#there are a lot of techniques i used that i've learned making gifts over the last couple of months.

[chubsonthemoon]

Binderary 2023 Wrap-Up!

Binderary 2023 is over, and I come bearing some stats, thoughts, and a compiled list of my QOTD answers! :3

Stats:

Books planned: 7

Books completed: 7/7 (woohoo!)

Fandoms: 3 (Yuri on Ice, Harry Potter, and The Sandman)

Total word count: 340,654

List of books (from left to right):

Maybe sprout wings by @moorishflower

Flower King by @landwriter

The Politeness of Princes by @aboxthecolourofheartache

Uncertain Results (also by Box!)

I'm caught inside every open eye (also also by Box :3)

Not pictured (on account of them being given away as gifts!):

My Immortal by Tara Gilesbie (aka xxxbloodyrists666xxx) (community typeset by @renegadepublishing)

Until My Feet Bleed and My Heart Aches by @kazliin (typesetting by @ziezie13 <3)

QOTD answers under the cut (and these are copied directly from our DW post, just with added tumblr @'s!)

1. What does Renegade mean to you?

Renegade has, in all honesty, probably changed the course of my life! That's not hyperbole--it's had such a huge influence on my hobbies, my friendships, my academic trajectory, even my career. I was still in undergrad when I found ASH's post on fanbinding, and I was very lost as to what the next steps would be. And like so many others experienced, the pandemic only made things even murkier and more isolating. Then I found ASH's manifesto in June 2020, worked up the courage to join the Discord in July 2020, and found a community of like-minded weirdos who were just as passionate (if not even more so!) about their favorite stories, and a craft that I fall a little bit more in love with every day (well, most days. fuckin printers man XD). I wrote my honors thesis thanks to Renegade; I've made lifelong friends thanks to Renegade; I have my current job, in a field I love, thanks to Renegade. (My first Rocky Horror Picture show at Havencon 2022? All thanks to Renegade :D) This really feels like my forever fandom home-- even when I jump around from fandom to fandom, there's always a wonderful and supportive community to fall back on. In short, I really love it here, I'm so pleased with what we've done so far, and I can't wait to see where we go! ❤️

2. Favorite Fic

As everyone else who answered this, this question is IMPOSSIBLE. However, if you put a gun to my head and told me to answer right now, I'd have to say Tell Me About the Big Bang (my binding of it here!) It's one of the fics that has touched me most deeply and which has probably had the greatest influence on my writing. It was one of the first fics I'd ever bound, and I really wanted to rebind it to see how far I've come!

3. One thing you'd like to learn more about

GOD SO MANY THINGS. Backing! Headband techniques. Chisel trimming. Edge gilding. Tiny books. More advanced Cricut techniques. More cohesive and professional-looking graphic design. This hobby is really a dozen hobbies in a trench coat, and there's so much to explore.

4. Paper!

For my textblocks, I use 20 lb. cream Hammermill paper! I order it in 11"x 17" and get it cut in half for short grain, like a lot of other folks at Renegade. Recently I've started experimenting with quarto-sized Legal (8.5"x 14")and fell in love. I also want to try a bunch of the other paper that folks have suggested (looking at @robins-egg-bindery Mohawk Via o.o). For my endpapers, I usually use scrapbook paper from those scrapbook paper packs you can get at Michaels and Joann's (and when they're on sale...WOOF)

5. Cloth!

DUO BOOKCLOTH MY BELOVED. God I wish I'd gotten in on the Renegade group order - but ah well. Big fan of making my own though! There are just so many options to choose from, so it really expands what you can do (again: a dozen hobbies and crafts in a trench coat)

6. The Glue War

LOVE me some PVA! I know that it gives you less time to do things, but I get impatient XD. Plus it's cheap and easy to find and ready to use right out of the bottle, which is great. I've tried my hand at making starch paste + PVA with very mixed (ha!) results, although I had a wonderful time with some methyl cell that @simply-sithel gifted me at Havencon last year <3 So mayhaps will have to buy more of that for a future project!

I also love my Cricut Explore 2, Charlotte! She holds up very well, although I think she's due for a blade refill soon. I've just been setting my pressure higher and higher LOL

7. Machines

Love my Epson ecotank! I recently bought it--for the first two years I was going to my local print shop because the quality was great and I had a discount card. Unfortunately the discount card eventually expired, so I decided to bite the bullet and get my own printer. I really love it! I didn't want to have to deal with laser and printing in color can get pricey--the cartridges are just so goddamn expensive, although I do think laser prints in higher quality. Mayhaps a future purchase, because I'd really like to experiment with foiling!

8. Favorite binding technique

Ooh this one is interesting! I know which part of the process I enjoy the most, which is sewing! Kettle stitch my beloved. ALTHOUGH I am a sucker for the French link too--it's just so pretty! And we just had a wonderful workshop put on last week by @queercore-curriculum on their...embroidered binding/long-stitch binding (??? I don't know if there's an official name for it yet), which I LOVE. Glueless bindings are SO cool and I would love to experiment more with them.

9. Your best tip/trick

Ooh! Hmmm...I'd say: never bind while you're super tired/hungry LOL. I've made many a preventable mistake very late at night because I wanted to get something cased in or glued before bed when I probably should've waited till morning XD That being said, on the flip side I think you should never be afraid to experiment! Go hog wild!!! Use those glitter pens!! Try out that fancy silk for your endbands!! Try that new binding style! And if you fuck up, remember that's okay too! These are handmade objects and those mistakes are proud proof of that, and of your journey as a fanbinder. Stick 'em in the channel on the Discord, laugh and (maybe cry a little XD) about it, and then keep going. tldr; ya live and learn!

10. Favorite Detail

Ooh, this one's hard! I love leaving little Easter eggs in my designs. I'd say my favorite is putting my maker's mark on things! My imprint is Moonham Press (a fun mix of my usernames, chubsthehamster and chubsonthemoon), and the logo includes a little crescent moon. I'd actually been binding for about two years when I finally made the imprint--I used to think that it was...idk, kind of weird to put myself in the book? Like I was taking away from the story inside it. But then I got to thinking--well, hey, I'm the one who made this book, right? If nothing else, putting my mark on it tells someone who may pick it up one day that I was connected to this story. Some conversations with some folks at Renegade during Havencon 2022 also helped me embrace this. So these days I put my imprint logo in the typesetting, and I also put it on the cover somewhere! My favorite spots are either on the spine, between the title and author name, or on the back cover, in the bottom left corner :D

11. Spines

Spines are the bane of my existence. Haha, jk. They're mostly just tedious, since they're one of the only parts of the process that still require precise measurement (I've cut templates for everything else by now, and I use my guillotine to cut boards, so that goes super fast). For my thicker books I use Bristol board; I actually still use the same sheets I bought in 2020 when I first started binding--I didn't know how much I would really need so I think I ordered four massive sheets which will probably last me for ten years LOL. For my thinner books, I use Davy board, which is a pain to cut but gives the book a really nice board feel. And for my paperbacks, the spine is just the cover, which I make out of kraft paper for the backing + the decorative paper (usually scrapbook paper or something I've designed and printed)

12. Mistakes/Fails

Ooh BOY are there many. My most recent was my experiment with making a hardback quarto letter. I made the hinge waaaaay too small so when I tested the case the textblock was sticking out of it LOL. But I've been pretty lucky--this is only the second case I've had to remake in my time as fanbinder *KNOCKS ON WOOD*, but my printer fuck-ups when I was trying to figure out how to print on legal sized paper (since my printer doesn't duplex) probably make up for the luck I've had in the case department XD. Casing in, though--I think I've had maaaaaybe...two or three case-ins where I was completely happy with the results. A large part of this is because my guillotine doesn't cut completely straight, so my squares are never even LOL. But hey, I'm not getting paid for this, and I'm having fun, so eh.

13. Process

Ooh, interesting! My process has remained largely unchanged--I think the only thing that has really changed is now the frequency at which I print. I used to print at a print shop, so I'd make typesets in large batches--usually two to four books, sometimes more (I think the most I've done at a time is five?), and I'd make a day out of it. Now that I have my printer at home though, I can do things in smaller batches! I can also test print things, so I've been able to get a lot more experimental with my books sizes and my covers. Everything else has remained largely the same--the first book I did I typeset in MS Word, but everything after that I've all done in Affinity Publisher. I typeset > print > bind > take pictures! I really like how different each step is (like I said, twelve different hobbies in a trench coat), so there's always something different to do if I get bored. My favorite parts are probably designing covers and sewing the signatures!

14. Storage solutions

OUGH. I have one of those rollaway drawer thingies for all my tools, a dozen scrapbook paper containers, several large baskets for my vinyl and cloth, a hanging stand for my larger sheets of decorative paper, a standing desk which holds my Cricut and printer (a few of the aforementioned vinyl baskets are under this desk too), another rollaway basket thingy that holds my printing paper and my press (also under the standing desk), another desk which holds both my two guillotines and cutting mats (and under that desk are all my scrapbook paper containers and Cricut mats), and a final third desk where I keep all my sewing stuff and where I do my typesetting and other sitting-down parts of the process. And of course my shelves for all my books! This doesn't really give a sense of where everything is, but it's actually fairly organized, and for the most part I know where everything is (except for my FUCKING bone folder god that thing is always ending up in places I do not remember putting it XD)

15. Your Workspace

Ah, see my answer to 14! I'll probably upload a photo here later XD

16. Dust jackets and covers

Oooh, I've never made a dust jacket before--I don't think my printer could handle the wonky paper size that it requires, but they look really cool and I'd maybe be up for making one someday! And covers! Both my greatest love and my greatest enemy. They're super fun to design, but this is one part of the process that always feels like an uphill battle for me! There are so many skilled and talented folks in Renegade with GORGEOUS covers, and it's always a mix of being incredibly inspired and getting some design envy--but either way it's very motivating to keep me out of my comfort zone and to always keep trying new things. I use decorative paper and scrapbook paper mostly for the base material (although I've begun experimenting with designing things digitally and printing them out on Epson matte presentation paper), and then the rest is fuck it, we ball. I usually design the cover last, so I have an entire typeset and title page already when I begin, which makes things a little easier since I have an already established aesthetic to work with. My font selection is kind of determined by how small the text for the title/author name is, since my Cricut isn't great at cutting super small sizes (Times New Roman, funnily enough, is one of the only fonts that it can do at smaller sizes LOL so a lot of the text on my covers/spines are in TNR). I'm excited to keep improving and experimenting in this area!

