#there's a lot of about me

[ussjellyfish]

1, 3 and/or 24 for the fic writer asks! (These are questions that could run long answering, so feel free to answer as many or as few as you like, please!)

What’s something new that you tried in a fic this year? How did it turn out and would you do it again?

I wrote several drabbles, which was so much fun. I love how they're like poetry and you're so limited with what you can do or come up with. It's all about the economy of it, and I get wordy or have too much talking, so drabbles are really good for me. They're an excellent challenge.

They were fun to write and turned out well! people enjoyed them. I'm really into my niche little OTP at the moment so my audience is small, kind, and generous. They were enjoyed. I got to really think about how to make the most use out of the words I have.

Another new thing I did was write in second person POV? I have this very odd little fic (you will be mentioned in their biographies) which is about a side character to my current OTP, and how he perceives them, and it was neat to write. I had been having a bit of a block, so somehow writing that cleared my thoughts and I was able to work on Quantum (which is wonderful).

I have only written second person pov once before, so this was an adventure, but it let me say some fun poetic things and really get into how someone like Vance (who is the shining example of a good admiral, good dad, good person, but not extraordinary). He's a utility admiral, where he does a great job, but he's not a protagonist (like Janeway, or Sisko, or Kirk).

Michael is, and how strange it must be to have someone like her just turn up and turn your universe upside down, because she's that once in a blue moon, virtuoso kind of captain.

3. What’s something you learned about yourself as a writer?

The USSJellyfish signature fic (because I am the babyfic specialist) is the long, slow moving, character gets pregnant (usually through accidental-magical-handwavy means) and goes on a long emotional journey before giving birth under unpredictable circumstances (I think I have about 10 of these, depending on how I define it). Sometimes I don't get to the birth, depending on how long the story is. Sometimes my head moves on before I get there, some of these are REALLY long and took me more than two years to complete.

This is one of my favorite things to write. I get to fully immerse myself into the character's feelings. I get to do the big world building, I get to go on a journey...they're wonderful fics to write.

They take work, and it's HARD to sustain that kind of effort and inspiration for two years or so. i have a few that I burned out on the ship before I finished, or swapped.

The first one I posted was started in 2007, so I've been at this for 16 years.

It's the most self indulgent wonderful thing to write (for me). It's so much fun when it goes well and I love it and getting to the birth is wonderful because there's so much I can do with a birth scene, I love them. Usually my favorite characters haven't had children in canon so I have to do some cheating (Star Trek makes it easy, so does Once Upon a Time, and Agents of SHIELD).

I feel guilty about writing them. They're just babyfic and not important and not really plotty and no one really needs them and just niche for me and...self indulgent. So very self indulgent.

And that's okay. (I sort of believe it typing it but, I know intellectually that they're wonderful and fill a space and people should write what they want to write and enjoy it. What really matters is that they're bringing joy, to me writing them, to the handful of people reading them.

I learned in 2022 that I could write without needing to get feedback. Firefly (Star Trek Discovery, Mirror Philippa Georgiou & learning to have feelings), has several chapters that have no comments, and I wasn't sure if anyone was reading them, but I enjoyed writing them.

I got a little spoilt in 2022 and 2023 having people who would workshop plot ideas with me, and they're much busier than they were so that's gone for the moment. So I have to get back to the independent writing place. (I'm kind of there, it's less fun). It's also hard writing something that takes two years, because if you want to work on it with people, you need people who will be into what you're into for two years, and have time to play with you, for two years. I have several stories that have outlasted the friendship I had at the beginning. Usually I made other friends by the end, but it's a long, lonely endeavor.

There's a venn diagram of niche ship and having time to work on it and sustained interest and I feel rather alone at the moment (again, I've been there before) and it's okay. It's a good challenge to work through things on my own and have a dialogue with myself about what I'm writing. It's doable. It's less fun.

Life in general is a lonely place at the moment. I need to make new offline friends and branch out my online friends and...

One of the ways I make friends online is talking about writing and shipping and when I'm really into my tiny tiny ship. (as I am in the moment) it's not the easiest way to make friends.

The thing I'm trying to say that I've learned about myself as a writer, is that I am capable of being a self-sustaining creature. When I'm really into something, it's nice to just let myself enjoy it, and write what I want to write. I shouldn't (but do) feel bad for that, and lonely, but...the only way out is through. So I need to write what I like, and enjoy it. The other option is not writing, which is miserable. Writing by myself is better than not writing because I don't have people, but it's a different kind of energy. Less of a yes and, sort of thing, more of a find your joy.

Embrace it? I learn to be less self-conscious of a writer as I go, but it's always a process.

