#tumblr let me choose my own text colors challenge

[curecraft]

The Dancing☆Star Precure characters have been revealed!

Cure Top | Cure Lock | Cure Soul

Cure Kagura | Cure Break | Pas de Deux

[beach-illustrations]

Would love to hear your review of Artfol once you've settled in a bit! (Probably wouldn't hurt for me to have a more presentable art archive somewhere either, so I'm curious about the alternatives)

of course!! after using artfol for about a week, i do like it! it's still very new, so i wasn't expecting too much off rip from it but it definitely has some good potential if it gets successful!

putting this under a read more because, as per usual, this got long.

to start: the good stuff! good, robust organization thus far for artists. all the art you post gets automatically put in its own separate tab on your profile called gallery in chronological order and any other art and text posts that you share as well as your own art and text posts get put into another tab called feed. the feed is in chronological order from newest to oldest and it's suuuuper nice being able to have an easy place that contains all your original work people can go to without the hassle of punching in specific tags in a search bar (or inputting them into the website url) and hoping for the best. the feed can then be further organized between posts and art, art submitted to challenges, art submitted to submissions and reshares of other peoples stuff.

you can also make collections for your own gallery, so you can have all your fan art in one collection, ocs in another, etc. this isn't just for personal organization either; your separate collections are displayed under the about section on your profile or, if you've got them, links section! i honestly like this a lot. most of my experience of running an art blog comes from tumblr and getting separate pages set up on your blog, while not horribly difficult, does require a bit of knowledge regarding html and manually inputting website urls where you want the links to go. having all of this steam lined is much better. all of this is relatively easy to figure out as long as you're open to just clicking buttons on the website to see what they do, as far as i could find there's no official tutorial available. you can only have a limited number of these without a premium subscription but i haven't a clue as to what that limit even is.

you can also effectively pin certain art pieces that you're proud of to the top of your gallery by putting them in a featured selection. no idea how to do this yet but i do think this in of itself is neat.

customization is light but they cover the basics well. they've got a nice bio and announcement/secondary heading type feature under your username that you can customize, as well as a nice big space for an icon and a big ol' banner you can put your art in. other than that, you can choose a 'theme color' as artfol calls it but it just determines the color of the bar under your banner as far as i can tell on the website version. they also have a separate area for links that automatically turn into the websites icon you're linking back to.

custom warning tags!!! these fully blur the image and you can put as many words to warn others about the content of the art as you want to clarify what someone's getting into if they click show. at first i was worried i could only put one custom warning on an image but nope, it lets you write multiple warnings on the censored image if the NSFW and Gore filters aren't cutting it for the art.

speaking of which; artfol allows NSFW! in places where online spaces have been getting progressively sanitized because big corporations and google ad sense are the ones who can pay the bills of hosting thousands of images and videos on servers, it's nice to see that.

the challenges! other artists can issue challenges to others to either draw their characters in certain outfits, as certain creatures, drawing a piece of art in your style, etc. think some of the various art memes floating around on twitter, except this time they have their own dedicated category! i haven't done any challenges yet but this seems like a great way to socialize with other artists on artfol, as well as stretch your own art skills.

AI art is explicitly banned.

there is an algorithm however it prioritizes art made recently, so artists of all skill level and mediums get a shot at being seen on the front page which is nice! as far as i can tell, your home feed (which is very similar to tumblr's) is in chronological order and doesn't put in any suggested or recommended posts in the middle of the posts of the people you've chosen to follow. the like and share options are easily accessible and when you share someone else's art, it notifies them by telling them that you've pinged them which is... odd to me, but the website doesn't seem to auto credit them any other way in reshares (in contrast, tumblr keeps the OP's username and icon at the top of their own original post when it gets reblogged). i'm also something of a tumblr hermit so this could be a common reshare (reblog?) format else where for all i know and i'm just griping about nothing.

there is a premium subscription you can sign up for as i mentioned earlier. you get stuff like no ads (which you also get if you've got an adblocker on your browser), more collections can be made, you can upload cover art (icons, i think?) for your collections and the art you post, you can have custom profile theme colors (i guess they let you use the color wheel or a hex code instead of the pre seleced colors they already have?) you get more layouts for your featured art on your profile and you don't have to wait 60 days to change your username. oh, and you can make groups that people can join based around one particular thing, however i haven't touched any groups yet because none of them are all that appealing to me.

honestly, a lot of the premium subscription perks are very inconsequential to the core functionality of artfol which is a huuuuge bonus to the devs in my eyes. they easily could have paywalled commission pages or collections all together and them just giving you some extra customization perks instead shows me that the devs are actually focused on making an artist friendly website and app.

over all, artfol is relatively easy to navigate and upload your art to! the base features are solid however the website does have some downsides.

the bad:

the most egregious thing is that I haven't been able to and currently can't access the content guidelines or privacy policy pages. when I first signed up, artfol gave me a link to what the website claimed was the content guidelines however it just linked me to the news page and that really didn't sit well with me.

because the artfol website is so new, I am going to give them a chance and interpret this in the best faith possible and assume that it seems like this is just an issue of certain pages crashing, seeing as I used to be able to access the News page on artfol and now it's just gone like the other pages. on top of that, it seems like every link except for their twitter, android and apple download links, instagram and discord links at the bottom of the artfol website page is broken in the same way. out of all pages eating themselves the content guidelines and privacy policy ones feel like the worse ones to lose. I haven't been able to access the guidelines from the jump and it's been really frustrating. I just got done sending an e-mail to their contact e-mail, so hopefully something good comes from that. in the mean time i've also downloaded the app to try to see if i can find the guidelines and privacy policy on there. I've noticed people complaining about crashing pages in the mobile app reviews so hopefully this is just a case of a website page accidentally eating itself and it's just very unfortunate coincidence that it happens to be some very important pages affected by the crashes.

other than that, the other downsides are that the website takes like a minute and a half to load, clicking on a censored image to view it on your home feed takes you to the individual post and has you un-censor it there rather than directly from your home feed and some features are currently only available to mobile accounts such as commissions tabs, however i'm sure that will eventually be made available to the website version as well in due time. also, while uploading art, not including the custom censor tag or NSFW or gore filters, you can only put 5 tags on your art. these are all only minor annoyances and i'm sure they'll eventually be fixed in upcoming patches.

over all: asides from some concerning hiccups with missing pages, artfol seems very promising for a relatively new, bare bones website! the developers have very much taken a mobile app first, website later approach which at least to me isn't the end of the world, seeing how the website is already doing okay all things considered. the community seems nice and i'm planning on trying out some challenges soon to get more experience using it!

[morkofday]

2020 – a (content creator) year in review

I decided to make this into a mix of these two games I was (kinda?) tagged into so thank you for @leonzhng and @tiesanjiao ♥ I hope you don’t mind me doing it like this ^^ all the questions were just so interesting that I wanted to try!

(bc of the amount of questions, I’m placing them under a cut so that I don’t flood anyone’s dash) 

Me

(this is the 2020 year in review that hanyi tagged me to ♥ sorry am so late!)

Top 5 Movies you saw this year

wow tbh I didn’t watch many movies this year as I realized yesterday when I was thinking about this for certain reasons. Or at least I feel like I didn’t watch that many? Nothing really stuck with me it seems.

Because of this, I will only mention two: Parasite and The Old Guard. Those were both wonderful in their own ways and I’m very happy I got to watch them both ^^

Top 5 TV shows you watched this year

this one is difficult bc I watched so many (and forgot even more?) but:

The Lost Tomb Reboot (my introduction to DMBJ. this drama stole my heart and helped me through the tough autumn semester!) 

Joy of Life (it’s nuts that this happened during 2020? it feels like it was ages ago)

Kingdom (such a positive surprise and I really hope we get more of this :o I really recommend!)

Detective L (easy, nice aesthetics, amazing costumes. Bai Yu was a delight as Luo Fei)

Sand Sea (I am still baffled by how much I loved this bc I had so many doubts? am happy I did tho)

Bonus: Guardian (bc it has come to stay and the rewatch has been so emotional but so rewarding)

Top 5 songs of 2020

this is a tough one too bc I’ve heard so much new music during 2020 but I will try to put it simply:

Black Swan by BTS (I absolutely adore this song. I listened to it on repeat when it came out at the beginning of the year, I have cried for it a ton, I enjoy every stage I see for it and it’s just a masterpiece. it has also helped a bit with my writing struggles that I’ve felt creeping up on me lately)

Always by By The Coast (an amazing song that always leaves me in my feels. inspires me a lot all the time)

Love me or Leave me by DAY6 (this whole album was a masterpiece and I listened to it on loop for like. two weeks? this was my favorite song on it even if I adored the rest too, especially Zombie)

all of my life by Park Won (listened to this a lot in relation to my xicheng and the wedding I finally got to write for them ;; that’s one good thing that came out of this year tbh)

雨人 by 刘畅 (Liu Chang) (with the Reboot’s ending song, this one is my favorite on that ost. I love Liu Chang’s voice, I loved Liu Sang as a character and as I said, I loved Reboot as a drama. I get super emotional about this ost so I think it defined this year a lot for me)

Top 5 books you read in 2020  

All For The Game -trilogy (listened to these as audiobooks but that counts right?)

The Song of Achilles (as an audiobook too and really adored the reader’s voice)

The Smoke Thieves -series (I really just binge read the two first books in this series and am so excited for the next one!)

Call Down The Hawk (love love love)

Guardian novel (am not very into these novels usually but I was positively surprised this time? it was so cool to finally get the original story and compare it with the drama version)

5 positive things that happened in 2020

joined mdzsnet and met all the amazing ppl there and got to become part of this loving community and :’) I’m so thankful, it’s been a joy

learned more about editing? or started doing it regularly. I still can’t do shit but am having fun learning more all the time and I really hope that maybe the upcoming year I can switch to PS and try out giffing?

went to Halsey’s concert! it was in february so a bit before all the hassle with covid happened over here ;; it was super cool and so nice and I just. I love Halsey

fell into the DMBJ hellhole which am very much enjoying. it’s a great universe and the story is so good and the dramas have been so fun to watch and. it feels like a good continuation to The Untamed somehow haha (also brought me a new friend! you’re amazing ashen!! ♥)

started therapy and it’s been... a journey. but towards something better I think? it’s something I would’ve needed ages ago but it’s better late than never I suppose

My Creations

(this is the other part where ali was being super sweet and mentioned me ♥ thank you for being so awesome!)

1. first creation and most recent creation of 2020: wow it’s been a while since I’ve looked at this horrible creation but here ya go jkdhgk [x]. I’ve come a long way from this (and my xicheng has come a long way from this too). most recent one is this xiaoge edit that I absolutely adore [x]. 

2. one of your favorite creations from 2020: this wwx edit that was part of my agust d2 edit series [x]. I loved to give him blue instead of his typical red. 

3. a new style you tried this year and a gifset edit that uses it: this [x] wwx edit which I don’t know if I like or not but I was playing around with the font and all the effects instead of just normal screenshots + coloring. also I just adore the quote. 

4. a creation to be proud of: I could mention that xiaoge here but in addition, I will also say this wu xie edit for reboot [x]. I managed to capture my vision so well, I was surprised. for cql, this songxiao edit [x]. I loved how it turned out in the end. 

5. a creation that took forever: this wangxian edit [x]. like I’ve said several times, I lost sleep bc of it. I just kept struggling with the third pic and how to place the text there D: 

6. your creation from 2020 that received the most notes: this lwj/wangxian edit [x]. I had many ideas for this edit when I first started making it and I never managed to capture my vision in the way I first intended... the pictures I was supposed to use just never fit quite right sigh. I dunno why it was this one that gained all the notes in the end bc I personally think I have better ones too but am still thankful :’D 

7. a creation you think deserved more notes: as said, dmbj fandom on tumblr is very small so I really want to say the two already mentioned ones (wu xie and xiaoge) and then my pingxie edits [x] [x]. also these wwx edits which I personally am very happy about [x] [x]. and from my agust d2 series, this yun bros one [x].

8. a new fandom you joined and a creation you made for it: really just dmbj this year and I’ve already linked all of my creations for that :’D tho I have plans for another pingxie edit and a liu sang edit! oh and maybe I could mention guardian here with this shen wei [x]. I had so much fun while making it (also the quote just haunted me relentlessly until I gave it a moment). 

9. a creation you made that breaks your heart: this must be my easter islanders (lwj and jc) edit [x] that just. awoke many thoughts in me? I’m going to put a link to the version where you can read my ramblings underneath :’D 

10. a ‘simple’ creation that you really love: my creation for the creator (gif?) challenge that was going around! [x] it was simple and nice to do and I loved the result. also, it was nice to work with jl for a change :’) 

11. a favorite creation created by someone else: oh wow ok so this is going to be rough bc I have so many favorites ;; you can look at this post here [x] to see more! 

but to love my two taggers am going to say these [x / x] [x] [x] [x] [x] by hanyi (I always love your edits, the colors you choose, the thoughts you put into them (and your humor too!). there are so many cool things you’ve done that I just stay in awe of! I adore all of it ;; ♥) and these [x] [x] [x] [x] [x] by ali (I love all of your gifsets so much, they have such pretty colors and such good scenes, and I am thankful every day that you make all the amazing dmbj content, pls never stop ;; I should go through all of your creations properly one day! I noticed you have sand sea stuff too and let me scream?) ^^ ♥

12. your favorite content creators and blogs that you appreciate: this is going to be a huge list and I’ve already made my love heard for some but no hurt in doing it again so @i-am-just-a-kiddo @ashenwren @tiesanjiao @kholran @lzswy @englishbunnyrocks @leonzhng @aheartfullofjolllly @yibobibo @inkblue-black @cross-d-a @bloody-bee-tea @fytheuntamed @mdzsnet @lifegoesmon @creeds-eagle @underaswift-sunrise @sarawatsaraleo @lan-xichens @mylastbraincql @wangxianbunnydoodles @manhasetardis @distantsnows @ohsehuns @minmoyu @linglynz @highwarlockkareena @yiqiie @aowyn @alienwlw @wangxiians @kingbadcat @sassyassassy @tytangfei @lanzhannnn @skzmxtp @leoyunxi @yoonqiful @softjeon @rapbabenamjoon @ronan-adam @miyakuli @pavusdorian @arsuf @brolinskeep @gawincaskeyy and so many others! (sorry for all the random ppl on this list that I’ve never even talked to ^^’ just know that you make my dash a wonderful place! ♥) 

I won’t tag anyone separately here but everyone who’s already been tagged or sees this is free to do this (or link me posts if you’ve done these already!) ♥ have a nice day everyone! 

