#just require time but i also have to deal with it's deadlines and i have 2 investigation projects going on and i want to make a paper with

[quemirabobo]

I just realized that I've been putting too much on my plate lately and instead of getting some of that shit done all I end up with is feeling sick every week and things keep accumulating and I stress myself ten times more and I end up doing nothing, reading something to distract myself of the fucking titanic quest I put my ass on

[todayisafridaynight]

YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEE PRICELESS IS SO GOOD RIGHT... LOVE THE ENDING FOR THAT... and very much anticipating First Penguin's... which I am DETERMINED to continued today... I feel bad for falling behind because I ended up binging a whole anime yesterday since the secondary protagonist was based on Tsutsumi and lost track of Fucking Everything 😭😭😭he is so cute though😚

OH BUT YEAH I played DQXI's demo [the first ten hours of the game or so]... yeaaahhhh... definitely that kind of game for me too... but I hope whenever you get back to it you have a good time! I may not know a thing about Metroid but I am also happy to hear it was an enjoyable experience overall :] I enjoy the tag rambles very much :]

REGARDLESS... EPIC... I HOPE YOU ENJOY SP... OR AT THE VERY LEAST I HOPE YOU CAN STICK WITH IT UNTIL IT BECOMES ENJOYABLE...

AND YOU'RE JUST NOT GOING TO DROP THE TITLE so mean telling me about all these interesting things to watch and not sharin the title (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)

TEN HOURS FOR THE DEMO ??? long as hell demo... OH BUT NO i love the games a lot !! ive followed the series for a while since. i do have that dragon ball/toriyama fanatic in me unfortunately even if i dont like toriyama himself ☠️☠️ i only really got to actually start one of the games last year when my bro got DQXI for me and ive been loving it so far (*￣▽￣*)ミ|Ю

i've BEEN enjoying it so far !! i'm just about to start episode four tho i AM gonna lose my mind if this hospital arc goes on one more episode bro this half the series already ☠️

[nanowrimo]

Tips for Writing When Struggling With Executive Dysfunction

Executive dysfunction can make writing challenging. NaNo participant, August, has some tips on dealing with task initiation and how to keep writing so you can reach your writing goals. Embarking on a writing project is quite the undertaking. After years of sticking to short pieces, I decided to start working on my first novel last NaNoWriMo. However, it felt like I was fighting with my own mind to get things done.

Executive dysfunction is a term used to describe weaknesses in the cognitive process that organizes thoughts and activities, prioritizes tasks, manages time efficiently, and makes decisions. It’s common in certain disorders, such as Depression, ADHD, and autism. Executive function skills are used to establish structures and strategies and to determine the actions required to move a project forward. So for those of us who struggle with executive dysfunction, dedicating ourselves to a project could get quite overwhelming. Here are some little tips and tricks I’ve compiled throughout my experience.

How to start:

Task initiation is one of the biggest struggles when dealing with executive dysfunction. This is especially hard with writing, since you need time to muster the energy needed to jump into your story. Here are some tips:

1. Start a 1-3 minute timer and force yourself to write something, anything, before it ends. The words that come out don’t matter. You can just write, “I don’t know.” The point is to force yourself into the writing zone.

2. Leave bread crumbs for yourself at the end of each writing session to make picking up where you left off easier. For example, stop in the middle of a sentence or thought, so the next time you write you won’t have to tackle something completely new.  You just have to finish that incomplete thought and continue from there. You could also leave some notes about what happens next, cutting down thinking time in your next session.

3. Try free writing. This is a great way to get those creative juices flowing with minimal effort. Free writing alleviates the pressure of writing something good. Spend a few minutes writing about anything, like your day or a frustrated ramble about your story. It’s like a warm up before your writing session.

How to keep going:

So you’ve started your writing session. How do you keep writing? Most importantly, how do you keep working on your project?  When struggling with executive dysfunction, the regular “set a schedule” approach doesn’t tend to work.

1. Scale down your goal if your big, overarching goal for your project is overwhelming. Try changing your goal to something more manageable and short term. For example, try writing 500 words a day. This might make it less likely for you to lose steam half way through.

2. Try writing sprints if daily goals aren’t working. Instead of hitting a certain word count, you’re setting a timer and writing for its entire duration

3. Don’t feel bad for needing external motivation. Will promising yourself a pizza after you hit your goal motivate you to write? By all means, do so. Maybe you just need a friend to ask you if you’ve written at the end of the day. Find out what motivates you.

4. Find a writing buddy. This can be someone who can sit down and write at the same time to hold you accountable. Or it can be a critique partner that expects you to turn in something by a certain deadline.

5. Try something new. This is one of the best ways to combat how constraining and overwhelming your writing might feel. It’s okay to lose interest in your project for awhile and try something new. Unless you’re racing to meet a deadline, you have no obligation to keep working on a project that isn’t working for you. Setting a project aside doesn’t mean giving up on it. You might only need some time away from it before you are able to finish it.

Trying something new could also mean changing where or how you write. Usually write at home? Try a coffee shop. Do you usually type? Try hand writing. It might or might not work for you. But change could be quite refreshing for your mind.

6. Write whenever you can.

Sometimes the urge to write comes while you’re waiting for lunch to heat up, or right before you go to bed. Motivation can be hard to find with executive dysfunction, and designated writing times don’t always work. Have something on hand you can easily pull out to write with to take advantage of these moments. Jotting down a hundred words as you’re waiting for dinner to cool might not seem like much, but it’s still words contributed to your word count.

Some of these tips might work for you. Some might not. Writing successfully is mostly about finding what works and running with it. These are things I found helpful when I embarked on my first novel and I hope it would at least give you some ideas.

Happy writing!

August is a 19 year old self proclaimed nerd and aspiring writer. They are currently taking a gap year after high school and are planning to start their undergraduate psychology degree soon. They have been writing short poetry for two years and recently started work on their first fantasy novel. When not writing, they are busy reading or being a musical theatre enthusiast. Check out some of their writing on Instagram. Photo by Miriam Alonso from Pexels

[ridiasfangirlings]

How to buy K merch in the Year 2024

I got several asks about this so rather than do each individually, I’ve decided to just make one big How to Buy K Merch in the Year 2024 post. I’m going to skip over the more obvious western sites like eBay and focus more on Japanese sites here. Because there hasn’t been much new K merch in some time keep in mind that most of what you will be looking for is secondhand, which means availability will vary.

Shopping Services

For some of these sites you will need a shopping service, so we’ll start there. This is by no means a comprehensive list of available shopping services, just ones I’ve used and liked. 

FromJapan - This one is very straightforward — copy and paste the url of the item you want into their search bar. For anything in certain sites like Rakuten this will pull up a page that will give you the item and its price in your currency and you can just click add to cart. For other sites you may need to request a price quote, there’s a small form to fill out and they’ll get back to you on if they can order it. Timing depends on when you make the request. The nice thing about FromJapan is they will hold items for you for 45 days, so you can collect multiple purchases from multiple sites over time and have them all shipped at once. The bad side is that after 45 days they will discard your items, so keep an eye on when your oldest item arrived (you can see how long it’s been at their warehouse on your account page, and they will email you as the deadline gets close too).

Treasure Japan - Treasure Japan is a much smaller service than the others on this list but also the one I’ve used the longest. Being a smaller service means they tend to be more able to purchase items that might have seller restrictions, particularly from places like Mercari. Some listings when pasted into other shopping service sites will have a ‘cannot purchase from this seller’ warning, because some sellers don’t want to deal with shopping services. I haven’t had much trouble with this merchandise-wise, but when I’ve run into it with j-fashion Treasure Japan has been able to order when the bigger services couldn’t. Their site is set up so you will input different sites in different sections, there’s one for auction, one for ‘flea market’ (this will be places like Mercari) and one for shopping sites. 

Buyee/Tenso - Buyee is a shopping service, Tenso is a forwarding service. They’re owned by the same parent company but are separate sites and you’ll need a separate account for each. Buyee is directly integrated with some sites like Mercari and Yahoo Japan, you can put in the url into their search bar and get a listing that you can buy immediately. Like FromJapan, any sites outside of the ones they’re integrated into will require you to request a quote (I found this more difficult with Buyee than FromJapan, personally) and they will sometimes be unable to purchase items. They will hold your items for 30 days at no charge, and you can request to consolidate packages for shipping.

Tenso, as I said above, is a forwarding service and somewhat more complicated. Basically when you sign up they will give you a Japanese address (presumably one of their warehouses) and you can then buy directly from Japanese websites, inputting the address you were given in the address field and paying with your own credit card. The items will be shipped to Tenso and from there you can have them sent to you. Obviously this is more complicated than a shopping service. I’ve used it mainly for things that didn’t involve an item being shipped (this is how I signed up for Fan Clan back in the day, for example, though my lottery goods were sent via Tenso too) or sites that require you to sign up to purchase from. I wouldn’t recommend it for any marketplace type site unless you’re fluent in Japanese, since sellers on those sites may try to communicate with you. 

Stores 

AmiAmi (no shopping service needed) - AmiAmi is mainly for new goods but I’ll mention it here anyway, in case K ever gets more merch. AmiAmi usually sells out on preorders, you place your order and they will let you know when the item arrives. You pay at that time. They do sometimes get used merch though so you can keep an eye out there, sometimes there will be decent deals on items that only have small flaws like the box being damaged. 

