#they delete a LOT of replies unless your answer is well thought out and require citations

[lesbianshepard]

these are the questions about history that the people really need to ask

#m #the mods adding the 'great question!' flair is so funny #askhistorians is a HEAVILY moderated subreddit #they delete a LOT of replies unless your answer is well thought out and require citations #like it's a serious history subreddit

[forever-rogue]

Agent Whiskey is given a target, but when he gets close to her, he realizes she's innocent of what she's being accused of.

I hope you all enjoy, my little honey bees!

»»————-　♡　————-««

Whiskey never really questioned the assignments, or the targets he was given. He knew the jobs he was assigned were given to him for a reason; because he was capable of carrying out almost any mission with adept precision. 

But as soon as he was spotted you, he was taken aback. You didn’t fit the normal picture of the targets he pursued…no, you were much different. Normal. But not in a bad way by any means. In fact, you were downright breathtaking, but so very not what he expected. You didn’t look like you were any sort of expert smuggler meets cat-burglar. But he supposed that the information and sources he was given had to be correct, surely they wouldn’t royally mess up and get their information screwed up, right?

In reality, which Whiskey would soon find out for himself, you were anything but what you were made out to be. In fact, you were a simple school teacher, enthralling a class of young children day in and day out. You just happened to look almost exactly the same as a wanted woman, who was a criminal. Talk about a bad time to have a doppelganger. 

But you weren’t privy to any of that information, at least not yet. Naturally, you didn’t question anything when Whiskey made his first appearance, catching you by yourself at the bar a girls’ night out as you tried to order another round of drinks.

“Why, do my eyes deceive me, or have I just seen an angel?” it was the warm southern drawl that first captured your attention, and you couldn’t help but giggle at the man as he leaned against the counter and watched you intently with honeyed eyes. A smile was playing on his lips as you tried to flag down the overwhelmed looking bartender.

“I think you should get your eyes checked,” you playfully rolled your eyes, trying to fight off the flush that was crossing your features. 

“Why I think they’re working just fine,” his tongue darted out and wet his full lips as you tried to keep it together. He was…hot to say the least, but not in a typical way. More so in older southern gentleman that you should try to avoid way, “may I buy you a drink?”

“I’m…ugh, actually here with some friends,” you beckoned behind you where your girlfriends were already staring holes into your back. They had spotted Jack approaching you long before you were aware of it. Naturally they would have no problem with you getting a drink from a handsome stranger. They were firmly in the ‘finally get you laid again’ squad, and any good looking man that approached you was a welcome sight.

“Somehow I get the feeling that they would be okay with you getting a drink,” he held up his hand and waved at your friends. You tried around and found them all giggling wildly. You narrowed your eyes at them but they just silently mouthed their approval, “unless I’m getting that old and reading the room incorrectly?”

“I don’t think you are,” you agreed with a small, nervous smile. Holy shit. Was this actually going to happen? You turned to him and tried to keep calm, “I guess I’ll take you up on that drink.”

“What’s your poison?”

“Old fashioned,” you replied as he effortlessly flagged down the bartender and placed your orders. Of course he’d have no problem getting service right away.

Jack was surprised that his plan was working so effortlessly. He was formulaic in his approach, much like he was in every aspect of his life, but he almost expected you to put up a fight. Surely, a career criminal wouldn’t fall prey so easy to him? But you did. You fell right into his lap…and after a few drinks you fell right into his bed.

That was something neither of you fought very hard.

»»————-　♡　————-««

The next couple of weeks included a lot of Jack “accidentally” falling into your life. He happened to be in a lot of places you were at, and while you thought it was mildly suspicious, you decided not to question it took much. Maybe life was giving you a break and finally putting a decent man into your life.

Meanwhile, Jack was confused beyond all heavens as to why he hadn’t managed to extract a single piece of evidence or anything incriminating from you. You were that good. But the thing that surprised him even more was the fact that he found himself falling for you. Fast. Hard. Unconditionally.

He was sure it was going to be a hell of a time in once he learned of your secrets.

So imagine his surprise, after weeks and weeks of wooing you when he got a phone call from the Statesman headquarters while you were out at a fancy dinner.

Jack groaned when his phone went off, and told you it was work and wanted to brush it off, but you insisted he take it. You knew he had an important job, although you weren’t privy of any real details. Obviously.

“Go on,” you smiled at him, “I’ll be right here when you get back.”

“I promise it’ll be a few minutes, baby,” he leaned over and kissed your cheek before standing up and answering his phone, making his way to step outside of the crowded restaurant.

“What?!” he almost shouted as he answered the phone, surprising Champ on the other end with his brashness.

“Whiskey,” Champ started and Jack could tell something was off, “I’ve got some bad news.”

“What the hell is it?”

“The woman you’re with?” Jack pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance, “she’s not the mark. Turns out she really is just a plain old schoolteacher.”

You were anything but a plain old school teacher in his heart.

“What on God’s green earth are you on about?” Jack growled, more confused than ever.

“The real mark has been on the move. The one you’ve been with, Y/N, apparently is just an exact duplicate,” Jack could barely believe what Champ was saying, “you’ve been with the wrong person this whole time. Intel was incorrect. You’ve got to get out tonight and go after the real one. She’s planning a heist tomorrow.”

“Champ, I cannot just up and leave,” he stated firmly as Champ scoffed at him, “it’s not that simple.”

“Of course it is. Just make up an excuse and leave.”

“No.”

“Oh shit, Whiskey, you got it bad for her, don’t you?” when Jack remained silent, he had answer, “it’s all been a lie, Whiskey. Do you really think she’s going to want to be with you when everything started off as a lie? Doesn’t bode well for a relationship.”

“My feelings for her are true, and real-”

“But is she going to believe that?”

“Maybe I don’t have to tell her…”

“So you’ll just keep living a lie?” Jack kicked the wall in anger. He had no clue what to do, “look I’m sorry for the misunderstanding, but you need to leave and fast. Your job requires it.”

“But-”

“No buts. You’re expected back at headquarters tonight for a new debriefing,” the line went dead before Jack could say anything else. He felt like he could cry. How was he just supposed to leave you after he had fallen in love with you?

He looked back in through one of the windows, easily spotting you inside. You looked beautiful; a sweet, soft smile on your face, a stunning dress on. Perfect.

How could he ever tell you that this whole thing, whatever you wanted to call your relationship, had started off as a lie? He could never break your heart like that. He’d never forgive himself.

Instead, he tucked his phone back into his pocket, and walked around to the front of the restaurant, hoping you didn’t see him. He hailed a cab and gave it directions to the back to the Statesman headquarters. He deleted your contact information, every single text message, every single photo of your hoping it would help. It didn’t. It never did.

Meanwhile you sat there and waited. And waited. And waited. And-

Eventually you realized something had changed. You threw some bills on the table before leaving, trying to the stop the tears from flooding down your face. It never worked. So you cried. For a long time, hoping that he might somehow come back to you.

But he never did.

#agent whiskey #agent whiskey x reader #jack whiskey daniels #jack whiskey daniels x reader #pedro pascal x reader #pedro pascal #kingsman golden circle

[hecticcheer]

This is ~2,000 words of fluff, inspired by late-night brain’s inadvertent mashup of this suggestion by boxofsfic with the ending of this story by sickiepop. (If either of you are seeing this post, hi! I love your work, and I hope you don’t mind what a monster I conceived while reading it…!)

The OCs I made up for the occasion are both around 30; the sick one’s a guy, and the other is nonbinary; they’re housemates; they might be in a QPR, but I don’t think they know that yet either.

I mmmmight write the sequel foreshadowed in the last few lines? Not sure yet; depends on whether I still like what I’ve written by tomorrow. But if you’re reading this and you’d dig that, please let me know!

—

Mr. Bartholomew Fox lay on his classroom’s hard, dusty floor, trying to remember how to pronounce respite. It had been a vocab word this week in some of his tenth graders’ books, but grading their worksheets had not required him to say the word aloud. He could remember that it wasn’t phonetic—it did not rhyme with despite, like its spelling suggested it should. But did one say the word as though it were spelled respeet? Reecepite? Resspit? The remembered voice of a friend from the days of his first smartphone reminded him, You have 3G; he fumbled for his phone, hoping the dictionary app would load this time deecepit the classroom’s shoddy cell service. When he lifted his phone, however, a text from Leverton distracted him.

You ok? At a meeting I forgot about or s/t?

Barty (he was Barty to friends, Mr. F among his less-creative students) hadn’t quite felt like himself all day, though he wasn’t sure what more than that to say about it. His joints and muscles ached, sure; his head throbbed for a bit after every movement, yeah; he’d been shaky and dizzy all day, true—but none of that was weird. He guessed these symptoms must be worse than usual, but no one of them seemed enough that way to justify what an unpleasant day he’d had. Or at least, none had done so until his final class ended, when struck the irresistible urge to lie down on the floor instead of heading home. On the floor, with nothing else to think about, they all seemed urgent. He felt so dizzy it made him hot all over, his upper lip prickling with sweat. If he moved in any way, and whenever he opened his eyes, the feeling grew worse. His left shoulder, right wrist, that mysterious place in his lower back, both knees, the muscles in his neck and thighs and forearms and halfway down his right calf—all traded off shouting for his attention. The throb behind his left eye grew sharper now, more electric, like the start of a migraine (but those usually came on earlier in the day). That side of his nose was clogged. Was he getting a cold? Not unlikely, this early in the school year. Or was it just allergy season.

He’d gone about this far in his musings and then apparently quit thinking at all until something (he could no longer remember what) had made him reach for his phone. Now, having read Leverton’s text, he laid the phone down on his chest and closed his eyes, trying to think how to reply. After he’d typed I’m okay, just and then lay still for a bit pondering how to make must’ve fallen asleep sound less dumb, another text arrived from Leverton:

Just send me an emoji or something so I know you’re not dead? You’re probably just at a meeting and I don’t want to bug you, but, starting to worry a little

I’m okay Barty sent back therefore, deleting the comma and the just. They’d both long-since turned off their phones’ “Read at 4:18 PM” feature—it made Leverton anxious, and incensed Barty on principle. Sending a quick reply took priority, therefore, over explaining himself. The little green progress bar hovered for eons about two thirds of its way across the screen, which it would never have dared at home unless he had tried to send multiple photos. Making sure not to touch the phone’s sides directly, even though he knew that made no difference on this non-dinosaur model, he wrote further, No meeting; fell asleep in classroom. Somehow that one went through at once—so quickly that he’d barely had time to close his eyes and set his head back down before it buzzed again.

Oh my god

Are you ok??? That sounds so unlike you

He didn’t know what to say. The first I’m okay hadn’t felt like a lie, since in that case it was clear he meant okay as opposed to dead. But now neither Yes or No seemed like the right answer. The long pause he elected to respond with instead probably treated Leverton worse than either one:

Are you still in your classroom? Stay there, I’ll come get you

I don’t knw [sic] if I’m comfortable w/ the thought of you driving like this.

On its face Barty found this absurd. Students fell asleep in his class nearly every time he turned on the projector, and that seemed a much greater feat than dozing off while lying alone on the floor. Besides, it hadn’t been real sleep—only stage one or two. If someone had asked whether he was awake he could have honestly said Yes, without startling first. Don’t, he began typing back, but once the initial guilt wore off he thought again about Leverton’s words (Stay there, I’ll come get you). The corners of his eyes grew hot when he pictured them setting out on foot to collect him. Leverton was right, after all—Barty never fell asleep during the day. He deleted the message he’d started and sent instead, Okay.

By the time he heard Leverton’s hand on the doorknob Barty had drifted back into early-stage sleep: close enough to the surface to recognize the sound, but far enough under that it surprised him a little. He’d forgot where he was, his thoughts (now vanished) so vivid they’d seemed realer than the floor under his back. He pulled himself up onto his elbows and his sight went dark blue from the corners inward.

“Hi,” he told Leverton as the latter entered—too quietly, as it turned out, for them to hear over the sound of the closing door. They peered around the room, but it took them a few seconds to spot him; he could tell they were looking for a seated person, rather than one on the floor. Barty cleared his throat and this time said, “Hello.”

“Oh my god—did you fall? Are you alright?”

“No, I’m fine,” Barty insisted, shaking his head, and then, smiling inanely, added, “I meant to do this.”

(Meant to do that was a long-standing meme of theirs, an offshoot from Leverton’s comparisons of Barty to a cat. After a cat does something stupid, it recovers its dignity so quickly you’d think it was trying to look like the stupid thing it did was all part of the plan. Thus whenever either of them made a mistake too large to ignore but too small for a real apology, they’d say to the other some variation on, Meant to do that.)

“You just thought the linoleum seemed like a nice change of pace from the nice couch we have at home,” summarized Leverton, and Barty noticed how they used the word nice twice in a row.

He lowered his head back to the floor, feeling too dizzy and neck-sore to waste his strength on trifles. “It’s vinyl; they just replaced it.”

“What?”

“The floor.”

“Ah. Vinyl. Excuse me.” They sat cross-legged down next to Barty, on the aforesaid vinyl.

“I’m alright,” Barty said again.

“Yeah, but that word doesn’t mean a lot coming from you. Excuse my cold hands,” Leverton warned, and placed the back of their hand to Barty’s forehead and each cheek in turn, brushing some hair out of the way first so it wouldn’t get in his eyes. Barty flinched slightly, having gone from unpleasantly hot to unpleasantly cold in the time since he’d first made contact with the floor. “Feels like you’ve got a fever. Do you think you might be coming down with something?”

“You just said your hands are cold, though,” pointed out Barty.

“Well, yeah,” Leverton conceded with a snarl of laughter—“‘cause compared to a face I figured they would be.”

“Thought you meant ‘cause you’d come from outside.”

“No; I wasn’t cold out there.”

This week had brought their town its first cold snap of the season, but in California an early-fall cold snap parses out to more like absence of heat wave. The last few days it had been cool enough to keep the AC off, but it was still t-shirt weather out from ten to ten. Leverton’s tie dye, sweatpants and flip-flops attested to this—as well as to how quickly they must have hurried to meet him. Though they worked from home, Leverton usually put on jeans to meet the public. And that tie-dye t-shirt, Barty knew, had a small hole in one armpit. It pleased him to remark that he could still keep track of details like this; too bad these examples of lucidity were invisible to Leverton.

“You look pretty sick,” said the latter. “How do you feel?”

Come to think of it, the word lucid itself could also mean translucent. That was about how he felt: diaphanous, vague, barely-there. His mother always said with it instead of lucid; though she’d never said so, he’d deduced the antonym of with it must be out of it.

