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shinkei-shinto · 2 years

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I don’t feel like typing this out a million times so, the story of the Haunted Package:

Back in February, I ordered a collar. I put it off for a little bit too long for a bunch of various reasons, and finally contacted the seller, ran into language problems, got things settled out, and paid.

Literally the next day the war started. The war on Ukraine. Where that seller was.

I shrugged and wrote it off. It was less than $50; and certainly, if they could access it, the seller needed it more. I thought about it a few times over the following months, looked longingly at the hiatus’ing and then shut-down shop, looked at the closed listing, all that. No big deal, just some mild heartache.

And then, in early september, I got an email.

“Your package has been assigned a tracking number,” the email said.

“The fuck it has,” I said.

I wrestled with the email, the tracking, I wrestled with the language problems, it’s not really important. Suffice to say I did manage to get the number into a box and that box told me that the number existed.

This is where it gets fun.

So, typically, when you order a package, and it comes with a tracking number, and it is being shipped into the US, there are a couple of options as to What Exactly Happens. The most common one being that the tracking number simply stops working.

So, when I saw that the package had been “accepted” (in a city inside of an active warzone) and “processed” I did not believe anything was happening. When I saw, two days later, with a backdate four days earlier, that it had been “handed over to customs” all within the space of a couple of minutes on the time stamps, I continued to disbelieve anything was really happening. So far, everything is pretty explicable in terms of “someone made up a number to make Etsy stop being upset and allow the shop to be permanently closed”. That’s reasonable! It’s a fucking warzone. They have more important problems than “you can’t close your shop because I need a tracking number, wah wah.”

And then, in the most bizarre twist, the tracking number started working on the USPS website. At the moment, it said something like “this sure does exist in the ukraine somewhere”. That had me curious. I could accept that a website in a language I can’t read might be able to be manipulated with a fake tracking number. Not so for the USPS, which is generally a pain in the ass.

So I watched it. It continued to not move, or update. I eventually wrote it off again; expecting this was just a glitch or happenstance.

But I kept refreshing the page. Once a day. Just for the kick in the nuts.

And then - the USPS tracking updated with the Ukraine tracking information. And this gave me pause. Typically, when I’ve had packages delivered in with tracking numbers, it tracks beautifully right up to the border, and then USPS takes it and goes “lol you paid for international tracking and we’re national, fuck you” and the next update I get is a “you missed our delivery because you were out :( we’re so sowwy”. I have never seen USPS update its tracking on its national, US based website, to include actions that were done in another country before USPS even knew there was a tracking number.

But wait! it gets weirder!

Now USPS knew it existed, I guess. Now I could start refreshing this site, once a day, just for the curiousity at this point. Was it what I ordered? Did someone put a rock in a box and ship it to my address? Did someone return to the post office building in the war zone and take the packages out for delivery, seven months after that package was dropped off??

I will probably never know.

Anyways, two weeks go by. I finally give it up for gone. USPS must have wised up, I told myself. They must have figured out that someone made this up to make a website shut up and stopped this roller coaster here.

And then it updated.

In Jamaica, New York.

“Excuse me?” I thought. “Even if this is an international package, why in the fuck is it somehow on both an island and in the US?” At this point, my partner called it “haunted” and I was quick to agree: this is the strangest package experience I’ve ever had in my entire life. Surely something is in the mail for me now. Will I have to pay customs? Will I have a piece of concrete from a warzone on my desk with the weirdest story ever attached to it???

It moved again. Now it was no longer in Jamaica. And then it disappeared again. And then, a week later, we are now at the end of September, I have waited 20-something days and 7 months for this thing to exist,

It showed up in Portland. But not where I thought it would be; it was not near the airport, the ports, or either of the two major entries into the city; it was somehow one zipcode north of me.

“Alright.” I said. “Game On.” So I started paying attention to it. Of course, this is USPS, so when Sat/Sun hit, I knew there was not going to be anything. All was quiet for a weekend.

And then Monday came. And then it was out for delivery. And then, we reach the not new but still wildly infuriating part of this tale: the “delivery attempt”.

I have an Arlo doorbell camera. It is connected to my phone. When someone presses the button on the doorbell, it rings, and then it rings my phone. I know that packages generally show up somewhere between 11a and 1p. Foolish, foolish me decided I would trust the mail person to press the button on the doorbell camera. Foolish me decided that, because the tracking did not say “signature needed”, it would not need a signature.

Dear readers, was I ever fucking wrong. At 11:35, I refreshed the tracking number.

“Missed Delivery” it said. “Attempted to deliver; no one was home.”

Dear readers. Not only was I home. Not only was my partner home. Not only was my roommate home.

I WAS LESS THAN TWENTY GODDAMN FEET AWAY FROM THE FUCKING DOOR.

He did not knock, he did not ring, he did not even fucking pause, because he had already written out the “we missed you because you were not home!!! :(” pink slip, stuck it to a letter (THAT WAS NOT EVEN MEANT FOR ME! HE JUST RANDOMLY PICKED ONE OF MY ROOMMATES!) and jammed it into the slot.

I have several problems with this. It has never, not once ever, been normal to stick the pink slip to a letter and put it into the slot. We have a metal screen door. I have always, always had my mail people open the screen door (which I would have heard) slap their fist on the door once, probably with the pink slip on that hand to stick it to the door, and then run away like they were being shot at.

At this point, the rage hit me. Not because I had been duped. Not because I had been fucked over by the mail delivery person, who did not knock, who did not ring, who did not even pause for long enough to activate the doorbell camera. No, no, I was mad,

because he chose not to mark one of the two checkboxes for “will attempt redelivery” or “will be at location for pickup tomorrow.”

I understand, you’re overworked. I understand, you’re trying to get done with this shitty thankless job as fast as humanly possible and go home. I understand! I do!

But if you’re going to fucking prewrite the denial slip. If you’re going to fuck me over on purpose when you set out from your little mail truck.

at least.

mark.

the fucking box.

My dear, long-suffering partner, saint that they are, called the post office in my stead (as I was still screeching and throwing soft objects) to ask where it would be.

They hung up on them.

So they called again. And went through the process again. And got hung up on again. So they, expressing more patience than I have ever felt in my entire body,

called the main post office line. And waited. For something like 40 minutes. And listened to all of the fucking nonsense and the stupid condescending robots. And finally, finally got to a real person.

I heard two words out of that real person’s mouth and escorted myself out of the room and off of the floor of the house, because there was enough condescension there to drown me. My wonderful partner did manage to get two important piece of information: first, that the package would in fact be available for pickup the next day at the regular location. Second, that we were going to be blamed for “not being there” no matter what we did.

I think, dear readers, next time, I’m going to set off the doorbell siren. When that hand reaches out with that pink slip and that back turns on me, I think I am going to snap like a brittle bone. I dearly hope they do not attempt this stupid shit again. I dearly hope I am smart enough to remember this in the future, and sit staring at the door for three straight hours. I wonder if they’ll have the good sense to look guilty when I put the full pressure of 17 years in the South behind my gaze.

Anyways. Thanks to some Substances and some Video Games, I managed to taper off the rage boiling in my chest enough to sleep. I planned my day, I did my work, and I left my house at 8:00 on the dot.

The post office, you see, opens at 8:30. It is maybe 15 minutes away. I was not playing games today.

I arrived at 8:12. I sat in my car until 8:20. In that time, I saw three people drive up, park, get out of their cars, see the later-than-normal opening time, and turn around and go home.

I was not going to be defeated so easily.

At 8:20, I moved to the front of the building. At 8:25, I moved inside of the vestibule. By 8:27, I had three compatriots waiting in line with me.

At 8:28, some fucking blonde white woman with a voice like a cheesegrater being used to play a violin walked in, looked at the door marked “employees only”, and pressed the doorbell next to it. Instead of telling her to fuck off and wait in line like the rest of us, the employee who opened that door

helped her.

It is now 8:31. I am now growing increasingly upset at the situation, but my long years of training in Texas have taken over. I am standing with perfect posture. My face may or may not be twisted into a snarl, but I have a mask on: no one can see. My gaze, however, could peel the tracksuit off of that fucking woman.

Someone finally comes to the door of the post office, switches it to open, and welcomes the line of now five people in.

I walk up, and wait. The same person appears behind the counter. I hand him my pink slip. He asks for my ID. I hand him my ID. Now, something I have not yet mentioned in my slow, precise laying-out of this situation: the reason for this? the reason the “delivery” person did not leave me my fucking package?

“Signature Required.”

Now. That’s not unusual. It is an international package. However. I did not pay for signature. It was not present on the tracking page. It was not at any point in any way told to me that I would need to sign for this package. Readers, I was comfortable in this assumption that there was not a signature needed for this package, so when I approached the counter and handed over my ID, I expected, that like all things in the world, the situation would right itself and I would be asked for a signature once the package was in my eyesight.

Now, back to the tale. The nice post office man hands me my ID. He takes my pink slip. And he

disappears.

Into the back room. This is completely normal. I wait the regular amount of time, posture pristine, teeth gritting, one hand held in the other behind my back so that I could sink my claws into my soft pink flesh and not be rude. My phone buzzes. I check the message: it is not critical. I put the phone back in my pocket. The regular amount of time passes again. The man has not returned.

I see him slink across the back of the back room, not making eye contact, to the second back room. This is when I begin to grow concerned. Have I, at this last moment, at this final hurdle, fallen? Has the fucking asshole who “delivered” and ditched “forgotten” the package on his truck? It has happened before. I have been told, in kinder terms, to fuck off and wait for redelivery before.

The man slinks back the other way, but this time he feels my gaze, looks half over his shoulder, tries a smile - he doesn’t feel it - and speed walks back to the first back room.

Oh, no.

He is joined by a coworker. They are both looking, my little pink slip in hand. One of them disappears from view further into the back room. Now the other one, too. We are approaching the 10 minute mark.

More agonizing time passes. The line has grown to maybe 7 people behind me. There are no other cashiers. We all wait.

Finally, finally, he returns, a curious, nonstandard shaped package in his hand. Is it my package?

He dumps it on the counter, out of reach, out of view, and disappears again.

It took everything in my tiny body not to do more than unclasp my hands from behind my back, throw them out at my hips in a “are you fucking serious” gesture, catch myself, and lock my sharp little claws back into my squishy little wrist again.

Several minutes later, he returns. He has a cash drawer. “Oh?” I think “Do I need to pay customs fees? Is that what this is?” He assembles his drawer. He places it into his register. He picks up my box.

