#cie's soapbox | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wincestshippingtrash2 · 5 years

Text

Review of Ship It by Britta Lundin

This is a duplicate of my review for this item on Amazon.

I generally don't write negative reviews. If I dislike something, I tend to put it aside. I try to find something I like even in things that didn't hit home for me. However, I never thought I'd find anything which made Twilight look like a literary masterpiece, and I found it in this book.

Claire, the heroine of the story, isn't just socially awkward, she's malicious.

I know this is a work of fiction, but basic reality stepped out of the room when a television show geared to adults asks a teenager to become a consultant and adults confide sensitive personal information to this teenager.

I probably wouldn't have written a review for this book at all, except that Claire illustrates an extremely toxic aspect of fandom culture. She doesn't like being told "no," and she behaves in a vindictive and malevolent fashion when an actor who plays one of the characters she ships doesn't support said ship. She is disrespectful, self-absorbed, and unlikable.

This book reads like not particularly well-written fan fiction. It was touted as being humorous, and I was hoping for a likable geek in its heroine. Instead, I found Claire, who is the sort of fan that no actor or creator wants. She is an obsessive backstabber.

I probably would have liked Rico better if he didn't seem like a two-dimensional cardboard cutout. Aside from Claire, the characters were props with no particular distinguishing features to compel the reader's interest.

Perhaps the author was attempting to make Forest (the actor who refuted Claire's beloved ship) more unlikable through unflattering physical description, but "watery blue eyes" makes me think the poor chap is having an allergic reaction to something and needs a Zyrtec and some Visine, stat.

Regarding Claire's love interest, Tess: I want to care at least a little if the hero/heroine gets their guy/gal. The Claire-Tess romance seemed forced and I really couldn't care less. Tess was a prop, and Claire was self-serving and odious. Such a character would be fine if that's what she was supposed to be, but it isn't. She was supposed to be a sympathetic character.

Claire was a great illustration of the downside of fandom culture. Beyond that, there was nothing great or even particularly entertaining about this book. Perhaps Ms. Lundin's forte lies in scriptwriting rather than novels.

~Cie~

#the real cie reviews #that pos book #anti ship it #anti britta lundin #cie's soapbox

3 notes · View notes

netherworldwritersguild · 7 years

Text

30 Days of Haiga 2017: Day 5: Harvest Wheat

Original image copyright Konstanttin at 123rf.com

Text created by The Real Cie

Notes:

Although we are on day 9 of 30 Days of Haiga, I am only on Day 5. I might be able to create two on some days, but then again, I may be playing catch up in October for the days I missed. These have a certain meditative quality which is a counterpoint to my tremendously stressful life. I refuse to turn them into some sort of horrible homework.

My problem with competitions such as NaNoWriMo (which, don't get me wrong, I fully support) is that for me it turns writing into Horrible Homework. My life tends to be one day after another of chores and work and never feeling like I can rest. I won't do that with my writing.

#30 days of haiga #haiga #haiku #cie's photoshop creations #cie's soapbox

1 note · View note

khel666 · 9 years

Text

You May Be A Numbskull If...

If you think that Malcolm Young was not essential to AC/DC's sound, and, in fact, to their very existence...

If you seriously believe that Malcolm was less talented than Angus...

Then please GTFO and take your Fail with you.

You should not even be allowed to listen to AC/DC, let alone to comment about them.

This has been a Mini Rant by Tempest and Cie of Team Netherworld

#team netherworld creations #tempest from team netherworld #cie's soapbox #malcolm young #idiots on the internet

0 notes

ciesfabulousfashion · 9 years

Text

In Pursuit of the Holier Than Thou Thinness Ideal

TRIGGER WARNING: DIET AND WEIGHT LOSS, EATING DISORDERS

In a recent blog post, Heather of Fat Girl Posing discusses her dismay at former size acceptance activists who jump on the Weight Loss Train and chronicle their pursuit of sainthood for the world to pat them on the back and coo over them for making this "wonderful" decision "for their health."