17. Published inspiration

Ooh!! This one's fun--when I first began making my Master pages in Affinity publisher, I literally grabbed the first few books I saw on my shelf and said 'alright, this looks good' and haven't looked back since LOL. Those books were Vintage's editions of Toni Morrison's novels, Picador's Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, Vintage's edition of Willa Cather's The Song of the Lark, Fall River's omnibus editions of Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes's works, Penguin Classic's Deluxe edition of Jane Austen's novels, and a few others that I can't remember. I looked at all these books, found what they had in common (for example, a simple title page before the decorative title page, the use of a single graphic or design at the beginning of each chapter, etc.) and went with that! I don't usually take inspiration from specific books, EXCEPT for a project I'm currently working on which I'm super excited about :3 More TK here eheh (ADDITION 3/7: I was talking about Maybe sprout wings here LOL)

18. Illustrations

FANART MY BELOVED. I LOVE including fanart in my books, because it's such a lovely demonstration of the communal nature of these stories and it's so fun getting to collect all the pieces. For free use graphics my favorite sites are Adobe Stock images and Heritage Library. Heritage in particular has a beautiful selection of free vintage graphics packs that I've used for years now. And very occasionally, wingdings fonts will have something I really like XD

19. Favorite tool

Despite my gripes earlier about always misplacing it, I ADORE my bone folder. It's a funky lil dude and it makes all my edges nice and crisp! I can't wait for the retreat bone folder fufu :3 Also a very big fan of my guillotine, which despite its flaws makes my life a hell of a lot easier in the long run, as well as my presses, which were handmade by my dad and do their jobs very well (squiiiiiiish)

20. Favorite part of the binding process

Oooh, this one's fun! I really like the actual construction of the book--sewing sigs is always relaxing and has been one of my fave parts since the very beginning. Recently I've started to really enjoy designing covers, especially if there are a lot of physical elements (like layering scrapbook paper or playing around with Mod Podge).

I had the absolute privilege to hold @clovenhoofbindery's copy of Away Childish Things at Havencon last year. Literally every book Space makes I fall in love with, and her designs are a HUGE inspiration for me. Everything from the typesetting to cover design to physical construction--I lose my marbles every time.

21. Inspo: The binder that inspired you!

Ohhh this one's so hard! Literally every time I check the #show-off channel in the Discord I'm struck by so many beautiful books. I'm going to cheat and name a few people here, but this list is by no means comprehensive and doesn't even begin to cover everyone I could name.

Everything @pleasantboatpress binds is just so beautiful. Their color choices are always inspired and their headbands make me want to cry! Their bind of Unconditional in particular had me foaming at the mouth.

The quality of everything @zhalfirin-binds makes, likewise, always blows me away. Her books are so polished and professional, and her photos make me feel like I'm in a museum when I'm trawling her blog for inspo!

@simply-sithel's tiny books are literally the coolest things ever! I'm still working my way through the Binderary vids and I can't wait to get to hers. Six plays with form in mind-bending and truly innovative ways, and her blog is wonderland of tiny and fantastical book creatures.

@teleportbooks's binds are the definition of classy and refined. They're so good at designing their books according to the contents of the fic--their binding of Thirty-Three Lashes in particular is just the best design centered around fic content and title I've seen. Their designs always make me melt a little when I see them!

@no-name-publishing's endbands are to DIE for. Like fr I am in awe every time!!! And Kam's cover + title page designs are a huge source of inspo for me--forever in love with this bind of theirs, with the beautiful painted cover + matching endpapers T_T

And of course!!! I (and everyone else) wouldn't be here without our beloved leader, @armoredsuperheavy. He's the first binder that ever inspired me, and he continues to do so today!

22. Inspo: The fic that inspired you!

My original answer was also my answer for 27 ("First bind"), but I'm gonna say something a little different here! I usually know pretty quickly whether I'm interested in binding something, but very rarely has a fic gotten me hook, line, and sinker the way @that-banhus's King of Infinite Space did. Like, from the first line I was like "oh god I need to hold this one." And eventually I did! :3

23. Author spotlight: Someone you've bound

AHHHHHH this one is so hard too! I've bound a good number of authors over the years, many of whom are my dear friends, and to spotlight only a single one would be impossible. So I'm just going to poke @dodici12, whose killugon fic See You Upside Down is one of the best killugon reunion fics ever in my very humble hamster opinion. Hiiiii Tessa ilysm <333

24. Author spotlight: Someone you'd like to bind

OOOOOH. Many, many fics are in my queue. I'll keep them to myself for now, since I prefer to ask for author permission via DM, but atm I have my eye on a few Good Omens authors whose work I adore!

25. Favorite bind by you!

THIS ONE IS SO HARD AJLSKDJF. I love all my babies so much and I'm proud of what I was able to accomplish and what I learned from each of them. However, if you put a gun to my head and asked me to choose right now, I'd have to go with my most recent bind of Maybe sprout wings by @moorishflower. I'm really pleased with both its construction and particularly the curation of its contents, which includes the work of nearly a dozen people. It was my attempt at capturing the communal nature of fanfiction's creation and dispersal, and it was also my Big Project this Binderary. I'm ridiculously fond and proud of it!

26. Favorite bind by someone else!

THIS ONE IS SO HARD TOO HELP. Okay this is only one of my many many favorites, but dragging Space back out here again to say that her bind of Away Childish Things permanently altered my brain chemistry. Like, the cutout!!! The patronuses!!!! The title page cutout???? THE KEY??? Again, I held this book in my hands IN PERSON last year and I'm still not over it. The quality of the work is absolutely bonkers crazy incredible and I think about it Often.

27. First bind

The very first fic I ever bound was On Stranger Tides by @theroyalsavage. It's still one of my favorite fics ever today--it has the perfect blend of action/adventure, romance, humor, and fantasy. It gives me the good ol' "roaming the high seas with found family and magic and pirates" ache. It holds a very special place in my heart!

FINAL THOUGHTS

28. Latest bind

See 22! But for funsises, I'm also ridiculously fond of the binding before that, of @aboxthecolourofheartache's fic The Politeness of Princes, because I got to do lots of fun arts and crafty things with the cover!

This was my first year doing Binderary, and I had such a blast! It's so crazy seeing how far Renegade has come, from a little Discord for book shop chatting (ASH mentioned in one of the talks how it was just called, like, "Bookbinding Discord" at the beginning LOL) to now. We're well on our way to a proper organizational structure, with several yearly events, in-person meetups, and thousands of members all over the world. And we have so much more planned! It feels truly special, and I'm so grateful to everyone who makes this possible.

Okay!! That's all from me for today, folks. If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading! <3

[foone]

The rain was coming down in sheets, and it was clearly irritating Rudapedi, putting him on edge... Or keeping him on edge, I guess. It had been only minutes since someone tried to kill us, after all.

"why would they need to transport the stolen weapons across the country, if their final destination is another planet? Couldn't they just warp them out like they warped in?" asks Jay from the driver's seat.

Rudapedi answers with the tone of a college professor who knows they already taught this. "no. When you're going between planets, you have to make use of existing rifts, and they're in fixed locations on the planet's surface. Generally you'd just do a local teleport between them, but I imagine the moonstone caskets made that too difficult to manage, so they resorted to just driving them across the surface manually. Your world sure makes that easy, after all. You know half your entry in the compendium is about these 'automobiles' you're got?"

Rudapedi turns to the car window and all the raindrops pouring down it, looking out with an expression somehow mixing boredom and unease. "And you keep assuming they were stolen. I don't know the details but I would bet that wasn't how they were acquired. The Kalic Empire has deep pockets, Jay. They don't need to steal. I imagine they found whoever is in charge of these weapons and offered them more gold than they could ever spend, or a permanent vacation trip off-world away from the troubles of this rainy planet, to an endless beach where the sun never sets... Or maybe they offered health? I'm sure there's at least one upper commander in your military who is dying slowly of something you can't cure, or has a spouse or child in a similar situation."

Rudapedi is sitting up now, gesturing with a lot of jabbing pointing motions, most in Jay's direction. "I've been here long enough to learn about your medical techniques. Don't get me wrong, they're amazing. Brain surgery? Those... Magnet-things that can see inside people? And your drugs would shame any potion-maker back home. You truly are masters of this craft, far beyond anything in the empire or any unaligned world I've ever heard of.

But you know why we don't have those kinds of abilities? We've never needed them."

Jay doesn't let the bearded wizard's vaguely accusatory tone get to him. "No, I don't suppose you would. If you can just wave a wand and fix someone's broken leg, why invent the splint and the X-ray machine?"

Rudapedi, for his part, is back to looking out the window, with the expression of a cat that begged to be let out only to find it has snowed for the first time in its little life and the backyard it wanted to play in has been covered in a thick blanket of white fluffy nonsense.

The continual beating of rain against the top of the car has turned into sharp "pings" as hail bounces off. "what the hell is that? Why is it BOUNCING?" Rudapedi asks, and you can feel the fuzz on "hell", like the translation spell is underlining it with a red squiggle of inaccuracy in your mind.

"That's hail", you respond. "sometimes when it's cold enough the rain freezes into little balls of ice while they're falling. This is pretty small, all things considered. When they get bigger, they can cause a lot of damage."

Rudapedi's managing to combine his expressions into one only describable as "rapt disgust". He says nothing in reply, only muttering something under his breath that even untranslated you can tell is an oath that's vaguely blasphemous. You wonder how it can go untranslated. Is the spell skipping out on speech that's too quiet or does it filter swears?

The hail continues, only getting louder. With the conversation clearly over (and it would be difficult to talk over the hail without shouting, anyway) you pull on your headset and start reciting words to your tablet, not letting this magical gift of vocabulary go to waste.

[iamthecomet]

Comet I've been Thinking™️ I've seen a lot of ships in the Ghost fandom. But one I personally haven't seen (by itself) is Aether x Aurora: Aethoura (can you tell I'm not good at ship names yet?). Now granted I'm rusty in this realm, but I've really been thinking about them (and I'd like to apologize in advance for any poor character portrayals-) so have some of those thoughts starting from when Aurora was first summoned. ~~~ When Aurora and Phantom were summoned, it was obvious that all the ghouls would be there to help them and welcome them. Each existing ghoul mindlessly went to one or the other and that's where we begin. Aether went to Aurora first and mostly stuck by her side. He felt drawn to her for some reason, more than Phantom (and no, it wasn't because Phantom was taking his place now) Aether played the biggest role in helping her get acclimated: showing her daily functions, how things worked, how to use things around the ministry/den, and even some smaller things like how to tell the time

After a while of Aurora getting around and used to things she often went to Aether to just spend time with him, help him with things, or whatever they could find. Aether always made it fun and she always found herself learning new things every time she was around him- There was never a dull moment

When it was time to tour Aurora was scared out of her wits. She was sad that Aether had to stay behind, too. Aether promised to keep in contact every day as much as he could. The first night she couldn't sleep and texted Aether all night, soft giggles and coos leaving her upon occasion at things he'd say

The day of her first concert she video called Aether in tears moments before having to get on stage. Despite the rest of the pack's attempts to try and soothe and calm her it didn't work. She wanted, and needed, Aether. Aether picked up the video call and helped her calm down, walking her through some breathing and grounding techniques and trying to make her laugh. Eventually she was calm enough and had to leave for the concert. She didn't leave without saying "thank you" and "I love you" for the first time. Aether thought about it for the rest of the day

Later on the entire pack called Aether and Sunshine to tell them how the concert went and how awesome Aurora and Phantom were. Aurora couldn't hide her blush and tail wiggling as she was praised by her fellow pack mates, especially when Aether praised her. She'd never felt so happy when Aether told her he was proud of her. After a long tour and back home, Aurora and Aether wasted no time reuniting and catching up on everything. For the next few weeks, they were inseparable

Aether and Aurora had grown more affectionate with each other over time- nibbling/biting, nuzzling, head butting, holding hands, cuddling, you name it. Aether always went out of his way to be touching some part of Aurora lovingly. Aurora loved and adored it and always returned the act of love and affection They both love to get each other gifts too, and there was definitely thought behind them always. Surprise dates, outings, or even quality time was right up their alley. They are very much in love, and they'd never want it a different way

AHHHH AETHRORA, aethra? Aurther? (ARTHER?). You're right, we don't see them much, or at all, and it's really a shame. They would be so sweet together. He'd take such great care of her, calling her whenever he can just to make sure she's doing alright. Helping her calm down when she gets nervous, her talking to him late in the night when he gets lonely. We need more of them together, being soft and easy and sweet. Taking care of each other. Laughing at stupid shit. Just YES PLEASE. Thank you so much for this it warmed my (freezing) cold heart on this stupid dreary day. ♥♥♥

[gaviicreates]

Sunday Stitchin'

Today I wanted to do a check-in, since I am due in providing an update. It deserves to be more of a WIP Wednesday because I am deep in juggling all of my many projects. Except it's Sunday on my side of the planet, so...