“Finally,” I think to myself, “finally this is going to be over.”

He scans the box. He places it on the scale.

“Here you go :)”

“I don’t need to sign? I don’t need to pay?”

“Nope!” And he waves the next person over.

At this point. I have been misled. I have been ditched. I have been dragged across this fucking saga for an entire month plus one extra day just to fuck me over a little bit more.

And then I find out. That I do not - that I have not - that I NEVER needed to sign. That the person who “attempted delivery” marked a box that wasn’t even relevant for reasons I will never understand.

I get to my car. I now have this strange box, possibly containing a collar, possibly containing a very light piece of warzone rubbish. I take out my knife - several inches long, cardboard destroyer, bark ripper, this thing looks mean - and the person in the car next to me, who has just arrived, widens their eyes and scurries off towards the post office.

There was, in fact, a collar in the box.

It was not the collar I ordered. Someone went to great lengths to get very close to the object that I had discussed with the seller, that I had seen photographs of, but it was not the object that I ordered.

The hardware was different (this was my first clue) and the stitching was poor. And the material for the decoration was different. And the riveting was different.

Thus ends the Haunted Package Saga, story of the strangest package delivery I have ever experienced, not with a bang or a whimper, but with an extremely, extremely confused me.

I sort of wish it had been a warzone rock.

#text post #readmore #long post #shin talks #The Haunted Package Saga #Haunted Package #at least if it was a rock I would have been delightedly confused #but this leaves me with even more questions #just to add more bullshit to the pile I got stuck behind not one #but TWO usps mail trucks on the way home #it took TWICE AS LONG to get home #and then I had not one but TWO bikers decide that the appropriate way to signal their intent to randomly turn left across a two lane street #was to lift their hand from the handlebar not even enough to make a limp gay wrist #and then FLING themselves into traffic -- in front of my car.

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danpuff-ao3 · 2 years

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writing asks 19 and 23

Hi Fable! Thanks for the asks!

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

Oh gosh! I will actually be embarrassing with this but...I can't remember not writing. It's always called to me, I think. So I remember being very young writing spy stories about characters called Veronica and Klyde. Considering it's been over two decades since I touched those characters or those stories, I still remember them very vividly LOL.

My journey writing fanfic also started very young. I was writing very...um...questionable things when I was 13. And I also remember being very paranoid that, like, I would be caught by websites so I made up very elaborate backstories for my Writer Self. And instead of having a very generic username like silverdragon3 I had an actual people name that was not my name hoping that would throw them off my trail!

Clearly I was meant to be a writer, because my imagination was WILD.

All through my teen years I wrote Harry Potter fanfiction, but I was also on a Twilight RPG site essentially writing collaborative stories involving original characters. I was always, always writing!

I stopped writing in late 2012 for a number of reasons. Burnout being one, but also feeling disheartened from some interactions. I came back to it in 2015 writing for the Marvel Universe (Steve/Tony for life) and I eventually made my way back to Snarry in 2019.

Coming back to writing was such a blessing and I had such a good mindset about it. How I was writing for me and no one else. I was having fun with it. Tearing away all expectations I had of myself and my work. And it was so liberating!

I'm afraid my natural tendencies towards perfectionism and overthinking have crept back in and have hindered me a lot. My work is probably better for it, but I'm not sure all of the stress is worth it so....I need to learn how to balance better and have a healthier relationship to writing.

There are so many stories I still want to tell and so much I want to do still! And I want to create things that are quality, and things other people will enjoy...but taking care of myself first and foremost while I'm at it! I think I'll always struggle with that, but it's worth trying to do better!

23. Describe the physical environment in which you write. Be as detailed as possible. Tell me what’s around you as you work. Paint me a picture.

My home setup is very nice! I have a small wooden desk (with green accents!) and a wooden chair with a green cushion. There's a nice black footrest under the desk (my feet are so happy!) I have a laptop stand that my macbook sits on, a circular pink mousepad, a vertical ergonomic mouse, and a nice ergonomic keyboard (my hands are also happy.) I have a small Taurus trinket tray that my 3 astrology dice sit in (planet, signs, houses) and two candles sit beside it: a Harry and a Snape candle from an etsy shop! There is also a wooden desktop bookcase filled with books that are pretty and/or reference books (floriography, philosophy, mythology, astrology, tarot, poetry, etc.) Two figurines are in front of the bookcase of women holding bouquets (one holds pink, the other yellow.)

The woods and the greens are all different but I think it all flows together anyway!

On the wall above my desk is a circular stone image of the Hogwarts crest. Behind where I sit are several other bookshelves filled to the brim with books. My desk sits near the living room and the kitchen and the bar dividing the room has stacks and stacks of books on it! (Basically: books, books, everywhere!)

We have Philips Hue lights all over our apartment, so I can set the lighting to whatever suits me: however dim or bright I want! Warm lighting, cool lighting. Pink lights, blue lights! Whatever mood I like for the work I need to do.

When I sit down to write, I usually have a cup of coffee and light one of my candles. My Harry candle is very sweet and the Snape candle is more musky. I generally work in silence (because I'm easily distracted) but sometimes I'll pull an ambient noise video up on my ipad and have it sitting by me while I work (so I can enjoy the visuals and the noise!)

When I'm in a good groove I'm a speed-demon when I type, so lotsa click-clacking! In the not so groovy times I gulp down my coffee and fidget in my chair (because I can't sit still to save my life.)

Oh, and because my partner likes the COLD I'm often also buried beneath a lot of blankets.

I was hoping to paint a more romantic image but it's really just my tiny desk in my apartment that is crammed with books and me flopping all over the place and begging the deities for some ability to focus, lol!

Weird Questions for Writers

#asked & answered

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toytulini · 3 years

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i promise i will check tumblr one of these days dgdgidhudbi

#toy txt post #beloved friends and mutuals i see that you have sent me messages i Know. i will. eventually look at them #im not trying to ignore You but i am trying to ignore Tumblr bc it is an evil timesink that make time go faster and disappear #i have also been. trying to Adjust to working Full Time now. woof. yall can we fix this. i dont know if im supposed to try to unionize #an employee owned company tho? like supposedly technically after a year or whatever i become An Owner along with everyone else and also #theres profit sharing at the end of the year? its very weird. i dont know how i feel about it. it feels Technically Good.#also i have started listening to a new podcast so that is keeping me off tumblr #2019 me: who are you 2021 me: im you but we listen to podcasts now and we're obnoxious about it #im almost all caught up on 'this podc/ast will kill you' i still have 2 covid episodes left to listen to but one of them is Really Rough bc #it is Entirely comprised of Firsthand Accounts. and i think they are tasteful and important to include but i cant handle them being the #Entire Episode i think like with no buffer of The Rest Of The Episode where i just Learn about the disease #and then this new one i just found is called the com/mon descent podcast (slashes so these dont show up in tags i hope?)#and its about like!!!!! evolution and paleontology and fossil history and stuff and im really enjoying it so far. however unfortunately:#i listened to the placodem episode and they reminded me of my love for dunkleosteus and i splurged on a dunkle head keychain off etsy #which i shouldnt have bc i had already splurged on anomlocaris necklace from that same etsy #(the etsy shop is called 'tcustom' and they do lots of really cool like pewter i think pendants and keychains.)#some really cool like fossil ones and fossil animals but also some cool anatomy ones and i think the pricing is very affordable for the #high quality of the items. honestly they should probably cost more. as much as i like not having to pay more.#the dunkleosteus head keychain i have. yall. it has functioning neck and mouth joints. it OPENS. its insane its so good #okay i really do have to start getting ready for work like Now so uh. bye #i will check tumblr One Of These Days

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honey-lemon-blossom · 2 years

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Budget Offerings For Your Spirit Companion

Hello everyone! I hope you’re well! Since I’ve come far with spirit companionship I’ve decided to give a bit of advice!

Here’s a bit about me: I’m 20 years old, a college student and a full time caregiver for one of my family members.

With that being said, sometimes money is hard to balance! Bindings for spirits range from $10-$1000 and that itself can be a steep depending on who you get it from. The price, almost always reflects how strong the connection is with the spirit as well, so you essentially get what you paid for, but I don’t recommend going for high prices because sometimes those can be scams as well. That will be in another post and all recommend shops I have bought from will eventually be listed.

So you’re on a budget? Well good news! There is still many ways you can bond and offer to your companion! Due to the pandemic and me being a lazy potato, sometimes it’s a bit hard to go outside, and buying crystals, candles, incense, etc. can get a bit pricey especially if you have a big spirit family. Here is a few ideas to help your gears going and these also feel so much more real and welcoming then regular offerings.

Remember: your spirit friend is just like us. It’s not so cut and dry where you give offerings and never talk to them again unless you want something. They have feelings too and getting to know them like they are a person or friend, really helps build a connection more with them.

Cooking or Baking With Your Spirit

This is something I love to do! I’ve took up baking as a hobby for a while, since it’s something that comes naturally to be; but cooking has not! I’ve decided to get HelloFresh, and with that, I’ve decided to ask my spirits if they would like to watch, or carry their vessels with me when I cook! I have a few spirits that are in statues, so I don’t mind wandering the house carrying them lol! I’ve noticed, especially with baking, that they enjoy it a lot. They enjoy seeing me try to make it look nice or seeing me fail (and telling me that’s okay since I can be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to food). Afterwards, I try to give them my food as an offering, but if I can’t, I usually invite them to eat with me.

Baked goods is one of the offerings they love the most, and I even smelled my cookies when I didn’t make any because someone wanted it. They usually get super happy when I give them food offerings and it’s probably the offering that makes me feel the most energy from them, especially if I make it myself.

Your spirits love being with you, even on your mundane days.

Dries Herbs

This is one of my favorite offerings to give as it is super easy, and it makes their space on my alters look nice! I have 3 alters for my spirit family, sectioned out depending on their personality, likes, and if they are from similar backgrounds. But for the longest time, I had vessels, rather than spirit binds because it helped me bond with them much easier when I started out and it was hard for me to keep track who was in my family in the beginning. With the vessels, I would place them in small dishes, teacups, or even Japanese teacups, pouches, and in the middle of a huge stick of selenite.

I place herbs they pick or like and place them on those dishes, and I usually change it out when it starts to look brown. It’s a good budget offering because if you buy in bulk, you have so many options. I’ve also heard some people burn the herbs when they are done using them as offerings and then make it into black salt. So that way you are even getting more out of your money! I have about 62 packs of herbs that I ordered from Amazon and I know many do like to shop there so there is alternatives on Etsy!