Amazon Japan (may or may not need a shopping service) - Did you know overseas people can buy from Amazon Japan? You do now! You will need to make a new account, even if you have an Amazon account in your country. Whether you need a shopping service or not depends on the item. Anything sold directly by the company will likely not need a shopping service — the majority of my K manga and the stage plays were all bought directly from here, and when I was supplying raws for Countdown and LSW I was buying the magazines from here as well (I’ve also used it for Pokémon plushies and sewing books). If the item is being sold by a third party seller though you will likely need a shopping service. The site will tell you when you try to check out.

Surugaya EN (no shopping service required)/ Surugaya JP (shopping service required) - This is a secondhand shop and a great place to find merch. The main difference between the English site and the Japanese one is that the Japanese site has a larger selection (particularly doujinshi, and even more particularly spicy doujinshi). The English site periodically has free shipping sales so keep an eye out. Surugaya also has physical stores and will sometimes share merch between the store and the site so keep that in mind too, I have had items canceled before because they sold out in store and the listing hadn’t been updated yet.

Mandarake (no shopping service needed) - Another secondhand shop similar to Surugaya. I have not actually purchased from them myself and am not fond of their interface but I know people who have bought things from here. Like Surugaya they share stock with physical stores so something you want can sell out even after you’ve purchased. 

Lashinbang (shoppng service required) - More secondhand shops. Lashinbang is rather small though so they don't always have much stuff, at least not for K.

CDJapan (no shopping service needed) - This is also better for new merch than secondhand but still worth a mention. I’ve found their prices tend to be worse than a lot of other stores though, this is more of a last resort for me.

Otaku Republic/Goods Republic (no shopping service needed) - Otaku sells doujinshi, Goods sells merch. The main draw is that these two are easy to search if you’re uncomfortable dealing with Japanese sites. I haven’t used them in quite a while but when I was buying from them they would send me free gifts with every purchase (my S4 cup came from them, as well as a bunch of clear file folders that I didn’t take pictures of because they’re being used as sewing pattern storage right now). The main downside is that while shipping is free over $50 they massively mark up the base prices to make up for it. I eventually stopped using this site because the shopping service was cheaper even with shipping and fees, you are paying for convenience. A lot of their ‘inventory’ is just listings from other sites including Surugaya, so check there first.

GoraShop (shopping service required) - This is Gora’s direct bookshop! They only have the season novelizations and Idol K books right now, as well as some Ayaka stuff. 

Kinkurido (shopping service required) - This is the King Amusement Creative shop. All Memories was sold through this shop but is currently sold out, if they ever restock Gora will likely announce it on their Twitter. They do have some other small K goods available, including some CDs and artbooks (and Sarumi body pillows). 

Marketplaces

Mercari Japan (Shopping service needed) - If you’ve ever used the English version of Mercari, here it is again but Japanese edition. You can find a lot of good used pieces here but prices are set by the individual seller so be wary of overpaying the first thing you find. Be sure to use a translator to look at the description in case you're buying a damaged item. Sometimes shopping services can try to negotiate the prices if you ask. 

Yahoo Japan Auctions (shopping service needed) - Similarly as above, if you’re familiar with eBay this is fundamentally the same thing. Some shopping services will allow you to place last minute ‘sniper’ bids, and most will let you set a maximum bid and keep bidding on your behalf until that max is reached. 

Shopping tips and things to know

The good news about buying from Japan right now: the yen is weak, so you can get deals! In the US, anyway. This may depend on your country so if you’re unsure on the exchange rate you can google “[your country’s currency] to yen exchange rate” and it should give you an approximate.

The bad news: shipping is killer. Keep that in mind, especially if you’re buying heavy items like bags or shoes (yes, K has those, there are several SuperGroupies collabs. If you want a S4 purse or Yata Misaki shoes keep in mind you will probably be paying through the nose for shipping). For the European types, you may have additional taxes too so be aware of your country’s import laws. Ditto when it comes to customs. For my fellow Americans, I have never had a customs issue even when buying fairly pricey dresses so you’re probably okay on that end but I can’t speak for other countries. 

Character tax is real. Basically, more popular characters will likely have more expensive merch because there’s more demand — for example, Fushimi and Yata merch tends to be more expensive than, say, Silvers merch. Keychains and pins are usually cheaper than larger items like figures and standees either way though. 

Most of the Japanese sites will need to be searched in Japanese. For character names, I suggest going to the K wiki and grabbing your favorite character’s name in kanji and using that to search. For pairings, while marketplace sites like Mercari may have listings under the pairing name sites like Suruga will use the two individual character names so you’ll want to search under that. If your browser doesn’t have an add on to translate that’s very helpful to grab in order to make your experience easier. For K itself, in general this is really the downside of having a favorite series with a one letter title. However, using ‘Missing Kings,’ ‘Return of Kings’ or ‘Seven Stories’ can be helpful here but will likely mostly turn up merch made for that specific season/movie. 

If you want to look up something specific like a plush but don't know the Japanese word for it, Jisho can be helpful. Look up the kanji for the word you want and then copy-paste into your search. The downside is sometimes there are multiple words for the same thing or a word may be in kanji but people use the hiragana more often and you won't know, but it should get you on the right path to start.

On buying spicier goods: most shopping services have it in their terms that they will not buy adult items. In practice, however, this depends. I've had FromJapan refuse to buy perfectly tame G-rated doujinshi. Treasure Japan has in their terms that they won't ship adult items but like 70% of my doujinshi collection was purchased through them, with an R18 Sarumi book purchased as recently as last year. I've heard Buyee also states that they won't ship adult items but it's hit or miss if they turn down your order, and if you buy directly using Tenso they likely won't even open your package. Keep your country's laws regarding importing in mind, especially if you think customs might be likely to poke around in your package. Don't get in legal trouble just for spicy drawings.

Buying secondhand is a marathon, not a sprint. Sometimes it takes a while for what you want to show up, so just keep looking! When I was collecting my nui set I literally bookmarked the search for “K ぬい” (nui) on Mercari and checked every day or so, which may be more obsessive than you want but it does get the job done (I was molded in the merch search mines of trying to find lolita dresses that haven’t been sold for 10 years, so I’m used to this kind of thing). If you keep looking you may even find things you didn't know you needed, like this Sarumi bedsheet I forgot to add into my collection post.

Happy hunting!

[comicaurora]

Hi! I'm a big fan of your work. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

 I'm an artist who's been working on a story with a close writer friend of mine since the pandemic. Together we've outlined a webcomic that we're both very excited and passionate about, and it's been a great experience. Late last year we started actually making the comic itself, and a little less than a year later we're 37 pages in. 

I wanted to ask you how you're able to somehow push out three high-quality pages every week? I work full time, and most days I'm too drained when I get home to immediately start working on the comic. Plus all the other stuff I have to take care of to be a functional adult. I'm not even that slow of an artist, but it just doesn't feel like there's enough hours in the day. At my current rate, I get about one page done per week. I'm 24 now, I don't want to be in my 50s still working on this story. Do you have any advice for increasing your output as an artist without completely overwhelming yourself?

Sorry for the wordy question. There's a reason I'm the artist and not the writer.

Oof, that's a tough one!

I mean, to start with, a fundamental difference in our schedules is I don't work full time. Everything I do for a living is very self-scheduled, and I can work far in advance to meet the deadlines I set and take entire days or even weeks off when I need them. Back when I was in college, dealing with outside schedule requirements, I definitely wouldn't have been able to keep up everything I do now.

That said, there are still methods to streamline and speed up the artistic process. I don't know the details of your methods, but I'd recommend sketching and storyboarding larger numbers of pages at a time and finalizing them at a more leisurely pace, rather than taking one page of comic at a time from a total blank to a finalized, polished version. The storyboard can be very basic; many of mine are little more than color-coded scribbles showing the characters and text boxes showing their dialogue. It's just enough to be readable to me so I can go in and edit it for pacing and timing, but it looks like absolute chickenscratch to anyone else. On the production side, that makes it much more feasible for me to work on multiple pages at a time, since I don't need to finish polishing one page before I can start boarding another.

This method can be expanded into a bit of a factory production line, allowing for a two-pronged approach of progress - one for finalizing older pages, the other farther along for storyboarding new ones. And once you have multiple pages done at a time, you can schedule them well in advance, which takes a lot of deadline pressure off and can make it less mentally daunting to work on. This also diversifies the space of things you can work on, depending on your headspace and energy levels - which is a useful option to have when you're wiped from outside responsibilities.

[genericpuff]

The Kiss Bet Episode 172 - Hot Pot and Venting About How I Want My 70 Cents Back

Okay, look, this isn't a post I was expecting to make today but it's something that just happened and I have to fucking talk about, so let me preface this with some context.

I had to buy coins recently and because I switched to using my iPad for reading comics on, I got a "new reader" type deal from Webtoons for a coin bundle that got me like 100 coins for $5; because technically it was a 'new account' as Webtoons operates their in-game currency model on apps, not on actual emails (meaning if you use the app on an Android phone and then switch to an Apple iOS device, they're technically two separate accounts which you sync the reading data between via the account info linked via the email, therefore they have two separate coin wallets).