The active WIP count is up to 6, with 2 projects in each of my three crafts.

Tunisian Crochet: 2 Knit: 2 Crochet: 2

Crochet has taken more of a backseat this week. I've got what I am calling my palate cleanser doily in off white. I tend to work on it whenever I am bored with the repetition in my other projects. Since each row is different, the doily works a bit like putting puzzle pieces together. The chevron scarf from my bingo is the other crochet project, and while I have worked on it some this week, I will admit I got annoyed at the weaving in of ends this last round. So even though I finished this section, I haven't been eager to rinse & repeat quite yet.

In the knit world, I've finally started to figure out the magic loop technique. I hadn't shared what I was learning it for - eventually I want to feel comfortable enough to attempt socks again, but for now I was working it with a fingerless mitts pattern with worsted weight yarn. My first pair of mitts I am so pleased with, and they were well worth the initial awkward struggle of magic loop. The variegation in the yarn was spiraling upward until I started increasing around the thumb, so in the end it does look jarringly inconsistent. I love them though. I immediately went out and bought yarn to start some more, as I decided this is going to be the holiday pattern this year. So my current knit projects are two more pairs of the same mitt pattern.

MVP of this week is Tunisian Crochet.

At my LYS knit night, I worked the chevron scarf in Tunisian Crochet which is going to be a gift around the holidays as well. This is the one I had to frog back 11 inches after missing a stitch I didn't notice until later. This past week, I finally worked it back up to where I was before the frogging, so this felt like a huge accomplishment. It currently can drape over my neck, but not wrap, so I still have a bit to go - and I personally like my scarves on the longer end. It's fingering weight, I think I've mentioned before, so by the end this will truly have been a labor of love.

Finally - and pretty spontaneously - yesterday I decided I was going to try to make the Aruba Tunic by Toni at TL Yarn Crafts in preparation for our beach vacation coming up. For clarity, I will be there this time next week, so I went ambitious with my deadline, but I also didn't have a lot of time to plan. The actual trip was also a fairly recent addition to the calendar. I figure, if I don't actually finish beforehand this isn't a bad idea for a vacation project while away.

I'm still going to give it a solid college try.

I drove over to JoAnn's, picked some colors, compared dye lots, repicked colors, and then repicked them again, triple checked dye lots, and I've been working on the first panel of the tunic all last night and today. As of this evening, I'm at row 23/26 of this panel, and then I will be halfway.

I am using the recommended Coboo for this project, and the colors I selected are Denim and Taupe.

[copperbadge]

hey sam! i don't want to dump a research question on you, but just in case this is your remit - do you have any apps or browser extensions or similar for adhd and studying? i know about screen tinting and white noise, but if there's anything out there (paid or not) that you recommend, please wax lyrical! i'm collecting a doc of links for study tools beyond pomodoro style apps!

Man, screen tinting and white noise is already well out ahead of me, Anon :D I never did either of those while studying. I can't deal with screen tinting, but I did eventually start using ASMR videos as white noise when I was in my thirties, when I was working. Lo-fi beat music (often designated FOR studying on youtube!) often helps. Other than that I'm afraid I don't have any tools to link to -- no apps, no programs, no sites. I simply don't use any for learning/studying. I have a lot of tools but they're for managing personal life and very finely-tuned to me, so it's stuff like using google sheets to keep my calendar, and using Tasks to manage my chores. It's not to say you can't or shouldn't use apps and extensions, it's just not something that existed when I was in college and not something I make use of now.

My work, while very focus-intensive and intellectual, and involving synthesizing a lot of data, is also very temporary -- the data arrives in my brain, is put to use, and then goes immediately back out again. I've actually trained myself to have no long-term memory for some things, which is probably a bad thing, but every job I've had since 2008 has involved remembering very specific data for somewhere between five minutes (answering phones, remembering names) and two days (building a profile of a donor).

My study techniques when I was in school were less about environment and more about structure -- how I built my lecture notes and how I transferred them to a method for study.

In class, I found it helpful to take notes on blank paper, unlined, so that I could draw pictures and diagrams and structure my notes in a less linear fashion than lined paper would have encouraged. I should dig some out and take some photos sometime. So I had this artist's 8x11 pad of paper with diagrams and outlines and paragraphs all over the place. (I also tried graph paper but didn't like that, too much visual interference.)

I would start reviewing my notes for the eventual exam pretty soon after taking them -- about a month after any given lecture I'd go back to my notes and start review, which sounds a little insane, but was for me super helpful. I would get a deck of 3x5 cards and start moving what I thought were the vital points from those month-old notes over to the 3x5 cards. I didn't use them as flashcards (except for Latin class), I just put notes on various cards when they seemed to go together, and I'd carry the cards around with me and take them out and read them over. It made them very portable! And it meant that I could study in small chunks across a long stretch of time, which probably was very ADHD-compatible because it meant I saw everything a lot and it became "background noise" in the sense that I retained it.

I did kind of have the classic "gifted child" habit of not studying much because I rarely needed to, and for me that fortunately did carry over into college and grad school. With a few exceptions, I didn't have to study much for my exams, and the index cards covered what I needed. The struggle that I had was writing papers -- the classic ADHD "can't get started, hyperfocus once I do". I did eventually figure out the pattern, and so what I'd do was just block out the weekend before the paper was due (often I set the due dates ahead of the real ones in my calendar) and sit down and do the whole-ass paper across about 18 hours. If I knew the time was blocked out for it ahead of time, then that would propel me into actually getting started, and I'd bang the thing out.

So yeah, a lot of my study techniques for living with ADHD, not that I knew I was, came down to stretching studying way out over several weeks to months, and compressing paper-writing into weekends.

But also like...IDK man, cut yourself a lot of slack, I was studying and writing papers before smartphones existed, before my undergrad campus had wifi. If I wanted to check my email, because I didn't have a computer freshman year, I had to go to the computer lab across campus. It made research harder, of course, but it stripped me of a lot of opportunities to goof off. And because my brain was never trained to expect instant digital gratification, I never had the urge to put my notes down and check my smartphone.

So, maybe there's that, too -- if you find that while studying you get distracted a whole bunch, it may be useful to do some digital "hygiene" -- train yourself to go stretches without checking your phone or your browser, starting small and moving up to five, ten, fifteen, sixty minutes. I can't say that will help everyone or even be possible for everyone, but I think it's something to try.

Readers with ADHD (including self-diagnosis), feel free to chime in with the ADHD-centric study tools you use! I'd like to ask that neurotypical people not share their techniques here, only because people with ADHD tend to get a lot of well-meaning advice that is unfortunately not super applicable to the neurodiverse, which can be really frustrating and depressing. And remember to comment or reblog, as I don't repost asks sent in response to other asks. Thanks everyone!

[deathfavor]

I don't think this is a detail many people focus on. Obviously Xue Yang is extremely skilled when it comes to impersonating Xiao Xingchen. He had a couple years to study his mannerism, his speech patterns, everything of the sort. But there's so many details tucked into his mimicking of Xiao Xingchen's fighting style.

I've done a big break down of Xue Yang's fighting style in the past. But in essence, Xue Yang wasn't every really TRAINED to fight like the clans were. He's a street fighter, he fights like an animal, he fights dirty, he fights to survive. He learned to fight using what strengths he has and using everything at his fingertips. He's a resourceful fighter rather than a trained fighter. He has PLENTY of experience fighting, don't get me wrong, and he's naturally gifted in it. But he never learned a lot of the details of grips and foot placement. Not to mention what he did learn was trial and error for HIS fighting styles and HIS weapon and so on and so forth.

So for Xue Yang to be able to learn that from observation alone is a STUNNING feat. Maybe Xiao Xingchen taught him a thing or two, but Xue Yang was playing a role those years in Yi City. Xiao Xingchen's fighting style was YEARS beyond anything basic, and not to mention that Xue Yang seemingly stopped with manipulating him into hunting humans after some amount of time. Being able to mimic that is HARD, even simple martial arts without weapons is extremely hard to mimic accurately, and weapons makes it even more complicated. Yet he pulled it off, and pulled it off well enough to fool everyone for a fair amount of time.

I just think its extremely fascinating that this feral street dog clearly HAS the capabilities to be able to master techniques that takes others years to master in a far shorter time. He COULD be a fancy, elegant fighter like most of the other characters. But he's not. He drops the fancy style as soon as he's exposed and lets HIS fighting style show the moment he no longer needs to, because that's his techniques and what's worked for him the best over the years.

[xelasrecords]

I'm here with HCs about you, yes you 🌟 star of my life !! 🌸 Better get comfy because I don't know when to stfu ??

100% best advice giver. Like I'm thinking I'm a hysterical, blubbering mess about something trivial and you'd be like bitch calm down come here have some wine (affectionate)

In my head you look like your PFP. Which is kinda like well duh, what a stupid HC Lola, BUT I mean it in the sense that I just know you're effortlessly graceful and have a really good fashion sense. You have that aura about you, like people wanna get to know to you. Also let me borrow your clothes and while you're at it can you give me a mini makeover in your style pls thanks

You have crazy good memory for the things people say and their likes and dislikes.

Which means you an 🌟amazing🌟 gift giver.

You are a perfectionist, which I mean in the nicest WAY. But basically if you do something that'll have your name on it, you make sure it's to your standard.

I feel like you're really gifted at something musical?? I could be totally wrong but maaaybe singing or playing the piano or something like that.

You are really quick-witted. That's not even a HC really, I mean it's just basic observation but I'm saying it anyway. The way you write such top tier bantering dialogue in your fics means there is no other reality but you being so hilarious without even needing to try 😚

I really need to learn how to write short sentences don't I? Yours and Faye's HCs were so succinct and mine are like the most confusing essays known to man okay I'm going now love u sm 💕

Wow an express delivery ask instead of the 5 business days that you had warned about! And you nailed most of them on the head too??? Shocked.