Herbs are my favorite to do because it lets me intuitive pick and it’s just also fun to reorganize the dishes their vessels are in. It also gives it a pop of life rather than looking plain and it’s one of our favorite bonding methods to do.

The Arts

I know many aren’t into creative outlets like crafts, drawing/painting, or writing, but give it a try! It is so worth your time not only because you are bonding with your spirit, but because you are having an outlet to express any emotions you want to let out!

It can be from wiring gemstones, drawing your companion, or writing letters to them. It doesn’t have to be just those options. The possibility is endless! My favorite is writing poems with them of stories, because they are always interested in what I come up with. Their favorite is drawing them! They love it so much and you don’t need to be good at art to draw. It’s the thought that counts, so don’t strive for it to be perfect for them to appreciate it.

Picrew & WOMBO Dream

Sometimes you just don’t feel like getting creative and that’s okay! There’s a good thing Picrew and WOMBO Dream is a thing!

For those who don’t know, Picrew is a website that allows you to build a character, and many people in the community use it to create photos of them and their companions! It’s super fun to use and there is different styles you can choose from! Here are a few I have with my romantic companion.

Since I’m a visual learner, these are so fun to make and it helps me visualize my companions more. It helps me figure them out by their energies and I can it makes it easier for me to figure what they do and don’t like.

WOMBO is something I discovered pretty recently! It’s a bit more difficult to use but it’s an app that generates AI art for you depending on the selected words you write and art style you pick! I enjoy it a lot because it’s fun to see what pops up with my companions and I, and sometimes the energies feel so nice! Here is an example!

Ambience Sound

This is something I love to do a lot mostly because I usually don’t like it when it’s quiet. I play music, videos, tv shows, or movies on for my spirits to enjoy. They especially like listening to music whether it’s on a radio I have, or a playlist just for them.

I also use this as a form of communication! Whenever I feel like asking them something I shuffle the playlist a couple times and then look at the lyrics and I find it’s an easier and quicker way for me to communicate with them because it feels straightforward.

Naps!

Quite a bit of my spirit friends have dealt with trauma that caused them to have mental illnesses like anxiety. I have a spirit that is a veteran from a war from his realm and I had others that have gone through constant battles. A large chunk of my family are introverts and don’t mind mundane day-to-day things, so my favorite thing to do is curl up with their vessels and sleep when I get the chance. It’s a bit boring and a normal thing to do, but before I sleep I usually have chat with them, like chats you would have with a friend during a sleepover. I would tell them parts of my life that I hated and loved and I would tell them countless times how much I love them. It makes the moment feel more closer and real, and I feel like they get to know me a bit more each time. It’s also a relaxing thing to do that doesn’t overwhelm them, and who doesn’t love naps?

Anything can be an offering, you just have to have the intent to do it for your companion. Now this doesn’t mean you should treat your companion any less because they are a spirit. Treat them how you want to be treated, and I can guarantee that your relationship will flourish. Stay safe everyone ❤️💕.

#aesthetic #diary entry #spirit keeping #writing #spirit companionship

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inthememetime · 3 years

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The Company (+Gandalf, Dís, & Tauriel)- Do they have a Tumblr in a modern AU which I'll probably never write?

Dwalin- Like this? *holds out a tumbler style cup*

Balin- Yes, and he uses it to shitpost constantly. 'Your teeth are always wet.' 'On average, the number of human skeletons in a human body is more than 1.'- style posts. No one in his friend group knows, but some suspect since he's suspiciously up to date on memes.

Thorin- Yes, but he's only on like twice a week. A friend of his suggested he posts some of the tattoos he does, and he likes the validation. He also does watercolors for commissions. He was confused about why some of his regulars told him they were 'looking respectfully' until he was tagged in one of Bilbo’s livestreams where he came downstairs in nothing but a pair of boxers with mistletoe on the front. Somehow he always forgets what night Bilbo streams on despite the fact it's posted on their fridge.

Glóin- No, but I think Dwalin has one you can use. Oh. Is it that thing my lad Gimli is always on? You know, my son landed 1st place last week in his- wait. Where are you going??

Oín- The what now? How do you get on a mug? Like a painting thing? I think Thorin does those if you want one.

Dori- Yes, he's on a few times a week. He's very active in the embroidery and needlepoint circles. He doesn't have a lot of followers, but he's ok with that.

Nori- He's more of a Reddit guy. But sometimes he gets on and spams the porn bots with requests for free toasters or tacos for funsies. He also teaches people how to legally get away with breaking and entering, theft, and similar crimes as long as they promise to only use it on rich assholes.

Ori- Yes, he has 2 Tumblrs. One that's active in needlepoint, crochet, and calligraphy that Dori knows about, and the other is a fanart blog. His Zukka, Johnlock, and Destiel work gets a lot of reblogs. Hates Post+ with a passion.

Bifur- He likes plants, so he started looking them up and posting them online. Eventually, somebody on Reddit told him he should get a Tumblr and now he's known as the plant guy. He's very active, and talks about his disability sometimes which lost him a few followers but gained him a lot more. He's actually made a side gig out of it through Ko-Fi.

Bofur- Yes, and now it's a legitimate business model for him? He still can't figure out how that happened. All he did was post pictures and videos of his handmade toys, link his Etsy and tell people he did commissions, and he's actually had to hire people now to keep up with the workload. 90% of it is the toys. The other 10% is the internet swooning over the super nice goofball who has to stop streaming to shout 'kitty!' every time his cat walks in and forgets to edit it out.

Bombur- Not really. He has a Tumblr, sure, but he hasn't used it since 2015.

Fíli- Yes because he can talk to people about swords and knives and axes and not be considered weird. He's known as the Weapons Discourse Guy, don't tag him in anything else. Unless it has explosions. Yes he's seen the video of his uncle in nothing but the world's tiniest mistletoe boxers, please stop tagging him in it.

Kíli- He has the blog his brother, mother, and uncle all know about- the one where he talks about hunting, archery, prehistoric animals, and dream vacations. He has his main blog, which is full of writing prompts, fanfic he's writing, and an insane amount of reblogged fanart for Reasons.

Bilbo- He finally got on Tumblr to see what the lads were on about, and posts a lot of baking videos. He runs a sweet shop and he's found lots of people enjoy watching him make candies, cupcakes, and pies. He also accidentally made Thorin a little more popular because he lives above the shop and sometimes Thorin comes downstairs shirtless while he's filming. His views always spike when there's the Baking Trifecta- complicated candies, shirtless Thorin, and Thorin talking to him from the side. His viewers like Thorin's voice; Bilbo doesn't blame them.

Bonus:

Tauriel's blog is NSFW, but not for the reason you might think. She's a Forensic Pathology major, and some of the research papers and pics she reblogs are disturbing to say the least. Despite using (some would say over-using) trigger tags, she still gets a lot of anon hate. Despite that, there are a lot of people who actually like her blog, because they get to find a lot about what happens when they die and find it comforting. She's also exposed a lot of racism and classism in the death industry, and now she writes books on it.

Dís: Everyone thinks she doesn't, but she does. She's not very active, but takes the time to send Thorin pictures of stickbugs (he hates them) because any opportunity to troll him is one she'll take.

Gandalf: He doesn't know how he got onto this hellsite, but he's blaming Pippin. Pippin was maybe 3 at the time, but he'll still blame the kid. But now that he's here, he might as well devote some time to raising absolute HELL on TERFs, Karens and pedos.

#the hobbit au #modern au #Bagginshield #oh thorin you need to chill with the boxers #you're going to make Bilbo’s followers lose their minds

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c-c-cherry · 3 years

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Jojos Doing Jojo Things (with each other)✨😌

*sweating as the part 5 hc asks start piling up in my inbox*

*looks at the one that mentions Jonathan*

Hello~~ I’m sorry for being criminally inactive here, I forgot during that long 6 month lockdown that I actually had a real life outside of the internet and now I have to go do real life things?? Instead of doing nothing but writing?? Crimes, I tell you.

I love the idea of Jonathan interacting with all the other jojos so I thought I’d take a little break from part 5 whump headcanons to fulfill this one :D SO HERE’S SOME SELF-INDULGENT HEADCANONS ABOUT JONATHAN DOING FUN LITTLE ACTIVITIES WITH THE OTHER JOJOS BECAUSE I KNOW WE ALL NEED IT RIGHT NOW😭😭😭

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

Joseph (lets say Youngseph in this case because shhh)

-Hear me out but KNITTING

-Let this man do some nice calm things please

-Joseph has absolutely no way to connect with Jonathan. Like. Nothing.

-He doesn’t see the two of them as anything alike even though they both have the star, and when it comes to connecting with such a righteous, nice dude he’s a bit :/ about it

-He also doesn’t want to do anything stupid (In his words.) He hates baking, he’s never been into reading and school, and the two can never really click with sports

-Our man Jonathan has searched his heart and soul for something to bring the two of them together but Joseph is always just not into it >:(

-He’s almost given up on connecting at all BUT—

-One thing they do have in common? Erina.

-BOOM. Johnny-boy suddenly has ideas >:)

-Joseph is really put off when Jonathan shows up with a ball of yarn and needles and in the most innocent way possible he’s like “I have something to show you ^-^”

-the first thing Joseph thinks is NO FUCKING WAY. If Caesar or his mother or anyone caught him fucking knitting he’d never be able to live it down

-So instead he just watches as Jonathan sits by the fire, and it looks really boring at first but he just starts going at it

-And of course the gears start turning and all his brain sees is “fast task?? task I can be good at? something quick my hands can do??”

-And Jonathan looks up to take a break to see Joseph perched on the edge of the chair in complete awe, but the moment he asks if he wants to know how to do it, Joseph gets really withdrawn :/

The rest of their conversation goes a little like this:

“Isn’t that meant for girls?”

“Why would hats and scarves be only for girls?”

“But its—”

“You know...I’m making Erina a matching hat and scarf for her birthday. I could use a little help with the scarf…”

“...”

“We can make it a race.”

And with a fire lighting in his eyes, Joseph accepts the contest even though he has no idea what he’s doing. But isn’t that what he does best?

-Needless to say, he becomes obsessed.

-When his greatest fear comes true and Caesar finds out, he’s too obsessed to care about the teasing

-Joseph is good at something that Caesar isn’t. Caesar is jealous. Caesar picks up knitting.

-Are knitting contests even a thing?? I don’t care because Joseph and Caesar could probably open a fucking etsy shop with all the stuff they make (and absolutely shamelessly at that)

-Anytime they meet someone new it's immediately “which hat is better?” “Joseph’s is worse, right?” “Can you start the stopwatch for us?”

