meeting. Nobody noticed though so thank fuck but even I did get caught - I have zero regrets.

16. @biaswreckingfics - No Exit | EXO (completed)

Well first of all - hey, big fan! I watched you become a deobi through my other account and it was so satisfying to see. When I first got into No Exit - I can’t quite remember the chapter but I was practically hanging off every word you said. You always seemed to update when I was in the car going to university and I can remember just constantly refreshing the page again and again to make sure I didn’t miss it. Then when you uploaded a sequel - oh it was like love to me. So I’ll say it now - I love you, thank you :)

17. @moonscriptsx - Scandalous | BTS (ongoing)

Well first of all, I was so distraught when you got hacked and all your work got wiped away. I shed a tear. It was actually so heartbreaking. Scandalous was one of my favourite fics and was one that I binge read twice to enjoy it more than once. Then when I couldn’t find you one day - I went absolutely insane trying to find you. I FOUND YOU RECENTLY THOUGH! HENCE THE TAG! AHH! But I’m so happy you’re writing again and even though this fic no longer exists I’ll be enjoying your other fics regardless.

18. @wooyukh - Loved | TXT (completed)

When I tell you how much I fell in love with * during the time you were uploading this. Like the reality is that your fic was the music I fell in love to and I’m so glad for you. I loved this. Absolutely. I loved the simp that the both of them had and I loved everything. I loved LOVED and that’s the end of it. I hated one character in here with all my heart and I’m so glad about the ending. Ahhh it’s been so long - time for a re-read soon I think :) THANK YOU.

19. @neoculturetravesty - We Met In Online Class | NCT (completed)

OH MY GOD the writing quality is always MUAH (I’m in love with it - it’s so- I can’t explain it without letting out a sound that’s close to a moan, I’m sorry. But I love it. I love the tone of the story and the aesthetic I got from it. I don’t exactly have synesthesia but I got such a profound sense of feeling I can’t explain. It was like I was reading it but I could just see all these colours and feelings that I could just squeeze and it was just beautiful so thank you.

20. @fairyofhee - Wasted Times | ENHYPEN (completed)

My newest obsession. Loved it from the very beginning. I’ve been going through some new sort of thirst for the man that is *. But I loved this - all throughout - it became some sort of remedy for the shit going in my personal life. Bearing through the pain of cliffhangers was worth it. I’m obsessed. Still am. * is my safe haven right now. So I’m glad for this story for strengthening (?), processing (?) emphasising (?) that.

author’s note : now I’m going to run away and go into hiding. four more of these guys...

#tbz fic recs #the boyz fic recs #bts fic recs #enhypen fic recs #Kpop fic recs #seventeen fic recs #Ateez fic recs #EXO fic recs #txt fic recs #nct fic recs

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takeshitakyuuto · 11 months

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Trigun Book Club reading update volume one

This is my first full experience with Trigun, and I am participating due to my civic duty as a tihylttw fan. よろしく～

What I know about the series already:

Space western! (+)

Vash is a twin? with someone named Knives?

Something about gods that I don’t understand and don’t want to

Kitty :3

I am infamous far and wide for my loquacious book club participations, so from here on out will be under read more. Spoilers for volume one of Trigun only

My usual file reader was glitching out so I had to find a new one to read this volume and oh my god the text is so tiny. why. thank god for zoom (and furigana)

Ch 1. Okay Vash’s fit is fire. Fashion icon

I really like the world building we get right off the bat. The little sign showing the day’s crimes was funny, clever, and really establishes what we’re dealing with.

Vash’s “death” chapter one? oooooo I really like where we’re heading with him...

He gave a child a pistol?!?!?!? childcare king tbh

So far my favorite character is the blonde lady with the huge gun (Milly?)

Ch 2. The appearance of The Cat!

Are these... human cars?

Freckles asking the questions I’ve had all along! I’m excited to see what Vash’s “quest” is and why it would put such a big bounty on his head, especially since he seems like a guy with strong morals.

*Gets “KISS MY ASS” tattooed on my hand* no you don’t understand, its a Trigun reference. So you know the genre space western? Hey, why are you walking away, I’m not done yet!

Ch 3. Does this place have a government???

Jack pot!!

Yaoi proportioned Vash

Oh the lesbians are from the government

I love Vash realizing the power of lesbians

Ch. 4 Vash the Stampede: impervious to bullets, but not to grate corners

Is this chapter 5 now? Bad Lads Group is an absolute top tier name for a terrorist organization

Oh boy the introduction of Rem. What a great introduction, I can’t wait to see what relationship she had/(has?) to Vash. Based on that little dream of his, I don’t think she’s alive anymore or at the very least has no contact with Vash

Ch 6. チビスケｗｗｗｗ

I might just be because they’re both space westerns but this is also giving me more and more Cowboy Bebop vibes in the way of I never know who’s going to be a recurring character or just in it for the chapter. I’m sure as the series goes on though we’ll start seeing more overarching plot and less “Vash Gets Himself Into Sticky Situations”

Also, this dude loves jumping out of windows

Ch 7. A Chapter called Rem? Excitingggggg

Ya’ll weren’t kidding when you said that the art could be a little hard to understand... I thought Vash got shot but it was someone else’s blood 🥵

Vash calling the group understaffed and then immediately opening a door to see a horde of grunts... the comedic timing in this series is impeccable

Oh look, おわり！

Final thoughts: I thought this was a solid first volume! It’s very out of my element- I don’t read much shounen and I read even less action series. It took me a while to get used to the shounen style of Japanese (unexpected yet happens every blue moon that I decide to pick one up) and the action vocabulary was also difficult, as I never see any of it. Okay enough about language learning, we’re all here for the plot. I still feel like I’m not completely sure about what the plot is, but I also know that that’s fairly typical with manga. I liked the recurring characters that we were introduced to and it opened up plenty of questions to be answered later. As for Rem, she seems like some sort of God character (as opposed to a god character). As for my favorite characters from the volume, it stays Milly and ohmygodijustforgothername Meryl. Let’s see if I stay on track with the reading or if I decide to read ahead :3c

#trigun #trigunbookclub #forgive me if i get names wrong #this is both my first run through and im reading in japanese #so im kinda guessing at how theyve been translated

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butterflydm · 2 years

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wot on prime rewatch: 1x01 leavetaking

spoilers for all of season one of the show; I’m going to do a reblog of this post to include book-related thoughts that go past The Eye of the World.

1. There are several things that I really love about Moiraine’s intro scene: it sets up the two items that she uses at the EotW (the sa’angreal and the knife) and she is wearing PANTS thus immediately already trimming away one of Jordan’s super-weird continent-wide gender quirks where It Is a Weird Thing for women to wear pants. Moiraine’s traveling outfit gives me life. But, frankly, the pants were the first thing that made me believe that we would be getting a genuinely UPDATED version of the story, without all the super-weird stuff about how men and women are so impossibly different that they can’t ever understand each other (even when, ex. the woman in question is behaving remarkably similar to your male friend that you have no issue understanding, and vice versa) and that was so exciting to me. And I’m still excited about it! Another thing that I love is Moiraine talking about how arrogant the ~men~ were to believe they could cage darkness in one big pre-emptive strike and then that’s basically exactly what she takes Rand off to do at the end of S1.

2. In S1E5, we find out that what Liandrin and her Red Ajah sisters do here is extremely illegal! They are not supposed to be hunting down male channelers and gentling them on the spot, they are supposed to take them back to Tar Valon for trial (...when they will get gentled, so for the actual men, it’s something of a distinction without a difference). This is also our first look at the ‘madness’ that afflicts male channelers due to the corruption and I’m really curious about how this will continue to be portrayed as we get more men channeling in the future.