I don't know about being a great advice giver but I've been in that situation with my friends before LOL I like to be there for my friends as they talk out their problems and validate their concerns and occasionally point out when something is wrong.

That's a high praise thank you Lola! It's really weird that my friend just randomly told me the same thing about my mannerism. I never noticed it before, but I think it's because I feel the most comfortable when I'm composed and over time it becomes second nature. And we should totally try swapping styles because I like yours too!

I wouldn't say I remember EVERYTHING but with my ex, I used to keep a note full of things that he liked, tidbits like his shoe size and his parents' birthdays so I don't forget to send gifts etc. Now I still have an ongoing list for my best friends and family. I just really love lists. They are very helpful.

You're so right on the perfectionist bit. Being a chronic perfectionist used to literally ruin my life, but now it's on a healthy level (as in I don't beat myself up for not being good enough or hyperfixate on a small detail while the big picture is tumbling down). With my fics, I always have to give my 100%. It would bother me knowing if I could've done better but I didn't.

How did you guess this one omg?? I'm NOT musically gifted, but my childhood consisted of a lot of singing and piano lessons which I enjoyed, so the techniques are still floating somewhere in my head. I haven't played the piano in years (I wonder if the muscle memory is still there?) but I love to sing when I'm doing my stuff.

I'm glad you find me and my fics entertaining ;)

Also, don't you think this rambling thing is part of your charm? You're very affable and lovely to chat with and I never thought of you as annoying. You're always welcome to ramble away!

[san-artistandwriter]

Nestled in the North Georgia Mountains, U.S. with my children, puppy, and kitten, I've learned that writing, like these mountains and in Nature, has different cycles for me.  

One technique I immediately embraced from Creative Writing by Sally O’Reilly, a new book for me, is overcoming perfection. Overall, I don’t have a quiet house and there are lots of interruptions which is just about true for everyone I know. I feel as though I can never really get lost in my thoughts, or my imagination, as much as I wish. So, I grab moments here and there. I’ve learned that I cannot wait any longer for a “perfect” environment to write and paint. This way I can go ahead and begin my larger creative projects with the knowledge that they will not be my best work, but they will have to do because otherwise there will not be any substantial bodies of work from me. It’s taken me years to make this decision. For the most part, my background has been writing small sporadic stories, poetry, and art.

This may all change in a few years, but as for now, I have just turned 59 and need to move forward. This acceptance has taken a lot of pressure and stress off of me. It is a relief and a wonderful dedication to my life to do this.

My hope, and a gift to myself over this next year, is to finish my illustrated novel. It’ll be a 60th birthday gift. Also, since it will be my first novel, I hope to purge a lot of the ideas that have built up over the years. Each chapter will be able to stand alone but at the same time the story continues and builds until the end.

Trying to adhere to what I have perceived as the best process of creativity kept me from so much. Since I have to start and stop every few minutes, these tiny, abrupt work moments will be reflected in my work, hence why each chapter and each illustration will be able to stand alone. It is not ideal, but it is okay. I’m happy that I’m doing this.

I finished my BA in Creative Writing and English, Summa cum laude, in December 2023 with a concentration in Poetry and am continuing this with my MA but with a concentration in Fiction. I started my MA in February 2024 in English Literature and Creative Writing because I need more development in the writing of fiction. The poetry workshops helped me to truly understand the importance of each word and its placement.

The kind of stories and art I create and hope to do better with is based on Nature, the seasons, the human psyche, growth, internal challenges, inclusivity and diversity, neurodiverse/divergent characters, and overall love of this life we are living. The genres are a blend of magical realism, academia, literary fiction, folk tales, and faerie tales during our modern times.

The two techniques that stand out the most for me from the book so far are developing a daily writing habit and using clustering for idea generation.

“Virtues are formed in man by his doing the actions,” by Aristotle.

Excellence is a habit and so I need to begin the begin. I am moving past waiting for inspiration and large amounts of time to write and illustrate. I am committed to writing and working on an illustration daily, in a pocket of moments. Some days my creativity flows easily while other days, it comes slowly. Consistently creating, every day, will help me to develop my sentences, poems, short stories, and art while clearing out any stagnant energy. Other benefits include ideas, for my literary fiction while blending folklore with modern themes, which come more often. I have noticed that my observational skills of nature and human behavior are becoming sharper.

Clustering is a lot of fun and boosts my creativity. With a strong interest in neurodiversity and human experience, this technique will be valuable. It will create maps of my subconscious, revealing hidden connections and themes.

When clustering, I will start with a central idea, like "empathy" or the "dark lens" that I use in my work. I will let my mind wander and write down related thoughts and images. For example, clustering around "neurodiversity" led me to compare the diversity of human minds to the varied cycles of ecology in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This metaphor may add depth to my story and reflect the complexity of human experience.

To further use these techniques, I plan to set a specific daily writing and illustrating time during the early mornings in a comfortable space such as my recliner (I feel better when my legs are propped up) with my lap desk and laptop, iPad, soft blankets, Earl Grey tea, cold water with lemon, some apples or oranges and roasted nuts. Lighting some candles is nice, as well as a good playlist like Ophelia Wilde’s on YouTube for relaxation and mental clarity. Life can be a bit chaotic, and a soft environment helps to regulate my nervous system nowadays and brightens my mental clarity.   

I will be using clustering at the start of a new story when I get stuck or frustrated, and when I find a new word that I love and want to do a deep dive into it! Also, clustering will help me to freely associate ideas and certain words creating more connections.  

My goal remains to share stories that capture the essence of human experience. By using these methods, I aim to boost my productivity, creativity, and writing skills, blending intuitive and analytical aspects. In doing so, I want to create work that speaks to the heart of what it means to be human.

Much love! San

August 4, 2024

Creative Writing by Sally O’Reilly

Clustering: Empire State University Article

The Routine of Writers TIME Series on YouTube

Ophelia Wilde YouTube Channel

[melly0990]

Training the young psychic

Fanfic scribble below

"Your welcome sir, please rely on me anytime you need help from me"

"Right I'll do that thank you" said from a man in casual clothes respectfully

He walked away from my place in a pleasant mood

Another day another cursed spirit obtained from a monkey

I'm not doing that for those weak monkeys anymore, it's simply for my goals now as I've abandoned those pitiful ideals of mine years ago

As the man In casual clothes left, a smaller figure appeared from the stairs and walked towards me

Ah that's shigeo kageyama the boy from yesterday with psychic abilities, yes that's right, today is whare he begins his training and control of his powers

"Hello Master geto I'm ready to learn to control them" shigeo greeted me respectfully

I greeted him in return "why hello there shigeo and.....wait master geto?" I was then a bit taken back

Shigeo nods "yea it's because your gonna teach me, do you dislike it?

I waved my hand "no no it's ok it's only natural for you to call me that, now then shall we begin?"

Shigeo proclaims "yes let's get to it"

"Good then follow me first" I began walking the hallways and shigeo persuded me from behind

Shigeo asked me innocently "so master geto, what's the first thing your gonna teach me?" I answered "well it's important to start small by using your psychic powers on larger objects, after all if you wish to master something you must start with the basics before moving on to the advanced"

We then entered a room with a large table on it but we moved outside from the behind door of the room

I questioned "now shigeo have you ever tried to make larger objects float?" Shigeo replied negatively "not really I just make small stuff fly or manipulate they're shape"

"I see well then how about you start by making that over there fly here along with the things on it" I pointed at the table "can you lift more than one object with your telekinesis?"

"Ok then I'll try" said shigeo,

the table, plates, spoons, forks and cups all began flowing with that blueish with purple energy on them from before, all coming outside flowing with each other as if they're dancing with the table seeming to be moving the most

It seems shigeo is particularly focusing on it

Shigeo asks "so master geto, can you do telekinesis too?"

"Well not exactly, my powers are different from yours"

Shigeo seeming a bit confused asks "what do they do then?"

"I believe it's best I show you" with my open palm I summoned a few curses

"Whoa, you can see spirits too?" Spoke shigeo with a Surprised expression "indeed I can and just as I thought you can see them as well can't you shigeo? Let me explain what they are, these are known as curses or cursed spirits, they are creatures born from the negative emotions of humans and can cause harm in some way, my cursed technique allows for me to absorb curses and use them at my command"

"What do you usually command them to do?" Shigeo tilted his head with curiosity

I looked away "Well......."

I can't exactly let him know I use them to hurt and kill others...at least not yet

"I simply use them to stop other spirits of course, I have many use for my powers and I'm sure someday you'll find use for yours as well" I commented

I counseled "Shigeo your powers are a wonderful gift that have no need for you to fear them, they are just a beautiful part of you that make you special, it just takes for you to accept them slowly, with time and patience I'm sure you'll be able to properly utilize them to the fullest someday like how i did with my sorcery"

With reassurance in his eyes shigeo responds "you really think so?" I noded "of course, you are special with them after all and you did do fine with them a lot of times no?"

"Yea I did, ok I'll keep that in mind" grinnly shigeo ponders on my advise positively

Then the young esper wondered to me "you mentioned a cursed technique, what is that exactly? Do all jujutsu sorcerers have it?"

I answered "Yes they do and it's not the only thing known about jujutsu"

"Please tell me about cursed techniques and other jujutsu stuff master" the little psychic looked up to me with wonder

I smirked warmly "alright I'll tell you, you still have much to learn after all"

[jin-was-here-2]

Jon Moxley - So What by Three Days Grace

So what if I’m crazier than crazy? So what if I’m sicker than sick? So what if I’m out of control? Maybe that’s what I like about it

You can say that I’m going insane And I’m not quite right And that I’m to blame You can say that I’m sick on the inside Bet you don’t know I like it that way You can say whatever you like If it’s so wrong I don’t wanna be right!

So what if I’m crazier than crazy? So what if I’m sicker than sick? So what if I’m out of control? Maybe that’s what I like about it So what? So what?

You can say that I’m going insane And I’m not quite right And that I’m to blame I don’t care you can say what you want to I am who I am and I’ll never be like you You can say whatever you like If it’s so wrong I don’t wanna be right!

So what if I’m crazier than crazy? So what if I’m sicker than sick? So what if I’m out of control? Maybe that’s what I like about it So what? So what?

And when I’m up It’s better than ever And when I’m down I’m desperate And when I’m up It’s better than ever And when I’m down I’m desperate I’m desperate I’m desperate

So what if I’m crazier than crazy? So what if I’m sicker than sick? So what if I’m out of control? Maybe that’s what I like about it So what? So what?

