#well recommended freelancing

[ohnoitstbskyen]

PINNED POST, FAQ, INFORMATION

Hi, I'm TBSkyen. I make videos on YouTube sometimes. This is my main tumblr blog, the "brand" blog as it were, where I maintain my Social Media Presence™ on this site.

I use the ironic ™ to signal my personal discomfort with the work of being a minor media personality even while I still do that work and make a living off it.

I have a sideblog called @tbposting, mostly for shitposts and reblogs, and in my opinion I have pretty darn good taste in reblogs, so you can follow that if you want. It's also where I'll do random personal posting, microblogging, etc.

This main blog is primarily for 1) answering asks, and 2) posting my Original Content™, usually my main channel videos, as well as the occasional longer essay or critique. Sometimes I'll reblog an interesting or useful thing, or boost a friend's work, but I try to keep the spam to a minimum.

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About Me

I am a thirtysomething content creator whose primary expertise is character design.

I have a bachelor's degree in English, never finished my master's, did most of a bachelor's degree in history, and that's it. These are my academic qualifications, no more and no less.

My professional experience is primarily being a freelancer and self-employed creator. I spent the better part of a decade working as a commission artist, running webcomics, drawing fanart, and the occasional animation work and not safe for work commissions, and I have at this point a decade of experience and self-study in the subjects I cover. I have also done online community management for, god help me, almost twenty years, so that's a part of my skillset I'll never escape.

I do not have any particular professional creative industry experience, although given what I hear from my professional friends, sometimes that seems like a blessing.

Please maintain a critical distance when engaging with my work. I am a critic. My work is very rarely meant to be taken as authoritative or didactic, and when it is, I will make it clear in my writing. Just because I speak with confidence doesn't mean I am trying to assert objective truth.

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TAGS (to follow, or filter)

#tbanswers is the tag for every single ask I answer on this blog

#tb reblog is the tag for reblogs

#tb essay is for the occasional longer essay or critical writing

#tbvideos is for my videos and Content™

#tb recommends is for the occasional recommendation of a video essay or other creator

Yes, I know the spaces are inconsistent. It's not on purpose, I just typed them in haphazardly when I started using them and it's stuck.

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FAQ (before you ask)

Q: Will you ever do a video about ____ ? A: The answer to this question is almost universally "maybe someday, if I have time, and if I feel I have anything worthwhile to say." And the more realistic answer is "no, because I already have far too much on my plate and I have burned myself out too many times." In general, please don't ask me this question, I will most likely not answer it because I have given the same answer a thousand times, but I still feel guilty about not answering them.

Q: Will you continue your series of videos about ____ ? A: Yes! I will continue the let's plays I started, I will finish the Boss Designs series, I will do another What's the Deal With, I will do more shorts about the subjects I've got going on. The main obstacle is, again, my tendency to overload myself.

Q: Do you have a PO box? Can I send you something? A: Not yet, but I'm looking into it. It may be a while before I get it set up.

Q: Do you have merchandise? A: A little bit, yes, at tbskyen.redbubble.com.

Q: What's your opinion on [game/movie/comic/book/etc]? A: I struggle to answer very open, broad questions like this. Most things I have opinions about, I have multiple opinions, and different ones depending on the perspective and specific element in question. I'm much more likely to answer specific, bounded questions.

Q: Can I send you fanart? A: PLEASE. Askbox, tag me on bluesky, send it to my email! I love seeing every piece of it!

Q: Why do you never appear on camera? A: A forest witch cursed me to look not quite but ALMOST like Paul Giamatti in all photos and videos ever taken of me, and his laywers sent me a cease-and-desist.

Q: Are you gay/straight/bi/other? A: The decision I've made for myself, at least for this period of my life, is that privacy is precious, and once given up can never be reclaimed on the internet. I am open about being aromantic (not asexual), because it's a sometimes invisible and underdiscussed identity, and I know it would have helped me a lot to see someone speak about it when I was younger.

The rest of it is for me to know, and for you to speculate about, although preferably somewhere I can't see it. I accept that this is a part of being a Personality, but it still feels weird, y'know?

Q: Is it weird if I find your voice kinda hot? A: I've put a lot of work into developing this voice and making it nice to listen to, so that's not weird at all and I find it quite complimentary, thank you.

I generally don't mind people doing flirty/thirsty posting about or at me, just so long as we all understand that 1) you should never give a stranger like me information which could be used to harm you. Nicer-seeming YouTubers than me have turned out to be monsters.

And 2) it will never go beyond playful online flirtiness. I like to fluster my live chat, I'll flirt back in an ask or a post maybe, but I am not flirting with you, or inviting any kind of closer intimacy with you, the person I responded to.

Think of me like a comedian doing crowd-work at a show - you can chat to me in the bar after the show, but when I asked you what you do for work I wasn't looking for a personal connection, I was doing my work as an entertainer. Please no sending me nudes, or propositions, or confession letters in my email inbox. We are strangers, and I am always performing a persona in public.

[bunabi]

hi any advice for a person who's trying to become a professional artist? everywhere I look in any art adjacent industry people are losing their jobs left and right,being underpaid or are freelancing while working a side job,I swear the only ppl doing well are the ai art bitches…I feel like I'm aboard a sinking ship 🥲🫠

I applied to multiple postings yesterday and honestly I don't know anymore 🫠

The illustrator + 2D generalist + concept artist hiring pools are pretty full right now with all the layoffs

Without connections or an insane online following idk how students and entry-level folks are supposed to make it anymore

Recommendations through positive word-of-mouth from my previous clients has been keeping me afloat so far + commissions + patreon, and I'm blessed with a super supportive parent; if I didn't have those things — and if I was able or willing to do a 9-to-5 office job— I would not be in a position to handle this

And honestly AI is a huge issue, don't get me wrong, but it plays a small part of why these creative industries are collapsing.

It's the unforgiving hours, the low pay, the burnout, the layoffs disrupting entire chains of communication, sudden project cancellations due to trend-chasing and investor expectations and internal politics, the looming uncertainty of the future. The unsustainable profit-first infrastructure is just finally buckling I fear.

Possible workaround: pop off as a fan artist and build a following large enough to subsist on subscriptions. Make a new draw-with-me tiktok every other day and/or stream for five to eight hours a day three times a week. I am in no way joking about this. It's a lot of work to get there but at least it yields consistent results. 🧍🏾‍♀️

[volleypearlfan]

Canadian Cartoons Are Great

Today, the popular cartoon YouTuber Saberspark uploaded a video talking about the infamous “fart episode” of the 2023 Total Drama series. The comments were filled with hatred and generalizations towards Canadian animation. These terrible comments are not the fault of Saberspark, but it is true that the “big users” in the cartoon community are (mostly) Americans who spread myths and stereotypes about Canadian cartoons. This has bothered me and a few others for quite a while, so here, I’m going to prove why Canadian animation is great, actually, and dispel common misconceptions

All Canadian cartoons are about fart jokes - if you say stuff like this, you clearly have never seen a Canadian cartoon outside of Total Drama and Johnny Test. That’s like if I said “all anime is naughty tentacles” or “all American cartoons are about anvils falling on your head.” And don’t act like your precious USA cartoons and anime are exempt from toilet humor. One example of an anime with toilet humor is Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt - their first episode was about a monster made out of shit. And we all know about the gross out cartoons such as Ren and Stimpy.

Canadian cartoons are cheaply mass-produced because of CanCon - No. What CanCon ACTUALLY states is that a certain percentage of content on a Canadian channel has to be Canadian-made. The policy is about supporting Canadian art, not “mass-producing” cartoons, since this applies to ALL Canadian TV and radio content, animated or otherwise.

Now, let me tell you some reasons why Canadian animation is actually great

Some of your childhood shows, such as Arthur, Franklin, and Little Bear are Canadian in origin.

Some of the most acclaimed cartoons within the cartoon community, such as Ed Edd n Eddy and MLP:FIM, were both animated in Canada and had voice actors from there (same talent pool, in fact - Vancouver)

Inspector Gadget and the Beetlejuice animated series helped keep good animation afloat during the 80s. In a decade full of uninspired and insipid cartoons, these were two of the highlights.

Canada is still a great place to outsource animation, as proven with the works of Nelvana, Mercury Filmworks, Jam Filled, and countless others.

If you grew up without cable, you probably watched PBS Kids and/or Qubo a lot. Guess what - lots of the shows on both of those channels were Canadian. For example: the PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch: Timothy Goes to School, Seven Little Monsters, Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse - these shows are all Canadian! Qubo was also home to Jane and the Dragon, Jacob Two Two, Babar, Spliced, etc - they’re all Canadian too.

Because Canada’s censors are far more lax compared to American ones, Canada has made huge strides in teen and adult animation. Such shows include Total Drama, 6teen, Detentionaire, Undergrads, Producing Parker, etc as well as the movie Heavy Metal.

Also because of the lax censors, Canadian cartoons had positive LGBTQ representation far before the United States did. One episode of 6teen has a character stating “I’m gay,” and in Braceface, the main character assists her gay friend in finding a boyfriend. Unsurprisingly, these episodes never aired in the US.

6teen also dealt with periods before Turning Red, Baymax, and Molly McGee did it (again, the episode was banned in the US).

Finally, here are a few Canadian cartoons I recommend, and where to watch them:

Cybersix (it was a Canadian and Japanese co-production). The whole thing is on TMS’ YouTube channel.