So with more coins than I knew what to do with, I decided to start FastPassing The Kiss Bet again, which I had recently stopped FP'ing around the S3 mark, as it's recently devolved back into the "will they won't they" trope, but instead of between Sara-Lin and Joe, it's between Sara-Lin and Joe's younger brother (the "true endgame") Oliver.

Now I don't mind the ship in essence. Joe was definitely not gonna be endgame, it was always gonna be Oliver, anyone who's read any amount of romance before - especially high school romances - knows how this shit tends to go, and The Kiss Bet isn't exactly trying to be groundbreaking or subversive in any way, it knows exactly what it's about and what it's trying to accomplish.

But it's almost become a little too good at this. Because in playing the "will they won't they" game for so long with a character that we know is endgame, it's basically been weeks and weeks and weeks of-

That said, after I caught up on the recent FP episodes, it seemed like stuff was finally moving a little bit. We were finally meeting Oliver's mom and his stepdad who he has a fractured relationship with, Joe was finally getting with his true endgame girl, Vicky (who's totally not an exact genderbent version of Joe lmao) and Sara-Lin was finally realizing she had feelings for Oliver.

And then the newest episode came out, Episode 172 - Hot Pot and Venting.

CAUTION: FASTPASS SPOILERS FOR THE KISS BET OFFICIALLY BEGIN HERE!

Already I was a little petty over the title like "lmao ok clunky title but whatever". I swept it off as not a genuine criticism, just me being a nitpicking asshole over what's essentially Fluff: The Comic.

The episode cost 7 coins, which is about roughly 70 cents, albeit closer to a dollar for Canadian readers (here's something they don't tell you about Canada - our Monopoly game currency is just as fucked as it looks) and that's where I'm gonna get into my second disclaimer that I need to be perfectly clear about (and it'll be what we get more into later on in this post).

I understand the principle of paying for art. I understand fully that many of these webtoons are being produced on tight deadlines by creators who often can only afford 1-2 assistants, if any at all. I understand and fully agree that creators deserve to be paid for their skills, time, and efforts, not just as creators working on the hellsite that is Webtoons, but as artists in general who deserve to make a living the same as anyone else. Anyone who follows my stuff here knows I'm an artist myself so I would never debate the ethical necessity of paying artists for their work.

However.

I can say that, and also agree with the people who have stated in discussion circles such as on /r/webtoons that a lot of the comics that have started charging 7 coins have been suspiciously delivering less comic since. And it's not even so much in the literal panel count, the liquid volume of these comics have remained the same, but the calorie count has dropped significantly. Food metaphors aside, what I mean is that despite many of these comics maintaining their 40-60 minimum panel count requirement, they have in fact reduced the actual amount of content that happens in them, and The Kiss Bet's newest episode is a stark example of what I mean.

I am going to start by posting only post three panels - three panels that literally sum up the entirety of Episode 172 and what it chooses to spend its time on.

That is it. That is literally all that's established in this episode. I'd tell you to go read it yourself, but honestly, this is genuinely one of those rare times I can honestly say that a 40+ panel episode is not worth 70 cents and you'd be better off, and that's saying a LOT when these episodes are only priced at the cost of a gumball. At least Lore Olympus has entertainment in how bad it is most of the time, Episode 172 of The Kiss Bet is just nothing. You will literally get more substance and flavor from an actual gumball.

Literally every other panel in this episode is either repeating the same dialogue (Sara-Lin saying the same thing multiple different times to express how Oliver is holding her hand or how his stepdad is a dick) and then Sara-Lin and Oliver staring at each other. Over. And over. Again.

I am not joking. I did not cut anything out in that sequence. That is where the episode ends. Complete nothingburger, seemingly cut off right as it was just getting started like Cait Corrain's career.

Out of the entire episode, there were 45 panels. So I can safely assume Ingrid's minimum panel requirement is at least 40 per episode, that's me assuming the best that she didn't exactly meet her panel minimum at 45 panels on the dot.

Out of those 45 panels, there were:

Two actual unique backgrounds that weren't gradients or just a single piece of furniture

4 separate panels of Sara-Lin freaking out over Oliver holding her hand and wondering if he even noticed

10 panels of Sara-Lin staring at Oliver either dumbfounded or asking him to repeat himself (or apologizing over nothing)

5 panels of the characters saying nothing

11 panels of Sara-Lin repeating information in different ways that could have been accomplished in half that time

Two separate occasions of Oliver getting Sara's attention from off-panel, literally formatted the exact same way both times (and both followed by reaction panels of Sara-Lin staring at him dumbfounded)

Way too many panels of Sara-Lin blushing in response to Oliver being an asshole tbh like literally this guy's a douchebag, Joe may have been the "out of her league" love interest but at least he was nice and didn't treat Sara-Lin like someone who just bought a Husky as a "starter pet" ???

Again, I don't usually like being a dick about the coin costs, and I definitely don't like being a hypocrite in telling people they should pay artists for their work while simultaneously posting their paywalled content like this, but I think there does come a point where it feels more irresponsible for people to not be aware of what they're about to pay for and how little they're going to be getting. This episode is literally one of the best - and worst - examples of how far the romance genre has fallen on the platform - when it's not being overtaken and oversaturated by problematic series that romanticize abuse and sexual assault, it's being dragged to death with the most boring executions of tropes that everyone has seen before and is only exciting for anyone who's never read a book or watched a romance movie, period.

And here's the thing where I do approach a bit more "hot take" territory, but every time I see this argument come up about episodes not being worth the coin cost, I see others who rightfully argue that 70 cents isn't that much to pay for what you're getting - weekly episodes of work that are usually always delivered on time, with more panels than you would ever typically see in a free to read comic.

But here's where I take issue with that argument, as much as the principle of it is sound, it misses the overall point: readers are paying for entertainment first and foremost, so can anyone who's actually paying for regular refills on their app currency step away from this and truly call it "entertainment"? Nothing was gained. The comic had 45 panels to say something, anything, and managed to not even squeak out so much of a word. Even the silent moments have no substance, they just reiterate information that we already know.

Do we really need another panel of Sara-Lin blushing at Oliver? We've known for weeks now that she has a crush on him. Do we really need another panel of Oliver getting Sara-Lin's attention? What is this actually showing of their chemistry? What is being shown here that hasn't been shown numerous times - with and without dialogue - for weeks now? What does the comic have to show for itself after four seasons?

Another point of the "it's just 70 cents, don't be an asshole" argument that people seem to miss is it's not 70 cents. It's $1. Because if you want to buy a single episode of the Kiss Bet, you can't just pay for the individual episode in isolation, you have to pay for the coins first, and $1 is the absolute bare minimum you have to pay to get 10 coins, which will only pay for one episode of a 7 coin series - of which there are many now, basically any series that's 40 panels or more will cost 7 coins and, shocker, those are the series that WT will tend to promote most, you'll rarely see the 5 coins series in the banner ads, and that's not even getting into how there are more and more series cropping up that have 5+ episodes behind FP rather than the traditional three.

So if you're someone who's (almost definitely) keeping up with more than one series? You can't just pay the $1, you have to pay at least $5 for 50 coins, and that will NOT go far anymore or cut as evenly as it used to when just about every series is now 7 coins. Webtoons knows fully well what kind of game they're playing by making the new coin cost an uneven number while still offering increments of 5/10 in their coin bundles. They undoubtedly want you to be left with an uneven number so that you'll be easily lured into buying more coins so you don't 'waste' the uneven amount you have left that isn't enough to buy the episodes for the series you want to read. Obviously this is more speculation and not fact, but it's a common business model and with the series that have adopted the 7 coin count model (rather than starting off with 7 coins outright) such as The Kiss Bet and Lore Olympus, it's becoming abundantly clear that either the creators or the platform itself is encouraging these series to meet their panel minimums with as little content as possible in order to get more money out of readers who are barely even being drip fed actual entertainment and narrative progression, let alone spoon fed.

And then there's the waiting. The goddamn waiting. So many of these series guilty of siphoning their content off through a hose that they're deliberately standing on are designed intentionally with the most egregious cliffhangers in mind to keep their audience hooked so they'll undoubtedly FP next week. Do you know what that amount of waiting does to a comic? To its readers? First off, it artificially extends the actual pacing of the comic to make it feel longer than it is, when in reality, many of these plotlines are happening in a vacuum of very short bursts of time. Case in point, Lore Olympus is commonly confused for having a plotline that takes place over the course of months, when actually when laid end to end in order of cause and effect, many of its subplots - including the romance of Hades and Persephone - takes place over the course of days. This over-inflates the plotline's actual depth and, even worse so, it makes it harder for readers to keep up with information that's being delivered, as it often takes weeks for that information to actually go anywhere - so by the time it does, many readers have straight up forgotten about it.