[ichoosechoasandbeingqueer]

Hi, friend! Ever since I read Bold, I can't stop thinking about that dagger Narni gifted Fili. The description of it and the technique behind it was just *chef's kiss*

"The daggers blade was a ladder damascus pattern and as he flipped it around in his hands, he discovered it was coated so that the metal shone a gorgeous Durin blue in direct lighting. It was a rare skill amongst blacksmiths to make the colour shine through and he had never seen it accomplished so well on a blade before. The pommel was made from some sort of bone or antler and sealed with a resin so it would not crack, darkening to a gold colour at the hilt that displayed the head of a lion. The prince moved closer to the light had gasped at the detailing of the sculpture. The lion’s mouth held a snarl and a braid adorned each side of its mane to match his own. He traced his fingers over the smooth blade finding no rivets or delamination in the steel and a sharp sting struck his fingertip as a bead or red dripped onto steel. It was as sharp as ice and now christened with his blood."

It's just so beautiful! It doesn't leave my mind. Because of you, I started researching the Damascus steel again and the lost technology behind it and it gives me a sense of wonder, like the first time I've heard of it. I think of your writing every time I need to write about weapons and it feels like an unattainable masterpiece!

I was wondering, do you happen to have headcanons for dwarves and their favourite weapons (what they look like, the materials and making techniques)? Maybe another one for Fili, as well as Kili and Thorin, or anyone else you'd like to mention.

No pressure though!

I just cant with you @feeweeeee, your complements always make me so happy and I'm touched that something i have created inspired you so much!

I have so many headcannons and the day off of work, so here you go! I hope it suffices your question, if not feel free to send me another ask with more specifics.

Dwarves defiantly have their own style when it come to weapons. They're a secretive lot and would keep their techniques and tools to themselves. Thicker blades and weapons where they fight up close are defiantly a theme, they are also much heavier rendering most of them useless to humans (and for that particular reason most times). While an elf or orc could pick up a dwarven weapon easily enough, a normal human would struggle, and with dwarven settlements always so close to human settlements it’s a safety feature that most smiths with put in. They are not strangers to humans turning on them while trying to trade.

I headcannon that the dwarves of Kazadum, while being friends at the time, also had a way to forge weapons so that elves could not use them (a physical aspect that made it difficult for them to grasp the handle without harming themselves) but when their homeland was lost, so was the technique. It was a secret that even some of their own kin did not know, the books and texts written on it being in code that only the royals and their most trusted blacksmiths could understand. This is how no one else could use it, even if the orcs could learn Khuzdul, they still would not be able to read the coded instructions.

Their blades are also stronger than man not just because of the way they forge them, but what they forge them with. Not unlike our own Norse smiths and Vikings, they would crush up the bones of the animals they hunted to add iron to the steel. There is also a mineral specific to the deepest caverns of middle earths mountain (a biproduct of mithril in Kazadum and from the Arkenstone in Erebor) that adds strength to any metal. They also use this strengthen metal for architecture and structure further in the mountain where the walls are under more pressure and weight.  

Dwarves are also very observant race. The beads and braids in their hair confirm this, each one having a meaning and reason, it being their gender, craft, kill count ect. They also forge messages and words into the designs on their weapons. Some have simple things like the words ‘courage’ or ‘strength’ in the patterns. Others have messages for if they fall in battle and their weapons are found instead of their bodies. Simple notes like ‘forged and wielded by Lord Kilvar’ to poems and requests to their loved ones for after they die. When the company was hiding from Smaug and they come across the bodies of their kin, Bofur picks up a weapon and read from the hilt, “If this sword has left my grasp, then I have reached the halls of my maker. May there be someone left to bring my corpse back to the ones I love, my dear Helja, and to pass on this sword on to my daughter Hlin. May it serve her better than it did me. Lay my bones down somewhere soft. Somewhere quiet. My battle is now over and I wish you good luck on yours,”. It took Bofur four years to find Hlin, but was honored to reunite her with her father’s weapon.

Now to our individual dwarves.

Thorin

Our mighty king would use a longsword. This two-handed weapon with double edged blades and a prominent cross guard is mainly a thrusting blade. Slashing attacks are still effective if the opponent has low to no armor, but heavy armor can damage the blade if used that way. There are many different techniques to use this sword, most relying on body strength or ‘wrestling’ your opponent making it good for dwarven fighters, or, my favorite because I can defiantly see Thorin doing it, holding it by the blade and using the handle as a hammer to hit your opponent. Just imagine Throin looking at the camera like on the office with the most deadpanned look on his face and then effectively flipping his sword around and just bonking someone on the head.  

Thorin would favor a Kukri knife, a bent one-sided blade. While being an efficient weapon it is most commonly used as a multipurpose tool. It can be used to cut wood, dig into tough soil, cutting meat and vegetables, hunting and skinning animals, the narrower part of the blade can function as a smaller knife and the heavier and wider part of the blade can be used as an axe. In our world Nepal it was commonly a tool for the fields and home. Thorin finds it not only practical but moving, connecting to it on a spiritual and emotional level. As he worked and slaved in the towns of man, and fought and worked beside his people who had nothing after Smaug, it was a humble and respectful knife that he felt connected to. A weapon of the people.

Thorin isn’t one for show but he has a soft spot for the fantasy style writing down the middle of the blade look. He likes a clean sliver blade (no Damascus, it hurts his eyes and doesn’t like how unpredictable the pattern will turn out) and a simple handle made of steel. The most extravagant thing on his sword is a shaped cross guard and pommel in a dwarven pattern. He has his personal sigil centered in the cross guard where the blade meets handle. His sword is very heavy and would not be able to be wielded by a human (even Kili struggles to swing it around).

Pic 1-A Kakri Pic 2-A Longsword Pic 3-Example of a simple decorative cross guard and pommel (picture it a bit longer though)

Also, as a bonus- a weapon I don’t think they would use but defiantly should: Twin sais

Fili

I think Fili would use twin Viking Seax with the straight side sharpened. These weapons are shorter than your average sword and rather similar to what he uses in the movies. They are a thrusting and slashing weapon and the pointed tip gives off a very dwarven vibe to me. Historically speaking from our world these swords were often crudely made due to people’s money, location, technology from the time, ect. But as Fili is a prince and heir to the throne (not to mention his love of his blades), he would take his time and most likely embellish his blades with different patterns/writing like modern blacksmiths do.

He would also favor a dagger design something between a Acinaces and a Pugio. I can’t find the dagger I have in my head for Fili (it might not even exist tbh). It is a double-sided blade with a heavily decorated hilt and pommel and the actually blade is wider than most other daggers.

While I don’t think he would colour his weapons like I had the blade in my story, he would enjoy using Damascus patterns (herringbone and feather the most) and seeing how the metal combines and twist together with his guidance. Unlike his uncle, Fili likes being in control of his steel and still having the patterns unpredictable and wild, discovering once the blade is finished how it looks.

As for the handles he would use woods or bone for his daggers. While not always to most durable or strong they are very traditional and can be easily customized and decorated and he takes pride in creating not just a sturdy weapon, but a piece of art that shows himself through his designs. It’s a balance he likes to test and experiment with, beauty vs practicality. Because Viking Seaxs are a lighter blade (because they are shorter in length) he has a steel handle (as these handles are heaver) with a leather herringbone knot wrap (to help with grip and stop his fingers slipping onto the blade as it has no guard.). Also, for design, he would leave the little tassel at the end purely for show. Throin and Dwalin hate it because it can get in the way but Fili refuses to change it. On every weapon he’s forged, he puts his personal sigil on the end of the pommel.

Pic 1- An Acinaces knife Pic 2- A Pugio knife Pic 3- A Viking Seax with a straight blade edge

Pic 1- Herringbone Damascus Pattern Pic 2- Feather Damascus Pattern Pic 3- Herringbone knot wrap

Also, as a bonus- a weapon I don’t think they would use but defiantly should: Shurikens

Kili

Kili likes to keep his opponents at a distance so no knives or short swords for him. If we exclude his bow and focus on bladed weapons, he would use either a War Rapier or a Amanremu.

The rapier is a thrust and cut weapon and those used for war rather then those in the hands of civilians had a thicker blade. They are light and fast and for Kili who doesn’t carry as much bulk and muscle as some of his kin but is fast and nimble on his feet, it’s a perfect weapon. They also have a metal hilt that wraps around the hand for protection. He likes this because when he had started training with Fili as a pebble, the elder had slipped and cut one of his fingers accidentally and it had traumatized them both a bit. No permanent damage done, but there was a whole lot of blood. Thorin forged him a rapier with a large hilt to stop it happening again. It’s a comfort thing.

The Amanremu is a single edged blade with a rounded edge at the tip. It is thinner at the handle and thickens out at the tip where the weight is carried used to enhance attacks. The handle also has a forked (unsharpened) pommel used for blunt attacks if one gets close enough. There’s really no solid reason I headcannon him with this sword except for the fact that he would look really cool using it. It just gives me Kili vibes.

Kili likes decoration on his weapons but more natural and curved lines than a traditional dwarven design. His tastes for weapons (as is his taste in romantic partners) is very elvish. Less harsh lines and corners and more vine and curved patterns. He likes a small amount of Damascus patterns on the steel, mainly loose twist patterns and that leave room for the silver of the steel to shine through. His handles are almost exclusively hard woods and he likes to burn his dwarven patterns there instead of on the metal. Its also where he adds his personal sigil.

Pic 1- A Rapier Pic 2- An Amanremu sword Pic 3- Loosely twisted Damascus Pattern

Also, as a bonus- a weapon I don’t think they would use but defiantly should: A Kama or Scythe

Dwalin

Dwalin is a Dane Axe darrow. Twin Dane Axes (with a few modifications to the handle so he can wield both at once). He knows it’s not always as handy as a sword or knife but he would go into a fight with his bare hands before giving up his axes. No one actually knows why and Balin learnt a long time ago not to question it (he seemed to have forgotten it was their mother’s choice in weapon. You see, being the eldest, Balin was always out with their father for hunting trips and lessons, and they used swords. He bonded with their father much more than the younger, and as Dwalin was always so much smaller than most his age, he started his trainings later. Being left at home led him to be bonded much more with their mother as a pebble. When he went through his growth spurt at forty and finally begin training, he refused to use anything but an axe).  

He would also have a basic Bowie knife on him at all times. It’s much easier and quicker to slip out of its sheath that an axe. It would be a shorter knife with a large curve and an S shaped cross guard.

Many would not guess it thanks to Dwalin’s tough looking exterior, but the darrow has a knack for crafting beautifully decorated weapons. He’s not a fan of Damascus patterns but would absolutely acid-etch his Bowie knife with a blue tint. He’s also a fan of double diamond leather wrapping. Seriously, its on all of his weapons, even the bottom of his axes. He doesn’t flash overly dwarven designs but he likes to add hidden pictures in his works when he does include them. He once made a knife with a cookie hidden in the artwork. Another weapon he added a lion paw (a gift to Fili for his fiftieth birthday). 

Pic 1- A Dane Axe Pic 2- A Bowie Knife Pic 3- double diamond wrapped handle with an S cross guard

Also, as a bonus- a weapon I don’t think they would use but defiantly should: A hook sword  

[weabooweedwitch]

I don’t want this to come across as, like, pity because it’s not and I’m sure you don’t want that, I mean this in the normalest, friendliest, least parasocial way possible because having followed you for years and spoke to you a few times it sucks that you are in this situation and have had to repeatedly go through it: can we help you somehow? Ko fi donations, Amazon wishlist, therapy fund etc? Is there anything we could do to make things a little more bearable?