-Even in his older years, he never actually stopped making things for Holy, Suzi, and even sometimes Jotaro (thought Joot wouldn’t be caught dead wearing any of it in public)

-He actually progresses past knitting and making clothes in general becomes a secret passion of his

-The hat he’s wearing in part 4? He definitely made that. And don’t even think he doesn’t send Josuke the tackiest shit in the mail

Jonathan is very proud :)

Jotaro

-Animals. Is that even a question?

-Jonathan was always more of a dog or cat person, but the moment he finds out that Jotaro’s interested in marine life? MAN GOES ALL OUT

-He not only researches the shit out of marine biology just so he can hold up a conversation with him, but he also buys A SHIT TON OF BOOKS for his favourite angst man

-We all know that Jotaro isn’t exactly a man of words, but his heart is touched when they exchange a few sentences and Jonathan shows up the next day with a book all about what they were talking about🥺

-Like—Jonathan was always scolded for never listening to his father, but when it comes to stuff like this, Jotaro swears he’s able to read his mind

-Most people can barely get him to utter a sentence, but when these two are alone they’ll talk for hours about the ocean

-Holy was actually pretty worried for a while that Jotaro rarely ever opened up to anyone, but after seeing the two of them talk it was like a weight lifted off her shoulders :)

-They go on trips all the time to study water life. First, it's just to the river a few minutes away. Then they start going out to the lake nearby, and then they’re suddenly borrowing Joseph’s private boat and going on all these “research trips” together

-Which just consist of Jotaro taking hundreds of pictures and surprisingly never shutting up about what he sees (which is definitely a first)

-They pass by snooty, rich fishermen all the time who make fun of them for only looking at the animals, and Jonathan secretly uses Hamon to attract the fish to anywhere but where the fishers are lol

-I can blame snipster on instagram for introducing me to Smiletaro but the pure happiness and smiles of happy Joot on this boat with Jonathan is like a DRUG

-Star Platinum is absolutely thrilled, and when Jonathan realizes that Star is an amazing artist, he actually buys the stand a cute little purple notebook to draw all the ocean life they come across :3

-The moment they get back to shore Jotaro’s all -_- again around people, but you can still see the excitement in his eyes if you look hard enough

-When he gets into school for marine biology, Jonathan is so fucking proud

-This is an au which means anything can happen so I formally declare that Jonathan definitely got Jotaro those golden dolphin-shaped coat pins when the man first goes off to Uni

-He wears them as a good luck charm :3

Josuke

-Josuke is soooo easy to get along with, especially since both of them are such warm people :)

-Jonathan figures that it wouldn’t be hard to find something fun to do together, but when he actually thinks about it...he really knows nothing about what Josuke likes to do

-He ends up just asking the kid next time they see each other, and they end up just agreeing to teach each other one thing the other doesn’t know

-Because the power of KNOWLEDGE BABYYY

-Josuke shows up the next day with an entire fucking Nintendo 64 and is absolutely set on teaching him how to play something

-Erina just kinda watches like 👁👄👁 as Josuke plugs it in and Jonathan is confused but also SUPER EXCITED because he barely even knows what a video is but there are also video games??

-After much internal debate, Josuke decides on Ocarina of Time because he’s worried Jonathan will have a fucking heart attack if they play something like Mario Kart

-Also he thinks Jojo would enjoy the whole “righteous hero coming of age” archetype thing because,,,you know,,,

-They start it up and immediately Jonathan is like WHAT and has no idea how to play and dies in ways that Josuke didn’t even know were possible, but they somehow make it to the first temple with a lot of help from Josuke

-Right before the boss fight, his mom pulls up like “bitch we gotta go come on” so Josuke sees no harm in leaving the system at Jonathan’s and coming back next week

-Oho,,,ohohooo,,,

-He comes back a week later to a dark house,,,Erina’s off on some trip, and he can hear the faintest “HYAH!” coming from the living room

-He walks in to find Jonathan in the exact same spot he left him, ALL OTHER SAVE FILES ARE COMPLETE, and he’s in some obscure location doing a side quest Josuke didn’t even know existed

-Turns out he’s really good at quest games

-After Josuke realizes that Jonathan’s managed to beat the game more than once, he asks if he wants to try out another game

-To which Jonathan replies: “There’s MORE?”

-Aside from giving Jonathan a crippling video game addiction, Josuke also learns a vital thing about Jonathan Joestar

-Hamon ^-^

-Josuke’s a little surprised that Jonathan can even see his stand, and Jonathan has no other way to explain it than that it must be connected to his Hamon somehow

-To which Josuke is like “what” and Jonathan realizes that his stupid fucking grandson decided not to tell ANY OTHER Joestar about Hamon

-He’s no Zeppeli, but he could try and teach him...even if it didn’t work, it would still be a nice bonding activity

-When Jonathan finds out that Josuke’s stand ability is revolved around healing, he’s overjoyed because he might have a better chance

-They start small with breathing exercises and meditation, which eventually lead to Jonathan trying to teach Josuke how to make things like flowers

-Since it doesn’t exactly come naturally to Josuke, things don’t exactly work out,,,but both are unsurprisingly happy when Josuke manages to make a single flower bloom :3

-It’s not much, but it’s there and it honestly makes Josuke feel much better knowing that he could eventually learn how to heal himself, too :)

Giorno

-Jonathan considered teaching Giorno Hamon a while ago, but he realized that his stand already has the properties of Hamon, if not just in a more humanoid form

-And when Jojo puts two and two together that he and his son can both grow a lot of plant life, he has the perfect idea

-Garden buddies!!!! :D

-They grow everything you could possibly think of, and to top it all off, Giorno fills the garden with all this animal life :)

-When it comes to biology, Giorno never shuts up about it. He’s the quietest kid when it comes to virtually anything else but prepare for MAJOR info dumps about frogs and his vast knowledge of flowers

-Speaking of flowers, them just sitting and growing them together and talking about all of their favourites? Yes please

-Although they love to accelerate plant growth, there’s one patch in the middle of the garden that they’re determined to grow naturally

-Also them growing and eating carambola (star fruit) together because it’s my pocket dimension that makes no sense and I get to decide what fun fruits the Joestars get to eat together

-the garden becomes a great place for picnics and outings and the best place to go when things get too chaotic

-Giorno starts a plant journal where he records everything that ends up growing there, and Jonathan starts impulse buying all these flower guide books so they can look at pictures of them and put their favourites in the garden :3

-They end up creating a little pond in the middle of everything, and Giorno puts a whole bunch of frogs and fish in it and it's all very tranquil and calm and nice :))

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

I was gonna do part 6 (maybe part 7 too?) but mental energy? I don’t know her, sorry y’all :(

Feel free to add on though!! I wanna see what y’all would think Jonathan would wanna do with Jolyne or anyone else I missed :D My first thought for Jolyne was Rugby because Jonathan was a rugby KING and I feel like she’d be really good at it lmao

#jjba #jjba headcanons #jonathan joestar #joseph joestar #jotaro kujo #josuke higashikata #giorno giovanna #jojos's bizarre adventure #ask-c-c-cherry #headcanons #anime #erina joestar #family feels #long post

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cindylouwho-2 · 2 years

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RECENT NEWS, RESOURCES & STUDIES, January 13, 2022

Happy 2022, and welcome to my latest summary of the top news, studies and helpful resources for ecommerce, social media, SEO and content marketing (with a special focus on Etsy), compiled since my last update in November (although a few articles are older than that). I didn't get completely caught up from the holiday season, but will cover those missing topics in the next few updates.

Note the new format - I've grouped topics a bit differently, and added a few new ones. I like it a lot better than the previous one, but will probably make at least a few changes, so please let me know if you have any complaints or suggestions. Post your thoughts here on Tumblr, email me through my website, or connect on Twitter.

TOP NEWS & ARTICLES

Etsy is now refunding buyers out of seller funds almost immediately in some opened cases, including when the order’s tracking shows the package as delivered. Recent examples include:

a case (with full tracking via Royal Mail) in the UK; seller is escalating with Support

a US case with full tracking; Etsy did refund the seller eventually after they escalated their complaint “The solution is to request a call back from Etsy. Do not go through chat or email. I waited about 5 minutes to get a call back.” - what do those without access to call backs do?

a digital download case that may have been a scam; no word yet on a refund from Etsy

All payments had cleared. Some sellers have claimed that Etsy refused to refund them, even after the seller demonstrated compliance with Seller Protection rules. Most seem to involve “unauthorized use” but in some cases the buyer wants to pay the seller back. Speculation is that this is due to a new bot from Etsy, which wouldn’t surprise anyone who has been paying attention. This could also be related to the weird glut of order cancellations both buyers and sellers are complaining about: see here, here, and here.

US Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday were not quite as big as last year for online retail, possibly because some buyers heeded warnings and purchased holiday gifts earlier than usual. Amazon was up over the same period, however. Overall, US ecommerce sales were up over 2021, due to bigger totals before and after Cyber Week. While up from 2020, December sales did slow compared to November, possibly due to omicron. In the US, the areas with the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates had the highest amount of in-person shopping.

Amazon expects to become the largest delivery service in the United States by early 2022, leaving UPS and FedEx behind. “The retail giant now oversees thousands of last-mile delivery companies that deliver packages exclusively for Amazon, as well as a budding in-house network of planes, trucks and ships. It has also dotted the country with warehouses and air hubs that can speed along packages…By last August, Amazon was estimated to be delivering 66% of its own packages.”

ETSY NEWS

When Etsy made some minor upgrades to the payment account page on January 1, some sellers were confused by the changed terminology, and mistakenly thought that there had been a fee increase. In particular, Etsy previously hid the payment processing fee on the line with the total sale’s credit to your account, while it now places that charge on a separate line. Etsy is also finally breaking out the taxes that it collects on sellers behalf, which should have been the way it was done from the beginning. This should make things easier for at least some of us.

Some sellers with payment reserves have been unable to get their money released when they ship with tracking, as Etsy’s system isn’t recognizing the tracking. While the UK issue has been partially resolved, it went on for close to one month, and other countries such as Germany are still experiencing the same issue. This could also affect sellers elsewhere if shipping companies missed scans during the holiday season and the likely upcoming pandemic-related labour shortages.

Note that this lack of tracking is now happening with Etsy’s Pitney Bowes integration for letters in the US. See here and here.