It's absolutely not okay that so many of these kinds of series are normalizing literal slow burning for an audience who's paying to be entertained. It's not a "slow burn". It's just slow, and deliberately so. It's absolutely NOT FUN to follow a comic that does not go anywhere week after week. It's frustrating. And before long, it starts to feel like gambler's fallacy, where readers have to essentially gaslight themselves into paying into it more and more convinced that it has to pay off eventually, based on a promise that was never actually made, only assumed in good faith. And readers should not have to fill in the bulk of the content that isn't happening with their own imaginations, which is something that happens a LOT in these series that spend so much time on the characters just staring at each other and saying nothing. It's not 'plot' to just draw characters blushing and have your audience fill in the rest of it entirely on their own. This is certainly a technique in writing, but in the case of The Kiss Bet and other comics like it, it's much less of a valid technique and more just flat out manipulating your audience into falling so hard into the sunk cost fallacy trap that they don't notice they're being robbed blind by the plot that hasn't actually happened - and they've been paying for that financial and emotional robbery out of their own pockets and brains every step of the way.

Again, I do not care about the coin cost in and of itself, seventy cents IS still an incredibly cheap price for weekly updates of a series that has to put out so many panels each week. But as a reader and a customer, I should not be leaving these updates with less information than what I started with. And I'm someone who's incredibly old school by webcomic standards, there are comics that I follow that have updated 1-2 pages a week for over a decade that manage to do more with their limited pages than Lore Olympus and The Kiss Bet manage to do after entire hiatuses filled with pre-production time.

Why does this page of Alfie manage to move both the intrinsic plot of the titular character as well as the external plot that's going on around her in one page made up of 5 panels better than what The Kiss Bet can do in 45?

Why does this page of Tamberlane manage to convey more information about the world's lore and the people in it in a way that's emotionally driven and clearly affecting the characters without outright info-dumping than what Lore Olympus has managed to spit out onto its plate since S3 started over a year ago?

How does Tales from Alderwood manage to be more entertaining and convey more meaningful storytelling through its characters in a single page consisting of zero dialogue than what The Kiss Bet can convey in its silent panels of staring, blushing, and repetitive stuttering?

Why are the creators who are relying entirely on their own efforts, resources, and ability to generate income through community interaction and support putting out better work with less panels and on slower schedules for FREE than what we're seeing from professional creators on a professional publishing platform who are being paid to do this as their job?

There's this saying in the tattooing industry: good work isn't cheap and cheap work isn't good.

At this point, 70 cents is not a 'bargain' as many people like to argue in defense of the creators. And while I do want to have good faith in the creators who don't pull this shit, the creators who clearly go above and beyond to do what they do in the pursuit of storytelling and polishing their craft to be the best piece of work that it can be - the comics that are worth paying 70 cents and beyond for - are not the comics that Webtoons is promoting to people. The creators of the works that genuinely deserve more than 70 cents per update are being left to fend for themselves without support from the platform, while those that aren't worth the price of even a flavorless gumball are consistently winning the Wonka Golden Ticket lottery.

The cost of 70 cents is relative. For some works it's a genuine bargain. For others like the The Kiss Bet and Lore Olympus, 70 cents is not a "bargain", it's not a "good deal", it's exactly the value of what you're paying for - cheap work that isn't good.

[wordsbyrian]

Frat Daddy the Third - USWNT x Reader

Summary/Request: Anon sorta said "reader being under the legal drinking age but the team travels to Europe and the reader goes out...team ends up taking care of them at the end"

A/N: So this isn't exactly what anon requested but this what my brain made of it. Enjoy.

Trigger warning: Excessive drinking of Alcohol and mentions of a date rape drug but no one gets hurt.

Despite what everyone else may think, there is nothing cool about trying to balance being in college and being on the senior national team.

Okay, maybe that is slightly dramatic because playing on the same team as some of the women you grew up idolizing is incredibly cool but there are some downsides.

You could waste time listing them all but there is only me that is bugging you right now: not being able to have a drink when you want one.

Once again, this might seem like a small thing but you attend one of the top party schools in the country: Florida State. 

So more often than not you have a little bit of alcohol in your system.

Bored while studying, have a beer or two.

Headed to a 3-hour lecture, take a shot before walking across campus.

If any of the other sports teams win, let’s find a frat party.

Your team wins, and the party’s at your place.

Get a call-up, throw a party.

It’s not alcoholism if you’re still an undergrad.

And it’s not a hangover if you refuse to tell anyone what you did the night before.

This is exactly what you’re doing now as you wait in Newark airport with Kristie and all your teammates on the Spirit. They had faced each other to a nil-nil draw last night while you and the Seminoles beat Rutgers. 

And yes, you had thrown a small party in the hotel afterward.

So not only were you incredibly hungover (honestly you were probably still drunk), but you were also dealing with some of your loudest national teammates.

Sinking lower into your seat, you pull your hat lower on your head and turn up the volume in your headphones.

Just as you begin to drift off, you feel multiple pairs of eyes on you.

Opening one of your own, you aren’t surprised to see Kelley directly in your face and everyone else staring at you.

“Can I help you,” you question, taking your headphones off.

“Why are you sweating,” Kelley asks, “And why do you smell like the aisle of a liquor store?”

Closing your eyes you respond, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“So if I passed a bottle of,” she pauses, taking a big sniff, “Hennessy under your nose, you wouldn’t be tempted to throw up?”

Just the mention of the drink that you had too much of last night is enough to make you gag. That in turn makes Kelley shake her head at you.

“Next time use a stronger body spray, kid,” she says before walking away.

The incident doesn’t get brought up again.

And as far as you know Kelley doesn’t mention it to anyone else but she does get herself assigned as your roommate.

It isn’t until you are in your shared hotel room, complaining about your homework that the topic of alcohol even comes up again.

“Mill, Kant, and morals are best studied with a beer,” you grumble not having heard Kelley re-enter the room with Sonnett.

“Day drinking while studying ethics is a new level, kid,” Sonny says, causing you to whip your head around to face her.

“Don’t know if you’ve noticed but I don’t have a beer, so no day drinking is occurring,” you say, turning back to continue writing your paper.

“Why are you studying ethics and morals anyway,” Kelley asks, “Aren’t you getting a degree in computer engineering?”

“It’s a required course.”

She gives a small ‘oh’ in response and seconds later you can hear her and Emily whispering behind you, something that you mistakenly choose to ignore seeing as how deadlines don’t care about timezones.

Eventually, you forget the two of them are even in the room and begin to find your groove again making a significant amount of progress on your paper.

That groove is broken when the two of them walk up to either side of you and close your laptop.

“Are you serious right now,” you ask, groaning when they don’t take their hands off it, “I only have two hours left to finish this paper.”

“Relax Y/N/N, we’re here to make you a deal,” Emily says placatingly.

“Alright, well hurry up.”

“We’re gonna ask you two questions,” Kelley explains, “Answer both correctly and score a goal tomorrow and we’ll bring you with us when we go out after the game.”

“Can I answer the questions and type my paper at the same time,” you beg, still trying to remove their hands from your laptop.

“Fine,” they say simultaneously, watching as you scramble to get back to your essay.

“Ok, the first question,” Emily says, “What is the legal drinking age in France?”

“There isn’t one,” you answer, “But you have to be 18 to purchase any alcohol.”

“Correct, next question, “Kelley says, “What are three characteristics of alcohol use disorders?”

“Inability to limit drinking, continuing to drink despite personal or professional problems, and wanting to drink so bad that you can’t think of anything else.”

“Correct again,” the older defender says, “Now score a goal and you get to hang out with the big kids after the game.”

“Cool, will the ‘big kids’ leave me alone now,” you beg, citing another source for your paper.

“Alright, fine, see you later Y/N/N,” Emily says, dragging Kelley out of the room.

By the time you’re standing on the touchline the next day, you’ve completely forgotten about the deals you’ve made with the Frat Daddies.

No, you’re more focused on trying to find a way past Wendie Renard and the rest of the French back 3 so that you can leave the stadium with a win.

It’s a hard hustle but you finally manage to take a good shot in the 79th minute that barely sails over the fingertips of the French goalie.

You don’t remember the deal until Kelley leaps into your arms yelling about how she’s buying your first drink.

And that doesn’t fully register in your mind until Kelley is forcing you to get out of bed and get dressed that night.

The club you and the rest of the team find yourselves in is cooler than any of the ones you’ve snuck into at school. But that’s to be expected seeing as how Tallahassee isn’t known for much else besides being home to Florida State.

You spend most of the night with your teammates dancing and convincing them to buy you shots, you get through eight of them before they catch on and you have to buy your own drinks.

That’s when things take a turn for the worse.

One second you’re at the bar talking with a pretty French girl while waiting for your beer and the next, you’re drinking a beer that is definitely not supposed to be salty.

Stumbling towards where you left your teammates, you walk straight into Kelley’s arms.

“Kelley, we need to leave,” you slur-shout into her ear.

“What, why?”

“Because I just had a salty Modelo and Modelo is not supposed to be salty,” you say frantically, “GHB makes beer salty and now it’s getting really hard to breathe, so can we please leave.”

“Oh my god, Y/N,” she says.

“I only took a sip but we need to leave.”

It doesn’t take very long for Kelley to spring into action and within the next 10 minutes, you’re on Emily’s back being carried back to the hotel. This is great because you are quickly losing the ability to move your limbs.

When you get back to the hotel, you’re barely aware of Kelley softly telling you everything’s going to be fine while she helps you get ready for bed.