Redwall is on Pluto, and there are episodes of it on YouTube courtesy of Treehouse Direct

Toad Patrol (unfortunately you’re gonna have to resort to low quality YouTube uploads)

Silverwing - again, the complete series is on YouTube

Detentionaire- On Tubi and Pluto!

Ruby Gloom is a great show if you like cute gothic stuff; it too is on Tubi and Pluto

The Adventures of Sam and Max: Freelance Police - on Tubi

One of my favorites, The Raccoons. Basically the Canadian equivalent to The Simpsons, and with a banger ending song. The show’s production company has uploaded episodes of it for free on YouTube.

The original Clone High was animated by the legendary Nelvana (if you’re wondering, the new season is not outsourced to Canada 😔) It is on Paramount Plus and HBO Max

Undergrads - yet again on YouTube, in low quality unfortunately. Like Clone High, it was on MTV.

I also recommend watching some short films from the National Film Board of Canada. My personal favorite is the Log Driver’s Waltz.

Tl;dr - American cartoons are not bad because of Allen Gregory, anime is not bad because of Pupa, and Canadian cartoons are not bad because of Johnny Test or fart jokes.

[bitchesgetriches]

Take care of your body

Why You Should Take a Break: The Importance of Rest and Relaxation

I Think I Need to Go the Emergency Room?

Run With Me if You Want to Save: How Exercising Will Save You Money

Your Yearly Free Medical Care Checklist

Ask the Bitches: Ugh, How Do I Build the Habit of Taking Meds?

Blood Money: Menstrual Products for Surviving Your Period While Poor

On Pulling Weeds and Fighting Back: How (and Why) to Protect Abortion Rights

Ask the Bitches: How Can I Survive in an Apartment with No Heat?

Take care of your mind

Our Master List of 100% Free Mental Health Self-Care Tactics

How Mental Health Affects Your Finances

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Protect My Own Mental Health While Still Helping Others?”

Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos and Your Big Brain

Everything Is Stressful and I’m Dying: How to Survive a Panic Attack

Stop Recommending Therapy Like It’s a Magic Bean That’ll Grow Me a Beanstalk to Neurotypicaltown

Making Decisions Under Stress: The Siren Song of Chocolate Cake

Ask the Bitches: I Know How to Struggle and Fight, but I Don’t Know How to Succeed

Ask the Bitches: How Can I Absolve Myself of Financial Guilt Over My Pricey PS4?

The Frugal Introvert’s Guide to the Weekend

Update: I Know How to Struggle and Fight, but I Don’t Know How to Succeed

Take care of your time

Stop Measuring Your Time in Beyoncé Hours

Help! I’m Procrastinating and I Can’t Get Up!

You Won’t Regret Your Frugal 20s

Actually, Fuck Big Goals

How to Insulate Yourself From Advertisements

I’ve Succeeded at Every New Year’s Resolution I’ve Ever Made. Here’s How.

Romanticizing the Side Hustle: When 1 Job Isn’t Enough

8 Free Time Management Systems To Try in the New Year

My 25 Secrets to Successfully Working from Home with ADHD

I Am So Over Productivity Porn

Take care of your career

High School Students Have No Way of Knowing What Career to Choose. Why Do We Make Them Do It Anyway?

The Actually Helpful, Nuanced, Non-Bullshit Way to Choose a Future Career

Woke at Work: How to Inject Your Values into Your Boring, Lame-Ass Job

Are You Working on the Next Fyre Festival?: Identifying a Toxic Workplace

My Secret Weapon for Preparing for Awkward Boss Confrontations

Freelancer, Protect Thyself… With a Fair Contract

I Hate My Job and I Don’t Know How To Leave It: A Confession

A New Job, a New Day, a New Life, and I’m Feeling Good

Season 1, Episode 9: “I’ve Given up on My Dream Career. Where Do I Go From Here?”

Take care of your space

How to Successfully Work from Home Without Losing Your Goddamn Mind (Or Your Job)

Leaving Home before 18: A Practical Guide for Cast-Offs, Runaways, and Everybody in Between

Ask the Bitches: I Want to Move Out, but I Can’t Afford It. How Bad Would It Be to Take out Student Loans to Cover It?

How To Maintain Your Car When You’re Barely Driving It

Take care of your people

How Dafuq Do Couples Share Their Money?

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Protect My Own Mental Health While Still Helping Others?”

How Can I Tame My Family’s Crazy Gift-Giving Expectations?

Ask the Bitches: I Was Guilted Into Caring for a Sick, Abusive Parent. Now What?

Love in the Time of Coronavirus: How to Protect Your Community and Your Soul from COVID-19

Be Somebody’s Eliza with a Simple Yet Life-Changing Act of Kindness

Take care of your financial well-being

Ask the Bitches: How Can I Make Myself Financially Secure Before Age 30?

How to Save for Retirement When You Make Less Than $30,000 a Year

Ask the Bitches: Is It Too Late to Get My Financial Shit Together?

Slay Your Financial Vampires

Should Artists Ever Work for Free?

Don’t Spend Money on Shit You Don’t Like, Fool

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Financial Math

Share My Horror at the World’s Worst Debt Visualization

Stop Undervaluing Your Freelance Work, You Darling Fool

[liisims]

Zodiac Legacy Challenge

Welcome to the Zodiac Legacy Challenge for The Sims 4. This challenge was created entirely by me, @liisims, with the help of information from the internet and inspiration from the people around me. The challenge is based on the 12 zodiac signs, with each generation representing one zodiac sign.

Rules:

- Play with a normal lifespan.

- While I don’t recommend using money cheats, it’s up to you.

- The heir can be any gender (for simplicity, a female heir is used as an example).

- Complete the aspiration, max out the career, and achieve the max level in all listed skills unless instructed otherwise.

- Utilize the specified traits; their order doesn’t matter.

- The suggested number of children is a guideline, reflecting my vision for each generation. It’s not obligatory; feel free to interpret it as you wish.

- If you share anything related to the challenge (screenshots, gameplay, etc.) on Tumblr, use the hashtag #zodiacliisims , and tag me @liisims.

I recommend reading at least one generation ahead before starting the challenge. For instance, if you’re currently on generation 1, make sure to familiarize yourself with the rules and description for both generation 1 and 2. This is particularly helpful as it often provides insights into how the generations grow up. Ofcourse, how you play is entirely up to you!

My love for challenges started by watching Clare Siobhan play the amazing not so berry challenge from @lilsimsie and @alwaysimming . When I looked more into other challenges I realized I wanted to create my own, and well here I am now! Sharing my first challenge. Before creating this challenge I made sure to look at no other zodiac inspired challenge as I wanted it to be 100% my own. Disclaimer: this is based on some things from the internet and people I know irl. Take it with a grain of salt! Enjoy!

Generation One: Aries

You’re a career driven overachiever. You love fitness, like LOVE. You can barely go a day without some physical activity. Your love life is a mess, you go from partner to partner and rush into things way too quick. People either really like you or they really don’t, it’s probably cause of your strong personality.

Traits: Self-Assured, Outgoing, Active

Aspiration: Super Parent

Career: Law (Branch of your choice)

Skills: Research and Debate, Fitness, Parenting

Children: 3 (Each child with a different partner)

Generation Two: Taurus

You’re a stubborn homebody. You prefer staying in for the night rather than going out. Growing up your mom always took very well care of you. However, you were just really stubborn and did not listen very often. You do really love your friends and family, as keeping good relationships with them is very important to you.

Traits: Loyal, Erratic, Goofball

Aspiration: Neighborhood Confidante

Career: Freelancer (Branch of your choice)

Skills: Charisma, Comedy

Children: 1

Generation Three: Gemini

You’re the “perfect” daughter. You always listen to your parents, until…. you become a teenager. You start to rebel, and your relationships with family and friends slowly weakens. Once you become a young adult you try your best to make up for it. You discover you actually are outgoing and decide to become a ‘youtuber’.

Traits: Outgoing, High Maintenance, Perfectionist

Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy

Career: Videomaker, use ‘The more views video station’. (This isn’t an actual career on the list.)

Skills: Production, Charisma

Children: Twins

Generation Four: Cancer

You’re an ambitious gardener. You really love growing plants, but you also love eating them! You grew up in quite a chaotic household. Your family could be pretty overwhelming sometimes. You’d be full of anger. So you would find peace in caring for plants. That’s where your passion for gardening began.

Traits: Hot-headed, Vegetarian, Ambitious

Aspiration: Freelance Botanist

Career: Gardener (Branch of your choice)

Skills: Gardening, Logic or Flower Arranging (This depends on which branch you choose in the career.)

Children: 2

Generation Five: Leo

You’re the center of attention. Or atleast that’s what you always want to be. Dating a lot, and then secretly destroying love life’s will definitely get you attention. Just seems like a easy way to go then, right?

Traits: Romantic, Self-absorbed, Cheerful

Aspiration: Villainous Valentine

Career: Critic (Branch of your choice)

Skills: Writing, Charisma

Children: 4

Generation Six: Virgo

You’re a wellness-obsessed neat freak. Seeing your mom cause so much mayhem in others lives growing up, you just really wanted to bring them peace. You discovered you love wellness. As well as helping other people! You can get quite jealous though when co-workers try to steal your clients…

Traits: Neat, Jealous, Family oriented

Aspiration: Self-care Specialist

Career: You won’t have an in game career. You will just go to the spa and host classes, give massages, etc. This is because there isn’t an actual wellness career.