Quite a few shop owners were surprised to find themselves with Star Seller badges in mid-December, even though they didn’t qualify. See here, here, here and here. Note that the badges all disappeared again in January, and no one who didn’t have at least 95% on shipping seemed to get one.

Klarna is now available for purchases from Spain and Australia.

Etsy was one of many large sites that went down due to the Google Cloud outage on November 16th.

The company continued to get good media mileage from Josh Silverman’s assertions that Etsy sellers mostly aren't affected by supply chain issues, including an invite to a conference with President Biden. Here are stories from Fox, the New York Times, and CNBC.

There is also more attention to the problem of false intellectual property claims and counterfeit takedowns. From the first article: “The takedowns spike around Thanksgiving and Christmas, and “it’s typically competitors trying to slow down someone else,” according to Brent Sausser, a partner at law firm Sausser Summers PC, which represents sellers in such disputes.” The second article: “List a secondhand product from fashion companies like Michael Kors, Dior, or YSL, and you could soon be facing down an IP notice trying to block or restrict the sale, say online sellers. These takedowns can destabilize independent merchants and jeopardize their livelihoods. And now, sellers say overzealous takedowns are getting more and more intense across different e-commerce platforms, just as consumers are beginning to embrace secondhand fashion over buying directly from manufacturers and big-box retailers...The INFORM Consumers Act, supported by Amazon, Etsy, and eBay, would require online marketplaces to take additional steps to verify the identities of high-volume third-party sellers. Meanwhile, the SHOP SAFE Act — which has received pushback from online selling platforms — would open platforms up to lawsuits unless they take certain steps to prevent counterfeit products. But Liebesman and critics of the bill say the legislation as-is could end individuals’ and small businesses’ ability to sell products online.”

At least a few Etsy sellers are in trouble with the IRS because the tax agency doesn’t believe that some of their PayPal sales in 2018 and ‘19 were actually made on Etsy. This Etsy forum thread tells one such story. If you know anyone affected, please have them contact me, as I can connect them with the others to share tactics on getting this fixed.

Speaking of the IRS, most US sellers will need to provide their tax information to Etsy under a new law that took effect January 1, 2022. See more here. As usual, a bunch of shops were put into vacation mode after following Etsy’s instructions. Making sure that your name is the exact same as on your SSN or EIN paperwork seems to help. If you are a non-US seller who received the messages, here is how to make sure Etsy doesn’t shut you down.

Etsy published their trends for 2022 in December with a look back at 2021 as well. You will discover that emerald green searches are already up 60% in the last 3 months, 70’s lighting is hot, and colourful weddings will be back (searches up 223%). They then followed up with “early 2022 trends”, focussing on Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Some recent search trends: “2,627% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for pastel room decor…177% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for squiggles…54% YoY increase in searches on Etsy for prisms or suncatchers…368% YoY increase in searches for ‘70s lighting.”

SEO: GOOGLE & OTHER SEARCH ENGINES

Google’s search algorithm spam update finished rolling out November 8th; you probably won’t see much impact if you don’t do spammy things. But then they started a core update on November 17th, which took 1-2 weeks to roll out completely. Google says they will reconsider timing for next year’s holiday shopping season after many SEOs complained. The last update seemed to hit some sites very hard, but Amazon, Walmart and Etsy were among the ecommerce winners, according to this study.

Google does recognize bold text on a page as a way of emphasizing the page’s real meaning. That doesn’t mean you should bold everything, though.

Moving a site or even just some pages? Google says to make sure you keep the redirect in place for at least a year [video], for SEO purposes.

Here is Google’s search news update for December. [video]

SOCIAL MEDIA - All Aspects, By Site

General

Shopping on social media is expected to grow much faster than website-based ecommerce in the next few years, making close to 20% of overall online sales, driven primarily by Gen Z and millennials.

Here’s a primer on social media advertising.

Facebook

Facebook ad targeting will no longer allow many types of controversial categories as of January 19 2022. “In other words, you won’t be able to target your ads based on topics like ‘World Diabetes Day’ or other health causes, nor will you be able to hone in on elements related to sexual orientation, political beliefs, etc….[however] Facebook says that brands will still be able to use Engagement Custom Audiences in order to reach people who’ve liked their Page, or Facebook users who’ve watched their videos, while you’ll also be able to use the same as the basis for Lookalike targeting, along with your own email lists.”

If you are using Facebook Ads to get signups/registrations, you probably should be using Lead Ads, which keep the registrant on Facebook & produced more signups for less spend in this A/B test.

Instagram

It looks like Instagram is going to push videos more than still images in the future, which could change traffic and engagement for some businesses.

They are also testing a reverse-chronological feed, but it can’t be set as the default, so users will have to select it each time they open Instagram.

Instagram hashtags are a crucial way to get noticed; learn how to use them and which ones are the most popular.

TikTok

TikTok is projected to have more than 1.5 billion users some time in 2022.

Twitter

Walmart was the first company to try out Twitter’s livestream shopping, on November 28.

YouTube

After some tests, YouTube made “dislikes” on videos private (only seen by the publisher).

How to get more followers on YouTube.

(CONTENT) MARKETING (includes blogging, emails, and strategies)

If you aren’t having much success with your email list, here are 17 tips that can improve your effectiveness.

ONLINE ADVERTISING (ALL EXCEPT SOCIAL MEDIA)

There was a Google Shopping ad bug on November 12-13 that hugely increased the cost-per-click. While it has long been fixed, check your reporting to see if you were affected, as you are likely eligible for refunds.

Google Ads’ “Performance Max” campaigns are now available to all advertisers. Here’s how to start using them. “Machine learning models then optimize bids for advertisers’ goals.”

Catch up on the most recent changes to Microsoft Ads here, including new countries where it is available. “Microsoft has removed the minimum spend requirement to use Customer Match targeting with email match. Microsoft said the removal of this requirement “makes it possible for more of you to use this feature that plays an important role in moving into the cookieless world…The Microsoft Audience Ads is now available to all customers in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and Venezuela. Previously is was available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, France, and Germany.”

STATS, DATA, OTHER TRACKING

Google Analytics 4 will no longer track bounce rates; instead, it looks at engagement rates.

ECOMMERCE NEWS, IDEAS, TRENDS (minus social media)

Amazon

Amazon’s UK site will no longer accept UK-issued Visa cards as of January 19, 2022; they say it is due to the high Visa processing fees. Critics note that Amazon’s fees for its third party sellers can be as much as 20%.

US users will be able to pay with Venmo starting in 2022.

eBay

eBay had a disturbing “bug” in early December, where some buyer and seller accounts were closed for no reason.

Shopify

Shopify is testing a product search app that would include all websites built with Shopify. Businesses would have to opt in.

In the meantime, outside search engine traffic is still a way to get more eyes on your Shopify site; here is a somewhat-advanced set of tips for technical SEO on Shopify.

Linktree now offers the ability to feature Shopify items on your page. “Once users link their Shopify accounts with Linktree, they’ll be able to choose which products or collections to promote. There’s also an option to live sync Shopify collections onto Linktree, so that any changes made on Shopify are reflected on Linktree automatically. Users can display up to six products at a time and host multiple links for different collections or stores.”

All Other Marketplaces

ArtFire closed, but didn't bother to notify its sellers directly. It just posted a notice on the website instead of sending an email. It’s not clear if sellers can get their data now that the site has shut.

All Other Website Builders

GoDaddy experienced a large data breach, which may have exposed the information of 1.2 million customers. “...the company detected unauthorized access to its systems where it hosts and manages its customers’ WordPress servers...the unauthorized person used a compromised password to get access to GoDaddy’s systems around September 6. GoDaddy said it discovered the breach last week on November 17. It’s not clear if the compromised password was protected with two-factor authentication.”

Wix now offers a buy now, pay later option, through PayPal’s Pay Later.

Payment Processing

Klarna, a leader in “buy now, pay later” (BNPL), is introducing “pay now” options, and will soon have a physical card available to US users. “Though behind in market share versus competitors like PayPal, Klarna’s approach as a way to pay online and its share of checkout is providing some competition. Merchants are telling Klarna that its share of checkout is steadily growing after being in the U.S. market for just two years.”

Afterpay says its own BNPL services were up 34% during Cyber Week.

Not wanting to be beaten at the name game by Meta/Facebook, Square is now called Block, although the merchant services will still be known as Square.

Shipping

Stamps has rebranded as Auctane, which is the name of one of Stamps’ subsidiaries. The new corp also owns Endicia, MetaPack, ShipStation and several other shipping applications.

BUSINESS & CONSUMER TRENDS, STATS & REPORTS; SOCIOLOGY & PSYCHOLOGY, CUSTOMER SERVICE

Resale continues to increase in popularity, with some seeing it as a way to locate rare items, while others are all about sustainability. “Carolyn Thomas, president and CEO of Aravenda, a consignment software company, noted that the resale industry is growing 11 times faster than traditional retail, citing ThredUp data. This trend is likely linked to two factors: supply chain logistics and the consumer’s shift to a sustainable mindset.” However, the popularity means there is a glut in some types of items, and people may struggle to find someone to take their items on consignment or even as donations. “There’s not much demand for that perfect pencil skirt, or other things that seem so ‘yesterday.' Why invest in cashmere sweaters to wear around the house?" Corlett said. "They’re only going to accept what their client base is going to take.” Instead, timeless pieces — including handbags, totes and accessories — are selling well, as are items with sentimental value.”

Shipping prices have gone up everywhere, and the frequent push for low or even no shipping fees in ecommerce means some sellers might be seeing more complaints about those fees. While not everyone can find cheaper shipping methods, many will benefit from tips on reducing and dealing with shipping cost complaints.

No matter how good you are at running your business, sometimes you will need to apologize to a customer. Here are some really good tips, and 5 example letters. My favourite is “Explain what you’ll do differently” - as a customer, I want to know how you are going to prevent this from happening to others (or to me in the future).

IMAGES, VIDEO, GRAPHIC DESIGN, & FREE ONLINE TOOLS

Part of an ongoing series on product photography, here are articles on basic photo composition and then advanced photo composition.

To pull your social media posts and ads together, check out these simple design tips to remember. [infographic and text]

Creative Cloud Express is a new app from Adobe that has a free version as well as paid options. Adobe claims it is easier to learn than Photoshop, and it comes with templates as well as the ability to edit videos and images. “The app seems to be designed for social media managers, small business owners, and anyone else who has something to promote but isn’t a pro at graphic design.”

Here is a good collection of pdf, video, image and other tools with a simple interface, for free. I used a few of the pdf tools with great success.