“Not my best,” Barty admitted.

“But you didn’t faint, or hurt yourself, or anything.”

“No. Worried I might, but figured I’d preempt it.”

“Always thinking ahead,” scoffed Leverton, combing their hand through some more of Barty’s hair. “Your hair’s all sweaty; did you know that?”

“I did not.”

“You don’t usually sweat that bad just from feeling faint, I didn’t think.”

“You’re right.”

“So again I say, You look sick.”

“I’m probably getting sick.”

Leverton sighed through pursed lips, making them billow noisily. “Well, shit, pal, this is a terrible place to be sick.”

“Such language,” mumbled Barty, without conviction. He was so unused to letting swears pass without comment in this room that it would have taken more effort to say nothing. But Leverton, rightly, ignored this comment:

“Can you stand? Maybe I could get you some water—would that help?”

“Yes, and yes. On my desk,” Barty said, pointing without looking up.

“Uhhh… ah! I see it.” Leverton stood up and brought back Barty’s bottle of water. They sat again, uncapped it, and, once Barty had sat back up on his elbows, handed it to him and gripped his shoulder, presumably to help him keep his balance. Barty gulped down several mouthfuls, broke off to catch his breath, and shoved the cold-sweaty bottle back into Leverton’s hand, eager to lie back down. “Ah!—no—wrong way!” squawked Leverton. “Are you sure you can stand.”

“Just need a minute. Can you drag the desk chair over? Seems a pleasanter middle ground than.”

“Oh—good point. Sure.” They rolled it over, apologizing for the squeaky wheel. When he had more energy, among his friends Barty would sneer and hiss at such unpleasant sounds; the chair’s squeak hurt his head now too, of course, but somehow at the moment he found it easier to withstand unpleasant phenomena than resist them.

After a minute, he did indeed pull himself up and slither into the chair. (Leverton evidently knew better than to offer a hand to help him up; such offers would hurt his pride, and possibly also his shoulders.) His hands shook as he gripped the arms of the chair to haul himself up into it; his head spun; he was so weak the exertion hurt his chest and all four limbs. When he subsided to catch his breath his head throbbed raucously. He leant it into his hand—whose support Leverton then seconded with their own hand. Their touch chilled him at first, but he lacked the strength (whether of will or body who knew) to scoot away. He hadn’t realized how much the weight of his head had hurt his wrist until Leverton’s help removed that hurt.

“You’re really not feeling well, are you.”

“Seems that way.”

“Thank god I didn’t let you drive yourself home.”

“Too bad for the kids, they’re all gonna catch it,” Barty muttered, regretfully; “as will you, of course. And I won’t do nearly this good a job of looking after you.”

“I don’t mind. You’ll do your best.”

“Will I?”

“You always seem to. From my limited perspective.”

“I don’t have your patience. Or your empathy.”

Leverton scoffed: “Empathy? Yes you do! You feel other people’s feelings just as well as I do—you’re just shyer about it. You’re just emotionally constipated.”

“Perhaps,” granted Barty. He doubted that first half, but could already feel himself smiling at Leverton’s flatteries, and knew if he tried to argue that they would hold the smile against him as an admission. So he gave his doubts no more explicit form than, “Nice of you to say so.”

“Are you ready to try and walk to the car?”

Barty sighed, sort of phlegmily—almost a hiss. “Might as well be.”

#a shifty tract #(...first time i'm using the writing tag and it feels like a lie; no digestive ills here at all #(just vague fluey stuff and undiagnosed chronic illness. in my headcanon he has heds and pots 'cause that's what i have lmao #(but this premise Just Didn't Work on a character who understands his chronic symptoms' mechanisms as well as i know mine #(and barty--again like me--is the kind of guy who Learns Everything about any label he knows applies to him #(but who dislikes not knowing so much that if the problem has no name he'll pretend it doesn't matter for as long as possible #(sooooo no diagnosis for him. sorry pal) #permasickfic #(trying to avoid the chronic illness tag but figured i should tag for it in SOME capacity as i suspect it squicks some people)

[earthnashes]

Hey ya’ll! For some reason I ended up thinkin’ a lot about past experiences in school and figured I’d write about a couple of ‘em. Since it might get long-ish I’ll put it all down underneath the cut, but in the meantime, unless you don’t mind me sharing my personal thoughts and stories at random here, I might make a separate blog for this stuff. We’ll see! o3o At any rate, those school stories!

I dunno if ya’ll know about this since I rarely ever mention it but I went to SCAD for college (Graduated like a year ago). And as much as I absolutely loved the majority of my time there, there were a couple of instances I don’t look back on fondly. :/

Aight so this first story was my first year in SCAD, and I was in my very first animation class. I fuckin’ loved this class, it was so much fun, we had to learn the old-fashioned way animations were made with flip-techniques and light tables and what have you. It was overall a good time. I met some good people there too, but I usually sat in the back corner and ended up talking with a group of folks the majority of the class. Keep in mind, we were allowed to have conversations while we worked.

I’ll admit I can get pretty loud; my voice just naturally carries and can raise in volume more than what’s normal, I guess. But at some point the professor decided the back corner was being too rowdy and instead of addressing everyone in that corner, she would specifically single me out. The first time or so I understood ‘cuz maybe I was being too loud and forgot to watch my voice, but the next couple days continued like that even when I wasn’t really talking and focusing more on working. It eventually lead to me just not talking all-together or keeping my answers short and low to avoid being singled out, but even then it still happened.

It eventually led to one day, before class starts and I hadn’t even set my stuff down that my teacher pulled me aside and asked if I could move to sit closer to her to “try something out”. She said it was to make sure I wasn’t “getting a rise out of my peers” or some shit like that, but I didn’t understand why she thought I was the source of it, but I complied anyway. Infuriated me and was so embarrassing to basically be made to sit in an isolated corner, so much so I remember calling my mom during class break in my car to avoid anyone seeing me upset.

Well lo-and-behold, a few days go by with me sitting in that little space and speaking to basically no one until class was over, and the corner carries on as loud and as rowdy as it had been without me. Professor can’t single me out this time, I’m not over there, so she addresses the entire corner. Eventually I’m allowed to sit wherever I want when she realizes, ya know, it isn’t me making all the noise or “getting a rise out of people”, but even after that she never singled anyone else out, or pulled anyone else aside. Didn’t even attempt to talk to the other people in the corner, just kinda. Left it at that?

Ever since that specific incident I kept to myself during class for the most part, but she had started calling specifically on me after that to share my thoughts to the class on whatever we were doing. Always said “I wanna hear what you think, Ashante’.” at some point during discussions. I don’t know why though, she hadn’t done anything like that before; maybe her strange way of apologizing or something. She eventually stopped, thank god, but it had bothered me for a while after, even after I passed the class.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another story in college that was sorta-kinda of the same vein happened I think still my first year at SCAD. This time it was in a different class, like a semester after the previous story, and it was a computer graphics class. I wasn’t very fond of this class but the teacher seemed okay, if a little boring. 

Uhhhh but anyway. We had an animation assignment and the first step of it was for everyone to do a storyboard of what we wanted to animate. I loved this project, it was the only real enjoyable one of the class, so of course I finished my storyboard and all that good stuff. The entire class turns the assignment in and we have a critique, like not one person missed this assignment and we all went up and presented what we had and we discussed. Two facts I want ya’ll to keep in mind is 1. the assignment was required to be turned in digitally so we could present it via projector, and 2. the professor participated in the critique, so he saw that literally everyone in the class did the fucking assignment and turned it in ON TIME, I need to stress that.

So, a few days pass, we’re working on our animations, and our grades are up for us to see on the online board thing; can’t remember what it was called but you were able to check whenever you want to keep tabs on your grade. So, I sit down at my computer and check my grade before class starts. I had kept a consistent high-B in this class, so imagine my complete shock when that shit was at a fucking D. My grade dropped from being like a 89 to a 69 in one week, and the only assignment that was turned in that could have affected it at that point was the storyboard one. So I look at that grade. It’s a fucking 0. I got a 0 on it. There’s no explanation, just a blank 0 staring back at me and I’m deeply confused.

That’s when my friend next to me asks “hey uh, what’d you get for your storyboard??” I told her, and she tells me she got the exact same thing. The dude next to us overhead and was like “wait, you too??? My grade dropped so low, what gives?” We end up asking the entire class and EVERYONE. GOT. A. ZERO. On this assignment. Everyone. So, we’re flabbergasted and there’s almost visible question marks above our heads, then the professor waltz in. We’re all kinda clambering for an explanation but he’s like “hold on, I need to say a piece before we start class”. After he sits his shit down he goes on to say “how disappointed he was” at us for not turning in the previous assignment and talks about how he’s never experienced having to fail an entire class like that before over one assignment. And of course everyone’s like ????????? You were there?? We had a critique?? YOU WERE ABLE TO ACCESS THEM ON YOUR COMPUTER????

And then he basically says “well, computer’s are never wrong, and as far as I see no one turned it in, so I’m afraid everyone will have to get a 0. Do better next time.″

So, we’re furious, but there isn’t a lot we can do when he kinda refuses to hear us out and starts the class. So during break, I tell my friend that I’m gonna try and talk to the professor. A few others decide to join me and about 6 of us approach him about it. I distinctly remember my friend hiding behind me when we proposed the possibility that, ohhh I dunno, the drop-box system glitched or some shit. Keep in mind that DropBox, which was a shared stashing system the professors made students use to turn their work in, is notorious for losing files. Every other professor I’ve had up to that point has warned us about it, some even barely trusted it to the point of just recommending us turning our work in via email.

He, again, refuses to hear us out because he claims “the computer doesn’t spontaneously glitch like that” DESPITE EVERYTHING. We’re arguing for a little bit before he doesn’t wanna hear it anymore and we’re told to basically drop it, and the group disperses. I’m the last one to try my luck with it, and he says if you have such a problem with it, we can talk about it sometime this week during my office hours. So I tell him absolutely, i’m not about to take a zero when I know I turned that shit in.

The day comes and I get to his office, and it isn’t just him in the office but also the Dean of that specific department. It catches me off guard a little but still, I’m thinkin’ alright, well maybe if he won’t listen the department head will. But I barely get a chance to talk, because before I really say anything the professor basically goes “so I’ve had a discussion with our dean here, and we’re both in agreement with my decision, but in case it’ll help you feel better he wanted to tell you in person.”

And the dean proceeds to say, and I quote, “Computers are not living entities who decide to delete things or have tiny little evil viruses that magically wipe away data. They do not make mistakes like people do. If the computer says you didn’t turn your assignment in, then you didn’t, and I need you to let go of the idea that something went wrong here because it didn’t. Okay sweetie?”

It’s one of the few instances I distinctly remember being spoken down to like I was a fucking idiot. He had his head tilted down and his eyebrows raised and he was kinda standing over me like he was trying to talk down a child and I hated it. The professor was off to the side just kinda nodding his head and it felt really strange to be in the office at that point. I didn’t wanna be there anymore so, I said thank you for your time, and the head just kinda smirked at me and left. I think it kinda shook me cuz I remember trying not to shake too much. The professor pulled me aside before I could leave and was apologizing for getting his supervisor involved, and said he hoped it answered any issues I may have had about the assignment problem.

I told him it did, then said “If I won’t get help from either of you, I’ll just take it to the president of the school.”

He said something along the lines of “if it makes you feel better, then okay”, and I left feeling some type of way. I hated it.

Soooo I do, I send an email to the president explaining the situation about the whole class being failed on this specific assignment, we trying to reason with the professor, him not trying to do anything about it and how the dean was equally unhelpful, and I can’t remember exactly what I said in the email but it was basically me asking her what steps I should take in order to rectify the issue. She didn’t actually reply to me, but not even two days after I sent the email the professor pulls me aside and basically says that he “gave it more thought” and made a point to say that, while he still stood by what he said about computers not being capable of glitching the way it had, he’d “give the whole class the appropriate grades” we deserved since he finally acknowledges that we did have a critique he was fucking present for.

My overall grade jumped from a 69 to a 90-something after I was given my actual grade. Everyone else’s grades came back up too. I’m almost sure i’m the only one who pursued it since he seemed to be pulling only me aside, but it’s awful convenient he changed his tune right after I emailed the president of the school, so I think she must’ve talked to him and the Dean at the very least.

I really didn’t like that professor after that.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Sooooo yeah. A couple of stories from school that really stuck in my memory despite it being years ago. I have a couple more I might share, most of them silly and fun but a few not so fun, but we’ll see! Maybe after I start a journal blog for the sole purpose of reblogging stuff and talkin’ my thoughts. I dunno, though. o3o

BUT in the meantime, feel free to share your own college/school experiences! I’m always interested to hear about how ya’ll went about school. O:

#earthsong talks

[otonymous]

Served (MLQC Victor) - Chapter 1: Hit and Miss

Description: Go ahead and give Victor a piece of your mind. Warnings: NSFW/18+:  Explicit/graphic language — reader discretion is advised.  Nb) This chapter is not smutty, but you best believe we’re gonna get there 😂   Word Count: 1424 words (~7 mins of…Victor being Victor) AO3: read here Author’s Notes:  Hey everyone!  This story is a BIG first for me, as I’m finally trying my hand at a something longer than a one-shot!  At the risk of sounding vague, I thought it would be fun to toy around with Victor for a bit, so let’s see how this works out LOL!  Hope you all enjoy it, and as always, happy reading!

Jump to other chapters: Chapter 2| Chapter 3| Chapter 4| Chapter 5

All characters & Mr Love: Queen’s Choice owned by Elex

“Fuck you, Victor.”

One blink, then another.  A slackening of the jaw as his mouth hangs open in surprise, practically imperceptible if you weren’t already staring intently at his face.  You find the sight strangely satisfying and it goads you onwards.

“I’ve fucking had it with you and your demands.  Our relationship is purely professional; why do I have to get your goddamn lunch?  Go get it yourself!”

Victor had been picking apart every second line in your proposal, and you just about had enough of his attitude after the word “idiot” had been tossed around for the tenth time.

Yes, you had been counting.

And when he ordered you in that tone of voice to get his lunch from the LFG office kitchen, that was the final straw that broke the back of an extremely tired, hungry and irritated camel.

At the back of your mind, you’re vaguely aware that you’ve scrunched up the proposal you spent all week preparing in your hand.  Victor’s copy lay on the imposing avant-garde desk in the middle of his office, pinned under the critical tip of his golden pen.

