#and then it’s like! well! doesn’t it then make sense that dopamine is probably my issue and not like serotonin or norepinephrine or whatever

[magnus-and-the-dragon]

i would like it known that it is 2:30 am and i have awake for half an hour and i am SO SICK OF THIS

why does this stupid medication journey require me Not Fucking Sleeping i hate it

#i am blaming the fucking strattera #because cymbalta did the exact same thing to me #and they both act on the same stupud neurotransmitter #and i don’t think any of the straight ssris did this to me. not that i remember. #i am… SO SICK OF THIS! #remember the time that one (1) medication did absolutely anything for my focus and mood #but then it also made me horribly depressed #and then uh the subsequent. like. eight fucking meds at rhis point. #have done nothing except keep me from sleeping #i. HATE IT. #why did the ONLY FUCKING MEDICATION WITHOUT ALTERNATIVES #have to be the one that almost worked for me i am so pissed #and then it’s like! well! doesn’t it then make sense that dopamine is probably my issue and not like serotonin or norepinephrine or whatever #it is!!! so this is all silly!!! EXCEPT WE HAVE NOTHING ELSE RHAT WORKS ON DOPAMINE! #so i guess i’ll just suffer!!!!!! #aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa #i don’t want to try stimulaaaaaaaants #😤😤😤

[breannasfluff]

Quick question, how do you write so much? I fight the words for an hour and have maybe 2 paragraphs of garbage but you pump out really nice work almost every day??? I have so many ideas but I can’t write them for love nor money

I write almost every day, or I take a break and switch it out for drawing. I generally can write a chapter in one go, so usually stock up some backlog to cover days I’m busy. Having multiple stories now means I don’t have that backlog of some, so updates are a bit slower.

As for writing tips:

1. Remove distractions. Shut discord, exit out of tumblr, mute your phone. When you are stuck, don’t go scroll social media. When writing, the only thing I touch the internet for is if I need to check a story item, like a character name, item history, etc. I cannot overstate how important this is. If you are talking to your friends, you won’t have a writing flow.

2. Do not edit as you write. Writing and editing are two different tasks. You switch between creative and critical thinking and it breaks flow. This is a scientific process and you can read more about it here.

Research electroencephalogram (EEG) suggests both heightened electrical brain wave activity and elevated dopamine levels during flow. In other words, your brain experiences both electrical and chemical changes when you’re “in the zone.”

But once you switch to self-editing mode, you move to the critical thinking side of your brain. You halt all of freewriting’s creative electrical impulses and pleasure-sensing dopamine levels. Your mind flips off one switch and turns on another.

3. Set a time, then be done. Give yourself 20 minutes and write as much as you can. Doesn’t matter if it’s garbage. You can edit garbage into something useful or you can chuck it in a bin. Just try to write, then take a break. Staring at a blank document for two hours isn’t going to make words appear and it just stressed out your brain.

4. Have an outline. Sometimes a magical idea just flows when you sit down to write, but generally not. Have an outline of what you want to have happen in your story or chapter. It doesn’t need to be in depth; for most of my oneshots I literally have a sentence or two at the top of the page. The story needs to have a goal. For example: Wild tries to teach Hyrule cooking. It doesn’t go well. Bouncing ideas off friends can be a big help! It’s why you’ve probably seen me post about prompts and suggestions, and sometimes stories are gifted to people. Talking through plot ideas can help you get a better outline or idea of action.

Misc notes:

Hate to say, but some of it is just practice. I’ve been actively writing for a little over a year with some breaks on and off. Making it a habit is a big thing for making it easy. It’s harder to restart after a break.

When I first started writing I tried to pick one aspect to improve for each story. Filter words, pacing, varying sentence starters, story arcs, etc. Fixing multiple things at once was too much work, but one item at a time was doable.

Filter words make such a huge difference in writing; I encourage you to look them up. It’s a PAIN to remove them in post, but it also taught me to cut them out. Now it’s unconscious and while some still show up, I tend to write them out automatically.

You can learn to write quickly, but if you don’t also work on quality you’ll just…write a lot. That said, it’s fanfic. Sometimes it’s just for fun and quality doesn’t matter. I’ve got plenty of stories that will never be posted because they are just for fun.

Some of it could be writing speed, too? I use a bot a lot of times for timing and tracking and generally average 30-35 words/min. Harder story topics are slower to write, like angst and emotional scenes.

I’m actually writing less this year than last, but I don’t put as much time into it. It also keeps it sustainable as a hobby, although I definitely hit periods of frustration. It can get overwhelming.

If you search my blog for the tag #writing advice or #writing tips, you should fine some other things as well.

This was rather frank, but hopefully helpful! Feel free to drop further questions and I’ll do my best to answer 💜

#asks #writing advice #writing tips #writing #creative writing #fanfic writing

[aranarumei]

you listed gsnk as an option and my dopamine receptors lit up. What dyou think about mikorin and mayu

ask me about a ship and I’ll give my opinions + classify them as does / doesn’t make sense, does / doesn’t compel me

heyyy surprise for you. yeah i actually was cleaning up my notes app today and realized I'd answered this and never posted this lol. gonna start off with a does make sense, does compel me and continue under the cut.

okay. hear me out. for a period of time I genuinely believe mayumiko was the gsnk duo closest to being, like, romantic. in a sense. horikashi, nozachiyo, and wakaseo have sure got a lot of development since then (in ch 60, kashima avoids hori and we get a REALLY good moment out of it) but like. just one chapter before that, we have ch 59. one of my favorite chapters. and at that point, I feel like the main couples have had their setup and they're really fun and comedic, but there hasn't been much... advancement, in a sense?

and then we hit ch 59, where "mayumayu" (nozaki mayu, who's been conned into posing as a girl) and "mamiko" (mikoshiba mikoto, who's posing as a girl so that he's not a creepy guy commenting on mayumayu's blog, unwittingly using the name of the protagonist of let's love by nozaki umetarou under alias of yumeno sakiko without knowing that he's the inspiration for the character's personality) basically immediately hit it off over text. seriously, past the first couple of texts where there's a bunch of people commenting on it, all they say is that they'll instantly reply to any texts that come their way. what commences is a hell of texting, probably, but it is a LOT of texting that happens. and that's not something that can be empty! both mikoshiba and mayu seem worn out by the amount of time they spend on it, but they don't seem worn out by each other in the slightest, judging by the fact that in ch 89, not only is mikoshiba still regularly checking mayumayu's blog, he's getting texts with extra art and well-wishes for his exams! they talk to each other about their lives! and it's not something that exists only online, too... mayu and mikoshiba are genuinely and obviously good friends outside of their online identities.

I'm aware not everyone sees it that way, but like, to me, ch 59 was like the most outright romantic the series had gotten. so it's very special to me. so is mayumiko! mayumiko’s so fun because they’re both soooo cool and soooo uncool. but while the mayumiko situation is objectively hilarious, the way they're friends is like... surprisingly understated? it's just something that happens and it works for both of them, even when it seems like it shouldn't. like, let's be real, mikoshiba can be kind of annoying, and mayu can be kind of grating. despite that they end up being really comfortable with each other. like. no wonder they could keep up that texting chain. they just click in general.

so we meet mayu in ch 33, and in ch 37, mikoshiba runs into him, and they've got this fun chapter together where miyako both compares them to cats. then in ch 49, mayu gets mikoshiba to lend him his... questionable? sure. questionable manga. calls him mikoto-san. and it just kind of... happens, them being friends. since they both hang out at nozaki's place. it's neat. in ch 64, post-The Incident, mikoshiba's comfortable enough to ask mayu for help with working out. and mayu knows mikoshiba enough to shout out the specific name of the fake high school from one of the games mikoshiba likes (sure, it's a super popular galge, but that's a strange thing to know well! especially for a guy who's traditionally lazy about everything but judo)

then of course we get to the mayu chapters where he's just so. iconic. in ch 76, mikoshiba needs to bring a guy to the mixer and then after nozaki rejects him sakura's like, ask mayu, who's been on the floor this whole time. side note i think its cute that when mikoshiba asks mayu, he calls himself "mikoshiba-nii-san." and mayu rejects him at first (also using "mikoshiba-nii-san" lol), but he ends up going once he's told he doesn't have to do that much work. and then he grills a girl about her boyfriend bc she says he does judo. and then tries to get some guy's number because he's apparently strong. judo freak (affectionate). and then, of course, as mikoshiba's thinking that "ah, they totally think mayu likes guys, but i guess it's fine since he doesn't seem to care" and when he's surrounded by girls mayu jumps in and says "he's mine," just like nozaki's shoujo manga advice had told him to do. love that for them. in ch 81, though it's a pain, mayu goes along with the idea that all the stuff in the back room is his and not mikoshiba's (though maybe he thought it was more of a pain to explain) and when talking about dating sims, mayu says, "well, guys or girls, both are pretty similar." love that guy for real.