You do hear Sonnett say something about how much trouble they're going to be in but that should really be the least of everyone’s concerns at this point and Kelley says as much.

You don’t have many memories of what happened after Emily left but you do vaguely remember Kelley checking on you multiple times and making sure that you didn’t choke on your puke, which was pretty cool of her.

That’s probably why you’re so surprised when you wake up to the sound of her getting yelled at by Alex and Becky.

“Seriously, Kelley,” Becky says, “The one time you take her out, you not only lose her but she gets drugged.”

“Guys,” Kelley says, trying to explain.

“No, Kelley,” Alex interrupts.

You can tell that Alex is getting pretty worked up so you decide to do all three of them a favor and crack a joke.

“Scale of 0-10, getting drugged,” you say, flinging the covers off and climbing out of bed, “0 out of 10, do not recommend, will not be trying again.”

Every head in the room whips around to face you and that’s when you realize that practically the entire team is there, not just Kelley, Alex, and Becky.

“Y/N,” Alex says, taking a step toward you, “How are you feeling?”

“Like I took 15 shots of rum instead of 10.”

“You took 10 shots of rum,” Sonny says shocked.

You don’t get a chance to answer because Becky quickly turns on Kelley again.

“You let the baby take 10 shots,” she practically shouts.

Kelley stutters for a while before you decide to step in.

“Can we all chill on Kelley,” you say, “because I think we all know by now that no one can stop me from doing what I want.” You move to stand by the bathroom door while continuing, “It’s not her fault that I snuck off to have a beer and two shots when she turned away for half a second. And it’s really not her fault that a pretty French girl drugged me. Now if you all don’t mind leaving so I can puke in peace I’d appreciate it.”

The last thing you hear as you close the door behind you is the depressed voice of Lindsey going, “Great, now we have three frat bros to look after.”

[blitzyn]

Thoughts on modern Jock!Childe ? This au lives in my head rent free and iusudgdbjchdhdjchcbcksg

HELP I WHILE I WAS WRITING THIS I KINDA FORGOT THAT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE JOCK CHILDE. i hope this is ok though. if it's not u can request something else/the same thing and ill try my best to come up with something more related to what u want. also!! i wasn't sure if you wanted nsfw or not so i just kept it sfw

gn!reader

> I can see him playing American football or hockey, truthfully. He enjoys the thrill of dangerous body-to-body contact and fast paced gameplay.

> He, surprisingly, knows how to play various other sports, too. He may not be the best, but he is well informed on the rules and the general idea of how to play. Just give him about 10 minutes to get the hang of it, and it'll be like he was born for that sport.

> He devotes a lot of time on his primary sport, but always makes sure he does his school assignments. Alongside with his desire to be the best in his sport, he also strives to be phenomenal academically, even if the work he turns in isn't the very best sometimes.

> Now! Childe isn't one to focus on romantic relationships very often. He doesn't believe he has a need for one. He's got enough attention in his school as it is. He's confident he could find someone in record time with the sheer amount of fans he has, but he also doesn't want to waste his time on someone if they don't truthfully like him and only view him as a trophy to flaunt.

> But that's also where you come in! It took him a while to get to properly know you, much to his delight. Don't get him wrong, he enjoys meeting new people and the small talk it brings, but he prefers the challenge of figuring out someone's quirks and habits before they tell him.

> You had also treated him like he wasn't a star student-athlete, and more like a friend. Like his status in school didn't matter. Although that was later into your friendship; you had spoken to him rather coldly at first.

> He was interested in how you so easily ignored the envious glares of particularly obsessive supporters when the two of you were chosen to be partners during a project one time. In previous experiences, some of his partners took it upon themselves to do most – if not all – of the work, leaving Childe with the sole job to present in front of the class. You did no such thing. You made sure to cut the workload in half between the two of you and kept it upon yourself to remind him of the upcoming deadline and to produce good work.

> He appreciated how you treated him like an equal, even if it was a bit harsh.

> And then came the dreaded time when a specific project required one of you to head to the other's house in order to properly complete it. You knew he had quite a number of admirers, but you'd never realized some of them would go so far as to begin threatening you (most of which you knew were empty), or even resort to going physical in order to instill fear.

> Of course, you never took them seriously. After all, they were diehard fans that would forget about Childe as soon as school was over. Although it did annoy you how they disrupted your routine for the sake of their own satisfaction.

> One fateful day, as you were making your way towards Childe's house after you had to go back to yours to grab something, two obsessive admirers managed to spot you. At first, they were easy to ignore, but they had very quickly resorted to shoving you to the floor when you refused to give them the reaction they wanted.

> Luckily, you weren't too far from Childe's house, and he managed to spot you from one of his windows. You'd never forget the looks on their faces when they saw him walk up with a cold, unamused, and almost angry glint in his eyes.

> After they had left, he insisted on buying you something in return for having to deal with those types of people because of him. He really was sorry!

> You begrudgingly accepted his offer, and went on a 'date' with him.

> It took quite a while of you denying your feelings for him for you to finally admit that you did, in fact, have a crush on him. Although it wasn't during a desired moment (it was while you were playing a game of truth or dare), it felt relieving to reveal what you had felt for so long. You were very glad to know that he felt the same.

Now, more about your relationship!

> You were very surprised to hear that Childe had been talking about you to his family. Even though it was your first time meeting them, it seemed as if you were an old friend to them.

> Loves to give gifts. You have no idea how he makes so much money to buy you things you've always wanted or even things you lingered your gaze on for more than five seconds. It always makes you feel a little bad since you don't give him anything very often, but he reassures you that all he needs is your smile. And a kiss.

> Very affectionate, too! There is not one moment where he doesn't at least have a hand on your body. It's even worse – or better, depending on how you see it – in private. Hugs you all the time. He does understand if you're more reluctant with physical touch, though. He asks for permission every time he wants to hold you unless you specifically tell him you're okay with it.

> Has a death grip when he's asleep. Once you're in his arms, you're stuck there the entire night. It'll take either you being stronger than him or some miracle to tug yourself out of his hold. It's kind of become a problem that you had to learn to accept.

> Loves kisses. He plants them everywhere - your forehead, cheeks, lips, neck, arm, anywhere where there's skin showing. It's mandatory to kiss each other before one of you leave the house. Even if you're only leaving to get the mail.

> I see him as more of a competitive arguer. A lot of the time, you two only argue about small things like where the TV remote goes or who's making dinner that night. But in the infrequent instances where you are genuinely arguing, he can't help but go on and on until he gets the last word.

> If you buy him a piece of jewelery, he always makes sure to kiss it after he takes it off in the locker room before a game. It's his good luck charm!

> Enjoys showing you off, but tones it down if you feel uncomfortable about it.

> He finds it hilarious when you try to squirm away from him after a victorious game. You whine and shout about how sweaty he is, but you're more than happy to give him his kiss. Most of the time.

> Occasionally waves to you when he gets the chance during his games. He loves seeing the smile it brings to your face when he does so.

Super sorry it's short, I ran out of ideas lol

[maireadralph]

Entrapdak Zine 6 - Festive. Submissions OPEN!

Apologies for the delay in getting this open Please feel free to check out the Entrapdak Secret Santa event I’m also running at the moment (links are in my pinned post)

Anyway this is the post for Entrapdak Zine 6 - Festive!

The deadline for this will be Friday DEC 1st 2021 at 9AM GMT. What’s that in your timezone? Click here for a Handy Dandy Countdown:

I am flexible on this Deadline so anything that arrives on this date or by my 9am the next day is allowed (I’m in the GMT timezone BTW)

I am LESS flexible on the Extension Deadline

The Zine will be out before Christmas.  The actual date is flexible and dependant on when all the Submissions come in and my own personal work schedule.

So most of this is the same as the last few - really if it ain’t broke don’t fit it!  Also a polite reminder I am only one person running this and I am a part time Barista.  It may take me a little time to reply to emails/comments especially after the deadline time (when I have the most amount of work to do on this project) so please be patient with me.

Our basic guidelines are the same as before, with just a few minor updates:

This will be:

A Digital Zine containing content created by the fans for the fans

A 100% Free Zine

Preferred Language is English

SFW content suitable for a Y7-PG13 age range (same as the show’s age rating)

You may notice I run this different to other zines as there is no sign up period, just submit work before the deadline - I’d rather people have more time to work on their pieces 

Anyone can submit regardless of age or skill level - this is not a job application - just follow the guidelines and email in your work

Submission can be Fan Writing (poems, fan fiction, character analysis, eassys etc), Fan Art, or even photos of your Entrapdak IRL content (cosplays, fancrafts etc)!  You can submit an older work that you have published online previously if you wish - or even update a work you submitted to the last Zine! Just have fun!

Guidelines applicable to all work:

Content Age Rating:

Like the show this Zine will contain content rated Y7 and PG13 rated - so please no swearing 

There WILL BE NO NSFW or 18+ content - where possible let’s keep this suitable for all ages please 

Sub note on character minimum clothing requirements: 

for male presenting characters to be speedos/underpants

for female presenting characters to be a bikini/bra and underpants 

if not sure please use the female presenting criteria

Theme:

This issue’s theme if you wish to use it is:

“Festive”

This theme is a suggestion and if you’d rather make an Entrapdak piece without this theme please feel free to do so. I want you to have fun!