For one I just wanna say that it actually just in itself means a lot that people are wanting to help me or at least vocally reaching out because like.. this is such a big world we're living in and its so easy to feel like i dont mean shit or matter for shit or can change shit at all so its nice to know that like. I dunno.. im glad i was able to kinda find this space for myself because like i dont really have a social life and without you guys (using "you guys" as a general word for all of my online friends rn) i wouldn't have anyone else to turn to

And also I don't perceive you guys wanting to help me as pity at all and really its kind of just validation because I'm basically 24/7 doubting myself and "am I valid for x, am I valid for y" so when im having kind of a crisis and people actually say "shit bro you ok" that feels better than like. I dunno. What does mother usually say. Stuff that's meant to be supportive but is kind of just toxic positivity like "You're overreacting and don't even think about it" which, those can be valid grounding techniques but like, you usually try and soothe the initial feeling first and then tell yourself not to think about it if you're obsessing over it

So I typed up what accidentally turned into a huge paragraph but, as nice as an Amazon wishlist sounds --because it makes me feel good people like me and gifts are always nice of course-- I would feel guilty for even making that public, and, to be realistic, my rent is very cheap and the only reason I don't have a lot of savings is because I keep spending money on bullshit. I kind of need to exercise restraint and actually save money because uh like I've been working for like 2 or 3 years now and I basically still have what I started with. So. I guess TLDR is "i would feel guilty accepting gifts i can technically afford for myself and also I would feel like a total chump beggar 😔". Maybe when I learn more self kindness I'll feel less guilt accepting gifts I guess? Where i am right now, it just feels like I'm being, I dunno, manipulative

Monetary donations are kind of the same and I'm stricter on that and try not to take money unless there's some kind of emergency. I do worry about money a lot but its usually always in the "how can I support myself on my own in the future" sense. I mean, most people put away a small part of every paycheck, but my savings account actually kind of expired and got closed so I just have the one checking one and uh, it's easy for me to keep pulling out of it, you know 💀 but that circles back to "i have to personally learn how to exercise financial restraint" and also like. Let's not. Think about how all the socioeconomic policies in America aren't even remotely in my control so I should uh try and ignore that technically no job is paying enough and everyone has to have roommates or a spouse to afford anything 😅

And also. Yeah I'm ok on like therapy funds and stuff because I'm actually on state insurance, actually I'm trying to cut down my work hours to guarantee I stay in the right financial bracket so I can keep it. I was talking to a couple people last night and I might consider going to a doctor again soon but im really hesitant about it. It kinda seems like I need a more thorough evaluation from a psychiatrist and. Well.

I think my first "big goal" for right now is that I should put some money aside and. Uh. Well. Kinda quit my job for a while so I can focus on those sorts of things. I feel really bad even saying that but the fact is, the fact is, im a person with severe mental illness and depression and my current job involves random strangers constantly constantly treating me like shit and sometimes getting very verbally abusive and aggressive and sometimes just having someone suddenly approach me can be very startling? Did I ever tell you guys about the time a random older man just came up from behind me and briefly grabbed me from behind? It was ad a joke and I was on edge watching my peripheral vision for motion that entire week

So I guess to make a long story short I think I should. Focus on what I want to do in terms of medicine right now and really fight to pursue the fact I think some really important diagnoses have been missed, and to do that without a lot of stress, to have a flexible schedule to see a doctor, I think the best decision is to take off work for a while, which I think is a good idea anyways? So to do that with a clear conscience I just want to have a few months of my portion of rent and then some extra in my bank account so I won't have to stress about immediately getting back to work or getting a new job. Because that's another decision I have to make: for I want to brave the current job market and look for another job and risk the one I currently have.

Long answer is long but I have a lot of thoughts right now 💀 talking with you guys has been a huge help in of itself so thats the only payment I'll accept for right now 🥰

[lynxano]

when visiting someone in Hamilton, I decided to bring my camera! here's a picture I took with it I really love, from the trip.

my grandpa gave it to me when I was staying over with him, after a late night smash bros tournament I was helping out with in Oshawa.

it took me forever to actually use it, it was from the early 2000s I think, so it wasn't that appealing to me. I mostly kept it for a different form factor or if I wanted to take retro pictures. One day, I really wanted to test something about the camera, a feeling I got that I couldn't shake had come up, I neededto see if it could do something my phone camera couldn't!

i had to spend some time looking for it, my parents took it some time ago, not knowing it was a gift for me.

i took it upstairs with me and shot some pictures with it. "Yes!"

it had a shorter lens width! my phone camera has wide angle lenses, at least compared to that camera. wide angle pictures can look distorted, especially for up close objects, like this!

it looks kinda cool at the same time though

here's a more extreme example! picture on the top is taken with my phone (corktown park looking at the mountain)

In this picture, taken down the street by the train tracks and pedestrian underpass, the mountain looks a lot more steep. And it absolutely is steep!!! I can say that because I've climbed it! In the winter through the snow, up hill both ways!

(this is an edited picture of that trip, during one of the parts with a less steep incline. it was still too unstable to stand on though)

Originally, I planned on showing a direct comparison, but unfortunately my camera pictures from the park were lost and never appeared to save to my SD card. Maybe I didn't press the shutter button fully, it's analog.

I've come to love this camera, it takes pictures that look professional, gives me a bunch of tactiles to stim with, like opening and closing the flash box. I've discovered it also has a nice (buggy!) autofocus feature, optical zoom, and some very 2000s proprietary peripherals!

This all said, I still use my phone camera frequently. Even if my handy cam has some things I really like, it is limited. My phone has (significantly) better battery life, and more streamlined UI, which made it much easier to learn to use and tweak settings. It also! isn't obsoleted by my camera! My camera can take pictures in wide aspect ratios, and In higher resolutions, and probably has better image processing techniques.

Most importantly! it has a very wide lense! that's rad! I shower a picture of me in these beautiful fluffy unicorn jammies earlier, which was taken on the phone. I think the wide angle lense makes my pose look more dynamic than it was in real life! and I like that.

Understanding your limitations isn't about admitting something is not as good as it could be, it's about finding the best way to optimise within those limitations!

In my smash community, we gaslight new players into believing in themselves. Telling them what we like about how they play and try to avoid critisism just for the sake of it, since we know it's not a constructive learning environment, being watched closely and expected to succeed constantly. I think that's similar to these cameras, in a way.

In general, my goal is try and spread that form of comfy and approachable language, and learn how I can apply it as many things as possible!

Here's some more pictures from the trip

[theurbansquared]

Guide To Avoiding A Loser Brokerage

by James Hill | theurbansquared

Brokers can be bastards and some even get better at it while other brokers are legitimate life-changing business Sherpas

A broker is supposed to guide you through a career in real estate much like a coach or pimp - offering protection and how to understand a complicated system better and direct it to revenue  without getting your neck broke while playing the game. I created and ran the most well-reviewed, largest full-service brokerage in the fastest-growing city in America.  This gave me access to nearly ever broker and their broker's pay structure and innovations. I also got the agent's version of my same broker buddies brokerages when they eventually joined my brokerage; hovering anywhere from 20–60 agents. Trending insider chatter has blame going to real estate brokers of decades past (and current) and how they’ve managed their agents - - letting unsupervised  agents with no experience run wild on the streets practicing on the public wearing out Realtor love and making a need for all the Mountain Dew-made Zillow-y options that currently exist.

Brokers are out of touch more than ever with today’s current media load, having to understand and use social media platforms for their advertising (since the private Town & Country affair that real estate once was is forever over and the landscape is a bit more like a half Juggalo, half programmer flea market).

Let’s dive into some situations and tenets that most agents don’t consider when choosing a brokerage.

Sales Volume

This is a bit of negotiating psychology and due diligence. Simply ask how much sales they (the brokerage) did last year and how much they’re currently at. If they don’t know these numbers they’re goons. If they don’t give it, you guessed it - they’re hiding something; their lack of revenue. I’ve hired and fired hundreds of agents and in interviews so few ask this question but it’s one of the most important questions you can ask as an agent and you need the information. An agent that doesn’t ask this has already given a tell that they’re not a top producer since they’re not interested in the production capacity of the team they may join. No bueno. Creep the brokerage as well obvi -- reviews, FB & IG engagement and current running ads, and make sure the company Christmas Party isn’t catered by Chic-fil-a at a Burnet Road dive bar.

Office

40% of your learning and 350% of your work will be done at the office. Those numbers will make sense 90% of the time after a few years in real estate. The rest should be on the streets - your car, properties, driving 75 mph talking and sending out docs, gorging on breath mints. Office, home, tiny homes, motorhomes have all blended into one larger conversation where work/live ethos are all in re-definition.

But, when you do need a more savvy moment in any market when people talk about borrowing or selling something that’s over $100K they don’t want to hear some bullshit too loud pedantic conversation seated right next to them at Starbucks or the local kooky coffee shop. In real estate Murphy’s Law is always in effect. The super important listing sign off that has to go well and they want to hear you pitch again before deciding? There will be someone (at this super ‘caj’ coffee house meeting) there projectile vomiting, or throwing cats, or something else tiresome or bad that takes more calls.

Speech and body language are massive parts of sales so when the entire set is thrown because a barista is running through a whole Sublime album. You want the most inviting cool office you can ever pull off at any given moment in real estate . Was that ever a question? There's a balance  -- you can't afford that year one or three, but it’s called real estate for a reason. Sexy, exciting buildings is what the brochure said when I joined. Also, it’s about style not size.

If you haven’t lost business to coffee house back pressure you really haven’t failed at agency properly.

Social IQ

Social reach is the only conversation now. Many brokerages won’t make it as the lead generating aspects of the industry aren't powered by a private MLS anyone and the publicly-hated ‘Realtor’ designation have both brokers and agents guessing about tomorrow. Calendars, best practices and free shitty tips & templates are the du jour of the day for anyone trying to get an agent's eyes. You can Google and get all the ‘basic’ social media dance steps, but with everyone at the same happy hunting spot, you’re being covered up, which leaves all your new artistic efforts fruitless and also squandering winning time.

Traffic, leads and engagement are all separate areas that have to be fulfilled properly and even this is in flux with historic corporations and current start ups all on the same advertising playing field. Social reach and engagement is about going to the consumer direct and becoming their friend with soft bribes -- free food, gifts, prizes (trips, events tickets) or industry work tools. The great news is, real estate has always been mostly consumer direct - start up a convoy at the grocery store (bar, church, meetup) and you’re in the car that weekend looking for houses with a new client. While you, your brokerage and the world are figuring out their exact social media mix, you need to make sure a brokerage isn’t lost on social media since many won’t be able to stay in business in the next few short years. Your brokerage needs to have a plan and and at best some presence on social media. Plus, they should be running low-cost performative marketing ad campaigns to get a feel for what and if set user groups are responding to ads. Anyone can post on IG but people engage on IG when they become inspired. A brokerage should have some sort of inspiration and relationship tied in with the local allure of their city --  or heading that direction.