Right now I'm writing the "giving birth under unpredictable circumstances" chapters for my favorite ship at the moment (Michael/Laira) which is my emotional climax to my favorite ship at the moment in my favorite kind of fic to write so it's everything I like at one time.

AND IT'S HARD.

I need to get it right and find the right emotions and I have to drag myself into it to write it with the right emotional truth and detail and senses and...

It's the best but it's hard, and I'm on with it, so extra hard. (who wants to plot babyfic birth scenes...it's super niche).

I feel guilty for having likes that are so...unliked? That's a thing.

I enjoy it enough to keep going though.

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[ecoamerica]

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

[starbuck]

i say i like tragedies and everyone’s all like ‘why do you like sad stories? are you depressed?’ and never ‘how was the catharsis? was the catharsis fun?’

[noelledeltarune]

EVERY SINGLE DAY there are MILLIONS of characters in their late 20s who get falsely accused of being father figures to teenagers when in reality the description of "weird older cousin" or "step-sibling that moved out before you were born" is 1000000x more apt

[visenyaism]

seven years ago in the name of tolerating free speech from all political perspectives my nasty ass evil university let an army of tiki torch wielding nazis shouting jews will not replace us march through grounds threatening the lives of students and community members with zero police presence. and today they retroactively changed campus policy around tents so they could send in the cops to bust up the gaza memorial vigil. genuinely fucking stomach turning

[caffeinatedopossum]

Me when I remember something I said ages ago that was wrong or my values no longer align with

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

[inkskinned]

i got rickrolled today but it didn't work because i have adblocker installed, so youtube just told me i violated the terms of service. yesterday i was trying to edit a picture as a joke for my girlfriend, and google made me check a box to prove i'm human because i wasn't "searching normally".

it isn't just that capitalism is killing fun and whimsy, it is that any element of entertainment or joy is being fed upon by this mosquito body, one that will suck you dry at any vulnerability.

do you want to meet new friends in your city? download this app, visit our website, sign up for our email list. pay for this class on making a terrarium, on candlemaking, on cooking. it will be 90 dollars a session. you can go to group fitness, but only under our specific gym membership. solve the puzzle, sign up for our puzzle-of-the-month-club. what is a club if not just a paid opportunity - you are all paying for the same thing, which makes you a community.

but you're like me, i know it - you're careful, you try the library meetings and the stuff at the local school and all of that. the problem is that you kind of want really specific opportunities that used to exist. you are so grateful for libraries and the publicly-funded things: they are, however, an exception - and everything they have, they've fought tooth-and-nail to protect. you read a headline about how in many other states, libraries have virtually nothing left.

do you want to meet up with your friends afterwards? gift your friends the discord app. you can choose to go to a cafe (buy a coffee, at least), a bar (money, alcohol) or you can all stay in and catch a movie (streaming) or you can all stay in bed (rent. don't get me started) and scream (noise complaint. ticket at least).

you want to read a new book, but the book has to have 124 buzzwords from tiktok readers that are, like, weirdly horny. you can purchase this audiobook on audible! your podcast isn't on spotify, it's on its own server, pay for a different site. fuck, at least you're supporting artists you like. the art museum just raised their ticket price. once, they had a temporary exhibit that acknowledged that ~85% of their permanent art galleries were from cis white men, and that they had thousands of works by women (even famous women, like frida! georgia o'keefe!) just rotting in their basement. that exhibit lasted for 3 months and then they put everything away again.

walmart proudly supports this strip of land by the street! here are some flowers with wilting leaves. its employees have to pay out-of-pocket for their uniforms. my friend once got fined by the city because she organized a community pick-up of the riverfront, which was technically private property.

no, you cannot afford to take that dance class, neither can i. by the way - i'm a teacher. i'm absolutely not saying "educators shouldn't be paid fairly." i'm saying that when i taught classes, renting a studio went from 20 bucks an hour to 180 in the span of 6 months. no significant changes to the studio were made, except they now list the place as updated and friendly. the heat still doesn't work in the building. i have literally never seen the landlord who ignores my emails. recently they've been renting it out at night as an "unusual nightclub; a once-in-a-lifetime close-knit party." they spent some of those 180 dollars on LEDs and called it renovating. the high heels they invite in have been ruining the marley.

do you want to experience the old internet? do you want to play flash games or get back the temporary joy of club penguin? you can, you just need to pay for it. i have a weird, neurodivergent obsession with occasionally checking in to watch the downfall and NFT-ification of neopets. if i'm honest with you all - i never got into webkins, my family didn't have the money to buy me a pointless elephant. people forget that "being poor" can mean literally "if i buy you that toy, i can't afford rent."