Skills: Wellness, Cooking

Children: 1

Generation Seven: Libra

You’re an indecisive music lover. You had a great relationship with your mom, she decided everything for you. So now you really struggle with making firm decisions. But there is one thing you’re sure of… you LOVE music. The right music just makes you wanna dance your feet off.

Traits: Dance machine, Noncommittal, Good

Aspiration: Musical Genius

Career: Entertainer (Musician branch)

Skills: Comedy (level 3), Piano, Guitar or Violin (level 8)

Children: 3

Generation Eight: Scorpio

You’re a passionate foodie. You love food, but it has to be of best quality. When you were younger your mom made lovely home-cooked meals. Which is where your passion for cooking began. Once a teenager you took over this job from your mom every now and then. Until you realized, this was the way to go for you!!

Traits: Snob, Overachiever, Clumsy

Aspiration: Master Chef

Career: Culinary (Chef branch)

Skills: Cooking, Gourmet cooking

Children: 2

Generation Nine: Sagittarius

You’re a true bookworm. You’ve always been very book smart. Even though your mom really wanted you to become a master chef just like her. You’ve got a blunt tongue and made clear that wasn’t the direction you wanted to go. She did pass down one thing though. Her love for food, hence why you are also a big foodie.

Traits: Bookworm, Childish, Foodie

Aspiration: Nerd Brain

Career: Education (Branch of your choice)

Skills: Research and Debate, Comedy, Logic

Children: 4

Other: Must adopt 1 child.

Generation Ten: Capricorn

You’re a self-challenging oddball. You love creating challenges for yourself. You’ve always been extremely socially awkward. So what better career choice then to become a politician. You’re very ambitious, so you try your hardest to persevere every challenge.

Traits: Socially awkward, Ambitious, Genius

Aspiration: Inner Peace

Career: Politician (Branch of your choice)

Skills: Charisma, Wellness

Children: 2

Generation Eleven: Aquarius

You’re an innovative helper. You have a very creative way of thinking, and coming up with solutions. Which is why you are so good at being a doctor! You don’t show it often, but you really love helping other people. You truly value being in the company of others.

Traits: Creative, Proper, Squeamish

Aspiration: Neighborhood Confidante

Career: Doctor

Skills: Logic, Handiness

Children: 1

Generation Twelve: Pisces

You’re a sensitive soul. You love outing your emotions in art. Growing up your mom was always very supportive of you and your dreams. She did her best to support you in every way she could. You’re a people person and very easily influenced by the people and their emotions around you.

Traits: Gloomy, Art lover, Good

Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire

Career: Painter (Branch of your choice)

Skills: Painting

Children: 4

I’ve been working on this challenge a while. So I’m super excited to finally share it!! Have fun!

[38sr]

How did you get where you are now? Job wise I mean? Were you a college student before doing this or did you go looking for jobs in the art industry straight away?

Oh, well it's been quite a journey for me in terms of how I got to where I am right now but here's the full timeline (?):

August 1996 - BIRTH

April 2007 - I watch Brave Story at Tribeca Film Festival, life is changed and I decide to purse animation

June 2014 - Graduate high school and accepted into Montserrat College of Art for Animation & Interactive Media

Summer of 2016 - Studied abroad in Japan attending Niigata School of Art & Design

Summer of 2017 - First animation job as an animation intern for Sesame Street (yes that Sesame Street)

December 2017 - Graduated from college (yes I graduated early due to having college credits in high school), did not have a job lined up

2018 to 2019 - Living back in NY with my parents, working on indie animation productions, creating emotes and animated intros for content creators, applying and getting rejected from many job listings, received and fail multiple storyboard tests, developing my own projects and story ideas after years of not being able to for school work

July 2019 - Fly to California for the first time, made the decision to move in order to further pursue a career in animation, at this time the Nickelodeon Artist Program were accepting submissions so I busted out boards for a personal project in 3 days and submitted it (please do not be like me, take your time haha)

September 2019 - I receive a call from Nickelodeon and I go through a series of interviews for 2 months straight

Thanksgiving 2019 - I receive news I was selected as a trainee for the Nickelodeon Artist Program

January 2020 - Move to California and begin work as a trainee at Nickelodeon (specifically for Rugrats reboot)

March 2020 - The pandemic

July 2020 - I leave Nickelodeon and move onto Titmouse as a storyboard revisionist for Star Trek Lower Decks

November 2020 - My Supervising Director for Lower Decks recommends me to the first Critical Role show Legend of Vox Machina

December 2020 - I do freelance boards for Vox Machina and get hired as a full time revisionist for season 2

January 2021 - I receive a interview request for a job on WondLa at SkyDance due to one of the directors finding my work online, I heavily consider the job

May 2021 - My Adventures of Superman is announced, I draw a piece of fanart that goes viral

July 2021 - Vox Machina season 2 wraps, I receive an offer to return to Lower Decks season 3 as well to work on X-Men 97 (I said yes to Lower Decks)

August 2021 - Spiderman Freshmen Year (now known as Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman) asks if I be interested to do boards, I decline not knowing what it was for

September 2021 - Showrunner for Spiderman contacts me personally for interview, my Superman fanart from May 2021 finds it way in front of the eyes of one of the creators for MAWS, still currently doing revisions for Lower Decks S3

October 2021 - Accept job offer as board artist for Spiderman, freelancing on MAWS as a character designer (first time doing this job), turn down SkyDance job offer

December 2021 - Wrapped on Lower Decks S3

January 2022 - Launch as board artist for Spiderman at Marvel Studios, still been developing my own personal projects at this point

February 2022 - Studio Shaft offers layout and genga work for Madoka Magia Record after seeing animation work of my personal projects, I accept

April 2022 - My episode of Madoka Magia Record airs, Studio Pierrot sends offer for work on Boruto

May 2022 - After my first episode on Boruto I am offered to work on Bleach Thousand Year Blood War, I accept and continue to on Bleach as of this post (3 seasons in total), Studio Mir offers me animation work for XMen 97 (I accept but only work on the first episode)

Summer of 2022 - Working on Spiderman, animating on animes, I think at some point this is when I was offered to do animation work for Castlevania Nocturne

November 2022 - Complete season 1 of Spiderman, Marvel/Disney lays me off for *reasons*, I receive an email about potential work on an unannounced show at Nickelodeon, I'm unemployed at this point

January 2023 - Collecting unemployment, freelancing on animes, trying to survive in general, also approached by Colosso to create my own course

February 2023 - Land a short gig on Big City Greens movie over at Disney TVA, Studio Mir once again offer me work but this time for second animated Witcher film

March 2023 - Land an interview as a character designer for that unannounced Nick show, didn't get the job

May 2023 - Wrap up on Big City Greens and Witcher, fly to Japan to relax (I failed)

July 2023 - Land a layout artist position at A24 (no it's not for Hazbin Hotel), Studio Mappa offer me work on Jujutsu Kaisen Shibuya Arc

September 2023 - Land another interview with Nickelodeon (this time for storyboard artist), freelancing on layouts and animation for Castlevania Nocturne S2, A24 job is stressing me out way too much so I decide to leave, MAWS hits me up for retakes on season 2

October 2023 - Wrap up at A24, I land the board artist job at Nick, I am also drowning in Jujutsu Kaisen production meltdown, complete my online course for Colosso, wrap up on MAWS S2

November 2023 - I start at Nick as a board artist, Colosso course release, I am still dying by the hands of Studio Mappa

January 2024 till now - Still boarding over at Nick and still animating on animes (I am VERY selective now about it though after JJK), I am also in therapy now Yeah so that's like, a real rough timeline over everything from school till now (and even then I am missing a lot of work details like video games and development projects due to NDAs). But pretty much what carried me was putting myself and my art out there on social media along with building relationships with people in the studios (outside of just my production) and that's how I've been able to maintain a steady work flow even when I was unemployed. Also not being afraid to develop my own ideas and share them since most of the times that gives the leadership a pretty good idea what sensibilities I have (and they just happen to match). I hope that answered your question!

[writingwithfolklore]

Answering your Questions/Concerns about Free Editing

Thanks for sending in your questions about my free editing service! Here are some of the ones I've gotten so far:

I feel like I’d be taking advantage of you because it’s free:

              I don’t like the assumption that I’m a pushover. Okay just kidding, I appreciate this instinct, but you’re not really taking advantage of me given I’m offering the work! I also ask you to trust me that I can set my own boundaries and let you know if the scope of the project is too much for me to take on.

              Of course, if you’d really like to give back to me in some way I always accept tips, Instagram follows, or reblogs of my editing post/recommendations to your writing friends, but none are necessary!

Okay but what do you get out of it?

              Experience—I can put ‘freelance editor’ on my resume and back it up with examples. I can also log my hours as volunteer hours which will help me get scholarships to pay for my schooling. Lastly, I hope to build strong community bonds with you all and genuinely just want to help out—I’ve been very lucky to have formal training and mentors throughout my writing career, and I hope to provide that to those of you who haven’t had the same opportunities!

Will you look at fanfiction/non-original work?

              Of course! As long as it was written by you (and not AI-generated).