Looking for new fonts? Check out 20 new ones that are free for commercial use.

MISCELLANEOUS (including humour)

Want to start learning how to code? Here are 11 free ways to pick up coding skills.

#etsysellernews #ecommerce #etsynews #seo #social media #content marketing #ecommercetips #microbusinesses #ppc advertising

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thegreenwolf · 3 years

Photo

Betting on the Ponies (originally posted at my blog at https://thegreenwolf.com/betting-on-the-ponies/)

(Above: Breyer Classic Arabian Stallion made over into a winged unicorn with real wings from a barnyard mix rooster I raised for meat.)

If you’ve been paying attention to my social media or my shop links at all, you may have noticed that I haven’t really been posting much in the way of new hide and bone art for the past year or so. It’s not that I’ve stopped; I still make some fun things for my Patrons on Patreon every month, and I make some bone, tooth and claw jewelry on Etsy to order. But ever since events dried up, I haven’t been regularly making new batches of costume pieces or other Vulture Culture art. My usual M.O. was to make all sorts of new things for an upcoming event, and then once the weekend was done and I was home, post whatever hadn’t sold on Etsy. And since there haven’t been events…well…I’ve just found myself doing other things.

Some of that is because I’ve had to scramble to make up for the lost income; events were a pretty big chunk of my “pay”, and losing them meant having to tighten the belt. I also lost several other income streams thanks to the pandemic making it unsafe to be around groups of people, which didn’t help. So I had to rely on what was left, along with adopting a few new sources of bits and bobs of cash here and there.

And, honestly, I’ve needed a bit of a break. I’ve been making hide and bone art for over two decades now, and while I love it, any artist eventually wants to explore different media for a while. Sure, I’ve stretched my Vulture wings in new directions, going from costume pieces and ritual tools to assemblages and the Tarot of Bones. But ever since the Tarot came out, I’ve been feeling….not really burned out, but a little creatively wrung out, at least. I’ve really appreciated my Patrons and Etsy customers who have helped me keep a hand in that particular medium, while also allowing me to head off in other directions, too.

Which is to say that if you have been paying attention to the aforementioned social media and shops, you may have also noticed that I’ve been increasing the number of customized Breyer model horses and other animals I’ve made over the past couple of years. This might seem like a heck of a departure from skulls, bones, and other dead things. But in a way it’s really me getting back to long-neglected roots.

(One of my favorite customs I’ve done on one of my favorite molds, the Breyer semi-rearing mustang. )

See, I was a horse girl when I was a kid. Or, rather, I was a wannabe horse girl. I never got to lease or own a horse, and even now in my early 40s I’m still about the greenest rider you’ll find. (Seriously, I need one of those kid-proof horses that’s seen it all, done it all, and is probably more trail-smart than I am.) But I was obsessed with horses from a young age. It started with my very first My Little Pony that I got Christmas morning, 1983 (Applejack, if you must know), and then exploded further with a book on how to draw horses and my first Breyer model (Black Beauty 1991 on the Morganglanz mold) in my preteens. Horse actually took over for Gray Wolf for a few years as my primary animal spirit during my teens, so we have a very long history indeed.

And since I couldn’t have a real horse, I ended up collecting model horses, mostly Breyers with a few old Hartlands for variety. I had over 100 at the peak of my collecting, but I had to sell them all in my early twenties when I was between jobs. In hindsight it was probably for the best because having less stuff made it easier to get through the period of my life where I was moving about once a year, but I do miss that collection.

Back then I did my part to add to the artistic end of the model horse hobby, mostly with badly blended acrylic paint jobs and terrifying mohair manes and tails. But it made me happy, and that was the most important thing. Even though I only knew a couple other collectors in my little rural area, and my only real connection to the hobby was through the quarterly Just About Horses magazine Breyer put out, my collecting really made me happy in the same way that my first fur scraps and bones would catch my interest a few years later.

2020….well, it sucked. We all know that. Pandemic, political stress, financial roller coasters and more made it a really tough year for anyone who wasn’t wealthy enough to hide away and weather it all. And many of us found ourselves with more time at home, in need of distractions and solace. It ended up being a time where many people rediscovered their love of childhood hobbies. I’m one of those people. I’ve been slowly edging my way back in for the past few years, starting with repainting a few old Breyer models found at thrift stores, and then gaining momentum as I found that not only was I much better at customizing these models than I used to be, but I was having fun without the pressure to make a living off of it. (Yes, I love my hide and bone art, but when an art form is your bread and butter, it changes your relationship to it. But that’s a post for another time…)

So 2020 saw me really ramp up my customization efforts. I had to stop for a few months in summer and fall when I moved to a spifftacular new living space on the farm I’ve been working on the past few years (with, by the way, THE best studio space EVER!) but as the days shortened I found myself making more dedicated time to repainting and otherwise customizing models. I even started keeping a few of the models I’d bought to customize that were in better condition to create a small, but slowly growing original finish collection, and that really helped me feel like I was back in the (not actually a) saddle.*

That’s why a well-established artist of organic, pagan-influenced arts made from fur and leather and bone and feather suddenly started painting all these secondhand plastic ponies. It’s giving me that deep injection of childhood nostalgia balanced with adult skill and perspective, and it’s offered me a much-needed break from the exhausting schedule I’ve been living the past decade or so. Because suddenly, even with the time spent rearranging my income opportunities to make sure I could stay afloat, I found myself with a little time that hadn’t been scheduled to death, and when I thought about what I wanted to do with that time, I gravitated toward one of the few creative outlets in my life that was purely for fun.**

(Yes, this IS fan art of “The Last Unicorn”! I used a Breyer Stablemate rearing Arabian for the unicorn, and a Breyer Spanish fighting bull for the Red Bull. A LOT of fun to make this particular project.)

In a way having all my events canceled was one of the best things that happened to me, because it made me slow the fuck down. I no longer had several weekends a year where I had to spend weeks beforehand making art and otherwise preparing to be away from all my farm responsibilities for 4-7 days at a time, with all the packing and moving and setup and vending and teaching and teardown and going home and unpacking and exhaustion that goes with each event. I realized just how much each one was taking out of me, especially as I’ve gotten older. And I also recognized how much pressure I had been putting on myself to ALWAYS MAKE MORE STUFF FOR ETSY EVERY WEEK OR ELSE.

So the model horses are really sort of a symbol of the childhood joy I’ve managed to recapture, wresting time and energy back from my workaholic tendencies. I’ve even been thinking about what my professional life is going to look like once the pandemic eases up enough to allow events again, and whether I’ll put the same amount of time toward vending and and teaching at conventions and festivals as I used to. (There are a few favorites that I’m not going to miss for anything, so don’t worry about me dropping out entirely.) But for the first time in a very long time, I’m relearning to prioritize myself, and figuring out that maybe I don’t have to go hell-bent for leather every week, every year, in order to keep the bills paid and the critters fed.

And maybe, just maybe, it’s okay for this dead-critter-artist, pagan-nonfic-author, teacher-vendor-farmer, to indulge herself with something fun, and bet on the ponies to help her get through the tough times.

(P.S. Amid everything going on, I am back to working steadily on my next book, which I mentioned in this blog post almost a year ago. As a recap, its working title is Coyote’s Journey: Deeper Work With the Major Arcana, and it’s a deep dive into that section of the tarot using pathworkings with the animals I assigned to the major arcana of the Tarot of Bones. It’s not just a Tarot of Bones book, though; it’s a good way to get a new, nature-based angle on the majors in general, as well as hopefully gain a better understanding of yourself. My goal is to have it out later this year, self-pub of course, and at the rate I’m going it may end up being my longest book! Stay tuned, and if you want to get excerpts of the work-in-progress, become my Patron for as little as $1/month!)

*At the height of my “horse girl” phase, I had a really beat-up pony saddle I’d bought for ten bucks at a yard sale, and got a cheap saddle stand for it and put it in my room. And yes, I occasionally sat on it and pretended I was riding an actual horse. Hey, it made me happy at the time, and it was the closest I was ever going to get apart from a trail ride every few years.

**Yes, I do sell my customs. But I don’t make them on a schedule, I take commissions VERY sparingly, and I’m getting to stretch some new creative muscles, especially in the realms of sculpting and painting, so this is primarily for my enjoyment. The sales are just a side benefit.

(My ode to the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a Breyer deer repainted to resemble the Columbian black-tailed deer that frequent the farm I live on, along with hand-sculpted Amanita muscaria mushrooms, real and fake moss, and real lichens from fallen branches.)

#Breyer #model horses #vulture culture #artwork #artist

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isthisthingeven0n · 4 years

Text

support : d.d x n.m

brief summary: you are trying for a baby with natalie and david yet the support you thought you’d have from your friends isn’t quite what you hoped for

word count: 1.2k requested: yes by a real sweet anon - i hope you like it! warnings: none that i’m aware of

* masterlistin’ / masterlistin’ 2.0

* my etsy shop *

(everything on my blog is my own writing. if it is shared on another page or website know it hasn’t been approved me unless specified. all rights reserved. - i have to start doing this as I had some shit on my other blog with plagiarism)

DO NOT STEAL MY WORK - IT IS ALL MY OWN WRITING

“Okay,” You release a shaky breath as you sit with the pregnancy stick in your fingertips, looking at the small clear space that will determine whether you’re pregnant or if it’ll be another negative.

To your left, Natalie sits with her hand resting on your thigh. She can’t help but rub circles on your skin as her anxieties rise. “It’s okay, Y/n.” Natalie mutters as you nod in response.

“What if it’s another negative?” You ask, lifting your head up to see David in the reflection of the mirror as he sits on the edge of the bed as the door remains ajar. “I don’t know if I can take another one, Nat.” You admit as tears brim in your eyes.

David hesitates from scrolling on his phone as he homes in on your conversation.

“Whatever the result, Y/n, we can try again soon.” Natalie knows it’s been trying on you, but you wanted to be the one to do it. “I can always try you know.” She adds with a small shrug of her shoulders.

“Is it time yet?” David calls out, cutting your worries short as you look down at the stick, concealing the result from Natalie and David as he walks in with his hands in his pockets.

Natalie rises to her feet and steps back into David’s arms. “It’s okay,” Natalie mutters to David as she wraps an arm around his waist, resting her head on his chest as you drop the stick.

“Y/n?” David calls out as you stare at the wall in front of you, your whole body froze as tears fall down your cheeks.

Reaching out, David picks up the stick and his eyes widen. “Well?” Natalie quietly asks.