Mentoring

Much like a neurotic buyer chasing an interest rate for their home mortgage (and then never buying a house) agents too focused on commission may miss the essential career need for mentoring -- for their clients and career. I had a 5 deal minimum for my new agents before they were ever unsupervised and received more commission. I've had new agents with celeb clients in hand and celeb agents with no clients in hand. No one wants to do business with someone with absolutely has no, experience but they do it because they like you as a friend or fam. Your mentor is the person riding shotgun with you at the beginning of your career. On many levels you want to be this person since they embody the position and role. You're literally and figuratively are borrowing experience from them and they deserve to be paid for it. You always have to strengthen your brand outside of your brokerage but if you don’t have any experience your brand doesn’t have ‘strength’ you simply have a logo and a drag & drop website where you're possibly talking about yourself and love of unicorns or football shit but the big boat deals you dream about in bed aren’t gotten this way. Remember, no unicorn could ever throw a football good without a lot of practice and a good mentor.

Support

Support in a brokerage is really communication and solutions for small problems, and systems for managing bigger ones with people. Most of the annoying things in real estate happen outside of the deal - contracts, calls, emails, docs, signatures, more docs. You typically want a super admin, broker, or agent manager that you can call and they pick up the phone. It’s pretty simple. With a mentor, admin, or broker you’re going to have a n 8:30 PM question or deal that’s going down. You’ll need printer help. Real estate always happens now (this was one of the main mantras in my office). Printing, prequal, weekend support and constant post dinner shenanigans.

Training

Meet Frank Miller, David Mamet, the Sex Pistols, Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Hendrix, Tom Hopkins, The World’s Greatest Detective and Conan The Barbarian. We had a lot of different inspirations for the style and ethos of our urban brokerage. The World’s Greatest Detective is Batman. It was a moniker that became popular in the seventies. We used this example about how important due diligence and proper Fact Finding techniques are for serving and closing deals for clients. (It’s almost essential to be inquisitive in real estate esp about property/development to have success). Training is largely your sales meeting(s). Although I don’t come from a car background I’ve mentored many car guys transferring to real estate (they typically are out of the industry within 2 years and are there only for boom markets). Car guys have meetings every morning 6 days a week and they’re not at 9 or 10 am. They’re already working.

free module: The Burger King Phenomena: Why Agents Do Less Working For Themselves Than If They Were Working At Burger King

Many brokerages have no training/meeting schedule (monthly doesn’t count -- that’s a meet and greet company pump and catch up meeting). If a brokerage doesn’t have training on a schedule then there is no training. You’ll possibly be thrown a 3-ring binder, or given some PDF’s, or links to old bizarre training videos or a soup sandwich of all three and sometimes even a bill for the training. An agent’s training/meetings and their attendance to them are the difference between an agent making it or not when you’re 24 months or less in the role as an agent especially in the fast turbulent waters of the current 2021 market where brokerage and agent purpose and pay are under attack. From my experience, new agents that hide die.

Media

Having a background as a creative director I’m aware with great detail of agency and brokerage media needs, the cost and time they extract, and the corresponding revenue they’re projected to bring back. Brokerages are looking for their purpose now as simply having a brokerage doesn’t bring in leads like it used to. This is fitting, since the digital dumbass brokers that that didn’t understand the importance of ‘the web’ rickshawed our MLS data and sold the agent/broker centric real estate system for their benefit while current agents are left with an empty greasy enough to-go box to curl up with. Brokerages were never media houses or ad agencies but now that consumer level graphic programs and website builders are ubiquitous and any agent after being licensed for 10 days can drag & drop a website up in 4 hours and make it look like a brokerage that’s been around for years. I know I’m going wide on the subject here but stay with me because this is the crux of where the industry and consumer are renegotiating roles.

A brokerage’s value proposition has changed drastically with the telecommute revolution that was only sped and strengthened by Covid. Also, generational knowledge base gaps in technology are more apparent than ever with technology as younger agents can often be more media savvy than their broker. The market is flooded with self appointed companies or gurus that are taking on the role of the classic ad agency (Mad Men) or media production house. Also beware of real estate coaches with little or no real estate experience offering to guide you in social media. Okay media can’t be used in apex situations (such as the luxury listings you’re after) and doesn’t draw apex listings. Beware of tapioca room temperature tips and general lists from companies that can appear informative but are really boilerplate low grade data to get your attention to ultimately upsell you on a paid service.

As an agent or a brokerage, consumer level graphic and website building programs can be a death ticket to your business as your competitors have the same tools and are cranking out the same type of style of messaging you are now. Now agents, principals, admins and in art class creating flyers. This has been done since the nineties as the valleys of dead agent careers is full of 2-day Microsoft Word (or any of their shitty office offerings) seshes to produce nasty flyers and presentations. These programs are fun and making bad flyers absolutely work related - the kind of work you don’t want’ related to your business because it’s adult crayon coloring. Activity does not equal production. Staying busy doing the wrong things doesn’t make money in real estate. Rather than spending agent winning time staying in the wrong lanes for way too long, get with a team or brokerage that are providing the most exceptional visual media you can find in your market. It used to be cool 2 years ago, now it’s the only thing that matters. Visual content.

free module: Better Agent Media, Less Agent Money (media tips and hacks).

Access

This is access to your broker. Brokers with families are typically less available. Your best bet as an agent is looking for a grinder broker who sleeps on the couch at their office. This person doesn’t have kids to build into so they’ll build into your career and you’ll get the most out of these brokers. Beware of cheesedick, apathetic, rich boy, bored brokers not around and more concerned with projects like a shitty vanity wine brand that their wife’s forced them to launch since she’s not living her best life anymore as an agent.

Style

What kind of style is your brokerage? Is there an opportunity to bring more style sophistication to the market -- standout in a smaller market? Or, are you in an ultra stylish market currently and butt hurt because you already have a little story about how you’re going to keep it real and be a Dockers wearing slob for eternity? The thing about style in agency is you always need to look like you can list a million dollar house. Oh, is it really that simple? Yes it is. You complicated it. Clients always care about their housing a little bit more than they care about your real estate career. They don’t have time to figure out why you’re wearing shoe styles from 7 years ago. Don’t make it hard for people to do business with you. If you’re ugly, even better. It can be a massive advantage. Everyone on the planet loves when someone who doesn’t fall into our general current ‘attractive’ spectrum doesn’t give af, looks great and puts themselves together in a stylish way that the viewer can understand (can I get away with Teen Wolf?). A great side benefit from this step in the right direction is it’s a great way to make someone who is conventionally attractive insecure.

You want to be in the same style as the people in your area but the secret is you need to lead that style pack if you can -- you always lead and dress apex. Years ago this was anecdotal but after over 100K hours in real estate a good suite (tailored) saved my ass and literally got me business. I listed the largest house in east Austin because of a suit (and got a front page story on the newspaper real estate section for free because the owner saw me walking into the next door neighbor’s house).

Offices, dress, logo, email signature are all elements of you and your brokerage’s style. Style in and of itself isn’t enough to be a top producer in real estate. I’ve had stylish and even celebrity agents that didn't do zilch, but style often is a fingerprint to something more.

Picking the right elements for your agent style is an art because you have to offer something from yourself that’s unique enough as well as something familiar (a bridge to your uniqueness). I have a background as a musician and also as a merchant sailor. Fortunately those are easy convo starters. You could be a philatelist and have some challenges, but regardless it absolutely will take a year or three to develop your own angle and style towards the market as you learn it and the agent role more.

Things that look attractive and familiar puts client’s psychologies at ease. So, if skinny jeans are in you better get in them (that’s like five years old now). You’re on stage. You don’t wear what the worker people behind the camera wear. If you want to wear boring shit get on the other side of the camera. If you want less leads saddle up to a forgettable brokerage. People have hard days. They want you to put an effort into your real estate agency role. Currently it’s a fried role so you’re dealing with that too. People love to be smiled at and sold and especially from someone who smells good. It doesn't ever get old. Don’t make them beg for your charm. Be a nice charming person with a shirt that fits good, it’s a powerful combo.

Get My Damn Paper

If you’ve never seen a werewolf in daylight mess with an agent’s commission after the deal’s done and funded. Admin? Who is the damn person who does the admin? (accounts payable is the icey pro word if you like). That person that you contact to get your commission check cut? If that person is a weirdo, or there’s an unfriendly or sketchy quality to the office or admin staff, do not go forward (don’t confuse this with new people or industry jitters). Grab some free coffee, leave the smarm and jet to the next brokerage blind date.

Software

CRM is an annoying conversation. Here’s the things with CRM’s - for all the work CRMs curtail, because of their complexity and existence and the work(time) they take to interact with you need to consider how much work you’re putting into operating the CRM software verses how much time it’s saving. Many times brokerages have expensive yearly subscriptions with per agent fees for their CRM which can make the brokerage have a zealot meth thing for the ‘team’ software and promise you can’t have a career without taking a bump too. To understand CRM better before it was a name, Client Relationship Management is what analog Proximity became. Let me explain -  being close to people in Church, bar, school, same building -- all give proximity. This becomes familiarity, then ease, then trust. People do business with people they trust & like. Once people disconnected physically and started using other means more contact attempts have to be made to work for or ‘prove’ worth.

Follow Up is a large component of most CRM’s and there are gobs of money for agents who follow up meticulously. Simply ask the broker what CRM they use and research it. Something to remember - unless you’re extremely busy with your career you don’t need a CRM. You can manage & database your clients & leads ‘by hand’ and strap it to the cloud with G-Suite/Google Sheets.

Brokerage Name

A small but important aside, if a brokerage have named themselves after a precious metal or a gem, or if it says elite in the name then it’s not elite. If it has the words prestige or worldwide or international it may not be any of those either. I know a handful of exceptions to this rule but this is a great dirty primer to use when choosing a brokerage that’s going to propel your career and have shrimp options at the Christmas Party.

[okamirayne]

Hi Rayne!! Just finished (yet another) re-read of BtB, and I don't think I've cried this hard in a long, long time - it was very cathartic. But, feels aside, I was wondering if you could tell us a bit more about Karibi? She's fascinating and I'm just dying to know more! (Sorry if this has been asked before!!)

Hi there, my lovely Anon!

Apologies for the delayed response. Aw, luv.  Always so, so chuffed to learn someone has revisited the series and even more touched to know it hits you in the feels <3.

But, feels aside, I was wondering if you could tell us a bit more about Karibi? She's fascinating and I'm just dying to know more! (Sorry if this has been asked before!!)

Karibi! <3 Firstly, no, this hasn’t been asked before, so imagine my excitement regarding an OC ASK -- can you picture it? TREBLE IT. XD 

Another dear Anon asked about Naoki in a previous ASK and I thank you for your expressed interest in Karibi! It’s a funny one because I have two Karibi OCs -- the edited version I inserted into BtB and the original, original version. Given that we’re talking about BtB Karibi...let me rewire my character brain a moment and firmly draw a line or two...or twelve....