I absolutely agree. Being a fatphobic asshat or concern troll is a choice, and when people make shitty choices, especially choices that involve sanctimonious cruelty, they should be called out. Like you, I wasn't always enlightened. I was actively bulimic in my teens and up until I got pregnant at 24. I was bulimic on and off through my 20s after my son was born, up through my mid forties. I was a yo yo dieter the whole time, always pursuing the holiness of being a body type that my body really doesn't want to be and despising myself the whole time. I would look in the mirror at myself and call myself horrible names. I would tell myself that I didn't deserve love or even basic kindness because I was such a "fat pig." People always claim they're dieting "for my health." Horseshit. There's no tangible proof that losing weight is actually particularly "healthy," and there is proof that yo-yo dieting isn't. I somewhat fell into the trap again when I was diagnosed with diabetes last year. Since I now have to police my carbohydrate intake for actual health reasons (my body doesn't process carbohydrates properly because I don't have a normally functioning pancreas) I ended up going on a low carb diet (Atkins, and then Nutri System) with weight loss in the back of my mind. The one thing I didn't do was shove this in everyone's face. I realized that I would likely never become the glorious coveted Slim Hot Thing that we're all supposed to want to be, and I realized that there was a fair chance that I would gain at least some of the weight back. In any case, I also realized that weighing less didn't make me a better person, but some part of me wanted to have one last chance to be accepted. Hint: I didn't lose enough weight to make myself "acceptable," and when the initial weight loss plateaued, I quit playing that losing game. One thing I've started doing which I didn't quite have the courage to do when I first discovered size acceptance is to call out straight up douchebag behavior and concern trolling. I used to worry about losing "friends." I now realize that an actual friend wouldn't think that hating people with a certain body type was okay.

~Cie~

#cie's soapbox #trigger warning diet talk #trigger warning weight loss #trigger warning eating disorders #size prejudice #fatphobia

2 notes · View notes

netherworldwritersguild · 4 years

Link

A poem and a plethora of thoughts on my son’s thirtieth birthday.

#poetry of the netherworld #aunt cie's soapbox #creative and mentally ill

0 notes

wincestshippingtrash2 · 5 years

Text

Inspire Me Monday #214: Get Angry

Can I inspire you to be angry today?

It's hard for me to type a post about anger without using salty language, but I'm going to keep it clean.

Can I inspire you to open your eyes and see that things just aren't right?

Can I inspire you to see that it isn't right that people should be forced to sleep on the street?

Can I inspire you to face the fact that those people don't "deserve" this?

Can I inspire you to understand that it isn't right for people in the lower classes to be unable to afford decent housing?

Can I inspire you to see that it's wrong for people with disabilities to have to choose between eating and having medical care and being able to earn a living wage?

Can I inspire you to see that it's madness for people to have to be in debt for years for trying to better themselves by getting a higher education?

That it's madness that most higher-paying jobs require higher education but that education is out of reach for the poor?

Can I inspire you to realize that a society of haves and have-nots benefits no-one but those in the highest positions?

Can I inspire you to realize that the only thing "trickling down" is a word that I can't use in a "family friendly" post?

Can I inspire you to understand that the homeless are not "just lazy," that the poor are not "just stupid," that the "welfare queen" is a myth, that only a very small percentage of people attempt to defraud the welfare system?

Can I inspire you to see that very vulnerable people are falling into the cracks and have nowhere to turn for help?

Do you know that many elderly people live in poverty?

Do you know that many single parents live in poverty?

Can you see that there are a lot of people who used to work a "good job" but now need assistance, that the help is not there, that they didn't suddenly become "lazy" and "shiftless?"

Can I inspire you to realize that people with substance addiction issues deserve help, not jail?

Can I inspire you to understand that mental illness is not "laziness"?

Can I inspire you to understand that everyone deserves adequate food, shelter, medical care, and education?

Can I inspire you to understand that service workers are not "lesser" and do not deserve to be stuck working multiple jobs to make less than a living wage?

Can I inspire you to be angry today?

Because until we all get angry enough, nothing is ever going to change.

If nothing changes, things are only going to get worse for all but the wealthiest one percent.

I hope that I can inspire you today.

~cie~

youtube

#poverty #classism #ableism #disability #cie's soapbox

0 notes

netherworldwritersguild · 5 years

Text

Inspire Me Monday (on Tuesday) #211: My Wait Problem

Inspire Me Monday is a new blog hop that I've just discovered. So, even though this is post #211 for them, it's my first one.