then, in one of the moments of all time that make me insane, in ch 94, seo's pinning mikoshiba, and suddenly goes, it's boring without waka (makes sense! he's normally the guy she pushes around like this) and mikoshiba's like. oh! that's right! I haven't gotten a souvenir for mayu yet! (makes... sense...? because. because he's getting PINNED??? and we KNOW that mikoshiba hasn't done judo with mayu because it happens for the first time in ch 135, where after some really nice moments, mikoshiba sheepishly asks if mayu wants to try throwing him around too. it's a weird expression of care and also the fact that they're still friends after this fact, considering the violence nozaki translates it as, is a testament to their friendship.)

also in the extras for that volume, we see mikoshiba got him a smartphone case, which sucks because mayu's got a flip phone (though it's better than the hairpin nozaki got mayu) but then when mayu figures out a use for that smartphone case, he runs to mikoshiba to give him the good news! 'cause mikoshiba was sulking before... they're fun.

i think I've already said this but they really are close. and i think mayu's kinda clingy. in ch 114 when kashima rei asks to talk to him again, he's like, "go through mikoto-san." in ch 128 we find out that mayu shows girls in his class photos of mikoshiba so they make sure he doesn't get caught napping. this begs the question: HOW did this arrangement exist in the first place? because there's no way I can think about it that doesn't involve mayu and mikoshiba being at some level of closeness. and there's no way mayu can get so many nice looking photos of mikoshiba without being close to him. and in that same fucking chapter when nozaki’s making posts for his blog and turns mikoshiba into a girl, people think that he and mayu are dating. like oh my god. even in gekkan shoujo nozaki-san, when the main cast is meant to be a bit older than the canon timeline, mikoshiba and mayu are hanging out together at nozaki's place. and when mikoshiba and nozaki are getting all chummy with miyoshi, mayu walks in and he's like. ah. a challenger emerges (because he presumably wants to be pampered instead). my point is that they're close they just hang out. it's comfortable, which says a lot for both of them.

in ch 59 mayu's friends are like. his type is 1) someone who's stronger than him at judo or 2) someone older who'd take care of him and. mikoshiba's not #1 but he is #2. those two can be pretty sweetly considerate actually. as we see mayu gets dragged into quite a bit of stuff and does it. in ch 101 he actually finishes up the chapter of let's love while everyone's fallen asleep. and in the vol 14 extras mikoshiba gifts a water plant to a guy he barely knows. just because. so I feel like they're both sweet people underneath it all. and extra fact about ch 59 i know you'll feel crazy about. kobayashi (the guy who actually runs the mayumayu blog) calls mayu maa-kun. i am not joking.

anyways to me mikoshiba and mayu are both this weird security to each other. mayu’s someone who doesn’t care abt social graces and mikoshiba’s someone who cares too much. but when they’re weird to each other it’s like they accept everything. and I just think. despite all of the mistaken identity drama it’s like. idk. they just like each other. they just get along well. and for mikoshiba who’s so awkward with girls, this works out well. also the way that in ch 144 his fav ever gacha character is this kind of gloomy and lazy girl… fascinating thing you’re being charmed by. what a taste you have.

so in the end despite all of the wild situations i think it’ll be simple. mikoshiba will think a little too much and mayu a little too little. but they've gotten along well for so long that I think this will go pretty well, too. it'll just be a feeling that grows kind of slowly until it works for the two of them.

#ask #ask game #sunluvclub #mayumiko #gsnk #kiri.txt #my god i said. so much didnt i #in this essay i will

[sunlightandsuffering]

It's kind of cute how Fratboy Eren begs Mikasa to come to his frat parties every time even though he knows she'll say no

CHIVALRY IS ABOUT BUYING THE GIRL AN UBER IF UR GONNA HAVE A BOOTY CALL LOL !!

Eren has never been one to indulge Mikasa, he can’t, she’d be spoiled rotten if he did everything she said, gave her everything in the world she deserved, the most perfect, beautiful– stop, he’s getting a little carried away. 

He simply can’t indulge her though, or she’d be a brat, which is ironic seeing as how if anyone was spoiled he was, a nepo baby and richest kid on the block, but he doesn’t think it’s changed him too much. 

On the other hand, Mikasa is already kind of a brat, maybe if he had indulged her when they were younger she wouldn’t have turned into this angry little feminist spaz. 

Maybe she’d be sweet and loving, and his girlfriend hanging on his arm. 

But as he tries to picture it, he simply can’t, can’t get that patented murderous glare out of his mind, how just one glance gets him hot. 

No, he likes her just as she is, full of burgeoning rage at the patriarchy, and hypocritical just for him. 

The contrast of her is fucking beautiful, and who would have thought that his tenth-grade vow to become a sexist asshole in pure spite of her would reward him so well. Because where other men receive her rabid dislike, Eren receives her reluctant affection and nothing is hotter than her showing up to his frat house in an uber at 3 am, after repeatedly telling him no. 

Nothing is better than being the only man she’ll make an exception for. ​​

That hit of dopamine every time she rejects him, knowing she’ll make an exception in the end, that she’ll turn up on his door step spritzed in light perfume, freshly showered and shaved, wrapped up in sweats and an old oversized sweater just for him. She’s like a present to unwrap, and he adores it. 

So, he texts her, against all common sense, despite the fact that there is an entire sorority in his house right now, a girl with tits the size of melons trying to hang off his arm, he does it. Eren, 11:18 pm

come over, miss u, kinda wanna get my dick wet. 

And although he wonders if the last statement was a little bit much, imagining her enraged reaction makes him practically giddy, how she’s probably fuming about it right now. 

And sure enough, seconds later, like she simply couldn’t wait to respond. 

Mikasa, 11:18 pm

Fuck off Yeager

Women are not objects I will not be coming over now, or ever

The typing bubble continues for a while and he watches in amusement as it appears and disappears several times before she finally stops responding. 

Eren decides to throw fuel on the fire as the blonde with melon tits leaves him, deciding he’s not worth the effort, and privately, Eren agrees. 

Eren, 11:30 pm

i’ll let you suck me off

God, what he wouldn’t give to facetime her right now, watch her respond in real time because he can only imagine the shocked outrage. 

Mikasa, 11:31 pm

That’s not the win you think it is Yeager. 

Eren, 11:31 pm

could be… if you show up 👅

Eren receives nothing else from her for the next several minutes, and before he can stop himself he’s ordering her an Uber, because you know chivalry isn’t dead after all. If he’s going to get her to come over mid-party for a booty call, he might as well be a gentleman about it.

#lys's drabbles #fratboy and feminist au

[autisticlancemcclain]

“Oh, hey, Shi — woah, you’re bleeding!”

Shiro stops in his tracks, turning around to face his concerned teammate.

“Hey, Lance,” he greets, flashing a small smile. Lance doesn’t look at him, instead looking intently at the various cuts and bruises on his arm.

“Training,” Shiro explains. “Trying a new level, it was harder than I thought. I got beat up a little. I’m fine, though, don’t worry.”

Lance squints at him. “But you’re still bleeding! And it looks like it stings!”

Shiro shrugs, ignoring the small stab of pain from the deepest wound on his shoulder. “I’m okay.”

Lance sees right through his shrug, shaking his head and tutting (looking just like Coran, Shiro notes with amusement). He walks quickly over to Shiro and grabs him gently on the elbow of his prosthetic, guiding him carefully back down the hallway.

“Nope, nuh-uh. No avoiding medical care for you. Goodness, how do you lecture Keith when you’re just as bad?”

Shiro’s lip quirk up again. “I’m not as bad as Keith. Also, I’m his older brother. The rules of hypocrisy don’t apply to me.”

“You sound like Luis,” Lance says, snorting. “All older brothers are the same. Anyways, you’re not getting out of it! I have a first aid kit in my room and it’s closer than the MedBay, we’ll get you fixed up there.”

Shiro considers arguing more, considers refusing. None of his injuries are life-threatening, after all, and he has things to do.

But he can’t remember the last time he hung out one-on-one with Lance, if he’s done so at all. He can’t remember the last time Lance joked and played with him like he was an equal, a friend, rather than a hero to be worshipped. He’s not even sure if they are friends.

Also, Lance does have a point. His arm does kind of hurt.

“Yeah, okay,” Shiro relents, and walks beside him. Lance beams, and it’s such a joyful expression that Shiro can physically feel the dopamine producers in his brain going overdrive as a reaction. He grins back.

They walk up to Lance’s door, which he opens with a dramatic flourish.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” he says.

Shiro hums as he takes it in — it’s a mirror image of Keith’s, in terms of furniture (which makes sense, as Keith’s right next door). There are a lot of climbing vine plants all over — on the walls, hanging off the ceiling, crawling up from the ground. Shiro squints as he looks at a plant in the far left corner that appears to be a giant Venus fly trap.

“Is that a —”

“Don’t worry about it,” Lance says quickly, noticing what has Shiro’s attention. “She doesn’t bite. Well, humans. She’s fine.”

Shiro squints at Lance for a couple minutes, considering. Lance has the face of a guilty person. Lance also regularly brings home strays, but the kind of strays that tend to kill people a little. Both of these things indicate to Shiro that he should probably be An Adult ™ and handle the situation.

But Lance is pulling out the puppy dog eyes. And honestly? The plant’s probably been here for a while, and no one’s died yet. It’s probably fine.