[purgatorical]

Obey Me MC / OC Written Template- Miyuno's Info

This seemed really fun so I'm going to fill it out for My Three Most Used Obey me Ocs under the cut! Long Post, so beware. Miyuno First, then Kie, then Taxike :D

Miyuno's is up first below!

Link to the original blank template here!

Personal - Basics

[Name] Miyuno

[Race/Species] Half Japanese/Half Jamaican (Father is Japanese, Mother is Jamaican)

Demon [] Angel [] Human [x] Other: []

[Age] 26

[Birthday] 5/13

[Height] 6'5"

[Fingernail Polish Color(s)] Maroon

[Hair color/description] Curly black hair that is held back by a headband with ram horns attached. Two long curls stick out by each ear.

Personal - In-depth

[Gender or no | Pronoun(s)] He is a transmasc that uses He/They pronouns

[Sexual/Romantic Orientation or lack thereof] Bisexual/Biromantic

[Occupation Before Devildom Life] Miyuno was an office worker for a generic company. He doesn't really feel like going back after being in the Devildom.

[Favorite Color(s)] Miyuno loves the color pink as well as silver.

[Personality] Miyuno is mostly a chill person, very kind and tries to be as helpful as possible. He enjoys participating in hijinks and loves to tease the ones closest to him.

Personal - Other

[Likes] Stuffed animals, cuddling, teas, history, water based sports

[Dislikes] Salty foods, Language classes, Mean-spirited pranks

[Positive Traits] Kind, Patient, Strong, Intelligent

[Negative Traits] Gullible, Not very self-conserving

Relationships

• Fears | Dislikes | Acquaintances | Friends | Close Friends | Crush | Loves | Indifferent | Tolerates | Respects | Suspicious

[With Demons]

In My main Miyuno Universe, Miyuno is dating each of the brothers so I will be using the Main Love tag for each lol, but I'll break it down further.

Lucifer - Loves, has a more professional relationship where they go on dinner dates and have planned sexual encounters, Miyuno tries to be spontaneous with gifts and intimacy and Lucifer tries to do the same.

Mammon - Loves, more of a frantic infatuation, they pull the other from the house at all hours of the day, considering it a date whenever they're together. Miyuno likes to tease Mammon with compliments to fluster him and constantly showers him in love and casual PDA.

Leviathan - Loves, a careful romance. They are slow to start every new thing, but when the moments finally occur they happen often afterwards, usually at Levi's pace. Miyuno will approach certain topics with Levi, but will let Levi take the lead and choose when he's ready. Quiet nights in together and dates consiting of just existing in the same room

Satan - Loves, A warm kind of love, they schedule their dates weeks in advance and make grand times of them. Cat cafes, pet shop browsing, library visits, and even trips to the movie theater all have prepared plans. Satan is worried of boring Miyuno but Miyuno constantly lets him know that he loves hearing every single word Satan has to say.

Asmodeus - Loves, Unexpectedly tame and more on the emotional side than the physical. They do self care together: baths, letting out their emotions, cuddling, and sweet nothings between them. Surprise each other with lingerie, candles, perfumes, and clothes that make them think of the other. Shopping trips do turn into makeout sessions in the changing room, but that's not all it is. They both have other lovers and look to each other for calmness and comfort.

Beelzebub - Loves, the average teenage romance you'd think would happen. Cafe dates, arcade dates, buffets, pizza joints, walking in the park. Miyuno tries to help Beel with his hunger, often planning several food stops on their excursions even if the main point is a movie or clothes shopping. Miyuno doesn't know how to cook, but he will help Beel in the kitchen as much as he can. A ton of PDA whenever one or the other is in the mood.

Belphegor - Loves, an expected chill kind of love. If Beel isn't around then their dates include laying around, sleeping, napping, and making out in quiet spots. When they do go out, Belphie hangs off of Miyuno, not so much being possessive as he is just craving that closeness. Miyuno enjoys it.

Diavolo - Respects, He enjoys Diavolo's company and goes over for tea as often as he can. They text occaisionally but Miyuno makes sure that he doesn't get distracted too much from his work.

At this point tumblr decided to refresh and delete all of what I had written beneath :( I'm rewriting from here to Taxike but I'm annoyed and so won't go into as much detail.

Barbatos - Respects, Fears, Miyuno enjoys Barbatos's company and often accompanies him to pastry shops and the grocery store. But Miyuno knows what hides behind Barbatos's hand. When they have quiet moments together, sipping their tea, it can feel like they are the only two in the entire three realms, and that is a terrifying feeling. Miyuno does not know what goes on behind Barbatos's smile.

[With Angels]

Simeon - Close Friend, Miyuno has taken it upon himself to (with Luke and Solomon) Help Simeon with his texting skills. He makes sure to have at least one conversation with Simeon each day and attempts to challenge him with requests for photos or links to webpages. Simeon is Miyuno's first choice in school projects.

Luke - Loves (platonically, familially) Luke is like the little brother Miyuno never had. He adores the little angel and would put himself into danger to protect him. Luke is often invited on his trips with Barbatos.

Michael - Indifferent, Miyuno honestly does not care about the Archangel. If he's not the topic of conversation, Miyuno does not even remember he exists. He is vaguely interested in the person Luke holds so dear and looks up to, but he isn't particularly enthused to learn more.

Taxike- (Adding my own ocs since they interact in certain versions) Friends, Miyuno enjoys Taxike's energy but can't always keep up. He indulges the Angel from time to time in his tricks and pranks on Lucifer but will mainly advise against anything that could get him killed. They have never argued.

[With Humans]

Solomon - Friend to Close Friend, its funny that the two of them never bonded until Miyuno returned to the Human world. They would meet up often and Miyuno became dependent on the access to what was through Solomon. Even once returning to the Devildom, Solomon had become much closer to Miyuno. They often study together and Solomon helps Miyuno learn spells and talismans even if he cannot use them alone.

Kie- (oc) Close Friends, Upon being brought to the Devildom they instantly attached at the hip. Miyuno trusts Kie with his fears and Dysphoria and Kie trusts Miyuno with the truth about his chronic pain and anger issues. At first it was hard to find one without the other, but as they warmed up to the brothers they branched out. They still often sleep in each others rooms.

Favorite Things About the Devildom

[Favorite Job(s)] Akuzon

[Favorite Place(s) to Hang at] Ristorante Six, the observatory

[Favorite Food(s)] He unfortunately fell in love with the lunatic Pudding but cannot have any :(, He loves spicy food and parfaits.

[Favorite Class Subject(s)] Potions and Devildom History

[Favorite Devildom Version of Something from the Human World - Be Creative!] The Devildom version of bathsalts which can turn the water into different viscosities and scents, even allowing the water to become moldable.

Least Favorite Things About the Devildom

[Least Favorite Job(s)] Ristorante Six/any waiter job

[Least Favorite Places to Go] Dislikes clubs

[Least Favorite Foods] Crackers, Anchovies, Princess Poison Apples

[Disliked Class Subject(s)] Language classes

[Stuff that Can be Considered a Negative About the Devildom] The amount of demons that wish to eat him, the lack of sun, how difficult it is to get there.

[spriterpt]

Hey Liss, I really want to start a small horror group rp but I never ever done one on Tumblr and I'm scared of messing up. Could you give me some advice? Is running a group rp on tumblr too stressful?

First of all, I’m so sorry for the late reply!

The biggest factor in how challenging it will be to run a group is how much time you have to put into it. That’s not to say that if you go to school or work full-time you can’t run one, but if you don’t have much time to commit to being online, it can be a lot to handle. That said, it’s incredibly rewarding to watch a roleplay thrive!

The two most important parts of your group are going to be your plot and your graphics. I wish the second wasn’t the case, but how your roleplay (and your promo graphic) looks is a huge deal when it comes to drawing people in. Roleplays with ‘basic’ graphics, sadly, often find it difficult to gain any traction in the community. If you’re not great with graphics, you may want to consider getting a co-admin who is, or contacting RPHs who do those types of services. That said, a solid plot or location is what will make people stay. Your roleplay will need to be either plot-driven or character-driven. A plot-driven roleplay is going to be harder to keep up with, as you’ll have to provide lots of events and plot drops to keep the ball rolling. Character-driven roleplays can often take a little longer to set up, as you really want to make your location come to life by providing a history and places around town for people to set their interactions, but require less upkeep as the members create their own plots. For a horror group, chances are it’s going to be a little more plot-driven.

Setting up your blog can be one of the more stressful parts of running your own group. You want to make sure everything looks good, all of the writing is error-free, and the page is properly organized so viewers can find what they’re looking for. Below is a list of important pages your page should include and my advice for them.

NAVIGATION: It’s very, very important that your navigation be properly laid out. People aren’t going to want to join a roleplay if they can’t easily find everything they need to do so. Most roleplays divide their navigation into two sections–before applying and after acceptance. The first should include your plot, rules, characters, taken/banned face claims, wanted connections, and application. It should also include any other information you’d want people to know going into it, like locations around your town. The second should include your checklist, blogroll, trigger list, and OOC masterlist.

PLOT: This should be at the top of your navigation page and, ideally, directly linked from your home page. It shouldn’t be too long or too short, just a few paragraphs. Your paragraphs also shouldn’t be too lengthy–large blocks of text can turn people away. 

RULES: The most important rules are as follows. Activity–most roleplays have an activity limit of 5 or 6 days. This allows members to balance RP with real life while still preventing too much inactivity on the dash. Characters–the number of characters you can have, the age requirements for characters/face claims if you have one, and whether characters can be on a multi-muse account or should have separate blogs. Drama/inclusivity–there should always be a zero tolerance policy for OOC drama, and rules in place to promote inclusivity such as requiring that members reply to at least 3 starters before posting their own.

CHARACTERS: This is where keeping up with a roleplay can start to get tricky. There are two types of RPs you may choose to go with–bio or appless. If it’s a bio roleplay, you need to make a graphic for and post the biography of every character. If it’s appless, you need to make sure that each time you get a new character, you update your character page. Either way, you’ll also need to keep on top of your taken face claims page. Many admins choose not to post a bio or add a character to their page until they’ve received the account for that character.

WANTED CONNECTIONS: This isn’t required, per se, but can inspire more people to join your roleplay. You should have a form for your members to fill out, and they’ll send in their wanted connections. That’s another thing to keep up with–you’ll have to put all of these on your WC page as well as remove taken connections, or edit connections that have 1 out of 2 or more muses taken (think bandmates, or multiple siblings).

APPLICATION: Your application should include, at the very least, the character’s name, age, gender AND pronouns, and face claim. Most choose to add positive and negative personality traits to their app. If it’s a bio roleplay, you’ll need to request a biography, either by simply stating ‘bio here’, or by dividing it up into sections. For instance, you can split it up into background, present, and personality, and include a paragraph or word requirement for each section if you’d like. 

CHECKLIST: This should be the first thing in your ‘after acceptance’ section and should include everything your new member has to do after being accepted. This should include getting their account in within 24 hours, following everyone on the blogroll, tracking your tags, looking at your trigger list and sending in any triggers they’d like added, sending in wanted connections, asking for the OOC blog/Discord link, posting an intro for their character, and finally posting their first interaction. Speaking of tags to track–yours should include tags for character intros, starters, events, tasks, admin notes, and new blogs to follow.

TRIGGER LIST: Some basic triggers you should include: sexual assault, suicide/self-harm, eating disorders, blood, drugs, death, abortion, violence. You should also ask that your members send in any personal triggers that they’d like added, and this should always always always be kept confidential.

OOC MASTERLIST: You may choose to only include OOC information on your character page, but an OOC masterlist can be helpful when it comes to plotting. This lists each member’s name and which characters they play, and often includes other OOC info such as age, timezone, and pronouns. This way when plotting with someone, members can immediately see all of the characters the person they’re plotting with plays.

As mentioned before, graphics and theme are also very important. Your theme should be neat, organized, but ‘pretty’. Almost all themes are going to involve at least one graphic. The color scheme of your graphic(s) should closely match that of your theme so that everything looks coherent. If there’s more than one graphic, they should look nice together without being repeats of each other. You’ll also need to create a promo graphic to post in the tags. Note that you should create a sideblog to post your promo graphics, rather than flooding your main page with them. Your promo doesn’t have to look quite as similar as the others, since they won’t be shown side-by-side, but should still give off the same ‘vibe’. You’ll want to make sure to double-check all of the writing on your page for errors, click on all of your links to see that they’re working properly, and go through your navigation from the point of view of a potential member.

The next part is being a good admin. You should be able to get on almost every single day, even just for long enough to post something in the tags and empty your inbox. Admin activity is crucial to group activity. As soon as members see the activity of the main die down, they start to decline in activity or find other groups. 

There are three key elements to promoting your roleplay. The first is through your promo sideblog and promo graphics. You should be posting these often enough that they regularly show up in the tags without being too overbearing. You’ll have to check the tags you choose and use some trial and error to figure out how often that is. {Remember that your post will only show up in the first five tags you put down.) The second is posts on your main. You can let viewers know a little about your roleplay, let them know you’re going to be around for a while, or just include a tidbit about your day. The same rules apply for how often to post these as with your promo graphics. The third element is requesting shoutouts from RPHs. This gets your RP back into the tags without having to put yet another post on the main, as well as gets news of your RP around the RPH community. Remember to always read the RPH’s rules, be polite (please and thank you), and use their name if it’s on the blog. You only have a certain amount of characters for your shoutouts, so make them count. Keeping on top of all three of these things can be difficult, but is incredibly important to running a successful roleplay. You need to make sure you have time to do this on top of your other admin duties. I’ve always found it easiest to take care of all of my other admin things first, then dedicate a chunk of time solely to promotion.