The ensuing silence, uncomfortably loud, stretches on for much longer than necessary for you to have made your point.  So you decide to speak.  

“Listen-“

“I’m sor-“

Except that Victor opens his mouth at the exact same time, and you question whether your ears were working properly.  Was Victor Li actually apologizing?

“Sorry, you go first.”  Suddenly feeling sheepish about your outburst, you gesticulate towards Victor, gaze flitting over his face en route to the buckles that decorated your taupe flats.  But what you saw in that split second scared you.

Were the features of Victor’s face even capable of drawing into such an expression?  Always self-possessed and brimming with a commanding confidence, the uncertainty in the violet-indigo of his eyes didn’t suit him.  The discomfort stirring in the pit of your stomach made you shift from foot to foot like a child awaiting impending punishment.

“Ahem.  You’re right.  I’m sorry.”

You never thought you’d hear the deep bass of his voice even so much as express remorse, let alone apologize.

“That’s okay.  I mean...I shouldn’t have swore at you.  My outburst was out of line.  Forgive me.”

“That’s fine,” his reply is clipped as he reaches for the intercom button on the phone on his desk.  “Jane, bring me the package in the kitchen.  The one in the fridge.  Thank you.”

Why’d you bother asking me to get your lunch if your secretary could’ve done it?!  The exchange you just witnessed had you thoroughly annoyed all over again, silently fuming until his secretary entered after two sharp raps on the heavy wooden door.  

“Here you are, Mr. Li.  Will you be requiring anything else?”  Jane was sharply dressed and spoke confidently as she placed a brown paper bag on Victor’s desk.  She was also devastatingly beautiful, a fact that annoyed you a lot more than it should have.  You relaxed your grip around the document in your hand as you stood a bit taller, wishing you wore heels instead of flats today.

“That’ll be all, Jane, thank you.”

Jane.  The way he said her name made you wonder how yours would sound rolling off the tip of his tongue.  Would it be equally pleasant?  But then again, anything sounded better than “idiot.”

Drawing himself up from his seat, Victor towers over you, imposing in the crisp perfection of his dark suit.  He holds out the paper bag and his next words effectively signal the end of your meeting:

“I’ll email you the rest of my thoughts on your proposal.  Have it amended for Friday.”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Four of the most juvenile looking bowls, each hand painted with the face of a dog bearing the most ridiculously cute expression.  Each containing the most ridiculously delicious pudding you had ever tasted in your life, the stuff of dulce de leche fantasies spun from the kitchen of Souvenir.  And an accompanying note, filled with the same handwritten scrawl that had dissected your proposal with brutal precision earlier that day, reading:

“As incapable of self-control as you are, try not to finish it all in one sitting unless you’re deliberately courting a stomachache like an idiot.”

And on the paper bag that had waited for you in the fridge of the LFG office kitchen, your name printed in the same hand.

Your heart ran the gamut of emotions: surprise, happiness, but above all, a deep remorse so unsettling you immediately tapped on Victor’s contact on your phone without thinking.

When he finally picked up after the fourth ring, uncharacteristic for Victor, the first thing you heard was the enticing laughter of a sultry soprano in the background.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?”  

His voice is raspy, prompting you to glance at the time on your open laptop at the foot of your bed.

1:45 am.  Shit.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!  I didn’t realize-“

“What do you need?”

Deep breaths.

“I...I just wanted to apologize for what happened earlier today.  Well, I guess technically, for what happened yesterday.”

“You already did.  Put it from your mind, I’ve already forgotten about it.”

Laughter again, this time, fainter in volume.  Subconsciously, you found yourself comparing the voice to Jane’s.  Or did it have the lilting quality of Loveland City’s latest cinematic sweetheart, Chik?  The head-to-toe in haute couture phenomenon who seemed hell bent on sweeping Victor off his feet as she did with the rest of the city’s fawning population. At least, that’s what the tabloids would have everyone believe.

Shaking your head free of useless thoughts, you refocused on the conversation at hand, hoping to catch Victor before he got impatient and hung up.

“No, Victor.  I meant to apologize for misinterpreting your intentions this afternoon.  I had no idea you asked me to get your lunch because...because you actually had a surprise gift planned for me.”

“...”

You were used to Victor’s awkward silences by now, on the phone and by text, waiting forever for the wave of ellipses to materialize into words that seemed far too simplistic to require that much forethought.

“If it’s any consolation, the pudding was delicious.”

“Did you already eat it all?”

“No, I only had one!  What do you take me for?  Wait, don’t answer that, I already know what you’re going to say.”

“Hm.  Seems like there is something you do know after all.”

“Is this a retaliatory dig for that time I laughed at you for asking whether it was possible to delete a sent text?  You know Mr Li, next time, don’t broadcast your sad lack of technological prowess on the internet if you don’t want to be made fun of.”

“Is this the real reason why you called me so early in the morning?  To pick a fight?”

“What?  No.  I told you, I...I misunderstood your intentions and I’m sorry for reacting the way I did.  I also wanted to thank you.  I can’t believe you remembered me complimenting your pudding!  That was months ago!”

“Well, you wouldn’t shut up about it.  Instead of letting one’s heart rule their head, I guess it’s your stomach that reigns supreme.  But you’re welcome.  Is there anything else?”

Normally, you couldn’t wait to be free of Victor, whether it was from the intensity of his gaze as you pitched ideas his way, or the scrutiny he subjected you to over the phone, asking twenty-one questions to which you only knew the answers to two.

So why did his asking “is there anything else” rankle you now?

“Um, just one more thing.  The bowls — they’re so interesting.  You wouldn’t happened to know the artist who painted them, would you?”

Silence again.  You strained to make out that twinkling laughter you heard earlier in the background as you waited for the LFG CEO to speak.  But the airwaves were silent save for the rise and fall of Victor’s breath telling you he hadn’t hung up yet.

“I painted the bowls.  If you don’t like them, feel free to throw them out.  And next time, don’t call me Mr Li.  Victor is fine.”

Click.  Beep, beep, beep.

It took a moment in your flabbergasted state to realize you still held the phone to your ear, the screen having gone dark long ago.

Victor just never struck you as the arts and crafts type.  The dogs with the lopsided faces told you the same.

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Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more!  Check out the rest of my work here! 📚

#mlqc #mr love queen's choice #love and producer #mlqc victor #mlqc li zeyan #li zeyan #mlqc fanfic #mlqc fic #fanfiction #my writing #elex

[shieldedsouls]

rules

    This is going to be a long post, and I apologise for that. However I do not apologise for putting my boundaries as clear as possible, and will not apologise for doing so. All of the rules below exist for a reason, and I have them for my own comfort. 

It is okay if you don’t agree with them but it’s not okay to ignore them. If you think you cannot follow the posted rules, then do not follow this blog. Thank you !!

General

  These are the basics, a re-hash of rules that almost everyone has but that I like to cover anyway just in case!

Read ALL important pages: rules, disclaimer, muse list & info for the muse(s) you want to interact with

Use proper punctuation and spellings to the best of your abilities

Mark clearly whether an ask is IC or OOC

No godmodding

No maiming, killing, etc. of my muses without my permission

No choosing of thoughts or big actions of my muses without my permission

Hate, anon or otherwise, will be reported and deleted. Users will be blocked. 

There may be an occasional mention that I do this if there’s some kind of repeat, but I will not place the content itself on the dash.

Asks and IMs are always welcome!!

More in the < Asks & Memes & Messaging > section

tracked tag is SHIELDEDSOULS and is the best chance of getting me to see a post. @’ing me will also work, but please be sure to use my url tag on top that! please also put somewhere which of my muse(s) the post is for.

Specifics

These are some of the rules that have been established over time for my own sake, and to make everyone’s time on here a lot easier!

Your age must be listed somewhere I can easily find it! I’m not comfortable writing some content with muns or muses who are under 18

If I cannot find that information I am unlikely to follow, and I will not write that content with you, as it’s safer to err on the side of caution.

If you are not comfortable with discussion and usage of DID ( dissociative identity disorder ) please do not follow as it ties heavily into my portrayal of Bucky Barnes and James ( the Winter Soldier ).  

It takes time for me to check through all my followers, so please don’t ask if I haven’t followed back right away or unfollow, unless I post very specifically about dumblr fucking things up.

There’s any number of reasons I may do either, but the more we happily interact and talk the more likely I am to follow or re-follow.

With rare exception, I will not interact with any blogs that contain digits in them.

Please, please, use regularly accepted punctuation within threads.

Please.

Do not spam-reblog from me, which is reblogging 3+ posts in rapid succession. It messes up my notifications and I lose other things.

Mark clearly between IC/OOC, and which muse or npc a message is for.

ALL PERSONALS WILL BE BLOCKED

unless I can tell with a glance that there are RP sideblogs attached to them

I love my ships and will not stop writing them for someone else’s sake. I tag all visual content, but if there’s a short tag or something to be added, give me a quick little heads-up and I’ll happily tack it on. Everyone wins!

If I cannot easily navigate a blog for information, I will not follow back

easy navigation includes:

rules page

disclaimer/ooc page of some kind

tagging system

cut posts

Formatting

this little section is for what to expect from me and my writing preferences, but it is a flexible section!

I do both regular capitalization and zero capitalization for threads, depending on partner and length of the thread

memes and asks will be done in whichever I’m feeling

I do small text ONCE for aesthetic, but will leave text regular size if asked

Headlines will be done in subtext size, again mostly for aesthetic

Parentheses and brackets will be bolded and italicized, on the whole

I will @ the url of the person who sent the ask or is part of the thread

thread partner urls will also have their muse’s name listed after a slash for further clarity

I occasionally use icons, but mostly for asks, dash commentary, or silly things

all icons are 100x100

I enjoy using bold, italics, and strikethrough, but that’s about the extent of my text formatting and I try not to overdo them too much

Asks & Memes & Messaging

Asks are open to everyone!

IMs are ooc and mutuals only.

If a meme is shippy or nsfw, it is mutuals only and will require previous interaction. 

All others are freebies!!

due to asks being fucked for formatting: i will tag the url of the sender on a new post, have a header to show which muse is answering, and tag the user within the post. i will also link it and privately answer the original ask where possible, to help ensure responses are seen.

for the time being I’m putting a graphic in the direct reply to an ask, adding a blockquote for tagging the sender, additional commentary, and the source meme if there is one

Any reply to an ask must be in a new post. Reblogged asks will be ignored.

Any messages saying ‘wanna rp?’ or asking for an IM will be deleted. I’m far more receptive to being approached with ideas to work with

Any messages that do no specify a muse will be deleted.

While not explicitly reblog karma, I am not a meme source and will talk to you if you always take memes from me but never send anything in or talk to me. Sometimes a meme doesn’t work and that’s fine, but there’s no excuse to never interact with me.

I often have a mix of platonic, general, and nsfw/shippy memes at my disposal, but feel free to improv something from the gist or edit sentences to suit our muses better!! Creative fun is why we’re here <3

OCS & Sideblogs & MuMus & Second-Gens

Information must be easy to navigate and read, same as for canons/single muse blogs!

Sideblogs, please list somewhere OBVIOUS what the main blog is called so I know what to look out for.

Mumus, I love you and your dedication, but I am most selective with you. Yes, even as a mumu myself.

The more fandoms covered and more muses included, the less likely I am to hop on board mostly because I prefer a clean dash.

If we’re close friends ooc I’ll likely be far more lenient

OCs with an mcu-canon faceclaim will not be accepted unless the muse has been around longer than the canon being cast or if they look markedly different than the canon ( Karen Gillan with all her hair vs as Nebula, for example ).

more in the < canons & fcs > section

Unless plotted otherwise, they will not know my muses, but they can know of my muses

Second-Gens ( kids of the original set(s) of main canons ) make me uncomfortable for a number of reasons, and so will be interacted with on a case-by-case basis.

I am unlikely to follow unless we know each other very well ooc

Canons & FCs

Again, OCs with mcu-canon faceclaims will not be interacted with unless they meet at least one of the two criteria listed above.

However, if I pick a FC for someone related to this blog that isn’t canon, it’ll likely be shrugged off as uncanny lookalike, or we can otherwise plot around it. 

Animated FCs are welcome, but I’ll admit that specifically anime blogs are unlikely to be interacted with. Sorry

If a canon has an alternate faceclaim: cool! Just have it listed somewhere obvious, please

FCs I will not interact with: Mark Sheppard, Selena Gomez, Mads Mikkelsen, Miley Cyrus, Justin Beiber, Sara Bareilles, Andrew Scott, Zooey Deschanel, Natalie Dormer. The list may be periodically updated; yes, it is okay to ask me about specific names and why these ones are listed.

Shipping

There will be a good deal of F/F, F/M, and M/M on this blog both in visual and text. 

May ( read: probably will ) include three+somes. 

Implication and mention to graphically clear are likely, and will be tagged.

By default, ALL my muses are single, with the noted exceptions of Frigga ( until Odin chooses to pass ) Dugan and Peggy if it’s circa 1952-after, and Sam who is widowed and single post-2012, unless plotted otherwise.

Please don’t assume there will be a ship between your muse and mine without plotting first, positively or negatively !!

Specific to Peggys: don’t be alarmed by my above warning, Dugan/Peg is my muses only and not something I expect to be followed. I will also not expect a ship with Steve.

specific to Steves: I will not expect a ship with Peggy, Bucky, or Sharon

However, Bucky loves Steve, bordering on obsessively. Whether it’s platonic, romantic, or completely one-sided pining is up to plotting and muse chemistry.

if we are writing stucky, Bucky is the one who will be in it first.

James is incredibly anxious about dealing with Steve for many reasons, and more anxious about the possibility of infringing on Bucky’s territory.

It is one of few ships that will require Bucky’s active participation if you want James involved, because James will refuse Steve otherwise.

if we are writing steggy, it will not be eg-canon compliant

Specific to Peppers: Tony cares ( depending on point in time, deeply ) for her, but I will not expect a ship and it must be plotted out. 

They could be exes, almosts, currently dating, platonically attached, whatever we would like! But it must be plotted.

specifically for Janes: I do not automatically lead with fosterson! My default is somewhere between slow burn infatuation or mutual, friendly separation. Thor adores her in any type of relationship though, and supports her endeavors and enthusiasms

For Bucky and James, dating one of them does not mean you have to be dating the other.