“It’s positive,” David mutters before turning to Natalie who shakes her head, not believing it. “no really, Nat, look.”

Leaning forward, Natalie looks at the stick and goes silent for a moment. “Oh my god,” She eventually gasps and reaches out to you. “Y/n, baby?”

“I’m pregnant.” You mutter in disbelief as two pairs of arms hold you tightly as it begins to set in. You’re going to be parents.

“Are you sure you’re ready?” David asks as he walks over to the front door and hesitates.

You force a small nod. “No better time than the present.” A weak laugh leaves your lips as you rest your hands on your stomach, on the tiny bump that will only get bigger with each passing day.

Closing your eyes you take a deep breath as you hear joyous voices filling the house. “Hey, Y/n,” Todd waves as he takes a seat, followed closely by Scott, Jason and Matt. “Heath and Mariah are on their way, they had to go get Zane from the studio.”

“Might as well wait til everyone’s here.” You rub your hands over your thighs as you glance over to Natalie who gives you a supportive smile. “Are Carly and Erin able to make it?” You ask as the guys just shake their heads.

“What’s up with you, you’re acting all mysterious.” Scott jokes and you try to shrug it off, but the paranoia of it all is starting to set in.

“Who died?” Todd blurts out as his eyes wander over the three of you, watching as Natalie’s eyes roll into the back of her head.

“Did you guys break up?” Mariah walks in with coffee to hand and passes it to you as she hugs you. “Please tell me you didn’t.” She pleads.

“No, Mariah, we’re all good.” You reassure her as she sighs in relief before sitting down beside Heath. “Okay, we’ve got something to tell you all and just hear us out first, please.”

Everyone remains quiet until Zane sips his coffee loudly, breaking the rising tension. “Sorry,” Zane mutters as he places his coffee down. “rooms all yours, baby.”

“Well,” You start, but suddenly the words refuse to leave your lips.

“You guys know we’ve been together for three years,” David takes over, and you silently thank him as he carries on. “and recently things have gotten more serious between the three of us.”

You can’t help but look around at the mixture of expressions focusing on you, Natalie and David. Suddenly it doesn’t feel like you’re in a room with friends, but with strangers.

“We’ve been trying for a baby.” Natalie states, wanting to get it out as she nervously smiles to everyone.

“Oh, I was not expecting that.” Todd chuckles whilst Heath stares at you with wide eyes and Mariah rests her hand on Heath’s as a smile spreads across her face, the only one greeting you in the room.

“And, we had a lot of negative results,” You speak up once again, avoiding the gazes of others.

“Probably a sign or some shit.” Zane shrugs his shoulder, only to be scolded by David quickly.

“Dude,” David scoffs, and Zane lifts his head up to see you with glossy eyes whilst Natalie glares.

“I didn’t mean it, chill.” Zane holds his hands up in defence.

“Anyway, I’m pregnant.” You laugh, feeling overwhelmed as you slap your thighs and stand up. “If you cared to know, but if not, that’s okay.” You swallow the lump in your throat as Mariah tries to follow you, but Heath holds her hand and shakes his head.

“Not now, bubba.” Heath mutters sadly as Mariah jumps at the door slamming shut down the hall.

“Thanks, guys,” David sighs. “you could’ve just said something, anything.”

“Congrats?” Todd speaks up, but David just rolls his eyes in disappointment.

“Y/n has never been more vulnerable right now you guys,” Natalie huffs. “like if you don’t agree with it that’s your problem, but at least be there for us.” She states before walking to the bedroom and David follows closely behind.

“Wow.” Scott whistles as he leans back. “Do you think Natalie-”

“Don’t finish the sentence, Scott.” Mariah warns him, holding her hand up as yelling can be heard down the hall.

“It’s not fucking okay!” You cry out as Natalie and David try to calm you down. “No one gives a shit, they don’t care!”

“They do, baby,” Natalie tries to help, but as spit clogs your throat, you scoff.

“Like fuck they do, Nat.” You retort coldly as you forcefully wipe your face, burning your skin as you continue to rub away the tears.

“Hey, stop,” David reaches out, taking your hands away from your face as he walks you over to the bed, Natalie sitting on the other side of you. “what we decide to do is on us,” David starts and you sniffle quietly now, trying your best to focus on his comforts. “We have each other at the end of the day, and that’s what matters the most.”

Natalie nods in agreement as she rests her hand on top of yours and David leans closer, holding both of your hands in his. “We can do this, right?” Natalie mumbles as David squeezes her hand.

“Yeah,” You whisper. “cause we have each other, and that’s all that matters.”

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shinahbee · 3 years

Text

December favorites 2020!

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GREETINGS

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Hello,

So we have finally reached another year happy 2021! let's all hope this year will be kind to us, as I have mentioned in my previous favorites post, I finished my work term and now will be working on my art more

so please look out for more art coming soon!

also this maybe a little too early to think of but I was thinking of opening an etsy store to sells stickers/ keychains, this was a project that was on my mind for many years actually, but I have never really considered starting it

Please let me know if any of you would be interested if I do start one.

I would also like some ideas as to what type of characters from what show would you like to see merchandise from. I know there are some franchises that are not well known and most people wouldn’t be able to find so much as a fanart of that particular character/show

so if you could all let me know what you’d like to see in the shop I will highly consider it, with that being said I don't have any anime recs this month, mainly cause I was very busy in the month of December and have not watched any dramas or anime in a while,

so just a heads up, that part will not be included this month. The only thing I was watching is bunch of end of the year award shows, so like the drama awards and melon music awards and MAMA awards...haha that seems really boring to discuss so i'll skip that.

My friend and I were discussing and thought that they should rename these music awards as the BTS awards because they won so many lol.

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MANHWA/MANGA/WEBTOONS

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This section of the favorites is on fire! you don’t even know how far deep the rabbit hole i`ve dug myself into.

I finally was able to save my progress and crawl back up to list a few of my favorites/ updates of the old favorites and a special segment to ones that triggered a raging response due to utter frustration

Let’s start with a review of the manhwa I have read and discussed so far

Recap:

1) Whose baby is it? (ongoing)

2) Social temperature (ongoing)

3) Salad days (ongoing)

4) To be or not to be (ongoing)

5) Path to you (completed)

6) Here u are (completed)

7) BJ alex (completed)

8) No way, vampires don't exist (ongoing)

so some updates on the previous ones that I have listed out so far, with the exception of the completed ones.

1) Who's baby is it? ; last time I read up to chapter 72 and now they have up to chapter 126 and I have to say so much more has happened in terms of story and relationship development and I especially love the development between

yi yun and his relationship with jinyao, they are acting more and more like a married couple without even knowing it. You see a gradual change within the two of them that shifts from being very comfortably being able to talk about their problems to one another to

physical touches that would make them both nervous, I don't mean physical in a sexual way...it's not at that point yet, it's just holding hands and being near each other makes them, nervous and as an audience I felt that nervous energy

and it makes as the audience appreciate the development even if it is slow, it becomes more realistic over time.

Needless to say, I am still a giant fan girl of this author and her story and I can't wait to see this week’s chapter

2) social temp; I said that I have read the novel so I pretty much knows what happened in the new chapters that were just out, this manhwa is updating a little slow so I have to wait to really comment

When they go further, there is a scene soon that will be the turning point of their relationship so I am excited to see that in the manhwa

3) salad days; There is also a slow development here as well in terms of relationship building, so far they are working on their careers as professionals and dealing with bullying and jealousy from their peers

But it's all part of life so I appreciate that the author included these aspects as an important part of the story and not just focusing on romance alone.

4) To be or not to be; you'd think a person who had studied Chinese for 8 years would be able to read the raws....nope,LOL

So far the story is going into a good direction so I'm hoping to see how this new development will play out in their relationship

5) no way vampires don't exist; I have and fanart and long post dedicated to this alone, so please refer to those for more details. I am happy this is updating again and hopefully all of it will be translated in no time for others to enjoy

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Welcome to heaven

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Okay so that is all for the old ones that I have read, I will include updates throughout my favorites now and then if it is still ongoing.

now let's look at some new ones that I have found this month, these are just a few of the ones I selected out to talk about, but I have read much more as I have said and these were the ones that were the most memorable

1) Unintentional love story- "Wonyoung gets unjustly suspended from work after getting caught up in a corruption scandal. But when he accidentally discovers the chairman's favorite artist Yoon Taejun living under an alias, he is tasked with a tricky new mission. Could this be Wonyoung's chance to get his job back?"

This is the summary from the licensed lezhin website, and it pretty much sums up the story, it is still ongoing right now so I can only comment on how I feel about it so far.

I really like this story its really straight forward and focuses mainly on the two characters and how their relationship went from business partners to eventual lovers

it has minimal drama and works on moving the relationship buildup between the two main characters and I really appreciate that, it makes me less frustrated, since you know there is always that one a-hole that will never take no for an answer

i will discuss that later for the other ones I plan to discuss. But so far the story is straight forward and cute, and I really like wonyoung he is really adorable. This is a manhwa but not in the form of a webtoon, so it's black and white and read in traditional manga style

if you like a straight forward story and development please give this a read, you will enjoy it.

2) Karasugaoka Don't Be Shy!! - "Sou Izuhara, the leader of the crime prevention group "VOICE" that protects east Karasugaoka, realizes he's in love with the man he keeps butting heads with and leader of the rival group "Karasukai," Tetsuji Shinba...!?"

omg finally a manga recommendation? lol. you have no idea how much trouble I had remembering the title of this manga, I didn’t save it into my bookmarks and I usually did that if I was going to talk about it in the favorites.

I went through 5 websites to figure out the name but at least it was found. This story is both comedic and cute and it was a perfect break from the dark stuff I have been reading, I don't believe it has been updated in while so I'm not sure if it will ever be picked up

but there is a decent amount of chapters to get started on. But as the description says that it is a story about two crime prevention group leaders, they look like thugs but they prevent crimes from happening, so like an anti bullying campaign that recruits volunteers. two of the leaders from the largest groups apparently doesn’t get a long

on the surface but one of the leaders Izuhara really in fact admires the other leader Shinba. they start to get along after shiba went to izuharas territory to take care of some suspicious activity on that side and accidentally discovers a whole new side to izuhara due to the fact that he wasn’t wearing his glasses and didn’t know he was talking to shinba

and invited him to hang out together for that day. lol. You probably know the direction this is heading; it all starts from interest in a person right?

anways, I never recommended a manga yet so this would be a good one to read,it has a balance of a good romantic comedy.