Keeping the main up-to-date is one of the most important things you’ll have to do. This includes your character page/biographies, taken face claims list, triggers list, wanted connections, OOC masterlist, and one more thing we haven’t mentioned yet. Something Tumblr has been doing lately is eating posts in the tags. That means even though you have a tag dedicated to your group’s starters, most of them won’t show up in the tag. As an admin, it’s your responsibility to keep track of all of the starters in your group and get them out to your members another way. Some groups choose to compile a list on their page, while others choose to creat a sideblog and reblog all of the starters there. Either way, this is very, very important to making sure all of your members are included. As an admin, I prefer to take things one ask at a time. New account comes in? Post the follow, add the character, add the face claim, onto the next one. Wanted connection? Put it on the WC page, post a new wanted connection on the main, onto the next one. I find that this makes it easier to keep track of everything than getting everything out of the inbox and then trying to go back through it all. 

Because there’s so much to do, you may want to consider getting one or more co-admins to help you. At least to me, it seems like most RPs have around 3 admins. It is possible to run one yourself, but you can always try on your own and ask for co-admins if you’re having trouble. You want to make sure you stay on good terms with your co-admins and consult them about updates, events, and plot drops.

Speaking of events and plot drops, that’s another thing you’ll have to take care of. Plot drops and events keep the RP alive, and if you find that the RP’s activity is a little low, something like that can help. You don’t have to do it super often, but a few days every month or so dedicated to an event can be really fun. With a horror RP, you may also want to have plot drops here and there.

You’ll also have to deal with any problems that arise in your RP. If someone comes to you with a concern about another member, you’ll have to use your critical thinking and problem-solving skills to determine exactly what’s going on and what action you should take. If you notice that someone is only writing with one or two other people, you’ll need to address it to them directly. This part can definitely be stressful and nerve-wracking, but it’s an important part of being an admin. 

One way to see how you can improve your RP is to ask RPHs for their opinions. The trick is you actually have to listen to them. If you’re repeatedly being told that your graphics need work, consider getting some help with them. If they point out a broken link or typo, you’ll need to fix it. Another way to improve is to check out other RPs! You definitely should not lift anything directly from another RP, but it can help you get a feel for how everything should be set up and what types of themes and graphics are ‘in’ right now.

I’m going to end this with a link to this amazing masterlist from rpthemehelper that includes multiple posts on every topic you could need help with. I’m sorry that this was probably way more than you were expecting to read, but I hope it helped some!

[baz-n-simon]

Just to be clear it’s a date - part 3

Hello! I am sorry that I've taken (more than) a year to finish this, but I'm here now and hopefully you'll like this third and last chapter. I did, as you might have seen on my tumblr, finish it sometime in February, but I wasn't happy with it, bc I felt that I wrote Simon too eloquent at one point, but last night I decided to publish it anyway bc if not now it might take another year or two before I actually post it. I'm very sorry about that, but I really hope you'll forgive my procrastinating butt for... well... my procrastination.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it <3

Also, big thank you to my one and only (and favorite) beta @catsandladyluck aka @carryonsimoncarryon, so muh bless, so much love <3 Thank you for helping me with my silly mistakes <3

Ps! this chapter switches point of view a total of three times, you'll see "~ Baz" when it's from Baz's pov, and "~ Simon" with it's from Simon's pov (duh)

Part 1: tumblr / ao3

Part 2: tumblr / ao3

Part 3: you are here / ao3

Words: 2.8k

~ Baz

I walk to work as usual. Except today I’m feeling extra ready for the weekend to come quick; simply so that I can lounge around at home and text Simon. The gorgeous stranger from the park. My gorgeous stranger. Well, I guess he’s not a stranger anymore. Simon. His name makes my spine shiver with excitement. I really hope we can make that date happen soon. We were planning on going out for dinner last weekend, but I got called into work for an extra shift at the office. Which sucked massively. We tried making plans during the week, but of course, this week we worked different shifts. And now it’s Friday. And we still haven’t rescheduled our date. Maybe he decided that he didn’t want to go on a date with me after all? I could understand that decision, I guess. He asked me out. I said yes. And then I cancelled last minute. I’d probably be sceptic too.

As I walk into work, heading for my office, I exchange a few ’Hello’s’ with some of my coworkers. My office is located almost at the end of the long hallway on the second floor; ‘Mr. T. Basilton Grimm-Pitch’ the plaque on the door reads .

When I open the door to my office, the first thing I notice is a lavish bouquet of red, yellow, orange and pink roses. I close the door behind me before walking closer to my desk. Red roses; love and romance; orange roses: enthusiasm and passion; yellow roses; friendship, joy and good health; and lastly pink roses; love, gratitude and appreciation.

So, I think, maybe he hasn’t changed his mind yet then.

I smile to myself. The bouquet is placed in the middle of my work-desk, and I twist the bouquet around, looking at it. There’s a card attached. I open it and all it says are two short sentences: ‘Usual spot. Saturday evening 7 pm - S’. My smile widens. He hasn’t given up on me yet then, thank Merlin.

I pull out my phone and text him. ‘Thanks for the flowers; can’t wait’.

There’s a knock on my door and I look up. Agatha is curiously staring in from outside my door, and I wave my hand in a gesture to tell her to come inside.

The downside to the doors in this office is the fact that they’re glass doors. Which means it doesn’t stop anyone from looking inside, but at least it somewhat dampens/reduces the sounds of my talkative coworkers throughout the day.

Agatha is looking at me. Studying me, her gaze shifting between me and the grand bouquet, she shuts the door behind her, stepping inside.

“So,” she pauses. “Who’s Mr. Charming?” she smiles slyly. “I saw the delivery guy arriving, and you can imagine my surprise when he walked them to this office! You’re receiving flowers without me knowing anything about someone who might be sending you flowers?” She’s ranting on and on, waiting for me to cut in and tell her all the gossip. I let her rant on for a while more, listening to her not minding her own business, as usual. She’s very sweet and also somewhat annoying at times, but I know it’s only because she cares.

“Listen, Agatha, as much as I’d love to hear you rant on about how big of a disappointment I am for not telling you stuff, I have to stop you. ‘Cause this is nothing yet. However, maybe I’ll have some gossip for you over the weekend,” I smirk, and she grins expectantly at me, clapping her hands together in an excited manner.

“So, where did you meet him?” she was never one for leaving me alone with my thoughts. Always so curious and bubbly.

“The park,” I smile, my eyebrows arching a tad higher on my forehead.

“No! Not the handsome stranger?” She beams.

I shrug and lean on my desk. “Might be.”

“Oh my god, yes!” she exclaims. “Did you finally ask him out?”

“Not exactly; He asked me.” I smile, feeling a faint blush creeping up my neck and cheeks.

“Oh, I’m so happy for you, Bazzy!” She looks as if her head might explode any minute, her hands at her cheeks now, and her brown eyes are gleaming. She opens her arms and fling herself at me, hugging me tightly. I chuckle and hug her back. Even though she can be annoying, she’s mostly a delight, and she’s always got a good advice up her sleeve when you need it the most.

My phone buzzes, and I grab it before she can see the text.

“Ah, is your Mr. Charming missing you already?” she grins, trying to read the text on the phone screen shining brightly between my slender fingers.

I blush and shove it into my back pocket. “Gossip is after the weekend, remember?” I smile slyly at her, letting the word ‘after’ drag.

“Sunday; wine and gossip.” I think it’s supposed to be a question, but it sounds more like a statement. “Unless you’re still in Saturday's suit, I mean.” And with that she leaves, going back to her office a few doors away, leaving me blushing.

~ Saturday

“You look great, Baz,” Simon is blushing, but he seems confident as he’s getting up from the park bench where he was sat waiting for me.

“Thank you. You look very handsome yourself, Simon.” I smile, looking him up and down. He’s wearing a light grey blazer, dark fitted jeans and a white button-up shirt. He’s stunning. I can’t believe we’re actually on a date.

“So, are you ready to go to dinner?” He looks shy, but my smile and slight nod seems to encourage him to speak on. “I didn’t know which restaurant you like, so I booked us tables at an Italian restaurant, an Asian restaurant and at this fancy Steakhouse that Penny suggested. You know, so that you’d have some options, and since I wasn’t sure what you preferred,” his rant is quick, as if he’s stressed, but when he stops talking he smiles, and there’s a glimmer in his blue eyes.

I chuckle at his words. “That’s very thoughtful. I’m really not picky, so if you have any preferences, you just go ahead and choose.”

“I’m no picky eater either, but I booked at these three restaurants so you could choose, so I’m gonna leave the decision up to you.” He grins, obviously pleased with his foolproof plan.

I ponder about my options before deciding. “How about the Steakhouse? I’ve wanted to check it out for a while, I’ve heard great things about their food there from some friends.”

“Great! Sounds like a plan.” He smiles and takes a step closer to me, offering his hand. I hook my arm onto his, and we start walking.

~ Simon

He hooks his arm onto mine and we walk alongside each other. We talk about the places we walk past and make up stories about the people we see along the way.

“Her name is Barbara, and her pomeranian dog is also her best friend and lover,” Baz says, nodding in a way that makes it seem like he knows all about what’s up in Barbara’s life.

I chuckle at his story before pointing at a man sitting by the table at an outside bar across the street. “And that’s Bob. He’s secretly in love with his best friends wife, but no one knows.” I whisper the last part as an excuse to lean closer to Baz.

He laughs. “You know what? There is actually a possibility that might be true.”

I laugh at Baz’s comment, slightly shaking my head while grinning.

We get our seats quickly when we get to the Steakhouse, and the waitress hands us a couple of menus before taking our drink orders.

“A glass of red wine for me, please.” He smiles when the waiter looks at him for his order.

Baz looks stunning in his black slim fitted jeans, an emerald green blazer and a white button-up shirt.

“You know what, just bring the bottle and two glasses, please.” I smile at the waiter who nods and smiles.

“I’ll be back soon to take your dinner orders, but first, is there any special bottle of red wine you’d like?” She smiles and clicks her pen a couple of times, flipping her notepad.

Baz shakes his head when I look at him.

“Whatever he decides,” I smile with the slightest hint of a challenge in my tone.

Baz looks at the drink menu and points at the wine chart. “This one, then. The Cabernet Sauvignon.”

“Good choice, Sir. I’ll be right back with your wine,” she says as she quickly scribbles it down on her small notepad.

“Good choice, Sir,” I say teasingly, a grin plastered on my face as I lean across the table with a not so quiet whisper.

He makes a short snorting sound as he laughs. “It was the only one I knew.” He confessed with the slightest hint of a blush coloring his cheeks. The rest, I’m guessing, were all too fancy.”

I lean a bit closer to the middle of the table again, and he bites his lower lip and raises one eyebrow in a way that made it seem like he was waiting for a good comeback. “Me too,” I admit, still with a not so quiet whisper.

He laughs. And when he laughs he tilts his head back in a beautiful manner. By Merlin’s beard. He’s so beautiful and handsome and elegant. Whatever it is he does, he always looks stunning. I feel my head spin as I remember that he actually said yes to a date with me. My head spins even more at the thought that this is an actual date. I feel so lucky!

The waitress comes back with two glasses and the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, filling the glasses before taking our orders and leaving again.

Dinner goes by fast. Both our steaks, the bottle of wine and the shared brownie are gone way too fast for any one of us to be ready for the night to end.

I pay the check, leaving a good tip to the sweet and very helpful waitress. I thank her for the great service before heading out, Baz clutching onto my left arm.

“That was very sweet of you.” Baz’s smiling lips seem intoxicating as he leans closer to me when we get outside.

“What was?” I smile at him, then stare at his lips longingly.

“The way you treated her. It was so nice... I liked that.”

We walk along the pavement, going nowhere in particular.

“Everyone deserves kindness, and I think everyone should just try to make at least one person smile everyday.” Baz is smiling at me, and I smile back.

“What?” I ask when he keeps staring at me. “Earth to Baz.” I wave my right hand in front of his face to catch his attention when he doesn’t answer me.

He bites his lower lip like he did during dinner and it’s making me so dizzy that I have to stop in my tracks. So does he.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispers.

I let out a short, surprised laugher. “What?”

“You’re beautiful,” he repeats, taking a step closer to me, even though he’s almost glued to my side already.

I tilt my head up to look into his eyes. I never noticed before but he’s a few centimeters  taller than me.

“You must be drunker than I thought,” I tease, smiling up at him, bumping my shoulder into his side gently.

He tilts his head back to laugh, and from this angle I can easily admire how the side of his eyes crinkle up when he laughs, and how his perfectly white teeth shows when he laughs with his mouth open.

I think, if I lean forward right now, I could kiss his Adam’s apple. I watch how it moves when he laughs, and before I can help myself, I bury my fist in the collar of his button-up shirt and pull him down towards me.

We meet in a heated kiss, and I suddenly feel the cold concrete behind me.

Baz is pushing me up against a wall, I think to myself happily. Baz. I smile into the kiss at the thought of his name, and at the realization that we’re on an actual date.

This might be the best first date I’ve ever been to, and right now, I hope it’s the last first date I go to.

~ Baz

“You’re beautiful,” I whisper.

He lets out a surprised laughter. “What?”

“You’re beautiful,” I repeat. Knowing I’m already as close as I can get, I still take a step closer to him. I’m feeling brave with the wine flowing in my veins. He is beautiful. And he’s so kind and gentle.

“You must be drunker than I thought,” he says with a teasing smile. bumping his shoulder into my side.

I tilt my head back, laughing at his comment. He must be stupid not to realize how amazing he is.