How do I know you and I will click style-wise?

              I work with writers of all different styles in my regular job, so editing styles that aren’t my own is something I have a lot of experience in. If you’re really worried about it, I will let you know right off the bat if I think I would be a good editor for you or if you should try someone else.

What if you hate my work?

              I won’t tell you, and I can still do my job as an editor to improve it without tearing it apart. I believe good editors can take any piece of writing and see its values and what it’s doing well in addition to its flaws. My job is to bring out what’s already working in your piece. Essentially, I promise I won’t be mean to you or your work no matter what I think about it.

Can you help me get published?

              I can certainly help guide you through starting the process, but I’m not an agent and can’t reach out to anyone for you. However, if you’d like to send me proposals or queries to look at, I’m happy to edit those as well!

Can you help promote my work/blog?

              I’m happy to reblog or share any of your projects or writing that I’ve helped you out with, for sure!

What if my work isn’t good enough?

              No judgement here! I’m happy to look at your first draft, your final draft, and every draft in between. The whole point of editing and getting another set of eyes on your work is to improve it, so send me anything, no matter what state it’s in!

Check out the guidelines here:

[4hourvideo]

HOW TO BLOCK YOUTUBE ADS WITH UBLOCK

UBlock Origin is my best friend, if you're tired of getting ads, or getting blocked by youtubes ad blocker, you should TOTALLY use it. It's open source and trustworthy (which means its not owned by a corporation, its made by a bunch of freelance devs). They have extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and presumably most browsers. I'll be showing the chrome version in this post.

Clicking here or on the equivalent button for your browser should take you to your browser's UBlock extension.

Click this button to install, it will likely say "Add to Chrome" for you.

Any new websites you load up should be AD-FREE.

If you're still experiencing problems with youtube, or suddenly it stops working, its because youtube has changed their adblock-blocking algorithm (they change it every 12 hours to a few days), but this can be easily fixed!

Click on the extension, and head to the options page. Go to the "Filter lists" tab of the setting page in the top left.

Click on "uBlock filters - Quick fixes" on the third icon. This is usually a small clock, or this little warning symbol. After clicking this, click on "Update now".

Now if you reload your youtube page, your adblocker should work.

Although, UBlock's quick fixes doesn't work alongside other adblockers very well, so I recommend uninstalling those if youtube is still blocking you.

If reloading this doesn't work, that means that youtube has uploaded a brand new adblocker-blocker, but that means someone on UBlock's dev team is likely already hard at work fixing it. This only happens rarely, I've only seen it twice in over 500 youtube videos I've watched.

[xanyiaz]

dude i desperately need someone to explain what order to watch all the redacted audio lore stuff PLEASE 🙏 i am in need of direction!!!! also if you answer this thank you so much i kiss the land you walk upon

HI HELLO UHHH well i feel like the order in which i listened (but slightly adjusted) was a good way to listen to everything- i'd say the first redacted 101 video about magic is very useful in explaining the basics so probably that first and then:

- freelancer season 1

- sadism's hold (ivan) you could listen at the same time as freelancer s1 bc it takes place at the same time

- freelancer season 2

- inversion

- freelancer season 3

- sovereign state (avior)

- project meridian ^^ with avior and project meridian you could switch their positions and listen either way

- hush

- carpe deus (vega)

- the balance ^^ again you could switch the positions of vega and the balance but just know they're both veryvery heavy lore wise so i'd recommend listening to last. i also recommend listening to hush and vega at the same time

these are just for the narrative/lore focused playlists ^^ as for the character playlists, you can listen in whichever order you want- i'd already listened to a lot of vincent before the freelancer series and i listened to milo just whenever- i finished listening to david, asher and sam last just bc they're not my kinda guys tbh 💀 the werewolves (david, asher and milo) and the vampires (vincent and sam) do also all appear in inversion and some people might recommend listening to them all first before inversion but i didn't and it was all fine- i could still figure out what was going on and could tell them apart easily but then again, if you do listen before, you'll understand inversion more and will have all the context so it's just up to you‼️i haven't listed all the character playlists btw, just the ones who appear in the narrative/plot-focused ones but there are others too like porter and morgan <3

and then there's other random characters like guy, ollie and geordi and stuff lol which aren't too involved in anything but they're veryvery cool and nice to listen to when recovering from angst 😃👍

oh and then there's the imperium au- which i'm actually still listening to (i keep procrastinating it lol). it's an alternate universe so just don't even go near that until you've listened to everything else 😭‼️

hope this helps & happy listening !! 🫶

[lovelaurs]

my own silly mystreet characters headcanon list!

aphmau:

has the worst "hear me out" takes you'll ever hear. like seriously. she can very much point to a yield sign and say "would" to everyone's dismay.

knows every line in moulin rouge as she is OBSESSED with the film. she and laurance preform the elephant medley as dramaticly as possible whenever they watch it for movie night.

obsessed with pre-endgame marvel movies.

ao3 writer! she writes fics for the nichest of fandoms, so she doesn't get that many reads.

one of the few reliable booktok users you can TRUST will give you a good recommendation to read!

garroth:

obsessed with the movie megamind. like seriously. will talk to you for hours on and WILL defend the "sequel movie" and show because, in fact, they are NOT that bad.

can infodump about a topic he's interested in for hours on end.

actually really smart and kind, but ever since he found out he made zane insecure he tries to tone it down. he used to show off a lot but wants to make sure his brother shines as well.

carries stress balls on him so he doesn't use his strength unnecessarily.

always organizes group movie nights with all his friends.

laurance:

loves to listen to and read AITA (am i the asshole?) reddit posts when bored.

an amazing listener, will listen to someone for hours on end and provide insight when needed (perfect for having a conversation with garroth).

loves gossiping. he has really good hearing so he tends to hear others share secrets nearby. he's like the wine aunt you just KNOW has the most interesting stories to tell.

likes to go on vacations a lot, explaining why he is absent sometimes during big group events.

he sometimes returns home to his family farm to take care of it when his parents are out of town.

he often voluntarily babysits caleb to impress aphmau and garroth with his caretaker skills (he's a showoff).

katelyn:

she loves the show big time rush and watches it in her freetime.

OBSESSED with musical theatre and visits broadway shows often. if the friends she brought along even DARE to suggest skipping the stagedoor? they receive a glare that could kill thousands.

adores singing and often sings in her room when the others aren't home.

continues to play volleyball with her friends after a long day of work (she's a freelance writer).

her music taste can range from alternative music like waterparks to kpop groups like red velvet!

KC:

an ao3 writer as well! she and Aphmau gift eachother fics from time to time! she mostly writes x reader fics for tumblr sexyman.

has taken a liking to cooking outside of baking! she especially likes to grill! she even wears an apron that says "kiss the cook" as well as a hat that says "fish fear me women love me".

watches any and all trending animated shows like tangled the series, adventure time, avatar, etc.

has her own tumblr blog where she writes reviews on shows and posts art! her page is quite popular.

dresses in mainly lolita fashion! she has a flare for the beauty of style and loves to recommend people styles and outfits whenever they go out shopping!

travis:

calls katelyn, zane, and dante hot nonchalantly

has attempted.

dante:

loves to bake and nana teaches him all kinds of recipes to make. he supplies the snacks at movie night.

takes taekwondo lessons. "can never be too careful" he says while living in a pretty standard upper middle class neighborhood. why is he like this.

works at a pet shelter and takes care of the dogs and cats left behind. he adopts any that have been there for years, thus making his house full of many different pets.

the designated driver for whenever they go out to clubs. he doesn't like to drink so he usually takes everyone home by the end of the night.

travis (the actual headcanons):

actually respects others and doesn't harass them like he did early on (that was a weird trope and i HATED it). he's just a flirt and if someone he flirts with flirts back he gets all flustered.

the group gamer. spends hours grinding on all sorts of games just to brag about it on his steam profile. specifically a fan of the spider-man games on playstation.

loves to cosplay! he, aphmau, and nana go to lots of conventions together in group cosplay. their last one was the powerpuff girls! they dragged garroth along and made him mojo jojo.

can recite everything and anything about the ninjago lore. this man is obsessed with any lego product or franchise and has many sets built in his room.

practices talking to himself in the mirror every morning to give him confidence. he has very low self esteem.

aaron:

dream stan.

probably friends with dream.

uhhhh idk probably streams the song "mask" by dream.

minecraft streamer.

dream.

those are all my headcanons! i hope you enjoyed! (slandering mystreet aaron is a passion of mine i'm sorry)

[painted-bees]

Thinking a little more on the whole "when did Margie and Raf realize they were In A Relationship?" question, and while they'd both struggle to find a definitive moment, I think there was one particular situation that arose to kinda...lock things in for them.