Allowed Characters:

As long as both Entrapta and Hordak are the main focus and the piece follows Age Rating it will be allowed.

Other allowed characters in the Entrapdak family include Emily, Imp and the Clones (also known as Spacebats)…yes weirdly this also  includes Horde Prime.

Other She-Ra characters will be allowed but Entrapdak is to be the core element.

Phew that’s a lotta text sorry about that - now on to the fun stuff! What sort of stuff is allowed?

Sex Swap AU, Species Swap AU, Furry AU, Toony AU, Anime AU, Fankid AU, Coffee Shop AU, married AU, Spacebat AU, just besties AU just to name the few that pop into my head! Oh yeah Canon Lab Partners Entrapdak too…hehe nearly forgot about that one XD. Make something Entrapdak related that’s PG13 rated and have fun!!

Fan Writing guidelines:

This includes fan fiction, analysis eassys, poetry or whatever else you’d like to write about.  I would ask this content to be between 1k-10k words in length, it’s not a big deal if the writing is over 10k or even if it’s 20k - write whatever your story needs. If you’d like to write Chapters then please do!

Written work can be emailed in the body of text, sent as pdf attachment or as a link to a Google Doc - I can work with any of those.

Please include you name/username somewhere as it helps. If there’s no name on the piece I’ll add one at the start with the title.

Fan Art guidelines:

Fan art can include rough sketches, screencap redraws, comics (appox 1-10 pages length), coloured sketches or full colour pieces. 

Fan art can be in the digital or traditional medium.  

Traditional fan art can either be submitted as a photo or scanned, which ever you prefer.

Preferred sizing for Digital art is as follows, my aim to to have everything on International (UK) A4 paper sizing where possible*

2480px x 3508pm DPI 132 

Portrait layout is preferred**

PNG is preferred but I will understand if you only wish to send a workable JPEG

The aspect ratio (width:height) of A4 paper is 1:1.4142 (1:√2)

If you need a template here’s one -> Here’s a prepared A4 Canvas PSD File (2480pm x 3508px 300DPI) if you’d like to download it and use it <- Template

Notes: 

*Images outside these sizings are still okay but may end up with a white border on the edges due to the PDF publishing settings.  

**Images in the landscape layout will get boarders when posted on a portrait page due to the PDF publishing settings, however if I receive landscape art I will make some extra pages at the end of the Zine and attempt to turn landscape art into a two page spread (which does look awesome!).

How to Apply:

Make your content and email it to entrapdakzineisluvd[at]gmail.com by JULY 1st 2023

Please make sure to include your Social Media contacts and which name or username you wish to be identified by.  If you forget to include social media details and have been a part of a previous Zine I’ll use the details I have on file 

I will reply to confirm I have received the content and that’s it I take care of the rest!

Please note I DO NOT KEEP any records of anyone’s email addresses.  When the Zine is out I batch delete all emails sent to the email address (this is usually done a week after the Zine is out) and I keep no further records of these address. I respect your email privacy at all times.  

The only records I keep on Zine applications is a private Google Sheet that has the following details: Submitter’s name, rough description of the item submitted and their social media contacts. I’m the only person with access to this Google Sheet as I use this as a Master List reference when compiling the Zine 

FAQs:

Why no Application form?

I don’t want anyone to feel like they are applying for a job here, this is supposed to be fun.

Will there be Guest Artists or Guest Writers?

If they apply sure, I’m not advertising who applies to be a part of this Zine until it’s ready to be published.  I don’t want anyone to feel intimidated just because a certain person has chosen to participate.

Can I submit more than one piece?

If you’d like to certainly!  If you’d like to submit up to three pieces of art and 3 fan writings, sure go for it! I’m certainly not going to stop anyone having a good time

May I post a preview of my work to my Followers?

Sure! Bonus points if you link them to this post so that they can take part if they wish

May I post my work online?

I would ask if you could please wait until the issue featuring your work is published. Of course this does not apply if you are chosen to submit and older work - in this case may I ask that you edit or add to said post to mention the work was also used in the Zine?

Is this only for people with a [insert certain social media account here]?

Nope, this is for anyone who wants to take part.  I only ask for a social media contact so that others who like you work for the Zine may follow you on your preferred social media platform.

Can I send an update to a piece?

Of course! Just let me know which piece you want to use and I’ll update on my end

Can I send another piece on later?

Of course that’s not a problem!

Ah I can’t get this done before the deadline - it’s almost ready!!!  I need another day!!!!

Contact me, either through the submitting email over via my Tumblr or Twitter DMs or just emailing the email address. There is extra time allowed for an extension for anyone who needs it with no questions asked to why it is needed. Just get in contact, I'll put you name on the Extension List and that extra time is yours.  Once all names come in (or the deadline is reached) I will finish up my work and get the zine out. I will not be sending out a further reminder (because I’ll forget sorry 😅).

Why don’t you make the Extension time public?

Because I can’t finish up the Zine if extra stuff comes in at the last second - I get jittery enough with final deadlines so this is how I manage my stress

More Entrapdak Zines??

Sure why not? If the community still wants them I’ll keep compiling them ever three or so months.  I’ve seen what us nerds can do!

Where can I find the finished Zine?

All finished Zines are all hosted on a shared Google Drive folder https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1My_hDY8NmOWV7v6z0sYi0TSvxv07WowX  Please share it with your other Entrapdak friends when it is ready.

Thank you for making it all the way to the end of this WALL of TEXT.  It’s pretty much exactly the same as the Zine 4 and 5’s but with a few minor changes.

[optionalcausality]

Long post, somewhat personal. I'm trying to kind of process something that is an ongoing stressor in my life.

So. Executive function issues can be frustrating. Not just for the affected person, but also for those around them. Especially dependents / partners.

My parents haven't had a working dishwasher for over two years now. Their previous dishwasher broke after many years of service, and my mom wanted a replacement, and my dad agreed. So they purchased a brand new dishwasher, which broke after ten days.

My dad decided that he would take on the responsibility for handling this. Which, historically, means that he will do nothing until forced to by outside circumstances, and he will get increasingly irritable when others who are affected by his total lack-of-action try to get him to do something about it, or try to impose deadlines or requirements of any kind.

Was the dishwasher under warranty? Almost certainly, yes, but no action was taken.

After two years (in which my mom tried repeatedly to get my dad to just. Order. A. Replacement) and finally my making a big stink about it at a family gathering such that everyone could agree that two years without a dishwasher is excessive, my dad actually... Took a look at the dishwasher so he could get a model number, so that he could hire someone to come repair it.

(he had not so much as looked up local repair shops or handyperson services in two years)

He ended up "fixing it himself" and it worked for four days and died again.

And he continued to do nothing, insist that he would be the one to deal with the problem, refuse outside help including from relatives, and eventually tell my mom to stop bringing it up.

(my mom is very intelligent and organized and could order a replacement on her own, but she is more disabled than my dad is, and relies on him for a lot, and over the years has made the tactical choice that when he is this level of stubborn, it's not worth it to go "over his head" or whatever unless the situation is direr than this)

I have managed to take one tiny step towards a solution. I have worked out an arrangement with my dad where, if and only if he doesn't have a working dishwasher by the end of August 2024, I will order a replacement for him.

He agreed. He is of course confident that by then, he will have dealt with the situation on his own.

How is he so confident? Because it is more than 90 days away, so his brain (and mine in the absence of a calendar) approximates it as "at the heat death of the universe" and of course he will have dealt with it by then.

I fully expect to order a replacement on August 28, 2024, and for him to be annoyed or possibly very angry with me about it.

Now, venting aside: what I'm getting at is that this isn't new and unique. I grew up in a household where my dad would periodically take responsibility for specific tasks, which if things went well was fine. But if he ran into any unforeseen barriers, the problem wouldn't be fixed until someone got hurt or a pet's life was in danger or it turned into a big blowup fight that finally imposed an external deadline on him...

Or someone else did it.

Which would also result in a fight. And (I speculate) he'd feel that his control over the situation had slipped, so next time he'd be even more stubborn and more territorial over tasks that we all needed him to do and which he wasn't doing, but wouldn't let anyone else do, either.

There's some point where this becomes neglect, and some later point where this pattern of behavior (specifically: not meeting a need, and declaring that no one else is allowed to meet that need; continuing to do this when the issue is one of safety and/or sanitation) becomes abuse.

It's a thorny, complicated situation all around.

And there's a point where it feels crappy and manipulative to use his time-blindness against him -- to use the end of August 2024 as a deadline, knowing that his brain will parse it as basically infinity.

But by then it will be three years without a working dishwasher (which they've had money to replace, and which my mom has always wanted to replace). And I feel there's an argument to be made that my dad has spent two years proving that he isn't able to do this particular task, even if he doesn't see it that way.

Time-blindness. It's freaking rough.

[moregraceful]

On hiatus for the length of time it took to pass between one Cuda game and one Sharks win....I mean truly.

Spiritually this is a livejournal post but sadly we're on tumblr so I'm just turning reblogs off and calling it a day.