Before I know it he grabs my button-up shirt by the collar and pulls me down towards him, and I meet his lips. It feels as if I need his kiss to survive and I push him back towards a wall closeby. I lean my entire weight onto him. One of my hands finds its way to his hair, the other grabbing at his waist to keep him closer. Soon he’s grabbing at my waist as well, and it feels amazing. Who would have known he’d be such a good kisser?

As we come out for air, he grins at me. “I know a place where we could go stargazing.” It sounds more like a question than a statement, but I nod.

“Show the way,” I grab his hand and intertwine our fingers.

He smiles down at our hands, then leans closer, putting his head on my shoulder. He smiles up at me for a quick moment before straightening up, grabbing my hand harder and sprinting off with me clumsily following behind.

“This way,” he says loudly as he turns a corner.

We turn a few more corners, walk through a small park, and sneak into an old building through the backyard. When we get inside, he hastily pulls me up the stairs.

“This way to the stars,” he says loudly, grinning, slightly out of breath.

“You sound like a poet,” I laugh. “Or Peter Pan.”

“Ha-ha,” he pretend laughs, but then he actually laughs, and I feel my heart race when he looks back at me with flushed cheeks.

When we get to the rooftop, I stop in my tracks. There’s a view of the entire city from here, and it’s beautiful.

“Feels almost like a movie,” I blurt out as I look around.

“I know,” Simon says softly, walking over to the railing at the edge and leaning against it. “I love it up here; everything seems so much smaller from here.”

I walk over and lean on the railing beside him. “You come here often?”

“Whenever I need to think, or when I wanna look at the stars.” He walks over to what looks like a storage closet. He pulls out a few blankets, some pillows for lawn chairs and a telescope.

I lean back against the railing, watching him as he makes something similar to a picnic in the middle of giant space up here on the roof, placing the telescope gently on one of the pillows.

“You have something you need to think about now?” I ask, keeping my voice soft and low.

“You,” he says simply.

I look at him. He’s still fixing the blankets.

“Me?”

“Well, not really, more like I’m thinking about the fact that I’m happy you came along. Honestly I didn’t think  you would, but you did, and I feel like I should have brought some wine, or a few more blankets in case you get cold or something.” He shrugs and smile at me.

“I think we can manage, don’t you?” I grin, walking closer to Simon and reaching for his hand.

“You’re right,” his smile is gentle as he grabs my hand, and I lean closer to kiss his cheek.

“Wanna sit down and look at the stars with me?” He’s blushing, and suddenly he’s looking shy.

I bite my lip with amusement. “I’d love that,” I nod, moving closer.

We sit down, as close as possible. For a very long time we sit there, holding hands, and taking turns looking at the stars through the telescope.

This might have actually been a perfect first date. Who even knew there was such a thing as a perfect first date? One thing I know for sure is that I want many, many more in the future. Hopefully all of them will be with Simon.

[sonderei]

I got bored and answered one of those 100-questions things so if you ever wanted to know a stupid amount of useless information about me read on, otherwise enjoy whatever content is in the next post!

Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? Spotify

is your room messy or clean? my room is a mess, the rest of the apartment is pretty clean

what color are your eyes? brown

do you like your name? why? its grown on me. I used to get teased a lot in school “hey Ariel, where’s your best friend Flounder??” but now I work on Disney property and it’s on my name tag so I get to make a lot of kids (and adults) happy

what is your relationship status? been dating a small mess of a person for 4 years, whom I love dearly 

describe your personality in 3 words or less basically a cat

what color hair do you have? brown, or like a really dirty blonde if I spend enough time in the sun

what kind of car do you drive? color? a black 2013 hyundai accent hatchback (named Jazz)

where do you shop? where I shop: target, forever21, H&M, BoxLunch, Garage where I’d LIKE to shop: ModCloth, ASOS

how would you describe your style? I once bought an oversized Polariod windbreaker and I wear it everywhere I can??? I also love passive aggressive crop tops (”no thanks”) I wore it to a mandatory meeting at work at 9am and any time my managers asked me a question I just pointed to my shirt. So idk that should tell you something

favorite social media account I think I enjoy Instagram and Tumblr equally?

what size bed do you have? queen

any siblings? one full brother (5 years younger), one half brother on my dad’s side (13 years younger), and one half sister on my mom’s side (18 years younger). 

if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why? idk because I haven’t traveled anywhere I’d actually like to live. I love the idea of living northwest US (Seattle, Portland) or in NZ or like Scotland or somewhere with beautiful scenery but like...never been so can’t say for sure?

favorite snapchat filter? flower crown

favorite makeup brand(s) NYX is pretty much all I use but I also do like bare minimum with my makeup

how many times a week do you shower? typically every other day unless I’m super gross

favorite tv show? too hard. Steven Universe, Game of Thrones, A:TLA, and Adventure Time?

shoe size? 7-8 depending on who makes them

how tall are you? smol. Like 5′3″ or so? 

sandals or sneakers? sneakers, unless going somewhere involving water and/or sand

do you go to the gym? nah. I’m up and down stairs at least 20 times a day, usually while carrying stuff. that’s my exercise.

describe your dream date sitting in front of the Ocean Voyager exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium all day. like literally that’s it. and my date lets me without asking to move on, and ideally enjoys it as much as I do.

how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment? uhhh like $25 because that’s how much you have to have to open a new bank account which I’ve been meaning to do for like two weeks now

what color socks are you wearing? not wearing any, but I was wearing shark socks all day

how many pillows do you sleep with? just one, super soft and squishy

do you have a job? what do you do? I'm a server at a restaurant in Disney Springs at Walt Disney World. Its challenging and often frustrating and stressful but I get to meet some really cool people so it evens out. (Pat Sajak from Wheel of Fortune was in last week, I didn’t ask him if I could buy a vowel because I have some dignity)

how many friends do you have? like true friends, would drop everything for me if I asked them / needed them to? I’d say 3. But my social group is like...maybe 10 people? That I actively try to hang out with semi regularly.

whats the worst thing you have ever done? I honestly don’t even know. I forgot a woman’s ketchup last week at work and apparently I ruined her entire Disney vacation so

whats your favorite candle scent? usually anything with jasmine, so long as it isn’t overpowering

3 favorite boy names Nathaniel, Sebastian, Milo 

3 favorite girl names Riley, Maisie, Phoebe

favorite actor? robert downey jr probs

favorite actress? tessa thompson?

who is your celebrity crush? ugh. tom holland, tessa thompson, rdj? 

favorite movie? Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle

do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? I used to, before I worked at a bookstore. For some reason that killed my love for reading. But favorite books were the Bartimaeus Trilogy and Abarat.

money or brains? brains

do you have a nickname? what is it? Skip (long story short, its a Cabin Pressure reference because I’ve always wanted to be a pilot)

how many times have you been to the hospital? for myself? 5? maybe 6?

top 10 favorite songs in no particular order Evolve by Phoria Put ‘Em Up by Priority Cleopatra by The Lumineers Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man Miracle by CHVRCHES Dissolve by Absofacto Taro by alt-J Lavender by Two Door Cinema Club Dinosaurs by The Maccabees Ambling Alp by Yeasayer

do you take any medications daily? nope

what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc) ehh a bit on the oily side

what is your biggest fear? losing the ones I love

how many kids do you want? NONE ZERO NADA ZIP ZILCH FUCK NO

whats your go to hair style? pull it back, messy bun if possible

what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) a p small apartment (but not tiny, I think it’s like 800-900 sq ft)

who is your role model? Steve Irwin

what was the last compliment you received? a guest at one of my tables told me I looked like one of the recent Bond girls

what was the last text you sent? bailing on a few friends who were going to Blizzard Beach because I was exhausted from having my dad in town for the last two days so I wanted to sleep

how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real? like 2 or 3. not very old

what is your dream car? realistic? a nice Subaru or Audi. Maybe a Tesla unrealistic? bugatti veyron

opinion on smoking? cigarettes? ew gross not around me also poor life choices weed? don’t care, just not around me please and thanks my other half is allergic

do you go to college? I did, graduated two years ago, still haven’t done anything with my life / degree

what is your dream job? anything working directly with animals, especially marine mammals, big cats, or non-venomous reptiles

would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? big city. right in the middle of it.

do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? not usually, I have specific stuff I use for my hair that’s a lot nicer than the stuff at hotels

do you have freckles? not like a ton but yeah

do you smile for pictures? if I feel like it? also depends on who’s taking the picture

how many pictures do you have on your phone? I’d say somewhere in the realm of like 650-800?

have you ever peed in the woods? yep, used to go camping a lot as a kid

do you still watch cartoons? hell yeah, I usually prefer them to anything else. Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Voltron, A:TLA, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends...that shit is my jam

do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds? mmmm Wendys but I usually don’t get c nugs from anywhere

Favorite dipping sauce? chick fil a sauce or ranch

what do you wear to bed? just underwear

have you ever won a spelling bee? no but I came close in middle school

what are your hobbies? not many tbh. I have a few reptiles that I take care of. I collect / trade Disney pins. I love swimming but don’t do it all that often. Uhhh...seeing how many times I can ride Kilamonjaro Safari in a row before the cast members begin to judge me?

can you draw? not really, no

do you play an instrument? nope, I can’t even read music and I can barely hum

what was the last concert you saw? uhhhh...I think Death Cab for Cutie and CHVRCHES?

tea or coffee? tea

Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts? Starbucks for drinks, Dunkin for food (donutssssss)

do you want to get married? yeah, eventually. I told the SO that ideally before I’m 30 and that we’re not having a wedding but we’re gonna elope instead because fuck weddings I don’t have the money for that or the patience to plan it

what is your crush’s first and last initial? not really a crush but more of a “current-and-potentially-forever life partner” but DU

are you going to change your last name when you get married? no idea. D wants to change their last name but idk if they’d take mine or they’d just change it to their middle name and then I’d take that? honestly it doesn’t really matter to me each way so long as I don’t get their current last name (because of bad associations)

what color looks best on you? no idea honestly. I prefer dark, muted blues?

do you miss anyone right now? my parents and siblings, and two of my best friends

do you sleep with your door open or closed? open, otherwise the cats would never let us sleep

do you believe in ghosts? nah, not really. I grew up in a town that had a bunch of history and by extension ghost stories, so it was more a part of “tourist culture” than something that seemed legitimate to me

what is your biggest pet peeve? I never know until someone starts doing it around me. but uhhhh I hate loud chewers, people that refuse to even try to see your side of an argument, and when you’re sitting somewhere in public like on a bench or something and there’s plenty of other empty seating options nearby and yet someone comes up and sits RIGHT NEXT TO YOU nope you know what that’s it I fucking hate that and it happens to me all the time at Disney

last person you called` I think my mom?

favorite ice cream flavor? cookies and cream, unless I’m at one of those places where you can basically make your own flavor in which case I will ALWAYS do a rose-infused ice cream with pistachios 

regular oreos or golden oreos? please don’t make me choose

chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? rainbow!

what shirt are you wearing? not wearing one ;)

what is your phone background? just a basic stock photo of some ferns. kinda boring but I like simple backgrounds

are you outgoing or shy? its pretty even but if I had to say one over the other I’m probably slightly more outgoing than I am shy.

do you like it when people play with your hair? only people I know and allow. don’t just come up and start playing with my hair unless you KNOW that I’d be okay with it

do you like your neighbors? haven’t met them! we moved in like a month ago but we still haven’t seen anyone that lives on our floor

do you wash your face? at night? in the morning? if I remember, but honestly I’m really bad about doing it unless I’m in the shower in which case it’s every time I take a shower

have you ever been high? nope

have you ever been drunk? sadly no. I have a ridiculously high natural alcohol tolerance, so I get sick to my stomach before I can even manage tipsy.

last thing you ate? pizzaaaaaaa

favorite lyrics right now idek and that’s a lot of effort so sorry here’s me “free pass” I’m using it on this question next

summer or winter? ugh winter always I can’t stand the heat there’s only so many layers you can take off

day or night? night

dark, milk, or white chocolate? milk or white. milk for straight eating, white for flavoring other things

favorite month? october

what is your zodiac sign leo!

who was the last person you cried in front of? my significant other

[whatpixels]

Helpful Sites

Here are some cool things I’ve collected over time from other posts and stuff, I hope someone else finds these useful! (I love them when I need a distraction c: )

***You can bookmark this page, it has everything on it, and I update it when I find something new!***

Interactive Sites/ Games:

Little Alchemy - combine elements to make new ones, and so on!

Tamagotchi - The classic simple and cute game!

Geo Guesser - Guess where you are, using Google Maps!

Cute Orisinal Games - Many mini games with cute themes!

Spent - An online game about surviving poverty

Thisissand - Make art using sand

Anime Avatar Creator - Self explanatory (!!! Loud music!!!)

Pokemon Fusion - Fuse Pokemon

Synaptop - Computer interface with it’s own little network?

PlanetMaker - Make a planet!

PointerPointer - Let your mouse sit there and it’ll match a picture to it

Virtual Piano - Play the piano!

Cookie Clicker - Get as many cookies as you can!

Color- Method of action - Match the color as close as you can

Seaquence - Cute little “sea” theme music maker

Today I die - Simple pixel game (Actually really inspirational)

Deer Cam - no longer live, hacked version of GTA SA, a deer through the city

Essay Typer - input any subject and press any keys for it to write for you (internet based)

Deep Space Map - you need the Google earth plugin but it’s pretty cool!

Art:

Color Blender - Blend any color into another (Great for gradients!)

Color Wheel - Find complimentary or opposite colors using this wheel!

Make a Galaxy - Make a galaxy using cool brushes

Weave Silk - Cool brushes that look like silk/space

Pose Maker - Stick figure like model

Art Models - 3D models, most are rotatable

Line of Action - pictures of models (nude and clothed, you can even add a time limit)

Color Palette Generator - Input image using url to get a color palette using the colors in the image

ColorHexa - Color Hex codes! + learn about colors

Color Hex - Hex codes, similar to color hexa but more user based

Make 8 Bit Art - very simple interface for making pixel art

Pixel Art - you can make your pixels explode to clear

Pixilart - pixel art with history

Piskelapp - pixel art with layers

Sketchpad - online sketchpad, simple layout but can do a lot

Zalgo Text - Make messy/scary looking text

Speech Bubble - great for edits, transparent or GIF

Make Banners - cool, but a little limited

Relaxing/Anxiety Relief:

The quiet place - A quiet place to relax (not working for me now, but there is an app somewhere!)