It would be marginally easier depending on time and verse tho

Specifically for Natashas: I include the generality of James being at the Red Room, but we must plot about including the affair or not. It is not my default canon.

if we are defaulting to winterwidow, James is the one most familiar with her, not Bucky. James was the fronting personality when they originally met, and Bucky’s recollection of events will be hazy if present at all.

If you want to ship Nat with Bucky, it must be plotted and must account for the prior/continuing relationship with James

For Sharon, she has no romantic interest in men ( yes including Steve ).

if she ends up with a comics-inclined verse this may change but will still require heavy plotting.

I will not be ship-exclusive with any blogs

I will have mains but it’s on unofficial terms

For all my writing partners: I will happily plot ships, and details! But I won’t have an assumed prior romantic/sexual history between our muses.

Again, I know this bit is particularly long !! But it’s very necessary for my comfort and yours as a baseline of whether we might get along or not. Thank you again for pulling through all the reading; if you’re staying, awesome !! If you’re not, I’m sorry to see you go but I hope you find the writing happiness you want <3

#( rules ) #long post for ts

[yvngbin]

hello i’m arriving to the party an entire day late and this is Not Surprising at All to anybody who knows me slightly well because i’m late to everything. said late writer is ya boy , felix  ! i’m 20, i use he / him pronouns, annnd you don’t wanna know about me, you want to know about actual Nerd incarnate , yongbin .

his stats are here ,  bio is being rewritten because my dumbass deleted it from my drive , and all i have left to say is that you can like this if you want me to message you on here or discord to plot instead, since i’m usually faster on there … usually …

note: talks of surgery / birth defects,  &  kinda nsfw

⦑ felix. / 20. / gmt. / he/him. ⦒ woah ! tell me i did not just see cho yong bin walk past us, they’re the child of the cho family right ? they’re twenty three now, so i wonder if they’re here training to become an anarchist hacker. i heard they’re really intuitive & vexatious, so i’d say stay away from them unless you really wanna try your luck. no wonder they’re so notorious though, with the face of byun baekhyun i’d be interested in them as well. anyway, back to what i was saying. - yongbin, pain in the ass, and his most common sobriquet, zero ( name’s inspired by binary code btw ) , was a self taught anarchist hacker , but he sure as hell hasn’t been doing it for free all this time. he’s immensely adept and writes concise code and thoroughly enjoys annoying people and wreaking havoc in that precise order.

- hacker is kind of a blanket term, bin’s speciality was in blackmail, identity theft, exploiting vulnerabilities in various networks and systems, and causing all sorts of chaos online. when he was younger and before he was intimately familiar with the academy, he offered out his services to online rebel groups ( both good and bad ) and wasn’t officially apart of any system or group.

- this was subject to change a few years later when he was caught out on a slight mistake tracing back to his ip, assessed by an official representative of the school, who was impressed by his abilities and offered him an ultimatum: to join the academy or go to a detention camp.

- behind the screen bin was born with a pretty serious congenital heart defect. he needed surgery to survive, if only temporarily. every ten years or so, he’d have to do the same, with more or less no guarantee that they would all be successful. ( i would like to think that when he joined the academy some sort of technology maestro has helped him w / his respiratory issues so lmk if there’s a potential plot link there )

- bin is also an orphan who went through a very jaded system . he never knew his parents and frankly doesn’t care to know them, but little does he know that they have been tracing him from birth and were the sole reason why he got his place in the first place, ultimately unable to take care of him when their careers, both arms dealers, were too dangerous for a kid. his craft and experiences with life has made him instinctively cynical about his parents’ generation so like.. trusting an institution full of teachers their age was not and would never have been an ‘ideal’ for him. 

- his part time job used to be at a pc repair shop and he liked working there a lot, most people would question why he’d ultimately then go on to ruin a life he was happy with just to constantly risk getting into trouble. yongbin’s answer ? Because he’s Chaotic Neutral Thats Why

- socially, surprisingly unlike how most hackers are portrayed as nerds w sellotape on their glasses n a pocket protector ( he has a pocket protector but thats besides the point ) zero is outgoing in school and onwards, liked seeing what other people were interested in, pushing boundaries and keeping up with his friends just by listening and absorbing information.

- he isn’t exactly well liked, because his brain to mouth filter malfunctioned a lot of times which caused friction, But he definitely knows how to make and maintain friendships if you can handle him vanishing off the face of the earth and replying to your text from two weeks ago at 4 am like wyd

PERSONALITY

- zero’s life has mostly been not very fun, and he definitely realises this, but he’s not really the type to sit around and cry about it. mostly, he tries to take it with a stiff upper lip and a good sense of humour. he’s snarky and dry and enjoys getting into cyber-wars with other comp nerds in his limited friendship group. he definitely also enjoys sending lil viruses to other ppl in hearst just to let you know just how much your firewall sucks

- he’s got a real bad habit of getting wayyy in over his head with things. he’s like, a lil bit of a troublemaker — a back-talking, muttering under his breath, sneaking into places he shouldn’t, kind of troublemaker, but nothing too offensive. however, he sometimes gets into Actual Trouble because he makes the world’s worst choices and follows the world’s worst people’s advice. his personal motto is, “oh fuck. why?”

- he can be affectionate and immensely appreciative of anyone who’s genuinely kind toward him, even if his pride won’t let him come right out and say so. he’s p creative and resourceful — definitely can think you out of a pinch, even if he’s not so great at solving his own shit.

- friend wise, he’s attentive and thoughtful; sharp as a tack, funny as anything, and would totally rather help you out with your problems than get into deep discussions about his because opening that big ol book of issues is not gonna be fun for Anybody - romantically he’s inwardly pansexual for a long while but to people around him that probably.. wouldn’t be that big of a surprise. don’t talk to him about real love though he really is a computer machine with 0 emotions in that realm

tinie headcanon list because ive been slowly gathering them in my head for Days

-  has a handful of piercings on his ears , but the one he’s known for most is his labret piercing

- has a chameleon called cookie and donates to a dog shelter wherein his favourite stray dog ( known as flash ) lives. and yes he’s naming them after computer terms. no he wont Reconsider

- proud owner of 1 terabyte of hentai stored on his external hard drive that he’d gladly d*e for n is not ashamed of it in the slightest this zone is kink shame free !!!!

- loves to go exploring around the grimier parts of the academy and places you rlly wouldn’t expect him to be to clear his mind. abandoned classrooms, warehouses, etc.

- talk to him about conspiracy theories about alien life forms for a friend

- has absolutely awful hand eye co-ordination despite it playing in to a big part of their training so just know he’s probably dying first, or just teach him to throw a punch and not somehow hurt himself ? Blease

- sticks his tongue out while he’s hacking or doing anything that requires concentration. can’t multi-task and will ignore everything in his general surroundings to give 110 percent to whatever he’s doing.

- is a scorpio so sorry u cant trust anything he says i dont make the rules the astrological gods do

that’s all i’ve got up to now and i hope this gives you a bit of background into what he’s about. i think i’ll finish here before i write more trash so [ hacker voice ] im out

#hearst.intro #now to completely revamp my theme bc its ugly #this is also embarrassingly long #hnyways #we in this bitch.. finna get crunk !

[notimetoanalysee]

Real li(e/fe)

This is sick. Truly, inexplicably sick. Shifting attention from one stimulus to another. From messaging your loved ones to replying customers. Checking Instagram, while deciding to book a flight and then in a moment of recall in mind that you wanted to see that deep movie.

Oh.

What a pity.

You don’t have enough time for everything.

I spilled my coffee on the table while typing this. My hands are slightly shaking — although I’ve taken 3 pills of tranquilizers today.

Wait, and we (me and a friend of mine) wanted to make a podcast.

This is too much.

All of these.

Too. Fucking. Much.

We should stop.

We should stop posting so many “content-in-order-to-create-even-more-content”. We should talk less. We should do our jobs without switching to small talks every ten minutes.

We ought to stay sane.

We need to stay focused in order to stay alive.

In the morning, I was looking out of my window and staring at the schoolyard nearby. And there was something that drew my attention. The gateman was withdrawing mobile phones from kids. I stared at this scene and a thought rushed in my head: “I wish I went to this school.”

Afterward, I did my usual morning routine — ten minutes of yoga, coffee and — opening my Mac in order to start checking emails and dive in the online world of my usual job tasks.

I woke up at 8 pm — no, I didn’t sleep during the day, but my mind went automatic — I was replying to my work emails, cooking, washing my clothes, I even talked to my loved ones — and yet I felt like I slept for the whole day. My brain was in a stupor. My hands were shaking.

I was confused.

Multitasking, they say.

Gosh.

I felt I needed even more tranquilizers.

I don’t like an exaggeration. I don’t want to lie — not every day is like today. Sometimes I manage to work until late at night and stay fully awake while having a lot of things on the go. I manage not to have enough sleep and yet perform well in my daily life.

And yet — today’s condition is rather normal, than rare.

And I ask myself — what should I do? I turned off almost all notifications.

Trust me, I’m not a newbie in psychology — I am quite familiar with a concept of deep work and I read “Flow” by Csikszentmihalyi (although, I had to google his surname again).

But still — how much discipline does it take to stay awake and be present?

How do you separate your work from your relationships, when both are 80% in your iPhone?

Should we delete messengers when we work?

I do a lot of stuff to clear my weekends — I don’t check Facebook, I turn off all notifications from Outlook, I try to read more (although, I still use my iPhone for this).

Regardless, I quite often find myself lost in thoughts and misfocused from a current task, whatever it is.

There is a place for great insight — “Eureka! I have found a solution!”

But I haven’t.

I try to implement enough discipline in my life — yoga, reading every day at least 20 minutes, long walks, almost no notifications from messengers (unless I push the button and check it deliberately), regular uninstalling of time-consuming apps (Instagram mostly), never installed Facebook app on my phone and I even found a widget for unfollowing everyone there (including groups and pages).

It’s better now.

But the battle is still going.

And what happens nowadays?

We use social media as platforms for selling. We use it for propaganda. We use it for sharing our views on eating, sport, exercise, a way of living, our political views and, moreover, we post too much. The first second you are bored — the next second you’re posting some memes/selfies/quotes on your Instagram page.

That’s still okay (!).

We can use social media for self-soothing. For raising awareness. We communicate through social media. We influence. We shape thoughts. We create ideas. We can post whatever we want.

But the more followers you have — the bigger is your power of influence. If you follow someone — you are ultimately vulnerable. You can read some post at the wrong time. You can perceive a wrong idea of someone’s life. When sad or lonely, you can beat yourself mentally even more by looking at polished and perfect pictures of your friends/bloggers/anyone you follow. When in a creative crisis, you can shut down your authentic voice just by contemplating too much information from other artists.

The list is never-ending.

If we have accounts, if we follow — we should stay vigilant. We should be aware.

Information is the power — and it’s a time bomb too.

When you wake up in the morning and grab your phone — stop for a moment. Are you truly ready to perceive tons of opinions, thoughts, advice, states, ideas, comments, pictures, etc.?

Did you check how you feel? Did you complete your own morning routine before entering a world of information — which is determined to shift your attention from important things — just because it’s supposed to function that way?

Just because every application is made with a purpose to hold your attention longer.

To make you feel comfortable and stay for a while. Checking your friends’ photos. Then following this inspiring influencer. Then learning some skills through social media (languages or even psychology).

I recently understood — I learned very little from years of following micro-influencers or yoga-accounts.

Real studying happens in real life.

I do not in any way discredit online-studying. Trust me, I prefer a good informative webinar to courses where I have to wake up early and go the opposite end of the city in order to understand that, in fact, this lecture is a total waste of time.

We’re not talking about these cases.

This is about social media.

That is simply not designed in the way that your brain is able to focus. You see a huge long-read from someone wise and yet you have this “heart” and “add a photo” buttons on the bottom. And your brain simply can’t focus fully — so you’re wasting your energy by trying to focus so hard (oh, and someone-you-never-met just started a live video! what great news!)

You got the point.

If you want a long read — go on Medium, The New Yorker, buy a Bookmate subscription, check your favorite news websites.

But don’t expect anything truly profound from social media platforms. Use it as a tool or as a place to communicate with your friends. But don’t expect that following “Easy-English/Spanish/whatever” accounts will make you more proficient.

It won’t.

Social media are not designed for any kind of deep and concentrated work — and this is a relief.

We can post cat pics.

We can stare at nice outfits.

But let’s not replace learning anything from social media. Real skills require real efforts.

So, if your hands are shaking like mine today. If you feel lost and confused and yet find yourself in scrolling an Instagram feed in a search of answers or your daily-dose-of-philosophy.

Better read a book or some article. Watch a good movie. Go for a long walk in the park. Talk to your loved ones — or go meet them in real life.

If you want to learn a language — start with books, not with accounts on Instagram that will be lost in a news feed among photos of cute cats and your classmates that you haven’t met for years.

This is a very trivial truth, and yet it takes a lot of courage to stop pinning your hopes on the small orange icon on the screen of your smartphone.

[thecodekeeper]

HOW I RUN MY BLOG.

SPEED:  Basically anyone who has ever rp’d with me will tell you that I’m slower than molasses. I very much take the whole “rping is a hobby” thing to heart so I don’t stress about replying in a timely manner. I prefer to give my partners the best and most cohesive replies possible and sometimes that process can take weeks or months. I do try and answer one or two things every day but it doesn’t always work out that way. Speed is increased tenfold if my partner discusses our thread and/or characters with me.  If you send in something for a headcanon I’ll probably take up to a month or more to reply. Anonymous asks get priority because I don’t always know who sent them. 

REPLIES : In terms of length, I usually give at least one paragraph for unplotted asks (unless they’re crack). Headcanons take longer but they are also (usually) big and well-thought out. The time i take is usually used to do research and organize my thoughts. Headcanon responses can be anywhere from 4-10 paragraphs. As far as threads go I don’t generally do well with one-liners. They’re the first to get dropped. I have the most consistently fast speed with things that are 3-4 paragraphs. But I can also be unintentionally lengthy so I’ve had threads which were about  9-10 paragraphs, although that’s definitely not the norm. Plotted things are always longer than unplotted and less likely to get dropped (read: won’t unless requested).

STARTERS  :  I don’t post starter calls anymore because I rarely remembered to write up the starters for them. I also have so many threads at this point that it became a bit overwhelming. I’m much more likely to post a plotting call and then write us up something from there or send in a meme if I don’t have time to write up a multi-paragraph starter. I don’t like one-liner starters, especially if we have plotted something so those usually don’t even get replied to. I also require brainstorming so if my partner can’t do that, or won’t participate, I generally won’t bother writing anything up.