I'm going to play nice and keep this post family-friendly, with the caveat that my blog is not entirely family-friendly. There are no naughty bits here, but there is cussing. That is how I roll.

With the realization that I am not a petite delicate flower and that buttah does indeed melt in my mouth and I am on the opposite end of the spectrum from nice and normal, you may be wondering what in the blazes kind of role model I am and how in the Universe I could possibly inspire you.

Well...

I do not claim that I can inspire everybody or even anybody at all if you want the truth. However, if you are like me and get absolutely nothing from reading cheery platitudes by shiny happy people because you know you are the furthest thing from being what they are, then I may just be the bundle of snark that you need to light a fire under your butt and get you on the road to success, your way.

You see, I was sidelined for many years by being unpretty and unskinny and having a brain that was trying to kill me. I had a very serious Wait problem. Like most girls of my generation and the generations before and possibly the generations since, I was fed a line which involved living Happily Ever After. But since I was unpretty and unskinny and Not Normal, I had to Wait.

First of all, I had to Wait for the Handsome Prince (TM) that was going to come and rescue me, because, you see, Girls are Petite Delicate Flowers who cannot handle making their own way in the world. They will need a Handsome Prince (TM) to fight the Beasties that live in the Wild Wood.

However, before setting out to catch a Handsome Prince (TM) I needed to Wait until I became Slim and Pretty. Because a Handsome Prince (TM) will never see fit to rescue a maid who is unskinny and unpretty.

The years went by while I attempted to become Slim and Pretty. There was a prince or knight or something who liked me well enough and I liked him well enough. It wasn't love, but we did have a son, who isn't normal--he's better. The prince or knight or whatever and I ended up divorcing, but we got along better afterward (as friends, not romantically) and became a Forever Family together with our son.

I did not, however, live Happily Ever After. I was still unskinny and unpretty and my brain was still a mess, and I was still Waiting to catch a Handsome Prince (TM) to save me from myself. I never did catch a Handsome Prince (TM), but I did let quite a few Knaves into my life before realizing that my son didn't deserve to be exposed to these abusive not-gentlemen, and, in fact, neither did I. So I stopped waiting for the Handsome Prince (TM).

It would take a while longer for me to stop Waiting to be Slim and Pretty before living my life. Then one day when I was 45 years old, I was hit upside the head with a couple of bricks. One was called Health at Every Size. The other was called Size Acceptance. A bright golden light shone down on me as I realized that it was not necessary to be Slim and Pretty to pursue my goals. It wasn't even necessary to be young, which was a good thing, because I'd left that attribute lying in a ditch years ago.

Unfortunately, I still believed that I needed to be Adored in order to be Successful. I gauged the worth of my writing on whether I got a lot of comments. I gauged my own worth on whether I got compliments. I was often left disappointed and sullen. Despite shedding so much Wait, I was clearly still suffering from a tremendous Wait problem.

I needed to make a critical decision: either accept the fact that my work will never appeal to the mainstream, or stop writing altogether. Since I become a tremendously sullen sod when I don't write, I decided to stop caring about the opinions of others, whether it be their opinions of my writing or their opinions of me personally.

At that moment, a great, rotting albatross and a millstone lifted from my neck, and I felt as free as I did as a young child writing and drawing and giving no rips what anyone else thought of my creations, simply enjoying the act of creating them.

At this point, I engage in a few different types of writing. One is non-fiction writing, such as what I have done here. This type of writing divides into subtypes. One is promotional writing, the other is anecdotal and possibly encouraging in nature, such as this post. The more sanitized posts appear on the Deliver Me blog and sometimes the Horror Harridans Writing Sisterhood blog. The more raw and dark examples of this writing can be found on the Crazy Creatives Cheerleading Camp blog.

I also write and edit fiction, which, again, divides into two categories. There is work slated for publication. You can view examples of this kind of writing on the Horror Harridans Writing Sisterhood blog.

I write poetry as well, but this tends to be confined to two times a year: April and October. The NaPoWriMo blog hop takes place in April and the OctPoWriMo takes place in--you guessed it--October.

On the Deliver Me blog, I also share ways to make a bit of extra income. I do not claim that I am any sort of expert, only that I have learned a few things over the years, and I would like to share them with you in case they might help you too.