3. The first appearance of Moiraine’s wishful thinking appears in this scene (arguably, the first appearance of her wishtful thinking is in the intro scene when she says that the Dragon might be reborn as a girl; that would definitely make things easier for her!), when she insists that the man that Liandrin just gentled CANNOT be the Dragon Reborn. She happens to be right in this case, but this attitude works less well for her when we get to the end of the season.

4. And then we get the super-awesome shot of the tall ‘moss-covered mountains’ that are actually abandoned skyscrapers. Perfect match for the Age of Legends scene that we get at the end of the season. Continue to love how they wove in the post-apocalypse threads. Subtle but once you know, you can see it in lots of place.

5. I really like how this opening scene with Egwene is all very metaphorical for how embracing saidar is described in the books. And getting our first glimpses of Egwene and Nynaeve is great, but I also like how it’s in the context of this woman-only group in their community because that’s a huge part of their story that they will need to navigate in the future (we know they’re both planning to head to the White Tower as of the end of S1). I do think it’s very interesting how the ‘Women’s Circle’ is not a governing body here but rather the community that all women join when they’re old enough for a braid. I don’t think we get any mentions of the Village Council or Bran as the Mayor either. The Two Rivers seems purely people chilling without a leader and just being a small community together.

6. The locations are so pretty. So, we get introduced to Moiraine & Lan, then Liandrin, then Egwene & Nynaeve, and now we have Rand and Tam. Tam is remembering the old days. Aw, this intro with Rand and Tam is cute, plus it does set up: wolves acting strangely, that Rand’s mom is out of the picture (implied dead), and him and Egwene as childhood sweethearts.

7. I think the show did a good job of marrying together the different backstories that Rand and Egwene’s romance have in the series. In the show, they’re first loves, currently in a relationship but inexplicably not married for reasons that perhaps neither of them could put a finger on if you asked them directly. Before Egwene gets the Wisdom apprentice invite, I imagine they would both vaguely say, “oh you know. we’ll get married some day” and then just keep not doing it.

8. This set of scenes in the Winespring does a good job setting up the friendship between the three boys. We see Rand and Perrin worrying over Mat losing money; and then Perrin also comes over to talk to Rand when he notices him brooding off by the wall. And Mat, in his more teasing way, is trying to make sure that the three of them stay connected as a friendship unit, even if Perrin is married and Rand is with Egwene and off in the mountains most of the year besides. And Perrin and Mat are both introduced in context of their friendship with Rand. This scene is also used to show how insular the Two Rivers is, hearing news of the world only second or third-hand.

9. Lan and Moiraine are such drama llamas, I swear. So Dramatic at all times. Nynaeve gets positioned as the village Protector even here in this introduction -- she’s the one that challenges Lan and tells him to name himself. Nynaeve and Rand are the two characters set up to be the most distrusting of Moiraine, but we see a lot of whispering between villagers in the background.

10. It’s an interesting set of shots that they set up here, actually, given some of what happens later. The people that Moiraine looks at: first, it’s Mat with the girl that we find out later that he stole from; then Nynaeve with Lan in the foreground; and finally Egwene with a shot that racks focus to include Rand and Perrin behind her (who will have a brief love trangle-ish moment later on in the season). But I like this shot of Moiraine looking around and clocking all the potential people who might be the correct age to be the Dragon Reborn.

11. Again, on a rewatch, Perrin’s secret crush on Egwene (and Nynaeve’s knowledge of it) is actually made pretty clear.

12. We get introduced next to Mat’s change in backstory which I’ve personally thought was a brilliant choice from the beginning. Mat’s background feels fairly disconnected from his characterization in the books and this new backstory grounds him as a character, gives him some strong motivations and some strong personal fears. It does add a slightly darker/seedier side to the Two Rivers, in that the Cauthons have clearly fallen through the cracks, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing either.

13. But the set-up here really is heartbreaking for Mat -- a father that is constantly breaking his mother’s heart, a mother who is so consumed by her husband’s betrayal that she’s barely a mother to her children, and Mat left to essentially parent his little sisters. And it sets up Mat as someone who has both strong reasons to want to be far away from the Two Rivers (to escape his family and the reputation his family would have in the village) and to return to the Two Rivers (to take care of his sisters). And he’s also set up as someone who only has his ‘true self’ seen by a handful of people -- his sisters, Rand, and... potentially Perrin, though Perrin doesn’t get as much screentime about it, and potentially Nynaeve as well -- and everyone else sees this surface gloss of who he is, including Moiraine, Egwene, and his own parents.

14. I do actually wonder if part of the reason that they cast the sisters so young was because filming just takes a long time, longer than the books are set in, so they may just be planning to have the events of the books take place over a longer time frame.

15. We do see here than Egwene and Rand’s relationship is definitely favored by both his father and her parents. Tam and Rand stay behind after everyone else has left to help the al’Vere’s clean up the inn, essentially acting as in-laws already. The scene between them alone is really good, too, and you can feel the tension of Egwene having something to tell Rand and being uncertain about it, and Rand is clearly aware that something is Going On but isn’t sure he wants to know, and so they ended up sleeping together first and then dealing with their actual issues afterwards.

16. I also really really love the platonic bath scene with Moiraine and Lan. Nonsexual and nonromantic intimacy between people who are essentially platonic life-partners at this point. It’s a great look under the ~dramatic~ surface that they were portraying to the villagers earlier. And it’s nice that our first bit of nudity is a guy’s butt. And I love the implication that, over the years, Moiraine has embraced some of the customs from Lan’s homeland.

17. Rand does essentially take this as something of a break-up while Egwene seems more torn on whether it is or isn’t. But then part of the issue that they end up running into later on in this episode and at the end of the season, is that Rand likes to process things alone in his head and Egwene wants to talk it all out as it’s currently happening, so they have some communication incompatibilities but it isn’t chalked up to Women are just Like This and Men are just Like That, the way that things like that tend to be spun as in the books.

18. And the intro to Padan Fain, where we find out that he acts essentially as Mat’s fence for items stolen from people in the Two Rivers works really well and it just... it does make me sad about how the show had to get adjusted post-Covid, and was not able to have Mat end out the season facing off against Fain, as I’m sure he was originally supposed to do. Fain’s whole speech about how he hated going to the Two Rivers every year would have hit harder if he’d been saying it to Mat.

19. We do see here, in a more subtle way, how most of the villagers are eyeing Moiraine and Lan suspiciously.

20. The sort of semi-post-relationship conversation with Egwene and Rand on the mountainside is very good as well. That she knows where to look for him when he’s in a thoughtful/brooding mood and the actual content of the talk as well. Honestly, I feel so puzzled by a lot of the complaints from some people about Rand’s behavior towards Egwene that I saw? It all makes perfect sense to me? She breaks up with him but then, next episode, she wants him to be instantly over any heartbreak and, at the same time, offer her boyfriend-type cuddles at night. And I get it from Egwene’s PoV too -- it’s a very stressful situation and she’s used to looking to Rand for comfort in stressful situations, so she’s going back to her instincts/old habits. But it’s just weird how I saw people call him clingy when she is the one who literally tries to physically snuggle up with him after she breaks up with him? How is he supposed to ‘just get over her already’ when she’s doing stuff like that? idk some people don’t seem to expect men to have human emotions and it’s weird to me. She’s allowed to be nostalgic about him to Aram but he’s not allowed to be nostalgic about her.