The Thoughts Room - Thinking things through

Do Nothing for 2 Minutes - Turn off all devices and just reflect

Jonah (interpersonal conflicts) - Choose and click responses to solve problems

Rainy Mood - Listen to the rain, you can even add music to it

Emergency Compliments - a simple and colorful website that gives you compliments using text

Nature Sounds - Sound mixer, choose from different themes, effects, and volumes

Automatic Flatterer  - Using popups it flatters you, usually ends after 5 popups

Coffitivity - Background sounds of a library/coffee place

Rain - Use your mouse to make it go from sunny to stormy (hover/scroll over)

Break something - Smash the screen (loud!!!)

Planetarium - look at the sky

Make Everything Ok - Press a button,everything is ok (kinda silly but nice)

Disgruntle Me - stop being disgruntled and look at these cute stuff!

100,000 Stars - star map, very cool, soothing music

Study Help:

Japanese Vocab - Most used Japanese vocab in a Google docs/spreadsheet

Learn Japanese Masterpost - a tumblr tag from a super helpful tumblr user

Kana Invaders - game with space theme to help you with Japanese Hiragana/Katakana

Manga/Anime - learn with Japanese used in manga and anime

Learn using Anime - chat with anime characters to learn Japanese

Erin’s Challenge - Learn Japanese with skits

Jisho - Japanese Dictionary

Japanese Keyboard - Type in Japanese

Learn to Code - Super cool! Learn CSS, HTML, and more!

CodinGames - let’s you improve your coding with games

Wolframalpha - input any math problem and it will work it out and give many answers!

Long Division - Self explanatory

GeoGebra - calculator, cool interface, helpful with algebra, geometry, probability, and more

Desmos - really good graphing calculator

Tiger Algebra - Really useful and has great examples and sources

Balance - For balancing chemical equations

3D Biology - a 3D model of the human body

3D Solar System - interactive, and a robot voice reading out info

Written? Kitten! - after a set amount of words it will show a cute kitten picture! (or dog/bunny!)

Other stuff?:

WTF should I do today - have a random generator dictate- suggest things to do

Supercook - recipes by what you have around

Seasonal Foods - find fresh produce that is in season in your area

Hackertype - type random stuff and it’ll look like you’re hacking

Book Suggestions - based on books you’ve read before (input books you like and it’ll suggest similar books)

Dialect Test - Answer some questions and this will guess where you’re from based on your dialect

Cute Sound Effects - Simple ones that come in mp3 format

My Body Gallery - input your body type to find other people like you

Anime Sound Effects - also simple sfx

Emoji Tracker - Live tracking of most used emojis + live tweets that use them (epilepsy warning)

Meitu Online Photoshop - it’s all in Chinese, but simple to navigate after awhile

SCM Music Player Custom Skins - a lot of choices to customize a music player

Sanger - pug licking screen

Audiosauna - online music making studio, saves as .song file

[jazzy-art-time]

Sorry if this is a bother but I’m really trying to get into the ask blog community but I don’t really know how to start off or do anything? You have a lot of blogs and seem popular so I was wondering if you could give a newbie some advice if it’s not too much trouble? o^o”

Oh it’s no trouble at all reallyalthough I would HARDLY consider myself as “””popular””” hhhhiknowlike8peopleI did something like this once before on one of my ask blogs but I’m just gonna trim it up and rewrite it.+*~ Below The Cut For Shitty Jazzy Advice ~*+Be warned it is long and wordy.This is my own personal blog process/blog beliefs.Don’t take all of these to heart fully because there are many ways to do/interpret things. I am simply sharing how i personally do things.If anyone feels the need to add more onto this, feel free to.

First lets get The Blog Theme down.Believe it or not this is actually important and can affect you and your blog a lot more than you think.-> THIS ACCOUNT IS WHERE I GET ALL OF MY THEMES -Please note there are other blogs like this one, I just use that one specifically.You can also use the default theme that tumblr gives you, there are ways to edit it but I do not know how to edit it you would have to ask someone else.Simple Theme Color rules that I use:- Do not add bright neon colors with black. I love black n neon as much as the next guy but it makes your theme eye burning.- Blog colors can determine a blogs theme as well. A bright colored theme suggests a happy upbeat blog. But this only applies if you care for that sort of thing.- Make the text easy to read. Please even your links in the sidebar make them a color that is different enough from the other colors on your blog so you can actually read them. Use a easy to read font as well.What I always make sure to add in a theme:- Ask Box. Obvious thing to add, never feel ashamed or hesitant to close your ask box if needed. Whether it be due to plot reasons or you have asks piling up. Feel free to close it for the time you need and open it up again when desired.- Submissions Box. Not REALLY needed, I just always add it for ease of access. You can get to someone’s submit box just by adding /submit to the end of their url but I prefer to have a tab for it.- Character page or reference tag. Seriously add a reference page or a reference tag that is easy to find. It’s kind of a turnoff if you don’t have a easy to access reference. Don’t be upset if you feel your reference isn’t good enough. As long as you have a color palette to it you will be golden. Never shade a reference without a normal color palette we are all begging you. If you draw art traditionally, you can always add a color palette in with MSpaint nobody will judge you for that.- Rules Page. Now this isn’t 100% needed. I just add them to avoid getting spammed with questions or like… nsfw questions or something. If you don’t care about that then don’t worry ‘bout it.These are the main things I add to a blog. I also add these things because I’m extra:- Lore/Plot page. This usually contains links n tags to follow all of my plot posts or specific lore posts.- Ask Hints page. This is a HUGE help to people who are shy like me!! I usually can’t think of good asks to send so Ask Hint pages are such a help. I always try to add them whenever I can! Also they can help people ask more plot relevant questions when needed.Other Important things to add to a theme of a blog:- Add warnings. If your blog isn’t going to be happy go lucky, please consider adding a warning somewhere. Whether it be in the blogs description or your rules page. You don’t HAVE to add a warning, but its best if you do. - Add a tagging system if needed. No again, don’t have to do this. Some don’t tag things at all which is fine! I prefer to have tags and tag everything so I don’t accidentally trigger someone or just have peeps upset at me in general. I always have trigger tags, sensitive content tags and OOC tags. I go overboard with my tagging, I am aware of this, but I would rather be safe than sorry.Lets talk about Blog Playlists:- It is perfectly fine to have a blog playlist. Most complain about blog playlists but that is generally only if AutoPlay is on. I’m neutral on blog playlists just as long as the autoplay is off I am good lol. AutoPlay tends to give me a spook. It’s a highly debated thing in the community, but from what i’ve seen people just don’t like AutoPlay lol-> IF YOU ARE GOING TO USE A STOCK PHOTO FOR YOUR BACKGROUND, TRY USING THIS METHOD FOR FAIR USE I know most don’t honestly care about fair use of stock photos like this, but try to be fair +*~ Onto the character’s themselves ~*+What do you choose as your main pokecharacter?Literally whatever you want. I know some try to challenge themselves by choosing a pokemon they dislike/is hard to draw as their main character, but please note there is a difference between challenging yourself and doing something that you dislike to impress others.Choose whatever you want. Whether it be a popular pokemon or not, as long as you enjoy it, go for it.Need Help designing the character themselves or their personality?Enjoy some links that I’ve used in the past when i was in a bind.- Master Post of Character Design/Story- Character Flaw List- Color Scheme website  - A big thing containing stuff for character design  - Here is a Palette Blog that I follow that I use for color palettes when I come up blank!- Need help portraying better speech bubbles for characters? here is some examples of some fun things you can do with them!- Are you a mainly text based blog or just want to word some of your things better? Enjoy this.I could link you so many more things, I also have a bunch of Art Tutorials saved/tagged!But I’m going to move on to avoid spamming~In the end. Have fun with your character design. If you aren’t enjoying what you are designing/drawing then maybe you should try something different! Again, there is a difference between challenging yourself and just forcing yourself to do something you dislike.+*~ ONTO BLOG THEMES ~*+What kind of plot should your blog have? Should it have a plot? What is better?Literally whatever you want!! Do what you want!! You want a big plot blog?? DO IT!! You want a silly nonsense blog?? DO IT!!  Want a mix of both?? DO IT!!Now. Lets discuss blogs that contain sensitive subjects:- Do research on sensitive subjects. I know you are doing blogs for fun! Why would you want to research something that sounds boring right? Yeah it can be boring. But DON’T TRY TO PORTRAY SOMETHING YOU LITERALLY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT. Because then that’s just being ignorant or offensive. If you want a blog starring a depressed character? Please at least just do some research on depression so you aren’t just doing one big stereotype splattered everywhere.- I know doing research sounds boring but there is a line that you have to do research on before portraying it unless you just straight up want to be offensive or ignorant. In which case if you would want to be offensive… why? just why? idk shoo bEGONE.- Doing research on the subjects you are portraying can actually teach you things and help you better your characters and plot. Believe it or not… studying something you don’t know that much about will…. help you LEARN??? wow shocking I know. I know I sound sarcastic and rather salty with this, but it happens more than you think.- Portraying a subject you know nothing about just requires some research. It’s honestly not that hard. You don’t always have to portray sensitive subjects 100% by the book. You can add your own twists or portray them differently if you wish! But there is a line between adding a twist and just being ignorant and offensive.+*~ Ask Time ~*+Alright, you got your blog all set up! You are ready to go! Now you need to get out there, get known! Get ASKS.How to go about it?- Get your blog signal boosted. The PokeAsk community loves signal boosting one another! A signal boost can go a long way to someone who is just starting out. If you don’t have a friend already in the community that can signal boost you, try asking a mod for a signal boost! Most mod’s love to signal boost others, go to one of them and ask for one POLITELY.- Make a Ask Call. One of the big ways to get asks is to simply make a ask call. Just make a post saying “Hey I need asks” or something.- Go onto other’s ask calls asking for one. Lots of Mod’s do Ask Calls in which they SEND OUT asks to others, go onto one of those! Ask for a ask! There is absolutely no shame in doing that.- Interact with others in the community. You can’t expect to get asks if literally no one knows who you are. Send asks to others! Get yourself out there! Make yourself known! If you are like me and have social anxiety or have issues sending asks, look for people’s ask hint pages! Send them a ask from the ask hint page!- Make a Ask Hints page of your own. Sometimes people just don’t know what to send you or are too shy to come up with something themselves. A Ask Hint page can help others send you asks.- There is no shame in asking a friend for a ask. There is literally no shame in asking your friends for asks if you really need them. Even if your friends just send them on anon. There is no shame in it.- Make sure your blog is clean. If your blog is filled with randomness that has nothing to do with your blog or is just random content from you, it will be hard for others to figure out what to ask about. If your askblog looks more like a personal blog, you probably wont get that many asks, its a harsh truth. Also again, having a easy to navigate blog can do wonders.- Make your content appealing. This sounds horribly harsh I know but you can’t expect to have others be instantly filling your inbox if you don’t have some sort of appeal. You can’t have around 4 posts of your character doing nothing interesting and expect others to go “oh I wonder this characters backstory is” or something. Spice it up! Make things interesting! You have to have a hook, make others want to question about your characters or your plot. Make them want to know more! Feel like you don’t know how to make things more appealing? Literally just ask others for advice. Even if the advice is criticism, USE THAT to become better. There is no shame in asking others for advice.- Don’t rely. On. Asks. Only. I understand it is a PokeASK community, but don’t rely on asks fully. Not getting any asks? Time to draw some character shenanigans! Do some plot to lure people in! Make us see your characters outside of asks! It can do wonders for character development and will also help lure others into wanting to learn more about the blog!You do not need a constant stream of asks to run a ask blog.If you just sit and do nothing because you have no asks, then guess what? You still aren’t gonna get asks. Sitting around doing nothing will get you nothing.Getting asks can be hard. For literally all of us it can be hard sometimes.Even that blog you think “omg they are so popular they must get so many asks” struggles because I bet you their inbox is full of nonsense that they can’t actually use.Don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t getting any asks, just keep moving forward with your blog and make the community get hooked on your stuff.+*~ Tips on things you should NOT do~*+- Do not force ships onto others. Most of us in the community love shipping characters, but don’t force it. If the other Mod expresses discomfort with the ship or doesn’t want to ship with you, don’t force it.- Don’t god mod others. Don’t waltz into someone elses inbox going “my character totally PUNCHES YOURS IN THE FACE AHAHA YOUR CHARACTER IS WEAK COMPARED TO MINE.”. Unless you and the mod planned that out beforehand, it is mostly unwanted. Don’t try to randomly attack or take over someone else’s plot. Discuss things like that with the mod, if they don’t want to do that sort of thing? Don’t send it. It’s extremely annoying. Also if you aren’t involved in someone’s plot or ask?? Don’t try to reply or force yourself in it. I’ve had people respond to my plot posts that had literally nothing to do with them. Its annoying and disrespectful. Always discuss things of that nature with the mod beforehand-.If you don’t like someone in the community, block them or ignore them. Do not make a huge deal out of it. It takes zero effort to block someone you dislike and move on. I know some go “Oh I don’t block others UwU” but then they go and constantly start crap with others? Just… If you dislike someone move the hell on with your life and leave them be.- Don’t do call out posts unless there is a clear threat to the community. Oh honey I’m so sorry you dislike someone in the community, but please spare me the time of scrolling past your huge call out post for a person who hurt your feelings a bit. Don’t cause the community unnecessary drama with call out posts for things that aren’t really community issues, this includes vague-ing about others publicly on your blog. Call out posts should only be for community threats or something. Is the person you are going to make a call out post on a pedophile/art scammer/submits porn or body horror to blogs/blatenly sends out hate to others openly/sends fetish asks or something of that nature? Then yes that is a community issue that needs to be addressed. Is the person you are going to make a call out post on someone who just hurt your feelings/you had a fight with about something that is only directed at the two of you or your friend group? Then don’t.A community issue is a issue that addresses the entire community, not just you and your issues with someone else. Move on don’t throw a temper tantrum like a child because someone blocked you or something. Nobody cares if you and someone else don’t get along, its private business so let it remain private.CALL OUT POSTS NEED TO REMAIN RARE AND WITHIN GOOD REASON.- Don’t reply to anon hate. Seriously don’t. Even if you have a witty comeback do you think everyone really needs to see anon hate spamming their dash? no. Ignore anon hate and move on. I know sometimes anon hate can hurt you, it can cut you to the core. But please try to ignore it and move on. Always remember that you can turn off anon or block anons. Granted sometimes anon hate can just be a misunderstanding in which case feel free to reply. I’ve had some “anon hate” which was actually just a misunderstanding. There is a difference between clearing up a misunderstanding and fueling anon hate.- Mind your business. If a drama is happening and it has literally nothing to do with you? Mind your business. Too many people try to get involved in drama that doesn’t even involve them and all that does is fuel more crap. Mind. ya. Business. It can save ya from unnecessary drama trust me. You can support others who are victims of drama or something, but don’t just try to insert yourself and make things worse. There is a difference between a supportive friend and a white knight. A white knight attacks without reason, they don’t know the full story nor care to know. Just…. seriously mind ya business.- Did I mention that if you dislike someone you should just block and or ignore them? Seriously. - Criticism is not automatically hate. Too many people take any negative criticism as hate. You can’t honestly expect everyone to only ever have GOOD things to say about your stuff? You aren’t perfect, nobody is perfect. If someone gives you criticism on your art or your writing or character development, listen. Listen to it. Take it in! Become a better artist/writer/blogger. I know sometimes criticism can be hard to take, especially if its something you worked hard on or something you care about deeply. But please know that criticism isn’t always hate. You never even have to accept criticism, granted its better if you try to learn from criticism, but you don’t have to accept all of it. It’s really up to you on whether or not you accept and listen to the criticism or ignore it. Just don’t automatically take any sort of criticism as “hate”. There is a clear difference.Criticism is to help you improve, hate is just to hurt.- Your mistakes do not define you,how you choose to act after the mistakes is what defines you. Have you done any of these things above? Are you worried about accidentally doing these things? I’m sure all of us in the community have accidentally or even purposefully done one of these things once or twice before. But the difference is, we realized what we were doing was wrong. We changed for the better. If you make a mistake, change for the better! Changing for the better can be hard sometimes, especially if you didn’t realize you were doing something wrong. But what it is important that you can get better, you can redeem your mistakes. A apology wont just fix a mistake, the best apology is changed behavior.  You can’t just apologize for sending someone hate and then continue to send hate. That is not how it works.Granted yes, sometimes mod will hold grudges, some mods wont want to forgive you for your mistakes. But don’t let that stop you from getting better.If you make a mistake, choose to become better and redeem the mistake. Do not become your mistake. It can be hard, but you can become a better person, a better mod, even a better storyteller.+*~ The Moral of the Story ~*+Have fun with your blog. Choose a pokemon you enjoy. Design a design that you enjoy. Choose a theme that you enjoy. Have fun and don’t be a dick.Most of us in the community are generally kind and welcoming, we would be happy to have a new person join the ranks of PokeBlogging.Have fun, don’t be afraid to ask for help if needed.This was really rather long, but I hope maybe it helped you.I’m not that great at giving advice or explaining my though process clearly.But I hope maybe you got something from this other than “Damn Jazzy talks too much” lol