I am not an expert of any kind. I don't offer up soothing platitudes, either religious or otherwise. I am an agnostic and prefer to keep my spiritual beliefs and theories separate from my business writing. I have had a difficult life and, while I'm less overtly angry than I was when I was younger, I can't say I've completely accepted the things that have transpired in my life, even if I do understand them better. I have not been "cured" of my psychological dysfunctions, I have simply learned to cope with them. I am not here to tell you "feel good" stories or to tell you that it's all going to be okay because I don't know if it is or not.

So, how in Hades can someone like me possibly inspire you?

As I said before, it's quite possible that I can't. However, while I can't make everything right for you, what I can offer you is this:

Honesty.

Not just honesty about the products or earning opportunities I may recommend.

Honesty about myself and the world as I see it.

No rose-colored glasses.

Just bare-bones, bare-knuckled honesty.

It's unpretty, but it's real.

Personally, I've never gotten anything out of saccharine platitudes. If you don't either, you may find me a--dare I say--inspiring change of pace.

This is how I may be able to inspire you.

~Cie~

Cross-Posted to:

Crazy Creatives Cheerleading Camp

Deliver Me

Horror Harridans Writing Sisterhood

Netherworld Writers Guild

One Love

#inspire me monday #blog hops #cie's soapbox #creative and mentally ill #size acceptance

0 notes

wincestshippingtrash2 · 5 years

Text

Cie’s Epic New Year’s Post for 2019

I have a New Year's Resolution never to have New Year's Resolutions which include asshat phrases like "NEW YOU IN 52!!1!!1!!1" Of course I'll be a "New Me" in 52 weeks. A lot of the cells in the body get replaced during that time! I don't need to make some stupid resolution to encourage my cells to do something they're going to do anyway!

I do actually have some goals for the coming year. None of them involve attempting to hate myself thin. I spent 33 years doing that shit. These are goals such as getting rid of my last storage unit, hopefully by June at the latest, which will save me a lot of money and to continue to get rid of things which no longer serve a purpose for me.

A purpose can include just making me happy, like my collection of stuffed animals. That is a valid purpose. I am also planning to do things like cut worn-out clothes into rags, which can replace paper towels and save money that way. Also, donate old clothes that have no sentimental value.

My other goals include kick-starting my mail-order mug cake mix business on Etsy, continuing my quest for world dominance with my super duper uber exciting internet business blog, and allowing myself to write things that I simply want to write, which no-one else is likely to ever see, which wouldn't make sense to anyone else, and which will never make me one single cent. I was very verbally prolific last year, but I've lost a lot of the feeling of love and inspiration when it comes to writing. I'd like to have those back.

So, I have no delusions whatsoever that I'm going to become Le Svelte Supermodel and snag the Hot Bisexual Billionaire Werewolf at long last!11!!!11

The Hot Bisexual Billionaire Werewolf is a character conceived of by the twisted little minds of Team Naughty Netherworld along with a bunch of hot-to-trot shapeshifting aliens--all of whom are about as real as the idea of becoming someone else's idea of "perfection" and living "happily ever after," if I'm to be honest.

Oh--I also might finally finish the scarf that I've been loom knitting for an age. It's about as long as my hand right now. I need it to be at least as long as my arm. This could take a while.

Happy New Year, People!

~Cie~

#cie's soapbox #cie's personal crap #anti diet culture #naughty netherworld press #create howyalike

0 notes

netherworldwritersguild · 5 years

Text

Cie's Epic New Year's Post for 2019

So, I have no delusions whatsoever that I'm going to become Le Svelte Supermodel and snag the Hot Bisexual Billionaire Werewolf at long last!11!!!11

Oh--I also might finally finish the scarf that I've been loom knitting for an age. It's about as long as my hand right now. I need it to be at least as long as my arm. This could take a while.

Happy New Year, People!

~Cie~

#cie's soapbox #cie's personal crap #deliver me blog #naughty netherworld press #write howyalike

0 notes

wincestshippingtrash2 · 5 years

Text

Cie’s Year-End Wrap-Up 2018

Image copyright Conger Design

I love the above image. Back in the late 1990s, I went to school for one semester for graphic design but dropped out. I didn't know it at the time, but I had untreated type 2 bipolar disorder, OCD, and borderline personality disorder, three exciting co-morbid conditions which happen to feed each other in ways that are just, shall we say, really special. I wouldn't be properly diagnosed until 2004.