21. Rand had a whole Vision about his future (not the magic kind) and he needs some time to adjust to that vision changing. And, like... that’s fair and completely a normal human reaction to being broken up with and I do not understand why I saw so many people being weird about it when this set of episodes aired. It’s not like Rand had a made-up fantasy about Egwene -- they were literally in a romantic and sexual relationship! That ended extremely abruptly! And then they all got traumatized by having their village attacked! Even without the additional trauma that Rand was operating under, his behavior made sense.

22. Nynaeve and Moiraine do get off on such a hilariously bad footing here. Moiraine takes such a terrible approach to trying to feel Nynaeve out on her parentage, etc. Though I can see how the sort of overwhelming presence that she’s trying to use here would work against a lot of people, but it just majorly puts Nynaeve’s back up. I’ve thought a lot about how Rand might react to learning that Moiraine sent the Red Ajah after Mat, but Nynaeve would also have an extremely explosive reaction, especially because she shows a lot of sympathy and understanding for Mat in Primeverse.

23. Aaah, Nynaeve firmly establishing herself as The Protector of the Two Rivers Folk and she is, she so very much is. Zoë Robins is just so perfect as Nynaeve and I love her in the role so much. The casting is so on-point.

24. We get another establishing friendship scene with our three boys. And Mat just instantly can tell something’s wrong with Rand, even as Perrin is just like ??? about it. He susses out that it’s about Egwene and that it was Really Bad in terms of their relationship. Then a little later, we also get the bit where Rand and Perrin give some money to Mat so that he can buy lanterns for the girls. There really is kinda a vibe where Mat is extremely emotionally aware of both Rand and Perrin, and while Rand and Perrin are both emotionally aware of Mat, they are not particularly aware of each other. Which tracks with Perrin having a secret crush on Egwene and that making himself distance himself from Rand (slightly). Rand and Perrin still care about each other but don’t ever really get the one-on-one scenes that Rand and Mat, and Mat and Perrin get. But they did a really good job setting up these three as a close friend group.

25. And we do see that Egwene is also sad over the ending of her relationship with Rand (she’s crying on the bridge) and Nynaeve comes to listen to the wind with her. I do think it’s interesting that they set up both Nynaeve and Egwene as each having strong bonds to two of the boys but somewhat-to-mildly disapproving of the third one -- Nynaeve is very compassionate with Rand and Mat later on, but tells Perrin to go home to his wife; Egwene was in a romance with Rand and trauma-bonds with Perrin, but has a more antagonistic view of Mat. It makes things feel more complex than they were in the books, imo.

26. Oh, hey, that’s a beeswax candle! Nice. I love what they did with the candle ceremony. The show did such an interesting thing where it made the whole Wheel and the reincarnation feels a lot more like a vibrant cultural aspect than it does in the books. It influences the Two Rivers beliefs here and it influences the Tuatha'an people’s beliefs when Perrin talks to them in later episodes. It just really grounds the people’s behavior when it’s attached to these spiritual rituals (and I am saying this as an atheist who does not personally perform any spiritual or religious rituals -- I don’t do it, but it is a very common part of the human experience and it makes sense that it would have this kind of impact on people who live in this world). And the whole idea that the candles light the way for souls to come back and then you have a celebration to remind them of what’s worth coming back for.

27. The little touch of Nynaeve setting out the candle on the other side of the river and wiping away her tears immediately and walking away, because she feels like she needs to be strong for the village and not let them see her show her pain. And then her not dancing at Bel Tine. Those little touches showing how she has to set herself slightly apart from all of them.

28. The horror of the Trolloc attack in the middle of the dancing works really well, imo. We don’t see any of this in the book because we’re entirely in Rand’s PoV but this whole section does set up a lot: we see Mat going back into danger to act as a protector, we set up Perrin having an understandable trauma centered around the violence of the axe, we get Nynaeve trying to protect the villagers and Egwene by her side ready to fight with her, we see the initial panic of the villagers and then them rallying together, we have Padan Fain sneaking off in the middle of the attack, and we get Rand and Tam dealing with that same horror in isolation up mountain. And we get to see how well Aes Sedai and Warders work as a team, which was very cool and useful. They did a good job with the choreo there, because it really does feel like they can anticipate each other’s moves. And Egwene and Nynaeve both get a close look at what Aes Sedai are capable of accomplishing.

29. We don’t get to see Rand and Tam’s conversation in the woods here, but since this is a rewatch, we all know that it happened and will impact Rand’s behavior going forward. He just found out that his dad picked up a kid in the aftermath of a battle and took him home, so he’s got an identity crisis going on in the background of every scene that he’s in from this point forward.

30. I’m just gonna feel bad for Egwene for a moment, because she went through the rough journey of believing that Nynaeve was dead from here until they’re reunited in E6, and then post-E8, she is potentially going to be told/implied to that Rand is dead as well. Anyway, like I mentioned above, I totally understand why Egwene seeks Rand’s comfort in E2 because this is a very traumatic experience.

31. Moiraine and the Winespring collapsing together is such a cool shot. I really love it. Epic. And Lan covering her to shield her from the debris. What an amazingly visual illustration of what a Warder does.

32. Rand arriving back to the absolute ruin of the town. Heartbreaking. Ah, and Egwene telling Rand that Nynaeve ‘is gone’. Just this whole section of people counting up their losses is heartbreaking. And the little moments of connection in the tragedies, like Egwene and Rand hugging each other or Mat putting his hand on Perrin’s shoulder. Interestingly, the hand motions that Moiraine does here to heal Tam are similar from what I remember of how she draws Shadar Logoth’s corruption from Mat, both scenes that Rand witnesses.

33. Rand immediately challenges Moiraine which was another thing that viewers held against him despite it... making sense? He talks about the same sort of logic later on re: Thom as well -- that it’s possible that the convenient stranger who showed up right before the trouble conveniently helped them in order to win their trust. Rand doesn’t know that Moiraine is getting Protagonist Hero Shots.

34. The things that Moiraine tells them (notably: she tells them because Rand challenged her): that an Aes Sedai saw glimpses of the future twenty years ago, that the Dark One is waking, that his whispers are in the backs of their minds, and that the Dragon (the one person who can stand against the Dark One) has been reborn and is one of the four of them. And that they need to leave, because the Trollocs are chasing them, specifically, and if they stay then the town will be destroyed.

35. I’m also intrigued by the implication that maybe the entire village just learned that one of their four kiddos is the Dragon Reborn? Since Moiraine isn’t leaving in secret the way that they did in The Eye of the World. It’s difficult to say, because everyone else is busy working on the town and we don’t get reaction shots. But everyone does know that their four kiddos are very publicly leaving with the Aes Sedai and it’s clear that there were goodbyes, if short ones, so even if they don’t know that the Dragon is involved, they do know more than the Two Rivers knew in the book.

36. Love getting that iconic ‘a wind rose’ line. <3

#wot rewatch #wot on prime #wot #wheel of time #moiraine damodred #lan mandragoran #nynaeve al'meara #egwene al'vere #rand al'thor #mat cauthon #perrin aybara #the wheel of time #wotwatch

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moldy-mold · 1 year

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Hey, long time no update! We’re almost halfway through the year and I’m only just recovering from February. :’)

I got into two car accidents (no one was hurt) back-to-back in February where I was not at fault for either, and sadly, one was a hit-and-run. Due to just… tons of issues with insurance, I am finally getting my car fixed. It was a struggle, but now we can have a happy ending!

We formed a hiking group in the spring when the weather was nice. I won’t lie, it was a really great decision. We’ve been trying to go to a new place each month to see the sights.