Right! A Third War orphan, Karibi grew up in the orphanage outside of Konoha and proved to be quite a handful over the years given her feisty nature, constant escape-attempts, insistence on dressing and behaving like a boy (for which she earned consistent bullying and beatings), and her rough-housing free-for-all scraps with other kids -- as well as her routine habit of stealing food from the kitchens to give to a stray dog who constantly hung around the outskirts of the orphanage. It was easier for her to attach herself this dog than other kids who came and went, just like the voluntary care-givers. Her mischief-making, stealthy tactics, “never stay down” stubbornness and streetwise attitude soon caught the attention of a retired Konoha ANBU veteran (a patron of the orphanage) who interrupted a violent fight between Karibi and a group of local boys who’d stoned the dog to death. Observing how fiercely she fought (always getting up when knocked down) despite being outnumbered and beaten, the ANBU veteran recognized her potential, promptly adopted her, and trained her in ninjutsu, genjutsu and chakra control.

Their relationship was close, until it wasn’t.

Advancing quickly through the academy and ranks – winning zero friends along the way – she was soon put forward for ANBU by her adopted father, who immediately cut his ties to her, damaging an already tentative trust. Intended as a solo agent, she was immediately assigned to a 3-team ANBU unit named Team Yokai consisting of herself, Genma, and Naoki (Captain).

Enter in, bonding.

It was here, after a lot of boundary testing and testosterone busting, that she finally formed some hard-won emotional attachments after beating Genma and Naoki bloody in taijutsu combat – taunting them constantly to get up (“seven times down, eight times up”). While she was promptly one-upped by both in ninjutsu, her genjutsu prowess brought her right back onto an even keel with them both. Perfectly balanced, respect began to form between them – then friendship – which later led to a lover’s trine between the three of them. This was intense but short-lived; Karibi soon recognised that though she loved them both, she preferred women and also realised Genma and Naoki’s feelings for each other went a hell of a lot deeper than ‘close friends with benefits’. She knew they’d fallen for each other before either admitted it to themselves, let alone each other.

The three of them were inseparably close.

They were more than her friends or comrades – they were her family.

They kept each other going.

Karibi allowed Naoki to establish a permanent telepathic link with her whereas Genma only allowed it during missions and in the bedroom. Karibi kept her mind open to Naoki always, though he never intruded until years later after being listed as Killed In Action.

His death blew a hole in their world.

Their team was dismantled.

They would not accept another Captain.

To make matters worse, due to the unbroken telepathic link and the resulting ghost of Naoki’s presence in her head, Karibi never truly believed Naoki had died and her adamant ‘denial’ of this ‘fact’ created a heart-breaking rift between her and Genma.

This rift between them grew darker and wider as Genma turned to solo deep-cover missions and Karibi turned to drink when she wasn’t neck-deep in assassinations and a failed “could’ve been” relationship. And then one day the edge of all the smashed glass bottles in her life looked very, very tempting.

Genma found her, just in time – the first time at least.

Treated and cleared of suicide risk, Karibi was soon diagnosed as schizophrenic given the “voice” of her dead Captain in her head and this threatened her position in the ANBU – but her brokenness caught Danzō’s interest.

After a failed attempt to recover her relationship with her civilian lover and unable to mend the rift between herself and Genma, she signed on for a ROOT initiation mission – which sadly finished what she’d started with the bottle – though it was an impulsive and sudden decision rather than a deeply pre-meditated one. She disobeyed orders when sent into a child-trafficking operation being run out of an orphanage. This was a trigger for her. Rather than complete the ROOT mission of kidnapping a couple of kids for ROOT grooming, she murdered her ROOT partner and slaughtered the “nuns” who were supposed to be taking care of the children rather than indenturing them into the sex-trade to raise funds. When the ninja traffickers showed up, she lit the building on fire, and while the children escaped she made damned sure not one “piece of trash” running the trafficking ring got out alive.

She went down fighting in flames.

Her death was the final crippling blow to Genma. He went to Mizugumo immediately after that. Then he went to his own personal hell before Kakashi met him there in ANBU’s gutter and helped drag him out of it years later, saving him from the same fate as Karibi when he almost identically mirrored the blaze of glory tragedy with his suicide attempt in Tanzaku years later.

Random Trivia:

Karibi loved dogs and often kept an eye out for Inuzuka women looking for a bit of rough and tumble.

She dealt with a lot of possessive shit from Naoki. He was very possessive of his family/lovers and was only just about able to accept Karibi being intimate with others, even after he’d stopped sleeping with her. Genma always joked that Naoki only accepted her activities because her preference was for women, not men.

Karibi, like Naoki, felt strongly about the abuse of children, given certain illicit incidents she’d witnessed at the orphanage -- she and Genma understood Naoki’s childhood trauma and were the only ones who could handle him when he flew into a rare rage

Her favourite catchphrase was “seven times down, eight times up” (“Nana korobi, ya oki” which means “Fall down seven times, stand up eight.” It means choosing to never give up hope, and to always strive for more.)

While her ANBU step-parent/mentor abandoned her in the end, she retained the green knit scarf he gifted her (the only gift she’d ever received from him other than her training and removal from the orphanage)

She began to fall for a civilian woman -- the scariest thing for her, other than losing her teammates.

Karibi’s top value was “resilience” and never giving up – which made her suicide attempt so painful for Genma to accept

She turned to Naoki for help retrieving memories about her parents – this enabled him to perfect his own kinjutsu to reverse memory erasure

She had a plethora of ear piercings and a tattoo Naoki inked on her hip

She loved various green teas

She had a crush on Kurenai – round about the same time Genma did, which made for an interesting competition between them….and a somewhat unfair irritation towards Asuma.

She was a bit of magpie in the ANBU and stole items on missions, donating them privately to the orphanage

She loved berry-picking and was very well-versed with poisons

Genma gave her chickenpox and she gave him hell for it

She almost managed to shove a spinning top up Genma’s ass – almost.

Genma accidentally broke her baby finger playing “thumb wars” and it never set properly on the joint, causing her to have a crooked little finger

Most of her illusion/genjutsu techniques focus around folklore creatures and light, which came in handy on missions dealing with highly suspicious village folk

Her dream goal was to one day be Goei Shotai to a female Hokage – a dream Genma later lived out for her when Tsunade came into power

Naoki was with her telepahtically when she died, as Genma was with Naoki when he died -- in that way, Karibi was not as alone in death as Genma always feared.

Wow, that was LONG.  Sorry, Anon! I absolutely love character-writing and development....I get carried away even if most of their story never makes it into the actual written piece. Thank you for asking about Karibi, I hope this insight gives you some answers! <3

[timeslostart]

March 19th 2021

THERAPEUTIC KNITTING - STRESSED NO MORE

It really is a thing...

Being a single mom can be hard at the best of times let alone in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.  Moving back to my hometown (city actually), finding a full-time job after being a stay at home mom for two years, trying to start my own business and dealing with the daily trials and tribulations of having a now four year old little boy is not easy. (read my Halloween post :p )

The one thing that has been helping me get through this very trying time is that I have wonderfully creative and supportive people in my life that constantly push me to continue to be creative myself.  I draw a lot of inspiration for my designs from the people I know and the situations that arise in my life.  No situation or experience is too tough to get through.

I always try to see the glass half full even though lately it's been getting harder and harder to do so in my personal life and my professional life. 

I have been working on this mountain blanket design since last July for a Christmas present (that was the goal anyway as it is March 2021 now) and I've had to start over six times already.  I try not to look at this as a failure as I've learned so much trying to attempt this pattern that I created; new stitches and new techniques in order to get the result I desire but it still has been a very long, difficult process.  Because of this I thought it might be interesting in this post to talk about how I create my patterns and how many times I do start over in order to get it just right.  This is my personal version of knit therapy.  Sometimes in order to create you must first destroy!  Ripping out my knitting after getting frustrated with it can be truly satisfying at times.

STEP 1 Idea

Now an idea for a new design can literally come from anything or anywhere for that matter.  My friend's favourite colour or a conversation I have with my child; even  a picture or image I see online or in my travels.  For my mountain blanket it all started with a conversation that I had with my coworker.  He talked about growing up in Banff, Alberta and how he would go snowboarding in the mountains and bam it hit me, I'd design a pop art inspired piece.  That's all it was in the beginning, just two words... mountains and pop art. (well I guess three words but you get the idea)

STEP 2 Design

Designing is always fun for me, I get to let my imagination run wild. For patterns that involve any kind of pictures as part of the design element, like my mountain blanket, I use my Microsoft Excel program and create a chart. 

Once that is underway I decide on a size for my pattern and adjust my chart accordingly.  This can take a few hours or even a few days to get just right.  My blanket was designed specifically  to fit a twin bed so it was quite a big undertaking to begin with and having to start it over six times... I'm surprised I haven't ripped all my hair out yet.

STEP 3 Making

Now it's one thing to have an idea and another to have a design but if you can't take your vision and turn it into reality it's back to square one.  I have spent the past 8 months trying to make this blanket work.  It has a beautiful seed stitch pattern followed by the mountain design and I just can't get my tension on the mountains right.  My stitches are either too tight or too loose or my yarn drags too much on the underside of the blanket.  It's been such a frustrating project, I've actually shed a few tears over it.  That's where Step 4 comes in.

STEP 4 Adapting

Like I said earlier this blanket was meant to be a Christmas present.  I should clarify, it was for Christmas 2020.  So three weeks before Christmas I had finally had it with my blanket.  Enough was enough.  I was still only half done and had to rip out the mountain section yet again.  Nothing seemed to be going right and it looked like I wasn't going to have a gift to give at our Christmas gathering when I decided that my best course of action was to get back to basics and go back to my roots.

In one of my earlier posts I mentioned that I was a cross-stitcher before I was a knitter.  That skill certainly came in handy here.  A knitting chart and a cross-stitching chart are very similar so it was quite easy to convert my mountain pattern over to a smaller needle and thread. 

Four weeks later I had my design completed as a cross-stitch just in time for our Christmas gathering. (sometimes having a Covid-19 quarantine around the holidays resulting in festivity postponement works in your favour)  A good lesson here was not only do you need to know how to adapt but you need to know when to adapt.  As an artist and as a person I need to know my limits and when certain skills or certain things are just out of my reach.  It doesn't mean that I'm going to give up, it just means that I need more time to acquire what I need in order to succeed.  At the end of the day I'm still new to knitting, I've been doing it for less than a decade and I still have so much left to learn.  I just need a little bit more time before I can attempt the kind of intricate patterns that I would like to do.  Until then it's good to take a break from knitting every once and a while and make sure my embroidery skills stay sharp. 

Pop Art Mountain Mash-Up 2.0

Not too shabby!

If you would like to purchase any wooden embroidery hoops or embroidery thread please check us out at

www.timeslostart.com

A smaller cross-stitched version of this mountain pattern will be available for purchase in the summer months.

Gabrielle Vansteelandt

Times Lost Art