Sometime prior to autumn 2009, Margie was headhunted by Bioware[Edmonton] thanks to the recommendation of an old Orbital Media colleague who was trying to establish/salvage Bioware's beleaguered handheld dev team. Following a promising phone interview, she was asked to make a 30 second demo track as part of the hiring process, and met expectations well enough that she was offered a job as an in-house musician and sound designer. Which also meant that she'd have to move to Edmonton. She had been keeping Raf up to date with this whole thing, mostly because she was too excited to keep it to herself. Raf was hugely supportive and excited -for- her. 'Cus like...he plays games. He even plays Bioware games, so, yanno...very cool. But he had also assumed this was gonna be more of a freelance contract kind of thing. And so, hearing her mention that the company would cover the costs of relocating her to Edmonton comes as a weird surprise. And suddenly, he's having a real hard time being excited for her. He keeps it to himself, 'cus he'd be an asshole not to. He's been really adamant with himself, and with anyone who asks, that he and Margie are just really good, comfortable friends/roommates. But even by this point, he's kinda known and been unwilling to admit to himself that the only reason he hasn't openly recognized their relationship for what it actually is--is because the non-committal ambiguousness provides him a clean way out if he starts feeling cagey/uncomfy about anything. It was an exit door that he liked keeping open incase he needed it. But Margie had seen it differently. To her, it was a door she figured she was gonna have to leave through eventually. Because Raf would inevitably find a more serious partner to settle down with, or he'd be whisked off by some other important venture that she couldn't be a part of. She figured he was leaving that door open because his current situation was a temporary transitional stage in his life that he simply allowed her to be a part of. And so, she's not really torn-up about the prospect of leaving, especially under the circumstances. It presented an easier, more exciting transition than she might have had to face if Raf had 'outgrown' her first.

So, Margie's excited about the new job offer, and Raf's sitting there feeling like he played himself--while being wholly unable/unwilling to tell her "Hey, uh...this sucks, actually, I really don't want you to go." Because that'd require him to admit that he's been lying to himself--which sucks. But more than that, it'd require him to admit that he's been lying to her--only employing honesty as a tool of convenience to dissuade her from going and getting something really good for herself. He can't, he won't. The sudden off-key in his tone, though, doesn't go unnoticed by her, and Margie is perfectly candid about the whole "we'll visit each other, I'll stay in touch--I'm not gonna disappear on you lmao" Except that's not really...how Raf operates. Distance + time does not make this man's paranoid lil' heart grow fonder. There's never been a relationship-friend, family, or otherwise-with enough staying power for Raf to maintain it once they're no longer within physical proximity. Even if he wants to 'keep in touch', it quickly falls off. He's just known...too many people, and been too many places...his brain doesn't have the bandwidth to maintain close relationships when there's a distance. And, after a long enough pause in communication, his paranoid anxieties lift the barrier of entry higher and higher until it's almost insurmountable. People become strangers again. Always. In the end, Bioware did not get to develop any more handheld titles, and the handheld division in Edmonton is dissolved before Margie was even offered a job start date to plan her big move around. And so the whole thing falls apart before it even had the chance to get started lmao. At which point, Raf finally allows himself to be honest and say "thank god, I was fuckin' dreading an empty apartment again." Treats her to a consolatory dinner, and gets to tell her as much as he is able to figure out for himself--that he doesn't really know what he wants, actually--but that things aren't as casual and clean-cut as he thought it was. He still can't bring himself to be like "yes, romantic committed relationship, that's us, that's what we are" but he does at least take measures to establish that he'd really like to take off his shoes, place them on the rack next to hers, and close the door behind him.

[empydoc]

i keep getting miku on my fyp so in honour of that:

which of the redacted boys like, are neutral/unaware of, or dislike hatsune miku?

* all personal opinion. if you disagree that’s completely ok!

forewarning: this post is a mess

who likes miku?

the biggest mf miku fans, in my humble opinion, would be geordi, guy & marcus. all for different reasons.

geordi actively likes miku songs, engages in fan works of miku, and is a generally big fan.

guy isn’t a miku fan because he likes her music or anything, but instead it’s because he finds her incredibly ‘iconic’ & interesting. he’ll sing her praises for the meme and insist she was the one who made minecraft.

marcus is simply a nutcase.

other miku fans include:

• gavin, who was introduced to vocaloid music by freelancer. he likes her a lot. caelum follows this same process.

• asher, who found good vocaloid music in his late teens & never really ‘grew out of it’. even so, i don’t think he’d ever tell other people about liking it unless asked prior.

• flyboi ivan feels like the type to have heard a song involving miku in passing and being like ‘damn this kinda hits’ and later finding it online and going down a rabbit hole (pun).

• lasko moore who’s been a huge fuckin fan for the longest time and, upon finding out freelancer enjoys hatsune miku as well, had to act Incredibly Normal

• elliott, who was introduced to it by his partner as well and started adding certain songs to his playlist over time.

• and anton, who either was recommended certain songs by his lover or heard in passing and found a liking for the ‘genre’.

who’s neutral/unaware of miku?

by neutral I mean ‘has no defined opinion’ & by unaware i mean ‘hasn’t heard/hasn’t identified any vocaloid/miku songs before’.

the biggest ‘meh’ people of miku in my opinion include blake, damien & david. all for different reasons, naturally.

blake has heard vocaloid, but finds since he doesn’t understand it necessarily (both as a language thing & a concept), there isn’t much to look into.

damien knows of hatsune miku, but it’s the case of being overexposed to it which causes him not to want to engage. maybe he just needs a bit of encouragement or recommendations?

angel certainly has listened to hatsune miku & enjoys it, but david isn’t necessarily interested. he doesn’t like or dislike it.

others neutral on miku include:

• camelopardalis, who’s been recommended songs but never really clicked with them

• huxley, who doesn’t really ‘get it’ the way he gets certain other music (but he isn’t opposed to listening more and forming a different opinion!)

• milo greer. man hasn’t found that song for himself

• ollie, who used to be a big fan but now finds that he doesn’t like newer songs compared to older songs.

those unaware of miku include:

• brachium.

• hush

• sam collins

• avior

• morgan kyne

• vincent solaire

who dislikes miku?

the biggest hatsune miku HATERS include hudson, kody & aaron. all for varying reasons.

hudson used to listen to miku songs so much that eventually he got sick of them and cannot listen to one without missing how it used to hit before. if anyone plays one unprovoked he’s immediately outta there.

kody, like the hater he is, just dislikes fun. dislikes miku as a character, as a vocalist, as a music tool, as everything. awful.

aaron never got it, and finds the ‘hype’ unnecessary. he’s never really gotten into that sort of music anyway.

others who dislike miku include:

• james. just doesn’t care, man (would be way different if his spouse liked her)

• adam, who i feel is the type of guy to only like one genre and detest every other genre ever.

• porter solaire, who heard one song & disliked it, so he didn’t delve into anything more

• regulus. idk. he just doesn’t like anything i think.

• vega. who cares???

other

alexis solaire finds a guilty pleasure in vocaloid. especially miku. specifically miku.

one time brian found marcus listening to vocaloid during work hours and just sighed

lasko vs kody: miku wars. who’s winning?????

that’s all 🦉

[dailyadventureprompts]

So I'm working on this Bronzepunk setting that's at the very beginning of becoming Bronzepunk, but I'm struggling with the central main plot. The idea is that one of the Lictors of the Emperor invents a steam engine or steam powered device in secret, and the faith that he has in its potential births a new diety, which the other gods are very unhappy with. Where should I take it from there?

The empire is a slave state equivalent to Rome in its heyday, an endless outward militarty expansion driven by the need to feed more bodies into the mines and plantation farms of the elite while the stable prosperity of the old republic is eaten away.

Tensions have been building for generations, the system is untenable but the institutions of power are too entrenched to even consider change. Some years ago a massive slave rebellion nearly cracked the empire apart before it was put down, not only making conditions worse for slaves but leaving a massive dent in the labor supply that threatens complete economic collapse. To compensate the slave acquisition military portion of the empire has bitten off more than they can chew, opening up a new frontier in the hopes of quick pillage and captives and tribute but instead kicking a hornets nest that might chase them all the way back to the homeland.

The invention of the steam engine has the potential to fundamentally change the empire, but into what depends on who gets ahold of it:

Does it power weapons in the new war ? (military)

Replace slaves as the primary labor force ? (elites)

Usher in a new era of industrialization? (merchants)

If you were looking to bring the gods into this, I'd say that its less about the gods not being happy at a new invention, but about them arguing over which one is going to absorb this new power into their preview (see the choice above), I'd also argue for the existence of a minor river/milling goddess from the Lichtor's home province who's provided the inspiration for the project and who now inadvertently stands to become a divinely literal power player if she evolves from waterwheels to steam engines.

Also because you can't come to daily adventure prompts without your daily recommended dose of class consciousness, I'd say that while the Lictor is bankrolling and supporting the development of the engine, the person actually making it happen is a brilliant slave. She and the lictor are true collaborators, but their power imbalance underscores the tension at the heart of the empire: he can't do this without her, so for him to be great he can't risk freeing her.

Players take on the role of freelancers in service of the Lictor's noble family, seeing to all the things that need seeing to (tending to the needs of the family's clients, scaring monsters away from their lands, thwarting the ambition of rival families etc) before eventually performing well enough to get promoted to the service of the invention minded patriarch himself and getting embroiled in the steam engine drama.

[bitchesgetriches]

{ MASTERPOST } Everything You Need to Know about Self-Care

Take care of your body

Why You Should Take a Break: The Importance of Rest and Relaxation

I Think I Need to Go the Emergency Room?

Run With Me if You Want to Save: How Exercising Will Save You Money

Your Yearly Free Medical Care Checklist

Ask the Bitches: Ugh, How Do I Build the Habit of Taking Meds?