So random, but my mom back in FL found a pigeon chilling in the garage, so she picked him up and took care of him. His name is Jorge. Birds are my true love so I am very excited to meet him!

Work is fine and more stable now, compared to 2021 when the struggle was real. I have more freelance work on top of office work that I am kept busy 24-7. It’s been tough trying to draw fanart at home when you’re already drawing at work haha. Last month, I went a little too hard and injured my wrist and had to keep it in a brace for a few weeks. I still have to be careful, even now.

In other news, my roommate of 10 years is finally moving out to discover her life’s calling. It is a bittersweet feeling, kind of like a breakup haha. As a creature of habit, I had resisted the change. It took some time, but I’ve come to accept it. Money is still kind of an issue though (a single person apartment? in this economy?), so I’ve been trying to find a new roommate! With NO LUCK! :)

On a whim, I finally started Xenoblade 3 in April after my 31st birthday. My brother had gifted it to me for xmas, but I didn’t want to open the black hole (or “The Hole” as my friends lovingly call it) until I had drawn all that I wanted to draw for YGO. To be honest, I didn’t end up drawing all my ideas but I hit a road block in my creative drive. Well now I’m in the hole AND I have to find time to draw stuff! I have this dilemma every single day.

My friend and I booked tickets to see our friends in Mexico this October! I haven’t been abroad for 15 years, so I’ll have the pleasure of going to the beautiful city of Monterrey as my first international trip without my parents. I’m so ready…! Let me out…! *rattles the cage*

The Plant Saga

I took this photo a few months ago when the sun was finally coming out and my plants were in bloom again. I was afraid Lorenz (miniature rose) was going to die because he had spider mites… every single year. I managed to fend them off and now he’s doing quite well!

I’m most proud of my handling of MOMO (moth orchid) who is blooming again! I heard it was challenging to get orchids to rebloom, but I honestly didn’t have to do anything?

Other plants include: Zeon (taro) and Gimli (mint) and Shouyo (hens and chicks succulent) with the weird antennae.

The weather in GA has been really temperamental, and it hasn’t been as warm in May as it was last year, so some of my tubers haven’t regrown yet. Guess I’ll take more pictures in the late summer!

#diary

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authorsadiethatcher · 1 year

Photo

I wanted to write an update earlier this month, but I was waiting on a piece of news to report. It took most of the month, but now I can talk about it fully below.

April was exciting, May started out great, but little bits of panic and anxiety have set in. Nothing to fear, but damn, have I needed a couple wins recently.

Amazon is where most people find my books, so here’s a link to my catalogue: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Sadie-Thatcher/author/B00B4MINAC

Smashwords is a great place to buy books, especially if you don’t like Amazon’s evil empire. You can find them here: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/sadiethatcher

Plus, you can find them at the Google Play bookstore: https://play.google.com/store/books/author?id=Sadie+Thatcher

I’ve added a new way you can get my books. It’s called Ream and it’s a bit like Patreon, but its author specific, made by authors for authors. I’m still working through a few kinks, but this is an opportunity to get all of my books at each month and a few bonuses. You can see my Ream page here: https://reamstories.com/page/lhssployqw

Additionally, my books are available through Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Scribd. I don’t have links to those stores handy, but if that’s where you like to buy books from, my books will show up there, eventually. I distribute through Smashwords and have to wait until the review team there approves my books for distribution. This can take days or even a week.

Big News Alert

My next fantasy novel is here, written under the name Libby Feron. Rogue Elf is the second book in the Magic’s Most Wanted Series, continuing Tempest Ravifort’s saga. She’s a bounty hunter trying to keep the magical world a secret from the humans, and put her sister through college. Poor, but noble. The book is currently available for preorder and the release date is May 30. That’s next week! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5ZTQFS3/

Plus, the cover is absolutely gorgeous.

If fantasy is your thing, take a look at all of my novels here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Libby-Feron/author/B09PJ9J5RN

And if you sign up for the Libby Feron newsletter, you get exclusive content and updates like cover reveals before anyone else. I have a bonus prequel scene up for the Magic’s Most Wanted Series that will be exclusive to newsletter subscribers. You can sign up here: https://libbyferon.com/newsletter/

With the fantasy novel plug complete, let me also mention some of the cool stories I have coming out in the next month month.

I’ve got two more books in the Bimbo Records Series to release. Women trying to break into the music industry find success, but only after they bimbofy themselves for their manager.

I also have a series coming up that features women who feel left behind by society’s rising beauty standards and they will do anything to keep up. Even though they know images are airbrushed and altered before going online, they push past that and make their realities as good or better. There might be an addiction to social media likes involved as well. I haven’t decided yet.

And in the second half of June, I will be beginning a Bimbo Academy series. It could be a finishing school or someplace where wayward women are sent to be rehabilitated into happy bimbos. We will see where my muse takes me on that.

Finally, the days of Fake It Until You Make It being available on Amazon Kindle Vella are numbered. I have requested the story come down from Vella so that I may publish it in other forms, including turning it into an audiobook. I don’t expect anything to happen on this until about June 7, but this is your warning to download those episodes now so you can read them at your leisure. Now I just need to get my narrator working on the audio.

#Sadie Thatcher #writing #BuildingBetterGiggles #story #announcement #State of the Thatcher Address

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thatdesklamp · 7 months

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WAIT OMG-

been reading intrinsic warmth for a WHILE and your writing is top tier!! i always wondered to myself every time i’d read a chapter why the writing just STICKS, yk? i’m a MAJOR book girlie, i read 24/7.

AND THEN IMAGINE MY SURPRISE WHEN I READ ONE OF YOUR TAGS THAT YOU PUT UP ON ONE OF YOUR POSTS WHERE YOU WERE ANSWERING A QUESTION FROM ANOTHER LOVELY READER AND I SEE THAT YOU TOOK AN ENGLISH A LEVEL?

first of all (not 100% sure on this) but i’m pretty sure only british ppl take gcses, a levels, etc. YOU’RE BRITISH?

i feel like i’ve met my other half rn over something so tiny but yeah. IT LITERALLY EXPLAINS WHY YOUR WRITING IS SO GOOD:

i could point out the NUMBER of times i’ve seen juxtaposition, symbolism, foreshadowing in your fic to someone if they’d asked me to point it out for them. at first i thought you might’ve done it unknowingly, and then i decided that nope, bc foreshadowing is such a BIG writing technique that it simply couldn’t have been by accident.

it’s one thing to know about a writing technique and another to actually be able to SUCCESSFULLY incorporate it into your writing. if it isn’t clear enough, i’m saying that you did it AMAZINGLY. you’ve got a natural talent and i’m envioussss (in a supporting way ofc 😭).

you should really look into making your own book, and i think you EXCEL at the supernatural aspect of plot in stories. your writing is so unique and different yet so warm, it reminds me of autumn (my favourite season).

idk how to end such a long message, ultimately i don’t have a reason for typing this up and shit. ik you have tons of people probably saying the same thing and it might just get repetitive for you, but i wouldn’t feel comfortable not being part of said bunch-of-ppl-probably-saying-the-same-thing.

oh! and take your SWEET TIME updating. it’s your story, your fic, your writing. the ONLY thing we readers can give you as a payback and thanks is time, patience, and understanding <3333

RAHHH BRITTANIA 💪💪💪💪

Agh. Yes—I’m British (English to be precise, sweet sweet caroline etc), hence the use of ‘u’s in words like ‘colour’ and ‘humour’, and also why everyone’s parents are their ‘father’ or ‘mother’ and not mum/dad. ‘Mom’ feels too American but ‘mum’ feels too rah engerland, yk? I’ve mentioned previously that I’m looking forward to writing fics where the characters are actually from England and where I’m actually allowed to write them the way I talk, mostly. Good lord am I excited.