When I think of how many years were wasted mired in shame and stigma because I had no idea in this Universe what was going on with me, I thought I was just an attention-seeking fuckup, it makes me very angry. Granted, some of the tools available to me now simply didn't exist when I was younger. E-commerce was in its infancy in the 1990s. There were no smartphones.

Hell, even GPS was still in its infancy. (I still have my TomTom Go.) The job I have today could not have existed in the 1990s. Back when dinosaurs and Ronald Reagan roamed the Earth in 1984, I delivered pizzas. Even the TomTom Go was as yet unheard of. How the hell my dyslexic ass didn't get lost more often, I'll never know. When I think of trying to do my job without Waze, it gives me that feeling of waking up with a start after a terrible dream and praising whatever powers there might be that the dream isn't real.

So, I didn't initially come here to talk to you about type 2 bipolar disorder, but now that I've thought about it, I want to talk about it. This is how people tend to think of bipolar disorder, and it's a reasonably accurate depiction of type 1 bipolar disorder.

Image Source

The post that the image comes from is worth reading.

The late Patty Duke had type 1 bipolar disorder. She is a personal heroine of mine. Her book, Call Me Anna, helped me understand better the things that I had gone through and to help me forgive myself for some of the truly awful decisions I made while hypomanic.

Being diagnosed with type 2 bipolar disorder helped me understand why I had seen some features of bipolar disorder in myself but was convinced that I didn't have it because I'd never experienced a full mania. I tended to go from crushingly depressed to positive and overly functional. I never flew off to Vegas and got married to a guy I barely knew or anything of that nature, although I did convince myself several times that the Universe wanted me to be with guys who raised red flags like nobody's business and who, unsurprisingly, turned out to be horrible and abusive.

When I was hypomanic, I would take on second jobs and be the world's greatest employee that everyone loved until everything came crashing down and everyone ended up thinking I was the world's biggest flake and fuckup. I would be mired in depression which felt like being at the bottom of a dark pit that there was no way out of.

When I would finally, miraculously, find myself pulled out of that pit, I would admonish myself that from now on I would be positive and productive and would never go back THERE again. When I inevitably went back there again, I would shame and berate myself for being a worthless fuckup.

Click to enlarge.

This is a fairly standard bipolar disorder screening questionnaire. It tends to miss people with type 2 bipolar disorder.

Was there ever a period of time when I wasn't myself? No. I was always myself, although I often didn't like it very much.

The late Peter Steele of Type O Negative, who had type 1 bipolar disorder, describes reflecting on occasions following a manic episode where he felt that there was something he could have learned from the time in question if only he could remember it. I never experienced anything like that.

I've never presented as talking extremely fast or seeming particularly hyper. I've never slept well anyway, so the "sleeping less than usual" criteria didn't send up any red flags. The late Julia Lennon described having periods where she wouldn't sleep for a week at a time, and doctors didn't know what was wrong with her. She was institutionalized on several occasions.

I did get involved in ill-advised relationships with abusive guys, but I never flew off to Vegas to do so. I took on multiple jobs and then crashed, often losing all of my jobs. When I was good, I was very very good, and when I was bad I was nonfunctional.

I speak openly about my mental health struggles because I would be very happy if no-one else ever had to fight the way I've had to fight. I've been told that I should keep my psych problems hidden because people would avoid me if they knew I was one of THEM. I was told I would never find a job if people knew I'd been to a therapist.

I was also told that I was "just being dramatic," that I needed to "stop seeking attention," that I was "just being lazy," and that I brought all my problems on myself with my "negative thinking." I can tell you that none of these criticisms did a damn thing to help me improve my life or to do anything except hide my problems and hate myself because I was never able to develop any decent coping skills for dealing with them until I was in my middle years. At this point, I'm still cleaning up the messes made by attempting to hide my problems, such as a storage unit full of stuff and a mountain of debt.

We've come a long way when it comes to mental illness in Western society, but we haven't come far enough. There is still a tendency to see people with mental issues as less intelligent or less capable or as loose cannons just waiting to explode and harm others. The truth is, people who live with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence than to perpetrate violence.