INBOX  : I love random messages in my inbox. Anything from crack to headcanon questions. They give me life and motivation. While random IC things are only for mutuals anyone (including personals) is allowed to send in hc questions or ooc questions to the mun. As far as memes go I love receiving them. All my mutual followers are free to spam me to their hearts content. Just know that I a.) tend to go through them and delete what Teague isn’t feeling (hence why spamming is encourages) and b.) I take a while because I get distracted and I prefer to give a more lengthy response. Anons are encouraged to send in meta questions, but as stated above, unless I know who you are please don’t send anything in as an NPC or ic canon character.

SELECTIVITY  : I’m highly selective with who I follow. If I follow you I want to write with you. I don’t collect followers and if that’s your angle please don’t follow me. I’m also exclusive with a fair number of blogs. The reason being that I’ve been writing Teague for approximately 3 years in that time I’ve built up a lot of my canon, verses, and continuity around these other portrayals of muses. I prefer a consistent continuity and timeline on this blog and as such prefer exclusivity. All that said I’m aware that I’m the only Teague blog in a very small fandom that consists mostly of Jacks, Elizabeths, and Barbossa’s so (as holmes can attest) I’m very open to discussing generalized non-hc specific relations with other muns. Basically, what I’m saying is never be afraid to approach me.

WISH LIST  : So many. I would love to have a more in-depth development of Teague’s ship and crew. He’s an excellent captain but doesn’t have the best people skills and I’d always love to explore his dynamic with his crew because they’re like his unofficial children at this point. Many of my au’s are unused but they are there for a reason. I’d specifically love to explore my HP verse, hunger games, and 100% his musician verse. Also, this he has way too many friends at this point and I feel like he needs more enemies to even out his ratio.

HONEST NOTE  : Some random, useless facts: I love cats. I love dogs. I love anything fluffy and cute tbh. I’m an INTP 953 (9w8, 5w4, 3w4) with an sx/sp stacking. Teague is an ESTP 864 (8w9, cp6w7, 4w5) with an sp/sx stacking. As you can probably guess I’m very into MBTI and enneagram because I think it’s a great way to gain a baseline for someone’s personality. I’ve been told I'm “consistently very realistic” and I consider myself to be immensely chill. I try to remain impartial on most things and for the most part, it’s worked out well for me. I like to be upfront about who I am as a person. That said, I’m a pretty distant friend. I’m not interested in the sjw discourse or the callout-out culture. I’m really only interested in discussing our muses and different plots. While I’m open to other topics like graphic making, coding, and occasionally giving advice I prefer to not get too personal with people. I’m a very analytical person. I like to dissect characters I don’t tip-toe around “problematic” topics such as abuse in my ic or ooc writing because I’ve been writing this stuff for years and I’ve done my research. If that bothers you it’s probably best not to follow. On the flipside, I’m very interested in hearing your genuine opinion on things and it’s impossible to insult me, so take that as you will.

TAGGED BY  :  @trickstercaptain

TAGGING  : ​ @kingfckr @crimscnmalice @ladylannistcr @khruseos @handofhonor @dreadfamed @notlikegcds @laughcrime

#ooc tag.

[mottlemoth]

Leave it to me to go offscript, but my question isn't on the list, and it's one I've been meaning to ask. What's your writing process like? Do you write fairly clean drafts that require a minimum of polishing? Or are they akin to vomiting words and require several passes to edit, tighten and polish?

Redsie, my darling, I would go offscript for you any time.

My process, and how much editing I do, varies dramatically from chapter-to-chapter and day-to-day. I’ll try and go through this in detail, in case it’s helpful for anyone. 

And I’m popping this under a cut for the sake of people’s dashboards.

As a general rule, a chapter will take me several sessions of work. When I settle to write at the start of each session, I usually start by reading back through what’s there. I’ll tidy up any typos, watch out for repeated words (Mycroft whimpers a lot in my first drafts) and just give it all a gentle fluffing while I get cosy again in the sound of my own voice. 

When I’ve finished a chapter (or a short story, such as Kit or Diogenes) I’ll then close the file and let it sit overnight - or ideally for a couple of days - while I work on something else. 

It means that when I reopen it some time later, to get it ready so that you guys can have a read, I’ve slept and I can process it with a clean brain.

I then read my way through, listening for ‘pings’.

‘Ping’ sounds when a sentence doesn’t read quite right just yet. It flags up something that seems a little clunky, a little laborious, a repeat of something that’s already been established, or something a bit too fluffed-up and melodramatic. A lot of my personal ‘pings’ can be fixed by shifting something into the active voice, or by taking out unnecessary adverbs - or, if it’s really vexing me and I can’t work out why, it sometimes turns out I don’t want that sentence there at all.

So I brush my way gently through the chapter, combing out pings, watching for repetition, spotting touch-ups I could make. For example - recently I’m more selective with my adverbs. I’ve been running sentences through my mind with the adverb, and then without it, and quite often it turns out the sentence is happy without it. (If I like the adverb, then fuck it - the adverb stays. It’s my story and if Greg fucks the guy gently, he’s going to fuck him gently.)

I’ve also recently been looking out for ‘ping’  when I’ve used ‘-ing’ forms of a verb where the simple ‘-ed’ form would do. (”Mycroft was searching through the drawer.”) If I get a ping reading that (and sometimes I won’t! And it’s fine!) then I’ll trial ‘Mycroft searched through the drawer’ - and if that seems tidier, I’ll replace it.

I do things like try and keep dialogue to three or four sentences/utterances per go. (“Are you serious, Myke? We already ate there last week. I’m so sick of noodles.”) I saw it suggested somewhere as a tip, and I tried it - and I think it’s nice. So I use it now, unless it’s inconvenient - in which case my dialogue chunks will be as long as I like.

An important part of my editing process is the saving of cut bits. 

This is vital for me. 

I have files and files of them - sentences, paragraphs, entire scenes, entire chapters. I don’t ever delete a thing. I worked hard on those words. They’re good words, and I’m glad that I wrote them. Just because they don’t fit in the finished version of the story that I want to show you guys, it doesn’t mean that they’re bad words. So they go safe into a file to be kept, in case I want to use them some day.

If the brushing process was tough, or it took a while, I might put the chapter away again for another night. 

Essentially, when I can read through it all without sensing pings, just happily following along with what’s happening, I know it’s ready for you guys. Onto AO3 it goes.

All of this assumes that the underlying actions and events within the chapter are fine.

Which brings me onto The Case of Excultus.

I cannot begin to tell you the amount of editing (and trouble) that has gone into some sections of 'Skultus.

On two separate occasions, I’ve developed seriously swampy feelings while drafting, wondering why I’ve slowed down, what’s wrong with me, what the hell’s the matter. On both occasions I realised after several days of fretting that scenes had somehow been delivered to me (and I’d written them down) in the wrong order. Something in chapter twenty-seven actually needed to go in thirty. This bit from chapter thirty-one needed to go into twenty-eight. TJ can’t say that bit there; but without that line, that whole section can go four days back in time, and then it makes more sense.

(If you’re interested, the major turbulence struck chapters 27-32. I’ve undergone further problems in 41-44.)

Excultus has been a lot of work at times. This business of plot events in the wrong order has never happened to me before. I’ve also had to rescue Mycroft from several inconvenient mental breakdowns. I’ve had to wade into the two of them having furious arguments, and zap entire scenes to prevent it happening. I had to stop them having sex four times before they were allowed. I’ve had to take entire sex scenes out of the latter chapters, scenes that I adore, because they were too funny, too light - because they’re not fitting with that low thrumming cello you can all hear.

East End Boy wasn’t like this. I have very few cut bits from East End Boy - and they’re all cosmetic things, phrases and sentences and paragraphs, rather than entire 5000 word chapters like Excultus. 

At times, Excultus has been like vomiting things up that turn out to be something I haven’t even eaten yet. Or vomiting things up that are just the wrong type of vomit entirely. 

Some sections were breezy - especially the earlier parts. All they needed was that gentle brushing. The events happening were fine; character reactions to them were fine; everything was okay to go.

But the rest has sometimes felt like putting myself through a mangle.

It’s wholly worth it. 

Entirely worth it. 

The more work I put into ‘Skultus, and the more problems I surmount, the more I adore it. It’s been a vicious little snake to me at times. Weird things have happened, things I don’t understand until chapters later. I’ve loved every second of it.

I’d hate for anyone to think I slide this stuff out of nowhere.

But at the same time, I’m frankly horrified by the way some writers talk about editing. All this ‘slash things up’, ‘kill your babies’ crap - ‘delete at least so much of the first draft’. ‘Never use adverbs’.

No. 

Nonsense. 

Not helpful, not okay.

And not true.

Editing is brushing. Grooming. Gently working tangles out of this beautiful thing you have made, so that it’s smooth and easy and enjoyable for people to run their minds through. 

Even in the worst case scenario, when The Powers That Be decide to send me entire sections of story in the wrong order, it’s been utterly fixable. It just takes some time to think, a deep breath to say, “Okay, something’s not quite right here,” and the courage to wonder. 

“I wonder if Myke really needs to react that angrily.” 

“I wonder if I could replace this bit with a text conversation instead. That might be simpler, and fun to write.”

“I wonder if I have this discussion with Luke come earlier, then the scene later doesn’t need to include him and it solves the issue of why they’re at Scotland Yard. They can be at home instead.”

I’m ultimately a believer that you should write the things you want to read.

You should write your own favourite stories, and you should write them the way you want them to be. 

When a work is finished - finished for good, and I’ve written ‘The End’ - I’m far more inclined to leave it as it is and begin a new project, than start suddenly ripping up the foundations and changing plot or structure. I’ve been there, and it hurts. I’ve never seen it work out for the better, either. I’d rather start something fresh with what I’ve learned, than get into making huge changes. 

When the house is built, you can only amend so much. 

So you’re worried that you put the porch on wonky - that’s fine. Now you know how to make porches. Put a really posh one on the next house.

I wish I had a ‘just written’ chapter and a brushed one to show you all. I’ll see if I can remember to do that when I’ve finished Chapter 47.

This has become a very long reply - to a question I could probably have answered with ‘a bit of both’. 

I just remember the person I was several years ago, and how desperately she needed to hear this. The word ‘editing’ used to paralyse me to the heart - because I thought it meant taking a sledgehammer in both hands to the thing you love. 

It really doesn’t. 

It’s about giving it more love - stroking through to spot those pings, working them out, and reminding yourself how well you’ve done.

[fallingxslowly-archived-blog]

RULES

This is an INDEPENDENT MULTI MUSE RP blog for the characters of shows such as Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, Supergirl and the Disney Move Descendants, the characters of this blog include; A human/AI personification of Gideon, Leonard and Lisa Snart, Mick Rory, Axel Walker, Hartley Rathaway, Kara Danvers,Winn Schott Jr, Harry Hook and Isabelle (Tinkerbells daughter)

ABOUT THE MUN

      Both mun and my muses are of legal age (mun is 24+, while muses are canon age ), however in a few verses my muses are underage so there will be no NSFW whatsoever. I find it very difficult to interact with child characters so will rarely ever accept a thread if the muse is under sixteen unless it is due to a meme. 

      Penname is Amy, I use she/her pronouns. I live in Britain so am on the GMT timezone (I think it’s GMT +1 but I’m useless with this stuff so I’m sorry if I’m wrong)

        My blog usually states that I am Semi-Hiatus, this is because I am usually either in work, babysitting my sister or just don’t have the energy to write. When I do have the chance to write then usually I will write everything and then post them slowly or queue them all depending on how I feel about a thread at that time.

         A lot of my icons are made by myself, I am currently redoing a number of them for some characters but have some 100x100px ones under icon edits that I made available to people to edit themselves if they so wish. The icons that weren’t made by myself are my Kara icons (unfortunately I can’t find who to credit for them)

          I’ll be the first to admit that I post A LOT of ooc stuff (I usually delete it because it’s just to clear my mind), if you don’t want to see it then ((out of snark: ooc)) is my tag so blacklist it.

         I was a media student for four years and in those four years I studied about five creative writing courses that drilled into me the need for character building so OC’s are difficult for me to get my head around.

BLOG

       After deliberation I have decided to make the blog a mutuals only blog.

       I am OC friendly, but my muses need to ‘click’ with the characters because otherwise it would be forced and it will be bad for both of us, I WILL NOT interact with characters that are product of incest, and I will not interact with characters that are all powerful with very little thought put into them to balance it out. 

       I don’t follow personal blogs and if someone follows me, I sometimes block them if there is no indication that they are an rp blog or have a sideblog so please be careful with following me; at least let me know via IM if you have a side blog.

        Cutting posts is difficult for me when I am on mobile so I apologise in advance. If I am on mobile then I will either tag it, or I will warn you in advance.

         I will very rarely do about the mun posts, if they interest me then I’ll do them but sometimes I just haven’t got the time to do them.

CANON DIVERGENCE AND VERSES FOR CW SHOWS

          This blog is canon divergent the majority of the time, I will do threads that follow series two of Legends if it’s requested but otherwise it my threads will remain canon divergent, the main differences are:

           Leonard is alive, he did die to begin with but he was just sent through time and awoke in Central City not long after the invasion.

           Kendra and Carter did leave and the crew were scattered but for how long is unclear so Nate was required to join and Amaya joined because of Thawne

            To Gideon, Sara was NEVER Captain, she may have been co-captain but Rip is always her Captain, she will never go against him, and she would never hide anything from him if it meant that harm would befall someone on the crew, or something could cause the mission to go wrong.

Flash differences:

           Axel only stayed in jail for a small amount of time due to ‘good behaviour’ but he is also weary about Jesse’s claims to him being the Tricksters heir

           Hartley isn’t a good guy although he’s not a bad guy either, he’s a Rogue for hire

Supergirl differences:

           Kara isn’t in a relationship with Mon-El UNLESS STATED!! same with Winn and Lya.

MY VERSES ARE OPEN, I usually end up creating a new one every week so feel free to give me a reason to keep them

INTERACTIONS

         So as I’ve said, I’m a multi-muse blog, a lot of people are put off by this I know, but it’s easier for me if I have one blog rather than a number of sideblogs because I have tried that once before and it didn’t work.

         If you want to send a meme then please, please, PLEASE, state the character you want, I have TEN muses so it becomes extremely difficult to choose who to answer with and not everyone is happy with my choice.

          I will try and add a character when I send a meme but in all honesty, I do forget from time to time.