And yes lol I took English for an A-Level. Bloody smashed it too, if I get to brag, mwahaha. Didn’t take it any further (I’ve also previously said that I’m a # woman in stem uni student, which is true), but I still write a killer essay imo. Give me 10 minutes to do a refresher on ‘Othello’ (it’s been a while okay) and I can talk for donkeys about his tragic fall and how much of a wanker he is. Which he is! I’m a Desdemona defender for life.

You say ‘natural talent’. PLS. No!! God no. Not at all. I wish—that would’ve made it a lot easier, but whatever I can do rn is down to bloody years of toiling away on my shitty little laptop, I promise. I’ve got another anon ask that asked about some writing tips so I’ll do the bulk of them there but my number 1 will always and forever be to practise. Whatever skill I have now has been earned over the many years. You don’t even want to see some of the stuff that will never grace my ao3 page (atla had me in a chokehold through covid and I have never been the same).

But you are genuinely so complimentary: this is so so lovely of you. Thank you?? It’s really weird being someone who writes and also someone who enjoys analysing literature; you’re right, half of the ‘techniques’ are intentional (the number of times I’ve flicked through some chapters’ drafts and thought, ‘fucks sake none of this makes sense, I need to add some decent foreshadowing or none of this will make sense in two chapters’), but also so much of my writing is just thinking, ‘hmm, this doesn’t really feel right. No no, I don’t like the vibe of this. I want this to feel more GRAAHHH and less lalalala. Lemme change this up a bit’. Whether that leads to the whole, short sentences->speeds up the pace of the reader when reading the section->increased tension, mimics actual fight encounter, etc etc (all the stuff you blag on about in eng lit), then maybe that counts as intentional? And maybe not.

Making my own book? That’s lovely of you to say but I also really don’t have any ideas for anything non-fanfic’y! Lol. I love a good bit of canon compliance, that’s my issue. That being said—hey, another eng a level reference—I’ve made multiple references here to being the world’s #1 ‘Atonement’ hater. Unfortunately, it also lives damn rent free in my head and I’ve got the bare bones of a WW2-era, perhaps epistolary, longform fic buzzing around. (Fandom: Marauders. I’m a disgrace but here we go). I’ve written nothing for it and maybe I never will, but that’s one of the only things I can see as being more standalone from original canon. Anyway: it’s the fanfic life for me. Ali Hazelwood’s life is but a distant dream.

But anyway! Thank you again for your lovely words. The next IW chapter will take a very long time, I have to be frank, so thank you for the reassurance that that’s not absolutely disgraceful lmao T_T Thanks again!! <3

#intrinsic warmth #I hope I have not accidentally hidden my englishness #the biggest event of this month isn’t Halloween or 1989tv — it’s the switch from bst to gmt babyy

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flower-biter · 30 days

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1-7 April 2024

Boop-pocalypse! 'twas a lot of fun, even if I did wind up blocking someone over it.

Requested a booking at an NYC tattoo artist I’ve had my eye on for a while! Fingers crossed they’ll accept my request during my visit dates (and that I won’t be a baby when I sit for it, it’ll be my biggest piece yet)

Still haven't really read anything. My brain just says No. <3 right now.

Even costar’s ai word salad bot thing is aware of how ferociously lonely and horny I’ve been lately. Sigh.

Trivia night again; we did poorly but still had fun. Cute bartender had a strong southern accent and she kept calling me “baby” and “darlin’” which had me grinning like an idiot.

How did my friend not tell me he is a literal doctor?? Why did it come up in a conversation where he confessed to having to google what’s in honey mustard?? (I’m never letting him live that down. It’s like the time I went to a bar and asked for a gin & tonic and the bartender said “oh I’ve never heard of that, what’s in it” and I like. Bluescreened. Sir I don't know how to explain this one without sounding really rude but. Say it again, slowly ????)

Office drama has my manager whom I really like getting moved to a different building; however, a new position is opening up that I think I might apply for. I’m mostly qualified and a bit scared but think I can (and probably should) do it. And the company is prioritizing hiring internally so I think I have a decent chance.

Saturday was gorgeous and I got to spend most of the day outside. Mum and I took a walk along a rail trail to our favorite coffee shop to get breakfast, then enjoyed a sunny, birdsong-filled stroll before we went and poked around a local antiques mall.

My friend invited me to her ultrasound and I got to see her twins moving around and hear their heartbeats, which was wild!Afterward her parents took us out to celebrate. We’re doing the gender(s) reveal party Sunday and I’m the designated keeper of the knowledge! I get to find out first thing and then get supplies for the party (Will report back). Nobody is allowed to bet on the genders because according to my friend, “if anyone in the family bets wrong they’ll remember, and if one of the kids turns out to be trans they’ll insist they were right all along and demand their betting prize with interest and adjustment for inflation, and we just don’t need that kind of drama.”

Update: I went over this morning and she logged me into her patient portal and I got to be the first to see that the twins are a healthy girl and boy! I threw them a little gender reveal party (which felt really funny to shop for because what’s the surprise? You get both??) and they’re so excited, it’s adorable. I’m so so happy for my friend and to get to be part of this phase of her life.

Reminded each day just how much I love love love spring. It’s so beautiful right now: cool and sunny, birds singing, flowers in bloom, windows open, not too hot. Feels like maybe everything will be okay.

This week:

last week

#i may edit this one a bit later it's a bit of a brain dump #catalog of little joys

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bettsfic · 1 year

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2022 in writing

whoops, i wrote this at the end of december, put it in my drafts, and forgot about it. this is my seventh year writing a recap and i just read through all of them again. part of me thinks, "it's been 7 years and i haven't accomplished a fraction of what other writers have in that same time." but then the other part of me remembers 1) other writers are on their own path and working at their own speed, and 2) it's unfathomable to me how utterly mentally fucked i used to be. and i mean, i'm still mentally fucked but at least i'm working on getting better. the point is, i had a different starting line than others.

anyway, it's a new year and that means it's time to think to myself for the 7th year running, "dear god when am i going to publish a book." every year i think, this is going to be my year! every year it isn't.

overcame the worst writers' block i've ever had

"overcame" is making it sound more dramatic than it was. i went on a medication that fucked with my brain and then went back off it. but i worry that when i think back on 2022, i'm not going to remember all this cool stuff i did, i'm going to remember how utterly miserable i was for six months. how terrifying it was to feel like someone else was living in my body. i wrote a little bit about it in october's newsletter.

some of this post i've copied over from my newsletter.

but also i have to acknowledge that when i came back to writing, it felt like my brain had been totally rewired and i feel capable, creatively, of about 10x more than i used to be capable of. i'm still trying to articulate what changed and why.

published some things

“shut up and kill me” -- featured in issue 41 of Barren Magazine. the editor who chose it said it was his favorite of the 700+ submissions they received. very happy this weird story has found its home. please heed the warnings!

“coping skills” -- featured in issue 1 of Flossy Lit Mag, a magazine my friends started and which has some great work in it already.