There is a tendency to see jobs such as mine as "lesser" and to believe that the working poor, unemployed, and homeless "deserve" to not have basic amenities or a living wage. This needs to end. Everybody deserves the basic amenities, whether or not they are capable of working a "normal" job or at all.

I heard the term "lazy" so many times that I ended up with a terrible complex about taking breaks or doing things that are purely enjoyable and will never turn a profit. I once read a statement from a counselor which said that the term "lazy" should be replaced with "demotivated," because asking a person why they are so lazy shuts down the conversation and thus any chance of helping the person, whereas asking them why they are feeling demotivated leaves the conversation open and may help create a plan for helping them.

Exploitative shows like "Hoarders" should not exist. Like, at all. Capitalizing on people's illness for entertainment is twisted and barbaric. Hoarding is a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is the symptom of malfunction in a certain area of the brain. It is not "laziness." Dealing with hoarding tendencies is exhausting, time-consuming, and life-destroying. People with hoarding tendencies need help from a compassionate professional, not a bunch of lookie-loos seeking schadenfreude at another's expense.

My son is helping me deal with the lifetime of hoarding without help contained in my storage units and the closets and spare rooms of the mobile home that I hope to have in a condition where I can think about selling it by the end of next year. With his help, the storage unit, which is about the size of a one-car garage, is 1/3 of the way clear at this point, and we are hoping to have it entirely clear by June of 2019.

My late father attempted to "help with cleaning," but his help really only traumatized me and made me feel more ashamed, which didn't lead to me keeping up with the process. My son is understanding when I tell him that I can't deal with a certain item at the moment and we'll need to put it aside. We move on to the next thing. He also suggests creating scrapbooks and art from my vast collection of images from magazines, unlike my father, who told me that "anything that lands on the floor needs to be thrown in the garbage."

My father had piles of papers and magazines all over his house. He had OCD with hoarding tendencies too, but he came from an era when one locked their mental health issues in an attic and never spoke of them. This helped nothing, which is why I have come out of the attic and am speaking openly about my struggles.

For years I refused to make New Year's resolutions because I had learned to equate them with "new you in 52" crap, which really benefits no-one but the billion-dollar diet industry. I refuse to have or promote weight loss as a "health goal."

I spent 33 years in yo-yo dieting hell trying to hate myself thin. There is no way I'm going to endorse that behavior. I'm going batshit at this point with all the blogs in my sidebar promoting "get paid to lose weight" garbage. You'll never see me promoting these things because dieting inevitably fails for everyone but statistical unicorns.

Diets don't work. Health at Every Size works. If you want to start exercising, increase the amount you're exercising, or eat fewer processed foods, great, but do it for overall health, not for weight loss.

We'll all be a "new you in 52" anyway. We'll have new experiences behind us, and many of our cells will have been replaced by new ones. Don't buy into the "new you in 52" crap. It only leads to frustration. Instead, pursue things that will lead to a more authentic you.

Your authentic you has nothing to do with a number on the scale or even the amount of money in your bank account. It is the you who is true to themselves, which has nothing to do with looks or status at all.

Best wishes in the coming year,

Cie

amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "ciethehuntr06-20"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "Call Me Anna"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "dee73b19cbac48905bedf66555b733ab"; amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "ciethehuntr06-20"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "Type O Negative"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "dee73b19cbac48905bedf66555b733ab"; amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "ciethehuntr06-20"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "Julia Lennon"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "dee73b19cbac48905bedf66555b733ab"; amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "ciethehuntr06-20"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "bipolar disorder"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "dee73b19cbac48905bedf66555b733ab"; amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "ciethehuntr06-20"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "hoarding disorder"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "dee73b19cbac48905bedf66555b733ab"; amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "ciethehuntr06-20"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "health at every size"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "dee73b19cbac48905bedf66555b733ab";

#creative and mentally ill #cie's soapbox #diets don't work #cie's personal crap #living with mental illness

0 notes

netherworldwritersguild · 5 years

Text

Cie's Year-End Wrap-Up 2018

Image copyright Conger Design

Image Source

The post that the image comes from is worth reading.