“Let’s move on,” Shiro decides, making Lance sigh in relief even though he tries to be subtle about it. He brightens up quickly, though, clapping his hands.

“Okay! Band-aid time!”

He rushes over to his bedside dresser, pulling out a box with a wonky-hand-painted red cross on it. Shiro grins.

That is adorable.

“Cute case,” he comments, sending a pleased flush across Lance’s cheeks.

“Thanks! Pidge got me the paint.” He opens the box with a click, carefully counting out a bunch of band-aids, some gauze, tape, disinfectant, and a lollipop, which makes Shiro chuckle.

Lance gathers his supplies and scooches over to where Shiro is kneeling, dumping the loot between them.

“Okay, big shoulder wound first. The good thing about this is that Altean disinfectant has a numbing agent, so it won’t hurt. You need to stay still, though.”

Shiro holds himself dutifully in place as Lance carefully wipes a soft cloth over his cuts, paying especially gentle attention to the cut on his shoulder. After all the wounds are clean and dry, he meticulously sticks the bandaids — all sorts of bright colours — over each of the cuts. When that’s done, he takes a square piece of gauze and tapes it slowly over the bigger cut on Shiro’s shoulder.

After all the wounds are dressed, Lance mutters a quick ‘be right back’ and rushes over to his small ensuite washroom. Shiro hears the tap run as Lance washes his hands, and he coma dashing back a couple minutes later.

“Okay! All set!” He hands Shiro the lollipop, which Shiro takes, both because he likes lollipops and also Lance is adorable.

They sit in silence for a bit, Shiro working on his candy and Lance humming to himself. Shiro realises that he doesn’t really want to leave. Lance doesn’t look like he wants Shiro to leave, either.

“We don’t have any training or anything planned tonight,” Shiro starts. “And, uh, I’ve got nothing to do.”

He doesn’t exactly know how to ask to stay. He doesn’t want to be weird, doesn’t know if Lance considers him a friend. Is it strange, because he’s technically their leader. Is this a sort of boss/employee scenario? Should he —

“Heck yeah!” Lance cheers, fists pumped and everything. “I was hoping you’d stay! I have nail polish in, like, every colour, and a I’ve been if it will stick to your prosthetic —”

Shiro grins as he watches Lance flutter around the room, gathering a bottle of blue sparkly nail polish and all sorts of other supplies before sitting cross-legged in front of him.

He talks and talks and talks as he applies a coat of paint to Shiro’s nails as carefully as he applied the bandages, tacking on a question on every third sentence. Shiro hears a million stories about every single one of Lance’s family members, about Hunk and Pidge, about Allura and Coran, about people he’s never heard of. He hears stories about Keith, too, although those are bracketed by the occasional stutter and flushed cheeks. Shiro tells Lance his own stories as well, of baby Keith and Adam and his mother, of days at the Garrison and pranks he pulled.

They chat long past Shiro’s manicure, and long past Lance’s, too. They probably talk past dinner, but Lance has a stash of candy, so neither of them are hungry.

Shiro glances at Lance, in the middle of a tale about him and Hunk and a wild goose that Shiro hopes his a little fabricated, and he grins.

He’s looking forward to more nights like these. He can’t believe he ever thought he and Lance were anything but friends.

———

based on this art

#repost bc i goofed the last formatting #so if u reblogged/interacted with the other version and ur wondering where it went. it’s here. #vld #voltron #shiro #takashi shirogane #lance #lance mcclain #lance & shiro #klance #but barely #broganes #pining lance #also barely #everybody loves lance #older brother shiro #fluff #platonic relationships #autistic lance mcclain #not mentioned but as always #dad shiro #inspired by art #my writing #fic #longpost

[the9mm]

The Ever-Increasing Hostility of Social Media to Artists

Originally posted on my blog!

Have you noticed? There’s a chill in the air. With rising systems in place like “AI art” and image generation that seems to be creating a hostile environment for artists on the internet, as well as social media platforms that prioritize and reward creating “content” to game algorithms and have your posts be seen by the very people who have already chosen to follow you, there’s also a rising sense of hostility in general towards artists.

What do I mean? There is seldom a week that passes where I am doing my best to work with what’s available to me, and I am treated poorly by other users, or even moderators/administrators of social media circles. How many times have you posted something and heard the following?

“Pay for your ad!”

“#ad”

“This is just an ad.”

“Self-promotion is not allowed here.”

“Advertising is not allowed here.”

“You can’t mention that you made this/you sell it/it’s available to buy. You can’t include links back to any of your social media accounts or your website. You should not even have your username in your watermark.”

No credit, only content!!

Original comic by @cupcakelogic

I find this absolutely wild. Social media, built on the backs of artists – now turned “content creators” because people only stop to look at works you’ve spent hours making for mere seconds – has turned into such an impossible minefield of where you can’t hope to make any sort of headway in your efforts to grow your following or find new clients/buyers for your works. Social media as a whole, including groups, subs, etc will take your works, of course, as long as you never mention anything offsite, anything that could indicate that the work could be used for anything except a three second dopamine hit as people scroll their mindless feeds. You must constantly and consistently be playing a game of cutting your own marketing efforts off at the knees (or gaming the system and toeing the line for getting your links back out there) for the barest of scraps when they do come.

A post goes most viral on Imgur after posting consistently for months, or possibly even years? Well, you’ve only got about 24 hours to make the most of it. Edit your post and drop a link to where someone could support you. And then watch the comments roll in about how it’s an ad, and how you shouldn’t be doing that. A post gets upvoted a bunch on Reddit and lots of commenters are asking where they can support you? Sorry, against the rules to say it. You’ll get banned if you mention at all where people can send money for your cool thing.

Want to add a link to your crowdfunding campaign, Patreon, shop, or something else on one of the big social medias like Facebook/Instagram? Better make sure you turn it into a Zodiac killer-esque puzzle when you mention it by name that your followers then have to decode in order to find out where to support you easily, because if you post a link to anything outside of that social network – sometimes even just any link at all – you’ve guaranteed no one will see your post.

Censoring everything

On top of all of these hoops, there’s also the hoop of censorship. If the automated moderators at Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, or Bluesky decide there’s a penis in your artwork, well guess what. There’s a penis in it. Somewhere! The algorithm says so. Banned, banned for life. People have had posts taken down, been shadow banned, and even been suspended for posting things that are not even vaguely sexually suggestive in any manner and appealing or getting reinstated can be extremely difficult, time consuming, and sometimes outright impossible.

But that doesn’t even begin to even broach the topic of the way art is being systematically nice-ified for an audience it’s probably not ever going to reach: “what if my child sees this?”

Nipples (mostly just female), genitals, buttocks, and even too-much skin are swiftly slapped with filter labels (if the social media platform is generous) and hidden from view, or immediately taken down, despite the fact that every single human owns these body parts. What if my child sees this? Well, you should probably explain to them that other humans have butts too instead of forcing people to censor asscracks with smiley faces and stickers.

Moving the goalposts

I recently watched a friend battle with moderators on Reddit. She had been posting her artwork there for years. Her artwork also includes other artist’s work in the final piece, and she always credits those pieces as any good artist should. Well, a subreddit said no, she cannot mention those people and give due credit, as that’s advertising/promotion (to them). She asked if she could put their name on the watermark to give them credit, and was told no. To continue posting without giving credit to the other people responsible for parts of your work would obviously not be right or ideal, but what choice has she been given? New moderators/administrators come in and change their minds on a whim about when and where credit can be posted. The moderators/admins of this subreddit simply answered “no” and gave no other alternatives. How helpful is that?

A special place in hell

Even worse are the people who slice off artist’s signatures and watermarks, then share/repost the work without the artist’s credit (and do not tag or credit the artist in any way in any other form). If there’s a hell, I hope people who do this land directly in it. Right beside the people who simply must share an artwork, but can’t take the five seconds to TinEye or reverse Google Image Search it, and simply say “credit to the artist!” While we’re at it, people who think crediting an artist in the comments of a post because it looks “cleaner” or whatever reason they have can also get on the express hell elevator too (if you don’t know, comments don’t follow along with shares, so the credit being there is meaningless).

Oh, and make sure your stuff doesn’t look too professional, because if it does, it’s no longer artwork – it’s merch. And anything mentioning merch is now advertising. I have consistently discovered that by “downgrading” the presentation of my works (such as photoshopping them onto less-than-ideal photos where I’m holding it in hand, or it’s amidst a mess, something like that) I can reliably garner more likes, more comments, more shares, more upvotes, more engagement. The less polished I make it, even though I need those polished works for my website or my shop, the better it performs, because if it’s too nice looking, it’s merch, and an artist shouldn’t be making merch.

What’s next?

So what do we do here? Social media wants our art. Social media needs our art. Visual platforms like Instagram and TikTok were built on all of our hard work, propagating it with cool and interesting things constantly and consistently. Take away all of the interesting things, and what’s left on social media? Nothing. Nothing but “AI art” vomit and screenshots from Bluesky, Twitter, and Tumblr extorting people way funnier than us, that is.