("not if, when" was published january of this year, so it'll go in next year's update)

published other people's things

in 2022, ofic magazine published 33 prose pieces and 3 art pieces! over half of what we accepted came from not yet published authors and you have no idea how happy that makes me.

won a grant

i’m very very excited to say i won the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund grant to help offset the travel expenses of the residency i attended! i’ve been applying to this for years and it’s amazing to have been awarded it. the judges had a lot of lovely things to say about my work and it was a big confidence boost.

did a residency

i spent a month in beautiful Wyoming at the Jentel Arts residency. i met some wonderful artists, got a lot of work done, and had an amazing time. definitely the highlight of my year.

made the top 10 of a big contest

i submitted "Not If, When" to a screenwriting website hosting a prose contest, and out of what seemed to be a lot of submissions, i was a top 10 finalist, and now my story is being pitched to production studios to see if they want to buy the film/tv rights. i've also had a few phone calls with hollywood people wanting to talk to me about my work (i'm still confused about that) and i think they've gone well. no idea what the endgame is here though.

ran other workshop

i intended to run two fanauthor workshops but i only managed one, because of the whole "just gritting my teeth trying to stay alive" thing. but the one i ran i think went really well!

coaching/editing is my job now

i didn't think too much of that until i met with my thesis advisor to get caught up and she was like, wow that's the dream. and she invited me to be a panelist for the annual publishing symposium at my alma mater.

i'm not getting rich or anything, but i've picked up enough commercial copywriting work to make ends meet.

applied/submitted to a few places

totals:

11 residencies (8 rejections, 2 rejections with encouraging feedback, 1 acceptance)

4 publications (1 encouraging rejection, 3 acceptances)

1 award (1 acceptance)

2 screenwriting-ish contests (1 rejection, 1 finalist placement)

this has been far and away my most successful submission year. 6 major wins!

wrote 421k words

what's extra wild about this word count is that ~400k of it was across 6 months. from january 1 to june 16, i wrote only 22k words. and then from june 17 to december 31, i wrote the rest. and for the finished works, this doesn't include their respective trash docs (where i put everything i cut from a story). if i add in those, it's an additional ~90k.

year over year word count comparison:

2022: 421k

2021: 183k

2020: 375k

2019: 430k

2018: 450k

2017: 150k

2016: 343k

2015: 250k

2014: 311k

nine year total: 2,913,000

& other stuff

i really advocated for my mental health this year and i'm super proud of that. i mean dealing with my brain was basically a full-time job and i've come to accept i'll be spending my entire life micromanaging my own head, but for now things are okay

unfortunately i got a diagnosis that wasn't what i expected, that seems mostly correct, and which i'm having trouble accepting

i moved into an apartment with my best friend and it's going really well so far

the only travel i did was to missouri to visit family, and to wyoming for my residency

2022 goal recap (from 2021)

sell a book any book dear god -- got close, but nope

finish a draft of a new novel -- big nope

get an apartment -- yep! and it's great

publish 3 issues of OFIC -- yes and i'm very proud of them

publish 12 newsletters -- no, published 5 newsletters

run a successful Fanauthor Workshop -- yep! 2 sessions out of my goal of 4

write a proposal for a fanfiction craft book -- no, but i talked to my agent about it and now we're working on it together

write a script (pilot or feature) and submit to contests -- yes but it was Bad and i've gotta, you know, make it not bad

2023 goals

these are going to be remarkably similar to last year's, considering it's all just stuff that's been set in motion.

SELL A BOOK

finish a new novel (it's february and i've already kind of done this, but still putting it on here)

publish 4 issues of ofic mag

publish at least 6 newsletters

build the 2024 ofic press catalogue

apply for nonprofit status

run 4 workshop sessions

submit nonfiction proposal

build a script portfolio (feature, pilot, spec)

find a healthy balance between writing and living

annual thank you!

despite how badly i derailed for the first half of the year, i'm really grateful to fandom, readers, and all the friends i've made here for your support and encouragement, without which i wouldn't have been able to do any of this.

prior year recaps: 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021

#writing update #2022

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void-galaxy-shenanigans · 2 months

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Happy employment update:

So,, after almost 4 months unemployed we finally got a job. It’s fast food, but one of the better corporations that’s not known for wage theft and has better food safety practices & whatnot.

Not gonna name them for personal safety & also because it’s against policy (could get me fired), because I’m not an official voice of the organization.

But!!

This is one of their slower locations, by almost half (6 to 10 ratio on profit). I was hoping that would mean a better work environment, and so far it seems I was right. They’re a bit more laid back and their peak periods / rushes are...way less than I got used to.

A couple downsides:

- still fast food. still that same line “sense of urgency”. still timed but in a different way (tracked differently).

- still not physical disability friendly. will be unable to use a mobility aid, & they wouldn’t accommodate that if asked.

But,, 5 upsides & then I’ll share the happiest upsides:

(1) They actually want you to stay home if sick, to the point where there were three separate training videos on this & the management *actually finds someone to cover you* if you’re sick & call in— you don’t have to find someone yourself like other places. (You only need to find someone for non-sick vacation requests.)

(2) They have very clear, non negotiable food safety practices. actually have chemicals to clean *all food* and doesn't just rinse them off (unlike previous job, who I won’t name for similar legal reasons). They also have several training cards showing exactly how to do each of these steps to maintain food safety.

(3) Their training actually mentioned explicitly, twice, LGBT+ rights in the workplace!! They acknowledged that assuming sexuality is also harassment, and that harassment isn't just ‘man → woman’ & can be any combination of gender(s) or directions. They also acknowledged that 50% of LGBT+ people worldwide had reported harassment was present in their workplace, and 26% of transgender people alone, just in the United States, had either been fired or been pressured into (cut hours, undesirable tasks, etc.) quitting their jobs. They clearly defined what retaliation can look like if you report this or any other harassment / inappropriate behaviour.

(4) ¡Their benefits plan included counseling / therapy! I won’t need it right now, but it’s a good sign & made me feel comfortable openly saying I’m in therapy. ¡They thought me/us being in therapy was positive and a good sign!

(5) ¡They want me to work mornings!! That was my favorite shift at my last job. Because instead of getting home 7 to 11p and having to basically go straight to bed & do it again, coming home in the afternoon gives me a few hours to wind down, do self care, and reset. I’ll actually have cool down time before bedtime to exist and recover before I have to work again. I will have to get up a bit early, but I’ll take that over getting out of work late evening to nighttime 😅. They also are giving me the shorter 7 hour shift, which will be slighter easier on our physical disabilities (last job wanted us to work 9 to 10 hour shifts often).

The changes I’m most excited about:

- They have very clear, very detailed training manuals on everything. They actually understand fast food is an entry level job for many, including high schoolers, and are prepared for that. They even had exact, detailed steps typed out, with pictures included, for how to wipe tables down (including which chemicals to use), which a lot of places assume is “common sense”. They have clear recipes with photographs for their grill operators & food prep store-openers. Absolutely everything is written down with photos and detailed instructions that aren’t to be deviated or improvised from. They even had books with papers & a folder for loose papers to track training and have managers sign off on what you had already learned, which allows other managers to see where the gaps are and allows you to prove you’re trained on a position and want to talk about training for a promotion.

- The manager who interviewed me actually used to be a crew member. She will become the general manager (basically store owner) in a month, as the current GM leaves.

- !I have the ability to text managers directly, and not have to (a) call the store and hope for a manager to be available or (b) use a messaging app and hope they check it! It’s much easier to get ahold of management if I have questions or just need to let them know I’ll be a couple minutes late if I accidentally leave late. They’re also chill about it when I forget to clock out (the first shift always gets me 😅) and updated it without complaint after I texted.