[isedoraklopper]

SM Confessions

Playing part of observing Selective Mutism awareness month, I will join so many others and post an confession list of SM things not always so obvious. October is Selective Mutism awareness month, so for all my all the extraordinary people who have always carried me, let’s see if anything sound familiar to you.

SM Confessions:

1. I am a selective mute. It was not spoken of too often where I grew up so it was largely missed, but I was tested for autism, dyslexia and learning disabilities as a child, trying to figure out was going on. I still remember sitting in the room with the person ticking boxes in high definition color, she told my teachers I was just strange, I never lost the label, even when I went to school in a new city.

2. Alongside this I have always experienced anxiety, which took many years for me to acknowledge to myself, realizing that this goes hand in hand with being a selective mute. I also struggle with depression, and the most amazing patient people in my life who lift me up every day.

3. I hate my voice and how it sounds (apparently a SM thing). I do like to sing however, and if I am totally comfortable with someone, I’ll sing around them. Dancing is a whole other story though.

4. I struggle to call my friends or my partner by their name, purely because of how much I do care about them (I worry a lot apparently). I will often have use a nickname till I work past my worries.

5. I want to communicate all the time, just don’t always have the know-how on how to. Or to let people know that I want to hang out, even if all we do is listen to music and be in total silence.

6. I love my close friends like my extended family since I have become very careful about who I choose to get close to, often my friends don’t realise that they are literally one of maybe three people I choose to hang out with.

7. I still get overwhelmed if things change too drastically, too quickly. I like routine and I’m dead keen to move to a place where I can settle for years.

8. After years of addressing and learning to cope with my own SM, I have passion for working alongside others who have throughout life struggled with being SM or had mental health challenges. I especially find it a blessing to have two friends who had similar challenges, and would do anything for them.

9. The initial way I tried to cope with SM was by self-medicating in the worst way. I am ex drug addict and alcoholic. 12th of October marks fifteen years clean and ten years sober. October is usually a rough month for me.

10. Sometimes the mute in me escapes, and I suddenly get very quiet. I still don’t like it when it happens and sometimes still message or text my friends just because they can ground me so much.

11. I am usually considered to be sarcastic and funny, especially once I get comfortable with someone, I love nothing better than putting smiles on others faces, especially my small group of people. I also swear like a sailor and forget that I need to filter my mouth sometimes.

12. I hate when SM happens and feel horribly guilty and bad if anyone ever experiences anything to do with this, or sees me go through it.

13. Because of my own history, I chose to work alongside people as a counselor. Especially with youth, because it was the most painful times for me. Other than martial arts, it is my fist passion.

14. As a SM love has been very difficult, often finding a lack of understanding in many situations. Still I fall in love easily and find it easy to get hurt in these instances and am willing to give all I have to the person who chooses me.

15. All things considering I have the ability not to panic when things suddenly turn to absolute madness, and have learnt to think through things instead of turning into a anxious mess. Made me an effective team leader according to team members.

16. My most basic manner of coping when it gets ‘nuts’ is writing, when I am writing I am at my best places in my SM and mental health. It is where I explore everything, even the dark painful things. I have also been published in the US, Australia and New Zealand. I write under a pseudonym, my blog on tumblr is under Isedora Klopper.

If you haven’t heard it yet....

Selective mutism (SM) is considered a ‘disorder’ in which a person who is normally capable of speech does not speak in specific situations or to specific people. Selective mutism usually co-exists with shyness or social anxiety. It is not yet known what causes Selective mutism, although it has a long history (Johnson & Wintgens, 2016).

Children and adults with selective mutism are fully capable of speech and understanding language but fail to speak in certain situations, though speech is expected of them (Johnson & Wintgens, 2016).

The behaviour may be perceived as shyness or rudeness by others. A person with selective mutism may be completely silent at school for years but speak quite freely or even excessively at home or with certain people (Johnson & Wintgens, 2016).

Other things that are often seen to also happen with SM is shyness, social anxiety, fear of social embarrassment, and/or social isolation and withdrawal. SM have been identified to also have difficulty maintaining eye contact, can have blank expression and reluctance to smile if the effects are taking hold, even in extreme emotional distress. Stiff and awkward movements, difficulty expressing feelings, even to family members and a tendency to worry more than most people (Johnson & Wintgens, 2016).

SM’s would usually prefer a desire for routine and dislike of sudden big changes, sensitivity to noise and crowds and challenges with sleep. On the positive side, many people with this condition have above-average intelligence, perception, or inquisitiveness, creativity and a love for art or music, empathy and sensitivity to others' thoughts and feelings and a strong sense of right and wrong (Johnson & Wintgens, 2016).

References

Johnson, M. & Wintgens, A. (2016). (2nd Ed). The Selective Mutism Resource Manual. Routledge, USA.

[viktuurificwriters]

Getting to Know Reiya

AO3 profile

Tumblr

 If you’ve been in the Yuri on Ice fandom for a long time now, then I bet you’ve already heard of Reiya. She is the author of the highly acclaimed Rivals series on AO3. The series’ first fic, entitled Until my Feet Bleed and my Heart Aches, is the YOI fic with the most number of kudos and hits.

Reiya ( @kazliin ) even has her own group of dedicated readers, who form a sub-fandom within the YOI fandom. Her blog is proof of that–being comprised of replies to the variety of asks she receives daily, different posts about the Top Ten’s of Yuuri and of Viktor in the Rivals world, reblogs of different fanarts and fanvids about her stories, and a whole lot more.

Any fan of Reiya would take pleasure in scrolling down her blog. From it, they can know some exclusive facts about her writings, like where she gets ideas, which of the two fics in the series was harder for her to write, and others. But with the plenty of asks Reiya answers each week, such facts get buried away in her blog and could never be seen again (unless you’ve decided to devote yourself in searching through each of the pages, which would probably take hours.)

Therefore, this post has been made to compile some of the basic stuff that everyone needs to know about their favorite writer. Learn more about Reiya and her works right under the cut.

Even though Reiya writes fanfics about YOI, she admits that she doesn’t really watch anime. She became interested in Yuri on Ice when she kept seeing it on her dashboard around episode two or three. She was also curious about it being a figure skating anime because, as a child, she used to dream of becoming a figure skater herself.

Before YOI, Reiya used to write for the Marvel fandom. She didn’t write a fic for seven months after her last Marvel fic due to writer’s block, but then she found Yuri on Ice and it gave her the inspiration she needed to write again.

“The source material is wonderful and there's so much potential in it for both canon verse fics and AUs,” says Reiya. “And as a member of the LGBT community, it was so wonderful to finally see a canon, healthy, happy queer couple, so it gave me a lot of inspiration to write.”

As soon as Reiya started watching YOI, she kept imagining different scenarios to put the characters in, which she thinks is a good precursor to starting a fic. Yuri on Ice was also a new fandom, with new material coming out each week–getting reader response and feedback was very high.

“Inspiration to write is so heavily based on getting response for what you do,” Reiya adds. “Being in a big fandom like YOI and having so many people being enthusiastic over my fic really pushed me to keep writing.”

And so, Reiya started writing what turned out to be the most popular YOI fic ever.

In coming up for the idea of UMFB&MHA, Reiya was really interested in the challenge of turning a fluffy and loving couple into rivals and in an enemies-to-lovers situation.

“The middle came first, then the beginning with how the whole rivalry started and then the doping scandal and then end,” she says. “I think I dreamed up the whole thing over the course of about a week and then finally sat down to plot it all out properly.”

Her biggest challenge in planning out the fic was figuring what Viktor could do to make Yuuri hate him. She knew that it should never be malicious on Viktor’s part. Viktor can be insensitive at times and speaks before he thinks in canon, but at heart, he’s never intentionally cruel. Eventually, Reiya settled on making Viktor say something tactless that he thought was helping, but actually cut Yuuri really deeply.

“We know from the other characters saying it that Yuuri really hates losing and he's a very determined character who rises well when he's challenged, like with Yurio during the Onsen on Ice,” answers Reiya when asked if she can see Canon Yuuri as the kind of person who’d resent someone for so long even though he had just been a kid when he felt insulted. “So I think the seed is there if something happened to him in his formative years to send him sown a different path.”

In the fic, Yuuri was insulted by Viktor when he was an insecure twelve-year old. According to Reiya, he took the insult far worse than an adult Yuuri would and it really shaped him. “The insult also grows with him over the fic,” she explains. “When he thinks back on what Viktor said, it becomes worse and more hurtful because his mind is distorting the memory as he grows older.”

When Reiya writes, she has to do it in big chunks. She doesn’t like writing only a little for an hour and a half and then stop. She needs to sit down on a weekend and write for ten hours straight. She prefers getting into the zone when she writes, so she needs to be in a peaceful place with a single song looped playing for hours in the background in order to help her focus.

Ten hours is the maximum time she allots on a weekend, but often, if the deadline for the next chapter was approaching, she’d come back home from university on a day she had reserved for writing at five and then writes until midnight, with only a break for a dinner.

“Since I take two weeks to write a chapter and maybe 30-50 hours, it means I can do it all in big chunks with free days to live my life rather than writing non-stop all the time,” says Reiya.

Once Reiya is in the writing zone, everything else is easy. But getting in that zone is what’s difficult. Sometimes she can spend hours writing and not be able to focus at all that she can’t make the words flow.

“Before chapter 14, my exams were approaching and I was studying all the time and not writing, so the day before I said I'd post the chapter, I still had a huge chunk to write,” she shares. “I pulled an all-nighter to finish because people were so excited for the next chapter and I didn't want to let them down!”

The pressure of her fans has been hard on Reiya, but she finds that she usually works well under it. The expectations terrify but also motivate her at the same time.

Reiya loves writing, but sometimes it can be very exhausting. She finds it very difficult to write the sex scenes in her fics. Before the Rivals series, she had never written a sex scene so it was great exercise in learning how to write them. Even then, she still struggles, especially now with the second fic in her series, entitled Of Bright Stars and Burning Hearts, where she has to rewrite all the sex scenes from UMFB&MHA in Viktor’s POV.

In terms of emotional writing, the hardest scene for her to write was first part of the third chapter of OBS&BH. Viktor is a very optimistic character and it was very hard for Reiya to put him in a position where that optimism gets crushed.