          Each of my muses are different, and I play them differently; however their backgrounds remain the same, if you aren’t happy with how I play my characters then you can leave my blog, simple as that.

           Please tag your stuff, it’s not triggering to me, however I know a number of things can be triggering to my own followers and it will be easier for me as I am never completely sure about what to tag and what not to tag.             Never EVER godmod unless you have my permission, I dislike it greatly when someone decides my character is going to do something in their reply and actually writes them doing it. My characters are my own and even if you portray them somewhere else, we have separate minds. I will ALWAYS ask before directing your muse somewhere if out PLOT called for it.

              Due to being on mobile a lot, I am unable to reblog asks as threads without difficulty, so please make a new thread for it. You don’t have to link it to the ask, a title works perfectly. THREAD RULES

          I’m comfortable doing one liners, but they will sooner or later be turned into paragraphs and maybe even multiparagraphs (I’ve gone from one to six in two replies before now).

            I will use icons from time to time, I usually prefer beginning a new thread (particularly with someone new) with an icon but after a few replies they tend to be lost. Sometimes I’ll use gifs too but not always and don’t worry about using them yourself.

           I will happily add characters to our threads if needed, I don’t mind playing other CW or Disney characters, plus it gives me more inspiration and may result in more characters on my crew. HOWEVER, please, if you want to add characters, write them as well, don’t leave it all to me. NSFW AND SEXUALITY

           I’m a bit grey when it comes to the area of smut, I won’t write sex……..but describing situations for my characters I can do if it means teasing my RP partners muse. So NSFW will happen but open smut won’t……if that makes sense.

          ALL of my characters are within the LGBTQ+ community, I don’t even know why, they just come to me like that: The Snarts and Axel are Pan, Mick, Kara, Winn, Harry and Isabelle are Bi, while Hartley is gay and Gideon is Asexual

           Please tag your NSFW stuff, if you don’t then I will unfollow you. I have a nine year old sister who walks into my room without knocking so for NSFW stuff to appear on my dash……that would end bad.

SHIPPING!

         I am a multiship blog.

          I LOVE both platonic, familial and romantic ships.

          I’m open to new ships and will try anything as long as there is chemistry there and as long as it’s not incestuous.

          HOWEVER, I will NOT ship anyone other than Rip Hunter with Gideon, and that’s because of the chemistry they have on screen, not only that but the only Rip that I would romantically ship Gideon with is my main Rip as long as they are open to it. I will not ship her sexually with anyone because she is an AI, she is not human, no matter how human she acts. Whatever ship Gideon will have will be either platonic or familial

           I will be creating tags for my ships so that I have subverses for my main verses just to make things easier (even though it’s more complicated to do)

Crossovers

          I AM crossover friendly, however, there are only a few that I feel comfortable enough to do with my muses due to their medium and their backgrounds.

         Crossovers I am willing to do include (this list may be added too in time):

                 Prison Break

                 Doctor Who

                 Marvel (in moderation)

                 Leverage

                 Firefly 

#rules update #((psa)) #((you never leave a man behind (rules))

[kierongillen]

How do you get into being a freelance writer?

I left my job as a full time writer.

Which isn’t really very helpful, I know. I did freelance before I started full time when I was a student. There, I started when a guy came up to me in a nightclub and asked if I’d be up for writing some reviews.

I’m not sure if my career experience is necessarily useful.

I dug out an article I wrote back in 2006 about becoming a games journalist, and the information is basically out of date, so you need to replace “magazine” for “website” and even then it sucks. The basic version is “you pitch stuff politely.”

But I include anyway, and throw in a handful of notes that occur to me in 2017. 

***

There’s two sorts of games journalists. Freelance and on-staff.

A Staff Journalist will work for a set wage, fulfilling the duties which he’s hired for (And probably a load more). They will usually work from the office of the magazine in question. Tim Edwards, currently Deputy Editor of PC Gamer, is an example of an on-staff journalist. Whether he writes no pages or fifty pages, he will get paid the same amount of money.

A freelance journalist fulfils a limited commission on an article by article basis. A commissioning editor — normally an on-staff journalist — will agree with a commission on the writer, which they will fulfil, and then get paid the agreed feed. Some magazines work on a word-rate basis. Other magazines work on a page-rate basis. Other magazines it doesn’t matter what you agree with, because they’re not going to pay you anyway. In short, the more writing a freelance journalist does, the more they get paid.

You become an on-staff journalist by talking someone into giving you a job. You become a freelance journalist by talking someone into giving you money for something you’ve written.

That’s all there is to it.

How do you do that then?

BECOMING AN ON-STAFF WRITER.

You see a job application. You mail them whatever they ask — CV, work sample, covering letter, usually. You get an interview. You ace the interview. You get a job.

Seriously, that’s it. That’s how I started my proper career in games writing. I saw an advert for writers in PC Gamer, mailed them my CV, work sample and covering letter, got an interview, and (apparently) aced it while wearing a green suit and a Slayer T-shirt and got a job.

I don’t recommend the Slayer T-shirt thing, but it didn’t seem to do me any harm.

If you’re reading a magazine, spotting an advert in it’s easy enough. Often they’ll hide it away somewhere in the news section, but if you’re not reading a magazine you actually like close enough to notice that, you’re probably screwed anyway. Most publishers have a website of some sort, to which jobs are advertised. In the UK, The Guardian has their media jobs on a Monday, which is worth buying if only for totemic value.

If you’re an entrance level person, you’ll be looking for a Staff Writer position. People looking to enter at a higher level than Staff Writer shouldn’t be reading this guide. You know the score. Stop wasting your time.

A few particularly pernicious publishers, rather than actually setting up a proper job advert, will actually run it as a competition in the magazine. This is evil on all sorts of levels. Being a games journalist is a great job, but it’s a job. A job isn’t something you win, or someone else decides to gift upon you. It’s something both parties agree to do. An interview is about you deciding whether you want to work for them as much as they want to work for you. A publisher doing this is deliberately trying to assert the dominance position before a writer even starts.

(I’ll stress that this isn’t a criticism of anyone who got their job through this route. The last three journos I know who got it via this are all decent human beings and decent writers. It’s a criticism of publishers who are trying to play mind-games. It doesn’t matter if it’s a mind-game that works or not)

The third route to being a Staff Writer is usually a freelancer who’s approached and asked whether they want to move in house. The fourth route is someone who’s done work experience at the magazine, and is approached in a similar manner. I’ll probably mention Work Experience later — or in a future edit — but the short version is that it’s not a bad thing to do, usually. The exception is if your personality will alienate the magazine with extended exposure, in which case you probably won’t get any work at the magazine ever again. Even Freelance.

(EDIT FOR 2017: This is more likely to be interns now, and more likely that anyone will have to do it. This fucking sucks and means you’re fucked unless you have financial support. With my background, I almost certainly couldn’t have become a games journalist if I were starting in 2017.)

CVs should be efficient. Covering letters should be enthusiastic. Your sample should be whatever they ask, in terms of length. If they don’t ask, do 400 words. I’d suggest writing it in the magazine’s style. /plus a bit/. The aim of the sample isn’t just to show you can write well and appropriately, but to show that you’re better than everyone else applying. In this case, style over content, because content can be taught while style is something you either have or you don’t. Also, for God’s sake, know what the magazine you’re applying to writes like, while not trying to just pastiche their best writers. You have to be them while simultaneously being you.

(A standard question: Is it better to be a gamer who can write or a writer who games? In terms of actually working on staff, the latter every time. Of course, the /ideal/ answer is both, but you can pick up knowledge about games with enormous velocity. If you can’t write, you can’t write, and you’re worse than useless.)

(2017: I’m not sure I agree with this as strongly as I did back then. I’ve seen some pretty terrible writers become acceptable and even good on staff. But fuck me, is it hard work for everyone.)

At the interview you may be asked to do several things. Some eds will trust the sample you’ve already written. Others will demand you do something else when you’re there. Play a game for 30 minutes and then write 400 words about it in another 30 minutes or something. This is cruel, but if *I* ever found myself — by some horrific accident — in an Ed’s chair, it’s what I’ll do. Being able to write competently and quickly under extreme pressure is a basal level skill of games journalism. Anyone can write when they’re inspired. Being a writer is a job, because it involves writing when you’re not.

In the interview itself, yet again, ask questions and be enthusiastic. The latter counts more than I can possibly explain. Editors know that while brilliant, the job is tiring and stressful and burns most people out eventually. Having a few layers of Giving-A-Toss will someone through most things.

Few basic things before I move on: Don’t be afraid to argue your corner. Don’t claim to be a New Games Journalist, even if you are. Don’t admit to thinking that the job is playing games all day for a living, even if you think it is.

FREELANCE:

You’ll occasionally see people advertise for reviewers. In which case, follow a similar procedure to above, except without a CV and even more attention paid to your sample. This is easy, relatively speaking. You have an opening, as they’ve asked for your stuff.

Going in cold is somewhat trickier.

This is how I suggest approaching someone about working for their magazine.

Find out who runs the section you want to write for. Let’s say reviews, because it’s the easiest. Check the reviews editor, phone up the company, ask for them. Politely explain you’re a freelance writer and you’d wonder if they needed any more reviewers. Would you mind mailing them a sample? They will probably say yes, just to get you off the phone. If not, listen to what they say and obey it, unless it involves jumping off cliffs.

(2017 EDIT: Phone stuff is trickier in 2017, obviously. Take all this with a lot of pinches  of salt and look at people who are working as a freelancer in 2017. This may just be bad advice now.) 

Send a polite e-mail promptly, with one of the 400 word sample things. You could jump straight to this, but I’d suggest the contacting first just to get the idea into someone’s head that someone will be mailing them with a sample. A cold sent e-mail is more likely to just be deleted.

(I actually read every single sample I was sent, even if I didn’t always reply. Well. as much of the sample as I needed to know whether they were good enough or not, which was occasionally even more than the first sentence. Also, for the record, I gave work to every single person who I thought was genuinely good. This was less than 5 people in the five years I was on Gamer. It’s worth noting that persistence and enthusiasm is more easily exchanged for talent when going for a staff position rather than a freelance position. The requirements of working in an office are different from someone they may never ever meet, and may only exists as words on paper)

Wait a week. Or two. Let’s say two.

They probably won’t have mailed back. If they did, follow whatever they said. If they didn’t, call up again and ask if they’ve had a chance to read the sample yet, and what they thought. They will almost certainly say they haven’t had time.

Wait two weeks.

Repeat phone-call and see what happens.

Now, after this you can either carry on this two week thing or give up for a bit. I’d suggest the latter, as I hate fucking annoying people, but if you’re SURE your sample is great, feel free. What I’d do is wait six months, then send another 400 word sample, and repeat the process. Which is just as determined, but less annoying.

(2017 EDIT: I would definitely say this. Like, definitely definitely.)

You are, of course, being a bit of a ninny if you’re chasing just reviews. You’re better off, as a freelancer, just writing something you think should be done for the magazine and sending it them. Magazines eat copy. If you know something that they have no knowledge of, written in a decent style, they’ll buy it just to fill the pages. Look at the magazine you love. Realise which bits in it are tedious to do and/or a lot of work. Write something to fill that space and pitch it.

(2017: Honestly, “find the most horrible stuff to write a website/magazine does and offer to do it for them” is the best way to get freelance work. No-one ever tries this. Everyone pitches the big emotional, serious grown-up writing they’re passionate about, which is understandable… but also a lot harder. They already have big, emotional, serious  grown-up writers who all love doing it.

The other flip is - see what a site/mag ISN’T doing and pitch that. A perspective that they’re just not touching is always exciting.)

This is currently the best way to get your foot in the door. And once you’ve proven you can write for one magazine, it gets easier for someone to listen to your ideas and they’ll start commissioning your ideas rather than just buying your pieces.

(Worth noting that even now I occasionally write something on spec to sell to someone for many reasons, from not wanting a commissioning editor to warp it into something else or knowing that they’ll never commission it but /would/ buy it when they see how good it is. The latter only happens when you have a crazy vision inside your head. Trust these crazy visions.)

#writer advice

[greatdrams]

Dillon vs Wells and a few thoughts on blind tasting

Unless you happened to be an incredibly secure character at school, you’ll know the deal. A couple of the big kids are doing something fun, and you want to join in. Partially because it’s fun (obviously), and partially (if you’re honest with yourself) because you want to be part of what the big kids are doing.

So when the big kids of the whisky blogging scene (Greg and Malt Review’s inimitable Mark Newton) challenged each other to a blind tasting, I took to twitter and digitally hollered the adult equivalent of “can I play?” Though actually, why shouldn’t the adult equivalent of “can I play?” be “can I play?”?

Shortly thereafter I sent Greg an unlabelled sample of the Kilkerran Open Day 2016 bottling, which he covered here. The return sample was sent once Greg had completed his move to Manchester, and arrived on my desk a couple of weeks back. First thing in the morning; completely ruined my day’s productivity, but that’s because I’m an excitable child.

As soon as the bell went for the end of the day I was out of the office and straight home. Metaphorical bell, you understand, though I’ll dispense with the children analogies now; I promise I am actually allowed to legally drink whisky... Bottle was breached, cursory sniff was taken, sample was poured and notebook was flipped open beside me.

But let’s pause there for a moment, because the practice of blind tasting is one that’s worth a smidge of consideration.

Ostensibly, blind tasting is the only way to give your fully objective opinion of a whisky. (Or wine/beer/cider/cat-food brand [delete as appropriate].) It theoretically frees you of biases and prejudices, it strips away distracting information and it forces you to focus on the drink alone.

I’ve lost count of the number of people who sneer at non-Scotch malt when they know what they’re facing, but proclaim their admiration when it’s just amber liquid in a glass. Or take me, for example – I’m quoted as saying Aberlour A’Bunadh is my favourite whisky for under £50. But one day some vicious ne’er-do-well will doubtless hide one next to a similarly secret Glenfarclas 105, and when that day comes I can only hope I get my call of “heads” right.

Blind tasting also exposes you; makes you really think; underlines any shortcomings or gaps in your experience. Not tried Rye before? Then that spicy kick will mean nothing. Didn’t know countries outside of Scotland use peat? Then good luck when Paul John Bold crosses the table. And who hasn’t indulged in a bit of a smile when a trained expert, or a particularly vocal individual comes unstuck on confronting an anonymous glass?

The problem with objective blind tasting is that it effectively requires the taster to be a robot. Human nature being what it is, we start guessing the end before we’ve even finished the beginning. We want to skip to the last page of the book. No one, on being presented with a glass, can ever truly extinguish the irritating light in the back of their head that immediately flashes: ‘WHAT IS THIS?’