- They actually introduced me to other staff, to the point of telling me which position those people were so I know which people will be my managers & trainers. The staff were incredibly welcoming and already joking around with me, and I watched crew members willingly joke around with managers in a display of trust (which also showed that they weren’t afraid of management & were comfortable). I saw someone dance along to the music as they were taking dishes to the sink, and no one told them off.

- ¡They have music!! The dining room has its own corporate-approved playlist, but as long as it doesn’t drown out the dining room, we can have our own music in the kitchen. The music was loud enough to make the food service sounds (scoops / metal on metal sounds, sizzling, etc.) not overwhelming for me the way it usually is.

- I had to message my GM (the one being promoted) because I have therapy on Mondays. I asked to consistently have Mondays off, with wiggle room for some exceptions. I felt comfortable being honest that it was because therapy is difficult to reschedule, and also pointed out it’s easier to do other tasks like replacing parts of my uniform on a weekday. I did mention that still leaves Tuesday through Sunday open, because I can work weekends, and I can work holidays too (because we’re pagan and have different holidays). I expected questions at best, or a hard no, because fast food tends to want 100% availability with zero exceptions. But I actually got a yes!! She said “I can do that, thank you for telling me!” and didn’t get upset in the slightest. ¡I can keep my predictable (and difficult to reschedule) Monday routine, with morning therapy and necessary Adulting™ afterwards!

Overall, I’m very excited and hopeful. 💖

If they follow through on their promises and accommodate our autism, I’ll/we’ll be successful and content in this role for a year to three years (our goal), until we’re ready to go back to school full time. ☺💜

~Nico

#personal #vent #happy update #update #~Nico #job #work #fast food #united states #USA #hopeful #excited

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castleaudios · 1 year

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HI CASTLE, WELCOME TO TUMBLR!! (thank the gods you made one, I cannot keep track of twitter to save my life) I considered sending this outside of anon but, I am not ready to be perceived. Anyway- hmmmm I wanted to know a couple stupid things and now I can ask them.

How bad is Celine at keeping updated with the times? We know she uses spectacles. Does she still use quills and ink bottles???? Can she at least use a brick phone?? Does she know what a tamagotchi is.

What does evie do for work? We know what Beth does for work, but as far as I can remember we haven't heard about what evie does.

What is Rose's favourite genre of book? We're certain that she reads in her free time but we don't really know what she reads. Is she into fantasy? Does she secretly have a taste for those mature books hidden in the back of the library that Chloe mentioned? or something else? I MUST KNOW

What name would Ro like to be their official legal name? I'm assuming Ro is short for something but, if I'm wrong just correct me.

I have no questions for Claire, she just deserves a hug.

Actually no, has she talked to ranger about what she's discovered yet?

Who got Beth into therapy? She's clearly grown a lot over the last few years, and her therapist definitely worked overtime for that first year, but I can't imagine that Beth was the one to first take that step.

Will Abby ever follow up on that story of how she felt drawn to glenwood? She seemed pretty excited about it

Speaking of that, is that whole "glenwood called to me" thing, something rooted in magic? Is it orchestrated, is it just things coming together coincidentally? Or things falling into place through some force.

I know you mentioned collabs in your q&a and, I won't rush you cause that's pretty daunting. But- have you considered who you'd want to voice Simon? I know that there's probably other characters who may show up in the future but, Simon is so cool and I would love to see who you envision playing him if you ever push through with a collab in the future.

Did you ever find that color palette of each character that you mentioned during your q&a?

Once again, you do such great work and all of it just brightens my day! I hope you have a good one -Arry

THANK YOU! And don’t worry, I’m still not used to being perceived, this shit is weird

But onto the questions!

1. She’s actually very good at keeping up with the world, it’s just the digital age that’s been so quick, plus the rest of the vamps saving her from the internet. Celine’s a collector by nature so she had every tamagotchi

2. Evie worked as a math tutor and at a grocery store to pay the rent, but now she’s on the pack’s payroll helping maintain the finances for the whole operation.

3. Rose is a sci-fi/fantasy reader and she most certainly knows all about that secret shelf in the back! Her favorite series is the original John Carter books, her most recent read was “The Fifth Season” by N.K. Jemisin

4. Ro is their full chosen name! They no longer go by their deadname and the whole pack has moved on from using it. All the paperwork was to simply make the change official on all their legal documents!

5. She does 😔

6. That little conversation will be next week’s audio! (1/18/23)

7. Beth has been in therapy since she was 13 years old. She stopped going for a while before reconnecting with a new therapist after the whole pack situation happened. Simon was the one to officially get her started and we’ll learn why in Beth’s next audio!

8. Yes, she will! There will be more explanation for what that “pull” is and why the Open Wielder felt it as well

9. I promise that Glenwood isn’t nearly as sinister as people are thinking.

10. Simon is a character who is very dear to my heart and will appears in multiple audios, so finding a VA who could be on standby for that has been tricky! I’d love to hold auditions for anyone who’d like to try out and play him. I always imagine Simon as just a brick wall of a man (think Sig Curtis from FMAB or Massimo from Luca) so I’d love to find a voice that fits that image. No VA’s immediately come to mind but I also wouldn’t want to put any pressure on any creator mentioned.

11. I… completely forgot about the color pallet… adding it to the To Do List!

Thank you for all your questions! I hope you have a great day as well 💛

#castleaudios #castlereplies

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welcomehomefindings · 1 year

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Welcome Home ARG Findings 2

Below, I will list what I noticed that I haven’t seen anyone talk about before. I will list these under a spoiler. Do not read ahead if you want to figure out and find things on your own!

Today’s update is going to be brief, as I don’t have much to share. But I do want to get out what I have found and figured out since my last post.

First things first, I’ve been trying to figure out how the numbers of the “signature” fit into the puzzle. If you didn’t read my last post or need a refresher, I found that the “signature” in one of the images on the website wasn’t actually a signature at all, but a set of numbers placed on top of each other. The numbers, from what I could tell, were 6, 7, 3, and 5. My initial thought was to try to see if these corresponded to any sort of url, much like the misplaced letters on the website do. However, I tried every possible combination of these 4 numbers and found nothing. So as of right now, I still do not know what these are meant for but rather, we at least know what they’re NOT meant for.

The next thing I actually noticed before my first post, but completely forgot to include as I kept that one entirely focused on the slideshow images. This bit is hidden within the gif of Frank’s head spinning on the About Us page. On the books in the bottom right are a series of messages disguised as the books’ titles. Here is a closer look at the books themselves.

From what I can tell, it reads out in order as:

HELLO It’s You Know Who? I’m Your Neighbor. Do you ____ about me? You do. I see you

I can’t tell exactly what the third word of the fourth one is. We believe it’s either “know” or “think”, but it’s too crunchy and blurry for me to make it out as any exact word. So I’ve chosen to leave it as a blank in the transcription.

The last thing I’ll be adding to this post is another observation from the slideshow images that I completely forgot to include with the others due to how excited I was over finding the hidden words. This finding is in the very first image, and is particulaly just an observation that has me a little intrigued. You see, in this image of the slideshow we have several different merchandise items shown off. Each has a little letter placed on it in the advertisement, and the letters lead to descriptions of the items in the lower left of the image. This text is typically far too small to really make out, but by zooming in using my browser, I was able to identify what it says and the fact that there’s one certain item cut off and/or left out of this image. Whether intentionally or unintentionally done, it’s piqued my interest.

In the image, there’s 4 letters attached to the various items. I’ve highlighted them below.

A is attached to the little cut-outs, B is on the record, C is on the house, and D is seemingly attached to the puppet that is holding the record as there’s nothing else there for it to be for. To note, the letter D is not included in the item descriptions in the image. Only A, B, and C are included. I’m not sure if it was left out or if it was cut-off by the bottom of the image. Below is a zoomed in screenshot of the descriptions in the bottom left.