The responses of people who read Reiya’s fic is what keeps her writing. She is incredibly grateful and lucky to have so many people enjoying her fic. The pressure and the expectations may be terrifying, but she thinks it's worth it.

Reiya’s advice for aspiring writers:

(The italicized text are Reiya’s exact words, but with minor errors corrected.)

Don’t compare yourselves to the big fics and don't write what you're not comfortable with. Almost all the big fics in any fandom were written right at the beginning when popularity is highest and when people read the fics with the most kudos first.  Once a fic is on the first page it's very difficult to knock it down or get another fic up there instead. It happens in every fandom. If you come into a fandom later and write, don't feel down by comparing yourself to fics like that. Popularity doesn't necessarily mean it's the best fic out there, and just because your fic isn't the most popular, it doesn't mean it isn't good. I know it seems patronizing of me to say that, all things considered, but YOI isn't my first fandom and I know how hard it can be when you feel like people care so much more about other fics than yours. I've deleted or stopped fics before because I felt like no one cared. But you know what? People do and you should always write what you want to write regardless of what anyone else is doing. You never know, to someone out there, your fic might make their day.

As for not writing what you’re not comfortable with, don’t be pressured into writing something just because all the other fics are like that or people want it. If you’re not comfortable with writing sex scenes, then don’t write them. If someone wants your fic to go in a certain direction and you’re not sure about it, don’t do it just to please someone else. Write for yourself first and everyone else second.

I think a lot of writers (and I include myself in this) can get caught up comparing themselves to other people and trying to please everyone which is never a good way to go.

[Bonus] Random Facts about Reiya:

(The italicized text are Reiya’s exact words, but with minor errors corrected.)

1.       Favorite Viktuuri Headcanons

I love the idea that Yuuri can hold his alcohol really well and Viktor can't! I also love the hc that they both learn each other's languages and end up speaking a weird mash of Japanese and Russian all the time. I also love most sappy romantic hc about them once they're living together in St Petersburg because I'm a sappy romantic at heart.

I also love headcanons about them being the worst rivals ever now that they're both competing. Like, they're supposed to be serious competition but they can't stop making eyes at each other and teasing each other all the time during competitions

2.       Favorite YOI song

Yuri on Ice

3.       Favorite YOI scene

The proposal scene because it's so atmospheric or the kiss scene because that was the moment when I could finally scream “I fucking said it was going to become canon! I CALLED IT PEOPLE.”

4.       Favorite color

Blue

5.       Waffles or pancakes?

Pancakes

6.       Ice cream – Chocolate or vanilla?

Chocolate

7.       Viktor or Yuuri?

How dare you try and make me choose?

8.       Pineapples on pizza or not?

I'm a normal human being, so no.

9.       Coffee or tea?

Coffee. There's no blood in my veins; there is only caffeine.

10.   Scrambled eggs or sunny side up?

Sunny side up

[musetavern-art]

F.A.Q.

So I am putting together a new page for “faq” so here we go...(feel free to add questions in reply or send me an ask).

Who are you? - I created an “About Me” page so head over there to find out about me. If you have other questions about me feel free to ask :)

How do you pick out what art to post/reblog? I notice there is a lot of different styles you post on this blog. What is your preferred style of art? What medium do you prefer the look of? - I just pick out what I like though generally it is aimed at fantasy. It really is my fancy...but I like colorful art. I like imagination capturing art. I love art that makes me think of a story. Sometimes art is simply just beautiful.

What does Adedrizil mean? - Adedrizil is a name of a character. I originally started this tumblr as a means to post pictures that reminded me of her and other characters. I still sometimes tag my posts with these as well. I hope to one day to be able to write Adedrizil’s story, but hers is too big for me to tell right now (an angel that was close to Lucifer and Michael, who did not fall, but choose to make her own way in life).

What does oripost as a tag mean? - Oripost is my tag for original post...that it is not a reblog.

Will you reblog my art? - Maybe. I do have a submit option (so you can submit a link).

Will you check out my tumblr? - Are you an artist? Are you a writer? Do you post original content? Then send me an ask to check you out.

Will you read my writing? - Euh this could be questionable. Give me a little synopsis and I’ll see...I generally prefer fantasy and science fiction and some historical fiction is good. I can be very distracted and forgetful.

Is any of this art yours? - I have a few pieces floating in here. Guess. If you already don’t know!

You reblogged something nsfw!!! - I try in general to keep my content pretty safe for work especially as I know I have minors and even religious folks among you. I do tag with “nsfw” for this purpose. I am very careful about genitalia but breasts get a little bit of a leeway. I don’t do it often and if you think I missed something that should have been tagged nsfw let me know.

I would like to make a suggestion... - Send me an ask.

My art is on your page and I would like it off... - Please send me an ask and I will remove it.

You haven’t answered my ask! - Forgive me and have patience. I go through periods where I do not even bother checking tumblr. I get busy reading, being creative, having fun with being outdoors or with friends, playing video games that I forget to check. It’s why I have a queue.

Don't you have a personal tumblr you can post your walls of personal/political text to? I'm just here for pics of dragons and shit. - Sometimes I think there are things that need to be drawn attention to. I don’t do it a lot but when I do it, it’s because of something important...also I like giving positive messages to people. I like interacting with people.

What is your art discord server? - The Muse Tavern (click the name and you can join!) Minors are welcome!!

Is the Muse Tavern only for artists? - No! Muse Tavern is for more than artists, it’s for all creative writers, it's for people who want to give critique, who want to appreciate. It’s for writers too, it’s for photographers, filmmakers, musicians, podcasts creators, dancers, people who are into fiber arts, make clothes, tattoo, do body fx makeup...anything that involves creativity even painting models is welcome! Even if you are someone who makes soaps, candles, and such, this is for you!

Is it only for talking about art/writing/etc? - While that may be the bulk of the channels for art, resources, there is a channel for book-reviews. There is a general chatter channel...a bot game channel...and (soon) roleplaying channels.

Why is it named The Muse Tavern? - I was inspired by the Greek Muses and also there is a Mews Tavern here that has really great food and beer.

Why did you create it when you have dA, Artstation, etc? - I wanted a creative community that wasn’t dA. I was originally part of a writing one but it dissolved (and I wasn’t as active then). dA is super big and you are super anonymous. I hope that one day this server does not get like that, but I want an active healthy community of creative people, people willing to critique and appreciate. I want it to be a community where we can collab together, laugh together, have fun, even if it’s through online. It’s a community where we can inspire ourselves to do better and help us through the blocks.

The Muse Tavern Challenge - It was a bit of a joke but also based off a roleplay idea for the discord. It is a list of characters, scenes, and food/drinks (as well as items) to inspire people...to draw, to write, to laugh, to have fun. If you post it to tumblr I will reblog it here! Just submit the link through “submissions” or tag me, or send me an ask! (If you tag me it may get post in the notes...but you can tag my main @poetryinmysilence or my creative tumblr @cielknight  )

[dear-jason-goodman]

1-30

Since I just rebloged 3 ask memes and you didn’t say with one I will just answered then all favourite musical overallRentlist your top 10 favourite musicals1. Rent2. Next to normal3. Bare. 4. Dear Evan Hansen 5. American idiot 6. Bandstand 7. Bonnie and Clyde 8. Spring awakening 9. Rocky horror 10. Cinderella favourite musical to listen toAt the current moment bare a pop opera but it always changes favourite musical to watch At the current moment bare but it changes all the time favourite musical you want to see liveDear Evan Hansen next to normal and bare favourite musical you’ve seen liveRent favourite musical you’ve been a part of (or one you want to be a part of if you haven’t participated in any!)I would love to be a part of rent or wicked or phantom doing the makeup for it favourite song from a musicalI can’t pick but season of love it one of them favourite character from a musicalI can’t pick they are all amazing but atm peter or Jason from bare is my favorite buy I love them all favourite actor/actress in a musicalJonah platt Ben platt all fo them literally there is not a actor that I have seen and haven’t fall in love with favourite musical on broadway right nowDear Evan Hansen favourite musical that’s no longer on broadwayRent or next to normal favourite musical that’s never been on broadwayBare a pop opera favourite revival of a musicalCinderella favourite musical that needs to be revivedBonnie and Clyde favourite musical that’s underratedBare a pop opera favourite musical that you’re ashamed to likeNone favourite musical you never talk/blog aboutBeautiful or something rotten favourite musical to talk about with friendsAmerican idiot or what ever they will let me talk about favourite musical for sentimental reasonsRent or Annie or Cinderella favourite musical that means a lot to youRent bare next to normal or dear Evan Hansen favourite musical to sing along toSpring awakening or American idiot favourite lyric from a musicalThis is two hard I quite but the first one that popped in my head was “And I keep on waiting...: Waiting in the rainAnd I keep on hating... All...Hating all the painAnd I keep on trying...Trying to beginAnd I keep on dying...Dying to fit in” for one for bare is one that has been playing though my head for days favourite set from a musicalRent or phantom favourite costumes from a musicalSomething rotten or American idiot because I could love in the costumes for American idiot favourite obc cast of a musicalDeh favourite non-obc cast of a musicalThe movie cast of rent or the touring cast of something rotten favourite female character in a musicalNatalie from next to normal favourite male character in a musicalConnor Murphy-dear Evan Hansen favourite musical to read/write fanfictions forI don’t read or write fan ric 1 - Who was the last person you texted?My group chat 
2 - When is your birthday?News years eve 
3 - Who do you want to be with right now?My friends 
4 - What sports do you play?I don’t play sports 
5 - Who is the first person in your contacts?My brother 
6 - What is your favorite song as of the moment?Are you there for bare a pop opera 
7 - If you were stranded on an island, who do you wish to be with?Ben platt 
8 - What do you feel right now?Very clam and tried 
9 - What chocolate is your favorite?I love milk chocolate 
10 - How many boyfriends/girlfriends did you have?I have had 1 boyfriend 
11 - Why did you create a Tumblr account?Because my friends said Tumblr was cool and I created this musical account because I needed somewhere I could post about shows and just escaped two when life is two much 
12 - Who is your favorite blogger?@pontmarius or @flyawayrachel
13 - Where do you want to be right now?1920’s New York City in December right near Christmas 
14 - What do you want to be in the future?The tony awards in new your city on 20/20 
15 - When was the last time you cried? Why?I cried last night because a show I was watching was sad 
16 - Are you happy?Sometimes 
17 - Who do you miss?People who have left my life 
18 - If you were given a chance, would you like to have a different life?Yes and no. The life I have can be hard and sometimes I hate it but it’s mine if I had a different life some if not all of my problems would still be hear and it wouldn’t be my life it would be someone else. At the end of the day not matter what I have been through or the challenges I ahve face this is my life good and bad so why change that 
19 - What was the best thing you were given?The opportunity to fall in love with something it could be a musical or a person or a food or whatever but the chance to love something with all your heart is a great gift 
20 - Who was the last person who called you?My mom I think 
21 - What is your favorite dish?Asparagus with a lemon butter sauce and tofu 
22 - Who is your bestfriend?My sister or elyse it drew or pont or Rachael 
23 - What is your biggest regret?I don’t believe in regret the mistakes o made are the choices I made even if I think it turned out bad or probably wasn’t the best choice it was mine to make and I have to live with that so why choose to live with regret. I rather choose to live with the lesson I learned so I am better prepared for my future 
24 - Have you ever cheated on your partner?No 
25 - Who do you spend crazy moments with?I don’t think I have any crazy moments but probably my sister 
26 - Name someone pretty.Everyone on earth 
27 - Who was the last person you hugged?Idk probably drew or elyse 
28 - What kind of music do you listen to?All of it 
29 - Are you over your past?Yes and no 
30 - Who is the last person in your contacts?A radio station Favorite scary movieScream or Sweeney Todd Favorite Halloween (not necessarily scary) movie The nightmare before Christmas Favorite Halloween costume I’ve wornEliza Hamilton Halloween costume I want to dress as but haven’t yetMimi form rent My ultimate dream Halloween costumeA very historical accurate Bonnie for Bonnie and Clyde Favorite character from a Halloween movieJack skeleton Favorite spooky novelDon’t have one Favorite scary video gameDon’t have one Favorite classic movie/book monsterDracula Best memory from a past HalloweenMy first Halloween dance was pretty amazing Favorite Autumn drinkHot cocoa Favorite Autumn food/treatIce cream that tastes like pumpkins What I’d love to carve into a pumpkinRent Best pumpkin design I’ve ever carved/plan on carvinI don’t carve pumpkins Do you do anything special for Halloween?I like to watch movies and a chill after I trick or treat but this year is my last year trick or treating Do you enjoy bonfires, or have you ever attended one? I do and I have but like only once Favorite scary story or legendDon’t have one Favorite Halloween candyAll of it Do you like going to Halloween stores?Yes If you do go to Halloween stores, do you buy anything or just look around?Look around I just like to be in the present of Halloween stuff it makes me happy and makes me feel safe and calm If you wear costumes, do you make your own costumes or purchase them? A combo of both I buy things so I can put them together to make my own Have you ever gone to a Haunted House attraction? YYes Have you ever gone to a corn maze?I think How about a pumpkin patch? Yes What did you always wish you could dress up as when you were a kid?A witch I did it like every year Do you ever partake in a nice leaf pile jump?I think once Do you call apples covered in sweets: caramel apples, candy apples, toffee apples, or something else?Caramel apples Tell a spooky campfire story (if you have one)I don’t Do you believe in ghosts? If so, have you ever had an experience?I believe that they exist because why would they because ghost are supposed to be the sprite of people who died two soon and people died two sooon all the time. It I don’t they ghost are evil and I never have encountered one but I think they are out there If you live in a climate where the trees change colors, do you like walking/driving around and looking at them?Yes

[violetsystems]

#personal

I didn’t do much on my day off.  The landlord was around again.  There’s a couple of people moving in.  I don’t usually talk to my neighbors.  Somebody from my school lived in the front building for awhile.  We used to play Street Fighter regularly until they moved out.  These days people don’t ever leave me alone when I leave the house.  So in some ways, it’s a blessing in disguise.  My kitchen is like a fish bowl.  I pass the time by drinking coffee and playing Magic the Gathering against myself at the kitchen table.  Some people I play with regularly think that’s weird.  But nobody really ever texts me or invites me much to anything these days.  People are busy and often absorbed in their own lives.  When people do talk to me these days it’s incidents like yesterday afternoon.  Somebody with face tattoos asked me where the liquor store was.  I had to take the headphones off and focus for a minute.  I told them I didn’t drink anymore but the closest one the direction they were headed was near the train.  People ask for directions from me all the time.  There’s a sort of protocol to it.  You know when somebody is lost and when somebody is fishing for something.  Sometimes with me you know it’s always a little of both.  When I got back to my block a Mexican man flagged me down.  It was a little hard to understand but he wanted me to help him push his car to the gas station across the street.  I set my pink zojirushi container full of tea down on the ground behind me and pushed.  The lady in the SUV in the parking spot behind me was too busy filming me on her phone.  I think one of my new neighbors saw me as they passed by.  I knew it was going to take three people.  I knew I’d leave that up to the driver.  Finally he flagged down another Mexican guy from one of the cantinas on his way home from work.  In a matter of seconds we rolled the car all the way to the pump.  I waved and walked back to pick up my container of tea.  It had been rolled or knocked over and left on it’s side.  Bright pink staring back at me sadly.  I picked it up and walked home.  Some of my neighbors in the building were having a party.  I left the window open and watched infinity war again by myself on the couch.  Woke up to direct deposit and the best coffee I can possibly make.  I also woke up to myself again.  Though that is much more complex these days than it seems.  Which is evident by the rise in attention coupled with the fact nobody seems to be able to leave me alone.