Gave a sermon today about being trans and how there are trans children and youth at our church that the church is failing by their inaction and their disaffection and I was so fucking steamed about having to give it because I'm tired of being the token trans guy. The grandfather of a youth group kid who disclosed to me that they are trans but were so worried about telling their grandparents came up to me after service and told me he thought it was a really important message and that he was glad I am part of the life of the church. So that unfortunately made it all worthwhile and I will probably be strong-armed into being tokenized again in future services.

Stuff blew up at work and there's a huge org-wide mess and everyone is so afraid I will run away screaming and they keep telling me that things will get better. I'm just here like, this barely scratches the surface of the shit I had to put up with at the library, I know you all are upset and of course you have a right to be but this does not even begin to touch the level of toxicity I was accustomed to for 10 years. People keep telling me like they want to soothe me that the actions the board of directors have taken means that they're taking [x allegations] really seriously and are committed to change. And I'm like ???? There was zero manager oversight at any library I have ever worked at and no one in management gave a shit about my well-being, emotional or physical. I have zero concept of what a normal, functional, non-exploitative workplace looks like. You're fine.

I have to make a decision about grad school soon because the deadline for next semester is rapidly approaching and I'm stressed about it. I took time off this summer after I got parvo and then the fall because I was dealing with some other stuff, and now I have to decide whether to go back. It's really a too many interests, not enough time in the day thing, and I am fully aware that if I pick up grad school without dropping one of my substantial commitments (LIKE A JOB) I will have a nervous breakdown. Meanwhile one of my jobs that was supposed to be short term and project-based asked if I could work on another project next Spring and possibly next summer too. I want to do it because I enjoy it a lot. It's also the kind of thing that this grad program would help with, but I cannot have three jobs that require a lot of compassion and relational work on top of the actual job requirements, and then also attend an intense grad school program that broke my brain. I will have a nervous breakdown, when not if. My mom gave me the first good piece of advice she's given me in years and told me to talk to my academic advisor at the school and see what she thinks. It's a very good idea to be honest with my academic advisor about my commitments and my capabilities but I do not know this woman well enough to have idea how she will advise me. Probably tell me to drop something. Everybody tells me to drop something.

Sadly after this summer's debacle of being fired without being fired, I think some part of me has a pathological desire to never sit still and feel meaningless ever again, but unfortunately I seem to have taken that in the opposite direction to an extreme and now have three jobs + two churches on top of juggling hockey games + ice skating lessons + trying to keep up with local friends combined with my birth mom's cancer treatment. I'm thinking of changing my work schedule again and my boss is going to hate it because she hates when I don't get a weekend day, but she's leaving soon. I rarely get a full day off right now anyway. Currently I work four days a week for 30 hours a week with one 9 hour day, two 8.5 hour days, and one 4 hour day, but I think one 8 hour, three 6 hour, and one 4 hour might be more sustainable for everything I want to do in life. two 8+ hour wfh days + one 9 hour driving-all-over-the-bay-area day are a slog and trying to manage that on top of two other jobs is causing me to consistently miss (self-imposed) deadlines for my other more part-time jobs and not be as present as I'd like to be for basically everything and everyone. idk. I'm trying to think of it in terms of load management. Maybe I lose having a full day off, but on the other hand I have will probably more energy at night to keep up with everything I want to keep up with at night, including jobs, including friends, including being creative. I think I'll ask her this week. Leverage how toxic(????????) everyone seems to believe this place is with the concept of "Kasper has energy to do things at night that he wants to do and gets enough rest to be able to focus on a job he genuinely enjoys and also gets healthcare and dental from in the day."

Like....life this is it, honestly.

[hibernationsuit]

silent fury + trembling hands for any ocs of your choice [:<

Based on that one conversation in Peril on Gorgon I'm so normal about (lying).

Tobias is, once again, reminded of his past by Gorgon. This time he's also making bad life choices once again.

tw: slight gunshot mention, blood mention, unethical scientific research mention

---

They went through the CHEM facility as fast as they could, no looking around or taking wrong turns for the purpose of exploring. Just lift the lockdown and we're leaving. No one wants to spend any moment longer than what this ask requires, not after HIA - what if there is something even worse?

Jasper Low's lab was several floors down from the entrance. A weird place for the lead chemist to work, considering how hard it would be to communicate with the other scientists. Then again, it's Jasper Low.

Mine was on the same floor as the whole R&D department...Next to my own team.

I shook my head and sneezed as a pile of dust started flying off Low's computer. This didn't look like ordinary dust... We'll deal with that later if we have to... I switched the computer on and waited a bit for it to boot up.

"Law, did this Low guy ever clean his lab," Felix muttered while looking at the shelves. "There's so much...dirt?"

Max rolled his eyes and said quietly, so Felix wouldn't hear, "Look who's talking..."

"This is like that evil scientist's lab in that one aetherwave! You know, the one where..."

I concentrated on the computer. Admin functions...Override...There we go. I looked up and noticed that they were still talking, this time about Gorgon. No point in shoving myself in the middle of a conversation. I opened Low's messages.

Lots of ignored messages, some conversations between Olivia and Jasper, something from OCI... No matter how much I tried to ignore it, I couldn't help but notice the similarities with my last job. Scientists pressured to start testing an unfinished product, management not giving a damn about their arguments. I felt bad for them. At least we managed to stop the project before management & testing team decided to start human trials.

I looked up and noticed the two staring at me. "Yeah?"

"Felix here keeps wondering how they could've let an unfinished product be tested so much on the test subjects," Max replied and I froze for a moment. He couldn't possibly know, could he. We haven't talked about that yet. "Did you find any clues on the computer?"

Oh, so it's not about me. Good. "Yeah they...were pushed to do all this with impossible deadlines and demands by some higher-ups who couldn't care enough about the consequences, not that they would take the responsibility." Max gave me a weird look, clearly suspecting something. I did answer about Gorgon, didn't I?

Felix crossed his arms, his voice more serious than usually. "Yeah, well. Maybe they should've pushed back. Maybe they should've said no."

"That's not how-" Max's voice drowned out as what I left on Earth reminded of itself again in my head.

Memories going back and forth. Samuel's grey eyes full of silent fury, as he pointed the barrel of a gun. Trembling hands full of blood. All the noises and-

"Captain?"

Vicar's voice brought me back to the present. "Sorry, got lost in thoughts about...all this." It felt bad to lie, even if it was a half-lie like this, but what else could I do.

"So, ready to leave?"

I nodded. "No point staying here for longer now that we have found all what we need."

Yet as we walked out through the lower entrance, something still made wonder what this facitlity hid inside its walls. Will its secrets give more answers to what happened? Or why it happened? Or...if there's a way to fix this.

---

The Unreliable was quiet, with everyone either sleeping or trying to after all what they have seen. I didn't feel like sleeping at all. I didn't even feel as exhausted as I usually did.

Instead, I was thinking over and over again about what could the facility have inside. Research notes, communications, tips about the journal we're after...More stories about scientists with similar history?

I rose up and put my coat on, pet Anubis, who was sleeping on my bed, and went downstairs.

Unreliable's doors were quiet, which was good. No one needed to know I left. No one needs to see more horrors of Gorgon. Besides, surely I'll be back before they all wake up.

[actuallyadhd]

This is the first time I genuinely believe that I have ADHD. Before this I kind of thought I could maybe have it but now I feel pretty sure. Like, I've been reading about it for ages (papers and stuff, not tiktok dw lol) and wayy too many things line up for it to be a coincidence y'know?

The only issue is that I don't really know what to do now. The waiting list for a diagnosis is super long, and I'm not sure if I really need it? I think I'll be fine without meds (does that mean I'm faking?), it's mainly accommodations and stuff I'm worried about. I was just wondering if there was a 'next step' I'm supposed to be taking.

Sent May 15, 2023

There isn't really an official next step. What you do depends on what you need.

Typically, you can't get accommodations without an official diagnosis, but I think there are some things you can do without that. The main problem will be that you wouldn't have any legal means to support your claim if your employer or school decided not to give you the accommodations you request.

You may be able to access an ADHD Coach without a diagnosis, and that can be really useful since their job is to help you develop systems and mechanisms so you can manage your symptoms better. Be careful when selecting a coach, though; it's not a regulated profession, so literally anyone can call themselves a coach. (I could, even, but I don't because I've never done any training specific to life coaching or ADHD coaching.) I would recommend looking for someone who has done training through IACT https://www.iactcenter.com/ because it's specific to ADHD and the person who developed the program really knows her stuff (and has ADHD).

For accommodations, I'd recommend figuring out exactly what you might require, and then thinking about how that could be logically applied without requiring official accommodations.

For example, if you have trouble meeting deadlines, flexibility would be an accommodation. But if you don't qualify for that, what are some things you can do to deal with that? Maybe setting interim deadlines for various steps so that your final step is earlier than the actual deadline could help. Maybe someone who's better at this stuff could remind you of deadlines on a regular basis.

Another example: If you don't always remember things you need to do based on a meeting, you might take notes during the meeting and then send an e-mail to your supervisor afterwards that summarizes your notes and requests clarification, so they can tell you if you missed anything. (Bonus: this can also help with any communication issues that may be happening, because it creates documentation to show that you're doing your best/not actually the one to blame.)