For myself, I have begun starving the social media machine. I know it’s not good for growth, or connecting with new people, or whatever, but I’ve done my time in the trenches trying to chase after the newest trend, latest thing, and pleasing the capitalist social media overlords. I’ve tried to be the jester in the Meta court, and I know plenty of other artist friends who are doing the same. Why expend effort when there’s no reward? There’s not even any clicks anymore.

Many artist friends are going back to in-person events to bolster their audience instead of trying to capture a sliver of attention on a mobile phone or computer, and honestly I’m right there beside them. This year is the first year I’ve considered starting to purchase items for a professional table set up and trialing it at some smaller, local events. I’ve also been sending a lot of applications for zines, group art shows, and other projects, as well as preparing for another crowdfunding campaign at the end of March amongst over a hundred other artists. Social media just isn’t cutting it anymore.

I am having a nice time on Bluesky and Mastodon, though. Well, until someone comes in and slathers either of them in ads, I’m sure. But for now, I guess I’ll enjoy as much of it as I can. Good things never last. Let the enshittification begin.

#art #rant #social media #enshittification #artist #artists #rants #ranting #blog post

[jeiceys-dead-poets-hcs]

.

Love Songs You’d Catch Them Singing

i’m in a very musical mood today so don’t mind me-

also kind of an x reader- feast children

Neil Perry:

Honey, Honey by ABBA. What do we expect from a musical theatre nerd? Mama Mia! gives him all the dopamine.

Butterfly’s Repose by Zabawa. A little more of an emotional one, but I think it would just enclose how much you really mean to his big ol’ heart.

Always Forever by Cults. You’re all he needs, and he listens to anything to remind both of you about that fact.

He’d probably commonly have Big Black Car by Gregory Alan Isokov stuck in his head, too. Reminds him of how lucky he is to have you.

Todd Anderson:

I Hear a Symphony by Cody Fry. You can’t tell me this man doesn’t have pipes when he thinks he’s alone.

Love Like You by Rebecca Sugar. He always wants to learn to be like his partner, somebody he looks up to the most.

Home by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros. Come on, he would even write the words “home is whenever I’m with you” in his letters to you.

He could also probably recite the whole talking interlude for you if you really convinced him.

Charlie Dalton:

A little more cliché, but, it’s Charlie we’re talking about. He absolutely adores listening to Your Song while fantasizing about having a dance with you.

come into my arms by November Ultra. Something tells me he loves slow, almost jazzy songs. What can we expect from a sax player?

Speaking of jazzy, how could we forget Dream a Little Dream of Me by Doris Day? That song always makes him want to envelop you in his arms and just sway around the room.

Steven Meeks:

Heart Like Yours by Williamette Stone. I feel like he wouldn’t be used to having a partner, but he reassures that he’s ready for anything with you. Hence the lyrics.

Mystery by Matt Maltese. Honestly, some of the lyrics don’t make sense to him, either. He just likes the phrase “I would pick you 10 out of 9 times.”

The Most Beautiful Thing by Bruno Major. He loves reminiscing about how he met you, when he met you, and any other possibilities of how how you guys could’ve ran into each other. He remembers the day vividly.

Gerard Pitts:

Melody Noir by Patrick Watson. He loves the mysterious undertone. It reminds him of trying to figure you out before you guys started dating. He loved the adventure.

A classic Disney song, So This Is Love. He dreams of doing it as a duet with you just in the middle of the night with you.

Like Real People Do by Hozier. With a low voice like his singing such a nice song like that? It could most likely put anybody to sleep.

Like- he could probably be a bass if he really tried.

Knox Overstreet:

Marry You by Bruno Mars. Simple man, simple, but effective song for a relationship.

So Will I by Ben Platt. He’s always there to reassure you that no matter what you experience, what hardships you retain within your life, he will go with you.

Two by Sleeping At Last. Knox always makes sure you’re well taken care of, happy, and healthy.

Richard Cameron:

Satellite by Ben Abraham. I feel like he would be rather sweet to you. Reassuring you that he will be your rock, even if he doesn’t understand. He’ll be your satellite to watch over you.

To be a little silly, and a little cliché, I feel like he would willingly sing A Teenager In Love by Dion & The Belmonts. Just a cute little song to sing and dance with you to and let loose.

He would definitely enjoy Head Over Heels by Tears For Fears. Just a song that reminds him of when you guys first met, and how desperate he was to actually talk to you.

#dead poets society #dead poets headcanons #dps headcanons #dps hcs #neil perry #todd anderson #charlie dalton #steven meeks #gerard pitts #knox overstreet #richard cameron #dps incorrect quotes #dead poets fandom #dead poets fanfic

[plumroseiswriting]

SOME LORE FOR THE BOYS AND THEIR ADHD This will have a lot of text I'm sorry

All the boys in my AU have adhd, Donnie is the only one Splinter knows for sure is autistic as well but tbh Leo and Raph probably are too. Their adhd also affects them all very differently.

Mikey is very classic adhd where his brain just never stops and he tends to ramble. He SEEMS very random but he’s had a full conversation in his head that ties whatever was being talked about to the off topic subject he’s currently ranting about. He’s got very little volume control and is easily distracted. Unlike most Mikey’s though, it’s not an excuse used for why he’s “dumb” Mikey is very smart! Just not in the same ways as the others. He has more common sense than Donnie, better at planning than Raph, and more self confidence than Leo. His main issues are linked to his mind just never shutting up and acting before he's fully thought the action through which makes him erratic and impulsive. He has a terrible memory, much MUCH worse than any of the others. He rarely knows what's going on around him simply due to his mind wiping itself every few minutes(this gets better the more he actually HAS to be aware of his surroundings) This leads to a lot of babying from the others that he genuinely hates. He also has a lot of sensory issues such as his inability to handle being barefoot and extreme claustrophobia when wearing tight clothes.

Raph’s adhd causes rejection sensitivity dysphoria to the point even minor comments or completely innocuous conversations register as hate filled and angry and he just about always assumes he's in trouble even when no one has indicated he is at all. Which then leads to him getting in trouble because he starts fights. He’s almost constantly in emotional overload because of this and is the number 1 reason he developed anger issues in the first place. Unlike Mikey who’s brain never shuts up, Raph has a very hard time thinking and is a slow processor. He's the only one with dyslexia which has left him almost unable to read (Mikey and now April i suppose are the only ones that know this) which only fuels his self hating tendencies and stress spirals. It has manifested into a deep depression and passive suicidal thoughts that have only gotten worse with time that is unintentionally exacerbated by Splinter. He has a very addictive personality due to a desperation for dopamine which has caused a lot of self loathing. The combination of anger issues, depression, rsd, probable autism, and just general trauma he eventually develops a personality disorder.

Leo’s adhd manifests mostly in an extreme anxiety disorder and insomnia/delayed sleep phase disorder. Just like most Leo’s he's a people pleaser because he desperately doesn’t want to be viewed as a nuisance or incapable. He’s also not very good at speaking clearly, words and meanings get scrambled in his head which is why Raph often feels blamed for things that go wrong even when that isn't what Leo is trying to tell him. He has an uncanny ability to unintentionally put blame on others because he just NEEDS to be the one everyone likes and trusts(which means Raphs distrust of him hurts a lot more than the others are aware of) Due to this need to be needed he's had far too much responsibility put on him by his family and himself. This of course only makes his anxiety worse. He has the same mile a second brain Mikey does but he's not impulsive because again, anxiety. He tries to be doing 3-4 things at once just to get his head to stop running away with him and meditation is mostly just him ruminating until he either feels better or about 50x worse. He zones out the most out of them all and has longer hyper fixations than either Mikey or Raph some lasting several years.

Donnie's main issues with adhd are the inability to follow routine combined with his innate need for it. The cognitive immobility that won't let him do things he wants leaving him in a "stuck" state of just sitting and staring or internally yelling at himself for an hour until he manages to force himself up to work. It makes him feel incredibly lazy even though he is almost constantly working or doing something. The only truly "good" thing the adhd gives him is a wealth of creativity beyond any of the others and he focuses all of it on making his toys(special interest) He has rsd as well but it isn't as bad as Raph's(because he almost never actually gets in trouble) but his self worth got placed in his ability to create due to the positive reinforcement from the others. He has anger issues like Raph as well, but they're far more passive and he is more emotionally intelligent so he can redirect when he's actually mad vs another emotion filtering itself through anger. His sleeping issues are slightly self induced but also his ADHD and inability to move from his current task regardless of what it is. His sensory issues are actually less than Mikey's

#tmnt #to the surface lore #to the surface au #adhd brain #tmnt raphael #tmnt mikey #tmnt leonardo #tmnt donatello #tmnt fanfiction #fanfic #tmnt au #au lore #creative writing

[firespirited]

So having identified that I need to change a bunch of habits, here’s what I’ve done. personal accountability check in yay.

Exercise: no abdominal work just dorsal stretches, added a steep-ish small hill to my walk instead of two walks to work my hips more. Made peace with the grumpy man on the hill who hates dogs by telling him he’s totally right, it is disgusting (he is fr totally in his right to be upset, people are terrible at cleaning up after their dogs and several just roam free) and showing him that I don’t just pick up my dog’s but other people’s dog turds.