Truthfully, this new chapter of my life is more about respect than it has been.  I run around the park in my neighborhood a lot.  That’s a very public space.  There’s a narrative going on in Chicago and America I think about public space and privacy.  Privacy comes down to respect.  If you know how it feels to be watched.  If you know how it feels to be analyzed and dissected by the court of public opinion every day.  If you know how it feels not to have a voice in anything year after year then you know the problem.  Inclusion isn’t rocket science.  Public space is an ecosystem just like privacy in America.  People ask a lot of me in public because they know I listen.  There’s varying amounts of situations I can attend to.  I ran almost nine miles in two days.  I ran five before work outside of my job before clocking into the office on Thursday.  These are things nobody else seems to choose to do or at least not with me.  Self respect is a very real thing that can slap you in the face.  There are some things that you really don’t deserve to happen to you in life.  These things are almost normalized into the collective mindset of American society.  We are addicted to convenience.  We don’t know how long things actually take.  How many ounces of coffee do you use per ten ounces of water?  We don’t even use the fucking metric system.  Americans are resistant to change and it shows.  They want to know every single thing about you without the context or the nuance.  When I travel to the south side or when I stay around my block, it’s very simple to me.  The people who most need me and interact with me are mostly people of color.  And in that sense there is a very definite aspect of class at play.  Regular people feel comfortable around me.  Mostly because I am a regular person.  When people talk to me I enjoy answering sometimes.  I don’t make the conversation about me.  I make it about the moment.  How are we going to get this car where you need to get it?  Is it possible?  Do I have the time?  My house is literally around the block.  I don’t do anything on Friday nights because nobody loves me.  Actually I don’t do anything on Friday nights because the person I’m in love with knows I’d rather be with them.  I have enough self respect after all these years to actually believe that.  Living with it and walking with it is a whole other thing entirely.

My mom being in the hospital has shown me a lot about how people care.  In an inclusive atmosphere people might understand how much I go through on a daily basis.  I consider Tumblr to be that inclusive.  The strength of this platform is kind of collective projection where we dream openly.  Everybody has different dreams.  I wouldn’t impede on anybody’s right to express them.  Sometimes I just prefer not to pay attention to certain content.  Sometimes I like to show my support for people’s humor or curation of things I respect and hold dear.  Sometimes I want to let people know I have dreams too.  Dreams that take work to achieve.  Hard work that nobody seems to see except the people that value what I contribute.  Sometimes thinking backwards helps you see what your strengths are.  I felt like the hulk moving that car.  Somebody obviously thought it was important enough to take video of.  More important to knock my drink over.  It’s a solid container.  It keeps beverages steaming for fucking hours.  Sometimes a little planning and focus makes the obstacles in your way sort of comedic.  How people desperate to set you up to prove a point end up doing something for you.  They prove to other people how superhuman your intentions are.  And they prove how you are more than capable of meeting the challenges at random.  Because you live your life with intention, care and tenderness.  You know when people feel left out.  You want to know how I know.  Because day after day people have isolated and tormented me.  Year after year people have straight up lied about me to the point where it’s morphed me into a legend.  People ignored and sidelined me because they couldn’t feel safe around somebody better than them.  They felt threatened.  They feel jealous.  They feel like I’m getting away with something.  And what I’ve been getting away with is living with love.  And unfortunately lashing out or reacting doesn’t do anything but cause more anger and hate.  The truth is I know who cares about me the most.  Love is knowing not a word you say out loud to impress your friends.  Nobody might ever know how much I love you.  But you always know how much it means to me to be able to love you.  I’ve learned and grown so much.  We both know I’ve grown too big to hide.  The good news is maybe one day we can hide in my apartment together.  These cats seem to think it’s a pretty good idea.  You should know by now at least I’d never hide my heart from you.  <3

[spn-idjits-guide-to-hunting]

 Tag Game: 

Rules:  Answer these 85 statements and tag 20 people 

Tagged by: The lovely and talented  @lipglosskaz for a little get to know me challenge. Thank You! <3 

Tagging Lovelies: @demondetoxmanual , @jensen-jay , @artemiskitsune , @whoeveryoulovethemost , @solitude-am-i , @lemondropsonice , @heytheredeann , @savingpeoplegiffingthings, @demberly , @rizlow1 , @saucynewf , @misswhizzy , @jacklesonmymind , @lemondropsonice, @thejabberwock, @salvachester , @ladyroche , @envydean,  @princejackles , @fawnjensen (Feel Free To Ignore This) 

the last 1. drink: Diet Coke. Caffeine  soothes the soul lol 2. phone call: My Mom 3. text message: Group Chat With My Bestie’s. We are  Planning when we are all free to see the new  Marvel Spiderman Homecoming movie lol. We  are all Geeking out over it.   4. song you listened to: Moana - How Far I’ll Go by Auli'i Cravalho (Listen) 5. time you cried: I was watching the Izombie  season 3 finale this morning and when Liv turned Ravi into a zombie I teared up.  6. dated someone twice: Yes 7. kissed someone and regretted it: Nope 8. been cheated on: Nope 9. lost someone special: Yes 10. been depressed: Yes. AKF  11. gotten drunk and thrown up: No, But I have thrown up from laughing to much many times. LoL.

3 favorite colors 12. Blue  13. Green 14. Purple

in the last year have you 15. made new friends: Yes!!!  16. fallen out of love: NOPE 17. laughed until you cried: Yes. All the time.  18. found out someone was talking about you: Yes. You just can’t let it bother you.  19. met someone who changed you: Do Fictional Charachters Count. Then yes lol.  20. found out who your friends are: I found this out in high school and we are still just as close. They are like sisters.  21. kissed someone on your Facebook list: Nope. I don’t use facebook that much. 

general 22. how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: Pretty much all of them. With a few exceptions who i’d love to meet.  23. do you have any pets: A Dog (Sadie)  and Cat (Roxy)                                24. do you want to change your name: No. Although I don’t like how popular my name has become.  25. what did you do for your last birthday: Went to a restaurant with my girl friends.  26. what time did you wake up: 9am Eastern (too early)  27. what were you doing at midnight last night: Watched The Amazing Spiderman movie 28. name something you can’t wait for: I need to plan something fun. 29. when was the last time you saw your mom: last night.  31. what are you listening to right now: My dog barking. She talks to me.  32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: I talk to Tom and Jerry every night before bed. lol.  33. something that is getting on your nerves: People spamming a character tag with negativity and not respecting that some people like said character on tumblr l.  34. most visited website: Tumblr and Youtube35. hair color: Dirty Blonde  36. long or short hair: Long. Time for a summer hair cut. 37. do you have a crush on someone: No One I can have in Real life lol. *coughs Jensen Ackles*  38. what do you like about yourself:  Almost everything lol. I have excepted who I am. 39. piercings: ears. Though have not worn earrings in years so not sure if they are still pierced.  40. blood type: Good Question 41. nickname: Abby, real name Abigail Eve. (i just realized it sounds similar to Adam and Eve lol)  42. relationship status: single r 43. zodiac: Gemini 44. pronouns: She / Her 45. favorite tv show(s): Supernatural , The Walking Dead , The Flash , Merlin … too many lol 46. tattoos: No 47. right or left handed:  ambidextrous                                                            48. surgery: The closest thing is getting my wisdom teeth out. Not fun.  49. piercing: already answered??? 50. sport: Dog Walking lol. Way back in the day, I did Karate and Basketball 51. vacation: Unsure for now 52. pair of trainers: Dc Skater Sneakers ( I don’t skate though lol) 

more general 53. eating: Homemaid eggplant Parmesan   54. drinking: Water 55. i’m about to: watch a movie  56. waiting for:  Comicon spoilers for my fav Tv Shows.  57. want: Starbucks 58. get married: No  59. career:  I have my own in house business sorta for animals, Dog walker Pet care, Babysitter. Still figuring things out really. 

which is better 60. hugs or kisses: hugs 61. lips or eyes: eyes 62. shorter or taller: taller 63. older or younger: older 64. nice arms or nice stomach: Stomach  65. hook up or relationship: relationship 66. troublemaker or hesitant: I fall in the middle of them

have you ever 67. kissed a stranger: Yes (spin the bottle at friends party) 68. drank hard liquor: yes 69. lost glasses/contact lenses: both 70. turned someone down: yes 71. sex on the first date: no 72. broken someone’s heart: no 73. had your heart broken: no 74. been arrested: No 75. cried when someone died: yes  76. fallen for a friend: no

do you believe in 77. yourself: Yes 78. miracles: No. I believe in what I can see and science.  79. love at first sight: No. Life is not a Disney fairytale. Though imagine lol.  80. santa claus: No.  81. kiss on the first date: Yup 82. angels: No

other 83. current best friend’s name: All my friends are my best friends lol  84. eye color: Blue 85. favorite movie: too hard to choose

[oliviameadows-blog]

5. The Following Days of Exploring Adobe Pf

My next couple of days exploring Adobe Portfolio were slow. It wasn’t terribly difficult figuring out how to customize things, everything is pretty straightforward, but I wanted to make sure I had something to write and do each day. Although at first it appeared that there was a lot of customizable features, the more I poked around the space, the less options I seemed to have. I was at least able to choose the different colors, images and fonts I could use on various different pages. On each page, I had choices of things I could add like photo grids, file uploads, text boxes and more (see second picture). It also showed they had added new features like social media plugs and buttons, which is a nice touch and shows that they update their site and try to keep things fresh. They also make it easy to publish your site whenever your ready by constantly having the publish button floating around, no matter what page your on. Let me get into the pros and cons of some of the different features of Adobe Portfolio and some of the challenges I faced over my ten days of using the site:

PROS 

Straight-forward: while there were a few bumps in the road, the site has everything laid out for you. As soon as you create a page, it tells you what steps to take next to add content, a cover page, a theme, etc. Adobe Pf doesn’t skip telling you any steps.

Layouts: there were a variety of different pages and layouts to choose from, giving you a lot of freedom in how you showcase your work. While I personally only choose a hand-full of layouts, it allowed you to create a really detailed site if you desired it. If each theme has their own layouts, Adobe Pf is very thorough in the amount of content they created for their users.

Easy to use: pretty similar to straight-forward, everything was very intuitive and easy to figure out. Once you learned how to change the fonts and colors, you could figure out how to do it on each page even if it doesn’t explicitly say how or where. All the features are very intuitive (and luckily even if you’re not very good at figuring out technology, Portfolio generally will tell you exactly how to customize certain details on your site)

Clean looking: the overall look of the site I was able to create is very clean and aesthetically-pleasing. While I had to option to add lots of images and colors, I could also keep it very clean and simple which is my style. They include all the Adobe fonts on the site which is A LOT of options.

CONS -

Updating: unlike tumblr, where you can simply click save after making a change to your blog, you have to republish your site every time you make a change. This isn’t exactly what I would call convenient, but its not the end of the world either.

Prompts: Often times if I didn’t choose to do something when Adobe Pf prompted me to, I couldn’t find the option later. For example, when you create a new page, you’re prompted to add a cover image to the page. While I didn’t want to do it at the time, I decided later I would like to add a cover image. I couldn’t find the option anymore so the only way to add one would be delete the page, make a new one, and click on the prompt the first time.

Navigation: the navigation bar disappears on certain page layouts which makes no sense to me. Why wouldn’t you want the home button available at all times, otherwise how else would people return back to the home page? I still can’t figure out if I’m missing something or if they seriously keep the navigation bar out of certain layouts. On my About page, I had to add a Back to Home button which just seems extra to me.

Social media plugs: maybe this is petty of me, but I think that Snapchat is such a big social media platform that it should be included in plugs. Vimeo is pretty much non-existent in today’s media, but there’s a plug for them and not snapchat. Just food for thought, I would update to add in a snapchat plug in.

To summarize my experience, I spent the past 10 days customizing my site, as well as creating a few new pieces of art to upload. I was able to finally name a few of my pieces that were up until this point nameless, and I also spent time going through my art and picking what I believe to be some of my best work. On the customizing side, using Adobe Portfolio allowed me to choose how people would be able to see my work. The way I chose to organize my works and caption them, in addition to the colors and themes I chose for each page, all have an affect on how people receive my message. It was a cool experience getting to finally compile a portfolio and in a way, it felt like it was an art project in and of itself.