And so we start guessing. I don’t care how expert or practiced you are. I taste up to fifty wines a week at work, and countless more for my wines and spirits diploma. And that’s without getting into all the whiskies I pump my salary into. (I do have a life outside alcohol; I play hockey and everything.) But that light never goes off. Dark colour: “I wonder if that’s a sherry cask?” Slight hint of peat: “hmm, could that be Highland Park?” Bit of meatiness: “do I have a Mortlach here?” You know the drill.

And once an idea pops into your head, it’s very hard to ignore. Just ask the cast of Inception. You want to be right. You want to be validated. You want to have ‘won’ at blind tasting. Most of all, you don’t want to look like an idiot. And so you subconsciously ignore the niggling uncertainties. You shoehorn your blind tasting into what you want it to be. Perhaps you try to second guess the person presenting you the sample. “Ah, she’ll give me something off-piste...he knows I’ve said mean things about this distillery before...hang on, is this even whisky?” Sound familiar?

Blind tasting can be influenced by all sorts of things. Your mood; what you’ve eaten recently; the temperature of the room; the time of day – even what music is playing (or not playing) in the background. And if you’re on the spot and nervous about getting it wrong, you haven’t a hope. You stress, you panic and your common sense slips. Which is why most tasting competitions worth noting are judged anonymously. No one does their ‘best’ tasting under pressure.

So yes – everyone should do some blind tasting once in a while. It’s fun! But stop worrying about getting the whisk(e)y right. After all, with so many countless thousands of whiskies in production, what realistically are your odds? You might get the distillery or producer from time to time. Heck, you might once or twice nail the whole shebang. But you’ll have missed the point of whisk(e)y in the process: to enjoy it. After all, the end is just a tiny part of the journey. You’re really best off taking the Ferris Bueller attitude. It’s a pretty hollow ‘victory’ otherwise – if you even score the victory at all.

And we’re back in the room. (At my house, in case you’d lost track. Wouldn’t blame you.)

My cursory sniff (ok, I also took a cursory sniff at the office when it arrived, but so would you if you’re human) raised some suspicions. Greg and I had set the rules as Single Malt Scotch of £50 or lower, but something about the aromas I found myself picking up suggested foul play.

Far be it from me to accuse my charming new boss of hoodwinkery, but I’m a mistrusting soul where blind tastings are concerned. (See: told you they bring out the over-thinker.) Besides, any holder of an Anfield season ticket who moves to Manchester has to have a wily streak about them. In as unaccusatorial a tone as I could manage I casually checked that the rules still stood. (Is unaccusatorial a real word? There’s a red squiggly line, but I feel in my heart that it deserves to be one.)

“It might well be on brief...or might have changed the game a little...who knows...” replied the Machiavellian Dillon, admitting that it was definitely a Scotch. Bet he steals from the bank when he’s playing Monopoly too. Deep mistrust smouldering in my bosom I returned to the task at hand.

I nosed, I scribbled, my brow furrowed, I nosed some more, scribbled some more, sipped a little, furrowed some more and scribbled a bit more for good measure. And then I proceeded to ignore all the advice I’ve just written above.

Straight away, I knew that it wasn’t a malt, and that it probably wasn’t under £50. Anyone who drinks as much bourbon as I do ought to know what distilled corn smells like. Which in Scotch terms more or less means either old, or North British. (Or both.)

But something about this one seemed to hint at a little more complexity. In the back of my mind, something niggled away, making me wondering whether Greg had also dispensed with the ‘single’ ruling. Which was when I stupidly decided to ignore most of the note I had just written, and start to play the man, not the ball. And in blind tasting that almost always ends in disaster.

My blended grain experience certainly isn’t vast. In fact, it’s Compass Box Hedonism, which I knew was not what I was tasting. But could I perhaps have its fancier ‘big brother’ Quindecimus in front of me?

Deciding for some reason that I was along the right lines on the blended grain front, I was torn between Quindecimus and The Exceptional Blended Grain, neither of which I had sampled previously. From what I had read, Quindecimus was the richer of the two, which tallied with what I had written. So, with great doubt and several second guesses, I presented Greg with my answer.

I was wrong.

In fact, what I had was the Cadenhead’s North British 1985 31 years old Single Sherry Butt at 54.6%. And believe you me, it holds that cask strength well - I’d never have guessed it was that high. The spirit also stands up remarkably well to the sherry - there’s not a hint of raisin, and the corn is really on song. Full note below:

Fruity. Some aspects of red berries, and some of orchard fruit (apples/pears). Plenty of sweetness; caramels and a good whack of vanilla. There’s a lightness of touch, but a great deal of depth too. Medium intensity of aroma, but very good complexity. Corn asserts itself. Slight meatiness in the background, with distinct, but not overpowering wood.

Alcohol clear, but completely controlled and kept in check by flavour on the palate. Flavours are more intense than aromas and crescendo significantly as you hold it in the mouth. Largely follow on from the nose, but bourbon-like aspects of caramel and dark sugars dominate particularly, wrapped in more of that red berry fruit. Possibly a touch of date.

More of that meatiness - not quite sulphur - on the finish, which is ever so slightly shorter than expected. Very well balanced and complex.

All in all, a delicious whisky, which I can’t thank Greg enough for. Particularly special, as it happened to be distilled in his birth month. He outfoxed me this time (though thank God I clocked it was Grain whisky - could have been a lot more embarrassing!) but you can be sure there’ll be a rematch.

In the meantime, two ‘morals of the story’ to take away from this. Firstly, when it comes to blind tasting, do as I say, not as I do! And secondly, if you play games with the big kids, be prepared for them to move the goalposts!

Cheers!

[gallery type="rectangular" ids="23412,23413,23414"]

The post Dillon vs Wells and a few thoughts on blind tasting appeared first on GreatDrams.

from GreatDrams http://ift.tt/2jtOYWs Greg

#whisky #GreatDrams

[patternedwings]

Mobile Rules || Long Post

Location

Don’t assume your muse is always in the same location as Redstrike. Generally speaking, interactions will be handled through comm lines or Tumblr/the DataNet unless there is an in-character or out-of-character reason/agreement for Redstrike and your muse to meet somewhere. I’ll make exceptions for god-tier muses, and starters/prompts that require interaction between muses who are within the same physical space.

For reasons why you’re muse is not allowed to immediately start physical interactions see this post.

The ask and submission box are open.

Godmodding

Don’t godmod/powerplay. I acknowledge and understand that Redstrike isn’t all powerful and can’t win everything, but I don’t appreciate having my muse unfairly bulldozed without warning either. Speaking honestly too, I have very little experience in writing fights, and what experience I do have is very poor, so I prefer to avoid them if at all possible. If our muses do end up getting in a fight, you and I will likely need to communicate a lot about what’s going on so I can get a better idea of what’s being expected of me and what I need to do. If you don’t want to be bothered with discussions about the fight please let me know so we can collaborate on an agreed ending and handwave the thread’s conclusion.

Don’t start plots/threads that will greatly affect Redstrike with other people without consulting me first. I’m not saying you can’t create these plots or play them out, but that I want to be a part of the discussions as well because it’s not fair for you to make up a story involving my muse without telling me.

Multiverse, AUs, and Shipping

Multiverse

I’m selective, but I’m willing to play with all Transformers characters and continuities. Canon characters and original characters are equally welcome. I’m also willing to play with characters from non-Transformers series, but I may need help with understanding them/the show they’re from if I don’t know it very well.

All characters will be treated as though they’re from a completely different universe from Redstrike’s. Don’t assume your character is a part of his universe or assume him to be a part of your character’s. I’m already sharing his universe with a friend and will not be making any sudden changes without their permission and input.

I’m not exclusive with anybody, so I’ll role play with duplicates and treat them all as separate entities from each other. Redstrike will not mix any duplicates with each other and treat them all like they individuals they are.

It’s fine if you want to create a new verse so you can interact with Redstrike freely, but I won’t make a similar verse to be paired up with your’s unless I’m considering it to be an AU. Otherwise, Redstrike will remained fixed in one universe.

AUs

I’m always willing to play with AUs. AU threads will always be tagged to distinguish them from the main universe.

Shipping

I’m open to shipping all kinds of relationships (romance, friends, enemies, frenemies, ect.). I’m open to preestablished relationships with discussion.

Redstrike is polygamous so all romantic relationships will be happening at the same time, in the same universe. If and when new romantic relationships develop I’ll get a hold of my ship partners to let them know of the new development, and will have Redstrike get a hold of his partner(s) so they will know. It is okay if you/your character do not want Redstrike pursuing other romantic relationships. That is a perfectly valid desire and I will respect it. However, given that he is polygamous and not interested in being exclusive this will likely end the romantic relationship, so that all parties can be happy.

Greeting Posts and Text Patterns

Greeting Posts

I will not write a greeting post/thread for you unless your character really strikes my muse’s interest. You are more than welcome to write a greeting post/thread for me though if the interest strikes you. I will answer it.

Text Patterns

“This is speech.” Voice Claim: Peter Jessop. (Example 1 [The Exo voice]; Example 2 [The first one to speak/the Exo])

/:This is comm line speech.:\

//: This is text message.

This is regular stuff like actions between speech or text on a post.

[Actions may also be like this if the thread is script format.]

Thoughts will be written like general text but in italics and outside of quotation marks.

((This is mun talk.)) // - This is also mun talk when I am commenting on your post or making a long out of character post.

Replying and Messaging

I’ll reply to threads as soon as I can, but generally speaking I’m going to be slow with them. Between my job, my other hobbies, and my overall ability to tap into my muse I don’t have the time and energy to be online everyday, writing out replies all day long. Please have patience with me. If it seems like I’ve forgotten our thread though feel free to send me a massage about it. One reminder is all I’ll need though so please don’t give me multiple reminders about our thread.

Don’t tell me to stylize my posts or to write novella lengths if I’m not feeling it. If you want to stylize your posts and use extra prose with your writing that’s fine, but I don’t find it enjoyable so I won’t be doing it too.

Please do not message me in character through the Tumblr IM feature because I will be using to speak out of character.

Askbox Memes

If I reblog a meme that implies that your character is familiar with Redstrike then your character actually needs to be familiar with Redstrike. I can’t give a deep and detailed response if I have no history to work with, and I don’t enjoy making something out of nothing.

You’re welcome to make in-character and out-of-character comments on all my answered memes, even if you weren’t the person who sent the prompt. You’re welcome to turn in-character meme prompts and comments into thread starters.

I don’t enforce reblog karma on my blog.

Magic Anons and Anons In General

Magic Anons (M!As)

I accept magic anons (M!As). However,

I won’t activate a magic anon the moment I get it. I’ll keep the spell in my inbox until I have some plots planned out and an opening in my personal life to play out the magic.

I’ll alter spells as I need to and see fit (usually to extend or shorten time periods).

I won’t accept any spells that force Redstrike to be bonded to someone, start carrying a random sparkling, trigger overloads, or cause him to be in a heat spell.

Spells that force Redstrike to feel a specific emotion towards someone will be accepted so long as the other player (if another player must be involved in the spell) is okay with it.

Attempts to change his gender (ie: make him a femme instead of a mech) will not work because he does not work on the mech/femme gender binary. His universe has frame types; His current frame type is peregrine.

I’ll delete any spells that don’t follow these rules or that don’t strike my interest.

Anons In General

Anonymous messages will be treated as they are: anonymous messages. Anons that start to imply or show a physical presence will either be treated as a small, grey humanoid creatures or as a NPC mecha, depending on the location of Redstrike. (If he’s alone on Crossfire, anons will be treated like creatures; If he’s on Cybertron, anons will be treated like mecha.)

Please don’t metagame through anonymous asks (ie: sharing private information of another character to Redstrike or visa versa). It may be tempting to do this so plots can get going much faster, but I want stories happen in an organic fashion.

Miscellaneous

IC =/= OOC; In character things are not to be treated like out of character things. Redstrike can, does, and will say or do things that I, the mun (Mud), do not wholly agree with. If you imply or act like that Redstrike’s words and actions are a reflection of my personal character I will unfollow and block you.

Don’t interact with/follow me if you’re an anti of any kind. I don’t care what it is you’re against, whether it’s a ship, a genre, or a depiction of violence. Fiction isn’t reality and the notion that it is or that fiction will inspire people to do real life harm is annoying and dangerous. I don’t care to have discussions about this. I don’t care to walk on eggshells around other people because they refuse to mind their own business and let others enjoy dark fiction. I’ll also be blocking any antis I see to protect myself from harassment.

If you’re wondering about other things that are not discussed here or on my other pages, check out my RP things tag. If you still can’t find the answer you seek then please feel free to send me a message.

#mobile rules #mobile info post

[jeannette-marshall-optioneerjm]

PA-LEASE [ #PLEASE ] GIVE ME A BREAK!

Maybe this will be my rantings blog     : 

  Yet that is just what fuels a lot of misconceptions of women in general.  There are a lot of funny references to levels of contribution in the world, like:

* domestic goddess

* Mary Tyler Moore famous role or Donna Reed character from the early years of television (which was invented LONG time before I was born)

* Screen sirens like Marilyn Monroe to wannabes like Madonna and Britney Speers (however you spell that since it confused spell checker, back space, highlight, right click on mouse, then click selection from option or suggestion to go on a bigger digging expedition with Google …. )

* Perky, cute role models like Katie Couric (and I’m Canadian eh?), Maria in The Sound of Music character, Samantha in Betwitched, Olivia Newton John in Grease or whomever you would insert as a name that you relate time for this genre.

The less popular, yet more communicated is the aggressive female executive.

Re: CareerBuilder Job Application : Banking Administrative Assistant

Inbox

x

7:20 AM (10 hours ago)

to me

Hello

Can I confirm you have a valid Canadian securities course?

Best

Michelle

Talent Management Leader

On Dec 15, 2017, at 1:52 PM, Jeannette Marshall via CareerBuilder

  

You have received …. by replying to this email. Your Reference ID for this job is CAN_s.  

 Thank you for your response Michelle.  I appreciate the reaction :o)

No, I did not state in my CV or anywhere having taken the Canadian Securities Course certification, however, I did confirm that I have Canadian (Secret-past and Reliability-now) Securities Status issued by the Canadian government.  To some, that is valuable validation:  me, for one, to indicate that I am an honest person.