Will test 1 leg at a time abdominal work early May and if the pain causes the whole back seizing, we move it to June, etc...

Ergonomic computer use: I got out of the habit of typing due to a need for speed, especially in french with all the accents on the top and side and I’d like to stop pecking at the keyboard until it becomes the default. Can’t hide the keys as i peck from memory. just gotta keep catching myself and switching back into f j position.

Treats: new dolls that need TLC are out of the question and I’ve done a decent job at saying No to cool dolls that would “just need...” but that’s not enough. I’ve saved my ebay and aliexpress bookmarks to separate google notes and archived them and removed most from my browser. Same with amazon warehouse and leboncoin. There are a couple of Monster High I’d like to find and de-glue (& possibly de-stain this summer) but only if they appear at reasonable prices. I’m going to switch focus to making sure everyone is dressed and nicely displayed.

This does leave a void where the dopamine of new arrivals and projects was and that’s something to further ponder. Having things to look forward to is good for my mental health. The surprise element and “oh remember that doll” element of ebay thrifting was good too. Can’t be craft materials, I have what I need in makeup, don’t wear jewellery as I tend to swell and de-swell during the day and get irritated around the neck. sugar is not an option. local supermarket is very limited with new tastes to try. I’ll figure something out - It’ll probably be in the middle of the night after a day of brainstorming and being stumped!

Projects: I’ve decided to part with 4 more: Myscene Westley Tshirt, Barbie fashionistas greek, Barbie Grace fashionistas, Barbie Mbili blue brocade fashionistas

Getting stuff out of the house has proven more difficult, very low traffic on ebay france so it’ll probably be heads only, tracked bubble envelopes worldwide via instagram then ebay dot com when I can get that organized.

Part of that is reluctance (and reluctance to deal with the nail-biting drama of postage) but I’ve been really quite wiped by pain and the extra exertion.

Entertainment: dolltube didn’t yield much so far, I like retrospectives but that doesn’t happen often. I need to venture more into the doll crafting that’s entertaining vs crafting that makes me sad I can’t do it if that makes sense? Think Bobby Finger’s incredible diorama story videos. Also looking into documentaries that aren’t downers like How Things Are Made and upcycling stuff.

Find EU rerooters: not done but I have closed my commissions page and wiped all the numbers.

Make friends: well I got myself in some drama but I am trying to resist the strong urges to go hermit-mode, still deleting posts before I press send but eventually we’ll get there. Trying to connect with more french doll collectors. Shoot I have two messages to french ladies about rerooting I need to reply to and chickened out.

Sort damaged or too baggy clothes: still too soon. I managed 1 pair of super pilled and worn trousers. I think i’ll have perspective on the jumpers as soon as it’s hot and they don’t look so cosy with memories of being soft and warm.

#saf #rambling

[thetaekookcloset]

I love reading your love. Can you suggest other blogs, youtube, Twitter, any source who analyse and write opinion pieces on taekook?

I will be thankful:)

Thank you so much!

As far as blogs go, you probably know the same ones I do.  The two TK blogs I keep up with regularly are @taekookgotjamz and @alottamoney.  I think they both have well-reasoned takes and I enjoy reading their stuff!

I’m not on Twitter much because that place is a hellscape.  I mostly just check out the posts it recommends to me, so I don’t really have specific accounts I go to for TK stuff, with the exception of sometimes checking TheTKGlobal for updates.  I feel like they’re reliable to get a sense of what’s going on: they’re quick and thorough, keep to the facts, and if they make a mistake on something, they correct themselves.

YouTube is actually where I get most of my news, updates, and general content.  There’s a lot of fluff to sift through that’s mostly nonsense, but it’s also the place I’ve found that has the best stuff all together too, once you find it.  Here are a few of my favorite accounts:

Peachlesslyyy - May has a great mix of fun compilations and analysis, all of which I find to be pretty well-reasoned.  She doesn’t over-analyze or exaggerate, and her compilations speak for themselves.  She has a really genuine love for Taekook which comes through in all her content, and her timeline and translation work is really informative.  I especially recommend her video “Taekook Being Uncomfortable With Each Other for 14 Minutes” and also “Taekook Videos that Make Me Happy” but really all of them are well worth a watch.

Me, Myself, and BTS - Lucy’s channel is also, like, invaluable.  She does translations of V Lives and themed compilations, like compilations of Taekook with different members, moments it’s easy to miss from official content like In the Soop, and different ways TK show their affection for each other.  I love this channel and I watch everything she puts out.

Taeggukstime - This channel doesn’t have very many videos, but the ones that are there are super interesting and informative.  A lot of it is theorizing, so watch it and make your own opinions, but in particular the video on the 2018 disbandment talks, with a focus on Taekook, is fantastic.  It really just presents all of the information with its context and lets you draw your own conclusions.

bluebelly taekook - This is another channel with just a few videos, but I think their “Guide to Taekook” video is so much fun.  It does a good job of pretty succinctly showing what makes TK different, but it’s also really funny and cute.  I’ve watched it more than once just for the dopamine.

Imagine Us - This channel has a lot of really good, but also fun, content.  There are some good compilations, but what makes this one special is that there are specific videos addressing a lot of things that come up in TK spaces often: what makes them different, what is there to TK beyond skinship, their chemistry, that sort of thing.

Those are probably the biggest ones for me, the accounts I return to over and over again.  Of course there’s also ansitless for some classic TK analysis, and lately I’ve been on KookV a lot.  I don’t agree with all of the points made on that one, but it’s quick with updates and responses to things, and for the most part, I think the person running it is reasonable and not inclined to exaggerate things.

I hope this gives you some fun stuff to peruse, and thank you again for your kind words!

#ask #taekook

[tamerxorles]

So I platinumed Persona 4 Golden... Again.

Back in February of 2021 I was in a little bit of a gaming slump and wanted something comforting to play and maybe complete. I had recently gotten a PSTV so I figured why not Persona 4 Golden? It's one of my favorite games ever and I figured that if I'm going to platinum several other games twice each, then this one deserves at least a once over. Boy did I regret that decision. P4G is an amazing game. The story is great, the characters are amazing in every sense of the word and I'd literally nuke a small country if their leader said something negative about Nanako. All in all the trophies needed to get to the platinum aren't bad and there's only 4 that I'd call tedious. There's one that makes this whole process absolute ass, but I'll get to that. There's the standard stuff that a trophy hunter would be familiar with at this point; finish the story, beat secret bosses, etc. However because the persona games from 3 onward mostly function on a calendar system that means there's A LOT of stuff to pad out gameplay and there's literally no way to platinum a persona game without doing 2 playthroughs minimum. "Oh but Xorles, there are people that can do max social stats and social links in one run, plus all of the extra stuff, I'm sure it can be done in one!" Nope. Every single one of these games has at least one trophy that requires you be in New Game+. For P4G it's got 2. You've gotta be in NG+ not only to fuse Izanagi-No-Okami, but you have to be in it to fight Margaret. Neither of these are really that difficult, P4 is actually incredibly easy on normal mode and a joke on lower difficulties, it just sucks getting to this point. In any case I was able to get the platinum in 3 runs when I did it a couple of years ago. I didn't optimize at all and I basically did almost everything in the first run except read all of the books, the next run I did all of the social links and the compendium, and then the last run was just reading books when I had to and doing the "Hardcore Risette Fan" trophy. Oh my god, whoever decided that trophy needed to exist should be ritualistically sacrificed to the elder gods of Lovecraftian lore. Holy. Fuck. It doesn't look daunting just from the trophy description but doing it was one of the biggest pains in the ass I've ever dealt with. The trophy reads "Hear 250 of Rise's navigation lines" Persona games always have a lot of talking in and out of battle so you'd think that maybe you just have to do a little grinding but nope. Turns out there's MAYBE 30 unique lines for bosses that she says. Everything else is just standard combat lines that you have to keep track of and I hated every second. It was so bad that I needed a literal google docs checklist just to kind of keep track. That said I got to the grind and made a mistake by doing the party social links before doing this trophy which made everything infinitely worse. It's weird because it's like playing the game efficiently actually hurt my chances of doing this trophy easily. Whatever, it was a grind, I finally got it, and I popped off harder than a smash player when they find out that they don't need to shower before their tournament starts. All's well that ends well. I get my platinum, post to Reddit and get the dopamine rush I ever so desired for all of like a day.