Blood Money: Menstrual Products for Surviving Your Period While Poor

On Pulling Weeds and Fighting Back: How (and Why) to Protect Abortion Rights

Ask the Bitches: How Can I Survive in an Apartment with No Heat?

The Expensive Difference Between Recreation and Recovery 

Take care of your mind

Our Master List of 100% Free Mental Health Self-Care Tactics

How Mental Health Affects Your Finances

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Protect My Own Mental Health While Still Helping Others?”

Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos and Your Big Brain

Everything Is Stressful and I’m Dying: How to Survive a Panic Attack

Stop Recommending Therapy Like It’s a Magic Bean That’ll Grow Me a Beanstalk to Neurotypicaltown

Making Decisions Under Stress: The Siren Song of Chocolate Cake

Ask the Bitches: I Know How to Struggle and Fight, but I Don’t Know How to Succeed

Update: I Know How to Struggle and Fight, but I Don’t Know How to Succeed

Ask the Bitches: How Can I Absolve Myself of Financial Guilt Over My Pricey PS4?

The Frugal Introvert’s Guide to the Weekend

Take care of your time

Stop Measuring Your Time in Beyoncé Hours

Help! I’m Procrastinating and I Can’t Get Up!

You Won’t Regret Your Frugal 20s

Actually, Fuck Big Goals

How to Insulate Yourself From Advertisements

I’ve Succeeded at Every New Year’s Resolution I’ve Ever Made. Here’s How.

Romanticizing the Side Hustle: When 1 Job Isn’t Enough

8 Free Time Management Systems To Try in the New Year

My 25 Secrets to Successfully Working from Home with ADHD 

I Am So Over Productivity Porn 

Take care of your career

High School Students Have No Way of Knowing What Career to Choose. Why Do We Make Them Do It Anyway?

The Actually Helpful, Nuanced, Non-Bullshit Way to Choose a Future Career

Woke at Work: How to Inject Your Values into Your Boring, Lame-Ass Job

Are You Working on the Next Fyre Festival?: Identifying a Toxic Workplace

My Secret Weapon for Preparing for Awkward Boss Confrontations

Freelancer, Protect Thyself… With a Fair Contract

I Hate My Job and I Don’t Know How To Leave It: A Confession

A New Job, a New Day, a New Life, and I’m Feeling Good

Season 1, Episode 9: “I’ve Given up on My Dream Career. Where Do I Go From Here?”

How Abusive Workplaces Mirror Abusive Relationships 

Take care of your space

How to Successfully Work from Home Without Losing Your Goddamn Mind (Or Your Job)

Leaving Home before 18: A Practical Guide for Cast-Offs, Runaways, and Everybody in Between

Ask the Bitches: I Want to Move Out, but I Can’t Afford It. How Bad Would It Be to Take out Student Loans to Cover It?

How To Maintain Your Car When You’re Barely Driving It

Take care of your people

How Dafuq Do Couples Share Their Money?

Ask the Bitches: “How Do I Protect My Own Mental Health While Still Helping Others?”

How Can I Tame My Family’s Crazy Gift-Giving Expectations?

Ask the Bitches: I Was Guilted Into Caring for a Sick, Abusive Parent. Now What?

Love in the Time of Coronavirus: How to Protect Your Community and Your Soul from COVID-19

Be Somebody’s Eliza with a Simple Yet Life-Changing Act of Kindness 

The Ultimate Guide to Helping a Sick Friend 

Learning To Reverse the Golden Rule

I Have Become the Rich Relative I Always Wanted  

Take care of your financial well-being

Ask the Bitches: How Can I Make Myself Financially Secure Before Age 30?

How to Save for Retirement When You Make Less Than $30,000 a Year

Ask the Bitches: Is It Too Late to Get My Financial Shit Together?

Slay Your Financial Vampires

Should Artists Ever Work for Free?

Don’t Spend Money on Shit You Don’t Like, Fool

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Financial Math

Share My Horror at the World’s Worst Debt Visualization

Stop Undervaluing Your Freelance Work, You Darling Fool

A (Somewhat) Comprehensive List of Fun Job Perks that Won’t Pay Your Rent

We will periodically update this list with newer articles. And by “periodically” I mean “when we remember that it’s something we forgot to do for four months.”

Bitches Get Riches: setting realistic expectations since 2017!

Join the Bitches on Patreon

[diamondsandplumbobs]

🪙 Coin Flip Legacy Challenge

There are two sides to every coin and two paths your sims can take in this new spin on the ten generation legacy challenge. Each generation your sim will be given a basic background and personality along with a set of requirements like usual, but that’s only half the story. You will have to choose either heads or tails in order to decide your sims future, each side with its own pros and cons, effecting not only the required tasks but your sim’s story as well.

Will your sim become a mad scientist or a tomb raiding adventurer? Will they explore their love of nature through gardening, or help animals in need as a vet? Will they become a werewolf, or a vampire? You decide! Or... leave it up to fate, and flip a coin.

General Rules:

No, you do not actually have to flip a coin. I wanted to create a flexible, customizable playing experience, so feel free to choose whichever side you want to play or works best for your story. Though you can certainly flip a coin if you want to.

The challenge is designed so that your heir sims can stay neutral through their baby - teen life stages. You can decide which side they end up pursuing as they grow. However, the deadline to choose a side is when your heir ages up into a young adult.

The only exception to the above rule is the founder, you do not necessarily have to choose which side to pursue immediately, but I’d recommend officially choosing their route by the time they’re at most halfway through their young adult hood.

Each generation must complete their specified career and aspiration.

If the career branch is not specified, you can choose whichever branch you’d like.

Some generations only have 1 required base trait, so if you haven’t decided on a path before your sim becomes a teen, feel free to choose any trait you want and then change it to the required trait once they become a young adult and you’ve chosen your desired path.

Bonus Challenges are optional. Their just fun extra things I thought of to make things more challenging, but they’re not required.

If you decide to play this challenge and share your game play, please feel free to @ me and use the #coinfliplegacy. I’d love to see what you guys create 😊

Gen 1 - Family First

You always loved making things with your hands. You have always forged your own path in life, and that is exactly what you intend to do now. You moved away from home to start a new life that you plan to build up from scratch, literally. Just as you forge bonds with new friends and neighbors, you build the foundation of your legacy. You're a crafter, and you sell your creations to survive, but just what is it that you craft, exactly?

Base Traits: Self-Assured, Family Oriented

Base Requirements:

Start on an empty lot with 0 simoleons

Master Handiness

Meet someone and have at least two kids with them

Craft each piece of furniture and carving on the woodworking table and use it in your home

Bonus Challenges:

Have the “Gremlins” lot challenge on

Fully upgrade every appliance in the house

Heads:

Furniture! Appliances! Tools! You love getting your hands dirty and are willing to fabricate anything you or your family might need from scratch. You are strong and independent, so when your relationship with your partner takes a turn for the worse you aren't afraid to break things off and become a single parent. Nothing will stop you from living your own way. It’s probably for the best.

Unique Trait: Maker

Aspiration: Master Maker

Career: Freelance Crafter 

Requirements:

Master the fabrication skill

Use every piece of craftable furniture on the fabricating machine, in your home at least once (color variants not included).

Break up with/divorce your partner and become a single parent

Find love with someone who you truly connect with

Later reconcile with your former partner and become good friends

Tails:

Clothes! Plushies! Decorations! You love putting your own personal flare on things by decorating your home and adorning your loved ones in hand made goods. You are determined and loyal, so when your relationship with your partner takes a turn for the worse you are willing to try and make it work, even if that means you have to make a compromise. You are certain it’s the best thing for your children, even if it’s not the best thing for you.

Unique Trait: Perfectionist

Aspiration: Lord/Lady of the Knits

Career: Self Employed (sell your creations any way you like: through plopsy, on vending tables, or just selling them in your inventory)

Requirements:

Master the knitting and cross stitching skills

Make every type of knitted item (color variants not included)

Make every type of knitted item and use them to decorate your home (size and color variants not included). Have at least one cross-stitch of each size displayed in your home.

Stay with and marry your partner despite your issues, eventually resulting in a loveless (but functional) marriage

Have a secret affair with someone you truly love

Gen 2 - Find Yourself

You were always an energetic kid. You loved going outside and being active. It’s no surprise that you end up getting into fitness. You want to see what the big wide world has to offer, which means you have always been a bit indecisive when it comes to love. I mean, there are so many fish in the sea! Anyways, you want to focus on yourself, follow your dreams, and become the best you can be. The question is: what does that mean to you?

Base Traits: Loves the Outdoors, Active

Base Requirements:

Master the fitness skill

Bonus Challenge:

Complete the Rambunctious Scamp Aspiration as a child

Heads:

It means finding inner peace. You want to cultivate and maintain a mind-body connection, as well as a connection to the natural world around you. Granite Falls is your favorite place to do so. As for your love life, we’ll, you certainly have options, it’s just a matter of choosing one. You want to make sure you find the person who is truly right for you, and that means getting to know yourself first.

Unique Trait: Vegetarian

Aspiration: Inner Peace

Career: Athlete (Bodybuilder Branch)

Requirements:

Master the wellness and herbalism skills

Travel to Granite Falls at least once a week

Have three love interests at once

After completing your aspiration, choose your partner and start a family with them, having at least two kids

Have a strained relationship with one of your children (the heir)

Tails:

It means being the best athlete to ever hit the slopes. You chase the thrill of pulling off daring stunts and competing in intense competitions, and what better place to do it than Mt. Komorebi? You end up having quite a few partners in your lifetime, each with a different outcome and lesson to take away, but in the end you realize you're not interested in settling down. You’ll always be chasing that thrill.