Intellectually, I have had to go from a newly hired to jump into one of the most critical portfolios by one of my greatest managers who recognized my strength in my ability to parachute in with both feet landing on the ground:  exuding confidence and expertise, building trust immediate.  I could communicate with executives on a personable level after being kicked out of the nest within only a month of onboarding to attending a festive cocktail….. smoozing with distinguished executives of Canada’s most high-powered, rubbing elbows in a small circle where one woman was engaging support and advice from the other women, pretty oblivious to the aggressive antics of single ladies and young manifico males trouncing on former friends to get ahead:  I could actually contribute.  I had the experience of deciding I would not go back to work fulltime unless my children would have no less care than I, myself, would provide [ aka super woman extraordinaire or Yuppy ] settling with a full time live out nanny to enhance my home, children, spouse, career, employer without any sacrifice other than my pocket book.  

But some days don’t you just wanna send an email response like this?  Instead, we’re required to remain refined and poised when all we want to do is scream!

Speaking of screaming

I jump on Quora fairly infrequently but deciding more recently that I really like the experience there.  Since I have this thirst for knowledge and pursuit of really interesting things.  It allows me to keep the vibe of catching the vibe of what is going on online.

Advice About Coping with and Overcoming Fear

+3

I had a best friend who became my enemy. I don’t think she knows or cares, but after winter I’m afraid I’m going to scream at her in class. What do I say or do to avoid that?

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5 Answers

Jeannette Marshall, in order to reinforce my own learnings and leanings, i try to help others

Answered 5h ago

There are a lot of conflicting statements just in the question alone: i.e. best friend and enemy.

The person is not aware of the change in status? We don’t know what was done for the fall from grace, therefore, we cannot understand what takes someone from best friend to evil enemy?

Most highly emotional triggers can be minimized if one examines what the root cause is.

The best advice I would give is suggesting you go for tea, hot chocolate or coffee so that you can find out the former best friend’s defense of the actions that caused her to become your enemy. It would give you a chance to unload what made you so upset. By definition, a best friend is someone who is a trusted confidante – did they betray that trust or do something that crossed them off.

Before you scream at her in class, and you end up looking like the freak, maybe write in a journal on what the offense was, how it made you feel, whether it was an emotional reaction, or if the offense is even realized by the offender.

Granted, there are many things that can happen to cause a falling out. Nobody can help with whether it is justified or not based on your own feelings, nor should anyone.

A “best friend” designation can sometimes be fleeting and evolving continuously. What defines a best friend to you? How many best friends have you had in the past 6 months, year, etc.? What happens to make someone fall out of favor with rapid descent to enemy?

All may be worth consideration and evaluation before you address your feelings and avoid screaming: you screaming will result in poor public image even if it is warranted. Keep that in mind.

And practice the golden rule: treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself. Maybe the former best friend has no idea that they offended your values, morals or beliefs … or did something to make you this passionately emotional.

We all face obstacles and offenses, yet how we react is how we are measured. I guess I’m saying: take a deep breath, write it all down, and consider a face to face in a calm and relaxing atmosphere (not while you’re out at the pub having a drink which makes your inhibitions less guarded) and be the bigger person. Bridge understanding and communicate what they did to make you feel the way you do before you have any emotional outburst that would show you in less favorable light, even if the offense is astronomical.

More questions posed to me

and my responses.   An unofficial, non-compensated version of Dear Abby or who is doing that anymore anyhow? (Search and insert information and link] to which I dole out habitually and consistently.  My take on motherhood and what my takeaways are from the experience:

Honestly? Well I want to be a Queen, princess at the very least. With it the responsibility of always being fashionably dressed, impeccable coif, an assistant, a butler, a maid, a financier, at the very least. People curtsy or bowing upon meeting. I would wear gloves to avoid germs, dirt, disease. I am financially reliable since I can provide my own tiara, having a selection of a few. I am humble, I try to help others without any monetary reward. Although, treasuring honesty, admit that I salvitate at the thought of compensation from people reading my gripes, quips, tips, trips posts. I am truly sorry! I got sidetracked, totally disregarding the question. I apologize. Oopsie.

Simply? Go to the Nobel website and determine under which category you feel more aligned with: peace, literature, for examples, then study who have been the most recent recipients that you more closely identify with: can adopt a believable adaptation of anyone of them by providing the skill and talent to stand beside them. Then I’d say: Go for it! Who is anyone that could contradict YOU? YOU are the ONLY person in lives in that house: your brain, body.

I Representing distinguished “Career” mothers

Not the ones who decided to stay home, afforded or forced or otherwise.

That is the stereotypical response to when most people think of what the 

term means.  Immediately conjuring up the names from the past, deeply

entrenched in our subconscious and belief system.

YOU CAN. When you determine the qualities and define what a “good relationship” means to you. YOU CAN. Continuously keep in touch whether it is instantaneous via technology like SKYPE or FACETIME (Apple(c) at a mutually agreed schedule or scheduled time. YOU CAN: Express how important this “good relationship” is to you at every opportunity, whether verbally, over the telephone, video, web, email, post, handwritten or printed letter, diagrams, cartoons or poems, including the person who is whom you share this “good relationship” with. [I am answering from the female perspective, uniquely my own opinion]. YOU CAN: Be devout, devoted, moral, demonstrative, philosophically and physically showing your commitment to both the relationship and continuing to be worthy of the relationship. Understanding, you reap what you sow. YOU CAN: Control your own behavior regardless of circumstance or circumstances you find yourself in. Being worthy of that ‘good relationship’. YOU CAN: Keep in touch steadfastly and faithfully, divulging periods of blackout due to foreseen or surprise. YOU CAN: Hold the same expectations of yourself as you would the other member in the ‘good relationship’. YOU CAN: Withhold from behavior that you would not have should the object of desire or person within the ‘good relationship’. YOU CAN: Resort to inspiration from scripture or literature or art. Be wary of bad habits or undertakings that can deteriorate the eyes of the ‘good relationship’. YOU CAN: treat your significant being in the ‘good relationship’ no worse than you would your mother, daughter, friend, military team mate. YOU CAN: continue to be the person to whom the ‘good relationship’ was formed from. YOU CAN: go home or wherever said “good relationship” is at every chance you get. YOU CAN: communicate your love, devotion, feelings, missings, musings, fears, desires, goals, ambitions.

YOU CANNOT: control the other person while you are away. They will make their mistakes, face their consequences, commit niceness or nastiness, without you.

 As it should be. I know, easy eh?

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[jeannette-marshall-optioneerjm]

PA-LEASE [ #PLEASE ] GIVE ME A BREAK!

Maybe this will be my rantings blog     : 

  Yet that is just what fuels a lot of misconceptions of women in general.  There are a lot of funny references to levels of contribution in the world, like:

* domestic goddess

* Mary Tyler Moore famous role or Donna Reed character from the early years of television (which was invented LONG time before I was born)

* Screen sirens like Marilyn Monroe to wannabes like Madonna and Britney Speers (however you spell that since it confused spell checker, back space, highlight, right click on mouse, then click selection from option or suggestion to go on a bigger digging expedition with Google …. )

* Perky, cute role models like Katie Couric (and I’m Canadian eh?), Maria in The Sound of Music character, Samantha in Betwitched, Olivia Newton John in Grease or whomever you would insert as a name that you relate time for this genre.

The less popular, yet more communicated is the aggressive female executive.

Re: CareerBuilder Job Application : Banking Administrative Assistant

Inbox

x

7:20 AM (10 hours ago)

to me

Hello

Can I confirm you have a valid Canadian securities course?

Best

Michelle

Talent Management Leader

On Dec 15, 2017, at 1:52 PM, Jeannette Marshall via CareerBuilder

  

You have received …. by replying to this email. Your Reference ID for this job is CAN_s.  

 Thank you for your response Michelle.  I appreciate the reaction :o)

No, I did not state in my CV or anywhere having taken the Canadian Securities Course certification, however, I did confirm that I have Canadian (Secret-past and Reliability-now) Securities Status issued by the Canadian government.  To some, that is valuable validation:  me, for one, to indicate that I am an honest person.

Intellectually, I have had to go from a newly hired to jump into one of the most critical portfolios by one of my greatest managers who recognized my strength in my ability to parachute in with both feet landing on the ground:  exuding confidence and expertise, building trust immediate.  I could communicate with executives on a personable level after being kicked out of the nest within only a month of onboarding to attending a festive cocktail….. smoozing with distinguished executives of Canada’s most high-powered, rubbing elbows in a small circle where one woman was engaging support and advice from the other women, pretty oblivious to the aggressive antics of single ladies and young manifico males trouncing on former friends to get ahead:  I could actually contribute.  I had the experience of deciding I would not go back to work fulltime unless my children would have no less care than I, myself, would provide [ aka super woman extraordinaire or Yuppy ] settling with a full time live out nanny to enhance my home, children, spouse, career, employer without any sacrifice other than my pocket book.  

But some days don’t you just wanna send an email response like this?  Instead, we’re required to remain refined and poised when all we want to do is scream!

Speaking of screaming

I jump on Quora fairly infrequently but deciding more recently that I really like the experience there.  Since I have this thirst for knowledge and pursuit of really interesting things.  It allows me to keep the vibe of catching the vibe of what is going on online.

Advice About Coping with and Overcoming Fear

+3

I had a best friend who became my enemy. I don’t think she knows or cares, but after winter I’m afraid I’m going to scream at her in class. What do I say or do to avoid that?

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Jeannette Marshall, in order to reinforce my own learnings and leanings, i try to help others

Answered 5h ago

There are a lot of conflicting statements just in the question alone: i.e. best friend and enemy.

The person is not aware of the change in status? We don’t know what was done for the fall from grace, therefore, we cannot understand what takes someone from best friend to evil enemy?

Most highly emotional triggers can be minimized if one examines what the root cause is.

The best advice I would give is suggesting you go for tea, hot chocolate or coffee so that you can find out the former best friend’s defense of the actions that caused her to become your enemy. It would give you a chance to unload what made you so upset. By definition, a best friend is someone who is a trusted confidante – did they betray that trust or do something that crossed them off.

Before you scream at her in class, and you end up looking like the freak, maybe write in a journal on what the offense was, how it made you feel, whether it was an emotional reaction, or if the offense is even realized by the offender.

Granted, there are many things that can happen to cause a falling out. Nobody can help with whether it is justified or not based on your own feelings, nor should anyone.

A “best friend” designation can sometimes be fleeting and evolving continuously. What defines a best friend to you? How many best friends have you had in the past 6 months, year, etc.? What happens to make someone fall out of favor with rapid descent to enemy?

All may be worth consideration and evaluation before you address your feelings and avoid screaming: you screaming will result in poor public image even if it is warranted. Keep that in mind.

And practice the golden rule: treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself. Maybe the former best friend has no idea that they offended your values, morals or beliefs … or did something to make you this passionately emotional.

We all face obstacles and offenses, yet how we react is how we are measured. I guess I’m saying: take a deep breath, write it all down, and consider a face to face in a calm and relaxing atmosphere (not while you’re out at the pub having a drink which makes your inhibitions less guarded) and be the bigger person. Bridge understanding and communicate what they did to make you feel the way you do before you have any emotional outburst that would show you in less favorable light, even if the offense is astronomical.

More questions posed to me

and my responses.   An unofficial, non-compensated version of Dear Abby or who is doing that anymore anyhow? (Search and insert information and link] to which I dole out habitually and consistently.  My take on motherhood and what my takeaways are from the experience:

Honestly? Well I want to be a Queen, princess at the very least. With it the responsibility of always being fashionably dressed, impeccable coif, an assistant, a butler, a maid, a financier, at the very least. People curtsy or bowing upon meeting. I would wear gloves to avoid germs, dirt, disease. I am financially reliable since I can provide my own tiara, having a selection of a few. I am humble, I try to help others without any monetary reward. Although, treasuring honesty, admit that I salvitate at the thought of compensation from people reading my gripes, quips, tips, trips posts. I am truly sorry! I got sidetracked, totally disregarding the question. I apologize. Oopsie.

Simply? Go to the Nobel website and determine under which category you feel more aligned with: peace, literature, for examples, then study who have been the most recent recipients that you more closely identify with: can adopt a believable adaptation of anyone of them by providing the skill and talent to stand beside them. Then I’d say: Go for it! Who is anyone that could contradict YOU? YOU are the ONLY person in lives in that house: your brain, body.

I Representing distinguished “Career” mothers

Not the ones who decided to stay home, afforded or forced or otherwise.

That is the stereotypical response to when most people think of what the 

term means.  Immediately conjuring up the names from the past, deeply

entrenched in our subconscious and belief system.

YOU CAN. When you determine the qualities and define what a “good relationship” means to you. YOU CAN. Continuously keep in touch whether it is instantaneous via technology like SKYPE or FACETIME (Apple(c) at a mutually agreed schedule or scheduled time. YOU CAN: Express how important this “good relationship” is to you at every opportunity, whether verbally, over the telephone, video, web, email, post, handwritten or printed letter, diagrams, cartoons or poems, including the person who is whom you share this “good relationship” with. [I am answering from the female perspective, uniquely my own opinion]. YOU CAN: Be devout, devoted, moral, demonstrative, philosophically and physically showing your commitment to both the relationship and continuing to be worthy of the relationship. Understanding, you reap what you sow. YOU CAN: Control your own behavior regardless of circumstance or circumstances you find yourself in. Being worthy of that ‘good relationship’. YOU CAN: Keep in touch steadfastly and faithfully, divulging periods of blackout due to foreseen or surprise. YOU CAN: Hold the same expectations of yourself as you would the other member in the ‘good relationship’. YOU CAN: Withhold from behavior that you would not have should the object of desire or person within the ‘good relationship’. YOU CAN: Resort to inspiration from scripture or literature or art. Be wary of bad habits or undertakings that can deteriorate the eyes of the ‘good relationship’. YOU CAN: treat your significant being in the ‘good relationship’ no worse than you would your mother, daughter, friend, military team mate. YOU CAN: continue to be the person to whom the ‘good relationship’ was formed from. YOU CAN: go home or wherever said “good relationship” is at every chance you get. YOU CAN: communicate your love, devotion, feelings, missings, musings, fears, desires, goals, ambitions.

YOU CANNOT: control the other person while you are away. They will make their mistakes, face their consequences, commit niceness or nastiness, without you.

 As it should be. I know, easy eh?

via Blogger http://ift.tt/2kh2tqJ

from PA-LEASE [ #PLEASE ] GIVE ME A BREAK!

#PA-LEASE [ PLEASE ] GIVE ME A BREAK!