Fast forward to 2023 and SURPISE! Atlas F I N A L L Y decided that we should be able to play two of their most popular games on modern consoles! I had a $10 coupon and P4G went on sale so I decided to go ahead and scoop it up for $5. I was thrilled. THEN I got broken up with from probably my most serious relationship ever and I was destroyed emotionally. So naturally I went to one of my comfort games and started playing persona 4 again. It wasn't often but the game did do a very good job at making me smile when I definitely didn't want to. I was talking to a friend and then one of my darkest moments came to pass. He uttered the phrase that sets my soul ablaze and tickles my asshole in a frankly horrifyingly effective way. He said, "I bet you can't platinum it again. Bitch." That was it. Over the course of 110 hours I went through every trophy all over again. I spent the first playthrough doing E V E R Y T H I N G. I read all the books, I fused literally every persona I was able to before NG+, maxed all the social stats, got the hardcore Risette trophy again, grinded out over 2 million yen for the next run through, read all the books. NG+ came around and all I had to do was all the social links, fuse the max link personas at the end as well as Izanagi, slap Margaret around a little bit and then revel in the glory of getting played like a cheap kazoo. Only the I didn't feel as accomplished as I did the last time I got the platinum. It's not because I fell for the obvious trick that my friend used on me in an attempt to get my mind off of my break up, it wasn't because I didn't enjoy my time with the game again, hell it wasn't even because of the Risette trophy. I honestly think that it's just because speeding through the game is a bad way to play it. The last time I did this I had somewhere around 200 hours for the save file that I used and I almost cut it in half this run. Tbh I probably did cut it in half technically, but I have this bad habit of leaving games idle while I do dishes or something so the times tend to get inflated a little bit. I know that the phrase is more associated with 5 but it works just as well here too. Take your time with persona games. The fun comes from spending your time with the game and it's characters. The comparative mundanity of the social links vs the story in P4 is probably it's biggest charm, so doing what I did and fast forwarding through everything makes it so much less fun.

Persona 4 Golden is a personal 10/10 game for me and it's platinum is an 8/10. Literally the worst thing is that Hardcore Risette trophy and if you can do that then all you have to do really is just enjoy the fun game you bought. If you like trophy hunting then give it a try, and if you don't then just do yourself a solid and jump into the town or Inaba for a few dozen hours and enjoy the ride. Am I going to do this again? Fuck no, if I have to hear Rise say "It's weak to ice! Cool!" one more time then I can't be held responsible for what I do next. This whole thing started out as me wanting to vent about how annoying the game can be to platinum, but I think that over the course of typing it out I've accidentally reinforced how much I love this game. That said the next time I pick this game up I'm definitely reading every line of dialog. No matter how tedious.

Thanks for sticking through to the end of this. I want to get into reviewing games and potentially getting into games journalism. I figured talking about a game I love and a gaming process that I routinely go through and enjoy would be a good start? If you have any recommendations on how I can go about this a little better I'd love to read them. I've got 50 other games that I've platinumed and too much free time on my hands so maybe I'll do this again soon. Be good and go play some games. <3

#persona #persona 4 #persona 4 golden #xorles #xorles reviews

[temmes]

Some one asks me,what would i be and what life situation i want to find myself in five years.

Well,not much of a crazy life changing will come,to my knowledge and negative point of view.even though now we are facing world wide economic challenges,viruses,uncertainty of new technologies related conflicts. the more things change the more they stay the same,histories are the same,we are only human after all.

Back to the topic, i wanna be a STEM dork,recently I’m thinking about the field of electrical engineering/chips,or robotic/automation,i feel like with the emerging of those fast evolving AI,they are coming hot with lots of endorsers and hype,big investment pouring on the table,look at those CGs they made, words they output,it’s safe to say it will be the next singularity with all that support.

So now I assume that we got a fast worker,high yield producer/artist,super smart scientist,what it needs is a carrier,so better circuit,chips make them faster,exist in every corner,and a robotic body will maximize their value of serving us,fully benefit the mankind,and it makes more sense if we realize we are facing another global problem—aging population. That means a huge shortage of labor forces in different job sites,and a big needs of health caring experts.it clicks,louder and louder

I’m Imaging a society that doesn’t require regular folks to do a 9 to 5,another day another dollar job but got rationed of credits bi-week because with the advanced automation,mass production is too efficient for small population,that basic daily supplies are enough for all the people,without oligopoly controlled capitalism,no more tempting stuff,no sensation provocative products,no hidden plots that make you overwhelmed with dopamine.without competition,there isn’t much variety,but simple,honest goods and service.that’s what my ideal society would be like.

My fantasy of events would be,androids taking care of the whole house missions,helping kids and the elderly to live better(freeing human from daily burdens),me taking my hot 3D printed breakfast that takes 2 points of credit(just a reminder of limited resources)into a public reserved self driving vehicle headed to the art center (probably art is the last position human hold) at 11am, to go there for learning how to brush paint a massive canvass using multi robotic arms with the help of androids so no one will hurt in the scene(corporation with AI,to know them better).not to worry about if these kinds of skill set are demanding or not, so to get a Job to feed myself and my family.

maybe human will be satisfied with their needs and greediness after massive production improvement and switch to minimalism. That’s probably the only way we can get out off the hustle and bustle,dopamine rampant swamp.

Im not going to talk about all the related contentions,the impact of the androids and automation toward the society,and I realized I am far from my topic.

Not much can get me excited because I’ve been numb long ago I’ve overdosed with dopamine.but I got goose bumps every time I think that,one day I can live in a cyberpunk world(not the game,but if it’s like a game it’d probably be like Detroit became human lol),embrace it’s both sides.oh man,I wish I could go back to school without the fear of failure and insecurity.

I wish in five years,I can graduate and get the entry ticket,join a tech giant and work at the AI engineering related department,androids,automation,smart vehicle, 3D printing appliances,whatever,as long as I can work in the front line and do some constructions,to witness the ups and downs of this filed,take the responsibilities,solving problems by all means.

#chat gpt

[sugartrust]

Rise and shine sleepyhead

RISE AND SHINE SLEEPYHEAD BLUETOOTH

Before I drift off to sleep, I tell myself what time I want to be up by in the morning. If I have to have my 3rd pack after dinner, I will try to have it before 2100 as my go to bed time is between 2200 & 2230 – giving me between 6 & 6.5 hours of sleep a night. When I’m not working (or when I’m on nights) my husband and I normally eat dinner between 1730 & 1800 while we play along with Pointless. I currently work shifts, so my routine varies slightly whether I’m on days or nights or off.

RISE AND SHINE SLEEPYHEAD BLUETOOTH

Please share your own hints and tips for ensuring you get a restful, good nights sleep.ĭo you have any tips on getting more better rest and bedtime routine? Share them below to be in with a chance of winning a set of Bluetooth Scales. Our favourite comment will be chosen on Monday 18th December 2017 at 4 pm! Be sure to leave your comment below to be in with a chance to win!īy Joanne Jones, Customer Care Advisor Post navigation So wake up, shake up, and give yourself a positive attitude to each and every day! Studies show that when you begin your day in a positive mood, it increases your chances of remaining focused as the day progresses and surely this is a benefit to us and everyone around us. Although not everyone is a morning person, starting your morning off to a positive start is actually quite important. But for others, when the alarm clock rings, it’s like a slow walk through treacle, dragging oneself out of bed and heading straight to the coffee maker. Mornings can signify the bright start of a brand new day. What better reason is there to start the day with Slim & Save Banoffee or Chocolate Porridge! If your body doesn’t get that fuel from food, you may feel zapped of energy – and you’ll be more likely to overeat later in the day. When you wake up, the blood sugar your body needs to make your muscles and brain work their best is usually low. Skipping the morning meal can throw off your body’s rhythm of fasting and eating. Many studies have linked eating breakfast to good health, including better memory and concentration. Research has shown that listening to upbeat music and positive lyrics in the morning can have a positive effect on us by releasing Dopamine one of the hormones released to help motivate as well as release the “feel-good” hormone. Get hydratedĪfter a good nights sleep your body need to rehydrate itself, drinking a glass of water first thing will jumpstart your body’s metabolism by about 24% which can aid maintaining a healthy weight and it will also help flush out those toxins that have been accumulating whilst being asleep. When that buzzer goes off a second time, your body and brain are taken by surprise, resulting in that groggy, fuzzy-headed feeling, so you’ll probably feel more out of it even though you actually spent extra time in bed. When you let yourself go back to sleep, your body thinks, “False alarm! I guess I didn’t need to do anything, because we’re not getting up after all,” and settles in. Stop hitting the Snooze button for an extra 10 minutes. Make sure that you are getting 6-8 hours sleep each night as adequate sleep is a key part of a healthy lifestyle, and can benefit your heart, weight, mind, and more. Willpower is strongest in the morning so it makes good sense to start your day positively, here are some top tips to help you get that get up and go to have a successful day on plan and beat the winter blues. With winter now and truly set in and we are waking up to ever more dark mornings, its more difficult than ever to start your day focused and ready for the day ahead.

#Rise and shine sleepyhead

[purplespaceace]

very few characters actually have adhd in media, and when they do, what people mean by that is just that they fidget a lot, not that they have adhd. the only character with adhd I can think of where I’ve watched/read it and I’ve gone, “oh, this character actually has adhd” is Jake peralta from Brooklyn 99. so, here’s my take on how to write adhd, with examples from Brooklyn 99.

I’ll do the best I can to separate them into three categories; the three things people look for in adults with ADHD, which are rejection sensitivity dysphoria, an interest-based nervous system, and emotional hyperarousal.

I’ll also randomly bold and italicize bits so people with ADHD can actually read it.

Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, or RSD

Rejection sensitivity dysphoria makes people with ADHD overly sensitive to criticism, even if they perceive a rejection and there actually isn’t one. Their emotions are also very strong generally. Because of RSD, people with ADHD become people-pleasers and can develop anxiety because they’re so eager to please.