Unique Trait: Adventurous

Aspiration: Extreme Sports Enthusiast

Career: Athlete (Professional Athlete Branch)

Requirements:

Master the rock climbing and the skiing OR snowboarding skill

Live in Mt. Komorebi

Have at least five partners over your lifetime (never two at the same time), but end up with none of them

End up being best friends with one, become enemies with another, and accidentally have a baby with a different partner from the other two

Have a strained relationship with your child

Bonus Challenge:

Successfully climb to the top of Mt. Komorebi

Gen 3 - Just Be You

Unlike your parent, your totally uninterested in being active. This causes a rift in your relationship. You’d rather be on your computer than be outside. However, you have an eccentric personality that people are drawn to, and you are incredibly talented in your own right. Unfortunately, your parent doesn’t seem to see that. They think you should focus on “more practical pursuits,” but you intend to utilize your talent to show them how wrong they really are. What is that talent?

Base Traits: Geek, goofball

Base Requirements:

Master the comedy skill

Heads:

Making online content! People love your posts, videos, and live streams, and you realize you can make a lot of money doing it. You find your own success as a social media personality, despite your parent’s reservations regarding your career path.

Unique Trait: Outgoing

Aspiration: Friend of the World

Career: Social Media (Internet Personality Branch)

Requirements:

Master the gaming and mischief skills

Have a distant relationship with your parents (maintain the “acquaintances” relationship status). Siblings are unaffected by this rule.

Have two roommates who end up becoming life long friends

Find love with a fellow Internet personality and start a family

Tails:

Hacking! You love making money and spreading mischief with your abilities, and you make a name for yourself in the criminal underworld as one of the most infamous hackers. Your family cuts all ties with you as a result, but you don’t need them anymore anyway.

Unique Trait: Genius

Aspiration: Chief of Mischief

Career: Criminal (Oracle Branch)

Requirements:

Master the programming and mischief skill

Have a bad relationship with your parents and siblings (maintain the “despised” relationship status or worse)

Form your own found family of criminals

Find love with a fellow criminal, and start a family

Gen 4 - Knowledge is Power

Your parent encouraged you from a young age to find your passion and pursue it, no matter what it was. You find your passion is knowledge, and so you embrace your education to its fullest. Your parent supports you every step of the way, even going as far as to completely cover your university expenses. What do you decide to study?

Base Trait: Genius

Base Requirements:

Master the logic skill

Heads:

Physics! You are obsessed with the laws of aerodynamics, more specifically, how to break them, which leads you to pursue a career in engineering. By day, you pioneer new and innovative forms of technology, but by night you follow your true passion by making your own homemade rocket ship! It may be “unregulated” and “illegal” but they’ll eat their words when you're the first sim to set foot on undiscovered alien planets! You don’t have time for love, but you are determined to have a child of your own.

Traits: Geek, Self Assured

Aspiration: Nerd Brain

Career: Engineering

Requirements:

Master the robotics and rocket science skills

Go to Foxbury, and get a distinguished degree in physics.

Visit Sixam on your homemade rocket (must be after graduating)

Have a child/children by unconventional means: either adopt, use mods or cheat to do IVF, find a surrogate, or have an alien pregnancy

Bonus Challenges:

Complete the Whiz Kid aspiration as a child.

Have 3 children through alien abduction, IVF/Surrogacy, and adoption respectively

Complete the Aliens collection

Tails:

Psychology! You are fascinated by human nature, which leads you to pursue a career in anthropology. By day, you will be a professor, teaching students about ancient Salvadoradan culture, but by night you will go on daring adventures in the Selvadoradan jungle, exploring tombs and excavating artifacts. All so you can teach your students about them when you return home. Who said being a professor wasn’t cool? You meet someone and have a child with them, but you soon learn that they can’t handle your lifestyle, so you become a single parent when your child is young. It doesn’t get you down, though! It’s nothing you can’t handle!

Traits: Bookworm, Adventurous Aspiration: Archeological Scholar

Career: Education (Professor Branch)

Requirements:

Master the Research & Debate and Archeology skills

Go to Britechester, and get a distinguished degree in psychology

Explore a temple at least once a week after graduating

Meet someone in university and have a child/children with them

Have them leave before your kid ages up into a child.

Bonus Challenges:

Complete the Whiz Kid aspiration as a child

Complete the Omiscan Artifacts Collection

Gen 5 - Love Comes Naturally

Your primary parent is always busy chasing their passions, and your secondary parent is either non-existent or completely absent from your life. As a result, you ended up forming a strong connection with nature from a young age. You spend most of your childhood outside fishing and taking in the world around you. You want to spend your life embracing the natural world, but there are many facets of nature, so you need to choose what you love most about it, what is it exactly?

Base Trait: Loves the Outdoors

Base Requirements:

Master the fishing skill

Heads:

The plants! Because who needs people? You yearn to spend your days peacefully alone in the wild, nurturing your very own garden, cultivating beautiful flowers and growing your own herbs, fruits, and vegetables. What more could you ask for? You always thought you’d spend your life alone, but you meet a special someone who changes all that.

Traits: Loner, Vegetarian

Aspiration: Freelance Botanist

Career: Gardener

Requirements:       

Master gardening and flower arranging skills

Have the Simple Living lot trait

Socialize with other sims as little as possible

Eventually find love with someone who is able to earn their way into your heart

Have a child/children with that person.

Bonus Challenges:

Join scouts as a kid, and try to collect all the badges

Collect all fish

Collect all the magic beans to obtain the forbidden fruit and become a plant sim (you can stay a plant sim for as long as you like after that)

 Complete the Plant collection

Tails:

The animals! You yearn to spend your life caring for animals by running your own vet clinic and looking after your own pets. After all, there are a lot of animals in need. It’s the least you could do. You don’t have a lot of time to yourself, but your naturally nurturing nature makes you yearn for a family. Unfortunately most can’t handle all the animals you keep… until one day you meet that special someone who shares your passion.

Unique Traits: Animal Enthusiast, Dog Lover OR Cat Lover

Career: Veterinarian

Aspiration: Friend of the Animals

Master: veterinarian, animal training

Requirements:

Run your own vet clinic and get it to a five star rating

Always have at least 2 dogs or cats (depending on the trait you chose)

Have at least two failed attempts at a relationship, then meet the love of your life

Have a child/children with them

Bonus Challenges:

Join scouts as a kid, and try to collect all the badges

Collect all fish

Live in Henford on Bagley and befriend at least one of each farm and wild animal

Also complete the Animal Caretaker aspiration after completing Friend of the Animals

Gen 6 - Define Your Sound

For as long as you can remember you’ve always loved music, and as you get older you realize you want to make it yourself someday. You love the adrenaline and the attention that comes with performing on stage, and dream of doing it for a living. Question is: what kind of music will you be performing? For what audience? And what sort of image do you want to maintain?

Base Trait: Music Lover

Aspiration: Musical Genius

Base Requirements:

Master the singing skill

Join the Entertainer Career (Musician Branch)

Heads:

You choose classical music. You’ve always had a love for the great composers: Mozart, Beethoven, Bach. You excel at the piano and violin. You hold prestigious concerts that the rich and the elite pay hundreds to see. In turn, you feel the need to become elite yourself. You become obsessed with cultivating your image, an expectation you place on your family as well.

Traits: Snob, proper

Requirements:

Master the piano and violin skills

Maintain a perfect, classy appearance

Marry the “perfect,” upper class spouse

Have at least 2 kids

Hold your children to high standards, resulting in a negative relationship with any child who isn’t the heir.

Bonus Challenges:

Complete the Creatively Gifted aspiration as a child

Max the pipe organ skill

Tails:

You choose house music. You’ve always loved a catchy beat that makes you want to get up and dance. You quickly pick up the guitar, but more importantly: the DJing skill. You want to make music that everyone can enjoy, especially those who just want to have a good time at the club. You pride yourself on being your authentic self, even if that means living under your means. You want to make sure your family is never negatively affected by any sort of fame or reputation you receive.

Trait: Dance Machine, Insider

Requirements:

Master the guitar and DJing skills

Maintain a decidedly “un-classy” appearance.

Marry your true love, regardless of their personal image

Have at least 2 kids

Protect your kids from the limelight, and give them an ordinary childhood, resulting in a positive relationship with all of them.

Bonus Challenges:

Complete the Creatively Gifted aspiration as a child

Max the media production skill

Get signed onto a music label

Gen 7 - Find Your Flavor

You were so excited when you got old enough to finally help your parents in the kitchen, and as you grew you never got tired of it. Experimenting with ingredients and seeing how they affected the flavor was always something you found fun and exciting. You look up to your musically talented parent and you desperately want to impress them with your culinary prowess. This is what led you to realize you wanted to utilize your culinary skill for a living, the question is how?

Base Traits: Foodie, Ambitious, Self Assured

Base Requirements:

Master the cooking skill

Heads:

By becoming a chef, of course! You might hate the high stress environment of a restaurant kitchen and the late hours, but it all feels worth it when you see people enjoying the food you made. One day, you’ll become head chef and create an environment where people can come together and enjoy your culinary vision. However, your hard work comes at the expense of your relationship with your family. Can you rekindle your relationship once you’ve made it to the top?