Click to enlarge.

This is a fairly standard bipolar disorder screening questionnaire. It tends to miss people with type 2 bipolar disorder.

Was there ever a period of time when I wasn't myself? No. I was always myself, although I often didn't like it very much.

Best wishes in the coming year,

Cie

#creative and mentally ill #cie's soapbox #cie's personal crap #bipolar 2 #hoarding disorder

0 notes

netherworldwritersguild · 5 years

Text

Happy Xmahanukwanzyule 2018

Image copyright Annalise 1988

(This post was written on the Deliver Me blog and cross-posted) Happy holidays if you celebrate them and best wishes for prosperity in the approaching year!

It has been an eventful and not terribly lucrative year here in the World of Nether, but many of our efforts are still in their infancy and I like to think that things are looking up and that perseverance still counts for something. To a degree, these are uncharted waters that we are navigating with the rise of the gig economy. So, what can we do to make this unprecedented situation work for us?

For my own part, I have a knack for speaking my mind, such as it is, and for telling it like it is from my point of view. This has tended to get me in trouble, but the older I get the less fucks I give.

However, I do not intend to use this so-called skill only to bitch about everything that pisses me off. I would also like to use it to help others.

For many years, I worked as a nurse's aide and then a nurse. I helped those who were too infirm to care for their own needs. This included the elderly and special needs children. However, my own constitution declined sharply in the past couple of years, and I can no longer do the physically demanding jobs that I had been doing since 1988.

My income declined sharply when I was no longer able to work as a nurse. Between 2015 and 2017, I was pulling up to $1000 per week if I worked 60 hour weeks. However, I was constantly exhausted and always in a mental fog working this many hours. In some ways I'm amazed that I never made any critical errors.

I am unable to work full time at this point, and my disabilities put me out of the running for most "normal" jobs. Because of my health issues, I need Medicaid. But if I make more than $1100 a month, I lose Medicaid. To me, it seems as if I'm being punished for being disabled. I think that punishing people for being disabled is one whole steaming load of crap. I also think that Charles Dickens would have a field day writing about the current political climate in the era of Lord Dampnut. In fairness, being British, he might be more inclined to write about Brexit and Lord Dampnut's British soul twin, Boris Johnson.

In any case, I am trying to piece together a life that works. Other than being broke and physically unable to do certain things that I used to be able to do without issue, there are many ways in which I like my life after disability better than my life before disability. I like not being enslaved by a time clock. I much prefer soft deadlines to Draconian ones.

Overall, I am a creative rather than a practical person. If I could, I would spend my days writing, learning to draw, engaging in Photoshop Phucquery, hand crocheting, loom knitting, woodworking, making soap and candles, and whatever other artsy fartsy crafty wafty pursuit happened to strike my fancy. I attempt to keep my artsy fartsy side separate from the Deliver Me blog, but there is inevitable bleed-through, and I'm not going to fight the tide too hard.

If you are interested in opportunities for writers or occasional shares of poetry and prose, visit the Horror Harridans Writing Sisterhood page.

If you are interested in WAH opportunities, recipes, and suggestions for saving money, visit the Deliver Me blog.

If you are interested in reading high quality Kindle smut, visit the Naughty Netherworld Press blog. This blog is safe for work, but some of the places it links to aren't.

If you are interested in obtaining a Tarot reading to help you kick-start the new year, click here.

May you and yours have a pleasant holiday if you celebrate, or a good day in general if you don't.

Best wishes,

Cie

This offer is valid through December 30, 2018

This offer is always in season

#team netherworld #cie's soapbox #naughty netherworld press #horror harridans writing sisterhood #the real cie reviews

0 notes

wincestshippingtrash2 · 4 years

Text

About Me Monday

You can do this too if you want to. It was reblogged by another blog from an inactive blog.