3) Semantic Error- "Computer science major Chu Sangwoo is the epitome of an inflexible and strict rule-abiding person. While working on a liberal arts group project with freeloaders who don’t put in any effort, Sangwoo reasonably decides to remove their names from the final presentation. But he didn’t imagine how involved he would become with the person whose study-abroad plans were messed up because of that project. The involved person: the campus star who everyone knows, Department of Design’s Jang Jaeyoung. He has everything from skills, looks, family background and good relationships except for 1 big problem: Chu Sangwoo. What happens when an engineer and an artist whose personalities are like oil and water have to work together? Jang Jaeyoung is like a semantic error in the perfect world of Chu Sangwoo. Will Sangwoo be able to debug this?"

this has got to be one of the most accurate portrays of an antagonist relationship start off ever, it was really comedic and relatable at the same time, if you are in current group assignments and are or have suffered the same as sangwoo, please let me know cause I know I have.lol.

there’s only 16 chapters so far and I believe it hasn’t been updated in a while either so I don’t know if it is discontinued or not.

I can't wait to see the development between the two male leads, because their relationship right now in the manhwa is really hilarious and worth the read.

side note, not that this will ever be considered as a k-drama but I would like to see sangwoo being played by kim soo hyun, because he looks like him in the drama it's okay not to be okay.

4) Tied up in twins- " The story starts off with three friends Jiwoo, sohee and woojung who had been friends since high school began to developed complicated feeling towards one another, woojung had been in love with sohee and sohee had been in love with jiwoo who was in love with woojung, things turned for the worse when jiwoo got drunk one night out and decided to confess his feelings to woojung by going to his apartment, he found 'woojung' standing outside and invited him to go drinking, he finally was able to let out his feelings and 'woojung ' accepted them without hesitation. Jiwoo felt like he was on cloud nine at the moment and slept with 'woojung' that night after thier feelings were made mutual. Turns out 'woojung ' was not actually woojung himself but his twin brother sarang, not knowing this fact he spots sarang with a man from his past eunji that used to bully him during his military service which made him confused and angry that 'woojung ' might be playing with his feelings. Sarang then confessed that he is the twin brother of woojung and both of them decided that that night was a mistake and that they should just forget about it as it didn't happen. Of course fate had other plans as they keep running into each other during difficult times and decided to become friends. It didn't take them long to be attracted to one another which lead them to end their previous relationship, sarang especially was suffering from his cheating boy friend's abuse and jiwoo with his one sided feelings for woojung. After a series of events sarang and jiwoo found that their feeling for each other were mutual and started to dating, which poses a lot more obstacles than either of the two had bargained for...."

This is actually my very own summary since I can't find one for this manhwa, I also did and fanart and discussed why i really like this story in that fanart, so please check out my art for my thoughts on it! Shameless self promo....

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Welcome to hell

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ooo now it's time for the fun part.LOL. Now let me just say that there is sometimes a fine line that defines what shounen ai and Yaoi are, sometimes stories is listed as both because one story that starts off like shounen ai will suddenly become yaoi

I define yaoi as a story that includes all the things that i'm uncomfortable with, which is emotional trauma from sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape, physical abuse, suicide etc

these stories usually include some or all of the listed above and could make you uncomfortable in many ways, so as a warning if you are bothered by any of that even a little please don't read the ones I’m about to list, because there is a lot of it and there are situations that made me really sick while reading them. on the upside there is a lot of whole heartedness from the love scenes between the two main characters, although it’s like pages of sex scenes, you know from reading that it is between two people that love and trust each other.

so you have been warned, i'm not going to spoil it in terms of story but there is something these ones i chose out have in common and that is a SICK A-HOLE THAT EVERY PERSON WANTS TO KILL.You should have seen all those comments about calling sangwoo (killing stalking) to kill theses mofos and I could agree more, these disgusting human beings made me sick.

so let's begin...btw these are in no particular order, I was going to list these from the least worthy of dieing to most worthy of dieing but you know in the end they should just all die...lol.

1) My Suha -"A skillful secretary by day and choosy cruiser by night, Suha is a young professional who’s in search of some no-strings-attached action. He hasn’t had much luck lately, though, since a handsome face doesn’t always match what’s in a guy’s pants. This might be why he finds himself wondering about his dreamboat boss, Director Park Jiwoon. But there’s no way he can mix business with pleasure… That is, until Jiwoon and Suha run into each other in the gay bar bathroom."

so where to begin, um this pretty much includes all those listed above but it mainly focuses on the relationship between jiwoon and Suha, and it is not abusive and very loving in fact,I'm glad that they show the contrast between how suha's previous realtionships don't work out because of his trauma

and how jiwoon despite being an unwanted heir in his grandmother's eyes was able to give love and protection to the person that matters to him the most. So there's this scum bag...I even forgot his name but the red haired dude in this story he`s the legitimate heir to the family, who is the absolute worse and not only sexually abused Suha when they were younger and also emotionally scar both jiwoon and suha

making them feel incapable of being loved. I didn’t get a good feeling form him when he was first introduced and I was right...lol. But at least the comments section was in agreement; let me sum up my feelings in the form of this gif alone...

you get the point...

I heard it was going to finish soon so hopefully these emotional scars can be resolved and that suha and jiwoon stick together to get through it all. That would be a good ending for them after everything they have been through.You really need to read it in order to under stand why these events happen the way they do but please remember that suha`s inability to feel love stems from the all of his previous relationships not lasting long yes...but started with this red haired mofo. I am never going to let this dude live, let`s just say that.

2) Crash into me- " Seung-chan is stressed. He has enough on his plate with the long hours at work, and now he can’t even get any rest at home! Every night, the lustful moaning and violent banging from the apartment upstairs keeps him awake. Just as he’s at his wits’ end, he chances upon the gorgeous, enigmatic Hyesung outside his building. Surely all those filthy sounds couldn’t be coming from such a pretty mouth? But as Seung-chan soon finds out, there’s a lot more to Hyesung"

from that little description you’ve probably figured out what’s going on with the neighbour next door keeping seung chan awake right? well no surprise sexual abuse, after hyesung was forced to suffer from a ordeal that wasn't his fault the brother of the person that died made it seem like it was his fault and sexually assaulted him

and so this ongoing sexual abuse progressed for several years which lead hyesung feel like life is meaningless and he should just die, until he locked eyes with seung chan walking back to the apartment and thought of jumping out the window, because he had a strange feeling that seungchan who he has not met before would catch him if he did.

I just almost cried from what I just wrote...to think there’s is some a-hole out there that would drive a person to suicide like that just to satisfy his own needs or whatever...i don't even know cause it’s still ongoing...i don’t think any amount of back story will justify any kind of sympathy for this person..

from what I have read so far it seems so be going ending soon so i hope seungchan and hyesung will be able to get through all this and live in peace because of suengchan, hyesung was able to love again and find his worth and is able to fight for himself and I’m sincerely glad that he had met and trust him whole heartedly.

3) Dine with vampire- "Caught in the clutches of an abusive relationship, Sooin longs to escape. A vampire who finds human blood repulsive, Chi-hwan only drinks the blood of other vampires. When chance brings the two together, Chi-hwan makes Sooin an enticing proposal. Chi-hwan will help Sooin get out of his living hell, and in exchange… Sooin has to let Chihwan drink his blood. Will this proposal change both their lives for the better?”

y'all don't even get me started on the mofo in this story....I’ve never felt so much rage from staring at a 2D character on my screen, the amount of times I hissed at him...you don't even know

like I have mentioned before ever since my twilight phase I didn’t consume anything vampire related in a while, I don't really care much for the vampire aspect but I guess it's still important over all

once you start the first chapter you will immediately know why I hate the harry potter a-hole in this story..he is despicable and that’s putting it lightly...but you know he doesn’t last long cause vampire tsukiyama (lol, not his name but they look alike) shows up and kills the mofo

and saves sooin who is the person who harry potter had been sexually abusing...to the point where you guessed it, he wanted to die.

chi hwan agrees to grant any wish sooin wanted in exchange for his blood because being vampire by nature he had not been drawn to anyone’s blood for some reason and had only consumed the blood of other vampires.

of course it was a small price to pay for sooin considering all the misery he had gone through. slowly sooin discovered that love was not abusive through the many times chi hwan...lmao i almost called him tsukiyama again...and he had sex, he discovered that it was safe and gentle and enjoyable

nothing that he had ever felt before, and so they became drawn to each other more than they thought they would to the point where they genuinely care for one another, though of course chi hwan knows that one day sooin will die and he will have to live on forever alone, thus the fate of his vampire blood.

but here’s the catch..it's not a spoiler really cause you knew it was too easy when main villain dies in chapter 4...and he’s on the front cover...which means yes harry potter mofo is back...ugh...he should have burned his body...WTF and as a vampire no less..

i'm like great now look what happened, you should have chopped him up and threw him into the incinerator!

you know that saying " mistakes were made..."

anyways, now he's back meaning shits about to do down and i'm not ready to see it happen, right now they are going through his back story and i’m like sorry author...whatever you try to feed me there’s no way i can have any sympathy for this dick...

so that's all i'm going to rant about for these yaoi titles...i had to go back and read some it again to know what i'm going to write about and i revisited a lot of things i’d rather not.I think the rage I felt was ignited again all of a sudden and I felt utter frustration to finish reading it again, what I am trying to say is, ya`ll need to read this once and that`s it...these aren`t stories you`d want to revisit.lol

so if you like this hell segment let me know and i'll continue it cause there’s an endless supply of content for this genre, I have a few more but i'll save those for next month.

and i'll probably come across more in the mean time to discuss, but I guess this is where fiction and reality divides, cause you know in real life if this crap exists absolutely no one will take this bull crap!

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MUSIC

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I have been listening to the Start up soundtrack and found a lot of songs i like from it, I don't like the drama and have not finished it, but the soundtrack is bomb

I have also been liking some old pop songs and went down the rabbit hole of 90`s pop songs...Britney spears especially

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so that is all I have for this month, I'm sorry its manhwa and manga focused, i'll have time to watch anime that I need to catch up on and start some drams now so i'll have more

to discuss in the next month hopefully, so please take care of your selves in the new year as well!

take care,

sheena

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#monthly favorites #shounen ai #yaoi #manga review #manhwa review #manhwa #manga #my suha #dine with a vampire #crash into me #karasugaoka don`t be shy #tied up in twins #unintentional love story #korean manhwa #anime and manga #semantic error #manga recommendation

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