Career: Culinary (Chef Branch)

Aspiration: Culinary Connoisseur

Requirements:

Master the gourmet cooking and baking skills

Eventually run a bakery or restaurant

Marry someone, have a child/children together, but later divorce due to working all the time

You start a relationship with someone new, but it doesn’t work out

After opening your restaurant/bakery, you rekindle your relationship with your ex, but you never remarry.

Bonus Challenges:

Develop the workaholic trait

Run a Bakery AND Restaurant

Create ambrosia

Tails:

By becoming a mixologist! It’s unconventional, yes, but you love the energetic atmosphere of nightclubs, and the intimate social atmosphere of bars. Plus, you were always a bit of a night owl anyway. Most importantly though, you love providing your patrons with the comfort of a good drink. You find love with said patron, but you soon realize you found each other at the right place in the wrong time. Ironically, the choice to break up was exactly what allowed your relationship to work out in the end.

Career: Culinary (Mixologist Branch)

Aspiration: Master Mixologist

Requirements:

Master the mixology and juice fizzing skills

Eventually run your own juicery (A retail lot that sells the juice you make)

Fall in love with a customer at a nightclub, have a steady relationship before breaking up due to not wanting to commit at the moment

Have a child with another sim as a result of a one night stand

After opening your juicery, you end up reconnecting with the sim you initially fell in love with and get married

Bonus Challenges:

Create every type of juice

Create the Snaggle Fluster Drink (A drink that can be unlocked by a chance card you can receive at level 9 of the mixologist career)

Gen 8 - The Price of Fame

You’ve always been the creative type. Someone who yearns to express themselves through their art. You want an audience, a following, and a big one. It is not enough to be a niche creator. You want to be famous. You want the whole world to know who you are and what you can do. The question is: What can you do?

Base Traits: Creative, Self Absorbed, Art Lover

Base requirements:

Master the media production skill

Become a five star celebrity

Heads:

You can create! With an eye for composition, you're incredibly talented at painting and photography. You dream of having your works displayed in galleries all over the world, and hope that one day art history books will have an entire chapter dedicated to you and your artistic genius. If achieving that means exploiting your loved ones for fame and profit, then so be it. You look like a kind, caring, family oriented sim on the outside, so what’s on the inside doesn’t matter.

Career: Artist

Aspiration: Artistic Prodigy

Requirements:

Master the painting and photography skills

Marry a celebrity who is one star above you when you first meet

Exploit your family for viral attention, leading to you having a distant relationship with your child/children

While your relationship with your spouse is great, your children come to resent you. Your home life may be messy on the inside, but it looks perfect on the outside.

Have a pristine reputation

Bonus Challenges:

Complete the Social Butterfly aspiration as a child

Open an art gallery OR have a museum dedicated to your work

Tails:

You can perform! Born with a natural sense of rhythm and a talent for acting, you were cast as the lead for every musical your high school put on. You dream of being Plumbob Pictures’ next big star. You want a role in every big film, and to be nominated best actor for each one. All you ever wanted was to focus solely on your career and your craft, but when you suddenly find yourself married with a child, you are sorely unprepared for the pressure and responsibility. This causes you to act out, and soon you become just as famous as you are infamous for your awful behavior.

Career: Acting

Aspiration: Master Actor

Requirements:

Master the acting and dancing skills

Mary a co-worker, whether it be another actor, a director, or hair/costume designer

Have an accidental pregnancy that you don’t want, and have a distant relationship with your child as a result

Become distant from your spouse as well, leading to you having an affair. Eventually, this affair is revealed to the public, and your partner.

Have the worst possible reputation

Bonus Challenges:

Complete the Social Butterfly aspiration as a child

Get to level 3 of Drama Club before becoming a young adult

Gen 9 - Taking Control

Growing up in your parent’s spotlight made you weary of all the attention. You choose to live a life of secrecy while studying your favorite subject: the paranormal. As you research, you realize your fantasies may be a reality, turning your fascination into an obsession. You leave your normal life behind to follow a lead on your research… Where does it take you?

Base Traits: Loner

Base Requirements:

Master the medium and vampire lore skills

Heads:

It takes you to Forgotten Hollow, where you discover a community of vampires living in secret. Enticed by the promise of eternal life, you become one yourself and join their ranks. While at first they call you weak for maintaining a human sense of morality, you prove them wrong by becoming stronger than all of them. You vow to overthrow Vlad and create a newer, kinder society of vampires. One where you can live in peace with your partner.

Traits: Good, Gloomy

Aspiration: Grand Master Vampire

Career: Secret Agent (Diamond Path)

Requirements:

Become a Vampire

Develop the Guilty Drinker trait

Meet and fall in love with either a spellcaster, werewolf, or human (non of which can be turned into vampires)

Become a grand master vampire

Make the vampire cure, defeat Vlad in a duel, and then use the “Slay Vampire” interaction to strip him of his power and usurp him as leader

Bonus Challenges:

Live in a haunted house

Never drink from a human sim, and survive solely on plasma fruit/plasma packs

Master the pipe organ skill

Tails:

It takes you to Moonwood Mill, where you are attacked by a werewolf, and as a result become one yourself. Your new bestial instinct makes you bitter and spiteful. You resent the human world you came from and how you were treated growing up. As a result you join the Wild Fangs, but that’s not enough. You decide that you will become the new leader of the pack, and lead your people into a radical and violent new era. You will wage war on the Moonwood Collective, as well as vampires, spellcasters, and humans alike.

Traits: Evil, Hot Headed

Aspiration: Wildfang Renegade 

Career: Secret Agent (Villain Path)

Goals:

Become a Werewolf

Join the Wildfangs

Completely cut ties with your old human family and friends

Become enemies with every vampire and spellcaster you meet

Fall in love with a werewolf within your pack

Become the leader of the pack, and defeat the Moonwood Collective’s leader in battle

Bonus Challenges:

Live in a haunted house

Be responsible for the death of the leader of the Moonwood Collective, Vlad, and at least 1 out of the three sages.

Complete the Lone Wolf branch of the aspiration after completing the Wildfangs branch

Gen 10 – Domestic Bliss

You hated being so different from all the other kids growing up. Your parent lived a life pursuing supernatural and political power, but all you want to do is settle down and live a peaceful, domestic life raising a family. You give up your supernatural nature and start a new, normal life with your partner. The question is: what kind of parent will you be?

Base Traits: Family Oriented

Base Requirements:

Master the parenting and writing skills

Heads: 

Your the fun parent! You love to take your kids on fun trips out of the house. Do they have homework to do? Yes, but you're only a child once, and you want to make sure they enjoy it. You might not be setting the best example for your kids, but you are their best friend, and that means the world to you.

Traits: Bro, Childish

Aspiration: Super Parent

Career: Writing Career (Author Branch)

Requirements:

Have at least 3 kids

Be Best Friends with all of your kids (if you don’t have a mod that allow you to have multiple best friends, just make sure the bar is entirely green with all of them)

Go on a fun outing with your kids at least once every three days

Write a children's book and read it to your children

Bonus Requirements:

Max the Bowling skill from taking your family out bowling so often

Max the invisible skating skill while out with your family

Tails:  

You are the strict parent! Your kids might hate doing homework and studying now, but they will thank you for it later. You love your child/children with all your heart, but you want to be sure that they’re prepared for life in the real world. You know you won’t be around to provide for them forever, and you want them to be ready when that day comes, even if that means being the bad guy sometimes.

Traits: Perfectionist, Neat

Aspiration: Successful Lineage

Career: Freelance Writer

Requirements:

Have at most 2 children

Write a novel based on your child’s favorite genera and have them read it

Max all your child’s toddler skills so they get the Top Notch Toddler trait

Raise your child/children to have:

An A in school

A completed child aspiration

At least 3 character values maxed

Bonus Challenges:

Have your child join scouts and collect all badges

Complete all school projects your child receives

Have your child do extra credit at every opportunity

Have your child/all of your children go to university with a distinguished degree

[motsimages]

I'm a freelancer and I'm a bit tired of this bullshit of using social media to sell yourself.

Traditionally, other freelancers left their cards or brochures in people's mailboxes. They hang posters on the streets. They go around the neighborhood with a speaker informing you of their services. Well, that's what the "poor" freelancers do. The painters, furniture repairs, builders, electricians, hairdressers, etc. do.

Often, and maybe more "luxury" freelancers like lawyers or medical specialists, would go to conferences and meet others.

Those are achivable things. You do it for a couple of days every once in a while, try to let people know about your job and trust your colleagues or previous clients will recommend you to their clients or contacts if needed.

I don't think doing the job of three other freelancers (such as graphic designer, photographer and copywriter) is the job of anyone online. Yet here we are. How are you expected to find clients if not spending as much time writing your blog, posting on instagram or facebook and developping classes to get passive income?

I have never really put much effort there and over the years I have decided that I'd rather invest my time and effort somewhere else. I already work with a computer, why not going to workshops, classes and conferences?

I am a translator. I'm not a marketing specialist and I should not be expected to be one. I should not be expected to study any and all social media to get clients (and I have managed not to and I live very well like this). If I wanted to be a community manager, I would be one.