0: Height 5′ 6″

1: Age 55 on February 15 and ain’t nobody wished me a happy birthday

2: Shoe size 9

3: Do you smoke? Former smoker quit for the last time in 2006

4: Do you drink? literal sips of beer occasionally

5: Do you take drugs? occasional low-dose edibles

6: Age you get mistaken for 666,666

7: Have tattoos? seven of them

8: Want any tattoos? yes

9: Got any piercings? two on the left earlobe, one on the right

10: Want any piercings? not really

11: Best friend? My son

12: Relationship status I’m not interested in being in a relationship with anyone currently alive on this planet

13: Biggest turn ons kindness

14: Biggest turn offs sanctimonious assholes

15: Favorite movie too numerous to mention

16: I’ll love you if… you treat me decently

17: Someone you miss I miss a lot of people and animals

18: Most traumatic experience Well, gee, there are different kinds of trauma. Probably being sexually assaulted but having my car slammed into by a huge wave of water on a road that doesn’t normally have huge waves of water coming across it did a pretty nice job too. What the fuck kind of question is that?

19: A fact about your personality I’m kind of a snarky asshole, or hadn’t you noticed?

20: What I hate most about myself I really just don’t like being me most days

21: What I love most about myself I would probably think I was pretty cool if I wasn’t me.

22: What I want to be when I get older Still alive, unless I’m too compromised

23: My relationship with my sibling(s) Estranged

24: My relationship with my parent(s) Difficult

25: My idea of a perfect date What is this “date” you speak of? I don’t do that shit.

26: My biggest pet peeves People who ask me things like “most traumatic experience” and “what is your idea of the perfect date.” Seriously, people, feel free to ignore those questions.

27: A description of the girl/boy I like Well, at my age, if I were “liking” a girl/boy, that would make me a huge perv. As for the woman/man I like, I used to have a pretty big thing for this guy, so that will give you an idea of my “type”.Nerdy, sensitive, kind, that’s the kind of guy I’d like if I were looking.

28: A description of the person I dislike the most

Why don’t I just show you?

29: A reason I’ve lied to a friend

To spare their feelings when they got a truly awful haircut.

30: What I hate the most about work/school

Higher education is out of reach for many people. I work for myself. My boss is a huge asshole and she doesn’t pay well.

31: What my last text message says

I think it was a message from my doctor’s office reminding me that I had an appointment.

32: What words upset me the most

This quiz is full of shit that makes me get up on my soapbox. So, let’s talk about the “O” word.

Obese is a really shitty word that is used to dehumanize and other larger people. This word makes larger people avoid going to the doctor until something critical goes wrong. It is a hateful, shaming, ugly word. Shame does not encourage people to take care of themselves. It encourages them to hate themselves. When I see people using this garbage word, I get up on my soapbox about it.

I also hate racial slurs. But I think most people know that shit’s bad.

33: What words make me feel the best about myself

I don’t know. How about “hey, Cie, your writing is great.”

34: What I find attractive in women

I’m not into women that way, but if I were I would find kindness and sincerity attractive.

35: What I find attractive in men

Kindness and sincerity

36: Where I would like to live

Where I live now

37: One of my insecurities

How long do you have?

38: My childhood career choice

Paleontologist

39: My favorite ice cream flavor

Pretty much anything chocolate

40: Who I wish I could be

Me, except rich and healthy

41: Where I want to be right now

Where I am

42: The last thing I ate

Cheese

43: Sexiest person that comes to my mind immediately

That’s for me to know and you never to find out.

44: A random fact about anything

The sun is going to become a red giant.

#about cie #random shit

0 notes

wincestshippingtrash2 · 5 years

Text

Happy Xmahanukwanzyule 2018

(This post was written on the Deliver Me blog and cross-posted) Happy holidays if you celebrate them and best wishes for prosperity in the approaching year!

However, I do not intend to use this so-called skill only to bitch about everything that pisses me off. I would also like to use it to help others.

If you are interested in opportunities for writers or occasional shares of poetry and prose, visit the Horror Harridans Writing Sisterhood page.

If you are interested in WAH opportunities, recipes, and suggestions for saving money, visit the Deliver Me blog.

If you are interested in reading high quality Kindle smut, visit the Naughty Netherworld Press blog. This blog is safe for work, but some of the places it links to aren't.

If you are interested in obtaining a Tarot reading to help you kick-start the new year, click here.

May you and yours have a pleasant holiday if you celebrate, or a good day in general if you don't.

Best wishes,

Cie

This offer is valid through December 30, 2018

This offer is always in season

#cie's soapbox #team netherworld #horror harridans writing sisterhood #naughty netherworld press #the real cie reviews

0 notes