One more: Almost anything can be a fidget toy, so if you need to be able to fidget, do your best to use something that will give you the sensory input you need without bothering other people. Lots of things can do what you need without being disruptive, such as crochet or knitting during meetings or movies. If, on the other hand, you need to be shielded from sensory input, you can ask about using headphones or airpods to listen to music to help you focus in an open office environment, you can keep a cardigan in your desk in case the air conditioning is too strong, etc.

The idea is that you would go to your instructor or manager and say that you've noticed that X and Y is difficult for you, and you were wondering if you could start doing A or B so you can make sure you're doing the best job you can. "I'm having trouble following staff meetings, and I've noticed that if I knit during movies I can focus really well. Would it be a problem for me to bring my knitting to staff meetings?" "I know sometimes I forget what we've agreed on. I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to take notes when we're discussing things, and I wanted to ask if I can send you an e-mail afterwards to check that I didn't miss anything?" "Our office is really busy, and I have trouble focusing on my work when people are talking near my desk. I'd like to listen to music on headphones when I'm trying to focus, especially when I'm on a tight deadline. Would that be okay?"

I hope this is somewhat helpful for you. Followers, do you have any other thoughts on this?

-J

[oh-megamind]

Secret Santa Gift Exchange and Holiday Card Exchange

It's that time again! Time to share the joy and warmth of the holidays with the Secret Santa Gift Exchange and Holiday Card Exchange! :D I don't know how many people even visit this site any more but this is an event that has been popular in the past and I'm not about to let the tradition die! This community deserves a Mega-awesome holiday and we're going to make it one! :D But before I get to the rules etc. I need to call attention to one very important rule first:

Only sign up to participate if you intend and are able to send something in return. Let me put this another way as well: If you plan to receive something, send something. It is VERY unfair to everyone else if you sign up to participate, receive gifts and/or cards, but send out nothing. Now I understand that sometimes Life doesn't play out as we might wish; we may sign up fully intending to participate but then emergencies come up or paychecks fall through or any of a hundred different things that might force us to change our plans arise and that's fine -- BUT if something like this happens, please let me know BEFORE the e-mails go out, ESPECIALLY if you're participating in the Gift Exchange. It's only fair to ALL involved that if they spend their time and money (a luxury many of us may not have) to send out a gift to someone that they should have the joy of receiving one as well. If you sign up to participate, please hold up your end of the deal and send something out -- or at least let me know before the participation deadline (Thursday, November 30) that you can no longer participate so I can make sure everyone gets paired off with someone and no one gets left out. Let's make this fair and fun for all! :D Thank you.

OK, now, on to the fun! Everyone is welcome to participate regardless of country! I don't want to restrict this to the U.S. only; everyone is welcome to spread some holiday cheer! So don't let your location hinder you -- we'll have participants from all over the globe! Participation is simple! (As both the Secret Santa gift exchange and holiday card exchange require physical addresses to which stuff can be mailed, if you are a minor or whenever necessary, please get permission from your parents or guardian to participate. Thank you!) Here's how it works:

Send an e-mail to me (megamind@nycap.rr.com, no PM's please -- e-mail is easier to keep organized) with your name, username (or usernames and where from, like LJ, Discord, etc.), an e-mail address I can use to send the final list to, your address, and whether you want to participate in the Secret Santa gift exchange, the card exchange, or both. If participating in the Secret Santa gift exchange, please also include a few suggestions for gift types you might like. It's that easy! I will accept entries for both until Thursday, November 30 at midnight Eastern Standard Time (I'm choosing this date so that participants in both events will have a few weeks in which to send out their cards/gifts so they will arrive at their destinations before Christmas Day, December 25 :D). On Friday, December 1, I will send an e-mail to you with the information you'll need depending on which event you will be participating in!

The rules for the card exchange are simple: Everyone who participates in the card exchange will receive the addresses of everyone else participating, this way you can send cards to only a few on the list, or everyone! :D

The rules for the Secret Santa gift exchange are slightly more complex: There will be a $10.00 price limit on the gifts; this way no one person gets something super-expensive while others get less extravagant gifts. I just want to try to make it fair for all involved. :) Homemade gifts are acceptable too if you get the itch to make something! (All I ask is that if it's Megamind related, like artwork, please scan it/take a photo of it and post it to the community after your recipient receives it in case they are unable to do so; this way the rest of us can share in the goodness! :D Please keep any artwork rated G though. :P) The key here is to have fun! The recipients will have no idea who their Secret Santa is until they receive your package in the mail! That said, here's how the names will be paired for the Secret Santa gift exchange: On December 1, after I've gathered all the participating names together, I will throw them all in a hat and draw names at random. First name drawn will give a gift to the second name drawn, second name drawn will give a gift to the third name drawn and so forth, with the final name drawn giving a gift to the first. This way everyone gets one gift and no one knows who's getting who what! ;D However, if you could send me a few suggestions for things you might like along with your interest in participating I can forward those ideas to your Secret Santa so they'll be able to better personalize their shopping for you! <3 One last thing to note (since this question has come up) is that I cannot fix the results of the random drawing to guarantee a local pairing with your recipient; sometimes I may only have one entry from, say, the U.K. for example, so fixing the results is not only unfair to all but is also impossible. No one will know before the drawing where their gifts will be sent, so all who participate understand and accept that it's possible their match may live in another country.

If you have any questions, please e-mail me at megamind@nycap.rr.com. No PM's please. I will not see them so it's better to e-mail me. XP

And there you have it! This should be easy enough to organize, and loads of fun to participate in! I, myself, will be participating in both the Secret Santa gift exchange and the card exchange! Let the fun begin! :D Happy Holidays, Everyone! <3

[cyber-therian]

I want to switch my major from Accounting to something related to wildlife or natural resource conservation. I always planned to be in a math-based job because of my fear of not having enough money. However since getting into university for accounting my mental health has taken a steep decline and I can’t help but feel trapped and hopeless; accounting is just not the thing for me. I have so much passion in nature, and I want to have a job like that.

I never took biology, which is required for courses that deal with biology, obviously. The deadline for applications at my university are at the end of the month, and the program I want to be in is highly competitive. I don’t think Im gonna be able to pull off taking biology before the deadline, and I can’t register for summer school beforehand because my school hasn’t posted the applications yet, so I cant prove to the university that Im enrolled in it.

We have already paid some of my student fees, we have already spent thousands planning the trip and getting shelter while we go there. I dont want to stay back a year or go to a different university, it would disappoint not only my family but also myself. However I also dont want to waste the money on attending the first year as an accounting student, when I know its not what Im sticking to.

I feel so guilty & like my timing was just barely off. I dont know what to do.

[areyoudoingthis]

I've been trying to figure out why I had such an easy time accepting izzy's rehabilitation in these past two episodes, when I was still so very upset about it after the first three. and I think it was (duh, of course) due to the lovely job ofmd did portraying the journey from where the characters were (a terrible place, most of them) to where they're going (healing, safety, community), even tho it they have only half an hour per episode and a bunch of them to follow around.

they showed us they all essentially went through similar things: the discomfort of not fitting right back in with your loved ones (the headbutt, ed's anger, the crew scrubbing at the nonexistent blood stains, izzy hobbling around), the distress of not knowing who you are or where you fit now (wearing a scratchy sack and a bell, ending up in an armed standoff with your friends, drinking and yelling at an inanimate mythical animal, not feeling like you're captain on your own ship), and then the coming together with your loved ones to engage in some deep, soul cleansing healing (making a leg for izzy, laughing with the mops, inventing new food, crying at the note and accepting the role as ship's figurehead, whittling a small shark as a gift for someone going through a hard time, proposing to your boyfriend, fishing with fang and apologizing honestly and without hesitation, sacrificing something you love for the wellbeing of your crazy, superstitious family and being embraced and respected by them.)

it didn't matter what they'd been through or the ways in which they hurt each other, because they all missed the good old days on stede's revenge, and they all wanted to get to a better, happier place as soon as possible, apologies welcome but not required (the one "required" apology was entirely ridiculous and played off as a joke for that very reason, because you can't demand apologies, you work on fixing your relationships at the pace the people involved can, you can't set timelines and deadlines for it.) and for once instead of standing out like a sore thumb, izzy got swept into the environment of kindness and healing that reigns on stede's ship, and it felt natural.

it also definitely has to do with the fact that they very smartly kept him and ed apart while all of this was happening, proving that they understand that some situations are heavier and dealing with them can't be rushed. if they'd had izzy apologize to ed straight away it wouldn't have worked, just like ed wasn't ready to hear I love you from stede and throwing him overboard didn't fix lucius, I think it wouldn't have helped and it might have made things worse. I do still think ed would benefit from hearing izzy acknowledge that he fucked up, to reinforce what he told himself via mr latch "it's not your fault you're broken. you didn't break you. just trying to do your job, weren't you?", as he's departing from the blackbeard persona and figuring out who he wants to be now that's he's allowed to have softness again. I think it would also be interesting to see how that acknowledgment impacts izzy's own growth away from his obsession with being blackbeard's right hand man, and where they land after that, if anywhere (I'm still not sure that relationship can be rebuilt, but sometimes an apology isn't about that, it's about moving on in a healthier direction.)