For me, RSD makes me cry an embarrassing amount for any little reason. in your writing, make your characters overdramatic, criers, and/or people-pleasers. They’ll have trouble saying no. They may also be over competitive, as their perceived rejection may include losing.

how does Jake show this in b99? When Jake comes up with a catchphrase and Rosa says it’s terrible, jake is far more hurt than he should be. He hates losing, and he gets overly upset whenever someone says they don’t like him or don’t trust him, etc. he’s also a people pleaser who has trouble saying no.

An interest-based nervous system

An interest-based nervous system includes hyperfocuses and an inability to pay attention. It stems from the fact that we can’t make as much dopamine as neurotypicals. This means that while neurotypicals get dopamine after completing a task, people with ADHD don’t. That means that people with ADHD don’t have any reason to do tasks, especially those they don’t like. This leads to executive dysfunction—people with ADHD will know they have to or want to do something, but they can’t seem to do it. people with ADHD hyperfocus on things that bring them dopamine. I was obsessed with warrior cats for three years. But hyperfocuses can also last a short amount of time—I’ll have a drawing idea in the middle of class and won’t be able to concentrate on anything else before I finish it. this is where our impulsiveness comes from. we can leap into things we think will give us dopamine without thinking, which can lead to injury. We also tend to tell people personal things they don’t want to hear because of this, and don’t have very good boundaries. We sometimes say whatever comes into our head, which can also result in us being rude on accident. Our voices can also get very loud or we can interrupt people frequently because we’re so impulsive. When people with ADHD hyperfocus, they can forget about anything else. I’ll forget to eat if I’m busy reading a Wikipedia article about feminism in the 1850s, and won’t go to the bathroom or drink water either. It’s also important to note that taking away distractions doesn’t help, because we can do things like pick at our skin and daydream—something that people with ADHD do a lot of. Because of executive dysfunction, people can call people with ADHD lazy or irresponsible.

people with ADHD can also be extremely indecisive because ADHD affects our executive functioning, and making decisions requires planning and prioritizing, and task initiation, which are both executive functions!

people with ADHD also have poor memory for important things, but tend to remember random bits of trivia. Poor memory leads to object permanence problems, which means people with ADHD can forget to call a friend back for weeks, forget that they need to read library books in a closed cabinet, or forget that the vegetables they got will go bad. People can sometimes say that people with ADHD don’t care about anything because of this.

people with ADHD can also be prone to depression because of under or overstimulation. Boredom feels painful for people with ADHD. If we’re overstimulated, we can experience sensory overload—if things are too bright or too loud, if too many things are touching us at once—often it’s not because the thing is too intense, but because too many things are happening at once.

We also have something some people call dolphin brain, where we jump from one thing to another. From the outside, it looks really random, but I find that when I’m talking to another neurodivergent communication is generally easier. For instance, someone with ADHD might see a bee at a baseball field and tell their team about the time they saw whales at seaworld because their little brother was also stung by a wasp there. people will see no connection on the outside, but it makes perfect sense to the person with ADHD.

people with ADHD can also be overachievers, either because they hyperfocus on schoolwork or their RSD makes it so that failing at something isn’t an option. people with ADHD can also be very controlling and stubborn, probably because we hyperfocus on something and cant handle it being any different, and any change to our plans can be seen as rejection.

we can also have a hard time ordering our thoughts or doing stuff like math in our head. a lot of the time I number my thoughts like, 1. this reason, 2. this reason, etc. even if theres only two or sometimes I just need the 1. as a transition for my brain. when I don’t write it down or organize it like that it feels like I’m trying to grasp ropes that have been covered in oil (it’s not going to happen) and then my brain gets all jumbled and I have to restart at the beginning. this is probably just me, but it feels the same way when I’m reading long paragraphs of something uninteresting, or even short bits of historical documents because the way they phrase things is really pompous and hard to process.

also, stuff like caffeine calms us down and helps us focus. people who don’t take medication (me) often drink coffee or caffeinated sodas to focus.

another random tip, but if your character with ADHD also is genderfluid or genderflux, they might have a hard time figuring out their gender sometimes, because we can be known to have a hard time putting our feelings into words or our brains will just go, “nope, not thinking about that right now” and move on, which can be pretty frustrating.

people with adhd also have a trait called time blindness, where we have no idea how long something takes and therefore can’t manage our time very well. this often results in us being late or just sitting around the house because we got ready way too early.

we also have something called consequence blindness—we do things and are completely unaware of the consequences. if I don’t brush my teeth, I get cavities. but I don’t think about that when I’m deciding I’m too tired to brush my teeth.

in b99, jake regularly stays up all night solving cases and watches documentaries on random topics. He’s also very distractible—when they’re trying to find the person who sent Captain Holt death threats in the train yard, Jake says he and captain holt should take a train trip together sometime. Jake says that he’ll forget Amy if they don't work together because he’s like a goldfish.

Emotional hyperarousal

This is the only thing people tend to include when writing characters: the fidgeting. People with ADHD tend to need more stimulation than others, so we’ll do things like draw during class and chew on pens.

people with ADHD can also have apd, or auditory processing disorder. we tend to watch shows with subtitles on and may take a second to process what you’re saying, or hear it wrong. The subtitles thing may be partially do to creating just the right amount of stimulation, but if I don’t have subtitles, me and my other friends with ADHD will watch tv with the volume turned up very high. People with ADHD also can have a hard time interpreting other people‘s tone and have a hard time controlling their own. They can be bad at social cues and have poor manners because we don’t pick up on that stuff.

people with ADHD also tend to observe everything or nothing at any given time, mostly based on the amount of stimulation they have—if they dont have a lot in their main task, they’ll need to take in something else at the same time. Likewise, if I’m hyperfocusing on something I often don’t notice anything else, like if someone asks me a question.

in b99, Jake fidgets with things a lot. In the intro, he’s picking up and examining a figurine on his desk, likely because he was bored with paperwork or some other task.

#adhd #writing #writing adhd #brooklyn nine nine #b99 #brooklyn99 #Jake peralta #Adhd Jake #neurodivergent #writing tips #adhd problems #adhd misconceptions #nd #neurodivergence

[sixstepsaway]

I am working on my Blackbonnet fic that's basically Blackbeard raids a port and he's offered a wife of his choosing in return for leaving them in peace and he's like yeah sure that sounds fun and then picks Stede who is just. he does not know what to do. with any of this, really. and then has to face down the idea that this pirate might just end up RAVAGING HIM, after all, isnt that why a pirate like him would pick a wife?

but anyway, here's some excerpts. i'm probably not gonna post it until it's nearly done, i have far too many abandoned wips, but i do need some dopamine so please tell me what you think because i really do feel i have nailed stede's voice and i'm pretty proud of myself

"He's already married," Mary pipes up. "You can't have him." It's a noble effort. He's surprised she even cares so much as to try and keep him from being taken as a captive by Blackbeard himself.  "Hardly matters on the sea," Blackbeard says. "In fact, anything goes once you're on the sea." He never takes his piercing gaze from Stede, never looks away and barely blinks.  "I'm not going to let you run off with my husband and do God knows what with him!" Mary puffs up and Stede really does admire her bravery, even if he thinks she really should stop it.  "It's all right, Mary," he soothes. "You'll be just fine without me." He puts on a firm smile and tries to put out of his mind the implications of everything both Blackbeard and Mary said. "The request was I go willingly and in return, they leave Bridgetown in peace, forever. Correct?"  "Mhmmm." Blackbeard's voice rumbles, low and sultry, and Stede valiantly tries to ignore the way that feels. "You have my word as captain of the Queen Anne's Revenge." Stede nods. "Then we have an accord." He tries to exude more confidence than he feels. "May I have a moment to say goodbye to my family?"  Blackbeard shrugs. "We've got shit to finish up here and since you're coming willingly, you can take your time." His eyebrows raise. "Within reason."

this is from chapter one

then chapter two:

He's just been taken captive by the infamous pirate Blackbeard -- the Blackbeard -- the most dreaded pirate on the seven seas, the actual terror of the deep, and worse still he isn't just taken captive, he's been taken as-- as-- as a wife. A wife! Stede is a married man. He knows what being a wife entails (and truly, he does pity Mary, he knows neither of them wanted any of that, but they did get two beautiful children out of the equation in the end, which is better than nothing) and that usually involves--  Blackbeard keeps looking at him. His eyes keep lingering on his clothes. Does he plan to take them off him? Does he have intentions already? Did he pick Stede because-- because out of all the options on the dock, Stede is the one he wanted to ravage? He feels a little faint. He's heard things -- after all, he did go to boarding school, it's hard to avoid at least a little knowledge of what goes on between teenage boys with too many hormones and not enough girls in sight -- and not all of those things sound-- Well, a lot of them sound interesting. He's always thought so! But-- but-- they also sound like being ravaged by the dreaded pirate Blackbeard might be-- Well, it might be unpleasant, is what he's thinking. It's not that he thinks it's always unpleasant, he sincerely doubts it makes a lick of sense for boys -- and men, he supposes -- to do it willingly if it's always an awful experience, but that's the point, isn't it? The willingly part, compared to whatever the hell is going on here, which he doesn't think is going to be willing at all! He only realizes he's been overthinking every last inch of what he's just done when he catches Blackbeard staring at him. He's led him halfway into the bowels of the ship, halfway to what Stede is assuming are his cabin, unless he intends to keep him in the brig like the world's most disobedient pet. He thinks he's been rather obedient so far, following Blackbeard like a puppy he just picked up at market.  He's still overthinking.