you and i don't have time to make good food, and we don't have the budget for it. we are not gonna be able to host dinner parties, we're not made of money, kid. do you want some kind of 3rd space? a space that isn't home or work or school? you could try being online, but - what places actually exist for you? tiktok counts as social media because you see other people on it, not because they actually talk to you.

there was a local winter tradition of sledding down the hill at my school. kids would use pizza boxes and jackets and whatever worked, howling and laughing. back in september, they made a big announcement that this time, rules were changing, and everyone must pay 10 dollars to participate. when im not scared shitless, i kind of appreciate the environmental irony - it hasn't gone below 40. so much for snow & joyriding.

i saw a bulletin for a local dogwalking group and, nervous about making a good first impression, showed up early. the first guy there grimaced at me. "sorry," he said. "there's a 30-dollar buy-in fee." i thought he was joking. wait. for what? the group doesn't offer anything except friendship and people with whom to walk around the city.

he didn't know the answer. just shrugged at me. "you know," he said. "these days, everything costs money."

[ink-the-artist]

Love the contrast between the Americans’ “Apollo” and the Soviets’ “Sputnik.” You got the Americans naming their rocket after a Greek god trying to communicate the grandness and importance of this rocket. And you got the Soviets naming their rocket “fellow traveler.” Like a friend you go on an  adventure with together. This rocket is our little friend lol 

[leupagus]

It's really fucked up when you treat characters like people and people like characters.

[tizzymcwizzy]

this is a poster i made for my call to action assignment in humanities! it's a bunch of basic and easy stretches for people who sit and work at a desk all day (me)

the idea is that you'd put the poster up above ur desk and do the stretches every 30 minutes or so,, the whole routine won't take more than about 6 minutes to complete and when done regularly it can prevent wrist, shoulder, neck and back pain! :)

all these stretches can be done while sitting (although i HIGHLY recommend you stand up and move around while taking a break from working)

you can get a free digital copy of this poster here on my gumroad!

and you can order a print/poster here from my inprnt!

[great-and-small]

Just curious about everyone’s thoughts on this as I’ve been thinking about urban wildlife a lot lately

[lgbtlunaverse]

Nothing will dispell the "the curtains were just blue" myth faster than writing something yourself, because the amount of pretentious symbolism i am putting in my silly little fanfics is ridiculous. I mean SO much with these words, literally every single one of them. This fic has twenty five typos and zero correct uses of punctuation but if there's curtains you bet your ass I put thought into what colour they were.

[cozylittleartblog]

not that we didn't already Know belos was full of shit, but it's even funnier knowing the titan was still alive the whole time and probably judging him

[adriles]

when we’re done with our overwhelming grief we’ll eat i guess

[thornhawthorne]

My FFS surgeon, Sarah Saxon in Austin, Texas, who is not legally allowed to block patients' phone numbers, blocked my phone number because I had post-surgical complications as a result of her giving me a surgery I didn't even consent to in the first place.

I've already reported her to the Texas state medical board & they basically told me to go fuck myself so the next best thing is to tell as many trans people as possible what she did to me.

If you're a trans person from Texas, avoid her at all costs.

[herd-reject-arts]

So I'm leaving work and something darts in front of me, maybe 10ft away, too fast for me to see what it is. Peek around the tree blocking my path and I see this

Just like... a whole ass hawk. Dude's gotta be about 1.5ft tall. Massive fucking bird. And it's just staring me straight in my soul like this, even as I try to move ahead. It didn't budge. And there's only this path back to my car unless I want to walk on a busy highway. So I have the option of Death By Raptor or Death By Truck.

So I walk in the poison ivy filled patch off the sidewalk. Guy still isn't moving. Still staring me directly in the eyes. And I do this thing when animals are behaving strangely where I'll talk to them, so I'm just like, "Hey, man. I don't know you. You don't know me. This feels really threatening. I'm just trying to get to my car, dude. Can I get some space please? You're a big fucking bird. I see those claws. You could kill me right now, but I'd appreciate if you didn't, ok?"

It didn't move until I was about 2ft away. Again: I'm as far from it as I can be without walking into the street. It clearly wasn't going to budge. I walk past, thing flies up (silent, btw. Scary) and lands on a brick wall a little further ahead

Anyway. Weird guy. Nearly shit my pants when I noticed a bird big enough to carry off a fully grown cat was just... there, staring me in the face, unwilling to move away from me, a human, something it should see as a threat. I watched behind me the whole rest of the way to my car, just in case this bird decided to help me shed this mortal coil. 10/10 experience. Super cool guy.