As you can see, D is excluded in the description. I can’t help but feel like if they didn’t want us to notice it, they wouldn’t have included the letter D on the image, or would have included the description for it with the other letters. It’s a little hard to make out what it says unless you look at it really close and focus, but I’ve typed out what it says below.

A. SALLY STARLET AND EDDIE DEAR can be played with for hours with their fellow cut-out neighbors! Included in the #3 "The Welcome Home Dailies" activity booklet. Howdy Pillar included. B. SING-WITH-WALLY RECORD lets yous sing along with Wally Darling and the cavalcade of colorful cast members from "Welcome Home." Includes 7-inch 45 rpm vinyl record with five memorable songs. C. HOME is a darling house fit for the most darling neighbor. One of eight houses to play and place on the WELCOME HOME TM PLAYMAT. Wally Darling included. Wood/Plastic.

That’s all that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen others mention. Thank you so much for taking the time to read, and I sincerely Welcome you Home~

#welcomehome #horrorarg #welcome home arg #welcome home #arg #Finding Home~

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echodrops · 1 year

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The Promises I’m Making (2023)

Oop, a little late on this this year, but it was really hard to come up with 50 different promises this year. Some years it is so easy, but this year I just drew a total blank. I think the complete unpredictability of the past two years has left me with the sense that I shouldn’t try to plan for anything--the wild events of the year might just send those plans up in smoke in an instant!

Still, the show must go on! So, 16 years later, I’m still making 50 promises a year. Definitely hoping that this year will be better than the last and I’ll be able to keep quite a few more promises, including some of them that have been rolled over for multiple years--maybe, maybe! Without any more ado, here they are:

2023 Promises

1) Work on the Texas house yard. It’s still never really recovered from the frost that killed everything in 2021 and it looks pretty shabby right now.

2) Get both bedroom floors sanded in the Utah house upstairs.

3) Get the Utah house sprinklers up and working ALL the way for this summer.

4) Actually get the back fence fixed up and the greenery back there trimmed and managed.

4) Put a new sink/vanity in the downstairs bathroom of the Utah house.

5) Related to that, lose at least 20 pounds. 2020-2022 was not kind to me and the stress eating was real.

6) Take my mom on a road trip to one of the U.S. states that she has not been to before.

7) Get back in touch with the allergy specialist to continue working on my allergy/inflammation issues.

8) Go through my closets and donate or throw away clothes that I know I will not wear.

9) Finish at least five books this year.

10) Organize my documents (especially student papers)—my desktop and documents folders give me nightmares just looking at them.

11) Help Kacchan through her first semester as a teacher! Exciting!!

12) Get a decent paper shredder to shred old mail.

13) Clean off my back patio/car port area so I can park my car there again.

14) Get the Texas house dishwasher fixed… I’m so tired of washing dishes by hand… How do people do this, oof.

15) 100% complete FF16 babyyyyy!!

16) Talk to an HR rep about my retirement savings so that I can consolidate my retirement accounts. I have been putting this off for like five years now.

17) Do at least one artwork to actually use that new paint program I bought.

18) Pay my credit debt down by at least $2000. I’m still paying off the hell year but I hope I can make progress on this.

19) Finish making changes to master courses. No more major revisions!

20) See a zone-tailed hawk. This is another rare-but-possible bird for my area.

21) Attend the FFXIV Fanfest in Las Vegas!

22) Update HaaH at least once. Please, Echo???

23) Get the small leak fixed in the side bathroom of the Texas house and have the faucets replaced.

24) Look into the cost of light housekeeping services to give myself a little more time to do things that aren’t work.

25) Catch up with hanging up all the charms/pins I’ve gotten recently on my corkboards; these are just sitting in boxes/bags around the house. D;

26) Use Spotify more often or cancel my Spotify Premium subscription; it’s not worth it if I don’t use it.

27) Get an art display book to preserve my great grandfather’s artworks (which we discovered my now late uncle STOLE from me even though they were willed to me when my grandfather passed away???)

28) Fix the screens on the Texas house.

29) Bird watch at a specific location in Texas. It’s my secret where since I’d rather not share my specific location on social media, but let’s hope I can finally make it to this place!

30) Finally get rid of the dirt pile in the front of the Utah house.

31) Sign NeNe (my puppy) up for the intermediate dog training course.

32) This is super nerdy, but my bro got me the FFXIV cookbook and made me promise to actually use it, so I guess I’d better at least try to make something from it.

33) Take down the remains of the wooden fence posts at the Utah house.

34) Take part in the fitness challenge at work this coming semester.

35) I will remember to take my medicine on time, all the time. Taking them late is messing things up quite a bit.

36) Get a stand for the toaster oven in the break room so we can finally use it!

37) Get my car detailed because the inside really needs to be vacuumed.

38) Go horseback riding on the island. I’ve never ridden on a beach before!

39) Eat healthier. Maybe cutting out snacks is too much to ask, but at least replace some average meals with salads, etc. and overall make an effort to actually eat better. Sometimes the fact that I feel like garbage is my own fault.

40) Wait, I should probably acquire a Playstation 5 so I can actually play my new copy of FF16, lol.

41) Help make sure the new tutoring requirement for the English classes goes over well.

42) Finish decorating the main office. I’ll feel better if my workplace reflects the level of professionalism and school spirit that I envisioned it having this year.

43) Catch every variant of Vivillon in Pokemon Go. I’m currently missing Icy Snow, Marine, Meadow, Monsoon, Ocean, Polar, River, Sandstorm, Savanna, Sun, and Tundra, if anyone would like to be friends!

44) Try to be more comprehensive with giving feedback to students. I’m always good at providing detailed comments on essays, but I’d like to spend more time commenting on smaller assignments too this year.

45) Make sure the retirement party for my coworkers who retired this year goes off without a hitch and honors them well.

46) Take part in more activities on campus; I have a tendency to not attend many events because they’re in the evening when I’m tired, but I should really stay more often.

47) Write some Chainsaw Man fanfic for @mistystarshine!

48) Help my parents tear out the carpet in my old childhood bedroom.

49) Do something to destress (massage, pedicure, something?) at least once per month. I gotta take better care of myself…

50) I will keep my promises!

Wish me luck!

#50 promises #new year's resolutions #IRL stuff

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sylvieeee5 · 2 years

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IT. IS. MBS TIME

AAAAAAAAA

HI!!! Don’t know if you know me, but I’m Sylv! I do liveblogs of MBS (I’ve been a fan since fifth grade haha) that are QUESTIONABLY readable and cat-picture heavy!! Speaking of… a little kitty update!!

If you’ve been reading my LBs for a while, you may remember this adorable bean:

Well, I’m delighted to announce that Sonic has found his forever home- with my grandparents! Congrats on winning them over, little man- can’t wait to see how much you’ve grown when they come to visit next week!

okay i actually have to watch it now hhhhh

fear. and excitement

alright.

MBS Season 2, Episode 1: A Perilous Journey.

Let’s go.

!Warning!! Book/show spoilers ahead!

0:32

Welp, she said it! Roll credits on the whole production, boys. (actually no don’t habsgshdhssh)

0:44

SQ SIGHTING SQ SIGHTINF

ahem.

1:53

DR GARRISON SIGHTING

GIRLBOSSSS

okay we haven’t even made it past the RECAP yet, come on sylv-

2:39

OH NO

MADGE HOW COULD YOU

rip mouse 😭😭😭