and then the chapter i'm working on rn:

Eventually, in a moment when he has his ear pressed to the wooden door, the footsteps get closer and closer and he realizes at the last moment they're outside of his door and then he nearly falls right out into the corridor when the door is suddenly whipped open and the short pirate stands in front of him, looking furious. "You are to dine with Blackbeard in his cabin," the pirate says.  Stede can only assume it's dinner time. "Oh! Well, righto then," he says, putting on a smile. "That's the cabin right out there, yes?" The face of the pirate before him darkens. "If you try anything," he warns, "I will skin you slowly over the course of three weeks and feed each individual strip of your pathetic skin to the nearest seagulls." Stede gags at the imagery his words conjure. "That's a little vivid a description, I really could have been intimidated solely by a promise of a prolonged, torturous death, but I accept your warning. I will keep my hands to myself!" The pirate pauses and eyes him like he's about to say something, but then changes his mind.

and this:

Izzy leaves the cabin, letting the door shut behind him, and Stede stands awkwardly, unsure what to do with himself, until Blackbeard stands, setting his pipe aside, and steps towards him.  "I don't think we were properly introduced," he says, and Stede resists the urge to point out he technically took him captive, "I'm Edward." He extends his hand to shake.  Stede shakes, albeit nervously. "Stede," he says. "Stede Bonnet." "Sit." Black-- Edward says when he takes his hand back, using it to gesture at the table. There's stuff flung somewhat haphazardly nearby, which Stede suspects was once adorning the table. He wonders where Bl-- Edward ate before, if he just sat in his chair to eat or if he ate with the crew or on the deck.  Stede sits carefully, especially once he realizes the table is actually a desk, with nowhere to put his knees, holding himself tensely and looking around. "I, ah, I like your cabin," he says, which isn't a lie, so he supposes that's a good start. "The windows are very, um. Well they're very nice! Stained glass. You have excellent taste." Edward pauses briefly, halfway to sitting down at the opposite end of the table. He finishes his descent and puts one foot up on the only unoccupied chair, the brace around his knee glinting in the candlelight. "It's not like I designed the ship," Edward says. "I stole it, innit?" "Right, yes," Stede agrees, possibly a little too fast, "but you still chose to steal it! And you didn't get rid of the windows or anything once it was yours. So... clearly you have good taste." "Mm."

okay there we go thank you for your attention

#blackbonnet #gentlebeard #ofmd #ed x stede #ofmd fic #wip #our flag means death #ok to rb in fact please do <3 #my writing

[coldalbion]

THINGS WOT I HAVE LEARNT AFTER BEING VIRTUALLY HOUSEBOUND FOR 3 YEARS THAT MAY BE HELPFUL TO THOSE IN SELF ISOLATION AND/OR LOCKDOWN DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

(Background: I have a lifelong disability and am a wheelchair user. After surgery I’ve basically been stuck living and sleeping in one room for three years. These are things I have learnt which may help, though with the caveat that everyone is different, and baseline mental health varies.)

1. YOUR MENTAL HEALTH WILL PROBABLY SUFFER - and although humans are social creatures, even the most introverted will chafe against boundaries enforced upon them by circumstance. The degree to which it suffers will be related to your mental health baseline and physical health. Understand that this IS NOT YOUR FAULT. Stimuli and enrichment methods are required. It’s why animals need such things in zoos and conservation parks. This leads us on to my next point.

2. COMPREHEND WHICH ACTIVITIES ARE ACTIVE AND PASSIVE FOR YOU Spending your confinement solely doing passive things (watching TV, Netflix, browsing the internet, scrolling through the internet) will take a load off your brain and make the time pass quicker. But if that’s all you do, the sense of disconnection increases over time. Activities which require you to *do* something, even if it’s just engaging your motor skills via video games, or lifting some cans of beans, or actively reading - these deliberate acts foster a tiny sense of achievement which gives your brain a dose of helpful chemicals. If you want to consider your activities, look up the work of Marshall McLuhan as regards “hot media” and “cold media” (See https://mediawiki.middlebury.edu/MIDD…/Hot_versus_cool_media for basic premise.) Balancing out your media intake with hot and cold activities keeps your brain active and pumping tasty neurotransmitters.

3. LIMIT YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE TO SOCIAL PURPOSES. Infinite scrolling as found on many social media platforms is a hot medium, as per McLuhan. The reason Likes exist is to give that little spike of interactivity. It’s not a conspiracy to say many platforms are designed to keep you on them so they can show you more ads. (See also https://www.theguardian.com/…/has-dopamine-got-us-hooked-on… which explains the brain chemistry angle) However, DM’s and other messaging faculties are supremely useful. Use them to interact with your friends, indulge your fandom theories. Person to person interaction requires and enhances deep-seated neurological and biophysical reflexes. Text your mates. Skype/Facetime or otherwise call them. Use the technology of the 21st century for genuine social ends, deliberately. Catch up with their lives one to one or in groupchats.

4. PICK TIMES TO CHECK THE NEWS AND STICK TO THEM. This relates to point 3 - unfortunately we live in a 24hr news cycle, with constant liveblogging of important issues. This means that we’re constantly streaming anxiety inducing situations into our brains JUST IN CASE. That’s not helpful, particularly when you can’t actually DO anything about those events - the urge to DO something is why people are panic-buying. It’s a very basic primordial need to grab resources for defence. By picking times of the day to check news, you are again, making a DELIBERATE CHOICE, enacting some small level of agency, while at the same time limiting anxiety-inducing stimuli. If the news gets too much, then don’t check it as much - or at all - and do something else.

5. IF YOU DO THINGS WITH FRIENDS, SEE IF YOU CAN DO THEM ONLINE. Run that game of DnD/Other TTRPG you’ve been meaning to. Hold your book club online. Have a few drinks online over voice-chat if you are missing the pub. Hold watch parties for your favourite shows. The key, as ever, is to be engaged rather than passive. It’s harder if you’re ill, yes, but it can be done.

6. USE YOUR IMAGINATION TO CREATE THINGS. Write that fanfic. Start that novel. Design that game. Doodle. Paint. Humans have been creating since the day we became human. Consider things from the perspective of a pre-modern person. Make handprints on your own personal cave wall - contact each other and tell spooky stories. Build a complex fantasy world. Write an account of your confinement for some person to find pieces of years after you’re gone from the world. Think about a problem, and learn how to solve it via taking online classes (See http://www.openculture.com/freeonlinecourses) Write an essay on your chosen passion or hyperfixation - nobody needs to read it but you. Treat yourself to intellectual stimulation, if that’s your thing.

7. IF YOU HAVE A SPIRITUAL. RITUAL, OR MEDITATIVE PRACTICE DO IT. It doesn’t matter if it’s not perfect, or limited in scope. This also includes atheists and those who despise woo - you have personal rituals, things you do that have Meaning to you as a person. Maybe it;s alphabetizing your music collection, or spring cleaning or cooking your favourite meal like grandma used to make. Humans have patterns they perform. When you perform them DELIBERATIVELY (or dare I say MINDFULLY) you become aware that these are the scaffolds that structure human life.

8. STRUCTURE YOUR TIME. Following on from 7, we often don’t realise the structure of our lives until it is disrupted. When that’s removed, our minds can go into freefall. If you’re isolated/in lockdown, oftentimes you won’t be able to access those structures. Rather than wait for them to to become accessible again and risk a period of feeling lost and directionless, which can enhance depression and anxiety, it’s best to develop a new structure based on the resources you have. It can be as loose or as strict as you like, but sticking to it allows us to develop a rhythm which makes time pass in recognisable fashion and gives us a sense of being-in-the-world as some sort of engaged process.

9. KEEP YOUR SLEEP PATTERN REGULAR AND LONG ENOUGH. The key here is REGULAR. Following on from 8, it’s important to keep your body well rested, as this aids your immune system and cuts down on the possibility of your body having to deal with stress . If you’re ill it’s harder to keep this regular, because sometimes your body just needs sleep to regenerate NOW. Equally in isolation, particularly if you’re feeling mentally low, it can be tempting to sleep forever, because y’know, you’re feeling low and what’s the point. (Of course the point is why we have 8 in particular, along with all the rest.)

OBVIOUSLY EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. Particularly for those with disabilities or chronic illnesses, we may be even more limited in our activities while isolated than able bodied folks. That said, the key is to remember that certainly during this pandemic, and otherwise YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE FEELING THIS WAY. Rubbish as it may be, many are in the same boat. If it pleases you to, seek them out - see what commonalities you have, what hopes and dreams and fascinations you may share. FIND THE OTHERS - it’s what humans have always done.

Be well.

#coronavirus #disability #cripkult